I lived in Central Jersey for several years in the early 90's. The best I can say is that there were still some small pockets left of what was once a fantastic state. I worked at a newspaper back then and covered politics out of the NJ Statehouse. I got to see how the sausage was made. So every time that I have to drive through NJ now, I give a sigh of relief and recite my little mantra as I cross the Delaware River bridge into Pennsylvania:
"Thank God I'm back in a state that doesn't suck".