Harrison, New Jersey

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For the township in Gloucester County, see Harrison Township, New Jersey
Harrison, New Jersey
Map highlighting Harrison's location within Hudson County. Inset: Hudson County's location within New Jersey
Map highlighting Harrison's location within Hudson County. Inset: Hudson County's location within New Jersey
Coordinates: 40°44′37″N 74°9′11″W / 40.74361, -74.15306
Country United States
State New Jersey
County Hudson
Incorporated April 13, 1840
Government
 - Type Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council)
 - Mayor Raymond J. McDonough
Area
 - Total 1.3 sq mi (3.4 km²)
 - Land 1.2 sq mi (3.2 km²)
 - Water 0.1 sq mi (0.2 km²)
Elevation [1] 26 ft (8 m)
Population (2006)[2]
 - Total 13,942
 - Density 11,811.1/sq mi (4,560.3/km²)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code 07029
Area code(s) 973
FIPS code 34-30210[3]
GNIS feature ID 0885245[4]
Website: http://www.townofharrison.com

Harrison is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 14,424.

Harrison was originally incorporated as a township by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 13, 1840, from portions of Lodi Township, shortly after Hudson County was created from portions of Bergen County, on February 22, 1840. Portions of the township were returned to Bergen County on February 19, 1852, to create Union Township. Kearny Township was created from parts of the township on April 8, 1867 Harrison was reincorporated as a town on March 25, 1869.[5]

Contents

[edit] Geography

Harrison is located at 40°44′45″N, 74°9′18″W (40.745951, -74.155096).[6]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km²), of which, 1.2 square miles (3.2 km²) of it is land and 0.1 square miles (0.2 km²) of it (6.82%) is water.

[edit] Demographics

Historical populations
Census Pop.  %±
1930 15,601
—
1940 14,171 -9.2%
1950 13,490 -4.8%
1960 11,743 -13.0%
1970 11,811 0.6%
1980 12,242 3.6%
1990 13,425 9.7%
2000 14,424 7.4%
Est. 2006 13,942 [2] -3.3%
Population 1930 - 1990.[7]

As of the census[3] of 2000, there were 14,424 people, 5,136 households, and 3,636 families residing in the town. The population density was 11,811.1 people per square mile (4,564.9/km²). There were 5,254 housing units at an average density of 4,302.2/sq mi (1,662.8/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 66.10% White, 0.98% African American, 0.40% Native American, 11.89% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 15.96% from other races, and 4.65% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 36.97% of the population.

As of the 2000 census, 7.22% of Harrison's residents identified themselves as being of Chinese ancestry. This was the fifth highest percentage of people with Chinese ancestry in any place in New Jersey with 1,000 or more residents identifying their ancestry.[8]

There were 5,136 households out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.2% were non-families. 22.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.81 and the average family size was 3.27.

In the town the population was spread out with 21.5% under the age of 18, 10.6% from 18 to 24, 36.8% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 104.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $41,350, and the median income for a family was $48,489. Males had a median income of $33,069 versus $26,858 for females. The per capita income for the town was $18,490. About 10.1% of families and 12.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.5% of those under age 18 and 10.8% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Government

[edit] Local government

The town is governed under the Faulkner Act (Mayor-Council) system of municipal government.

The Town of Harrison is divided into four electoral wards, with each ward represented by two council members, with a total of eight council members on the Town Council. Each ward is divided into three districts, for a total of 12 electoral districts in Harrison.

The head of the government is the Mayor. The Mayor chairs the Town Council and heads the municipal government. The Mayor may both vote on legislation before the Council and veto ordinances. The Mayor's veto can be overruled by ¾ of the Town Council voting to overrule the veto.

Town Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm (except in July and August, when no meetings are held), in Council Chambers, which is located on the second floor of the Town Hall at 318 Harrison Avenue. Public Caucus Meetings are held at 6:30 pm in Room 303.

