[AsburyPark] FYI - city joins ligation - Market Street Mission
Wednesday night City Council formally joined the ligation against the Market Street Mission's appeal Its NOT over yet folks..Here is APP article ASBURY PARK The city is asking state Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson to make it a full party to an appeal filed last month by Market Street Mission, which hopes to overturn the Zoning Board of Adjustment's denial of a 40-bed homeless mission on Memorial Drive. Previously, the city was involved in litigation as a friend of the court in support of a group of residents who successfully challenged an earlier zoning board approval of the mission, which the Morristown- based Market Street Mission named the Jersey Shore Rescue Mission. After the zoning board last October reversed its previous approval of the proposed homeless shelter, Market Street appealed to get that setback overturned. The city is asking Lawson to be able to set forth its own position along with the zoning board, which will defend its decision. Brendan Judge, attorney for Market Street Mission, said Friday that one of his client's arguments is that the decision of the zoning board was not supported by evidence in the record. According to a copy of the mission's amended complaint, Market Street argues that it was able to establish in the record that the new mission can operate without substantial detriment to the public good. Market Street argues that to make their decision, the city zoners used external considerations that were not in the state Municipal Land Use Law. The zoners last October unanimously rejected the shelter, which had opened for about four months, saying it was too large an operation and could cycle up to 1,000 homeless men a year through the city from all over the state with no program in place to help them. The mission needed variances from the board to operate in a light industrial zone. The seven board members who voted that night said Market Street's plans to expand its operations on such a grand scale in Asbury Park were detrimental to a city that works to take care of its own homeless but should not be required to serve hundreds of homeless people from elsewhere. According to the latest appeal filed by Market Street, 27 of the 40 beds would be used by men needing emergency overnight shelter who could not stay longer than seven nights. Another 10 beds are designated for men who participate in a two-to-three-month life change program. Three beds are for staff. According to testimony last year, there was little programming in place for the men using up to 27 beds a night. They had to leave the shelter during the day and try to get help from the city's social services department or other agencies. City zoners first rejected the mission in 2005. Market Street appealed, and in 2006 former Superior Court Judge Alexander D. Lehrer reversed the zoning board's decision, saying the homeless shelter served a beneficial use. The case went back to the zoners, who approved it with certain conditions. In 2006, residents appealed the zoners' approval. After a decision against it, the mission was ordered closed by City Manager Terence Reidy. Lawson upheld the city manager's order. Article by Nancy Shields -2/9/08 Jessica 605 Langford Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI
Real Estate America's Most Overpriced Suburbs Matt Woolsey, 01.31.08, 2:00 PM ET While many of the nation's homeowners are worried about falling home prices, others would argue they're not falling fast enough. You might find them in Santa Monica, Calif. There, it takes just over 17 years of total earned salary for the median-income household to afford the median-priced home. In Berkeley, Calif., it takes almost 15 years and for Passaic, N.J. households, it's a more reasonable 13 years. To find the rest of the spots on our list, we used data from Demographia, a St. Louis-based demographic research firm that draws on U.S. Census data for areas considered suburbs in the nation's 50 largest metros. Based on these numbers, we calculated how many years of total salary it would take the median household to afford the median house to find the country's most overpriced areas. Complete List: America's Most Overpriced Suburbs Based on our numbers, California suburbs are the most difficult to afford. In addition to Santa Monica and Berkeley, where the median home costs $1.05 million and $752,500, respectively, they include Hawthorne, where it takes buyers 14.6 years to afford the $585,700 median-priced home. Related Stories America's Hardest-Hit Foreclosure Spots What $1 Million Buys In Homes Worldwide Such prices make other areas on our list seem like a bargain. In Skokie, Ill., the median-priced home rings in at $396,300, and it takes the median-earning household 6.1 years to afford it. In Alexandria, Va., the median-earning household must wait 6.7 years to buy a $539,200 home. How do these suburbs reach such price heights? Much of it has to do with how homeowners, especially wealthier ones, cluster within cities. Behind The Numbers When people move to an area, they often do so because of a job. That's why migration figures and job growth are invariably intertwined. As an expanding local economy lifts salaries, housing prices grow because buyers have the money to pay for better properties. Salt Lake City is a perfect example. The metro's high job-growth rate has resulted in huge in-migration and a housing market where prices grew by double-digit percentages last year. But the richest residents often head to the market's prime suburbs, which feature perks like pretty views, bodies of water and parks that are in short supply elsewhere. Those suburbs often begin as small residential centers, and are designed to be low density and non-commercial. But as they grow in population, they turn into economic centers of their own, acting as satellites to the principle city instead of escapes from it. When a suburb adds stores, restaurants, factories, malls, office buildings and other commerce centers, it requires a wider range of people, with a wider range of financial characteristics to keep it viable. In a large suburb like Santa Monica, for example, where the majority of houses are out of reach to the median earner, there are a million-plus beachfront condos and homes that are occupied by the Hollywood set; nearby are a high inventory of small apartments rented to 70% of the local population. What's happening to home prices in your area? