Newark: Real Estate, Development, News, & Politics [Archive] - Page 4

block944

November 26th, 2008, 08:16 PM

Boy dies after car was struck by stolen vehicle in Newark

by Jeffery C. Mays (jmays@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Wednesday November 26, 2008, 1:50 PM

A 10 year-old boy died this morning after being ejected from the car he was riding in when it was struck by a stolen vehicle, said Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
Both the boy and his mother were thrown from their vehicle late Tuesday when an Acura -- one of two stolen vehicles being pursued by authorities --- struck them at the intersection of Orange Street and Myrtle Avenue in Newark, authorities said.
The boy and his mother were taken to University Hospital in critical condition. The boy, who was on life support, was pronounced dead today at about 10:30 a.m. The boy's mother is still listed in critical condition. Authorities have not yet released their names.
According to preliminary accounts, East Orange police first observed the Acura and a stolen BMW driving recklessly in the area of Hollywood Avenue and North Ninth Street Tuesday night. East Orange police chased the cars to the Newark border on Orange Street, but broke off their pursuit at the border, according to Newark police spokesman Detective Todd McClendon.
The fatal crash took place a few blocks away at 11 p.m.
Two of the Acura's three occupants ran away, and one was apprehended by police after a brief chase, McClendon said. The remaining suspect was trapped in the vehicle and taken into custody. Both suspects also were taken to hospitals, one to University Hospital and the other to East Orange General Hospital.
The BMW fled the accident scene and remained at large early this morning, the detective said.
Loriquet said the two suspects have been charged with receiving stolen property. Police are trying to determine who was driving the vehicle and possible additional charges while also searching for the third suspect. Authorities have not released the suspects' identities.

tommyguy

November 27th, 2008, 06:34 PM

Neighbors mourn two victims of auto crash

Newark Police Deny Chasing Crash Car

Thursday, November 27, 2008 BY JEFFERY C. MAYS
Star-Ledger Staff

A 10-year-old boy died yesterday from injuries he suffered in a car crash in Newark caused by a stolen vehicle that had been involved in a police chase 15 minutes earlier in neighboring East Orange, said Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow.

Anevdy Breton and his mother, Joselin Breton, 34, of Newark, were thrown from their 2001 Toyota Corolla late Tuesday when an Acura -- one of two stolen vehicles pursued by authorities several minutes earlier -- struck their car at Orange Street and Myrtle Avenue in Newark, authorities said. Anevdy and his mother were taken to University Hospital in critical condition following the 11 p.m. crash. The boy, who was on life support, was pronounced dead about 10:30 a.m. yesterday. Joselin Breton is still listed in critical condition.

Yesterday, at the Roseville Avenue apartment where Anevdy and Joselin Breton often visited with her mother, friends and neighbors shed tears of disbelief.

Nyjah Murray said Anevdy was close friends with her 9-year-old son, William Camacho. The pair had been in her apartment Tuesday afternoon playing bowling on a Nintendo Wii. William tried to talk about his friend, but his voice cracked and tears began flowing down his face. "They were like each other's family. I called them my 226 kids," Murray said, referring to the address on Roseville Avenue where Joselin Breton's mother lived. "I hope she pulls through. I couldn't even imagine. That was her only child."

East Orange police [had] chased the cars to the Newark border on Orange Street. "Two vehicles were observed speeding through the city and we picked up on them and followed them to our border, where we terminated the pursuit," said East Orange Police Chief Ronald Borgo.

At about 11 p.m., the Acura [stolen last Thursday in Clifton] collided with the car carrying Breton and her son at the intersection of Myrtle Street. Newark police spokesman Detective Todd McClendon said Newark police had not chased the vehicle at any point.

Two of the Acura's three occupants [Eugene Reaves, 24, and Chad Pamplin, 19, both of East Orange] were apprehended by Newark police. The occupants of the second vehicle -- a BMW stole in Edison Tuesday evening -- escaped. The car was found Wednesday abandoned in south Newark.

newark star-ledger@2008

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-12/122776426091191.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

tommyguy

November 27th, 2008, 06:44 PM

These types of incidents are very tragic and always seem so much worse when occurring just before a major holiday. Someone might say 'Oh this could happen anywhere," which is of course very true, but doesn't lessen the impact on the victim or her family.

Kids who steal cars or drive recklessly are implored to consider the danger they're exposing the community too. But with the arrogance (stupidity?) of youth they usually fail to heed the words.

Also, I was ready to question the wisdom of Newark police in chasing the cars in the first place. Unnecessary police pursuits being quite an issue these days. But I discovered, according to the follow up article, Newark PD denies chasing the cars at all.

newarkdevil1

November 28th, 2008, 12:35 PM

Someone over on the njdevs forum posted this in regards to the development by the NJPAC...

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20081128_Phila__s_Dranoff_in_Newark_redevelopment_ for_long_haul.html

Basically Dranoff saying that the project is on target for 2010 and that he wants to develop the other 3 sites as well for a hotel and condo complex. Worth noting is that Shaq's condo project is literally around the street from that. I can't help but wonder if these guys are able to move forward with their projects why Cogswell has not been able to get the Haynes Griffith project off the ground. I know the "old timers" hate it but based on what's moving forward and what's planned, the city's center really has moved from the Broad Market corrider to Mullberry st.

newarkdevil1

November 28th, 2008, 01:21 PM

Also, since this has become a decent debate on this board, I have to wonder what Block wants to contribute other than his anger with the city.

Here are a list of the past posts starting with the most recent:

1. Boy dies after car was struck by stolen vehicle in Newark
2. Camden ranks No. 2 in national crime-ridden-cities list
3.no header
4. The kids ain't safe either:Catching the bus may be a lifesaver for Newark students
5.The crime is moving downtown:One person is killed, two others hurt at Newark club
6.Woman is abducted and forced to withdraw cash in Newark
7.If there is any doubt left is star bucks on broad is closing...
8.No header but you bitching about people not liking your negative spam..
9.Newark Beth Israel Medical Center to lay off 100 employees
10.Devils to Newark: You owe us $800,000
11.Newark Bears file for bankruptcy
12.no header-you bitching about a broken car window
13. no header- Your diatribe on how you think the city is a scumhole (I give you credit at least you gave an opinion here and didn't cut and paste)
14. you bitching there is no development and we are knock down buildings to build walkways.
15.Newark asks lawmakers to exempt Prudential Center from $6M in property tax
16. no header-You bitching about the Klein building not being rennovated and how JC has done it all right
17.no header-Your diatribe on how unsafe NJIT and the neighborhood is and now expensive it is to live in 1180 (THE MOST EXPENSIVE RENTAL COMPLEX IN THE ENTIRE CITY!)
18. You bitching about how much better Harrison's redevelopment plan is vs Newark.
19. No header-You complaining about how dead is is around 1180 with no where to eat.
20.no header-you telling us what fast food places have closed in the gateway
21.no header-starbucks leaving
22.no header-deli closing
23. no header-you asking about a building that was being bulldozed
24. no header- you claiming everything is dead after hockey games

THIS IS TWO MONTHS OF YOUR POSTINGS- NOTICE A THEME HERE!!
Everyone else including Tommygun post both sides of the issues and their opionions. You just manage to be a bitter angry resident of 1180. If you really gave a sh!t you would know the mayors office and the S.I.D. you live in have an open door policy on opinions and suggestions.

I have no patience for the idiots on NJ.com or here that post only negative comments and only choose to see the negatives around them. Seriously block, do you think that I could not find the same junk in the paper about other cities and towns? There is crime in Newark and the state of NJ if you have an opinion on that, the city would love to hear it. If you come to just post your unrelenting hate for your circumstances in life, go sit in your apartment and keep it to yourself.

stache

November 28th, 2008, 02:20 PM

Well I hope I don't sound too crabby but the article you linked to sounded like wishful thinking. My impression of the Haynes Griffith project is that the Feds lost interest in financing it after delays, and they started looking into the past of the developers etc.

tommyguy

November 28th, 2008, 03:13 PM

I don't want to get into any negativity, I really don't, so I will say that while, yes, Block paints a pretty bleak picture of New Jersey's biggest city, he is a resident (and a downtown one at that) so I do feel his comments and postings have a certain validity. I'm interested in reading them.

At the same time, I'd look forward to learning more about, say Nick's in Newark. nd1 were you going to post photos you took? I Googled and did a Star-Ledger word search on Nick's and found nada.

z22

November 29th, 2008, 01:23 AM

stache

November 29th, 2008, 03:03 AM

I can't take credit where it is not due to me. Our very capable BrooklynRider did the merge. :)

tommyguy

November 29th, 2008, 11:40 AM

You wanna talk about tiresome? Know what I'd like? I'd like the name-calling to stop. Pretty pathetic when adults have to resort to terms like 'idiots, yahoos, spammers and trash' to get their points across.

That is so Internet. Shameful really.

I asked Newarkdevils1 where he food-shopped in Newark, what's to do in Newark on weekends? He posted a list of Newark supermarkets, the same one I found when I Googled. He wrote that "you'll find" people in Newark are like people everywhere. As though it's some exotic place, as though I hadn't written I've been going to Newark for forty years. Since before he was born, probably. He wrote that he hopes some day Newark would become a tourist destination. All due respect that seemed ludicrous to me. Ya mean instead of the Big Apple? Even worse it seemed like spin.

But he has the time and energy to go through the list and track two month's of Block's postings? What is that all about? No one finds that objectionable? :(

I have an idea. Let's drop all the personal crap and discuss.....Newark?

66nexus

November 29th, 2008, 12:32 PM

tommyguy

November 29th, 2008, 01:29 PM

If you ask someone what is there to do in Newark on weekends of course they're going to take it that you don't frequent the place.

But I also wrote that I've been visiting Newark regularly for 40 years. I explained in detail the type activities I usually do**. Why do you ignore that?

Anyway, I didn't ask 'What's to do in Newark on weekends?' Like I'm planning on heading over some Saturday night. What I actually asked was, for people who live in downtown Newark, what's the daily humdrum life like? Where do they food shop? Clothes shop? Get their car repaired? Order delivery-takeout at 10 PM. What do they do in Newark on weekends?

It was just something I thought would be interesting to discuss. I also asked people what their connection to Newark was. Why they chose to live in Newark.

Only one person responded and not a very satisfying response at that.

I'll admit, at first when I started getting a lot of hostility, I thought, 'Oh jeez what is this? A realtor's forum? A forum for people in the real estate industry?' I thought no wonder they're so hostile. This is a site for real estate professionals and here I come with a lot of social stuff and they don't want to hear it. I felt foolish. But I read all the guidelines and etc and it's not a real estate industry forum.

66nexus I'm not stupid. I'm certain what you and some of the others are trying to do is make this so negative that I'll give up and stop posting messages. That's SOP on the Internet. But sorry, that doesn't work on me. These overbearing reprimands are wearing, I'll admit, but until I find a group with a livlier discussion this one's going to have to do. I'm here to learn about Newark and I'm not going away.

**(I write a column for a New York-based historical society newsletter -- a small one -- and I visit Newark to go to the New Jersey Room at the Public Library off Broad, to the New Jersey Historical Society downtown. I'm a transit buff and I also visit Newark to ride the City Subway, the Broad Street Light Rail, to spend time at Pennsylvania Station and NJ Transit's Broad Street. Ride the city buses. I used to walk through the Ironbound section to the rail yards off South Street. I have a buddy who grew up in Newark, in the Columbus Homes. Another buddy worked at Newark Airport and bought a house in Ampere. I know someone who taught in Central High School for thirty years. It's not like I know nothing of Newark. And the thing is, I already explained this.)

scrollhectic

November 29th, 2008, 04:49 PM

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/30/realestate/30habitats_600.jpg Tom White for The New York Times

IN TOWN Toni Griffin, director of community development for Newark, lives high above her city in an office building turned apartment house. In her open kitchen, she practices what she has learned in cooking classes.

By FRED A. BERNSTEIN (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=FRED A. BERNSTEIN&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=FRED A. BERNSTEIN&inline=nyt-per)
Published: November 28, 2008

FROM her 20th-floor apartment in Newark (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/newjersey/newark/index.html?inline=nyt-geo), Toni Griffin can see a park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/frederick_law_olmsted/index.html?inline=nyt-per) and three apartment buildings by the great modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Newark, long a symbol of decay, is home to a number of such urban marvels.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/28/realestate/30habitats2_190.jpg (http://javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/11/28/realestate/30habi2.ready.html', '30habi2_ready', 'width=551,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))Tom White for The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/28/realestate/30habitats3_190.jpg (http://javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/11/28/realestate/30habi3.ready.html', '30habi3_ready', 'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))Tom White for The New York Times
Much of the artwork on the walls of her living room, below, was done by Ms. Griffin.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/11/28/realestate/30habitats4_190.jpg (http://javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2008/11/28/realestate/30habi4.ready.html', '30habi4_ready', 'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))Tom White for The New York Times
The dining set is by Herman Miller.

“When I look out, I see great potential,” said Ms. Griffin, 44, an urban planner hired by Newark’s mayor, Cory A. Booker (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/cory_booker/index.html?inline=nyt-per), as the city’s director of community development.

Her first order of business when she took the job 18 months ago was to immerse herself in all things Newark. Required to live within the city limits, she wanted to be as close to the center as possible. But, she discovered, Newark’s downtown is a commercial enclave, rather than a residential one, and the housing options there are few.

Luckily for Ms. Griffin, a private developer had just converted a former office building into 317 rental apartments — the first new luxury building in the city in more than 40 years.

The building, called Eleven80 (for its address, 1180 Raymond Boulevard), has stunning Art Deco details inside and out. And it has new amenities — including a basement bowling alley and a basketball court — that would stand out even in Manhattan (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo).

Before choosing an apartment, Ms. Griffin looked at a dozen available units. Though she is adept at reading floor plans — she studied architecture at Notre Dame before taking up urban planning — she wanted to experience the light and the views.

She settled on a north- and east-facing one-bedroom with a long gallerylike hallway and an open kitchen. From one spot in the kitchen, she can glimpse the Empire State Building (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/empire_state_building/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), about 10 miles away.

Ms. Griffin has filled the apartment, for which she pays $2,200 a month, with modern furniture, including a Herman Miller dining set from the 1960s, which she found at a shop in Hudson, N.Y.

The table is square, which may be her favorite shape; it appears repeatedly in the artwork hanging on the walls. Most were done by Ms. Griffin in oil pastels, her preferred medium. Her other hobby is cooking; she tries to set aside Sunday afternoons to apply what she has learned from classes at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan.

Ms. Griffin, who was born in Chicago, came to Newark after seven years as a planner in Washington (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/washingtondc/index.html?inline=nyt-geo). Before that, she worked in Harlem (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo) for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation. These days, she spends one day a week at Harvard (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/harvard_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org), where she is a visiting critic at the Graduate School of Design.

The rest of the time, her domain is on the fourth floor of Newark’s Beaux-Arts City Hall. There, her staff is working to complete a new master plan for the city and to update a zoning code created more than half a century ago.

Among other things, the new code will require improvements to the blocky two-family houses — the so-called Bayonne Boxes — that have sprung up on many Newark streets.

The larger goal is to position Newark, a walkable city with numerous transportation options, to absorb some of the population growth expected in the New York City (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newyork/newyorkcity/manhattan/?inline=nyt-geo) area over the next few decades. In her previous jobs, in Washington and New York, Ms. Griffin said, “I have been a witness to what introducing residential into a downtown can do to enliven a city.”

Her own building is a case in point. At the time it opened, in the summer of 2006, it was seen as a test of whether people would choose to live in downtown Newark. Right now, says Arthur Stern, the chief executive of Cogswell Realty Group, the building’s developer, 280, or nearly 90 percent, of its apartments are rented. Seventy-five percent of the building’s tenants commute to Manhattan, and more than a third are single women, he said — evidence, to Mr. Stern, that concerns about safety in downtown Newark have abated.

In the 18 months that she has been there, Ms. Griffin said, the number of people on the streets has increased. It helps downtown to have the Prudential Center, the 18,000-seat arena where Ms. Griffin attended her first New Jersey Devils hockey game, as well as the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_jersey_performing_arts_center/index.html?inline=nyt-org), where she saw Jill Scott, the rhythm-and-blues singer and poet.

“It’s like living in walking distance of Madison Square Garden and Lincoln Center (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/l/lincoln_center_for_the_performing_arts/index.html?inline=nyt-org),” she said. Several Newark colleges have also been expanding — and the presence of students helps keep the downtown lively.

Still, central Newark has a long way to go to become a residential neighborhood. Right now, it doesn’t even have a supermarket. (Ms. Griffin shops in the largely Portuguese-American Ironbound district.) She would also like to see “more sit-down restaurants” and a wider variety of shops.
But the amenities at Eleven80 make up for some of what’s missing outside. In addition to the bowling alley and basketball court, there is an extensive fitness center. And there are a series of lounges, decorated in the whimsical style of a boutique hotel, complete with plywood moose heads and a “chandelier” made of acrylic panels bearing photos of a chandelier.

Ms. Griffin tries to see the downstairs spaces as extensions of her 800-square-foot apartment. Recently, she had her staff over for a bowling party.

It was a chance to experience the good life in Newark, something they hope there will be more of.

Marv95

November 29th, 2008, 05:38 PM

Still, central Newark has a long way to go to become a residential neighborhood. Right now, it doesn’t even have a supermarket. (Ms. Griffin shops in the largely Portuguese-American Ironbound district.) She would also like to see “more sit-down restaurants” and a wider variety of shops.

Umm, there's a Pathmark on Bergen Street, located in the Central Ward. These "journalists" need to get their facts straight.

And I shouldn't bring up a old topic, but in reference to the Hahne/Griffith buildings, it's time to level them, including the Klein building. They are eyesores(Hahne looks great on the Broad Street side but on the rear it's falling apart). There is no reason why they should be standing. Cogswell owns these properties; how much could it possibly cost to knock them down?

stache

November 29th, 2008, 07:48 PM

Let's tear down the Ballantine house too. ;)

tommyguy

November 30th, 2008, 12:02 PM

Umm, there's a Pathmark on Bergen Street, located in the Central Ward. These "journalists" need to get their facts straight.

I think the journalist meant central (lower case) Newark as in downtown Newark not Central (upper case) as in Central Ward Newark. And how much you wanna bet it was based on a comment Toni Griffin made?

The point being someone getting off the train at Penn Station would like a supermarket they could stop in at on the way home. It's not really feasible to walk from Penn Station to the Pathmark on Bergen, get a few things, then walk back to eleven80, is it?

I was surprised they estimated 75% of the residents at 1180 work in Manhattan. I guess for some Newark is not so much a place to live in as merely a convenient place to sleep. :)

But it was a very interesting article (I thank scroll for posting) and I would say Newark needs all the Toni Griffins it can get.

scrollhectic

November 30th, 2008, 02:09 PM

Umm, there's a Pathmark on Bergen Street, located in the Central Ward. These "journalists" need to get their facts straight.

And I shouldn't bring up a old topic, but in reference to the Hahne/Griffith buildings, it's time to level them, including the Klein building. They are eyesores(Hahne looks great on the Broad Street side but on the rear it's falling apart). There is no reason why they should be standing. Cogswell owns these properties; how much could it possibly cost to knock them down?

I agree... they can raze everything on that side of Broad Street from Cedar (the Value plus) all the way to Washington Place (except for the buildings facing Washington Park.) I wish there was some way to save the Griffith building though. And maybe the front facade of the S. Klein. I think they have an esthetic and history that should be incorporated into any new development in that area. The Kislak has no architectural value, but if it got a major facelift ("nice" ground floor retail, renovated offices or apartments or art space or whatever on the upper levels) it could stay.

I also think the Washington Park area would be PERFECT for residential development. IDT should convert both of those midrise buildings on Broad and Bridge into lofts or condos. Light rail access, close to 280, NJPAC. Washington Park has a quiet, upscale feel. Moreso than where Eleven 80 is. They could probably get a transit tax incentive since both buildings are so close to Broad Street Station. With Rutger's Business School moving to 1 Washington Park, the convenience for students would be unparalleled. 15 Washington Street would also make great apartments or condos. There were talks of turning it into a Marriott... as that clearly hasn't happened, anyone know what it's current use is?

Has that 494 Cafe ever been open? Anyone ever been to Broad Street Cafe? Both have excellent street exposure. Throw in a full bar, some fancy lights cascading on them and some big windows so everyone could see the bar from the street and your set. That area needs more residential developments though (as does all of downtown of course, but that area should be next.)

Marv95

November 30th, 2008, 04:15 PM

Supermarkets are hard-pressed to find in downtown, CBD settings. Name me some cities the size of or larger than Newark that has a supermarket(not a gourmet place like South Orange or some yuppified deli) in its downtown or central business district, cause you won't find that many. And even so, where would you put it? There isn't enough room for one. EDIT: Okay, the only place I can think of is on the opposite side of Broad Street Station on Broad St itself, behind the Pavillion apts. But there has to be some major structual work in order to make it fit and not screw up the Pavillion in any way; also it won't be located downtown.

Also scroll, the building you speak of has been turned into law offices.
http://www.gbvlaw.com/

And 15 Washington Park is being turned into housing for Rutgers law and grad school students. The following articles are over 2 years old so I dunno what progress(if any)has been made.
http://www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aid=68648
http://ur.rutgers.edu/focus/article/Rutgers-Newark%20to%20develop%20graduate%20student%20housi ng/1752/

66nexus

November 30th, 2008, 10:03 PM

But I also wrote that I've been visiting Newark regularly for 40 years. I explained in detail the type activities I usually do**. Why do you ignore that?

Anyway, I didn't ask 'What's to do in Newark on weekends?' Like I'm planning on heading over some Saturday night. What I actually asked was, for people who live in downtown Newark, what's the daily humdrum life like? Where do they food shop? Clothes shop? Get their car repaired? Order delivery-takeout at 10 PM. What do they do in Newark on weekends?

66nexus I'm not stupid. I'm certain what you and some of the others are trying to do is make this so negative that I'll give up and stop posting messages. That's SOP on the Internet. But sorry, that doesn't work on me. These overbearing reprimands are wearing, I'll admit, but until I find a group with a livlier discussion this one's going to have to do. I'm here to learn about Newark and I'm not going away.

-You think I want you to give up and stop posting messages?:confused:

I have absolutely no idea where you got that idea. Why do you think I'm trying to 'depose' you in any way? Because I pointed something out? I think you cannot handle opposing thoughts because I was/am in no way hostile toward you (and haven't been)

I was simply trying to point out that if you're as familiar with Newark as you say then a question about what to do on weekends seems out of place. In your post before, you seemed insulted that someone would try to school you on Newark after asking such a question.

I simply tried to offer you a reason why someone would respond to your post in such a way. I didn't know you were trying to start a conversation, and the other poster probably didn't know either.

No one's questioning you're knowledge of Newark, or calling you 'stupid'. The best thing to do is to not take it personal, no one's trying to get rid of you here.

tommyguy

November 30th, 2008, 10:57 PM

I was simply trying to point out that if you're as familiar with Newark as you say then a question about what to do on weekends seems out of place.

66 let me ask again: I'm not asking what's to do in Newark on the weekends, I'm asking what do you do in Newark on weekends? (I mean this in a conversational way.) :o I know, the NJPAC and the Arena, but what else?

As for me, at age 58 my 'night life' and 'weekends' are pretty much a thing of the past. My idea of a nice Saturday night is to go mall shopping. My girl friend and I mostly go to the Central Park Avenue strip or the Cross-County Shopping Center in Yonkers, which is where we live. Occasionally, it's up to White Plains. If we go to Manhattan it's usually to visit one of her relatives.

I did ask about clothes shopping in Newark with the idea we might head over there some weekend. But no one answered.

stache

November 30th, 2008, 11:07 PM

There's no real clothes shopping to speak of in Newark. There's a Modell's.

tommyguy

December 1st, 2008, 12:02 AM

There's no real clothes shopping to speak of in Newark.

Reason being I guess no one answered. lol

It did occur to me, fwiw (very little probably), a few times when I left the Newark Library in late afternoon and I didn't feel like going straight home, I took PATH (I prefer to travel by mass transit) to the Newport Mall, which I like. I would've gone to a Newark mall if I knew where one was. (And it was easily reachable by mass transit.)

There was supposed to be a mall opening on Broad Street -- and this goes back to the 1990s (at least) -- south of Market in the old Jersey Central Railroad Terminal, but I don't believe it ever happened. At least not when I looked. :(

stache

December 1st, 2008, 12:38 AM

I'm pretty sure that was discussed earlier in this thread. It was another scam. :(

66nexus

December 1st, 2008, 02:32 AM

66 let me ask again: I'm not asking what's to do in Newark on the weekends, I'm asking what do you do in Newark on weekends? (I mean this in a conversational way.) :o I know, the NJPAC and the Arena, but what else?

I already understood you were trying to start a conversation (and thankfully so).

before I was merely highlighting the earlier misunderstanding of your post.

As far as shopping goes: in my younger days I used to frequent downtown for the baggy clothing and custom t-shirts (gigantic logos and such). Years later my dress tastes have driven away from hip/hop styled clothing so downtown clothes shopping for me now is only good for a few deals i.e. payless/foot locker and such.

There are some decent suit stores with good deals but that ain't exactly clothes shopping

I work too many hours and travel between houses too much to have a real nightlife though lol

Marv95

December 1st, 2008, 08:22 AM

The company that built Renaissance Mall went bankrupt. Add to the fact that no-one signed up as a tenant and there you go.

tommyguy

December 1st, 2008, 02:10 PM

Supermarkets are hard-pressed to find in downtown, CBD settings. Name me some cities the size of or larger than Newark that has a supermarket(not a gourmet place like South Orange or some yuppified deli) in its downtown or central business district, cause you won't find that many.

True, you won't find that many, but you find some. On Manhattan's East Side there's a Gristede's at 2d Ave and E.41st St, a D'Agostino's at 3d Ave and E.38th St. That's midtown. And most D'Agostinos and Gristede's deliver. There's other markets -- not yuppified delis or gourmet places, but C-Towns, D'Ags -- sprinkled throughout the East Side. Many non-gentrified type delis too.

West Side I'm not as familiar with but I do know there's a number of Duane Reade stores there that carry milk, eggs, bread etc.

In Yonkers there's a ShopRite -- a big one -- a few blocks from the Yonkers train station in Larkin Plaza close to the new gentrified apartment buildings going up. That's downtown.

But Marv, I'm not attacking downtown Newark because there's no supermarket, I'm merely wondering where downtown residents grocery shop.

stache

December 1st, 2008, 02:23 PM

There's a fair amount of food in the dollar stores.

66nexus

December 1st, 2008, 04:26 PM

Pols in charge at 60 Park Place, but they'd rather talk sports

by Bob Braun (rbraun@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Monday December 01, 2008, 5:24 AM

http://blog.nj.com/newark/2008/12/small_braun.jpg

The new maitre d' at 60 Park Place -- the latest incarnation of an upscale but often luckless Newark eatery once known as Arthur's and The Savoy Grill -- has a familiar face. So, when he hands you a menu and takes you to your seat, just say:
"Thanks, Governor."
But no tips. Giving cash to Richard Codey, the state Senate president and once (and maybe future) governor, just wouldn't look right.
"I love working as host," says Codey. "I love people and I love sports, so it's perfect for me."
Codey owns an insurance business but recently invested as part owner of 60 Park Place. With two familiar names. Sean McGovern -- as in McGovern's Tavern in Newark. And Peter Torok, a pizzeria owner from Verona and son of John Torok, a Trenton lobbyist who represents a slew of unions, trade groups and professional associations.
"I didn't put in a lot of money," Codey insists. "We don't own the building. Just the business."
McGovern, who also owns Scully's on Clinton Street, says he and Codey "have been talking about a joint adventure for a long time, and this came up as an opportunity -- so we went for it."
"Sean's a good guy, and he and Pete have a lot of experience in the business," says Codey.
Like Codey, McGovern's also a politician, a Verona councilman. But his main job is lawyering -- he's a criminal defense attorney in Newark. "These are sidelines," says McGovern of Scully's, McGovern's and, now, 60 Park Place, which opened to no fanfare little more than a month ago.
Sean is grandson of Frank McGovern, the original owner of the Irish pub on New Street, and nephew of Bill Scully, long-time owner -- and still sometime crooning bartender -- of McGovern's.
And, by the spring, he says, he'll open the City Chop House on Commerce Street, a white tablecloth restaurant the name of which evokes the life and death of Depression-era mobster Dutch Schultz (nee Arthur Flegenheimer), gunned down in 1935 at the Palace Chop House, a few doors down from 60 Park Place. That building was just torn down for a parking lot.
"That will be a real upscale place," says McGovern. "This is our sports bar."

taken from nj.com

ASchwarz

December 1st, 2008, 04:37 PM

Why are the mods letting Block, Tommyguy and other ruin this thread with their spamming crime posts?

Every other thread on WNY is rigorously moderated, but for some reason, it's perfectly fine to post irrelevent spam on the Newark development thread.

But I digress, back to ignoring the thread topic and arguing over Rutgers crime stats...

stache

December 1st, 2008, 06:14 PM

Because, hopefully for the last time, it's not SPAM. It's only SPAM to you.

SPAM = posting for monetary reward. There is no solicitation for funds going on in this thread.

newarkdevil1

December 1st, 2008, 06:48 PM

I read that article in the ledger and I would highly doubt they get the steakhouse opened by the spring time and I don't know if 60 park will survive either.

I think the whole discussion in regards to whats' spam has been blown out of proportion. I have absolutely no problem with tommygun's posts and actually find them interesting. I do have a problem with block's posts because they just become a crime blotter and seem to just wreak of a general negative bias.

That being said....I have no problem discussing pros and cons of the city, I just don't think that posting every article the ledger has about a crime in Newark is really useful. I do think Tommygun brings up some solid points that city officials have been trying to address. Downtown Newark is in fact a tourist/entertainment destination (NJPAC, The Rock, The Museum) but outside of 1180 the lack of a residential population leaves it empty on non event nights. This problem causes the whole chicken egg argument in regards to bringing in big box retailers, grocery stores and restaurants is will the population support it. What has to be frustrating for city officials is the inability to pull students far from campus. The new residential complex on Lock and Central is full yet the area around that is years away from being developed.

What I have seen being developed is small residential projects with some larger ones in the pipeline along with hotels. I think if these are successfull the downtown will fill in businesses to service those people.

ASchwarz

December 1st, 2008, 07:35 PM

Because, hopefully for the last time, it's not SPAM. It's only SPAM to you.

Spam is defined as abuse of email to send unsolicited or indiscriminate messages. Spam need not involve monetary solicitation.

The messages I cite are clearly indiscriminate and have no relationship to the thread topic.

Please explain why a Newark development thread allows postings on unrelated crime blotters.

stache

December 1st, 2008, 07:50 PM

Because the crimes being reported are from Newark. The Mods are in the process of discussing the best way to handle this thread.

tommyguy

December 1st, 2008, 09:46 PM

The messages I cite are clearly indiscriminate and have no relationship to the thread topic. .

I respectfully disagree. I think crime and the perception of crime is a huge issue in terms of developing Newark. Does anyone seriously think Mayor Booker or Governor Corzine would disagree with that statement?

To me, and again, I'm trying to be constructive, Mr. Schwarz seems to be the one posting indiscriminate emails. What relationship do his comments have to development in Newark? They'd be more approriate in a PM to one or all of the mods. How does Mr. Schwarz get away with repeatedly writing that every crime in Newark is being posted here when that is so obviously not the case?

I find Block's crime articles anything but irrelevant. They do paint a bleak picture, I admit, but they are serious articles about a serious issue. And from a resident of downtown Newark to boot.

Look at the number of views this thread gets. Obviously someone finds it interesting even if Mr. Schwarz doesn't.

66nexus

December 2nd, 2008, 02:56 AM

I actually blame the economy. 1180 is has many more tenants than the original naysayers wildest dreams.

Many of the projects were in the pipeline but with credit dried up there's simply no cash.

newarkdevil1

December 2nd, 2008, 09:53 AM

66, I think when you factor in how bad the credit markets have been for banks that Newark is moving along just fine. I am pretty sure that Edison has secured their grants from the state to move forward and NJIT and the BAT district both have huge plans moving forward. Edison controls alot of how the eventual east side of the arena will look like so I can only hope they become more aggressive with their development plans.

As for 1180 and Cogswell I have mixed feelings. While I love what Mr. Stern has done on two historic buildings, I definitely feel that he bit off more than he can chew in the halsey street district and is now actually holding back development.

On a lighter note, the north side of the Broad street station just had another really nice rennovation done. I don't have a camera, which is really starting to agravate me, but the three story brick building there was rennovatedly quite nicely.

block944

December 2nd, 2008, 11:03 PM

If you ask someone what is there to do in Newark on weekends of course they're going to take it that you don't frequent the place. Especially if you list Yonkers as your primary location.

I too hope Newark could one day be a tourist location. When it can be a tourist destination is the bigger question to me.

As I walked home from njit to 1180, I got a "what the fyck you lookin at... bitch ass muthafycka nigga" in military park next to broad at 7pm today... anway now I know why I take the light rail but being december and classes end on the 12th I didn't get the monthly pass anywho. Newark will never be a "tourist" area. The majority of people here are uneducated and have no jobs and just bum around and cause trouble. You want an up and coming area... Harrison next to the Path station.. specifically Harrison Commons. What the developers are doing is a basic reboot of the entire area. It won't be like Newark where you have an isolated building , or a small one or 2 block area like NJIT campus or Society hill condos surrounded by criminal element. From shopping malls, homes, and high end apartments the area will bring in middle class people and from there something good can be built. In Newark all this money is pumped in but the majority of people here don't want to change so its all waisted. Unfortuneatly, the Harrison area won't be done till sometime in 2012 and I can't wait that long to buy a home and refuse to continue spending so much in rent so I may have to exit for a little while to another state....

block944

December 2nd, 2008, 11:25 PM

66nexus

December 3rd, 2008, 02:30 AM

66nexus

December 3rd, 2008, 02:34 AM

The majority of people here are uneducated and have no jobs and just bum around and cause trouble.

