North of Maplecrest Park - tell me about it.

Hey,

Anyone familiar with the area just north of Maplecrest Park? We're interested in a house over there but don't really know anything about that little pocket over there? We have 2 lil ones so looking to see if it's a tight-knit community in that area? Young families with children? Any Pro's or Con's we should know about? Thanks in advance!

Do you mean the two blocks or so directly north of the park that was developed in the 1960's (some of the last development in town), or do you mean a larger area?

Yeah, those two blocks in particular. This section looks completely different from the rest of Maplewood as far as housing style goes. I guess that's because they were built much later than most of the homes in the town. Any info at all would be greatly appreciated.

I believe the land was once part of Maplecrest Park and was sold by the town.

Or was that a land grab by Grasemere and his cronies to make money?

MadHatterer said:

Or was that a land grab by Grasemere and his cronies to make money?

OP asking for advice/help. Take it someplace else, please.

I can’t quite visualize the section the OP asked about but I can tell you that Mayor Grasmere and the people who served with him deserve a lot better than that snarky and offensive comment from MadHatterer. You don’t have to like Republicans to know they served with integrity and cared about Maplewood, keeping its sense of place and pride throughout the 1980s when not everyone thought Maplewood was going to flourish as it has in the decades since then.

As far as “north of Maplecrest Park,” wouldn’t that be the Ward Homestead/College Hill area generally speaking? If you are on Springfield Avenue/NJ124, east is Irvington and west is Vauxhall, more or less. My sense is that just about every part of Maplewood has young families now, and it’s a good thing to keep in mind but should not be a deal breaker. People move, or they are the right age but you don’t really like them, or and you meet kids and their parents at day care/nursery school/grade school/at the playground…anywhere.

grayhill said:

I can’t quite visualize the section the OP asked about but I can tell you that Mayor Grasmere and the people who served with him deserve a lot better than that snarky and offensive comment from MadHatterer. You don’t have to like Republicans to know they served with integrity and cared about Maplewood, keeping its sense of place and pride throughout the 1980s when not everyone thought Maplewood was going to flourish as it has in the decades since then.

As far as “north of Maplecrest Park,” wouldn’t that be the Ward Homestead/College Hill area generally speaking? If you are on Springfield Avenue/NJ124, east is Irvington and west is Vauxhall, more or less. My sense is taht jsut about every part of Maplewood has young families now, and it’s a good thing to keep in mind but should not be a deal breaker. People move, or they are the right age but you don’t really like them, or and you meet kids and their parents at day care/nursery school/grade school/at the playground…anywhere.

+1
I'm a dyed in the wool Democrat who would argue that Mayor Grasmere was the best mayor in my lifetime by far. Perhaps Madhatter would have preferred a mayor who would have let 78 run through the town as it was originally planned? Mayor Grasmere stopped that.

OK, everyone, the plot was privately owned and developed so take it elsewhere.

We live in the adjoining neighborhood about two blocks south along Oakland and love it. We have always loved the access to the park, but it is not for everyone. There is traffic and noise, especially in the summer. I do not think that one block on Forest has many children, but I also think the residents are older and the houses are beginning to turn over.

Essex road, Plymouth and Highland have had a block party the last few years. LOTS of kids. Great neighborhood with people who help each other out. One block from the park. Jitney on corner. Walk to Clinton and Seth Boyden and town pool around the corner.

Since those couple of blocks were built newer, I would ask yourself if you prefer the 60s housing stock vs th 20s-40s that you see throughout most of the town. Some would prefer, some would not.

max_weisenfeld said:

OK, everyone, the plot was privately owned and developed so take it elsewhere.

seaweed said:

Since those couple of blocks were built newer, I would ask yourself if you prefer the 60s housing stock vs th 20s-40s that you see throughout most of the town. Some would prefer, some would not.

I feel about older homes now the way I feel about small children - fun but when they get cranky, you want to return them to their owner.

MadHatterer said:

Or was that a land grab by Grasemere and his cronies to make money?

On one thread he is a hero for getting the route of 78 moved and on another he is a villain. Interesting.

Most people here won't have anything good to say about the man simply because he was a Republican.

tjohn said:

seaweed said:

Since those couple of blocks were built newer, I would ask yourself if you prefer the 60s housing stock vs th 20s-40s that you see throughout most of the town. Some would prefer, some would not.

I feel about older homes now the way I feel about small children - fun but when they get cranky, you want to return them to their owner.

