Dear Editor:
“Is the city too loud?” (September 3). Is there any question at all? Hoboken definitely has more than its share of rude residents, visitors and business owners, including those on my street (Monroe) that use their car horn for a doorbell and illegally run their auto repair business right on the street. (But that’s okay; the owner is friends with the police; welcome to Hoboken.)
Besides the eyesore of double-parked cars, plus cars on the sidewalk, is the cacophony of car alarms and revving engines. But nowadays this is often drowned out by the incessant construction on almost every block in town. At one point there was a coffee car that came every morning at 10 and blasted his air raid siren of a horn, thinking this was perfectly acceptable because it was “already” 10 a.m. He must have mistaken this block for a construction site; I can see how. If I move out of this town, noise will be the number one reason. (It’s one reason why my wife left.)
I know construction is on the rise (no pun intended) everywhere, but why has Hoboken witnessed such an obsessive surge? Why is every crevice, alley and former garden or baseball lot either being filled or about to be filled with luxury condos? I look around town and realize it’s even going to get even worse; mark my words, there’s a lot more undeveloped area in the northwest corner of town, and lots of old houses all around us that will soon be torn down or burned down, like one on Grand Street not too long ago; I heard the fire raged on for quite awhile that night before it was put out). The morning car commute out of town will be even more of a headache. And why? Isn’t Hoboken crowded enough? Isn’t parking already out of hand? Isn’t the sewage system which provides us with that lovely aroma, even when it’s not backed up after a heavy downpour, already inadequate to the current population? You’d think, maybe a few years ago, the mayor had a couple of drinks with a neighboring mayor and waged a bet: “I can double my city’s population before you can.” Either way, it’s obvious that the powers that be care more about making a buck than the quality of life in Hoboken.
While we’re at it, why don’t we go after Church Square Park? Lots of prime development potential there! And to my friends in Marineview Plaza, enjoy your view of the waterfront while you can.
Rich Lamb