That's disrespectful and unfair. Trust me, if the 'majority' of people simply wanted to cause trouble then you'd have a Newark that would be 10x worse. A lot of Newarkers are decent hard-working and respectable people.

The criminal element does indeed breed within the city, but it's unfair to knock the majority because someone yelled at you in Military Park.

stache

December 3rd, 2008, 07:47 AM

I don't think anyone would argue with the fact that many parts of Newark are bad areas. Therefore what is the point in posting every single crime?

tommyguy

December 3rd, 2008, 09:09 AM

Yeah it's a shame when that happens to someone. But you have to keep the faith, I guess. Don't let one trash talking fool spoil your day. :cool:

(Easy to say, harder to do.)

block944

December 4th, 2008, 12:17 AM

Credit crisis or not, Newark plans for revival of Broad Street area

by Maura McDermott (mmcdermott@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Tuesday December 02, 2008, 9:31 PM

The northern stretch of Newark's downtown is dotted with crumbling industrial buildings, auto shops, fenced-in parking lots and a soon-to-be-demolished public housing complex.
But that is not what the city's leaders see when they look at the streets around the Broad Street train station. They envision gleaming condominium towers and tidy townhouses rising above chic cafes and well-tended parks.
Newark officials know the transformation might not happen for years, given the crisis gripping the real estate and credit markets. Even so, they hope to change the rules governing construction on 50 football fields' worth of property at the downtown's northern edge.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/12/large_broad.jpgAristide Economopoulous/The Star-LedgerPedestrians walk beneath the NJ Transit tracks along Broad Street in Newark. City officials are looking to revitalize the neighborhood.
It is among Newark's prime real estate -- "one of the most undervalued urban downtown neighborhoods in this part of the country, if not across the country," said Toni Griffin, the city's planning director. "It was a part of the city that had been devastated by the riots, and so it has had its share of disinvestment. But in the last 10 years or so, people have been rediscovering the neighborhood."
Under rules now in effect, developers could not create a vibrant new village near the NJ Transit station even if they got the financing to do so. That's because the city's decades-old zoning rules set aside large swaths of the neighborhood for industrial development -- barring construction of new homes, restaurants and shops.
That would change under the 201-page plan set to go before the city council on Wednesday afternoon. A final vote could come in January.
The plan calls for rezoning the neighborhood to encourage construction of up to 3,300 residences as well as plenty of offices, stores and eateries, plus parking decks, wider sidewalks, bicycle lanes and improvements to local parks.
Stefan Pryor, the city's deputy mayor for economic development, said construction probably would start in two years and continue in phases for about a decade once the plan went into effect.
The city has been doing all it can to move the process along, Pryor said, from helping developers obtain financing to gathering executives from some 25 lending institutions and presenting "the most promising projects Newark has to offer."
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/12/medium_broad2.jpgAristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerA light rail train departs the Broad Street station in Newark.
"The economic downturn can work in our favor," Pryor said. "For those businesses and residents that are examining options within the region, Newark offers a cost-effective and quality option."
The Broad Street plan is not only ambitious but practical, according to several real estate experts who reviewed it. The fifth redevelopment plan created by Mayor Cory Booker's administration, it was drafted by city officials and their consultants at the design firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and traffic consultants Sam Schwartz Engineering.
"It's an important step in building back the state's biggest city," said Roland Anglin, an urban affairs expert at Rutgers University who first studied downtown Newark in the 1980s. "The first thing you see when you come into a city has got to be compelling, it's got to be eye-popping, and this plan speaks to that."
The demolition of the Lincoln Motel and the Westinghouse plant near the train station -- less than a 20-minute ride from Midtown Manhattan -- bodes well for the area's future, said Christian Benedetto, who has worked on Newark real estate deals for more than a decade.
"People are taking a closer look at inner cities because transportation costs are becoming so high," Benedetto said.
The plan is met with more cautious enthusiasm by some who live the area.
Derek Ware says he spent several years and some $600,000 transforming a decrepit limestone townhouse on Martin Luther King Boulevard into the "little castle" he always knew it could be.
The 45-year-old economist, who is a Newark native, welcomes most elements of the city's plan. "It's such a great location -- next to the train station, next to Route 280, so the location is critical for redevelopment," Ware said.
But he and some of his neighbors fear the improvements will go too far, bringing those cafes right up to their doorsteps -- literally.
One element of the plan involves lifting a ban of retail shops and restaurants in most of the historic rowhouses on Martin Luther King Boulevard between James Street and Central Avenue.
If the ban were lifted and the restaurants failed or created noise or rodent problems, one of Newark's only outposts of brownstone architecture could lose its neighborly, house-proud feel, Ware said.
At a gathering on Tuesday to discuss the agenda for Wednesday's 12:30 p.m. meeting, council members debated whether to allow restaurants on the block.
"The passion on both sides is incredible," Councilman-at-large Donald Payne Jr. said. "This one block is holding up the whole project. In one sense, it doesn't make sense. On the other hand, it does -- since that's where they live."
But he added, "To hold this whole project because of 20 houses doesn't seem right or logical."
The city's planning director, Griffin, said in an interview last week that allowing cafes and shops in those buildings will create "a sense of safe connectivity" between the train station and the two local universities, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers-Newark.
The city will impose rules setting strict limits on noise, trash and hours of operation, she said.
The city is working with the major landowners in the area -- including NJIT and Rutgers-Newark, which between them have some 19,000 students, and the Newark Housing Authority, which runs the 502-unit Baxter Terrace public housing complex, she said.
The housing authority is reviewing developers' proposals for a mixed-income, 340-unit development that would replace Baxter Terrace, said the agency's Tory Gunsolley.
The authority has promised current residents they'll end up living somewhere affordable that's "better than what they have today," he said.
Gail Harvey, 55, who has lived in Baxter Terrace all her life, said she looks forward to the new construction.
"The change has started already; they've started fixing up the city and that's a good thing," she said. "If it's going to mean more jobs for the residents, then I'm for that."

NewarkDevil5

December 4th, 2008, 09:59 AM

newarkdevil1

December 5th, 2008, 05:09 PM

Meh, its not as though it would kill the whole project to leave the James Street Commons alone. Its a historic district and it looks good the way it is. It has character. If they can't figure out a way to develop around it or come to a decent compromise then they simply aren't trying very hard.

Newark, This project is huge for the area because NJIT and the city have been working very hard to get big box retail in this section due to it's proximity to 280 and the colleges. Also, the theory on MLK is to cary the people from the university into this area and make it fluid. You can see what happens when you don't do this with 1180 the arena and the pac to Newark Penn, there is ton's of dead space and very little retail and it hurts foot traffic.

NewarkDevil5

December 5th, 2008, 05:44 PM

Big Box Retail right off of 280 isn't going to help foot traffic for Newark. If you want foot traffic you need mixed use developments. High rise apartments and office buildings with ground level retail. People shouldn't have to walk more than 50 feet without there being another store entrance. Unless the "big box retail" is just referring to anchor stores that build their own underground parking garages they aren't going to help the walkability of the neighborhood. Large parking lots that those big retailers usually require are what kill walkable downtowns.

The one block they're referring to is the old St Michael's Hospital on one side and brownstones on the other. If they were to follow the retail formula on the St Michael's side and leave the other side alone they should be fine. So for one block people don't bother looking for shops on the west side of the road. That isn't going to kill the continuity of the neighborhood.

tommyguy

December 5th, 2008, 09:21 PM

It is -- or at least should be -- a very attractive area to live in. The NJ Transit station, the highway, being on the edge of a major downtown, the Newark Library, the frequent bus service along Broad Street.

And I'm talking about thirty years ago!

I can recall so clearly standing on the platform at Broad Street station wondering when the area might get some development. Back then I was interested in moving there. I saw the high rise north of the station, beyond I-280, but discovered it was senior citizen housing. And there was really nothing else.

Some three decades later it has only gotten better. When you add to the above the Light Rail, the ballpark, the Midtown Direct train service to Penn Station in Manhattan. The demolition of the old Westinghouse facilty, a huge and depressing eyesore.

Here's hoping they get the rezoning through. Maybe they can exempt the block on MLK and maintain it.

block944

December 7th, 2008, 11:45 AM

I learned a long time ago to never say 'never' in regards to Newark. Things that are bad don't always have to remain that way.

Remember the JC waterfront in '85? There was absolutely nothing there. Now there is a shimmering skyline. Who would've thought?

I remember when Times Square was called Slime Square, I remember when you really couldn't go into downtown Newark and the idea of an arena was laughable at best.

I come from a time when Newark was much worse than it is now. Not the 20th+ most dangerous city in US, but when it was in the consistent top 5.

That the problem in JC nothing was there, in newark there are poor people there and knuckledheads running around shooting and killing. The waterfront was abandoned in JC,... the only area like that around here now is Harrison. Its an abandoned area that will be rebuilt. Once that is done, it will be just like the JC waterfront. Time square is in the hub of HUGE financial district. There is nothing in newark like the businesses in NYC. The funds and people were there to make the change. The funds and people are not in Newark to make the change. It ain't gonna happen.

block944

December 7th, 2008, 11:51 AM

That's disrespectful and unfair. Trust me, if the 'majority' of people simply wanted to cause trouble then you'd have a Newark that would be 10x worse. A lot of Newarkers are decent hard-working and respectable people.

The criminal element does indeed breed within the city, but it's unfair to knock the majority because someone yelled at you in Military Park.

Then why is newark in the list of most dangerous cities? Houston is a city why isn't that on the list?

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0921299.html

NewarkDevil5

December 7th, 2008, 05:18 PM

Baltimore's on that list and the Inner Harbor is very nice. St Louis is on that list and hundreds of thousands of people visit the Gateway Arch each year. Philadelphia is one spot below Newark on that list and Center City is a fabulous destination spot. You talk about Newark being dead because there's some dumb people running around shouting nasty things, but take a step back. With the Prudential Center and NJPAC people from all over New Jersey have been coming to Newark, many of them for the first time. They're seeing a city with gorgeous architecture and excellent restaurants as well as arts and entertainment that are unparalleled within the Garden State. People who never before ventured into downtown are starting to develop a pride in Newark as "our city." You can say what you want about Harrison coming up and I'm glad to see it because its not going to do anything except help Newark's downtown boom. When Harrison cleans up its eyesore across the river and brings in more business to the area it will help build a concentration of businesses in that area that Jersey City could only dream of developing. Harrison is just the other half of downtown Newark.

stache

December 7th, 2008, 07:11 PM

With the Prudential Center and NJPAC people from all over New Jersey have been coming to Newark, many of them for the first time.

And then they're never coming back because there's nowhere to get ice cream downtown. ;)

tommyguy

December 7th, 2008, 08:14 PM

And then they're never coming back because there's nowhere to get ice cream downtown. ;)

Right! Hahaha ;)

Let's remember, though, Newark still has a major image problem. That's going to require some time to go away.

But times have changed. I often talk to people who live in northern New Jersey, ask if they've been to Newark recently. Most say no and express concerns about quality of life issues. But I sense that people are kinda hoping Newark makes it. A generation ago when you mentioned Newark -- and frankly I'm talking about white folks -- you would often get some really vicious comments. I don't hear that kind of hostility anymore. Except maybe from Block. :cool:

As for the crime stats, I'm cautiously impressed with the new (newish?) Police Director Garry McCarthy. He says the figures are misleading since there's better reporting now.

But he's also computerizing street crime reports and holding weekly meetings wiith commanders to spot trends and deploy resources. He forced the police bureaucrats to end the special assignments that had the majority of Newark officers working 8-4 Mon to Fri. instead of during high crime hours. He had to suspend his police chief to get the point across but he's apparently made it stick.

These are the same things Bratton did in New York twelve years ago and if it worked in New York, it can work in Newark.

tommyguy

December 7th, 2008, 08:22 PM

Newark's police chief is suspended

by Jonathan Schuppe/The Star-Ledger (jschuppe@starledger.com)
March 11, 2008

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/03/small_campos.jpg
Anthony Campos: Star-Ledger File.

Newark Police Chief Anthony Campos was suspended Monday for five days after a reported dispute with Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy about who had authority to make personnel moves in the department.

Two law enforcement officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation said McCarthy had been seeking to suspend Campos since Friday, when the chief overturned McCarthy's routine transfer of more than two dozen officers.

The rare disciplinary action -- the first of a Newark police chief in more than 20 years, according to law enforcement officials -- came after a meeting yesterday afternoon between McCarthy and Mayor Cory Booker and their aides. Shortly afterward, McCarthy issued an order suspending Campos beginning at 3 p.m. Monday until 3 p.m. Saturday. A copy of the order was obtained by The Star-Ledger.

Campos, who makes $140,870 annually will continue to receive his pay during the suspension, according to the order. Campos did not respond to messages left at his office and by e-mail.

A spokeswoman for Booker would not confirm the suspension, and McCarthy declined to comment.

Campos' decision to overturn McCarthy's transfers was sparked by a disagreement between McCarthy and Booker's chief of staff, Pablo Fonseca, who has demanded to be consulted on personnel moves within the police department, according to the officials.

The dispute highlights a common disagreement in many New Jersey municipalities that have both a civilian police director and a sworn police chief. For many years in Newark, the director has had ultimate authority over day-to-day operations of the police department. But McCarthy has faced pockets of resistance, including a lawsuit filed by the Superior Officers Union challenging his authority.

Police officials have expressed dismay that the feud has erupted at the same time that Newark is experiencing a remarkable drop in violent crime, including a stretch of 43 consecutive days earlier this year in which there were no murders -- the longest such streak since 1961. So far this year, there have been five murders in the city, compared with 18 at this time in 2007, according to police.

But behind the scenes, McCarthy has struggled at times to balance his own plans for the department with Fonseca's input on personnel moves, the officials said. McCarthy has also had a tense relationship with Campos, one of Fonseca's allies in the department, law enforcement officials say.
Fonseca, a top adviser on Booker's 2002 and 2006 election campaigns, became his chief of staff and, most recently, acting business administrator. Campos, a longtime Booker supporter, ran the police department in the months immediately after Booker took office in July 2006. McCarthy was the New York Police Department's chief crime strategist when he was hired by Booker in October 2006 to make good on his campaign pledge to cut crime and reform the beleaguered police force.
The hostility culminated Friday night, after McCarthy issued a relatively routine order transferring 26 officers to new assignments. Soon after the transfer order was released, Campos called McCarthy's office to say that Fonseca wanted him to rescind it, according to officials who were told of the exchange.

A short time later, Campos issued a new order annulling McCarthy's transfers. "Affected personnel should remain in their respective commands," Campos' order said.

McCarthy saw that as a direct challenge to his authority, the officials said.

While Campos is suspended, Deputy Chief Daniel Zieser will serve as acting chief, the officials said, citing a second order issued yesterday. The disputed transfer list was also put into effect yesterday, the officials said.
The feud echoes a similar battle McCarthy is waging against the Superior Officers Association, the union that represents police sergeants, lieutenants and captains. Earlier this year, the SOA filed a lawsuit accusing McCarthy of going beyond the scope of his legal authority to oversee the force. Citing a state law that gives the power over most day-to-day operations to the sworn police chief, the union asked a state Superior Court judge to bar McCarthy from running most aspects of the department, including personnel moves.

In Newark, it has been a long-standing practice, supported by city ordinance, that the police director runs many of the day-to-day operations of the police department. But the SOA argued that the local law should be overridden by the state law.

The SOA has insisted that the lawsuit has nothing to do with the tension between McCarthy and Campos and Fonseca. But John Chrystal, the union's president, said yesterday that he supported Campos' rescinding Friday's transfer order.

Campos "did the right thing and he made the proper legal action," Chrystal said.

newarkstar-ledger@2008 (newarkstar-ledger@2008)

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/newarks_police_chief_is_suspen.html

66nexus

December 7th, 2008, 08:26 PM

Then why is newark in the list of most dangerous cities? Houston is a city why isn't that on the list?

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0921299.html

You came off as if all the residents of Newark do is sit around to try and find ways to make your life miserable. There are a lot of Newarkers that simply want to live life and work hard. Posting a most dangerous cities list does not back up your claim. It's actually more proof that you don't know the city out of downtown.

The fact that you even suggest that a city shy of 300k has a majority that simply want to 'cause' trouble is absurd. You have not a clue.

Have you even ventured out of downtown?

Do you even have a reason to?

If not, why do you come off as an expert on the city concerning things you probably don't understand to begin with?

Last year St. Louis was the number one most dangerous city...I suppose you think that the 'majority' of the residents simply want to cause trouble there too:rolleyes:

How do I know you don't know the scope of Newark? Because when talking about crime you bring up college muggings and some guy yelling at you in Military Park. Can you begin to imagine how much worse it can be in the outer wards, and how much better it's been than in decades past? Like I said, Newark used to be the number one most dangerous city. Keep that in mind.

66nexus

December 7th, 2008, 08:34 PM

That the problem in JC nothing was there, in newark there are poor people there and knuckledheads running around shooting and killing. The waterfront was abandoned in JC,... the only area like that around here now is Harrison. Its an abandoned area that will be rebuilt. Once that is done, it will be just like the JC waterfront. Time square is in the hub of HUGE financial district. There is nothing in newark like the businesses in NYC. The funds and people were there to make the change. The funds and people are not in Newark to make the change. It ain't gonna happen.

Either you're too young to remember, or you simply just forgot. Times Square was not always the paradise you see today. There was sleaze and drugs on many of the corners, and had the same low-dollar businesses a lot of downtown Newark currently has. Times Square cleaned up because someone had a vision.

The waterfront was abandoned in JC, but even that city had a crime problem and no one wanted to touch it. But someone had a 'vision', and others followed suit. Hell, even Hoboken wasn't always nice and yes, people used to make fun of it. I am not saying Newark is already turned around (that's absurd), what I am saying is that it's very one-dimensional to think that it always be that way just because.

I realize that you do not have the ability to see past the 'here and now'. The kind of person that thinks things that are bad stay bad, and things that are good, stay good (I'm sure there are folks that lived in Newark in the 40's that thought the city would've been golden forever)

There's nothing in Newark like the businesses in NYC. There's nothing in most cities across the globe that do not possess the businesses NYC has, hence why NYC is one of the global cities...just a thought...just a thought.

newarkdevil1

December 8th, 2008, 10:26 AM

Marv95

December 8th, 2008, 11:43 AM

But what is the BAT district and what does it stand for?

newarkdevil1

December 8th, 2008, 01:01 PM

Sorry, it's the city's expression for the area between 21, 280, roughly central ave till I think lock or sussex. The ledger had the area highlighted in an article this past week or so. Long and short the majority of the land is owned by a few stakeholders, so there has been a major push for a comprehensive redevelopment plan. What makes these developments more likely than say the area around the arena is that the colleges and the NHA are part of it and are less effected by the current financial problems. The staples of the redevelopment effort so far have been the new Baxter terrace and Tucker's development next to Bears Eagles stadium. the MLK corrider plays into this all because it is envisioned as a corrider between the Broad street station and the colleges, a college row if you will.

Marv95

December 8th, 2008, 01:42 PM

Okay then. So what about Westinghouse? And why hasn't Baxter Terrace been demolished yet? They said all the tenants would be moved out ie Brick Towers and demolitions would get underway in the early summer of 2008. It's been 6 months.

block944

December 8th, 2008, 03:08 PM

66 I think your just wasting your energy on Block, he is awaiting the second coming of heaven over in Harrison and he is gong to be sorely dissapointed.

Block, Not to add more fuel to our disagreements but Harrison is nowhere near where you think it is. As you criticize the developments here in Newark, please note that half of the projects across the river has stalled and are way behind. The Metrocenter project will move along at about the same pace the BAT district projects will. A perfect example can be found in the rather nice looking Harrison River front condos, that project was only half built because of the current housing crisis.

In regards to crime in Newark, having spent the first three years in this city a half block from a housing project I can empathise with Block's agrivation. Newark has an unprecendent amount of Public Housing for it's size. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the rest of NJ does everything it can to avoid their Affordable Housing requirements. The depressed economic situation this creates builds on itself and really pushes out higher income brackets and ultimately upward mobility (crud, I'm pushing trickle down economics). I am not alone in ths arguement though, Mr. Kinard of the NHA has already stated that all new projects going up will only have a percentage of low income housing mixed with moderate and market rate rentals.

As for big box retail, You need not go any further than the people that run the Newark Downtown District and ask them their opinion on Broad and Market. The lack of ancore retail is terrible for newark as it is surrunded by strip malls that it's own residents travel to. I agree that I don't want to see a parking lot and one store in the middle of downtown Newark (ie the Home Depot on Springfield) but that isn't what I am seeing proposed by either the city, NHA or NJIT.

BTW, the campos article was kind of dated, that situation was taken care of at the State and City Council Level. The essential solution was to do away with the Chief of Police position.

We will see, again the JC waterfront was abandoned just like Harrison. There weren't vagrants just wandering around.. Thats what you need to build a good place. And again the finances and rich people were in NYC to turn the area around. In newark we have nothing like that. The upper class people are not here and the cash and opporunities aren't here. Instead when you mix hard working people and students with the mix of knuckledheads you get this:

On December 8, 2008, at approximately 1:15 AM, an NJIT student was robbed at gunpoint off campus at Springfield Avenue and MLK Blvd. while waiting for a bus. The suspects were operating a white Honda or Nissan and are described as follows:

· Suspect with the handgun - light skinned black male, approximately 5’ 7”, wearing a white hoodie, black jacket and jeans
· Dark skinned black male with short hair, wearing a yellow hoodie, black jacket and blue jeans

Taken during the robbery were a pre-paid cell phone and a wallet containing credit cards and money.

Newark, Rutgers and UMDNJ Police Departments have been made aware of the incident and the matter is being investigated by the Newark and NJIT Police Departments.

All are reminded to walk with someone when travelling off campus after dark; consider utilizing the Department of Public Safety’s escort service; and to immediately notify campus police at 973-596-3111 of any suspicious persons.

I know who that person is and he was coming home from the library at midnight last night studying for the finals. Whats funny is there is tons of things that are not reported. On Raymond blvd last week a car that was being chased by the cops for being a suspected drug dealer hopped the curve and smashed into the convenience store next to Horizon Blue Cross. Luckily nobody was hurt as people stand our there to smoke also at the same time it wasn't mentioned in the papers. If it had been a few hours later a lot of people would of been hurt/killed.

stache

December 8th, 2008, 06:22 PM

If you're stupid enough to be hanging around on Springfield Ave. in Newark at 1:00 AM, you deserve to get robbed.

scrollhectic

December 8th, 2008, 06:42 PM

Last updated: December 4, 2008 04:30pm

By Alyson Grala (http://www.globest.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.author.contact.view?client_id=globest&story_id=175589&title=Mimeo.com%20Opens%2075%2C000%2DSF%20Facility&author=Alyson%20Grala&address=http%3A//www.globest.com/news/1301%5F1301/newjersey/175589%2D1.html&summary=NEWARK%2DThe%20New%20Jersey%20Economic%20D evelopment%20Authority%20supported%20the%20expansi on%20through%20the%20state%26%23146%3Bs%20Business %20Employment%20Incentive%20Program.)

http://www.globest.com/newspics/nej_mimeonewark.jpg
158 Mount Olivet Ave.

NEWARK- Online and on-demand printing provider Mimeo.com is opening a new 75,000-square-foot data center and web-enabled print production and distribution facility. The new development--at 158 Mount Olivet Ave.--is in the city’s industrial area, which is adjacent to major shipping and distribution hubs. Having begun operations in Newark in September 2008, the building--owned by industrial real estate developer and owner AMB Property Corp.--was a natural extension for Mimeo.

"The opening of our new, state-of-the-art facility in Newark, NJ is an important step toward strengthening Mimeo.com's production, distribution and overall time to market on the east coast," says CEO Adam Slutsky. "It also allows the company to confidently offer a multiple location production model that many of our clients demand. Newark affords us many advantages including its proximity to a major transportation hub, distance from our Manhattan-based headquarters, a skilled labor pool and the support received from the Mayor's office and the State of New Jersey."

A $25-million round of financing--led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies Group-- contributed to the new Newark facility; the opening of a sales office in San Mateo, CA; and technology upgrades. Mimeo's original facility is located in Memphis, TN.

The state also threw its support behind Mimeo.com’s expansion through its Business Employment Incentive Program, which provides annual cash grants to projects relocating or hiring new jobs in the state. Additional technical assistance for site plan approval and permit processing within the City of Newark was provided by the city’s economic development corporation, Brick City Development Corp.

"Mimeo.com is a company on the cutting-edge of the printing industry," says Mayor Cory Booker. "And its arrival is a testament to Newark's attractiveness as a leading city for fostering innovation, entrepreneurship, and businesses development during these challenging economic times. Mimeo.com's success will fuel Newark's success, and we are proud to welcome them to our great city."

Noting the company’s record growth, Slutsky adds, "At a time when many US-based businesses are cutting back their production and distribution facilities, and cutting head count, Mimeo.com is going in the opposite direction…increasing revenue by 18% in the month of September versus the same period last year."

stache

December 8th, 2008, 09:24 PM

This is exactly the kind of business that is very well suited for Newark. :)

newarkdevil1

December 9th, 2008, 01:58 AM

I am just sooo agravated. I wrote this whole response and the freaking computer crashed...argh....

Well I did find this while looking around. This is the project that Edison has planned for their building on 21 and Edison street.
http://www.childrensmuseumofnj.com/

newarkdevil1

December 9th, 2008, 02:25 AM

I don't know if you guys remember this being mentioned when the arena was under construction but I was happy to see that the CEO still has it in his plans.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/12/lionel_model_trains_get_back_o.html

tommyguy

December 9th, 2008, 10:22 AM

This is exactly the kind of business that is very well suited for Newark. :)

Agreed.

Btw, to go back to something else. I happened to note that the City of New York is receiving -- gratis -- a large suite at the new Yankee Stadium. This was criticized by a suburban politician as a 'freebie' but the city maintains, rightfully so I think, they played a big role in getting the new stadium built and are entitled to some recognition.

What's the point? That the Newark Common Council leader was apparently on solid grounds when she criticized the New Jersey Devils for failing to give the City of Newark any perks.

I guess it was disrespectful. :cool:

newarkdevil1

December 9th, 2008, 02:10 PM

Agreed.

Btw, to go back to something else. I happened to note that the City of New York is receiving -- gratis -- a large suite at the new Yankee Stadium. This was criticized by a suburban politician as a 'freebie' but the city maintains, rightfully so I think, they played a big role in getting the new stadium built and are entitled to some recognition.

What's the point? That the Newark Common Council leader was apparently on solid grounds when she criticized the New Jersey Devils for failing to give the City of Newark any perks.

I guess it was disrespectful. :cool:

I think NYC is out of line in taking what one could view as a kickback for using our taxpayer dollars. Also, The Pru in theory should be sharing back a % of the gate receipts so our officials would be double dipping in their little pat on the back.

scrollhectic

December 9th, 2008, 02:38 PM

Last updated: December 9, 2008 12:20pm

By Alyson Grala (http://www.globest.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.author.contact.view?client_id=globest&story_id=175678&title=National%20Redevelopment%20Merges%20with%20J ordan%20Baris&author=Alyson%20Grala&address=http%3A//www.globest.com/news/1303%5F1303/newjersey/175678%2D1.html&summary=WEST%20ORANGE%2C%20NJ%2DThe%20realtor%20an d%20real%20estate%20specialist%20firm%20will%20for m%20a%20new%20division%20known%20as%20Jordan%20Bar is%20Inc.%20National%20Redevelopment%20Division.)

http://www.globest.com/newspics/nej_kenbaris.jpg
Baris

WEST ORANGE, NJ-Following the completion of a merger with Jordan Baris, the National Redevelopment team will be relocating from 550 Broad St. in Newark to the Baris corporate headquarters here at 50 Mount Pleasant Ave. Kenneth H. Williams, broker of record at National Redevelopment, will join Jordan Baris as a vice president.

"This merger represents an important milestone in the 55-year history of our firm," says Ken Baris, Jordan Baris' president. "When National Redevelopment came on the scene some 10 years ago, I was instantly impressed with the creativity and tenacity the company showed. [The new company wants] to build on what they’ve done and develop a growing and vibrant team by combining the strengths of Jordan Baris and National Redevelopment. Both…have participated in some of the most noted transactions in Newark and we expect that trend to increase."

The newly formed division will combine Baris’ team of more than 200 with National’s near 20 member staff. According to the company, no layoffs are planned.
"This merger represents a unique opportunity to better service the emerging commercial market of Newark and grow our scope beyond our current market area," says National’s Williams. "During our discussions I was impressed when exposed to the cutting-edge technology that Baris’ organization is equipped with and the experience they offer their clients. Their extensive network will now permit our division to provide a new level of service to our clients."

http://www.2national.com/

newarkdevil1

December 10th, 2008, 01:39 PM

scrollhectic

December 11th, 2008, 01:48 PM

BY MEREDITH MELNICK
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Wednesday, December 10th 2008, 2:31 AM
http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/12/10/amd_fultonfishmarket.jpg
Schwartz for News The Hunts Point Market, home to the Fulton Fish Market, may move to Newark, N.J.

Related News

Articles

Hunts Point: How South Bronx's most-improved nabe stays that way (http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/12/09/2008-12-09_hunts_point_how_south_bronxs_mostimprove.html)
Newark is trying to lure New York's wholesale produce market from the South Bronx to New Jersey - offering money and prime land the city may not be able to match.

"We'd prefer to stay - it's what we know, what our customers know," said Matthew D'Arrigo, head of the vendors' cooperative that runs the Hunts Point market.

"As president of the market, my fiduciary responsibility is to make the safest and best deal for the 50 merchants in this market."
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is offering space in two newly developed industrial areas that would allow it to build an $800 million terminal for the produce center.

"Newark and its residents would certainly benefit from such an endeavor, as it would likely bring jobs to our city and continue our redevelopment efforts," said Booker spokeswoman Janet Dickerson.

The cooperative has been trying to renegotiate its $5 million annual lease with the city for seven years.

Moving might make it harder to serve Long Island customers, market officials say, but would lead to much lower construction and operation costs - even before Newark sweetens the pot with incentives.

"They want us so badly, whatever we want, they'll give us," said Myra Gordon, executive director for administration at the market.

"My sense is that because of the money available through [Newark's government], we could probably give them a wish list and get it approved."

New York is trying to counter Newark's effort, though Economic Development Corp. President Seth Pinsky would not provide details.
"I think we can reach an agreement," Pinsky predicted. "We've got a great location, and I think that in a distribution business, location is key."

The market handles up to 70% of the fruits and vegetables New Yorkers eat, and is responsible for 8,000 jobs and $2 billion in annual business.
After 41 years, vendors say they are tired of having to store their wares in diesel-fueled trailers in a pothole-rutted area with poor electrical service and broken water mains.

"God forbid they move. In these economic times, it would be catastrophic," said John Robert, head of Hunts Point's community board. "Everyone in the neighborhood would be affected."

JCMAN320

December 11th, 2008, 04:02 PM

Go for it Newark, if Newark get the Hunts Point Market this would be huge!!!!

Marv95

December 11th, 2008, 06:15 PM

I dunno about this. I mean where exactly will they plan to move it if it happens? There's more than one industrial spot ya know. And it has to be somewhat accessible, not only by car. Make a bus line go there if it's not there already.

JCMAN320

December 11th, 2008, 06:18 PM

The plan is to move it next to Port Newark/Elizabeth. They are expanding and renovating freight rail service there as we speak and there are bus lines that do go the Port and the Port is accesible of the Turnpike, 78, 1&9. I think there is good chance of this happening.

Marv95

December 11th, 2008, 06:27 PM

Smart choice if true. Very close to the Turnpike(heck basically right off it) and the NJT #40 goes right there from downtown enroute to Jersey Gardens.

66nexus

December 12th, 2008, 02:32 PM

Congratulations to the Gilbane Building Company (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Gilbane+Building+Company) and everyone associated with Newark (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Newark)’s Prudential Center (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Prudential+Center) arena, which was just named the 2008 Project of the Year by New York Construction News, a trade magazine covering the building industry. After a disagreement between two construction companies, Gilbane took over the job a year and a half into the construction, miraculously delivering the project on time and on-budget to exact specifications.

The Gilbane family was out celebrating Tuesday night, with their annual center table at the Waldorf Astoria (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/The+Waldorf-Astoria+Hotel) hotel for the National Football Foundation (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/National+Football+Foundation)’s annual College Hall of Fame dinner, where T. Boone Pickens (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/T.+Boone+Pickens) and Lou Holtz (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Lou+Holtz) were honored. Gilbane Building, a five-generation construction and development company, has been building the country’s stadiums, hospitals, university buildings and large-scale public projects since 1873. The company is one of the largest builders of public schools in the nation, and it just completed the architecturally stunning Capitol Visitor Center (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Capitol+Visitor+Center) in Washington, D.C. (http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Washington%2c+DC)

This weekend, the Prudential Center will hold Newark’s first championship boxing fight in 60 years. That’s a long time coming for a city on the rise whose downtown boxing scene was one of the best in the country in the 1940s.

http://www.nydailynews.com/real_estate/2008/12/11/2008-12-11_the_closer_disclosures_appraisals_flips_.html

66nexus

December 12th, 2008, 02:40 PM

Perking up Newark

Friday, December 12, 2008 BY JEFFERY C. MAYS
Star-Ledger Staff

John Murray was overseeing the construction of his new coffee lounge on Newark's Halsey Street when he fell from the scaffolding and broke his ankle. That didn't stop the 40-year-old former financial consultant from working every day to complete the job and now the Coffee Cave is up and running.
The bi-level shop has curated art, leather couches for lounging, wi-fi internet access and serves barrister style espresso. In its future is a liquor license, wine bar and backyard performances.

