Land Use: Why Plan?

Here's an interesting article by Robert Sherwood in Open Space Magazine on how Land Use has evolved over the centuries. It focuses on Oregon's former Governor Tom McCall's influence on striking a balance between private and public interests in environmental planning. It was during his tenure in office (1967-1975) that Oregon gained its reputation as a national leader in innovative public policy.

He came up with the legendary warning:
"We want you to visit our State of Excitement often. Come again and again. But, for heaven's sake, don't move here to live."

We've Moved!

As you may have noted from the mini-profile to the right, we're still associated with Century 21, but our Suffix/Office/Franchise holder has changed from Gemini to Van Der Wende. Our home remains in Bloomfield, but our home base has moved 3 miles up the road to Little Falls.
This is partly because more of our buyers currently are actively looking for homes in this area as well as the fact that Century 21 Van Der Wende is the number 1 Century 21 office in North Jersey.
Coincidentally, EcoRealty has just moved up to #14 in the "Influence Index" of NJ Blognet's list of "Political Blogs." We've tried to limit our politics to the Wikipedia subtext:
"The process by which groups of people make decisions....politics is observed in all human group interactions."

Lockup Your Cats -- and Kids

We've had documented reports of bears, foxes, hawks, and wild turkeys in these parts.
The latest to cause concern is the Wile E. coyote. South Orange's community forum has gone wild this week with multiple sightings of coyotes along with the nearby remains of at least one dead cat. There have even been close calls with small children.

Interest Rates Remain Low

According to our Century 21 Mortgage Center, fixed 30 year interest rates appear to be stabilizing after a month long slide.

9/11

Good Deeds

After five years of memorials, many are looking for ways to commemorate 9/11
without turning it into a numbing ritual. We like the idea behind My Good Deed.
You can register and share what you've done with others, or stay anonymous and be inspired by the good vibes. 9/11 related groups are here.
These are some of the Non-profit Groups that can always use help.

Where the Grass is Greener and Higher

If a solar roof isn't cutting edge enough, you could always add the ultimate in green roofs. All you'll need to know about the ups and downs of these cool slopes--including how to mow it-- can be found here.
Spectacular examples of all kinds of green roofs can be found as close by as Battery Park City.

Sales and Inventory Chart

The trendlines over nearly five years.
(Click to enlarge)

A Slogan to Remember?

The Star Ledger reports that the top vote-getter in the election to pick a slogan for Cedar Grove's centennial was "A Century of Memories."

The victor, with 193 of the 350 votes cast, had seesawed with "A Place to Call Home" in recent weeks but surged ahead in the final 10 days and will headline the suburban Essex County community's 100th anniversary in 2008.

"We have a winner," Cindie Newkirk, co-chair of the 33-member Cedar Grove Centennial Committee, said after paper ballots as well as e-mail votes were counted.
"A Century of Memories" ultimately beat "A Place to Call Home" by 82 votes, garnering 193 to the runner-up's 111.
The other four contenders trailed far behind, with "We've Only Just Begun" getting 20 votes; "Only Getting Better," 12; and "Thanks for the Century" and "A Celebration" holding up the rear with 10 votes each.

In the weeks leading up to the Sept. 1 deadline for submitting ballots, not everyone was wedded to the six choices fielded by the centennial overseers.

Once word of the slogan contest began, the Cedar Grove forum on nj.com lighted up with some tongue-in-cheek offerings reflective of small-town living: "Pull Over and Step Away from Your Car"; "Cedar Grove: Country Living with City Traffic"; and "Verona Wannabees."

Slow Homes

from Treehugger.com:
"Suburban sprawl is like fast food; cheap and easy but also unsatisfying and boring." says the intro Slow Home, which says "takes its name from the slow food movement which arose as a reaction to the processed food industry. In the same ways that slow food helps people learn how to become more familiar and involved with the food they eat, Slow Home provides design focused information to empower individuals to step beyond the too fast world of cookie cutter housing. "The ten steps to better housing are an excellent guide to sustainable living.

