| Author | Message | ||
     Ucnthndlthtruth |
Maybe this article on our neighboring town of Irvington will help shed some light on recently discussed issues : Maplewood's (and South Orange's) crime statistics, why Maplewood homes near the boarder of Irvington have lower property values than those on "the other side " of town and the redevelopment of Springfield Ave. From Today's Star Ledger: "Desolation rows cut through Irvington" 03/04/01 BY WAYNE WOOLLEY STAR-LEDGER STAFF "When you look at what's going on in Newark and what's happening in Irvington, it's night and day," says Cornelius Martin, pastor of Unity Freedom Church and chairman of New Visions Community Development Corp., which is building 36 houses in Newark. "In Irvington, everything just sits." Once a quiet working-class suburb on Newark's western border, Irvington was a destination for people fleeing crime and blight. Now, as Newark shows signs of revival, Irvington is struggling. Its violent crime rate is second only to Seaside Heights, home to summer rowdiness on the Jersey Shore. Its tax base has shrunk by 15 percent, while property tax bills have nearly doubled in the past 10 years. Its police force handles 10 times the emergencies as 25 years ago but with fewer officers than in the 1970s. The town work force is understaffed, and the council and the mayor are locked in a seemingly endless political battle. Irvington's plight can be found in other close-in suburbs around the nation. Towns such as neighboring East Orange and Orange in North Jersey; Inkster, a Detroit suburb; and Chester, a Philadelphia suburb, that once were havens are now in worse condition than the inner cities their residents fled. Nowhere is the devastation more evident than in Irvington's East Ward, a segment of town north of Springfield Avenue and squeezed between the Garden State Parkway and Newark's western border. People around here can't keep up with their taxes and walk away from their houses all the time," says Burwell, the community activist who maps the decline in pink and green. "In a way, you can't blame them." The average residential property tax bill in Irvington -- where the average home sells for about $140,000 -- has nearly doubled in the past 10 years to nearly $5,000. In 1980, the town had 45 housing inspectors who aggressively cracked down on homeowners for things like missing screens and on business owners who failed to keep their stores tidy. There are now six inspectors -- and it shows. Certainly the fear of crime is driving some out. At night, many calls that don't involve the loss of life or property don't get answered for hours Now, Irvington struggles to control curbside drug dealing that has flourished in at least a dozen locations in the East and South wards. There is a serious gang problem in Irvington where the Bloods congregate," according to a memo prepared by the Essex County Prosecutor's Office in October. "They frequent approximately eight go-go bars in the town and many of the dancers are known as 'bloodettes.'" The township's image also has suffered from highly publicized corruption probes. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/jersey/ledger/1286f0a.html | ||
| Thetruth07040 |
I read the article and quite frankly it is no surprise but frightening none the less. I suppose the real question for those of us on the east side of town is what will it take to keep the Irvington's problems from spreading into Maplewood? The article talks about how Irvington center is now filled with discount stores and electronics stores. How far are we away from that on Springfield Ave here in Maplewood? There have been discussions about renovation on the Ave for what now seems like forever. Will it ever really happen and if it does will it perhaps be too little too late? | ||
| Thetruth07040 |
By the way..interesting screen name...Yes, I CAN handle The Truth! | ||
| Melidere |
We really can't afford for it to be 'too late'. The sentence that scares me the most is "People around here can't keep up with their taxes and walk away from their houses all the time," says Burwell, the community activist who maps the decline in pink and green. "In a way, you can't blame them." We have everything going for us. We are a relatively wealthy community with a thriving downtown and a good 'public' image if the new york times is any indication. We have a relatively small area to contend with. I was mentioning my concern about people 'throwing away the keys' to my father and he expressed disbelief. Then i pointed out that the path to that point is pretty unpleasant, indeed. First, when you can't sell your house you rent it (60% of the irvington community is renting...wowsers) and then, when you can no longer rent it, you just quit. And whoever is left gets to pick up the taxes. And then the taxes have to start covering the costs of demolishing abandoned buildings, in order to keep some sort of lid on crime. The reval has just been the wake-up call. | ||
| Pepper |
Melidere, The difference is that the taxes on the east side are going down. So the people that are living there should keep their properties and not flee because of this story. The best way to keep the east side a nice stable community is for the people who live there to continue doing what they have been doing. Stay involved in your community, neighborhood associations, schools etc. and maintain your property. Irvington has been the way it is for over a decade and I suspect that if you check, housing values on the east side probably have always been less than in other areas of Maplewood. We all should support the upgrading of Springfield Ave. (not in a Disneyesque way)with "real" businesses that have long term appeal etc. In another string there was a discussion of attracting new technology types and artist who have been priced out of Silicon Alley and Soho in the city. This mixed with banks, restaurants, offices etc would make a nice mix for Springfield Ave. | ||
| Jur050 |
No two ways about it, Maplewood should learn from the Irvington experience. How about it! By the way do we need 45 Home inspectors? How many do we currently have? Are they really doing the job? What job do they anyway? | ||
| Thetruth07040 |
