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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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jennymayla wrote:
And also? No more talk of Maplewood please! Stop the insanity!

TIA. A.


[...]


Maybe after reading this they will have second thoughts!

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December 9, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Mugged in Maplewood

By MARTY LIPP


Maplewood

ON a recent Friday night this fall, while a number of my neighbors were watching Jodie Foster blow away bad guys at the Maplewood Cinema, I was a few blocks away in this middle-class New Jersey suburb, getting mugged.

Mugged? When I told people in the days after, it almost seemed retro, as if I had decided to put on A Flock of Seagulls album or go to a roller disco.

But from my work at a children?s social-service agency in Harlem, I know that street violence is down, not out; it?s still an unforgettable presence for many. And now I had a broken nose, swollen jaw, aching ribs and two black eyes qualifying me to join the ranks of the victims of violence.

But Maplewood? It?s a town that my wife and I chose four years ago as an alternative to expensive, space-restricted city living, one that is racially if not economically diverse, about as cosmopolitan and progressive as a suburb gets. But violence? That was a part of city life I assumed I had left behind.

As I walked up Oakland Road at about 8:15 that night, I expected the same thing I experienced every night on my walk home for the past four years: nothing. Having had a few minor hassles in Harlem, I am wary of my surroundings there, but on my 20-minute walk from the New Jersey Transit station, I am usually just in my head, reviewing the day, maybe trying to remind myself to enjoy the greenery. The most concern I ever had was late one night when I found myself sharing the sidewalk with a large, waddling skunk.

Suddenly, four teenagers jumped me from behind. I got the wind knocked out of me when I hit the ground, landing on my loaded backpack. Then the four boys kicked and punched me. They told me to stay on the ground, one punching me square in the face when I reflexively tried to lift my head.

?Your wallet,? one barked, and I handed it over. One of them pulled out some bills, then dropped the wallet on my midsection. As quickly as they came, they were gone.

The police and emergency workers were on the scene almost immediately and were great, though the police officers were unable to find the teenagers. Soon, I was sitting on a plastic chair in the St. Barnabas emergency room, trying to watch television without my glasses, my clothes and the towel held to my face splattered with blood, sitting among people with less-obvious medical needs.

?In Maplewood?? asked each E.R. staffer when I related what had happened to me. In subsequent days, it was a reaction I heard repeatedly.

Was the attack some kind of gang initiation? The police officers and my Harlem colleagues tended to not think so, since I was still alive and no one had slipped a knife in my side. But it did seem to be some kind of rite of passage, teenagers proving to themselves and each other that they?re tough. Why else attack first and then ask for money? The violence seemed recreational; the money incidental, maybe blown on some pizza after the attack, maybe on some pot and booze to share together with some nervous laughter as their adrenaline subsided. Maybe they even caught the late showing of ?The Brave One.?

Unlike Jodie Foster on the big screen, I haven?t dreamed of revenge. The next day, I woke up to a nice house and caring family. I replaced the $60 in my wallet by punching a few keys at an A.T.M. ? never before did it seem so easy. I have resumed my daily walk home, with a nagging sense that maybe I need to find an alternative.

What would I say to the teenagers who mugged me? You may have felt great as you ran down Oakland Road and escaped into the night, but you?re going down a dead end. Look around you and look ahead. That path leads to prison, an early grave or a life of desperation that will grind you down. You can still turn yourself around.

What would I say to my neighbors? Well, some better lighting on Oakland Road would be great. But more important, we need to remember that top-shelf home-security systems are not enough. We need to light a path for young people. If we don?t, the brilliance of this American dream that we like to think we are living will always be dappled by darkness.

Marty Lipp is the communications director at the Harlem Children?s Zone, a nonprofit community-based organization.

Posted on: 2007/12/9 22:45
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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http://gothamist.com/2007/12/09/montclair_new_j.php

Here is something from today's Gothamist page

December 9, 2007

===============================
Montclair, New Jersey = Park Slope West?

