Posted on 03/09/2006 6:48:25 AM PST by Huck
Who's laughing now?
New Jersey, the state that spawned a thousand wise-guy bumper stickers and became the butt of a million late-night jokes, is actually a nice place to live.
The research group Morgan Quitno crunched the numbers this year and yesterday ranked New Jersey the fifth-most-livable state.
As for its neighbors?
Pennsylvania finished 30th, New York 32d.
"The people we talk to say they wouldn't live anywhere else, and I have to go along with that," said Mark Moran, a Bloomfield resident and one of the editors of Weird New Jersey magazine. "Whether it grows on you or people just don't know any better, I don't know."
New Jersey has long had a tragically poor reputation, earned by corrupt politicians, homicidal mobsters (real and fictional), surreal traffic patterns (who invented the jughandle, anyway?), toxic waste, and big hair.
The state's image has been so bad that even then-acting Gov. Richard Codey took the time last year to rollick in some of the more humorous entries in his public slogan contest.
Among the favorites: "New Jersey: You got a problem with that?" and "New Jersey: Most of our elected officials have not been indicted."
Morgan Quitno, a Kansas-based publisher of statistical data, based its rankings on 44 factors, and New Jersey shined in many.
The state moved up from eighth place a year ago. New Hampshire was judged the most livable state for the third year in a row.
The study determined that New Jersey has excellent schools; an educated, wealthy population; and relatively low rates of crime and poverty.
"We don't claim to be finding the most exciting place or the best place to take a vacation," said Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno. "It's just looking at very basic things. Other people can choose to look at other factors."
In other words, the things that make Jersey so Jersey didn't count against it. (Except for the toxic waste: Morgan found New Jersey had the most "hazardous waste sites on the National Priority List per 10,000 square miles.")
Moran also noted that if auto insurance and property tax rates had been considered, New Jersey's ranking would have sunk like a stone.
But in Morgan Quitno's world, livability is measured by factors such as student-teacher ratios and per-capita spending on the arts, and New Jersey excelled in both.
For Moran, there is no conflict in a state's combining livability with a tradition for the weird and absurd.
"You've got to take the good with the bad," he said. "The fact that it's such an odd and unique place... certainly makes it more livable for me."
Morgan visited the state last year and made a swing through Camden, the city his publishing company has famously labeled the most dangerous the last two years.
"We didn't advertise who we were," he said.
I can't take FL either, and I was born and raised there. Too many NJ people.
(just kidding about NJ)
But I do appreciate a state with personal freedoms somewhat intact, and at least a little money left after taxes.
I've never wanted to live 2 hours from a list of interesting places. I don't have 4 spare hours to roundtrip somewhere.
I live and work and play and am raising my family on Manhattan Island, where I am *minutes* by *foot* from the finest cultural / dining / entertainment experiences on the planet.
Yes, it is frightfully expensive, and a tax/nannystate nightmare, but we all make tradeoffs.
What's this:
clop, clop, clop, clop, BANG! BANG! clop, clop, clop, clop...
A drive-by Amish shooting!
Ha! Minnesota is second on the list. I knew I made the right move.
Lancaster County PA is nice. I can get there in under two hours. I doesn't take me 4 hours to get to NYC. It takes an hour and change. You're just wrong on that. But you know, if you don't like traffic, yer gonna be SOL pretty much anywhere. You ever try to drive up into the Rocky Mountains on I-70 outside Denver on a Saturday morning? It's like an LA freeway at rush hour. And they have such bad air quality in the Denver area they have fireplace restrictions. That's just one example.
Yeah, the upsides of Manhattan living are pretty cool. I need trees and grass and space and quiet, so I trade off and get the longer drives.
Brilliant conclusion right?
Yeah, those idiots who call themselves musicians here in Austin Texas (Live Music Capital of the World) are too stupid not to live in NJ.
I do like art, but will never overestimate it's importance to a nation or state.
lol
Quote: "yer just a glass is half empty kinda guy. sucks to be you."
Well, at least one can see clearly through a half empty glass. But, I am just a realist. Rockies v. Poconos. . .Rockies. Carolina Coast v. Joisey Shore. . .Carolina. Hell, given the choice between living in liberal hells, I MAY even take Mass over Jersey. Better mountains, beaches and scenery and soon they will have the same oppressive tax structure. Although, I believe a recent survey found Joisey to have an even worse climate for business than even Mass.
"Morris County, a Republican strangled"
Which Republican was strangled in Morris County?
I always wonder if that bone yard isn't full of people who died on the GSP while waiting for it to move!
Well, it's not totally worthless. It's a nice conversation starter, which is how I took it. Sort of like those Top 10 albums of all time surveys, or most beautiful woman surveys. Just fun to kibbitz about it.
lol. touche (sorry, i know that's french.) haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting Austin. If yer near Austin, yer def near good music, that's for sure. more power to ya.
If Alexander Hamilton hadn't gone across the river to NJ, he might still be alive today.
That's a problem because in about 10 years (or less)Bucks County will begin to look like Paterson today.
Unfortunately, the taxes are high, the politics s-ck, and there needs to be stricter zoning along the I-80 and I-70 corridors.
Lancaster PA really sux bad in the last 5 years.
Anything west of the Susquehana is bad now.
I grew up in Montgomery and deserted that area years ago. I now live in Westmoreland near Indiana.
Two lane highways, 60mph, no cars. The only thing I have to fear are the deer.
When I lived in Montco, it took two hours of hard riding before I could get to some place where I could enjoy the ride.
Now, its at the end of my driveway. I leave the garage, do about 150 miles, might see a stop sign.
Now that's riding.
Oh man, you can have Massachusetts. But you can't live in Carolina and Colorado and Massachusetts AT THE SAME TIME. That's the point. If you want 14K foot mountains, sure, go to Colorado, but the flip side is enjoy your 48 hour drive to the beach. And I hope you don't like water, cuz they pretty much don't have any. And you want to see traffic? Try driving up into the Rockies on I-70 on a Saturday morning. Makes the parkway look like a deserted highway. The point is Jersey has a little of EVERYTHING. If you like mountains, lakes, beaches, cities, restaurants, etc, NJ is a great place. Massachusetts??? yegads, you can have it! worst drivers in the country, I think.
Hmmm, states at the top of the list are losing people, states at the bottom are gaining...yep, I'd say they nailed down the right factors alright...:rolleyes:
Thanks for bringin up the ladies. Yes indeed, we got hotties right here in NJ :-P
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