Driving through newark is one of the most frustrating experiences ever as a tradesman.

NOBODY fkin moves. EVERYBODY's double parked, and like.. people generally act like they got nowhere to go, and nothing to do.

That's it? I guess the rest of the post is right on point.

2-fam carry the same issues as condos/rentals with the long winded contract stipulations they put in these days

Don't know, but it sure is the result.

They should turn that place into an adult theater, since all the other ones closed down.

There's certainly a market for it.

The city's getting hella boojie.

No idea, but they can't blame the shortage of laborers anymore. They're literally ALL here 😅

I love how everyone turns into budget-conscious graduate IV league economists the moment they have an argument to make 🙄

Considering all the waste and other cosmetic things we spend on, I don't think a little bit of dye in asphalt is going to break the bank.

We don't ignore any other part of cosmetics when it comes to our environment.. paving cosmetics seems to be an after-thought. It isn't everywhere.

check this out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPJCTOQGU04

correct. The color is a light black/dark grey and very depressing to look at every day.

I don't know bro. It doesn't have to be that horrible boring color tho. could go with cobblestone or different shades of asphalt or cement. Parts of western PA is all reddish... florida is often times a lot brighter.. dubai/abu dhabi does all kinds of awesome fancy things.. so does shanghai.. like there's no reason to leave things so goddamn dull and depressing.

Concrete looks better and lasts longer. But the contractors maintaining roads don't want to hear it, because asphalt is temporary and they get to redo it every couple years.

Good thing they had the foresight and/or narcissism to build streets far wider than was necessary.. turned out well for 4 lane streets.

The streets looked so much classier paved in concrete rather than asphalt.

asphalt is nice for traction in good weather, but it's really shit to look at. It makes eveything look darker and depressing. Very utilitarian. Asphalt-black is not a pleasant color to look at... anywhere at anytime period. Like NO ONE purposely paints anything in that color if their lives depended on it. It sucks donkey-cock.

I can't wait until the era of asphalt finally comes to an end. Give it another couple decades.. i'm sure they'll come up with something less corrosive on the eyes.

I don't think that's paranoid for someone that is out of place. I think it's realistic caution. Seen it happen, happened to me a few times. It's just part of the gig when you're walking around places alone at different hours and stick out for invariable reasons.

I'm not calling people nutbags for living there. I had my reasons for living there too.

I'm calling people nutbags for acting like it's a totally average run of the mill part of New Jersey or America. To this dude from India whose only knowledge is basically movies and TV shows, that's just not what he's expecting.

Newark is anything but-.

Love it or hate it, the sht is fked up... by all measures.

I lived and worked there over a decade. Every part. If you think newark truly offers everything there is to offer in NJ, you need to get out more. Newark only offers a shitty quality of life except for the most expensive upscale buildings, you need to travel A LOT more.

This is the time when he's supposed to make meaningful connections. It's not going to happen in any affordable part of newark. But also lack of sleep due to noise at night.. lack of safety... not knowing if your place is going to get robbed... not knowing if you're going to get mugged going out for milk. Whole city smells like trash. The litter.. bars on windows... it's all just shitty depressing environments.

In this case, it's what most smart people would do.

Thousands of people who work in Newark and go to schools in newark, don't live in Newark. Heck, I even know city workers who keep a cheap rental room in newark for official address, but live outside of Newark too.

Quit acting like it's far fetched.

Ad Hominem. This has nothing to do with race.

He could buy a used car and just drive 20 minutes. It would be the smarter thing to do. He can sleep easy and not worry about craziness waking him up every other night.

Granted, but it's still shitty. He's coming to the free world... not to live somewhere where windows are barred up and patrols have to keep strangers from mugging him... like this is not a good environment to enjoy this new part of the world... fkin hell.. too bad he can't go to like some nice place in central jersey or like bergen co or more rural north or south counties.. or even lancaster PA.. there are SO many nicer places, where ppl are not so despondent and broke down, and things are nicer and friendlier, ppl are more gentle and easy going... he's trading one messy socially dysfunctional overcrowded place for another. They done sent this kid straight to the hood smh, like why tho?

