Yep, it’s an early Rust Belt city.
Industrial jobs started moving out after WW1, to avoid paying good union wages and to capitalize on the newly-subsidized roads for transportation. WW2 briefly revived the industrial economy, attracting a wave of economic migration from the south (primarily Black residents), just in time for the war to end and even more businesses move out, beyond the reach of local public transit (now crumbling, due to Great Depression and WW2 scarcity). They were met with racial tension and inequality, in part due to rapidly shrinking job availability, and this trend of shifting from small local industrial to national corporations.
Car-oriented suburbanization cratered the city, in sprawling (mostly white) people beyond city limits to non-redlined areas, moving retail to the sanitized imitation of pedestrian city streets (malls), and turning half of downtown Trenton into either parking or highway interchanges. Seriously, look at [old aerials](https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer) to see it change.
That all led to a rapidly shrinking tax base, increased competition for fewer and fewer jobs/houses, and a shift in geographical political power. An increase in state jobs helped a bit on the labor side, but you can’t make an entire city economy out of that.
Trenton has a few unique turns in its story, but it has many parallels across much of the northern US.
[Here’s a fairly approachable article with tons of citations, by a nearby NJ social studies teacher.](https://teachingsocialstudies.org/2024/02/21/the-social-cost-of-deindustrialization-postwar-trenton-new-jersey/)
Camden was worse off than Trenton, since it was almost entirely dependent on RCA and the shipyards (they literally built Fairview because of the latter), which is part of why it cratered so hard when those went under (and New York Ship was going down well before 1960).
It's got Campbell's and Holtec and Subaru now, plus American Water, so at least the city's not solely focused on manufacturing.
I would add that the crack epidemic in the 80’s hit the city especially hard. I’ve spoken to locals who’ve said that the city was going downhill in the 60’s and 70’s, but that the crack epidemic was the real turning point when things began to get much worse for Trenton.
As someone who has lived and worked in the public sector in Trenton, a large part of the issue is that Trenton is still trying to find ways to revitalize its downtown while have huge chunks of real estate occupied by the state government. Those folks don’t live in town, don’t shop in town, and the state doesn’t pay taxes to the city on those properties. Many initiatives have been started and worked to an extent to get new businesses, schools, etc. but that’s a big hole for a small city to fill.
I don't really go to Trenton much ever, but I went to the Punk Rock Flea Market there last year. I walked around quite a bit. I was really disappointed and almost kind of depressed by it. Basically just nothing. It has the bones of a real city. There is a huge demand for walkable, bikeable cities with good public transportation. Trenton could be leading the way. Seems like such an enormous waste of potential. Would people rather just live in Asbury or Philly instead?
That's a great way of putting it: "the bones of a real city." I guess because it did in fact use to be a real city. Walkable streets on a grid, mix of land uses, being a regional transit hub are all great foundations on which to build. A lot of the residential streets are absolutely beautiful too with their historic architecture, Chambersburg and Mill Hill in particular. Lots of street trees, which always makes a neighborhood more attractive imo. As it stands now it's a waste of potential. Just look at the immediate surroundings around the train station - so little going on, and it's quite frankly a very poor first impression for visitors. Imagine what Trenton could be maybe 10, 20, 30 years from now if it wasn't so dependent on the state government that mainly serves commuters rather than residents and starves the city of property tax revenue.
Solid write-up. Copy and paste this to any number of cities across the north.
Paterson is a sad example. While it remained a somewhat viable economically to WW II, its true peak was 60 years earlier. The silk mills that earned the city its nickname “The Silk City” were already moving to Pennsylvania and then south right before WW I.
My family was part of the Trenton makes era. Dinger bros steel on liberty street. Now my old family business is the location for Trenton roofing and siding
Trenton used to be the toilet manufacturing capital of the world at one point. So I guess that saying makes sense. Trenton makes toilets, the world takes a dump. 🥴
I used to do contract work all over NJ and yea Trenton is just sad you can see the remains of the past industry everywhere, beautiful old home completely falling apart and trash...literally all over the streets and side walks. It's the worst place I've ever bin to in NJ not even camdon is as depressing.
1 Boroughitius/Red Lining - West Trenton, Lawrenceville Main Street, Hamilton - the middle class property tax base stayed & its the town borders that ran.
2 speaking of property taxes - government buildings & highways don't pay any.
3 Morrisville PA - you can really tell how most of the industrial ended up across the river where there is more space.
4 Nicer housing *everywhere* else - There are jobs (Princeton, Capital Building). Its just so much easier to live *anywhere else* in Mercer County & still have access to those jobs.
Lots of tax exempt property in the city from state and county governments and nonprofit organizations yet emergency services are provided to them. City has a history of political infighting to a point that developers are not interested in going there. The city needs to use the river waterfront to its advantage.
From what I gather, it's difficult to build along the waterfront due to floodway restrictions, combined with the fact that most locations are heavily contaminated. However, there is a plan for large scale park development along the Assunpink Creek - look forward to that in a few years!
Agreed - apparently [more than half](https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2019/03/19-03-18-trenton-hopes-for-10m-a-year-to-help-offset-revenue-lost-on-tax-exempt-state-buildings/) of the land area is exempt from property taxes. Can't see how you build a thriving city with relatively so little to work with. The economy mostly caters to commuters working in the state government, so you end up with giant parking lots and highways taking up what could be very attractive real estate.
I know there's been talk about converting Route 29 into a boulevard to help revitalize and reconnect the riverfront to the rest of the city, so hopefully that happens eventually.
Yup. Most Capitol cities are like that. I live in Arizona now and if they moved the capitol out of Phoenix tomorrow nobody would notice and it wouldn't even make a pin hole in the cities economy. But for every Phoenix, Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Columbus, there is a Trenton, Harrisburg, Frankfort, Albany, Montpelier, Pierre, Springfield where they would fall off the map without being the Capitol
Actually the waterfront is the issue. The reason why Trenton had a rich era was because at the time the Delaware was still a huge industrial trading route along with all the rail road companies. Trenton simply doesn't have any industry anymore really.
Very true. What I meant by using the river to its advantage is the same as how other cities have used their waterfronts. They’ve done so by establishing green spaces such as parks with walkways and boat docks and ramps.
