Alpine, New Jersey:

Alpine is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 2,183. Alpine tied with Miami Beach, Florida, ranking number one on Forbes Magazine's "Most Expensive ZIP Codes 2007" list, with a median home sale price of $3.4 million.

For the period between July 2006 and June 2007, Alpine ranked #1 in a tie with Fisher Island, Florida on the ABC News list of most expensive zip codes, with a median home sale price of $3.4 million.^[7]^[8]

New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Alpine as its 15th best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.^[9]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 9.2 square miles (23.8 km²), of which, 6.4 square miles (16.5 km²) of it is land and 2.8 square miles (7.3 km²) of it (30.75%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census^[4] of 2000, there were 2,183 people, 708 households, and 623 families residing in the borough. The population density was 343.5 people per square mile (132.5/km²). There were 730 housing units at an average density of 114.9/sq mi (44.3/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 77.37% White, 1.51% African American, 0.23% Native American, 19.10% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 1.42% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.52% of the population.

There were 708 households out of which 36.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 79.8% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 12.0% were non-families. 9.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.08 and the average family size was 3.24.

In the borough the population was spread out with 24.7% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 20.9% from 25 to 44, 34.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females there were 102.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.8 males.

The median income for a household in the borough was $130,740, and the median income for a family was $134,068. Males had a median income of $87,544 versus $45,536 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $76,995. About 5.4% of families and 6.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.5% of those under age 18 and 6.4% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Alpine is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at large. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year.^[15]

The current mayor of Alpine is Paul H. Tomasko (D, term ends December 31, 2010. Members of the Alpine Borough Council are Council President Vicki Frankel (D, 2009), Michael Cacouris (D, 2009), Paul Garjian (D, 2008), Gayle Gerstein (D, 2010), Sidney Merians (D, 2010) and Ronny Siegel (D, 2008).^[16]^[1]

In elections held on November 6, 2007, incumbent Democrats Gayle Gerstein and Sidney Merians ran unopposed and were re-elected to the council to a second and third term respectively.^[17]^[18]

On Election Day, November 7, 2006, Democrats swept all three open seats unopposed, with Paul H. Tomasko (443 votes) reelected as Mayor, and Michael Cacouris (412) and Vicki Frankel (399) winning additional terms on the Borough Council.^[19]^[20]

Federal, state and county representation

Alpine is in the Fifth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 39th Legislative District.^[21]

Other countywide elected officials are Sheriff Leo McGuire (D), Surrogate Court Judge Mike Dressler (D, Cresskill) County Clerk Kathleen Donovan (R, Rutherford).^[26]

Politics

As of Election Day, November 4, 2008, there were 1,275 registered voters. Of registered voters, 337 (26.4% of all registered voters) were registered as Democrats, 369 (28.9%) were registered as Republicans and 569 (44.6%) were registered as Undeclared. There were no voters registered to other parties.^[27]

On the national level, Alpine leans toward the Republican Party. In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 55.5% of the vote here, defeating Democrat Barack Obama, who received 43.6% of the vote, with 70.0% of registered voters participating.^[27] In the 2004 election, Republican George W. Bush received 56% of the vote here, defeating Democrat John Kerry, who received 43%.^[28]

Education

Transportation

Media

Alpine is home to the tower and laboratory built by Edwin Howard Armstrong after RCA evicted him from the Empire State Building. Armstrong's experimental FM station, W2XMN, broadcast from various locations on the tower, first on 42.8 MHz; later on 44.1 MHz; and finally on 93.1 MHz in the modern FM band. The laboratory building and the tower still stand; the 400-foot (122-m) tower is home to many two-way radio users, one modern FM station (Fairleigh Dickinson University's WFDU), and backup transmitters for several of New York's television stations. The tower served as a primary tower for the stations after September 11 when the World Trade Center was destroyed. There was some local opposition to this scheme, but the move was temporary, as the stations affected moved their primary broadcast facilities to the Empire State Building. The original lab building is home to a static display of historic communications equipment and offices; the USA Network cable channel operated from this building in the late 1970s.

