[Idyllchat] Our town according the NY Times

[Jerry Clancy]

As chance would have it, the NY Times profiled our town, West Windsor 
Township, NJ (which abuts Princeton proper) in last Sunday's edition, 
so I thought I'd post the link for those who may have wondered what 
town would tolerate having me reside within its borders:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/realestate/16livi.html?ex=1153800000&en=b6da4194bd7a45a4&ei=5070&emc=eta1

We live in the older hamlet of Princeton Jct., named for the railroad 
junction, now a major Amtrak stop (it's a junction because there is a 
Princeton "Dinky" spur that goes to the University area). In fact, 
John Nash ("A Beautiful Mind") lives alongside it. If you drew a 
straight line from Philly to NY City, we'd be right on the line, 
smack in the middle. It's said (but not true) that half of Wall 
Street gets on the trains in the morning. From 6-9 a.m. each weekday 
the platform is a sea of sincere suits. The Amtrak trains make it to 
Penn Station in midtown Manhattan in 55 minutes and about the same to 
the 30th St. Station in Philly. It's one of the best commutes to NYC 
(and the main reason I chose to live here back then). You can live a 
lot closer, say in North Jersey, and spend a lot more time getting 
into the city and, taking a further hit, housing would cost about 25% 
more for less property. Here it is much more pastoral.

The article notes that the median taxes in 2004 were just over 
$9,800. Don't I wish it was that now. Today the median bills are over 
$12,000 and the town just went through a re-evaluation this spring 
after 10 years. No one has seen the new bills yet but all, 
particularly those of us who have lived here a lot longer, are 
worried about them because of the price appreciation during that 
time. The town is now in the process of designing a real "downtown", 
which is really all the town is missing. Tuscany it's not. Still, 
throw in a six-pack and living in NJ doesn't really get a lot better than this.

Jerry