"I liked the history of the block and the old structure. I said this is quaint and looks like a coffee lounge," said Murray, who designed the space. "I'm hopeful. Subliminally, the reason I thought this could work was because of restaurants like 27 Mix. Maybe someone will see the Coffee Cave and think their shop can work."

For years there has been talk of making Halsey Street into an East Village type area where cafes and bookstores attract students and visitors. And for years, various shops have opened and closed. The former New Newark Foundation once owned a sizable chunk of land from Halsey to Broad and a few art galleries have opened and closed on Halsey Street.

But now, the determination of entrepreneurs like Murray is being combined with the expertise and money from the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development and Rutgers Business School's Profeta Urban Investment Foundation. Murray is the first recipient of a $25,000 grant from the $1 million fund that will help provide start-up money, working capital and debt financing for small businesses near the Rutgers-Newark campus.
One of the main goals of the fund is to make the area around the campus a destination area that has restaurants, nightclubs and art galleries. The area will not only service students, faculty and downtown workers but attract visitors.
"This area has never taken off," said Jeffrey Robinson, a faculty member who is teaching the Rutgers graduate students who will help vet the proposals. "This could be the arts corridor and the retail corridor but it's been neglected for a long time."
Rutgers-Newark Provost Steven Diner said his students are craving more off-campus venues and activities.

"There is nothing that will attract more students than a vibrant Halsey Street," he said.
Real estate investor Paul V. Profeta said he pitched the idea to Rutgers about a year ago. Entrepreneurs like Murray will be required to do the bulk of the work. "He had the intelligence and persistence to do this. We gave him a little help but it's his brainchild," said Profeta. But the money will go toward the larger goal of helping to create a spark.

Page 2 of 2

"What we are trying to do is reclaim Newark. It's a tall order and a tall mountain to climb but it's not out of reach," said Profeta.
Mayor Cory Booker said projects like this are especially needed in a time of economic downturn to keep everyone's hopes and spirits up about the future.

"Some people might say this is just a coffee house but it's so much more. This is going to be one leg in the resurrection of this area and our downtown," said Booker.

The program is just one example of the city's willingness to partner with businesses, non-profits and others to benefit Newark, said Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Stefan Pryor. Also coming to Halsey Street is an aesthetic makeover. Robinson said two existing Halsey Street businesses are in line to be among the next group of grant recipients.
So far, the Coffee Cave is a hit with area students. Fanny Aizier, a junior at the nearby New Jersey Institute of Technology, sat in the second floor of the lounge one afternoon with her laptop out. A professor had told her about a new spot she had to check out and she was back a second time.
"It's really nice. The music and the design is nice and the coffee is good," said Aizier. "It's good that Newark has such a place. There's not much to do if you want to go off campus." Anita Dickens, a Rutgers graduate student said she watched as the building was restored and was "dying to try it."

"This is part of historic Newark. I know this area will continue to get better over time. This shop brings such flavor to the area," said Dickens.
Murray said he will use the money as working capital. One of the main reasons many small businesses fail he said, is because they run out of operating expenses while they are waiting for their businesses to take off.
"Now I have that safety net. That feels good," said Murray.

taken from nj.com

http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1229060165280100.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

stache

December 12th, 2008, 02:44 PM

Yes but do they serve ice cream? :D

66nexus

December 12th, 2008, 02:45 PM

I hope so, because if not we may never see visitors again lmao:D

scrollhectic

December 12th, 2008, 06:22 PM

During Newark Open Doors in October, my friend and I walked by the Coffee Cave and John Murray was kind enough to give us a brief tour though the place was still being worked on. It looked great and I really hope it takes off. More small businesses of this kind are needed as they seem to survive in Newark better than big box retailers and national chains. Now if Berger could do something about that crummy Village Hotel across the street from Newark Art Supply on Halsey and New (very unlikely he'll do anything except hold and sell to the highest bidder.)

Also, if anyone saw Cadillac Records, Halsey street is featured prominently in that movie. In fact, the very last shot of the movie is a pull away and you can make out the "Newark Art Supply" sign. From my memory, the sign is legible, but I'd like a second opinion. Maybe because I know it's Newark Art Supply, I can make it out, but my understanding is that it was supposed to be digitally removed. Perhaps the studio ran out of post production money.

stache

December 12th, 2008, 07:31 PM

I haven't been on Halsey for about a year. I'll have to take a look!

newarkdevil1

December 12th, 2008, 09:15 PM

I haven't been on Halsey for about a year. I'll have to take a look!
Well the people that run Hells kitchen are opening up a place right there as well...
www.newarkartkitchen.com (http://www.newarkartkitchen.com/)

That block has soo much potential and is perfect for smaller projects like Nicks, Mix and the coffee cave

scrollhectic

December 13th, 2008, 04:30 PM

MAYOR BOOKER JOINS WITH LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS TO BREAK GROUND ON $2 MILLION REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN NEWARK’S WEST WARD
Eco-friendly project to include construction of 10 units

of affordable and workforce housing; is part of city-wide initiative

to revitalize vacant and abandoned properties throughout Newark.

Newark, NJ - December 10, 2008 - Mayor Cory A. Booker joined today with West Ward Councilman Ronald Rice, Deputy Mayor of Economic & Housing Development Stefan Pryor, Director of Housing and Real Estate Michael Meyer, Mid-Atlantic Investment Alliance, and a host of city officials and local residents to break ground on a $2 million redevelopment project in Newark’s West Ward.

Announced during a Noon press conference at one of the properties, the project will include the construction of Energy Star Certified and Eco-Friendly two-family homes, providing a total of 10 units of affordable and workforce housing for Newark residents. Its redevelopment is part of the City’s initiative to partner with local developers to resuscitate vacant and abandoned City- and privately-owned properties throughout Newark.

“In breaking ground on this new redevelopment project, Newark continues to demonstrate its resilience and economic growth in the face of fiscally challenging times,” said Mayor Booker. “Through successful partnerships such as this, we are helping local entrepreneurs expand their enterprises, while providing more affordable and workforce housing opportunities for Newarkers. In doing so, we are offering residents a high quality of life, and manifesting Newark’s excellence to the nation.”

Spearheaded by the Department of Economic and Housing Development, the City of Newark seeks to utilize its land disposition policy to promote local minority and women-owned developers and contractors, while also creating a wider variety of housing opportunities for residents. This partnership between the City of Newark and Mid-Atlantic Investment Alliance signifies efforts being made by the City, local entrepreneurs and the community to revitalize Newark neighborhoods and increase quality of life for residents.

“This project will bring substantial new investment into this neighborhood, investment that will improve the quality of life for area residents, through rebuilding on underused vacant lots and creating new affordable housing, said Deputy Mayor Pryor. “At the same time, this project supports our mission to help local, small developers obtain new opportunities to grow. This will no doubt just be the start of Mid Atlantic Investment Alliance's work to help revitalize Newark's neighborhoods. ”

The project has received $400,000 in subsidies from the State’s Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, which will allow for properties to be sold as workforce and affordable housing for pricing as low as $126,000. Additionally, the Community Preservation Corporation played a critical role in its development, having secured $607,000 in construction financing for the project.

“This project is a great example of the City of Newark taking advantage of some of its strongest community resources to help rebuild our neighborhoods,” said Michael Meyer, the City’s Director of Housing and Real Estate. “The Mid-Atlantic partners are from Newark and are invested both economically and emotionally to the rebirth of our neighborhoods.”

Last year, the City announced plans to redevelop up to 102 vacant and abandoned properties in the West Ward, using a consortium of locally-based developers in accordance with a plan drafted by the Urban League of Essex County (ULEC). Those adjacent revitalization projects further compliment the efforts being made by Mid-Atlantic Investment Alliance to redevelop and reinvigorate neighborhoods in the West Ward.

“Mid-Atlantic Investment Alliance was the first developer I ever met with concerning their vision for the city of Newark upon my taking office in 2006 and I immediately became a supporter,” said Councilman Rice. “I am so pleased that this partnership between the city and their company will further enhance development in the West Ward as well as empower Newarkers and minority participation in Newark's continued improvement, growth, and embrace of green technology.”

The Mid-Atlantic Investment Alliance is an African-American-owned and operated real estate development firm based in New Jersey. Guided by Rutgers’ alum Victor Baker, Jeffery Montgomery and Hassan Keith, the company has been helping to pioneer efforts to transform blighted properties in the community.

“Our focus is to be a part of the solution, and we are definitely proud to boast the seven figure contracting opportunity we are providing for the local MBE contractor,” said Victor M. Baker, President and CFO of Mid-Atlantic Investment Alliance. “With the help of both the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency and the Community Preservation Corporation, we are working together and creating opportunities within the community, and are hopeful our example will resonate.”

Homeworks Construction & Maintenance, a local certified Minority Business Enterprise, has been contracted to do construction on the redevelopment project. In joining with Mid-Atlantic Investment Alliance, the two companies are implementing the best practices of hiring Newarkers, demonstrating a twofold commitment to creating employment and housing opportunities for residents.

“This is truly the dawn of a new era in the city of Newark - an era in which young Black and Latino men are leading the way to rebuild and reclaim our home communities,” said Newark-native Hassan Keith, the project’s General Contractor and President of Homeworks Construction & Maintenance. “Our mission is to usher in infrastructure and economic growth in American cities, beginning right here in my own hometown.”

STT757

December 14th, 2008, 12:30 AM

Moving the produce market to the Port Newark/Elizabeth area makes so much sense, it's very accessible to the Turnpike and I-78. Plus it has great rail connections which are being expanded by the Port Authority, there's also plenty of produce coming off the ships at Port Newark. Everything from Bananas to Oranges.

block944

December 14th, 2008, 10:39 AM

I was walking my dog down mulberry when I caught the new richardsonloft sign draped over the building. Looks really nice and a good way to keep the rent in 1180 in check.

http://www.richardsonlofts.com/

block944

December 14th, 2008, 10:44 AM

Well the people that run Hells kitchen are opening up a place right there as well...
www.newarkartkitchen.com (http://www.newarkartkitchen.com/)

That block has soo much potential and is perfect for smaller projects like Nicks, Mix and the coffee cave

All they need to do is turn Hahnes building into an apartment complex and Halsey will a great street.

scrollhectic

December 15th, 2008, 02:47 PM

December 13, 2008 19:13PM
Ed Murray/The Star-Ledger

University Hospital, one of New Jersey's largest urban medical centers, says it desperately needs additional state funding to avert a financial meltdown.

Officials at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey -- which operates the Newark teaching hospital -- say continued operating losses could threaten their ability to provide essential services.

While employees and others in the community are now raising concern that the hospital may be on the brink of a shutdown, UMDNJ officials insist closing is not an option being considered. However, they say the state hospital is in crisis.

"The situation has now reached a tipping point requiring intervention," university president William F. Owen Jr. said in a recent e-mail to UMDNJ employees.

Officials with the Corzine administration acknowledge the hospital has financial problems and say they have been working with UMDNJ to get the financial situation under control. But they privately expressed annoyance over what they said was the university's efforts to raise the stakes by appealing directly to some lawmakers about the issue through overheated rhetoric.

There have been meetings with community leaders and Owen's e-mail has been circulated well beyond the university.

Two officials aware of the efforts to pull together additional financing for University Hospital, who did not want to be identified because the matter is under negotiation, said the hospital is facing the same pressures every other state agency is up against in a worsening economy. They also said Owen has been told Gov. Jon Corzine would not allow a shutdown or even threats of one.

University Hospital, which has 519 beds and more than 3,000 employees, has been operating in the red for some time and earlier this year, the threat of layoffs and program cuts were raised.

At issue are two-long term debt issues totaling $130 million that need to be refinanced, and millions in operating losses from the hospital itself. University Hospital's operating loss for the past fiscal year was $57.2 million and for the first three months of the current fiscal year through September, the hospital's operating loss was already $8.4 million. Officials said current projections indicate that operating losses through the end of the fiscal year hit $23 million.

The state-run institution -- a designated Level I trauma center -- is the largest provider of uncompensated care in the state.

UMDNJ spokesman Gerald Carey said the university itself has been trying to cover the hospital's operating losses.

"We've provided University Hospital with approximately $150 million over the past seven years. This level of support is unsustainable," he said.

Owen, in his e-mail, noted that nearly three-quarters of the hospital's patients are charity care, uninsured, covered under Medicaid/ Medicaid HMO or self-pay.

"Reimbursement for their care, if any, does not cover the cost of necessary health services provided," he said.

Last year, the hospital provided $110 million in charity care, while receiving $89.3 million in state charity funds. It is the state's largest provider of charity care services.

Owen has acknowledged that the hospital's fiscal crisis is not unique.

"Many hospitals, particularly public hospitals committed to serving those at special risk or in great financial need, are facing similar fiscal challenges," he said in his e-mail. "These challenges promise to only worsen because public hospitals must depend on public funding at a time when the federal and state governments are grappling with a severe economic downturn and more patients are likely to be without insurance."

But the university president pointed out that the hospital crisis is especially acute in New Jersey, where half of all hospitals in the state lost money last year, five filed for bankruptcy, and three shut down completely.

"So far this year, five acute care hospitals closed their doors. Because we are both a university and a hospital owner, adversity in one sector can severely impact the other," he said.

Owen said they have worked to cut the anticipated 2008 operating losses by half. They have also reached a new agreement with the university's faculty practice group at the New Jersey Medical School.

"This should result in the development of new programs and the ability to attract new patients. But even with these improvements, hospital revenue won't be at the level needed to assure high quality service and UMDNJ's stability," he said.

He acknowledged the university has reached out to many in leadership positions.

"We want the public to know what's at stake for both University Hospital and UMDNJ and the timeline for finding answers," Owen said. "There is agreement among our trustees that University Hospital's operating losses are non-sustainable; quality of care may erode without intervention."

Carey said the university's board of trustees and the hospital's own board are scheduled to meet Tuesday.

scrollhectic

December 17th, 2008, 01:46 AM

scrollhectic

December 17th, 2008, 11:42 AM

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

BY PHILIP READ
Star-Ledger Staff

Paula Dow, Essex County's prosecutor, stepped to the podium at Newark's Veterans Courthouse yesterday and recalled her early days arriving to work to hear "cat calls" coming from her "favorite fans," namely inmates in the windows of the old 13-story county jail.

Armando Fontoura, the Essex County sheriff, said he didn't get cat calls -- perhaps because he was armed -- but instead heard such remarks as "You should be up here."

The circa-1970 jail, empty since 2004 and once a candidate for demolition, is just starting to undergo a $19 million renovation and yesterday landed its first "anchor" tenant: the offices of appellate judges.
"I hope there are no cat calls from the Appellate Division," joked Stuart Rabner, the chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, at yesterday's news conference.

The arrival of the appellate operations from locations in Hacken sack and Springfield marks the first return of the division to Newark since the 1980s, said Rabner, who hailed its new 20-year lease with Essex County.

Come December 2009, the state will pay Essex $521,268 in rent as it occupies 25,000 square feet of office space in four floors of what is now called the Leroy F. Smith Jr. Building. It was named after a retired associate director of emergency medical services at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey who was known for his life-sav ing heroics.

Essex County will also consolidate offices there, closing locations in such places as East Orange and Belleville. In all, the county expects to save $783,366 annually in rent and take in $791,268 in new revenue, for a gain of $1.57 million.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. recounted the history of the jail, which in 2004 was replaced by a new state-of-the-art correctional facility on Newark's Doremus Street.

"We were going to take down that building because the engineering report said it wasn't suitable for office space," he said. Then the $5 million estimate on demolition came in, sparking a rethinking, he said. The arrival of the Appellate Division was the clincher, DiVin cenzo said.

Chief Justice Rabner, an Essex County resident, credited DiVin cenzo.

"He said to me, 'I have an idea,' and you're looking at that idea right here," Rabner said as he pointed toward the windows.

The gathering was in Courtroom 1114 on the 11th floor of the Veterans Courthouse, a chamber to be renovated specifically for the appeals judges housed next door. Rabner said he would convene a session of the state Supreme Court in that very courtroom "in honor of all you've done for us."

The relocation of the offices of 10 appellate judges, Rabner said, will bring 25 percent more space and a savings in rent. "Quality space at a competitive price," Rabner said.

But DiVincenzo noted that the lease is "escalating," and Rabner, clarifying the savings, said, "just a little."

The jail-turned-office building will overlook a new 2.7-acre park, with gazebo, that is to replace a now demolished parking garage on Howard Street, as well as the stately looking Society Hill townhomes.

There for the event was Leroy Smith Jr., who Fontoura recalled was there as an EMT during a 1980 inmate riot during which an officer was shot.
"He was always the first guy on the scene," Fontoura said. "He was always a comfort to cops and firefighters."

newarkdevil1

December 17th, 2008, 05:29 PM

I attended Newark's Master Plan Reevaliation meeting with residents at the Newark Public Library. It was... interesting. Instead of going into any detail, the master plan is available to be viewed at the Newark Public Library and most of the branches. Unfortunately, the most recent version is not on line. I'll save my viewpoints of the meeting and the plan for when I can somehow direct everyone to an electronic version of the master plan.

Afterwards, a friend of mine and I went to Nicks on Central and Halsey. It's a new bar/restaurant directly accross from Hamilton's Pub. I highly recommend it. The service is top notch, the decor is simple yet upscale (beautiful granite countertop bar and the menus are stainless steel and leather covered) and the food is very good! Not on the menu is this chocolate cake ($12!) that is NO JOKE! I'd go there again just for the cake. Newark needs more establishments like Nick's.

Scrollhectic, I was at the master plan meeting as well and I thought it was informative but a bit rambling. I agreed with Mr. Banker's assesment that there needs to be a bit more of a vision statement attached to guide there driving principles. Also, the rail component can not be understated (I will leave you to guess which person I was) and is huge in developing leading urban cities. BTW, it's not Hamiltons anymore it's Killkennys and also was where I choose to park myself after the function =-)

scrollhectic

December 18th, 2008, 11:50 AM

Mayor Booker Joins with Newark-Focused Developer to Break Ground on New Redevelopment Project in the Central Ward

Project includes plans for recreational and commercial space for Newark residents

Newark, NJ - December 17, 2008 - Mayor Cory A. Booker was joined today by Deputy Mayor for Economic and Housing Development Stefan Pryor, Brick City Development Corporation CEO Joseph Ritchie, representatives from Crawford Street Partners, city dignitaries and local residents at a groundbreaking for a new education-related campus in Newark’s Lincoln Park Cultural District.

The project, announced today during an afternoon press conference, will convert a 17,000 square foot vacant and abandoned structure at 17-19 Crawford Street into a new expanded 28,000 square foot state-of-the-art school building for private and semi-public use. An adjacent formerly boarded and underutilized industrial space located at 482-488 Washington Street will also be renovated into performance and recreational space available to the educational users and local community.

“The contributions of our local developers and the business community are essential to Newark’s revitalization,” said Mayor Booker. “Crawford Street Partners has been a great partner in the City’s efforts to revive the vibrancy of our neighborhoods, and I am proud to join them today in celebrating this latest great addition to our community and to Newark.”

Spearheaded by Crawford Street Partners, a local Newark-focused real estate development and management company, the educational campus is yet another example of the City’s continuing economic development, despite the challenges in the national economy.

Crawford Street Partners’ history includes a strong track record of rehabilitating distressed properties, including five buildings in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. The Crawford Commons project builds on other recent improvements in the Lincoln Park area, including newly constructed “LEED-certified” lofts and apartments produced by the Lincoln Park Coast Cultural District, the Colleoni Building located at 39-41 Lincoln Park and the former Dryden mansion, also rehabilitated by Crawford Street Partners.

“Crawford Street Partners is very excited to continue our work in the redevelopment of Newark including the Lincoln Park neighborhood,” said Crawford Street Partners’ Principle Steve Burns. “This project combines unique facilities in which to learn and perform with new green space and landscaping to enhance what is becoming Newark’s newest Arts and Cultural District. We look forward to the neighborhood being active with children, residents and visitors alike and appreciate the support of our Lincoln Park neighbors to make The Crawford Commons a reality.”

Crawford Street Partners received assistance from Brick City Development Corporation, the City’s economic development corporation, for site plan approval and the processing of permits within the City of Newark. “This project continues the development of one of Newark’s key corridors by adding an exciting neighborhood supporting use to the ongoing residential development,” said BCDC CEO Joe Ritchie.
About Crawford Street Partners

Crawford Street Partners, LLC (CSP) is a real estate development and management company. Since its establishment in 2002, CSP’s mission has been to create unique, high quality commercial and residential spaces from abandoned and/or underutilized properties. By taking a holistic and responsible approach to development, CSP concentrates on targeted neighborhoods located in Newark and surrounding towns. Throughout its brief history CSP’s projects have been recognized for their innovation, beauty, functionality and commitment to improving neighborhood streetscapes. CSP takes great pride in creating new jobs, attracting new businesses and filling the need for affordable, quality commercial and residential space while changing, for the better, one neighborhood at a time. Learn more about Crawford Street Partners at www.crawfordstreetpartners.com (http://www.crawfordstreetpartners.com/)

newarkdevil1

December 18th, 2008, 02:27 PM

http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-4/122957803024840.xml&coll=1

What I have seen of it by Iberia looks pretty good but I was especially intersted in the last part of the article when they talked about closing ferry on weekends and during the summer to vehicles. I love the idea of it being a pedestrian street.

tommyguy

December 21st, 2008, 01:27 PM

Below is a news article from about ten weeks ago. It relates to a previous article and message. I thought it was an interesting look at Newark politics – some of you may not agree (that’s fine with me) but I'm sure many will – on a serious issue facing the city. (I lost the link to the article and can't find it. The link below is to an updated article appearing several hours later, also on October 7th.) tommy

Settlement Reached in Newark Police Dispute

The Star-Ledger Tuesday October 07, 2008
Jeffrey C. Mays and Jonathn Schuppe

In a Newark courtroom early today, lawyers signed an agreement (http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/10/settlement.pdf) that effectively stripped Newark Police Director Garry McCarthy of any day-to-day oversight of the city's police department and handed those powers to Police Chief Anthony Campos.

Several blocks away at City Hall, at nearly the same time, Mayor Cory Booker announced changes that nullify the settlement, giving McCarthy total control of the department and ending Campos' 27-month tenure as chief. The seemingly contradictory legal and political moves capped a weekend of negotiations over who should control the police department and settled a suit filed in January by the Superior Officers Association that threatened to leave Booker's choice to reform the department powerless.

"It's almost like you have a quarterback and you are going into the Super Bowl and suddenly you are saying that that quarterback can't throw passes or hand off to the running back," Booker said of the legal dispute. "They can stand in the huddle, they can walk around but they can't actually be in the game. I will not allow my quarterback, the guy that's been engineering the best offense in the United States of America to be taken out of the game."

http://blog.nj.com/newsletters/2008/10/medium_heds1007.jpg
Police Chief Anthony Campos and Police
Director Garry McCarthy

The dizzying series of moves requires action by the City Council, which must approve the elimination of the chief's position (http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/10/directorord.pdf) and the creation of a new post (http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/10/publicsafetyord.pdf) Campos would fill as director of public safety.

Campos' move will force Booker to reorganize his administration because of state law limiting the number of directors. Booker spokeswoman Esmeralda Diaz Cameron said the administration would conduct "a citywide reorganization" to keep the number of department directors at the state-maximum of nine. Also at question is Campos' salary, which was $149,360 as chief. Officials said a pay raise has not been ruled out and it would be subject to approval by the state, which has control over the budget in light of $45 million in emergency aid that it provided this year.

Chris Donnelly, a spokesman for the Department of Community Affairs, said the state is reviewing the proposal to create the new director position.

The turmoil in the department comes at a time when the city is enjoying a 40 percent drop in the murder rate, drawing accolades for McCarthy, a 25-year veteran of the New York Police Department. While McCarthy enjoys the support of the mayor, critics questioned whether he had the authority to run the day-to-day operations of the department. The Superior Officers Association, a union representing 259 sergeants, lieutenants and captains, sued McCarthy and the city, asking a state judge to bar him from running most aspects of the force. The SOA argued the city was in violation of a state statute that grants those powers to the police chief, while the director should be responsible for crafting policies and procedures.

Newark has had a long-standing practice and ordinance that gives daily control to the police director. The city ordinance, though, contradicts the state law.

The lawsuit exposed the strained relationship between McCarthy and Campos, which dates back to McCarthy's appointment in September 2006. "At the end of the day, would I play a round of golf with him? No," Campos said today. "Would he race motorcycles or ride jet skis with me? No. But you know what? Everyday we come to work. We are both law enforcement professionals at the top of our game."

The union and city negotiated for weeks on a settlement that avoided a trial, scheduled to begin this week. Stephen Edelstein, the attorney for the city, and A.J. Fusco Jr., the attorney for the union, said there are no clear winners or losers in the case. "The purpose of the lawsuit was to get the department to conform with applicable state law," Fusco said. SOA president John Chrystal said his battle with the city was over. "We don't like to see the police chief position abolished, but that's the prerogative of the municipal government to do so," Chrystal said. "We wanted them to comply with the law and now they're doing so."

City council members said they needed more time to consider both ordinances. "This is a way of resolving two problems with one solution," said East Ward councilman Augusto Amador. Councilman-at-large Donald Payne, Jr. said, "I need more time to make sure we're doing the right thing. I need to make sure we're fully aware of what we intend to do."

starledger@2008 (starledger@2008)
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/settlement_reached_in_lawsuit.html (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/settlement_reached_in_lawsuit.html)

block944

December 22nd, 2008, 12:19 AM

mmigration laws, weak economy send many home

by Carmen Juri (cjuri@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Sunday December 21, 2008, 11:13 AM

The first signs of an Iberian exodus began about 10 months ago, when Kelin Muniz noticed a drop in customers who buy the Brazilian music and Brazilian beauty products in her store in the Ironbound section of Newark.
Brazilians in the Ironbound are leaving in droves, Muniz said, driven out by a bad economy and tougher immigration laws. She said about 15 of her friends have already gone back.
"Nobody comes here," she said Wednesday, pointing to the empty Tropical Music store on Ferry Street, where she is an employee.
After living in the United States for 10 years, Muniz also plans to pack her bags and move back to Brazil next month. The Newark resident wants to stay, but feels pressured to leave.
The housing crisis has drastically reduced construction jobs for her father, while the Brazilian economy has become more stable, she said. Muniz will be the first in her family to return; her parents and sister will follow after their home is sold, she said.
"We don't have income. It's been hard now to live here," said Muniz.
Delvemar Camilo de Souza, 25, dropped by Tropical Music to bid farewell to Muniz. He was leaving for his hometown of Minas Gerais in three days.
"There's no work, no money," said de Souza, who worked only one day for four hours last week in his construction job.
At Boi Na Brasa, a Brazilian restaurant, waiter Andre Vianna said tables are emptier than they've been in months.
"Lots of Brazilians bought homes in New Jersey, especially in Newark, and with the new situation, the value of homes decreased so much," said Roberto Lima, editor of the Brazilian Voice. "Owning a home here was no longer such a beauty."
Brazilian Voice reporter Leonardo Ferreira said professionals who are performing menial labor still are struggling and getting frustrated.
"They think: 'I've been cleaning houses for over five years, but I'm a lawyer. I'm an engineer and I'm laying bricks. I'm even more qualified than my bosses," Ferreira said.
What started as a trickle has now become a steady stream of Brazilians leaving Newark. Muniz said she had planned to return home in November, but the airplanes were full. Some are driving to other states to take flights from there.
"We have sold a lot of one-way tickets to Brazil," admitted Monica Rocco, owner of Monica Travel.
But Rocco pointed out there is still a thriving Brazilian population in the area.
"Some travel here hoping to make it, and some go back because of the economic situation," she said.
The Revs. Maristela Freiberg and Moacir Weirich of Grace Community Lutheran Church in the Ironbound have seen the exodus in their congregation. Last winter, they mailed 1,200 news bulletins to congregants. This year, they sent out only 800. They know five families who have gone back to Brazil in the last two weeks.
"People came to have a better life. When the (economic) crisis began, that dream went away," Freiberg said.
She said even women who clean houses for a living fear their employers won't be able to splurge on a housekeeper for much longer.
Freiberg said the summer of 2007 proved pivotal for undocumented Brazilians. That's when the comprehensive immigration reform bill was rejected by the senate while the Brazilian economy became more stable, she said.
"There were high expectations this law would pass and they would get legalized," she said. "Then raids began to happen."
Francisco Samba, president of the Brazilian American United Association, believes a crackdown by immigration authorities has sent many Brazilians homeward bound.
"They think, 'What's going to happen? What if immigration catches them?' It's a horrible situation," Samba said. "They're enforcing it more."
Weirich said new rules intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses also contributed to the departures.
"They're going back sadly. They put a lot of energy and effort and realize they can't make it anymore," he said.
So they're trying for a better life in their native land, which is enjoying a resurgence.
Brazil has begun to produce its own oil. Its president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, recently received a 71 percent approval rating. For the first time in recent memory, the country seems to have a positive attitude, said Lima.
"They discovered the biggest-ever oil reservoir in the ocean in Brazil," he said. "Brazil is a country with lots of potential. Brazilians are hopeful again."
But Lima predicts many Brazilians will realize upon returning home that life will prove harder than they originally envisioned.
"Too many Brazilians are already established here with kids in school. Lots of people going back are going to experience trouble," he said. "It's a different situation. They're used to the American way of life.
"They have to get used to a new reality, when they go back to Brazil and find that you cannot make $500 or $700 a week and you have to work six months to a year to buy a TV set," he said.
Muniz fears her sister, barely 10, will have the hardest time adjusting to the move, since she came to America when she was one.
"She doesn't speak Portuguese very well," she said.
See more in Editors' Picks (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/editors_picks/), Immigration (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/immigration/)

block944

December 22nd, 2008, 10:11 PM

Not really related to development but IDT may go under soon...

IDT plans reverse stock split, share buyback

by Jeff May (jmay@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Monday December 22, 2008, 9:04 AM

IDT this morning said it plans a one-for-three reverse stock split early next year to regain compliance with New York Stock Exchange listing standards. The struggling Newark telecommunication company also said its board has authorized a stock buyback program of up to 25 million shares.
http://blog.nj.com/business_impact/2008/12/medium_FB%203%20FAST5017%20PERONE%20LITUCH.JPGScot t Lituchy/The Star-LedgerIDT's headquarters on Broad Street in Newark
Shares of IDT have plunged 97 percent in the past year, from $9.54 on Christmas Eve a year ago to a Friday closing price of 24 cents. "Our stockholders realize significant benefits from our listing on the New York Stock Exchange, and we are working hard to retain it," IDT Chairman Howard Jonas said in a statement. "As we continue to execute on our business plan, we expect that the market will better reflect IDT's underlying value."
In the past year, as its calling card business and telecom sales declined, the company moved to streamline operations and sell off units to raise cash (http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2008/12/idt_to_sell_european_prepaid_d.html).

stache

December 23rd, 2008, 12:01 AM

This building already looks abandoned.

newarkdevil1

December 23rd, 2008, 12:36 AM

Well the company has had problems for a long time...tons of cash but no future business model. It's kind of a strange oddity, something like 50 or 60% of the company is hastic jews so the place has two kosher delis or something. There is so much optimism on that whole North Broad area but I wish more student housing would be developed.

stache

December 23rd, 2008, 04:53 AM

I'm pretty sure the delis have closed.

block944

December 24th, 2008, 12:38 AM

The worst isn't even over yet, wait till 2009... Horizon BCBSnj is getting ready to start its lay offs soon in alignment with going public and eventually being bought out by a national provider like aetna or cigna and eventually then shutting down.... then what?

Wow @ IDT

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=IDT#chart7:symbol=idt;range=my;indicator =volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;l ogscale=on;source=undefined

block944

December 26th, 2008, 04:19 PM

Off-duty Newark police officer stops attempted carjacking of his vehicle

by Guy Sterling (gsterling@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Friday December 26, 2008, 12:40 PM

Police are investigating an attempted carjacking of a Newark police officer this morning as he was driving home in his own car after completing his shift.
Authorities said the unidentified officer was followed at around 9:30 a.m. by two vehicles on South Orange Avenue in Newark, one an Acura and the other a Toyota 4-Runner that was reported stolen out of Elizabeth this morning.
At one point in the pursuit, the Acura struck the officer's car in the rear while the 4-Runner approached from the side and tried to run the officer's vehicle off the road, said Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
The officer opened fire on the 4-Runner, shooting twice and causing the SUV to crash in the front yard at 20 Grand Ave. in East Orange, Loriquet said. No one was hit and East Orange police apprehended one of the two occupants in the Toyota in a backyard several blocks from the crash site, while the other fled on foot, Loriquet added. The Acura, with four occupants, sped off.
Loriquet said the officer was shaken up and taken to University Hospital in Newark for observation, while the suspect was being questioned at police headquarters in East Orange and was expected to be charged sometime today.
See more in Editors' Picks (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/editors_picks/), Essex County (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/essex_county/), Newark law and order (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/newark_law_and_order/), News (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/news/)

Tags: Star-Ledger (http://comment-blog.advance.net/cgi-bin/mte/mt-search.cgi?tag=Star-Ledger&blog_id=1607)

scrollhectic

December 27th, 2008, 01:08 AM

The New Jersey Chapter of AIA Announces Winners of "Live the Box: An International Design Competition" By Betsy Kraat

NEWARK-- With thousands of unwanted shipping containers clogging our ports and the land around them, the American Institute of Architects' Newark and Suburban Architects chapter challenged innovative designers to "re-invent the box" in the "Live the Box: An International Design Competition" by using shipping containers as the primary design element in urban, multi-family, mixed-use projects for Newark.

