Walkable Downtown ??? (Newark, Montclair, Westfield: mortgage, estate, job)

[Onizuka]

Originally Posted by Meyersd

More people=More crime. Montclair gives you urban nighlife experience while maintaining it's suburban roots. There simply aren't many diverse towns in NJ as Montclair. Period.

Sheesh, no one is saying Montclair is a bad town. I've been there many times and I'll continue to go back.

And it's not as easy as "more people = more crime".

Montclair has 40,000 people.

Westfield has 30,000 people. Fort Lee has 35,000 people. Both towns are similar to Montclair in that they are suburban, but have somewhat urban downtowns and have moderately large populations as far as NJ towns go. Both Westfield and Fort Lee have significantly lower crime rates.

Does it mean Westfield and Fort Lee are better towns or better places to live? No. It all depends on what your priorities are. However, I think flippantly dismissing any talk about Montclair's crime rate with "more people = more crime" is disingenuous and misleading to people coming here for accurate information.

People looking at $600,000 houses (which is the price range the original poster specified) in "top tier" towns in NJ are going to want to consider the fact that Montclair has the 40th highest violent crime rate (out of 238 townships) in NJ, while a town like Westfield has the 3rd lowest of 238. But again, it's not an issue of right or wrong, but what your own personal priorities are.

I've walked 30 minutes in NYC, so what's the difference between that and walking in town? If you bouight a house in Upper Montclair, your walk may be that long, but it's a 10 minute car ridge or taxi ride to all the shops and bars located on or near Bloomfield Avenue. Plus there are additional shops and stores in Upper Montclair.

This thread is called "Walkable Downtown" not "Car-able in 10 minutes Downtown"

[tiggywink]

I've been following this thread with great interest, since we too are looking to move to a walkable NJ town this summer. I am a native-NewJerseyan moving back after many years living abroad--and have visited all of the towns recommended here.

When we started really searching for a house/community, often a place seemed perfect in every way until we walked around and realized it just didn't have exactly what we were looking for. We've found that though not perfect, we will most probably be moving to Westfield. It's got a charming downtown and so much else going for it (great schools, historic homes, walkability to everything and close to plenty of other attractions too--nature, shore, NYC, etc.).

To the original poster--our budget is similar to yours and there are most definitely houses for that price in Westfield--these are the smaller ones that you say you wouldn't mind...but still 3 bedrooms, 1.5-2 baths, yard, etc.

Good Luck!

[nickylovebug]

This is really great walkable town, with excellent schools and quaint shops. Its close to Philadelphia and also has public transportation to get into Philly. Its pricey, but it sounds like you can afford it, so you should check it out. I believe they also have a town website ... just google it.

[mbk]

Hi all,
thanks for tip on Haddonfield, will be checking it out. Also we are scheduled to see homes in Westfield, Montclair, and Princeton at the begining of next month. I'm looking forward to it. Regarding crime, where do you get the statistics from?, just out of curiosity. Also, there are all kinds of different crime, depending on that, I think that would have greater influence on our decision. Like there is college town type of crime, inner city drugs, violence, etc. You know what I mean?

To tiggywink, good luck to you too. I live abroad, in Japan, and travelled extensively in my young and wild years with just a backpack to all different places. This is probably the cause of my disenchantment for the typical american, lliving in a big box, suburban life. I know life can be so much better. However, with 3 kids, the city is not an option. So I'm doing as much research as I can, we need to settle down for 15 years, I'd like it to be as near perfect as possible.

[Onizuka]

Link to crime stats here:
http://www.homesurfer.com/crimerepor...g.cfm?state=NJ

These are based on FBI Uniform Crime Rate database for 2004 and show a breakdown of violent crime (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) and property crime (burglary, larceny, auto theft, arson).

Montclair had a violent crime rate of 362.9 incidents per 100,000 people in 2004.
Princeton had a violent crime rate of 168.2 incidents per 100,000 people in 2004.
Westfield had a violent crime rate of 13.3 incidents per 100,000 people in 2004.

For comparison, Newark had a violent crime rate of 1024.5.

So Montclair's overall violent crime is not horrible, but it's not nearly as safe as Westfield which has almost no violent crime at all.

[tiggywink]

Originally Posted by mbk

To tiggywink, good luck to you too. I live abroad, in Japan, and travelled extensively in my young and wild years with just a backpack to all different places. This is probably the cause of my disenchantment for the typical american, lliving in a big box, suburban life. I know life can be so much better. However, with 3 kids, the city is not an option.

I couldn't have said this better myself--I am seriously worried about culture shock not just for my Brit husband but ME--it's been 18 years that I've been abroad and away from NJ! But the pull back home has always been there--I *love* NJ! We also made major life changes when our son was born (he's 2)...so I totally get the suburban thing--we live in London now and it's truly wonderful--but it's time for a slower pace.

mbk--Please report back on your trip because I would love to hear what your opinions on these different places are--it will be so useful to me (and others too I bet!)

nickylovebug--the Haddonfield website was so impressive--unfortunately it is waaay too far to commute to my husband's job from there, otherwise it would be on our list too.

[murberec77]

Originally Posted by njmom8

look at Westfield, NJ

westfield is good as is ridgewood also in bergen county and morristown, florham park and montclair in morris county. but i would say ridgewood is best of all and on a par with princeton even though it has no university.

[tiggywink]

MBK--are you back from your househunting trip? What were your impressions!

[lammius]

Originally Posted by murberec77

westfield is good as is ridgewood also in bergen county and morristown, florham park and montclair in morris county. but i would say ridgewood is best of all and on a par with princeton even though it has no university.

Montclair is in Essex County and Florham Park doesn't have a walkable downtown. The center of town is a bunch of strip malls along Columbia Turnpike (a highway).

In Bergen County the best bets are Ridgewood, Englewood, Westwood (wow, lots of "woods").
In Essex County you've got Montclair, South Orange, Maplewood, Millburn
In Hudson County there's Hoboken, JC, UC
In Union County there's Summit, Westfield, and Rahway is a place that's "up and coming"
In Morris County there's Morristown, Madison, and Boonton

Those are probably some of the safest bets for walkable, safe, vibrant downtowns in the northern NJ counties.

And about Montclair's crime rate... so what? Yeah it may be higher than town X or village Y but it's still a VERY safe place. I go for walks late at night after work and have never felt anything but entirely safe. My female roommate walks around late at night and has never felt uncomfortable. It's a family-friendly community (for wealthy families anyway) and though I've been here for less than a year, I've never heard of anything bad happening in town (apart from a power outage last summer).

[springcheer]

How about Westwood in Bergen County? Great walkable downtown!