[Jaynor Diaz]

Thanks Mr.Sinclair, that's not good news. I fear that we may lose some of them, if not all. Everything is happening in Jersey City, while Newark gets bits and pieces of new quality development. Newark sure has much more urban blight and poverty. Jersey City is going to overtake Newark as Jersey's largest city with the 2020 census. Newark is more crime ridden and people are afraid to come to Newark. As soon as you get off one of I-280's exits you are greeted by a welcoming committee of panhandlers going up to the cars stopped at the traffic light. Things like that go a long way in people's perception of the city, and it sure ain't a good one. Quality of life issues like that must be addressed. Newark has become a haven for the poor and downtrodden while Jersey City is succeeding. I'm just stating the facts, not trying to put the city down. However when a member of the city council says that she "doesn't want to see people who don't look like her moving to Newark ", that kind of statement is way out of line, not to mention anti-development. As I said before, I think that some gentrification would benefit the city of Newark. As of present home ownership, owner occupied property in Newark is something like 22%, which is very low. While the population that falls below the poverty level is almost 50%, and a third of all Newark residents are on some form of public assistance. Poverty breeds crime, alcoholism, addiction and other social ills, I'm sure most of you guys are aware of that. The mayor is happy with Section 8, low income and public housing and the city really needs the complete opposite, housing for people with good jobs and a good income. The city can not survive without a mix of different income levels. There are constantly large fires in Newark while Jersey City doesn't even come close to Newark in regards to fire activity, yet their fire dept is a bit larger than Newark's, and Newark is using some apparatus dating back to the mid 90's. Jersey City, Paterson and Elizabeth all have up to date fleets of fire apparatus. And there are no plans on new purchases in the current capital budget. They are always breaking down and have to use spare fire engines and ladder trucks. Also, many vacant abandoned buildings and homes. Sad but unfortunatel true. I wish Newark nothing but success but unfortunately don't see it on the horizon.

Im not responding to this to cause debate or anything, but there are some factual stuff that are plain wrong here. Poverty levels in the city is closer to 28-32%, not 50%. I do not know where you got that number from as no study from private parties to the government confirms that at all. As for painting the mayor as anti-development, that is also a false narrative. I am no fan of the man, but his administration has fast tracked many of the ongoing MARKET RATE apartments in the city right now. Hell, his administration gave 777 McCarter massive tax breaks to get that project going during the pandemic, has pushed through many infill projects in the neighborhoods, and just recently gave Vibe a huge tax break to get that project started. All, if not the majority, are MARKET RATE apartments which is opposite of this narrative you keep building about the mayor. It is fair to be critical about the city's current pace of development, but I do think constantly comparing Newark to JC is a bit ridiculous when we should be comparing the city to where it was in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and the 2000s... anyone who looks at where we were at to now will see significant change in how the city is run and the type of development that the city has been attracting since '07. Hell, even major credit companies that can make or break a city's finance have noticed a change and have put their outlook on the city as stable, even after the pandemic. As for constantly looking at the one councilwoman's statement as the be all end all of the city's government outlook is just a bit disingenuous, she is only one person of 9 people on the council and her outlook has not changed the way the city has gone about getting development in and pushing through new projects during the pandemic.... so while I understand your concern regarding her comments, the actions of the council has been completely contrary to what she has been saying so either she is an outlier in the government, or she is just saying these things to appease her constituents but acting in a way that is contrary to what they want.

As for the 16 story tower on Halsey, I dont think you have much to worry about. As I have talked about many times on this forum, affordable does not equal low income housing. That tower is right in the heart of downtown next to the 3 major colleges, Pillar college, Berkley College, St. Michael's Hospital, and all the jobs downtown. This project will most likely attract students, young professionals with a starting salary, and hospital workers, seeing as the apartments on halsey (not named Hahnes) are already filled by people in those demographics and the rent of those apartments are stabilized. I get that the name of the company who will get this project going brings back bad memories, but you have to realize that that was like 40 years ago and the people proposing this project are from Manhattan and most likely have no connection to the people who were proposing the original project. Thus, I dont think your negative outlook on this project really calls for you to be negative as affordable rents for downtown will not attract people who have income on the lower end of the spectrum. Plus, it is substantially better than the empty warehouse type building already there.

