Anyone know anything about the Beacon in Jersey City? (homes, safe area)
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Dawn, good luck with your move. There are, in fact, quite a few nice towns within an hour commute of the City. As I mentioned to another poster, Rte 17 has several nice towns, starting in Lyndhurst and working your way north. For the most part these towns are not as expensive as some off of routes 24 and 78, but they do fit the bill as towns close to the City. Cliffside Park and Edgewater are nice as well, and they are much closer to the Lincoln Tunnel (if you are commuting to Midtown).
Dawn, good luck with your move. There are, in fact, quite a few nice towns within an hour commute of the City. As I mentioned to another poster, Rte 17 has several nice towns, starting in Lyndhurst and working your way north. For the most part these towns are not as expensive as some off of routes 24 and 78, but they do fit the bill as towns close to the City. Cliffside Park and Edgewater are nice as well, and they are much closer to the Lincoln Tunnel (if you are commuting to Midtown).
Right, but you need to think about how you want to commute and how much money you want to spend on commuting. The further away you are, the more it's going to cost you--that might not be a factor for some people, but for others, a couple hundred bucks extra per person adds up, and they at least need to factor that into their monthly expenses (If you can only afford $2000 per month for rent/mortgage, then living an hour away, you need to lower that to $1600 just by including the commuter train fares (which can go up to $300 per month or so if you're far enough away)--you'll have to figure out how much you really need to lower it by figuring out exactly how you're going to commute). If you're planning on driving, it's going to cost you far more (you have to factor in gas, tolls, and parking costs at least in Manhattan, as well as the possibility of paying $8 or so additional per day for that proposed "impact fee" for driving in lower Manhattan). Monthly parking spaces in Manhattan will cost $300-400 in most places--that doesn't include all those other driving expenses I just mentioned, which will add at least another few hundred dollars per month if you're working full time in Manhattan.
Aside from cars and the PATH trains, your commuting choices include larger commuter trains and buses. You may need a way to get to the commuter train or bus stop, which means you might have to take another bus to get there or drive and pay for park and ride. Once you get to Manhattan, you'll more than likely have to take the New York subway to wherever you have to go. So do not forget to factor in those costs and that commuting time as well. It's not as if you're where you need to go once you hit the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels. If you end up close to the water, you might have an additional choice of a ferry. You'll need to get to the ferry stop and take the New York subway once you get to New York. Note that if the ferry goes to 42nd Street, there's no subway very close to there (since it's all the way on the west side), and even the closest subway may not be the line you need, so you might have to transfer 2 or three times. It could easily take you 40 minutes to an hour to get to where you need to go in NYC once you get there.
Ya got to love it!
The sky is falling when it comes to driving and expenses, but it is fine to live in a crime infested city.
I love how DR threw in the "proposed" toll for driving thru "parts" of Manahattan....not downtown as you mentioned, DR.
Dawn, the majority of towns thats are within an hour commute of the City have mass transit.
But the guy who lives in JC (DR), and is trying to move out of there are fast as possible (read his posts on other state forums), will tell you different.
Ya got to love it!
The sky is falling when it comes to driving and expenses, but it is fine to live in a crime infested city.
I didn't say anything about the sky falling. I listed a lot of facts about how one commutes to New York City; the logistics involved, how much it costs, how much time it takes. I didn't say that it was good or bad. It depends on how much you like traveling on various kinds of public transportation (I like it, personally, and don't mind if it's long--I was willing to do 1.5.-2 hours just for the commuter train ride to Manhattan), and/or how much you can pay for it (that's where I personally have more of a problem, but many people make far more money than I do). Some people would and do hate having to take a bus, a commuter train and a couple of subways to and from work--I know people who do or did it, figuring that they wouldn't have a problem with it, then grew tired of it in less than a year. Some people do not mind it (I like traveling in vehicles, I like reading and listening to music and playing video games in vehicles, etc.). Some people would hate the drive/traffic and the expense of driving. Some do not (I wouldn't mind that either if I could afford it--I love driving, and do not at all mind driving in heavy traffic). It depends on the person. But it's something that one has to deal with on a daily basis, and it's something that needs to be factored into expenses, unless one is the kind of person who doesn't have to pay any attention to expenses whatsoever, and then one can just take one's personal helicopter to and from work.
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I love how DR threw in the "proposed" toll for driving thru "parts" of Manahattan....not downtown as you mentioned, DR.
It's for driving _in_ Manhattan from at least midtown and below, on weekdays, during working hours. The latest news was that it's looking favorable for approval, but at a lower rate than Bloomberg wanted. I'd be more than happy if it didn't pass, and then obviously you wouldn't have to factor that in. But if you're planning on driving for your commute and it passes, you don't want to suddenly not be able to pay your bills just because you overlooked that extra expense.
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Dawn, the majority of towns thats are within an hour commute of the City have mass transit.