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below. While California suburbs in particular have always been expensive, the spreads between median income and median price have never been this exaggerated. That's because the housing boom pushed prices up far faster than incomes rose. With every dollar prices rise above what incomes can cover, it becomes more difficult for renters to move into buying. Another obvious place affected by this trend was South Florida, where prices spiked during the boom, but incomes and economic activity didn't rise accordingly. West Palm Beach, Fla., and Pompano Beach, Fla., both on our list, are good examples of inflated income-to-price spreads, at $318,300 to $45,250 and $279,500 to $42,409, respectively. The economic effect? This is brand new, says Wendell Cox, president of Demographia. It's all happened in the last six years and we're not sure what it means yet. One thing it does mean is heavy out-migration. Cox points out that many of the areas with the highest spreads--in and around San Francisco and Los Angeles, most notably--are rapidly losing population to places in the South and Southwest, locations where affordable housing and business costs have drawn people and jobs from coastal population centers. But incomes don't necessarily need to fall in line with housing prices for values to trend upward; just take a look at the extreme counterexample in New York City. Now, no suburb is likely to ever achieve the density and economy of New York City, but what has made the city's legendary lack of affordability sustainable is the balance between the prices of homes and what different market segments can pay for them. People don't often move from renting to buying there, but so long as there are enough people earning enough to
[AsburyPark] FYI - Kushner
Kushner Plunks Down $200M in Cash to Repay Loan Jan 15, 2008 By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor Premier New York City real estate concern Kushner Cos. has reached into its pocket for $200 million in cash to pay off a loan, according to a report by Reuters yesterday. Kushner spent a whopping $1.8 billion in January 2007 to acquire the 1.5 million-square-foot office building at 666 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, relying on a $1 billon loan for the purchase. Kevin Swill, president of Kushner, shared his thoughts on the current refinancing market with Reuters, calling it, disturbing. It is unclear if Kushner relied on cash reserves or if the company sold properties specifically to pay the loan. However, its recent $25 million sale of its 85 percent stake in the 250,000-square-foot Military Park Building at 60 Park Place in Newark, N.J., was definitely not facilitated to get cash for the loan repayment. The Berger Organization, which had already owned 15 percent of the building, bought Kushner's share. The Military Park Building sale was not at all involved with any other transactions, Gary Gabriel, executive director with real estate services firm Cushman Wakefield Inc.'s Metropolitan capital markets group, told CPN today; Gabriel marketed the property on behalf of Kushner. While Gabriel was not involved in Kushner's loan repayment, he did note that, due to the current lending climate, cash has become a much larger component of purchase prices than it had been before mid-2007. Reportedly, Kushner is due to pay another $200 million within the next six months. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI - Kushner
THE Macklowes aren't the only real estate barons in a tight spot. The Kushner Companies, also family owned, plunged into the Manhattan real estate market in 2006, paying $1.8 billion for 666 Fifth Avenue, at 53rd Street. The cash flow from 666 Fifth represents only about two-thirds of the amount needed to service the debt on the building a shortfall of about $5 million a month according to Real Capital Analytics, a research company in New York. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI
December 12, 2007 Hoboken's Rebirth Fuels School Aid Formula Fight By WINNIE HU HOBOKEN, N.J. In the early 1970s, Hoboken was so broken down that some residents feared for their lives. Crime and arson were rampant, and those who could afford to fled to neighboring towns like Secaucus. But gleaming restaurants and luxury condominiums now beckon affluent newcomers to Hoboken, like Gov. Jon S. Corzine, who keeps an apartment there. And the city's public school system, which once educated Frank Sinatra, is going through a renaissance, with enrollment growing to 1,874 students this fall, after years of decline. Hoboken's rags-to-riches transformation is often cited by critics of New Jersey's so-called Abbott system, in which 31 historically poor urban school districts receive the bulk of state school financing, to illustrate its shortcomings. Cities like Hoboken, these critics say, are