no kidding.. i gotta watch this show. i think i was flipping through channels one day and i saw a commercial for it but i never actually watched it

Does anyone watch the show DEA on Spike TV? Last night one of the bust on the show took place in this projects at the high rises. The show is based in North Jersey, and Hudson County has been in it every episode so far. Even the Coach House Diner on Kennedy was the site of a drug bust on this show.

HOME STINKING HOME

Wednesday, February 25, 2009
By CHARLES HACK
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

As the old A. Harry Moore public housing complex in Jersey City gets taken down, the gleaming new Gloria Robinson Court Apartments on Duncan Avenue rise as its replacement.

More than 600 tenants have already moved into temporary or permanent housing, many with hopes of returning to the new multifamily townhouses, the third phase of the A. Harry Moore Revitalization Program.

But 23 families still live in three 12-story brick buildings at the site that haven't been demolished, refusing to leave for one reason or another. For them, daily life is a grim affair.

These tenants say they have been left without on-site security. As a result, drug dealers, drug users and squatters lurk in hallways.

The stench of urine fills elevators. Graffiti is scrawled inside and outside the buildings.

"People who don't live here come up in the elevators, do drugs like weed and crack," said Marilyn Carrero, who lives in a first-floor apartment.

"The people who are living here are being affected by people who don't live here, and that is not fair."

Last month, the Jersey City Housing Authority moved the development's full-time manager to another site, officials confirmed. A regional asset manager now oversees the buildings.

For maintenance, repairs and other management questions, residents have been instructed to contact the office at the Marion Gardens public housing complex, about a mile away on Routes 1&9, by phone or in person.

"It's really sad they moved her (the manager)," said Granada Cherry, who lives in a third-floor apartment with her 21-year-old daughter. "She was so helpful. She should have been here until the last resident was gone."

JCHA Executive Director Maria Maio agrees that living conditions for the remaining tenants are tough.

But, she said, by next week only seven tenants will remain in the buildings.

"It is not a safe place for people to live, and that is why they should move," Maio said. "It is not safe for staff as well. But we are continuing to provide services we have always provided."

The tenants who still live there give different reasons for their dilemma.

Carrero has a 10-year-old autistic son and wanted to move to Hudson Gardens because it is quiet, has "no traffic" and "no fighting." She recently signed up for a Section 8 voucher, but said she hasn't had the time to look for a place.

Cherry, a guard at School 39 on Plainfield Avenue, said she is holding out for a two-bedroom apartment at Marion Gardens or Hudson Gardens, since those locations would make for an easier commute to and from work.

Maio said the holdouts have run out of excuses. The buildings were supposed to empty by December and the JCHA notified tenants they had to move 27 months ago, far in excess of the three months required by law, she said. The JCHA will take legal action as a "last resort," she said.