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The lights don't have weight sensors or anything else to detect traffic. Even if there is no other traffic you sit through tons and tons of red lights waiting for non-existant side traffic to come through. Sounds funny, but wait till you spend 20 minutes trying to get to the nearest acceptable grocery store in Weehawken (which is still horrible).
Also reminds me of when they shut down one of two lanes of a local arterial access road for Lincoln tunnel for road repair for 6 months and deployed a team of like 2 construction dudes to do the work. Added an extra 15 minutes to my commute for 6 months. If you aggregated all the time that was wasted as a result of this move, it would be multiple human lives.
No one seems to care about this town or the people that live there. Really sucks to be lower middle class.
Moved out in 2013.
Yeah, the most densely populated city in the country is going to have some congestion. You probably should have known that going in. But I will say the Trader Joe’s in Hoboken is less than a 10 minute drive from me. And a Whole Foods 365 is coming to Weehawken soon. They’re always re-doing the parks and repaving streets and sidewalks. There’s a new high school. It’s a pretty well cared for city, IMO.
I'm in bayonne. it's sort of like a hick town in pa. in a geographically urban area. because the city doesn't have a PATH train stop and has to rely on the lite-rail and busses that only go directly into manhattan during weekday work hours without going all the way the hell through jersey city and union city, like they do at other times, the rents are still a great deal. plus, it's laid back, almost quasi-jersey shoreish, but they are building hoards of new rentals near the lite-rail, where there are one bedroom's running close to $2000 a month. the mayor is putting in a nice ferry to midtown which is going to run $13 one way, which most folk around here can't afford. taking your car to work and using the nj turnpike during the morning or evening rush hour will result in an absolutely massive, nyc style traffic jam at the toll booths. right to its south is a menacing roundabout. anyhow, if you don't have a lot of money and want to live around decent, family folk at a nice, slow pace with police cars everywhere you look, bayonne is for you. the archie bunker types are still here, as are dysfunctional working folk, obese and/or chain smokers wearing pajama pants at 2pm on the streets, but functional ethnics such as east indians, pakistanis, and egyptians are saving it from deterioration.
secaucus has a beautiful downtown with great restaurants. it doesn't have that gritty feel like the rest of the towns around here and the bus service to manhattan is supreme, although the traffic on route 3 is brutal. it caters to functional types of all persuasions, blue collar workers, the wall street crowd, etc. i'd really consider it. there are a lot of garden apartments that are extremely well kept there, as well.
i love korean food and love fort lee because we used to escape there when i lived in the bronx. it was like an oasis. you can walk across the george washington bridge. i love korean food and korean folk. there are little jitneys that go right across the bridge to the 181st street bus terminal, as there are busses back and forth as well. there, you can take the A or #1 local trains downtown, or do an uber, lyft, or maybe dyckman car service to points further downtown. it is expensive by jersey standards, but the buildings are divine and the air is a lot fresher as you can feel yourself entering a mountainous area.
union city and west new york are great when and if you're in a building directly on the hudson river. you can take the ferry right to midtown but i don't know the prices. there are also busses along river road, but they are repairing the lincoln tunnel now. the building's are expensive but not by manhattan standards. the view is divine. in north bergen, you will have to select a place near the lite rail on route 1, which is congested and not geographically pleasant to the eye. if you want to be directly by the Path train and the river, where there is a nice walkway where you can hear the waves crashing against the rocks which is cheaper than hoboken, try newport in jersey city. just walk into the rental office on the street running along the river by starbucks. plus, there's a shopping mall right there! it's all high rises but they do have a gym. it's also like the united nations, with career focused chinese and east indian folk galore. want something a bit less intense but really close by in jersey city. investigate the paulus hook area, which has beautiful new building and is right next to liberty state park and its science center, as well as the lite rail, but is far closer to manhattan that is bayonne.
if you really want to save money, look at a less brutally charming version of bayonne, which would be kearny. i'm not familiar with what sorts of mass transportation they have there. also, if you don't like high rises and want to be directly on the PATH line, do look at harrison. it's got great chinese restaurants. one tastes like food in chinatown,as well as east indian food, as well. unfortunately, you don't have a massive park right on the bay like we do in bayonne, but many folk walk along raymond boulevard. there is a huge brazilian community in ironbound, newark right next to the park, but it is congested and overly-frenetic.
if you are looking for more convenient but more distant options, like one seat rides to manhattan on busses or big nj transit trains, consider maplewood, montclair, south orange, cranford, summit & westfield, which are magazine country, metuchen, south amboy, long branch or asbury park on the ocean, bound brook, but remember that you will either need a car or to call an uber or local taxi service to go to local stores, unless you are directly downtown. the rents will be cheaper, but you may be dealing with borderline suburban isolation.
good luck and thank God you're not considering either westchester county, new york city, or long island!!
