I get a wave of Ants every Spring but I quash the infestation quickly. Keeping pantry items in sealed containers as mentioned above is a good idea to avoid any kind of critters.

I use a combination approach of persticides as different kinds of Ants are drawn to different things. Generally speaking some are drawn to fatty things, others to sugary things. So I get several different types of Ant Baits; some solid, some liquid, different brands and scatter them around.

The big Carpenter Ants are a different story. As I remember, they usually use leaves and wood to feed a colony of fungus which is what thy actually eat. It seems odd to find them indoors coz that's not usually their thing but there are specific pesticides for them as well.

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Also the Washington Park Association. if you're up that way.

Definitely check out any block you're interested in at night as well as by day. The vibe of the blocks here can be highly variable. I've been by Washington Park going on 4 years now and am generally quite happy. Proximity to the Congress Street light rail and the bus lines into the city are key for this end of the Heights.

Check out the Washington Park Association and Central Avenue Special Improvement District for some general info. Better still, come to one of our Washington Park Association meetings and get the lowdown. One of our sister organizations, the Heights Arts Inititiative, is hosting a home buying seminar in March.

All I can say about all of this is that the number of registered voters in JC is shockingly low.

Just a reminder:

The SECOND PUBLIC MEETING for JERSEY CITY MOBILITY 2050 will be held on Thursday, January 29 at 6 PM at Jersey City City Hall, 280 Grove Street, in the Anna Cucci Memorial Council Chambers.

Visit: www.jerseycitymobility2050.com

If you want to make your thoughts know you should go the meeting next Thursday:

The SECOND PUBLIC MEETING for JERSEY CITY MOBILITY 2050 will be held on Thursday, January 29 at 6 PM at Jersey City City Hall, 280 Grove Street, in the Anna Cucci Memorial Council Chambers.

Scroll up this thread for a link to the study's website.

If you live in JC and stray farther than a block from your home, this may be of interest.

1stStGuy wrote:
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There is an increase of muggings on Mountain Road lately. There's an ongoing effort to get the '100 steps' stairway rebuilt as a straight shot alongside Mountain Rd from Ogden Ave to the Cliffs development. Until then the switchbacks offer concealment for muggers. I think the incident reports have been mirrored here on JClist.

Bus service is a bit of a hot topic in The Heights. There's a study just winding down specifically about bus service. There were input sessions in various neighborhoods a month or so ago. You can still respond via e-mail.

In the longer term there's the Jersey City Mobility 2050 Project which has its second public input session coming up on the 1/29 at city hall.

Let me know if you'd like more info.

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You probably fall under Heights Hope depending on what part of Sherman you're on. The CASID site is generally up to date for contact info and general meeting schedules.

The Police Department usually has a rep at every meeting so getting involved with any of the associations will help you get an overview of what's going on. I'm with the Washington Park Association and Riverview Neighborhood Association. PM me if you'd like.

I belong to two groups here in the Heights and there are many more. The Washington Park Association who's main mission is to revitalize, maintain and protect Washington Park in the Northeast corner of the Heights bordering Union City. We meet the first Monday of every month. More info and links to the WPA YahooGroup at the website.

I'm also involved with the Riverview Neighborhood Association which primarily cover Ogden & Palisade Avenues from Congress St. to Cuneo Place. More info on this and others at the Central Avenue Special Improvement District website.

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Any more info on this market???

The Flea Market was fun. I scored a few nice things there.

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This is something I plan to bring up with Councilman Bill Gaughan when I see him later this week. One way to go about this sort of thing is to get involved with one of the Neighborhood Associations.

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Not a long post at all, just thorough. Thanks for the info.

I've been looking into NextAlarm.com to replace my current setup. Does anybody here use it?

The complaints I've seen about ADT are mainly that you're locked into a 3 year contract, the installation and monitoring costs are high, and that the installers often often do a sloppy job. Also their control hardware is 'locked' to ADT (kind of like a cell phone is locked to the carrier you bought it through) so that when your contract is up, you can't just change monitoring services, you have to replace the controller.

If you're a little bit handy you can make your own quite easily. You buy pieces of screen framing, a roll of screen, some spline (the rubbery cord that holds the screen in the frame), a spline tool and little kits that have all the springs and corner pieces. If you have a hacksaw, tape measure and a utility knife you're good to go. You can get it all at Home Depot, etc. You can google the instructions. I made 6 of them in a few hours last Spring.

Like any part of JC the Heights is highly variable block to block. It's not a single neighborhood, its an area of town about 1.5 x 1 miles. I've been living near Congress & Palisade for a little over 2 years and have had no problems.

