Pros and Cons of New Jersey (Montclair: apartments, how much, house)
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NJ has many faces. Unfortunately some people only view it from the NJTP. Nice beaches and the North features some beautiful foothills and lakes. Lots of variety and if you can afford to avoid the ghettos it is a really nice place to live.
Obviously all states have disparities but the difference between the average New Jersey town and our larger urban centers is especially striking.
It depends what matters to you. I can say some of the Pros can be a con to some vice versa. Some complain the taxes are high but you get back more than some states that has taxes as high.
Who exactly is this list for? Are there thousands of people who need to decide which state to live in where job commutes, family, or other obligations don't matter and they're just weighing options?
I understand that but I think it's even more striking in New Jersey because on average our suburbs are some of the wealthiest in the country and our cities (Camden, Trenton, Irvingon, Newark etc) are some of the poorest and most violent. I think Connecticut is similar in the sense that it has extreme suburban wealth and then the inner-cities of Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven.
Pros: North Eastern part is within the commuting distance to NYC. Cheaper than other suburbs of NYS. Decent schools. Decent people most of whom, at least in North Eastern NJ used to live in NYC or JC/Hoboken.
Cons: TRAFFIC, horrible traffic everywhere. If one has a misfortune to work in NJ far from public transportation, they are doomed to rotting in traffic every day. If you live in the Northern part of the state, accessing the beaches of the Southern part of the state during summer is basically impractical. Inadequate public transportation that moves people mainly to Manhattan or Hoboken.
Crumbling, empty office parks accessible by over burdened highways.
The least popular state of the union.
Crumbling, dangerous "ghettoes" AKA NJ cities. The capital city of the state is pretty much a ghetto itself.
Ridiculous number of municipalities, counties, villages, towns, boroughs, caves, tents, town squares all run by elected officials who are all duly elected every two years. Ridiculously overpaid school district officials who are managing school "districts" with 10 schools.
Pros: Beautiful beaches, surprisingly idyllic farmland and green landscape outside of northeast corner of the state, generally solid public schools if you can afford it, safe outside of select urban centers, beautiful autumns, colonial history, revitalized urban areas like Hoboken and parts of Jersey City, proximity to NYC, Philly and even D.C.
Cons: Very high cost of living, high taxes, absentee Governor and a long history of corrupt politics, festering urban centers filled with violent crime and hopeless poverty, traffic can be pretty bad, you can only use the beaches 25% of the time at best, not many options for state universities (Rutgers, TCNJ and then a huge drop off). Jersey turnpike area in the Northeast corner of the state is industrial and highly polluted and gives the rest of the state a bad reputation.
Disagree with your assessment of the state universities. Montclair State and Rowan are also pretty solid.
Disagree with your assessment of the state universities. Montclair State and Rowan are also pretty solid.
I personally wouldn't consider them nationally competitive schools but that doesn't mean one can't attend Montclair or Rowan and go on to be extremely successful.
When the dems take over we can have our red light cameras back and municpal coffers, red light camera and insurance companies' profits will be overflowing.
Nj is on the Atlantic flyway and is the super highway of migratory birds. Whales, dolphins and seals in Raritan Bay. Everything from mink to bear roam the interior.
then there is the population density, lawyers, lawyer politicians and fruit loop politicians that want to have you charged with rape if you lie to a women in an effort to impress her.
Whenever there is a traffic jam, democrats look for republican to blame, and thus provide the globe with comedy relief and a purpose to spend taxpayer money on political revenge.
Everything is within arms reach; easy access to multiple destinations are a huge problem in any other state. Ocean, mountains, cities, fishing, hunting.
You can use a rifle to hunt certain critters.
You can trap muskrat, mink and beaver with snares.
You can shoot unlimited doe deer from September to February with arrows in some DMZs..that's deer management zones NOT Demiltarized zone.
You have to release your medical records, get fingerprinted, checked by the FBI and have your driver license run thru NICS crimninal datatbase to buy a bb gun.
You can't release nusiance groundhogs more than a few feet from where they were caught.
Eagle nests abound.
Commercial netters destroy the offshore fisheries and the state is essentially not motivated to stop them.
If you belong to a gang you get an automatic exemption from gun laws.
Great food.
Unheralded natural diversity.
Stratospheric taxes to support the teacher's union/ democrat party partnership at the expense of the children especially in places like Newark..which is improving! Except the improving part doesn't reference quality of life, personal safety and education.
then again the magnolia warblers, osprey, red knots and oyster catchers do brighten the day you have to pay your quarterly property tax.
Then there is the daily traffic violation loophole where you get an exemption from speeding if you can prove there was a slower car in the fast lane.
Scortinos restaurant.
Sandy Hook.
The tame fox on Island Beach.
Timber rattlers and sea turtles.
The beaches are wondeful bu you can't park to enjoy them.
any neat festival like the balloon festival is so crowded the trafiic stretches for miles
The garden state art center and other stadiums keep changing names so you have no effn clue where the izod center is or if it was spelled correctly or if it is a pace where people afflicted with izod go to get treated. High point stadium is somewhere in the hinterlands of sussex county and Hoboken is a town in Belgium.
If you find yourself in the labrynth of inner cities in the northeast part of the state and follow the signs that direct you to the parkway, you will travel 10 times the distance you actually are from the GSP.
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