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Walsh Act (New Jersey)
The Walsh Act was signed by New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson on April 25, 1911. The act permitted municipalities to adopt a non-partisan commission form of government. The commissions in Walsh Act municipalities are composed of either 3 or 5 members elected for 4 year concurrent terms. The commissioners also serve as department heads in addition to their legislative functions. The commissioners elect one commissioner as mayor, however the mayor is only responsible for his or her departments and serves as the chair of the commission.
Municipalities that have a five member commission
These communities have five commissioners: Commissioner of Public Affairs, Commissioner of Public Safety, Commissioner of Public Works, Commissioner of Parks and Public Property, and Commissioner of Revenue and Finance
Municipalities that have a three member commission
These communities have three commissioners: Commissioner of Public Affairs and Public Safety; Commissioner of Public Works, Parks and Public Property; and Commissioner of Revenue and Finance
See also
- 1923 Municipal Manager Law
Category:Government of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is the fourth smallest and most densely populated state of the United States of America; the U.S. postal abbreviation is NJ. The state is named after the island of Jersey in the English Channel.
History
Once inhabited by the tribes of the Lenape Native Americans, New Jersey was settled by the Dutch in the early 1630s, who formed a settlement at present-day Jersey City. At the time, much of what is now New Jersey was claimed as part of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, which also included parts of present-day New York State and had its capital at New Amsterdam, now known as New York City. Some of southwestern New Jersey also was settled by the Swedes in the mid-1600s as part of the Swedish colony of New Sweden, which included parts of Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania. These territories were taken by the Dutch in 1654 and incorporated into New Netherland.
The entire region became a territory of Britain in 1664 when a British fleet under the command of Colonel Richard Nicolls sailed into what is today New York Harbor and took over the colony. They met minimal resistance, perhaps because of the unpopularity of the Dutch colonial governor, Peter Stuyvesant. The newly taken lands were divided by King Charles II of England, who gave his brother, the Duke of York (later King James II) the region between New England and Maryland as a proprietary colony (as opposed to a royal colony). James then granted the land between the Hudson River and the Delaware River (the land that would become New Jersey) to two friends who had been loyal through the English Civil War: Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkeley of Stratton.
During the English Civil War the Channel Isle of Jersey remained loyal to The English Crown and gave sanctuary to the King. It was from the Royal Square in St. Helier that Charles II of England was first proclaimed King of England in 1649, following the execution of his father, Charles I of England. In 1663 in recognition of his loyalty to the English Crown Sir George Carteret, Jersey's Royalist Governor, was gifted a large tract of land in North America henceforth known as New Jersey.
Settlement for the first 10 years of English rule was in the Hudson River region and came primarily from New England. The first permanent English settlement was Elizabethtown, now Elizabeth. On March 18, 1673 Berkeley sold his half of New Jersey to Quakers in England (with William Penn acting as trustee for a time) who settled the Delaware Valley region as a Quaker colony. New Jersey was governed as two distinct provinces, West Jersey and East Jersey, for the 28 years between 1674 and 1702. In 1702, the two provinces were united under a royal, rather than a proprietary, governor.
Revolutionary War era
New Jersey was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. During the American Revolutionary War, British and American armies crossed New Jersey numerous times and several pivotal battles took place in the state. Today, New Jersey is often referred to as "The Crossroads of the Revolution" because of that.
On Christmas, 1776, the Continental Army under George Washington crossed the Delaware River and engaged the unprepared Hessian troops in the Battle of Trenton. The river crossing has become an iconic moment in the early history of the United States of America, having been immortalized in Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze's painting Washington Crossing the Delaware.
Slightly more than a week after victory at Trenton, on January 3, 1777, the American forces scored an important victory by making a surprise attack on Princeton, evading the British under Charles Cornwallis.
Later on, the American forces underneath George Washington engaged the forces underneath General Henry Clinton at the Battle of Monmouth. The result of the battle was indecisive.
In the summer of 1783, the Continental Congress met in Nassau Hall at Princeton University, making Princeton the nation's capital for four months. It was there that the Continental Congress learned of the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783) which ended the war. On November 20, 1789, the state became the first in the newly-formed Union to ratify the Bill of Rights.
Ironically, on February 15, 1804 New Jersey became the last northern state to abolish slavery by enacting legislation that slowly phased out slavery. However, by the close of the Civil War, about a dozen African-Americans in New Jersey were still apprenticed freedmen. New Jersey initially refused to ratify the Constitutional Amendments banning slavery and granting rights to America's Black population.
Women's suffrage
The [http://www.state.nj.us/njfacts/njdoc10a.htm New Jersey Constitution of 1776] gives the vote to "all inhabitants of this Colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds proclamation money." This included blacks, spinsters, and widows. (Married women could not own property under the common law.) It used to be held that this was an accident of hasty drafting: the British were at Staten Island when the constitution was proclaimed, and it declares itself temporary, void if there was reconciliation with Great Britain. Klinghoffer and Elkis ("The Petticoat Electors: Women’s Suffrage in New Jersey, 1776–1807." Journal of the Early Republic 12, no. 2 (1992): 159–193.) show that it was a considered decision, and enforced by later law.
Both sides in elections mocked the other for relying on "petticoat electors"; both accused each other of letting unqualified women (including married women) vote. A Federalist legislature passed a voting rights act which applied only to those counties where the Federalists were strong; a Democratic legislature extended it to the entire state. In 1807, as a side-effect of a reconciliation within the Democratic Party, the legislature reinterpreted the constitution (which had been an ordinary act of the Provincial Congress) to mean universal white male suffrage, with no property requirement; but they disenfranchised paupers, to keep down the Irish.