Lol! We just downsized to a local 1960s home after 15 years of "Maplewood quaint" (arts & crafts and Victorian) and we are in heaven. Central air, plenty of bathrooms, open flow, great light, well-insulated with newer windows; oh, and a bucketload cheaper than our beloved old homesteads. Bring on the Martinis and Mad Men!

oldsctls67 said:

Most people here won't have anything good to say about the man simply because he was a Republican.

I beg to differ. I'm pretty liberal, but I think he did a lot of good for the town for a long time. And I think you can find plenty of old-timers (I don't think I yet qualify) who aren't Republicans who would say the same. That doesn't mean I venerate him and think that he "could do no wrong" (as IS the case with some I've observed) but I certainly voted for him multiple times and have plenty of admiration for many of his accomplishments.

Well stated Sac. Many of us can recall those times when we could vote for both Democrats and Republicans based on the individual and their positions and actions.

That was before your town became intolerant.

ram said:

That was before your town became intolerant.

Actually, I think that was before the many Republican's fled because Black people were moving in.

sprout said:

ram said:

That was before your town became intolerant.

Actually, I think that was before the many Republican's fled because the Black people were coming.

You win the Internet today. )

No I don't think Republicans fled for that reason; I think many died, because they were the early Maplewoodians. I actually think some people moved, perfectly legitimately, for more land or lower taxes, and that some people across the political spectrum fled when they saw or remembered the smoke rising off Springfield Avenue in the late 1960s, and a lot of them were not nearly as conservative or Republican as the knee-jerk and sophomoric comments scattered on this board suggest. I distinctly recall when we bought our house in 1979 the mother of one of our friends, a longtime Weequahic resident who had “fled” to Elizabeth and a certified liberal, warning us that Maplewood was a "changing” neighborhood. I too recall the time when you could vote for people of both parties and not insult or be insulted by the opposing party, especially in the Northeast. Clifford Case, Kenneth Keating, Jacob Javits, Charles Goodell--just the tip of the old time Republican iceberg, though I suppose all would be written out of the party now. There was a time when “moderate” was an acceptable political identity, and “liberal" didn’t come with all sorts of politically correct bigotry of its own.

+1

Thanks to the few that actually answered my original questions, much appreciated. For the rest, thank you for hijacking the thread, albeit humorous. I look forward to hijacking all of your threads in the near future and making your posts all about me and my verbal wit. :p

When my step-sister's father purchased the house I now own the man he bought it from in late 1980's said he was selling to get away from the "crack wars" that were happening in our area. At the time I lived across the street. I have seen the neighborhood go down (a few stolen cars) and then back up again, and one of our neighbors did have a burglary recently. But I haven't seen any extremes, and most certainly have never seen anything approaching what one would describe as a "crack war."

bkeditor said:

Hey,

Anyone familiar with the area just north of Maplecrest Park? We're interested in a house over there but don't really know anything about that little pocket over there? We have 2 lil ones so looking to see if it's a tight-knit community in that area? Young families with children? Any Pro's or Con's we should know about? Thanks in advance!

Pro's, mostly quiet neighborhood.

Con's, a cut through for people trying to get from Elmwood Ave to Springfield Ave.

bkeditor said:

Thanks to the few that actually answered my original questions, much appreciated. For the rest, thank you for hijacking the thread, albeit humorous. I look forward to hijacking all of your threads in the near future and making your posts all about me and my verbal wit. :p

And thank you for your sense of humor.

spontaneous said:

When my step-sister's father purchased the house I now own the man he bought it from in late 1980's said he was selling to get away from the "crack wars" that were happening in our area. At the time I lived across the street. I have seen the neighborhood go down (a few stolen cars) and then back up again, and one of our neighbors did have a burglary recently. But I haven't seen any extremes, and most certainly have never seen anything approaching what one would describe as a "crack war."

I'm not too worried about that area going downhill as I plan on installing a 12 ft high barbed wire fence around my property. Add to that, 6 huge pitbulls and a machine gun turret atop my chimney to defend the massive meth lab I'll have in my new home (to help with the property taxes).

bkeditor said:

I'm not too worried about that area going downhill as I plan on installing a 12 ft high barbed wire fence around my property. Add to that, 6 huge pitbulls and a machine gun turret atop my chimney to defend the massive meth lab I'll have in my new home (to help with the property taxes).

Whoa-oh. Somewhere a law-enforcement officer on a computer just saw the words "machine gun" and "meth lab" and is now opening a file on you.......

bkeditor said:

the massive meth lab I'll have in my new home (to help with the property taxes).

Yes, meth is definitely the way to go. Marijuana might be a safer choice (less chance of explosion), but once it becomes legal they'll start taxing the hell out of it so you'll lose most of your profits.