Outside of my response to J.Del, I just wanted to say I appreciate the constant updates on this forum. It is very exciting to see all these new projects breaking ground in the city, even with the pandemic. Hopefully, when everything goes back to being normal, the work that the city has been doing during the pandemic can lead to more growth in the city. Lastly, I really hope a good chunk of the the new jobs that will come with the new terminal at the airport will be given to Newark residents... for too long, people of our city have been kept out of jobs situated in the city to the detriment of our neighborhoods and the benefit of the surrounding towns. Its time we change that, and it starts with opening up more opportunities for community members and stopping our overreliance on outsiders to fit the work base of the city when we have more than enough able body people here looking for work. Also, we should really be pushing to have the train station at the airport open up to the community as its ridiculous that a key piece of infrastructure that would benefit the south ward is just closed off, but everyone else gets to use it.

Anyway, cant wait to see what the next few months brings, especially as we get closer to Shaq 2 going vertical.

 

[J.Del]

Jaynor, it's still not a very nice or PC thing to say, especially when, being quite frank, it'll probably be white people moving into these residential apartments in the Downtown area. As far as the poverty level, it's far above the national average, something like 40%. As far as the mayor, I think he would rather have more Section 8, low income, and public housing than market rate, that's why the inclusionary rate is 20%. I believe that he wants the city to remain "ghettoized". Lets not forget who his father was, and what he wrote about 9-11. As a former Newark ff, it really pissed me and many others off. In fact he was stripped of the title New Jersey's Official Poet Laureate by then Governor Corzine. Many people think they are being displaced, which is not true. These developments that have gone up and ones in the planning stages are either on vacant land or in previously vacant structures. Anyway, let's agree to disagree. Many people think that 50 Rector St is owned by Shaq, he has money invested in Boraie Development, but he is not the owner. Is 777 going up on the old Matrix site? Also, its a shame about Military Park, all the money wasted, Newark Downtown District no longer maintains Military, Mulberry Commons and Riverfront, the city wants to do it themselves rather than contract with NDD, and if you've walked through Military Park lately you will see the condition it's in. Litter and debris, garbage cans overflowing etc... I haven't been by Mulberry Commons or Riverfront but I would imagine the same. Disgraceful

 

[Jaynor Diaz]

Jaynor, it's still not a very nice or PC thing to say, especially when, being quite frank, it'll probably be white people moving into these residential apartments in the Downtown area. As far as the poverty level, it's far above the national average, something like 40%. As far as the mayor, I think he would rather have more Section 8, low income, and public housing than market rate, that's why the inclusionary rate is 20%. I believe that he wants the city to remain "ghettoized". Lets not forget who his father was, and what he wrote about 9-11. As a former Newark ff, it really pissed me and many others off. In fact he was stripped of the title New Jersey's Official Poet Laureate by then Governor Corzine. Many people think they are being displaced, which is not true. These developments that have gone up and ones in the planning stages are either on vacant land or in previously vacant structures. Anyway, let's agree to disagree. Many people think that 50 Rector St is owned by Shaq, he has money invested in Boraie Development, but he is not the owner. Is 777 going up on the old Matrix site? Also, its a shame about Military Park, all the money wasted, Newark Downtown District no longer maintains Military, Mulberry Commons and Riverfront, the city wants to do it themselves rather than contract with NDD, and if you've walked through Military Park lately you will see the condition it's in. Litter and debris, garbage cans overflowing etc... I haven't been by Mulberry Commons or Riverfront but I would imagine the same. Disgraceful

Newark's poverty rate is high, compared to the rest of the nation, but according to the most recent number released by the US Census, which was 2019, Newark's poverty rate is 27.4%. It is safe to assume that it has gone up since, because of covid, but no where near the levels you claim they are. Again, what you think and what is objective fact do not match. If the mayor wanted more section 8 housing/low income housing him and his administration would be approving government housing/section 8 housing. Affordable housing and a 20% inclusivity law is none of those. I really implore you to do some research so you can understand the difference because low income housing is usually housing built by the government and rent is pegged to a person's income, while affordable housing is usually build by a private developer and usually pegs a small amount of the apartments for people who make a certain income, usually those that make anywhere from 40 to 70K. Someone like me, who currently makes 60K would qualify for these affordable apartment because I can't afford the market rate rent of 2K, but can afford a affordable apartment that is around 1.4K. I do not live on section 8, nor would I qualify for it. That is the type of housing the city is looking for, ones that attract young professionals who are just starting their careers but arent making 6 figures. That isnt the city trying to build some low income city, but one that is trying to attract people with disposable income by appealing to people who are already priced out of NYC/Hoboken/JC.

