andygens wrote:
Hey Guys--

I have only had time to read the topic not all of the responses so excuse me if I am being repetitive.

Since Oct 2007, I have lived near the corner of Palisade Ave and Griffith Street in the heights and have found it to be a really good experience thus far. I find Ogden to be a very beautiful and quiet block compared to the rest of the area and (almost) never feel unsafe.

My schedule varies incredibly: I am coming home any day of the week at basically anytime all the way up to 4, 5, or 6 am, taking both public transportation, cabs, and my car. Parking is a bit of a pain in terms of alternate side of the road parking but it is by no means unmanageable.

The neighborhood is generally quiet, but urban, and there are a lot of kids around. At least twice a week, I go running from Franklin to Congress on Palisade and back up Ogden.

You should try visiting and walking the area at different times of the day and see if it suits you.


Hope that helps

-A

Standpipe wrote:
Yep, in the 3 years I lived on Palisade Ave, my car got vandalized THREE times on that very block of Ogden (between Griffith and Bower). I think it's a targeted area, cuz it's off the main road, and the cops don't sit out there and monitor it like they used to.

crushthedemoniac wrote:
First off dont tell me im wrong. Just because you have a view on something that differs from mine dosnt give you the right to tell me im wrong.

crushthedemoniac wrote: An area can keep its demographics and still be cleaned up and revitalized. I dont see how gays and artists and yuppies are like the magical solution to fixing a diverse urban area. Yea people that own real estate are making out in the long run but those who rent are getting the short end of the stick in these gentrified areas. Gentrification can sit on a nail for all I care.

bunny22 wrote:
I am so OVER people and they're stupid ignorant yuppie hatred. Labels are the sign of an inferior mind. When I used the word "yuppie," I simply meant gainfully employed, law-abiding and educated people who tend care about their environment. I also meant young couples starting families etc ...for which yuppie isn't really accurate because that's technically the older generation. Whatever. Only a person full of anger and self-loathing, and yes, lack of basic intelligence would take these good qualities and dumb it down into the clich?d horrible "yuppie" ie, sushi-loving, starbuck-drinking robot. It's really not a stretch to say that it was this simple-minded and hostile attitude held by so many, that Hitler took advantage of back in 1930's Berlin. I have a "yuppie" career, I design book jackets for a living. I make very little money. I hate sushi and Starbucks and I REALLY hate being pidgeon-holed, categorised, labeled and then hated by some ignoramus who rejects the positive energy that a new generation can bring to a neighborhood. My father worked in a paper factory and was as blue collar as they come so I have a real love for hardworking Americans but I don't love families abusing the welfare system who generate teens who enter gangs etc...Give me gardens over grafitti and get over your fear of change and progress. You can write whatever nasty response you like because I'm not even going to bother coming to back to this thread.

bunny22 wrote:
As several people have pointed out, every experience is individual.
In your limited experience, the heights is a ghetto and is going downhill. In my (also limited, I admit) experience, the Heights is not a ghetto. It's certainly not Hoboken, either but I have seen the area gentrifying more every year. I've lived in the area for over six years, and the in the last year, in spite of the real estate bust, I've seen the most rapid changes occurring. I would also disagree with you as to the best areas to live. Ogden Avenue is a beautiful and quiet tree-lined street with Victorian homes locaated right on the border of Hoboken. The area on Congress near the light rail is also one of the better areas. I live between Central and Palisade near Fiske Parke and I see more and more yuppies everyday. The Bakery lofts and another new luxury loft building have started the trend of yuppies coming here for cheaper prices and the proximity to Hoboken and Manhattan. There's a new art gallery on Palisade across from the park. Churritos just opened on Central Avenue and was packed when I had dinner there. There's a new vintage clothing store on Bower off of Central, and they're actually taking down aluminum siding and putting up brick facing on Sherman Avenue. Boy, I never thought I would see that. The gentrification of The Cliffs has made Mountain Road a much safter place to walk along. When I first moved here there used to be a skeleton hanging from a tree at the top of Mountain Road and it wasn't Halloween. It's gone now and at the risk of sounding sappy, there are lush flowers and gardens in its place.
It takes a long time for a neighborhood to really improve but I would definitely say it's trending in the right direction. I've chatted with the local police here and there and they all say that there this area is very quiet compared with Greenville or Bergen-Lafeyette, both of which are true ghettos. They should know since that's what they do. Just my 2 cents.

Using this analogy, any building anywhere could turn into a dangerous place to live. This could happen in any part of the city.

Xerxes wrote:
Quote:

Where is this BEST area?

Remember, it take only ONE tenant to turn a building into a CRACKHOUSE or one psychotic to make the place dangerous!

Where is this BEST area?

NewHeights wrote:
Xerxes

It really does sound like you lived in a crackhouse, even the projects arent that bad. I

have lived in the heights for over 4 years and have made many friends in the area. Not one of them ever had an altercation or any violence against them. I havent had my car broken into once.

When I lived in hoboken for 5 years I had my apartment broken into and my car stolen.

Xerxes wrote:
I moved away from the Heights because I judged it UNSAFE...my car had been hit and runned twice, my tires had been slashed, drugs were being dealt out of my unlocked apartment building, parties of non-tenants teens were occurring regularly on the roof with beer bottles tossed into the street, my TV antenna was ripped apart a couple times and the piece de resistance...someone threw a Molov cocktail at his sister's boyfriend's door torching the hallway up three flights...fortunately nobody was killed. The boyfriend was 40 years older than the "sister" in question.

And that was in a MUCH nicer area than Palisade Avenue, perhaps the BEST area.

That's a fair definition of unsafe.

Generally SAFE and NONPOOR, regardless of color, are decent synonyms.