Ridgewood

Ridgewood is a suburban bedroom community of New York City, located approximately 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States Census, its population was 24,958. In 2000, its per capita income of $51,658 was ranked the 35th-highest in the state. Ridgewood was ranked 26th in Money magazine's "Best Places to Live" in 2011. The name of the village derives from the characteristics of its terrain. The Old Paramus Reformed Church was established in 1725, though the current building dates to 1800. During the Revolutionary War, the church was used for several years by the Continental Army, and in 1778 it was the site of the court-martial of General Charles Lee. The village is adjacent to nine municipalities in Bergen County, including Fair Lawn, Ho-Ho-Kus, Midland Park, Wyckoff, Paramus, Waldwick and Washington Township and Hawthorne in Passaic County. This area is home to the most iconic buildings in the town, such as the Wilsey Building and the Moore Building. The central business district of the town is centered on East RidgewOOD Avenue, which is located between Wilsey and Mooretown. The town is also home to a number of historic homes, including the Ackerman-Van Emburgh House, which was built c.1785 by John Ackerman and purchased by the Van Embergh family in 1816.

History

The Village of Ridgewood was created on November 20, 1894. The name of the village derives from the characteristics of its terrain. The Old Paramus Reformed Church was established in 1725, though the current building dates to 1800. During the Revolutionary War, the church was used for several years by the Continental Army, and in 1778 it was the site of the court-martial of General Charles Lee. The village is home to the following locations on the National Register of Historic Places: Ackerman House (222 Doremus Avenue), Van Dien House (627 Grove Street), Beech Street School (49 Cottage Place), and the Graydon Pool (on the corner of North Maple Ave & Linwood Ave) The village also has a train station, which is located at Garber Square, and a golf course, which was built in the early 1900s. The Village is located in Bergen County, New Jersey, and is part of the Bergen-Lackawanna Combined Statistical Area (BLS). The BLS is the largest BLS district in the state, with more than 2,000 acres (7,000 hectares) of land. It is also home to a number of historic buildings, including the Ackerman-Van Emburgh House, which dates back to the early 1800s, and the Wildwood Park Golf Course, which opened in the late 1800s. It also contains a public library, a school, a park, a baseball field, a bowling alley, a swimming pool, and more.

Geography

Ridgewood has a hot-summer humid continental climate (Dfa) and the hardiness zone is 7a bordering on 6b. The village has a total area of 5.80 square miles (15.03 km²), including 5.74 sq miles (14.87 km²) of land and 0.06sq miles (0.16 km²") of water (1.07%). Ridgewood is adjacent to nine municipalities, eight in Bergen County and one in Passaic County, including Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Ho-Ho-Kus, Midland Park, Wyckoff, Paramus, Waldwick and Washington Township. The Old Country Club is located between Goffle Road, Rock Road, Lincoln Avenue and Godwin Avenue. The View is an unnamed ridge known for its skyline views of New York City. The Village is home to the Wilsey building and the Moore Building, two of the most iconic buildings in the village, as well as the Scrabbletown and The Lawns neighborhoods. It is located on the New Jersey Turnpike and the New York State Thruway. It has a population of 2,816. The population of the village was 2,715 in the 2010 U.S. Census. It had a population growth rate of 0.7% in the year 2000. The city's population in 2010 was 1,814. It was 2.907 in the 2000 U.N. census.

Demographics

In the 2020 United States Census, the population of Ridgewood was reported at 25,979, an increase of 1,121 people since the 2010 Census. Based on data from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey, it was reported that there were 8,300 households in the village. The average number of persons per household was 3.01. 96.5% of the population (age 25+) graduated high school and 76.0% have a Bachelor's degree. Same-sex couples headed 38 households in 2010. The median household income was $143,229 (with a margin of error of +/ $10,530) and the median family Income was $172,825 (+/ $9,197). Males had a median income of $111,510 (-/ $12,513) versus $77,651 (-/$9,008) for females. The per capita income for the village was $67,560 (- / $3,740) About 2.2% of families and 3.3% of residents were below the poverty line, including 2.4% of those under age 18 and 4.3%) of those age 65 or over. The racial makeup of the village is 87.82% White, 1.64% African American, 0.04% Native American, 8.67% Asian, 0.59% from other races, and 1.23% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.27% (1,316) of the community.

