I’m in Florida this week, so I am taking a break from my weekly column, but I do have time for two quick anecdotes that help to put life in NJ into perspective.
Back home, our out-of-state guests are always taken aback by having to pay a fee to sit on the beach at the Jersey shore. We went to a “free” beach earlier this week. It costs $5 to park and $33 for the use of two chairs and an umbrella. (Bringing your own beach paraphernalia did not appear to be an option.)
Later on, I shared an elevator ride with an irate contractor who was on the phone screaming and cursing at a local zoning office for repeatedly holding up a construction project by undertaking a lengthy bureaucratic review. If New Jersey is in fact over-regulated, it looks like – contrary to popular opinion — we may have some company in the south.
