Which area in jersey city is good and safe? (Bayonne: movers, house)
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Regarding incidents, I lived here for 2.5 years incident-free, but just recently I did have my car vandalized, and had to replace a rear passenger window. Other than that I haven't seen, witnessed, or been a part of any crimes minor or major.
I feel very safe in my neighborhood, and my neighbors feel the same way.
I live on Grove Street, which is considered downtown Jersey City, and have lived here for about ten years now. Prior to living here I lived in Jersey City Heights.
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Originally Posted by blackberry_007
How is the Grove street area?
Grove Street itself is very short--really just five short blocks. The longer section, north of Newark Ave. has been renamed "Manila" for awhile.
The neighborhood at this point is "kinda yuppie". There are a number of reasons for this, including that it's so convenient for commuting to Manhattan, including that a number of businesses from the financial district of Manhattan moved some offices here after 9-11, including that the area continues to gentrify with lots of condo conversions, brownstones being fixed up, lots of new high-rise condo buildings, an entirely new neighborhood adjacent to the Marina, etc. All of these new dwellings are expensive. It's impossible to find a small condo in these newer buildings and conversions for less than the mid 400s (you can get a place in the new Trump building for that--the price went down a bit because of the current economic situation), and most are going for 700k and up. Only yuppies or moderately wealthy folks (in my eyes, at least) in general can afford them.
It's kinda like Hoboken, but Hoboken to me still has a "college town" feel to it. It can feel almost like you're ON a high-end university campus. Jersey City in this area has a bit of that, but it's a bit more mixed and the high-rises east of Grove Street give it more of a big-city downtown feel now. Hoboken also has a more concentrated area of funky shops, restaurants, etc. In downtown Jersey City, there are a fair number of shops and restaurants now--and places like the Jersey City Art Museum, but they're more scattered for now. If they become less scattered it will be because in the future there could be far more of them than there are in Hoboken.
Just prior to this--going back to the mid 90s and a bit earlier, downtown Jersey City was a bit seedier, more low-income, and had a much higher working class population. There is still a bit of that mixed in, but at this point, you basically have to go looking for it amidst the yuppies.
Of course not all of Jersey City is like this, and you do not have to go very far west from the Grove Street area for neighborhoods with completely different atmospheres, but even those sections are changing (although maybe slower than they would have given the current economy), and a lot of the city is fairly complex socio-economically because of this.
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Is it safe for me to come home at night alone?
Yes. The Grove Street area is going to be as safe for you as anywhere would be.
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What about the cost there?
Well, I just mentioned the cost for new condos, conversions, etc. You'd probably need at least 450k, and that wouldn't give you a lot of choices. There might be some buildings that are a bit cheaper now--I haven't spent as much time looking as I was when my wife and I were seriously looking for a place to buy here (we rent at the moment, and our rent is rasonable because of rent control laws and the fact that we've been here for about 10 years). I know you can find cheaper places near Journal Square--which is also undergoing a lot of conversions (not so much new construction) and in the heights (ditto). In my opinion, most of the Heights is safe. With Journal Square, you've just got to watch the neighborhood, but most of the places where the conversions are happening are fine, imo. My opinion on this won't be shared with a lot of folks who do not actually live in Jersey City but who post here, and there are a number of reasons for that (that are too much to get into for a post of reasonable length)
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Which type of apartment should we chose?(Both from safety and cost,highrise or midrise?we can't afford beyond $2000/mo)
For renting, for the downtown area, at that price you've basically got to choose whatever is available, lol. You can find apartments for that price, but it rules out the majority of them. Chances are that they'll be in an older building, and/or not in as good of shape, and/or without amenities, and/or a bit small, and/or not that close to the PATH trains, ferries, etc. Downtown is one of the more expensive areas, and as it continues to develop, the prices grow closer to resembling Hoboken, which for the most part resembles Manhattan.
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As we are new and are coming from a different state,any serious advice from you will help us a lot to find our new place.
My primary advice is to not rule out other areas, including other cities. I'm guessing that the desire is to be close to Manhattan. You can find places to live, in neighborhoods similar to Jersey City (and with a similar scope to Jersey City), with similar prices (or even a bit cheaper sometimes) in all the other boroughs of New York City (so Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx) and EVEN in Manhattan itself if you go to particular areas--including the Lower East Side, Washington Heights, etc.
You can also look at other cities in Jersey, like Bayonne, Fort Lee, Weehawken, Union City, etc. Another option is to move further away from Manhattan, but still within a commuting distance, and that opens up a huge number of areas, including areas of New York north of New York City ("upstate"), Long Island further out than Queens and Brooklyn, New York northwest of NYC (which is an area I like a lot), areas further into New Jersey, and even Connecticut.