Law and government
The state capital of New Jersey is Trenton. Jon Corzine was elected Governor of New Jersey on November 8, 2005, and will take office on January 17, 2006. Currently, Richard Codey (Democrat) is the Acting governor, because he is (and concurrently serves as) President of the State Senate. Former Governor James E. McGreevey resigned on November 15, 2004, and New Jersey (along with Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming) had no position of Lieutenant Governor at the time. However, on Election Day, November 8, 2005, the voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that creates the position of Lieutenant Governor, effective with the 2009 elections. The amendment also provides that in the event of a permanent vacancy in the office of Governor after January 17, 2006 (when the next Governor is sworn in) and before the first Lieutenant Governor takes office in 2010, the President of the Senate, followed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, would become Governor (rather than Acting Governor) but will now be required to vacate his or her Senate (or Assembly) seat.
The New Jersey governor is considered one of the most powerful governorships in the nation, as it is the only state-wide elected office in the state and appoints many government officials. Additionally, an acting governor is even more powerful as he simultaneously serves as president of the senate, thus directing the entire legislative and executive process. Current Acting Governor Codey will likely be the last Acting Governor to serve simultaneously as Senate President, as a result of the Constitutional amendment approved by the voters in 2005 (as the current dual role would remain in effect if Codey were to step down before the new Governor takes office).
The state's two U.S. Senators are Frank R. Lautenberg (Democrat) and Jon Corzine (Democrat). As governor-elect, Corzine will appoint his own replacement after he steps down from the Senate and is sworn in as Governor in January. New Jersey has 13 Congressional Districts.
New Jersey is a politically competitive state; the Governorship has alternated between the parties since the election of Richard J. Hughes in 1961; the legislature has also switched hands, and one house was evenly divided from 1999–2001. Three of the last four gubernatorial elections have been close. The Congressional seats have also been as evenly divided as thirteen seats can be.
In national elections, the state now tends to lean towards the national Democratic Party. It was, however, a Republican stronghold for years in the past, having given comfortable margins of victory to the Republican candidate in the close elections of 1948, 1968, and 1976. New Jersey was a crucial swing state in the elections of 1960, 1968, and 1992. In national elections, the state gave large victories to Democrats in the 1990's, while in the 2004 presidential election, John F. Kerry defeated George W. Bush by about 6%. The last elected Republican to hold a Senate seat from New Jersey was Clifford P. Case in 1979. (Nicholas Brady was appointed a U.S. Senator by Governor Thomas Kean in 1982 after Harrison A. Williams resigned the Senate seat following the Abscam investigations. Brady served eight months.
The state's Democratic strongholds include Mercer County around the cities of Trenton and Princeton; Essex County and Hudson County, the state's two most urban counties, around the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City; as well as in Camden County and most of the other urban communities just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York City. More suburban northern counties in the orbit of New York, such as Union and Middlesex, also trend Democratic.
The more suburban northwestern and southeastern counties of the state are reliably Republican: Republicans have strong backing along the coast in Ocean County and in the mountainous northwestern part of the state, especially Sussex County, Morris County and Warren County. Somerset and Hunterdon counties, more suburban counties in the region, are also Republican in local elections, but can be competitive in national races. In the 2004 General Election, Bush received about 51% in Somerset and 56% in Hunterdon, while up in rural Republican Sussex County, Bush won with 64% of the vote.
About half of the counties in New Jersey, however, are considered swing counties, but some go more one way than others. For an example, Bergen County, which leans Republican in the northern half of the county, is mostly Democratic in the more populated southern parts, causing it to usually vote slightly Democratic (same with Passaic County, with a highly populated Hispanic Democratic south and a rural, Republican north), other "swing" counties like Cape May tend to go Republican, as they also have population in conservative areas.
The governor's mansion is Drumthwacket.
The [http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/lawsconstitution/constitution.asp constitution] was adopted in 1947. It provides for a bicameral Legislature consisting of a Senate of 40 members and an Assembly of 80 members. Each of the 40 legislative districts elects one Senator and two Assembly members. Assembly members are elected by the people for a two-year term in all odd-numbered years; Senators are elected in the years ending in 1, 3, and 7 and thus serve either four or two year terms.
The New Jersey Supreme Court
The New Jersey Supreme Court [http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us/supreme/index.htm] consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. All are appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of a majority of the membership of the state senate. Justices serve an initial seven-year term, after which they can be reappointed to serve until age 70.
Geography
New Jersey is broadly divided into three geographic regions: North Jersey, Central Jersey, and South Jersey. North Jersey is within New York City's general sphere of influence, with many of its residents commuting into the city for work. Central Jersey is a largely suburban area. South Jersey is within Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's general sphere of influence. Such geographic definitions are broad, however, and there is often dispute over where one region begins and another ends.
High Point Mountain, in Montague Township, Sussex County has the highest elevation in New Jersey.
Sussex County, in North Jersey, and its Gold Coast featuring Goldman Sachs Tower.]]
New Jersey is bordered on the north and northeast by New York, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Delaware, and on the west by Pennsylvania (the latter two across the Delaware River.) Prominent geographic features include:
- Delaware Water Gap
- Musconetcong River
- New Jersey Meadowlands
- The Palisades
- Passaic River
- Pine Barrens
- Rancocas River
- Raritan River
- Sandy Hook
- South Mountain
Economy
[http://www.bea.gov/ The Bureau of Economic Analysis] estimates that New Jersey's total state product in 2003 was $397 billion. New Jersey's per capita income is the highest in the nation. Its per capita personal income in 2003 was $40,427, 4th in the United States of America. Its median household income is also the highest in the nation with $55,146. It is also ranked 2nd in the nation by the number of places with per capita incomes above national average with 76.4%. Nine of New Jersey's counties are also in the wealthiest 100 of the country. Women in New Jersey earn the highest per capita income as stated in a 2002 article in the Newark Star-Ledger.
