Which is worse... NJ or Detroit????

Completely ignorant comparison. One is a large city, one is an entire state with several large cities, direct access to and unbelievable views of NYC, suburbs, forests, mountains, large rivers and extensive beaches. One is unfortunately less evolved than other cities transitioning from industrial prosperity to a service economy; one has an odd PR problem despite prosperity.

That said, I'll answer your question by saying, obviously, if given the choice, people would overwhelmingly choose to live in NJ, where despite some Detroit-like areas, there are hundreds of extremely desirable areas you will never be able to afford.

reppin' tha D til the death of me

Nothing ignorant about the question. Since the New Jersey sucks thread got nearly 300 posting on it. Whenever there is a thread about cities, someone is bashing one or both of them.

If they are making the same comparison, I would say they are ignorant too. NJ sucks thread was not originated as a comparison of NJ v. Detroit, your's is, and will probably die after we are done arguing this stupid point.

And what makes you so smart???

I grew up in South jersey for the first 27 yrs of my life. 10 minutes to Philly, 1.5 hrs to NYC, 1 hr to Atlantic city, 2 hrs to DC. Great place to live. Spent the next 3 yrs in suburb on Detroit. We live in Troy which is near Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills which are nice area. Great restaurants in suburbs but we stayed out of the city. Downtown Detroit is rather depressing.

I grew up a block from Camden which again beat out Detroit as the most dangerous city in the U.S.

I guess if you are concerned about being stabbed, shot, raped or just mugged you would be better off in Detroit.

Actually, downtown Detroit isn't depressing. The areas just outside of downtown are. Their problem is that you can't get people to move back into the city without places to shop, entertainment, etc. You also can't attract those types of businesses without people there! Also, they will only be able to attract young people which isn't really a bad thing. However, once these young people get married and have children they will likely move out of the city as the schools there are really bad.

Jersey Guy, you should venture on down and go to some of the restaurants and bars. They're really very good.

Given the choice of all of NJ or Detroit though... yeah, I think I would take NJ heh.

Detroit has a People Mover. I don't know what that is, but it has some potential based on the name. Still, someone sticks a gun to my head and says, "you must live the rest of your life within Detroit's city limits or NJ's state borders, I'm picking NJ.

Jersey Guy wrote:

10 minutes to Philly, 1.5 hrs to NYC, 1 hr to Atlantic city, 2 hrs to DC.

This is argument, almost always used by the NJ defenders, has always seemed self-defeating to me. They might as well be saying, "Ok, so NJ sucks, but look at our proximity to places that don't!"

You did not live 2 hours from DC if the other numbers are correct (which . . . well, who knows)

Check out the Basking Ridge, New Vernon, Bedminster areas of NJ and then come back here and tell me how it compares to Detroit.

Correction: Both Philly and Atlantic City suck. Bad.

I live in South Jersey. I spent 2 weeks in Detroit in 2000. That 2 weeks was the closest to suicide I ever came.

Is this so? So I grew up in Cherry Hill and you are telling me I can't be in DC in 2 hrs? The point I was making about being close to everything is travel and getting out. I guess some just like to stay at home while others enjoy getting away for a nice weekend. In Detroit you could go over the bridge to Windsor or take a 4-5 hr car ride to Chicago. As for going out in Downtown Detroit, I have since moved to Naples, Fla and cant' be happier never to see snow unless i travel to it.

Payday wrote:

And what makes you so smart???

He listens to Radiohead.

First, if you're going to attempt to make the argument constructive or at least semi-intelligent, you need to define the parameters. Are we comparing the strict city limits of Detroit, or the the Detroit metro area?

If it's the city limits, then yes, Detroit loses because the shitty parts of New Jersey (which are numerous) are balanced out and compensated for by the decent parts.

If's if the metro area, the competition is closer, but Detroit will likely still lose out due to geographical limitations. There is less diversity of options and locations to compare to an entire state.

So why don't we compare Michigan at large versus NJ? This is fare. And Michigan wins in a landslide.

Lake Michigan's sand dune beaches destroy the grainy guido ridden Jersey shore.

Michigan's passion and loyalty for its sports teams destroy the adopted nature of Philly and NYC sports fans.

If you live in Jersey it's nearly impossible to get into Princeton, making the ties to local colleges better in Michigan as well. Plus, Michigan football and Michgan State basketball or Rutgers football and Princeton basketball? Huge edge Michigan.

There are many other qualifications we could look at, but I don't feel like being on my computer anymore on a nice day.

wrong. NJ still kicks Michigan's butt. It's where the ultra wealthy CHOOSE to live... Check out the data and get back to this thread when you're educated.

Michigander wrote:

So why don't we compare Michigan at large versus NJ? This is fare. And Michigan wins in a landslide.

Lake Michigan's sand dune beaches destroy the grainy guido ridden Jersey shore.

Michigan's passion and loyalty for its sports teams destroy the adopted nature of Philly and NYC sports fans.

If you live in Jersey it's nearly impossible to get into Princeton, making the ties to local colleges better in Michigan as well. Plus, Michigan football and Michgan State basketball or Rutgers football and Princeton basketball? Huge edge Michigan.

There are many other qualifications we could look at, but I don't feel like being on my computer anymore on a nice day.

So Michigan is better because it has better college football and basketball fans, more passionate football and basketball fans and because it has collegs that even a dumbass like you can get into. Nice.