As a rule of thumb, going further away from New York City is not going to result in more expensive real estate (for places with similar square footage, in similar condition, etc.), although in some areas, it's not much cheaper. The primary thing to watch out for is how you're going to commute to New York City. The further out you go, the more expensive the commute will get and the more inconvenient--trains might not run so frequently, won't run 24 hours, you might have to take a bus, you might have to drive part of the way (and then consider tolls, gas prices, and of course the ridiculous price of parking if you were to actually drive into the city), you might have to combine a number of methods of transportation, etc.
No one is going to mug you if you stop in to Stella's, or even Helen's for a slice of pizza. The worst thing that's likely to happen to you is that you accidentally bump into someone who gets upset because you just got pizza sauce on their $160 Ed Hardy t-shirt.
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Grove St, eh?
Do you want to tell them to take a nice evening stroll going westbound on either Montgomery St or Grand St?
I would accompany them or anyone else interested there, but at least after you get west of Monmouth, you're no longer in the "Grove Street area", so why would they be going there anyway? They asked about the Grove Street area.
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Or, would you rather tell them to take a nice evening stroll on Washington Ave in Hoboken?
Washington goes north to south. Washington runs through Jersey City downtown, too for that matter, and is no problem. To ask a comparable question, you'd have to ask if we'd take them for a stroll westbound up the Observer Highway. I would, but I know you'd think that would be unsafe.
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To the OP, if you are looking for an apartment go with Hoboken, if you are looking for a two family or one family house try Cliffside Park.
Hoboken is as expensive as Manhattan from Central Park down. If they could afford that (which is doesn't sound like they could, and I can certainly understand that), why wouldn't they just move to Manhattan instead? I sure would.
I love when Tweedle Dee (fischfan) and Tweedle Dumb (Todd) chime in on the JC threads. Ah, I guess ignorance really is bliss.
Anybody who doesn't think the Downtown JC neighborhoods are safe is either a real pansie or hasn't been there in years.
What I'd love to do is spend some time with those folks in Jersey City to see what's actually going on with them (if they're bs'ing a bit, if they're just kinda crazy/irrational or what), but they never want to do it.
So you suggest street car parking should be avoided?And what about mugging at night?
In my opinion, the primary reasons you might want to avoid parking on the street are:
* A number of times I've seen people gauge their parallel parking by actually bumping into the cars in front of and behind them. I got a couple dings on my car--probably from this--too.
* It's a hassle if you do not like to routinely hunt for parking spaces (I hated it). Spaces can be hard to find--depending on where you're living, you might have to drive up and down the streets for awhile if you do not want to have to walk a mile and a half to you house and back. AND you have to move your car a few days a week for the street cleaning. If you get to your car in time to move it (which I missed a few times and got tickets instead), what people tend to do it double park on the other side of the street, sit in their cars waiting for the street sweeper to come by, and then there's something of a competition for the spaces on the swept side as cars basically follow the street sweeper to the position they want.
* You have to be very good about following the parking rules. Otherwise it takes about 30 seconds to end up with a parking ticket. You have to read all the signs, know all the zones (sometimes they're indicated by curb painting which is next to impossible to see), etc. I ended up with a few tickets that way too.
So I pay to park in a garage now instead.
Many of the newer buildings have their own garages (although you often still have to pay extra for that).
If you wouldn't drive very often, it's really better to not have a car here. You could always rent one every once in awhile. I like hiking too much to go without a car though.
What I'd love to do is spend some time with those folks in Jersey City to see what's actually going on with them (if they're bs'ing a bit, if they're just kinda crazy/irrational or what), but they never want to do it.
Well then you should have asked last week.
My in laws live on 2nd St.
I had to go up to "The Square" for something as well. My kid stopped in and saw Dootz at 2nd St Bakery. I went to Hoboken to Carlo's for pastry.
This subject goes around and around.
The same people (those who have lived in their little area in JC for less than a few years) tell ME what JC is all about.
This guy Tommy seems not to be the guy that I would want to take info from. It took me months to find out that not has he only lived there for about 30 months but that he has already had his car vandalized.
He puts "titles" on the area of JC that he lives. Listen Jersey City is Jersey City...live with it. I doubt that you will ever walk Monticello Ave, Ocean Ave or even Garfield Ave at night. I doubt that you will ever find Gifford Ave or Ege Ave because you will avoid it like the plague. And before you come back with "but this is a City" don't waste your breath.
Why ask ME about JC?
I worked there for years. I grew up in the next City over (Bayonne). I still visit Jersey City. This post is to help a couple out, not to question me on why I tell the truth.
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Regarding incidents, I lived here for 2.5 years incident-free, but just recently I did have my car vandalized, and had to replace a rear passenger window.
And if Tommy ever read what I wrote he would see that my in laws have had TWO cars stolen, and this was right in front of their house in "Historic Downtown Jersey City"!
Blackberry, I wish you the best.
Please prove me wrong.
I'd do it. Meet me at the Grove Street PATH station. What day/night is good for you?
