I’m so confused about what all the downtown development actually is. None of these places ever seem to get built, even though the planning board seems to work overtime to approve all of it. Is it just that all this shit is going to happen eventually, or do the developers somehow make money off of getting the approvals and never doing anything?

I’ve never felt unsafe within that red box. The truth is, there really aren’t that many people living there, and the ones who do just don’t give 2 fucks about you. There are some streets that aren’t lit too well at night and it can feel a little creepy because there’s no one at all around, but that’s actually pretty rare.

On occasion, there will be loud verbal fights between people who don’t sound like they’re all there mentally. Sometimes these happen at night. Again, I’ve never felt unsafe, but it is a thing

What the hell?

I’ve been recently to their happy hour, which has good food prices. But it’s not on weekends or event days, so it can be kinda hard to predict

Redd’s is closer than almost all the other places mentioned. But only good for happy hour when there’s no hockey game or other event at Prudential

No, it does not help anything. This is one of three buildings from the same developer within basically a 1-block radius. None of them are providing parking, none of them are paying any taxes, and none of them will provide any benefit to the neighborhood

As far as I know, they’re buying the properties because of tax incentives because it’s kind of a risky area for development (historically, I guess?). They put in place a big improvement plan for downtown in 2008, and then added two or three more big redevelopment schemes in basically the same area since the. There’s an entity called Newark Downtown District that is created by statute, funded by businesses, and supposed to look out for the neighborhood. They clean up lots of trash and host farmer’s markets. But when I tried to talk to them about this, it was obvious there’s no one who is in charge of talking to the public or listening to our views

Regarding affordability, there will be a certain number of units in each building designated for people who make something like 60% of median income. I don’t see how that helps because it’s still expensive

Forge beneficial relationships between downtown developers and people who want to open retail shops. There’s a bunch of empty storefronts because developers are buying up the buildings to put in apartments, but the businesses that were there before won’t be able to pay rents on buildings like that. It would be nice if someone could try to help with that somehow