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Not accurate. The jobs simply "left." Post WWII prosperity spurred the growth of suburbs. In other words, those who could afford to leave, did. Only in the 1950s it wasn't really about escaping crime and poverty because our cities were still in relatively good shape. It was more about the white picket fence and the big house-the stereotypical American Dream. This is what fueled the growth of towns like those on the periphery of places like Trenton. When my dad was a kid growing up in Hamilton Township it was podunk-now it's bursting at the seams with lots of folks who can trace their ancestry to Trenton.
After the people left because of the booming economy, the jobs left because of the global economy. All of New Jersey's cities were primarily manufacturing centers. Newark has been able to make somewhat of a comeback downtown because of it's white collar jobs, but no one is making anything anymore. Trenton once made cigars, pottery, wire rope, rubber, etc... Now the Chinese make it all. So now we're left with cities that have no people and no jobs. I spent much of my early life in Trenton-the cities did not just all of a sudden "turn bad" causing industry to uproot itself and fly away.
The race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong-but that's the way to bet.
Just as the problems aren't that simple, neither are the solutions. By the way, I was born in Trenton and used to play in Columbus Park where as another poster pointed out, people are now beaten and robbed. I'm still damn proud to have been born there.
What you don't have in Appalachia is population density, which is a HUGE factor in the condition of our cities. Also, Appalachia does have it's problems, including, but not limited to rampant teenage pregnancy, welfare fraud, methamphetamine/moonshine production, and marijuana cultivation. Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky has one of the largest spraying operations for marijuana interdiction in the entire country. Poverty causes problems irrespective of geography.
aah..thank you...this is what i was trying to get at with my one little sentence reply
There is no point arguing. This is a neverending battle and that is why the crackheads and gangsters will never change as long as they have people making excuses for them. Personal responsibility and choice. What a concept.
Yes, factory jobs left NJ and other parts of the US. That is not news to anyone. But to say that people are crackheads and gangsters because the jobs left is a bit of a stretch.
It's not a bit of a stretch-it's a very small piece of a very large problem. What you're doing is oversimplifying the problem in order to present a simple a solution ("if the crackheads would just put down the pipe and get a job..."), but in reality, things are much more complicated and require complicated solutions. Boiling it down to "if they would just get jobs it would fix everything" is basically akin to this kind of logic:
1. Place banana in ear.
2. Observe that there are no alligators around.
3. Conclude that a banana placed in ear keeps alligators away.
You're connecting phenomena that may or may not be related or at least related in the ways you think they are. No one is making excuses here, just acknowledging that complex problems require complex solutions. Also, rather than masking what you really want to say by lauding Appalachia for being impoverished with less crime and condemning the "crackheads" and "gangbangers," why don't you just say "if those black people would stop being lazy." Your argument that 100% white Appalachia is not a "warzone" but inner cities are, given the same level of poverty is an obvious not-so-veiled attempt to say that "white people can be poor and like it, black people don't want to work and are therefore poor-and on top of that they commit crimes!"
DeeCee, do you remember what house number they lived at, or if they lived in a four, or, two family house there? I might have known you. I lived at #33.
The Gaffney's owned the largest home at the top of the hill, I believe that was a 6 family building.
Hello HawaiiLover,
I remember you. I grew up across the street from you on Breckenridge Terrace. I was 9 years old in 1960. I lived at #36. My family moved out of Irvington on November 6, 1966.
It certainly is hard to believe how much Irvington has changed since we grew up there as kids. It boggles my mind and makes me extremely sad.
There is a Jimmy B's in Livingston by the Best buy store on Rte.10 but not in Irvington anymore
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actually that jimmy buff's you're referring to is in east hanover, close to the border with livingston. but yeah, the one in irvington is closed (can't blame the owners at all). the only jimmy buff's left are in east hanover, west orange, and scotch plains. i've heard that they have a stall at the prudential center in newark, too.
IMO the east hanover location is the best of the bunch by a wide margin.
Then somwhere around the late 60's-80's the scum moves in and cries about being poor?
I guess a lot of ppl on here & most likey your parents were part of the "white flight" that happened back in the 60's-80's when 1 or 2 black families moved in to Irvington, quite a few white families listed their homes for sale & made it a buyers market, so property value went down. ppl blamed the decline on the blacks moving in but it was really because everyone was selling, which bought pv down even more, widespread panic ensued so even more ppl wanted to sell in fear of their home losing to much value & pv went down even more, this led to giving undesireables, low income, poor, & yes black & other minority families the opportunity to "afford" a place a beautiful "lower-middle class" neigborhood. The domino effect started, after the low-income & poor came drugs were not to far behind, after drugs is crime now its 2008 the problem is even worse, now gangs & a police force who are there just for a paycheck helps the decline
ignorant racist ppl say "see what happens when you let a black family in your neighborhood" look at Irvington now! & they are so racist that they are ignorant to the fact that they were the start of the neighborhoods decline, by rapidly selling their homes instead of being kind & open hearted ppl living amungst other races.
Well let me give these people a word of advice. If you drop out of school and start having babies at 15, you are going to be poor. If you decide that your crack habit is more important than anything else, you are going to be poor.
Now this I can totally agree with
to add on...
they need to start making "trailer parks" in Irvington, Newark, Elizabeth etc. I notice in a lot of predominantly white suburban neighborhoods like, Union NJ, Cherry Hill NJ, Freehold NJ, Edison NJ, Carteret, Toms River, Lake Hapotcong there are 1 or more trailer parks & this is were most of the ppl described above live. u know The crack-heads, Meth-heads, pregnant teens & other undesireables who they keep "out of sight"
then when the news reports "3 killed at trailer park in Irvington" ppl will say "oh it was at the trailer park" like its a different city or something, like they do in these other neighborhoods. ...then maybe irvington wont seem that bad : )
Im very sorry If I offended anyone living in a trailer park, I know that not everyone living there is a drug user & or some pregnant teen drop out, sometimes its just someone wanting to be in a better neighborhood or school system & cant afford the high cost of homes in that area. I was just using it as an example to show how neighborhoods who cannot "hide" or '"constrict" their undesireables to certain places are the ones always on the news
I remember you. I grew up across the street from you on Breckenridge Terrace. I was 9 years old in 1960. I lived at #36. My family moved out of Irvington on November 6, 1966.
It certainly is hard to believe how much Irvington has changed since we grew up there as kids. It boggles my mind and makes me extremely sad.
Sorry I didn't reply sooner, I just got back from Hawaii.
I had to do google maps to see your house. Are you Dennis???
I hope all is well with you. It's been a loooooong time
I watched the clip, I can still see the young Dennis. Your life certainly looks interesting.
I am well and doing fine. I'm glad you're doing well also.
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Mindscope
I lived at #33. 