Arts and culture

The indie rock band Real Estate was described by The Record as "Ridgewood's best-known musical export" Ridgewood is a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is home to the Atlanta Falcons, the Atlanta Braves, and the Georgia Tech Bulldogs. RidgewOOD is also the home of the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Georgia, and Georgia State University. The town is known for its arts and culture, particularly in the arts, music, and film. It has a long history of being home to artists, musicians, and writers. It also has a history of violence, particularly against African-Americans and other minorities. It was the site of the World War II-era Battle of the Bulge, which ended in a bloody battle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1944. The city is also known for being a popular destination for film and television. It's also known as the birthplace of many artists, including David Bowie, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young, among many others. The area is also home to a number of notable artists and writers, including Bob Dylan and Steve Blackman, and many members of the New York City music scene, including Andy Warhol, Paul McCartney, Neil Young and Steve Perry, among others. In the 1960s and 1970s, the town was known as "the birthplace of hip hop" and "indie rock" The town was home to many artists and musicians, such as David Bowie and Paul McCartney.

Parks and recreation

Ridgewood is home to the Bergen County High School baseball team. Graydon Park includes a beach park pool, baseball field, soccer field, and roller rink. Citizens Park, located across the street from George Washington Middle School, includes two baseball fields and a soccer field. Ridgewood Wild Duck Pond, part of Bergen's Saddle River County Park, is located between Paramus Road and Pershing Avenue. Fishing (NJ state license required) and ice skating are allowed at pond when conditions permit. The water is treated with certain chemicals, however, and swimming is strictly prohibited. The park also includes a 6-mile, multi-use bike & pedestrian pathway. This pathway connects RidgewOOD Duck Pond with five other areas along the SaddleRiver County Park: Glen Rock, Fair Lawn, Paramus, Rochelle Park and Saddle Brook. It is also used in the winter for sledding, and is located on a hill that is used to sled in the summer. It also has a picnic pavilion, fenced-in dog park, restroom facilities and entrance to the park's multi- use bike & pedestrians pathway. It's located between Linwood and North Maple Avenues, between Pershing and Paramus roads. It includes a circular path with bench seating around duck pond, additional picnic areas, children's playground, and a free concert venue. It was built in the early 1900s and is part of the original Saddle river county park, which is still open today.

Government

Ridgewood is one of only four municipalities in New Jersey with the village type of government, joining Loch Arbour, Ridgefield Park and South Orange. The village is located in the 5th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 40th state legislative district. New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Democrats Cory Booker (Newark, term ends 2027) and Bob Menendez (Harrison, term end 2025) Bergen County is governed by a directly elected County Executive, with legislative functions performed by a Board of County Commissioners comprised of seven members who are elected at-large in partisan elections on a staggered basis, with two or three seats coming up for election each November. In the November 2020 general election, voters approved by a 59%-41% margin a referendum that would move school and municipal elections (which had been held in April and May respectively) so that they were included as part of the November general election. The supporters of the initiative argued that the shift would "save money, improve turnout and improve security at schools where elections are held". The village council challenged the results of the referendum, but the village lost in Superior Court and had the ruling affirmed on appeal in March 2021, with the judge ruling that the village clerk had acted "improperly and unlawfully" in seeking to block the referendum. In August 2021, councilmember Bernadette Walsh resigned from the seat expiring in December 2024, which was left temporarily vacant. As of 2022, members of the Ridgewood Village Council are Mayor Susan Knudsen, Deputy Mayor Michael Sedon, Pamela Perron, Lorraine Reynolds and Paul Vagianos.

