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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
 
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This is an interesting short video about the effect of heavy traffic on the quality of life of neighborhood streets:
http://www.streetfilms.org/revisiting ... pleyards-livable-streets/
Posted on: 2011/1/24 14:37
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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that road is such a sh#tshow; I don't see how this waste of money will benefit the neighborhood at all. It'll be nice to have drivable blacktop, but the downside will be a bunch of maniacs hurrying in and out of NYC playing Frogger with the locals trying to cross the street.
Posted on: 2010/11/8 3:04
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Jersey City's Columbus Drive to become six-lane roadway during peak traffic hours
Published: Sunday, November 07, 2010, 7:34 PM Melissa Hayes/The Jersey Journal Melissa Hayes/The Jersey Journal It may not be the Autobahn but cars will soon be able to zip through the heart of Downtown Jersey City on a six-lane roadway. And to create six lanes on Christopher Columbus Drive, residents will have to give up street parking during peak hours. The $3.4 million streetscape project has already replaced old, dilapidated sidewalks, with charcoal concrete stamped to look like stonework. The walkways have been narrowed to widen the road. But even with those adjustments, motorists will be prohibited from parking on the eastbound side from 7 to 9 a.m. and the westbound side from 4 to 6 p.m. on weekdays. Downtown City Councilman Steven Fulop stands opposed to eliminating parking in the congested neighborhood. "I think we should revisit the plan to keep the parking once it is repaved and avoid Columbus becoming a speedway," Fulop said last week, adding that he will take up the matter with the City Council and administration. Work on the road began in April and crews have already replaced sidewalks with charcoal-colored concrete, stamped to look like stone pavers. Decorative street lamps are being added and trees are being planted along the road. The project will also improve drainage by upgrading catch basins, which will have bicycle-safe grates that will prevent large chunks of debris from entering the sewers. New state-of-the-art traffic lights, monitored by cameras, will be installed to improve timing and reduce traffic congestion. Pedestrian countdown lights are also being installed. The last major part of the project is milling and paving, which city officials say they are in the process of scheduling. If that is not completed this year, it will be done in early spring. The project is being funded with a $989,140 Jersey City Urban Enterprise Zone grant, and $2.24 million in capital funding from the city.
Posted on: 2010/11/8 2:09
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Just can't stay away
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The spacing does not even make sense. Are they are going to remove the old street lights??
Posted on: 2010/9/22 15:18
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Most of the renovation in DTJC looks like one of those student art projects where you make something out of discarded new and used items.
Posted on: 2010/9/22 14:10
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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And in the latest design screw-up in the cluster**** that is Columbus Drive, last week they installed the decorative lampposts.
I counted the number of lamp posts installed on three blocks: From Monmouth to Varick: 1 From Varick to Jersey: 2 From Jersey to Barrow: 2 That's right, 3 long blocks and only 5 of the new lamp posts. Another half-assed effort on a half-assed project.
Posted on: 2010/9/22 13:52
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Yeah and those sidewalks with the standard concrete look 10 x's better than what we got.
Posted on: 2010/8/12 16:26
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Just can't stay away
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It is the small island where the two traffic lights sit on. I also just noticed the new sidewalks from Warren to Washington have a standard concrete pour.
Posted on: 2010/8/12 15:05
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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There is now an island at Marin and Columbus? I haven't seen it as of a few days ago...
Posted on: 2010/8/12 14:25
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Just can't stay away
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Quote:
I was thinking the same thing!!! Why can't we have a nice flow of old style black traffic lights? This entire project is a complete waste of money. The streetlights are going to be different from the other 70 different kind of streetlights we have downtown. The island at Marin Blvd and C.C. Drive was just poured with regular concrete. They forgot that they were suppose to use the colored mix. 
Posted on: 2010/8/11 22:35
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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I dont understand the new street/stop lights. They look exactly the same as the existing one except that the new ones are right in the middle of the sidewalk and corners. What's the point?
as for the trash, I always see a middle aged guy sweeping and cleaning in the mornings. (really nice of him) It's amazing how dirty it gets by the afternoon. It looks like construction has totally stopped. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's been like two weeks.