Its agricultural outputs are nursery stock, horses, vegetables, fruits and nuts, seafood, and dairy products. In particular, cranberries and eggplant are two of the state's largest crops. Hammonton in the southern part of the state is known as the blueberry capital of the world. Its industrial outputs are pharmaceutical and chemical products, food processing, electric equipment, printing and publishing, and tourism. New Jersey's economy has a large base of industry and chemical manufacturing. Additionally, New Jersey is home to the largest petroleum containment system in the world, outside of the Middle East. Although the state is certainly not defined by these activities, their existence and visibility to those passing through the state along some of its major highways does contribute to many jokes about pollution and ironic plays on the state's nickname, the "Garden State." In terms of quantity and quality, New Jersey ranks ninth in the union, in the number of manufactured goods that come from this state's factories.
New Jersey is also a leader in the number of businesses that have their headquarters or do business here. 50 Fortune 500 companies alone have headquarters or do business in Morris County alone. Nearly 100 Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or conduct business in New Jersey. This allows New Jersey to have the largest concentration of Fortune 500 companies in the world. Paramus is long noted for having one of the highest business per person ratio in the nation, because of the huge number of shops in that town and the surrounding area. Several New Jersey counties such as Essex, Morris, Middlesex, Union, and Bergen counties have been ranked in the World Almanac 2002, as being among the top 15 highest per person per capita income areas in the country. New Jersey has the nation's most diverse economy, with its major industries being agriculture, tourism, nursery products, electronics, manufacturing equipment, pharmacuticals, etc. It is for this reason, New Jersey is able to weather severe economic declines in the national economy and it is why New Jersey's unemployment rate is well below the national average. New Jersey's location between Philadephia and New York City, has allowed New Jersey to grow and thrive since the time of its creation as a state in 1702. Another of New Jersey's great strengths is its large and well-educated labor pool that allow the myriad of industries to exist today. The Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal is the world's largest container ports. Newark Liberty International Airport is ranked as number 7 in the top ten list of the nation's busiest airports and among the top 20 busiest airports in the world.
Six Flags Great Adventure is one of the largest theme parks in the world. It is home to the largest wild safari out of Africa and is now home to the world's tallest and fastest coaster, Kingda Ka. As of 2001, New Jersey makes $30 billion each year from tourism as stated in the Star-Ledger's article The Best Of New Jersey. New Jersey is one of the top ten most visited states in the nation.
Demographics
As of 2004, the population of New Jersey was estimated to be 8,698,879. There are 1.6 million foreign-born living in the state (accounting for 19.2% of the state population). New Jersey is the tenth most populous state, but the most densely populated, at 1,134.4 residents per square mile. [http://www.njfaq.com/njfaq4.shtml].
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
The racial makeup of New Jersey is:
- 66.0% White Non-Hispanic
- 13.6% Black
- 13.3% Hispanic
- 5.7% Asian
- 0.2% Native American (U.S. Census)
- 2.5% Mixed race
New Jersey has the 15th largest percentage of minority residents of any state and the 2nd highest percentage in the North.
Race/ethnicity citation with state percentages: [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t6/tab02.pdf](Adobe PDF)
Diversity index citation with state percentages:
[http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/atlas/divers.xls](Microsoft Excel)
It also has the second largest percentage of Jews (after New York), the second largest percentage of Muslims (after Michigan).
New Jersey is the third most Italian-American state in the nation, according to the 2000 Census, and has large percentages of Blacks, Hispanics, Arabs, and Asians.
Ancestry citation with state percentages: [http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf](Adobe PDF)
The five largest ancestry groups in New Jersey are: Italian (17.9%), Irish (15.9%), African American (13.6%), German (12.6%), Polish (6.9%).
Newark and Camden are two of the poorest cities in America, but New Jersey as a whole has the highest median household income in the nation, as well as the second highest per capita income, after Connecticut. This is largely due to the fact that so much of New Jersey is comprised of suburbs, most of them affluent, of New York City and Philadelphia. New Jersey is also the most densely populated state in the nation, and the first and only state that has had every one of its 21 counties deemed "urban," as opposed to rural.
The dominant race, ethnicity, or ancestry by county, according to the 2000 Census, are the following:
- New Jersey
- Italian - Bergen, Morris, Somerset, Ocean, Monmouth
- Irish - Sussex
- Black - Essex, Union, Mercer
- German - Warren, Hunterdon
- Polish/Slavic - Middlesex
- Puerto Rican/Hispanic - Hudson, Passaic
Ancestry citation with county maps: [http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf] (Adobe PDF)
Specific ancestry maps by county, place, and census tract available at:
[http://factfinder.census.gov]
6.7% of its population were reported as under 5, 24.8% under 18, and 13.2% were 65 or older. Females made up approximately 51.5% of the population.
