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I have lived in 3 different states, Dallas TX, NYC, Northern Jersey so here's my 2 cents.
New Jersey was by far the the worst place to live in terms of taxation, economics, land and property laws, business regulation and general society. Don't get me wrong, I was raised in New Jersey and up to highschool and back after college for 5 years, I even bought a condo in NJ back then. I never thought anything negative because I never had anything to compare it to. It was all I knew.
My next destination was Dallas suburb when I got a job tranfer to be closer to my wife's family, and this is where I raised my family for 13 years. There was no comparison, my time in Dallas was far better. I didn't realize what "freedom" truly meant until I arrived here with regards to law. Our family even opened a small business and was very swift. NJ was red tape, corruption city compared. But a little about myself, it most likely had alot to do with my political and religous affiliations. I am a Protestant, voting Republican and my lifestyle fit right in Dallas. No state taxes, low property taxes <1%, superior schools, conservative values and ironically, much less segregation and racism.
North Jersey is very liberal, mostly Democrats and Catholics, major school issues with drugs and alcohol, you pay alot for less, pay lots and lots of taxes and social life is enclaved segregation of races. Not saying that no other state has drug issues, but NJ takes the cake on that one for Suburbia. In terms of race, I remember no one associating with others outside their own personal culture. Meaning the Italians stick with the Italians, the Irish with the Irish, the Chinese with the Chinese, the Hispanics with the Hispanics, the Blacks with the blacks, and so on. NJ was "diverse" but very segregated with each "group" living their own version of America which I really disliked. Dallas, everyone was just American if that makes any sense.
and pay attention to the coming years. with the growth texas has seen, it's also becoming one of the "youngest" states. that means it will need to spend more on education. it also has some of the worst car congestion in the country. that means more money to spend on infrastructure.
it's easy to be the low tax/low service state when you don't need to provide the services. when those services become increasingly in demand, you've got to start thinking outside of the box. texas will see changes in coming years.
I've posted pictures before of LBI claiming they were OBX and people believed me ("you won't find that in JERSEY").
Feel ya on that... People have no idea how nce certain areas of NJ are. But I agree on that winter comment... To me winter is grey, damp, cold, miserable garbage and ugly snow and depression be it NJ or ME or VT I can't ever see myself being happy in winter.
Feel ya on that... People have no idea how nce certain areas of NJ are. But I agree on that winter comment... To me winter is grey, damp, cold, miserable garbage and ugly snow and depression be it NJ or ME or VT I can't ever see myself being happy in winter.
After 4 years of making fun of my NJ friends while at school, i was surprised when i moved out here, and eventually to west orange, at how beautiful some parts of NJ really are.
Oh no doubt. West O is a cool town. They have the preserve right in town. But yeah, the further west and north you get from there the better it gets. SJ also has some awesome areas as well, if a bit less picturesque
To me winter is grey, damp, cold, miserable garbage and ugly snow and depression be it NJ or ME or VT I can't ever see myself being happy in winter.
And, at least one member of this forum is never satisfied unless he finds something negative to say about NJ--even if it is not accurate, and even though he left the state long ago.
The bottom line is that, while many people feel unhappy during the winter months, there are some people who will never be happy, no matter what season it is, or where they are living, and they display their negativity to others on a constant basis--without realizing what it reveals about their personality.
Are you talking about me? I still
Live here and and have never left, and just commented on how pretty the state is
Nope!
Definitely not you.
The person to whom I was obliquely referring is on my "ignore" list, and will probably come back with some attempted defense for his/her ongoing actions, but--luckily--I won't see it unless somebody quotes him/her. However, if he/she recognizes himself/herself in my comments and chooses to respond, that is an indication that he/she recognizes the truth contained in what I stated, thus proving my point!
Last edited by Retriever; 10-24-2014 at 09:10 AM..
Feel ya on that... People have no idea how nce certain areas of NJ are. But I agree on that winter comment... To me winter is grey, damp, cold, miserable garbage and ugly snow and depression be it NJ or ME or VT I can't ever see myself being happy in winter.
Right? I personally like winter, but it looks the same everywhere that sees a "true" winter - snow, ice, and dead trees.
But apparently someone else thinks that winter's pretty in states around New Jersey but NOT in New Jersey!!
and pay attention to the coming years. with the growth texas has seen, it's also becoming one of the "youngest" states. that means it will need to spend more on education. it also has some of the worst car congestion in the country. that means more money to spend on infrastructure.
it's easy to be the low tax/low service state when you don't need to provide the services. when those services become increasingly in demand, you've got to start thinking outside of the box. texas will see changes in coming years.