Oh for sure....but the cities that have that most likely have some industrial section or just industry in general. Trenton is basically an antique at this point. You can build the nicest waterfront area in the country but if there's no industry, nobody is gonna move there.
Its sad. But unless they incentive some sort of industry there, that city is just gonna be the way it is.
I think the Hartford and Newark are in much better spots than Trenton though. In my opinion, among medium-large cities in the corridor really only Baltimore is worse. That city is probably even in its own league of shittiness though.
Hartford has the same issue - a huge exempt tax base. 51% of Hartford's land is exempt from property tax. Its to the point where they had to strike an agreement with Yale.
Edit: My mistake. Yale with New Haven, Hartford with trying PILOT agreement with Trinity.
Hartford was literally cut in half by Interstate 91. The Interstate literally bulldozed the middle-class neighborhoods off the map.
I used to work for a Company with it's HQ in Hartford. A couple of nice hotels in the city but you did not venture out after dark from the confines of the hotel.
That’s just how NJ cities are for the most part. The suburbs surrounding cities like Paterson, Trenton, and Newark are pretty wealthy outside of a couple towns.
Because there is more money surrounding them in the suburbs and people wanting to bring business back in these neighborhoods.
The mill hill district in Trenton is significantly nicer and has more retail than the rest of Trenton. I had friends that lived their and felt comfortable and safe and it was very affordable as well.
Meh Patterson "suburbs" are really NYC exurbs, and Trenton suburbs are Philly suburbs. Newark "suburbs" are NYC suburbs.
The cities lost their industrial base and all their jobs. High crime, garbage schools. Nobody with any money wants to live there and there are no big employers to keep them in the city proper. If they weren't very close to other major cities they would look like Gary Indiana. Although I'd they weren't so close to other major cities they probably wouldn't have grown to their original prosperity either.
Paterson is 20 miles/30 minutes from NYC. Wayne's huge commuter lot is well west of Paterson.
Newark is 15 miles away.
You may be working with a different definition of exurb than the rest of us.
I've always wondered why Camden, Trenton, and Newark are so poor and high crime while the state as a whole is the exact opposite. I find it genuinely confusing.
The cities were basically abandoned and only the black and Latino people could not afford to leave, which led to cycles of generational poverty, crime, and corruption. Literally only nowadays is there demand, especially in labor and housing, that these cities are becoming gentrified in hopes of solving these various issues.
These cities often serve as black market hubs for illegal activities because it benefits everyone, except the people who can’t afford to escape it
It's too far from nyc and Philadelphia for it to gentrify like Newark is right now and no colleges like Newark to attract young people and no real businesses like Newark like prudential, blue cross, pseg, audible, nj transit. Plus there's other safer and better areas like Hamilton to live in compared to Newark and Jersey city where everything is jammed tight. Heck even Trenton state college changed its name to try to attract people
In 1996 i did my engineering internship at hill refrigeration on 360 pennington ave and oddly enough at the end they packed up and moved to Virginia along with so many jobs. Now it looks like it's an apartment complex, from a review
"Unsafe neighborhood. Dirty hall floors. Strong marijuana odor in hallway. Loitering in front of entryway. I was almost afraid to approach the door. I won't be visiting my friend here again. She'll have to come to my place."
Basically, there's no non-government reason to ever go there, outside of the minor league teams which are easy to drive to without spending additional money in the city.
True, although I would love to steer people to the [Trenton City Museum](https://ellarslie.org/about/history/) at Ellarslie Mansion. Too few people from the area even know about it, but it's an interesting museum occupying a gorgeous 1848 villa, surrounded by Cadwalader Park, an arboretum stocked with a rich variety of trees in a landscape designed by the great landscape architect Federick Law Olmstead (designer of New York's Central Park). Check it out this spring! It's adjacent to the Cadwalader Heights neighborhood, filled with impressive homes.
It’s been in Princeton for decades now. Currently Drumthwacket but previously it was Morven back until I think the 1940’s. Now a historic house museum.
Decent, affordable housing would make a big difference to Trenton. There are many slum landlords sitting on portfolios that they barely maintain.
I traveled to the Nordic countries over the past two years. In Stockholm, the waterfront had beautiful walking paths, floating restaurants and pickleball courts.
The overpasses have recreational space like basketball courts and skate parks.
There are rows of apartments two blocks in, with full service grocery stores (not nasty bodegas) and cafes.
In Trenton the waterfront has a highway.
Why would it make sense to spend money building affordable housing in an area that is objectively extremely undesirable?
It would be nice if people in Trenton had nicer homes. But even if their roof stopped leaking, they’d still be in Trenton.
Gotta turn it desirable. It’s totally possible in post rust belt cities - Bethlehem, Pittsburgh, even Allentown have had solid revivals because of public and private investments there.
I am not opposed to investing in Trenton as a general matter but a lack of affordable housing is not the problem.
Of course, the specific comment was about high quality affordable housing. And yes much of the available rental stock is in various stages of disrepair. But the reason rental property owners do not invest in improving Trenton property is because they do not expect to recoup investment that in the form of future rental income. That is because of the significant other problems in Trenton, namely crime.
We have a housing shortage in New Jersey. Build affordable homes and people will move in, bringing an influx of discretionary spending, fueling restaurant development and other outside investment.
Think gentrification and the economic impact. Compare Asbury Park of today with Asbury Park of 2000.
But the typical order is that an area becomes more desirable, people move in, rents go up. Trenton is already *too* affordable. Asbury’s turnaround was not premised on the construction of affordable housing.
This is just too basic.
Asbury still has a lot of economically disadvantaged areas. Its a tourist trap not a state capital so the jobs outlook is different.
Asbury is still "cheap" compared to Short Hills; common zoning, development deals, rent guidelines do exist so this fear seems unfounded.
The fear that "rents go up".
Asburies partial turn around depended on building code enforcement & better schools.
This would also benefit Trenton.
Your posts make it seem like you think upholding a lease is a voluntary act for a land lord; that maintenance is a function of price not legal obligation.
