I live on Astor bought a place here about a year ago and can't complain. The neighbors are very nice even got my sidewalk shoveled a couple of times during snow but walk down 2 blocks towards LP and communipaw looks a bit rough, seemed like they invested on the strip years ago but it has a way to go.

I believe this is a JCEDC property. Such a cool building.

I've heard that Whitlock Cordage was proposed as an artists residence by a developer - has there been any progress on this by the state ?

There's a meeting with Ben Delisle about a skate park in the new Berry Lane Park. He's the City's project manager for the park.

The meeting will be at Fountain of Salvation Church, 324 Communipaw (corner with Pine) on Wednesday, Feb 20, at 7PM.

Oh, you asked about the commute. I go to Brooklyn every day and while I don't love taking three different trains, again, the neighborhood beats it every time.

The light rail I am not sure of since I don't take it really really late, but I've never had a problem around midnight/1 am. It runs often during rush hours, and on the way home, the Bayonne Flier stops at LSP from Exchange Place (though not to it), which is great since it bypasses a couple of stops.

I feel fine and safe going home at night, even more so early in the morning. I have a ten minute walk to the light rail, it's about seven to ten minutes to Exchange Place, and then three to WTC. Not bad. I think when I moved I added about ten or twelve net minutes from what I had before when I just got on the PATH at Grove.

Hope that helps.

Hi! I moved from downtown three years ago because I could afford a large house here for what a closet cost downtown. While I do miss the energy and access of downtown, I love the neighborliness here, the people who live here forever, access to the park, the other parts of JC that I wouldn't have known about, even Bayonne is closer now. My husband and I think it's lovely.

I've lived here for several years, and love it. As you probably know, there are a lot of old, pretty buildings here, and the prices are much lower than downtown. It's one of the only places I've lived where I know all my neighbors, and I've become good friends with a number of them. It's great being close to Liberty State Park, and despite what some downtown JC List people say, I feel safe here. I often go running on my own down to the park or walk solo to downtown, and I've never had a problem. The commute to the PATH is either a 20-minute walk or a quick bus ride, although the bus schedule is annoyingly unpredictable. The light rail is a bit too far for those of us west of Pacific. We also could use some more amenities, but that's starting to change. The bottom line is that I like Lafayette enough that I've bought here, and plan to stay.

Just found this thread while doing some reading / research. Kinda cool to see what people were thinking several years ago.

Whats the area like nowadays ? Think Whitlock is still in limbo, but otherwise I've heard good things and looking for more space than my budget allows downtown.

How late does the lightrail run ? Whats the commute like to the path ?

Would be nice if this area was opened up a little via Jersey Ave bridge to make it more accessible to downtown.

I have lived in this area for six months now. I walk home from the light rail alone and feel totally safe there, but I guess it depends on your personal comfort level, it is no Hamilton Park!

The good thing about this area is you can get double the amount of space for less than what you pay in downtown, and its only a mile away!

If everyone had an open mind about places like this, then they would probably revitalize themselves much faster. I would rather live in a diverse up and coming neighborhood then be cramped into a place downtown, but thats just me.

Quote:

Are you on pacific Ave?

We're the people Dan was referring to that completed a gut-renovation on Pine Street.
This is a VERY quiet street with lots of trees. I lived on Communipaw Ave near Pacific before this and the difference in street noise is unbelievable. Communipaw Ave. was always loud, treeless and ugly. This street has a bit of charm.

There really are no amenities here, like cafes, restaurants, bars, bagel shops, etc. But its OK for now since I'm an avid bicyclist and can get downtown in 5 minutes. With two kids, there's not much time for hanging out at the local cafe anyway.
Also, whatever new retail comes online at Liberty Harbor North will be very accessible to us. ( 15 minute walk)

Its still a good place to buy I believe, especially if you need more room. Take a look at 181 Pine Street if you're ready for a renovation project! (probably a tear-down unfortunately)

miles

I <3 this thread!!!!!! All these good things about other neighborhoods....

