I have a canoe, I store it/lock it behind a friend's brownstone in his yard. There are some interesting places to paddle around here. Almost all of them are subject to tides and therefore currents.

Before you drop a short canoe or inflatable into the Hudson or Hack consider a longer kayak that will track a little better. Also take a look at the tide chart to determine the currents and plan your trip around them. Sheltered coves and areas tucked into the shore (like in between the Hyatt and the Pier condos) will provide some relief from the tides.

I dont think gentrification has to take as long as people here are stating, i saw it happen in less time downtown. I lived in the warehouse district downtown for 6 years, Paulus Hook before that. I remember going to Grove street where there were abandoned bombed out buildings right next to the PATH stop (where Grove Pt is now). Around the Gazebo area there were homeless everywhere, and general sketchiness that tops anything i have seen at JSQ these days. I also remember how much the local shops/restaurants were lacking around this time. Moving west from Grove it wasn?t anywhere near what it is today. I think this was about 2006.

Who knows if it will actually happen in JSQ, it may never, but I personally don?t have an issue with the area now. If someone is focused on living in the end result of some kind of change they probably wont be happy with the transition period. I am bullish on JC as a whole. I have and continue to love living here. I feel like I am one of the few people I know who really loves the city where I live, and that is a good feeling. Its nice to come home from a trip to that feeling. I have seen changes continue, I have friends who were and are priced out of downtown, they now rent or have bought around JSQ or the heights. I have friends who recently moved here from other cities and towns within our metro, i think that is encouraging if you are interested in growth. My opinion is JC has continued to gentrify at a very fast pace during this downturn.

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Its actually west of Bayonne, mostly in Elizabeth: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/ander ... two-miles-in-america.html

Does anyone know if a Chlorine leak happened, would going to the top of a tall building help? I am familiar with the principals of fluid dynamics, all the variables to account for like wind, topography, etc...but in general is the gas heavy enough that it could make a difference?

That is great they are helping, does city hall or that site help you identify comparable sales for your property? And do they point out which sales are outright banned from being used for comparison purposes (e.g. non-arms length)? Your description sounds like a cake walk compared to the hearings in other NJ locals I know of.

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I definitely haven't tried that. If I was shopping with kids, yeah, I would go to A&P. Thanks for the perspective, I am sure when i have kids i will see the world quite a bit differently. It is a pain to carry your groceries or pull around the car. I can imagine its much worse while also managing a family. I can agree with that, but in my opinion it isn't a gross store.?

Also, yes that store in Phoenicia isn't big, just happens to be a comparatively worse store that I have visited recently.

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Really? Could that be an overstatement, or perhaps have you have lived in some very uniform and sheltered neighborhoods? I don?t want to assume, what makes Pathmark disgusting in your opinion? I can name 2 grocery stores I have been to in the last 2 weeks that were horrendous compared to the JC Pathmark (the grocery store in Phoenecia,NY, and the Associated Grocery store in Astoria - 21st st). Either way, I have noticed upper middle class folks in JC seem to shun Pathmark. This phenomena sometimes leads to mind boggling prices. Last time I was there top shelf organic peanut butter and organic strawberry preserves were on sale for less than Skippy and Smuckers!

Glad to see the JC Pathmark isnt closing either!

Its a construction bet. One side believes mankind can, with enough work, artificially create the biggest pothole on CC drive...the other side thinks nothing can beat the potholes nature and entropy already created on CC. Given the size, number, and variety of potholes on CC the bet allows for 48 hours with heavy machinery in an attempt to exceed the diameter and depth of the biggest "natural" pothole.

Welcome to JC!

In 8 years of living here I have learned to avoid the following ?entrances? to JC when traffic is heavy:
-The turnpike extension past the C. Columbus exit
-The covered roadway (you never see the traffic until you?re stuck underground)
-Tonnelle circle (we use either Manhattan ave or Secaucus coming from the north or the secret St. Pauls Ave connection if we are going west)


For the TPK extension - As mentioned above exit on Columbus, if it?s backed up before that (rarely) take the liberty st park exit right after the toll booths.

Knowing how to cut across the meadowlands on County ave to and from 15X or 3 can bail you out sometimes, same for Secaucus Rd.