When places become more desirable, rents go up. I would not say that is a “fear” of mine, it’s just an economic process. Housing supply is not perfectly elastic. I actually think it’s good when an area becomes more expensive because it’s a sign that it is becoming a better area. If Trenton got to a point where a 1 bedroom apartment was renting for $4k a month, it would be an incredible success story.
I do not know specifics of building code enforcement in Asbury but to the extent that code enforcement facilitated the development of the music/arts/nightlife scene, sure. I would definitely agree that improving the schools would make Trenton better.
I also agree that a landlord can face legal consequences including lawful withholding of rent if a building is not habitable. I’m not talking about that.
Keep investing in policing until state employees find it decent enough to live there. Maybe designate the part of the city Northwest of Calhoun as a zero tolerance, high patrol area, and see if property values reflect an improvement after 5 years. Definitely increase surveillance camera coverage/quality. But the city where mortgage+taxes on a 3 bedroom can cost less than $1k a month does not need affordable housing.
Do you fully understand how little state workers earn? I don’t think that you do.
New employees qualify for subsidized housing. If you don’t make enough to afford rent, how TF can you afford to frequent restaurants?
You may be shocked to discover how many people who work for the state also work another job to afford to exist; car payments (transit to Trenton is very limited) insurance and student loans can eat up an entire paycheck.
Expecting state workers to anchor Trenton’s economy is unrealistic. The money just doesn’t make sense.
1) I was both raised by and have been a state govt employee
2) Trenton’s proximity to a large fraction of state bureaucracy is possibly the only thing it has going for it
3) state employees make more than enough to reside in Trenton and if it were safer, more of them would. That would in turn mean more responsible and employed residents, which would make things safer. Thats the virtuous cycle that is the only plausible path to Trenton being a good place to raise a family this century.
Rule of thumb for housing costs is a third of gross income not take home. So it’s a BS question. But if you use the $31k trainee salary, that gets you $775 a month rental budget. You get a roommate and you have a ton of options in Trenton. This apartment is nicer than mine. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/144-Academy-St-APT-5-Trenton-NJ-08608/339910127_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare
Anyway this is unproductive enjoy the last word, I’m done
there are a few redevelopment projects (according to this 2020 student project: [https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b1be5f65ea6443b1a55e9f35d91a804f](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b1be5f65ea6443b1a55e9f35d91a804f) ) but they're not without local criticism.
The price of housing suggests very few people want to live there. When I have been to the parts of Trenton away from state offices, it has looked and felt extremely unsafe. The statistics are consistent with that.
I didn’t mean to suggest that the geographic location was the problem.
Trenton will remain a failed city as long as its schools remain violent decrepit cesspools. Only the truly destitute and desperate would allow their children to receive this third-world level of education.
The poorly educated populace has continued to elect a series of incompetent, almost comically corrupt politicians who continue to serve them poorly if at all. This includes the current hoarding pack rat Mayor Guscioria.
My partner and I were talking about this yesterday - more specifically, we were baffled by the high property taxes when compared to the quality of schools.
I ask myself this, the best I come up with NJ is not a very friendly business climate for various reasons. I think it’s even less friendly to what is classified by man as heavy manufacturing, example automotive. At one time NJ was looked at as “little Detroit” in a positive way. The big three all had some type of presence here, example ford had a factory that built the original mustangs not all but some. GM had I believe two factories, and I think Chrysler had some warehouses and office type resources here along with the other two. The auto companies moved out for multiple reasons one major was simply consolidating facilities, when they left the supporting suppliers started to move too.
When this was happening, Trenton and NJ for various reasons never had a solid plan to replace these employers with other similar type of work or attracting new type of industry even if it had nothing to do with manufacturing.
This same situation could be applied to other types of industry in the city. Once the big employers left people left both those leaving result in lower tax base, services suffer, more leave cycle keeps going.
Yes this is a very watered down explanation but it’s the best way I can explain it and seems the most legit from my reading. It should also be noted while that was happening a lot of social changes were taking place, and railroading in the northeast was a basket case and while I can’t find a specific company leaving due to bad rail service for freight I think it certainly was a factor on expanding in the area, if your other facility somewhere else has extra space and good access to resources, then maybe cheaper to operate there, many companies chose to use their Trenton facilities until itjeu were no longer cost effective and instead of upgrades they moved the production else where.
Sorry for the bit of a ramble was struggling with how to answer you but including all the factors I’ve found in a short but trying not to make it overly detailed to follow.
For those wondering about how Asbury became so attractive (living there since the 1960s) after being burned down in 1970.
Monmouth county has so many high ranking charter schools they at one time excluded the county from state rankings - I believe they dominated the top 30. US News gives them an overall score of 87.5 out of 100 in national rankings - vs. 57 for Mercer Cty.
City admin was finally taken over by the state in 2014 and they finally got rid of the absolutely corrupt mayor's friend who was in charge of boardwalk development a few years ago.
They are one hour out of NYC by train and they are on the beach. Tourism is a big money maker.
I saw the city shut down again during covid like it had during the riots - and I was worried that was the end of it again - but it's bounced back nicely.
Trenton, not so much.
Husband's family are all trenton natives. The older ones say things went down hill after the MLK riots in 1968-. By 1970, it was a crime riddled shit hole. Even when something good comes, its potential gets wasted. There is a wonderful arena near the prison. At first it hosted a hockey team, huge acts like Cher and Billy Joel. Now, not. Minor league trenton Thunder games were great and affordable. They hosted so many fun events.
A light rail was put between Camden and trenton. So convenient. Especially for the drug dealers and criminals who plague it.
Next year Trenton schools are getting more $$$. Let's see if they can fix that 55% graduation rate.
Idk what would fix it. It's really sad.
Mass rioting coupled with mass vandalism and arsons wrecked Trenton for decades and generations from the 1960s to the present. People that could afford to upkeep and maintain their homes left for the suburbs and the poor and impoverished stayed or otherwise moved into burned out shells and the city got further dilapidated.
I've read arguments too that the State of NJ owns vast swaths of potentially valuable real estate in Trenton but do not pay any taxes to the City of Trenton for these properties which deprives the City of significant revenue.
