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Message |
    
Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 126
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:35 am: |     |
I wanted to try a little experiment on MOL because the Maplewood Pet Peeves thread was sort of depressing and I regret having contributed to it myself. It seems that on MOL misery loves company and the only threads that have any legs are the ones full of negativity. That may just be human natureMOL has really transmogrified into a place where a vocal minority of dissatisfied residents only post when they have something to complain about.
For a town that has so much going for it I would have thought there would be a little more community spirit and I wanted to see how long a thread of what people like about what Maplewood has to offer would last or if it would die a lonely death on the island of misfit threads. |
drewdix
Citizen
Username: Drewdix
Post Number: 488
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:45 am: | |
Always apppreciated our variety of housing stock.
All of the trees.
And proximity to everything (airport, a downtown, SPringfield Ave., NYC) |
Duncan
Citizen
Username: Duncanrogers
Post Number: 1558
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:45 am: | |
My Neighbors. on both sides. up and down the street.
The plentiful open space and parks for my son to play in.
Media in Motion group. Good folks all.
NetNomads!
easy access to NYC AND a big back yard.
DIVERSITY DIVERSITY DIVERSITY
I am sure I will think of more!
Alls Well That Ends Well. Playing through March 7. info at http://www.hometown.aol.com/theatr1010/ |
Ukealalio
Citizen
Username: Ukealalio
Post Number: 472
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:48 am: | |
* A Real Town (Not a couple of strip malls only reachable by jug handles).
*Loads of Manhattanites, Park Slopers and overall, good people.
*Great local Music/arts scene.
* Old beautiful houses.
*Old beautiful tree's.
*Concierge at the Train station.
Etc. Etc. Etc.
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clkelley
Citizen
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 137
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:48 am: | |
Thankfully, the list of Maplewood virtues is much longer than the list of pet peeves - at least for me.
1) I have great neighbors. I know many of them.
2) Our village is a wonder. Despite our griping about traffic, parking, blah blah blah, the fact is that people come from outside just to experience our village.
Sub-items:
o Dickens village during the winter holidays.
o Trick-or-treating and Halloween parade.
3) Our libraries.
4) Our oft-griped-about schools are actually pretty good. (I'm ducking my head now so feel free to shoot. :-)
5) Our parks - I've never lived anywhere with anything even close to them.
I have lots more, but that's a start. |
ffof
Citizen
Username: Ffof
Post Number: 1960
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 9:57 am: | |
We're not a cul-de-sac community and you can find live music and theatre in town. We ought to include SO in this. |
clkelley
Citizen
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 138
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 10:11 am: | |
One thing I forgot and really, really need to add:
6) Maplewood Online. I've been involved in online communities for years and this is without question the best one I have ever seen.
Crazy, sweet, funny, helpful, spirited, insightful, incredibly nasty on occasion - but that's just people being people. |
Earlster
Citizen
Username: Earlster
Post Number: 121
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 10:36 am: | |
Not in any order:
- The People
- Our Neighbours
- Diversity
- Great parks and playgrounds
- Volleyball at the Y
- The Village
- SA redevelopment, Net Nomads
- Libraries
- MOL
- Housing stock
- Old trees
- Movie theatre, great restaurants and the Gate
- A sense of community not found to often anymore
- This thread
Sure there is more |
algebra2
Citizen
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 1636
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 11:54 am: | |
I like the fact that I feel comfortable asking a fellow commuter walking to the train if they want a ride and they feel comfortable enough to take it. I like that people reciprocate and give me a ride when they see me hoofing it up the hill. I like the people I chat with on the train platform. I like that my coffee guy knows what I want without me having to speak in the morning. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 972
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:02 pm: | |
Saying "good morning" to a stranger on the street, and they say it back to you with a smile. It's the first thing I noticed when I moved here. |
Ruck1977
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 49
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:27 pm: | |
went to the barber shop shortly after moving to town...forgot to bring cash.
they cut my hair anyway, and just asked me to bring the money by later...i was amazed by this, and their friendly nature.
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Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 433
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:30 pm: | |
The look of the downtown.
The parks.
The speedy train to work, for cheap.
The lovely man in the wine store on Maplewood Avenue who took pity on us on our first night here and gave me two glasses from the back room so we could drink our celebratory wine out of other than styrofoam. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 2040
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:38 pm: | |
30 minutes to Manhattan; 30 minutes to the country |
jfburch
Citizen
Username: Jfburch
Post Number: 1303
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:47 pm: | |
All of the above, plus:
Kojak parking at the library.
Independent stores, local shopkeepers.
Scrivener's Toy Store
A main street movie theater (such as it is)
Fourth of July celebrations
Quiet places to walk
The pool
community groups of all sorts and active citizens
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themp
Citizen
Username: Themp
Post Number: 538
Registered: 12-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:49 pm: | |
Walking to the train.
Knowing the neighbors.
Parks with tennis courts.
Putting hardly any miles on our cars.
Diversity of age, profession, and background among residents.
Fish market in town.
Movie theater in town.
Bar in town.
Duck race!
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NCJanow(akaLibraryLady)
Citizen
Username: Librarylady
Post Number: 1236
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 12:58 pm: | |
What I love about Maplewood is its close proximity to South Orange!
NCJ aka LibraryLady
On a coffee break..or something like it. |
Tom Reingold
Citizen
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 2185
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 1:15 pm: | |
Cute one, Nancy!