I have lived all over this town (Lincoln Park, McGinley Square, Paulus Hook, and Hamilton Park). I have been in Lafafette for three years and have never had any problem whatsoever. My kids have left bikes and basketballs in the front yard and nobody touches them. The neighborhood kids come over and shoot baskets in the hoop I put up and are friendly, polite, and respectful. My neighbors are real neighbors. Even with the big shift in the place, there is a sense that the place is more stable than other neighborhoods- a greater proportion of people viewing it as their home rather than their waystation- although there are enough people passing through to keep it interesting. No, no Starbucks. Would really like Legal Beans to open something though. Doubt that there will be enough people in the area to support something like that for another ten years.

not so ironic.

same thing happened with me.
crime happens in all neighborhoods.

I've been burglarized in hoboken twice, as well as had my car window smashed (for no apparant reason except some dumb drunk hobokenite had nothing better to do after a night on the town drinking). I rather someone break my window and steal something they actually need!

I think what draws people to the downtown JC area are a couple of things

1) price -> yes, people feel more comfortable in a neighborhood they are paying more to live in (rent or buy). Unfortunately for all those that have purchased recently, get ready to lose money...all those apartment have been overpriced for quite some time now. (good job realtors!)

2) the existence of a starbucks (not sure if anything else draws the yuppie crowd more)

3)demographics/race - unfortunate this day in age, but the race/ethnicity of the majority of residents has given this neighborhood a bad rap. This is not a problem with the neighborhood, it is a problem with people who still can't see through that.

I love the people in lafayette and enjoy all the conversations I have had with them (old, young, white, black, hispanic, whatever). Much better then the crappy conversations in hoboken.

here is a prior discussion thread on this topic.

Bergen Lafayette

btw, friends recently completed a gut rehab on Pine, looks great!

I've lived here for over 3 years now. No, I do not attend these meetings, but I should and will. Someone please get on my case and email me, because i do care about this area, and see huge potential in it. I moved here , because i needed more space, didn't want the same cookie cutter condos and couldn't afford a brownstone downtown. Yes, there is plenty of things that need to improve, but they do week by week. I loved living downtown , but as others had my car broken into several times, never here. there is a community feel here , and i like that a lot about this area. Lived on Lafayette in a row house and loved it there. Now I'm closer to the light rail on Monitor which also being renovated/developed. I would love a little coffee shop kind of breakfast/brunch/lunch spot also. I think if you look into it, talk to people in the area , you'll be pleasantly surprised. Need a few more years of improvements , but the opening of Withlock Mills, the never ending/starting developments on Johnston and Monitor will rejuvenate the area even more. But you have to love our churches, and the old row houses , and i think one day soon, this will be a really cool spot to live. Until then, lets work on it, like others did. I remember riding my bike in Paulus hook without all the luxury condos and chased by crack heads with pipes. Thanks to the bike i was faster:). You'll be fine, use common sense

1. The neighborhoods fine. There's a good hangout bar and 3/3 bodegas between Pacific and the light rail have great coffee.
2. Could use a cafe/restaurant (if your entrepreneurial)
3. Walk around - Pacific south of Communipaw is beautiful; Lafayette between Pacific and Halladay too.
4. The cost savings are worth it.
5. In the interest of full disclosure I am leaving. But for work. So I'm looking for renters.

By the way: my car got broken into in downtown 3 times and never in Bergen-Lafayette. Ironic.

I definitely respect your decision linky. Everyone has to choose what is best for them. For whomever is moving please contact commblock@msn.com. This is the mailbox for the communipaw ave block association. The Morris Canal coalition meets at St. John's the first thursday of every month at 6:45 pm except next month it will be pushed since its July 4th.