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Not a fact, but those of us who live in the burbs, Me included, lived in a City (30 years). Tommy has been told this over and over but he does not listen.
Wait, I thought you lived in Bayonne. Bayonne seems pretty suburban to me. And how long ago did you live there?
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Tommy . . . How long have you lived in JC?
Wait. He lives here now, and people are asking about what it's like now. What the heck does living in Bayonne 20 years ago have to do with that? If someone starts a thread where they say, "I've recently come into possession of a time machine, and I'm thinking about living near Grove Street in Jersey City in 1979", then I could see someone living here historically having some relevance.
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Tommy wants to call it the "outskirts"...it is still Jersey City.
Didn't he say "The outskirts of Downtown"? "Downtown" and "Jersey City" refer to different things. Greenville, for example, is in Jersey City, but isn't even in the outskirts of Downtown (as it's not part of Downtown).
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My inlaws live on Second Street. I ask you to go look at Google maps and see where that is in conjunction with Grove. My mother in laws car was recently stolen.
Where was the place we were talking about that never has any vehicle thefts?
What exactly is the fact that there was a vehicle theft in a city of a quarter million people supposed to tell us?
What kind of car was it by the way? Any chance we could find out enough info to check out the police report?
It took me months to find out that not has he only lived there for about 30 months but that he has already had his car vandalized.
Well, I've lived here for just over 15 years--in the Heights and Downtown, and my car was never vandalized (although I only parked it on the street for about five years, but as I mentioned above, that's primarily because I'm enough of a bonehead that I was paying enough for parking tickets that it didn't seem like much of a stretch to just pay for a garage instead and not worry about it).
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He puts "titles" on the area of JC that he lives. Listen Jersey City is Jersey City...live with it.
Jersey City has neighborhoods, just like boroughs of New York City have neighborhoods.
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I doubt that you will ever walk Monticello Ave, Ocean Ave or even Garfield Ave at night.
I don't usually do that at night, because I take my walks very early in the morning (when I do walk on those streets and others), but if you want to make a bet about it or something, I'd gladly walk them at night. Just name your price and tell me what you'd accept as documentation.
However, it's not as if someone who lives Downtown would be walking on Garfield, Ocean, etc. unless they're trying to walk for exercise or something (which is why I walk around those neighborhoods frequently--I walk 7-10 miles per day for exercise, and I get bored walking the same places). That's not the most convenient area to walk to from Downtown--much like walking to Hoboken from the Grove Street area, which most folks also do not do. Not because it isn't safe. It has more to do with the way the streets are laid out here and what folks might be interested in doing.
We can put it this way. Imagine that we're in a fantasy world where there's zero crime in Jersey City--the whole city, that is, no crime in any of it, but otherwise, the city is laid out just as it is now, has the same businesses in the same places, etc.. Now, what would be some of the reasons that folks living in the Downtown area might routinely (well, or even ever) walk up and down Garfield, Ocean, etc.? If you can give me some plausible reasons for that, I might be willing to pay you instead.
Most people don't walk for miles. They take whatever transportation to their neighborhood or the neighborhood of their destination, and just tend to walk what they have to, or maybe to go to a store, or out to eat, etc. (although even at that, there are quite a few people Downtown who are lazy enough to take either the PATH trains or those little mini-buses to the Newport Mall).
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Why ask ME about JC? I worked there for years.
I lived in Cleveland for years. I sure couldn't tell anyone very much about it now, because that was in the 60s. Yes, I have visited there periodically since then, and I still have relatives there, but my historical knowledge bears very little relationship to what it's like now. I do not think that the extent of my visits since then are enough to be able to advise someone on living there.
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And if Tommy ever read what I wrote he would see that my in laws have had TWO cars stolen, and this was right in front of their house in "Historic Downtown Jersey City"!
Something sounds extremely fishy about that. Could I check out the police reports? Also (or at least in lieu of that information), could you tell me something about the kinds of security they had on their second vehicle after the first was stolen?
Last edited by Tungsten_Udder; 11-24-2008 at 12:15 PM..
Reason: I'm the Typo King
Thanks Tungsten for your opinion,but the desire is not to remain close to Manhattan,it is to find a place that is equally accessible from newark and midtown.
Thanks Tungsten for your opinion,but the desire is not to remain close to Manhattan,it is to find a place that is equally accessible from newark and midtown.
Thanks,
BB
Right. I saw that later into the thread. Jersey City is definitely a convenient choice for that. Again, I wouldn't overlook parts of the Heights closer to the Journal Square PATH station or the Journal Square neighborhood itself. There are some nice new apartments and condo conversions just west of Journal Square worth checking out--on Kennedy, on Broadway, etc. My wife and I looked at one on Broadway and came close to buying it . . . the problem was that my wife was trying to lowball them more than they'd go for, lol. She's done that a few times . . . anyway, we're probably going to be moving out of the area soon.
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