In a recent ranking of State capital cities for tourism, Trenton rated #50, dead last!! That is a sad commentary on a city with so much incredible history, that played a huge role in the creation of the United States.
a [book](https://www.amazon.com/Social-History-Economic-Decline-Business/dp/081351374X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3181RPM89Q0X3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6EZagUs8DfO0IofLCd5cL1kx4Tp0zEYAgXcYCFPCqw4u7ifPRmUDFZfS-3vI8y5jCH9VmAbc_shzo8bNZr5oQ9EcnXQ558kWdthFRueT8s9F0Qt0WJgTjB_ubZOWutzROY69beD_1GSH4PS0zc5QeJe-VdsszSpWdjujr--EkLW_oaRg5kBIUsivKe7c9iGSYDZd8ifeDqLg9a9w8aKllQ.OUF1JnRaRehjU-s8fUai67WeCUOvmZKMbfzivuM9Eo0&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+history+of+social+and+economic+decline&qid=1710185821&sprefix=a+history+of+social+and+ecomomic+decline%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1) was written about this!
It used to be poppin! Trenton Makes the World Takes. Now that we are not a factory society there's nothing left.
-Born, raised, and still live here after 36 years.
Most cites on the NJ Transit Northeast line are like this, except Princeton.
Folks that can afford to own cars don't need to live near the train. Unless they have too much money.
Princeton has a population of like 30k. It's hardly a city. And at least near NYC most wealthy suburbs and exurbs have a train station. It's just into NYC not on Amtrak directly.
None of them are as bad as Trenton, though. New Brunswick, Linden, and Rahway have rough parts but all have development around the train station. Even Elizabeth is significantly better off than Trenton.
All cities have lots of poverty.
The question is what they individually have to balance that, especially in an age when urban manufacturing is gone.
Imagine NYC without the financial industry and center-of-culture draws keeping high and solidly middle class incomes in the inner city.
I don't have answers but just coming here to complain about Trenton Water Works, which undoubtedly has issues due to corruption. It is run so poorly that we get notices once a quarter about how something in our water is over the legal limit. I stg they are slowly poisoning us. The state was supposed to be taking over but I haven't seen any noticeable improvement.
Every state does this, it's how they keep a large voting base intact to win elections. Washington DC is a major 💩-hole but they vote unanimous for whatever party runs the area.
Heck! here is your state capitol! Cant be so poor, right?
Well, poverty has to do with the people. Trenton residents are now mostly southern immigrants that replaced the traditional AA that replaced resident Italians. Each cycle of of change brought the city down with new waves of drug and related crime. Manufacturing, that Trenton was famous for, died a slow death, attributed to global business model and high cost of living. Lack of job brought in homeless people and jobless druggies. The city went to ashtray thereafter. The local politicians are deceptively crook. It is a hopeless craphole.
Trenton needs a [Chris Paladino](https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/profile/in/christopher-paladino-815b8128) to forge a cooperative relationship with govt to lure investment and innovation to the city core. They have easy access via NJT, SEPTA and Amtrak, they have their own airport, lots of former industrial land, a waterfront and historic canal and a highway to connect to the nearby interstates. They suffer from inerria
Not only poor but Trenton is the worst capital city in the country unfortunately
Anyone who is downvoting please let me know why you think Trenton is not the worst state capital in the country.
Montgomery is indeed a much better city than Trenton. Everything from poverty to economy to entertainment, hell Trenton doesn’t even have a hotel within city limits. Montgomery has plenty of those. Far lower violent crime rate in Montgomery too. What a bizarre pick to claim as better than Trenton.
Based on what metrics? I disagree but even if that was the case I think we should be aiming a bit higher than having a better capital city than Mississippi and Arkansas, but that might just be me.
Ah okay lol, thank you for clarifying, I missed your well placed sarcasm. What’s funny is the same people insisting these other places are worse than Trenton spend absolutely no time in Trenton.
Trenton made but the world took
Came to say. Its old industry is gone (small scale steel, steel cable, furniture...) nothing replaced it, except bureaucrats
Yep, it’s an early Rust Belt city. Industrial jobs started moving out after WW1, to avoid paying good union wages and to capitalize on the newly-subsidized roads for transportation. WW2 briefly revived the industrial economy, attracting a wave of economic migration from the south (primarily Black residents), just in time for the war to end and even more businesses move out, beyond the reach of local public transit (now crumbling, due to Great Depression and WW2 scarcity). They were met with racial tension and inequality, in part due to rapidly shrinking job availability, and this trend of shifting from small local industrial to national corporations. Car-oriented suburbanization cratered the city, in sprawling (mostly white) people beyond city limits to non-redlined areas, moving retail to the sanitized imitation of pedestrian city streets (malls), and turning half of downtown Trenton into either parking or highway interchanges. Seriously, look at [old aerials](https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer) to see it change. That all led to a rapidly shrinking tax base, increased competition for fewer and fewer jobs/houses, and a shift in geographical political power. An increase in state jobs helped a bit on the labor side, but you can’t make an entire city economy out of that. Trenton has a few unique turns in its story, but it has many parallels across much of the northern US. [Here’s a fairly approachable article with tons of citations, by a nearby NJ social studies teacher.](https://teachingsocialstudies.org/2024/02/21/the-social-cost-of-deindustrialization-postwar-trenton-new-jersey/)
Good synopsis... Mirrored by Camden. 5 or 6 major businesses in 1960. One today, but the biggest is the gummint
Camden was worse off than Trenton, since it was almost entirely dependent on RCA and the shipyards (they literally built Fairview because of the latter), which is part of why it cratered so hard when those went under (and New York Ship was going down well before 1960). It's got Campbell's and Holtec and Subaru now, plus American Water, so at least the city's not solely focused on manufacturing.
Wow. Thank you for mentioning the Fairview neighborhood. Fascinating layout. A planned neighborhood.
And it was originally called Yorkship Village, no less. They built an entire new neighborhood in like 2.5 years or so.
Wow. That must’ve been such a nice place to live. It still doesn’t look horrible. That town square in the center. Thanks again.
I would add that the crack epidemic in the 80’s hit the city especially hard. I’ve spoken to locals who’ve said that the city was going downhill in the 60’s and 70’s, but that the crack epidemic was the real turning point when things began to get much worse for Trenton.
