New Jersey has had a new governor for nearly two years, but it’s easy to forget about him. After all, he’s pretty boring compared to the over-the-top, attention-craving former governor, Chris Christie. Hell, even the new guy’s name – Phil Murphy – is boring. He could have at least changed his last name to “Philly” to keep up a consistent naming convention.
Given his low-key demeanor, you might think that Murphy is only half the man that Christie was. You’d be right, in a sense. But he did do something that Christie never did – he fully acknowledged the existence of Central Jersey. While I previously gave my thoughts on the borders of Central Jersey, Murphy goes a little more broad.
He considers Central Jersey to consist of Monmouth, Mercer, Hunterdon, Middlesex, and Somerset Counties, with Union and Ocean as optional border districts. It’s hard to argue with his definition, unless you’re from Union or Ocean and take issue with being lumped in the with the best Jersey.
All this newfound attention on Central Jersey reminded me of another take I read recently. This article provides the most fact-based explanation of Central Jersey I’ve ever heard. Long story slightly shorter, since New Jersey is sandwiched between New York City in the north and Philadelphia in the south, most residents fall into one of these media markets. You either get the TV and radio stations of one city or the other.
However, there is a thin diagonal strip of land that gets the TV and radio stations of BOTH cities, and thus this area can clearly be considered Central Jersey. And you know what little town sits in this fabled promised land? Yep, my new home of Allentown (New Jersey, not Pennsylvania).
While I never needed a governor to tell me I live in Central Jersey, I won’t turn away the validation. But I am left with one question – shouldn’t the governor of New Jersey have more important things to do than make essentially meaningless declarations like this??
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