Westwood, New Jersey
Encyclopedia : W : WE : WES : Westwood, New Jersey
Westwood is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 10,999.
Westwood was officially incorporated as the on May 8, 1894, early during the Boroughitis phenomenon that ran through Bergen County. Isaac D. Bogert served as the first mayor of the Borough. In April 1909, the area of Westwood was enlarged through the annexation of the 'Old Hook' section of the borough of Emerson.
Geography
Westwood is located at (40.988548, -74.030747)[Geographic references#1GR1].According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 6.0 km² (2.3 mi²), all land.
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 10,999 people, 4,485 households, and 2,879 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,830.5/km² (4,745.0/mi²). There were 4,610 housing units at an average density of 767.2/km² (1,988.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 86.60% White, 5.72% African American, 0.14% Native American, 4.39% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.67% from other races, and 1.47% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.00% of the population. Significant pockets of Croatian, Bosnian, Irish, Ghanaian, German, Greek, Colombian, and Syrian communities are present in Westwood.There were 4,485 households out of which 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.3% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 31.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 3.08.
In the borough the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 5.6% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 23.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 90.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.1 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $59,868, and the median income for a family was $77,105. Males had a median income of $50,800 versus $42,459 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $32,083. About 1.8% of families and 4.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.8% of those under age 18 and 8.7% of those age 65 or over.
Government
Federal, state and county representation
Westwood Borough is in the Fifth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 39th Legislative District.New Jersey's Fifth Congressional District, covering the northern portions of Bergen County, Passaic County and Sussex County and all of Warren County, is represented by Scott Garrett (R, Wantage Township). New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Robert Menendez (D, Union City).
The 39th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Gerald Cardinale (R, Cresskill) and in the Assembly by John E. Rooney (R, Emerson) and Charlotte Vandervalk (R, Westwood). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).
Bergen County's County Executive is Dennis McNerney. The executive, along with the Board of Chosen Freeholders administer all county business. Bergen County's Freeholders are Chairwoman Bernadette P. McPherson of Rutherford, Vice-Chairman David L. Ganz of Fair Lawn, Elizabeth Calabrese of Wallington, James M. Carroll of Demarest, Tomas J. Padilla of Park Ridge, Elizabeth Randall of Westwood and Valerie Vainieri Huttle of Englewood.
Politics
Out of a 2004 Census estimated population of 11,051 in Westwood, there are 6,513 registered voters (58.9% of the population, vs. 55.4% in all of Bergen County). Of registered voters, 1,101 (16.9% vs. 20.7% countywide) are registered as Democrats, 1,683 (25.8% vs. 19.2% countywide) are registered as Republicans and 3,728 (57.2% vs. 60.1% countywide) are registered as Undeclared. There was one voter registered to another party"County of Bergen: Voter Statistics by Municipality, Ward & District," dated April 1, 2006.On the national level, Westwood leans toward the Republican Party. In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 51% of the vote here, edging Democrat John Kerry, who received around 48%[2004 Presidential Election results: Bergen County] New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety: Division of Elections, dated December 13, 2004.
Education
Students in grades Kindergarten through 12 attend the Westwood Regional School District, a comprehensive regional school district serving both Washington Township and Westwood. Schools in the district are four K-4 elementary schools ( [Berkeley Avenue Elemntary School], [Jessie F. George Elementary School], [Ketler Elementary School] and [Washington Elementary School]), [Brookside Upper Elementary School] for grades 5 and 6, and Westwood High School for grades 7-12.Transportation
Westwood is served by New Jersey Transit on the Pascack Valley Line at the Westwood train station. The station is located at Broadway and Westwood Avenue.This line runs north-south to Hoboken Terminal with connections via the Secaucus Junction transfer station to New Jersey Transit one-stop service to New York Penn Station and to other NJ Transit rail service. Connections are available at the Hoboken Terminal to other New Jersey Transit rail lines, the PATH train at the Hoboken PATH station, New York Waterways ferry service to the World Financial Center and other destinations and Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service.
The Pascack Valley Line is a single-track line providing service towards Hoboken during the morning rush hour and service from Hoboken in the evening rush hour.
Notable residents
Some noted current and former residents:- Birthplace of actor James Gandolfini, known for playing Tony Soprano on HBO's The Sopranos.
- Birthplace of actor Robert Sean Leonard, best known for his roles in House M.D. and Dead Poet's Society.
References
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.