Points of interest

Rio Vista is an upscale neighborhood in the southern section of Alpine. Rio Vista is home to Devil's Tower, a stone clock tower that is claimed to be haunted. The tower was originally built by sugar baron Manuel Rionda (1854-1943) in order to allow his wife to see New York from the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. The legend has it that when his wife saw him with another woman, she committed suicide by jumping off the tower. After becoming upset over his wife's death, Rionda stopped all work on the tower.^[31] In reality Harriet Rionda died of natural causes in 1922 and was interred nearby for approximately 20 years; her coffin was moved to Brookside Cemetery, Englewood. The estate was later sub-divided into 197 housing sites consisting of miles of roadway, infrastructure, and related facilities in the mid 1980s.

The Alpine Boat Basin serves as both a public picnic area and small marina for private boats. The area is a scenic riverfront picnic area and boat basin, plus beach for car-top boat launches (canoe and kayak), with fishing, access to hiking trails and Henry Hudson Drive, restrooms, water, vending machines, and public phones. The area also has Alpine Pavilion, an open-air stone picnic pavilion built in 1934 by the Civil Works Administration (available for rental), as well as the historic Blackledge-Kearney House.

Popular Culture

In his 2008 Kill the Messenger Tour special on HBO, Chris Rock mentions that he lives in a multi-million dollar house in Alpine, New Jersey. ("Don't hate the player - hate the game!" Rock then retorts to his astonished audience). Rock goes on to say that the only other black people that can afford to live in his neighborhood are three of the most famous black artists, Mary J. Blige, Jay-Z and Eddie Murphy. He then asks the audience if they know what his white next-door neighbor does for a living. Rock screams, "He's a dentist... a fucking dentist! He ain't in the dental hall of fame. He ain't the world's greatest dentist? He's just a regular old 'pull ya teeth' dentist. If he were a black dentist, he'd have to have invented teeth!"^[32]

