Difference between Essex and Bergen (Newark, Trenton: houses, neighborhood, school)

[ansky]

Originally Posted by zhelder

Traffic is horrible in both counties, but honestly, I think traffic is worse in Essex County, even in the burbs. The western part of the county, away from the "quartet", is more manageable trafficwise.

I would say Bergen has much worse traffic, especially along the route 17 corridor which is bad pretty much any time of day, and is probably one of the worst roads in the entire state. I live in the Essex county 'burbs and I can't really think of anywhere in Essex that is notoriously bad other than 280 through downtown Newark during rush hours.

[openheads]

Originally Posted by Whoelsebutcharles

I wouldn't live in either, personally.

Your continual North Jersey hate is hilarious. Very telling.

[Whoelsebutcharles]

Originally Posted by openheads

Your continual North Jersey hate is hilarious. Very telling.

I'm not denying it lol. Check a few posts back I said Passaic County is a better option than both, as long as you stay out of Paterson

[BergenCountyJohnny]

What Zhelder said in his post is pretty much right on, but I would add a couple things...

The thing that is weird to me about Essex that I don't see in Bergen is that in their supposedly "nice" or "affluent" neighborhoods/towns you will come across bizarrely misplaced buildings and structures. For example, in the midst of homes, you will come across a small corporate office, or some kind of weird tower for power lines or phone, or some other such structure. It seems they have no problem building nice homes amongst such things. In Bergen County, it seems that great measures are taken to keep residential areas separate from such structures, especially in the "nice" or "affluent" areas.

Also, it seems to me that the people in the more affluent sections of Essex County are way more snooty and tend to project their snootiness. It's ironic because they also tend to live within several miles of a crime-ridden ghetto yet they are so prideful of their "affluent suburb". Bergen County has its share of snooty people but many here are also second+ generation and much more down to earth.

Oh, and the traffic in Essex is MUCH, much worse than it is in Bergen.

[nykstevenyg]

Originally Posted by 66nexus

Bergen -- pro: Nice towns/sports hub
con: suburban drug trade/traffic

Essex -- pro: Nice towns/NJ's transport hub
con: urban drug trade/very undesirable areas

PS: Believe it or not, there are parts of Orange and East Orange that are affluent. I wouldn't necessarily group Orange in w/ the likes of Irvington (especially Irvington).

East Orange is not affluent by any stretch of the imagination. Seven Oaks in Orange is nice but because its Orange prices are not even that high. Quite honestly, id group them with Irvington and newark. Though in reality its all newark and newark just spilled over and its problems spread and hit East Orange, Orange, Irvington and as it continued to spread it hit lower parts of nice towns.

Anyway, I agree traffic in Bergen is worse, like I said I prefer essex, though Bergen is great. Bergen county is much larger so obviously saddle river is much further from Paterson then Essex Fells is to Newark but it does not affect the safety. NJ is one of those places where crime does not travel up hills and bridges lol

[Whoelsebutcharles]

Originally Posted by nykstevenyg

East Orange is not affluent by any stretch of the imagination. Seven Oaks in Orange is nice but because its Orange prices are not even that high. Quite honestly, id group them with Irvington and newark. Though in reality its all newark and newark just spilled over and its problems spread and hit East Orange, Orange, Irvington and as it continued to spread it hit lower parts of nice towns.

Anyway, I agree traffic in Bergen is worse, like I said I prefer essex, though Bergen is great. Bergen county is much larger so obviously saddle river is much further from Paterson then Essex Fells is to Newark but it does not affect the safety. NJ is one of those places where crime does not travel up hills and bridges lol

West Orange is the affluent one. And South Orange is OK, it's where Seton Hall is. East Orange used to be very affluent, I've heard many stories about how that place thrived more than 40 years ago, but all those big houses were either knocked down or converted into multiple families as the Newark elements spread in. The same type of thing is currently happening in Mercer County. Every town bordering Trenton is slowly becoming an extension of it. Orange I never hear anything about, but probably because it's the smallest and thus seems basically like an extension of East Orange.

