I noticed on Wednesday 3/20 that one of the city's biggest and oldest boarding houses was just demolished. Not sure what day, but very recently. It was located on Union Street directly across from city hall. I think this is GREAT NEWS. We lost another one !!! This is a substantial positive change for the neighborhood. There will be less transient people wandering around in the downtown, littering and panhandling, and detracting from the business climate. And that's one less big old boarding house that might burn down, presenting a risk to fire-fighters.
Note also that there are now two vacant lots, side-by-side, and I'm not sure if the small office building along the railroad is empty or not. There was a Jewish social service organization there, forgot their name. I wonder what is happening with the vacant lots. If anyone knows, please post.
The boarding houses are a big part of what brings in a transient population to Hackensack. Many eventually become homeless, and once they do, they are counted as "Hackensack residents" in the eyes of the social service organizations and their advocates. Instead of the city being credited and praised for having three times more units in the form of boarding houses than the rest of Bergen County combined, in the late 1980's and 1990's the boarding houses effectively become liabilities used to document that the city should provide more beds at homeless shelters, more soup kitchens, more new shelters of all kinds, etc. It was exactly backwards way of looking at the housing needs for poor single people in Bergen County. Well, we lost another big boarding house, and it appeared to have been either the biggest or the second-biggest left, so there will be less "Hackensack residents" becoming homeless in the future.
Boarding houses really detract from any neighborhood. "Exhibit A" for that claim is 211 Passaic Street. Now that it is gone thanks to a fire about 8 years ago, the area is much-improved. It is quiet, it is safe, and the neighbors are happy. Take a look at 209 Passaic St. It's been completely rehabilitated and it looks gorgeous. Those owners would have never done that with a 30-unit boarding house next door.
I also noticed the demolition of an old multi-family house on Railroad Place mid-way between Central Ave and High Street. It was an average-sized house that was subdivided generations ago into at least 5 or 6 very low-end apartments. It had ugly black fire escapes dangling everywhere, and it was rumored to be a de facto half-way house. This may have been demolished some time ago, I just happened to see it. Also a positive demolition. The lot is too narrow for a new house, but I would support a variance to put a single-family house there.