no longer impoverished enough to merit special treatment. Hoboken is exactly why we need a new school funding formula, said Assemblyman Bill Baroni, a Republican from Mercer County. Hoboken has been blessed by an economic renaissance that a lot of other towns have not seen. That's why we need to make a new formula that talks about kids and not ZIP codes. Governor Corzine is expected to officially unveil a new school-financing proposal on Wednesday that would shift the emphasis away from the Abbott system which takes its name from a landmark New Jersey Supreme Court case by directing at least $400 million in new state education money to poor students who live outside the Abbott districts. But Abbott districts say that academic achievement has risen significantly under the system and that they should not be penalized in an effort to expand benefits to the state's 584 other districts in rural and suburban areas. They also say that rising property values do not always mean more money for schools. In Hoboken, for example, school officials said that a majority of their students come from housing projects, not the upscale condos whose owners often send their children to private or parochial schools. Seventy-five percent of the district's students are poor enough to qualify for free or reduced lunch, the seventh-highest level among all Abbott districts, according to state statistics. Union City is first, with 92.7 percent, followed by Passaic (84.7 percent) and Asbury Park (81.9 percent). Jack Raslowsky, the Hoboken schools superintendent, said that another point lost in the political rhetoric is that Hoboken receives far less state aid than the other Abbott districts. In the district's $54 million budget, state aid accounted for just $12.4 million, of which only $4.2 million for preschool programs was tied to its Abbott status. The local share of contributions was $35 million. But because it is an Abbott district, Hoboken's school construction projects are paid for by the state. This year, an $8.5 million renovation was completed on the Calabro elementary school. In the last five years, the state has spent $18 million to bring the district's six schools up to health and safety standards, which included repairing leaking roofs and replacing windows and boilers. The state has also agreed to renovate the Connors elementary school and the Brandt middle school and build a new $25 million school complex that will include high school and elementary school buildings and athletic fields to accommodate the growing enrollment, particularly in the preschool and lower grades. But those projects were suspended last year after the state ran out of money, and with the current debate over financing for Abbott districts, their future remains uncertain. Hoboken school officials say they cannot afford to pay for the new complex without state assistance. Mr. Raslowsky said that because they are in an Abbott district, his schools have been subject to more rigorous academic and financial oversight. In return, he said, he expects the state to follow through on its commitment to improve the district. We've been promised this great banquet, he said. We've finished the appetizers, but there's still the meal to go and we're hungry. David Sciarra, an advocate for the children of the Abbott districts, called the criticisms of Hoboken a red herring because the district receives so little Abbott aid. More important, he said, were the educational reforms introduced under Abbott to address decades of neglect and concentrated poverty in urban schools. One such reform is the focus on preschool programs in Abbott districts. The Legislature could remove Hoboken from Abbott, but it must have a plan in place to continue those educational reforms, he said. At the Connors elementary school, which overlooks a housing project, the 300 students were supposed to move into temporary classrooms this September while their century-old building was being renovated. When the renovation was suspended, students stayed where they were and the building remained in
[AsburyPark] FYI _ Housing
ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Sad to say, it's becoming increasingly clear that the national housing picture has turned much more gory than anyone might have imagined; likewise, repeated Wall Street forecasts that a meaningful housing rebound will kick off by mid-2008 appear to have little or no legitimacy. Some housing industry experts suggest the implications are ominous, that the worsening housing slump will accelerate the likelihood of a recession despite a rise in the number of working Americans, and will play havoc with the stock market. Taking note of the growing number of negative housing stories appearing on TV and in newspapers, a veteran real estate developer, Robert Sheridan, tells me: The press, unlike Wall Street, is finally getting the message. Housing is not in a slump, but in a deepening recession that has at least another two to four years to run; it's also in the midst of a serious readjustment of prices. He figures that the readjustment will eventually see prices of single-family homes plummet 10% to 20% and condominiums tumble 20% to 40%. The picture is getting darker and darker by the day, he says. Turning around housing will be like turning around a battleship. Further, the CEO of Chicago-based Robert Sheridan Partners, who has been developing homes around the country since 1975, says he believes it will take another year or two before the mortgage market stabilizes. He also sees at least 2 million foreclosures over the next two years. Ridiculing repeated Wall Street forecasts of a second-half turnaround in 2008, Mr. Sheridan argues: They're dead wrong; the forecasters must be smoking something. The latest worrisome housing trends and figures strongly indicate the Street may indeed be way too euphoric about an impending recovery. In brief: Amid slowing housing demand, a near record 4.45 million existing homes are on the market, versus roughly 2.5 million in the late 1990s. Foreclosure filings are ballooning. There were 224,451 in October, up 94% from October 2006. New home prices last month fell 13% from year-earlier levels, the biggest drop since 1970, while the median price of existing homes dropped 5.1%, the single largest monthly decline ever. A recent Federal Reserve study shows a record 40.8% of lenders have tightened their lending standards on prime mortgages, which should further depress housing sales. At the end of September, about 6% of mortgage borrowers were behind in their payments, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That's up from 4.6% a year earlier, and it's the worst reading since 1986. A record 0.78% of all American mortgages entered foreclosure in the September quarter, and the overall foreclosure rate jumped to 1.69%, the highest since 1982. Estimates are making the rounds that over the next year new home prices will drop 13%, while existing home prices will fall 15%. Reflecting these developments, investment adviser Michael Larson, a dogged housing industry tracker, concludes that the housing downturn has at least another year to go and could easily spill over into 2009. As a result, he sees further sales weakness and at least another 5% to 10% decline in home prices. I think the sellers are finally getting the message and cutting prices, he says. He takes a dim view of the government's plan to ease the crisis by freezing rates on subprime mortgages. That's no panacea, certainly not a cure-all, Mr. Larson, associate editor of the Safe Money Report, a monthly newsletter in Jupiter, Fla., says. It's difficult to see how you're going to get everyone on the same page, he observes, referring to such participants as the developer, banker, investor, and those who service the mortgage. You have to get a lot of parties to agree to a freeze; it won't be easy. He further notes that 40% to 60% of homeowners whose loans are modified eventually still default. Some smaller homebuilders have already filed for bankruptcy, and Mr. Larsen looks for more of the same from the larger publicly owned ranks. In particular, he points to Standard Pacific and Beazer Homes. His newsletter has already expressed similar sentiments about troubled Countrywide Financial, the country's largest mortgage lender. Making matters worse, the mortgage and housing crises, Mr. Larson says, could cost investors and banks some $400 billion from write-downs and losses on mortgage-related securities. He further cites estimated total losses to household wealth of between $2 trillion and $4 trillion. It all sounds pretty ugly, but our two housing bears see an even uglier tone, with both telling me the worst is yet to come. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[AsburyPark] FYI - Gutters
Had some work done on my house converting the yankee gutters to conventional gutters, rebuilding the soffits, etc. Work done by Bobby Greenhalgh. Great work. Great guy. However, I want to warn you about Monmouth Gutters who were contracted to do the conventional gutters. I pull up today and see them outside working on the house. I ask if it will be completed today. Very unfriendly he says no, two days. I ask nicely, weren't you supposed to start yesterday? It f#ckin rained all day was the answer I got. Then I ask if they could keep the front gate closed so the dog would not run out. Give me a f#ckin break, keep the dog in the house is the answer. You want me to keep opening and closin the gate he adds, you're asking a lot. I then immediately made up my mind to send them home even though they had cut the materials already, so I ask when you go to the bathroom do you leave your zipper open because you may have to go again later? Pick up your stuff and leave. His parting reply - I knew you were a dick when I first saw you. Bobby Greenhalgh didn't pay the guy and apologized which he did not have to do. Bobby does great work and lives in AP. Momouth Gutters - use at your own risk. Happy Turkey Day to All. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI: NJ's LAD Re: Students Teachers. Also Please Support WPP
Re a post dated 10/17/2007 9:50:29 P.M. A teacher of young children needs to be able to display control from malicious attacks unfounded and for no purpose. Besides sexual pervertion[sic] is moral failure. You want your children being tought by morally failing people? Thanks to progressive law-making in NJ (See below), students and teachers are protected from people acting on the above misguided assumptions. Teachers must take action to prevent malicious attacks (bullying). Teachers must warn students guilty of bullying (and their parents) that their behavior is illegal and punishable. A school district must make the community aware of these laws or it becomes liable itself. The laws prevent anyone from making the workplace/school environment inhospitable to anyone. It applies to student-on-student, teacher-on-student, student-on-teacher, or any district employee on any other employee. Maybe after the 2008 elections, all states will enforce these protections so that teaching and learning can take place without fear. Please support The West Park Players: _http://www.westparkplayers.com/1.html_ (http://www.westparkplayers.com/1.html) My own preference is for the Paramount dates so we can pack that house and showcase that theater. High school performances