I lived in Hoboken for 15 years before moving up to Jersey City Heights. Some of my friends who live up here thought I’d love it and I did when I first moved here almost 5 years ago. But Central Avenue has changed in the last few years and not for the better.

Due to the terrible economy, some of the stores have closed and some that were vacant 5 years ago, still are. Today a store can only survive if it sells products we truly need, like food and liquor. We can live without new sneakers, but we have to eat and have that glass of wine.

I have noticed that down in Hoboken stores close also, but a new store is more likely to open there, than here. It’s obvious to anyone who walks around here or there, the type of people who live and shop in these two areas are quite different.

A new store cannot open if the type of people who would shop there don’t exist up here, and if they don’t open better shops, the living spaces won’t improve driving up the cost, making the type of people who live up here better.

I realize it’s all a cycle and everything is connected. Just look at how Downtown Jersey City has reinvented itself, the same way Hoboken did years ago. New condominiums, shops, malls, parks, walkways, etc…

But “The Heights” is stuck in a downward spiral and no one is doing anything to help it. Hello, Mayor Healy? Each year in May, right on Central Avenue we have “The Everything Jersey City Festival.” This past festival drew approximately 23,000 people and it was a spectacular day, but one festival, on one day, cannot bring a section of the city up to where it could be.

I’ve got visitors coming to visit from the midwest this summer and I’m wondering what they’re going to think about this area and if they’re going to wonder why I moved here. Yes the space I have is huge compared to Hoboken spaces, but when they see the locals, I can only imagine their horror. Well, all I can do is show them a great time in close by New York City, and the waterfront areas of Hoboken and Jersey City.