Be smart and check out the surrounding area of any building you're being shown at different times of day to get a sense of the vibe.

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Interesting document. I wish I'd seen it sooner.

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Part of the problem is that gate space at Port Authority is in short supply. If Coach USA/RED & Tan does pull out the 99s/10...well, there may be a gate available to take over. I don't know what the gate situation is like at the JSQ end.

The prevailing sentiment again is that we must demonstrate demand (and financial viability) for a new route by using the extended 123 route when it comes into effect.

Info on the results of this meeting HERE. Basically there wil be a viable, reliable alternative to the 99S/10 in the Heights.

It was an interesting meeting. In brief: The NJ Transit 123 bus, which currently begins at the Congress St. Light Rail station and runs up Palisade Ave. through Union City to 32nd St. then down to the tunnel, will be extended 10 blocks South along Palisade to Christ Hospital.

This will take effect in early April. Details are TBA. The current 2 zone fare of $2.55 might be increased to a 3 zone fare, again TBA. It will be a 9 month trial.

It\'s not an ideal solution as the 123 is already run at capacity, though NJ Transit says that the new schedule will be \"Robust\". It also may be of litle help to those who travel at of hours as the 123 currently only runs intil 1AM.

While not an ideal solution it\'s a step in the right direction. A hard won step that required a lot of effort from the RNA, the people at large, and our elected officials. Largely in response to the bus service (or disservice) issues throughout JC there\'s a new study being funded to evaluate the mass transit (or at least bus) situation in our area. The study likely won\'t begin until Autumn.

Since the new 123 route is a trial it\'s important that it be heavily utilized. If our neighbors in Union City find that the 123 is already packed when it gets to Union City they\'re going to start raising hell which will underscore the fact that we need a dedicated route. While the Jitneys or the 87 to Hoboken Path may be more convenient at times, we need to \"Ride it out\" on the 123 to make the point. Basically, Use it or Lose it.

I wonder if this will be bicycle friendly? You can't ride a bike through the Hoboken Terminal, you can walk it through, and as far as can tell one end of the bridge is right by the Light Rail which would mean that the route goes through the terminal. I've been unable to find any drawings/plans for this project online.

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The Mayor did come to a meeting about this last August but he wasn't prepared and maybe felt ambushed.

If you want some more background info there's a long thread about it here

Tuesday's meeting could be pivotal in the ongoing campaign to return proper bus service to this 1.5 mile stretch of the Heights. Lack of access = ghettoization. The situation isn't going to improve on its own. If you're the least bit concerned, come to this meeting and find out what you can do improve the situation.

The jitneys are unreliable, unaccountable, unregulated, and possibly unsafe. Red & Tan/Coach USA is increasingly unwilling to serve this kind of route and has always been unreliable. NJ Transit seems uninterested in geting involved at all.

A lot of us have been making noise with the City Council and Mayor's Office and it seems we're finally being listened to, not just heard.

We need a reliable, one seat, one fare Mass Transit solution for transportation to and from these neighborhods to Midtown Manhattan.

Again, If you're the least bit concerned, come to this meeting and find out what you can do improve the situation.

The 99S/123/Jitney/Alternative bus service to NYC was the big topic again at last night's Riverview Neighborhood Association meeting. The current situation is best outlined in an email from the RNA excerpted below.

Council members Lipski & Fulop attended the meeting and are very involved with finding a solution. They organized the council to send a Resolution to the state level but the bottom line is that we need to get some Grass Roots Action happening. That means that all of us concerned need to make some noise.
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After months of meetings with our elected officials and NJ Transit, we still do not have NYC bus service on Palisade Avenue.

Our patience has run out!
It is viable to add direct bus service to NYC on Palisade Avenue because:
The demand for it is there - 1 in 4 Hudson County residents commute to NYC.
It will only take 8 passenger fares per bus to break-even!
Most residents came to Palisade Ave because of the convenience of having direct NYC bus service (for decades); without it property values and the neighborhood declines.
State and Federal monies (our taxes) support NJT and we are not getting service in proportion to our contriibutions.
Public transportation is critical to help reduce greenhouse gases, traffic congestion and the number of cars in Jersey City
Time to be the Squeaky Wheel!
Taking the high road has accomplished nothing. It's time to make noise and demand direct, reliable NYC bus service on Palisade Avenue. But we can't do it alone. We need your help.
RNA is launching a grassroots campaign to increase the visibility of this issue and bring it back to the forefront.
We have printed hundreds of postcards to send to targeted elected officials and NJ Transit that we need you to sign and distribute for others to sign
We need donations to help offset the costs of printing, mailing and related costs. Donate!
You can send an email to NJ Transit, the Governor and other officials with just one click EMAIL NJ TRANSIT and Elected Officials
We need you to engage others in this
Volunteer!

