Is New Jersey Really that Horrible? (Trenton: credit, camps, tax)

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by luckyshoes

All states have smelly spots. You can't even freaking breathe in LA half the year. And what about all the nasty smelly CAFOs (not in Jersey)

All states certainly do have smelly spots. Try driving through an agricultural area, for instance, that has a ton of feed lots. I plead 'guilty' to this, as I do that regularly. Also, the most odiferous area you'll ever encounter is a town that has a paper mill. The Pacific Northwest is especially notorious for this. Towns such as Tacoma Washington, Lewiston Idaho, Missoula Montana. My cousin is a forester, and he'll tell you that in other places where he has offices are also full of odor, 24/7, due to paper mills. Bossier City Louisiana, International Falls Minnesota, Waycross Georgia, etc. Feed lot towns smell like perfume in comparison.

[NJ Bear]

"They don't try hard enough to get a good job and then complain about it because they can't afford anything"

Maybe they just have better things to do in life than work the kind of soul-sucking job that pays the big bucks, better ways to spend their time than sit in the traffic jams they encounter trying to get to said job,or make plentye of money but at the end of the day would rather spend money on the important things in life instead of taxes and wasted gas sitting in traffic and just generally expensive... everything? You name it, there is nothing cheap here except gas, and gas is a drop in the bucket compared with everything else. Some people just value life more than they value income.

Just yet another example of what I've said before about a lot (not all, but a lot) of NJ people needing to put down others to feel good about themselves or their state.

[luckyshoes]

I haven't read this whole thread, but I love NJ and I've lived in many other places.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by NJ Bear

Well, since NYC, Philly, and Boston don't do much for me (Boston? BOSTON? Who brags about proximity to a city that far away? Just about EVERYBODY is within a 5 hour drive of one city or another!) that's a non-starter in my book. I mean sure, it's fun every once in a while to go into the city, but whether it's 1.5 hr drive or 4 hour drive to do that makes no difference to me for the once a year or so that I do it.

Beaches are OK, there's nicer ones eleswhere and it's not really my thing anyway. You mention the Catskills, Poconos, etc.... my point is it's nice to live in an area where you can do outdoor activities such as you might in those areas without spending half the day getting there and back, that if you want to do these things regularly NJ isn't the place because you have to drive a ways to get "out". Sure, NJ has some nice state parks and so on that fill the bill when you're pressed for time or as an old standby, but relatively speaking most of them are not that special compared with the opportunities in most other northeastern states. So, there's your "example" right there for places you "don't have to drive a long way".... the fact that in most every (every?) other northeastern state you can get to better outdoor rec oportunites than almost anything NJ's got in a fraction of the time it takes to get to any of these places, even the Catskills, from NJ (I didn't mention the Poconos, even though they have some nice areas, because in general it's mostly gotten too residential/developed and commercialized for my taste... why drive an hour to get there when it looks not much different from where I live?). In terms of outdoor recreation, if you're really "into" it there's a lot to be said for being able to do things like go for a "real" hike even if you've only got 3-4 free hours on a Sunday morning, or leave to go camping on a Fri. night after work and get to the campsite at 7 and set up and relax and make dinner instead of arriving an hour or two after dark, that sort of thing.

you didn't answer my question.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by mike0421

All states certainly do have smelly spots. Try driving through an agricultural area, for instance, that has a ton of feed lots. I plead 'guilty' to this, as I do that regularly. Also, the most odiferous area you'll ever encounter is a town that has a paper mill. The Pacific Northwest is especially notorious for this. Towns such as Tacoma Washington, Lewiston Idaho, Missoula Montana. My cousin is a forester, and he'll tell you that in other places where he has offices are also full of odor, 24/7, due to paper mills. Bossier City Louisiana, International Falls Minnesota, Waycross Georgia, etc. Feed lot towns smell like perfume in comparison.

yes but i would never want to live in those places anyway...NJ I would live in...but I'm not moving anytime soon. Rather stay in NY, if that wasn't an option, NJ would be my second. I'm actually an NYer that doesn't hate NJ! I don't love it, but hey, I don't hate it!

