the rix mix

From a newspaper editorial:

A report from Rutgers University suggests that New Jerseyans should not bother getting to know their neighbors, given the likelihood that they will be leaving shortly for Pennsylvania or North Carolina. The comparative allure of these and other states has gotten to the point that one in eight New Jerseyans -- more than a million -- left the state from 2000 through 2005.

While there is migration from other states into New Jersey, the outbound traffic was greater by about 24,000 people in 2002. By 2006, the net loss had tripled. If the trend continues, the exodus will account for a yearly hemorrhage of 100,000 residents before the decade's out.

I can think of many reasons people would want to stay in Jersey, & probably more why they would want to leave. But I can think of only three for why anyone would want to move here: You have a really great high-paying job lined up; You're an ambitious young person & New York City is across the river; You're an undocumented immigrant & your contacts gave you a Jersey address. I hear about "lifestyle" & honestly I don't see much of one for the less-than-affluent that can't be more affordably had & improved elsewhere. There's an image promoted by NJ Monthly & its essence boils down to Princeton & Hoboken with flavoring from Cape May (wealthy people at the beach) Atlantic City (wealthy people party all weekend), Lambertville (wealthy people buy expensive old stuff), plus the adventurous tastes of urban cultural attractions where there's secure - preferably valet - parking, you know, museums, classical music, authentic ethnic cuisine. Oh yeah, there's Bruce, who's been really wealthy for 25 years.

Everyone loves to read about Asbury Park, but out of Jersey's population of over 8 million hardly anyone actually goes there. Unless there's secure parking. You find the greatest nostalgia for Tillie in nouveau riche Red Bank, where they prefer lite jazz & you're more likely to run into the Springsteens on a shopping spree.

Except for the boardwalks, the Jersey I really love disappeared years ago. Which puts me among those confused folks reading Weird NJ magazine, lamenting the disappearance of corn fields & sand quarries along old Route 9, & wondering what the heck happened to all the cows we used to see when we drove west on Route 78. To find that Jersey now you have go up into the Poconos or miles south of Ocean City Maryland where they haven't yet gotten around to building luxury condos & McMansions next to the mucky tidal creeks. I love mucky creeks & don't understand why antiseptic wealthy people would want to smell them twice-a-day.

So New Jersey is losing population. But every complaint I have about the state is related to there being too many people crammed into 8,729 square miles. To fit them all in we've had to fill in salt marshes, chop down Pine Barrens, pave over pastures, & dynamite the peaks off our modest but ancient mountains.

Labels: New Jersey