Tenafly, New Jersey

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Tenafly (pronounced /ˈtɛnəˌflaj/) is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2000 Census, the borough population was 13,806.

The first to settle in Tenafly were the Dutch in the late 1600s. The name "Tenafly" is derived from the Dutch words "Tiene Vly" or "Ten Swamps" which was given by Dutch settlers in 1688.^[1]

Tenafly was incorporated as a borough on January 24, 1894, under an Act of the New Jersey Legislature from portions of the now-defunct Palisades Township, based on the results of a referendum held the previous day, at the height of the Boroughitis phenomenon sweeping through Bergen County at the time.^[2][3]

Contents 1 Geography 2 Demographics 3 Government 3.1 Local government 3.2 Federal, state and county representation 3.3 Politics 4 Education 5 Noted residents 6 Popular culture 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Geography

Tenafly is located at 40°55′20″N, 73°57′50″W (40.922139, -73.963772)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 13.5 km² (5.2 mi²). 11.9 km² (4.6 mi²) of it is land and 1.5 km² (0.6 mi²) of it (11.15%) is water.

The eastern half of the town is known as the "East Hill" for its higher elevation in relation to the rest of the borough. The terrain rises rapidly to the east of the downtown area, ending at the spectacular New Jersey Palisades, overlooking the Hudson River. From atop the cliffs, Tenafly residents have a wide-ranging view of New York City.

[edit] Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1930	5,669		–
1940	7,413		30.8%
1950	9,651		30.2%
1960	14,264		47.8%
1970	14,827		3.9%
1980	13,552		-8.6%
1990	13,326		-1.7%
2000	13,806		3.6%
Est. 2005	14,362	[4]	4.0%
Population 1930 - 1990[5]

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 13,806 people, 4,774 households, and 3,866 families residing in the borough. The population density was 1,156.3/km² (2,993.4/mi²). There were 4,897 housing units at an average density of 410.1/km² (1,061.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 76.79% White, 0.96% African American, 0.09% Native American, 19.08% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.40% from other races, and 1.67% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4.65% of the population.

There were 4,774 households out of which 43.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 70.6% were married couples living together, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 19.0% were non-families. 16.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.21.

In the borough the population was spread out with 28.3% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 26.4% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females there were 92.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $90,931, and the median income for a family was $111,029. Males had a median income of $79,641 versus $50,617 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $53,170. About 3.5% of families and 5.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Government

[edit] Local government

Since it became a Borough, Tenafly has been governed by a Mayor and Council who are chosen through partisan elections held in November annually. The Mayor is the chief executive officer and the six Council members handle legislative functions. A full-time Administrator assists the Mayor and Council and coordinates the operations of government departments.

The Mayor of Tenafly is Peter Rustin, whose term of office ends December 31, 2007. The Mayor is elected to a four-year term and is eligible for re-election. The Mayor presides over all meetings of the Council but may vote only in case of a tie. The Mayor has veto power, which may be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the Council.^[6]

The Borough Council consists of six members, who are elected at large for three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats up for election each year. As the legislative body, the Council adopts ordinances and resolutions, decides on appropriations, approves appointments made by the Mayor, determines policy, and establishes the functions of the various departments of the local government. Each Council member is chairperson of one of the six standing committees.^[6]

Members of the Tenafly Borough Council are Council President Patrick J. Rouse (Police Commission; 2007), Carol Hoernlein (Building & Grounds Committee; 2009), Nadia LaMastra (Administration & Personnel Committee; 2009), Michael Lattif (Finance Committee; 2008), Robert Thompson (Fire Committee; 2007) and Jon Warms (Streets, Sanitation, Drainage & Parks Committee; 2008).^[6]

In November 2005, Councilman Jeffery Romano was arrested in Newark following a drug bust that uncovered forty bags of heroin in his car.^[7] Romano resigned from the council in June 2006 after pleading guilty to heroin possession and was replaced, then temporarily, by Jon Warms, who has since been elected to his own full term (November 2006).^[8]