Bergen County has traffic along the highways. Essex gets nasty on the Parkway, and on those backroads through places like Glen Ridge during rush hour.

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by BergenCountyJohnny

What Zhelder said in his post is pretty much right on, but I would add a couple things...

The thing that is weird to me about Essex that I don't see in Bergen is that in their supposedly "nice" or "affluent" neighborhoods/towns you will come across bizarrely misplaced buildings and structures. For example, in the midst of homes, you will come across a small corporate office, or some kind of weird tower for power lines or phone, or some other such structure. It seems they have no problem building nice homes amongst such things. In Bergen County, it seems that great measures are taken to keep residential areas separate from such structures, especially in the "nice" or "affluent" areas.

Also, it seems to me that the people in the more affluent sections of Essex County are way more snooty and tend to project their snootiness. It's ironic because they also tend to live within several miles of a crime-ridden ghetto yet they are so prideful of their "affluent suburb". Bergen County has its share of snooty people but many here are also second+ generation and much more down to earth.

Oh, and the traffic in Essex is MUCH, much worse than it is in Bergen.

having gone to school with a lot of NJ folk and not being from NJ myself, the perception established at my school was that bergen county was very snooty. It's the only place where people specify they are "from bergen county" which is kind of snooty itself. again - just the perception established from what many saw at my school.

for misplaced structures, my guess is the towns in essex are just older. many parts of bergen were developed more recently weren't they? much easier to plan "prettier" in the past couple decades.

as for traffic, i never have much problems. Route 10 is bad sometimes. but nothing has matched Rt 17/Rt 4. pretty much all day, every day. i've never hit it at a "good" time.

[Whoelsebutcharles]

Originally Posted by bradykp

having gone to school with a lot of NJ folk and not being from NJ myself, the perception established at my school was that bergen county was very snooty. It's the only place where people specify they are "from bergen county" which is kind of snooty itself. again - just the perception established from what many saw at my school.

for misplaced structures, my guess is the towns in essex are just older. many parts of bergen were developed more recently weren't they? much easier to plan "prettier" in the past couple decades.

as for traffic, i never have much problems. Route 10 is bad sometimes. but nothing has matched Rt 17/Rt 4. pretty much all day, every day. i've never hit it at a "good" time.

I never really ran into much "snobbery" in either place. I'm not crazy about either area because it tends to be quite "preppy", but I really can't say I ever ran into anyone that seemed that nasty. Certainly it is wealthy, and kinda keeping up with the joneses, but I wouldn't call the majority of the people rude or nasty. No place in NJ is nastier than Monmouth County IMO, that based on my experiences in many areas throughout the state is what I would consider the snob capital of NJ. The people there are way nastier.

[bradykp]

Originally Posted by Whoelsebutcharles

I never really ran into much "snobbery" in either place. I'm not crazy about either area because it tends to be quite "preppy", but I really can't say I ever ran into anyone that seemed that nasty. Certainly it is wealthy, and kinda keeping up with the joneses, but I wouldn't call the majority of the people rude or nasty. No place in NJ is nastier than Monmouth County IMO, that based on my experiences in many areas throughout the state is what I would consider the snob capital of NJ. The people there are way nastier.

i don't know if i equate snobby with nasty. flaunting wealth and acting better than others because of you're financial status is what i see as snobby i guess. and at my school, the folks from bergan county had their noses up in the air.

not saying this is a fair assessment, but i have friends from other parts of NJ that view bergan county that way as well.

it's my own fault for making an assumption based on limited info. i think bergen county is beautiful and looked around there for a house. i'd have to meet more real people from there and less people that went to my school. my school was more or less a subset of snobs anyhow.

[nykstevenyg]

The snob factor is a town by town basis, but I do agree there is the Bergen County snob factor "Were from Bergen county, north jersey" It kind of exists in both counties especially Livingston, Short Hills in essex and saddle river and its surrounding towns in bergen.