Hackettstown leadership
GrandAveGirl Sure they are... Except for... Drive thru at dunkin donuts.. Huge F for that traffic disaster.. The new quick check on mountain ave.. That will be a logistical nightmare when it goes up... Wawa on mountain ave, because we just don't have enough places to get coffee and sandwiches in this town.. Illegals congregating on the corners, looking for someone to give them work and Nobody does anything about it.. But the mayor in her infinite wisdom has saved us from the perils of legal marijuana.. It's ok to have breweries in town. Drinking and doing pub crawls.. But no marijuana... Wow, good thing we have such intelligent, upstanding citizens to look out for us.. If you believe that, i have a bridge that I'm selling, just for you... It's right in the mayor's back yard...
Samiam 
Oooyou“Hackettstown looks great doing a great job”
And financially sound too! Yes, I agree things have been managed pretty well, regardless of political party too. Which is really something given how politicized our society has become.
justintime Meanwhile we have illegals on Main St one of whom left a baby home alone with a 3 and 6 year old... LOL...
Metsman Don’t forget the several white male American citizens who were arrested recently for sex crimes against children, including one who masturbated at the public pool.
This town needs to think about the type of people it lets in. White males commit far too many sex crime.
Burp What a shame! Someone is trying to be positive and most of you complain! I bet none of you who are complaining go to meetings or get involved in any way! And use your real names to complain!
Hackettstown has come a long way in the last 10-15 years. I wish my town was able to attract 1/4 of the businesses that Hackettstown has. Heck, I wish my town could attract one business. Everything that gets planned out here, falls through.
Calico696 "This town needs to think about the type of people it lets in. White males commit far too many sex crime."
The most idiotic, uneducated, uniformed, moronic statement I have read on here in quite awhile. And believe me it abounds.
Greg How do you explain so many white males having been arrested for sex crimes against children in this town, then?
TheMelvins Omg the Dunkin’ Donuts drive thru is sooooooooooooo poorly placed!!!!!! If you are making a left into the drive thru you are hated by every car behind you. They need to rethink that design.
Yeah, this town is getting bigger. Drawing in new businesses. Drawing in visitors. It was different in the 90's, early 2000's... last 4-5 years I've seen a huge change and the town hasn't been able to accommodate these changes. I still can't get over the fact that a friggin turf field was approved for the town while that money could have done so much more for that school.... sigh...... gotta get outta here
Mantis Tobaggan MD I simply repeat:
The most idiotic, uneducated, uniformed, moronic statement I have read on here in quite awhile. And believe me it abounds.
I will not engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed person.
The subject is the aesthetics of the town. It's looking good! Several buildings on Main Street are getting face lifts. Not that the leadership is responsible for that but pleasing to see none the less.
The Mountain Ave corridor is what it is. Classic over development with very little thought about the streetscape. I look at that congested area as simply a necessary evil.
Of course one of the larger negatives in my opinion is our town hall building. It is sadly small and outdated. Another more modern facility would greatly improve efficiency as well as "show" a much more modern yet quaint image of our town. I understand the challenges in that however. But at least when anyone conducting business with the town and coming to the Municipal building, should not have to look at that abomination across the street - that derelict looking body shop. Its a shame that is what folks see when visiting. Other similar types of businesses in town are kept neat, professional and tidy. No excuse for that mess, particularly in the highly visible location opposite our town hall..It screams podunk, and backwoods to me. Heck even one of the town jewels, the Livestock auction while older is always neat, clean tidy and respectable.
In any event I love Hackettstown and the current leadership has done great with the financial health of town for sure.
“Illegals congregating on the corners, looking for someone to give them work and Nobody does anything about it.” - Samiam
Sam, do you check their papers? Are you sure that all of them standing in front of their apartments are illegal? Also looking for work isn’t a bad thing, don’t know the reason you had to point that out. Nothing wrong with trying to make an honest living.
With that being said, Hackettstown has been on the come up within the last few years! I think the addition of the breweries as well as great places to eat have really boosted our economy.
Hackettstown is fine. The wealthy and the poor mix well here together. Some nice fancy restaurants for the wealthy, and plenty of take out/fast food for the less fortunate. Salvation army for the wealthy to drop off items for a tax break, a place for those less fortunate to pick something up. Some nice houses/ businesses, some "Podunk" for those less fortunate. Plenty of wealthy that are able to hire the illegals so they can profit, and the illegals make enough to eat for the day. Surely there is the occasional social caste clash now and then but overall it works pretty well. Now thanks to Comrade Murphy, we are not going to have to pay 5 cents per grocery bag. That will save us a fortune as we stitch these bags together for the homeless/ homeless veterans who need a mat to keep them warm on those cold winter nights.
