Lol sounds like a grad student thesis in the making.

I've managed to never step foot inside the PABT. Wherever I've lived in NJ is either more convenient by train and/or doesn't have PABT bus service given the train service.

I can see you’re ignoring the important ideas here and you’re sticking to your belief. The point is, it’s not the same and it’s not going to look the same as anywhere else. It doesn’t matter what you would do, it is what is. This isn’t about anti-gentrifiers, at all. Gentrification is a nice way of saying whiter. It’s not going to happen like it did in any other city, because minorities own those homes and they’re not leaving; and for what? What reason do they have to leave?

You’re citing Jersey City, but I can tell you don’t spend much time there. Large parts of Jersey City are not gentrified, only downtown (Paulus hook), Exchange place/the waterfront are gentrified. Marion, Greenville and other parts simply aren’t and they’re pretty much the same as they’ve always been. Why? Because they’re residential areas where minorities own the homes and have for years.

The status quo in Newark would be slum lords owning those houses in the south and west wards. That is simply not the case anymore.

Have you taken the buses from Port Authority? Its really striking. The gate for the 107 will be 99% black. The gate next to it (Leonia) is 90% Asian. Really a case study on racial segregation in this state.

Yeah those skinny trees look silly. But now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen mature trees get planted. I'm sure it's done but I imagine there are good reasons why it's not more common. Probably more expensive (bigger equipment needed to transport, larger openings in the ground/sidewalk, etc.) and perhaps there are greater risks from a arboricultural standpoint of the tree surviving.

The definition of lunacy is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results; that is what the fight against gentrification is. Anti gentrifiers are trying to preserve the status quo in the face of overwhelming incentives in the opposite direction. They will never succeed! Their track record is abysmal which is why I think they are so hateful and bitter.

You can’t stop people from getting what they want; you need to focus on giving people what they need.

Here is what I would do if:

1. Reduce the affordable housing mandate from 20 to 10 or 15 % and signal to developers that Newark is open for business. No tax abatements on rental properties but you can pretty much build whatever you like.
2. Offer 15, 20 year tax abatements on new construction that is for sale. Scale the tax abatement to be front ended. First 5 years is higher vs. second 5 years etc. Tax abatements are conditional on occupancy; so each year you have to pay taxes in full and send in your tax return to prove that you listed the home as your primary home then you get the rebate money back. The tax abatement is a pass through to owner occupiers.
3. Any owner occupier of a SFH who has owned the property for at least 3 years can automatically convert their home to multi family. Streamlined quick application process. Low fees ; no hassle. 2k sqft or less max 2 family. Larger lots, more units; maxes out at 6 units. Allowing existing resident to monetize their homes while occupying it will be huge in helping build generational wealth.
4. Build public housing using a build to operate. Exempt the building of public housing from frivolous requirements like solar panel and all that other crap. Offer union labor exemptions if that keeps costs low. Housing is long term value that is a force multiplier so it’s worth the initial hit to labor.

Newark is a shithole

What project is Rutgers working on?

This is what l texted the Arc Tower attorney Calvin to show the developer!

• Good afternoon Calvin, my name is Kaleb Jackson. I work at swahili village in downtown Newark. Me and others on the Newark Reddit page who support the tower and its benefits to the city and neighborhood are wondering if the project is dead or having to be scaled down to meet the standards for the people on James Street. Honestly this is America there is no law in Newark or in this country that says your tower can't be built. The zoning laws in that area allows for a building that tall and even taller. It's a very beautiful structure and looks like a better version of an already beautiful tower called halo. I still want to see this thing get approved, options the developers can make is to keep the same design but make the building art deco in facade. Like look at one theater square materials, or both of Shaq tower materials if we can make the tower look like some of the buildings in the historic area maybe they can approve it.

• The tower could also include the facade of the buildings that are getting demolish or something. An art deco building may not be shinny and beautiful as a glass tower but an Art deco building this tall would be amazing, the last art deco building that is tall is the National Newark Building and if this tower was to dethrone that building it could be by another Art deco style building. I don't know how it will look with the current design but anything is possible. I would love to work with the developer or the architect to see what we can do. Other than that we still have hope, especially the kids my age because we need places to live in the future. Newark can't be the same Newark I seen when I was in elementary school.

