FAIR LAWN, NEW JERSEY


'Fair Lawn' is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 31,637. As of 2006, the Census Bureau estimate a population of 31,246.
Fair Lawn was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 6, 1924, as "Fairlawn", from portions of Saddle River Township."The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 77 The name was taken from ''Fairlawn'', David Acker's estate home, that was built in 1865 and later became the Fair Lawn Municipal Building.[2] In 1933, the official spelling of the borough's name was split into its present two-word form as "Fair Lawn" Borough.
Radburn, one of the first planned communities in the United States, is an unincorporated community located within Fair Lawn, and was founded in 1929 as "a town for the motor age".

Contents
Geography
History
Demographics
Government
Local government
Federal, state and county representation
Politics
Education
Transportation
Popular culture
Noted residents
References
External links

Geography


Fair Lawn is located at (40.933943, -74.116711).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 13.5 km² (5.2 mi²). 13.4 km² (5.2 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.1 mi²) of it (0.96%) is water.

History


In its earlier days Fair Lawn was known as 'Slooterdam': taken from a Dutch word used to describe a Native American weir used to trap fish on the Passaic River.[3] Fair Lawn was named after the Estate of David Acker which was named "Fair Lawn" and fronted onto what is now Fair Lawn Avenue. The home became the borough's municipal building and was later torn down when a senior citizen center was built where it stood.

Demographics


As of the census of 2000, there were 31,637 people, 11,806 households, and 8,901 families residing in the borough. The population density was 2,362.7/km² (6,121.0/mi²). There were 12,006 housing units at an average density of 896.6/km² (2,322.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the borough was 91.54% White, 0.74% African American, 0.04% Native American, 4.92% Asian, 1.37% from other races, and 1.38% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.51% of the population.
As of the 2000 Census, 19.7% of Fair Lawn residents were of Italian ancestry.[4] Fair Lawn also has a high Russian Jewish population.[5] As of the 2000 Census, 10.1% of Fair Lawn residents identified themselves as being of Russian ancestry, the highest percentage of any municipality in New Jersey with more than 1,000 residents identifying their ancestry.[6]
There were 11,806 households out of which 33.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.5% were married couples living together, 9.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.6% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.12.
In the borough the population was spread out with 22.8% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 26.9% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 18.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.7 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $72,127, and the median income for a family was $81,220. Males had a median income of $56,798 versus $41,300 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $32,273. About 2.6% of families and 3.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.7% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government


Local government

Fair Lawn operates under a Council-Manager (Plan E of the Faulkner Act) form of Government. All policy making power is concentrated in the council. The mayor is a member of council, and simply presides over its meetings with no separate policy making power. The manager is appointed by the council to serve as the municipal chief executive and administrative official.
Members of the Borough Council are Mayor Steven Weinstein (D, term ends December 31, 2007), Jeanne Baratta (R, 2009), Marty Etler (D, 2007) Joseph Tedeschi (D, 2007) and Ed Trawinski (R, 2009).[7]
Republicans Baratta and Trawinski received approximately 54% of the vote in November 2005 (defeating Democrats David L. Ganz and Allan Caan) despite the heavy Democratic registration and the borough's landslide for Governor Jon Corzine. Moreover, Councilman Joseph Tedeschi is a former Republican and an avowed "traditional, conservative" Democrat.
Standard Borough Council meetings are televised on local cable TV when held in the Council chambers in the Fair Lawn Municipal Building. Work sessions, where laws are discussed and prepared for adoption, are not usually televised.
Fair Lawn has an all-volunteer fire department.[8] The department has four stations, with Company 1 on George Street, Company 2 at Route 208 South (before Maple Avenue Bridge), Company 3 located at Corner Plaza Road / Rosalie Street and Company 4 on Radburn Road.[9]
Federal, state and county representation

Fair Lawn is part of New Jersey's 38th Legislative District and is in the Ninth Congressional District.[10]