generally have no problem selling out. == The New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) makes it unlawful to subject people to differential treatment based on race, creed, color, national origin, nationality, ancestry, age, sex (including pregnancy), familial status, marital status, domestic partnership status, affectional or sexual orientation, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for military service, and mental or physical disability, perceived disability, and AIDS and HIV status. The LAD prohibits unlawful discrimination in employment, housing, places of public accommodation, credit and business contracts. Not all of the foregoing prohibited bases for discrimination are protected in all of these areas of activity. For example, familial status is only protected with respect to housing. The Division has promulgated regulations that explain that a place of public accommodation must make reasonable modifications to its policies, practices or procedures to ensure that people with disabilities have access to public places. The regulations also explain that under the LAD, these reasonable accommodations may include actions such as providing auxilliary aides and making physical changes to ensure paths of travel. For more information on each area the LAD covers choose below: _http://www.state.nj.us/lps/dcr/law.html_ (http://www.state.nj.us/lps/dcr/law.html) The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, has upheld the state's Director of the Division of Civil Rights' (DDCR) ruling that a school district was liable for peer sexual harassment based on sexual orientation under New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination (LAD). _http://www.nsba.org/site/doc_cosa.asp?TRACKID=CID=459DID=37576_ (http://www.nsba.org/site/doc_cosa.asp?TRACKID=CID=459DID=37576) As I see the world, the secular humanists have done more to alleviate the effects of moral failings than all the political preachers lurking about for some loose change. Silly me, in my salad days, to think that the movie Marjoe would expose once and for all that nonsense. ** See what's new at http://www.aol.com
[AsburyPark] FYI: NJ's LAD Re: Students Teachers. Also Please Support WPP
well when secular progressive come to power in any government, the decay occurs. Frankly that is where the State's problem are. This is why 100,000 people have left the state. I blame the Independent Conservatives, because they are the ones who are being silent, not voting and running out of the state. This prooves my point. KB Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI - Our Future?
Textbook lesson in gentrification Erik Engquist Published: October 7, 2007 - 6:59 am The city's ballyhooed rezoning of Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn is supposed to create a vibrant, integrated community with whites and minorities, rich and poor living together. A proverbial melting pot. But in local public schools, it is fanning a cauldron. Incoming parents--largely white and well-educated--are rejecting neighborhood public schools en masse. Parents seeking progressive reforms are meeting fierce resistance from an entrenched school bureaucracy. Classrooms are emptying out as newcomers decline to fill the seats vacated by minorities priced out of the area. When parents come in and say a school's not good enough for their children, it's a very sensitive issue, says Kate Yourke, an activist parent who moved to Williamsburg from the Upper West Side in 1985. Parents were quite naive about the implications. The May 2005 rezoning of northern Brooklyn by the Bloomberg administration and the City Council has triggered a boom of luxury apartment projects. In the next few years, tens of thousands of affluent residents will plunk themselves down in what has long been a poor, heavily ethnic area. The schoolyard fights of the last two years point to uglier times ahead for the administration's most ambitious experiment with accelerated gentrification. Consider what happened to Brooke Parker, who led an effort to increase arts education at P.S. 84 in Williamsburg. I was running for the school leadership team, and I got heckled by faculty at a meeting, she says. The faculty was trying to push out parents they didn't want. It worked: Ms. Parker and the others pulled their kids from the school. It's a common scenario in District 14, where many schools feature tightly controlled classrooms in which test preparation, handwriting drills and homework are emphasized. Some schools have no recess, and children are rarely allowed to speak to each other, even at lunch. Students might have just one gym class a week but spend two hours a day on penmanship. Exams begin in kindergarten. The rigid approach, which produces admirable test scores in some District 14 schools, is typical of conservative, immigrant-dominated communities. From when you drop your children off to when you pick them up, they're not allowed to have fun, says one white mother who expects to transfer her child to a private elementary school next year. With few exceptions, the neighborhood's new arrivals are sending their kids anywhere but their zoned schools. Many use false addresses to enroll them in schools in lower Manhattan. Others opt for a charter school in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, or private or magnet schools as far as an hour away. As a result, enrollment fell 12% over two years in the district's 20 elementary schools; 13 were left at less than 80% of capacity and seven at less than 60%. The five conventional middle schools are now just 56% full on average. Developers are worried The problem is not lost on the developers marketing new