Yes. And I listed exactly what the mass transit is, gave an idea of the costs (we can get more specific if given specific locations), gave an idea of the travel times involved. In the past, my wife and I have looked at homes in many different areas of Jersey, and did the research for exactly what we'd have to do and exactly how much it would cost to do it. We can't afford to forget about a $600 per month expense.
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But the guy who lives in JC (DR), and is trying to move out of there are fast as possible (read his posts on other state forums), will tell you different.
Could you quote where I said that there isn't "mass transit"? So much for being factual and accurate. Mass transit isn't free, and often doesn't take you from your front door to your place of employment's front door. It costs money, it takes time, and it often requires a number of different types of mass transit to get from home to work (or your leisure destination). Those things need to be factored in to budget and lifestyle decisions.
By the way, note that in my initial post in this thread, I commented on the more difficult commute to Manhattan and various shopping locations from the Beacon area. That's something that a potential resident should know, as it will affect their daily life. They can make a decision about whether they'd like that or not.
Last edited by DessertRat; 02-05-2008 at 07:41 AM..
Well, I just took photographs for the length of Montgomery Street (just one side--I'll do the other side tomorrow), but . . . yikes--you've got to have a web address for each photo?? I took 113 photos. Does anyone know of an easier way to post photos here? If not, I guess I'll just put them on my website and post a link to the page here (I don't want to create 113 different pages on my site just to post photos . . . and that's just for today. I'll probably have another 100 tomorrow)
I'll chime in just because I live in the area (about 1/2 mile from Beacon). The area isn't fabulous like Downtown. There aren't bistros or coffee houses or boutiques. It's dirty (do street sweepers REALLY help??). It's in close proximity to public housing. It's a long walk to Journal Square (~12 minute walk). BUT, though it has a "higher than normal" crime rate, I never feel unsafe walking around there day or night. It's not hipster haven, but it's a heck of a lot better and less scary than it was just a few years ago.
That said, would I buy a $700k condo in the Beacon? No way. You can do way better for the money. But if I had only $200k to buy a place with, I'd look for a nice 1/2 house nearby. For that money you can't do much better while maintaining PATH access than areas walkable to Journal Square. And then you just cross your fingers and hope that the area continues to improve.
Lammius I was wondering not to be a d*ick or anything but how has that area around the the beacon improved over the past few years? It really looks no different except for a fancy new sign advertising the beacon condo loft whatever it is. Also a question for Dess Rat, from reading your posts your really trying to sell JC haha also im not trying to be a prick or anything I just like to understand the logic behind posts. I mean hey its not a bad thing trying to express the positive in an area by any means, but like alot of other people mentioned in response to your posts most of JC even though its trying its hardest to be manhattens little brother the areas you mention taking pictures of my not be the worst urban areas they still have tons of crime. Just because people walk around a section thats known as ghetto or whatever and dont have a problem once twice or even 30 times dosnt mean the area is fine. I've been through the sketchy areas and been ok alot of time but then theres also times where it wasnt so ok. Really im not trying to pick on anyone I just want to understand more.
Also a question for Dess Rat, from reading your posts your really trying to sell JC haha
I'm only trying to sell less ridiculous comments.
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they still have tons of crime.
What I need to do is post a webpage about this or something, because I'm having to sound like a broken record.
It's a complicated issue. If we're just talking about the stats that we have as such, whatever they are, however they're reported, it's hardly a matter of debate whether place 1 has higher numbers than place 2. Unfortunately, that doesn't tell us what people want to know.
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Just because people walk around a section thats known as ghetto or whatever and dont have a problem once twice or even 30 times dosnt mean the area is fine.
What people always want to know is whether an area will be safe for them. If you walk around an area every day and you're fine, then the area is safe for you--nothing happened to you. Beyond that, people would like some idea of the probability of something happening to them (and no matter where you are, if you're in a community of some kind, the probability is never zero). Unfortunately, an accurate probability is not something that we can tell them from the stats we have. We may as well run a random number generator for all the good that will do--it would be as accurate. That 100 people out of 100,000 are murdered in a year doesn't actually tell you whether you're likely to be murdered. In a place where 100 people are murdered out of 100,000 in a year versus a place where 10 out of 100,000 are murdered in a year, someone is more likely to be murdered (assuming the statistical trends continue), but folks want to know if they're more likely to be murdered, not just someone, anyone. Depending on what's really going on in each situation, someone could be far less safe (there could be a much higher probability of them being a murder victim) in the place where 10 out of 100,000 are murdered rather than the place where 100 out of 100,000 are murdered.
Well, I just took photographs for the length of Montgomery Street (just one side--I'll do the other side tomorrow), but . . . yikes--you've got to have a web address for each photo?? I took 113 photos. Does anyone know of an easier way to post photos here? If not, I guess I'll just put them on my website and post a link to the page here (I don't want to create 113 different pages on my site just to post photos . . . and that's just for today. I'll probably have another 100 tomorrow)
I'm still waiting to do more. I was hoping to take them Friday, but then my wife was off work and we were busy, and the weather has been too crappy since then for me to even take my daily walks. I'll have more posted soon, though.
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