Religion
The religious affiliations of adults of New Jersey are:
- Christian – 77%
- Roman Catholic – 39%
- Protestant – 36%
- Baptist – 9%
- Methodist – 6%
- Presbyterian – 4%
- Other Protestant or general Protestant – 17%
- Other Christian – 2%
- Jewish – 5%
- Muslim – 1%
- Other Religions (e.g. Hindu, Sikh) – 1%
- Non-Religious – 16%
Culture
Music
New Jersey has long been an important area for both rock and rap music. Some prominent musicians with connections to New Jersey are:
- Musician Bruce Springsteen, who has sung of New Jersey life on his debut album, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and in many of his most popular songs, including "Atlantic City," "Born to Run," "Darlington County," "Freehold," "Jersey Girl" (written by Tom Waits), "Jungleland," "Spirit in the Night," and others. Fellow musician Jon Bon Jovi has also written many songs about New Jersey and even named one of his albums after it (see New Jersey). Both reside in New Jersey today.
- Frank Sinatra, born December 12, 1915, the only child of working-class Italian-American immigrants, in a tenement at 415 Monroe St. in Hoboken. He sang with a neighborhood vocal group, the Hoboken Four, and appeared in neighborhood theater amateur shows before he became an entertainment legend and Academy Award winning actor.
- Whitney Houston was born in the city of Newark, New Jersey but grew up in neighboring East Orange, and is best known for her cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" which set new records for sales and weeks at number one. Houston has sold well over 180 million records internationally.
- Bob Dylan's song "Hurricane" is about the accusation and trial of Rubin Carter which took place in Paterson. Dylan's view is that Carter was innocent. (In 1985, United States district court Judge H. Lee Sarokin ruled that Carter had not received a fair trial, saying that the prosecution had been "based on racism rather than reason, and concealment rather than disclosure.")
- Legendary jazz pianist and bandleader Count Basie, born in Red Bank in 1904. In the 1960s, he collaborated on several albums with fellow New Jersey native Frank Sinatra.
- Asbury Park, home of The Stone Pony, where Springsteen and Bon Jovi frequented early in their careers, which is still considered by many to be a "Mecca" for up-and-coming musicians.
- The Velvet Underground, who had their first performance as a band at Summit High School in Summit, New Jersey. Songs included "There She Goes Again" and "Heroin."
- Jerseyan Zakk Wylde of Jersey City, who is currently the guitarist with Ozzy Osbourne and is with another popular rock band, Black Label Society. Wylde is famous for his signature "Bulls-eye" Gibson Les Paul guitar.
- Former Fugee Lauryn Hill, a South Orange resident and hip-hop's best-selling solo female artist. Her 1998 debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, sold 10 million copies internationally.
- Hip-hop's longest running radio show, founded by two Jerseyans, Special K (Kevin Bonners) and Teddy Ted (Ted Whiting) of Hackensack, who began on New York's WHBI in 1982 and now appear on WPAT-AM.
- Other rap artists, including Irvington's Queen Latifah, the first female rapper to succeed in music, film, and TV, and the Grammy-winning Naughty By Nature of East Orange, who cut 1992's smash hit "O.P.P." Redman, an influential underground figure and Newark native, has recently found commercial success through collaborations with Eminem and the Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man.
- Singer/Actor Constantine Maroulis, a popular finalist on the television show, American Idol, Season 4 (2005), spent a good portion of his formative years in Wyckoff, where he graduated from Ramapo High School. Maroulis is developing a television sitcom which is based on his growing up years in New Jersey and the surrounding metropolitan New York City area.
- Musical artists Fountains of Wayne [http://www.fountainsofwayne.com/home/], a group of New Jerseyians who took the name of a semi-famous lawn and garden store [http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NJWAYfountains.html] on Route 46 in Wayne, New Jersey (also featured on an episode of The Sopranos).
- The band Snowball 37 [http://www.snowball37.com/], a group of brothers who were inspired by a Kevin Smith reference, is based out of Jersey City.
- The genre Emo until recently thrived in New Jersey, particularly near New Brunswick. Such bands that fit into this category include Thursday, My Chemical Romance, Midtown, Senses Fail, Saves The Day, Hidden In Plain View, The Early November, Armor For Sleep, The Escape Engine, for some more popular bands, recently, the growth of Jersey emo bands has seen somewhat of a decrease as the genre has moved elsewhere.
- Punk music is also an important alternative style in New Jersey, perhaps starting with the band that essentially invented horror punk, The Misfits from Lodi, in the 90s, The Bouncing Souls and Catch 22 were also prominent figures in New Jersey punk, strongly influenced by New Brunswick's Sticks and Stones.
- The DeLeo brothers of Stone Temple Pilots are both from New Jersey. The brothers, Dean and Robert, are the guitarist and bassist for the band.
- Pete Yorn is another New Jersey artist. He has two albums out: musicforthemorningafter (2001) and Day I Forgot (2003).
- Deborah Harry from Blondie was raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey.
- Blues Traveler was formed at Princeton High School in 1987. John Popper, along with high school buddies drummer Brendan Hill, guitarist Chan Kinchla and the late bassist Bobby Sheehan are all natives of New Jersey.
- Spin Doctors began as Trucking Company in 1989 with Chris Barron (lead singer) and Eric Schenkman and were high school friends of the aformentioned Blues Traveler frontman John Popper at Princeton High School.
- American Idol season 4 contestant Anwar Robinson, considered to be one of AI's most talented male singers, was born in Newark and grew up in East Orange and Montclair, in addition, he teaches music at Edison Middle School in West Orange
- Legendary rock band Queen (touring with Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers) chose a New Jersey venue - the Continental Airlines Arena - to perform their first USA concert in 23 years on October 16, 2005. The crowd surprised them with a strong reaction and plentiful participation, even in what were thought to be the lesser-known songs.
