Teaneck

Teaneck was created on February 19, 1895, by an act of the New Jersey Legislature from portions of Englewood Township and Ridgefield Township. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 39,776, reflecting an increase of 516 (+1.3%) from the 39,260 counted in the 2000 census. It was the second-most populous among the 70 municipalities in Bergen County, behind Hackensack, which had a population of 43,010. In 1965, Teaneck voluntarily desegregated its public schools, after the Board of Education approved a plan to do so by a 72 vote on May 13, 1964. The origin and meaning of the name "teaneck" is not known, but speculation is that it could come from various Dutch or English words, or it could be Native American in origin, meaning "the woods". An alternative is from the Dutch "Tiene Neck" meaning "neck where there are willows" (from the Dutch 'tene' meaning willow). The earliest uses of the word "Teaneack" were in reference to a series of Lenni Lenape Native American camps near the ridge formed by what became Queen Anne Road. In November 1776, General George Washington passed through Teaneack in the aftermath of the Battle of Fort Lee, as part of the hasty retreat of ragtag Colonial forces from Fort Lee on the Hudson River in the wake of the successful British invasion and defeat of Continental forces.

History

"Teaneck" could come from various Dutch or English words, or it could be Native American in origin, meaning "the woods" Early uses of the word were in reference to a series of Lenni Lenape Native American camps near the ridge formed by what became Queen Anne Road. General George Washington passed through Teaneck in the aftermath of the Battle of Fort Lee, as part of the hasty retreat of ragtag Colonial forces from Fort Lee on the Hudson River. Wealthy New Yorkers and others purchased large properties on which they built spacious mansions and manor houses. The largest estate built in Teaneack belonged to William Walter Phelps, the son of a wealthy railroad magnate and New York City merchant. In 1895, a referendum held on January 14, 46, 46 voters approved incorporation as a borough, but accepted the creation of Englewood Township as a new municipality. A bill supporting creation of the new municipality was put through the New Jersey General Assembly on February 18, 1895, and accepted by the state Senate on February 19, 1895. The township was formed in 1895, with the other two boroughs in Bergen County in addition to the 26 boroughs that were formed in county in 1894 alone. The Township of Teaneick was established on February 20, 1895 and was composed of portions of Englwood Township, Ridgefield Township and Bogota. It was unusual in an era of "Boroughitis", in which a new flood of municipalities were being formed using a decentralized and locally controlled government form of government.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 6.24 square miles (16.15 km²) Teaneck is bordered by eight municipalities in Bergen County, including to the west by River Edge and Hackensack. Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include New Bridge and West Englewood. The township is part of the New Jersey Meadowlands region, which includes parts of New Jersey, New York, New Jersey and New Jersey. It is located in the New York City metropolitan area and the Bergen and Passaic County areas of New York and New York state. It has a population of 1,816, according to the 2010 Census. The town is located on New Jersey's Hudson River, which runs through the center of the township. It also borders the towns of Bergenfield, New Milford, and Bergen Township to the north, and Leonia to the east, and Ridgefield Park and Bogota to the south. It was named after a former mayor of the town, who was killed in a car accident in the early 1900s. The current mayor, Robert DeNiro, was elected to his first term in office in 2010. He was re-elected to a second term in 2012, and is now running for a third term in the 2014 election, which is expected to be his third. The last time the township was named for a mayor was in 1974.

Demographics

The 2010 United States census counted 39,776 people, 13,470 households, and 10,129 families in the township. English is the sole home language of 72.4% of residents. In 2018, the number of Jewish residents in Teaneck was estimated to be about 15,000 out of a total population of 36,000-37,000. A large segment of this population is comprised of Modern Orthodox Jews, with a 2014 survey noting clusters of Orthodox Jews in Teeneck and Bergenfield. The 2010 Census showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $92,107 (with a margin of error of +/ $3,556) and the median family income was$108,777 (+/ $5,024). Males had a median income of $74,055 (+/ £5,587) versus $54,959 (+/£4,129) for females. About 5.7% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.2% of those age 65 or over.Same-sex couples headed 126 households in 2010, an increase from the 80 counted in 2000. Residents listed Italian (6.2%), German (6.0%), Russian (5.1%) and Polish (4.2%) as the most common countries of ancestry, and an additional 4.3% listed United States. 6.3 per cent of residents identified themselves as being of West Indian ancestry, of which 3.4 per cent were from Jamaica.