I have waited about 25 years for change in our neighborhood , I will participate in making it better than downtown or the heights, but I feel that people need to unite and know their neighbors. It's not an easy thing. Believe it or not we have a huge problem with Absentee owners...and have battled this for years. When homeowners make money on their rentals but don't bother to know who they are renting to its a big problem. We have people from all over NY and NJ who are the biggest culprits in not being a part of our neighborhood.
We have a 10 pm curfew that was enforced briefly because the community group got on the JCPD's and JC admin case.

I will post all the meetings this weekend and hopefully some of you can come out and get to know your neighbors. We would love to have more participants.

Also before we start bad mouthing certain streets please be aware that there are good people on all the lafayette blocks.

Thanks

Thanks for the great responses. I can see that Lafayette by the light rail is going to move in a better direction as long as the right people are involved in making the community better. I drove around and saw that like most jersey city neighborhoods outside of the path stations, certain streets are worse off than others but overall it's pretty decent.

I lived in Greenville for a year by the Afro American Museum and the apartment was great, neighborhood was pretty much fine. I lived in the heights by Pershing Park for a year, neighborhood was rough on certain streets.

But most neighborhoods outside of downtown have the same problem. Lack of good public transportation, not enough stores in walking distance. I'm still interested in moving, what are the better streets in Lafayette? Where are the problem spots? What exactly would help this neighborhood become a better place?

Lafayette, I did try to get involved. I used to go to the CABA meetings while we renovated and while we lived there........Rosalyn Browne is wonderful. My husband and I just became really frustrated with a lot of the ignorance and apathy of the people around us. We tried to get people to sign up and have the city plant trees in front of their houses on our block. We gave them the fliers and even offered to pay. We had a terrible rat problem in our house and the four houses attached to ours that shared a common attic. For six months I worked ceaslessly to try and get the others to deal with it, but it was like banging my head against a wall. My husband and I just lost hope, especially after having rats running around in our walls for months with a baby and toddler in the house. (Between battling the hundreds of flies that germinated on the rat carcasses in our walls and dealing with the smell of rotting rats I truly almost lost my mind).

And I've lived here all of my life. While Harsimus Cove and Paulus Hook went through some tough times, they were never as bad as Lafayette. I do admire the tenacity of the people, newcomers and old residents alike, who are trying to make Lafayette better. Selling our beautiful house that we put so much blood, sweat and tears into was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made in my life, but we decided that we didn't want to wait for the kids to be in college before the neighborhood was nice.


we live in a cramped condo near Hamilton Park now and it's really great for the kids and us. We sold our home to two women who are really happy there and have made it even more beautiful. No regrets here. And good luck working for a better Lafayette. I would love to see it get better.

Lafayette:

I guess I am one of the guilty ones who doesnt' make it to meetings. I appreciate what you guys do and will try to make it in the future.

Linky:

That has not been my experience. My old kid is skittish and wishes I lived in Hoboken. My younger one is fine. BTW, at the old house in Harsimus cove, we had our share of junkies in the backyard, gun shots in the air. I actually am constantly amazed at how quite the neighborhood is. In that sense it does remind me of Paulus Hook in the early 90s.

Publius

Sorry to hear about your bad experience Linky. Again, we have been battling issues like this in Greenville and lafayette for a long time. We have the police come to the CABA meetings every month with very little turnout from the community. We have cleanups with no turn out from community members. We have meetings to ask for support when our post office closed , when our bus lines were trying to be canceled.
Unlike groups in downtown we work on ZERO funding, no contributions just personal monies from people who care. We can't hire a lawyer when JC administration changes our REdevelopment plan for incoming new developers and we see a constant effort on some people to divide and conquer. Again if people don't work together it will take longer to make improvements and entice those nice establishments to come to our neighborhood. The city rather let building rot empty than to sell to a local. and we all know that blighted areas attract scum. I can go on and on...If you're going to be part of a neighborhood, get involved.

It's really hard to say as it definitely does depend on your tolerance level and what you're looking for.