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by NJ Bear

"They don't try hard enough to get a good job and then complain about it because they can't afford anything"

Maybe they just have better things to do in life than work the kind of soul-sucking job that pays the big bucks, better ways to spend their time than sit in the traffic jams they encounter trying to get to said job,or make plentye of money but at the end of the day would rather spend money on the important things in life instead of taxes and wasted gas sitting in traffic and just generally expensive... everything? You name it, there is nothing cheap here except gas, and gas is a drop in the bucket compared with everything else. Some people just value life more than they value income.

Just yet another example of what I've said before about a lot (not all, but a lot) of NJ people needing to put down others to feel good about themselves or their state.

and that's exactly why i live here. some others value income more than life so they move away.

[The Michigan Man]

Originally Posted by NJ Bear

Well, since NYC, Philly, and Boston don't do much for me (Boston? BOSTON? Who brags about proximity to a city that far away? Just about EVERYBODY is within a 5 hour drive of one city or another!) that's a non-starter in my book. I mean sure, it's fun every once in a while to go into the city, but whether it's 1.5 hr drive or 4 hour drive to do that makes no difference to me for the once a year or so that I do it.

Beaches are OK, there's nicer ones eleswhere and it's not really my thing anyway. You mention the Catskills, Poconos, etc.... my point is it's nice to live in an area where you can do outdoor activities such as you might in those areas without spending half the day getting there and back, that if you want to do these things regularly NJ isn't the place because you have to drive a ways to get "out". Sure, NJ has some nice state parks and so on that fill the bill when you're pressed for time or as an old standby, but relatively speaking most of them are not that special compared with the opportunities in most other northeastern states. So, there's your "example" right there for places you "don't have to drive a long way".... the fact that in most every (every?) other northeastern state you can get to better outdoor rec oportunites than almost anything NJ's got in a fraction of the time it takes to get to any of these places, even the Catskills, from NJ (I didn't mention the Poconos, even though they have some nice areas, because in general it's mostly gotten too residential/developed and commercialized for my taste... why drive an hour to get there when it looks not much different from where I live?). In terms of outdoor recreation, if you're really "into" it there's a lot to be said for being able to do things like go for a "real" hike even if you've only got 3-4 free hours on a Sunday morning, or leave to go camping on a Fri. night after work and get to the campsite at 7 and set up and relax and make dinner instead of arriving an hour or two after dark, that sort of thing.

Poconos is half a day away? LOL no, sir.

[The Michigan Man]

Originally Posted by Ninjahedge

If they don't force it, they will not provide it.

The amount they save on labor never matches what they charge for it when they give it.

Also, there is less risk of accidental fire or damage with full serve (there have been some incients).

You have to realize that the world is not a happy place, if they did not force things to be, companies would do as little as possible to get as much for it as possible (or get as much for as little as possible).

You think eliminating service will make them lower gas prices?

Not.

Really? They won't? What's your basis for saying this?

Let the companies decide. Consumers pay businesses for services. That's how it works. Some will offer the service, some won't. This is how it works in OTHER STATES with more freedom.

If there is more fire risk, insurance rates will be higher. It will be up to the owner to make that call for him or herself. We do not need the government to FORCE gas station attendants to pump gas. It's a mindless job. I can do it if I want to. If I don't, I can pay someone else to do it.

[NJ Bear]

Originally Posted by The Michigan Man

Poconos is half a day away? LOL no, sir.

No wonder people misconstrue what i say in my posts. I say the Poconos are an hour away (of course on a saturday monring with traffic at the toll that can be significantly more, even if you know the back ways), then I get somebody trying to convince me that i said they're half a day away. Read my post again! And that all besides the point that I specifically mentioned the pitfalls of the poconos that cause it not to be any big draw for me... or as some like to call it, the "ghetto in the pines".

[NJ Bear]

Originally Posted by tahiti

you didn't answer my question.

Your question was, where can you live and not have to drive far to get to all of these things. I specifically answered that question. Please read again if the answer is that important to you.

Here, I'll simplify... not interested in proximity to NYC; going to a big city once in a while can be fun, but that's irrelevant anyway because -nobody- in any state besides Alaska, ID, WY, MT, and the Dakotas lives more than a few hours from one city or another anyway; and most places have better/higher-quality outdoor rec. space and opportunities much closer than the access to that type of quality "habitat" from NJ.

Happy?