Editing Hoboken, New Jersey (section)

====1970s–present====
During the late 1970s and 1980s, the city witnessed a speculation spree, fueled by transplanted New Yorkers and others who bought many turn-of-the-20th-century brownstones in neighborhoods that the still solid middle and working class population had kept intact and by local and out-of-town real-estate investors who bought up late 19th century apartment houses often considered to be tenements. Hoboken experienced a wave of fires, some of which were arson.<ref>[http://www.hobokenfire.org/historyx.htm History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726152231/http://www.hobokenfire.org/historyx.htm |date=July 26, 2011 }}, Hoboken Fire Department. Accessed September 1, 2015.</ref><ref name=Recalling>Good, Philip. [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/27/nyregion/recalling-the-glory-days-of-the-hudson-dispatch.html "Recalling the Glory Days of The Hudson Dispatch"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819031518/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/27/nyregion/recalling-the-glory-days-of-the-hudson-dispatch.html |date=August 19, 2016 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 27, 1991. Accessed February 1, 2012.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gottlieb |first=Dylan |date=2019-09-01 |title=Hoboken Is Burning: Yuppies, Arson, and Displacement in the Postindustrial City |journal=Journal of American History |language=en |volume=106 |issue=2 |pages=390–416 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jaz346 |issn=0021-8723}}</ref> Applied Housing, a real-estate investment firm, used federal government incentives to renovate "sub-standard" housing and receive subsidized rental payments (commonly known as [[Section 8 (housing)|Section 8]]), which enabled some low-income, displaced, and disabled residents to move within town. Hoboken attracted artists, musicians, upwardly mobile commuters, and "bohemian types" interested in the socioeconomic possibilities and challenges of a bankrupt New York and who valued the aesthetics of Hoboken's residential, civic and commercial architecture, its sense of community, and relatively (compared to Lower Manhattan) less expensive rents, all a quick, train hop away.

These trends in development resembled similar growth and change patterns in [[Brooklyn]] and downtown [[Jersey City, New Jersey|Jersey City]] and Manhattan's [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]]—and to a lesser degree, [[SoHo]] and [[TriBeCa]]—which previously had not been residential. Empty lots were built on, tenements were transformed into luxury condominiums. Hoboken felt the impact of the destruction of the [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]] intensely, many of its newer residents having worked there. Re-zoning encouraged new construction on former industrial sites on the waterfront and the traditionally more impoverished low-lying west side of the city where, in concert with Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and New Jersey State land-use policy, [[transit village]]s are now being promoted.<ref>[http://njtod.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Land-Development-at-HBLR-Station.pdf ''Land Development at Selected Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Stations''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107021036/http://njtod.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Land-Development-at-HBLR-Station.pdf |date=November 7, 2017 }}, NJTOD. Accessed November 5, 2017.</ref> Once a [[blue collar]] town characterized by live poultry shops and drab taverns, it has since been transformed into a town filled with gourmet shops and luxury condominiums.<ref name=Recalling/>