The designers were asked to use standard shipping containers as the main building blocks. The containers could be used in any configuration or quantity and in whole or in part. One hundred and fifty participants from 13 countries, including those as far away as Turkey, South Korea and Romania, and from 26 states responded to the first Web-only international design competition.

The proposed site was located at the tip of Newark's Central Ward, once known as the Central Business District, near Broad Street Station. The site, which is within walking distance of the downtown and major cultural centers, was originally home to a Westinghouse Electric Corp. facility, which has since been demolished.

The winners were announced at an awards ceremony held at the NJIT School of Architecture Gallery last month. The first prize of $10,000 went to Felix Heidgen and Thomas Nagy for their design of "NewPark Station." Both are associates at RMJM Architects in Princeton, though they worked independently of the firm on this project. Noting the many neighborhoods that make up Newark, Haidgen said their goal was to create a project celebrating the "community within the community." Second place of $7,000 went to Modulaire of Miami, FL, and third place of $3,000 to Tang & Yang Architects of Savannah, GA.

Moving beyond the boundaries of familiar urban architecture, the competitors stacked the multi-hued containers in imaginative designs that took advantage of the modular nature of the building material by creating repetitive themes. Many of the designs aimed to reflect the cultural diversity of the city. The desire of urban residents for green space and places to exercise was expressed in the incorporation recreational elements and rooftop gardens. Sustainable elements included solar panels,
wind turbines, rainwater harvesting and compost chambers.

Unlike most architectural competitions, the computer served not only as the drafting tool but the presentation tool as well. Without boards to embellish, designers had to translate the significance and power of their projects through the screen of a juror's laptop.

Juror Raymond Nadasky, FAIA, a principal of NK Architects in Morristown said he was excited to see competitors use the shipping containers as building blocks, much as traditional construction uses brick.

The competition was the brainchild of Christopher Stone, AIA, vice president of AIA Newark and Suburban Architects. The view from his window, he said, is of the containers near Newark Liberty International Airport, seemingly waiting to be used for a new purpose. The competition was a reflection of the mission of AIA Newark and Suburban, which for more than 100 years has worked to develop public awareness of the value of good design.

The competition was held in conjunction with NJIT and "platinum" sponsor, Skanska USA Building. Other sponsors included "platinum" sponsor, National Portable Storage Association (NPSA); "gold" sponsor, Feury Image Group; "silver" sponsors, Allied Building Products Corp., NK Architects and Palin-Westerhold Properties; "bronze" sponsor, Benjamin Moore & Co.; and "steel" sponsors Extech Building Supply and GRA Architects.

To view the entries on the Web, go to www.livethebox.org (http://www.livethebox.org/).

block944

December 27th, 2008, 08:01 AM

Essex Legal Services on 5 Commerce street (next to 1180 and the market) officially closed on Dec 24 th. Another closing in the ongoing trend. I don't think the building was owned by Cogswell either.

tommyguy

December 29th, 2008, 11:38 AM

Authorities said the unidentified officer was followed at around 9:30 a.m. by two vehicles....At one point in the pursuit...

Does this strike anyone else as an odd incident? Like some central fact is missing?

Maybe only because the news story is not very clear. But my immediate reaction is to wonder if this was a 'road rage' incident that escalated into (or is being called) a carjacking.

Possible these carjackers picked the wrong guy though. It happens. A kid tried to hold up a guy getting out of his car to go in the Dunkin Donuts near me in Yonkers a few weeks ago. The guy -- an off-duty Yonkers cop -- reportedly said, "You gotta be kidding me" adding, "Throw down the weapon you're under arrest."

newarkdevil1

December 29th, 2008, 06:55 PM

Hmm some interesting designs although I don't know if I am a fan of the selected one. Either way, I don't think Im expecting to see that site developed any time soon.

scrollhectic

December 30th, 2008, 04:16 PM

Business owners at the Hunts Point produce market are working with city and state officials on plans for a new facility that could be built with the help of federal economic stimulus funds.

“We’re very close to agreeing on a design for a new market,” said Matthew D’Arrigo, co-president of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association, which represents the market’s 50 vendors. “There’s a goal of getting the project as complete as possible so when the new administration takes office we have something that is ready to go.”

Owners have long complained that they have outgrown their current 420,000 square-foot home, which opened in 1967 and relies on diesel-powered trailers for more than half of its refrigeration needs. Their lease runs out in 2011 and they’ve been negotiating with the city’s Economic Development Corp. to build a $450 million environmentally friendly facility that would provide modern refrigeration and additional space.

“NYCEDC and representatives of the Hunts Point Produce Market are continuing to make significant progress towards formulating a plan for a new, expanded facility,” said an EDC spokesman. “We are aggressively pursuing various sources of funding for the project, including federal money.”

On Monday, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a report saying a new produce market would fit perfectly with the goals of President-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus initiative. The report called the market the largest of its kind in the world and a vital economic engine for the South Bronx.

Each year, 3.3 billion pounds of produce are sold at the market, generating $2 billion in revenue and accounting for 8,500 jobs, the report said. Wholesale grocery jobs in the Bronx pay an average salary of $56,130, nearly 40% higher than the average for other industries in the borough,

“New York needs help to get this facility built,” Mr. DiNapoli said. “It should be at the top of the list of federal economic revitalization projects.”

Mr. Obama’s stimulus plan is expected to save or create 3 million jobs over two years and could cost nearly $1 trillion. Congress will debate its merits in January and the president-elect hopes to have a bill to sign shortly after taking office Jan. 20.

Business owners hope federal dollars will help them remain in Hunts Point, but they are also considering a move to New Jersey in case a deal for a new building in the Bronx can’t be reached. They’ve met with New Jersey and Newark economic development officials about a building a facility in Newark.

“We have to do the correct thing and look at all our options,” Mr. D’Arrigo said. “We’d prefer to stay where we are, but the option of moving to New Jersey is a real one.”

scrollhectic

January 3rd, 2009, 07:51 PM

by Jonathan Schuppe (jschuppe@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger

Wednesday December 31, 2008, 8:27 PM

About a year ago, as Newark's murder rate was dropping for the first time in half a decade, Police Director Garry McCarthy remained worried about a category of killings that remained stubbornly high: targeted shootings driven by the narcotics trade.

These murders, which McCarthy labeled "drug assassinations," would be key to cutting the city's murder rate further. At that point, he had already put in place many of the strategies that he'd helped develop as a commander in the New York Police Department--putting more cops on the street when most violent crime happens, going after fugitives, cracking down on quality-of-life offenses. So he started something new.

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2008/12/large_BookerMcCarthy.JPG
TONY KURDZUK/THE STAR-LEDGERNewark Mayor Corey Booker speaks during a press conference in October at the Newark Police and Fire Communications Center. Also shown are Police Director Garry McCarthy (left), Essex County Prosecutor Paula Dow (2nd from right) and Police Chief Anthony Campos.

Since then, representatives of local, county and federal law enforcement agencies have gotten together every couple of weeks to divvy up the city's worst drug spots. The initiative, called Violent Enterprise Strategic Targeting, focused on busting lots of street-level crews and their managers--picking up four or five at a time on whatever charges would stick, from murder and assault to carrying drugs or holding a gun.

"It seemed to follow that if you reduce the number of narcotics-related shootings, you'll reduce the number of murders," McCarthy said.
And it seems to be working. The number of shootings, including drug-related attacks, dropped significantly last year, driving the murder rate further down. As of today, Newark had 67 murders in 2008, compared to 99 the year before, and 107 in 2006. Of this year's 67 murders, 36 percent were drug related, compared to nearly half of 2007's killings, police say.

Newark's steep murder reduction led New Jersey cities, most of whom either saw more modest drops or slight upticks. The troubling exception was Camden, a city of 80,000 people where there were 53 murders, up from 42 in 2007, and nearly a record.

Law enforcement authorities in Camden have said that most of the murders are targeted attacks involving drug dealers and gang members, the same forces that Newark has tried to contain.

Among the cities that saw slight increases in murders were Irvington (up one, to 24), Jersey City (up five, to 25), Paterson (up three, to 17) and Plainfield (up one, to five).

"We're still trying to get a handle on the gunfire," Paterson police Lt. Anthony Traina said.

Non-fatal shootings have also increased in Paterson, Traina said. Authorities attribute the added violence in part to the closing of the Alexander Hamilton public housing complex, a hub in the local heroin trade. That may have dispersed drug dealers into other parts of the city, leading to turf wars, he said.

"I think the key is to focus on getting intelligence (about criminals' movements) before the violence happens," Traina said.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio blamed the widespread availability of illegal guns on the streets, which he called "a national disgrace." Despite Jersey City's jump in murders last year, DeFazio said killings have slowed since October, when authorities rounded up several violent members of the Crips street gang.

The cities who enjoyed a small decrease in murders include Elizabeth (down three, to 13), and Trenton (down six, to 19).

Four years ago, murders in Trenton spiked at 31. Then came a crackdown on gangs, including a partnership with federal authorities that snared gang members in murder-conspiracy cases, police said. Last year, the number of gang-related killings declined, said Capt. Joseph Juniak, commander of the Trenton Police Department's Criminal Investigations Bureau.

"We took down an umber of individuals involved with the gang, not just the shooters," he said. "We're going after everyone involved. That takes a lot of violent offenders off the street."

scrollhectic

January 3rd, 2009, 08:14 PM

Newark population: 281,402 (2006) - 67 murders
Jersey City population: 242,839 (2007) - 25 murders
** That's a big difference! I'm proud of Newark for making such strides and for reducing the murder rate so much in one year, but it's important to compare the statistics for New Jersey's two largest cities. Something else I had to point out as well...

Irvington population: 56,920 (2007) - 24 murders! YIKES! That's one less murder that JC but with a fifth of the population!!!!

Camden population: 78,675 (2007) - 53 murders! :eek: DOUBLE YIKES! Over TWICE as many murders as JC with a little less than a 3rd of the population!!!

Seriously, there must be funds somewhere to raze both those cities and just start all over again. I promise, last time I tried to drive thru Camden, my car gained consciousness, took control and circumnavigated the entire city.

NewarkDevil5

January 4th, 2009, 12:22 AM

Just to get the apples to apples comparison numbers:

Newark murder rate /100,000 pop - 23.81

Jersey City murder rate /100,000 pop - 10.29

Irvington murder rate /100,000 pop - 42.16

Camden murder rate /100,000 pop - 67.37

So, while you're a little under half as likely to be murdered in Jersey City as you are in Newark, you're almost double as likely to be murdered in Irvington and nigh on three times as likely in Camden.

Of course, these numbers are fairly skewed seeing as how the population numbers for Newark and Jersey City don't take into account the thousands of people that come into those cities to work every day whereas Irvington and Camden don't come close in terms of commuter populations, so in all actuality, people in Irvington and Camden are even more likely to be killed than people in Newark or Jersey City.

tommyguy

January 4th, 2009, 01:11 PM

So, while you're a little under half as likely to be murdered in Jersey City as you are in Newark, you're almost double as likely to be murdered in Irvington and nigh on three times as likely in Camden.

I think the reality behind these numbers is, they really only apply if you're a gang member or involved in the drug trade. Also true in Irvington and Camden.

One accomplishment that gets lost is, there's about thirty Newark drug dealers/gang members that literally owe their lives to the efforts of the Newark PD -- whom I'm sure the gangbangers routinely despise -- to reduce the violence.

The other thing is, why is it now okay to trash Camden in this thread? I've been to Camden several times recently on the light rail. Last summer I saw many suburban-type families on the train headed to the waterfront. Coming back they seemed like they had a pretty good day. At least, they didn't appear to have any visible gunshot wounds. :cool:

scrollhectic

January 4th, 2009, 04:49 PM

High expectations for all is part of formula for success

Sunday, January 04, 2009 BY CARMEN JURI
Star-Ledger Staff

In a city with struggling schools, the Robert Treat Academy in Newark is an oasis.

Its test scores are higher than any other K-8 school in the city. School days are longer, as is the school year, and students go on to attend the most prestigious secondary schools in America.

Children from all over the city apply for entry and are selected by lottery. The waiting list is 1,000 students long.

It's no wonder the charter school is the only school in New Jersey and one of only eight nationwide that will be featured on the U.S. Department of Education's website in 2009 as a "high poverty, high achieving" model school. The others are in Texas, California, Illinois, Virginia and West Virginia.

Principal Michael Pallante said high expectations for students, parents and teachers is part of the school's formula for success. Parent meetings, a requirement, boast an 80 percent attendance rate, he said.

"We want parents to understand this charter fully. They need to know what their participation in their children's education should be," Pallante said.

Longer school days, coupled with an after-school program and Saturday classes is just what kids need, he said. Some 70 percent of students stay for the after-school program.

"In inner cities, children really don't have the type of experiences that wealthier children have. When they're off from school, they travel, have experiences. Kids in the city don't have that much to do," Pallante said.

Robert Treat was picked from among 329 schools named 2008 No Child Left Behind-Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Education Department. The school is part of The North Ward Center, a community service center that includes an early childhood development program, a charter school, adult medical day care and other services.

Stephen Adubato, the school's founder, said Robert Treat defies all odds because it is guided by principles other schools should model. He believes throwing money at schools will not solve the nation's educational crisis, and Robert Treat helps make the point.

Its per-pupil spending of $11,067 is about 40 percent less than the $18,580 the public schools spend in Newark, according to the New Jersey Department of Education Comparative Spending Guide. Statewide, the per pupil cost is $12,720.

The average class size of 25 at Robert Treat is larger than the state average of 19, yet that has not resulted in a negative outcome, as some may have predicted, he said.

"We're so far ahead than any school in Newark," said Adubato, adding there are plans to open another school in the city's Central Ward. "People are used to hearing how Newark can fail," Adubato said. "There's an answer, and it can be duplicated."

Adubato said better hiring practices and accountability of teachers is key to success.

"We have to have educational institutions, not employment agencies. That'll change everything," he said. "If a teacher here shows disinterest, they stick out like a sore thumb."

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings commended Robert Treat during a 2007 charter schools conference.

"I've been to Robert Treat Academy in Newark, where students attend school six days a week, participate in community service, and 100 percent of third-graders are proficient in math and reading," she said. "These schools are breaking apart the myth that some children can't learn. By acting as laboratories for best practices, they are changing attitudes about education and they're getting great results for kids."

scrollhectic

January 4th, 2009, 05:13 PM

By DAVID PORTER – 2 hours ago

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Some business owners in this crime-plagued city say recent enforcement of a decades-old ordinance prohibiting some types of barbed wire and razor wire is making Newark more attractive — to thieves.

Burglaries are up 17 percent from 2007 through November in Newark, which has a young, charismatic mayor who has vowed to help the city rebound from decades of official inaction, incompetence and outright criminality.

The city is aggressively courting new investment and development, but people who have been ordered to downgrade their fences say officials are worried more about aesthetics than security.

John DeSantis, owner of a lot used by an auto repair business in Newark's West Ward, says his property has been the site of more than a dozen burglaries since the summer, when the city forced him to remove razor wire on top of the 7-foot-tall fence that surrounds the lot.

"The bottom line was, they said, 'It doesn't look good and we want to create a new image for the city of Newark,'" DeSantis said.

The order was backed up by a previously little-used 1966 ordinance that states: "No barbed wire fence or other fence or wall having barbed or sharp projections facing outward, or otherwise endangering the traveling public, shall be permitted adjacent to or along the line of any street or public place."

The Rev. C.H. Thomas of the Church of Christ, which sits across the street from DeSantis' lot, told The Star-Ledger of Newark that thieves have broken into several cars in the church's lot since barbed wire was removed from a fence over the summer at the city's behest.

In some respects, the dispute is a microcosm of the changes under way in New Jersey's largest city, viewed, as always, through the prism of crime.

Newark is a city struggling to forge ahead as it grapples with its past, with neighborhoods in which new housing is sprinkled across a landscape teeming with aging or abandoned properties.

Crime remains the broad brush that colors perceptions of the city: Despite a steep drop in homicides in the last year, robberies and aggravated assaults rose along with burglaries in 2008.

DeSantis said he was surprised when a city official told him that the ordinance was being enforced to prevent passers-by or anyone climbing the fence from being injured by the barbed wire.

"I said that maybe if a few of these thieves were injured the word would get around that 'Hey, we can't do this anymore," he said.

Melvin Waldrop, director of the city's department of neighborhood and recreational services, which oversees code enforcement, did not respond to a request for comment, but his office said 132 properties were cited for violating the 1966 ordinance in the city last year. It was not known how many of the property owners had removed the wire from their fences as a result.

Mayor Cory A. Booker said, through a spokeswoman: "We understand the concerns of local business owners and will continue to work with property owners to resolve this matter. The city will be reviewing the ordinance to come up with a solution that addresses all concerns."

For now, enforcement of the ordinance appears to be spotty.

Around the corner from DeSantis' property, barbed wire topped a fence around a vacant lot behind the Yes Lord Ministry, and two auto repair shops within a few blocks also had barbed wire or razor wire atop their fences.

Joe Nyamekye, who runs Joe's Collision Center on Central Avenue, said a city representative told him a few months ago he might have to remove the barbed wire and razor wire that tops the fence surrounding his lot. He said he hadn't heard anything since then.

"We are hoping we can work with the city so we can hold on a while longer," Nyamekye said. "I know of other cities that meet businesses halfway, and we hope that happens here."

West Ward Councilman Ronald C. Rice has met with local business owners in the wake of the burglaries, and said he would meet with Newark's corporation counsel to discuss solutions.

"We're not ignoring the problem," he said. "Maybe we do change this law or make an exception. We're amenable to doing that, but we have to work out what that's going to be."

In the meantime, Rice said, "We have to be a city that follows its own laws."

stache

January 4th, 2009, 10:49 PM

The other thing is, why is it now okay to trash Camden in this thread? I've been to Camden several times recently on the light rail. Last summer I saw many suburban-type families on the train headed to the waterfront. Coming back they seemed like they had a pretty good day. At least, they didn't appear to have any visible gunshot wounds. :cool:

I have found through trial and error that it's best to take the light rail in the A.M. The few times I have tried it in the afternoon/evening it was pretty bad thanks to a drunk or two in each car that thought it would be cute to start acting out.

block944

January 4th, 2009, 11:12 PM

I think the reality behind these numbers is, they really only apply if you're a gang member or involved in the drug trade. Also true in Irvington and Camden.

One accomplishment that gets lost is, there's about thirty Newark drug dealers/gang members that literally owe their lives to the efforts of the Newark PD -- whom I'm sure the gangbangers routinely despise -- to reduce the violence.

The other thing is, why is it now okay to trash Camden in this thread? I've been to Camden several times recently on the light rail. Last summer I saw many suburban-type families on the train headed to the waterfront. Coming back they seemed like they had a pretty good day. At least, they didn't appear to have any visible gunshot wounds. :cool:

The waterfront is not camden, other than those lofts and the aquariam there is nothing there. The real camden (the parts where you live and get shot) are past rutgers a block from those lofts. Saying camden is safe by hanging in the waterfront is a crock. Go down a few blocks where the people/stores/homes/schools(rutgers) and you will see the real camden and where those high murder numbers come from.

tommyguy

January 5th, 2009, 01:37 AM

I have found through trial and error that it's best to take the light rail in the A.M. The few times I have tried it in the afternoon/evening it was pretty bad thanks to a drunk or two in each car that thought it would be cute to start acting out.

Pretty bad? We're talking about the Trenton-Camden Light Rail train, right?

I think you've been unlucky then because I've ridden a dozen times or more in late afternoon and early evening and, asides from a few trips where the train was absolutely packed, I've never seen any problems.

One thing I can suggest, if you're traveling alone, sit (or stand) in the front of the first car. If someone harasses you, tap on the train operator's window and ask for assistance. I've seen people do that on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and the operator's always responded.

tommyguy

January 5th, 2009, 01:47 AM

Critics Say Newark Barbed Wire Ban Helps Criminal
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) —....a previously little-used 1966 ordinance that states: "No barbed wire fence or other fence or wall having barbed or sharp projections facing outward, or otherwise endangering the traveling public, shall be permitted adjacent to or along the line of any street or public place.

I would love to know the political history behind this law. 1966? That was back in the Mayor Hugh Addonizio era when Newark was like South Africa when the Afrikaners were still running things.

The Addonizio Administration put restrictions on the use of barbed wire? I would've thought they'd have passed a law requiring it. :(

scrollhectic

January 8th, 2009, 11:56 AM

Raines will skipper the Newark club in'09

Thursday, January 08, 2009 BY PHILIP READ
Star-Ledger Staff

The team may be $1 million in debt in a declining economy, but the new owner of the minor league Newark Bears said he thinks the time is right for his ballclub, despite a recession perhaps not seen since the team captured the President's Cup for winning the highest percentage of games in 1933, during the Great Depression.

"I think especially in this economy ... this is the place to come," said James Wankmiller, who as president and CEO of Bases Loaded Group acquired the Newark franchise for $100,000 and the assumption of some $1 million in debt during a bankruptcy court hearing just two months ago.

"They'll come because young baseball players come chasing their dreams."
Wankmiller, a neophyte to team ownership, yesterday paraded out the opening lineup of coaches for the beleaguered franchise's 2009 season and said he intends to make the team's 6,200-seat sta dium a year-round venue.

"Music and baseball go together. ... That's how we think we'll differentiate ourselves from the past," said Wankmiller, saying only that details will emerge in the coming weeks. "Right now, the eye is on baseball."

For the official unveiling of his coaching roster inside Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, the chief of the financial and entertainment services company brought up a gui tar-playing Nashville singer to sing a tune called "Hard Times."

"It's an anthem of hope," Wank miller said.

The coaches were introduced by general manager Mark Skeels yesterday inside the doors of the 10-year-old stadium's luxury-suite entrance.

The city of Newark, home of the new 18,000-seat Prudential Center better known as "the Rock," will be getting another as the Bears' field manager: Tim "Rock" Raines, the National League All-Star who stole 808 bases in his major-league career and wore Yankee pinstripes during the New York team's World Series wins in 1996 and 1998. He is a nominee for the Baseball Hall of Fame this winter.

"We're definitely going to have all the ingredients we need. ... It's not going to be me. It's going to be the players," Raines said as he lifted his Newark cap in a salute to the crowd of public officials and well-wishers.

Seated a few feet away were the new pitching coach, Mike Torrez, credited with helping Yankee manager Billy Martin earn his only World Series title in 1977; hitting coach Ron Karkovice, who in 1993 slammed 20 home runs and helped lead the White Sox to the American League Championship Series; and bench coach Tony Ferrara, a major-league fixture who today wears a No. 7 jersey in honor of his longtime friend, the late Mickey Mantle.

Yesterday, though, they were all wearing the Bears new pinstripe uniforms, a throwback to Newark's rich baseball history with patches from the old Bears and the old Newark Eagles of the defunct Negro Baseball League.

"We're going to resurrect that, pay homage to the past," Wankmil ler said.
The large room for yesterday's press conference had an abun dance of Cracker Jack and bags of peanuts, those staples of the great American ballpark. On the wall was a large panoramic photo of the long-gone 1926 Ruppert Stadium, whose 12,000 seats were once packed for games of the "old" Newark Bears in the International League.

Newark and Essex County have a big stake in the success of the franchise, now part of the independent, eight-team Atlantic League. They financed construction of the $34 million stadium by selling bonds, bringing professional baseball back to Newark for the first time in 50 years.

The team has lost money its last three seasons, typically managing to fill only 2,746 of its 6,200 seats. Yesterday, Wankmiller said ticket prices will remain at $8 to $12 but that he doesn't have a complete business plan or a date for a return to profitability.

"It's not finalized yet. We've only had ownership for a couple of months. The budget and all that is in progress," he said. "You don't chase the money. The money comes with good service."

The idea of bringing musical entertainment to ballparks is not new. In 2005, Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson packed 9,000 fans into the 3,784-seat Yogi Berra Stadium, home of the minor-league New Jersey Jackals on the campus of Montclair State University.

The Jackals team president, Greg Lockard, said the Newark Bears have every chance to make it. "We're rooting for all teams in this area to succeed," he said. "We believe this is a great and affordable alternative."

David Kaplan, who runs the sta dium's museum and has co-authored numerous works with Yankee great Yogi Berra, said the tim ing might be right for a winning play.

"With the economy the way it is," Kaplan said, "this is a major opportunity for minor-league teams to claim a greater audience."

newarkdevil1

January 9th, 2009, 02:20 PM

Thi was in Joan Whitlows article in NJ.com today and I posted related links...absolute amazing story in regards to Al Faiella. I love Newark, but seriously, how the hell do you let your EDC give away city assets, furthermor how is this guy not in jail?

http://www.nj.com/newark/index.ssf/2009/01/glad_tidings_for_some_who_rece.html

http://www.mail-archive.com/asburypark@yahoogroups.com/msg17562.html

http://www.mail-archive.com/asburypark@yahoogroups.com/msg10922.html

scrollhectic

January 10th, 2009, 02:09 AM

Newark police chief job on its way out in favor of director
by Ralph Ortega/The Star-Ledger
Thursday January 08, 2009, 8:00 PM

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is expected to approve an ordinance next week that abolishes the position of the chief of police, and leaves the authority of the police director unchallenged.

The ordinance was sent to Booker today, according to the city. Booker is expected to sign it next week, according to a city spokeswoman.

Once approved, Police Director Garry F. McCarthy will have sole authority over day-to-day operations. The ordinance also strips the police director, as well as the mayor, of their ability to chose a new top cop for Newark.

"We're taking that power away from them," said Councilman Augusto Amador, just before the ordinance was passed by the city council on Wednesday.

With no way of resurrecting the post, Booker and McCarthy will avoid the appearance they might try to replace the former police chief, Anthony Campos, who resigned in October.

The ordinance offers a compromise after tensions arose between Campos and McCarthy, who signed on with the city during the first year of Booker's administration in 2006.

City officials first agreed to a settlement with the Superior Officers Association, a union representing sergeants, lieutenants and captains, that sued to block McCarthy from assuming the responsibilities handled by the chief. Booker later called for abolishing the chief's position, leaving McCarthy sole authority over the department of more than 1,300 officers.

Campos also was offered an olive branch: He remains with the department as a deputy chief, and now serves as a public safety adviser to the mayor. He also works with the city's Office of Emergency Management, Taxi Commission, crossing guards and special police officers.

Despite attempts to ease frictions, there were others in law enforcement who still voiced objections to the ordinance. "It's appalling what they've done," said Edward R. Brannigan, president of the state Fraternal Order of Police.

Brannigan, a retired Newark detective, spoke briefly at the meeting, and was unable to persuade the council against approving the ordinance.

The president of the Superior Officers Association, John Chrystal, who also was in attendance, left saying he would ask the state attorney general to help the union watch McCarthy closely.

"We're going to petition the attorney general and ask them for their assistance in this matter to make sure the duties of the police director don't run afoul," he said.

Without oversight, Chrystal said there is little to stop a civilian leader from blurring the lines of what can be done. State laws, he said, prohibit a civilian from exercising police powers and performing police duties, but the supervision of operations and administration is allowed.

scrollhectic

January 10th, 2009, 02:17 AM

Newark police chief job on its way out in favor of director

:confused: Checks and balances???

scrollhectic

January 10th, 2009, 02:22 AM

By Eric Peterson (http://www.globest.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.author.contact.view?client_id=globest&story_id=176200&title=Tucker%20Plans%20200%2C000%2DSF%20Retail%20C enter&author=Eric%20Peterson&address=http%3A//www.globest.com/news/1323%5F1323/newjersey/176200%2D1.html&summary=NEWARK%2DThe%20developer%20has%20acquired% 20an%2011%2Dacre%20urban%20in%2Dfill%20site%20and% 20will%20team%20with%20locally%20based%20WKA%20for %20the%20project.)

http://www.globest.com/newspics/nej_springfieldmarketplace.jpg
Springfield Marketplace

NEWARK-The Chicago-based Tucker Development Corp. has acquired the 11-acre tract at the northeast corner of Springfield Ave. and Jones St. in this city’s Central Ward, and is set to develop a 200,000-square-foot retail center on the urban in-fill site. Tucker will team with the locally based WKA Development Corp., headed by Will Allen, to do the project, which has been named Springfield Avenue Marketplace.

"Newark has significant demand for new retail centers, as evidenced by the fact that 38% of retail purchases by residents and workers are made outside of the city," says the firm’s president, Richard Tucker. "That’s a loss of $575 million in sales to the city every year. This development will help recapture the enormous leakage of retail spending. It will also provide a necessary resource for neighborhood residents, create employment opportunities and help increase the city’s tax revenue base."

What Tucker has planned is a layout with two anchor tenants of approximately 90,000 and 65,000 square feet respectively, with the rest of the space accounted for by a combination of national and regional in-line stores. No tenant announcements have been made yet. Plans also call for a two-story parking deck and store-front parking, which combined will add up to 825 parking spaces.

"Building out this strategically important site will help strengthen one of the city’s key neighborhoods and create a regional asset," says Stefan Pryor, the city’s deputy mayor for economic development, in a statement. "It will add a significant number of new jobs to this city as well as capture local sales taxes that have been leaving Newark."

The project will also benefit from the fact that it’s located within this city’s urban enterprise zone. Benefits of that location include a 50% reduction in sales taxes for shoppers, as well as the reduction or elimination of taxes on personal property and services for the retailers themselves.

And for Tucker, which last year established a regional office here, the Springfield project marks the company’s second foray into this marketplace. In 2008, the company rolled out plans for Liberty Place (http://www.globest.com/news/1129_1129/newjersey/169618-1.html), a 450,000-square-foot mix of office, retail and hotel uses. Liberty Place will rise at 422 Broad St., adjacent to the Broad Street Rail Station.

scrollhectic

January 10th, 2009, 02:50 AM

http://www.libertyplazanj.com/

Aside from the enormous parking lot behind it, I think it looks good. That parking lot is such a waste of waterfront land. A parking deck and a park along the river would be nice, but hey, it's better than what's there now...

NewarkDevil5

January 10th, 2009, 12:30 PM

Liberty Plaza looks ok, but I agree that the parking lot isn't the most attractive piece of the arrangement. Doing a similar arrangement to Military Park's underground garage would have been ideal with a park at the top (plus a pedestrian bridge to the riverfront) and parking below. It would likely have been cost prohibitive, but that would be something that I would fully understand the city subsidizing because it adds a new public space as well as parking and access to the riverfront.

z22

January 10th, 2009, 01:15 PM

According to their site plan, the parking lot supposes to be their Phase II. I think they already have indoor parking in lower levels.

scrollhectic

January 10th, 2009, 04:05 PM

According to their site plan, the parking lot supposes to be their Phase II. I think they already have indoor parking in lower levels.

You're right Z22, they have over 500 indoor parking spaces planned for floors 2-6, I believe. And they did indicate a Phase II in their site plan, so they probably have plans for expansion. Between Liberty Plaza and the Springfield Marketplace, Tucker seems to have a vested interest in Newark. Ultimately, we'll see how it works out once either are built. The reason I question the parking lot is because there are many Phase II projects that have never come to fruition in Newark: One Riverfront Plaza was supposed to have a Phase II over a decade ago... where is it? Though there are renderings and even listings for Two Riverfront Plaza, who knows if it will actually be built. Seton Hall Law School was supposed to have a Phase II building as well... I only see one building on that lot though, and how long ago was that built?

What was most interesting to me on Liberty Plaza's webpage is the video of the reception they had back in October. Mayor Booker of course spoke and he mentioned a few projects that I have yet to find any information on. He mentioned a new tower on Broad and Market! Interesting since I haven't seen anything done to the Fireman's Insurance Building on Broad and Market since the scaffolding went up. Would the new tower be across the street from it? Hopefully they'll finish rehabbing the Fireman's building and also do something with the Kinney Building accross from it. Booker also mentioned a new hotel, which he talked briefly about in his State of the City address last year. I believe the Lam Group is supposed to be building it. I found a blurry rendering of it (attached) on Emporis. Lastly, he mentioned that Seton Hall Law School was going to build a dorm. I'm not sure if Booker was referring to the Fireman's Insurance Building - as I understand that they are the ones who are rehabbing it to convert it into student housing - or if they are going to build a new building altogether.

If Matrix does Two Riverfront, Tucker completes Liberty Plaza, Boraie-O'Neal (Shaq) builds One Riverview and Dranoff constructs Two Center Street, then Newark will add 4 new high rises to its skyline. Kind of exciting!

tommyguy

January 10th, 2009, 10:54 PM

...absolute amazing story in regards to Al Faiella. I love Newark, but seriously, how the hell do you let your EDC give away city assets, furthermor how is this guy not in jail?

That's quite an interesting series of articles. I followed the political news in that era -- not very long ago, actually -- and while I knew there was some corruption under Mayor Sharpe James I had no idea it was of this level.

I am somewhat stunned. I've even found myself pondering the events as described in idle moments. Depressing that Mayor James let so many people down.

Does this relate to a current situation? I think it might.

The flap about Mayor Booker eliminating the position of Police Chief. It's the system itself in Newark that is obviously broken if the level of corruption as revealed in the Faiella case was possible. Buying multi-million dollar properties with city funds then -- in effect -- transfering title to himself? Selling municipal property to his wife for roughly three cents on the dollar?

The people who are protesting the Mayor's move to eliminate the position of Police Chief are the same people who allowed this extreme corruption to go unchecked, to actually flourish, are they not? Who knows what they are really after.

Campos and his crowd had their chance, let's give Booker and McCarthy a shot.

JCexpert558

January 11th, 2009, 01:55 AM

There will never be any tall skycrapers in Newark will there.

