Archive for the 'Living in Montclair' Category

I’m a fan of mixed use.  Mixed use is the practice of allowing different types of buildings to coexist in a single neighborhood – for example, residential space next to/on top of restaurants and businesses.   By adding vitality and activity to a neighborhood, mixed use benefits a community because residents are able to walk to things that they need, like stores, work, church and transit. But there are certain land uses that are best kept away from the rest of the neighborhood – gas stations among them.  In Montclair, two former gas station sites continue to undergo remediation for chemical contamination twenty years after they were first tested.   Both of the locations, in Upper Montclair on Valley Road and on Orange Road in the South End are near houses, condominiums and small businesses. Who needs to walk to a gas station anyway?

When I walk to Watchung Plaza from my Montclair home, I take a short route  through an interconnected grid of streets and through a small park.  I wave to my neighbor on the way.  I stop for a brief minute in the park to chat with a friend who’s on her way home from work (she’s just gotten off the 5:31 train from Manhattan).  It’s social.  It’s interactive.  It’s exercise.  It’s green.

On the other hand, it’s very difficult to walk to the train station, or the corner store to get milk in a town that is laid out in a branching street pattern with a series of dead-ends -aka cul-de-sacs- feeding in to a main artery. In these configurations, you can be a stone’s throw from your destination, but have to travel a mile to get there.  This may be a satisfactory layout for the car but not for the pedestrian or bike rider.

Watch this very clever video from the Congress for New Urbanism and you’ll see what I mean…

Sunday morning  historical walk/run and bike tour.

Don’t try this in just any suburb.  It takes a village, a real one, to make these sorts of walk/bike tours possible.  Streets that are interconnected on a grid, sidewalks, trees to shade the sidewalks, history , a reason, a community, merchants that are involved with their community and people to participate.  One of the many reasons I love Montclair.

August 9th, 11 a.m.  -a 5K walking/running tour of several historical sites. Sponsored by the Montclair Historical Society, Fleet Feet and Destination Montclair.

August 16th, 11 a.m. – a 4 mile bike tour including historical George Washington Boulder, Charles Shultz House, Clark House Van Vleck House & Gardens. Bike rentals available from Diamond Cycle, where the route begins.

1. The train station (any one of the six)

2. Watchung Plaza for a dozen bagels on Sunday morning

3. The farmer’s market on a Saturday in June for local rhubarb and asparagus

4. Tierney’s Tavern on the way home from work for a retro burger and beer (no phone, no credit cards!)

5. The Wellmont Theater on a Saturday night to see David Byrne, Kathy Griffith or Rosie O’Donnell

6. Tinga Tacqueria on Monday and Tuesday nights when kids eat for $2

7. The “all children” playground in Edgemont Park on a weekday afternoon in spring

8. Anderson Park on the way to work for early morning Tai Chi

9. American Royal Hardware (aka Mr. Charlie’s) for that whatchamadoohickey that you’ll never find at Home Depot

10. Van Vleck House and Garden for a leafy respite

For years, New Jersey was sprawling westward, northward, and southward with real estate development in formerly rural areas. Now the recession has hit and so many of those big new shiny houses a couple of hours outside the city are losing value rapidly—despite their newness, their immense pasture-like lawns, and quiet isolation. What seemed like a good idea a few years ago is suddenly languishing in the for-sale market.

That’s why now seems like a good time to start talking about why density is good for the planet and good for humans. Yes, density. The word has a bit of a negative connotation. But you’ll get past that. These days, many young families want to live in areas where they can walk places, shop in their towns, spend less time in cars and get to the city quick.  Density is also a good investment.  In the recent economic downturn, towns on train lines have been holding real estate values far better than those far from urban centers.

Walkable Suburb is my new website and blog.  And it’s the focus of my real estate business. You can find out more about density and new urbanism here . And you can also find out why I am such a believer.  Our inner-ring suburbs in Montclair, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, South Orange and Maplewood were built early in the last century with walking, community, and public transportation in mind. They are increasingly desirable and make sense for the world today.

Welcome to Walkable Suburb. Please drop in from time to time or sign up for my monthly summaries via email or my RSS feed. I hope to keep the journey interesting with insights, market analysis, and tips for life and real estate in our walkable suburbs.