Newark — 10th Best City for Retirees

I have mentioned on several occasions the advantages to "empty nesters" of leaving their big houses in the suburbs and moving into Newark. Instead of rattling around in a house filled with lost joys of the past, which merely reminds them that the kids are gone — and may rarely visit or even fone; instead of heating rooms that nobody occupies, and paying appalling property taxes on yards they don't even care to garden in anymore; older people would do much better to leave the 'burbs behind and move back into town. Walk everywhere. Visit the Newark Museum, NJPAC, the Newark Public Library, Symphony Hall, and the various art galleries; and attend public lectures and other events sponsored by Newark's colleges. When they've seen everything currently on view in Newark, and waiting for the next go-round of Newark events, retirees can walk to Newark Penn Station and take a train into Manhattan, or a bus or train to the many touristic sites all over this historic area.

My friend Joe from Belleville found a story hilited on AOL entitled "The 10 best U.S. cities for retirees". Guess what. Newark is #10! Check it out. At top right of the opening screen appear two arrows for a slideshow. If instead of clicking on the right arrow, you click twice on the left arrow, you get immediately to the page about Newark. The text there reads, in part:

Newark’s transportation system garnered top marks, as did its ability to offer older Americans an active social life, both within the city’s borders — thanks in part to local universities including Rutgers and the New Jersey Institute of Technology — but also in Manhattan, just 10 miles away and accessible via the Path train network. Newark also notched a top score on safety, but its housing affordability measure was near the bottom of the rankings.

For retirees from nearby suburbs, in-town Newark housing costs are more than reasonable. Olly, olly, oxen free! Come back to Newark and live an active social and cultural life in the great city of New Jersey, second in this entire region only to NYC.