Turns out that Brick, NJ, hometown to several Crack Team agents, is the safest city in America. Mission Viejo, CA, not far from my current residence, is also in the top 5. While neither city is particularly exciting, the country’s most dangerous city, St. Louis, MO, is no fun factory, either. Compton is also on the most dangerous list, but at least it has better weather.
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Now hold on there. You’re not telling the whole story.
While there are other NJ towns high on the “safest” list like Dover and Edison, let’s not forget that Camden, NJ is still near the top of the worst cities’ list. (It actaully held the top spot a year ago.) Newark and Trenton also made the worst list, falling within the top 25 suckiest.
It’s kind of funny how much a 45 minute drive can make such a difference.
Then again, has anyone been to Brick recently? I tried driving there to get a DVD of Lost season 2 at the local Best Buy (Chambers Bridge Rd), rather than drive a little farther to Freehold to get it.
Big mistake. The roads are jammed horribly.
From the time I SAW Best Buy, to the time I finally walked in was about 30 minutes.
The reason there is no crime in Brick is because everyone is stuck in traffic.
It sucks because I always remembered Brick as a nice place to retire with a little house on the bay. Fuck that. It’s not worth it unless you get a personal helicopter.
To put it in perspective, yes I’ve been to NYC and it’s bad too, but you EXPECT it there! So here’s a warning in advance: If you’re going to Brick,… bring a NYC driving mentality. Otherwise you won’t be prepared for the dude next to you in the right lane cutting you off to make a left hand turn, at the light which says “no turns”. (Yes that happened).
On the flip side- I’ve been to Camden several times and only had one bad experience. I was lost and took a turn down a horribly maintained street. It was like a Stephen King style dimensional shift. The traffic lines faded and the street became more like an alley. There were run down warehouses on each side of me and getto-type folk were just hanging out on the sides of the street. All they did was stare at me as I drove slowly by, trying not to make eye contact. I was confident that I was going to have to use my car as a weapon that day, but thankfully the gutter dwellers made no move towards me. All they did was stare like zombies. There was no radios. No dice games. No magazines. They just leaned or sat and stared.
After several minutes, a quick turn took me out of Purgatory. I found a (more) main road and high-tailed it out of there.
But hey…. NO TRAFFIC!
Excellent point, there’s no traffic where nobody wants to be. Agent Assassin has noticed the same thing about Huntington Beach traffic getting worse over the years. If the city isn’t expecting growth, it’s a real pain. The only way to fix it is with some “eminent domain” action, bulldozing through houses (or in Brick’s case, strip malls) to add more lanes. Then you want a house not too far from the Parkway entrance so you don’t add to your commute a good 20 minutes on surface streets.
But I can’t complain, my goal of living 5 minutes from work has been met for 10 years now.
Wow, I had no idea that the congestion had gotten that bad. Is this during the winter months also?? I always expected it during summer.
I can’t even imagine how bad it would be to go to my favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant, Po-Boys off Brick Boulevard. With the corner location and poor parking entrance, it must be an ordeal to get that 12-inch italian sub that I love.
What is the solution to this traffic problem?? A ban on cars one day a week? Free Segways for everyone?? 2-month France-style vacations as a mandate? Our new congress wants to know…..
I’ve been there several times this year and I can tell you it’s pretty bad most of the time. Although the weekends are most maniacal.
It’s too bad because Brick has some very good shopping centers.
But it’s no longer worth the trouble.
Furthermore, if you bring up Brick’s traffic to some locals, they already know what you’re talking about. It’s becoming common knowledge in Jersey.
The solution? None. Almost all the roads are one-lane with no room for expansion.
If you’re looking for a Best Buy or Barnes N Noble, just go to Freehold instead. Less traffic and three-lane streets!
I’ve never seen a Po Boy anywhere else though. I don’t know what to tell ya there. Are they open 24/7 ?
You might get relief if you go during a bad storm at 3:00am on Thanksgiving…
Have not seen any other Po’Boys in Jersey, New York, or PA.
This was before I had access to the Web, though. I could search using the “awe-ful” power of the INTERNET, now.
Actually, I found TWO Po-Boys in the San Diego area. I could not contain my excitement until a coworker told me that the food there sucks. So perhaps the NJ unit is a wonderful abherration. And how I wish I was there !!!!