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.
See? You are missing the point here. We are not ASKING you to live in New Jersey. I don't think anyone is twisting your arm or trying to force you to live in New Jersey ... are they? Therefore, we're happy you live in Ohio where you want to be. So, choosing to die in Ohio rather than to live in New Jersey just doesn't make sense.
zing!
No sweat...I do the same things cause I get emotional and begin typing too fast. :)
Loved it when I lived there and love it now.
"A Lexus costs more than a Hyundia."
It sure does which is why where I live should cost far more than where he lives. (ha!)
New Jersey had the best foods...everything and anything you could want. Mmmmmmmmmm, good.
You have it down pat. :)
XRdsRev,
You give an excellent summation of your family and some of the high points of the history of NJ. But it is just that, history. I am speaking of what is happening now. The people running this state are crapping on that history and creating a mess.
I don't find fault with your pride in where you live. I don't find a bit of fault with you. Just because I criticize, albeit harshly, NJ, doesn't mean I criticize you. I certainly do recognize that there are fine people living in NJ being held ransom by those who are out to destroy the state.
I think this debate can be settled by me saying that you have not only persuaded me to stay in NJ, but I am moving in with you!!!
Compared to NYC it's great. However no place is as bad for driving as northern NJ. In some places you have to drive for miles before you can make a u turn.
Too much traffic.
For me, the worst driving conditions in the country are in DC metro area. One wrong move and you end up in a different state. A total nightmare. Second on my list is Boston metro area. NNJ? I don't know what roads yer talkin bout. Rt 3 is rough. So is Rt 17. I'm talking the skanky Paramus area. But 287 is no problem. 23 has a lot of lights, but it's ok.
The good thing is that there are so many folks from NY and NJ moving to North Florida now that the dining is getting much better. Dramatic improvement just in the last few years (you can get Russian, Indian, Ethiopian, Thai, Italian, Chinese, Korean -- pretty much the gamut now). The downside is that quite a few of the folks coming down here are Democrats. Good news for you guys I guess (I'm sure you'd like to export as many as you can), but tough luck for us!
So I gather it hasn't improved since I left. Trying to get back on that highway from the parking lots of any of the businesses along there was basically like playing Russian Roulette with automobiles.
Lucky for me I don't often visit Paramus. I had to take a trip out to Victor's House of Music, though. Nice store if you are a musician. Actually wasn't that bad getting there, til rt 17. It's a little rough. But that's Paramus for you.
I don't know, I kinda like it up here in Potter County,PA.
To the average resident of Vermont, the fact that those people are from there makes no difference in their daily lives.
What part of the state is that?
Did you notice if they ever did anything with the Alexander's store across from the Garden State Plaza (damn them for enclosing Plaza and tearing down my favorite hot pretzel stand, the bastids!)?
Northcentral PA. The nearest decent sized town is Olean,NY,which is about a half-hour away.
We've been fortunate to live here.
Their tourism website looks nice. So how many hours from NJ?
New Jersey would be about six hours from here.
If you like hunting and fishing, this is paradise.
About 1,000 square miles and only about 13,000 people.
We live in Shinglehouse, in the house my wife grew up in.
The local economy has taken a big hit with the Adelphia debacle, but we're planning on staying right here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.