Wow. Looks like someone is having a bad day. But I get parts of what you're saying. Kinda. In a less cynical, sarcastic way.

cough cough cough

sorry, i was busy choking on the irony.

that's not an ode

I moved to Jersey City in 1998.
I moved to Jersey City in 1998 from Europe in order to work in New York City and to escape the pretense of the Big Apple.
Eleven years ago this was a \"down to earth place\". It was \"uncool\" to live here by Manhattan standard. That was exactly what I was looking for.
The last thing I wanted was uninspired white American middle class taste and the culture of entitlement that seems to be favorably exercised by millions of citizens in this country. By complaining about minor BS like toddlers about missing toys.
JC List is a wonderful example.
I never have moved to an area before and expected the area to change for me. A lot of Americans seem to have a different take on that.
In 1998 \"Hard Grove\" was a Cuban Cafe. Not the copy of a Cuban Cafe. The plates were full, prices very reasonable, the music salsa and the waitress was Lisa. Lisa was an excellent waitress, known in the neighborhood, fast, funny and unpretentious.
\"Hard Grove\" is now a \"place to go\". Lisa is fired and the waiters wear skinny jeans. It is mostly pretty empty, atmosphere is missing and the food is mediocre.
But Newark Avenue has benches now. I guess black people didn\'t need a place to rest back in the day.
And Steven Fulop holds his Fund Raisers in the acutely authentic German beer garden where they all meet: the yuppies, the hippsters and the exerted pushchair owners. (It can\'t be any old pushchair though.) The folks you wanted to attract by giving it up for the investor. Our good old Jersey City.
In the morning I can watch the fitness idiots in Van Vorst Park. In fact, if I had the time, I could watch them all day. They are stretching and falling all over each other, because there is no bloody space in between them and the disciplined white husband (white is for me, by the way, a life approach, not the skin color) who is taking the pathetic idea of a dog for a walk. Because his nerve wracking blue eyed \"OHHH MY GOOOD THIS IS SOOO FUNNY\" girl friend/wife, he has stopped bedding a while ago, makes him do it.
The other morning I sat by the fountain and I saw one of these guys who have the hair in their face and a full beard. I ask my friend about the intention and he says:\"It is not a beard. It is the ironic take on a beard.\" I wish you would take your ironic beard back to Alpine.
We also have pet photographers in the neighborhood now. And little shops where people can buy shit they don\'t need to keep the economy going. Meanwhile they are complaining about stores on Newark Avenue where you can -actually- buy things you do need. Mostly for a dollar. And that was fine the past decade. Everybody was happy with that. Not anymore.