Please come to the RNA meeting on Tuesday, January 8, 2008 at 7:30PM at the Harbor View Health Center, 178 Ogden Ave (at Franklin) to sign and pick up the "You Can't Get There From Here" postcards for your neighbors to sign.
Bring your other suggestions for ways to convince NJ Transit to come to Palisade Avenue (it was Coach USA that abandoned us) and encourage our State and City officials to make it happen.

If you cannot make the meeting, please call 201-876-1980 or email us at riverviewneighborhood@comcast.net to volunteer. We will get postcards delivered to you to distribute if you can't get to us.

We need your help to make this happen. Please join us to get direct bus NYC bus service restored to Palisade Avenue.


Becky Hoffman
Riverview Neighborhood Association
email: riverviewneighborhood@comcast.net
phone: 201-876-1980

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The formatting got hosed in pasting it here since I'm not that html savvy.

Here's the link CitizenSpeak Petition for petition form. Fill it in and it gets emailed to al the officials concerned.

There's a sign at the terminal now saying that it'll run on Palisade Ave from 6:15 - 7:15 PM. Not the most brilliant solution but it's a little something.

There was lively discussion with Mayor Healy at the meeting last night. He was remarkably ill-informed on the situation and the difficulties of commuting from the Heights in general. It's really hard not to say something snarky about the man.

Anyhow the gist of it is that 99S's new route is provisional as well. If Red & Tan doesn't see increased profits from the route they'll pull it entirely. Somebody brought up the point that all of this may be a tactic for Red & Tan to get a subsidy from NJ Transit or the DOT. Regardless, I'd be surprised to see the 99S return to Palisade in any manner.

There is discussion of extending the route of the 123, which currently terminates at the Congress St. Light Rail station, up to Christ Hospital. It's an interesting idea but that line is pretty packed already. In fact they reduced service last year from every 30 mins to once an hour. The mayor has a meeting about this next week.

The best thing may be to put some pressure on Sacco & Prieto (see post #20 in this thread) to get some help at the state level. I think the Mayor left last night with a much better understanding of the situation. We shall see...

Hopefully it'll be big enough to accomodate Walkers, Runners, Cyclists, and those Double Wide Strollers without congestion. And by double wide strollers I mean those obnoxious SUV-like baby carriages - not people with huge asses

There's a meeting of the Riverview Neighborhood Association next Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 7:30pm at the Riverview Nursing Home on the corner of Ogden & Franklin which Mayor Healy is supposed to attend. The 99S is on the agenda.

I've never attended one of these meetings so I have no idea what the deal is. The contact is riverviewneighborhood@comcast.net. I'm a little outside of their geo but she says all concerned are welcome. Could be interesting.

Last night at the Congress street stop heading towards the city around 8pm the driver blew right past the stop. I caught up with him at the stop light and he opened the door looking at me like I'm a crazy person when I hand him my ticket. He tells me I need to pay cash if I'm heading into the city! WTF? I was too tired to even get into it with him.

Seems to me that he knows neither where he's supposed to stop to pick up fares, nor how the fares are supposed to be paid. Where do they find these drivers? If this route's business is down it's less likely about the number of passengers than the competence of the dispatchers & drivers.

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I filled out the petition at citizenspeak along with a personal message (a clever little system) and got this back from the GM of Red & Tan:


"The Jitney operators provide a high service frequency along Palisades Ave. 7 days a week. The frequency increases during the rush hour periods. During the midday (2pm), they operate every 2-3 minutes.

Their service has reduced our passengers along Palisades Ave. over the last several years.
On average we now transport less than 1 passenger per trip.

The Jitney service and their method of operation results in congestion along Palisades Ave. Typically the Jitney's nose into a bus stop, which then impedes all following traffic. This congestion adds time and cost to the travel along Palisades Ave.

The commuters along Palisades Ave. do have frequent service and have made a choice as to which service they will use.

The # 10/99S will stop at Congress and Palisades Ave. for those Palisades Ave. residents who would chose to use our service."


In my reply I pointed out that in my experience those Jitneys are rarely going to/from Manhattan but then again I don't usually travel during rush hour periods.

Well, thats about all I can do at the moment. Let's see how this all shakes out next week.