Posted on: 2010/8/11 16:21
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Quite a regular
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All the work that goes on appears to lack someone who can oversee the greater vision, not so much technical aspect but even the aesthetic one. Nothing seems to work together at all. It feels like one guy was in charge of finding whatever traffic lights he could find...another guy was in charge of just finding traffic signs....etc...Now lets just throw these all together and see what happens.
I have always hoped that downtown 'historic' jc might actually sustain or promote some character, charm and appeal, that Newport & Exchange Place does not have. Those hopes are gone and in their place now i'd be happy to just see a cleanly paved street with some trees. Would even this be too much to hope for?
Posted on: 2010/8/11 16:06
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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The whole entire project is not only an exhorbitant waste of money, but more importantly it's also a huge waste of a HUGE OPPORTUNITY for improvement.
And yes, Columbus is disgusting. The houses are disgusting, the trash is disgusting, and the speedway that it is going to be will be disgusting.
Posted on: 2010/8/11 15:28
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Supposed to look like Bluestone. Colored concrete, when mixed and finished properly, can be a very close and suitable substitution for real Bluestone. See the walkways in Van Vorst Park as an example. The concrete work done on Newark and being done on CCD is not very good at all. More disturbing on CCD is that I see the new traffic lights and poles are the same aluminum style as the old ones. I really would have thought the new ones would be the black (fake) old style to match what's down around Exchange Place..... It makes me wonder what style the new streetlights are going to be.
Posted on: 2010/8/11 15:23
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Quite a regular
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This is more of a vent than anything, but Christopher Columbus, between Varick and Grove is like a warzone. The construction and garbage is just so so excessive. Hopefully, if and when the construction is all done, it will look a little better.
I also do find it amazing that people will sit on their stoop for hours at a time, without even considering picking up the trash that surrounds them. And lastly, what's with the dark concrete that is being used to replace the sidewalks (this is on Newark Ave as well). Might be just me, but it really does not appear to add any aesthetic value to the street and just looks kind of messy.
Posted on: 2010/8/11 14:59
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Quote:
Hey. I hadn't seen these. Good work!
Posted on: 2010/7/10 19:27
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Is it me, or does it appear as if ALL work has stopped? again?
Posted on: 2010/7/10 19:22
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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A bad idea gets worse....
So in observing the everyday progress of the CCD work, I've noticed that at the SW corner of CCD and Varick, the street is not getting widened where the existing curb bump-out is because this is where Dixon has that driveway that goes to their garage. The new curbs are being formed around it, preserving the bump-out. Now if the aim was to add traffic to the right hand lane next to the sidewalk, that lane is going to abruptly end where the bump-out is which in turn will have created a brand-spanking-new bottleneck where cars will have to merge. Sheer genius.
Posted on: 2010/5/7 14:16
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Quote:
No doubt millions of dollars in contracts awarded with all that entails in this city. Is there even ONE SINGLE person who thinks this is a good use of scarce funds or that it will improve the quality of life here? Mr. Fulop?
Posted on: 2010/4/30 23:52
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I live by the river.
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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The new sidewalk along Dixon from Monmouth to Varick is being poured around the trees, the majority of which have been saved.
Posted on: 2010/4/29 16:52
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Quote:
hopefully its that bazillion dollars I lost several years back from my long lost rich uncle with no heirs.
Posted on: 2010/4/29 16:43
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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A median would be very nice. It's not even THAT expensive of an option. It'd be nice to have flowers and trees in a planter there. It would REALLY make the street look significantly nicer.
Althea, do you have any knowledge as to why the median was scrapped?
Posted on: 2010/4/27 16:08
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Huh. So it's not the wiring then? Mysterious...
