and stop treating renters and property owners differently based on where they live and what they own.


One way to do that is with a city income tax - I paid a 1% income tax when I lived in Columbus, Ohio. The taxes on my house in a beautiful Victorian historic district were less than $800, and services were excellent - including an historic district office who had people come to your house and consult with you on restoration work. NYC has an income tax too.

You are rewriting history. When I bought my first house downtown, Newport was weeds and the PATH only stopped at Pavonia during the week - closed weekends. The rehabing of brownstones was well underway before Lefrak. Lefrak is responsible for the Great Wall of China parking ramp that blocks HP and HC residents from the river. The JC waterfront was one of the most spectacular building sites available and it was developed as if it were another plot of land along the LIE.

In general, I don't like the idea of anything that makes owning a car in an urban area like JC easier. Just as affluent communities use 2 acre zoning the ensure that new residents are of a certain economic level, maybe we should make parking sufficiently difficult that families that must own multiple vehicles find living here unattractive and people who can get by with public transit find the area more attractive. I know this is pie in the sky thinking. Okay then, how about making all parking private. I don't own a car, but i own a twenty foot wide brownstone. I can get a ticket if my sidewalk is not clean, so why can't I rent out my curb as a parking space, since apparently I own it. After a 34% tax hike that $200 bucks a month would be nice. Privatizing would eliminate a bit of the city bureaucracy - no more permits. Parking rules could remain in effect too.

Here's an implication of the proposed ordinance that troubles me. As an example: Grove Pointe. If I understand correctly, residents will not be allowed street permits because parking will be included in the project. Will there be parking over and above the necessary amount for owner/tenants to accommodate people who want to drive to our soon to blossom Restaurant Row? As much as I would like to see patrons and shoppers arrive on foot or by public transit, will the new ordinance make it difficult for people who do want to drive into the area to find off street parking because so much of it will have to be taken up by residents. This would be a hardship on merchants trying to make a success of their new businesses.

" City Government will love this. In fact, an engineer that I know says that is why the JC Planning Commission does notcare about all the developments going up and causing more traffic. Because in the end the residents will be forced to use public transportation and bikes" (I give up, how do you do those quote boxes)

Is this policy? Seems like a round about way of getting into compliance with the Clean Air Act. If people are really concerned about the pollution and traffic burden put on residents in Bergen-Lafayette they should explore the Environmental Justice Program run by EPA:
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/

For the record: I am not one of the two concerned citizens paranoid about The Stealth Highway. I have enough to worry about being followed around in GO.

This proposal has been made before. I think the concern is that an auto connection will result in cars leaving the turnpike and using Jersey Avenue as a route to the Holland Tunnel.

I believe this connection was part of what used to be referred to as The Stealth Highway project. Maybe it still is.

http://www.hartwheels.org/Stealth.html

"he seemed to think it was such an accomplishment to be down 75% compared to last January when a whole family was slaughtered"


I was at that meeting - my first. Granted the acoustics were awful, but I think I heard Troy say that you couldn't compare last January to this because of the slaughter of one family - that calling the numbers going down an improvement was misleading.

I think Fulop sounded silly by saying he was a "numbers man" after Troy made a good case for numbers needing interpretation.

) I always get flamed by Bouncing Soul or Alan Sommerman for daring to post a message that's more than 3 lines long, but, anyhow

Alb - I am sorry if it seems like I have singled you out for any "flaming" - I hope that I am responding to content not poster. I hope this board can continue to be a forum for diverse ideas and opinions.

Thank you for your quick and succinct reply to my question.

Why was a letter from Warren G. Curtin, attached to the agenda of the HPNA, left in my mailbox? Who has the background on this? It doesn;t sound pretty.

And just out of curiosity should material not delivered by the mailman be put in a mailbox? (a pet peeve of mine)

Okay, so $100,000 for the coop-condo difference. How much for the inflated quarter size mole?

But seriously, do people think the value of those apartments will rise because of the two large projects going up on the north side of Newark/Columbus? I have seen apartments in The Gregory (not the current name) and they were very nice, but the place stunk. I imagine Montgomery Tower is similar. Also, I thought another building was going up on the Gregory's grounds where the swimming pool building is - is that still on the books?

Just curious - What infrastructure improvements have been made in downtown that exceed those in other parts of the city? We may have gotten more sewer improvements, but I think that is more likely tied to having serious flooding problems than to gentrification.

A shuttle to Exchange Place serves 3 user groups - people who work at Exchange Place, people who work in lower Manhattan and people who work near a light rail station. I suspect that people who work at Exchange Place might find the Beacon an interesting proposition. Working and living in NJ might beat working here and living in NY from a tax perspective. I'd be curious to see how NYC's lower real estate taxes offset NJ's lower income taxes. Anyone have any data? Has our abatement largesse made NJ a really good deal for people moving here from NYC?

You can get very handsome and cheap porcelain tile from Standard Tile on Kennedy Blvd - it's very durable.


Also - if you think you may get exposed to sewage consider getting HEP A & B vaccinations. You might really save yourself from a serious illness.

I agree - a great downtown establishment.

BTW - I once served the avocado ice cream with crabmeat as a first course - very elegant and delicious.

If sewage is backing up into toilets, tubs, etc. - look into getting a backflow check valve - I had the problems described and this solved the problem. Essentially when water starts flowing back into the house the "door" closes. I also urge anyone who might have this problem to speak with their doctor about HEP A and B vaccinations. You are being exposed to raw sewage and should take this precaution.

Something that needs investigation: when a strong storm is predicted, can the city somehow open the water treatment facilities to allow faster runoff. I know this adds crap to the river but the alternatives are the situations in people's houses described in these posts.

The new city will be called Pavonia - sorry, but I decided that a long time ago - during the Cucci administration, I think.

Viva Pavonia!