In October 2012, [[Hurricane Sandy]] caused widespread flooding in Hoboken, leaving 1,700 homes flooded and causing $100&nbsp;million in damage after the storm "filled up Hoboken like a bathtub",<ref>Breed, Allen G.; and Hays, Tom. [http://bigstory.ap.org/article/superstorm-sandy-takes-aim-atlantic-coast-0 "Superstorm Sandy Slams into New Jersey Coast"] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030211337/http://bigstory.ap.org/article/superstorm-sandy-takes-aim-atlantic-coast-0 |date=October 30, 2012 }}, [[Associated Press]], October 30, 2012. Accessed September 1, 2015.</ref> leaving the city without electricity for days, and requiring the summoning of the [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]].<ref name=NYTimes11.3.23>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/headway/hoboken-floods.html|title=A Climate Change Success Story? Look at Hoboken.|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|author=Kimmelman, Michael|language=en-US|url-status=live|date=November 3, 2023|access-date=November 8, 2023|archive-date=November 8, 2023|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231108171236/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/03/headway/hoboken-floods.html}}</ref> Workers in Hoboken had the highest rate of public transportation use in the nation, with 56% commuting daily via mass transit.<ref>Rivera, Ray. [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/nyregion/hoboken-faces-continuing-toll-from-hurricane-sandy.html "Its Restaurants Empty and Its Trains Stalled, Hoboken Encounters Storm's Increasing Toll"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113084409/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/nyregion/hoboken-faces-continuing-toll-from-hurricane-sandy.html |date=January 13, 2020 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]', December 16, 2012. Accessed August 19, 2020. "According to census surveys, an estimated 56 percent workers here use public transportation every day, surpassing New York City as the most transit-reliant community in the nation."</ref> Hurricane Sandy caused seawater to flood half the city, crippling the PATH station at Hoboken Terminal when more than 10&nbsp;million gallons of water dumped into the system. In December 2013 Mayor Dawn Zimmer testified before a U.S. Senate Committee on the impact the storm had on Hoboken's businesses and residents,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20130106105047/http://www.hobokennj.org/2012/12/mayor-zimmer-testifies-at-us-senate-committee-about-sandys-impact-on-hoboken/ "Mayor Zimmer Testifies at US Senate Committee About Sandy's Impact on Hoboken"], City of Hoboken, December 13, 2012, backed up by the [[Internet Archive]] as of January 6, 2013. Accessed November 13, 2019.</ref><ref>[http://vimeo.com/55582761 "Mayor Zimmer testifies before Senate on Sandy's impact on Hoboken"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221184154/http://vimeo.com/55582761 |date=December 21, 2013 }}, [[Vimeo]], December 13, 2012. Accessed June 2, 2016.</ref> and in January 2014 she stated that Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno and Richard Constable, a member of governor [[Chris Christie]]'s cabinet, deliberately held back Hurricane Sandy relief funds from the city in order to pressure her to approve a Christie ally's developmental project,<ref>[[Steve Kornacki|Kornacki, Steve]]. [http://www.msnbc.com/up-with-steve-kornacki "Governor Chris Christie responds"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121013903/http://www.msnbc.com/up-with-steve-kornacki |date=January 21, 2014 }}, ''[[Up (TV series)|Up]]'', [[MSNBC]], January 19, 2014.</ref><ref>Giambusso, David; and Baxter, Chris. [http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/zimmer_christie_hoboken_scandal_allegations.html "Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer alleges Chris Christie's office withheld Sandy aid over development deal"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140122002724/http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/zimmer_christie_hoboken_scandal_allegations.html |date=January 22, 2014 }}, NJ Advance Media for [[NJ.com]], January 18, 2014. Accessed November 12, 2015.</ref> a charge that the Christie administration denied.<ref>Giambusso, David. [http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/dca_official_accuses_zimmer_of_lying_about_sandy_allegations.html "Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer's Sandy allegations 'categorically false,' DCA official says"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140120233509/http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/dca_official_accuses_zimmer_of_lying_about_sandy_allegations.html |date=January 20, 2014 }}, NJ Advance Media for [[NJ.com]], January 18, 2014. Accessed November 12, 2015.</ref><ref>Giambusso, David. [http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/hoboken_mayor_dawn_zimmer_stands_by_allegations_against_christie.html "Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer stands by her allegations against Christie"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121234154/http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/hoboken_mayor_dawn_zimmer_stands_by_allegations_against_christie.html |date=January 21, 2014 }}, ''[[The Star-Ledger]]'', January 18, 2014. Accessed September 1, 2015.</ref><ref>Stirling, Stephen. [http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/hoboken_mayor_dawn_zimmer_once_a_christie_ally_now_becomes_a_foe.html "Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer now becomes Chris Christie's foe"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121004912/http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/hoboken_mayor_dawn_zimmer_once_a_christie_ally_now_becomes_a_foe.html |date=January 21, 2014 }}, [[NJ.com]], January 18, 2014.</ref> In June 2014, the [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development]] allocated $230&nbsp;million to Hoboken as part of its Rebuild by Design initiative, adding levees, parks, green roofs, [[retention basin]]s and other infrastructure to help the low-lying riverfront city protect itself from ordinary flooding and build a network of features to help Hoboken [[future-proof]] itself against subsequent storms.<ref>Jaffe, Eric. [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/12/the-water-next-time/382242/ "The Water Next Time; How nature itself could become a city's best defense against extreme weather"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171224120141/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/12/the-water-next-time/382242/ |date=December 24, 2017 }}, ''[[The Atlantic]]'', December 2014. Accessed November 4, 2015. "During Sandy's storm surge, in October 2012, river water breached the town's northern and southern tips and spilled into its low areas. On the west side of the city, still more water tumbled down the Palisades, the steep cliffs that run along the Hudson River.... Sandy flooded more than 1,700 Hoboken homes, knocked out the city's power grid, and halted trains into New York; in total, the storm caused more than $100 million in damages.... Together, these parts should be capable of withstanding a once-in-500-years storm."</ref>

The project included expanding the city's sewer capacity, incorporating [[cisterns]] and basins into parks and playgrounds, redesigning streets to minimize traffic accidents, and collect and redirect waster. By September 2023, the improvements were so successful that when a storm hit the area that month, depositing 3.5 inches on the city, including 1.44 inches during the hour coinciding with high tide, only a few inches of standing water remains at three of the city's 277 intersections by the evening, resulting in only three towed cars, and no cancelation of any city events. In an article that November for ''[[The New York Times]]'', Michael Kimmelman compared this to the storm's effects in New York City, whose government focused on [[flood wall]]s and [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwater]]s, but not rainwater, resulting in several subway lines being submerged in water, and thigh-high water levels in Brooklyn streets. For this, the article hailed Hoboken as a "climate change success story."<ref name=NYTimes11.3.23/>