Maryland Overtakes NJ in Income

Essex Co. map based on 2000 Census (click to enlarge)
From Bloomberg:
New Jersey is no longer the wealthiest U.S. state, losing that distinction to Maryland in 2006, according to U.S. Census Bureau numbers.

New Jersey's median household income increased 1.1 percent to $64,470, while Maryland outpaced that, rising 2.2 percent to $65,144, according to the Census Bureau's 2006 American Community Survey.

The U.S. median household income was $48,451 in 2006, up 1.6 percent from a year earlier, officials said. Mississippi was the poorest of the 50 states with a median household income of $34,473.

The city of Camden, New Jersey, shed its distinction as the poorest among communities with a population of 65,000 to 249,999. It had a median household income of $25,961, making it the eighth-lowest nationally in that category, the Census Bureau said. Brownsville and College Station Texas both have higher poverty rates. Youngstown Ohio and Muncie Indiana have lower incomes.

Put a Chicken in Your Tank

This may seem like a chicken$#it fuel alternative, but it's beginning to produce results. From Treehugger.com and other sources:

You can't stop progress: turning chicken droppings into electricity is one thing, but developing transportable pyrolysis units to convert poultry droppings into bio-oil on-the-go? A team of scientists from Virginia Tech's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is working with a coalition of poultry growers to test a transportable unit that would convert poultry litter — a mixture of manure, feathers, bedding and spilled feed — into bio-oil (or pyrodiesel), producer gas and fertilizer.

It would do so by first heating the litter until it vaporized; the vapor would then be condensed to make the bio-oil. At the same time, a form of slow release fertilizer could be recovered from the pyrolysis unit.

If more immediate results, there's always this.

The Way to Waywayanda

Although it's less than an hour from Essex County, there are many scenic drives and loop trips to Waywayanda State Park.
Forested hills surround the large lake creating a peaceful backdrop for canoeists, boaters and fisherman, while a variety of trails from old farm roads (dotted with remnants of the old iron mines and Lenape Indian shelters) to steep mountains delight casual as well as serious hikers. A twenty-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail runs through the park, while the top of Wawayanda Mountain offers sensational views. More than forty miles of trails are marked. If you're desperate for a dip when the beaches close or after Labor Day, you can follow the trail around the south shore of the lake to a refreshing waterfall (at your own risk).

From Toxic Passaic to Llewellyn Estates

Montclair's preeminent historian, Frank G. Godlewski, contributed this historical insight on the influence of Passaic River pollution on Llewellyn Haskell, one of N. Essex County's leading aristocrats, leading to the development of the region:

From Baristanet:
Mr Llewellyn Haskell lived at his estate, "Belmont" in North Arlington, designed by A.J. Davis. The drinking water was piped up from the Passaic River and stored in water towers in this castellated villa. Due apparently to river pollution from nearby Patterson industries, Haskell's wife and children (except one son) died of diseases (in the 1840's). Mr. Haskell was one of the richest men of NY and his chemicals trade then became MERCK. Devastated by the deaths in his family, his architect took him to healthier land that promised itself to be a romantic and picturesque paradise...Bloomfield.
A. J. Davis's family homestead, once on the Morris Canal, is now the Bloomfield Steak House and the land now the town green. A.J.'s grandfather, Deacon Joseph Davis, (husband of Anna Crane of Cranetown (Montclair)), founded the First Presbyterian Church and the Bloomfield Cemetery. Davis encouraged Haskell to buy land to pursue a project of creating an ideal community of likeminded, illuminated individuals.
Haskell was a Swedenborghist and a staunch abolitionist. Davis adapted an existing farmhouse for him calling it Bloomfield Villa, still standing on Llewellyn Road. Haskell may be considered on of the first real estate developers of our area and Davis the first architects. Davis's house designs in the 1840's country house pattern books that he did for Downing, includes several local house designs. Llewellyn Park originally began on Llewellyn Road in Montclair to 280 and then extended up from Orange Road to Eagle Rock Reservation.... Llewellyn Haskell's son was a general of an all African American troop in the Civil War.

