Opinion of New Brunswick, NJ

[they don't love you like i love you]

Easily the best city in NJ, and the best city of its size in the entire country.

[rpryor03]

My home town, and a major FC.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Asbury Park is better. Higher crime rate too.

[Mr. Illini]

Big-time FC

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Great city, lots of interesting things, although Rutgers culture can be kind of toxic at times.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

HC, but I'm probably being unfair because my most memorable experience of it was a truly awful Rutgers campus tour when I was trying to figure out where to transfer to in 2010.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Incredible.  I went to Rutgers-Camden and became a legend.  But New Brunswick is amazing.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Come to think of it, it's the only American city I know of that has suburbs bigger than itself. Edison is way bigger for example.

I remember in high school finding out that it had a smaller population than Bismarck and my mind was utterly blown.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Come to think of it, it's the only American city I know of that has suburbs bigger than itself. Edison is way bigger for example.

I remember in high school finding out that it had a smaller population than Bismarck and my mind was utterly blown.

You consider EDISON to be a suburb of NEW BRUNSWICK?  That's the strangest NJ opinion I've ever heard.

[traininthedistance]

Come to think of it, it's the only American city I know of that has suburbs bigger than itself. Edison is way bigger for example.

I remember in high school finding out that it had a smaller population than Bismarck and my mind was utterly blown.

...New Brunswick and Edison are both suburbs of NYC.

[traininthedistance]

Though this now has me thinking, which actual central cities– no, not New Brunswick, though it's a fine little town– are smaller than some of their suburbs?  And NJ might still be a home to that, if you consider Trenton to still be its own core (it has its own MSA, but is part of the NYC combined area): Hamilton, to its immediate east, is larger.  Similarly, Egg Harbor is larger than Atlantic City, but that is part of the Philly CSA.

The best example has to be in the Hampton Roads area: Norfolk is the central city there, but thoroughly suburban Virginia Beach is the largest.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Though this now has me thinking, which actual central cities– no, not New Brunswick, though it's a fine little town– are smaller than some of their suburbs?  And NJ might still be a home to that, if you consider Trenton to still be its own core (it has its own MSA, but is part of the NYC combined area): Hamilton, to its immediate east, is larger.  Similarly, Egg Harbor is larger than Atlantic City, but that is part of the Philly CSA.

The best example has to be in the Hampton Roads area: Norfolk is the central city there, but thoroughly suburban Virginia Beach is the largest.

Cherry Hill is very close to being bigger than Camden, for what it's worth.  Camden WAS certainly the central city of the area before the Ben Franklin Bridge was built.  I know that was the 1920s, but whatever.  It's a interesting statistic nonetheless.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Never saw how New Brunswick could be a suburb of NYC, it has its own urban core and is pretty far away, I don't see many people commuting daily from New Brunswick to Manhattan. Maybe Staten Island would be doable but New Brunswick is more dense than it is. It'd be like considering Reading a suburb of Philadelphia. Actually if Trenton isn't considered a suburb it's closer to Philadelphia from what I can see.

But suburbs don't ever have scenes. And the New Brunswick one even has its own wiki article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Brunswick,_New_Jersey_music_scene

Whatever the case USA Today agrees with me: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/autos/2006-12-10-ford-cities_x.htm

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[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

New Jersey suburbs are not like Midwestern suburbs. They might as well be one giant urban area.

Also, people from way south of New Brunswick commute to Manhattan every day. Ocean County has its fair share of Manhattan commuters. An hour to an hour and a half commute is a regular thing for the most popular city in the country. It is absolutely a suburb. Of course New Jersey has some of its own places to work because it is on the urban side of suburban, but these people often find themselves having to go to New York very often to work too.

You are very much correct that Trenton is a suburb of Philly though. I would never consider that part of the NYC sphere of influence except for the fact that the governor is likely to pay attention to NYC more.

[traininthedistance]

New Jersey suburbs are not like Midwestern suburbs. They might as well be one giant urban area.

Also, people from way south of New Brunswick commute to Manhattan every day. Ocean County has its fair share of Manhattan commuters. An hour to an hour and a half commute is a regular thing for the most popular city in the country. It is absolutely a suburb. Of course New Jersey has some of its own places to work because it is on the urban side of suburban, but these people often find themselves having to go to New York very often to work too.