Dodgebaal What is the reference to being saved from marijuana? Did the town pass something to limit a shop opening when it's gets legalized?
CraftBeerBob "Nothing wrong with trying to make an honest living." -- businessguy1984
Except for the fact that illegal aliens aren't making an honest living, far from it.
Laws should be enforced, the wall should be built, (both physical and virtual) E-verify should be implemented, those who knowingly hire illegal aliens should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and the town should fully co-operate with ICE, and the town shoud go after those who are stacking apatments and rented houses.
All that would a long way to improving the quality of life around here, just sayin'
GreyHawk 
Skippy "How about prosecuting those who hire illegals"
Move along, nothing to see here....
Honest living, my aching butt!!! Our definitions of honest must vary greatly!!
Speaking of how things look, I see Marley's is painting the exterior. Interesting choice of color. I know it's their logo colors but that is quite a punch! I just hate to see a natural stone albeit veneer, painted over.
It's perky....
Yes, Hackettstown does look great. At night the lamp lights are beautifully lit and really pretty at Christmas time. I've noticed many buildings being painted and some putting in new windows. Most store fronts are full.
I realize that not all of us are happy about the illegals and etc. going on but overall the town is in good shape and I don't live there. I grew up there and don't like some of the things that have changed. But, when I drive through town from Independence to Mansfield, it sure looks inviting for the most part. Thanks to those that are responsible for this.
For those that think it's not nice, just take a drive through Washington and see all the vacant stores on their Main Street.
magpie Grey hawk, as I mentioned in my post, can you confirm those looking for work are illegal? That’s a gross assumption that you are making, casting a wide net. Unless you are going out and asking them for their documentation than you cannot confirm.
Assuming things isn’t helping the problem. Generalizing an entire group of people is ignorant.
If it weren't for the illegals the small business owners would either have to do the work themselves or have a lower standard of living financially.
And so the illegals stay. Cash is king...
“Assuming things isn’t helping the problem. Generalizing an entire group of people is ignorant.”
Careful BusinessGuy1984, critical thinking can get you labeled as a nut job ;-)
Some people need to realize that the people who hire these "illegal immigrants" are NOT from Hackettstown. Most are from out of town and are passing through looking to hire or they specially are picking one up who is on their "payroll" already.
Most trucks have their business painted on them. That will tell you who's picking who up. I'm on Main Street almost every morning early enough to see this with my own eyes.
Dodgeball, the larger business owners love illegal immigrants, too. They love paying much lower wages
Remember; it was Reagan, a Republican, who gave amnesty to 3.2 millimeters n, invited them to bring their families over, and gave that fruit is rotting on the vine speech in which he claimed Americans wouldn’t do certain jobs. No; Americans just won’t do certain jobs for the slave wages American employers offer, and hiring illegal immigrants which effectively lowers wages is employers way of punishing the American worker for this.
Republicabs say they want to stop illegal immigration but that’s bluster. They love it Bc they love the cheap labor and the way it depresses wages for everybody.
That wall will probably never be built and even if it is, it will have breaks in it to allow easy passage. Even Trump said he wouldn’t build a wall that went along the full border, such as along rivers and mountains, stupidly claiming that illegals would not cross there. This despite the fact that those are exactly some of the areas where illegals have always crossed. You think trump wants to pay American citizens at his construction sites and Hotel and golf clubs!? No!
It's not only wages--it's consumption. Each person will only consume so much goods. The more people you have, the more consumption. Let's say (hypothetically, as an example) that Coca-Cola makes 10 cents profit, on each bottle of Coke. And let's say there are 10 million illegal immigrants, and on average, 1/4th of them consume 1 can of Coke per week. That's 2.5 million Cokes per week, which means $250,000 profit. Multiply that times 52 weeks per year, and you have $13M in additional profits. Deport all of those people, and those profits virtually vanish, because even if Coke is sold in their home countries, they will likely be too poor to buy that much Coke.
Therefore, even when companies don't hire illegals to benefit from increased wages, having all of those illegals may still significantly benefit the companies.
