Jerseyfication
From the Express-Times:
Jerseyfication? It's too late to gripe about it
Jerseyfication? It's too late to gripe about it
No more outsiders.
It's a standing joke among those of us who live in houses built on former farm fields.
The fumes from the moving van are still fresh in the air. The new macadam is shiny black. The freshly-seeded lawns are nowhere near maturity. The sign posts for our new streets stand straight and colorful with names such as Lily Lane, Woodcrest Ridge, Farmview Road, and Pheasant Run. The pheasants are gone, no farms are in sight and the crest is no longer wooded, but these street names hint at what once was.
Yet shortly after we've unpacked and found our way around outdated roads and byways, we've decided that we've had enough.
No more outsiders.
It doesn't work out that way, of course, and there is no real way to measure an outsider against those who really "belong" here. Our tax money spends the same. You can live here for 20 years and still be considered a carpetbagger, but newbies and oldheads alike all have one thing in common.
It's getting crowded around here.
...
One of the favorite targets of people around here is all the "Jersey people" moving in -- Jerseyfication, some call it. Even people in Phillipsburg complain about all the "Jersey people" who want to live here and drive to their jobs in New York and northeastern New Jersey. You know what they mean.
3 Comments:
From the Express-Times:
New arrivals 'adore' area but natives restless
Ask Don Keller what folks do for fun in Riegelsville, and he'll deadpan: "On Saturday nights we all go down and watch the traffic light change colors."
The joke is told with affection, a tongue-in-cheek nod to his hometown's lone stoplight and the region's bucolic charm.
But Keller, a lifelong Pennsylvanian who works in Flemington, is worried the restful pace characteristic of Riegelsville and its vicinity will give way to a jarring gallop as New Jersey and New York natives arrive here in search of affordable housing.
Thousands have streamed in over the years, and the pace has picked up in this decade.
...
Growth breeds tensions
Evidence of the conflict is everywhere, with skirmishes fought at municipal meetings, on the editorial pages and in online forums.
Longtime residents are bewildered by the Valley's rapid growth and resentful of its by-products -- traffic congestion, lost open space, and crowded classrooms. They're struggling to preserve the familiar in an evolving community.
...
The lifestyle is different where they're from; it's faster, trendier, said Keller. And instead of embracing this region as it is -- sleepy Riegelsville is in Bucks County, just over the Northampton County line -- they're seeking to remake it.
"It's not that I'm against people moving in. I'm against them bringing their problems," Keller explained.
When I first moved to Hunterdon County 18 years ago(bought lot 23years ago, then built in 87) horses were ridden down our street and produce could be purchased by leaving money in a Mason jar at road stands. Now you’re lucky if you don't get hit by a SUV speeding/tailgating fool, that’s always in some kind of foul mood as they give everyone the finger that happens to be in their path.
Most of these people supposedly moved here to be away from the congested mall towns of the eastern NJ suburbs. Once here, however, then proceed to make every effort to change this area into what they were trying to get away from. I don’t have anything against new arrivals, but I do wish they would appreciate the beautiful life this section of the state has to offer and not try to destroy it.
Anon 5:54
I agree with every word you said. I think it's like trying to understand the universe though.
My town in Sayreville has been completely transformed from a nice quite suburb to a hybrid city/ghetto/suburban style place to live. A lot of people move in and expect the town to conform to them when it should be the other way around.
Also a lot of minorities move in and act like it's the city. They don't seem to take advantage of the fact that they have a better chance of success since they are in a better environment.
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