Also, just because the Mayor's father was a black nationalist does not mean the mayor is himself. It is one thing to be a poet talking about social issues, it is another thing to be the mayor of a major US city. He maybe influenced by the issues that his father talked about, but last time I checked the mayor is his own person and not a carbon copy of his father. Why dont we look at what he as an individual has done for the city instead of what his father did... these are the positives the mayor has done for the city: fact, crime is at an all time low, fact the city has seen a huge increase in development in the downtown area and in the neighborhoods, fact, the city has been able to produced a budget surplus every year since 2015, fact, new major corporations have opened their doors downtown, fact, major corporations and instutions in the city have all expanded their footprint in the city, fact, market rate apartment development have been the vast majority of Newark's current development, fact, property values and the city's tax base have all increased under his watch... are there many things we can criticize him for, yes like letting the lead water issue persist until he had to act, or the fact that he has a problem with hiring family members to jobs they are not qualified for... but lets criticize him for actions he has taken, and not for what his father did when he was alive.

As for military park, I get annoyed with people who like to peg this as a city issue, as the park is owned by private individuals. The major corporations in the city failed that park, not the city as most of Newark's parks that are run by some form of government have been pretty well maintain (just look at Branch Brook Park/Weequaic Park). However, there is movement to get another private organization in to run the park. As for Mulberry and River Side, maybe actually go to those parks before you start getting negative. Mulberry has been well maintained since its opening, and River Side Park is a county run park so it definitely is not in a state of decay.

At the end of the day, all I am just saying is if we are going to be critical about certain things in the city can we at least look up the actual facts and figures before we go on here and start throwing around negativity. I am not saying, dont be critical, but in order to come from a place of criticism people should have the facts and not base their criticism as just a hunch or feelings as that isnt criticism and just complaining for no good reason. I implore you, J.Del., to do some basic research of the inclusionary housing/affordable housing stuff, because it really is not what you are painting it out to be.

But in some good news, two major 10 story plus buildings in the Ironbound seem to have officially broken ground. Thus, with 777 McCarter/Urby, we are looking at around 1,800 units under construction right new to each other... this isnt taking into account the other 4K residential units under construction all over the city right now. If anyone was waiting for things to start going into overdrive, I think we are starting to see Newark enter that critical part of a city's redevelopment

 

[J.Del]

Jaynor, Military Park is a city owned park, the Biederman group said it was time to turn it back over to local control. You can look that up online. The Newark Downtown District had a contract with the city (after Biederman left) to maintain Military, Mulberry Commons, and the Riverfront Park, the city terminated it last month or the month before. As far as the poverty rate, Newark is just a little bit above Camden, which has been deemed the poorest city in the US. And the mayor, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, his father and mother raised him, don't you think that some of their views rubbed off on him? Even by osmosis, if not anything else. I go on a lot of sites that ex-Newarkers have set up online, especially the North Ward one, and many have come to the city for various reasons over the past few years and how do you think they describe it now? The number one comment is "it turned into a shithole". And if you drive around you will see all of the blight and urban decay. Blocks off of Springfield Ave that have been vacant since the '67 civil unrest, and it looks like a bomb just exploded. You don't see that in Jersey City, Paterson, or Elizabeth. The city's code enforcement is lax, overwhelmed and understaffed. Yes, bits and pieces of progress have been made but not on a scale like JC's. An example, the Garden Spires on First St (formerly known as Academy Spires) should be filled with residents who work in the city and have a easy and fast commute via the light rail station a block away. But no, not Newark, heaven forbid, its a rat infested ghetto building where people are living in squalor. And that's just one example. And the mayor is just fine with the status quo. Newark will never succeed as a city until there is some gentrification. People are afraid to just drive through the city. Look at what the residents did to the Broadway townhouses, completley ravaged. I could go on and on with other examples. BTW the old Griffith building has had new windows installed now, and it's just for show, to make believe that they're doing something with the property.