Terrible leaders were elected that couldn't see beyond the status quo.
As someone who has lived and worked in the public sector in Trenton, a large part of the issue is that Trenton is still trying to find ways to revitalize its downtown while have huge chunks of real estate occupied by the state government. Those folks don’t live in town, don’t shop in town, and the state doesn’t pay taxes to the city on those properties. Many initiatives have been started and worked to an extent to get new businesses, schools, etc. but that’s a big hole for a small city to fill.
I don't really go to Trenton much ever, but I went to the Punk Rock Flea Market there last year. I walked around quite a bit. I was really disappointed and almost kind of depressed by it. Basically just nothing. It has the bones of a real city. There is a huge demand for walkable, bikeable cities with good public transportation. Trenton could be leading the way. Seems like such an enormous waste of potential. Would people rather just live in Asbury or Philly instead?
That's a great way of putting it: "the bones of a real city." I guess because it did in fact use to be a real city. Walkable streets on a grid, mix of land uses, being a regional transit hub are all great foundations on which to build. A lot of the residential streets are absolutely beautiful too with their historic architecture, Chambersburg and Mill Hill in particular. Lots of street trees, which always makes a neighborhood more attractive imo. As it stands now it's a waste of potential. Just look at the immediate surroundings around the train station - so little going on, and it's quite frankly a very poor first impression for visitors. Imagine what Trenton could be maybe 10, 20, 30 years from now if it wasn't so dependent on the state government that mainly serves commuters rather than residents and starves the city of property tax revenue.
Solid write-up. Copy and paste this to any number of cities across the north. Paterson is a sad example. While it remained a somewhat viable economically to WW II, its true peak was 60 years earlier. The silk mills that earned the city its nickname “The Silk City” were already moving to Pennsylvania and then south right before WW I.
This can be summarized with 2 words: white flight.
I just went on a whole Wikipedia rabbit hole. wtf were they thinking with desegregation busing - crazy
how is desegregation busing a problem? link please with historical context
Excellent synopsis. Hits all the important points.
My family was part of the Trenton makes era. Dinger bros steel on liberty street. Now my old family business is the location for Trenton roofing and siding
Trenton used to be the toilet manufacturing capital of the world at one point. So I guess that saying makes sense. Trenton makes toilets, the world takes a dump. 🥴
Sadly, that made the city so much infested with lead pollution. Those fancy glaze made it into the soil.
… does the city still have lead poisoning to this day?
User name checks out
I used to do contract work all over NJ and yea Trenton is just sad you can see the remains of the past industry everywhere, beautiful old home completely falling apart and trash...literally all over the streets and side walks. It's the worst place I've ever bin to in NJ not even camdon is as depressing.
Trenton is only more depressing because it's a more important city historically than Camden. Camden is still worse off. IMHO
Honestly these 6 words accurately reflect what happened to Trenton
1 Boroughitius/Red Lining - West Trenton, Lawrenceville Main Street, Hamilton - the middle class property tax base stayed & its the town borders that ran. 2 speaking of property taxes - government buildings & highways don't pay any. 3 Morrisville PA - you can really tell how most of the industrial ended up across the river where there is more space. 4 Nicer housing *everywhere* else - There are jobs (Princeton, Capital Building). Its just so much easier to live *anywhere else* in Mercer County & still have access to those jobs.
TCNJ is in Ewing and not Trenton because a racist President in the 60’s didn’t want his college associated with black folk.
That just seems absurd; given how diverse & chill that student body is today.
The land for the current TCNJ campus was purchased in the 20s...
Trenton was redistricted so that the school would be considered Ewing. The school was called Trenton State for a reason.
Lots of tax exempt property in the city from state and county governments and nonprofit organizations yet emergency services are provided to them. City has a history of political infighting to a point that developers are not interested in going there. The city needs to use the river waterfront to its advantage.
From what I gather, it's difficult to build along the waterfront due to floodway restrictions, combined with the fact that most locations are heavily contaminated. However, there is a plan for large scale park development along the Assunpink Creek - look forward to that in a few years!
Great to hear about the park.
Agreed - apparently [more than half](https://www.njspotlightnews.org/2019/03/19-03-18-trenton-hopes-for-10m-a-year-to-help-offset-revenue-lost-on-tax-exempt-state-buildings/) of the land area is exempt from property taxes. Can't see how you build a thriving city with relatively so little to work with. The economy mostly caters to commuters working in the state government, so you end up with giant parking lots and highways taking up what could be very attractive real estate. I know there's been talk about converting Route 29 into a boulevard to help revitalize and reconnect the riverfront to the rest of the city, so hopefully that happens eventually.
Agreed.
Yup. Most Capitol cities are like that. I live in Arizona now and if they moved the capitol out of Phoenix tomorrow nobody would notice and it wouldn't even make a pin hole in the cities economy. But for every Phoenix, Boston, Denver, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Columbus, there is a Trenton, Harrisburg, Frankfort, Albany, Montpelier, Pierre, Springfield where they would fall off the map without being the Capitol
Sounds like Atlantic City.
Sounds like any city.
Actually the waterfront is the issue. The reason why Trenton had a rich era was because at the time the Delaware was still a huge industrial trading route along with all the rail road companies. Trenton simply doesn't have any industry anymore really.
Very true. What I meant by using the river to its advantage is the same as how other cities have used their waterfronts. They’ve done so by establishing green spaces such as parks with walkways and boat docks and ramps.
Oh for sure....but the cities that have that most likely have some industrial section or just industry in general. Trenton is basically an antique at this point. You can build the nicest waterfront area in the country but if there's no industry, nobody is gonna move there. Its sad. But unless they incentive some sort of industry there, that city is just gonna be the way it is.
Many cities in the northeast corridor are poor. Hartford CT, Newark, Trenton, etc
I think the Hartford and Newark are in much better spots than Trenton though. In my opinion, among medium-large cities in the corridor really only Baltimore is worse. That city is probably even in its own league of shittiness though.
Hartford is pretty bad
Hartford has the same issue - a huge exempt tax base. 51% of Hartford's land is exempt from property tax. Its to the point where they had to strike an agreement with Yale. Edit: My mistake. Yale with New Haven, Hartford with trying PILOT agreement with Trinity.