A couple of real estate agents are seriously deluded and declaring Montclair, NJ as "Park Slope West" (something The NY Times covered two years ago). They stand by their claim and the town's "urban-suburban setting" which boasts a theater, a museum, shops and even a "great commute". Suckers Prospective buyers are brought to the suburbs in a limo, and are wined and dined at the ?Park Slope-style? restaurant, Raymond?s. Recently a curious Brooklynite and a Brooklyn Paper reporter took the tour de Jerz...only to be picked up in a minivan (reportedly the limo was out of service that day).

Their [the agents] objective: to prove that, yes, you can own a home in a diverse community with the implausible combination of great public schools, restaurants and a walkable downtown, while still being able to see the Manhattan skyline, albeit through that odd brown cloud over Union City.

Keeping in tune with Brooklyn lingo, the tour cruised up ?restaurant row? on Bloomfield Avenue, with a wide range of cuisines, and through Brookdale Park, which was designed by the sons of Frederick Olmsted, Prospect Park?s co-builder (so Montclair?s park is a sequel?).

So how much does an average three-bedroom home go for in these parts? Much less than any of the new condos popping up around Brooklyn. While one East Village family left the city and now resides happily in a "huge Victorian House" there, many don't want to leave the New York -- which is why the agents set up this limo tour. Be warned, not all who have made the move are are so smitten with the suburbs.

?I would move back to Park Slope in a heartbeat for me, myself and I, but this was about a decision driven by an expanding family,? said Camilla Seth, a mother of two.

Seth and her husband resettled for ?totally stereotypical reasons,? namely, for a bigger home and excellent public schools (that cost about $12,000?$17,000 a year in taxes, by the way), but she feels like a fish out of water. Her neighbors ?have urban sensibilities, but day-to-day life is suburban. People are driving. People are in their single-family homes. The way they interact is different.

Perhaps the mini-van is more fitting for this tour, the perfect vehicle to give a glimpse into a family-style future. Interested in leaving your high-rent hectic life? The next tour is in January.

read more at
http://gothamist.com/2007/12/09/montclair_new_j.php

Posted on: 2007/12/9 20:46
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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Not much unlike how they ruined Jersey City, "yuppies" ruined Maplewood as well.


OK, I guess that was snark.

In my opinion, though, "yuppies" (and I'm defining that as "people who went to college, or can fake it, and drink lattes or a similar coffee drink, or consume some other equivalent food or beverage," not as "high-income jerk who knocks people over while talking on a cell phone") are really just another ethnic group (well, demographic group, but the modern marketing equivalent of an ethnic group), with our strengths, weaknesses, language (e.g., and ROTFLMAO) and peculiarities.

At my daughter's school, I realized that the teachers are dealing with us in the same friendly, open, somewhat puzzled way that they'd deal with families from Tibet or from Burma: we're just another weird, wacky addition to the Mulligan stew.

We're changing Jersey City, but we're not really ruining it any more than any of the other groups have, and, someday, some group will come in and change everything we've done, and people will go around complaining about the Martians, or whoever, have ruined Jersey City's charming old yuppie atmosphere.

Posted on: 2007/12/9 17:03
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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Not much unlike how they ruined Jersey City, "yuppies" ruined Maplewood as well.

Bring it!!!

Posted on: 2007/12/9 8:45
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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missa wrote:
yup. it amazes me that people tolerate incessant comparisons with brooklyn but get irritated when maplewood gets brought up.


For what it's worth, I find the Brooklyn comparison equally as repugnant as the move-to-Maplewood drill. Real evergreens notwithstanding, of course.

Posted on: 2007/12/9 3:33
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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GrovePath wrote:
Yeah, Maplewood -- YAWN!

But by nice things ... well... do you mean like Lowe's trash cans?
]


yeah, i am pretty sure that you can keep your garbage in a trash can, without people going thru it. also, people dont generally steal your outdoor decorations or smash bottles on your front porch. JC is like the wild west in that respect.

property taxes are also higher for the same property value, but then again, you actually have decent public utilites and services, and they use real evergreen swags to decorate the main street and village with.

yup. it amazes me that people tolerate incessant comparisons with brooklyn but get irritated when maplewood gets brought up.

