Better Blocks advocates for better urban land use so JC and NJ can build more housing, businesses, parks, & transit to sustain our vibrant communities.

Hudson County, NJ
Joined May 2025
Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Demolition scaffolding in Journal Sq. First national grocery built w/ no parking in JC will go up here, in a 55-story tower with 800 apts, also car-free. I dont shop at Whole Foods, but hopefully other grocers will follow their footsteps and open car-free urban supermarkets here.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Three towers. 1,200 homes. Just 665 parking spaces. Here’s the building-by-building breakdown: • Tower 1: 30 stories, 434 homes • Tower 2: 38 stories, 363 homes • Tower 3: 36 stories, 403 homes This rendering shows just how massive the transformation will be and how dramatically these towers will reshape the skyline.
Jersey City could get its first new light-rail station since 2011. As @BetterBlocksNJ reports, the proposed Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stop at 18th Street would be funded through a major transit-oriented development featuring: • 1,200–1,500 apartments • Three towers rising 30, 36 and 38 stories • Income-restricted housing • Street-level retail • ADA-accessible station access Build housing to fund transit. Build transit to support more housing. Jersey City approve it!
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Replying to @MattFriedmanNJ
Welp, there goes the entire 2027 Aspire budget.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Amazing how many more people now use this space in JC's Bergen Square than when it was 6 parking spots!
Green patch used to be like 6 parking spots with very little turnover @JerseyCity
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Welp, we're still having regular incidents of injured and dead whales at the Jersey Shore. But it seems that now that the wind turbines are canceled a lot fewer people give a shit.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
A lot of things are going wrong, but we now have a chad, transit-oriented ShopRite.
Inserra Supermarkets opens a new 85,000-square-foot ShopRite in Jersey City with modern amenities, replacing its Marin Boulevard location. bit.ly/4zwrKjV
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Interesting to see downtown Brooklyn get a high-rise inside the facade of an older building, like several we've seen in JC. This upzonjng was also one of Open New York's first big policy successes. Photo by Alemel.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Dollar for dollar, a PILOT for 40 Newport Pkwy wouldve created/preserved 2x as many affordable units as a new-build PILOT, as we wrote for @BetterBlocksNJ at the time. Megan & others bravely spoke for it, but council didnt listen. Now the tenants are begging not to be displaced.
This is so frustrating. The last council had a chance to prevent this and they all declined
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
In a letter to @GovSherrillNJ, NJ Transit President CEO/President Kris Kolluri, & @NewJerseyDOT Commissioner Priya Jain, @RepMenendez calls for the expansion and modernization of the @NJTRANSIT_HBLR. He suggests: 🚆 More interconnections between Newark & Jersey City 🚆 Connections into Bergen County 🚆 Infill stations in Jersey City & the Union City/Hoboken border 🚆 Prioritizing the Hoboken Wye Bypass
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
I am pro-safe but unsanctioned mobility behaviors. Firetrucks blocking the bike lane so you're biking on the sidewalk? No problem. Idaho stop? Great. Biking wrong-way and pushing right-way cyclists into the car lane? Insanely anti-social and wrong.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
The "investment" here is making the city spend $1.3 million to buy the land next to their house so they dont have to live next to a 3-family house
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Replying to @BetterBlocksNJ
This is great news! This was always arbitrary and heavy handed, not to mention a loss of important property rights, with no compensation. If you believe it’s historic , designate it! It’s that simple.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
This was the McGinley Square Community Board in 2023 on 128 Glenwood. It's pretty clear what their motivation is for the city buying the lot, and any other justification is besides the point.
Us aficionados of ridiculous NIMBY posters will appreciate this one... nj.com/opinion/2023/06/a-que…
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
The Fair Share Housing Center is not an affordable housing organization— they are an anti exclusionary zoning organization. Forcing IZ into every development without subsidies will drive up market rate rents as it is the market rate rents that subsidize the IZ. The math is simple— completely devalue 20% of a deal and you have to pay for the whole thing with 80%. Every deal is different, and if Hoboken is serious about IZ it should review deals on a deal by deal basis— a one size fits all approach is in my opinion counterproductive and will lead to a reduction in supply and a worsening affordability problem.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
On one hand, this is a shocking declaration of economic illiteracy. On the other hand, it’s refreshingly honest. Councilman Russo is far from the only HudCo politician who doesn’t really care whether their proposed “solutions” work in the real world! Why bother w/ a sham study?
The Hoboken City Council voted 8-1 to approve a $30k contract to study a potential 20% affordable housing mandate. @MichaelRussoNJ voted no because he wants the 20% regardless of what the study says. " ... The result doesn’t matter to me, so ’ll be voting no on this tonight.”
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Classic example of how "human scale" is not about height, it's about lot width & horizontality. It's about how many storefronts you can pass while walking 100 steps There'd be tradeoffs to *mandating* skinny buildings, but these tall skinny lads really exemplify the dynamic
Best intersection, architecturally speaking, in Manhattan (or at least one of the best)
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Adding this to bedtime prayers . . .
Replying to @PANYNJ
When can we take it to EWR Airport? Move the Airtrain station up to Hunter Yard. Put the hotels, eateries and shops along Freylinghuysen for true TOD. Shift route 1&9 along the NEC, stretch runway 11/29 and add a parallel.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Hudson County residents need to support the @HudCoStreets Better Light Rail campaign to improve @NJTRANSIT HBLR service. 30 minute weekend headways, service bunching, and broken promises on network expansion are unacceptable in the state’s most transit-oriented county.
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Better Blocks New Jersey retweeted
Essentially, developers rushed to beat the clock before the inclusionary zoning took effect. The new 100% market-rate buildings swamped the market and lowered rents. And the inclusionqry zoning is now suppressing supply.
Inclusionary zoning lowered rents in Denver by spurring the construction of thousands of 100% market-rate buildings before the policy took effect. Now new housing starts are crashing due to the inclusionary zoning, and housing analysts expect rents to rise:
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