Economy

Teaneck has four main commercial districts: Cedar Lane, north Teaneck Road, West Englewood Avenue/The Plaza and Queen Anne Road/DeGraw Avenue. Holy Name Medical Center and the Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University are major institutions in the town. The Teaneack Armory is the home of the New Jersey National Guard's 50th Main Support Battalion. The Givaudan Fragrances Corporation Creative Fragrance Centre was constructed in 1972 from a design by Der Scutt, architect of the Trump Tower. The building was acquired by World of Wings, which renovated the building for use as a butterfly exhibition aimed at families. The city's largest single group of commercial ratable entities is the Glenpointe Centre, which includes a 350-room Marriott Hotel and 650,000 square feet (60,000 m2) of Class A office space, as well as the headquarters of Phibro Animal Health, at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 80. The town is home to the largest private university in the state, FairleighDickens University, which is located in the city's Glen Pointe Centre. It is also home to New Jersey State College, the state's oldest public college. The state's largest private high school is the Paramus High School, which was founded in 1872. The school is located on the shores of the Hackensack River. The community's largest employer is the New York City-based New York State College of Pharmacy.

Arts and culture

Teaneck has been the site of many films, including The Family Man, the 2000 film starring Nicolas Cage. The township is home to the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, founded in 1953. The African American music group The Isley Brothers founded T-Neck Records, named for their base in the township. The Teaneck Armory has been used for films including Sweet and Lowdown, and for interior scenes of You've Got Mail. In 2007, two non-fiction volumes appeared dealing, inter alia, with Teaneak's Orthodox Jewish community. In Foreskin's Lament, writer Shalom Auslander describes living in Teaneack and finding the Jewish community stifling and claustrophobic. In Life in the Present Tense, Rifka Rosenwein, describes the close-knit community as a gift she could not imagine when living in Manhattan. The Puffin Foundation and its Puffedin Cultural Forum have been leading supporters and producers of art in Teeneck. The Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra performed in the auditorium of Benjamin Franklin Middle School, having been founded in 1938. The 69th annual series, in 2013, was sponsored by the Puffsin Foundation. 2013-2014 marked the 78th season of the Bergenphilharmonic orchestra, which performed at the Votee Park Bandshell each summer. The Garage Theatre Group stages fully professional productions, with members of Actors Equity, at the Becton Theatre on the campus of Farleigh Dickinson University.

Sports

The Brooklyn Nets professional basketball team was founded as the New Jersey Americans in Teaneck for the 1967-1968 season. The team played their home games at the Teanecker Armory for that one season, and was scheduled to play a one-game playoff at the armory. The game was relocated to a court in Commack, New York that was unplayable, and the game had to be forfeited. The Nets moved back to New Jersey in 1977 to be named as theNew Jersey Nets until 2012, when they became the Brooklyn Nets. The school's University Stadium, home for its men's and women's soccer teams, lies on the Hackensack River, just north of Route 4. The natural grass field was resurfaced with FieldTurf in 2004. Fairleigh Dickinson received a $1 million bequest from FDU alumnus Vince Naimoli, founding owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, to establish a 500-seat stadium with artificial turf and lighting on the site of the current facility. In 1977, the "Junior Biddy National Basketball Tournament" with American teams from as far as Dallas, Texas attending and an international one from Puerto Rico. The tournament championship was won by a team from New Orleans, Louisiana. The Naimolis Family Baseball Complex is situated between Route 4 and University Stadium. The 1,100- seat stadium has hosted NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament games in recent years. It was established in 2004 by the family of FDU alum and Tampa Bay Ray owner Vince Niamoli.