- The three members of the Fugees were from South Orange, New Jersey.
- Coheed and Cambria mentions the Jersey Devil in one of their songs
- Indie Rock band Yo La Tengo makes its home in Hoboken, New Jersey.
TV and film
Motion pictures and televisions shows also have been set in New Jersey. The popular television drama The Sopranos depicts the life of a New Jersey organized crime family and is filmed on location at various places throughout the state.
Although not credited, at least one scene from The Godfather (1972) was filmed in New Jersey. The scene with Clemenza's famous line, "Leave the gun. Take the cannolis," was filmed in the marsh along the Hudson River in Jersey City, just west of the Statue of Liberty, in what is now Liberty State Park.
The 2004 Sundance Film Festival favorite Garden State (starring Zach Braff and Natalie Portman) was shot on location in Morris Township. Also, the popular animated series Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Megas XLR take place primarily in New Jersey.
Director Kevin Smith sets many of his films in New Jersey, particularly his "New Jersey Trilogy" of Clerks., Mallrats and Chasing Amy. The 2004 movie Jersey Girl is also based in New Jersey. Clerks. also had a short-lived animated series spin-off with the same name. It took place in the same locations as the movie.
2001's A Beautiful Mind had several scenes shot at Princeton University. The movie is a biopic of the mathematician John Nash, who currently lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Actor Jack Nicholson grew up on the Jersey shore, and went to Manasquan High School in Monmouth County.
The 2004 stoner film Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle took place in New Jersey. Several locations seen in the movie include Princeton University, Newark, New Brunswick, and a fictional White Castle in Cherry Hill.
Although supposedly set in New York, the 2003 movie School of Rock was filmed primarily in Edison and Mahwah, perhaps due to the significance these towns have on rock music.
The 1988 comedy film Big starring Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia, Jon Lovitz, and Mercedes Ruehl was also filmed in Bergen County, New Jersey.
The 1983 cult classic Eddie and the Cruisers was filmed mostly in Somers Point and Ocean City.
Bruce Willis grew up in Penns Grove, New Jersey.
The movie War of the Worlds was filmed in many locations in New Jersey, including Bayonne and Newark.
The infamous radio show broadcast starring Orson Welles, The War of the Worlds was set in Grover's Mill (a section of West Windsor Township) and other locations around New Jersey.
The Ron Howard film Cinderella Man and The Elia Kazan film On the Waterfront both take place in the old Hudson County docks.
Legends and Ghosts
A long circulated legend says a creature, the Jersey Devil or the Leeds Devil, terrorizes the population of the Pine Barrens (New Jersey). New Jersey is also home to several other urban legends, such as the ghost of Annie's Road in Totowa, Midgetville in Edgewater, Albino Village in Clifton, the haunted and demon-possessed Clinton Road in West Milford, and the Witch of Igoe Road in Marlboro. There is also the popular attraction of the Atco Ghost where the ghost of a little boy runs across the street late at night chasing a basketball located on Burnt Mill Road in Atco. It is also rumored that Jimmy Hoffa, the late leader of the Teamsters union, is buried beneath Giants Stadium or the New Jersey Turnpike.
Camp NoBeBoSco in Blairstown was the location of the original Friday the 13th movie (some believe the series of films to be set in New Jersey, although this is never confirmed onscreen), which was partially based on real murders that have occurred near the campground, in the state's rural northwest. Such horror stories were the inspiration behind the now nationally-famous Weird NJ magazine and website.
Miscellaneous
Weird NJ
The properties in the United States version of the board game Monopoly are named after the streets of Atlantic City.
Diners are considered very common in New Jersey, and it's thought that nearly all medium-sized and larger towns have one. New Jersey is home to many diner manufacturers.
New Jersey is often known by outsiders with little respect for the state as "America's Armpit", both for its shape and location on the Eastern seaboard and for the smell in certain parts of the state due to the landfills.
Transportation
Diners
DinersThe New Jersey Turnpike is one of the best-known and most-trafficked roadways in the USA. This toll road carries interstate traffic between Delaware and New York. Commonly referred to as simply "the Turnpike," it is also known for its numerous rest-areas named after prominent New Jerseyans as varied as inventor Thomas Edison; United States Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton; U.S. Presidents Grover Cleveland and Woodrow Wilson, ; writers James Fenimore Cooper, Joyce Kilmer, and Walt Whitman; patriot Molly Pitcher; Red Cross advocate Clara Barton, and football coach Vince Lombardi.
The Garden State Parkway, or just "the Parkway," (or "The Garden State Parking Lot" on Fridays during the summer), carries more in-state traffic, and runs from the town of Montvale along New Jersey's northern border with New York to the southernmost tip of the state at Cape May. It also acts as the trunk that connects the New York metropolitan area to Atlantic City. Many New Jersey residents who live near the Parkway or the Turnpike (a majority of the state population) locate their hometowns according to their respective highway exits, though very few New Jerseyans living elsewhere in the state will do so.
Other expressways in New Jersey include the Atlantic City Expressway, Palisades Interstate Parkway, Interstate 76, Interstate 78, Interstate 80, Interstate 280, Interstate 287 and Interstate 295.
The New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) operates extensive rail and bus service throughout the state. NJ Transit is a state-run corporation that began with the consolidation of several private bus companies in North Jersey. In the early 1980s, it acquired the commuter train operations of CONRAIL that connect towns in northern and central New Jersey to New York City. In 1989, NJ Transit began service between Atlantic City and Lindenwold, extending it to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1990s.