It's a different kind of racism. I'll explain:
In NJ, the racism is much more subversive and formed by ethnic clique and subculture. Outside of your employment where people are forced to associate, people in NJ generally stick within their race, and beyond that, within their specific ethnicity/religion. ie, Irish stick with the Irish, Jews with Jews, Italians with Italians, Indians with Indians, E. Europeans with E. Europeans, Chinese with Chinese, even in other ethnic groups, they don't comingle. You do get your outlier groups, but very rare in NJ. Same goes for non-white ethnic groups in NJ, Koreans don't associate with Vietnamese or Chinese, the Costa Ricans, Cubans don't associate with Mexicans or other Hispanics. This still exists and even more intense than ever.
What I observed growing up in NJ, there was the prevalance of everyone's sub-ethnic group's version of America. ie, an Italian Thanksgiving, or an Irish Catholic Christmas, or a Jewish wedding. Bagpipe skirt wearing parades, Filipino pride parades, etc etc. People going with their *own version* of American traditions based on their ancestral histories and this persists into today's generations.
Compared to TX, where I lived outside of Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, everyone was just AMERICAN and people generally assimilate into the broad culture. People would have church BBQ's, picnics, town events, where you saw all races associate with one another. People of all races generally live on the same blocks and actually talk to one another unlike NJ, where neighbors rarely even say hello.
English speaking citizens in TX are just American, wheras in NJ and the Northeast, you are generally considered "insert your ethic"-American. In Dallas, there was no "insert your ethnic"-American Women's Association, or "insert your ethnic"-American young Entrepreneur Society, etc etc.
The kind of racism you are inferring in Texas is from the political incorrect attitudes people may have. The "Bubba" attitude will always be there if you don't speak English or act peculiar, like do your hair like Jersey Shore, you'll get called out. But it's really a different racism. Someone in Texas may say something ignorant in your face, but they still talk to you and it's not hate speak. It's ignorant speak. The Northeast racism is alot more subversive, where people live in enclaves and often refuse to acknowledge you exist if they can't identify with you which I believe a product of political correctness.
Regarding economy, Texas has a massive budget surplus. It has the economy of UAE, because of it's energy self sufficiency. It is also very attractive to US and foreign investors due to it's low taxes and unregulated business laws. I've seen TX take lots of CA corporations down to Austin, and Dallas past 10 years and Austin is now the hot spot of new technology co's. Most of the drilling in USA is in the Gulf. Like other regions of the world oil and gas produces it's massive budget surpluses. Texas ranks in the top 3 annually in education and jobs. Unless fossil fuels go out of style, this won't change. Education and jobs keeps social services and welfare down and Texas doesn't have a UNION PROBLEM besides few national ones, ie teachers union and state employee unions. This is a stark contrast to NJ, which continues to increase taxes to raise state income, tolls, etc to balance budgets and fulfill the ridiculous pension coffers that WILL default one day. High taxes and an unemployable populace scares both US and foreign investments away from the state.
I also want to touch on education and society. One important reason why we moved away from NJ was the rising drug and alcohol problem, I don't mean in the inner cities of NJ, but in the suburbs. NJ has a horrible drug problem and many parents keep a blind eye to this, it happens in many NJ suburbs and there is really no viable solution as NJ politics has given up on war on drugs. I hear you guys will legalize pot soon.
Regarding traffic, you are incorrect. NJ takes the cake on awful highway traffic and pollution. There's no question Dallas has bad traffic during peak hours as do other urban areas in TX, but nowhere near the tristate, I-95, turnpike, Route 4, Route 3, Lincoln tunnel traffic web are the worst in the country next to perhaps LA.
Last edited by ControlJohnsons; 10-26-2014 at 03:58 PM..
^ I feel bad that other areas of the country don't have the ethnic ties that we do in the northeast. I am an American but I am proud of my heritage(s) and yes, my family legitimately celebrates them on holidays and not. There is nothing wrong with that.
And we have community events, too - church feasts, block parties, local parades for American holidays like Memorial Day, July 4th, Columbus Day. I see all types of people at my local church's annual feast of St. Anthony. People from all around my town come to it, all ethnnicities and races.
I think NJ is segregated at the municipality level but I think it's more of a socioeconomic segregation than a racial one. The two often go hand in hand but what matters more in the segregating is what you can afford and how expensive an area is. But I don't think so many people are afraid to be around others different from them, as friends or coworkers or anything else. There are minority families living in my town and everyone is just fine to them...
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be it NJ or ME or VT I can't ever see myself being happy in winter.