On Election Day, November 7, 2006, voters filled two three-year terms on the Borough Council held by Republicans Charles M. Lipson and Joseph Salvatore, and the unexpired two-year term that had been filled by Jon Warms to replace Jeffrey Romano. As of Election Day, the council was split 3-3 between Democrats and Republicans, in a community in which registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 5-4 margin. The Democrats swept all three seats, with challengers Carol Hoernlein (2,768 votes) and Nadia LaMastra (2,718) elected, defeating incumbents Salvatore (1,769) and Lipson (1,746). Jon Warms (with 2,830 votes) was elected to serve the balance of the two-year term, defeating Republican challenger (and longtime former Councilman and one-time Republican Mayoral primary candidate) William S. Saunders (1,629). As of January 1, 2007, when Hoernlein and LaMastra took office, the Democrats have a 5-1 edge.^[9][10][11]

Tenafly's partisan political domination by Democrats (US Sen. Robert Menendez defeated his GOP challenger Tom Kean, Jr. here in the 2006 general election by a 2-1 margin; as well, Democrats up- and down-ballot were victorious within the Borough in '06, each Dem. candidate winning in each of the community's 11 election districts) is quite ironic. Tenafly, as much as any other municipality in Bergen County, is indicative of the "national inner suburban" and affluent move to the left throughout the 1990s and into the first decade of the 21st century. Prior to 1995, only Republicans had served as Tenafly's Mayor. Additionally, not only has local voter registration, while still dominated by undeclared voters, flipped, within about the same period of time from slightly Republican-leaning to slightly Democratic-leaning, but now with a 5-1 grip (Democrats') on the Borough Council, as of January 2007, Tenafly truly has swung from a traditional WASP-dominated, Republican-voting sleepy bedroom community; to, within a remarkably small period of years, a more diverse (particularly in religious terms), youthful, equally if not more affluent than ever before, typical NYC-centric Bergen County liberal, Democratic-voting suburb. As recently as the early and mid-1990s, almost year after year, Democrats did not even put up a nominee in general elections for Borough Council. Ironic, indeed, following the leftward-trend of Bergen County and New Jersey, we now see this Borough almost politically, ideologically, completely converse to where it was around ten years ago. This trend seems to be continuing and has not regressed locally or stayed stagnant.

[edit] Federal, state and county representation

Tenafly is in the Fifth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 37th Legislative District.^[12]

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 Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).

The 37th legislative district of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Loretta Weinberg (D, Teaneck) and in the Assembly by Valerie Huttle (D, Englewood) and Gordon M. Johnson (D, Englewood). The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).

Bergen County's County Executive is Dennis McNerney (D). The executive, along with the Board of Chosen Freeholders administer all county business. Bergen County's Freeholders are Chairman Tomas J. Padilla (D, Park Ridge), Vice-Chairman Elizabeth Calabrese (D, Wallington), David L. Ganz (D, Fair Lawn), James M. Carroll (D, Demarest), Bernadette P. McPherson (D, Rutherford), Julie O'Brien (D) and Connie Wagner (D).

Other countywide elected officials are Sheriff Leo McGuire (D), Surrogate Court Judge Mike Dressler (D, Cresskill) County Clerk Kathleen Donovan (R).

[edit] Politics

As of April 1, 2006, out of a 2004 Census estimated population of 14,214 in Tenafly, there were 8,633 registered voters (60.7% of the population, vs. 55.4% in all of Bergen County). Of registered voters, 1,769 (20.5% vs. 20.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 1,407 (16.3% vs. 19.2% countywide) were registered as Republicans and 5,454 (63.2% vs. 60.1% countywide) were registered as Undeclared. There were three voters registered to other parties.^[13]

On the national level, Tenafly leans towards the Democratic Party. In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 61% of the vote here, defeating Republican George W. Bush, who received around 38%.^[14]

[edit] Education

The Tenafly Public Schools serve students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Schools in the district are four K-5 elementary schools (Mackay School, Maugham School, Smith School and Stillman School), Tenafly Middle School for grades 6-8 and Tenafly High School for grades 9-12. Students from Alpine attend Tenafly High School as part of a sending/receiving relationship.