Noted residents

Sources

References

^ ^a ^b "County of Bergen: 2008 County and Municipal Directory", Bergen County, New Jersey, p. 35. Accessed July 3, 2008.
^ USGS GNIS: Borough of Alpine, Geographic Names Information System, accessed April 22, 2007.
^ ^a ^b Census data for Alpine, United States Census Bureau. Accessed September 3, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ A Cure for the Common Codes: New Jersey, Missouri Census Data Center. Accessed July 14, 2008.
^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ What's the Toniest Town in America?, ABC News. Accessed September 15, 2007.
^ Woolsey, Matt. "Priciest ZIP code? It's not 90210", Forbes. Accessed November 15, 2007.
^ "Best Places To Live - The Complete Top Towns List 1-100", New Jersey Monthly, February 21, 2008. Accessed February 24, 2008.
^ "The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 194.
^ "History of Bergen County" p. 336 shows April 13, 1903, as date of formation.
^ "US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990". United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ Jersey Resident Population by Municipality: 1930 - 1990, Workforce New Jersey Public Information Network. Accessed March 1, 2007.
^ Historical Population Trends in Bergen County (1900 - 2000), Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed December 23, 2007.
^ 2005 New Jersey Legislative District Data Book, Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, April 2005, p. 165.
^ Mayor & Council, Borough of Alpine. Accessed July 3, 2008.
^ "Alpine municipal elections", The Record (Bergen County), November 3, 2007. Accessed November 15, 2007.
^ Bergen County election results, The Record (Bergen County), November 7, 2007. Accessed November 10, 2007.
^ "Election 2006: Municipal Results", The Record (Bergen County), November 8, 2006, p. L-2.
^ Bergen County 2006 General Election Results, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed February 1, 2007.
^ 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters, p. 54. Accessed August 30, 2006.
^ Legislative Roster: 2008-2009 Session, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed June 6, 2008.
^ About the Governor, New Jersey. Accessed June 6, 2008.
^ Bergen County Executive, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed March 25, 2008.
^ Freeholder Home Page, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed March 25, 2008.
^ Constitutional Officers, Bergen County, New Jersey. Accessed March 25, 2008.
^ ^a ^b 2008 General Election Results for Alpine, The Record (Bergen County). Accessed November 6, 2008.
^ 2004 Presidential Election results: Bergen County, New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety: Division of Elections, dated December 13, 2004.
^ Data for the Alpine Elementary School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed march 8, 2008.
^ Alvarado, Monsy. "Alpine to keep sending students to Tenafly", The Record (Bergen County), April 4, 2003. Accessed January 2, 2008."ALPINE - The borough's high school students will continue to attend Tenafly High School under a new contract approved by the Board of Education this week."
^ Riovista Land Corporation certificate, accessed January 30, 2007.
^ Chris Rock in performance on HBO, No Apologies Tour (NY, South Africa, London) .
^ Kamin, Arthur Z. "State Becomes a Part of Celebrating Marconi's Achievements", The New York Times, October 23, 1994. Accessed July 6, 2008. "Mrs. Braga, who has lived in Alpine 40 years, said the Marconi International Fellowship Council had an endowment of about $3 million and her goal was to raise it to $4 million."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Century, Douglas. Alpine, N.J., Home of Hip-Hop Royalty, The New York Times, February 11, 2007.
^ Cahillane, Kevin. "WORTH NOTING; White Sox Fans? Say It Ain't So", The New York Times, September 25, 2005. Accessed December 9, 2007. "Mr. Einhorn -- who was born and raised in Paterson and lives in Alpine -- is the flamboyant yin to the steely yang of the principal owner, Jerry Reinsdorf."
^ Hevesi, Dennis. "Henry Clay Frick II, 87, Physician And President of Frick Collection", The New York Times, February 15, 2007. Accessed February 12, 2008.
^ Wallace, William N. "COLLEGES HOCKEY: NOTEBOOK -- DIVISION III; Middlebury Makes It Four Straight Titles", The New York Times, March 25, 1998. Accessed December 18, 2007. "Herr, the captain from the Hotchkiss School and Alpine, N.J., was held back by injuries earlier, but is fit now."
^ Associated Press. " O'KELLY ISLEY", The New York Times, April 3, 1986. Accessed October 8, 2007. "He was 48 years old and lived in Alpine. Born Dec. 25, 1937, Mr. Isley grew up in Cincinnati and began his musical career singing gospel with his brothers, who performed with their mother accompanying on piano."
^ ^a ^b In Pictures: Star-Studded Neighborhoods, Forbes, February 19, 2007. "Celebrity Residents: P. Diddy, Jay-Z, Russell Simmons."
^ ^a ^b Rappers making the move to Bergen County, The Record (Bergen County), October 10, 2005.
^ Silverstein, Marilyn. "Nobel winner who's at home with Einstein", New Jersey Jewish News, November 8, 2007. Accessed January 22, 2008. "A native of New York, Maskin grew up in New Jersey, in a nonreligious Jewish home in the town of Alpine."
^ Friendly, David T. "THE EDDIE MURPHY SCRIPT DERBY: WINNER TAKES ALL", Los Angeles Times, May 19, 1985. Accessed Septemebr 14, 2008. "On a recent Sunday morning, Eddie Murphy glanced out the living room window of his Alpine, N.J., home and noticed a neighbor standing in the front yard. Under his arm the man carried a script, a sight that made Murphy take a deep breath as he opened the front door."
^ Strauss, Robert. "So Jersey, He Deserves His Own Rest Area", The New York Times, August 7, 2005. Accessed October 25, 2007. "Mr. Piscopo's father, also named Joe, was a lawyer and the family mostly lived in Essex County, the younger Joe graduating from West Essex High School in North Caldwell. With his "Saturday Night Live" fame, he moved to one of the richest corners of New Jersey, Alpine, persuading Mr. Murphy to join him there in that wealthy enclave by the Palisades."
^ Jackson, Herb. "GOP rival urges probe of Senate hopeful", The Record (Bergen County), March 29, 2008. Accessed July 3, 2008. "Rival Senate candidate Murray Sabrin on Friday seized on Andy Unanue's admission that he lived in New York City since 2004 while continuing to vote and register his cars using his parents' address in Alpine."
^ "IF YOU'RE THINKING OF LIVING IN ALPINE", The New York Times, October 27, 1985.

Alpine, New Jersey

Contents