They knock down historical buildings just to put ugly cookie cutter luxury apartments

For real it’s like a dead Midwest city, not the largest city in the most densely populated state in the country 10 miles west of Manhattan. Baffling honestly

Especially a city with really good transit to get in and out of but pretty piss poor options (for a city with such low car ownership rates) to get around within the city itself

Newark city council has car brain like we’re Phoenix or something

I walk by there almost every day, and seeing them knocked down was so disappointing. The larger building on the bottom was no looker, but the ones above were really quite nice, and had a beautiful mural painted on it. I was really hoping they'd at least be replaced with some new developments (Both buildings had been abandoned for a while now). But ofc, we're just getting more parking lots instead, exactly what we need.

It certainly can be an expense; depends on the car. I'm just saying going carless isn't always an ideal option just because you live in a city.

Ha! Good quote... and not inaccurate.

Wow, great discussion. And so many valid points. Thanks Kalebxtentacion for the post. One thing you mentioned that I think is understated is that there is a lot of internal migration of Newarkers into these buildings so it's not all "outsiders" as many people believe. And there are a lot of people of color living in them as well (People have different definitions of POC; Indians and other Asians are not white; are we counting them or do we just mean black and brown people?) But there are also a lot of new people moving in, many not of color, and that's fine. It's a city and cities tend to be transient and should be a melting pot of cultures and ideas.

I've grown to like the design although I agree it should be more contextual. But design is subjective and not everyone is going to be happy. From an esthetic and symbolic standpoint, skyscrapers are great for the city. They show modernity and growth. Personally, I care more about streetscape so I feel infill developments have a greater impact (which I've expressed before on this thread.) Change you can see from the ground and not the sky is what impacts those who live and interact in the city day to day. In terms of jobs, residential bldgs don't employ that many people, so the true job gains are from construction which are temporary. I'm not sure how many of those are going to Newarkers. Some data would help here.

The reason I'm not going out of my way to support this project is because, the developer has to show some good faith of working with the community, and I don't get that sense from them at this point. It's an annoying process but current residents are stakeholders and should have their concerns acknowledged; especially if they own in the area.

Personally, as I stated before, these residential projects cause displacement even if they're being built on a vacant lot. It effects the overall rental price for the neighborhood and those have escalated sharply downtown in the past few years without any measure of mitigating it. As someone who's lived downtown for years and see myself being priced out, its hard for me to advocate for the mechanism driving my own displacement. Selfish, I know. If it were being mitigated, I'd be on board as I'm generally, pro development. At the end of the day, these developers will still get it built and make tons of money that none of us will see...

The city has to demolish those buildings now. The developers asked to do it for the city but since the HPC board wanted to keep saying no to demolition now it’s in the city hands. Just everyone be prepared for another beaver street situation, just someone more likely to get hurt

I'm all in for a meetup. Need help organizing?

Having a car is a big expense. Car payment, insurance, parking, maintenance, gas. For me the amount I spend on Ubers is cheaper than the amount of money car ownership was costing me.

It's doable but not always convenient or cost effective. I live downtown and work by a train station. I occasionally take the train into work but it's so much cheaper and quicker to drive. ($90 weekly on NJ Transit vs $45 gas with gas left over for personal driving on weekends. And 50 min on the train vs 35 driving.) With that being said, I have friends who live downtown and don't have cars but they all work from home and spend a small fortune on Ubers.

For one, opposing the construction of this building that isn’t going to help.

But just so we’re clear here, I’m not the person with a bunch of money looking for a way to make more… I’m a resident of Newark standing up for those you won’t even bother speaking to.

I don’t hit the streets daily to try and stop police brutality but I’m opposed to that too.

I don’t go to North Korea to try and free the people, but I oppose that too.

I’m not in Ukraine fighting off Russia but I oppose that invasion also.

Plus, you asked us to voice our opinions about this. I did. Your “well you aren’t doing enough so shut up and sit down” is very telling.

Go away.

Yeah I guess affordable housing units also doesn’t help them since they can’t afford that to. Just because it’s not helping homeless people doesn’t mean it’s not helping someone in Newark. Besides complaining about skyscrapers etc etc isn’t helping the homeless too, and what contribution do u make to help the homeless besides from talking about it on Reddit, because it’s easy to talk about it than actually do something.

Do me a favor. Head over to Penn Station tonight and ask some of the homeless people there how this new skyscraper is going to help them. Ask them about how much the current Newark residents like themselves are going to benefit from this construction.

Let me know what the consensus is.

Housing isn’t needed or skyscrapers aren’t needed?

Yeah, I see you keep saying “Newark isn’t a city or poor people.”

I’ve lived here 30+ years. Newark is a working class city and most working class people can’t afford these buildings.

Nothing I said is speculation. The glass WILL make the city hotter. The housing ISNT needed. And comparing a building designated for business to a residential one as evidence of it producing jobs is ignorant. You’re not goi g to get a job in someone’s apartment because this building is going up, you’re just going to welcome more competition from outside for the jobs that are here.

And again, there is already more empty housing in Newark than there are homeless people with many new residential buildings already going up.

This. Isn’t. Needed.

Oh I’d definitely be down.

The buildings are considered as development, development in the city will help the part where it’s needed, Newark can’t thrive without development. Towers and buildings aren’t going to solve the homelessness issues directly, but if all these developments get built there are construction jobs needed that many people can take an opportunity of.

Thank you

Most of your reasons are just speculation, the job of the skyscraper or any big development is to bring new people in and allowing current people to move in. Newark isn’t a city of poor people. There are many people in Newark with money who can afford this.

• And your wrong it does help residents of Newark. When one theater square was built it allowed many of high school students to work there. Giving the younger generation jobs. The gateway center isn’t a residential tower but the new restaurants allow teens and adults to work there. With this tower and many more attracts many jobs and businesses for us to work in. Without One theater square I wouldn’t be 18 years old in college and already an assistant manager. Just because this tower doesn’t fit all your needs and expectations doesn’t mean it’s not needed. Also having no parking makes it better aren’t u tired of cities and this country giving it to the automobile. If you live downtown walk downtown, if u need to travel take a train, take a plan, ride a bike. This isn’t some country town where you need a car to get around. But I understand where you’re coming from but I just don’t agree with you, but Atleast your reasons are more valid than James street

There's a group of us meeting tomorrow at Kilkenny's for a comedy show. I can dm you the invite

The city's getting hella boojie.

I'm in Harrison and moved here with my car but ended up selling it. It's definitely doable to live in Newark/Harrison without a car. Parking requirements like this are basically encouraging every single person to have a car which is unnecessary and harmful to the city.

I'm across the river in Harrison but would definitely be interested.