JerseyWolf just wondering what the ratio is of stores on main street run by immigrants vs American store owners.is it about 50 50.
mel If they come to this country legally, and open up and run a business legally, then I say good for them. And good for America, to have more good, hard-working citizens investing in the nation's future.
The illegals . . . well, that's a whole 'nother story.
JerseyWolf - Correct. The majority of people have no issue with immigrants, except for some real predjudiced @ssholes. It's the illegal immigrants that are the problem.
I earlier posted how nice Main Street is looking with all the painting and news windows going in. Today I rode down the street and OMG, what did they do to Marley's. It looks terrible. But, that's my opinion and probably not anyone else's.
I have not gone over to see the finished product yet. The photo I took of the progress I posted above. Here's another one. I imagine you can't miss Marley's in the block LOL.
I agree that Marley's now looks rather tacky, to my eyes. But I think that is mostly because it is so "different." If every building on Main Street was neatly painted with different bold colors, like that, the town would suddenly be "trendy," and people would stop in town just to take photos to post all over the internet.
That's how towns like Hackettstown attract visitors (with their consumer dollars)--by being unique. No point in getting in the car and driving a half hour to spend money in a town that's just like your own home town. Perhaps Marley's will be the start of something new and different, for the locals here.
I guess we are in Patterson they have byielding like Marleys to buildings like that old barber shop falling down.
The Easy Going Guy I totally agree It would be great for our downtown to become a trendy destination spot as that is what businesses strive for. Years ago Chester was able to achieve some success in that regard.
The concept of many of the buildings painted in bold colors could be fun. A carnival of color of you will. That would take a concerted effort by the BID, planning board, building owners, and even the historical commission to create a plan for a streetscape with a particular identity. Personally I'm not sure that is the correct feel for our town. To me a shore town with that theme seems more appropriate. On our Main street one building like that may benefit that particular business but could be seen as just an eyesore to many.
It would be great to see our Main street adopt a more refined, quaint, sophisticated character. Naturally that's easier said than done, I understand that. I was recently in Boulder Colorado and I must say they have such a lovely example of perfectly charming, trendy, sophisticated store fronts and such. Granted Hackettstown ain't Boulder! LOL The idea of a cohesive long range plan for the aesthetics of our Main street area would be a good thing for sure.
"The concept of many of the buildings painted in bold colors could be fun. A carnival of color of you will. That would take a concerted effort by the BID, planning board, building owners, and even the historical commission to create a plan for a streetscape with a particular identity. Personally I'm not sure that is the correct feel for our town. To me a shore town with that theme seems more appropriate."
It would look like a "fraternity row"...
ianimal "The idea of a cohesive long range plan for the aesthetics of our Main street area would be a good thing for sure."
This is happening now as part of the 2018 Master Plan. Those interested in giving input should attend Land Use Board meetings in Sept and Oct. as this is finishing up soon.
Jim L Jim- Is the Draft Reexamination report available to review? The last meeting minutes posted online are from the May 22nd meeting. Mr. Sterbenz stated the document will be available for review ten days prior to the public hearing. I'd enjoy looking through it.
Who could get mad at an American citizen who's a baby, thanks maternity tourism.
Added bonus, the wealthy in town get the Social Security rent checks. The more you can cram into a studio apartment the better. Imagine having three or four paying babies in your rental unit at $1000.00 plus a month.
Oh! 62 news had H'town and Warren Hills schools ranked at the bottom of the whole state, 195 and 194 respectively.
Ain't Hackettstown looking good (rhetorical)?
One-eyed Poacher Greg, I will check with the Town Engineer on when it will be made public, the Land Use Board has a lot of dialogue on what should be in it as well as what old parts should be removed as they are no longer suitable. So we have gone through a few drafts so far. I believe we have come to an agreement on what should go in and will discuss at the Sept meeting which means it will be made available to the public prior to that meeting.
Great. I gather there is a fair amount of information to cover.
Thanks for the update. I'll be sure to look for a draft in the next few weeks.
Hi, does anyone know what kinds of rules and regulations Hackettstown has as far as people with property upkeep? Why do people have furniture on their porches or just loads of stuff that make their property look like it’s not taken care of. I see this especially with multi family homes. Makes me believe that they just collect the rent and never come to take care of their property. This is very frustrating because no wants to live near that and look at it all the time.
Danni I recommend you visit the town website and read the the Town Charter & General Code Ordinance. Perhaps after reading the information you can determine if the situation violates any ordinance. If not and I don't think it does, well then I say live and let live!
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