Brick township, NJ safest town in US (Barnegat: homes, property taxes)

[NC little foot]

According to the FBI report out today, Brick township ranked #1 in safest city/town in America.

[govtofficial]

I would have to agree that Brick, New Jersey is the safest town in the good old United States and that it should be more well known in america and should be taught in classes about how it is so safe and the FBI doesnt lie

[VeradoDan]

OK, strange post from the guy above me, but it's nice to see Brick Twp. get recognized. For what it's worth, the Brick Twp. Police Department is also known as one of the most professional, yet friendly, police departments around. Unlike many other towns, there isn't a lot of annoying traffic enforcement and the officers are never out to get anyone. They have a great relationship with township residents and the local area as a whole, and for that we should be thankful, since so many departments don't emphasize that.

While I'm not saying Brick Twp. is some kind of paradise, I will say that it's a large municipality (around 90K residents) and keeps its costs down to a point where it should be a model to other towns. Property taxes on a 500K home are below $6,000, I believe. And waterfront homes on Barnegat Bay and lagoon sections aren't singled out for higher taxation. It has a large blue-collar contingent but its proximity to the Parkway and I-195 give it a large professional community as well, so it creates a nice mix. I don't live there personally, but it seems like a good place to live.

[NC little foot]

Originally Posted by govtofficial

I would have to agree that Brick, New Jersey is the safest town in the good old United States and that it should be more well known in america and should be taught in classes about how it is so safe and the FBI doesnt lie

It took 3 years to reply? I posted that when I did live in Brick, NJ in October 2006.... I like Verado Dans post better.

[Citizen Chin]

Related to a topic discussed in another thread and I apologize ahead of time if I'm hijacking this thread...

For those that live in Brick and have kids, do you allow your kids to walk to school? If Brick is the safest town in the U.S. what reason could one have for not allowing them to? (illness, special needs, and other unique circumstances aside, of course) I'm not suggesting that a six year old walk alone to school, but provided that you live in a relatively safe neighborhood and they can do so with a group of other kids, and that there are crossing guards around, why not?

This is a serious question. NJ suburbs are generally quite safe, but these days you see very few kids walking to school and one of the main reasons that parents cite is safety concerns. This strikes me as odd since in the 80's (and every generation prior), when I was in school, almost all kids walked to school, and the crime rates then were significantly higher than they are today, yet none of my friends, classmates, or I looks back and ever thinks that we were in danger or that our parents were acting negligently by allowing us to walk to school. Back then we all thought that the few kids who did get rides were either lazy or spoiled.

The other point to consider is childhood obesity and laziness. Walking to and from school is a decent workout and gets the blood moving before class. Exercise has been proven to help facilitate learning. Seems like a win/win.

[VeradoDan]

Originally Posted by Citizen Chin

Related to a topic discussed in another thread and I apologize ahead of time if I'm hijacking this thread...

For those that live in Brick and have kids, do you allow your kids to walk to school? If Brick is the safest town in the U.S. what reason could one have for not allowing them to? (illness, special needs, and other unique circumstances aside, of course) I'm not suggesting that a six year old walk alone to school, but provided that you live in a relatively safe neighborhood and they can do so with a group of other kids, and that there are crossing guards around, why not?

This is a serious question. NJ suburbs are generally quite safe, but these days you see very few kids walking to school and one of the main reasons that parents cite is safety concerns. This strikes me as odd since in the 80's (and every generation prior), when I was in school, almost all kids walked to school, and the crime rates then were significantly higher than they are today, yet none of my friends, classmates, or I looks back and ever thinks that we were in danger or that our parents were acting negligently by allowing us to walk to school. Back then we all thought that the few kids who did get rides were either lazy or spoiled.

The other point to consider is childhood obesity and laziness. Walking to and from school is a decent workout and gets the blood moving before class. Exercise has been proven to help facilitate learning. Seems like a win/win.

I don't believe many children walk to school in Brick, but it has absolutely nothing to do with safety from criminals. Many of the schools are located on main roads which do not have sidewalks, so walking to school wouldn't be safe from a traffic standpoint. But if there was a neighborhood school and I lived in Brick, I would have no qualms about my children walking there.

In Manasquan, which is a couple miles away from Brick, pretty much ALL of the children walk to school. Parents often pick them up on rainy days, but I don't believe the district even has school buses.

[El Dakar]

Depends on how you define safe. I don't think the FBI report accounted for the disease clusters and contaminated sites in the area.
Disease Clusters

[VeradoDan]

Originally Posted by El Dakar

Depends on how you define safe. I don't think the FBI report accounted for the disease clusters and contaminated sites in the area.
Disease Clusters

Well, I get all the newspapers that cover Brick, and I've never heard of any "diseases" going around. They did a study on autism and, in typical government fashion, spent millions of dollars and found Brick had a high instance of autism because people with autistic children specifically moved to the town because the school system had a good program.

Plus, where are these contaminated sites? I know there's an old landfill on the Brick-Howell border, but it's kind of in the middle of nowhere where there are no homes nearby anyway.

[Stripes17]

Not to argue with you, but I want to offer that Frenchs Landfill did and still does have an effect on many homes in the area. Many private wells were banned, the seepage runs under homes and schools, etc. But, I give props to the town for proactively engaging in cleaning up the site and taking steps to protect the citizens.

Here's some information on that Superfund site from the township website: Official Township of Brick Website