Worst towns in NJ (Newark, Paterson: fit in, crime rate, high schools)

[njchick]

Silk City I hear ya!!! Go Paterson!!

[NC little foot]

Originally Posted by CURT

howell is in monmouth county.

Are you knitpickin? It borders ocean county..

[CURT]

Originally Posted by patty nj

Are you knitpickin? It borders ocean county..

sorry if it sounded like i was...didnt mean for it to come off that way.

[pkoons]

The funniest thing (or saddest, depending on how you look at it) about this post is that New Jersey is the 2nd wealthiest state in the USA...

There's a lot of good and places everywhere, but compared to other wealthy states like Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, there's a lot of crummy areas, huh? (well...it's probably tied with Maryland, but at least the bad areas don't smell funny)

For the record, I love Atlantic City and wouldn't want it any other way. Its seediness is what makes it an absolute blast every time - kind of like Ocean City, MD compared to the Delaware beaches.

But Camden may be the worst city in the USA. Just see this month's Maxim magazine feature!!!

[Delray Patty]

I was born and raised in Jersey city. I can't go home again..It just makes me
so sad..I got married there and stayed there for 22 years raising a family.
Finally I couldn't take the drugs on the corner anymore and we moved to Pa.
If you are not wealthy enough to live downtown in one of those done over
townhouses, then like they say fugggetaboutit.....I couldn't afford to rent
there, let alone buy a house..very sad...but sorry to say I blame it all on the
corrupt politics that have run rampant in N.J. for decades...the only shining
star was Bret Schundler, the former mayor of Jersey City..and you know why?
because he wasn't from Jersey City and didn't feed into the "good ole boy"
politics that had plagued our city and state for decades..so what did they
do when he ran for Governor.they decided they didn't want him...Taxes are
way out of control there. There are still beautiful areas though and it's a
shame that visitors only see the areas around Newark Airport or the nasty
smell on the turnpike....The Caldwells are beautiful, Bernardsville, Basking
Ridge, Summit, Livingston, Short Hills, and south some of the shore towns
my favorite being Spring Lake....I always said if I won the lottery that's
where I would buy a house and spend the summer there...but again those
towns are wealthy towns and most of us can't afford to live there...so for
the working people...it's a shame...you need two salaries to live there, Life
is what you make it.....we moved to Fl. and it's scary here in hurricane
season. and the insurance industry here is driving people out so it's all over
I guess....but people make the changes...so remember to vote and maybe
changes will come......

[SilkCity0416]

Bret Schundler? Yeah he was good, but I still think Gleen Cunningham (God rest his soul) was the best mayor JC seen in years.

[SilkCity0416]

Originally Posted by pkoons

The funniest thing (or saddest, depending on how you look at it) about this post is that New Jersey is the 2nd wealthiest state in the USA...

There's a lot of good and places everywhere, but compared to other wealthy states like Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, there's a lot of crummy areas, huh? (well...it's probably tied with Maryland, but at least the bad areas don't smell funny)

For the record, I love Atlantic City and wouldn't want it any other way. Its seediness is what makes it an absolute blast every time - kind of like Ocean City, MD compared to the Delaware beaches.

But Camden may be the worst city in the USA. Just see this month's Maxim magazine feature!!!

It's because NJ is one of the most de facto segregated states in the country, when it comes to class, and sadly race. NJ is like NYC. Either you live in Manhattan or some section of the city that have expericence "gentrification" or you live in the South Bronx. There is hardly any gray areas in between. Major cities such as Newark, have been declining since the 1940s partly because of highways that cut right threw the city. 280 and the Turnpike, broke the fabric of the city. The poor that did lived in cities were pretty much forced to live in housing projects. This caused major tension between the have, and the have-nots. Can anyone say 1967 race riots in Newark? That caused an acceleration of middle-class people, to move to the suburbs. Leaving plenty of people to live in a city with a broken tax base, and no jobs. So, that's pretty much it.

[Delray Patty]

Race riots in Newark..'67..Yeah I remember them..I was working in N.Y. at the
time..the biggest mistake was building those high rise buildings whether J.C.
or Newark and "projects"...it's a disaster waiting to happen and they finally
did something about them in J.C. and Newark and tore them down...people
don't need to live like that and it makes them feel like caged rats....they should have developed better housing for poorer people a long time ago. whats wrong with modular housing? but again it's the people that make a town work...if you have people that don't care about where their children are
at 10 o' clock at night, if their homework is done, if they have been fed..well
again...it starts at home...I grew up in an apt. house in J.C. and we didn't have a lot of money..I guess by today's standards I was poor...but I didn't
know it..my parents never owned a car..couldnt' afford it...they both worked
all their lives and both died young before they could collect a dime from social
security....but they managed for two weeks every summer to take us out of
the city and go either to the Jersey shore or up to the mountains...Now I had
friends that grew up in beautiful homes but their parents never took them
on vacation..they were too busy with their own social lives....I raised my 3
children in an apt. too..until we moved to Pa...Family is what makes a home
and families are what make towns work..unfortunately too many people
today don't take time to "smell the roses"......I hope something can be done
about N.J. taxes..I am not ashamed that I came from N.J....I just can't
afford to live there.......

[acinnj]

I vote Paterson (for the most part) as one of the worst.

I don't know enough about other areas such as Elizabeth to be able to talk about it. But I live one town over from Paterson, and had 9 weeks of jury duty there. Lots of crime, drugs, etc. It is definately one thing I won't miss when I move.

Apparently Paterson used to be a nice city, too bad they let it get the way it is now.

[exhdo1]

Originally Posted by williamter

The State of New Jersey

Haha william made a joke