Old Guard Sees Threat in Youthful NJ Urban Influx [by MightyOz]
Politics & Government::Old Guard Sees Threat in Youthful NJ Urban Influx
National media story: Old Guard Sees Threat in Youthful NJ Urban Influx
By KATIE ZEZIMA Associated Press Apr 14, 2013, 12:08 PM
To many longtime Jersey City residents, there's no better mascot than their mayor, a colorful veteran of the region's rough-and-tumble politics who released an album of Christmas classics while in office.
But there's a relative newcomer giving the mayor a run for his money in a race that embodies the changes happening as young urbanites flock to northern New Jersey, looking for some relief from New York City's oppressive rents while still living in an urban area in its orbit.
The campaign between 62-year-old Jerramiah Healy and 36-year-old Steven Fulop personifies the gentrification playing out in cities across the country, from California's Bay Area to New York City, as young, mostly white professionals priced out of certain areas build new lives — and in some places a new political culture — amid swaths of the old guard.
Perhaps no place displays the tension as acutely as this slice of northern New Jersey, where political shenanigans have long been a fact of life — one that newcomers see a chance to change.
"This is indicative of a larger trend. I really think because of housing prices, cheap urban areas are kind of ripe for gentrification," said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science at Montclair State University. "And as gentrification occurs, there becomes that subsequent change in political leadership."
In Jersey City, a place long plagued by political corruption, crime, financial mismanagement and industrial pollution, the newcomers have settled in gleaming new buildings around the newly developed waterfront. It's where financial companies including Goldman Sachs have put down stakes, creating a Wall Street West.
Others have moved into brownstones around a New Jersey-New York subway station, where some old-timers occasionally yell out to the "yuppies," or using a term that Jersey City natives have adopted, "interlopers."
...
"I've been around a long time, and Steve is a relative newcomer," [Healy] said. When asked why people should vote for him, Healy said touted reduced crime and increased development and park space.
"If it isn't broke, don't fix it," Healy said.
In an interview at his campaign headquarters, its walls painted with Jersey City landmarks, Fulop, a former Marine who moved to Jersey City shortly after graduating college and was elected to the City Council in 2005, said he cares deeply about quality of life in Jersey City and it doesn't matter whether he was born and raised here.
"I think there's a culture in this administration that's an acceptance of mediocrity," Fulop said. "I think people in this city want results, and Jersey City is at a real crossroads not only for the next four or eight years, but how it's going to be defined for a generation."
via Jersey City List - Jersey City, NJ :: Forum http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=311682
National media story: Old Guard Sees Threat in Youthful NJ Urban Influx
By KATIE ZEZIMA Associated Press Apr 14, 2013, 12:08 PM
To many longtime Jersey City residents, there's no better mascot than their mayor, a colorful veteran of the region's rough-and-tumble politics who released an album of Christmas classics while in office.
But there's a relative newcomer giving the mayor a run for his money in a race that embodies the changes happening as young urbanites flock to northern New Jersey, looking for some relief from New York City's oppressive rents while still living in an urban area in its orbit.
The campaign between 62-year-old Jerramiah Healy and 36-year-old Steven Fulop personifies the gentrification playing out in cities across the country, from California's Bay Area to New York City, as young, mostly white professionals priced out of certain areas build new lives — and in some places a new political culture — amid swaths of the old guard.
Perhaps no place displays the tension as acutely as this slice of northern New Jersey, where political shenanigans have long been a fact of life — one that newcomers see a chance to change.
"This is indicative of a larger trend. I really think because of housing prices, cheap urban areas are kind of ripe for gentrification," said Brigid Harrison, a professor of political science at Montclair State University. "And as gentrification occurs, there becomes that subsequent change in political leadership."
In Jersey City, a place long plagued by political corruption, crime, financial mismanagement and industrial pollution, the newcomers have settled in gleaming new buildings around the newly developed waterfront. It's where financial companies including Goldman Sachs have put down stakes, creating a Wall Street West.
Others have moved into brownstones around a New Jersey-New York subway station, where some old-timers occasionally yell out to the "yuppies," or using a term that Jersey City natives have adopted, "interlopers."
...
"I've been around a long time, and Steve is a relative newcomer," [Healy] said. When asked why people should vote for him, Healy said touted reduced crime and increased development and park space.
"If it isn't broke, don't fix it," Healy said.
In an interview at his campaign headquarters, its walls painted with Jersey City landmarks, Fulop, a former Marine who moved to Jersey City shortly after graduating college and was elected to the City Council in 2005, said he cares deeply about quality of life in Jersey City and it doesn't matter whether he was born and raised here.
"I think there's a culture in this administration that's an acceptance of mediocrity," Fulop said. "I think people in this city want results, and Jersey City is at a real crossroads not only for the next four or eight years, but how it's going to be defined for a generation."
via Jersey City List - Jersey City, NJ :: Forum http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=311682
Posted by TIE
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