I love everything listed above and more that I can't remember at the moment. I think themp was alluding to this, but these two towns are actually easy to get around, and they're moderately complete for shopping. I lived in Edison where all the distances were easy in theory but frustrating in practice. No trip within the two towns ever takes more than fifteen minutes.
My neighbors are really nice, too.
The houses are so nice that I fantacize about selling my home and moving into nearly each of the others.
Where's that barber shop, Ruck?
Tom Reingold the prissy-pants
There is nothing
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ajc
Citizen
Username: Ajc
Post Number: 2481
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 1:46 pm: | |
Everything, absolutely everything! |
Ruck1977
Citizen
Username: Ruck1977
Post Number: 50
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 2:09 pm: | |
the barber shop in town...next to the gate and diner...i can't recall the name though right now...which is sad because I was pretty damn happy with the place! |
harpo
Citizen
Username: Harpo
Post Number: 1274
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 2:31 pm: | |
An abundance of beauty
Abundance of nature
Great transportation, great place to walk
Great people, more often considerate than not
Ethnic diversity is valued
Clean local government
Rising property values
Reasonably good movie theater
Some outstanding restaurants and cafes
and I could go on and on . . .
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algebra2
Citizen
Username: Algebra2
Post Number: 1640
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 2:32 pm: | |
Larry's -- my son loves Larry's, well he loves getting his hair cut. My husband takes him every few weeks and simply tells Larry "marine cut" -- the little boy loves getting his head shaved. They are all so nice in there. |
C Bataille
Citizen
Username: Nakaille
Post Number: 1656
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 2:42 pm: | |
I'm just going to wait until the end of this thread and ditto everything you folks are writing. I love this town and the people, places, and events in it. Including MOLERS.
Cathy
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marian
Citizen
Username: Marian
Post Number: 111
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:11 pm: | |
1: The fact that all my friends want to move here.
2: The fact that this town was originally our second choice when we were looking for our first house (won't tell ya the first but it also begins with "M" and gets compared a lot to Maplewood), but now we can't imagine living ANYWHERE else.
3: The fact that I can walk to town with my son and almost always run into someone we know -- if not by name, then at least by sight.
4: The fact that we have weekend train service to the city. (That other "M" town still doesn't.)
5: The fact that our downtown looks like it's right out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
6: The fact that we are a diverse, (relatively) tolerant community that has recently been featured in two major magazines as one of the best places to live.
7: The fact that we have wonderful restaurants, culture, art, parks, schools, etc.
8: The fact that "Officer Grumpy," the traffic cop that used to yell at all the middle school kids (and many commuters) crossing Baker Street in the mornings has been reassigned (or retired) and now there's a really nice civilian crossing guard who always says, "Good morning" posted there.
9: The fact that I can come up with nearly 10 facts like this in just a few minutes.
10: MAPLEWOOD ONLINE, of course :-)
p.s. Arnomation, this is a GREAT idea for a thread. Thanks so much for starting it!
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jamie
Moderator
Username: Jamie
Post Number: 446
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:27 pm: | |
I love the Underground Concert Series!
It'll be back in April and May - the lineup is almost finalized! It's going to be a great season - stay tuned. |
Arnomation
Citizen
Username: Arnomation
Post Number: 127
Registered: 7-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 3:28 pm: | |
p.s. Arnomation, this is a GREAT idea for a thread. Thanks so much for starting it!
You're very welcome :-) I'm pleased to see that there are a lot of people like me that see the glass as half full :-)
I love having the parks nearby, I love driving around and looking at all the beautiful houses and coming from where we were in Brooklyn I absolutely love not having garbage all over the sidewalk in front of my house everyday blowing down the street from the big apartment house on the corner. I might add that playing with my kids in this frabjous weather in an almost litter free park is such a treat.
Mike |
finnegan
Citizen
Username: Finnegan
Post Number: 69
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 5:34 pm: | |
My friend who lives in Livingston looked through the Parent-Name-Information book at her kids' k-5 school and found out that she was the only mom (out of hundreds) who kept/uses her "maiden" name.
Here the public schools I am familiar with publish a whole cross-reference page in the back of the books so we can connect the moms whose names differ from their kids with the kids.
I love that! |
mimosa
Citizen
Username: Mimosa
Post Number: 97
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 23, 2004 - 6:02 pm: | |
Ditto to all that's been said. I feel sooo lucky to live here! Like I belong to this cool and special club. We chose to move here more than 7 years ago because of the houses,parks, trees, schools, village, library, pool, commute, and the fact that we felt our kids would feel a sense of ownership. We'll always be Maplewoodians! (Even if we do get cranky sometimes!)  |
happyman
Citizen
Username: Happyman
Post Number: 109
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 10:24 am: | |
SPRINGTIME . . . you then realize why it is called the Garden State!
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Crazyguggenheim
Citizen
Username: Crazyguggenheim
Post Number: 527
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 11:18 am: | |
Call me crazy, but what's all this about Maplewood Viruses? Is it catchy?
Call me crazy |
Mummite
Citizen
Username: Mummite
Post Number: 58
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2004 - 1:22 pm: | |
All of the above and.....
I love that I feel totally at home here despite only moving in September. This is the adult life we dreamed of - a spacious house in a great tree-lined neighbourhood and a walk to a pub and train! And the people are so interesting yet normal and there's no 'snobbery'.
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