STRONG
COMMUNITY, CULTURE & RECREATION |
| GOAL:
Create
or enhance within New Jersey communities a positive sense of local
identity and individual belonging, which promotes respect among
neighbors, increases everyone’s feelings of safety and security,
and provides abundant cultural and recreational opportunities.
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Feeling
good about where you live, feeling a connection to your neighbo rs and
local institutions while surrounded by places to play and learn,
is an ideal that many people seek. New Jersey offers a vast
array of communities and neighborhoods - cities, small towns,
old and new suburbs, rural lands - and an equally vast array
of recreation and cultural options, from cranberry festivals
to opera, from bicycle races to ethnic celebrations. Our community
bond is weakened when we don’t participate in community events,
when we fear to walk some streets, and when we can’t or don’t
visit our cultural and recreational places.
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What we know
Newspaper
circulation decreasing
Crime
rate recently decreasing
Open
space available for public enjoyment increasing
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What
we don't know
• How much New Jerseyans
give back to their communities in the form of volunteer work
with schools, Little League, community organizations, and clubs.
• How much opportunity
New Jerseyans have to enjoy the state’s cultural amenities,
such as local fairs, theaters, sporting events, and museums.
• The state of our
civil society and how well we will be able to work together
as a society to solve our collective problems. |
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