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cyclotronic

Re: McGinley Square Revitalization - Will anything ever happen?

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Quote:

PlainSlice wrote:

4. Home to what is ~~probably~~ the city's least visible, least effective SID.

There, I corrected it for you.

Instead of arguing over the Beacon, we should be talking about this. It pains me walking down Bergen every day that millions of dollars were spent on sidewalks, trees, facades, etc, and they just let it all go to crap and not require repairs and new construction to match. Weeds grow rampant, faulty installation of pavers is never corrected, trees are allowed to die and never replanted, and on and on. I forget the name of the woman who "manages" the SID, but she should have been fired years ago. There are some bright spots -- Valerie at Lee Sim's Chocolates in particular is a saint for her commitment to the neighborhood -- but someone with vision and drive needs to clean house in that commercial district.

Posted on: 3/6 11:37

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cyclotronic

Re: Cleaning Service

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Spotless Planet has gone way downhill under the new owner. I had to fire them tonight. They were repeatedly told not to touch certain fragile items and today they broke one of them to the tune of $300. And they had previously damaged a countertop due to careless use of oven cleaner. Not recommended at all anymore.

Posted on: 2011/7/25 20:46

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cyclotronic

Re: how to legally rent a basement apt

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Quote:

brewster wrote:
There's plenty of 3+ units in R-1 zones, they just have to have been grandfathered in...

No, I'm pretty sure most of them are just illegal.

For a legal 3 family in a 1-2 family zone, you need to apply for a zoning variance, which means hiring a layer, an architect, and often a professional planner, but various other fees (postage for mailing legal notices to all your neighbors, etc.) Expect to spend $10k+ and with no guarantee the variance will be granted. Frankly, if your property has been operating as a 3-family for some time, and no one has noticed, you're best off just continuing as-is.

Posted on: 2011/7/11 19:39

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cyclotronic

Re: McGinley Square: Jersey City woman raped as she enters building, cops say; public's help sought

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Arrested, charged with both rapes:

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... rapist_arrested_in_b.html

Posted on: 2011/5/27 11:27

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cyclotronic

Re: The Lincoln Inn

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I haven't been there in years, but the martinis are/were ridiculously huge, and probably dollar-for-dollar the best drink deal in town. I recall the food being alright. Given the choice, I'd rather go to Laico's.

Posted on: 2011/5/24 11:38

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cyclotronic

Re: Charles Epps Jr. calls today's "bad" young girls the community's "worst enemy

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The story is getting picked up by some national+NYC blogs:

http://jezebel.com/#!5792158/school-o ... n-badness-of-young-ladies

http://dropoutnation.net/2011/04/15/c ... ishing-ill-upon-our-kids/

http://gothamist.com/2011/04/14/jerse ... hool_super_says_young.php

Posted on: 2011/4/15 11:23

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cyclotronic

Re: Why bother de-veining shrimp? Disgusting Big Easy restaurant

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Quote:

cbg wrote:
Shrimp are deveined for aesthetic, not health reasons.

Quote:

fedup07302 wrote:
I have had nothing but good meals there.

Not much more for me to say here...

Posted on: 2011/4/4 18:00

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cyclotronic

Re: Jersey City City Council tables city's plan to rent 95 parking spaces for $7,125 per month

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Quote:

jklm wrote:
Are you just parking downtown to ride PATH into the city? Or do you work downtown? Just trying to figure out who actually buys these monthly permits.

We live uptown, but it's hard to find quality childcare close to home, so we have to go downtown. We leave the car there and take the PATH from Grove to commute into the city.

I'd guess that the majority of permit holders are from out-of-town, but probably also a good number of non-downtown residents taking advantage of it. At $125/month it works out to about $6 per weekday. I don't think there's cheaper parking near any of the Jersey City PATH stations. Anyone know what the lots in Harrison cost? If I was coming from deeper in NJ, I think I'd be aiming there, not JC.

The Parking Authority has the data in terms of resident/non-resident (the permits are mailed, so they have everyone's address) but good luck getting it from them.

