Comments for dogtown commons

Comment on Oakland vs Newark: the sequel by Edward A. Steed

Edward A. Steed — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 21:11:51 +0000

While the above comment does make interesting points, some of it is not entirely accurate. Newark indeed does have a ‘hills’ neighborhood that’s called the Forest Hills section which borders Branch Brook Park. A very very affluent neighborhood (you can google ‘forest hills newark’ for pics). Additionally, Newark has the very known ‘Ironbound’ neighborhood which is not only the most vibrant section of Newark, but also known for its Portuguese restaurants.

Newark most certainly did not have the development that Jersey City had, but it is incorrect to say that development is restricted to downtown, if such were the case, then Newark’s population would not have jumped in recent years instead of the long steady decline the people of NJ were used to.

I do not in any way think Newark is better than Oakland and vice versa, but I do think they are way more like than they are different. Newark may not be Oakland…but it’s very close

Comment on Oakland vs Newark: the sequel by Nathan Landau

Nathan Landau — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:08:40 +0000

Newark, N.J. and Oakland do have a lot of similarities–port/Airport cities large African-American/ non-White populations, historically industrial cities that have been largely deindustrialized. But Oakland has far more resources than Newark–and a far higher percentage of affluent or at least middle class people living within its borders. What would be the middle class of Newark (like my sister in law) live in separate suburban towns, there are no Newark “hills” or foothills. Newark has had some downtown development, but nothing like what Oakland’s gotten (that went to Jersey City and Hoboken). I always tell Eastern visitors when they come out here that Oakland isn’t Newark.

Comment on Dimond Canyon by resa

resa — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:09:17 +0000

lovely photos! i walked this today, and wanted to find a photo to link for a friend. googlefu brought me to your blog. thanks!

Comment on Closing time by HarriOak Editor

HarriOak Editor — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:31:57 +0000

Hi, that’s a great picture, and thanks for flagging the city farmer blog, which I hadn’t heard of. It’s great! Since you write about politics once and a while and seem to be in District 3, I am wondering if you’d like to help organize/facilitate a candidates forum? We’ve already asked the candidates to suggest some dates during the last two weeks of April and I’m reaching out to local bloggers to see if they’d like to participate. If you are interested please send an email to harrioak at yahoo dot com.

Comment on Closing time by V Smoothe

V Smoothe — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:12:14 +0000

Please tell me that this means something other than what I think it means!

Comment on Poor people not welcome on Lakeshore Avenue? by Dogtown Commoner

Dogtown Commoner — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:32:50 +0000

I haven’t seen any statistics, but as far as I can tell Lakeshore Ave. is a “normal thriving retail area.” There’s a lot of foot traffic, the new Trader Joe’s is attracting shoppers, there are new upscale places like a chocolate/candy boutique and a new wine bar, etc. I haven’t been to Newark lately, but I would bet that despite the low murder rate in Newark, Lakeshore Ave. is a lot more gentrified than most parts of Newark.

Best Buys are usually enormous stores requiring large parking lots since they deal largely in big electronics items. It’s hard to imagine how that would work on a relatively dense strip like Lakeshore Ave. Thrift stores, on the other hand, can fit fine in a smaller space like the GapKids location, and seem more compatible with a neighborhood that gets a lot of foot traffic, since a lot of people might browse in a thrift store as they go about their other errands. A Best Buy might have fit in the spot where Trader Joe’s/Walgreen’s now is, but I suspect that the same people who opposed the thrift store would have also opposed a Best Buy in the neighborhood.

Comment on More newspaper jobs disappearing by Dogtown Commoner

Dogtown Commoner — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:05:37 +0000

Len-
I believe Kelly Rayburn (that’s a he, in case you’re wondering) is the Trib’s city hall reporter, covering both the mayor’s office and the council. As far as I know it’s a full-time beat. Other reporters sometimes write about city govt. too, but as far as I know there aren’t any others who are formally assigned to the beat, even part-time. I’m basing this solely on a semi-regular reading of the Tribune — V Smoothe might know better, and can correct me if I’m wrong. I don’t know anything about Rayburn’s credentials, but most newspaper reporters have no specialized credentials except possibly a master’s degree in journalism. Reporters are typically expected to be generalists who should be prepared to cover any beat, whether it is politics or education or crime or the environment, etc. There are some reporters who have academic or career training related to their particular beat, but that is usually neither expected nor required.

Comment on Poor people not welcome on Lakeshore Avenue? by len raphael

len raphael — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:57:30 +0000

it is a more an indication of the endangered species situation of oakland retailers that Kerrigan presumedly at the urging of Lakeshore merchants went the govt central planning route, than anything about class or race stuff. i’d agree that in a normal thriving retail area, a few thrift stores, plus even a soup kitchen wb no big deal. but outside of moribund downtown, chinatown, we only have piedmont ave, one or two blocks of upper tele, one or two blocks of korean tele, college ave, montclair, bit of glenview, bit of upper fruitvale, and then lower fruitvale. actually it’s better than it was 10 years ago, but how does it compare to Newark, NJ?

btw, what’s wrong w a best buy on lakeshore?

Comment on More newspaper jobs disappearing by len raphael

len raphael — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 04:41:50 +0000

i can’t figure out if the Oakland Trib has a full time reporter assigned to cover Oakland politics and muni govt. Could you list their names and their credentials? (credetentials would help readers evaluate how much credence to put on the reporting)

Comment on 60 Minutes on the Chauncey Bailey case by Randy Nichols

Randy Nichols — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 09:42:29 +0000

I found your site on google blog search and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. Just added your RSS feed to my feed reader. Look forward to reading more from you.

- Randy Nichols.