Posted on: 2010/4/27 15:39
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Thank you for the clarification. Personally, my concern is related more to the lack of a median with greenery (similar to Washington Blvd in Newport or lower Montgomery Street). Having a five lane roadway will be treacherous for pedestrians as well as asthetically being an eyesore. The need to take trees down, although not ideal, is understandable to accomplish a project per specifications. I do wish that there would be replacement of the trees rather than the potted plants, however if that is the only option, the preference would be to have the pots contain trees rather than small bushes.
Posted on: 2010/4/27 15:22
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Hey guys,
I am just following up on this issue. Some have expressed concern that this initial post was very alarmist with no call to action. We deeply apologize for this. This was not the intent, just to alert you to a situation for which we had very little information on at the time and were in a rush to halt a process per the law. We are still trying to gather information on exactly how many trees will be removed and where. The initial information was the trees all along Columbus because of the vaults. The following is a portion of the message from engineering: "Please be advised that the only trees that the contractor will be removing now are only those five (5) trees that were illegally planted some years ago on top of an existing concrete vault under the entire sidewalk area in front of Dixon Mills. This vault is about one foot below the sidewalk surface, and the concrete vault is 70' long by 14' wide by approximately 8' deep. We only discovered this vault when we remove the existing concrete sidewalk in this area." We are still pushing for a hearing because the whole point of the ordinance is to have open communication with the community on why the trees will be removed. We were told that the vault runs the entire block (12-13 trees), so no one was able to say for certain that it is only 5 trees being removed. We are waiting to hear back from the contractor, Medina. The Parks and Forestry Department seems to be saying that since the trees were planted illegally in the first place that the law does not apply. To those asking what is meant by the vault. No one seems to know what it contained or why it is there. It was only just discovered by the construction company and upon inquiries by the Engineering division, there is no access to it from the Dixon Mills building, only from manholes above it. The vault is not being removed because it would be extremely expensive to remove it. There will be no replacement trees, however, the engineering division suggested a potted solution. Hopefully with a hearing this will be elaborated on. Sincerely, Althea Bernheim Ward E Council Office Quote:
Posted on: 2010/4/27 13:54
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soshin: Mention guns and bd pops up through a hole in the ground like a heavily armed meercat
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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I've never found any proposed plans for the Columbus Drive widening project. The closest that I found was a reference in the Jersey City Waterfront Access and Downtown Circulation Study dated 2007. Click on "Executive Summary" and go to section 4.2. It makes reference to the widening of Columbus Drive as something already approved. But I cannot find anything with more detail. And I don't know who approved it, and when.
Does anyone remember this issue being publicly heard and approved before 2007? I don't. Even so, the world has changed in the past few years. The financial crisis has seriously constrained the pace of development. Our local political climate is changing. Now is the perfect opportunity to rethink a bad decision. With more transparency this time.
Posted on: 2010/4/26 19:21
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Quite a regular
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That would be simply 'awesome' if they did that too - It'll be like living on the turnpike.
Posted on: 2010/4/26 18:07
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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BTW, has anyone heard about bus lanes? I heard something about them being included in the project.
Is there a site with the project plan?
Posted on: 2010/4/26 17:33
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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"The number of bike riders in NYC has increased 28% over last year, according to an annual estimate by Transportation Alternatives, using DOT data... The continued cycling boom is largely attributable to the DOT's commitment to increasing bike lanes throughout the city. The city has installed more than 200 miles of bike lanes over the past three years, including 5 miles of physically-separated bike lanes."
--Gothamist.
Posted on: 2010/4/26 17:26
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Re: Trees along Christopher Columbus drive
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Home away from home
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Quote:
When you reply to a specific post, look down to the left under "options" and see the "quote" button. Hit that button first and the post you're replying to will appear in the blank white field. Then you can either post your statemens above the quote or below the quote. If you want only to reply to a specific part of the post (as I am doing here to your post), simply delete all words you don't want in quote and post the "quote tag" after the last word. Here I've posted [...] to show that your post continues but I didn't use the rest and the tag is: [/ quote] with the space removed before the word quote Hope this helps, though I disagree with all your points! Cheers! 
Posted on: 2010/4/26 16:10
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