Posted on: 2007/12/9 1:56
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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Yeah, Maplewood -- YAWN!

But by nice things ... well... do you mean like Lowe's trash cans?

Quote:

missa wrote:
maplewood.
its where people go when they get married and have kids.
and you CAN have nice things there.

yawn.

Posted on: 2007/12/8 15:29
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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maplewood.
its where people go when they get married and have kids.
and you CAN have nice things there.

yawn.

Posted on: 2007/12/8 14:50
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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And also? No more talk of Maplewood please! Stop the insanity!

TIA. A.



PS: albie, your points are good. it's just that they are gonna get lost in this god-forsaken MAPLEWOOD thread.

Posted on: 2007/12/8 0:29
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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Maybe the suburban N.J. schools are better than a lot of the Brooklyn schools that aren't P.S. 321 (the famous yuppie school), but if, for example, you compare the third graders at Clinton in the South Orange-Maplewood district with third graders at Cordero, it looks as if Cordero gets significantly higher scores, even though the percentage of poor kids is twice as high at Cordero.

Before my daughter was in the public pre-K, I figured maybe the Jersey City schools were somehow teaching to the test too much, but I now think they really are doing a fairly good job of at least trying to teach higher-level thinking schools, not just getting the kids to memorize enough to pass the tests.

Posted on: 2007/12/8 0:20
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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jennymayla wrote:
GP, you know I love ya but pleeeeeeeeze no more Maplewood stories!

TIA.



Posted on: 2007/12/7 15:48
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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GP, you know I love ya but pleeeeeeeeze no more Maplewood stories!

TIA.



Posted on: 2007/12/7 15:42
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Re: A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/30/48/30_48jerseybrokers.html

Jersey brokers fishing for buyers in Slope: ?Paradise? just a limo ride away

Dec. 8
By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper

Two New Jersey real-estate brokers are so eager to get Brooklynites to move to their promised land ? Montclair! ? that they?re offering free limo rides to the bucolic suburb and complimentary lunches at the town?s ?Park Slope-style? restaurant, Raymond?s.

It?s all to get residents of the real Park Slope to toss aside their biases and finally move to what Elaine Pardalos and Kathy Kulik call ?Park Slope West? (hmm, isn?t that the Gowanus?).

?Montclair is a very intellectual town and has a great commute, theater, museum, movies, and lots of little places to shop,? which creates an ?urban-suburban setting,? said Pardalos.

Pardalos and Kulik, who created the tour for the Rhodes, Van Note agency, guided the inaugural expedition on Nov. 29, which included a reporter from The Brooklyn Paper and one ?curious? Park Slope woman, past Montclair?s manicured lawns, colonial houses and the town?s center.

Their objective: to prove that, yes, you can own a home in a diverse community with the implausible combination of great public schools, restaurants and a walkable downtown, while still being able to see the Manhattan skyline, albeit through that odd brown cloud over Union City.

Indeed, Montclair is good enough for Pardalos, who moved from Park Slope 13 years ago.

?I thought it was going to be dead, but people were walking on the streets and there were restaurants on Valley Road,? one of the main drags, said Pardalos, recalling her first trip to Montclair. ?I thought, ?I can do this.??

Many others have been slinking off to the town of 37,000, due west of Manhattan, for the reasons that so many people once abandoned the Upper West Side for Brooklyn. Personal space there isn?t at a premium, the pace is sometimes less manic, and there are independent movie theaters and eclectic eateries to assuage discerning, liberal tastes.

Pardalos filled the time spent getting from Brooklyn to Montclair by cheerfully talking about the town?s perks, like commuter trains within walking distance and sophisticated events at the Montclair Art Museum.

When the ?limo? (see below) emerged in Essex County, the brokers directed it through several residential sections of Montclair and the neighboring towns of hyper-affluent Glen Ridge and middle-class Bloomfield.

Keeping in tune with Brooklyn lingo, the tour cruised up ?restaurant row? on Bloomfield Avenue, with a wide range of cuisines, and through Brookdale Park, which was designed by the sons of Frederick Olmsted, Prospect Park?s co-builder (so Montclair?s park is a sequel?).