Tenafly High School was awarded the prestigious Blue Ribbon School Award, awarded by the United States Department of Education at a special assembly to the Tenafly High School Community on September 20, 2005. Tenafly was the only high school in New Jersey and one of 38 public high schools in the U.S. to receive the 2005 Blue Ribbon School Award.^[15]

Tenafly High School was the 2nd ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 316 schools statewide, in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2006 cover story on the state's Top Public High Schools.^[16]

[edit] Noted residents

Noted residents of Tenafly and those of note who were born in the borough include:

• Hiroaki Aoki, founder of Benihana Japanese Steakhouses^[17]
• Jesse Barfield, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees Outfielder, lived in Tenafly during part of his career as a Yankee.
• Gregg Berhalter, member of the United States men's national soccer team^[18]
• Yogi Berra, New York Yankees
• Alon Cohen and Lior Haramaty, inventors of VoIP technology
• Hope Davis, actor^[19]
• Jimmy Dean, singer turned breakfast meat entrepreneur
• Tate Donovan, actor
• Reuven Frank, former NBC News president and pioneer of Vietnam War-era news coverage
• Alexander Gemignani, Broadway performer
• Lesley Gore, singer.^[20]
• Rusty Hamer, actor
• Ed Harris, actor
• Jon-Erik Hexum, actor
• Ron Insana, CNBC anchor and senior analyst.^[21]
• Sarah Lewitinn alias Ultragrrrl, Spin writer, blogger, downtown socialite
• Don Mattingly, New York Yankees
• Tino Martinez, New York Yankees
• Gil McDougald, American League Rookie of the Year winner in 1951, who played his entire career with the New York Yankees, appearing in 53 World Series games
• Mira Sorvino, actor.^[22]
• Paul Sorvino, actor
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton, social activist
• Lori Stokes, WABC anchorwoman
• Thomas D. Thacher, one-time Solicitor General of the United States

[edit] Popular culture

Tenafly has influenced and been featured in many different movies and television shows, including:

• Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
• Running on Empty (1988)
• Lost at Home (1996)
• Gunplay (2002)
• Garden State (2004)
• 13 Going on 30 (2004) - the town in the movie, Tamerak, is based on and made to resemble Tenafly.
• Distance (2006)
• Baby M (1988); TV
• The Sopranos
• NJ Classroom CloseUp, episode focusing on the Tenafly Middle School Music Program.
• MTV: TRL (Total Request Live), episode regarding high schools around the country; focused on Tenafly's Technological Department.
• Nicorette Gum commercial, filmed in Tenafly's Sunnyside Park
• HBO's Entourage (2006). The town was referred to by character Ari Gold.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tenafly official website
• Tenafly Public Schools
• MuniNet Guide
• Tenafly Public Schools's 2005-06 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• National Center for Education Statistics data for the Tenafly Public Schools
• History of Englewood, NJ's attempted school district regionalization with Tenafly, NJ
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 40.922139° -73.963772°
  • Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
  • Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
  • Topographic map from TopoZone
  • Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA

This box: view • talk • edit Municipalities of Bergen County, New Jersey (County seat: Hackensack)
Cities	Englewood | Garfield | Hackensack
Boroughs	Allendale | Alpine | Bergenfield | Bogota | Carlstadt | Cliffside Park | Closter | Cresskill | Demarest | Dumont | East Rutherford | Edgewater | Elmwood Park | Emerson | Englewood Cliffs | Fair Lawn | Fairview | Fort Lee | Franklin Lakes | Glen Rock | Harrington Park | Hasbrouck Heights | Haworth | Hillsdale | Ho-Ho-Kus | Leonia | Little Ferry | Lodi | Maywood | Midland Park | Montvale | Moonachie | New Milford | North Arlington | Northvale | Norwood | Oakland | Old Tappan | Oradell | Palisades Park | Paramus | Park Ridge | Ramsey | Ridgefield | River Edge | Rockleigh | Rutherford | Saddle River | Tenafly | Teterboro | Upper Saddle River | Waldwick | Wallington | Westwood | Wood-Ridge | Woodcliff Lake
Townships	Lyndhurst | Mahwah | River Vale | Rochelle Park | Saddle Brook | South Hackensack | Teaneck | Washington Township | Wyckoff
Villages	Ridgefield Park | Ridgewood