Posted on: 2011/3/25 16:04

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cyclotronic

Re: Jersey City City Council tables city's plan to rent 95 parking spaces for $7,125 per month

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Quote:

brewster wrote:
The fact that the JCPA isn't already a cash cow for the city is the real scandal.

Agreed 100%. They are totally incompetent. You should go to their office in the Heights and interact with the office staff some time. It's like you have people there who are only qualified for no-show jobs, but some of them are showing up. One time I had to get my parking permit in person and the employee was having trouble printing it out. I recommended that she reboot the computer. She turned off her monitor, counted to three, and turned it back on. Genius.

There's also a lot that could be said about their history of selling real estate instead of developing parking lots/garages on the land as they are supposed to be doing.

Posted on: 2011/3/25 11:18

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cyclotronic

Re: Jersey City City Council tables city's plan to rent 95 parking spaces for $7,125 per month

#10

Home away from home

Quote:

jklm wrote:
Or will they still be hijacked by JCPA and rented out to non-resident commuters willing to pay the monthly price to JCPA?

Some of us live here, elsewhere in the city, and just need parking downtown. It's cheaper than the garages.

Posted on: 2011/3/25 11:12

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cyclotronic

Re: Advice on renting in the neighborhood of Duncan & West Side Ave

#11

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Quote:

PaulBellan-Boyer wrote:
I live one block away and think it's fine.

To be fair, a block can mean a lot around here. Duncan and JFK is much nicer than Duncan and Westside. But I don't think Westside is all that bad. The Korean restaurant and Alnooor (the middle-eastern grilled chicken place) are right there and are both quite good.

Posted on: 2011/3/21 17:02

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cyclotronic

Re: PSE&G inspecting light poles and replacing missing plates after dog is nearly electrocuted

#12

Home away from home

I'd guess that the number of access panels missing from light poles in Jersey City numbers in the hundreds. PSE&G needs to be more proactive about this and not wait for residents to call to report them. I can think of ones in my neighborhood that have been missing for 5+ years. Next time it could be a child instead of a dog.

Posted on: 2011/3/3 15:20

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cyclotronic

Re: Songs about Jersey City and nearby in New Jersey...

#13

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Operation Ivy "Hoboken". Pre-Rancid, if anyone cares. I've never been able to figure out what this song actually has to do with Hoboken...

Posted on: 2011/2/23 11:06

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cyclotronic

Re: Songs about Jersey City and nearby in New Jersey...

#14

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Bobby Long "Jersey City" -- a good soul/early r'n'r 45, circa 1960:

http://www.thesoulgirl.com/music/Kev% ... %20Fountainhead%20105.mp3

Edit: sorry, just noticed someone beat me to it on this one. I'm pretty surprised it was on youtube. FYI, the original 45 sounds much better than any online file I've heard, and can be found on eBay for ~$10 if you're patient.

Posted on: 2011/2/23 10:59

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cyclotronic

Re: Loew's Theater could be so much more...

#15

Home away from home

Quote:

brewster wrote:
Quote:

cyclotronic wrote:
Why would a band play the Lowes when they could play 10 different similar sized venues in NYC and/or Brooklyn where an audience is more guaranteed?

10? Really? Other than the Beacon and BAM I can't think of other "real" theaters (as opposed to clubs or Roseland) of that size available, even the Apollo is only half the capacity. Lets exclude the haute culture places like Alice Tully & Carnegie halls. What's on your list?

Why rule out clubs like Roseland? I'm coming from more of a rock music perspective where a seated venue like the Lowes is a minus.

Posted on: 2011/2/2 17:35

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cyclotronic

Re: Loew's Theater could be so much more...

#16

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Quote:

robotjustin wrote:
^^

Because bands make their money from touring, and if they have to pay less of a venue fee they can make more money.

Plenty of bands play in Brooklyn, plenty play in Manhattan, plenty play Maxwells, and plenty would play The Lowes if they could.

Well, Todd from Maxwells is the guy who booked all those bigger rock shows (Beck, Decemberists, were there any others?) Seems like if it was working out well he would have done more. Has there even been one since '07?