Education

The Ridgewood Public Schools serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.As of the 202021 school year, the district, comprised of 10 schools, had an enrollment of 5,613 students and 432.6 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a studentteacher ratio of 13.0:1. The district's high school was the 28th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in September 2014. The school was ranked 606th in U.S. News & World Report national rankings for 2019. The Holmstead School serves students of high school age with high intellectual potential who have not succeeded in traditional school settings. Students are placed in the school by referral from their home public school districts, with tuition paid for by the school district. Public school students from the village, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Ber gen County Technical Schools. The Bergen county Technical Schools are located in Hackensack, Paramus, and Teterboro or Paramus. The schools offer programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on an extremely selective and competitive application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district, as well as the Bergen Tech campus in Tetersboro orParamus. According to the New Jersey Department of Education, RidgewOOD is a socioeconomic District Factor Group of J, the highest of eight categories.

Local media

Ridgewood is served by two weekly community newspapers. The papers are published by North Jersey Media Group. The daily newspaper for the region is The Record. Patch Media provides Ridgewood with its own daily news website, which offers news, events, announcements and Local Voices. The company's website, NorthJersey.com, has a RidgewOOD town page that includes local coverage from all three of these papers. The village is located on the New Jersey Turnpike, which runs from New Jersey to New York City and New York to Long Island, New York and New England. The Turnpikes are a part of the Amtrak system, which connects New Jersey with New York, New England and the East Coast. The turnpike is one of the busiest roads in the United States, with more than 1.5 million commuters a day. It is also the busiest highway in New Jersey, with about 1.6 million vehicles per day, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. The town has a population of about 3,000 people, about a third of whom live in the village. The city's population is about 2,000. The population of the village is about 1,500. The community is located in the Bergen County section of New Jersey. The Bergen Journal-Star is a sister paper to The Record, which is published by the same company. The Record is also published by Patch Media, which provides the town with a daily news site, Patch Media.

Transportation

As of May 2010, the village had a total of 94.70 miles (152.40 km) of roadways. Major roads that pass through Ridgewood include New Jersey Route 17, Franklin Turnpike, County Route 84 and County Route 507. The village is served by the NJ Transit Main Line as well as the Bergen County Line. Taxicabs are available at the train station; the taxi building is on the northbound platform. NJ Transit buses offer service to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, the George Washington Bridge Bus Station and down the East Side on Manhattan to 23rd Street. There is also local service offered on the 722 (to Paramus Park and Paterson), 746 (to Paterson) and 752 (to Hackensack) routes. It is also possible to take the Long Island Rail Road to New York City by taking the Raritan River Rail Road (Raritan Bay) to Long Island City (Long Island City) or the Long Beach Island Railroad (Long Beach Island) to New Jersey City (New York City). It is possible to use the New Jersey State Highway System (NJS) to get to and from New York and New Jersey by taking a train from New Jersey to Newark or Newark International Airport (JFK) or Long Island. There are no public beaches in the village, but there are a number of scenic spots for picnics and other activities that are popular with locals.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Ridgewood, 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 Ridgewood = 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 25,979 individuals with a median age of 39.4 age the population dropped by -3.02% in Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 4,524.4 residents per square mile of area (1,746.9/km²). There are average 2.87 people per household in the 8,349 households with an average household income of $129,999 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 5.40% 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 25.40%. The number of physicians in Ridgewood per 100,000 population = 440.7.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Ridgewood = 49.5 inches and the annual snowfall = 27.7 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 122. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 209. 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 46, 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 Ridgewood, Bergen County, New Jersey which are owned by the occupant = 77.09%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 62 years with median home cost = $615,190 and home appreciation of -4.26%. 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 $8,272 per student. There are 14.8 students for each teacher in the school, 625 students for each Librarian and 511 students for each Counselor. 4.02% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 37.69% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 28.78% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).