Does New Jersey Smell?
Here's a real gem of a "news" article from the New York Daily News. While researching the New Jersey Turnpike for one of my classes, this came up.
Tracy Connor and Mike Jaccarino report:
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(Copyright 2009 Daily News, L.P.)
WONDERING IF Jersey really smells? Just ask the people who live there.
"It's a different world when you get through the Holland Tunnel," said Nicole Figueiredo, 24, who lives in Wayne, N.J., and works in marketing.
"The smell of awfulness and horribleness."
Steven Arocha, 25, of Clifton detects a certain odor near exit 13A on the New Jersey Turnpike. "It always smells like burning rubber," he says.
"Sometimes it smells like eggs," said Phillip Gates, 53, a Pathmark worker from Linden, N.J., who holds his nose near Newark Airport.
"Sometimes there are smells that I can't even recognize, but I know one thing - it stinks."
The rap against the Doesn't-Smell-Like-a-Garden State seems to apply to a relatively small area along the northern section of the Turnpike.
"The whole area used to be industrialized, so there's lots of stuff left over," explains Addie Acosta, 39, an accountant from Waldwick.
"Blame [Gov. Jon] Corzine because he hasn't cleaned anything up. Then again, it could be political corruption that they smell."
While the Jerseyans that The News spoke to admitted their home state has an odor problem, they were quick to point out that New York doesn't exactly smell like a rose.
"You guys have your own smells over there in Manhattan," Arocha said. "Those garbage bags that have stinking water leaking out of them. God knows what's in those bags."
tconnor@nydailynews.com
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