apartments to white professionals from Manhattan who demand schools with parental involvement, field trips, hands-on projects and the like. We have thought about it, says Ron Moelis, who is building hundreds of luxury units in Williamsburg. I don't have an answer for you. There's talk of a charter school, a new magnet school or maybe even a new private school. It would be great if that occurs. No new schools, says city With so many vacant desks, the Department of Education says it won't build new schools. Instead, District 14 Superintendent James Quail says he will try to accommodate parents who seek more opportunities for children to think and develop their own learning styles in classrooms, and more opportunities for parents to engage. But the department has given principals great autonomy, and many resist change. [Former Deputy Chancellor] Carmen Farina said that all you need is 10 families to move in and help turn a school around, says Pamela Wheaton, the director of InsideSchools.org, which gives District 14 schools mixed reviews. But if you have a principal who's diametrically opposed. ... Some parents are plotting to start self-contained boutique schools within existing district buildings. Ms. Yourke, whose 7-year-old son attends public school in East Williamsburg, opposes that move. She is leading a small group of parents who are trying to move District 14 out of the 1950s. They aired their grievances at a powwow in June, but little has happened since. Our last chance to integrate these communities is by raising our children together, and I don't think the Department of Education has a mind-set or a plan for how that can happen, Ms. Yourke says. They have been completely negligent in dealing with this. SCHOOL DISTRICT 14 Includes Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and part of Bedford-Stuyvesant Enrollment, October 2006 19,652 Two-year change in K-5 enrollment -12% ETHNIC BREAKDOWN Hispanic 62%
[AsburyPark] FYI - There is a Dedicated Politics Group
Top Subjects Group: AsburyPark Range: 30245 - Last # Subject Replies 1 Springsteen Answers Critics 37 2 Why music and cookman ave don''t work... 6 3 Losing Soul ? 1 4 Mayor''s Ball Article in Coaster Today 1 Postings Group: AsburyPark Range: 30245 - Last From Posts % justifiedright14 28.00 Hinge 11 22.00 oakdorf8 16.00 asburycouple 7 14.00 dfsavgny 6 12.00 Jersey Shore John 2 4.00 [EMAIL PROTECTED]1 2.00 wernerapnj 1 2.00 Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI
Read the comments to the story. This forum is mentioned. Asbury Park man charged with trying to steal copper flashing Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/27/07 BY MICHELLE SAHN Story Chat Post Comment ASBURY PARK Police caught a city man inside a Munroe Avenue business where, they say, he was stealing copper flashing. After they took him into custody in connection with that theft, they continued their investigation and also charged him with burglarizing a vacant house in the city, police said. Around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, police received an anonymous call reporting a burglar at AA Alliance Floors, said Capt. David Kelso. When Officer Daniel Kowsaluk responded, he noticed the door leading to the basement storage area was open. Police found Victor Bastida, 33, of Ridge Avenue, at the bottom of a ladder in that storage area, said Kelso. Bastida had wire cutters and a wrench, police said. After an investigation, police also determined the 33-year-old city man broke into a Grand Avenue house that is under construction, said Kelso. Bastida was charged with two counts of burglary, and one count each of theft and possession of burglary tools. He was sent to the Monmouth County Jail, with bail set at $10,000. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Detective Connie Breech at (732) 502-5777. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI
September 14, 2007 Discount Weekend at Big Home Builder By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEWARK, Sept. 13 (AP) Hovnanian Enterprises Inc., struggling like other home builders, is offering six-figure discounts on some of its properties this weekend as it tries to draw interest in a slumping market. The sales blitz involves dropping prices by more than 20 percent on some of its prime real estate. The discounted properties include a three-bedroom condominium by the Hudson River in West New York, which has been reduced $240,000, or 22 percent, to $862,000 this weekend. A 25 percent discount is being offered on a two-bedroom home in Jackson Township, N.J., which lowers its price tag to $300,501. Hovnanian is making the discounts during the worst housing downturn in 16 years, which has sharply cut earnings for the company and other national home builders. Tight credit, fueled by a meltdown in the subprime mortgage industry this year, has sidelined potential buyers. Last week Hovnanian, based in Red Bank, N.J., reported its fourth consecutive quarterly loss. This weekend's sales, announced Sept. 5, involve thousands of homes in 19 states. No other major builder is having a sale of such magnitude, but swollen inventories are likely to lead to more discounting, said Sam Chandan, chief economist at Reis Inc., a real estate research company. The downward adjustment in prices, whether for new homes or existing homes, is going to be far more severe than what many people thought earlier this year, Mr. Chandan said. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI
September 12, 2007 -- The National Association of Realtors reduced its home sales forecast for the ninth time this year and said the housing slump will extend into 2008. Existing home sales are expected to fall 8.6 percent in 2007, exceeding the 6.8 percent drop estimated a month ago. New-home sales probably will decline 24 percent on top of an 18 percent fall in 2006, the trade group said yesterday in a statement. New home sales won't reach a bottom until the first quarter of 2008, the organization said. A month ago, the Realtors said the low point would be at the end of this year. Some analysts said the Realtors were actually being too optimistic. The group's forecast said existing home sales and prices, as well as new home prices, will increase in 2008 - an outlook more upbeat than an Aug. 30 forecast from Lehman Brothers. Sales of existing homes will continue to fall through the middle of next year and then level off before gaining in 2009, the Lehman report said. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI
The Storm Before the Storm Insurers are declaring Brooklyn a high-risk hurricane zoneand canceling policies. * By S.Jhoanna Robledo Damian Young got the news last fall by mail: Allstate was dropping him, and he'd have to find another insurance company to get coverage for his brownstone. [The letter] alluded to Hurricane Katrina and said they're unable to carry the risk of living in coastal areas, says the actor. I live in Park Slope. I was like, What? This doesn't make sense! Nearly a year later, his neighbors are getting Dear John letters, too, from Allstate and other firms, some pointing to the chances of similarly destructive storms in the area. In fact, it's happening all over Brooklyn, and I see two or three nonrenewals each week, from Bayside to the Hamptons, says Ruchman and Associates insurance broker Jonathan Banach. In some cases, homeowners are being re-upped, but at triple the fees. New York is certainly not immune to hurricanes. Ours is a coastal island city, and even if you're a half-mile inland and can't see the water, that's a small distinction to a swirling storm a thousand miles wide. (The house pictured, in Ditmas Park, is about three miles from the bay, and its owners were just cut loose by Allstate.) According to the Climate Institute, a nonprofit environmental group, the city is quite vulnerable to hurricanes and nor'easters, thanks in part to the area's nearly 1,500 miles of coastline, and that four out of five boroughs are islands. But some owners contend that rejections aren't based on real risk. (One Gowanus Lounge blogger writes, I live on Metropolitan and Manhattan in Williamsburg at the top of the hill and we were canceled too. We're not even in the flood zone!) There's no differentiation [in terms of] distance to water, Banach says of the cases he's seeing. In brief, the law allows insurers to drop 4 percent of their policyholders when they see elevated risk, and they're doing just that. Allstate, for its part, issued a statement about what it calls our catastrophe-prone area, saying it is forced to explore options to manage our exposure in order to better protect our customers. For now, some other firms are taking on rejectsYoung found an underwriter through his insurance broker, and the state also offers some coveragebut usually at higher rates. There's no question, though, that the recent spate of cancellations is causing agita. Used to be if you've had no losses, you got renewed, says Banach. They don't care now. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI - Business Week
April 30, 2007 Vacation Time for Real Estate Investors Chris Palmeri Data released today from the National Association of Realtors reveals the shifting nature of the real estate market. The number of homes purchased as investment property fell sharply, down 28.9% to 1.65 million last year, from a record 2.32 million in 2005. Sales of homes as primary residence fell only 4.1% to 4.82 million. Although investors seems to be taking a break, sales of second homes as vacation properties remained strong. Vacation-home sales rose 4.7% to a record 1.07 million in 2006. The average buyer of a vacation home is slightly older and wealthier than the investor. The median age of the vacation home buyer was 44 years old, with a median household income of $102,200. The typical investment-home buyer was 39 and earned an income of $90,250. The median price of a vacation home in 2006 was $200,000, down 2% from 2005. The typical investment property cost $150,000 last year, down 18.3% from the year before. The drop in investment prices comes as no surprise, but for vacation- home prices to edge down in a record market is a bit puzzling, said David Lereah, chief economist for the Realtors. It may result from a large dumping of inventory on the market by speculators, especially in the condo sector, with long-term, second-home buyers taking advantage of the glut and buying at negotiated discounts. This underscores that housing should always be viewed as a long-term investment, providing solid returns over time. Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI - Values and Waterfront