New Jersey has interstate compacts with all three neighboring states. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Delaware River Port Authority (with Pennsylvania), and the Delaware River and Bay Authority (with Delaware) operate most of the major transportation routes into and out of New Jersey. Tolls for the bridges are charged in one direction—it is free to get into New Jersey, but people have to pay to get out. The Washington Crossing and Scudders Falls (on I-95) bridges near Trenton, as well as Trenton's Calhoun Street and Bridge Street ("Trenton Makes") bridges are still free as of this writing.
Newark Liberty International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States. Run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who runs the other two major airports in the New York City region: John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport, it is one of the main airports serving the New York City area. Continental Airlines is Newark's largest tenant, operating an entire terminal at Newark which they use as a hub. United Airlines and FedEx operate cargo hubs. The airport has its own railroad station on New Jersey Transit's Northeast Corridor Line which is also served by Amtrak.
Cities, towns, boroughs, villages, and townships
New Jersey has 566 municipalities; until recently, 567. Unlike other states, all of its municipalities are incorporated entities, with fixed boundaries, and no local government can simply absorb land from another.
Types of government
When the types of government were devised in the nineteenth century, the intention was that cities would be large built-up areas, with progressively smaller boroughs, towns, and villages; the rural areas in between would be relatively large townships. This is still often true, although Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey has been divided until it is less than a square mile, and consists of a single housing development. Some townships -- notably Middletown, Brick, Hamilton, and Dover (which includes Toms River) -- have, without changing their boundaries, become large stretches of suburbia, as populous as (if often more spread out than) cities, often focused around shopping centers and highways rather than traditional downtowns and main streets.
As with Toms River, many locations in New Jersey are simply neighborhoods, with no exact boundaries; often the cluster of houses, the traditional neighborhood, the postal district, and the Census designated place will differ.
The Federal Government has often failed to understand that a New Jersey township is just another municipality; and some municipalities have changed forms to become the Township of the Borough of Verona or the Township of South Orange Village to receive more Federal aid. The Census Bureau also has a hard time every ten years.
Forms of government
The five types of municipality differ mostly in name. Originally each type had its own form of government, but more modern forms are available to any municipality, even though the original type is retained in its formal name. This is the only difference between boroughs and cities or townships: only boroughs can have the "borough form" of government.
Starting in the 1900s, largely driven by reform-minded goals, a series of six modern forms of government were implemented. This began with the Walsh Act, enacted in 1911, which provided for a 3 or 5 member commission elected on a non-partisan basis. This was followed by the 1923 Municipal Manager Law which offered a non-partisan council, a weak mayor elected by and from among the members of the council, and introduced Council-Manager government, with an (ideally apolitical) appointed mana
April 25
April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). There are 250 days remaining.
Events
- 1607 - Eighty Years' War: Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
- 1707 - An Allied Austrian army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
- 1719 - Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is published.
- 1792 - Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
- 1792 - "La Marseillaise" (French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
- 1846 - Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.
- 1847 - The last survivors of the are out of the wilderness. See Donner Party for basic story and commentary on cannibalism; see Donner Party timeline for detailed chronology.
- 1849 - The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
- 1859 - Ground is broken for the Suez Canal.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut capture the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mark's Mills – Confederate forces seize a Union wagon supply train on its way to Camden, Arkansas forcing Union General Frederick Steele to withdraw his troops to Little Rock, Arkansas.
- 1881 - Caulfield Grammar School is founded in Melbourne, Australia.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
- 1901 - New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
- 1915 - The ANZAC tradition begins during World War I with a landing at Gallipoli on the Turkish coast.
- 1916 - Easter Rebellion: The United Kingdom declares martial law in Ireland.
- 1916 - ANZAC Day commemorated for the first time.
- 1926 - Reza Khan is crowned Shah of Iran under the name Reza Pahlavi.
- 1938 - U.S. Supreme Court delivers opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
- 1940 - The Faroese flag Merkið is made the official flag for the Faroe Islands.
- 1943 - The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration of Demyansk Pocket was instituted.
- 1944 - The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
- 1945 - Elbe Day: United States and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.
- 1945 - Fifty nations gather in San Francisco, California to begin the United Nations Conference on International Organizations.
- 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid describing the double helix structure of DNA.
- 1959 - The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
- 1961 - Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
- 1974 - Carnation Revolution: A coup in Portugal restores democracy.
- 1975 - As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
- 1981 - More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.
- 1982 - Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
- 1983 - American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
- 1983 - Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
- 1988 - In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He was accused of being a notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible" by survivors.
- 1989 - James Richardson is freed from a Florida prison 21 years after being wrongfully convicted of the murder of his seven children.
- 1993 - 300,000 gay, lesbian, transgender, and allied activists march on Washington, DC demanding freedom from discrimination.
- 2005 - The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
- 2005 - Bulgaria and Romania sign ascession treaties gaining entrance into the European Union.
- 2005 - 107 die in Amagasaki rail crash in Japan.