A Birdseye View of Foreclosures

The recent "boom" in the foreclosures has resulted in new tools for tracking the rapidly changing marketplace.

The latest score in North Essex is Bloomfield 42, Montclair 19, Glen Ridge 3.

Realtors and investors have always had access to updates on latest neighborhood to host a home in early to final stages of foreclosure. The newest wrinkle, introduced by Yahoo, adds aerial views of the neighborhood to the equation. It's really a bit of a tease since it requires at least a trial subscription to RealtyTrac to zero-in on the home and full info sheet. But a little detective work can narrow it down. Or not. One wonders how the neighbors feel. The 1.5M Montclair mansion on Llewellyn, is listed as up for auction on 8/28.
The new tool provides online users with this information by matching the addresses of the properties in RealtyTrac's foreclosure database to Microsoft Virtual Earth images. It offers users “photos of each property, zoomed in and cropped to show the property in clear detail−and from multiple angles.....buyers and investors who use our service now have a significant advantage over other buyers and investors in the market for foreclosures. These photos will give our users a good sense of a property's layout, condition and neighborhood−key factors in determining value and investment potential−all from the comfort and convenience of their computer.”
Although savvy investors can do well, there are many cautions.

A Hop, Skip, & a Jump in the Lake

Nine miles in length and covered by 2,500 acres of freshwater, Lake Hopatcong is the focal point of the park. Hopatcong State Park is at the southwest end of the lake and is a popular spot for fishing, boating, and swimming. It's just north of I-80, off exit 43, about 33 miles from Bloomfield. There's a Bloomfield connection, since The Lake was originally created as part of the Morris Canal, the 90-mile waterway that ran from Newark to Phillipsburg. As with many popular state parks, it can fill up early on weekends, so call ahead.
The water temps are comfortable in August, but if the air seems a bit too cool this Saturday, you can drive a few miles due south to the annual Chester Black River Music & Arts fest. It's free!

Snaking Down the Passaic

Why our Swimmin'Hole Survey will NOT include the Passaic River:
From the Herald News:

Ancient ritual met with modern consequence Monday, as state environmental authorities said they were searching for a religious group that released hundreds of live reptiles into the Passaic River on Sunday as part of a Buddhist rite.

Members from a New York sect of Amitabha Buddhists -- devout vegetarians who believe in the sanctity of all living creatures -- said Sunday they had purchased the creatures in New York's Chinatown for the purpose of setting them free.

Toying With Tools

Not having a garage or tool shed, our tools tend to get buried under tarps or left out to rust in the rain. We've yet to find a shed big enough for our collection. Ever lose track of where you left that weird tool you haven't used in years? How about a trip to the library?

From Treehugger.com:


There is nothing new about tool libraries. The famous Berkeley Tool Lending Library was established back in 1979 and now contains over 2,500 tools, but it is easy to get entranced by the siren song of new gizmos. Our consumer society is predicated around us owning all this 'stuff.' When really what we want is not so much to own it, but to use it. Libraries are perfect examples of this. We read books without having to buy them. Community toy libraries provide the same delightful function. Little Johnny tires of that train set, so you swap it for a box of Lego. A tool library is no different. For those rare times when you need a ladder, rubber plunger or circular saw you just borrow it from the library.

Mervyn Edward Griffin Jr.

Our hometown hero made good.
Born 1925 In San Mateo, CA.

Mortgage Rates Decline

from National Realty News:
Freddie Mac reports that the current 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) averaged 6.59 percent with an average 0.4 point for the week ending August 9, 2007, down from last week when it averaged 6.68. Last year at this time, the 30-year FRM averaged 6.55 percent.