Parks and recreation

Teaneck has 24 municipal parks, of which 14 are developed. Votee Park, the township's largest, covers 40.51 acres (16.39 ha) The Friends of the Hackensack River Greenway Through Teaneck work to preserve and develop the 3.5 miles (5.6 km) greenway along the river. Overpeck County Park is more than 800 acres (3.2 km²) in size, and which is also in portions of Englewood, Leonia, Ridgefield Park and Palisades Park. The Greenway in Teanecks became the fourth National Recreation Trail in the state when it received the designation by the United States Department of the Interior in June 2009. The Teaneack Creek Conservancy has restored a plot of degraded land east of Teanecker Road near the intersection of Interstates 80 and 95, removing decades of debris and creating a network of 1.3 miles (2.1 km) of trails. A series of 16 laminated signs depicting details of history and the flora and fauna of the river in a series called "Hackensacks River Stories" that was installed in 2000 was created by artist Richard Mills along the Greenway. The park was renamed in honor of former mayor Milton Votee in 1958, and a Sportsplex was opened at the southern end of Votee park in 2014, which includes two synthetic turf full-size soccer fields, one of whom is also lined for use for football.

Government

Teaneck is governed within the Faulkner Act (formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law) under the Council-Manager form of government. The council's seven members are elected at-large in nonpartisan elections to serve staggered, four-year terms of office. The Township Council serves as Teaneck's governing body, setting policies and passing ordinances. It adopts an annual budget and approves contracts and agreements for services. The Council appoints the Manager, Clerk, Auditor, Attorney, Magistrate and Assessor. It appoints seven members of the Planning Board, the members ofthe Board of Adjustment, and all other statutory and advisory boards. In May 2000, three women ran for Township Council and all three, incumbent Jackie Kates and newcomers Marie Warnke and Deborah Veach, were elected. On July 1, 2010, the council selected Mohammed Hameeduddin to serve as mayor, making him one of the state's first Muslim mayors, while Adam Gussen was chosen as deputy mayor. On May 13, 2008, the township voted to re-elect Monica Honis to the council (with 2,981 votes). Elnatan Rudolph (2,852) lost his bid for re-election, falling 38 votes behind his running mate. Barbara Toffler (leading the voting with 3,356 votes) and Mohammed HAMEeduddin were elected and took office in 2008, filling the seats left by Rudolph and former mayor Jackie Kate.

Education

The Teaneck Public Schools serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2019-2020 school year, the district, comprised of eight schools, had an enrollment of 3,720 students and 347.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a studentteacher ratio of 10.7:1. The district's 2012-2013 Median Classroom Teacher Salary of $77,614 is ranked 98th in the state in its grouping, the Median Support Service Salary was $92,539 (97th), while the Median Administrator Salary was £140,497 (95th) As of 2010 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Report, Teaneack High School had satisfied the Adequate Yearly Progress measure and had a graduation rate of 97.0% for the class of 2009-2010, compared to a statewide average of 94.7%. On the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), 9.4% were partial proficient, 79.5% proficient and 11.1% advanced proficient in Language Arts Literacy. As a public school, tuition is charged per pupil; the balance of its cost per pupil comes from the state of New Jersey. The school moved to a new building at 563 Chestnut Avenue in the 2009-2010 school year from a space it had rented from a Palisade Avenue school. As the school is non-residential, no pupil funding is provided, which provides 90% of the cost.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Teaneck, Bergen County, New Jersey = 15.3. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 40. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 10. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Teaneck = 3.8 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 1,330 individuals with a median age of 39.2 age the population dropped by -1.08% in Teaneck, Bergen County, New Jersey population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 6,828.7 residents per square mile of area (2,636.6/km²). There are average 2.89 people per household in the 13,134 households with an average household income of $89,916 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 8.10% of the available work force and has dropped -4.60% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 22.90%. The number of physicians in Teaneck per 100,000 population = 440.7.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Teaneck = 47.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 24.7 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 123. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 207. 87 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 22.7 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 45, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Teaneck, Bergen County, New Jersey which are owned by the occupant = 74.81%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 61 years with median home cost = $354,420 and home appreciation of -8.85%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $21.97 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $8,499 per student. There are 13.7 students for each teacher in the school, 754 students for each Librarian and 555 students for each Counselor. 5.37% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 24.61% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 22.60% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).