Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
From “Brick City Bike Collective Puts Newark Back on the Bicycle Map” published today in Mobilizing the Region, a blog of the transportation advocacy group Tri-State.
Since the middle of the last century, Newark has been an autocentric place that is hostile to cyclists. Wide roads like McCarter Highway bisect communities and encourage speeding, while broken glass and potholes increase the chances of a crash. The Collective is working get more Newarkers out on bikes, make drivers more aware of bikers and encourage city planners to implement bike-friendly policies and infrastructure. So far, the group has 60 members.
At its inaugural ride, the Collective traveled up Beaver Street through Branch Brook Park, ending at Independence Park in the Ironbound. Members got the unique opportunity to chat with their Mayor in an informal setting.
“Enjoying Newark on two wheels is a vision I share with many others, and Newark has the potential to be a truly green, bike-able city,” BCBC member Elizabeth Reynoso told TSTC staffer Zoe Baldwin during the ride. “The Brick City Bike Collective taps into that, giving riders a voice and building a community that will encourage more and more people to get around the city by bike.”
In late July, the group tabled at the Lincoln Park Music Festival, handing out spoke cards, bike safety coloring books and collecting information on where people commonly ride in Newark. Free bike maintenance and a “bike waterfall,” built by members Ryan Reedell and Marie Pasquariello, were popular with the crowd.
So no secret that with Prudential Center came a few new bars springing up here and there, but an economy swirling in the toilet hasn’t really given Newark the boon it needs. Is the Downtown area finally trending upward, though? In the past year, Broad Street has seen the opening of a Bank of America branch at the Market Street corner and McDonald’s got a McFacelift, among a few other less prominent shops opening up near Military Park. Brick City Bar and Grill opened on Edison Place, which will also be getting a PNC Bank and saw the demolition of a handful of derelict buildings, paving the way for the Devils’ open space, Championship Plaza.
More recently, a new Dunkin Donuts opened about a month ago on Market, between Broad and Mulberry. Bill’s Coffee Shop, at the corner of Broad and Lafayette, dropped out of Newark only to return this past spring as Mike’s, offering cheap eats and java. Across the street, a floundering Bojangles became Mom’s Food Cafe, and if you look out their front window, where Borok’s home furnishings once stood is now a razed lot, making way for… well, who knows?
One of the new establishments popping up on and around Broad Street.
One of the new establishments popping up on and around Broad Street.
Meanwhile, in the middle of Broad, behind the arena, there’s two revamp projects going on as you read this sentence (well, one revamp and one building cloaked in a mysterious blue tarp), and a brew pub and Brick City Coffee Co. are both also in progress. I’m not even dipping into the rumor mill of the possible hotel here and maybe celebrity-backed apartment complex there speculation.
Is this the start of a Broad Street facelift?
Is this the start of a Broad Street facelift?
Or more of the same smoke and mirrors (and tarp)?
Or more of the same smoke and mirrors (and tarp)?
Stroll further down Broad and the new Rutgers business building is just about finished, with an LED board ripped from Times Square.
So that begs the question, is Downtown finally turning the corner and coming to life, or is this merely a perpetual shuffling of openings and closings in the guise of advancement?
NEWARK-The three-story retail property at 260 Washington St. recently sold to 260 Washington LLC in a $980,000 all-cash transaction to Fleet Washington LLC. The 20,880-square-foot retail property sits on an 87-foot by 80-foot footprint. There are eight fully occupied suites with lease expirations staggering over the next four years. The property is located half a block from the Market Street Retail Corridor and two blocks from the Prudential Center.
The close proximity of 260 Washington to universities, office buildings and arts and entertainment venues makes it an ideal candidate for residential conversion. In recent months, residential development in Newark’s Downtown has been spurred by the "Living Downtown Plan," which streamlines the permitting and approval process for these conversions.
The plan builds on revitalization strategies in comparable downtowns, including Center City Philadelphia and Oakland. Thanks to input from the city’s institutional, business and resident stakeholders, the plan represents a comprehensive vision for Newark’s central business district--replacing a diverse collection of plans, all covering different boundaries or concentrating on specific rather than comprehensive goals.
The company declined to provide any additional information, but according to Massey Knakal’s website, total annual operating expenses will run around $30,000, with gross monthly income at $12,139 and gross annual income in the $146,000 range, for a total net operating income of close to $116,000.
^I think the championship plaza is a nice start. It has the potential to knock out the immediate perception of folks like...for starters...Barry Melrose.
He was only the media version of what a lot of folks think about the city. Devils fans are proof that everyone isn't afraid of Newark.
I think any efforts to develop downtown will have a 'spillover' effect, in which the surrounding neighborhoods will follow suit. i.e. Society Hill.
Artistic rendering of the Essex County Veterans Memorial Park
Added by Aristide Economopoulos on March 16, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, Jr., left, Essex County Sherrif Armando Fontoura and Tony Caprigleone of the Nutley AMVETS Lodge 30, tour the area of the new Essex County Veterans Memorial Park. NEWARK, NJ, USA, Photo by Aristide Economopoulos-The Star-Ledger
Construction resumes on Newark's Ferry Street project
by Chanta L. Jackson/The Star-Ledger
Monday August 31, 2009, 6:30 AM
Work has resumed on the Ferry Street streetscape redevelopment project in an effort to complete Phase 1A of the Ferry Street Streetscape Project between Jefferson and Madison Streets that began last fall. The work is being done by Berto Construction of Newark.
In Newark, the BAT District Lofts at 368 Broad St. will receive $6.7 million in aid and tax credits to help finance a 68-unit building that will include 18 low- and 15 moderate- income apartments. Brick Towers at Montgomery and Quit man Streets will get $4.9 million in aid and tax credits to provide 80 affordable apartments. And Newark Genesis Apartments at Mount Pleasant Avenue and Oriental Street will receive $3 million in aid and tax credits to provide 51 affordable units.
A Native Son's Plan for Newark (http://www.corybooker.com/content/media/1-latest-headlines/28-native.html - broken link)
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