Maxwells is probably my favorite place in the world to see a band, but the capacity is what? 100? 150? Much easier to fill than nearly 2,000 seats (and is the balcony fixed up yet? That makes it 3,000+). It's a big, big room.

Posted on: 2011/2/2 17:32

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cyclotronic

Re: Loew's Theater could be so much more...

#17

Home away from home

Quote:

brewster wrote:
That former Stanley Theatre is now renovated and called The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts, and is a cultural anchor of a revived downtown Pittsburgh. A similar story may be unrealistic, but JC is only 25% smaller than Pittsburgh, surely we can do better than we have.

Pittsburgh is not next door to New York City. Why would a band play the Lowes when they could play 10 different similar sized venues in NYC and/or Brooklyn where an audience is more guaranteed? I'm not saying that it's not going to happen, and the success of the Beck shows, etc, show it can be done on at least a limited basis, but there's a lot of competition for audiences locally so comparing to a theater in Pittsburgh is far from apples-to-apples. I'd love to see a day when there are multiple shows there weekly, with some or all filled to capacity, but it's quite a challenge.

Posted on: 2011/2/2 14:05

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cyclotronic

Re: 131 Kensington

#18

Home away from home

Quote:

moxiebaby wrote:
The Hague lobby is to die for but I\'m really surprised that a building of that caliber does not have door staff.

It's a luxury that pretty much every building in the neighborhood lost years ago. 50 Glenwood (Gothic Towers) is the only one left, yes? Are the doormen full-time there or only part-time? The Summit at 2787 Kennedy has doormen, but is really more what I'd call Journal Square.

Posted on: 2010/12/22 11:59

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cyclotronic

Re: 131 Kensington

#19

Home away from home

Quote:

moxiebaby wrote:
I've always been curious about The Hague (2600 Kennedy). There's some units there listed on zillow. This is the big daddy of the pre-war buildings in the McGinley Sq. area.

There are some amazing apartments in there, especially on the top 2 floors, some of which contain parts of Mayor Frank Hague's 14-room duplex which was split up many years ago. The views are excellent. The building is reaching the end of a expensive, multi-year exterior restoration. My impression as an outsider is that values have been kept down a bit by the financial hit of all the work they've had to do, but if it's really coming to an end, that's a good sign.

Quote:

Two more buildings to note: 36 Duncan and 50 Glenwood. Both really really nice, but any available units fly off the shelf within a week or two. We have bidding experience at both, one unsuccessfully, one successfully.

I'd say 53 Duncan is nicer and more desirable an address than 36. I'm aware of at least 2 apartments currently for sale there. Some of the apartment layouts are a little odd with a very long hallway, often right after the front door, but it's great display space if you have an art collection. 61 Duncan is the most beautiful building on the block, but is all rentals.

Posted on: 2010/12/21 1:30

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cyclotronic

Re: Gingko Trees

#20

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What I believe is the largest female ginkgo tree in JC (perhaps the biggest, male or female) is in front of my house. Yes, it stinks and is a total pain to clean up after during Oct and Nov, but it's a beautiful tree and I refuse to cut it down. We get a lot of asian neighbors coming around to collect the nuts. Unfortunately many of them pick out the seeds and leave the fruit behind instead of cleaning up after themselves.

No one plants females as street trees anymore -- they make cuttings from male trees to plan instead. Any females you see on JC streets were planted a while ago from seeds and it takes a good 10+ years before the sex can even be figured out. The other female trees in JC I know of are on Montgomery and one in Lincoln Park. There are some really big ones in Lincoln Park, in the corner near the playground, but most all of them are male.

Posted on: 2010/11/23 16:25

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cyclotronic

Re: Attention JC hipsters/artists buy your dream house....an old JC fire house.

#21

Home away from home

Quote:

GrovePath wrote:
Brunelleschi Construction

These guys do great work. I'm glad to hear they got it and will be preserving the exterior.

Posted on: 2010/10/15 12:35

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cyclotronic

Re: 'Freecycling' movement hits Hudson

#22

Home away from home

Quote:

JCCheerleader wrote:
Everyone is so kind..

