Raised in the Worst Place to Live

To The Editor:
I woke up a few weeks ago to learn that I grew up in the worst place to live in New Jersey. Not just the worst street or worst neighborhood, but the worst place to live in the entire state. For all of you who know New Jersey and have driven from New York City to anywhere between Manhattan and Newark, that is quite an accomplishment. In fact, between Camden, Trenton, and some other notoriously tougher cities in the state, it’s not just an accomplishment, it’s a miracle. It’s miraculous that a local seaside resort with a history going back to the turn of the 20th century, with its beautiful soft sand beaches, wondrous amusement parks, and streets filled with family and history is at the bottom of the quality of living barrel.
This accolade was not given by Cape May or any of the other county towns that have endearingly turned their nose upward to the Wildwoods over the years, but by New Jersey Monthly Magazine who ranked all of the state’s 566 municipalities. They determined the ranking on a number of criteria from crime, to school performance, to property taxes, and when it was all said and done, Wildwood came in dead last. Many of the city’s current 5,000 residents told the local press following the news of its ranking that they love living in Wildwood and after living in other areas of the state there is no where else they would rather be, but the fact is that the residents of this small barrier island off the coast of New Jersey have been leaving for years, and for many of the criteria the magazine mentions.
My family was one of those who left the island behind. After several generations, my mother, brother and I left Wildwood. Our reasons for leaving were not because of the town’s anemic population growth or dreadful wintertime employment figures. It had nothing to do with our school’s performance due to criminally low state funding or our proximity to services. The island is only seven miles long from end to end. I don’t remember any of those being particularly of issue when we sold our home.
We left because our lives had changed. My brother and I were off to college, and the island left little for my mom to hold on to. She moved on to start a new life and career in another area of New Jersey, and my brother and I left to start lives in New York City and Los Angeles respectively.
Today, like many former and current residents of Wildwood, I fear that the town I knew and grew up with, the town my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents before me were raised, will never be the same. It will take a radical change to turn around the problems Wildwood faces, and unfortunately a recall election, higher taxes or the closing of a local high school will not be the solution. I hope a leader steps forward from the island to recognize that the only way to truly change the direction of the Wildwoods is to think past the next election cycle, and begin to seriously consider the benefits of consolidating into a single municipality via a Joint Consolidation Study Commission. It is tough medicine to swallow, and an easy solution to propose from 150 miles away, but I ask it because people want to come back for more than three months a year. We just need to give them a reason.
ROBERT MORIER
New York City