Welcoming New People

I received the following email message today, headed "Moving to NJ - interested in Newark".

I found your "Resurgence City" website (thank you for having such an informative website available) and I would like to ask you for some information/advice. I do not mean to be intrusive and I hope I am not being a nuisance. I recently accepted a job at Princeton University. I have now started the daunting task of trying to find a place to live. My wife and I would like to move to an area where there's a city-like atmosphere. A friend of mine who studied at Rutgers really talked up the Newark/Jersey City areas. I am completely unfamiliar with both cities as I have never visited NJ. I would like to ask you whether you can point me to neighborhoods in Newark where to find apartments (we are definitely not ready to buy); areas with easy access to public transportation and where you can go places just by walking a few blocks. I have been told that the "Ironbound" and "Down Neck" areas might have what I am looking for. I am open to any other suggestions though. Any information you can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Marcos

I replied:

THE IRONBOUND and "Down Neck" are the same place, different names. "Down Neck" is an older term, "The Ironbound" more common today. The Ironbound is a largely white area of eastern Newark, east of Newark Penn Station, and so called because it is surrounded by railroad lines (NJ has the highest concentration of historical rail lines in the Nation, as it has the highest concentration of people). A friend of mine has an apartment in the Ironbound, and enjoys it.
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Today, the Ironbound is noted for large numbers of businesses (stores, bakeries, restaurants) catering to the area's Portuguese and Brazilian community. But there are other groups as well, in what may be Newark's most ethnically diverse neighborhood. As I was driving my sister from Long Beach, California thru that area this past Sunday on the way to NYC, she commented on the area that it's "cute". It is not as "cute" as some brownstone neighborhoods in places like Hoboken, but it's not as crowded and expensive as Hoboken.
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Jersey City is a peculiar mix of overbuilt and jammed with people, and urban wasteland that is too dangerous for me to be comfortable in. I, however, am prejudiced in favor of Newark.
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Transportation to and from Princeton by train is very easy from Newark Penn Station, in that the main line passes thru both cities. Jersey City is NOT on the main line but IS on the PATH, and depending on how close you are to a bus in Newark or a PATH station in Jersey City, getting to Newark Penn Station from either might be comparable in time.
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Other neighborhoods of Newark than the Ironbound would not have quite the same urban feel and convenience, and it is better to have a car in neighborhoods like mine, Vailsburg, which puts all the conveniences of nearby malls, the Home Depot, etc., at hand.
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Newark should have some kind of government office to field queries like yours. I'll make inquiries of my own to see if there is such a thing. The Newark Public Library was very helpful to me when I was thinking of moving to Newark from NYC, and sent me a transit guide that helped me figure out how to get from place to place by public transportation: http://www.npl.org/.
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I see that your name is Marcos. If you speak Spanish, the North Ward might be congenial. If you speak Portuguese, the Ironbound would be better. If you are Filipino, either would do. There is not yet a large Filipino community in Newark.
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If I can be of more assistance, please let me know. Meanwhile, I'll ask around about other sources of information. Cheers.

So, does anyone know if Newark's city government or the Chamber of Commerce has some kind of office to supply information to people interested in moving to Newark? I suppose this should fall under a department of economic development or the department of the Chamber of Commerce concerned with bringing in people and investment, but any guidance that readers might give would be most appreciated.
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A woman in my office says the commute between Princeton and Newark is not easy, but I just did a station-to-station check at NJTransit and it appears to take about 65 minutes from Newark Penn Station to Princeton, even with a transfer at Princeton Junction. Tho I would not like to have to commute more than an hour each way, a lot of commuters don't regard that as bad at all, especially if they take the time on the train to read the paper, have their morning coffee and a pastry, and make plans for the day. If someone works as an instructor at an educational institution, s/he might use that time to mark papers or prepare the next day's coursework.
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Suggestions, anyone?