• Downtown looks a little bit different only in certain areas. The historic district needs to understand this is our city too and just because we don't live in the area doesn't mean I don't have the right to fight for something that could help us a lot. With all those units that's more people paying taxes, that's more money going to our schools. Final statement that building does have to go down because it's old. We already had a building collapse during the summer on beaver street. This building is by a school, if it does decide to fall down who is in danger the James street association or those poor kids who walk pass the building to go home or to school.

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That’s all well and good. However the South and West wards are primarily residential, which is why I said those will be the last. There isn’t enough space in those wards to build say…a Vermella. So you aren’t going to see those types of developments there. You may get some modernized fill in houses in empty lots, but that’s about it.

Gentrification won’t look the same in the south and west wards, simply because of the nature of the existing housing there. As long as there is no commuter friendly solution to get to NYC, those two wards will lag behind. At the same time, there are houses for sale, but it’s not Tom from Kansas who works in the city buying those houses. That means, at best the South and West wards will be more mixed, but not ‘gentrified’ in a traditional sense. It may become a little more white due to younger millennial and Gen-Z being priced out, but that’s it. How would the existing minority homeowners be moved? Just because the houses are being bought by minorities doesn’t mean they aren’t being improved.

Does City Sqaure fall in an historic district?

Exactly

I've been seeing a lot more small-scale changes (not as "sexy" as the big new buildings downtown, but still a good sign), like abandoned stuff being torn down, homes being fixed up, empty lots now with multi-family homes going up. Overall, there's a lot of changes that might go unnoticed since they're tucked in residential areas

West Ward has the oldest housing stock and is the furthest from train and light rail. I'd guess the strip west of West Side Park headed towards Grove Street will have a hard time attracting investment.

It costs money to dig up part of a sidewalk and plant a tree. There is a lot of labor involved.

Love me some old-fashioned anti-bus classism /s.

As a white Newarker, I take the bus frequently, given its convenience and network density in Newark. It's also so much better to get up to Bloomfield and Montclair than the Montclair Boonton Line. The 62 bus to the airport is also cheaper and more convenient than the AirTrain.

Of course I'm aware of the demographic anomaly that I am on a bus. Sometimes it feels like my confident bus riding indicates that I'm not an outsider to those around me.

You're already seeing massive projects grow in East Orange, Orange, Bloomfield, Union, Westfield, Montclair, etc. It feels like once Jersey City prices skyrocketed (by some metrics it's the most expensive city in the country ahead of NYC), the market's eyes swiftly shifted to Newark and its environs.

That area and most of the section of Irvington that borders it looks depressing as hell

sticking to the 4 story zoning laws that they changed for certain developers, ok. They look beautiful, still many real brownstones to restore also.

No idea, but they can't blame the shortage of laborers anymore. They're literally ALL here 😅

It is disappointing, to say the least, to see much needed developments like the Arc proposal get the heated backlash it got. Especially on the shaky ground that many of the James Street Historical District residents were throwing at the wall in opposition to its development. But, I firmly believe that it’s only a matter of time before the tides of high density development will change for the better. If the city keeps at its current trajectory, and if the economy keeps its posture, I know everything will be alright. Don’t forget, this is a long game. It might seem like this little battle might be in the residents favor of James Street Historical District, but I know they will not win this war they’re waging in the long run. Just watch and be patient 😌

That townhouse looks very cookie cutter also!

Mostly areas outside the downtown/ Ironbound/ Branch Brook park… those will stay poor for at least two generations

The picture shows land owned by only three property owners. (Accurate Builders, FIDELCO, and Rutgers). All of them are actively working on projects.

It won’t. Developers haven’t found their footing yet as the round of large scale projects is just taking off. Once the receipts come in and developers get to see medium term performance; they will identify one or 2 locations and concentrate there. Then we will see a sudden flurry on building activity that will radiate out from these centers. Look at DT Brooklyn and DT JC as prime examples of this. Developer need funding from banks and investors and those entities rely on performance to be comfortable with parting with their money. That is why you see builders cluster. My guess is the centers will be DT Newark along the light rail lines connecting into lower Broadway effectively connecting Penn and Broad st.

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