Top Towns 2008

Chatham Township finishes first among the state's 566 municipalities. Where does your town rank?

Newark

Tipping Point

The shooting of four college friends, three fatally, in Newark last August triggered local finger-pointing, national grandstanding, and a torrent of cries for help. Then a curious thing happened. The rhetoric subsided as city officials and residents began fighting— together—to win back the streets.

By Seamus McGraw

Baby Steps

New Jersey...and how it got that way: December

One Year Later: Barely Baby Steps

Being New Jerseyans as well as journalists, we at NJM suffer the same property tax sticker shock and impatience with state and local wheel-spinning as our fellow citizens in New Jersey’s 566 municipalities and 611 school districts. So we initiated this year-long series to figure out just how our beloved Garden State got so dysfunctional at delivering basic services, while remaining all too skilled at letting officials sneak into the cookie jar. In this final installment of the series, we take up each of the eleven subject areas and ask, “Has any progress been made?” The short answer is, not much.—The Editors

By Brett Avery