The north ward is shitty too.

I'm just saying if the dude is going to travel thousands of miles across oceans to experience something new, Newark is a crappy place to start. Any other City in NJ is better.

He's going to figure it out by himself sooner or later. And then, this guy will think you guys are a bunch a dicks.

Irrelevant to my statement. Still high crime compared to the rest of the state. He doesn't sound like he can afford the $2000/mo+ to live in any nice area, so kindly stfu right back 🙄

It's still top 10 in NJ in terms of crime. Why bullshit a foreign visitor? that's cruel.

OP, please ignore these nutbags.

source: https://idcide.com/citydata/nj/newark.htm

America is a beautiful country, but Newark is one of the highest crime cities in New Jersey. It is a very poor representative of the country as a whole, and you must mentally prepare yourself for that. There are hundreds of geopolitical, economic, and cultural reasons for the way things are, but unfortunately, that's the current reality.

The good news is that right outside of newark (and irvington and east orange) is a completely different world. You're a shoethrow from NYC/manhattan, one of the top 20 greatest and most powerful cities on earth.

NJ has many indian communities, restaurants, mosques, and temples. Some are gigantic incase you ever get homesick. Try to get a cheap used car, or rent a car every now and then, and get around a little.

The most fascinating building I know that exists in Newark is the old "Roosevelt Theater" tucked behind some apartment buildings on clinton ave and Leslie st.

It's a HUMONGOUS "paramount movie-palace type theater room from the 1920's.

You wouldn't know it was there, unless you looked on google maps satellite. You'll find it smack in the middle of the block where there should be yards.

currently owned by "pc pilgrim cathedral". Completely in disrepair and failing roof.

Pilgrim cathedral actually runs their whole service from the -entrance- hallway space of the old movie palace (entrance on clinton ave).

They don't have the money to rehab the actual movie palace building... probably would run in the millions. So they keep it sealed off. The previous pastor I spoke to had plans for it, but it never came to fruition.

Most reduced income tenants do not feel it is their responsibility to handle trash, even though you will see it as their responsibility in almost all leases. They also don't want to spend their money on trash bags, which are getting more expensive by the year. The city (yes, Newark is an actual city) does not place enough litter bins on the sidewalks, and they often fill up quick, and it all blows away all over the place.

Most properties are 2 to 4 units, which means there is no staff to sweep the grounds and rebag poorly-bagged trash.

Larger buildings (20+ units) tend to have a superintendent on premises. That person typically goes through the entire building's worth of trash twice a week, rebags all of it in heavy duty bags, and picks up litter every single day around the property, including dog poop, and then schleps all those bags out to the sidewalk for regular pickup. I did that singlehandedly twice a week, every week in the south ward for a few years of my life. On that job, I have smelled odors that left me gagging while wondering how on earth or what on earth those odors came from. I had a few rats jump at me a few times in the process. I knew of some superintendents in other buildings that did not keep up with it, and it resulted in a lot of trash everywhere too.

I also experienced at least a dozen times where homeless or random people came by and tore open the trash bags looking for recycables or other items they can use, and then leave whatever they didn't take just spread out all over the place. That used to really piss me off. Not much I could do except feel bad for those fked up ppl, and clean everything back up.

Buildings with 50+ units tend to keep private rental dumpsters that get emptied by a truck every week. It's a lot easier on the superintendent. But those buildings are few and far between.

That's how you end up with loose trash and litter everywhere.

depends. is that gross or net?

too high compared to what I see. Too high considering posted job salaries... everyone complaining about high rent taking up half their salaries.. all the people on subsidized housing and choosing to rent small places instead of buy... it doesn't make any sense.

this claims the median income of a 'household' is $80,000.

I really have a hard time believing that. Sounds way too high considering nearly a half of working NJers live alone.. and are still counted as a "household."