Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

The redevelopment project is a done deal, and the pastor of The Gathering Church told me "we have two years to get out".  They are renting space to the rear of the Walmart. They fully intend to stay in Hackensack.

1. I don't think these big redevelopment projects with little or no setbacks should be crossing over the railroad.  It's setting off too many people's alarms. 
2. I don't agree that the block is "blighted"
3. The block that is blighted is to the east, and they only tore down part of that block. They left a row of terrible storefronts on Anderson, they left very old houses and a vacant lot on Park Street, and they left the ugly auto repair shop on Passaic Street. I'm not a fan of Hackensack Market either, it's just a giant bodega with everything very overpriced, and they are just preying on the community.  I just don't understand the city's "blight" criteria, where there is real blight, nothing is done. Where there's viable businesses with adequate parking, the city calls that "blighted" and tears it down.
4. The setbacks for these types of projects were intended for Main Street, and maybe State Street. For the rest of Hackensack, we want yards around new buildings complete with landscaping, or we want neighborhoods with houses preserved by the zoning.
5. I also don't like how close the units are going to be to the railroad. 

Also, I found out the State is changing their universal building codes, and the days of these 5-story buildings are coming to an end. They will be allowing special types of composite and engineered lumber to be used for at least 10 or 11 stories.  So future buildings will probably be massive cement parking garages with 10 or 11 stories of wood above them.   I'm sure Hackensack will either change it's zoning to come into conformity with the State, or grant lots of variances to allow them to be built

That's the new building across from The Green.   A one story office building was there, and that's where Rick Salkin had his law offices.  And before that, the historic Mansion House, headquarters for George Washington for several weeks during the American Revolution, stood there. 

I hope the site stays up.  In the past when I contributed more, my contributions were mostly unwelcomed and unappreciated.  That's why I rarely contribute any more.

LOL, in 1947, lots of people were switching from coal to underground oil tanks.  And if it might leak someday, they didn't care, it was underground.

tried to get a picture of that with my cell phone.  Got nothing close to the quality you captured

Notice also that Borg's Woods and what would become the Byrne/Brook Street subdivision were left un-rated and uncolored on the map. What did that mean in terms of a builder wanting financing? I bet it wasn't easy to get financing in an un-rated area. The Byrne/Brook subdivision wasn't built until about 1950. Borg's Woods was purchased by John Borg in 1939 at a sheriff's auction, which was 3 years after he bought the mansion at Summit & Fairmount, and only one year after the red-lining map came out.  Most of northern Bergen County was also un-rated, and development was lack-luster until after World War II.  Perhaps the red-lining map had a lot of impact for about 7 years, and some impact for another 5 years. And by the 1950's, it didn't have much meaning in terms of builders getting financing.

Used by banks to discriminate against whole neighborhoods when it comes to lending.  Interesting that they appear to discriminate equally against Black and Italian neighborhoods, see the First Ward of Hackensack as well as Lodi.

Note also the line around Passaic Street in central Hackensack, and that must have been the boundary of the Black neighborhood in 1938. The map showed both sides of Passaic Street as being good (those blocks of Passaic Street had an even better rating than the northern parts of the Fairmount Section of Hackensack), but both sides of Stanley Place were red-lined. The red-lining zig-zagged on Park Street, also interesting.

From a historical perspective, the map says a lot, and perhaps explains housing and development patterns in different neighborhoods. If buyers and developers are not able to secure affordable financing, this reflects on how much new construction or rehab occurs.  In this way, the banks decide which areas prosper, and which areas suffer.

I see the link is not working today.  Found this one provided by Rowan University  https://www.njmap2.com/parcels/parcels/?override=1&zoom=17&lat=40.91247477328731&lng=-74.04947698116304&sc=0&show=1&basemap=Bing%20Aerial%20(Labeled)&layers=&ois=&oms=&po=