Marv95

January 11th, 2009, 12:38 PM

There will never be any tall skycrapers in Newark will there.
Is it required? You forget that
a)Recession/costs
b)Airport close by, makes no sense to build 60+ story towers(aka DC, Orlando)
c)Don't think the city's ground structure is able to sustain the height of those type of buildings with the way downtown was built, which is one reason why the Grant Tower idea was bizarre

block944

January 11th, 2009, 03:01 PM

scrollhectic

January 13th, 2009, 03:13 PM

by Dave D'Alessandro (ddalessandro@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger

Tuesday January 13, 2009, 8:55 AM

http://blog.nj.com/newark/2009/01/large_pruJerry McCrea/The Star-LedgerPrudential Center in Newark.

The Nets could be headed for Newark after all.

For a short while, anyway.

Nets management has begun negotiations with Devils owner Jeffrey Vanderbeek to play three preseason games at the Prudential Center next October, according to several people with knowledge of the discussions who asked not to be identified out of concern for affecting the talks.

Nets CEO Brett Yormark would neither confirm nor deny the discussions Monday night, but he strongly implied such an arrangement could be feasible for his team.

"We're exploring many different options, continue to regionalize the franchise," Yormark said through a team spokesman. "Preseason games afford us the opportunity to do this."

Vanderbeek also didn't confirm or deny any talks with the Nets, but he said Monday night no preseason games had been scheduled for the Prudential Center.

"No, not that I know of," he said.

The discussions between Yormark and the Devils owner began at least one week ago, and whether this represents a sea change in the Nets' thinking about the viability of eventually moving to Newark -- should the Atlantic Yards project fall through -- is being discussed throughout the organization.

"That's what everyone is wondering," one high-ranking Nets official said Monday night. "With Brooklyn still up in the air, the question is whether they're warming to the idea of moving to Newark, even though it's clear that getting to Brooklyn is best for the long-term health of the franchise."

The Nets have played at Izod Center -- and its various incarnations -- since 1981, and it remains one of the most antiquated arenas in the NBA.

In a recent interview, Yormark extolled the relationship his team has with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, but reiterated that the team can never get in the black if they play in a facility with only 28 luxury suites.

More than once, however, Yormark has put the kibosh on any discussion about moving out of Izod Center before the $1 billion Barclays Center is completed, which he predicts will be sometime in 2011. (The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Nets owner Bruce Ratner is considering scaling back the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn.)

The general feeling is that the Nets do not want to be a second tenant in someone else's building, while the Devils most likely would not be interested in sharing ownership of the Prudential Center.

But Yormark also left open the door to dipping his toe in the Newark waters simply by stating that newer is better:

"We love our relationship with the NJSEA, they partner with us in every aspect of that building -- from the lounges to the LEDs (illuminated ad boards) to everything we've done there," Yormark said. "But (Izod Center) still doesn't provide us with the resources we need, and the contemporary look and feel of some of the newer buildings."

newarkdevil1

January 14th, 2009, 11:42 AM

In regards to the Tucker Development I have seen site plans that they showed off at a function that actually have Phase two witth a elevated park that connects the building to a hotel that is next to rt 21.

God the Nets drive me nuts, I refuse to go watch a team that has basically told me they play for another city and state. Franchises want you to shell out huge dollars for tickets and think nothing of dropping their fans on a moments notice.

As for the Tucker development on Springfield I think that is huge. That lot is empty right now and looks like a war zone. I am not a huge fan of strip retail as I think it hurts how things scale up in a city but this is good for the people that live in University Heights. Probably more important is that Tucker secures at least a decent ancore (how does target or lowes not see the potential here).

Marv95

January 14th, 2009, 01:32 PM

Who finances these projects? Tucker I mean. Someone on another forum asked about it and I'm kinda naive on how they get paid for. Same for the Journal Square towers. Who finances that?

newarkdevil1

January 14th, 2009, 08:11 PM

Well the financing depends on the builder and owner. You have your REITs would can sollicit for funds like Private Equity and keep everything in House. Then you have your developers that go out to the banks or intemediaries that will issue commercial paper. Tucker is a large company that would probably search for bank financing fo the entity based on it's tennanta and experience running these projects...

ASchwarz

January 14th, 2009, 11:13 PM

God the Nets drive me nuts, I refuse to go watch a team that has basically told me they play for another city and state.

When did the Nets say that??

Brooklyn is part of the same metropolitan region, and it's hardly unusual for sports teams to upgrade to newer arenas.

You do also realize that the Nets started off on the other side of the river? NJ residents will obviously be welcome at the Barclays Center, just as NY residents are welcome in the Meadowlands.

JCMAN320

January 15th, 2009, 04:02 AM

Wrong, they actually started as the NJ Americans playing in the Teaneck Armory before they moved to LI.

newarkdevil1

January 15th, 2009, 09:59 AM

http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2009/01/new_jersey_devils_owner_still.html

This is a perfect example of damage control...probably on both parts. I still think the forest city/Atlantic Yards thing is a mess and a prime example of poor use of eminent domain. I have spoken with people involved with the Mullberry st. Coalition and they went through similar problems when the city tried to shove them out of the Prudential Arena area for a developer. I think Yormark is stuck in a crapy situation with a lame duck team. They aren't coming from brooklyn to see them and in NJ it's reached new levels of apathy for a team thats told us it's going.

scrollhectic

January 15th, 2009, 11:22 AM

Can I be a CEO to a sports team because I can make arrogant demands and bad decisions too!

Atlantic Yards is not going to happen anytime soon, so the Nets have two options as far as I see it... stay at the IZOD which few people want to go to, or move the team to the Rock. I understand not wanting to play in someone else's arena, but business is business and the Nets are a money losing franchise at IZOD. If the Nets actually showed some COMMITMENT to New Jersey, maybe their fan base will increase and they can start filling some seats at their embarassingly empty games. I doubt anyone from Brooklyn is traveling all the way to the Meadowlands to support their new hometown team.

I think Yormark may be trying to save face here and not seem desparate, but lets be real, desparate times call for desparate measure... Sure the Nets will be playing in an arena that should have been partially thiers, but it's too late to play cool now. I wonder what their Plan B is in case Atlantic Yards never happens or becomes too cost prohibitive to wait for, cause staying at the IZOD center is not a plan...

ASchwarz

January 15th, 2009, 11:54 AM

I doubt anyone from Brooklyn is traveling all the way to the Meadowlands to support their new hometown team.

Again, you seem to fail to understand the area in which you live. This is the NY metropolitan area, whether you are in NY, NJ, or CT.

There is no "new hometown team", any more than when the Devils moved to Newark from East Rutherford. It's just a team wanting their own, new facility.

There are many New Yorkers who attend Nets and Devils games (including myself, and yes, I live in Brooklyn), and I'm sure there are many New Jerseyans who attend Knicks and Rangers games. This is all one metropolitan region. Why would this be any different?

66nexus

January 15th, 2009, 12:45 PM

Again, you seem to fail to understand the area in which you live. This is the NY metropolitan area, whether you are in NY, NJ, or CT.

There is no "new hometown team", any more than when the Devils moved to Newark from East Rutherford. It's just a team wanting their own, new facility.

There are many New Yorkers who attend Nets and Devils games (including myself, and yes, I live in Brooklyn), and I'm sure there are many New Jerseyans who attend Knicks and Rangers games. This is all one metropolitan region. Why would this be any different?

Sorry, but the NY/NJ metro is quite unlike New England. Whereas the Patriots, Bruins, etc. can represent New England as a whole, the Rangers and Knicks do not represent the NY Metro.

There is a cross-river rivalry...always has been. The only time our metro region is cohesive is when it's concerning the NFL. (In which case NJ has to support it's 'home' teams)

If you are indeed from NY then how would you expect to understand? We're looking at it from the other end.

66nexus

January 15th, 2009, 12:49 PM

Is it required? You forget that
a)Recession/costs
b)Airport close by, makes no sense to build 60+ story towers(aka DC, Orlando)
c)Don't think the city's ground structure is able to sustain the height of those type of buildings with the way downtown was built, which is one reason why the Grant Tower idea was bizarre

DC has strict zoning laws, and Newark def. has the subterranean integrity to support higher than 200m.

scrollhectic

January 15th, 2009, 05:16 PM

If you are indeed from NY then how would you expect to understand? We're looking at it from the other end.

Well put!

ASchwarz

January 15th, 2009, 05:36 PM

Sorry, but the NY/NJ metro is quite unlike New England. Whereas the Patriots, Bruins, etc. can represent New England as a whole, the Rangers and Knicks do not represent the NY Metro.

The Patriots and Bruins don't represent the entirety of New England. They represent metropolitan Boston.

CT is metro NY. Maine doesn't have any teams, and leans towards Boston. NH is more Boston. VT is split, but leans more towards NY.

And the Rangers and Knicks obviously represent New York.

There is a cross-river rivalry...always has been. The only time our metro region is cohesive is when it's concerning the NFL. (In which case NJ has to support it's 'home' teams)

Yes and no.

There is a cross-river rivalry, but there's also a cross-borough rivalry for baseball with the Mets and Yankees, and it doesn't mean they don't both represent metro NY.

As for hockey, the Rangers/Islanders rivalry/hatred is stronger than Rangers/Devils. It doesn't mean they aren't part of the same metro area.

And the NFL has the same thing, though not as heated. Jets fans are more common in Queens and Long Island, and Giants fans are more common in Manhattan, Westchester, CT and NJ.

Marv95

January 15th, 2009, 08:28 PM

The Patriots and Bruins don't represent the entirety of New England. They represent metropolitan Boston. Okay so you're saying people from Vermont, Maine, upper CT(which is NE BTW), RI and Mass. tend to favor the Giants, Jets, Yankees, Knicks, etc over the Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins and NEW ENGLAND Patriots? lol.

66nexus

January 16th, 2009, 02:20 AM

The Patriots and Bruins don't represent the entirety of New England. They represent metropolitan Boston.

CT is metro NY. Maine doesn't have any teams, and leans towards Boston. NH is more Boston. VT is split, but leans more towards NY.

And the Rangers and Knicks obviously represent New York.

Yes and no.

There is a cross-river rivalry, but there's also a cross-borough rivalry for baseball with the Mets and Yankees, and it doesn't mean they don't both represent metro NY.

As for hockey, the Rangers/Islanders rivalry/hatred is stronger than Rangers/Devils. It doesn't mean they aren't part of the same metro area.

And the NFL has the same thing, though not as heated. Jets fans are more common in Queens and Long Island, and Giants fans are more common in Manhattan, Westchester, CT and NJ.

I absolutely disagree about Rangers/Islanders rivalry, Ranger fans flood Newark on game nights to point that it almost looks like a Ranger home game. The Islanders do not possess the same threat capacity to the Rangers as the Devils do.

I think your conclusion is that just because it's one metro area then NY teams and such should play anywhere.

According to that logic: it would be no issue if the Nets still called themselves the NJ Nets while in Brooklyn. (same metro)

NYer's have a powerful sense of home territory, anything NJ or CT playing permanent would have that city up in arms. But yet...when it's the other way around it's simply "what's the big deal?"

again I ask: how would you expect to understand? Of course it wouldn't be an issue to you if you're from NY.

And yes, New England Pats do represent NE as do most things Boston. I'm pretty sure Maine and VT aren't supporting the Giants or Eagles...

66nexus

January 16th, 2009, 02:26 AM

Well put!

It's funny because it's never a big deal on the NY end, but dare any team not NY try to play east of the Hudson.

newarkdevil1

January 16th, 2009, 10:32 AM

This could go back and forth forever but honestly I think NY people just assume we all see ourselves as the NY metro area. I like NY, like visiting there ect but I am must definetly a Newark NJ resident and will always root for a NJ team first.

In regards to the Nets, your talking about a team that has losts it's identity. They aren't calling themselfs the NY nets and being metro, they just end up looking like a lame duck team.

Either way, it's neither here nor there, I noticed at the J&L lot they are still moving forward with Demo work which kind of stinks because I am betting it ends up being more parking.

ASchwarz

January 16th, 2009, 12:29 PM

Okay so you're saying people from Vermont, Maine, upper CT(which is NE BTW), RI and Mass. tend to favor the Giants, Jets, Yankees, Knicks, etc over the Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins and NEW ENGLAND Patriots? lol.

No, YOU are making these wacky claims. Re-read my post.

People from CT mostly favor NY teams. This is a fact. People from Vermont mostly favor NY teams. This is also a fact.

For CT, the vast majority of CT residents live within metropolitan NY. Yes, there are plenty of Boston fans in NE CT, but the vast majority of people live in the central and southern parts of the state.

For VT, the vast majority of the population lives in the West, near the NY State line. Burlington is the biggest city, across from NY State. VT has TONS of people with NY metro area roots. Now there are plenty of Boston fans too, but Bostonians tend not to move to VT; they are mostly in New Hampshire.

I don't know what you're talking about regarding Maine, RI and Mass. Obviously they're all Boston sports territory.

The New England Patriots are a Boston team. Just because they are called New England does not mean they represent the whole New England region.

The Texas Rangers represent Dallas, not the entirety of Texas, the Golden State Warriors represent the Bay Area, not the entirety of CA, etc. etc.

You think LA residents follow Golden State and not the Lakers because of a team name? You think Dallas residents follow the Texans and not the Cowboys because of a team name? And I guess Buffalo residents prefer the Jets and Giants? LOL...

66nexus

January 16th, 2009, 01:17 PM

I think NY people just assume we all see ourselves as the NY metro area.

This is key.

Same metro or not, I consider Newark a separate entity from NY.

Unlike New England, which seems to have more regional cohesion in regards to sports, the tri-state area (NY, NJ, CT) simply uses the NY name.

I notice NYers often find this strange, but it's hard for me to consider the Giants an 'NJ' team.

When I said New England Pats represented NE of course that does not include EVERY single resident of NE, but regardless, Boston teams represent the entirety of NE.

NYatKNIGHT

January 16th, 2009, 01:19 PM

It may be part of the same Metropolitan Area, but it's by far the largest metro area, and the teams location certainly plays a part in who its fans are. There are far fewer Devils fans in Nassau County than there are in NJ, and vice-versa with the Islanders.

66nexus

January 16th, 2009, 01:29 PM

tommyguy

January 17th, 2009, 12:51 AM

66nexus

January 17th, 2009, 05:29 PM

No one mentioned...

....the Yankees have a huge fan base in northern New Jersey and a lot of the players live there too...

...South Jersey is Phillies/Eagles/Sixers/Flyers territory.

You always read that New Jersey is somewhat schizoid. North Jersey oriented towards New York City, South Jersey oriented towards Philadelphia.

In objective terms, New York City is the economic engine that drives the entire Tri-state Metropolitan New York Area. Sorry but it just is.

What does NYC's financial stature have to do with sports? (ps, NJ heavily supports alot of that financial stature)

Okay the Yanks have a fan base in NJ...what does that mean? Yankees weren't a team in NJ, they've been in the Bronx for as long as anyone can remember (options are really only the Yanks or the Mets to begin with, and even NYC likes the Yanks more than the Mets).

tommyguy

January 18th, 2009, 01:50 PM

I don't want to sound like Dr. Joyce Brothers but...

It's natural to have feelings of envy and resentment against a far larger neighbor, one that seems to have an importance and stature that vastly outweighs your own. It's tempting to deal with those feelings by defying them, and insisting, 'We're just as big, just as important'. But it's probably not healthy to do so.

Okay now that I have probably infuriated you, here's my real answer. :D

I wasn't talking about New York City's 'financial stature' when I wrote that the city is the economic engine that drives the entire region. As I have been able to understand it, with my meagre intelligence (because the thought sure didn't originate with me), it's the mechanics of it. The sheer size of the NY City market and workforce (the daytime population of New York City on weekdays has to be over ten million people). The city is like a gargantuan octopus whose tentacles reach out vast distances and affect everyone (sometimes in ways we don't even see). Whether it's you in Newark or me in Yonkers.

What does it have to do with professional sports you ask? Everything. Professional sport teams are about marketing, aren't they? And TV money. The teams maintain the fiction they're all about the local fans (I would too if I was a team executive) but it's really about the size market they're in, in terms of TV reach. So whether the stadium or arena is physically located in Newark or Hempstead or the Bronx is irrelevant. It's the market they're in that determines the money they can demand from TV networks or sponsors. To my understanding, ballparks or rinks or courts are located where the team gets its best deal.

What do the Devils, Nets, Yankees, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, etc et al, all have in common? For them probably the single most important thing -they're all in the Tri-state Metroplitan New York Market. The most lucrative U.S. sports market of all, I would imagine

newarkdevil1

January 19th, 2009, 10:14 AM

I feel like whenever this subject comes up it gets raw very quickly. NYC is within a few hundred thousand of being as large as the ENTIRE state of NJ ( according to 2008 census numbers 8.6 mil {NJ} vs 8.2 {NYC}). So like Philly NJ inherits a great deal of former NYC residents and workers within our borders. That being said, grouping everyone together indicates a lack of neighborhood or area pride. Why would you think that NJ would not have a separate identity just like the Bronx or Brooklyn have? The Giants, Jets, Mets and Yankees are the only game in town and appeal to the regional market. Contrary to that you have Teams such as the Islanders, Devils, and the Nets which cast there stones as local teams. I had a conversation with a Newark city official in regards to this and how neighborhoods are treated. Newark is working hard in promoting it's neighborhoods in its master plan and differentiating how each one develops. I would love to have the Nets here if they were commited like the devils to be part of the fabric here in Newark. As for a team like the Metrostars, I am torn on the whole team using my tax dollars labelling themselves as NY.

tommyguy

January 19th, 2009, 11:35 AM

I would love to have the Nets here if they were commited like the devils to be part of the fabric here in Newark.

You're obviously a true believer, hence the screen name, right? -newarkdevil1.

newarkdevil1

January 19th, 2009, 02:31 PM

haha, ya guess I drank too much of the NJ water =-)
In all sincerity though, I own property here and have been here for four years and it's been very interesting to watch the city develop. I now jersey people that are proud residents and others that will tell you that they are from NY when in fact they live in NJ. I personally can't stand the the later but it is what it is.
On a cool note I don't know if I posted this but this is the apartments on Edison over Brick City.
http://www.gardenstateapartments.com/search/view_listing/NJCM4099

and this is the same owners / listing agents building on Broad by the Broad st station.

http://www.gardenstateapartments.com/search/view_listing/NJCM4098

ASchwarz

January 20th, 2009, 02:55 AM

As for a team like the Metrostars, I am torn on the whole team using my tax dollars labelling themselves as NY.

But they are labeling themselves as NYC, not NYS. No different than the Giants and Jets.

Metro NYC includes portions of four states, including NJ.

tommyguy

January 20th, 2009, 09:26 AM

Metro NYC includes portions of four states, including NJ.

Not to go off-topic, but what parts of -- Pennsylvania, I guess -- are you now including in Metro NY??

Btw, also off-topic per subject line but on-topic per discussion-

Some people at work were discussing sports team loyalties yesterday. Several are from Connecticut, eastern Fairfield County. (Yes, they commute all the way into Lower Westchester for high-paying Nuu Yawk-type jobs.)

They said that the dividing line in Connecticut is roughly New Haven. East of there most people have traditionally watched Boston TV stations -- because of reception issues in the old days -- and are Red Sox/Patriots/Celtics/Bruins fans.

Who knows.

66nexus

January 20th, 2009, 01:56 PM

But they are labeling themselves as NYC, not NYS. No different than the Giants and Jets.

Metro NYC includes portions of four states, including NJ.

The difference between the Giants/Jets is that they were always NY, whereas the Red Bulls were once the NY/NJ Metrostars, and the NJ Nets going back to NY (Brookyln)

That isn't exactly my definition of a 'home' team.

Additionally, these teams don't 'label' themselves NYC:

New York Red Bulls, not NYC Red Bulls (same with the football teams)
NY Yanks
etc.

66nexus

January 20th, 2009, 01:58 PM

Not to go off-topic, but what parts of -- Pennsylvania, I guess -- are you now including in Metro NY??

Btw, also off-topic per subject line but on-topic per discussion-

Some people at work were discussing sports team loyalties yesterday. Several are from Connecticut, eastern Fairfield County. (Yes, they commute all the way into Lower Westchester for high-paying Nuu Yawk-type jobs.)

The New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island metro area includes the Newark-Union metro area (2mil+)
That metro includes Pike County, Pa

66nexus

January 20th, 2009, 02:04 PM

I believe NYatKnight had the right answer for the whole metro area sports team *(while it is a large metro...it is indeed THE largest, so local teams are not necessarily local).

My question is simply: are we to brand the NY name to every team in all corners of the metro area?

I agree with others that why do I have to support a franchise that won't acknowledge its location?

66nexus

January 22nd, 2009, 02:57 AM

Shaquille O'Neal may be the man to bring New Jersey Nets to the Prudential Center

by Steve Politi (spoliti@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Tuesday January 20, 2009, 8:59 PM

http://blog.nj.com/nets_impact/2009/01/medium_shaquille-oneal-newark.jpgStephen Dunn/Getty Images

Could Phoenix Suns All-Star center and Newark native Shaquille O'Neal be taking aim at a future in team ownership -- and the Nets in particular?
The question nags at Shaquille O'Neal every time he visits his home city now, the same way it should nag at every basketball fan in this state. He sees the gleaming Prudential Center in the heart of a community that loves his sport, then shakes his head in wonder and frustration.
"Why," he wants to know, "aren't the Nets playing in Newark?"

On this topic, like everyone else, Shaq is stumped. The Nets should be playing in Newark, and not just for a few lousy preseason games as the team is proposing. And the 7-footer could be a major force in making them -- to borrow his favorite Scrabble word -- a Shaqtastic success.
Imagine the Nets finally giving up their Brooklyn fantasy and moving to the Rock with one of the all-time greats in uniform.

Imagine Shaq, after he decides to retire, staying with the franchise as a part owner, his smiling face on billboards and his hulking frame sitting in courtside seats.
The thought has certainly occurred to O'Neal, who already is heavily involved in real estate ventures in the city and has a strong interest in getting involved in the business side of the sport.
"Yes. Yes. Yes," O'Neal said in a phone interview when asked if he wanted to get into ownership when he retired.
And if that team could be the Nets ...
"It'd be nice -- real nice," he said. "I know the area, I know the people, it's close to New York. Every organization needs two things: a great place to play and a couple of marquee players. You have that, and it's a no brainer."

So the player who can rescue the Nets for New Jersey is not LeBron James, the free agent everyone wants in 2010. As long as this team stays on this side of the Hudson River -- and few outside the organization believe they're getting to Brooklyn any more -- James is not signing here, no matter how chummy he is with part owner Jay-Z.
No, the savior already has a Superman tattoo on his chest. Shaq, whose Phoenix Suns will play the Knicks at Madison Square Garden tonight, also is a free agent in 2010. He might be nearing the end of his playing days, but his stature in the sport will never fade.

In Newark, he is more than a basketball player. He is a landowner and entrepreneur who is committed to rebuilding the city. He is part owner of a planned 25-story upscale condo building near NJPAC and understands how the presence of an NBA team would help that investment, too. Shaq is the type of charismatic figure who could attract money from others, the perfect ambassador for a team that, for too much of its existence, has struggled to captivate this market. So can Newark make him part of keeping the Nets here? That can only start once the team gives up on Brooklyn, a project that seems less likely each day. Nets CEO Brett Yormark still insists that the team will be playing in Brooklyn in 2011 with a groundbreaking expected this spring, but virtually all the news is bad:

The latest reports have the team scaling back its $1 billion design for the arena and possibly breaking ties with world-famous architect Frank Gehry, the man who made the project appealing in the first place. The Nets insist Gehry is still on board, and said in a statement that they are "working hard to find ways to build a world-class venue in an incredibly difficult economic environment."

The economy also figures to get worse before it gets better in 2009. Owner Bruce Ratner is a rich man, but stock in his Forest City Enterprises, which is saddled with heavy debt, is down sharply. Even he has to run out of patience losing $35 million a year at Izod Center.
"The best thing to do is wait and let it take care of itself," said Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex), the state senate president. "With Brooklyn looking like Dorothy from Kansas, they'll have to make a financial decision soon."

That decision should be Newark -- it just makes too much sense. As a kid growing up in the city, O'Neal had to take train trips with his father to the Garden if he wanted to see an NBA game. He never could have never imagined an arena sitting in the center of downtown.
Who could then? But last November, the night before the Suns played the Nets at the Meadowlands, Shaq attended a Devils game at the Rock and got the grand tour from Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek. "I heard they were billing it as the No. 1 arena in the world, so I wanted to see for myself -- and I agree," O'Neal said, talking on a cell phone as he rode on the Suns team bus. "The place is great." He said he told Vanderbeek that night that, if he needed anything at all for the arena, he was prepared to help. You can bet that Vanderbeek saved his number and remembered the promise. You can bet that anybody serious about keeping this team in New Jersey should rely on one of the most popular players of his generation, and that Shaq is ready and willing.

"I have no idea why the Nets aren't playing there," Shaq said. "It makes no sense. I know they're trying to get to Brooklyn, but if I was the general manager or the owner of that team, I'd be playing in Newark right now."

Imagine, the Nets staying where they belong with one of the all-time greatest players helping them become a fixture in his home city. It would be, of course -- to borrow his word again -- Shaqtastic.

taken from nj.com

http://www.nj.com/nets/index.ssf/2009/01/shaquille_oneals_the_man_to_br.html

tommyguy

January 22nd, 2009, 04:58 PM

My question is simply: are we to brand the NY name to every team in all corners of the metro area?

No we're not. But my belief is it's a largely a market decision, depending on what each team feels is their targeted market. Take the four major league teams currently playing in New Jersey.

The Jets and Giants are aiming at the entire New York Metro Area football market so they retain the name "New York."

The Knicks, Rangers and Islanders dominate the NY City/Long Island/Westchester market so the Devils and Nets choose to name themselves "New Jersey" and get strong brand identification within a niche of the New York Metro Area market. That probably translates to smaller ad fees and TV revenue because the numbers are going to be smaller. Yet it might be smart strategy, at least for the Devils. Could they survive financially as a third New York NHL team? I don't think so.

Maybe the Nets are actually lucky their Brooklyn deal seems to be falling apart. The Knicks are so well established, it might be better to be the 'only' New Jersey NBA team rather than the 'other' New York team.

And given Newark's urban flavor, doesn't a basketball team seem a much better fit than a hockey team?

(Sorry Devil fans. :D )

NYatKNIGHT

January 22nd, 2009, 05:42 PM

Good points, and I think either sport would do well since it's "New Jersey", not "Newark".

NYC may have more people, but NJ is bigger and has far more places to play hockey. I know friends in hockey leagues in NJ, they're for kids and adults alike. Many schools have hockey teams. When I lived in NJ, whenever it got cold enough there were always kids playing hockey on the frozen ponds. In other words there are probably at least as many actual hockey players in NJ as there are in NYC.

newarkdevil1

January 22nd, 2009, 06:27 PM

So the "Rock" held a forum today based on downtown Newark development. Long and short, looks like Edison is even farther off with their development and now have turned their attention to trying to get the old train tressel developed.

Richardson's project is moving along and looks like they are on track for 3rd quarter 2009 rentals. I am a huge booster on this one as I love seeing a firm commited to the city the way Newwork is.

Finally, the Devils are looking to place two restaurants at the base of the building, one on Mullberry and another on Edison. They claim they will both be opened by 1rst quarter 2010. Also, they are looking to place a restaurant/kiosk of some sorts with the statue in the entrance plaza.

All in all not bad but I have to say I was very dissapointed in the fact that Edison did not even mention the hotel project (typically translating to not going to happen).

Marv95

January 22nd, 2009, 08:16 PM

newarkdevil1

January 23rd, 2009, 12:39 PM

I wish someone would just purchase the parking lot between Edison and Market so that way Edison can be completely be left out of it. As well as tear down 49-53 Edison Place. That abandoned eyesore is falling apart and it should not have any business being adjacent to the arena. I can't imagine putting a sparkling statue right next to a crumbling, graffiti-covered building so just knock it down. Same with the former Caldabash next to BCB&G. Don't renovate jack; just knock it down.

I almost wish that Ratner would bring his Atlantic Yards project to the Rock area. Buyout Edison Properties, tear down Edison Place, clear out the 3 parking lots(make the fans take the train) and go from there.

I have to respectfully disagree with you in regards to the first building and the calabash building I think if they are renovated like the Isley building and have restaurants at their base, Edison st turns into a very cool spot. As for the frontage towards Mullberry of the buildings, I would be amazed if it didn't turn into banner/advertisement space.

Oh I also forgot to mention that the former bank building at the beginning of Edison on Broad st. apparently has been purchased and should finally get a makeover.

On a what are they thinking note, PNC is going to place a branch on Edison I believe the branch that is currently on Raymond.

NewarkDevil5

January 24th, 2009, 07:40 PM

One idea that I heard tossed around among Devils fans was to tear down the building on Market Street opposite to Beaver Street so they could extend that little lane all the way to the arena. It'd only need to be the one building to pull it off and you would have a great little two block section for street festivals and the like.

scrollhectic

January 24th, 2009, 08:07 PM

I wish someone would just purchase the parking lot between Edison and Market so that way Edison can be completely be left out of it...
...Buyout Edison Properties, tear down Edison Place, clear out the 3 parking lots(make the fans take the train) and go from there.

Edison Properties will NEVER sell their parking lots unless its for A LOT of money. They profit handsomely off of those lots and, unfortunately, they will keep them as parking lots unless they are handsomely bought out. Developing the lots is not of interest to them because of the amount of money they generate from the land. It's unfortunate the city can't force them to do something. Edison Properties is one of the largest land owners in downtown Newark... they have alot of pull and CANT easily be told what to do. I'm not surprised the hotel project was not mentioned. I never really believed it was going to happen anyway... not with Edison Properties involved.

If anyone has visited the apartments in the Isley Building (above Brick City Bar and Grill), those apartments are gorgeous. I was fortunate enough to get a tour one evening and sent a realtor friend to check them out for clients of hers (Newark Bears players). She was told that they were all rented - within a week! Only one craigslist posting. Mind you, there are only 4 apartments ($1800, $1900, $2000 and $2100 respectively.) Still impressive.

scrollhectic

January 24th, 2009, 08:20 PM

Newark has a new television studio Newark unveils new government access channel
by The Associated Press
Thursday January 22, 2009, 2:55 PM
Newark has a new television studio and its own government access channel.

Cablevision customers will now be able to see live city council meetings and other government events and information on Cablevision Channel 78.

The city is unveiling the new studio and channel today.

Newark Mayor's spokeswoman Desiree Peterkin Bell says studio construction was funded with $1.8 million from Cablevision Systems Corp.

Channel 78 began broadcasting government programming a week ago. With its creation, Peterkin Bell says Newark joins 240 other municipalities across the country that have their own government channels.

ASchwarz

January 24th, 2009, 11:45 PM

They profit handsomely off of those lots and, unfortunately, they will keep them as parking lots unless they are handsomely bought out. Developing the lots is not of interest to them because of the amount of money they generate from the land.

This is completely false. Edison is actually trying to get out of the parking business long-term, and has plans to develop (through parterships) or sell basically all of its surface lots in the metropolitan area.

And they no longer get a tremendous amount from the parking. Most of its properties are in NYC, and NYC recently changed the tax laws to basically encourage surface lot operators to develop their land. Before they were taxed at a very low level, but now they are taxed based on the site potential for development.

This will take many years, if not decades, but Edison sees the value in the land, not the parking.

scrollhectic

January 25th, 2009, 01:46 PM

By ANTOINETTE MARTIN

Published: January 23, 2009

CONCEIVED back when the residential market was healthy, two warehouse-to-loft conversions in New Jersey (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newjersey/?inline=nyt-geo) are now being marketed in Hoboken and Jersey City, and a third is under way in Newark.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/25/realestate/25njzo-190.jpg (http://javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/01/25/realestate/25njzo.ready.html', '25njzo_ready', 'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))
Tom White for The New York Times
NEW APARTMENTS The m650 Flats in Jersey City, above, and the Garden Street Lofts in Hoboken, below.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/23/realestate/25njzo-2-190.jpg
Tom White for The New York Times

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/23/realestate/25njzo-3-190.jpg
Tom White for The New York Times
The Richardson Building in Newark has a stunning spiral staircase.

Two of the projects are condominiums and one is a rental, but all are being promoted as chic, energy-efficient designs that recycle buildings of distinctive historical value.

“Reuse of old industrial buildings located in urban areas is highly desirable,” said Peter Primavera, of the Urban Land Institute, “from a planning point of view — and to buyers.”

Residential real estate experts in the state say that demand for converted lofts in urban areas — especially those near a mass transit “hub” — was surging before the bank and economic crises hit, and most predict it will swell again as the overall economy recovers.

Right now, according to the developers, sales at the two condos are tepid.

“Well, it’s the worst possible timing,” said Lawrence Bijou, the managing partner of Bijou Properties, which is just now opening the Garden Street Lofts in Hoboken. “But we have sold almost half of 30 units, which I say is pretty good.”

In Jersey City, where 22 new condos are nearly complete at “m650 Flats,” a five-story conversion of a century-old structure, six units have sold in three months (three of them to members of the Carrino family, which owns Brunelleschi Construction, the building developer).

The Newark building, a few blocks from City Hall and the Prudential Center sports and entertainment arena, had also been planned as condominiums. Early last year, Mayor Cory A. Booker (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/cory_booker/index.html?inline=nyt-per) of Newark cited the prospect of the first condos downtown as evidence that the city’s revitalization effort was gaining traction.

But prospects for bank financing disappeared with the national economic crisis, said the project’s developer, Michael Saltzman, whose company is called Newwork. Construction began in late October to create 67 rental units instead. Mayor Booker said at the groundbreaking that it made him “very proud.”

The Newark building — which like the Hoboken and Jersey City structures lay vacant for years before being eyed for renewal — was originally a jewelry factory. Known as the Richardson Building, it has stood for a century at the corner of Columbia and Green Streets, and it gets a mention in Philip Roth (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/philip_roth/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s novel “American Pastoral,” which is set in historic Newark.