All the while, the brokers were quick to point out that Montclair prices are better than, say, Ditmas Park. An average three-bedroom house goes for around $700,000.

Some of the Montclair?s most desirable corners for people clinging to city life are in the southern end of town, with its short walk to the train stations, and near the town?s three ?village squares? providing shops and services ? making it the core of New York City?s suburban inner ring.

But this whole ?limo to hell? raised one major question for this Brooklynite: if Montclair is worth giving up Brooklyn for, why did Pardalos and Kulik need to drive people out to the suburbs and buy them lunch?

?It?s hard to get your head around the notion of leaving,? said Pardalos.

Especially with all those Jersey jokes dying hard. (Like this classic: what?s the difference between a Jersey girl and the trash ? the trash gets picked up twice a week. Ba da bing!)

?We?ve don?t care,? said Kulik. ?We know better.?

Real-estate brokers aren?t the only ones extolling the town?s virtues in ways that resonate with people in the Slope.

?I live on a block that is more diverse than where I lived in the city,? said Alma Schneider, a native Manhattanite and social worker who has survived the 12-mile transplant to Montclair.

?A lot of interesting people live here and a lot of New Yorkers are moving here? because ?you come to point where you grow up and you don?t need to be in the city just to be in the city.?

So Schneider and her husband left the East Village, and after a brief stay in a three-bedroom house in Montclair, her family of seven now resides in a ?huge Victorian house? there.

But for all its charms and proximity, Montclair underwhelems some people.

?I would move back to Park Slope in a heartbeat for me, myself and I, but this was about a decision driven by an expanding family,? said Camilla Seth, a mother of two.

Seth and her husband resettled for ?totally stereotypical reasons,? namely, for a bigger home and excellent public schools (that cost about $12,000?$17,000 a year in taxes, by the way), but she feels like a fish out of water.

Her neighbors ?have urban sensibilities, but day-to-day life is suburban. People are driving. People are in their single-family homes. The way they interact is different.

?What this has done is convince me that I am an urban person,? added Seth, who craves the hustle and bustle.

And Montclair is definitely not urban. First, a car is essential.

This concerned Park Slope resident Kendall Bernard, who took the brokers? ?limo? tour.

?Being able to step outside to have everything right there? is important, she said.

Second, a spouse or extremely significant other is virtually mandatory in this family town.

Rumor has it that there?s a singles scene, but it wasn?t on the brokers? tour, alas.

Posted on: 2007/12/7 15:07
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A lot of Park Slopers are moving to the other side of Newark: Maplewood NJ.
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http://www.therealdeal.net/issues/November_2007/1194214265.php

From Park Slope to N.J.: A 'burb beckons
New Jersey brokers court discontented Brooklynites

November 2007
By Claire Levenson

A real estate tip has been going around the soccer field sidelines of Park Slope: If you're having a second child, or just want more space, head for Maplewood, N.J., or its surrounding communities. Transplants report back that their new home is a suburban version of Park Slope, retaining its diversity and social life without most of its headaches. So many people are making the move that it seems like there is a direct link from Brooklyn to the 'burb.

Now there is one, of sorts. Kathy Kulik and Elaine Pardalos, two New Jersey brokers of firm Rhodes Van Note, recently posted a notice of a "Morning in Montclair" limo tour that will pick up six to eight Park Slopers, whisk them to Montclair and the surrounding area, and give them lunch. (The limo will bring back everyone just in time to pick up kids from school.) There have already been several inquiries about the November tour, said Pardalos, who plans to organize another circuit from Manhattan in December.

While it is common for brokers to give individual tours of the Montclair area in their cars, picking up groups in the city seems to be a first. In a similar effort to attract Brooklynites, several New Jersey brokers are increasing their postings on ParkSlopeParents.com, a listserv read by thousands of Park Slope residents.

Ex-Park Slopers who leave to get more space are not looking for a big change. "They want everything they had in Park Slope: the diversity, the restaurants at walking distance, a downtown feeling," said Kulik, a real estate broker who has been living in Glen Ridge for 25 years.