We bought a house there, gut renovated it, lived there for eight months and sold because we couldn't stand it. There are no decent restaurants, delis, stores, amenities etc. However, there are a lot of nice neighbors down there, but there is also a fair share of drug dealers and hoodlums.

We moved mainly because we had kids. It wasn't very nice to see my three-year old looking out the ground floor window on a snowy day to see a strung out junkie staggering a foot away from her or to have to wake up at midnight and be taken out of her bed in the front of the house because of gunshots. If you like it a little edgy and you're single it might be fine though., Also, I would not want to live there without a car. I also learned that I have a low tolerance level for a lot of stuff.

There are a lot of nice folks who bought down there who really like it, including a friend of mine who bought before the lite-rail. They are surely going to reap the benefits one day, but renting might be a different story.

Space was the reason I bought a row house on Pacific two years ago- too late to get in before the places appreciated. I have had only good experience with old timers and new comers alike. My car has never been touched and I took off all the bars and put in floor to ceiling inswing casement windows and no one has screwed with them. The family that moved in behind me into a brand new set aside has loud distruptive parties into the night when the weather is nice, but that is about it. I don't have to commute to the City anymore but would not appreciate the need for a transfer. Webb Park is really very nice and when folks start moving in to Whitlock Cordage. There are two things that would prevent this from ever becoming Paulus Hook: It is a step removed from Manhattan. You will always need to transfer; there is a significant amount of public housing that will guarantee that the neighborhood remains diverse. To me, this can be a good thing. However, why do all of these set asides have to have the worst architects in the world. Why can't they just follow the idiom of a 19th century city? Also, the neighborhood was never designated historic despite the fact that it dates from the same time as Paulus Hook, V V, Harsimus, and HP. Thus, there are market abominations like those stuccco things with a garage.

I've lived here all my life and I have seen many changes. It's certainly not downtown or hoboken (yet) but there are many good people in the area. A few bad apples spoil it for everyone else but we have 2 strong community groups (Communipaw Ave. Block Association and Morris Canal Coalition) that struggle to get people involved in pushing for quality of life and encourage involvement from both newcomers and those who have seen that changes and have lived here through all the bad times.
PM me for more info. These 2 groups are credited with pushing for improvments to Webb park and for trying to get rid of abandoned and derelict buildings.
Unfortunately the franchises don't think we deserve to have nice stores in our neighborhood like starbucks or a panera bread. They are wrong.

Quote:

But remember: Pioneers get the arrows, settlers get the land.

It all depends on your tolerance level, if your expecting another paulus hook your WAY outta your leauge. I dont have any living experience in that area so I cant speak first hand but its no secret that the area is not good. Your not gonna find any bistros or starbucks or any of that crap either. Defenitly look into it more before making any decisions, like drive around at night in the summer, that should give you a good impression of the area.

I?ve had my business on lower Communipaw for 23 years and the area is still a work in progress. If you like being a pioneer, it?s possible to buy or rent a large space for 1/3 the cost of downtown. I?ve felt safe there for the last 15 years, but as with any area you must be street smart.

Webb park (on Lafayette) was renovated two years ago, the 300 unit Whitlock Cordage residential complex should be completed this summer, the city is getting ready to build a massive recreational facility on Garfield off of Communipaw, and a number of brownstones have been purchased by young entrepreneurs.

In a few years this area will appreciate but certainly not like downtown; moving there is a matter of your risk level.

I've lived in jersey city for 5 years. The last 2 years I've lived in an apartment in Paulus Hook but the size is small. I know I can probably find a place by Grove or Hamilton Park but I hear I can get a large cheap apartment in the Lafayette/Communipaw area near the liberty state park light rail station.

I've driven in the neighborhood and it seems to me that the neighborhood is not exactly good and not exactly bad.

Does anyone have any experiences living there? Is crime bad? Car theft? There doesn't seem to be much in the neighborhood besides apartments, small delis and beautiful churches. Would it be wise to move there? I want to hear from people who know.