Regarding the Housing inspectors....I am more concerned with inspection and standards for businesses, particularly on Springfield Ave. If you look at the sores there now, many are a disgrace....makeshift, unsightly signage, unkempt faces etc.. I realize that some of this problem is do to the fact that the actual property owners are just taking the money and investing nothing. Whenever I have friends visit me for the first time I sometimes have to give them directions from either the Irvington or the Vauxhall sides of Springfield Ave. (from 24/78 or from the Parkway). When they arrive, they inevitable ask me why the heck I'm living here. Yes, the Hilton neighborhood itself is very nice, but I believe that property values and the overall perception are very adversely effected by the condition of area you have to go through to get to it. I sometimes find myself giving directions that are really out of the way, taking people over prospect street and right across the Ave instead of down it just to avoid the embarrassment. | ||
| Goodolddays |
Thetruth07040, Jur050, Pepper & Melidere: All of you have really hit the nail on the head. Yes, Maplewood MUST learn from Irvington, for IT IS NEVER TO LATE. It's obvious the Thetruth07040 has concerns...and yes, certain approaches to Maplewood do not provide a view of "loction, location, location". Springfield Avenue appears bare...hardward stores, gas stations, places to dine, 5 & 10 cent store, butcher shops, bakery's, confectionary stores, repair shops, even dry good stores...all gone...memories of what once was. But that doesn't mean it has to be..... Every inch of Maplewood can, should and must retain the same character as it can be....being special, justy like Maplewood Center. It's sad to thing otherwise. Look back..what did we do then that we aren't doing now? | ||
| Mtierney |
I have written about this before. Irvington was a fine middle class community (the nature of the housing stock, small lots, multifamilies, etc.) never allowed it to be "grand.") The shopping center was second only to downtown Newark which was a good second to NYC at the time! After the riots of 1967 (national guard had blockades at the Springfield Ave. Maplewood line), there began a slow, steady decline. Many people fled Newark seeking safer environs in Irvington. Whites left Irvington in droves. I know of a number of Maplewood families who also took off in fear that Maplewood was destined to go the way of Irvington. This occurred more than 30 years ago. Obviously, many factors can account for the fact that Maplewood has remained the fine community it is. One major factor, in my view, was the outstanding Republican party which was at the helm during this trying time. With the right leadership and right motivation, Springfield Avenue's true destiny might still surface. | ||
| Wendy |
Mtierney - What exactly (or generally) did the Republican party do (or not do) in your opinion, that kept Maplewood from "becoming another Irvington?" | ||
| Nohero |
Mtierney - When I moved here, the "outstanding Republican party" was in charge, 5-0. Springfield Avenue had been allowed to go downhill. No action was being taken with respect to the clear, and growing, disparity between housing values in the Hilton section (and environs) and the other side of town. In my humble opinion, things are now better (let me repeat that, better) with respect to the outlook for Springfield Avenue, the Hilton section, and for the community as a whole, than they were back in 1990. | ||
| Face |
Wow, thank you for your once again promoting the correlation between the party in power and your perception of what is better. In your humble opinion, that makes all the difference, Go Crats! | ||
| Face |
As a matter of fact, that is the obvious solution for all of Irvington's ills. Elect a Democratic slate. Hey, because there is one in Maplewood, Irvington will get better, at least in the world according to Nohero. Now isn't that easy! | ||
| Face |
oops duped it! | ||
| Nohero |
Face - I was responding Mtierney, who (I believe) was "promoting the correlation between the party in power" and the "perception of what is better." If you are interested in another of my humble opinions, I think that parts of town were ignored for too long. When I first moved to town, I bought an inexpensive house in the Hilton section. Much to my dismay, it was even more inexpensive when I sold it a few years later. On the recent assessment summaries, I see that it's market value is now back up. Mtierney and you may have your own perceptions of whether things were better or worse a few years ago. I have a different view. (By the way, thanks for the flame. It's nice to know that someone reads what I write down.) | ||
| Mtierney |
Of one thing I am absolutely sure: Had we had two party representation during this reval, we might have seen different results. The existing TC stuck together like glue (maybe mumbling a quiet comment or two at the meetings) and voted as a bloc. With different opinions come different solutions. | ||
| Melidere |
you are ABSOLUTELY sure we MIGHT HAVE seen different results? heh don't go too far out on a limb there, mtierney. | ||
| Njjoseph |
Melidere, you're right about Mtierney's 'might have.' I don't understand, and maybe someone can enlighten me, how Republicans and Democrats are so different that this reval situation would have been so different. Most on this board seem to bring up the services the municipality provides and ways of reducing the taxes. Well, 60% of our taxes go to the school system, and 20% go to the county. Even if we cut town services in half (thereby reducing municipal taxes by half), that's not going to reduce $16K taxes down to $10K. Therefore, when this state review is done, we will see ways of reducing school expenses, or will it be limited to municipal taxes? (Sorry to bring in this topic on this thread, but it applies.) | ||
| Jfb |
I've said this many times, what is that 20% the county gets paying for? How much would it cost to transfer the services the county does to the state or individual towns? | ||
| Thetruth07040 |
I realize that this is all related in some fashion but the decline of Irvington and the concerns of what will come of Maplewood are NOT all directly connected to the Reval or the two party system. As a kid, I used to ride my bicycle down Springfied Ave to go to the Sanford Theater in the Center. Would you send your children to do the same now? The quality of life surrounding us is diminishing and we argue over the reval. Our freedoms to travel safely where we want are being slowly taken away and replaced with crack dealers, car thiefs and armed robbers. Our neighborhood (mine being Hilton) is fine right now..what will we do to keep it that way? When will the Springfield Ave project we've been hearing about for ages actually start? Does the town really pay as much attention to what goes on on this side? |