Politics

As of April 1, 2006, out of a 2004 Census estimated population of 31,613 in Fair Lawn, there were 19,673 registered voters (62.2% of the population, vs. 55.4% in all of Bergen County). Of registered voters, 5,206 (26.5% vs. 20.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 2,773 (14.1% vs. 19.2% countywide) were registered as Republicans and 11,685 (59.4% vs. 60.1% countywide) were registered as Undeclared. There were nine voters registered to other parties.[11]
On the national level, Fair Lawn voters lean toward the Democratic Party. In the 2004 Presidential Election, Democrat John Kerry received 54% of the vote here, defeating Republican George W. Bush, who received around 45%.[12]

Education


The Fair Lawn Public Schools consist of nine schools.

★ John. A. Forrest

★ Lyncrest

★ Milnes

★ Radburn

★ Warren Point

★ Westmoreland

★ Memorial Middle School

★ Thomas Jefferson Middle School

★ Fair Lawn High School

Transportation


Fair Lawn has several main roads crossing through it forming a semi-3x3 grid. Saddle River Road, Plaza Road, and River Road (County Route 507) run North-South, Broadway, Morlot Avenue and Fair Lawn Avenue run East-West, and Route 208 runs Northwest-Southeast.
Broadway becomes Route 4 in Elmwood Park to the west and eventually Dr. Martin Luther King Boulevard in Paterson. To the East, it becomes Route 4 going into Paramus and is less than 10 miles (16 km) from the George Washington Bridge
Fair Lawn Avenue is considered the borough's main street, containing its Borough Hall, Police Station, Public Library, and Community School. The road goes west over the Passaic River into Paterson, and east into Paramus where it becomes Century Road.
The intersection of Fair Lawn Avenue and Plaza Road form what could be considered a "town center", with several shopping plazas, and the Radburn train station all within walking distance. Other commercial areas include Broadway and River Road, but neither is particularly amenable to pedestrian traffic despite attempts by local business owners to make them so.
Route 208 has its southern terminus in Fair Lawn, and goes through the middle of the borough from the northwest to the southeast, where it eventually merges with Broadway to become Route 4 not far from Paramus. Taken the other direction, Route 208 flows northwest to Interstate 287 in Oakland.
Saddle River Road goes through the eastern side of Fair Lawn and into Saddle Brook, where it provides a link to both the Garden State Parkway and Interstate 80.
Route 20 southbound becomes Route 21 which separates Fair Lawn from Paterson and northbound Hawthorne.
Fair Lawn uses a somewhat unique street address numbering system. Instead of an address being, for example, 55 Some Street, most Fair Lawn addresses are given hyphenated numbers, such as 10-13 Some Street. This numbering system is also used in Astoria and Woodside in Queens, New York City. Exceptions to this numbering system generally exist on the Glen Rock and Hawthorne sides of Fair Lawn. The first numbers (before the dash) correspond to block-distances from Broadway (on streets that run east-west) and to the numbered streets in the borough (example: 2nd Street, 17th Street, etc.) on the streets that run North-South; with the highest numbers being in the low 40's, and the lowest numbers being 0-30, etc.
Fair Lawn is served by the Radburn and Broadway train stations on the New Jersey Transit Bergen County Line. The stations offer service to Hoboken Terminal, with connections at Secaucus Junction to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan and to most other New Jersey Transit train lines. New Jersey Transit buses include lines 144, 145, 148, 164, 160, 171, 175, 746, 748, 758 and 770. [13]

Popular culture



★ In the 1976 film ''Taxi Driver'', when Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is talking to a Secret Service agent, he gives his address as 154 Hopper Avenue, Fair Lawn, New Jersey. There is a Hopper Avenue in Fair Lawn, but 154 Hopper Avenue does not exist.[14]

★ In the 1996 Mel Gibson movie ''Ransom'', Fair Lawn was seen when Gibson is told to turn from Route 4 onto Saddle River Road (Fair Lawn) and into the rock quarry (which is actually located in North Haledon, New Jersey). A few days worth of filming was also done inside a home on Saddle River Road but those scenes were cut.

