David Wilson

Cliffside Park, NJ

1. It is on top of the Palisades. I get to look over and see Oz on the horizon.
2. I live 4 blocks from the site of the old Palisades Park Amusement Park. Even though there are highrise condos there now, the aura remains.
3. It is an old Italian town. There are plenty of Italian bakeries and delis. The restaurants are just ok, but I grew up in Paterson where the Italians were cookers.
4. On the northside of town there is a concentration of Japanese and Koreans. What this means is that there are a lot a people who don't know how to drive a car properly and driving down the main drag is always an adventure. But the tradeoff is that there are a lot a great restaurants and the Asians are polite people.
5. On the southside of town there is a concentration of Central Americans and Mexicans. A lot of them are Indians or peasants. Living with Indians and peasants is definitely a good thing. Then there is a sizable Turkish population. The Turkish bakery on Palisades Ave. is the place to go.

1. The mayor has been in office since 1967. His son is on the borough council and his daughter-in-law was a county freeholder until she was defeated last election cycle. Inspired by the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire" I've started calling this place "Palisades Empire." City Hall is the employment center for the city clerk's extended family.
2. The borough has chosen to play a game using parking tickets as a form of revenue. In its defense I will say that since the borough is so close to the GWB, out-of-towners have abused the place by parking in town all day, catching a bus into NYC and burning the residents. To counter this you need a permit to park on the city streets.
But the first 2 weeks I lived in town with my out-of-state plates on my car I found it was a magnet for parking tickets. Then to challenge them I had to go to municipal court. Come on already. I'm not some Chaim Yankel who just got off the boat. I had to take my high school friend who is a lawyer along with me to restrain me. I cut a deal with the borough attorney, held my nose, and paid the fine. He "reduced" the fines with a straight face even though there was an air of extortion about the entire business. The room was filled with recent immigrants who aren't going to make much of a fuss over this scam. Feeling that the folks down at city hall are picking your pocket doesn't inspire much confidence.
3. There is a big hole in the middle of downtown that is supposedly undergoing redevelopment. They demolished a city block, let it sit vacant for a long time, made a big fanfare about construction starting, only to have it revert to an empty hole. I can't wait to hear the explanation.
4. The city padres' idea of redevelopment is to knock down single family houses, rezone and allow duplexes to be built in their place. The curb cuts then essentially reduce the amount of on-street parking, pitting the people who have to park on the street against each other and then sending the cops around ticket us. If this has to do with increasing the tax base, then I just fell off of a turnip truck on the edge of town.
5. You said I can have 5 reasons to say what I don't like about CP? I don't have a fifth reason, but if I think of one, I want to come back here with it.