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There are several examples around the country of cities and counties merging but keeping separate names. For example, Jacksonville, FL - Duval County.
Another interesting approach is to merge the city government and the county government, but allow municipalities to stay independent within that county. This is the case in Marion County, IN (Indianapolis). So for example, the people of Weehawken would get most of their services from Jersey City (Hudson County) and be allowed to vote in JC elections, but it would technically still be a separate municipality that provides some of its own services (perhaps police or public works). This might be a more politically palatable consolidation than full blown mergers. The best part is, the population of the municipalities that remain separate would still be counted as part of JC's total population, since Hudson County as a whole would by default be Jersey City. I think it's a good compromise all around.
Newark population: 280,000
Irvington: 61,000
East Orange: 64,000
Orange: 30,000
West Orange: 45,000
South Orange: 16,000
Maplewood (not an Orange, but wouldn't really make sense not to include it): 24,000
Tell me who is going to be running things once such a merger is done? Put all the other municipalities together and they're still not as populous as Newark, so the answer is Newark politicians are still running things. Put all the poor ones together and they're WAY more populous than the other three, so you get the western suburbs sucked dry to support the rest. And when the money runs out, you have the City of Newark, maybe with a "showcase" downtown, surrounded by an even larger decaying area like much of Newark, E.O and Irvington today.
add in bloomfield bellvelle Harrison Kearny Montclair Nutley and the fact the lower income blacks have low voter turnout and youll have more corporations looking to move downtown, lower taxes for wealthy neighborhoods , more parks and services for inner city residents and hopefully better transit...
make it a boro of a larger passic , Hudson , lower Bergen annex and we become one of the biggest cities in the country at 3 million with one of "whats considered to be the best " school systems, lower taxes and housing stock at all price ranges from fairmount to fairlawn
I don't see Jersey City and Newark merging...they're not particularly close together or cohesive geographically, and historically oriented in different directions. However, I would love to see Jersey City annex the Gold Coast and Newark annex the Oranges, Maplewood, Irvington, Bloomfield, Kearny, Harrison, Montclair, and the other towns in that area. You'd have two cities of over a half million at least, with numerous affluent areas and lower income areas. More public transit is needed. At least an enlarged Jersey City would have the HBLR, but Newark still has only the one subway line and whatever NJ Transit heavy rail trains that pass through the region. A light rail web linking the various neighborhoods of Greater Newark would help build a much better city.
I was reading an article a few days ago about the possible relocation of a baseball team to Portland, which has an urban population of about 500,000, while St. Louis has a population in the 300's. If either of our major cities incorporated more widely, they'd easily rank in the top 30. When it comes to cities in NJ, thinking small and readily accepting being in New York's shadow has left us with second tier cities.
I don't see Jersey City and Newark merging...they're not particularly close together or cohesive geographically, and historically oriented in different directions. However, I would love to see Jersey City annex the Gold Coast and Newark annex the Oranges, Maplewood, Irvington, Bloomfield, Kearny, Harrison, Montclair, and the other towns in that area. You'd have two cities of over a half million at least, with numerous affluent areas and lower income areas. More public transit is needed. At least an enlarged Jersey City would have the HBLR, but Newark still has only the one subway line and whatever NJ Transit heavy rail trains that pass through the region. A light rail web linking the various neighborhoods of Greater Newark would help build a much better city.
I was reading an article a few days ago about the possible relocation of a baseball team to Portland, which has an urban population of about 500,000, while St. Louis has a population in the 300's. If either of our major cities incorporated more widely, they'd easily rank in the top 30. When it comes to cities in NJ, thinking small and readily accepting being in New York's shadow has left us with second tier cities.
Exactly. I would like to see a two borough system of Hudson and Essex county. That would at least give jersey a city comparable to Philly.
Yeah, not going to happen. Newark's annexing days are over, much to the relief of those in the Oranges, Maplewood, Bloomfied, Kearny, Harrison, Montclair, and the other towns in that area (not sure about Irvington).
There are other ways to go about this. Indianapolis and Louisville have consolidated city and county governments. However, both cities/counties still have existing municipalities within them that provide some municipal functions. So essentially the suburban areas get the benefit of being both in the big city while being in a smaller town. Something like this might work if eastern Essex County split and became "Newark County," with towns that want to maintaining some of their own services (trash, police, etc).
Newark had two major league teams (still two if you count Harrison right next door), two NFL teams close by, one of the busiest airports and one of the busiest seaports. The skyline is decent too. As a south jersey guy with no bias towards or against Newark, I find it incredible how poorly the city is marketed by the state of NJ. It should by all rights be the 5th city of the northeast, not Baltimore.
There are other ways to go about this. Indianapolis and Louisville have consolidated city and county governments. However, both cities/counties still have existing municipalities within them that provide some municipal functions. So essentially the suburban areas get the benefit of being both in the big city while being in a smaller town. Something like this might work if eastern Essex County split and became "Newark County," with towns that want to maintaining some of their own services (trash, police, etc).
Newark had two major league teams (still two if you count Harrison right next door), two NFL teams close by, one of the busiest airports and one of the busiest seaports. The skyline is decent too. As a south jersey guy with no bias towards or against Newark, I find it incredible how poorly the city is marketed by the state of NJ. It should by all rights be the 5th city of the northeast, not Baltimore.
Well to be fair, Newark, even at its height, was never as large as Baltimore. That being said you are right, Newark has many underlying assets that have been underutilized for decades. As I have said before though, slowly but surely, more people are starting to recognize these assets and take advantage of them, which is why there is a growing sense that Newark is on the rebound.
I would like to see New York City annexing Hudson, Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Union counties as boroughs. Plus maybe Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester and Fairfield could join NYC too. It would be better for 1 government around NYC rather than have about 300 governments govern over the NYC metro area. The expanded NYC would have multiple skylines, lots of beaches in the southeast, mountains in the northwest and the big city life in the middle and the suburban life around Manhattan.
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