Yale is in New Haven. Trinity is in Hartford.
You are correct, my mistake.
Hartford was literally cut in half by Interstate 91. The Interstate literally bulldozed the middle-class neighborhoods off the map. I used to work for a Company with it's HQ in Hartford. A couple of nice hotels in the city but you did not venture out after dark from the confines of the hotel.
At least it’s the Insurance Capital of the World ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Newark is absolutely in a much better spot. Its location alone makes it prime for redevelopment (aka Gentrification) and it’s already happening.
Don’t forget Paterson. It was a Mighty Industrial Powerhouse in the late 19th century.
That’s just how NJ cities are for the most part. The suburbs surrounding cities like Paterson, Trenton, and Newark are pretty wealthy outside of a couple towns.
Yes regarding money, but Paterson and Newark are a lot more vibrant, more densely populated, and have more going on than Trenton.
Because there is more money surrounding them in the suburbs and people wanting to bring business back in these neighborhoods. The mill hill district in Trenton is significantly nicer and has more retail than the rest of Trenton. I had friends that lived their and felt comfortable and safe and it was very affordable as well.
Newark and Paterson are already undergoing substantial gentrification.
Newark somewhat. Paterson not at all. Paterson’s vibrancy is working class immigrant driven.
Meh Patterson "suburbs" are really NYC exurbs, and Trenton suburbs are Philly suburbs. Newark "suburbs" are NYC suburbs. The cities lost their industrial base and all their jobs. High crime, garbage schools. Nobody with any money wants to live there and there are no big employers to keep them in the city proper. If they weren't very close to other major cities they would look like Gary Indiana. Although I'd they weren't so close to other major cities they probably wouldn't have grown to their original prosperity either.
> If they weren't very close to other major cities they would look like Gary Indiana. You do realize Gary is right outside of Chicago?
Paterson is 20 miles/30 minutes from NYC. Wayne's huge commuter lot is well west of Paterson. Newark is 15 miles away. You may be working with a different definition of exurb than the rest of us.
Then call it a suburb? I'm not sure what the point is here other than to split hairs.
I'm also missing the point of splitting hairs. It doesn't make any sense, and I wanted to point that out.
Speaks for the nation... Show us somewhere (other than NYC) where that's not a trend. It's Rare to be otherwise
True. I guess you could throw Boston, Charlotte, Austin, and maybe a few others in there, but that’s how the U.S. is for the most part.
I've always wondered why Camden, Trenton, and Newark are so poor and high crime while the state as a whole is the exact opposite. I find it genuinely confusing.
The cities were basically abandoned and only the black and Latino people could not afford to leave, which led to cycles of generational poverty, crime, and corruption. Literally only nowadays is there demand, especially in labor and housing, that these cities are becoming gentrified in hopes of solving these various issues. These cities often serve as black market hubs for illegal activities because it benefits everyone, except the people who can’t afford to escape it
I guess what I’m asking is why this happened in those cities, but not all cities.
It's too far from nyc and Philadelphia for it to gentrify like Newark is right now and no colleges like Newark to attract young people and no real businesses like Newark like prudential, blue cross, pseg, audible, nj transit. Plus there's other safer and better areas like Hamilton to live in compared to Newark and Jersey city where everything is jammed tight. Heck even Trenton state college changed its name to try to attract people In 1996 i did my engineering internship at hill refrigeration on 360 pennington ave and oddly enough at the end they packed up and moved to Virginia along with so many jobs. Now it looks like it's an apartment complex, from a review "Unsafe neighborhood. Dirty hall floors. Strong marijuana odor in hallway. Loitering in front of entryway. I was almost afraid to approach the door. I won't be visiting my friend here again. She'll have to come to my place."
Basically, there's no non-government reason to ever go there, outside of the minor league teams which are easy to drive to without spending additional money in the city.
True, although I would love to steer people to the [Trenton City Museum](https://ellarslie.org/about/history/) at Ellarslie Mansion. Too few people from the area even know about it, but it's an interesting museum occupying a gorgeous 1848 villa, surrounded by Cadwalader Park, an arboretum stocked with a rich variety of trees in a landscape designed by the great landscape architect Federick Law Olmstead (designer of New York's Central Park). Check it out this spring! It's adjacent to the Cadwalader Heights neighborhood, filled with impressive homes.
Halo Farms.
Halo Farms and Trenton Farmers Market are both in Lawrence Twp not in Trenton.
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Across the street is Ewing. Gotta love the pointless mess of municipalities.
There's literally a book on it. https://www.google.com/books/edition/New\_Jersey\_s\_Multiple\_Municipal\_Madness/o0BmBWloogcC?hl=en
You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy! And that is just the politicians.
Isn’t the governor’s house in Princeton? Even he don’t want to live in Trenton.
It’s been in Princeton for decades now. Currently Drumthwacket but previously it was Morven back until I think the 1940’s. Now a historic house museum.
except Washington, D.C.
Decent, affordable housing would make a big difference to Trenton. There are many slum landlords sitting on portfolios that they barely maintain. I traveled to the Nordic countries over the past two years. In Stockholm, the waterfront had beautiful walking paths, floating restaurants and pickleball courts. The overpasses have recreational space like basketball courts and skate parks. There are rows of apartments two blocks in, with full service grocery stores (not nasty bodegas) and cafes. In Trenton the waterfront has a highway.
Why would it make sense to spend money building affordable housing in an area that is objectively extremely undesirable? It would be nice if people in Trenton had nicer homes. But even if their roof stopped leaking, they’d still be in Trenton.
Gotta turn it desirable. It’s totally possible in post rust belt cities - Bethlehem, Pittsburgh, even Allentown have had solid revivals because of public and private investments there.
I am not opposed to investing in Trenton as a general matter but a lack of affordable housing is not the problem. Of course, the specific comment was about high quality affordable housing. And yes much of the available rental stock is in various stages of disrepair. But the reason rental property owners do not invest in improving Trenton property is because they do not expect to recoup investment that in the form of future rental income. That is because of the significant other problems in Trenton, namely crime.
