Talk:New Brunswick, New Jersey

The contents of the Feaster Park, New Brunswick page were merged into New Brunswick, New Jersey on 12 January 2023. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history; for the discussion at that location, see its talk page.

The contents of the Raritan Gardens, New Brunswick page were merged into New Brunswick, New Jersey on 12 January 2023. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history; for the discussion at that location, see its talk page.

	New Brunswick, New Jersey was a Geography and places good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
Article milestones Date Process Result June 25, 2008 Good article nominee Not listed

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New Brunswick, New Jersey music scene was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 26 October 2017 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into New Brunswick, New Jersey. The original page is now a redirect to this page. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here.

The contents of the New Brunswick, New Jersey music scene page were merged into New Brunswick, New Jersey on October 26, 2017. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected page, please see its history; for the discussion at that location, see its talk page.

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The development of shopping malls in suburbia contributed substantially to the decline of downtown New Brunswick. There was simply no reason for suburbanites to travel to downtown New Brunswick and shop at mom-and-pop stores anymore (e.g., impact of WalMart on small towns).--Buzava 06:37, 19 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I reversed to an earlier version. --Buzava 22:03, 19 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

New Brunswick's downtown decline isn't particularly unique... many, if not most, old urban commercial cores in the Northeast and Midwest went through the same process of retail disinvestment, flight of capital to suburbs, population decline, white flight.

Perhaps a better way to talk about this would be to not imply a causal link at all, because while these phenomena all occured, it is controversial which one "caused" the decline. We know that white flight from NB did occur (as evidenced by the fact that the % of white, non-Hispanic residents decreased while the populations of surrounding suburbs mushroomed), but was it a symptom of disinvestment, a cause of disinvestment, simply a byproduct? The article for NB doesn't need to "take a stance" on this. That's a discussion better left to the actual articles on

urban blight etc since, as I said before, it's not clear that NB is a unique case. Passdoubt | Talk 00:04, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply

]

I was going to start a new section for the "Charles in Charge" myth, but it seemed appropriate to put it here. The 1980s sitcom "Charles in Charge" was purported to take place in EAST Brunswick, though it was never stated outright exactly where they lived. It was said that Charles attended Rutgers, but that hardly restricts his residence to New Brunswick. He lived with and was "in charge" of some upper-middle class kids, who seemed to be attending public school. It hardly makes sense that they would be living in New Brunswick, which was economically even worse at the time than it is now. George St. isn't and wasn't a place for an upper middle class family. Though a few pockets of nice homes exist, it still doesn't fit the mold. East Brunswick is much more plausible, and in any case it is not definitive, and not encyclopedic, so can't be placed in the New Brunswick article. Njsustain (talk) 06:19, 3 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The show repeats on many occasions that Charles attends the fictitious "Copeland College," NOT Rutgers. In any event, in many episodes, Charles is able to travel between Copeland College and his residence very quickly. In the series finale episode(#26, season 5), Charles hopes to do his "post-graduate work at Princeton." In a telephone conversation with a Princeton professor, Charles is surprised that he is "...coming here... to New Brunswick." The telephone conversation takes place about 7'35" into the episode.125.245.25.186 (talk) 07:36, 23 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the quick reference. The question now is relevance. Does one passing remark tacked on at the end of the series make this a relevant aspect of New Brunswick in "popular culture"? I vote no.Njsustain (talk) 10:49, 23 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

By that reasoning, the whole Pop Culture section should be nixed. I recently have been able to watch Season 5 of the series. When I am able to watch the previous seasons, perhaps I will find even more references to New Brunswick, or there maybe the show will be inconsistent about it's setting.211.218.87.77 (talk) 11:24, 23 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I have been watching the remaining seasons of Charles in Charge, and New Brunswick was referenced at least once a season.211.218.87.77 (talk) 13:54, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Like many fictional uses of real places (e.g. Pittsburgh falsely shown as having a large gay community in "Queer as Folk") this is a fantasy use of New Brunswick, NJ. It is not and was not then a place for upper-middle or even middle-class white people, and hasn't been since the mid 1960s. The fact that the producers picked it out as the "official" location of the show is truly random, probably simply having looked up where Rutgers is located, doing no real research on the community. In any case I still don't think this is an example of New Brunswick influencing pop culture, or vice-versa, and I therefore don't think it is relevant enough to be included in the article.Njsustain (talk) 14:07, 31 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The caption identifying the corner of Bayard and George St is innaccurate, its actually the southeast corner of Patterson and George. Just throwing it out there.Davepetr 02:35, 16 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This article fails to state the undeniable positive effects of urban renewal (i.e. job creation and better quality of life). Furthermore, it fails to mention New Brunswick's commitment to lower income housing. Even luxury buildings such as Sklyine Tower have both market rate and affordable housing. Once the article mentions the positive effects of redevelopment along with the "controversy" the tag should be taken down.

