Master Plan Open House

I attended the December 7th Open House at which members of the general public could review the proposed changes to the City of Newark Master Plan. That Open House, and another on December 10th, were held in the cafeteria ("Dining" area) of the magnificent new Central High School on 18th Avenue.

There were tables, to the left in the foto above, at which one could review maps of the present and proposed plan, by neighborhood. On the right were tables with presentations by subject matter. If you had a suggestion, you could write it on a PostIt and place it on the poster in that area. I wrote that we need marinas and housing on the Bay and River.

The meeting was not crowded, but I saw some familiar faces, including James Street activist Bill Chappel and the Ironbound Super Neighborhood's Lenny Thomas. Bill found the man who did much of the drafting of the revised maps, and I listened in to a discussion of why the James Street Commons Historic District is included in the Downtown Business District rather than University Heights. Bill finds the behavior of some of the 45,000 college students nearby to be objectionable at times, and is pleased to put at least some distance in the public mind between James Street and the kids.

After the people in attendance had had some time to review the materials on display, a couple of officials made brief presentations. I spoke to one of them, to mention my concerns about some of the things I noticed, and to make a general point. He was Arcelio Aponte, Director of Operations & Management of the Economic and Housing Development section of the Office of the Deputy Mayor. He recognized me and said he had been on my blog earlier that very day, so saw my mention of wanting to attend.

The overall point I wanted to make is that I'm afraid the master plan is too timid, and not nearly aspirational enuf. I said I would like to see highrise housing authorized to ring our big, largely empty county parks, like the one in my area, Vailsburg Park. That would increase the use of those empty spaces. The only county part that seems well utilized is Branch Brook. I used Manhattan's Central Park as an example of what I would like to see develop in Newark, and made the point that not only would the park make for a spacious view from the highrises, but the highrises would also make for a better, urban view from the parks. That is to say that part of the magic of Central Park is the views out from it, not just into it.

The "Light refreshments" were sandwiches and iced tea or lemonade. I was surprised that there was no coffee, which I would have had. I don't care for iced tea, esp. in cold months. Hot tea, sometimes. Green tea. The tea in Chinese restaurants, sure. But not iced tea.

I said Newark's planners should prepare for greatness. He saw that as a return to Newark's past (before the vast loss of population to white flite), but I said no, we should think bigger than Newark's past. I asked if there have been discussions with near-in parts of our area, such as East Orange and Irvington, to coordinate the development of a Greater Newark. I said that part of great cities is great physical size, and Newark's current 24 square miles doesn't cut it. We need to expand geographically, as by annexing at least the more urban areas like E.O. and Irvington, both of which are so depressed and financially stressed that they should welcome annexation. I don't recall whether I made the point that the state has wanted to reduce the costs of municipal government thru shared services, but merging municipalities more than just services would be even more helpful.

I reviewed the maps of my area, Vailsburg, and consulted the legend to find the meaning of the color my immediate neighborhood was printed in. It indicated single-family housing, so I mentioned to Mr. Aponte that I think we should (in line with a more ambitious Newark) permit highrises on major thorofares, such as South Orange Avenue in my area. I realized only later that the present proposal might not permit the (disparagingly-named) "Bayonne boxes" that have sprung up in profusion, here as elsewhere in the city, in that many of them are set up as two units, or even three, as allows a person of middle-class income to offset some of the costs of buying their own home by renting out part of it. I think we must permit that, whether we encourage it or not.

I mentioned to the woman tending the Vailsburg table, who lives on my street closer to SOA, that there are some small apartment houses presently, and that as long as most housing is single-family, that shouldn't be a problem. I mentioned that I think the upkeep of the housing and the curb frontage is better in the owner-occupied houses than in absentee-landlord houses. (That might obviate objections to Bayonne boxes with more than one dwelling unit, in that they would be owner-occupied housing.)
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We got to talking about my seeking a mortgage modification on my own house, and that the whole subject area is very complicated. She said that the Urban League has a housing counselor who might be able to help me, and gave me her fone number and email address. I'll have to frame my questions and contact her.

I spoke with a young man at the open space/parks area, and mentioned that I think we need a lot of vest-pocket parks in areas of low-density housing, because tho most have modest yards, few homeowners have a private basketball (half-)court or any of the other amenities (water wall, chess/checker table, handball court, badminton court — whatever) that a vest-pocket park would have. I asked if there was provision for such parks in the proposed master plan. He said yes, and pointed to an item on the poster. I think that "vest-pocket park" makes the point better than a reference to parks or community gardens in vacant lots. Words have power, and the term "vest-pocket park" is familiar to many people from its use in Manhattan, so it has a certain panache that the other wording does not. Community gardens can be tricky, tho they are certainly worth attempting, in sunny locations, with raised beds.
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As I was getting ready to leave the cafeteria, North Ward artist Noelle Lorraine Williams was entering. I greeted her and cued her in to how materials were organized.
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I then took some fotos of the great open area from the main entrance to Central High. We didn't have any such gathering place and atrium in my high school, Middletown Township H.S. in Monmouth County. There is some artwork around the new Central High's atrium. And there are some comfy chairs for rest and socializing. I don't know how crowded this wide-open space ever gets, in that I was there well after regular school hours. After hours, it seems palatial, so some titefisted people might resent this splendid new building. I think it's a good idea to show kids how much society values education, and allow them to enjoy their surroundings when at school. Besides, it's already built, so there's not much point to complaining that it is too luxurious. I thought I'd raise the issue, to argue a different point of view, that great buildings are part of a great city, and great schools deserve great buildings.

There were some handouts at the various tables, but I had to ask if they represented materials on the website, because, bizarrely, the URL of the website did not appear on any printout I saw. That is a very serious oversight, which I correct here: http://www.newarkmasterplan.com/. You'd think it would be .gov, but it's .com. Some of the webpages I looked at within that site loaded very, very slowly on my machine, but did eventually come up. Other parts of the City's website are linked to from that website. For some incomprehensible reason, the type on most pages is GRAY rather than black, and tiny. Who is responsible for such stupidity?