If you and your kids happen to be into the outdoors read on, if not skip this post.

Buy a Gore-Tex hooded jacket, waterproof pants, and boots. Then go do whatever you and your kids want to do and don?t let the weather intimidate you. Sometimes the activity is actually more interesting, enjoyable, or adventurous because it is raining or snowing. If there is a place outdoors you like that is usually crowded, go when weather is "bad" and you will have the place to yourself and your kids. I have also noticed many indoor destinations are less busy because people don?t want to travel in adverse weather. If you are going somewhere in nature or even our local parks it?s an entirely new and different ambiance with precipitation falling. For some locations I actually prefer precipitation, sunny days are kind of easy and boring. If it is very cold don?t wear anything cotton?all wool or synthetic. I have been outdoors for extended periods of time in deluges, blizzards, desert heat and everything in between. If you dress correctly you can be quite comfortable in pretty much any weather, just watch your footing as things can be slippery. If you don?t dress correctly it can get quite miserable if the weather isnt ?good?. There are a lot of resources online about how to correctly dress for any weather.

Do you know how that Seagull system works? I couldnt find a link on the site that explained it. It's interesting it says it filters viruses by using a .4 micron filter, even larger size viruses are smaller than that. It must be something else other than the filter. I have a micro/carbon filter i take backpacking. For days on end I have turned fetid stagnant water into drinkable water and have never gotten sick, kind of a leap of faith. If your water smells, it makes sense to treat it, might also make sense to determine what is making it smell.

Tap water carries Chlorine or other antimicrobial agents in low levels. It is usually added right before it leaves the plant and enters the distribution system. The purpose is to ensure it will kill any microbes that may be in or make their way into the pipes...it's supposed to kill microbes all the way to the end user. Chlorine has been implicated as a possible long term carcinogen. Brita filters out some of the Chlorine I think...but, every time you shower in tap water I am pretty sure you absorb about as much as drinking some. In tests bottled water usually has higher levels of microbes than tap water. If you do use a britta be sure to change the filter often and research it to make sure some of the activated carbon or whatever is in it doesn?t get into your water, if so figure out if it causes an issue or not. I am basing all this off my education, my undergrad and ? of my masters was Environmental Engineering, basically I learned how to treat drinking water, waste water, scrub air from smokestacks, etc. I never went into the industry so maybe things have changed in the past few years but I doubt it. As of a few years ago tap water from a drinking water treatment plant in the US was generally safer and cheaper than any other way you can get water. One thing you can look into is the last mile pipes leading to your faucet, how old are the pipes in your building? Are they lead? If they are old and lead, they might leach some into your water.

One thing did catch my eye with United water, i think they have a waiver for testing our supply for VOC's. I thought waivers were only given when they know the supply is clean of something...yet we are in Jersey.

I drink straight from the tap, tap water standards are actually higher than bottled water standards. I don?t know if using these filter systems helps or if they add things to the water via the filtering process. I guess it depends on your situation what the right thing to do is. If you have old pipes that might be leaching lead into your water maybe it could help to filter it, if not it is probably of a waste of money from a safety perspective.

Oh and here is the answer to what is in your water: http://www.unitedwater.com/eBooks/JerseyCityCCR/jerseycityccr.html

It is happening again. Keep your windows shut, this morning I have been watching random large clouds of dirt rising around and just north of the Rt 7 Hackensack drawbridge. The dirt is wafting SE into Downtown like a fog after it gets kicked up. I cant tell if it is coming from the power plant, the Standard Chlorine superfund site, or somewhere else?

Yes, that is about right, some sites have different stats but basically you are much more likely to die from bees, dogs, horses, mountain lions, etc in the US. If you are not looking at attacks specifically you are much, much more likely to die from an auto accident as a result of hitting a deer. Google animal fatalities and other similar search terms for more information.

Also another heads up for NJ hikers, more people have been killed by hunters in NJ than bears...actually i dont know if anyone has ever been killed by a bear in NJ. Anyway, if you are going hiking during hunting season wear bright colors and avoid places where hunting is allowed. Besides spoiling thier hunt you could get hurt.

