Posted on 03/09/2006 6:48:25 AM PST by Huck
Who's laughing now?
New Jersey, the state that spawned a thousand wise-guy bumper stickers and became the butt of a million late-night jokes, is actually a nice place to live.
The research group Morgan Quitno crunched the numbers this year and yesterday ranked New Jersey the fifth-most-livable state.
As for its neighbors?
Pennsylvania finished 30th, New York 32d.
"The people we talk to say they wouldn't live anywhere else, and I have to go along with that," said Mark Moran, a Bloomfield resident and one of the editors of Weird New Jersey magazine. "Whether it grows on you or people just don't know any better, I don't know."
New Jersey has long had a tragically poor reputation, earned by corrupt politicians, homicidal mobsters (real and fictional), surreal traffic patterns (who invented the jughandle, anyway?), toxic waste, and big hair.
The state's image has been so bad that even then-acting Gov. Richard Codey took the time last year to rollick in some of the more humorous entries in his public slogan contest.
Among the favorites: "New Jersey: You got a problem with that?" and "New Jersey: Most of our elected officials have not been indicted."
Morgan Quitno, a Kansas-based publisher of statistical data, based its rankings on 44 factors, and New Jersey shined in many.
The state moved up from eighth place a year ago. New Hampshire was judged the most livable state for the third year in a row.
The study determined that New Jersey has excellent schools; an educated, wealthy population; and relatively low rates of crime and poverty.
"We don't claim to be finding the most exciting place or the best place to take a vacation," said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno. "It's just looking at very basic things. Other people can choose to look at other factors."
In other words, the things that make Jersey so Jersey didn't count against it. (Except for the toxic waste: Morgan found New Jersey had the most "hazardous waste sites on the National Priority List per 10,000 square miles.")
Moran also noted that if auto insurance and property tax rates had been considered, New Jersey's ranking would have sunk like a stone.
But in Morgan Quitno's world, livability is measured by factors such as student-teacher ratios and per-capita spending on the arts, and New Jersey excelled in both.
For Moran, there is no conflict in a state's combining livability with a tradition for the weird and absurd.
"You've got to take the good with the bad," he said. "The fact that it's such an odd and unique place... certainly makes it more livable for me."
Morgan visited the state last year and made a swing through Camden, the city his publishing company has famously labeled the most dangerous the last two years.
"We didn't advertise who we were," he said.
Okay, here's the thing. The Hot Grill in Clifton, and a couple of other places like Hyram's (either Fort Lee or Edgewater, I can't remember for certain), would actually deep fry the hotdogs -- that didn't make them greasy, as anyone who has deep fried a turkey knows. It just makes the skins quite crispy and imparts a unique flavor to the dog. Now here in the South, where I think they would deep fry a watermellon if you gave them a chance, they for some reason exclude the hot dog from deep frying consideration. I've never understood that.
The other thing the Hot Grill had going for it was the chili -- they guard the recipe jealously, and it is pretty amazing.
Who wants to look around a corner and see a hundred people
looking back at you?
(Meekly raising my hand) I am a masochist, what can I say?
NEVER move some place simply because of the money. I made that mistake last year.
Staten Island just should be given to Italy. Or turned back into a dump. All of it.
LOL!
Seems like a pretty comprehensive list. Everyone will find something they think shouldn't be on the list, or believe something should be added, I suppose.
I enjoyed the three years I lived in Jersey City and Hoboken. NJ isn't my favorite state, but given the choice of living there or much of flyover counttry, I'd probably pick Jersey.
Maybe the Sopranoes set that style?
I don't know. I'm referencing what the men with vowels use to wear when I was a young kid. I never saw the shellsuits.
I spent a week in Lafayette one day.
Its really a shame. When you say the word "Italian" I think Marcello Mastroanni. To many out there, however, it means guys from Staten Island in shell suits who DON'T EVEN SPEAK ITALIAN and can't pronounce calamari correctly! Hey Guido, here's a hint, it aint pronounced "calamad." ;-)
You need to make a point of going to Rutt's Hut if you want to claim knowledge of Jersey Hot Dogs!
Every place has bad points and good points. Maybe in New Jersey we have more than our fair share of both. I don't begrudge anyone having pride in where they live. I have met people who loved places I would never chose to live but I didn't think they were crazy, I just thought that they were proud people and I could respect that even if I disagreed with their opinion.
Realistically, it doesn't matter what other people think about NJ. It is the folks that live here that will make it work or fail. Those who want to fight for their homes and way of life will stay, those that don't wish to do so, are free to leave. Like Washington and his army did 225 years ago, we may lose battles in NJ but we are going to try to win the war. Perhaps, it is a lost cause but I am not ready to tuck tail and leave NJ just yet. Many of my ancestors are buried here, and I love the state too much to give it up without a fight.
Here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/965713/posts
Rutt's Hut Party and Paterson, NJ, Waterfall Trip--All Freepers Welcome (Rain or shine)
Get by to see those falls too.
LOL!!!!!!
A tad too large :))
ARGH!
Thank you very much for catching that.....
Sometimes my Southernese Kitchen English takes over :)
????
New Jersey is such an expensive place to live that a lot of their residents moved to PA and commute, driving up housing costs here in eastern PA.
They call em rippers.
I hope that after a couple of years of corzine, we'll still have a positive outlook on the state.
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