Yeah, the most densely populated city in the country is going to have some congestion. You probably should have known that going in. But I will say the Trader Joe’s in Hoboken is less than a 10 minute drive from me. And a Whole Foods 365 is coming to Weehawken soon. They’re always re-doing the parks and repaving streets and sidewalks. There’s a new high school. It’s a pretty well cared for city, IMO.
I was aware of the density, but it’s more the lack of good local amenities that is the issue. I.e., if you don’t have to drive everywhere, density isn’t as much of an issue. It was cheap, I’ll give it that. But certainly not a pleasant place to live IMO.
Union City is pretty well cared for? I have never heard anyone express any sentiment of that kind. Weehawken seems so much nicer. Schools are horrible.
That said, I don’t think that TJ's was there when we lived in Union City. Closest one was in edgewater, I think. TJ's would have improved my opinion of the place.
My impression of the Jersey suburbs. Feel free to disagree..
Lower Bergen County: Safe but unimpressive suburbia. Smaller houses, strip malls, highways and little to no charm.
Upper Bergen County: The sticks. Affluent but ultra-boring suburbia. Not recommended for people with suicidal tendencies.
Suburban Essex County: Mostly gorgeous older homes in affluent or okay neighborhoods but with sky-high taxes and still a stones-throw away from the ghetto.
Urban Essex County: Almost completely ghetto. Contains the absolute worst areas in the entire NYC metro area..will make you lose faith in humanity quick!
Hudson County: Mostly urban/dense-suburban hybrid areas ranging from hip/chic to straight-up sleazy/overcrowded. No idea why this is not NYC's 6th borough.
Union County: Similar to Lower Bergen County but with even more industrial crap (and a bit more planned out).
Passaic County: Unlimited supply of poor immigrants living in beat-down urban areas and suburbs that you surely wouldn't be writing home about.
Last edited by MemoryMaker; 01-05-2019 at 01:38 PM..
My impression of the Jersey suburbs. Feel free to disagree..
Lower Bergen County: Safe but unimpressive suburbia. Smaller houses, strip malls, highways and little to no charm.
Upper Bergen County: The sticks. Affluent but ultra-boring suburbia. Not recommended for people with suicidal tendencies.
Suburban Essex County: Mostly gorgeous older homes in affluent or okay neighborhoods but with sky-high taxes and still a stones-throw away from the ghetto.
Urban Essex County: Almost completely ghetto. Contains the absolute worst areas in the entire NYC metro area..will make you lose faith in humanity quick!
Hudson County: Mostly urban/dense-suburban hybrid areas ranging from hip/chic to straight-up sleazy/overcrowded. No idea why this is not NYC's 6th borough.
Union County: Similar to Lower Bergen County but with even more industrial crap (and a bit more planned out).
Passaic County: Unlimited supply of poor immigrants living in beat-down urban areas and suburbs that you surely wouldn't be writing home about.
That would be the lower part of the "figure 8" that is Passaic County. Upcounty Passaic is rural enough that bears are a problem for some homeowners. There are horse farms and large expanses of wooded areas. Hills and winding roads that can be problematic in the winter.
That would be the lower part of the "figure 8" that is Passaic County. Upcounty Passaic is rural enough that bears are a problem for some homeowners. There are horse farms and large expanses of wooded areas. Hills and winding roads that can be problematic in the winter.
Yep. In-laws live in northwest ringwood. It’s far more common to see bears, turkeys, deer and skunks than neighbors.
Hello, I am a newbie to the forum.. I am looking to relocate ( downsize) and am having a hard time figuring out where I would like to live. I have been in Montclair for the last 22 yrs and have loved it, but taxes are insane.. My husband and I want to slow down working, and settle into retirement in near future. We also want to live in a senior friendly area, as we're 65, but we're young 65..Not sure about these retirement condos, and yet can no longer take great care of a house... So I am looking for a town north of Montclair, as my husband works in Nyack... we are flexible.
Does anyone know of such a combination of places to live.. where there are nice, new-ish condo's, $700,000,( maybe a little more, )preferably with caring, interesting welcoming, diverse people, perhaps with good mix of seniors our age, and the bonus would be if the area was devoid of too many rednecks! Perhaps if you just know of a town that fits the description, that would be helpful. But if you know of a condo, even better! Thanking you ahead of time!
Englewood Cliffs has nothing under $1 million. What scares be about that is not only are you paying a bunch for the house but the taxes are going to be outrageous.
No one mentions CLiffside Park. Is it exactly like the other communities?
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