Waterfront Homes Seen Weathering Housing Market Storm By Marilyn Alva Investor's Business Daily, April 12, 2007 When it comes to selling a home, real estate agents like nothing better than the sound of a simple word: waterfront. In a business that's all about location, the waterfront has long been considered the most desirable real estate. But have fiercer hurricanes, floods, rising insurance costs and the softening housing market battered the value of waterfront homes? While conditions vary from market to market, real estate experts agree that values still do generally hold up better on the water whether the water is an ocean, bay, river or lake. They appreciate faster in good times and decline in value at a slower rate in bad times, said Alan Hummel, past president of the Appraisal Institute and chief appraiser of Forsythe Appraisals. Buoyant Market The reasons are simple. A growing number of people still want to live on the water for the views, recreation and sense of privacy. Yet the supply of waterfront homes continues to shrink, exacerbated by local efforts to limit development on the shoreline. That has muted the housing slowdown's effect on waterfront properties, says Kenneth Lusht, a real estate professor at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. In general, shore properties have been less adversely affected than nonshore properties, he said. For example, in Southwest Florida the impact on shore properties is one-fourth that of other properties. But there is a downside. Homeowners in flood zones in Florida and other hurricane-belt coastal areas such as the Gulf Coast have seen their insurance premiums skyrocket. That puts a damper on the marketability of such homes, says real estate adviser Lewis Goodkin, president of Goodkin Consulting. It might take a while longer to sell, he says, but buyers will cough up the higher insurance premiums for such homes when there's not a whole lot to choose from. There are more people with wealth and big incomes than any time in our history, yet the opportunities (to buy on the waterfront) are less, Goodkin said. Surge Despite Storms Storms won't keep the coastal market down, experts say. Robert Hartwig, president and chief economist with the Insurance Information Institute, told a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday that the value of insured coastal property will double within the next decade. Hartwig cited a growing number of people who want to live in coastal areas, including hurricane belts. For now, the supply-demand imbalance is especially pronounced in the market for single-family homes on the water. These homes and townhomes on the water have shown the greatest resistance to price depreciation, real estate sources say. Such waterfront homes generally command prices 7% to 9% more than those off the water, Hummel says. But homes with stunning water views can go for twice as much as similar homes with no water views, he says. In San Diego, the coastline is dotted with single-family homes. Little land is left to develop. Waterfront homes are selling at prices about the same as eight months ago, says Sara Schwarzentraub, an appraiser with Interstate Appraisal Service. But homes east of Interstate 5 those farther inland are down 3% to 5% from the first quarter of 2005, she says. Sales activity has picked up this quarter vs. the same time last year, Schwarzentraub said of beachfront homes. Only high-end homes priced at $10 million or more are taking longer to sell, she says. Schwarzentraub adds that she considers single-family coastal homes in San Diego to be housing recession-proof. She says that foreign buyers of such waterfront homes are helping to bolster the market. That's not the case in overbuilt waterfront condo markets in downtown San Diego, the Miami area and other parts of Florida, where speculators and other investors bid up prices on tens of thousands of new units to unsustainable levels. It was artificial demand, Goodkin said, adding that condos in those overbuilt locales are a long way from seeing a recovery. In Miami, one of the most overbuilt markets, about 30,000 condos are under construction, both on the waterfront and near it. Many of the buyers of these units signed on at peak prices. The question being asked now: How many will show up at the closing table? Water is the single most desirable asset, but when you have high levels of speculation you're going to have significant adjustments as the buildings are completed, Goodkin said. There's nothing magic about water when you have more supply than demand. The greatest resistance to price declines in a slowing housing market is in popular areas with limited supply and where buyers are users, not simply investors, Goodkin says. He cites such places as Palm Beach, Fla., Fisher Island in the city of Miami Beach and the Southern California coastal locales of Santa Monica, Newport Beach
[AsburyPark] FYI: Asbury Park NJ Steinbach Bicentennial Billboard 1976 at eBay
FYI _Click here: eBay: Asbury Park NJ Steinbach Bicentennial Billboard 1976 (item 230060640177 end time Mar-02-07 22:48:41 PST)_ (http://cgi.ebay.com/Asbury-Park-NJ-Steinbach-Bicentennial-Billboard-1976_W0QQitemZ230060640177QQcmdZViewIt em)
[AsburyPark] FYI - Gay Real Estate Web Sites
Niche marketing and services that serve the gay real estate community has expanded in recent years. GayRealEstate.com has launched an online database of gay and gay-friendly neighborhoods called Gay Ghettos. Jeff Hammerberg, President of Gay Real Estate says, GayGhettos.com is a community based, community built web site which allows the gay and lesbian community access to tell others about their neighborhood and/or search for a gay friendly neighborhood in any city in America. Sites in the network include: GayRealEstate.com GayMortgageLoans.com HomeLounge.com LesbianHomes.com GayRealEstatePlanet.com LesbianRealEstate.com Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
[AsburyPark] FYI...[Fwd: DEMO SALE POSTPONED]
FYI... Lynda 1304 Bridge From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri May 27 08:41:55 CDT 2005 Hi,The owners of 211 Worthington have just informed us of a delay in their demolition date.? Therefore, we need to postpone our sale to June 11.? Please let us know of your availability for that date.? As always, thanks for your interest and your patience. Sue and Jean??? Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