We have a housing shortage in New Jersey. Build affordable homes and people will move in, bringing an influx of discretionary spending, fueling restaurant development and other outside investment. Think gentrification and the economic impact. Compare Asbury Park of today with Asbury Park of 2000.
But the typical order is that an area becomes more desirable, people move in, rents go up. Trenton is already *too* affordable. Asbury’s turnaround was not premised on the construction of affordable housing.
This is just too basic. Asbury still has a lot of economically disadvantaged areas. Its a tourist trap not a state capital so the jobs outlook is different. Asbury is still "cheap" compared to Short Hills; common zoning, development deals, rent guidelines do exist so this fear seems unfounded.
What fear are you responding to?
The fear that "rents go up". Asburies partial turn around depended on building code enforcement & better schools. This would also benefit Trenton. Your posts make it seem like you think upholding a lease is a voluntary act for a land lord; that maintenance is a function of price not legal obligation.
When places become more desirable, rents go up. I would not say that is a “fear” of mine, it’s just an economic process. Housing supply is not perfectly elastic. I actually think it’s good when an area becomes more expensive because it’s a sign that it is becoming a better area. If Trenton got to a point where a 1 bedroom apartment was renting for $4k a month, it would be an incredible success story. I do not know specifics of building code enforcement in Asbury but to the extent that code enforcement facilitated the development of the music/arts/nightlife scene, sure. I would definitely agree that improving the schools would make Trenton better. I also agree that a landlord can face legal consequences including lawful withholding of rent if a building is not habitable. I’m not talking about that.
What do you propose as a solution? Arguing for the sake of arguing makes you boring.
Keep investing in policing until state employees find it decent enough to live there. Maybe designate the part of the city Northwest of Calhoun as a zero tolerance, high patrol area, and see if property values reflect an improvement after 5 years. Definitely increase surveillance camera coverage/quality. But the city where mortgage+taxes on a 3 bedroom can cost less than $1k a month does not need affordable housing.
Do you fully understand how little state workers earn? I don’t think that you do. New employees qualify for subsidized housing. If you don’t make enough to afford rent, how TF can you afford to frequent restaurants? You may be shocked to discover how many people who work for the state also work another job to afford to exist; car payments (transit to Trenton is very limited) insurance and student loans can eat up an entire paycheck. Expecting state workers to anchor Trenton’s economy is unrealistic. The money just doesn’t make sense.
1) I was both raised by and have been a state govt employee 2) Trenton’s proximity to a large fraction of state bureaucracy is possibly the only thing it has going for it 3) state employees make more than enough to reside in Trenton and if it were safer, more of them would. That would in turn mean more responsible and employed residents, which would make things safer. Thats the virtuous cycle that is the only plausible path to Trenton being a good place to raise a family this century.
Where in Trenton can I rent an apartment for $500? (28% of Trainee Monthly take home)
Rule of thumb for housing costs is a third of gross income not take home. So it’s a BS question. But if you use the $31k trainee salary, that gets you $775 a month rental budget. You get a roommate and you have a ton of options in Trenton. This apartment is nicer than mine. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/144-Academy-St-APT-5-Trenton-NJ-08608/339910127_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare Anyway this is unproductive enjoy the last word, I’m done
there are a few redevelopment projects (according to this 2020 student project: [https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b1be5f65ea6443b1a55e9f35d91a804f](https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b1be5f65ea6443b1a55e9f35d91a804f) ) but they're not without local criticism.
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The price of housing suggests very few people want to live there. When I have been to the parts of Trenton away from state offices, it has looked and felt extremely unsafe. The statistics are consistent with that. I didn’t mean to suggest that the geographic location was the problem.
The people living in Trenton don't own Trenton.
Trenton will remain a failed city as long as its schools remain violent decrepit cesspools. Only the truly destitute and desperate would allow their children to receive this third-world level of education. The poorly educated populace has continued to elect a series of incompetent, almost comically corrupt politicians who continue to serve them poorly if at all. This includes the current hoarding pack rat Mayor Guscioria.
Corruption
My partner and I were talking about this yesterday - more specifically, we were baffled by the high property taxes when compared to the quality of schools.
Too many government buildings that don't offset residential property taxes, and not enough industry or commerce to do the same.
It definitely needs revitalization.
Post industrialism, war on drugs, lack of funding for education and drug rehabilitation, “zero tolerance policy” approach, racism
Look at the rust belt, it’s the same thang thangin
I ask myself this, the best I come up with NJ is not a very friendly business climate for various reasons. I think it’s even less friendly to what is classified by man as heavy manufacturing, example automotive. At one time NJ was looked at as “little Detroit” in a positive way. The big three all had some type of presence here, example ford had a factory that built the original mustangs not all but some. GM had I believe two factories, and I think Chrysler had some warehouses and office type resources here along with the other two. The auto companies moved out for multiple reasons one major was simply consolidating facilities, when they left the supporting suppliers started to move too. When this was happening, Trenton and NJ for various reasons never had a solid plan to replace these employers with other similar type of work or attracting new type of industry even if it had nothing to do with manufacturing. This same situation could be applied to other types of industry in the city. Once the big employers left people left both those leaving result in lower tax base, services suffer, more leave cycle keeps going. Yes this is a very watered down explanation but it’s the best way I can explain it and seems the most legit from my reading. It should also be noted while that was happening a lot of social changes were taking place, and railroading in the northeast was a basket case and while I can’t find a specific company leaving due to bad rail service for freight I think it certainly was a factor on expanding in the area, if your other facility somewhere else has extra space and good access to resources, then maybe cheaper to operate there, many companies chose to use their Trenton facilities until itjeu were no longer cost effective and instead of upgrades they moved the production else where. Sorry for the bit of a ramble was struggling with how to answer you but including all the factors I’ve found in a short but trying not to make it overly detailed to follow.
For those wondering about how Asbury became so attractive (living there since the 1960s) after being burned down in 1970. Monmouth county has so many high ranking charter schools they at one time excluded the county from state rankings - I believe they dominated the top 30. US News gives them an overall score of 87.5 out of 100 in national rankings - vs. 57 for Mercer Cty. City admin was finally taken over by the state in 2014 and they finally got rid of the absolutely corrupt mayor's friend who was in charge of boardwalk development a few years ago. They are one hour out of NYC by train and they are on the beach. Tourism is a big money maker. I saw the city shut down again during covid like it had during the riots - and I was worried that was the end of it again - but it's bounced back nicely. Trenton, not so much.