For many years, Judie Hurtado, a freelance writer and native New Yorker, did not think moving to New Jersey was an option. She lived with her husband and daughter in a two-bedroom in Windsor Terrace, steps from Park Slope's cute restaurants and stores. However, the couple knew they wanted a second child, and their Brooklyn apartment had toys scattered everywhere. So three years ago, they moved to Maplewood,
a 30-minute train ride from Penn Station. Although Hurtado says she left the city "kicking and screaming," she found the transition easier than she had thought.

"We loved Maplewood because it didn't feel like New Jersey," she said. "It is a very diverse area, much like Park Slope. There are moms groups, dads groups, gay and lesbian families, families of color, adoptive families; you name it, we probably have it."

After three years, Hurtado still misses Brooklyn. But her friends who stayed in Park Slope live in two-bedrooms, paying just as much as she does for a four-bedroom four-story house.

For Park Slopers looking for good schools, diversity and an easy commute, Montclair, N.J., has been a top destination for years. But more recently, families in search of cheaper properties have started looking at neighboring towns in Essex County, such as Maplewood-South Orange, West Orange, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge and Verona.

"At some point in Montclair, the bidding wars were staggering, and people asked, 'Where else should I go?' Five to six years ago, a cascade of buyers who could not afford Montclair started looking in Maplewood. It is now referred to as the little Montclair," said Roberta Baldwin, a real estate broker at RE/MAX and former Brooklynite who fell in love with Montclair 20 years ago.

Like many other professionals in the Montclair real estate business, Sloan Berman of Burgdorff Realtors is a former Park Slope resident who advertises her services on the Park Slope Parents listserv. "We have old Colonial and Victorian homes, mature trees, parks, great museums. It is an easy transition," Berman said.

With its European town feel, Montclair is still the main draw, but prices there have more than doubled in the past 10 years, and the average selling price for a house is now around $700,000. However, that is still much lower than Park Slope prices, where one-family townhouses sold for $2 million on average in 2006.

In Bloomfield, Verona or Maplewood, it is possible to find a house between $400,000 and $550,000. However, in prime areas of Maplewood, where schools and trains are at a walking distance, bidding wars can be tough. When Hurtado and her husband found the perfect house in Maplewood three years ago, they had to compete with 11 other bidders and ended up paying more than $500,000, which was well over the asking price.

In West Orange, which Baldwin calls the area's "biggest secret," families can get a great colonial for $450,000 to $550,000. There, Kulik recently sold a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house with a small yard for $420,000. The downside is that the town has no train station and no real center, although there are plans for a downtown revitalization to start next year.

Another selling point is the area's reputation for being welcoming to gay couples. Amy Halperin and her partner moved from Park Slope to Maplewood two and a half years ago. "The gay-friendly atmosphere was the major reason we moved, since we have a child," Halperin said. At the local preschool, there are several two-mom and two-dad families.

Halperin, who is an artist, said that property taxes are very high, but that it still
ends up being cheaper than private school in Brooklyn. She lives a block away from
the Tuscan school, one of the highest-rated elementary schools in the area. The average property tax is $6,531 a year in Essex County, which is about twice the national average. For a $600,000 house in Montclair or Maplewood, taxes are approximately $10,000 a year. "We love our home and hope we are not forced out because of the taxes," Halperin said. "We may eventually size down in Maplewood if necessary."

Many transplants say they miss the restaurants and shops of Brooklyn, but these New Jersey towns are slowly becoming more vibrant. It is especially true for Montclair, which has around 50 restaurants. And once they have moved to the suburbs, many Park Slopers feel relief at leaving the maddening realities of city life (such as alternate-side parking) behind.

Stacey Cermak, a clinical social worker who moved to Montclair from Prospect Heights two years ago with her husband, daughter and dog, has been pleased with the change. She paid $550,000 for a 1925 colonial with a yard that is walking distance from the train to New York, restaurants, shops and a good elementary school. "When we look back at our cramped, intense, irritable way of life in Brooklyn," Cermak wrote in an e-mail, "we breathe a sigh of relief and say, 'What took us so long?'"

Posted on: 2007/11/26 17:33
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