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« on: July 22, 2004, 12:46:46 PM »
Hackenack is a city that has it all; single family homes, apartment complexes, mid-rises, high rises, townhomes and low income housing.
I believe that there is plenty of room in our city for this type of development w/o worrying about whether or not families are moving in. There are many different kinds of families that would be happy to live in a mid/high rise building and not have to worry about the upkeep of single family home. Many towns also limit the # of bedrooms in these buildings because the school system simply couldn't handle the influx of new children.
Many of these buildings are in areas of our city where it wouldn't make sense to build a single family home; like the Ambiance building. It's on a vacant lot on Polifly Rd next to the Rite Aid and within walking distance of the Essex train station. Why would anyone in their right mind put a single family home there that would most likely generate about $7,000 a year in taxes when you can put up a 4 floor building of condos? How much in taxes will the Ambiance building generate compared to a single family home?
Many of these buildings attract young professionals who commute to NYC (like myself) and want a new and reasonably priced piece of real estate (compared to NYC condos, which now average over $1million). Many other cities (Hoboken, Jersey City, Weehawken) have turned around their neighborhoods & downtown areas with the development of mid/high rises...not w/single family homes.
We can't pretend like Hackensack is this "quaint" suburban oasis. We are a city w/city problems. We must work on developing our Main/State/River/Hudson St. areas along w/the neighborhoods that surround our train stations (Anderson & Essex). Keep in mind that these young professionals who commute to NYC do not clog our city streets w/their cars; they take advantage of mass transit. These same people also have more disposable income to spend and wouldn't it be nice if they spent that hard earned money while strolling along Main St. (take a look on Washington Ave. in Hoboken) .
Don't get me wrong...I'm not for careless redevelopment...What I am against is the destruction of our single family homes in neighborhoods like Fairmount. It is a sin to see century year old homes fall to the wrecking ball. That we must prevent.
K- Enough said.
Jerry
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