the rix mix

Maybe this map will help explain my neighborhood.  I am the red star, corner of Elm & Cherry. Next intersection up is Stiles & Cherry, then Lincoln & Cherry. Then Cherry meets the major road Morris Ave. (yellow road) at an angle.  The 7-11 is at Cherry & Morris. Gina lives on dead end Wilson Ter. The CVS is at  the 28 on Westfield Ave. The small market owned by Chinese people is at Stiles & Morris, the 2.   Broad St. lower right is downtown Elizabeth. There is no railroad along West Grand., just an abandoned track bed.  Branch library, a Dunkin' Donuts, ShopRite are all on West Grand off the left of the map. Another Dunkin'  near Orchard & Morris.

Wilson, Lincoln, Decker, Melrose & all the streets on the other side of Elmora Ave. are essentially old suburban, lots of single family.   My immediate area is apartment buildings & two family houses, with some single family homes mixed in. Around my corner some on the way up meet some on the way down.  My favorite street is Stiles between Chilton & Magie. Many old houses with wrap-around porches. There's a classic Victorian on Stiles between Chilton & Cherry, near the Russian Orthodox church.

There is a marked improvement in the quality of some apartment buildings  located on Cherry between Stiles & Morris Ave. I wouldn't mind moving up a block. Cherry rises up a slight incline at Stiles, then dips slightly. Enough incline for skateboarding.  The dotted line from Elizabeth River Park is Elizabeth River. It eventually becomes tidal.

On the far side of Elizabeth River, in the space across from Oakwood Place, is Oakwood Plaza, unpleasant projects, predominantly African-American. The river serves effectively as a moat. Yet the streets above, around Riverside, used to be upper middle class & are still pretty nice. The projects are boxed in, because this entire section of Elizabeth, including the Morris Ave. retail district,  is predominantly Hispanic, oriented toward Colombia, with some leftover Anglos,  African-American  middle class, Haitians, Nigerians, a few Indians & Balkan  Muslims, & many Orthodox Jews scattered throughout. You hear Spanish, but if you look closely it's quite diverse.

Elizabeth Fire Dept Headquarters are at the end of Prince St. I hear every fire engine that goes out of that large building.

The initial two day failure was large,.  Power came on from Morris at Orchard through downtown by Wednesday after Sandy. Mine came on overnight, very early Thursday AM,

My second power failure, Saturday AM,  encompassed at least the area from Cherry  at Stiles to Westfield Ave.  & over to Chilton. Came back on Wednesday night.

Power is now out on Wilson, & on Chilton from Stiles to Elmora Ave. The electric grids here are odd,  encompass partial blocks, seem to leap over streets. I heard a rumor that my grid wasn't even connected to an Elizabeth substation. Who could know around here?

Labels: Elizabeth NJ, weather