I have never been hunting myself but on the hunting topic...if you support preserving natural areas keep in mind hunters spend a lot of money, have lobbies, etc and are actually responsible for keeping a ton of land in the US wild. Without hunters we wouldnt have as much wilderness, same for fishermen.

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Some stats below so people dont mistakenly think bears are the primary animal threat in the nj outdoors.

Average annual US fatalities via animal attack:
Bee/Wasp 53
Dogs 31
Horse 20
Spider 6.5
Rattlesnake 5.5
Bull 3
Mountain lion 1
Shark 1
Centipede 0.5
Bear 0.5
Scorpion 0.5
Alligator 0.3
Elephant 0.25
Wolf 0.1

Education would go a long way to reduce encounters, it has worked out west and up north. Unless extermination is the plan the bears and encounters will come back to NJ very soon after this hunt if the source of the problem is not addressed. When a bear gets a hold of calorie rich human food it is like heroine. Bears are smart, after they find a food source from garbage cans, campers, etc, they will return for the food and become a ?nuisance bear?. Nuisance bears are often killed by wildlife management. I have backpacked in bear country quite a bit, since the introduction of bear canisters (food storage they cant get into) bear encounters have dropped dramatically.

We only have black bears here not Grizzlies (which are quite a bit scarier). I have run across over a dozen black bears in the back country and front country in the past couple of years, at least 6 in NJ. I have never had an issue with an east coast bear, everyone except one I encountered seemed to be terrified of humans and ran away immediately. The one exception was a mother bear which had cubs, she tree?d them and hung around below the trees to defend them?so we detoured around the situation. The only black bear I ever had a shady encounter with was out west in Yosemite, it had to have been fed by people. Even then we were able to intimidate it to leave the area. It?s not like Hollywood where bears pop out of bushes on their hind feet with their mouth open salivating, snapping, and roaring. Its more like, "hey is that a black bear" and the bear takes off running.

No passenger railroad in the world operates at a profit, they are all subsidized. Additionally, in the US automobile, bus, and airplane travel is subsidized. After world war II governments in Europe and the US took two different approaches to infrastructure. Europe focused on subsidizing and building out a rail system, the US a road system.

I noticed in many places it appears like they are putting up identical stop light poles/bases 2 feet from the current ones. If so, couldnt they have used the current ones and just changed out the lights?

Aside from what they make...The city employs crossing guards at a lot of intersections that have stop lights and walk/dont walk signals. Is this for students and/or drivers don't obey the traffic signals? Or is it to help the flow of traffic? Or some other reason?

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When I went to undergrad I thought I had a shot at a full athletic scholarship but I was offered a red shirt my freshman year and a partial not full scholarship for year 1. Full scholarships are very hard to get for sports, you need to very, very talented. If he hasn?t been recruited by this point I think the chances of him getting a full scholarship in 2011 are slim to none. If he still has games he can try to put together a highlight tape and get a scout to a game but it may be a little late... You can approach a coach directly and potentially secure a partial scholarship or full if he is really good. I also know people who have literally shown up for the first practice/cuts and walked on. In any case if he is good enough to play D1 a coach can help with admissions! It is very difficult to even make a D1 team, you need to be more than talented, you need to be a star. If he has talent tell him to go for it and not to give up at first. There are plenty of stories of people who tried to walk on, didnt make the team years in a row, then became stars...

If $$ is an issue someone else posted the correct answer, community college, at least to start. This isnt easy to do, but I know people who did it: Find the target school/major you want ultimately, find out what classes you can transfer from your CC towards that major at that school. Attend your CC for 1 or 2 years taking those classes at a fraction of the cost for the full university. Ace the classes and transfer (hopefully) after 2 years to the university you wanted, graduate with a Bachelors 2 years later from the university.

I would also encourage him to look out of state. Some state schools in other states are amazing academically and have out of state tuition rates close to (or below) in-state tuition at big NJ universities. Also there are very few places you can pick that are more than expensive to live than NJ so cost of living could be much better also

Good luck, and how on earth do you get a 4.4 GPA, my schools didnt have a scale that went above 4.0!?