• I think the increase in New Brunswick's homelessness problem, the increased demands on local food banks and food kitchens, and other signs of poverty negate any claims of "better quality of life." For many, and there are many lower-class people in New Brunswick, housing prices are far from affordable. They're practically unattainable. You don't happen to work for the city, or DevCo, do you? Only they look through such rose-tinted eyeglasses. —
  ExplorerCDT 15:30, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply
  ]

When the tax base is higher, more revenue is available for social services. The new housing may increase the disparity between the richest and poorest residing in New Brunswick, but when the pie gets bigger, your slice has the potential to get bigger. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) 16:13, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

• Potential. Not reality. The city's tax base...because the city council gave DevCo a free ride practically on property taxes for the next 30 years...will never go higher. The revenues from these ratables will likely not be realized in our lifetimes. The properties DevCo develops are given tax levies of cents on the dollar. And like most New Brunswick political legacies, the money won't go for social services...it'll buy Jim Cahill (or his successor) a boat, fix up his house, and line other party bosses' pockets. And the end result...New Brunswick's problems never get fixed, only worsen but to accentuate the positive all the pretty buildings mean that the undesirables (blacks, hispanics, poor people) get pushed out of downtown...but right onto the sidewalk. —
  ExplorerCDT 16:33, 30 October 2006 (UTC)[reply
  ]

4. The redevelopment process IS controversial. I don’t think the article should convey that DevCo or NB's redevelopment is “good” or “bad,” but it should convey that DevCo and the redevelopment process have been politically contested by a number of groups. Passdoubt | Talk 11:34, 31 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This is a wikipedia article, not a tourism/investment brochure.128.6.168.245 01:27, 10 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Again, this is not a brochure for New Brunswick. It is an encyclopedic article and must be neutral. Even if you have a few cherry picked verifiable references, that doesn't mean that you can turn the article into a "DevCo can do no wrong" article. The changes in New Brunswick have benefited some people, and have devastated others. If you can't present both sides of this issue, then you can't present this issue period. The older comments above are still valid: there has been an increased demand at the food banks and soup kitchen, the quality of neighborhoods outside downtown continue to be ignored by the city, yet one person wants to turn the article into a rah-rah propoganda piece for the people that run the city. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. You can say whatever you like at the Devco website, but WP must remain neutral, meaning all perspectives must be fairly presented. I personally have seen the lies and disgusting tactics used by Devco and the city but do not choose to turn WP into an anti-Devco site. However, it will not become a one-sided pro-Devco site either. Njsustain (talk) 19:47, 10 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I believe Cornelius Vanderbilt once lived in New Brunswick and his son, William Henry, was born there.--Buzava 21:32, 14 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

After Risky Business came out in 1983, I heard that Curtis Armstrong, who played Miles, had been working at Greasy Tony's in New Brunswick. I thought he was a Rutgers student then. Alas, however, I am not able to find anything to substantiate. Anyone know whether he was actually a resident?--Dalmatian Mommy 04:23, 2 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Started writing out the history stuff, will add more. Sectstubs indicating where. Revitalization should also include (1) Rutgers College Avenue Campus greening project, (2) Hurricane Floyd flooding (3) Route 18 redevelopments. Also discussion about Washington and Hamilton's retreat, General Howe in the Revolution, perhaps some on the Dutch Reformed folks in NB and their impact on the Great Awakening movement. Also, railroads (Vanderbilt, etc.) —

• P.S. Also we should add some comments regarding the perception/reality of the Democratic party political machine and corruption (John Lynch/Jim Cahill) in NB and Middlesex County, also the difficulty of people trying to battle against it politically from the outside in elections, drives etc. (last 50 years of NB's political history). —
  ExplorerCDT 01:05, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply
  ]

I always thought that New Brunswick (both in the US as well as in Canada) is derived from a Dutch man called 'Van Bruynswijck'. That would make a lot of sence, since the Dutch were one of the first Europeans who claimed land in the US-states we now know as New York and New Jersey, together with the Swedes. So no Germans. Other examples of words derived from Dutch people, cities or other typical Ducth things are Harlem (named after Haarlem, a city in the Netherlands), Brooklyn (named after Breukelen, both a place and a last name in the Netherlands) and Staten Island (named after the Dutch 'Staten Generaal', the Dutch parliament). So what is the truth involving the name Brunswick? --84.104.123.100 12:29, 20 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The word "van" means from, and Brunswick is the English name of the city and former state of Braunschweig in Germany. The German duchy (?) had connections with the English royal house of Hanover. Has nothing to do with some Dutchman whose name means from Brunswick. Wrotesolid (talk) 01:00, 1 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is it really noteworthy? Sounds like someone with a bike agenda stuck that in a random place in the article. 24.185.31.111 21:38, 8 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]