Let's not overdo it here. There are a lot of flakes (less so than Craigslist, but still a problem) and also a few professional pickers who respond to nearly every ad I've placed and obviously are in the resale business. How about the people giving away 100 things who send 100 separate emails instead of "OFFER: misc items, downtown Jersey City"? I'm still a fan of Freecycle, but it's far from perfect.

Posted on: 2010/10/3 23:38

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cyclotronic

Re: 'Freecycling' movement hits Hudson

#23

Home away from home

Misleading title -- the group has been active for over 6 years.

I tend to list things on Freecycle instead of Craigslist's free category, but there are lots of flakes on both systems. I always find it amazing that I'm giving someone something for free, and he or she can't even show up on time, if at all. I'm also turned off by most of the wanted ads on Freecycle -- too many people asking for impossible things (cars, iPhones, etc.)

Posted on: 2010/9/29 11:14

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cyclotronic

Re: Is it safe to walk on John F Kennedy blvd at night?

#24

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Yes, absolutely safe. Very late (post-midnight) on a weekday I might take a $5 cab. I say this having lived here for 8+ years.

Please ignore all the naysayers. I suspect none of them actually live around here. Unless they can back up their statements, their opinions are worthless.

Posted on: 2010/9/25 12:59

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cyclotronic

Re: Subs, Grinders, Hoagies, etc.

#25

Home away from home

Quote:

pakz wrote:
"Our Hero" on Bergen Avenue, in front of Hudson Catholic makes pretty awesome hoagies.

Ok as a neighborhood place, but not a sandwich destination by any means.

Posted on: 2010/9/2 12:44

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cyclotronic

Re: Up to 30% of all properties have 'illegal' apts -- Healy wants to put them on tax rolls

#26

Home away from home

Quote:

tern wrote:
How easy is it to legally convert a one family home into a two family?

Asumming the zoning is correct (other houses in the street are all 2 and 3 family), and the size of the house is adequate (this is a 4 story building, so could comfortably accomodate two families), what is the process to make it a legal two family?

Robin.

If you live in a R-1 zone (1 and 2 family homes), it's relatively simple. I think you just submit your plans and they will be approved. But you can't always assume what your block's zoning is based on what you see around you. You might discover that you actually live in a R-3 zone (low-rise apartment buildings), and even though what you want to do is less dense than zoning allows, you'll still need to get a zoning variance. Between the architect, lawyer, professional planner, and fees, it could run $10k. I speak from experience here. Your best first step is to call zoning and find out what you're actually zoned for.

Posted on: 2010/8/5 15:32

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cyclotronic

Re: Opportunity for Mcnair to Receive half a million dollars

#27

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Quote:

JCorNYC wrote:
...no matter the racial makeup...

Do they no longer enforce the racial breakdown of one-quarter each white/black/asian/hispanic?

Posted on: 2010/8/5 15:05

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cyclotronic

Re: New Journal Sq. Path Station Deli - Avoid

#28

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I had an egg sandwich here this morning. The quality of the bagels isn't great, although they are better than the awful ones that Deli Plus sells. I'm not sure I see this place surviving. The location is really bad. Non-bus commuters would never even know it's there.

Posted on: 2010/8/5 15:01

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cyclotronic

Re: Statewide Granite on Kennedy Blvd.

#29

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I used Statewide for a small kitchen in studio apartment and took advantage of their free granite remnant deal (free material, but you pay for the labor of course). My job was 3 approximately 2' wide pieces with eased edges and a 4" backsplash running over a farmhouse sink and around a corner. It was $665, which works out to $45 a square foot. Regular pricing would have been over $100/ft, as I was able to get a remnant of one of the more expensive granites. The workmanship was excellent. Highly recommended.

Posted on: 2010/4/30 16:10

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cyclotronic

Re: Refinishing hardwood floors

#30

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Avoid Conquer. They're sloppy. The longer I live with my floors the more I regret I hired them.

Posted on: 2010/4/21 12:17

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