If you google Jersey City Froto, it is pretty amazing how many results come up. We should start a collection for a statue of this dog.

The waterfront walkway is one idea NJ definitely got right...hopefully they keep progressing.

If you dont need them right now and it is just an upgrade I would hold off on your new appliances as it might be a factor (although a smaller one). My fianc? has the highest RE appraiser license in the state, has studied this stuff a lot, and she works on many of the revals in NJ. I asked her last night what the deal is with appliances. The way it is done is complex (hence the classes and certifications), my explanation below is one step removed from the expert but i will try to summarize what I understand.

If you have new appliances and nothing else make sure to point this out to the inspector when they come by. Appliances such as the fridge are frequently taken with owners as they move from one house to another but the dishwasher, range and microwave would typically stay. In a condo situation the appliances will typically stay put. Therefore, the inspector MAY assume a kitchen to be "upgraded". It's really subjective and depends on the reval firm and if sales data reflects upgraded kitchens increasing value. There are different levels of upgrades however. Obviously a newly renovated kitchen with granite countertops, new cabinets, new floor AND new appliances is going to be given more weight than just newer appliances. If you renovated your kitchen or bath you should have filed permits with the town and an "Added Assessment" would've been placed on the property by the tax assessor. If not then the reval firm will pick it up in the inspection. With respect to interiors, they look at the year the condo or house was built or renovated and start there as a basis. Then they look at the kitchen and bath to see if it has been upgraded since then, ( a reno in last 10 years is usually the standard). They also mark the overall interior on a graded scale. So if you renovated your kitchen in the past 10 years and put in stone, nice cabinets, etc...just like it will increase the value of your property on the market it will increase the value of your assessment. If your kitchen hasnt been redone since the 70's but you have all new appliances it MAY be considered an updated kitchen, but only to a degree. If you only replaced the fridge then it's probably not just cause to be considered an updated kitchen. Also, the inspectors are trained to differentiate between a less expensive Ikea cabinet renovation and a top of the line job. If you put in Ikea cabinets yourself for say $5000 and they have you marked down for a top of the line $40K kitchen overhaul then you have some room to argue your value. There will be informal hearings where you can point out things like this. The burden of proof is on the homeowner so a receipt for your IKEA kitchen will be good evidence that your upgrade isn't top of the line. But again, if you are in a part of town that is highly desirable and the sales shows no difference in value between one person's kitchen with a sub zero fridge and all new granite countertops and another person's new GE fridge and Ikea cabinets...then kitchen upgrades won't make the biggest difference in your assessment. When you go through the hearing process if you still feel like you need to appeal then you will need to show sales that prove your assessment should be lowered. So let them in your house, let them see everything and double check your property record card once you receive your value. This is all explained on the website and whichever reval firm gets the bid for Jersey City they will have literature regarding the process as well.

JC site: http://www.cityofjerseycity.com/tax_assessment.aspx?id=6312

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I think if you dont let an inspector in your house they have to assume you have made all possible improvements.

The only way property taxes go up across a city is if they raise them (which they have). A re-val is separate from this, it's goal is to make sure everyone is paying their fair share of taxes. I think it will work like this: Since 1988 if your home has gone up in value more than the average home in Jersey City, you get a tax increase, if your home has not increased as much as the average home in JC, you get a tax decrease, if it's on par with the trend in JC, your taxes are unchanged...right? If so this should help many people outside of downtown.

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Been out that way also. The SI Yankees have a great following and I do like that area of the island. To be fair however, the southern tip of Manhattan has to be at least 5 miles away from that stadium making the skyline pretty small. It?s about 1 mi from DTJC. The stadium does have a great view of the harbor and a constant parade of passing ships.

Pipe dream or not, I would love to see a minors team here.

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Wolves are native to NJ, but all the ones living in the wild were killed or pushed out. As a side note, I have heard the Lakota wolf preserve in NJ is worth the trip.

Focusing on Jersey City: If the roads and rails from the suburbs are going to become more and more congested...could this bode well for JC real estate?

Any Lenni Lenape in JC?

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Look to California's financial state right now. Many say it is due to voter referendum. Voters in CA want everything from the state but dont want to pay for anything.