Births
- 32 - Marcus Salvius Otho, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
- 1214 - King Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
- 1228 - Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
- 1284 - King Edward II of England (d. 1327)
- 1287 - Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, de factor ruler of England (d. 1330)
- 1502 - Georg Major, German protestant theologian (d. 1574)
- 1545 - Yi Sun Shin, Korean admiral (d. 1598)
- 1599 - Oliver Cromwell, English statesman (d. 1658)
- 1608 - Gaston, Duke of Orléans, French politician (d. 1660)
- 1621 - Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (d. 1679)
- 1694 - Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (d. 1753)
- 1710 - James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer (d. 1776)
- 1725 - Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, British admiral (d. 1786)
- 1767 - Nicolas Oudinot, French marshal (d. 1847)
- 1770 - Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist (d. 1850)
- 1840 (O.S.) - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (d. 1893)
- 1849 - Felix Klein, German mathematician (d. 1925)
- 1874 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (d. 1937)
- 1900 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
- 1902 - Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist (d. 1964)
- 1903 - Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1987)
- 1906 - William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1997)
- 1908 - Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
- 1911 - Jack Ruby, American assassin (d. 1967)
- 1914 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American writer (d. 1948)
- 1917 - Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
- 1918 - Gerard Henri de Vaucouleurs, French astronomer (d. 1995)
- 1921 - Karel Appel, Dutch painter
- 1923 - Albert King, American musician
- 1925 - Sammy Drechsel, German journalist, film director, and cabaret performer (d. 1986)
- 1925 - Kay E. Kuter, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Albert Uderzo, French cartoonist
- 1930 - Paul Mazursky, American film director and writer
- 1932 - Meadlowlark Lemon, American basketball player
- 1933 - Jerry Leiber, American composer
- 1940 - Al Pacino, American actor
- 1945 - Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer and songwriter (ABBA)
- 1946 - Talia Shire, American actress
- 1946 - Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian politician
- 1947 - Johann Cruyff, Dutch footballer
- 1949 - Vicente Pernía, Argentine footballer
- 1952 - Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
- 1964 - Hank Azaria, American actor
- 1964 - Andy Bell, British musician (Erasure)
- 1965 - Eric Avery, American musician (Jane's Addiction)
- 1969 - Joe Buck, baseball and American football broadcaster
- 1969 - Darren Woodson, American football player
- 1969 - Renée Zellweger, American actress
- 1970 - Jason Lee, American actor
- 1973 - Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer (Millencolin)
- 1976 - Tim Duncan, West Indian basketball player
- 1976 - Rainer Schuettler, German tennis player
- 1989 - Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, 11th Panchen Lama
Deaths
- 1185 - Emperor Antoku of Japan (b. 1178)
- 1265 - Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, English Crusader
- 1295 - King Sancho IV of Castile
- 1472 - Leon Battista Alberti, Italian artist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1404)
- 1516 - John Yonge, English diplomat (b. 1467)
- 1566 - Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France (b. 1499)
- 1566 - Louise Labé, French poet
- 1595 - Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (b. 1544)
- 1605 - Naresuan, King of Siam (b. 1555)
- 1644 - Chongzhen, Emperor of China (b 1611)
- 1660 - Henry Hammond, English churchman (b. 1605)
- 1690 - David Teniers the Younger, Flemish artist (b. 1610)
- 1744 - Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer (b. 1701)
- 1770 - Jean-Antoine Nollet, French abbot and physicist (b. 1700)
- 1800 - William Cowper, English poet (b. 1731)
- 1840 - Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician (b. 1781)
- 1878 - Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
- 1911 - Emilio Salgari, Italian novelist (b. 1862)
- 1937 - Michał Drzymała, Polish rebel (b.1857)
- 1943 - Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director (b. 1858)
- 1968 - John Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
- 1972 - George Sanders, British actor (b. 1906)
- 1982 - John Cardinal Cody, American cardinal (b. 1907)
- 1990 - Dexter Gordon, American saxophonist (b. 1923)
- 1995 - Art Fleming, American game show host (b. 1925)
- 1995 - Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (b. 1911)
- 1996 - Saul Bass, American graphics designer (b. 1920)
- 1998 - Morris Wright, American writer (b. 1910)
- 1999 - Lord Killanin, Irish International Olympic Committee president (b. 1914)
- 2000 - David Merrick, American theatrical producer (b. 1911)
- 2001 - Michele Alboreto, Italian race car driver (b. 1956)
- 2002 - Indra Devi, yoga teacher (b. 1899)
- 2003 - Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete (b. (1966)
- 2005 - Swami Ranganathananda, Indian monk and president of the Ramakrishna Mission (b. (1908)
Holidays and observances
- ANZAC Day (Australia, New Zealand)
- Carnation Revolution commemorated in Portugal (National Holiday)
- Festa della Liberazione, (Italy), annual commemoration to mark the liberation of Italy at the end of the Second World War.
- Faroe Islands - National Flag Day
- Swaziland - National Flag Day
- Easter Sunday - 1886, 1943, 2038. In the Gregorian Calendar 25th April is the latest date on which Easter Sunday can fall (22nd March is the earliest)
- Feast day of St Mark
- Rastafari movement - Celebration of Haile Selassie's visit to Jamaica
- Roman Empire - Robigalia in honor of Robigus
- Official Red Hat Society day
- Alice Day - a holiday celebrated by some pedophiles
External links
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/25 BBC: On This Day]
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April 24 - April 26 - March 25 - May 25 – listing of all days
ko:4월 25일
ms:25 April
ja:4月25日
simple:April 25
th:25 เมษายน
MunicipalitiesA municipality or "general-purpose district" (compare with: "special-purpose district") is an administrative local area generally composed of a clearly defined territory and commonly referring to a city, town, or village government.
Municipalities are not necessarily the same as townships.
In most countries, this is the smallest administrative subdivision that has its own democratically elected representative leadership. In several European countries, municipalities as second level entities are referred to as communes.
Municipalities as second level entities
- In Australia, a municipality is a city, or shire and is a subdivision of a state
- In Austria, a municipality (Gemeinde) is part of a district (Bezirk), which is in turn part of a state (Bundesland).