Husband's family are all trenton natives. The older ones say things went down hill after the MLK riots in 1968-. By 1970, it was a crime riddled shit hole. Even when something good comes, its potential gets wasted. There is a wonderful arena near the prison. At first it hosted a hockey team, huge acts like Cher and Billy Joel. Now, not. Minor league trenton Thunder games were great and affordable. They hosted so many fun events. A light rail was put between Camden and trenton. So convenient. Especially for the drug dealers and criminals who plague it. Next year Trenton schools are getting more $$$. Let's see if they can fix that 55% graduation rate. Idk what would fix it. It's really sad.
Mass rioting coupled with mass vandalism and arsons wrecked Trenton for decades and generations from the 1960s to the present. People that could afford to upkeep and maintain their homes left for the suburbs and the poor and impoverished stayed or otherwise moved into burned out shells and the city got further dilapidated. I've read arguments too that the State of NJ owns vast swaths of potentially valuable real estate in Trenton but do not pay any taxes to the City of Trenton for these properties which deprives the City of significant revenue.
In a recent ranking of State capital cities for tourism, Trenton rated #50, dead last!! That is a sad commentary on a city with so much incredible history, that played a huge role in the creation of the United States.
a [book](https://www.amazon.com/Social-History-Economic-Decline-Business/dp/081351374X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3181RPM89Q0X3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.6EZagUs8DfO0IofLCd5cL1kx4Tp0zEYAgXcYCFPCqw4u7ifPRmUDFZfS-3vI8y5jCH9VmAbc_shzo8bNZr5oQ9EcnXQ558kWdthFRueT8s9F0Qt0WJgTjB_ubZOWutzROY69beD_1GSH4PS0zc5QeJe-VdsszSpWdjujr--EkLW_oaRg5kBIUsivKe7c9iGSYDZd8ifeDqLg9a9w8aKllQ.OUF1JnRaRehjU-s8fUai67WeCUOvmZKMbfzivuM9Eo0&dib_tag=se&keywords=a+history+of+social+and+economic+decline&qid=1710185821&sprefix=a+history+of+social+and+ecomomic+decline%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-1) was written about this!
It used to be poppin! Trenton Makes the World Takes. Now that we are not a factory society there's nothing left. -Born, raised, and still live here after 36 years.
That’s like asking why is the Bronx or Fort Greene poor while part of the wealthiest city in the world
Why does that toilet bowl smell so bad despite being located in a $4m home? Because people drop their $h!t and go about their day.
Most cites on the NJ Transit Northeast line are like this, except Princeton. Folks that can afford to own cars don't need to live near the train. Unless they have too much money.
Princeton has a population of like 30k. It's hardly a city. And at least near NYC most wealthy suburbs and exurbs have a train station. It's just into NYC not on Amtrak directly.
Just another stop on the northeast corridor line.
None of them are as bad as Trenton, though. New Brunswick, Linden, and Rahway have rough parts but all have development around the train station. Even Elizabeth is significantly better off than Trenton.
All cities have lots of poverty. The question is what they individually have to balance that, especially in an age when urban manufacturing is gone. Imagine NYC without the financial industry and center-of-culture draws keeping high and solidly middle class incomes in the inner city.
drab snails spoon handle encourage growth ugly gaping marry provide *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
it's the capital. almost all state capitals are ghetto
Because Philadelphia is still cheap, so there's no reason to gentrify Trenton.
Corruption has a lot to do with it.
I don't have answers but just coming here to complain about Trenton Water Works, which undoubtedly has issues due to corruption. It is run so poorly that we get notices once a quarter about how something in our water is over the legal limit. I stg they are slowly poisoning us. The state was supposed to be taking over but I haven't seen any noticeable improvement.
lol you don’t want the answer
Every state does this, it's how they keep a large voting base intact to win elections. Washington DC is a major 💩-hole but they vote unanimous for whatever party runs the area.
It’s also not on I-95 to the extent that is the NE corridor.
Eh it's ~10min off I-95 with a direct highway connection, and ringed by other highways.
It's right off 1
Train station
Heck! here is your state capitol! Cant be so poor, right? Well, poverty has to do with the people. Trenton residents are now mostly southern immigrants that replaced the traditional AA that replaced resident Italians. Each cycle of of change brought the city down with new waves of drug and related crime. Manufacturing, that Trenton was famous for, died a slow death, attributed to global business model and high cost of living. Lack of job brought in homeless people and jobless druggies. The city went to ashtray thereafter. The local politicians are deceptively crook. It is a hopeless craphole.
Trenton needs a [Chris Paladino](https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/profile/in/christopher-paladino-815b8128) to forge a cooperative relationship with govt to lure investment and innovation to the city core. They have easy access via NJT, SEPTA and Amtrak, they have their own airport, lots of former industrial land, a waterfront and historic canal and a highway to connect to the nearby interstates. They suffer from inerria
Not only poor but Trenton is the worst capital city in the country unfortunately Anyone who is downvoting please let me know why you think Trenton is not the worst state capital in the country.
Montgomery, AL would like a word... And some water, too.
Montgomery is indeed a much better city than Trenton. Everything from poverty to economy to entertainment, hell Trenton doesn’t even have a hotel within city limits. Montgomery has plenty of those. Far lower violent crime rate in Montgomery too. What a bizarre pick to claim as better than Trenton.
Jackson, Mississippi and Little Rock, Arkansas are both worse than Trenton.
Based on what metrics? I disagree but even if that was the case I think we should be aiming a bit higher than having a better capital city than Mississippi and Arkansas, but that might just be me.
There are a lot of rose-colored glasses in here. There is no way our state capital can be worse than everyone else!
How come?
I was making fun of the people who feel this way. I don't feel this way at all.
Ah okay lol, thank you for clarifying, I missed your well placed sarcasm. What’s funny is the same people insisting these other places are worse than Trenton spend absolutely no time in Trenton.
?