New Jersey

Holy crap, they're the worst I've ever seen them this year. Fucking nymphs are all over my patio, the house, the car...

For every one I kill, I find 4 more. Also, I don't remember them jumping like fleas!

[Sorry for the possibly off topic post for most of you] If this title is you or someone you know: If NJ, the DDD, or the CCW Waiting List calls you and asks if the client with intellectual disabilities would like to be placed in a group home, that means (1) you're at the top of the list and (2) do NOT say No.

Saying No means you'll be removed from the list. It is your right to use the CCW for increased funds to take care of said individual in the residence of their choosing -- not just traditional group homes. So you can say: "Not a group home, but, I'd like to use the CCW in other ways, such as in house supports and services".

Insane amounts of information for anyone reading this wondering what's going on

• If you or someone you know has an intellectual disability that began before the age of 21 (which isn't the same as diagnosed before the age of 21 -- just that you got it before 21 and any sane doctor would conclude yeah you must have got it), you qualify for services from the NJ Dept. of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) once you are age 21 or higher.
• Many folks in DDD get services via the 'Support Program'. This is a program where the state gives you a modest budget and you can use it for services that meet your need. This can be at-home supports, day programs, career training, college mentoring support, health programs, etc.
• A smaller amount of folks get DDD funding via the 'Community Care Waiver' (CCW) program. This is similar to the Supports Program, but has substantially more money in the budget. It's higher so it can cover Institutional Care or Group Homes, but it's not required to be used in that way. You could use the funding for more of those at-home or community supports.
• The CCW has many waiting lists but the only waiting list that moves is the priority waiting list, triggered under certain conditions, usually about the parents' health and age. Despite being the only waiting list that moves, it still moves very slowly. So it's important to get on the waiting list as soon as you can and not screw things up.
• Hence why this situation is all sorts of jacked up that the CCW would be mischaracterized as being "Group Home" only and using that question to disqualify status once someone made it to the top of the waiting list.

Disclosure: this is the official account of a non-profit, non-partisan org helping to bring ranked-choice voting and proportional ranked-choice voting to New Jersey - www.voterchoicenj.org.

If you aren't familiar with RCV or proportional RCV, I could explain them, but CGPGrey's explanations are better. (I'll be in the comments if you have questions!)

Hoboken has already passed ranked-choice voting, and Jersey City is about to join them. The problem is that New Jersey won't let our cities and towns use it yet (even though almost all of our voting machines support it today).

Love to see it, and I want to see more of it. Anyone who did this absolutely deserves what they have coming to them.

Any good events or festivals going on this weekend?

I actually kind of know the answer because I asked it on Reddit prior to purging my Reddit history. To help others, here's me summarizing my question and the hundreds of comments that flooded in so it's not completely lost in the great Reddit migration of 2023.

I asked that... well it's not hard to determine Ryan Home's reputation. A simple Google Search and reading of reviews will help you figure that out. But I wanted to know, how bad are they really, in practice, especially in South Jersey?

No shocker, the situation was a mess in between questionably simple concerns and very concerning concerns. In short, the takeaways I got:

Nobody agrees on what a good house is. For some, an older house with solid building materials but different safety regulations is perfect. For others, they want a very energy efficient house and they're ok with the fact it's quickly built with wood. Understanding the differences between what the pros & cons of different building codes will help you better understand what you want.

Every house is imperfect. Not just for Ryan Homes, it's become evident to me that every house has their share of mistakes. To have an expectation that any house you buy -- pre-owned or new -- will be perfect out of the gate sounds like an unattainable dream.

That said, Ryan Homes did have a concerning track record, but it seems community dependent. Ryan Homes hires contractors, and they hire generally cheaper contractors. I had people both tell me they love their home and they hate it -- the contractors they hire to build your home goes a lot into the final product. Some communities, the concerns are some incorrectly installed molding, that got fixed during the warranty period. For others, we got leaking water heaters, incorrectly poured foundation, and roofs failing after 5 years in. Needless to say, when then are problems, they can get real bad, real fast.

Don't don't don't cheap out on a Home Inspector. It became evident to me that a lot of the complaints about Ryan Homes could have been caught with a professional home inspector, visiting the property whenever you're allowed to visit. They know how to catch improper wall construction, plumbing issues, and roofing issues. Don't buy any house without a home inspector, including a Ryan Home.

The bigger the development and the later you buy your home, the better. A lot of contractors privately DMed me more or less saying that when a development is larger, and when you buy near the end, the quality tends to get better. This is because the same contractors usually built the earlier homes so overtime, they begin to learn what worked and what didn't work. Furthermore, it gives you a chance to ask the earlier neighbors on how they like it and if you should bail out.

As for me, I'm waiting. I'm not rushing, I'm not opposed to it, and I'm not leaping towards it. I'm going to wait and see how this development goes and if it's not a disaster minefield after the first few houses go in, maybe I'll jump in.

I hope this helps you think about things!

If you're looking for a new place to hang out, here it is.