From the Courier News:
Got something about N.J. that annoys you? Stand in line
When you set out to list the 10 things that most annoy New Jersey residents, one problem quickly stands out.
You really need a much bigger list.
“There are a lot of problems here,” said Myron Kessler of Cherry Hill, who’s concerned about — for starters — soaring property taxes, money-wasting bureaucracies and self-serving political machines. “It would take a long time to say everything.”
…
Property taxes. They’re too high, and getting higher, say homeowners such as Kessler. “A lot of people are talking about leaving the state,” the 64-year-old retiree said.
…
Suburban sprawl. “New Jersey is no longer the Garden State,” said Eugene Geer, 72, of Hazlet, who laments the loss of farms and open space to “developers making obscene profits.”Eminent domain. Officials say eminent domain is needed as a potential tool to assemble sites for redevelopment. But critics decry the forced sale of private property.
…
Pay-to-play. When insiders take control, government stops serving the people and instead helps a select few, said Kevin Madden, 48, of Collingswood.
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Affordable housing. “A lot of people worry about property taxes, but to me the issue is housing, housing, housing,” said Roth, noting lower-income families are priced out of many communities.
Property taxes, traffic and sarcastic people.
lack of enforcement of illegals.
Most of these fall under the corruption umbrella.
1. Pollution, toxic waste, chemical plants, and all the threats that result.
2. Economic abandonment of cities by citizens and government. Corruption and failure to attract long-term, positive investment in Camden, Paterson, Elizabeth, and Newark makes these cities embarrassments.
3. The culture of “home rule.” Too many towns, too many divisions within and between communities, high taxes, too many differences between neighboring public school systems, etc.
4. Bad attitudes. Many NJers drive too aggressively, can’t wait in line for anything, and have generally bad attitudes.
5. Local governments’ refusal to enforce building and beautification codes. Towns like Montclair are giving in to every rich developer who wants to build a McMansion, while towns like Lodi or Kearny fall into ruin because of unkept properties, commercial signage, and abandoned buildings.
6. Outdated liquor license laws.
BTW…my 81-year old Mom has a both-barrels-loaded Winchester 22/410 over-under in her bedroom closet. She also has expressed no qualms about using it.
Nice of her to mention that before we came with the kids.
I agree with Clotpoll.
The grass is always greener, isn’t it? We in NJ don’t have the monopoly on high prop taxes, corruption, crime or sprawl.
And oh, by the way, I found all of the following to be sigificantly worse in California:
Affordable housing – You really have no idea how insane housing prices are/were until you look at CA.
Traffic jams – With the SF area’s maze of bridges, you’re always in a bottleneck
Car insurance rates – mine dropped 40% when we moved to NJ
Gas prices – WHAT?!?! NJ is DOWNRIGHT cheap in comparison.
Sheesk. People sure do like to think they got it the worst, don’t they? Child, please. You don’t KNOW.
Back on topic:
What annoys me?
1. IT Guys
2. Coral
3. Bicycles
4. The Route 3 Zombies
5. Slackers
And me?
* NJ’s over-population from people from Brooklyn, Queens, SI, and Long Island who paused their NJ bashing just long enough to quietly move here.
* Ethnocentrism of some towns in NNJ. “Us [fill in the blank] gotta stick togetha.”
* That annoying accent: “Our govina works in Treh-in.” “Oh no you dih-int.” “I gotta fix this buh-in.”
chicagofinance,
I’m an IT guy. Why do we annoy you? :)
to Michelle ,we in New Jersey don’t think we have it bad ,where else in America can your Property tax’s be MORE than your income ? All brought to you by CROOKS …http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061221/OPINION/612210367/1029
“What annoys me?
1. IT Guys
2. Coral
3. Bicycles
4. The Route 3 Zombies
5. Slackers”
Bwahahahah! Good one.
6. Dog lovers
Clot / Michelle,
Just because it’s worse in other places doesn’t mean that it can’t be better here.
And it’s ALWAYS worse in Tennesse.
Rich
Totally agreed, Rich. It just seems like many folks like to think that it’s awful here and just peachy elsewhere. Many of the things we complain about here are the same or worse the country over, but people seem to think they aren’t. I hear it all the time when I tell people I came BACK to NJ from CA. They think I’m nuts. Frankly, I think they’re ignorant. “Oh, but our housing prices!!! Our taxes!!! Our car insurance!!!” Newsflash: There ain’t no Eden.