You are very much correct that Trenton is a suburb of Philly though. I would never consider that part of the NYC sphere of influence except for the fact that the governor is likely to pay attention to NYC more.

Exactly.  New Brunswick is an old town, so it has urban form, but it is very much a suburb of NYC, and has been so for many decades.  The proper comparison would be more like Norristown, which is closer but that makes sense since Philly is smaller.  NYC's Reading would probably be, I dunno, New Haven seems the most comparable.

And, yes, the NYC burbs go way down the shore.  I had an ex from all the way out in Lacey and they definitely considered themselves New York-area.  (The dad commuted up to the Meadowlands.) 

Deal with it, BRTD, your scene is suburban. 

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

New Jersey suburbs are not like Midwestern suburbs. They might as well be one giant urban area.

Also, people from way south of New Brunswick commute to Manhattan every day. Ocean County has its fair share of Manhattan commuters. An hour to an hour and a half commute is a regular thing for the most popular city in the country. It is absolutely a suburb. Of course New Jersey has some of its own places to work because it is on the urban side of suburban, but these people often find themselves having to go to New York very often to work too.

You are very much correct that Trenton is a suburb of Philly though. I would never consider that part of the NYC sphere of influence except for the fact that the governor is likely to pay attention to NYC more.

Trenton is not CLEARLY in the Philly sphere at all.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

I'd actually consider Mercer County and the northernmost tip of Burlington County (Bordentown, Chesterfield) the least 'Either New York or Philly'-affiliated part of the state. It's less that it's not connected to either and more that it's connected to both in a way that can be hard to separate out--not least because of connections within that area; North and South Jersey do not divide cleanly at Crosswicks Creek.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Ok, ok fair enough. It's more of a transfer point. A lot of people who work there are from Bucks County though and it really is ingrained in PA Public transportation, but I see what you're saying. Surrounding towns on the Jersey side are just as likely to work in Princeton which is why i sort of cut it off there, but it is both. I feel like NJ Transit comes all the way down there as a courtesy for all of south Jersey (rather than Trenton itself) since NY is critical to the entire region) but ultimately, if you're on the Delaware River, the closest PA metro should hold a good deal of importance to you. I don't take that train often, but last time the ticket taker told me that Princeton was the really big stop after Metropark. Trenton is usually a bit smaller of a stop from NY on a regular basis but can be important on certain special days which us why it exists. Meanwhile in Philly, the Trenton line tends to see a lot of traffic. I can't say they all end up there, but I'd bet it's a higher portion.

"Clearly" wasn't the right word, but it is slightly more south plus on the river so I don't really consider it under NY influence quite as much. Certainly there is some crossover right there though.

[© tweed]

@BRTD: have you ever been there, or are you just basing it off of the song?

[pikachu]

Trenton and Hamilton have always struck me as more affeliated with Philly. You can take SEPTA, see Philly sports teams, and you get Pilly TV+radio feeds. Princeton, and definitely New Briunswick are in the NYC area. IIRC, Princeton Junction is the busiest station on the NJ Transit Northeast Corridor to NYC and Rutgers being added to Big Ten was always about getting into the NYC market (lol).

Though why someone from Minnesota would care about New Brunswick is a bit beyond me.

[they don't love you like i love you]

@BRTD: have you ever been there, or are you just basing it off of the song?

Never been there, but the song isn't the only reason. It's well known for basement shows in general.

[Torie]

Easily the best city in NJ, and the best city of its size in the entire country.

Why is that BRTD? Myself, I suspect Hoboken is best. The subway stop right across the river into lower Manhattan is there. I would want to in walking distance of that.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Easily the best city in NJ, and the best city of its size in the entire country.

Why is that BRTD?

I just posted it above. Basically it's a hotbed of my scene. And so many of my favorite bands in high school were from there.

[Dr. Cynic]

ADAMS: WAKE UP, FRANKLIN! We're going to New Brunswick!

FRANKLIN: Like hell I am, what for?

HOPKINS: The whoring and the drinking.