My next-door neighbor for the past seven years had to pack up and move, as reporter Mark Spivey detailed in a recent article.Connolly Properties had its headquarters at 128 East Seventh Street and after workers removed railroad ties separating our driveway from theirs, nobody could tell the difference. People stopping by to pay their rent parked on our side, two wheels on the lawn. Huge deliveries arrived and were unloaded just under my window. Workers arrived an hour or so early to hang out and schmooze. Connolly employees and visitors used their driveway as a parking lot, adding further to traffic on our side. PMUA trucks barrelled up, sometimes two or three a day to service the two buildings.
All this tsuris eventually convinced me that the best time to write was in the middle of the night, when all was quiet. Now once again it is mostly quiet all the time.
You never know how your neighborhood will change. A rock band or a tuba student could move next door, or a family with five rowdy kids. You can't always get what you want, as the Rolling Stones will tell you, but even if you don't try sometimes, you might get what you need - in this case, a little peace and quiet.
--Bernice
You keep refering to mark spivey as a reporter (he does report what he is told to!), . . . at least you have not called him a journalist, as that denotes someone of high ethical character who searches out and delivers to the public, unbiased news stories! In other words . . . the TRUTH!
ReplyDeleteFor those of us who had to live with slum lord David Connolly, this is sweet retribution. I have always told people that he would get what was coming to him. Unfortunately, those people who worked for Connolly Properties are now unemployed. Some deserve it, like the super who only helped those people from this islands and ignored the rest of us. I feel bad though for my last super at 606 Crescent, who was attentive and wanted to do the proper job and wasn't allowed by his slum lord boss.
ReplyDeleteTo 10:21 a.m.: Mark is indeed a journalist and has awards from several peer associations to prove it. I notice some disgruntled posts lately attacking Mark and can only assume he ticked somebody off - which is part of the territory when reporting a municipal beat. Local readers should be glad to have someone as energetic and skilled as Mark on the beat (and I think most are).
ReplyDeleteWell goodbye to slum lord Connolly and hello to Hampshire Park Associates, LLC who seems to be vying for the title of slum lord boss, I guess we will have to wait and see if they will take the title or choose the high road.
ReplyDeletePeer associations are nothing but groups of individuals so absorbed with their own talents, worth and importance that they sit around patting each other on the back!
ReplyDeleteAwards do not mean a thing when you have no integrity!
Connolly - All I can say is karma. I'm happy to hear it's more peaceful for you!
ReplyDeleteAs for Mark Spivey - I'm grateful for all he does. Not only that, but he knows the difference between "its" and "it's" -- I saw another reporter who made that error recently either on nj.com or the Courier News site.
Anonymous commenters tend to speak big and bold, but with few details and no names. Hurts the credibility just a bit, eh?