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Been living in Bayonne the past few months, I have a tendency to wonder why things are done in certain ways with areas. Being that Northern Jersey is in the NYC metro, why is it the small cities of Northern Jersey didn't merge together to create its own large city with boroughs next to NYC. It seems like the area is a collection of small towns and cities that act like they are each little towns rather than being apart of a giant metro.
This also goes along with wondering why the light rail was designed the way it was, it seems like if the money is going to be spent on a system, might as well design a good system. If they were gonna go with light rail, it would of made more sense to do something like Seattle where it tunnels through the downtown portion to make it easier to get through downtown. That way they could of designed it to be able to expand the trains up to three trains and have a better system that might better serve the area.
Also, I am curious why the light rail is cut down to one train after a certain time even though the trains are always packed and could use a second train to ease the stress.
I am bringing this up because I am actually curious and it would be nice to hear from people that have lived here longer than I have and might actually have some insight on this.
Been living in Bayonne the past few months, I have a tendency to wonder why things are done in certain ways with areas. Being that Northern Jersey is in the NYC metro, why is it the small cities of Northern Jersey didn't merge together to create its own large city with boroughs next to NYC.
There are any number of reasons to be against consolidation. If the central city is doing well and the smaller cities are doing poorly, the central area isn't going to want the burden. If it's the other way around, the smaller cities are going to see consolidation as a tax grab. In either case, the smaller cities will see it as a loss of independence, representation and power. How much do you think Bloomberg pays attention to Far Rockaway, for instance? As an administrative exercise, consolidating all of Hudson County (possibly excepting Kearney) into Jersey City makes sense. As a political one, not so much.
That makes sense, just sort of wondering why it didn't happen back in the day when the politics might of been different.
I don't think that politics has ever been...different, and if you think that corruption is a new thing, I want to assure you that it is not a new phenomenon.
Those who have local control--and the "perks" that go along with that control--don't want to relinquish it.
I don't think that politics has ever been...different, and if you think that corruption is a new thing, I want to assure you that it is not a new phenomenon.
Those who have local control--and the "perks" that go along with that control--don't want to relinquish it.
Oh I never said it wasn't, heck city governments in this country were created out of corruption machines. But that still doesn't change the question, in NYC, the area is made up of a number of towns and cities that merged together over time, it was a common practice to have smaller cities merge into bigger ones, I am just curious why that never seemed to happen in Northern Jersey. None of the cities seem like this has ever happened, sure Newark and Jersey City are big within their own boundaries, but have they ever tried to expand or merge with other areas in the past?
You would think the Hudson Country area up to Fort Lee and down to Bayonne would of merged with Jersey City at one point or another 100 to 150 years ago. Or even Newark expanding to surrounding areas around that time...it makes me wonder if there is something within Jersey's own laws that made city and town merging a harder practice to do. None of the cities in this state seem to be the big city of the state, and that is what really strikes me as odd. Every state I have lived in has always had some form of focal big city.
We've discussed this a couple times on this forum, what it comes down to is that people (or at least those with the loudest voices and most power) aren't willing to trade off hyper-local control for greater regional efficiencies. Just as some background, check out the boroughitis phenonmenon. Basically, in the late 1800s a series of state-level laws allowed every little neighborhood to incorporate as their own borough in order to avoid paying old debts, school taxes, and the like.
Thanks for the link, that is a term I never heard before, but I knew there had to be a reason for the way Northern Jersey is the way it is. Though it is a shame, but then again, I am a huge supporter of efficiency for regions and it is a shame the area functions that way because I could easily see this area being its own big city in the NYC Metro.
Been living in Bayonne the past few months, I have a tendency to wonder why things are done in certain ways with areas. Being that Northern Jersey is in the NYC metro, why is it the small cities of Northern Jersey didn't merge together to create its own large city with boroughs next to NYC. It seems like the area is a collection of small towns and cities that act like they are each little towns rather than being apart of a giant metro.
This also goes along with wondering why the light rail was designed the way it was, it seems like if the money is going to be spent on a system, might as well design a good system. If they were gonna go with light rail, it would of made more sense to do something like Seattle where it tunnels through the downtown portion to make it easier to get through downtown. That way they could of designed it to be able to expand the trains up to three trains and have a better system that might better serve the area.
Also, I am curious why the light rail is cut down to one train after a certain time even though the trains are always packed and could use a second train to ease the stress.
I am bringing this up because I am actually curious and it would be nice to hear from people that have lived here longer than I have and might actually have some insight on this.
It used to be 2 cars all the time , but the 2010 Budget axed the 2 cars on weekends and off peak... There just starting to restore some services...so i'm sure within the year it. NYC is was even worse then NJ axing 2 subway lines and 17 bus routes and reducing service.
We've discussed this a couple times on this forum, what it comes down to is that people (or at least those with the loudest voices and most power) aren't willing to trade off hyper-local control for greater regional efficiencies. Just as some background, check out the boroughitis phenonmenon. Basically, in the late 1800s a series of state-level laws allowed every little neighborhood to incorporate as their own borough in order to avoid paying old debts, school taxes, and the like.
Oh I never said it wasn't, heck city governments in this country were created out of corruption machines. But that still doesn't change the question, in NYC, the area is made up of a number of towns and cities that merged together over time, it was a common practice to have smaller cities merge into bigger ones, I am just curious why that never seemed to happen in Northern Jersey. None of the cities seem like this has ever happened, sure Newark and Jersey City are big within their own boundaries, but have they ever tried to expand or merge with other areas in the past?
You would think the Hudson Country area up to Fort Lee and down to Bayonne would of merged with Jersey City at one point or another 100 to 150 years ago. Or even Newark expanding to surrounding areas around that time...it makes me wonder if there is something within Jersey's own laws that made city and town merging a harder practice to do. None of the cities in this state seem to be the big city of the state, and that is what really strikes me as odd. Every state I have lived in has always had some form of focal big city.
But wait. 100 to 150 years ago, those areas up to Fort Lee were sparsely populated. Have you never seen a photo of the George Washington Bridge under Construction or pictures of Fort Lee during the movie-industry era before it moved to Hollywood? It's all trees. That's only the 1920s - 30s.
By the time the population boom did happen--starting after WWII--these communities were established and had their own systems in place.
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