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BY WARREN BOROSON
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
ANALYSIS
The big news about New Jersey Monthly's 2010 list of 100 Best Places to Live in the state is not that Bedminster in Somerset County emerged as No. 1. After all, it was No. 2 in 2008; becoming No. 1 in 2009 was no big surprise.
The big news is the performance of Quinton Township in Salem County, which leaped from 470 to 37, a jump of 433 places. Runner-up: Peapack-Gladstone, in Somerset, which soared from 396 to 14, moving ahead by 382 places. (I've lived in New Jersey most of my life, but I must admit that I never heard of many of the 566 communities rated, especially those in South Jersey. Quinton Township?)
There are lots of surprises on the new list. Some posh communities got slammed. Saddle River, in Bergen, was ranked 362, with Lodi (!) ahead of it at 361. Ritzy Franklin Lakes, in Bergen, weighed in at 386. Morristown in Morris, a favorite of mine, at 510 was close to the bottom. (The very bottom: Wildwood, in Cape May, at 566.)A few readers had reservations about the ratings, as is suggested by Internet letters to the magazine. Michael Allen wrote: "These rankings are absolutely moronic and absurd. All you need to look at is the fact that the town ranked 20th overall (Teterboro) has a population of 17!" It has, he insisted, more airplanes than people. (Yes, the poll should have specifically eliminated communities with fewer than, say, a few hundred people. Walpack, in Sussex, has 39-and ranked 17.)
RELATED:
Bedminster No. 1 in New Jersey Monthly's 2010 Top Towns list
Michael Celinski, a lifelong resident of Wildwood, was outraged: How can a resort town that has the best beach be the worst place to live? he asked. "I travel all over the state and believe me there are worse towns in North Jersey. How can Camden be better than us?" (Camden ranked 481, 85 places below Wildwood.)
The fact that the ratings have been so volatile suggests that the ranking system could be improved upon. It wasn't just that many towns got so much better; other towns got so much worse--led by Lincoln Park Borough, Morris, which sank from 5 to 79, a drop of 72 places. What did Lincoln Park do to deserve this? Approve a McDonald's?
The magazine had hired Monmouth University's Polling Institute to conduct the survey, and there were eight key criteria: population growth, home values, property taxes, land development, employment, crime rate, school performance, and proximity to acute-care hospitals.
Household income was not considered; nor were current home prices. Which helps explain why Lodi fared better than Saddle River. But wealthy people tend to keep up their houses and lawns; they tend to attract and support high-class stores; they tend to approve school budgets. As for high taxes automatically hurting a community's reputation, sometimes high taxes translate into good town services - the garbage is collected in back of houses, not in front; cops are well educated; firefighters are paid, not volunteer; snow is removed from streets quickly.
When Money magazine did its own survey, it included such sensible criteria as arts and leisure, along with "ease of living." Money staffers also visited with and interviewed residents of the communities. Money's final list, by the way, put Warren Township at No. 6 in the entire country. New Jersey Monthly has it at 147.
OTHER BIG WINNERS-AND LOSERS
A few other Lazarus-like communities included
Frelinghuysen Township, Warren, from 377 to 28 — improved by 349 places.
Colts Neck Township, Monmouth, from 305 to 18 — 287 places.
Andover Borough, Sussex, 349 to 73 — 276.
Branchburg Township in Somerset, from 295 to 29 — 266 places.
West Amwell Township, Hunterdon, 321 to 65 — 256 places.
On the other hand, communities that disgraced themselves by declining in the rankings included:
Roosevelt Borough, Monmouth, 12 to 80 — down 68 places.
Mahwah Township, Bergen, 9 to 58 — 59
Lavallette Borough, Ocean, 8 to 63 — 55
Nutley Township, Essex, 38 to 87— 49
Summit City, Union, 29 to 76 — 47
If you live in one of these declining communities, I wouldn't necessarily rush to sell your house. Considering how volatile the rankings are, next year your community's reputation might rebound.
Overall, New Jersey Monthly's yearly rankings are provocative, and an example of fine journalism. But I do think that the glaring inconsistency in the rankings indicates that something needs to be changed.
To see the entire list of rankings, go to
http://njmonthly.com/articles/towns_and_schools/top-towns-2010-alphabetical.html
Warren Boroson grew up in West New York (559) and now lives in Hackensack (475). So he's made a little progress.