- In Belgium, a municipality (gemeente/commune) is part of a province (provincie/province)
- In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a municipality (općina or opština) is
- part of a canton (kanton)
- a subdivision (grouped in regions)
- In Brazil, a municipality (município) is part of a state (estado)
- In Canada, a municipality is a city, town, township, county, or regional municipality which has been incorporated by statute by the legislatures of the Provinces and territories of Canada. It is also a specific designation for certain municipalities in Quebec and Ontario.
- In Chile, a municipality (comuna) is part of a province (provincia)
- In Croatia, a municipality (općina) is part of a county (županija)
- In Denmark, a municipality (kommune) is part of a county (amt)
- In Finland, a municipality (kunta/kommun) is part of a province (lääni/län)
- In France, a municipality (commune) is part of a department (département)
- In Germany, a municipality (Gemeinde) is part of a district (Kreis). Larger entities of the same level are named town (Stadt).
- In Greece, a municipality is either an urban demoi or rural koinotetes which is then part of a prefecture (nomos) and then a larger region known as a periphery.
- In Italy, a municipality (comune) is part of a province (provincia) which is part of a region (regione).
- In Japan, any government other than the Japanese national government is called a municipality.
- In Mexico, a municipality (municipio) is a subdivision of a state (estado) and a borogh (delegación) is a subdivision of the Federal District (see municipalities of Mexico and Boroughs of the Mexican Federal District).
- In the Netherlands, a municipality (gemeente) is part of a province (provincie).
- Every part of mainland New Zealand is part of either a "city" (mostly urban) or a "district" (mostly rural). The term "municipality" has become rare in New Zealand since about 1979 and has no legal status.
- In Norway, a municipality (kommune) is part of a county (fylke)
- In the Philippines, a municipality (bayan) is part of a province (lalawigan) and is composed of barangays.
- In Poland, a municipality (commune) (gmina) is a part of a county (powiat).
- In Portugal, a municipality (município) is subdivision of a district (distritos).
- In Puerto Rico, a municipality (municipio) is a city. Each municipality has an elected mayor.
- In Romania, a municipality (municipiu) is a town or a city ranked by law at this level. See Municipality in Romania for more information.
- In Serbia, a municipality (opština) is part of a county (okrug)
- In South Africa, municipalities are subdivisions of a province, and are ranked by size. In descending order: metropolitan, district, local.
- In Sweden, a municipality (kommun) is part of a county (län).
- In Switzerland, a municipality (commune/Gemeinde/comune) is part of a canton (canton/Kanton/cantone) and defined by cantonal law.
- In the United States, the entities that have status as a municipality vary from state to state. Cities, towns, boroughs, or villages are common terms for municipalities. Townships, counties, and parishes are not generally considered to be municipalities, although there are exceptions. In some states, towns have a non-municipal status similar to townships.
First level entities and other forms of municipalities
- In the People's Republic of China, a municipality (直辖市 in pinyin: zhíxiéshì) is a city with equal status to a province: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing (see Municipality of China)
- In the Republic of China on Taiwan, a municipality (直轄市 in Wade-Giles: chi-hsia-shih) is a city with equal status to a province: Taipei and Kaohsiung. (see Municipality of China)
- In Portugal, a municipality (município/concelho) is the primary local administrative unit. Although it is a part of a district (distrito) for certain national administrative purposes, the municipality is not subordinate to the district and decentralization is doing away with the districts. A municipality contains one or more freguesias.
- In Puerto Rico, there are no first order administrative divisions, and the municipalities (municipio) serves as second-order, but first level, administrative divisions.
- In Montenegro, a municipality (opština) is the topmost regional division
- Municipalities of Libya, some very large.
- In Slovenia, a municipality (občina) is the primary local administrative unit. There are 193 of them, 11 of which have a special "Urban" status with additional autonomy.
- In Spain, a municipality (município) is the primary local administrative unit. It is a part of a province (provincia) for all national administrative purposes. A municipality contains one or more parroquias. In the Galiza region, the municipalities are called concellos.
See also
- :Category:Lists of municipalities (with lists for countries)
- Municipal government
- Mayor
- Council-manager government
- Mayor-council government
- Special-purpose district
- Subnational entity
- Political science
- Muni
- Washington city government
- Political subdivisions of New York State
- Municipal services
Category:Subnational entities
ja:政令指定都市
1923 Municipal Manager Law
The 1923 Municipal Manager Law was the last type of reformed municipal government the State of New Jersey introduced in the progressive era. The law introduced the council-manager government form of government first developed in Sumter, South Carolina to New Jersey.
The council is non-partisan and elected at-large for 4 year terms. The terms may be either concurrent or staggered, and there is an option for run-off elections. Presently, only Lodi Borough uses run-offs and staggered terms, with half of the council being elected for 4 year terms every 2 years.
The mayor, elected by the council from its own numbers, is very weak and has no executive responsiblity beyond appointing representatives of commissions and boards, and presiding over council meetings. The mayor is elected for a 4 year term in municipalities with concurrent terms or serves for a 2 year term in Lodi Borough which has staggered terms.
The members of the council are subject to recall elections.
See also
- Walsh Act (New Jersey)
Category:1923
Category:Government of New Jersey
Category:Walsh ActCategory:New Jersey law Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hamburger or Truth
This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion of the article below . This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was speedy deleted. — Korath ( Talk) 05:55, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC)
Joke. Thue | talk 14:01, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- Speed deleted as a recreation of deleted prank article Hamburger of Truth. Wile E. Heresiarch 15:18, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like some other VfD subpages, is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion, or the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page .
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