Sunday, December 17, 2006
A large gap
In a recent jaunt around downtown, I was as usual both encouraged and discouraged. The new developments around the light rail are definitely encouraging, but they're certainly not perfect. Let's see: the office towers are beautiful, tall, with commerce on the street level and lots of monuments and views of Manhattan. The new townhouses in the Liberty Harbor area sometimes look bland but sometimes pretty. They are all oriented outward, at least, but most do not have retail. They're not tall, forbidding condo towers but traditional city neighborhood.
The light rail that passes through the development is largely bordered by short trees, which look good. Elsewhere in undeveloped patches it is surrounded by chain link fence, which will have to go.
The true discouragement I face is the large gap between the brownstones of Grove St. and the waterfront Financial District. It is filled by classic Le Corbusier towers, like this one. One would hope for very dense residential in this gap, but only the kind where the residents are all on foot, doing their shopping and recreation right in the neighborhood. This kind of blight is virtually insurmountable because it is in none of the towers' best interest to redesign for a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood. If they all did it (or had done it), they would reap the rewards, but as it stands the cost far outweighs the profit. Simple game theory.
The light rail that passes through the development is largely bordered by short trees, which look good. Elsewhere in undeveloped patches it is surrounded by chain link fence, which will have to go.
The true discouragement I face is the large gap between the brownstones of Grove St. and the waterfront Financial District. It is filled by classic Le Corbusier towers, like this one. One would hope for very dense residential in this gap, but only the kind where the residents are all on foot, doing their shopping and recreation right in the neighborhood. This kind of blight is virtually insurmountable because it is in none of the towers' best interest to redesign for a pedestrian-oriented neighborhood. If they all did it (or had done it), they would reap the rewards, but as it stands the cost far outweighs the profit. Simple game theory.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Already discovered!
Jersey City was the topic of a feature article in New York Magazine. The article achieved everything I want to with this blog-- it exposed Jersey City's potential as some sort of "sixth borough", as they say. It describes what gentrifiers, artists, so-called Hobokeneers do to a neighborhood when they discover it.
Only thing is, they said it happened in a flash in Jersey City and now it's over. The downtown has been priced out, and we've moved on. Is this true? It couldn't be: I've been there and it isn't like SoHo or the Village or anything. It's a dump that's just great.
I'm not saying anything deep here; go read it. At least I won't have to repeat the contents of the article; I can focus on my city aesthetics project, which is the true purpose of moving to Jersey City.
Only thing is, they said it happened in a flash in Jersey City and now it's over. The downtown has been priced out, and we've moved on. Is this true? It couldn't be: I've been there and it isn't like SoHo or the Village or anything. It's a dump that's just great.
I'm not saying anything deep here; go read it. At least I won't have to repeat the contents of the article; I can focus on my city aesthetics project, which is the true purpose of moving to Jersey City.
Monday, December 11, 2006
What I'm looking for
One beautiful feature of having set up this blog is having now justified constantly checking craigslist for apartment listings. First, this is what I'm looking for
-A room in a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment in a brownstone
-(Short) walking distance to the Grove St. PATH
-Under 900$, preferably way under
And hopefully a cool roommate. Is that so much to ask? As it happens, someone put up a post today for exactly what I'm looking for, except that it's probably not in a brownstone. How much should this matter to me? Remember, I am looking for the ideal experience here.
I have "good" postings like this one clocked at about one every four days, with occasional booms and busts. My plans seem to suggest that I'll have the whole summer to find a place (even longer, frankly), which should be enough time to find the ideal apartment.
-A room in a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment in a brownstone
-(Short) walking distance to the Grove St. PATH
-Under 900$, preferably way under
And hopefully a cool roommate. Is that so much to ask? As it happens, someone put up a post today for exactly what I'm looking for, except that it's probably not in a brownstone. How much should this matter to me? Remember, I am looking for the ideal experience here.
I have "good" postings like this one clocked at about one every four days, with occasional booms and busts. My plans seem to suggest that I'll have the whole summer to find a place (even longer, frankly), which should be enough time to find the ideal apartment.