The building has one jaw-dropping feature: a six-story-tall steel spiral staircase that stands in an open central atrium. The elements turned the staircase rusty, but that deterioration will be halted, as plans call for a skylight roof and a small courtyard around the central spiral.

“It will be a natural gathering place, a social center for residents,” said Brendan Murray, the chief executive of Tekton Development, which is creating Richardson Lofts.

Tekton is recycling materials, using “green” techniques, and installing energy-efficient features throughout the building, in a bid for a “silver” rating from the United States Green Building Council, which issues certifications based on LEED standards — for Leadership in Energy and Energy Design. This would be a first for Newark.

The Garden Street Lofts building in Hoboken is headed for certification as the first silver-rated residential building in the Jersey waterfront area. A five-story brick structure where coconuts were once processed, the building was retrofitted with a two-story zinc-faced addition.

It offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units, some with decks — and two two-story penthouses on the top floors, one with a 1,400-square-foot terrace with a hot tub. Prices start in the mid-$600,000s and go up to $2 million for the premier penthouse unit.

“So far, we haven’t had to lower prices,” said Mr. Bijou, the developer. “There are actually some interesting buyers out there. We’ve seen several sports figures, and the ambassador to the United Nations (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org) from Sudan came by.”

At the m650 Flats building in Jersey City, the builders said they used green techniques and material but are not striving for the LEED rating. They are going for high-impact style, said Anthony Carrino, the 30-year-old son of Alfonso Carrino, who created the Brunelleschi Construction Company after recognizing the potential of a decrepit structure on Montgomery Street.

Anthony Carrino, whose cousin John Carrino is also a builder and a buyer at m650, said with a shrug: “The market is what it is. But we are aiming for the buyer who wants something that can’t be found anywhere else.”

At their “boutique” building, a block up, and across Montgomery from the huge Beacon condominium complex, the Carrinos carefully deconstructed a brick and bluestone wall at the street level, reusing the brick and stone to create Old World masonry in the style of Filippo Brunelleschi, the Renaissance sculptor and architect, in the condos.

That is paired with ultramodern Euro-style fixtures for the interiors, environment-friendly bamboo flooring, and a “virtual doorman” service.

A robotic parking garage was installed at street level in the building, which has served variously as a livery, a warehouse, an Army-Navy surplus center — and even, at one point, the fake storefront site for an F.B.I. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/f/federal_bureau_of_investigation/index.html?inline=nyt-org) sting, according to Alfonso Carrino.

“I should know the history around here,” Mr. Carrino said. He was born at the Jersey City Medical Center, the complex that is now the Beacon condos.

scrollhectic

January 25th, 2009, 01:52 PM

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/25/nyregion/25bearsnj.span.jpg Mike Derer/Associated Press
CHANGEUP The former major-league all-star Tim Raines, who played with 6 teams in 23 seasons, is the new manager of the minor league Newark Bears.

By DAVE CALDWELL (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/dave_caldwell/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: January 23, 2009
NEWARK

ON the January morning that the Newark Bears celebrated their rebirth, a cold, hard rain pelted their ballpark, leaving the outfield to dozens of Canada geese hunting for a late breakfast. It was not a day for one baseball game, let alone two.

The mood inside Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium was more cheerful. The Bears were introducing new owners, a new general manager, a new manager and new uniforms, which recalled a day when minor-league baseball in Newark was a big deal.

“I’m just happy to be part of the groundbreaking of a new regime, so to speak,” said Tim Raines (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/tim_raines/index.html?inline=nyt-per), the new manager and former big-league outfielder, in an interview later. “Everybody likes to be the start of something new.”

The Bears, one of three teams from New Jersey in the independent, eight-team Atlantic League, really are starting over again. Marc E. Berson, who bought the Bears in 2005, folded the team Oct. 24 after losing money in each of the last three seasons, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

In November, the Bases Loaded Group offered $100,000 and a $1 million letter of credit to resuscitate the Bears, who will be playing their 11th season. The team, which takes its name from a minor-league team that played in Newark throughout the 1930s and ’40s, has never seemed to be able to ride the wave of the city’s renaissance.

“It was on life support, but not only have we been revived, we’ve been miraculously improved,” said Mark Skeels, a former minor-league player who had been working as a lawyer before he was hired this month as the Bears’ general manager.

Everything but the park, which opened in 1999, will be new. Raines just hired a coaching staff — which includes Mike Torrez, the former Yankee, as the team’s pitching coach — and Skeels has just begun filling his staff. The Bears were just beginning to look for players.

Independent baseball is different than affiliated baseball. The Bears and the other Atlantic League franchises are not farm clubs of any major-league team. Their rosters are largely made up of former prospects who hope to get back to the big leagues.

The Bears have won two Atlantic League titles, in 2002 and 2007, but baseball itself is only one factor in consistently drawing crowds. An Atlantic League game, with tickets selling for $8 to $12, is an inexpensive night out for a family.

“If everybody wants this to succeed, it will succeed,” said James Wankmiller, the president and owner of the Bases Loaded Group. “We want to make this affordable, a great time for a family. You bring fans into the stands because of baseball.”

Raines, 49, who was a member of the Yankees’ World Series champions in 1996 and 1998 before retiring in 2002 after 23 big-league seasons, adds a splash of celebrity to the Bears, but he has been given a mandate to assemble a winning team.

If the Bears win, Wankmiller contends, they will draw more fans. By his reckoning, the refurbished corporate suites, virtually empty last year, will become more popular for entertaining, and the Bears could sell more advertising.

But there is a long way to go. According to the league, the Bears drew only 181,240 fans last season, seventh in the league. Their average crowd of 2,746 was about half the size of the average at Somerset Patriots games in Bridgewater. (The Patriots, the league champs last season, are managed by another ex-Yankee, Sparky Lyle.)

“We think baseball can work here,” said Joe Klein, a former big-league general manager and the executive director of the Atlantic League, whose offices are in Camden. “We’re confident people will come to games. Maybe people at first will come to games because of Tim Raines, but that’s O.K.”

The new ownership is already assuring fans that attending a Bears’ game is safe. The 6,200-seat ballpark is adjacent to the well-used Broad Street train station, and Mr. Wankmiller said there were no incidences of crime last season at Bears games.

The Bears have abandoned their brick-and-black uniforms for a nostalgic look. Their navy caps have a block N on them, as do their jerseys. Replica patches recalling uniforms worn by the old minor-league Bears and the Eagles, a Negro League (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/negro_leagues/index.html?inline=nyt-org) team, are on the sleeves.

The Bears are scheduled to play the first seven games of the 2009 season on the road before their opening game at home May 1. Wankmiller said that he could picture a day when the ballpark would be used for other events, like outdoor concerts, and that the austere community room at the ballpark would become a year-round restaurant. But a simpler challenge comes first.

“We’re starting with putting fans in the seats,” he said.

tommyguy

January 25th, 2009, 01:56 PM

I was fortunate enough to get a tour one evening and sent a realtor friend to check them out for clients of hers (Newark Bears players). She was told that they were all rented - within a week!

Newark Bears players?

They wouldn't have been able to afford the rent anyway.

At least according to an interview I once read in the Star-Ledger with a Bears' player (a catcher). He said due to the cost of living in northern New Jersey, and the low (sub-2K per month) money the players are paid, many of them were forced to sleep in the clubhouse in sleeping bags.

In fact he praised Jose Canseco -- who spent several months with the team some years ago -- saying that Canseco cringed when he saw the mostly unfurnished clubhouse. Canseco then spent about $15,000 of his own money making the clubhouse a bit more bear-able. (Sorry!) Buying a big screen TV, lounge chairs, some sofas.

The catcher also said -- I don't recall his name -- that after seeing what Canseco did, no one could ever say anything bad about Canseco to him. I admit, it made me feel pretty positive towards the big guy too.

scrollhectic

January 25th, 2009, 02:02 PM

Mayor launches digital TV channel
Sunday, January 25, 2009 BY RALPH R. ORTEGA
Star-Ledger Staff

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is ready for his closeup.

"I'm so glad to be here," Booker told a crowd gathered at the official launch of the state's first all-digital government access channel on Thursday. Then, Booker delivered jokes as if he was giving his best Jay Leno impersonation.

http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/star_ledger/ne/nex/@StoryAd?xPutting the humor aside, he called the new television station constructed in Newark Symphony Hall a "bold ambitious vehicle" for the city's residents.
Newarkers subscribing to Cablevision, the city's cable franchise holder, will get programming on Channel 78, which will highlight city services and delivers city officials' messages. There is even a di rect video feed from the mayor's office.

"We want to make better ways of making government more ac ceptable, more transparent, more connected," said the mayor.

As part of that effort, city officials already host "open office hours" in city neighborhoods to listen to constituents and operate a non-emergency call line -- (973) 733-4311. Booker also has a monthly radio show on WBGO 88.3 FM.

Plans for the television station took more than a decade to develop. While the city got the station as part of its franchise agreement with Cablevision in 1998, it did not then have the personnel to operate a facility.

Momentum picked up again after Booker's election in 2006. With an investment of almost $2 million from Cablevision, and more than $1 million in capital funds from the city, the studio was built in Symphony Hall, which is owned by the city. The building was once the home of UHF Channel 47 and the home of Channel 13 when it began as a commercial station in 1948.

The city's new station went on the air on Jan. 16, providing mostly community bulletin board news and no original programming. But officials said that is about to change.

Soraida Peres, a 20-year veteran cable television producer hired to manage the station, said the first actual program will likely be a broadcast of an upcoming city council meeting. The station also is to air next month's state of the city address, which Booker will give at Symphony Hall.

The studio's budget, still incomplete, will initially include about $482,000 collected from 2008 cable franchise fees, said Michelle Thomas, the city's acting business administrator. Until then, Peres will be paid at an hourly rate, under a three-month city contract that is not to exceed $17,000, said Desiree Peterkin Bell, the mayor's director of communications.

Newark has two other channels: Channel 19 is reserved for public access programming and is broadcast by Cablevision offices on Central Avenue, and Channel 77 is used by the Newark Public Schools. Its programming is provided by Essex County College and is broadcast from the college.

The addition of Channel 78 is expected to broaden the variety of public and community-based programming sponsored by the city, including ceremonies and speeches by public officials.

The station will be available by appointment for tours and will be used to provide internships for stu dents interested in TV production careers, city officials said. Peres said she also saw opportunities for showcasing Symphony Hall, its programs, and history.

FTF of Warren, the general contractors, and city officials involved in the new TV station's construction stumbled on basement murals in the old theater and painted-over, art deco glass panels. The theater even has an old lighting panel that had been used in its original television studio.

"We'll probably polish it and keep it as a historical item," said Peres, as she stood in one of the new station's control rooms where videos can be stored as digital files. The equipment was installed by Tele-Measurement of Clifton.

Peres said the number of programs the station produces will de pend on how much the city decides to use the facility and assured political campaigning won't creep in because it is prohibited under federal law.

Booker steered clear of plugging his 2010 re-election campaign dur ing the station's launch, and clearly enjoyed the possibilities of city officials going on air. He joked that no one would be doing episodes of "The Biggest Loser" or "The Bachelor."

"The humor gets worse from here," he told a captive audience in the studio. "Please, where's that little button for applause?"

Ralph R. Ortega may be reached at rortega@starledger.com, or (973) 951-3816.

newarkdevil1

January 30th, 2009, 02:27 PM

so i was jumping around different links and came across this

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7836&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

as well as the port authorities page

http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/capital/stip04-06/sec5/PANYNJ.pdf

So here is ny question, If 30 million dollars was spent studying the feasibility of extending the path between 2003-2005 and JFK has their link, what happened with the Path?

newarkdevil1

January 30th, 2009, 02:41 PM

so seriously, where do I find a lobyist to push foward stuff like this...

http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=58177&p=626787

block944

February 1st, 2009, 12:02 AM

MEMORANDUM
To: NJIT Faculty, Staff, and Students
From: Robert A. Altenkirch
Date: Friday, January 23, 2009
Re: Gateway Plan update

I thought I would update you on substantial progress made toward realization of the NJIT Campus Gateway Redevelopment Plan. Wednesday evening of this week, the Newark Municipal Council unanimously adopted the Broad Street Station District Redevelopment Plan, and, because the Gateway Plan is a component of the Broad Street Plan, the Gateway Plan was adopted as well. Additionally, the Council passed a resolution confirming NJIT’s designation as Redeveloper for the Gateway Plan footprint, the designation being approved in March conditioned upon adoption of the Broad Street Plan.Next steps are to negotiate a Redevelopment Agreement (RDA) with the City, which must be completed within sixty days of Plan adoption, and complete a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) as Master Developer for NJIT. Both agreements are being drafted for consideration by the Board of Trustees. The NJIT/JLL MOU will provide that JLL effectively takes on liabilities that NJIT may have as a result of the RDA between NJIT and the City. Once these agreements are in place, JLL will begin the process of securing investors and developers to execute the various components of the Plan.
While getting to this stage of the Gateway development effort has taken some time, we are, nonetheless, well-positioned to move forward with implementation.
Thanks,
Bob

-- Wow I had no idea...

http://gateway.njit.edu/index.php

scrollhectic

February 1st, 2009, 06:07 PM

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif (http://www.nytimes.com/)

Real Estate (http://www.nytimes.com/pages/realestate/index.html)

In the Region | New Jersey

Recycled-Container Chic

By ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Published: January 30, 2009
THE idea came to Christopher Stone as he was looking out the window of his office near Newark Liberty International Airport (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/newark_liberty_international_airport_nj/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) one day, and his eye fell on shipping containers. Lots of huge, empty industrial containers stacked up high, row after row.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/02/01/realestate/01njzo-190.jpg
RMJM
‘LIVE THE BOX’ CONTEST The first-place design, by Felix Heidgen and Thomas Nagy of RMJM in Princeton, was a nine-building complex with connecting bridges and rooftop gardens.

“It seemed like they were just waiting there for some new purpose,” said Mr. Stone, an architect. He thought, “Why not create something with them that would benefit people?” And, “How about housing for the poor?”

But when he got a group together from the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/american_institute_of_architects/index.html?inline=nyt-org) to talk it over, they quickly came to the conclusion that this would be presumptuous.

“So often, those with limited means feel they are being sequestered and forced into something substandard,” Mr. Stone said. “Why would they want to live in shipping containers if no one else does?”

And then, it occurred to the architects: “We should figure out how to create housing so cool that everybody would want to live in it.”

There followed more than a year of intellectual ferment, during which the group roped in various Newark officials as well as the architecture school at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/new_jersey_institute_of_technology/index.html?inline=nyt-org). The result was “Live the Box: An International Design Competition.”

Toni L. Griffin, the director of community development for the city of Newark, came up with a site in downtown Newark for those who submitted design proposals: the big empty lot opposite the Broad Street train station where the Westinghouse Electric Company building stood until it was demolished last year.

A construction company, Skanska USA Building, became a sponsor and put up prize money; the National Portable Storage Association, whose members manufacture containers, followed suit, and other companies made smaller donations.

(Despite the competition, however, the plan to build on the site has not yet advanced beyond the theoretical stages.)

Kim de Freitas, an instructor at New Jersey Institute of Technology, coordinated the contest, which was run entirely online, for three months last summer, drawing 150 entries from architects around the world.

“We were incredibly surprised,” she said. “First, we started to hear from students in California, so we knew we’d reached across the country. Then, some people from Italy (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/great-homes-and-destinations/destinations/europe/index.html?inline=nyt-geo) asked, ‘Can we join?’ Then, people from Pakistan, Turkey, South Korea — 13 countries in all.”

Mr. Stone learned that some of the architects had already thought about using prefabricated containers as housing “modules” before the idea ever popped into his head.

In 2004, for instance, the New Jersey (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/classifieds/realestate/locations/newjersey/?inline=nyt-geo) architect Adam Kalkin created his own “Quik House” design using five shipping containers as a base. The next year, a European contest, “Living Box,” was held on a similar theme.

But “Live the Box” posed a new and more extensive challenge: creation of an urban multifamily mixed-use project, using the containers as building blocks. Architects were encouraged to study the neighborhoods around the Newark site, and to reflect planners’ desire for open walkways and green space.

“People really put their hearts into it,” said Ms. de Freitas, who supervised a jury kept “blind” to the identities of entrants.

In December, when the awards ceremony was held, the winners were two architects who work for RMJM in Princeton: Felix Heidgen and Thomas Nagy. They shared a $10,000 prize for their design of “NewPark Station,” a complex of nine buildings connected by bridges and pathways.

The stacked containers in their entry are elevated on pillars so that the ground level becomes “a stage for social and commercial interaction for the residents and the city at large,” said Mr. Heidgen, who explained that he had once worked in Newark and sees it as a multifaceted community. Mr. Nagy, who was born in Japan and researched Newark before embarking on the container project, said he envisioned the open plaza as an urban park.

The individual units in their entry vary widely in size (one container makes a small studio; four of them are used to create a 1,200-square-foot apartment), but large and small units are scattered throughout the complex.

Circulation would be improved with a system of air pockets between units, the architects said. They did not formulate a solution to “building block degradation,” or rust. “You could leave the containers as they are,” Mr. Heidgen said, “and live with the patina; that could be quite interesting. Or paint.”

Both the second- and third-place winners — Modulaire of Miami (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/great-homes-and-destinations/destinations/south-florida/index.html?inline=nyt-geo), and Tang & Yang Architects of Savannah, Ga. — presented strikingly bold designs.

The Tang & Yang entry wowed jurors; Mr. Stone even described it as “sexy.” But, Ms. de Freitas said, they found it less “buildable” than other winners.

“Having a relationship to reality got design points,” she said. “The idea is that this could really happen someday.”

tommyguy

February 2nd, 2009, 11:48 AM

from the new york times
THE idea came to Christopher Stone as he was looking out the window of his office...and his eye fell on shipping containers. “How about housing for the poor?”

This whole idea seems so totally wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to begin.

THE idea came to Christopher Stone as he watched waiters scraping barely touched food off diners' plates as they cleared tables. "How about food for the poor?"

:mad:

block944

February 3rd, 2009, 07:56 PM

Just move the capital to newark already!

Newark seeks to tap stimulus package for 120 projects

by Ralph R. Ortega (rortega@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Tuesday February 03, 2009, 5:28 PM

Newark doesn't know yet how much it will get from the federal stimulus package being debated by Congress, but city officials are already thinking of ways to spend the money.
The state's largest city will begin developing on Wednesday a list of projects to be submitted for consideration in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, according to Michelle Thomas, the city's acting business administrator.
Mayor Cory Booker has already created a group tasked with making sure Newark has all 120 planned projects ready to be submitted for federal approval once the stimulus plan is signed, Thomas said.
The group has also scheduled a series of meetings this week with city stakeholders to collect other ideas. Thomas today urged the city council to help.
Council members said they were disappointed they were excluded from the early planning by the group, even though Thomas said she had approached the council today, which was the soonest she could do so. However, council members were still supportive of the advance planning.
"I'm interested in getting involved. I commend you. I think we're one of the few municipalities that's actually going through this exercise," North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos Jr. told Thomas at the council's pre-meeting conference.
The more than $880 billion stimulus bill is now winding its way through the Senate. Since changes are expected, the amount Newark would receive is not yet known.
However, the mayor's working group -- which includes Thomas, Stefan Pryor, the city's deputy mayor for economic development and staff members from their offices -- identified 57 federal programs that are currently in the bill, and that could ultimately yield money for Newark, according to a draft report on the stimulus package report submitted to the council yesterday.
The programs in the bill include money for energy retrofits, alternative fuel vehicles, public schools, and infrastructure projects. In doing the research, Thomas said the working group found that funding could either be discretionary, formula-based, or awarded on a competitive basis.
"The good news is that a lot of these programs are formula-based, so, there's a lot of money that's going to come directly to Newark without having to compete," she said. That funding, she said, included community block development grants, and neighborhood stabilization dollars.
Review teams created by the planning group will now evaluate each project to see if they can start within 90 days of submission of their application for funding, and whether they are consistent with policy positions set by the Booker administration.
The groups will also weigh how many temporary and permanent jobs the projects may create, how much tax revenue may be generated at the local, county, state and federal levels during the project, and the amount of new business activity being brought to Newark.

newarkdevil1

February 4th, 2009, 03:42 PM

I came across another two interesting ones...

First read this

http://www.newarkrbp.org/pdf/LuxuryCondos.pdf

then read this...

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerarchives/2007/07/in_citys_housing_boom_a_select.html

and then ask yourself what's makes this bad. The fact that the city could prop up such scumbags or the fact that the ledger didn't even included the developers checkered past.

tommyguy

February 5th, 2009, 09:30 AM

The fact that the city could prop up such scumbags or the fact that the ledger didn't even included the developers checkered past.

newarkdevil's message seems to defy comprehension but not the links he provided and I thank him.

There's a lot of bad stuff -- it's obvious some pretty unsavory characters are moving in to take full advantage of rising property values in Newark. But the reality is, Newark is still a pretty tough place. None of them seem to be directly linked to Corey Booker, which is good, but he's obviously battling some nasty people.

But check this out:

from the Star-Ledger:

"Emilio Farina, a convicted cocaine trafficker ....is in the process of building 11 two- and three-family houses on discounted city land. He also is one of three partners involved in a deal to build 2,000 condominiums on land the city said it will take through eminent domain."

Eminent domain means seizing property lawfully owned by another person or corporation. When the City of Newark starts seizing private property and turning it over to a convicted drug dealer turned real estate developer..............then it's time to call the FBI.

Development at any price? That usually turns out to be not such a good deal. Would you want to buy a condo constructed by a convicted drug trafficker on land seized by a corrupt city agency? They wouldn't cut corners on construction, would they? :(

scrollhectic

February 5th, 2009, 06:13 PM

Thursday, February 5, 2009
BY JOHN BRENNAN
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

Bob Sommer, a prominent New Jersey lobbyist and public relations executive, has been chosen as president of a new media and government affairs company that will aim to raise the profile of the New Jersey Devils and their Prudential Center home in Newark.

Devils Chairman Jeff Vanderbeek said that Devils Arena Entertainment, which manages the hockey team’s arena contracts, is bringing in Sommer starting next week because “he knows tons of people. His networking capabilities are remarkable.”

Sommer, 49, had served as president of the Observer Media Group, which owns the New York Observer newspaper and the PolitickerNJ.com Web site — a favorite stop for the state’s power brokers. Those businesses are run by Jared Kushner, son of Charles Kushner, a former major Democratic donor.

“I’ve had the best job imaginable for the past two years,” Sommer said. “Now I’m looking toward this next challenge, which is helping the Devils and The Rock [the Prudential Center] more firmly establish themselves in the New Jersey marketplace.”

Most Essex County politicians — led by County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo — have pushed for Governor Corzine to close the 28-year-old Izod Center in the Meadowlands to help raise Prudential Center’s profile. In December, DiVincenzo called the Izod Center “very old and very outdated.”

Corzine — who in 2005 hinted that he might close the state-run arena once the Newark facility opened — has more recently concluded that the region can support both arenas.

Asked whether the arena-wars saga would be part of his job, Sommer replied, “Certainly there are great things going on in East Rutherford, some under construction and some already there. Understanding the roles of the two arenas going forward will certainly be part of my responsibilities.”

Lou Lamoriello, who has held the title of Devils president for more than 20 years and also is its chief executive, will continue to oversee all aspects of team personnel decisions.

“This hiring plays no role in any hockey operations,” Vanderbeek said. “We just need for people — beyond just Devils fans and Essex County residents — to know about good things happening with the arena and with Newark.”

Sommer previously was an executive vice president for 20 years at East Rutherford-based MWW Group, the state’s largest public relations firm. He was a longtime spokesman for the Xanadu shopping and entertainment project in the Meadowlands. He also teaches at Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.

“The change for me is that this time Jeff’s enterprises are my only client,” Sommer said. “I’ll be making sure that commercial and governmental decision-makers in New Jersey understand the value of the franchise and arena to New Jersey. Sometimes it’s overlooked.”

When Sommer worked at MWW, the company’s Web site touted Sommer’s efforts on behalf of Xanadu by noting, “MWW Group was able to influence key decision-makers in the state by focusing the media’s attention on the highlights and benefits of this project.”

By the mid-1990s, Sommer’s clients included Mills Corp., which at the time was attempting to build the state’s largest mall at the Empire Tract site in Carlstadt, adjacent to the Izod Center site.

Mills eventually abandoned the effort to build Meadowlands Mills and in 2002 began efforts to build the Xanadu retail and entertainment project at the arena site instead.

Marv95

February 5th, 2009, 06:45 PM

Shoulda been done before the arena even opened.

newarkdevil1

February 6th, 2009, 11:39 AM

I just find it interesting that they went after someone that specifically worked on soliciting for xanadu... I would be happier if I heard Edison had this guy on payroll or Pepe so that they would actually develop their lots. I think I am pleased the most with the progress of the actually talks ongoing with the buildings between Edison and Market. I think by next year a bunch more of those will be developed.

On a seperate note, I was at a couple of the downtown restaurants last night and was very pleased to see the crowds out at non Seton Hall locations. The few owners I spoke with are very bullish on the continued development of the area.

scrollhectic

February 6th, 2009, 06:41 PM

Shoulda been done before the arena even opened.

Agreed!

scrollhectic

February 6th, 2009, 06:58 PM

by Philip Read/The Star-Ledger
Thursday February 05, 2009, 2:41 PM

A radio promo for Spike TV's upcoming documentary series on drug enforcement in Newark has been spiked after Senate President Richard J. Codey voiced outrage over the commercial's depiction of the city.

The promotion for the new season of "DEA," scheduled to air next week, characterized Newark as "one of America's most dangerous cities," and asserted that "after 9/11 New York's ports shut down, severing the lucrative drug supply, so dealers moved across the river to Newark."

Newark-based DEA agents in the second season of Spike TV's "DEA."

"This is supposed to be a reality TV show, so maybe the producers should start living in it," Codey said as he fired off a letter of protest about the commercial's depiction of Newark as "one of America's most dangerous cities."

"As of right now, all the ads have been pulled until the new ads are swapped in," said Debra Fazio-Rutt, spokeswoman for Spike TV. "We heard from officials in Newark and the DEA, the mayor's office, and we are modifying our ad."

In his letter, Codey noted that Newark's murder rate dropped a dramatic 33 percent last year, and that the Police Executives Research Forum recently ranked Newark as having the greatest reduction in violent crime of 168 cities surveyed.

Newark ranked 24th in the 2008 City Crime Rankings published by CQ Press.

Codey also dismissed the advertisement's claim about a post-9/11 drug-dealer exodus across the Hudson.

"This was nothing more than a flash-in-the-pan increase and not a permanent migration," he write in his letter to Al Roker Entertainment, the show's producer, and the Spike TV production team. "To characterize it as such is completely false."

Garrison Courtney, the chief of public affairs for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said the series is anything but a slight to Newark, instead focusing on the relationships and cooperation among the various law-enforcement agencies.

"I've seen the show already. I've seen the script," Courtney said. "In fact, there's only one arrest in Newark in the whole series. ... Most of the language in this series talks about New Jersey."

The DEA is physically based on Newark, he said, but operates all around it.

scrollhectic

February 6th, 2009, 07:00 PM

by Alan Sepinwall/The Star-Ledger

Monday January 26, 2009, 7:16 AM

http://blog.nj.com/entertainment_impact_tv/2009/01/large_IMG_0422.JPG
"DEA" is coming to Newark.

The Drug Enforcement Agency, of course, has had an office in Newark for years. But since early October, a film crew for Spike TV's "DEA" documentary series has been following agents from that office, which will be the setting for the series' second season, debuting Feb. 10.

"Last year, we were in Detroit," says NBC News' Al Roker, whose Al Roker Entertainment, Inc. co-produces "DEA." "This year, we ended up in Newark, and the level of (drug) activity was much higher."

"There's always this (pressure) to make things bigger and better," says "DEA" executive producer C. Russell Muth. "We wanted some larger-sized cases and seizures.

The territory covered by the Newark office is one of the busiest in all of the DEA, according to the agency's chief of public affairs, Garrison Courtney.

"Newark's a hotbed," Courtney says. "It's sandwiched between New York and Philadelphia, it's got a major port, a major airport, a major highway. It really is a nexus for a lot of the drugs that flow into the United States. Just because of that, the amount of drugs that come in are a lot bigger."
Also bigger? The personalities of the agents involved.

"We pride ourselves, we go after the highest-level violators," boasts Special Agent Chris Masters, a group supervisor and one of the central figures of the new season. "We make the biggest seizures, the biggest types of cases, that have the biggest impact on the United States. We like the public to know, this is what we do for a living."

"The difference between them and Detroit is that these guys are very, very sure of themselves in every single way," Muth says. "The guys in Detroit had the disadvantage of being the very first (subjects of the show). They had difficult things for them, in terms of what they thought it would do to their profession. These guys are not as threatened by it, and I think that's a function of them being in and around New York all the time. They don't care."

It's also, Courtney notes, a function of having seen the kind of job the "DEA" crew did on the first season, and of that crew learning how to function around the DEA agents.

"Last year was a trial-and-error year," he says. "It was the first time we'd ever done it as an agency. Going into something like that, there's something you don't know about what it's going to look like. (The Newark agents have) seen a season, see that we can protect our sources, protect our methods of doing things. Being able to kind of do that, and take away that layer of anxiety that the agency has, has been a big difference. The production crew now knows some of the issues that we had to address the first season, like (filming) defendants, doing it so you maintain people's rights."

"The DEA guys have the advantage of seeing what we had done previously," says Muth, "and they said, 'Here's how we can make things easier on you while still capturing the sheer terror of the eight seconds of capturing these guys.' We defer to the business, but we also mesh with the business. We have to allow these guys to do what they do. You get much farther by saying we won't shoot something, so they can conduct their work. It's a basic, ongoing, day-to-day negotiation, for lack of a better word. We go in, we learn and we've gotten better."

When Roker, Muth and the other producers narrowed down their choices for potential season two locations, they sent skeleton crews to shoot a few days worth of test footage in each office.

"Newark had this combination of really great officers," Roker says. "Not that the other cities didn't -- there's just something about the way these guys worked together, and the activity that was going on in the streets."

"We have to look at volume of work as well," Muth says. "We have to see that these guys have, in the course of their work, enough of it to make up (nine) episodes. I could sort of tell that -- you looked at what they had, the quality of the different information they were able to gather -- it made sense. They put together two great (operations) that went down like clockwork, they were all gentlemen, they were cool guys, and they made it happen, and that's very reassuring to any producer."

Special Agent Masters says it took him a while to get used to the camera crew following him around the office and on operations, but that the production crew was good about knowing when to get out of the way.

"When we're doing surveillances, they have three or four cars at all times, and sometimes we have to be on the radio to say, 'Back off,'" he says.

"When you grab someone to make an arrest, the cameras are out, it intimidates the defendants to cooperate. (The crew) sometimes can't see the things that we do, we don't want the public to know all our secrets."

But based on what he saw of the first season, and his relationship with the crew, he feels confident that the public will get a good sense of how he and his colleagues get things done.

"They do a very good job," he says. "From my experience in doing this, Spike TV, the production guys, they make us look good. I think it'll be fun, people will be all, 'Wow.' (Our) families don't even know what we do."

newarkdevil1

February 9th, 2009, 12:29 AM

Here is a link from an article on NJ.com talking about the mayor and city's progress before the mayors "State of the city address". It mentions that two of the three hotel projects around the Rock have been canceled.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/unlike_most_politicians_newark.html

newarkdevil1

February 9th, 2009, 01:27 PM

The paper had a map of the location of the top five mentioned projects but I am happy to see dranoff slowly moving forward as well as the Seton Hall project. I am extreemly dissapointed at the loss of the hotel projects and the fact the city has lost its vision of a convention center.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/mayor_booker_to_focus_on_newar.html

scrollhectic

February 10th, 2009, 11:41 PM

Posted by Mark Di Ionno/Star-Ledger Columnist (http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/about.html) February 10, 2009 9:06PM

Categories: Newark Live (http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/newark_live/), Real-Time News (http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/realtime_news/)

Developer Arthur Stern came to Newark 10 years ago, bought the two peaks of the skyline -- the National Newark Building (744 Broad St.) and the neighboring 1180 Raymond Boulevard, and restored them at costs of about $250 million.

He also purchased the Hahne's and Griffith buildings and another quarter-mile line of properties on the west side of Broad Street, facing Military Park.

http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2009/02/large_DIICOL1.JPG
Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerArthur Stern, CEO of Cogswell Realty Group, talks about the company's future in Newark real-estate.

The chief executive of Cogswell Realty had a vision of Newark as an emerald city, filled with architectural gems.

"We had a great emotional and financial investment in this city," Stern said today in a conference room at 744 Broad St., high above the Hahne's site.

"But now I'm doubtful of our future here."

After investing $250 million to bring two Newark landmark buildings back to life, and buying up acres of property to redevelop, Stern has found himself on the outside looking in when it comes to new plans for the downtown. The guy who took the first major risk has fallen out of favor.

On Monday night Mayor Cory Booker gave his annual State of the City speech. He spoke of three projects given the green light by the city, and described them as "a three-pointer of monumental proportions for our downtown."

The biggest of the three is a 300-unit luxury building, with retail on the bottom floors and parking for 700 cars, at Two Center Street, adjacent to the New Jersey Performing Art Center.

Stern's Hahne's project -- a village within a city, with 3,200 residential units and 200,020 square feet for retail -- was left on the cutting
room floor.

Why?

"I think they get enamored with the new guy in town," Stern said.

There are other realities. Like politics and the other insider's games. Stern is an outsider. A New Yorker. A Devils fan, but a New Yorker.

In other words, Stern has already served his "transformational" purpose.
"Transformational" is a word developers and community leaders use when they talk about new projects.

