Things that are past...

There was once a Dead End Kids movie where, at the end of the movie, the good looking Dead End Kid was going to get out of Hell's Kitchen and go to where life was good: Somerville, New Jersey. I think it was Tommy who was going to go live on a farm, which featured an apple orchard, in Somerville. Needless to say, there is not an apple orchard in sight these days. However, it is not apple orchards that I want to talk about: it is old houses.

Recently, I began a walking program to maybe lose a little weight and to gain a little physical fitness. My walks have taken me around the west side of Somerville, and I have begun to really pay attention to the buildings I am walking past. (Mea culpa: I have lived in this town for over ten years, but I have never really given a great deal of thought to a lot of the older buildings on West End Ave., High St. and Cliff Street.) The majority of buildings on these streets are now commercial in that they house offices, but their beginnings were as private residences. And they are mostly Victorian.

In a way it is sad. I would much rather see these stately old buildings once again housing families, but I know this will not happen--economics militates that this does not happen. There are only about four blocks in the West End of Somerville where some older houses still serve their original function. A major factor in this lies in New Jersey's property tax structure. Here in Somerville, which is a county seat, our property taxes are almost 1/3 again as high as those in neighboring towns. And when you compare the property taxes here with those in Pennsylvania, well, let's just say there is a reason for all those Pennsy license plates on New Jersey roads these days. As I said in the beginning, it is sad to see the change...