★ In the 2004 movie ''Taxi'', Fair Lawn can be seen on the map that Detective Washburn (Jimmy Fallon) is reading. The map is fake, since it shows a fictional uncompleted highway off the Garden State Parkway in Oradell. The scene where the robbers jump off the uncompleted skyway was not filmed in New Jersey.

★ In the movie ''Casino'', two scenes were shot at the Fair Lawn Fire Dept. Company 3. The scenes were when the news lady was talking about the mob members and the scene right after that.

★ In the television series 'The Sopranos,'' Mob boss Tony Soprano tells protege Christopher Moltisanti to visit a Russian mobster in Fair Lawn.

Noted residents



★ Steve Bornstein, current head of the NFL Network.[15]

★ Jim Finn, football player with the New York Giants.[16]

★ Bobby Jones, 1960s singer

★ Jim Jones, rapper

★ Millie Perkins, actress, who played the title role in her first film as the star of ''The Diary of Anne Frank''.[17]

★ Ron Perranoski, MLB pitcher from 1961-1973.[18]

★ Billy Price, singer

★ Steve Rothman, Congressman representing New Jersey's 9th congressional district.[19]

★ Charlie Schlatter, actor.[20]

★ Regina Spektor, singer; attended Fair Lawn High School

★ Michael Policelli, actor, on tv show "Carpoolers" ABC, and was rumored to be dating Emma Stone (from Superbad)

References


1. , Geographic Names Information System, accessed April 16, 2007.
2. Dutch Door Genealogy - Bergen County New Jersey Municipalities, accessed February 9, 2006.
3. History of Fair Lawn, accessed August 23, 2006.
4. Fair Lawn, New Jersey, city-data.com. Accessed August 27, 2007.
5. "In Fair Lawn, Getting to Know a New Language and a New Land; ON THE MAP", ''The New York Times'', July 7, 1996, accessed February 3, 2007.
6. Russian Communities, Epodunk. Accessed April 22, 2007.
7. Fair Lawn Government: Borough Council - 2007, Borough of Fair Lawn. Accessed January 15, 2007.
8. Fair Lawn Fire Department, Fire Departments Net. Accessed May 22, 2007.
9. Emergency Services, Borough of Fair Lawn. Accessed May 22, 2007.
10. 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, p. 57, New Jersey League of Women Voters. Accessed August 30, 2006, which incorrectly shows Legislative District 33.
11. "County of Bergen: Voter Statistics by Municipality, Ward & District," dated April 1, 2006.
12. 2004 Presidential Election results: Bergen County, New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Division of Elections, dated December 13, 2004.
13. New Jersey Transit Bus Schedules, accessed August 30, 2007.
14. Trivia for Taxi Driver, from the Internet Movie Database. Accessed December 20, 2006.
15. "Bornstein named head of NFL Network", NFL.com, January 16, 2003. Accessed June 27, 2007. "Bornstein is a native of Fairlawn, N.J., and is a 1974 University of Wisconsin graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in film."
16. Giants Re-Sign FB Jim Finn, ''New York Giants'', March 28, 2005.
17. New Picture, ''Time (magazine)'', March 30, 1959. See pg. 2 of article. "His choice was an 18-year-old model from Fair Lawn, N.J. named Millie Perkins."
18. Baseball All-Century Teams of the Decades, ''The Star-Ledger'', accessed February 27, 2007.
19. " Divorced Jewish male seeks a date (and, oh yes, reelection)", ''The Record (Bergen County)'', August 5, 2004, accessed April 14, 2004.
20. Charlie Schlatter, Internet Movie Database. Accessed July 19, 2007.

External links



★ Fair Lawn official website

★ Fair Lawn online guide

★ Fair Lawn Public Schools

★

★ National Center for Education Statistics data for the Fair Lawn Public Schools

★ Radburn, New Jersey - A Town for the Motor Age

★ Knights of Pythias - Benjamin N. Cardozo Lodge #163

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