Hahne's has been talked about as a transformational project for almost 10 years. Not only in size, but in geography. In the city's master plan, this corridor was the critical culture-way to bring more Rutgers and NJIT students to the downtown and more young people to the city's new residential building.

Stern admits he doesn't have the financing lined up right now, but said he would when the economy improved. "We've already committed a few hundred million to the city," he said. "I think we were a pretty good risk."

Stefan Pryor, Newark's deputy mayor for economic development, said the city looked at a number of factors to help them decide.

"Project viability, financial strength and community benefit were the most important," he said, adding he believed Hahne's could get approved someday.

"If a project has transformational value, I think it will probably get built, eventually."

For Stern, that may be too far off to keep the plan afloat.

Stern went out of his way to say he didn't want to look like a sore loser.
"I don't want this to sound like sour grapes," he said repeatedly. "I congratulate Larry. He won." Lawrence Goldman is the chief executive officer of NJPAC.

But Stern's disappointment was clear, because he has invested in this city like few others.

He bought 744 Broad more than 10 years ago. "We closed the deal the same week NJPAC opened."

He bought 1180 Raymond Boulevard with six months.

Both were dilapidated, on the verge of being unrepairable.

The two buildings were Art Deco masterpieces, symbols of Newark's wealth, sophistication and style. In the 1970s they became symbols of Newark's descent. When Stern bought the buildings, 1180 Raymond had been vacant for 20 years and 744 Broad barely occupied.
He spent $55 million to bring 744 Broad back, and $200 million on 1180 Raymond.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2009/02/large_AANEWARK.JPG
Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerCogswell Realty Group had wanted to develop along Broad Street in Newark across from Military Park.

When they were done he put floodlights on the cleaned-up towers to make them glow at night, and posted two 50-foot flagpoles on the roof, from which American flags unfurl in the high-alt breeze.

There are now the tallest symbols of Newark's hopes.

Arthur Stern did that. The city seems to have forgotten that.
So on Monday night, as Cory Booker gave his State of the City address in Symphony Hall, the weathered theater of Newark's Victorian glory days, Arthur Stern was in the new entertainment palace, the Rock, watching a hockey game.

"We weren't invited," he said.

scrollhectic

February 10th, 2009, 11:43 PM

So on Monday night, as Cory Booker gave his State of the City address in Symphony Hall, the weathered theater of Newark's Victorian glory days, Arthur Stern was in the new entertainment palace, the Rock, watching a hockey game.

"We weren't invited," he said.

I wonder if Miles Berger was invited. They should have given Stern that invitation ticket instead...

Marv95

February 11th, 2009, 09:11 AM

newarkdevil1

February 11th, 2009, 03:08 PM

I found this article interesting as there always seems to be a part of this discussion that is left out, the cost to do these renovations. Simply put, most of these developers rely on leverage that isn't available for any projects other than maybe Manhattan construction (and even that is coming to a halt). Mr. Stern is holding out for a government subsidy (like what Tucker has and Edison held out for) to build so that the numbers make sense in terms of his risk. I remember talking w/ someone at Edison that placed the cost per a square foot that would needed to be charged to make the numbers work at 65 dollars a square foot. If you work with that number and add the state of NJ's 25% office vacancy rate plus the fact that Newark office space at peak went for 25 dollars a square foot and you end up with vacant buildings.

I hate ranting about unions but it's no secret that it costs about 30-50% more to build something with shop labor and they now have a firm grip on downtown Newark. Put simply, what will happen is the developer turns to the state and says, " hey I need someone to fill that 40 dollar a square foot difference.". Then the politician, backed by unions, puts your money there to fill in the gap and buy votes. I don't care if your pro union or not, the simple fact of the matter is there are NO buildings built in NJ w/ shop labor that do not use public subsidies.

scrollhectic

February 11th, 2009, 03:29 PM

No to stand up for city officials(because the majority of them are idiots who think downtown is fine just the way it is lol), but maybe if Cogswell torn down that entire strip instead of letting it decay for about a decade, located on the main drag of the city, we wouldn't be in this situation. You talk the talk but don't walk the walk. Those two other projects are one pace of getting financing sooner than this Broad Street project since it was first thought of.

And I'm not buying this 'outsider' bs. The guy developing NJPAC is from the Philly area.

Maybe if they were torn down, there'd be more of a sense of urgency to build up that area, but I somehow doubt that it would be that easy to tear down structures listed as "historical." I can be completely wrong, but my understanding is that Cogswell and Berger (who I believe also ownes the Hahnes and Griffith site) plan on tearing those buildings down as it is cost prohibitive to rehab them. But I think before that could be done, they have to ensure that they have a plan in place for redeveloping that area and not just creating unsightly parking lots (though Edison Properties would probably be all over that!)

Consider how long ago the Westinghouse building was torn down. There is still a mountain of debris on that site... why? I'm not sure. I know the land is contaminated and needs to be remediated, so perhaps keeping the debris on the land is part of the remediation process, but in my opinion, it looks worse now then it did before. I'm sure city officials don't want the same thing happening to that stretch of Broad Street (not that it looks so great right now, but perhaps they prefer vacant buildings to vacant lots...)

scrollhectic

February 12th, 2009, 12:46 PM

by Gregory C. Washington (gwashington@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger

Thursday February 12, 2009, 5:37 AM

The economy is supposed to be slumping. Depending on who you talk to, now is supposed to be a bad time to expend millions of dollars in a city that isn't a sure thing yet.

Apparently the people in the luxury residence business have not been talking to those folks. Richardson Lofts is on the way, 1180 Raymond Blvd. is quite full and soon there will be another option right on Broad Street.

Then again, when your target audience is used to paying more than $2,000 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, or $2,200 a month for a studio with a kitchenette on Wall Street, maybe it isn't hard to fill a building up. Especially when you offer more space than your Manhattan counterparts.

With this in mind, allow me to introduce you to the soon-to-be-built Packard Lofts, located at 1002-1008 Broad Street. East Kinney Street is the cross street, for those who follow the grid. For those who travel by landmarks, it's the white, three-story building down the street from Symphony Hall. It's also where Nathan's Famous hot dogs used to be.

And if you remember when the bulldogs were the mascot for Southside High School, it's the building that used to be a Buick dealership.

Now that we are all on the same page, let's plunge deeper into the city's latest high post-mixed-use residence. Currently the structure is two separate buildings, which will naturally be combined into 76,478 square feet of space.

You want more depth, don't you. Okay. We'll start on the ground floor.

The main entrance will be on Broad Street and the ground floor will house the lobby, as well as retail and commercial space. Anyone thinking about occupying the retail space will have the 7,152 square feet in the southwestern corner of the building available. That's the corner closest to the intersection of Broad Street and East Kinney Street.

An ideal occupant, at least in the eyes of the developers, is one that will cater to the residents who live above it, as well as the people who will work in the commercial space.

Now if you were thinking about claiming the 12,880 square feet of commercial space to possibly open another hot dog joint, or even sell alternative-fuel motor vehicles, forget it.

The U.S. General Services Administration, a branch of the federal government that provides, well, general service (feel free to look them up at www.gsa.gov (http://www.gsa.gov) ), is already lined up to move into the space. The men and women who support the operations of the federal district courts and the courthouse on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., will work there.

But the bell of this ball is the living space, housed on the second and third floors. A total of 56,446 square feet will be strategically spliced into 28 residential units, with an average of 1,150 square feet of living space per unit.

The plan is to sell them off as loft-style, live-work spaces with an open floor plan with bedroom enclosures. If executed, potential buyers will meet with the developer to discuss wall placement, colors, fixtures and whatever else isn't tied to the plumbing.

Most of the units will be one-bedroom designs. There may be four or five two-bedroom designs and even a couple with mezzanines, for those who want a private outdoor experience.

Residents who don't mind sharing the outdoors with their neighbors will have the chance on the roof of the building. Passive recreation is how some people would describe it. Food and drinks and anything else within the rules set by the developer will be allowed on the roof, assuming that
they get around to setting rules for the roof.

If the plan to sell the units holds, owners will enjoy a 30-year tax-abatement, sponsored by the city of Newark. A parking plan has not been finalized, but one of the partners in the project owns the lot next to the building and spaces may be made available to residents.

Hard hats are in the middle of selective demolition, removing everything that will not be used in Packard Lofts. The commercial space should be up and running by the summer. The rest of the building is scheduled to open at the end of the year.

All of this will cost $11.4 million. The developer ponied up $5.4 million and the believers at Crown Bank offered $6 million in construction financing.

The price of admission has yet to be established, but residents in some of downtown Newark's newer apartments pay as much as $1,650 a month for a one-bedroom residence and $2,420 a month for two bedrooms.

So whether they rent the Packards or sell them, they won't be cheap. But at least you'll get a full kitchen.

scrollhectic

February 12th, 2009, 02:03 PM

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Even as political officials in New York are hoping to position Atlantic Yards (http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2009/02/atlantic-yards-and-stimulus-bill-many.html) for federal stimulus funds, Newark Mayor Cory Booker says that the city's effort to lure the New Jersey Nets to Newark is "fixed in my mind."

That comment came as Booker was interviewed last Thursday, February 5, on Newark Today with Mayor Cory Booker (http://www.wbgo.org/ontheair/2007/NewarkToday_CoryBooker_DCruz.php#), a public affairs show on WGBO, Newark's public radio station, hosted by Andrew Meyer.

Actually, as the Star-Ledger's Brian Donohue explained in the video report Ledger Live (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/ledger_live_a_fiery_booker_spe.html), Booker's prepared--but not delivered--text included a planned slip. As the mayor discussed bringing different types of investments to the city, he was to say, "We're excited to see what's NETS... I mean, next."

WBGO's Meyer was interviewed about Booker's speech yesterday, on All Things Considered (http://www.wnyc.org/shows/atc/latest) , at about 38:15 of the second hour. Beginning at about 42:15, Meyer was asked what Booker didn't talk about.

AM: I would almost say the New Jersey Nets. Now, he did have a quick reference to the Nets.
[I]But the big question right now, one of the big questions in the city is: what's going to happen with the Nets. They're waiting for their arena to be built in Brooklyn. But many people are saying, "Look, you've got this brand new sports arena right in downtown Newark where the [hockey New Jersey] Devils are playing... this would be an ideal location to bring the Nets. It's ready to go; they can just walk in and it's theirs." So, there's a lot of speculation about whether or not that team is going to end up here. Mayor Booker's holding his cards very tight to the vest on this one. We pressed him time and time again, and he'll just say that his staff would be very angry with him if he was to tip any details. But he says there are discussions going on there.

On WGBO, "out on a limb"

Last Thursday, however, the mayor was not reticent. The sequence began at about 35:10 of the show (http://www.wbgo.org/ontheair/2007/NewarkToday_CoryBooker_DCruz.php#); both Booker and host Meyer sounded notably enthusiastic.

CB: Our city in the next three years is going to have the most exciting things happening in our downtown. And I can't wait. And I'm going to go out on a limb right now. When we start seeing things like the Nets return to Newark--and I say return, but come--

AM: --You read my mind, Mayor... When are they coming? What do you know?

CB:I tell you this. I am putting a considerable amount of time into this, strategies, working behind the scenes. I really don't want to go too far out on a limb and my staff is going to jump all over me because--

(Last May 1 the Star-Ledger reported (http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/topstories/index.ssf/2008/05/bringing_nets_to_newark_plan_i.html) on efforts by the city administration and Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek to assemble an ownership group to buy the Nets.)

Brooklyn a mirage?

AM: Well, let me put out there what we know. We have a contributor here who's been tracking the project closely, and he's said basically that the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn has ground to a halt, Bruce Ratner, the developer, is not moving forward with the arena, supposedly until all the lawsuits over eminent domain are settled, and they're not even due to go to trial until next year. You combine that with the lack of financing available for big projects and, y'know, the Brooklyn Nets seem more and more like a mirage.

Actually, the eminent domain lawsuit will be heard in less than two weeks (http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2009/02/eminent-domain-case-set-for-oral.html) (and a decision in the EIS case (http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-appeal-of-case-challenging-ay.html) is pending). Forest City Ratner executives assert (http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2009/02/esdc-says-it-was-wrong-ay-could-be.html) that construction would begin in mid-2009.

Booker remained enthusiastic

CB: I'm telling you right now I have it fixed in my mind. Every single day I think about it, that we're going to have the Newark Nets one day. It's taking a lot of work on both sides of the river, and there are a lot of people from Brooklyn to Newark that believe that that team belongs here. What it's going to mean for our city is, just like the bars and restaurants that I was around [downtown], on Super Bowl Sunday. It means another 50 nights of tens of thousands of people coming to the city of Newark. It means parking tax for the city, payroll tax for the city, it means more economic development, more minority businesses are going to open up in our downtown through our loan fund. It would make a tremendous difference, and create an incredible excitement, it's something I'm working very hard on, and I'm hoping that will be successful.

The rent and the parking

Meyer also brought up the dispute about the $2 million rent (http://blog.nj.com/njv_joan_whitlow/2009/02/ap_photomike_derernewark_mayor.html) the New Jersey Devils, the primary tenant of the Prudential Center, allegedly owe the city.

Booker said the issue was in arbitration and "I will not yield." However, he said that the Devils "make a tremendous amount of contributions: to the community, so, while the city should demand every dollar it deserves, it should "continue to build the strength and steam of that institution."

Meyer brought up complaints that it costs $40 for parking near the arena. "Those are midtown Manhattan prices," he said.

Booker's response: "What I'm going to simply say is take public transportation... We're perfectly located in the middle of a great transportation hub." He also pointed out that, if visitors were willing to walk, parking was less costly a little farther from the arena.

block944

February 12th, 2009, 06:52 PM

I was walking home to 1180 when i noticed newly installed benches all around mulberry, commerce and clinton st. Looks nice :)

block944

February 12th, 2009, 07:01 PM

newarkdevil1

February 13th, 2009, 10:21 AM

Block,
I was thinking the same thing when I read the article, the thing is that Regan has made those investments and will continue to do so. They with a few other firms from the http://www.lpccd.org/ have put that investment in and I applaud them. I think its hard sometimes as a resident though to see the changes over time. I was just remarking yesterday about how much the city has changed in the 5 years I have been here. I am happy to see people still proposing projects and I hope that they continue to believe tommorows Newark can always be better than todays.

On a separate note, NDD has bonded and is moving forward with all their street scaping plans over this year. I was at their offices yesterday and they are very committed to their time schedule which you can see in their offices on Clinton st. Also, they are working very hard at trying to get the street vendors on the same page which apparently has been an issue for over fifty years or so.

scrollhectic

February 13th, 2009, 11:33 AM

Wall streeters that can afford 2000 a month in rent are a fastly dying breed as massive layoffs are going on and still coming down the pipe combined with a tanking stock market. Also this is right across Lincoln Park, no offense but who would live so far from Penn station and downtown with no lightrail. I've seen the crackheads that wait at the busstop by 1000 broad street. Good luck and have fun.

I agree. I think Lincoln Park is a tough sell for renters. In my opinion, the rent should not be as competitive as the Penn Station or Broad Street Station area. I think the Lincoln Park area is better suited for condos then rentals. I wonder what the status of MoAAM is? That would be a big boost to that area and to Newark as a whole. I'm sure that project is 5+ years away, if it happens at all. And I'm confused. If Seton Hall is building a new dorm on Mulberry, what is going on with the Fireman's Insurance Building on Broad and Market? believe somone posted that they thought that building was slated for Seton Hall dormitories. There is still scaffolding on the building but I haven't seen any work being done to it or anyone working on the interior of the building. Does anyone know of what's propsed for that building?

JCMAN320

February 13th, 2009, 12:37 PM

^^^I went to the Devils-Capitals game last week and noticed the scaffolding and wondered the same thing.

block944

February 13th, 2009, 05:08 PM

^^^I went to the Devils-Capitals game last week and noticed the scaffolding and wondered the same thing.

I saw some crane work being done today as well as construction on broad and raymond by the bus stop.

Overall I agree, its good to see the momentum going no matter what the projects are. The big clincher will be: http://gateway.njit.edu/gateway/docs/2007/2007-09-01-redevelopment-conceptual-plan.pdf

Having been in njit in 1996 and now doing my masters in 2009, the difference is amazing in such a short time. If the gateway project is done, the path will be paved for groceries, movie theatres to open in newark and to have actual students be walking around. Once the demand is high enough, the haynes building will be the next logical step in rebuilding and hopefully by then the shaq building will be up and running as well as all the work across the river at harrison. THEN the city will really be something

http://gateway.njit.edu/details/index.php
From the site the reference to "Sansom row" is cool side street in philadelphia off 34 th street between upenn and drexel. Its a cool hangout place and if they have something like that in newark it will look real nice.. Almost like what halsey street is starting to become.

Marv95

February 13th, 2009, 05:48 PM

newarkdevil1

February 13th, 2009, 05:54 PM

block944

February 13th, 2009, 06:59 PM

I was there for day trips in the past 2 years in Philly(shut up), and it really is something: bookstore, clothing outlet, etc. In fact the area around the UPenn campus looked well organized, clean, and even busy, although not too crowded. Also 1-2 subway-surface stops within that radius. I thought to myself 'Wouldn't it be something if Halsey Street or even the PruCenter area had something as cool as this?'

The area around 40th street almost looked like Halsey, I remember in 1994 I had by bicycle stolen off my bike on walnut and 40th. and outside of the phamacy and theatre there wasn't much there. I just went there last year and its reallly a different place... tons of bars, indian restaurants, clothing stores. its amazing.

block944

February 13th, 2009, 07:08 PM

Wait a second, block is sounding like an optomist and I posting b!tchy political posts....I have to quit now as I have been corrupted.

Oh if you all have a chance, check out the blog that just went live today run by some of the people at NewWork. GLOCALLYNEWARK.COM check it out.

http://glocallynewark.com/wordpress/?p=161

That funny, I just went there today for the first time and the food was wonderful.

newarkdevil1

February 14th, 2009, 12:33 AM

I just have to give the proper respect to Kelly and Tony for their work, you just have to love watching entrepreneurs like them succeed in this city.

wow, made the mistake of hitting the enter button and posted early there =-/

FYI, spoke with some city planners and from what I gather the only thing happen with the old Newark Firemans Insurance building is preventative maintenance...ie making sure tiles don't fall onto the street.

newarkdevil1

February 15th, 2009, 11:21 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/nyregion/new-jersey/15arenanj.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

newarkdevil1

February 17th, 2009, 09:23 AM

I had known about the Lincoln statue but not about military park...

http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/1234848334136660.xml&coll=1

Dagrecco82

February 18th, 2009, 02:58 PM

newarkdevil1

February 19th, 2009, 10:01 AM

I was thinking of maybe moving into the Richardson Lofts. I've skimmed the net trying to find some information but to no avail. Their site calls for a Sept. 2009 opening but when I passed by it on Sunday it didn't seem like much work had been done. Does anyone have any information they can share? Thanks!

Deagrecco

I deal with the people over at NewWork and they are racing towards a late 3rd quarter early forth opening. I have a friend at 1180 that is very excited about the project as well. If you don't find what you need at their website, I can put you in touch with their marketing director. Also, the blog that I posted the other day is actually run by the same company as a sort of compliment to the Richardson project.

scrollhectic

February 20th, 2009, 10:38 AM

Last updated: February 17, 2009 02:53pm

http://www.globest.com/newspics/nej_richardson-building-lof.jpg
50-60 Columbia St.

NEWARK-Newwork Real Estate has retained Tekton Development Corp. as the general contractor for the Richardson Building Lofts. Built in 1912, the six-story, 66,000-square-foot former jewelry factory located here at 50-60 Columbia St. will be converted into a 67-unit, loft-style apartment building.

"Richardson Lofts is an architectural and historical gem," says Brendan Murray, president of New Brunswick-based Tekton Development. "We are delighted to be involved in the restoration of a building that represents such a significant contribution to the revitalization of downtown Newark. The project also allows us to draw on Tekton’s expertise in green building techniques."

While Tekton prides itself on its commitment to green building, Murray tells GlobeSt.com that the $17-million restoration of the Richardson building has posed some special challenges, including recycling as much of the original building material as possible.

"The original brick has been restored, with brick from demolished areas being used to fill in where needed; the original fire escapes are being repurposed into private balconies; and the original cement floors will be retained," Murray says. "Wall panels will be prefabricated to exact specifications in order to reduce waste and the building will use only the most advanced and efficient energy and ventilation systems."

Murray is an avid champion of the notion that green need not cost more. "You just have to change your approach," he says. One key to this approach is bringing a general contractor experienced in green construction aboard early, thus creating a collaborative relationship between owner and builder.

The Richardson Building Lofts will have some novel green features, including a two-story addition capped by a green roof that will bring the building to eight stories. "The green roof, which will decrease runoff and provide insulation, may even include a vegetable farm," says Michael Saltzman, managing principal of Newwork. The upper floors and roof will offer views of downtown Newark and the Manhattan skyline. Another feature Saltzman points to is the original spiral staircase, a dramatic steel structure that will serve as the centerpiece of a common skylighted atrium/gathering place.

Ranging in size from 750 to 1,300 square feet, the apartments will feature open floor plans, expansive windows, high ceilings, exposed brick, private terraces and ample underground parking. Double-height duplex units are also available. Amenities will include a high-tech business center, two fitness rooms and FreshDirect-ready cold storage. The building is slated for completion in September 2009.

block944

February 21st, 2009, 09:15 PM

http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/userimages/downloads/RFEI%20Show-BID%20CONFERENCE%20040808%20-%20compressed%20slightly.pdf

block944

February 21st, 2009, 09:36 PM

Wish people wouldnt pop the cork so fast,, why would they raise rents now?

Law firm Saiber LLC, which is leaving Newark after nearly 60 years, said today one of the main reasons that it is moving its headquarters to the suburbs is the high cost of remaining in the state’s largest city.“It was a very difficult decision to move out of Newark,” said David D’Aloia, a partner at the firm, in an interview this morning. “We have considered ourselves a part of Newark all these decades.”
But “Newark, even in these difficult economic times, remains a very expensive real estate market for tenants,” he said. “The opportunity outside of Newark was really quite significant. It was only because of that very significant difference that we seriously considered the alternative.”

http://www.njbiz.com/article.asp?aID=77387

block944

February 21st, 2009, 09:38 PM

Mansion is no castle in the air

Saturday, February 21, 2009 BY RALPH R. ORTEGA
Star-Ledger Staff

The old Elks lodge on Clinton Avenue in Newark remains vacant and deteriorated, but its owner says her dream of breathing new life into the former mansion she bought for $1 is still alive.
"Let everyone know, it's not over," said Denise Colon, owner of the 32-room Victorian mansion she envisions as a community service center.
http://ads.nj.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/www.nj.com/xml/story/star_ledger/nn/nnj/@StoryAd?x For about the same price as an item on a value menu, Colon landed a rare opportunity to own a piece of Newark history when she took over the property from the Pride of Newark Lodge No. 93 in April 2007. Ownership of the massive building also gave her a chance to contribute to a neighborhood where she has maintained a tax preparation business for 20 years, she said.
Colon, 51, envisioned converting the five-story mansion into a home for pregnant girls, and leasing space to a community organization or two.
Financing that vision in a strong economy would be difficult; in a deepening recession, it's been impossible.
She now concedes she needs help from an agency with more experience seeking government financing to start the center and save the building. Colon said a full restoration could cost more than $1.7 million.
"You're talking everything restored, back to its original state." she said. "It would be a beauty."
Colon said a day care center and apprenticeship program have shown interest, but so far, neither has committed. Colon, who has listed the property with a real es tate agent, said negotiations are open with any prospective tenant.
"If they can't afford it, I'm say ing, 'Step into my house, and let's work together,'" she said.
That kind of flexibility goes a long way with community service organizations in the current economy.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-12/12351957075400.xml&coll=1

scrollhectic

February 23rd, 2009, 02:49 PM

Last updated: February 23, 2009 11:13am

By Alyson Grala (http://www.globest.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.author.contact.view?client_id=globest&story_id=177055&title=City%20OKs%20Mixed%2DUse%20Project&author=Alyson%20Grala&address=http%3A//www.globest.com/news/1352%5F1352/newjersey/177055%2D1.html&summary=NEWARK%2DThe%20partnership%20between%20NJP AC%20and%20Dranoff%20Properties%20is%20one%20of%20 the%20city%27s%20leading%20projects%20in%20its%20p lans%20for%20downtown%20revitalization.)

http://www.globest.com/newspics/nej_larry-goldman.jpg
Goldman
NEWARK-A cornerstone of Mayor Cory A. Booker’s recent State of the City address was the announcement that Two Center St.--a mixed-use residential and retail project on a 1.2-acre site adjacent to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center--was selected as one of the City of Newark’s top economic development priorities, following a rigorous evaluation conducted by a Scorecard committee convened by the Brick City Development Corp. Two Center St. is a partnership between NJPAC and Philadelphia-based Dranoff Properties Inc.

"We are pleased to be advancing our partnership with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. This project will strengthen our downtown, add hundreds of new housing units and create construction jobs in our city," Mayor Cory A. Booker says in a statement. "In partnership with NJPAC and Dranoff Properties, we pledge to move this project forward intensively this year--securing the resources we need to make it a go for construction in the coming years."

As announced last year, NJPAC entered into a Letter of Intent with Dranoff to develop Two Center St., which is envisioned to become the tallest building in Newark. The forty story-plus building is set to include a residential community of 300 units--20% of which will be set aside for artists--20,000-plus square feet of street-level, high-quality retail; possible cultural uses; and structured parking for over 550 cars.

"This is a huge vote of confidence and a milestone as Newark re-emerges as a viable and attractive destination for downtown residential living," says Lawrence P. Goldman, NJPAC’s president and CEO. "The Scorecard process was thoughtful, tough and comprehensive and it made us think even more carefully about the kind of neighborhood we want to create around the Arts Center’s Theater Square." He adds that a complex, mixed-use urban redevelopment project like this can only be done though a partnership of public and private entities.

Two Center St. will be the Arts Center’s first major expansion since its opening in 1997, and the first newly constructed residential building in downtown Newark in over four decades. "We see this as nothing less than a transformative development for the state’s largest city," Goldman says.

"The Arts Center was always intended as the centerpiece of a busy, inviting downtown core. Now, with Two Center St.--and the new Seton Hall Law School residence building the Mayor also announced--it’s not difficult to imagine a real urban buzz in Newark again."

Goldman and Dranoff believe the seal of approval from the city and state will be significant as work commences to secure all necessary financing and subsidies. "Newark needs people living downtown to realize fully its burgeoning revitalization," Goldman tells GlobeSt.com. "Throughout the country and the world--in places like London, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh--arts centers have led the way in transforming cities. There is every reason to believe that Newark can be the next major urban success story."

While Dranoff acknowledges the realities of the current economic climate, he tells GlobeSt.com, "we have been through economic cycles before and are confident that this, too, shall pass. When it does, we will be ready on Day One to build something that will continue to change perceptions about Newark. The Arts Center itself proved that if you insist on excellence, people will support something bold and innovative. We are hugely optimistic that Two Center St. will set a standard for urban residential communities and are enormously grateful for this important endorsement from the City and State."

block944

February 23rd, 2009, 07:44 PM

block944

February 24th, 2009, 02:47 AM

scrollhectic

February 24th, 2009, 02:27 PM

Newark-based IDT tech company plans to relocate

by Lisa Fleisher (lfleisher@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Monday February 23, 2009, 8:39 PM

Newark-based telecommunications company IDT is fleeing its oversized, expensive headquarters on Broad Street and consolidating a block away.
IDT, which has shed two-thirds of its employees over the past few years, will move out of 520 Broad St. by May, company Chairman Howard Jonas said this evening. The old building, owned by an affiliated company, might go into foreclosure and is not currently on the market, he said.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2009/02/large_IDT.JPGPatti Sapone/The Star-LedgerThe IDT building in Newark is shown in this 2006 file photo.
"We can't afford the building we're in now," Jonas said. "We're going to have to see if we can work things out with our lenders."
The maintenance alone on the 500,000-square-foot building cost about $5 million a year, he said. IDT's roughly 600 employees will now fit into 75,000 square feet at 550 Broad St.
The company's stock price has fallen steadily over the past five years, and dropped from more than $20 a share in January 2008 to around a dollar a share last week.

Will it be converted into condos??

I said it once and I'll say it again, I think the Washington Park area needs housing. Though architecturally the IDT building does not seem like it would make sense as a condo conversion (NO WINDOWS), I think that area needs it. The American Insurance Building next to the Library should turn condo. I also think the mid-rise building next to the church and the IDT building (on Broad and Bridge) would make sense as a condo/rental building.

So the American Insurance Building is vacant, the Verizon building is mostly empty, IDT is mostly empty and Tucker is going to build Liberty Plaza one block away... OK. The Washington Park vacancy rate must be in the double digits. I think housing is a better option in that area than more offices. We'll see...

Marv95

February 24th, 2009, 02:53 PM

I think architecturally speaking the building can work for housing if it were renovated to include windows in the rear. As a rental building.

block944

February 24th, 2009, 06:49 PM

I think architecturally speaking the building can work for housing if it were renovated to include windows in the rear. As a rental building.

Either which way its a huge blow to the area.... and I don't know how long Horizon BCBSnj will be here once they go public.

newarkdevil1

February 24th, 2009, 06:54 PM

Amid all the gloom and doom there still are fun things happening in Newark. This past december's fight was successful enough that the Pru is hosting Adamek vs Banks this friday. Event is supposed to draw 7,000 fans (many of which will probably crazy polaks).

Here http://profile.ak.facebook.com/object3/1947/87/n67549555707_4839.jpg and here is the link for the pregame starting at 5

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=67549555707&ref=nf

block944

February 26th, 2009, 07:50 PM

Newark amends tax laws to help investors with unsold property

by Ralph R. Ortega (rortega@star-ledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Thursday February 26, 2009, 5:41 PM

Newark officials, worried that abandoned new construction will exacerbate the city's blight problem, have amended tax laws to allow developers to apply for a five-year tax abatement on unsold, one- to four-family homes.
The changes give developers incentives to finish a project during difficult fiscal times, said Adam Zipkin, chief of staff in the city's department of economic and housing development.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2009/02/large_unsold-development-Newark.JPGMitsu Yasukawa/The Star LedgerNewark developer Alray Blackmon stands outside a brand new home located in Newark that he can't sell.
The move was welcomed by residents dismayed with abandoned buildings and developers stuck with paying mortgages, taxes and insurance on their unsold homes.
"We've been losing tons of money," said developer Alray Blackmon, who has properties on South 18th and South 19th Streets that have sat unsold for a year.
Kia Andrews saw no harm in helping developers protect their investment.
"I would love to see more houses on this block," she said, referring to a stretch of Badger Avenue where only four houses remain standing, all vacant and severely damaged by vandals. The rest of the land is covered with the cement foundations of homes that were never built, strewn with garbage and overgrown with tall grass -- a constant reminder of how development plans for new construction stalled long ago.
"It looks nasty," said Joe Ann Noreiga, a 46-year-old mother of two who lives across the street.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2009/02/large_vacant-space-newark.JPGMitsu Yasukawa/The Star LedgerVacant, vandalized space on Badger Ave., located between W. Runyon and W. Bigelow Streets in Newark.
Yet some residents grappling with their own financial troubles had mixed feelings about helping developers.
"If they're giving them a tax break, they should give us a tax break," said Charles Smith, a 32-year-old dog breeder who has lived near Badger Avenue for most of his life, and complained he was struggling to provide for his wife and three children.
Under the old law, only buyers could qualify for a tax abatement, which charged them a 2 percent fee of the value of improvements to the land, in lieu of property taxes.
The changes now allow developers to pay the same, plus an additional 1 percent fee, said Zipkin. He said, the abatement is still transferable to a buyer for the remainder of the five-year period, which improves the chances of the developer selling the property.
Zipkin said the program applies similar benefits to developers building condominiums, deferring taxes in the first year, and charging 20 percent the following year, 40 percent the third, 60 percent the fourth year and 80 percent the fifth year. The remaining time on the abatement again is transferable to the buyer.
Stefan Pryor said the city also will encourage developers to rent out their properties, instead of letting them stay dormant because they haven't sold.
"The idea is to recognize that in this market, rentals are moving more quickly than sales," Pryor said.
Luis Nogueira, a city real estate broker who lobbied for the abatement changes, said he knows of about 200 unsold properties in the city that could benefit from the plan. Among them are the stalled developments on Badger and Ridgewood avenues, located between West Bigelow and West Runyon streets.
Two companies that bought city land on Badger Avenue in 2005 were expected to finish construction within 18 months. When that didn't happen, city officials filed suit against the companies, Sumo Enterprises and Badger Development on Feb. 11, to return the land to Newark, according to court papers.
Calls to the developers were not returned.
City officials said they don't know how many developers might take advantage of the new program.
Alray Blackmon, who has built new homes on Newark lots with his brother Antonio, said he would certainly sign up. He built three houses on two Newark lots that failed to sell at $430,000. He said he had to reduce the prices twice, and is now asking $349,000 for each of the homes.
Potential buyers, Blackmon said, had difficulties getting credit, leaving the properties unsold and vacant since they were built. Vandals, meanwhile, cost him $4,500 to $6,500 after they broke into both homes, stole copper plumbing and an air conditioner.
Blackmon said he recently rented out the South 19th Street home, and applied for a tax abatement on the property to bring down his costs.
"Without the tax abatement," he said, "We'd lose our socks."

block944

February 28th, 2009, 04:11 PM

ewark is making a push to invigorate its waterfront community for its residents, and development of its infrastructure with environmentally friendly new businesses. With the declining economy Corey Booker is still focused on restoring Newark’s waterfront to its former glory. Since the early 1990’s the Newark Bay, or lower Passaic River has been targeted for economic renewal and the challenges that have surrounded the effort has been the clean-up of the Passaic River.
During the early 1800’s Newark, NJ began it industrialization with the city providing 90% of leather production for most of the US. As the city was invigorated by its business development, the population of the city grew, and so did the diversity of its businesses. By the middle of the 19th century industries such as transportation, telecommunications, wholesale and retail trade, and insurance businesses thrived. However as the factories grew so did their waste. Businesses would dump tons of hazardous dioxins into the river unregulated. Dioxins are byproducts of many types of natural combustion and pesticides such Agent Orange (well known for its use as a Vietnam Defoliant). During this time the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was non-existent, and with no regulatory oversight the river suffered from one of its worst environmental contaminations in states history. The dioxins were absorbed into the sediments of the river, and by the end of the 20th century the river was targeted for immediate clean up due to the persistent dioxin hotspots that are now embedded in the river. The toxins are concentrated in a quarter-square-mile stretch of the riverbed in the Newark Bay. Since they cannot be rapidly flushed out of the river like some other water pollutants, dioxins need to be physically removed because they cannot be broken down very easily, and stay in the soil for many decades.
With advocacy groups from local residents and national environmental organizations such as the Sierra Club, pushing for the local, state and federal officials to respond to the river clean-up. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) responded by finally suing the former Diamond Shamrock Agent Orange plant that was responsible for illegally dumping the toxic dioxins into the river. The Diamond Shamrock Company whose liability was inherited by Tierra Solutions, and Maxus Energy Corporation was sued in 2007 by the NJDEP when Lisa Jackson (now the head of the EPA) was the head of the department to recover clean-up costs for the company’s decades of dioxin dumping. Unfortunately, new court developments have already stalled the clean-up with the Tierra Solutions and Maxus Energy Company countersuing to include additional defendants to the NJDEP’s suit. The NJDEP sees the countersuit as a means of the two companies trying to shift the blame from their responsibilities of the cleanup. Hopefully the EPA will step in to support the NJDEP, and enforce the swift cleanup of the toxic contamination under the federal Superfund Law. Since the dioxins are deemed to be a threat to the residents health, and the environment.
Although, the Passaic River clean-up has yet to be completed the river has significantly improved over the past 30 years, and now has a “green industry” business on the river. The green friendly company, Innovation Fuels supports the Mayor’s commitment to the Clinton backed Apollo Alliance, which focuses on a plethora of environmentally conscious infrastructure and job commitments. Innovation Fuels, is a biodiesel fuel company that has invested 18 million in renovations of a facility right off the banks of the river, and its presence signals the beginning of a new era of doing business for the city

The city of Newark also recently received a significant boost to its waterfront revitalization efforts with the reward of $2.9 million dollars in new federal funding secured by several members of Congress, including Senators Lautenberg and Menendez. The funding falling under the “Minesh Park Project” will be used to build a two-mile riverfront with open space and a multipurpose development of the downtown area, and is set for completion by spring 2009. Additionally, funding will also go to the prevention of the wetlands erosion and getting 6,000 feet of bulkhead (river wall) replacement to the riverfront to prevent further erosion of the river. The rest of the monies from the reward will go to the construction of a riverfront walkway that will contribute to the city’s important infrastructure development.

