Bloomfield

Read more about the article Buyer’s Remorse

Buyer’s Remorse

Happy Halloween
Originally uploaded by bloomfieldguy

Actually, not at all.

It’s been five months since we bought the house, four months since we moved in, and excepting the unexpected $1,000 expense to fix a leak in the living room ceiling coming from the upstairs bathroom, homeownership in the ‘burbs has been quite the enjoyable experience.

Despite the somewhat disappointed tone of my last post, Bloomfield has been a great choice for us for all of the important reasons: we’re very happy with Watsessing Elementary School; my commute into the City isn’t too bad; and our neighbors on both sides are very cool people.

I worked from home yesterday so I could go to the kids’ Halloween Parade and class parties, and also be done early so I could go door-to-door trick-or-treating with them for the first time. (Me with them; my wife had taken them out last year right after school.) Following the recommendations of several people, we cut through Watsessing Park to hit Glen Ridge where many of the houses were elaborately decorated, and people were taking advantage of the comfortably cool weather by sitting outside to hand out candy and goodies.

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Read more about the article Apology Unnecessary

Apology Unnecessary

The K Chronicles: Tales From the Campaign Trail
The K Chronicles: Stories From the Campaign Trail

There’s a bit of a tempest in a teapot happening over at Montclair State University thanks to a “controversial” episode of the Keith Knight comic strip, The K Chronicles, that was published last week in the student newspaper, the Montclarion, and included the word “nigger”.

Twice!

Well, kind of…

Seemingly lost on most of those in a tizzy over the strip (reading some of the comments is just one more reason to not take anything for granted before the election results are in and officially certified) is the fact that Knight was simply repeating a story told by a canvasser in Western Pennsylvania, where conventional wisdom has it that people are simply too racist to support Obama, as evidenced partly by Hillary Clinton’s thumping him out there during the primary.

It’s a story that’s been referenced in several places over the past week or so, and Knight’s take on it was simply addressing what has become one of the more fascinating sub-plots of this election as the economy has taken center stage and helped turn John McCain’s ill-conceived selling of his soul campaign into a sputtering hot mess: Racists for Obama.

“I wouldn’t want a mixed marriage for my daughter, but I’m voting for Obama,” the wife of a retired Virginia coal miner, Sharon Fleming, told the Los Angeles Times recently.

One Obama volunteer told Politico after canvassing the working-class white Philadelphia neighborhood of Fishtown recently, “I was blown away by the outright racism, but these folks are … undecided. They would call him a [racial epithet] and mention how they don’t know what to do because of the economy.”

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Read more about the article Things to Do

Things to Do

Montclair Honeybee Fest
Originally uploaded by bloomfieldguy

Last night, we were suprised to hear the sound of jazz music coming through our front window, at first thinking our neighbor might be having a party, then realizing it was LIVE music from a concert going on in Watsessing Park. According to the Essex County website, it was the Carrie Jackson Quartet, performing as part of the 2008 Essex County Free SummerMusic Concert Series, which I only know because I Googled it this morning out of curiosity.

Last month’s Dionne Warwick concert in Brookdale Park, which I first heard about the night of while having dinner at Vinnie’s, was part of the same series and while I wouldn’t have attended that one, it was a little disappointing to find out about last night’s as it was happening because we would have probably shaken the Sandy Hook sand out of our Neat Sheet, grabbed a couple of chairs and walked over to check it out. I don’t recall seeing any promotion for the concert series in The Star-Ledger (which I pick up sporadically), or Bloomfield Life (which I pick up weekly), or Baristanet (which I check daily), or even a flyer stapled to a telephone pole somewhere between the Park and the train station, but maybe I just missed it?

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Read more about the article BroadAcres’ Bustling Business A Boon?

BroadAcres’ Bustling Business A Boon?

1455 Broad Street
1455 Broad Street

Taxes are pretty much Greek to me, especially property taxes, but as I understand them, a viable commercial tax base is critical for keeping residential property taxes down and is theoretically one of the reasons moving forward on the redevelopment of Bloomfield Center is such a critical issue. (Assuming, of course, that the plan isn’t loaded with the kinds of tax breaks and loopholes that end up costing taxpayers MORE money.) The New Jersey League of Municipalities has a nice primer, A SHORT AND SIMPLE GLIMPSE AT THE PROPERTY TAX IN NEW JERSEY, that is somewhat helpful, leaving me feeling mildly clueless instead of completely dumbfounded.