Thinking Small

Yesterday I visited one of my favorite websites, www.skyscraperpage.com, and checked out the comparative-height diagrams for both Newark and New Jersey more generally. I was appalled.
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In the list of 100 North American cities represented on the site, Jersey City ranks 30th, with 84 buildings. Newark is 94th!, with only 24 buildings. Atlantic City is 53rd, with 52 buildings. A place I never heard of, "Sandy Springs" (which turns out to be a breakaway chunk of Atlanta, Georgia), is 73rd, with 34 buildings. Even Fort Lee (79th, with 31 buildings) and Hoboken (88th, with 26 buildings) outrank Newark.
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I'm not clear as to the basis for the rankings, whether they relate to some objective observation of the number of buildings above a certain height or only those reported by members.
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I searched the site for images of Newark and came up with only one, a diagram of the National Newark Building. So I joined the site and intend to upload some pictures of my own so that other people performing the same search will see more than one image of Newark. (If you go to skyscraperpage.com, be patient, because their server is apparently underpowered, or they are someplace remote, because it takes a long time for pages to format, even with a cable modem. I'll have to mention that to them.)
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There is a LOT of new construction going on all over Newark, but mostly of low-rise housing, and most of those, townhouses. There is some steel-framed structure going up on Norfolk Avenue between West Market Street and South Orange Avenue, but I don't know what it is. I'll have to look for a sign. Another steel-framed structure, the Newark Center for Commerce and Education, pictured to the left in the foto below, is planned but not yet rising, for Raymond Boulevard just west of One Newark Center, the Seton Hall Law School.

As you can see from the model (which appears in the window of GRAD Architects in Gateway Center), the Commerce Center should rise higher than the Law School, which is already the fifth tallest building in the city, so should be about the same height as One Gateway Center or the PSE&G Building when completed.
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While new construction of tall buildings is not yet a big part of Newark's resurgence, The New York Times reported October 24, 2004 that the former Verizon building on Broad Street opposite Washington Park has been purchased for $26.5 million and will be extensively renovated.

[The developer] thinks Newark is on the verge of a major revival — one that has been talked about for a long time, but which has been very slow in happening. Now, however, several development and infrastructure projects are under way or in advanced planning that could capitalize on Newark's excellent transportation links to bring a new generation of people to live and work in the city.

These include the redevelopment of office and retail buildings for residential use; the approval by the city of money for the construction of an indoor sports arena to complement an outdoor stadium used by the Newark Bears, a minor league baseball team; the pending completion of a light rail system that will link the major parts of downtown; and continuing development of a university and college complex adjacent to the main downtown core.
"One Washington Park, Newark; The Revival Talk Just Won't Die"

Alas, Newark's revival must be funded locally, because the New York money, drawn from all over the world, that is fueling the transformation of Jersey City, Hoboken, Fort Lee and even Atlantic City, somehow isn't making the 10-mile trip past J.C. to Newark. We need to draw in more immigrants and the banks they bring with them.
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There are a lot of Indians, Pakistanis, and Chinese working in Newark, but few of them live here. We've got to change that. Most of the world's tallest buildings are in China. It would be great if Chinese (including Hong Kong) and Taiwanese banks would invest in Newark.
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We can as well build on the appeal of a large Portuguese-speaking community to draw in Brazilians, who would be more likely to settle in areas outside the Ironbound than are people from Portugal because Brazilians are completely comfortable with racial diversity. Brazil is a rich country with a great many people who unfortunately cannot "make it" there because of racial and social barriers. They can make it in Newark, tho, and we can make that case. The City of Newark and business organizations should be sending trade missions to Sao Paulo, Rio, and other major Brazilian cities, to tout investment and migration opportunities in Newark. Build on your strengths.
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We should as well make certain that any arena that is built is designed to serve as a CONVENTION CENTER when it's not being used for hockey. No single-purpose arena makes any sense. The arena was originally supposed to be dual-purpose, hockey and basketball (until a Brooklynite stole the Nets away). So the idea is already there. Build on it. Newark has no convention center! That's amazing for a city of our size.
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We could also build an all-weather samba center east of U.S. Routes 1&9 to draw Brazilians from all over North America, and even South America, to an indoor Carnaval parade modeled on Rio's samba stadium. Such a project would attach vibrant music, glamor, and dancing to Newark's image abroad, and draw in tens of thousands of non-Brazilian tourists as well.
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Newark presently has the space to think big, but if we keep building these little low-rise housing projects all over the place, we're going to crowd ourselves out of any grand design. The time to think big is now.