Despite the years of neglect of the Passaic River, the environmental risks of have lessened over the past 3 decades. With the support of the local residents, The Sierra Club, and city, and state officials the clean up the river bed has begun, and now the city can effectively look towards growing its image in support its reawakening for the 21st century. The Mayor and his supporters have made calculated decisions to bring back the beauty and benefits the city has to offer to its community and businesses. Having received the federal funding to begin the development of the city’s recreational, commercial, and green friendly investment in infrastructure, the city’s boundaries of growth are endless.

block944

March 1st, 2009, 05:16 PM

IT begins..... http://gateway.njit.edu

Decaying Newark housing complex will get transformed

by Ralph R. Ortega (rortega@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Sunday March 01, 2009, 2:23 PM

Tammy Clanton could have said goodbye for good when she moved out of Newark's Baxter Terrace, a decaying housing complex slated for demolition this year, after it became so dilapidated it couldn't be saved.
But Clanton shut the door to her apartment for the last time this week, saying she was convinced a new and better complex will replace the old one, and will be worth returning to and calling home again.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2009/03/large_ARIST.jpgAristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerTammy Clanton removes drapes from her bedroom as she prepares to move from Baxter Terrace, a 67-year-old Newark housing complex slated for demolition and redevelopment.
"I'm signed up for them to bring me back. When it gets done, it's almost going to be high-end," said the 50-year-old single mother who grew up in the 67-year-old complex.
Newark Housing Authority officials said they plan to tear Baxter Terrace down by year's end, and in the wake of that destruction rebuild housing to help rehabilitate a section of Newark near Route 280, Broad Street Station, college campuses and downtown.
It is one of the city's oldest housing complexes and one of its most visible, and therefore seen as critical to redevelopment efforts. "It's the gateway to the central business district," said Toni Griffin, Newark's Director of Community Development.
City officials said the plan, now soliciting recommendations and developer interpretations, looks at the neighborhood as a whole, rather than at individual projects proposed by stakeholders such as the housing authority, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, St. Michael's Medical Center, Newark Library, Newark Museum and residential organizations.
The housing authority's board of directors agreed that a redeveloped Baxter Terrace could fit in with the area's progress. "It just seems like a natural synergy there, to create a community that works, a community that functions," said Modia Butler, the board's chairman and Mayor Cory Booker's chief of staff.
Butler said the board decided to retire the 14-acre complex -- with its more than 20, three-story, brick walkups -- because it had a half-billion dollars in deferred maintenance and needed at least $68 million in work. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the go-ahead for demolition in August.
The complex has already been half vacated by residents, who either relocated to other authority housing or were approved for Section 8 vouchers to move into private housing.
Tory Gunsolley, the authority's chief administrative officer, said a request for proposals sought a redevelopment featuring about 341 units, including a mix of affordable and market-rate housing.
McCormack Baron Salazar, a private St. Louis developer, was picked for the project in January, Gunsolley said.
Housing officials said the city may lease or sell the property to the developer, leaving the housing authority with a percentage of ownership. They said they couldn't provide more details, because negotiations with the developer are ongoing.
The firm, previously involved in 124 projects in 33 cities, last month broke ground on a $172 million redevelopment of the C.J. Peete public housing complex in Central City, La., about 60 miles west of New Orleans. The complex, like Baxter Terrace, opened in 1941 and had about 1,400 apartments. The project will build 460 units of mixed-income apartments, two-thirds of them public housing and affordable units, and one-third market-rate rentals.
It isn't known yet if something similar will happen with Baxter Terrace. Housing officials said the details may take time, and construction will likely be influenced by the economy.
Last year, McCormack Baron Salazar, working in Durham, N.C., saw its partner, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, drop out of the redevelopment of the twice-failed Rolling Hills subdivision and Southside neighborhood. A story in the News & Observer of Raleigh in January described the 20-acre Rolling Hills site as, "a picture of abandonment."
Roland Anglin, an urban affairs expert at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, said McCormack Baron Salazar is known for aggressively engaging communities.
Anglin said the firm seeks to understand an area's needs and wants, lends guidance to create community development corporations, and helps in finding philanthropic foundations for support.
"Instead of running roughshod over a community's interests, they say, "We need to build the capacity of the community to deal with us,'" Anglin said.
The goal for Baxter Terrace is to have the redevelopment create low- and moderate-income housing units, alongside market rate units and new retail and office space. The barriers, experts say, are attracting residents with different household incomes into such a community.
"When families share a desire for their kids to succeed, economic integration is not a problem. We have individuals earning six figures living next to minimum-wage families, and it works fine," said Richard Baron, chairman of McCormack Baron and Salazar's, in the February 2005 issue of St. Louis Commerce Magazine.
Tammy Clanton, who had lived in Baxter Terrace since she was 4, said she left with fond memories of the complex and its better days. Park benches, basketball courts, and even a birdbath have long since disappeared, and the complex has become notorious for crime, drugs and gang activity. But Clanton is eager to move back in, once the neighborhood has been overhauled.
Housing officials have offered tenants, who remain in good standing, a chance to apply for a lottery to return to Baxter Terrace. Clanton said she expects it won't be easy getting back in, after hearing the redevelopment plans touted at a community meeting.
"You're going to have to fight to get in here," she said.

scrollhectic

March 1st, 2009, 10:39 PM

IT begins..... http://gateway.njit.edu

Tory Gunsolley, the authority's chief administrative officer, said a request for proposals sought a redevelopment featuring about 341 units, including a mix of affordable and market-rate housing.

341 units? Why is the density so low? 341 units over 14 acres? They could easily triple that in that area. That way, if you have a ridiculous number of affordable units (2/3rds... wow) at least you'd still have a significant number of people who fall above that income bracket. It's their disposable income that entice the type of businesses and establishments that create a 24/7 city. I hope Newark doesn't miss the mark on this one.

Marv95

March 2nd, 2009, 11:35 AM

Probably Phase 1 of it.

scrollhectic

March 3rd, 2009, 06:34 PM

I wonder if the top 2 floors are residential or offices? Not sure who the developer is, but the architectural firm is Comito Associates (Newark Tech, Robert Treat Academy, the county courthouse extension and park).

Corner of Edison and Mulberry.

scrollhectic

March 3rd, 2009, 06:38 PM

... and another one

The Rock 07

March 3rd, 2009, 09:49 PM

... and another one

Great stuff, scrollhectic! How did you happen to come across those renderings?
Please come and join our discussion on www.njdevs.com in the "Revitalization Around The Rock" thread.

scrollhectic

March 4th, 2009, 02:22 AM

Please come and join our discussion on www.njdevs.com (http://www.njdevs.com) in the "Revitalization Around The Rock" thread.

I couldn't find the thread and the search function was not operational. How can I locate it?

block944

March 4th, 2009, 02:22 PM

http://www.njdevs.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=35203&st=460&start=460

http://www.comitoassociates.com/

Has some interesting stuff, I didn't know they did the essex votech building or the robert treat middle school or the Essex County courthouse,

The one for 50 Commercial Street looks amazing

Located adjacent to Newark's Penn Station with frontage on the Passaic River, the site for this office tower was ideal for commuter transportation and a valuable site for a corporate presence on the river skyline. The limited dimensions of the property yielded a mixed use lower level with integrated parking for 500 cars. The lower floors allow public access through and under the building and integrate a plaza with the structure and a river promenade. The upper floors include 400,000 square feet of flexible office space using large bay spans and a high ratio of perimeter glass

What/Where is ?

The Grafton Avenue Community Center is a significant new public recreation and cultural center to be constructed in the North Ward section of Newark, New Jersey on the site of a once problematic public housing development. The new facility of expansive glass and expanding roof lines will be an anchor of neighborhood recreation and will host state of the art amenities. With such diverse program elements of dance, basketball, racquet sports, fitness, golf, and feature rock climbing pillar, the facility will also have provisions for music recording studios, education, training and community support spaces. The building design explores the integration of signage and graphics to compliment the architecture and to convey the dynamic spirit and nature of its aggressive program.

Marv95

March 4th, 2009, 02:51 PM

block944

March 4th, 2009, 03:21 PM

^^That Grafton Ave project is between Broadway and McCarter Hwy. It was supposed to be where the police heliport was located.

I clicked on that Comito link. It's useless. No descriptions or anything.

Click on the portfolio link and you can see more, its flashed base so its a bit slow and clunky. Anyrate http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04EFD61F3DF932A15752C0A9679C8B 63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all this is kinda sobering since it was planned from 2001, I kinda doubted they would open 50 Commerical St as it would block the view from 2 and 3 penn plaza for njtransit workers and horizon bcbsnj. A small 4-5 story building wont be bad as the first 5 stories in our office is just a parking garage. It would be good to block some of the wind into the garages at night so its not bitter cold when we leave for work

block944

March 4th, 2009, 03:27 PM

New Jersey Nets to open preseason in Newark

by Ted Sherman (tsherman@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Wednesday March 04, 2009, 2:06 PM

The Nets will open their preseason next fall in Newark.
The team, which plays at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, will meet the Celtics on Oct. 13 and the Knicks on Oct. 21, in two preseason games at the Prudential Center, bringing NBA basketball for the first time to the state's largest city.
http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2009/02/large_PRUDENTIALCENTER.JPGNoah K. Murray/The Star-LedgerExterior photo of Prudential Center on March 5, 2008.
A third preseason game will be played on the campus of St. Johns University in Queens against the 76ers at Carnesecca Arena on Oct. 23.
"We are excited to bring our team and our brand to Newark and Queens for the pre-season schedule for next season," said Nets CEO Brett Yormark. "We are looking forward to playing two games against two of our biggest rivals, the Celtics and the Knicks, at the Prudential Center. We are also excited to be playing a game at St. John's in Queens, a borough where we expect great support for the Nets when we move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in 2011."
The Devils organization has made no secret of its desire to have the Nets move into their arena, known as The Rock, and to close the Izod Center. At the same time, there are mounting questions over whether construction on the long-delayed Brooklyn arena will ever get underway, in the face of continuing community opposition and a worsening recession that is killing major development projects across the country. But while the disclosure of initial talks of a preseason series in Newark led to speculation that the Nets were exploring the viability of a permanent move to Newark, team officials say their future is still in Brooklyn.
Jeff Vanderbeek, president of the Devils, said the series will be a great chance to introduce Nets customers to the Prudential Center.
"We are looking forward to bringing NBA basketball to the Prudential Center for the preseason," he said.
Nets season ticket holders will have the option, but will not be required, to purchase tickts for any or all of the games. They will, however, have the opportunity to purchase the tickets in advance of the general public. Tickets for the general public will go on sale in the early fall. Tickets for the Prudential Center games will be available at the Prudential Center box office and through the Nets ticket office and Ticketmaster, while tickets for the game at St. John's will be available at the St. John's box office and through the Nets ticket office.

scrollhectic

March 4th, 2009, 11:41 PM

I kinda doubted they would open 50 Commerical St as it would block the view from 2 and 3 penn plaza for njtransit workers and horizon bcbsnj.

Block, I don't think 50 Commercial Street will ever be built... at least not the building conceptualized by Comito. Rockefeller Development Group proposed 50 Commercial Street some years ago, and of course, it has not been built. Same with Gateway V, 999 Broad Street, and the second tower that was supposed to go up alongside One Newark Center (Seton Hall Law School.) The propsed Two Riverfront Center is smaller than the one originally proposed at the time that One Riverfront Center went up... some 20 years ago! We'll see if the proposed second tower ever happens.

I'm excited everytime I hear about any new developments downtown, but the reality is that in Newark, the time they are announced to the time they are actually built is painfully slow. It took 10 years before they started construction of NJPAC. 10 years for the Prudential Center.

Everyone blames the economy now but even when the economy was robust, Newark projects always lagged while other cities were redevelopping at breakneck speeds. Blame it on corruption, blame it on politics or maybe Newark never will completely shake its poor reputation. I hope Tucker and Shaq and Dranoff prove me wrong, but I'm not holding my breath for any of those developments. I give them all at LEAST 5 years before we see a shovel in the ground, if we ever see a shovel at all. Stern almost sounds as if he about gave up on the idea of redevelopping the Hahnes and Griffith building. Another redevelopment project going on 10+ years. No way would it take 10 years in Hoboken!

Another project that I don't think will EVER EVER happen... MOAAM. Fantastic idea and one that would have probably gotten construction financing already if it were in NY, or LA or Atlanta, but in Newark... it's almost laughable, and very unfortunate. And still, I hope and dream...

Marv95

March 5th, 2009, 10:10 AM

Face it Sharpe James had a chance in the late 90s early 2000s with the better economy and he could only get 2 things done(3 if you include the light rail). So he should share most of the blame. This good ol' boys network coupled with the fact that city council is run by ghetto, incompetent cretins and you get this result. Plus the Gold Coast has something across the river; a little island called Manhattan.

scrollhectic

March 5th, 2009, 11:22 PM

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif (http://www.nytimes.com/)
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/03/05/sports/05rhoden.190.jpg (http://javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/03/05/sports/05rhoden_CA0.ready.html', '05rhoden_CA0_ready', 'width=720,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))
Ruby Washington/The New York Times
Bruce C. Ratner, the Nets’ owner, has proposed a real estate complex in Brooklyn that includes an arena for his team.

Mayor Cory Booker (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/cory_booker/index.html?inline=nyt-per) described himself as a “hopeless dreamer” Wednesday morning.

Booker had just finished presiding over a ceremony honoring Terrence Kelsor, a security guard from Newark who last week rescued a man who fell on the tracks as a PATH train was coming into the Christopher Street station in Manhattan. Booker praised Kelsor’s courage and used him as an example of the impact citizens can have on one another.

Booker extended the concept to the impact a professional team could have on a city. In fact, he said that when he spoke of being a dreamer, he was referring to bringing the Nets (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/sports/probasketball/nationalbasketballassociation/newjerseynets/index.html?inline=nyt-org) to Newark, the odds of which seem slim to none.

Everyone associated with the Nets’ owner, Bruce C. Ratner, insists there is no way the Nets are staying in New Jersey. Ratner’s vision has always been that the team would be the crown jewel of a sprawling real estate complex in Brooklyn. “The fact is, we’re going to Brooklyn,” Brett Yormark, the Nets’ chief executive, said Wednesday.

Booker is undaunted. He spoke confidently about luring the Nets. He was passionate in describing the economic and psychic impact they would have on the city, which already has a great arena in the Prudential Center, where the Nets will play two preseason games in October.

“We don’t have to use state money to build anything,” Booker said. “The Nets coming to Newark would supercharge the city. I’m working on it every day.”

He added, “We think it’s the right thing for the state, it’s the right thing for the team and it actually makes sense.”

Still, Ratner is determined to give Brooklyn a pro basketball team — whether the borough wants one or not. So a franchise that has been searching for an identity, for a true home, is once again at a crossroads.

Newark desperately wants the Nets; Brooklyn has been lukewarm. The Nets want lukewarm.

From the moment Ratner announced plans to move the team to Brooklyn, the project has encountered wave after wave of protest. Using money, influence and political muscle, Ratner has waded through resistance the way a fighter wades through punches in hopes of landing a knockout blow.

There have been victories along the way, but no peace.

In early February, a major lender agreed to extend its loan and not demand full payment, which was due that month. Late last month, a state appellate court ruled against opponents who had challenged the $4 billion project on environmental grounds.

Another major decision remaining is a lawsuit challenging the state’s use of
eminent domain to seize private property on behalf of the project. A defeat could be devastating for the project, which is already reeling from the poor economy.

The Nets, meanwhile, who struggled to draw fans when they were going to the N.B.A. (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_basketball_association/index.html?inline=nyt-org) finals, are again relying on opposing teams’ stars to draw. Newark could help stop the bleeding.

“The team is hemorrhaging money,” Booker said. “I can show Bruce tomorrow how bringing the team to Newark will stop the hemorrhaging the team is doing right now.”

In the event Ratner eventually wants to sell, Booker is looking at ownership groups willing to bring the N.B.A. to Newark. “I am talking to some people who are interested,” he said. “I know that we can show them that this can be a moneymaking team.”

He wouldn’t be more specific. “There’s a lot of talk,” he said.
Last May, Ratner said the Nets were not on the market. But that was before a global economic tsunami hit. Still, with sponsors on board, there would seem to be no sentiment to sell.

The Nets have eight founding partners and it is believed they will be announcing a ninth next week. “Corporate America believes in the project, the Barclays Center specifically,” Yormark said, referring to the proposed Brooklyn arena. “They know we’re going to get there, and they want to be a part of it.”

But Newark is a good fit for the Nets. It is a city with a rough-and-tumble past and a promising future. Most important, it would give the Nets an identity, something they have lacked for decades.

“There is a compelling social-justice argument to make, that this team coming here will have a multiplier effect of social good in our city,” Booker said.

“Newark is really a basketball city; this is something that should be here. For the team to leave New Jersey is ridiculous.”

Meanwhile, Ratner, whose company, Forest City Ratner, was the development partner for the Midtown headquarters for The New York Times company, continues to nip and tuck and shrink his grand development project. In deference to a ravaged economy, he said he would build the basketball arena first and hold off on proposed office buildings and most of the housing until the economy improves. According to reports, he is trying to cut the estimated $1 billion cost of the arena in half in the hope of attracting financing and attracting more city and state subsidies.

Newark would be so easy. Unfortunately, that’s never been the Nets’ way.
The struggle always continues.

block944

March 10th, 2009, 10:26 PM

Newark zoning officials approve update to city master plan

by Ralph R. Ortega (rortega@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Tuesday March 10, 2009, 8:59 PM

Newark zoning officials have signed off on the first update in a decade to the city's master plan (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/downloads/index.php?dlid=90), setting the stage for future development with a strategy that tries to address the critical needs of city residents over the next 15 years.
Priorities for jobs, a higher quality of life and a broader range of commercial, educational, cultural and social choices for residents, local work force and visitors, have been spelled out in the Newark Master Plan Re-Examination Report (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/downloads/index.php?dlid=90), approved by the city's planning board on Monday.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_mark_diionno/2009/02/large_AANEWARK.JPGAristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerAerial view of Newark
A letter from Mayor Cory Booker included in the report called the existing master plan outdated, and describes how the new report meshes neatly into his own agenda for the city.
"Newark must get its residents working in quality jobs," the mayor wrote. "Newark neighborhoods must be empowered with excellent housing, services and public space. Newark must truly become, and remain, a city of choice."
The master plan, Booker wrote, should be for "the 10-year-old who will be 27 years old by 2025."
The next step will be hiring a team of technical consultants to develop a community engagement process over the next 1 1/2 to 2 years. City officials will solicit public input, and use it to ultimately shape a complete overhaul of the plan, said Toni L. Griffin, the city's Director of Community Development.
Griffin's department spent almost a year researching and developing the update, a 106-page document that includes an additional 76 pages of illustrations and a bibliography.
She said it would immediately influence several proposed zoning ordinance changes and provide residents with a blueprint for where the city envisions itself in the near future.
"It should build champions among stake holders, or citizens, so people should feel like that there is a guiding document that they can consult when things are happening in their neighborhood," Griffin said.
Experts were impressed by the amount of work in Newark's update of the master plan. "It's a nice piece of work," said Stuart Meck, director of the Center for Government Services in the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.
Meck said he was more accustomed to reading shorter and more memo-like re-examination reports. The reports are required every six years under state municipal land use law, and serve the practical purpose of protecting a town's zoning liability in land use disputes, he said.
"If you don't have a re-examination report or a current plan, it leaves your current zoning vulnerable to legal challenges," Meck said.
But what officials in Booker's almost 3-year-old administration said they intended with this update was to also set up opportunities for shaping every aspect of development, as well as the city's infrastructure, by changing government priorities and promoting citizen interaction.
The report provides a bevy of facts about Newark, the state's largest city, its residents, and the surrounding region, and lists priorities for achieving goals.
For jobs, the report mentions maximizing growth at the city's air and sea ports; recapturing the city's lost share of retail spending to other communities; retaining land for job producing uses; and improving transportation.
On quality of life, the report calls for improving neighborhoods with quality and diverse housing; more access to parks and recreation; improved public facilities and services; and providing safe and more attractive streets.
As for making Newark a city of choice, the plan encourages improvements to downtown and the creation of a city water front park along the Passaic River; emphasis and preservation of historic and cultural resources; recognizing Newark as a city of higher education, thanks to about a half dozen colleges and universities; and the promotion of the city's ability to sustain itself, for example, with energy-saving and green technology.
Clement Alexander Price, a history professor at Rutgers University in Newark and prominent African-American scholar, and who wrote a forward to the report, called the document significant, due to the city's late start to planning in the 1950s.
That was about 50 years after most other major American cities, Price said.
Even then, Price said, Newark's zoning became focused mostly on industrial and commercial uses.
See more in Breaking News (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/breaking_news/), Budget (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/budget/), Business (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/business/), Economy (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/economy/), Environment (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/environment/), Essex County (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/essex_county/), News (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/news/), Technology (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/technology/), Traffic/Transit (http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/traffictransit/)

block944

March 10th, 2009, 10:54 PM

Home (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/) > Government (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/government/) > City Departments (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/government/city_departments/) > Economic & Housing Development (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/government/city_departments/economic__housing_development/) > Riverfront Park Planning Meeting
http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/userimages/cityhallHeadPic.jpg Riverfront Park Planning Meeting

E-MAIL (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/assets/inc/sendtofriend.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ci.newark.nj .us%2Fgovernment%2Fcity_departments%2Feconomic__ho using_development%2Friverfront_park.php%2F&keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=380&width=450&modal=true) PRINT (javascript:window.print()) ADD TO MY NEWARK (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/accounts/signin.php)

HELP DESIGN NEWARK’S FIRST RIVERFRONT PARK!

The Division of Planning & Community Development and The Trust for Public Land invite residents to learn about and discuss ideas for creating Newark’s first Riverfront Park.

WHAT
Building on the City of Newark’s commitment to create beautiful parks along Newark’s Passaic Riverfront, the City of Newark and The Trust for Public Land have entered into a partnership to complete a design for 7 acres between Jefferson and Oxford Streets along Newark’s Passaic Riverfront. This discussion will provide an opportunity to meet the project team, share preliminary thoughts, and offer your knowledge and opinions as the design process begins.

WHEN
Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 6:30–8:30 pm

WHERE
City Hall First Floor Rotunda, 920 Broad Street

REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED.

For more information, please call Waterfront Planner Damon Rich at (973) 733–5918.

For additional information download flyer below:

Riverfront Flyer (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/userimages/downloads/RiverfrontFlier.pdf)
Riverfront Flyer (en Español) (http://www.ci.newark.nj.us/userimages/downloads/RiverfrontFlierEspanol-1.pdf)

scrollhectic

March 15th, 2009, 03:06 PM

Newark sees plan creating jobs

Sunday, March 15, 2009 BY RALPH R. ORTEGA
Star-Ledger Staff

Newark officials have taken the first steps in redeveloping properties in the vicinity of the city's airport and seaport, which when expanded and improved may lead to the creation of new businesses and jobs for residents.

Two sites, one along Frelinghuysen Avenue at McClellan Street, and the other on Doremus Avenue south of Wilson Avenue, were approved for redevelopment by the city council Tuesday.

That means the city now has the legal leverage for relocating businesses that are deemed to be holding back Port Newark, the largest seaport on the East Coast, as well as the area surrounding Newark Liberty International Airport.

"The seaport and airport are among our city's greatest assets, but we aren't yet maximizing their value as economic engines," said Stefan Pryor, the city's deputy mayor of economic development and housing.

At the same time, city officials decided to hold off on deciding the fate of businesses and properties at a third location, on Doremus Avenue south of Raymond Boulevard. The site includes a lot that has petroleum products, and a former cement factory.

The two sites approved for redevelopment include vacant and contaminated land, as well as active businesses and industrial sites that are cluttered with junk, scrap metal and heavy equipment, according to a two-year investigation commissioned by the city. City officials say these sites are detrimental to the seaport and airport.

The city is seeking redevelopment there because the seaport and airport have little room for expansion to include key distribution centers. Those critical businesses are now located outside the city limits, city officials said.

Officials said they can improve services at the ports, and lure new companies to operate new distribution centers, if aging and neglected properties were addressed. If redeveloped properly, city officials say, the sites have the potential to generate thousands of additional jobs for city residents.

"The purpose of this redevelopment action is to help dilapidated and fragmented properties transform themselves into modern port-related facilities that provide jobs for Newarkers and support the port's growth," said Pryor.

Councilman Augusto Amador, who represents the city's East Ward, which includes most of the two ports, said both Port Newark and the airport have some of the most attractive jobs in Newark, which has about 14 percent unemployment.

Amador, who voted to support the redevelopment of the sites, said the improvements would be worthwhile, even if it may mean waiting out the economic downturn.

"The potential for these properties ... two or three years from now, to become distribution centers, and to provide jobs for the residents of the city, is enormous," he said.

Several of the businesses along the Doremus Avenue site south of Raymond had asked for the redevelopment vote to be deferred, saying they believe they can help support the area.

"We believe that we can accommodate the city's plans and needs, and we feel we should be the developers of our sites," said attorney Frank Giantomasi, who represents several companies, including a truck washing business and a company that wants to start a dredging company.

Another of Giantomasi's clients, the Devino family, which runs a used-truck sales and parts business, said they want to stay and contribute to the future of the area, primarily because they aren't confident they can relocate their business, which sits on 1 acre, to another location in the city.

The Devino business qualifies for redevelopment, according to a report prepared for the city, because it has run out of room, has an obsolete layout, and the owners have allowed the operation to spill out onto the public roadway, creating safety concerns. According to the city, the owners were cited in 2005 for failing to maintain the business free of litter and debris, and for not immediately removing illegally dumped material.

City officials also mention that the property has piles of rusted metal on bare soil, scattered pieces of carnival and carousel equipment, broken furniture, and other piles of refuse.

"This business, you really can't hide it. It isn't pretty," said Michael Devino, 46, whose grandfather started the business in the 1950s.

Numerous pictures of the grandfather, Angelo Rex Devino, hang in the front office of the business. Devino died at age 65 from an aneurysm, two weeks after the business was relocated from Wilson Avenue to Doremus Avenue in 1986 because of an eminent domain proceeding initiated by the city's housing authority, said family members.

Michael Devino said it was painful for his grandfather to move his business the first time around. He said he met with local officials after the city council deferred the vote on redevelopment, and that the discussions started out promising.

"They seemed pretty cooperative," he said, admitting he was less inclined to put up the kind of resistance his grandfather did.

"There's no sense in fighting," the grandson said.

scrollhectic

March 19th, 2009, 12:59 PM

Spruced-up Elwood Park officially reopens

Wednesday, March 18, 2009 BY RALPH R. ORTEGA

Star-Ledger Staff

Maria Ballico flung a flying disc at her young nephew across the newly laid grass of Newark's Elwood Park yesterday, a place she had difficulties enjoying the three years she has lived in the area.

"It was just a few trees, and a place for walking your dog before, not really a place for children to play. It's a beauty now, the kids love it," said Ballico as 3-year-old nephew Justin Ballico held a balloon he received at the park's official re-opening ceremony.
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The festivities in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of Newark's North Ward took place as people took advantage of the park where construction was finished in December.

A grandmother was out for a walk with a baby stroller. A dog walker pampered a Chihuahua on one of several new benches. Aging men enjoyed the warm sunny day while eating doughnuts and drinking coffee at tables set up for dominoes.

"In the North Ward, our residents have been waiting for the restoration of Elwood Park for a long time," said the area's councilman, Anibal Ramos Jr., in both English and Spanish, when he addressed a crowd attending the noon ceremony.

The park, renovated at a cost of $665,000, is the first to be completed in the North Ward under a $28.8 million plan for renovating almost two dozen long-neglected city parks. Nearly 45 percent of the money has come from private donors, most rallied by Mayor Cory Booker.

So far, the city has completed the renovations of Boys' Park, First Street Park and Thomas Silk Park in the Central Ward, and Liberty Park in the city's East Ward.

It is the most ambitious undertaking of its kind in the city in 40 years. Without Booker's national fundraising ability, the park's rebirth might not have been possible, the mayor said.

Booker spoke of the city officials, engineers, designers, contractors and residents who worked together to rehabilitate the triangular park.

"This is what Newark is about right now, all of us coming together for the common vision for who we are, with a common vision for what our city stands for," he said. "Literally transforming the geography of our city, making it greener, making it safer."

The park also has had a significant history. The site had once been used as a campground by George Washington when he retreated his troops from New York in 1776, and later became part of the John Morris Phillips estate.

Phillips, a 19th-century ironworks magnate, had admired Napoleon Bonaparte, and planted a willow tree at the site that allegedly was drawn from a transplanted shoot from Napoleon's original burial site on the island of St. Helena.

In 1892, the park was presented to the city. Over the years, it had become the site of several music performances and festivals.

City architect Robert Dooley spoke of how the park remains a public space, even with a new fence around its perimeter. It has new seating, tables and lighting, all requests from the community. Eventually, he said, security cameras would come too, as part of the Newark's efforts to boost outdoor security.

Juliana Ballico, sister of Maria Ballico, welcomed the promised surveillance, because of past crimes in the area.

"Cameras are a good thing," she said. " There used to be muggings out here, and my car was even stolen."

scrollhectic

March 19th, 2009, 01:17 PM

Brad Pitt meets with Newark Mayor Cory Booker

by Ralph R. Ortega (rortega@starledger.com)/The Star-Ledger Tuesday March 17, 2009, 7:04 PM

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2009/03/large_brad-pitt-3.JPGEPA/SHAWN THEW

Actor Brad Pitt appeared on Capitol Hill on March 5 to speak to Congressional leaders about the "Make it Right" charity, a project launched in 2007 to construct affordable and environmentally sustainable housing for low income residents of the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans.

Movie star and social activist Brad Pitt made an appearance at Newark City Hall today for a private meeting with Mayor Cory Booker, city officials said.

The discussions centered around Pitt entering into a possible partnership with the city, said officials, who declined to provide more details.

The actor, who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," was later spotted on Halsey Street, near the Coffee Cave, one of the city's newest cafes. Booker helped to promote the establishment when it opened in November.

The city also has made recent deals with basketball star Shaquille O'Neal's development partners to buy the city's only major movie theater and more than 41,000 square feet of nearby land.

O'Neal, a center for the Phoenix Suns, and a Newark native, also is partnering in a downtown development project to convert the city's former science high school on Rector Street into a residential high-rise with 150 units.

Pitt also has worked with partners to rebuild homes in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Pitt, through his involvement in the Make
It Right Foundation, is spearheading redevelopment in the city's 9th Ward.

Pitt was motivated into action after visiting the area, devastated by the storm, and by the lack of a clear plan for recovery, according to the organization's website.

The focus of the organization is to rebuild homes, using green, environmentally-friendly construction. Newark city officials have said they too are focusing their efforts on developments are healthier, and more sustainable.