With taxes on the brain — Bloomfield Life, I think, had a recent article about the township-wide assessment happening this Fall that has me a little nervous — I figure it has to be a good thing to see that Prism Captial Partners is having success luring new tenants to their BroadAcres Office Park in northern Bloomfield, that they paid $52m for in 2006 and are in the process of an extensive renovation and upgrading of its grounds and infrastructure.

Four Leases Signed at BroadAcres

BLOOMFIELD, NJ-Prism Capital Partners has secured 27,000 sf of leases at its BroadAcres Office Park here. Four companies, three current tenants and one new occupant, have committed to space at the 380,000-sf, class A campus…

Kingsbridge Financial Group has relocated its headquarters from Seacaucus to 1455 Broad St., where it will occupy 5,000 sf on a five-year lease. Diversified Cos., Senior Financial Solutions and Kingsbridge were all represented by Prism Capital Partners principal Edwin Cohen, who also represented Prism, the owners of the property…

Rental rates for BroadAcres are listed as $25.50 per sf for 1455 Broad St. and $23.50 per sf for 200 and 300 Broadacres Dr. The property has seen a considerable amount of leasing activity in the past few months.

“We’re encouraged by the activity,” says Cohen. “Brokers are responding well to the improvements they’ve seen throughout the complex.”

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Read more about the article Bloomfield Cyclist Assaulted by NYPD Rookie

Bloomfield Cyclist Assaulted by NYPD Rookie

The cyclist in the middle of the latest NYPD controversy is Christopher Long of Bloomfield, NJ, who is a lot more Zen than I’d be considering the cop is clearly an outright liar and thug:

“I’m really sorry, but I’m not talking to the press,” Christopher Long, 29, said as he manned an organic fruits-and-vegetables stand at the Union Square farmers market.

“There are charges against me, and I don’t want anything to affect my case,” said Long, who had two large scabs on his knees from the body block.

Long, of New Jersey, was charged with assault and resisting arrest after the cop insisted the cyclist had tried to run him over in a Critical Mass rally Friday in Times Square.

A dramatic video starkly contradicted rookie Officer Patrick Pogan‘s statements. It shows the 22-year-old cop running toward Long and slamming him to the sidewalk.

Pogan, a former high school football lineman, has been stripped of his gun and badge while the incident is investigated.

Police sources have said the charges against Long would likely be dropped.

Long will “get over it and he’s not the type of guy to hold a grudge,” said Justin Ford, 25, a bike courier and a friend of Long’s, but Long’s lawyer said he may sue.

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Read more about the article Cory Booker: Hero?

Cory Booker: Hero?

Cory Booker at StoryCorps Griot launch by jsmooth995
Despite my previous reflexive defense of East Orange, I’ll admit to buying in to the some of the negative perceptions of Newark, and was originally going to post a link to a great article on Newark’s Mayor Cory Booker that I just got around to reading in last month’s Esquire (with the inane Mike Myers on the cover), but when I went to their site to get the link, I was suprised to come across a scathing letter from Booker, ripping the article’s author Scott Raab a new one.
While I thought the article was a well-written bit of hero worship, it does go a bit overboard in comparing Booker to Will Smith’s character in I Am Legend, effectively casting Newark as a blighted dead zone with little hope of recovery, pretty much what I believed it to be despite knowing better. In his letter, Booker takes Raab to task on a number of points, particularly his narrow focus on the ills plaguing the largest city in New Jersey while ignoring the strides made in the past couple of years — of which he cites numerous examples — but perhaps more impressively, I appreciated his lengthy rebuttal of the idea that he is some lone hero facing insurmountable odds:

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Read more about the article Light Green Thumb

Light Green Thumb

Garden After, originally uploaded by bloomfieldguy.

When we bought our house, I knew there were a lot of things we’d have to deal with that were never a consideration while we lived in an apartment, from the obvious fixing whatever breaks to paying separately for everything short of the air we breathe, but the one thing I underestimated was the time and effort involved in maintaining a yard.

Way back in High School, I’d done the basics, like mowing the lawn and raking and even helped with building a deck and a small pond, but those were more chores than responsibilities, so my emotional investment in them was minimal. (I did take a bit of pride in the pond, at least until my turtle ran away!) While we lucked out with a house that was in move-in condition and only had to paint the kids’ rooms, buy new furniture and unpack our things to get the interior squared away, the yard was in need of some TLC.

I’ve learned from our neighbors that the property had been sort of a jungle for years before the guy we bought it from bought it last summer and fixed it all up — with 8-foot hedges enclosing the back and all sorts of animals residing in them — so relatively speaking, it was overhauled as much as the house itself, but unlike the house, it didn’t have any real character at all. Plus, there were some concerns with the landscaping with certain areas pooling water up against the foundation of the house.

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