The current Mayor and Council members are:

Mayor Raymond J. McDonough (Current term in office expires December 31, 2010)

Members of the Harrison Town Council are:[9]

1st Ward:

  • Jesus Huaranga (term expires 2010)
  • Caroline Mandaglio (term expires 2011)

2nd Ward:

  • Steve McCormick (2010)
  • Maria McCormick (2011)

3rd Ward:

  • Laurence Bennett (2010)
  • Francisco Nascimento (2011)

4th Ward:

  • James Doran (2010)
  • Michael Dolaghan (2011)

[edit] Federal, State and County Representation

Harrison is in the Thirteenth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 32nd Legislative District.[10]

New Jersey's Thirteenth Congressional District, covering portions of Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, and Union Counties, is now represented by Albio Sires (D, West New York), who won a special election held on November 7, 2006 to fill the vacancy the had existed since January 16, 2006. The seat had been represented by Bob Menendez (D), who was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the seat vacated by Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine. New Jersey is represented in the Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).

For the 2008-2009 Legislative Session, the 32nd District of the New Jersey Legislature is represented in the State Senate by Nicholas Sacco (D, North Bergen) and in the Assembly by Vincent Prieto (D, Secaucus) and Joan M. Quigley (D, Jersey City).[11] The Governor of New Jersey is Jon Corzine (D, Hoboken).[12]

Hudson County's County Executive is Thomas A. DeGise. The executive, together with the Board of Chosen Freeholders in a legislative role, administer all county business. Hudson County's nine Freeholders (as of 2006) are: District 1: Doreen McAndrew DiDomenico; District 2: William O'Dea; District 3: Jeffrey Dublin; District 4: Eliu Rivera; District 5: Maurice Fitzgibbons; District 6: Tilo Rivas; District 7: Gerald Lange Jr.; District 8: Thomas Liggio; and District 9: Albert Cifelli.

[edit] Education

The Harrison Public Schools serves students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. The district is one of 31 Abbott Districts statewide.[13]

Schools in the district are Lincoln Elementary School (Pre-Kindergarten through the 3rd grade), Lincoln Elementary School Annex (4th and 5th), Washington Middle School (6th through 8th), and Harrison High School (9th through 12th).

The Harrison Public School District is participating in the Interdistrict Public School Choice Program. For the 2005-06. school year parents can request to transfer a child from the Washington School, designated by the State of New Jersey as a Category I School, to another school which is not a Category I School. Since there is only one elementary school in Harrison, parents can request a transfer to the Hoboken Public Schools under the Choice program. A transfer request will depend upon the capacity of the selected Hoboken school.[14]

In September 2007, Harrison realigned the grades being housed in each of the school buildings in town. The new Harrison High School located on Hamilton Street between Kingsland and Schuyler Avenues opened to students in grades 9-12. As a result, the old Harrison High School building, located on 1 North 5th Street, was renamed as Washington Middle School. The old Washington Middle School, in turn, located on Hamilton Street between North 2nd and North 3rd Streets, now houses the 4th and 5th grades that formerly used the top floors of Holy Cross School. Holy Cross School has since been vacated by the Harrison Public School district.

[edit] Transportation

PATH station
PATH station

The Harrison station on the PATH rapid transit system offers service to Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken and New York City. The Northeast Corridor, built in the 19th Century by the Pennsylvania Railroad and now owned by Amtrak, carries New Jersey Transit trains, and passes through the city on the same alignment as the PATH. There was a stop on the Northeast Corridor in Harrison, but it was eliminated due to the ease of picking up trains in Newark at Penn Station.

Harrison is served by buses operated by several bus companies. New Jersey Transit offers service within New Jersey on the 39, 40 and 43 routes.[15]

By car, Harrison depends on Interstate 280 which runs through town. Westward, I-280 leads to Route 21, the Garden State Parkway, and Interstate 80. Eastward, it leads to Route 7 and the New Jersey Turnpike.

The closest airport in New Jersey with scheduled passenger service is Newark Liberty International Airport, located 4.8 miles away in Newark / Elizabeth. New York City's LaGuardia Airport is 20.2 miles away in Flushing, Queens via the Lincoln Tunnel.

[edit] Redevelopment

Portions of Harrison are currently undergoing transit-oriented redevelopment under a plan developed by the community planning and design firm, Heyer, Gruel & Associates LLC and adopted by the Harrison Redevelopment Agency. With the construction of new high school athletic facilities, the Harrison Board of Education sold the former John F. Kennedy Stadium to the Roseland Property Co./Millennium Homes development group, where currently new townhouses are being built. The Hampton Inn and Suites Newark/Harrison Riverwalk Hotel opened on December 31, 2004 across from Newark along the Passaic River. The area stretching from the PATH train station south to the Harrison/Newark border has been designated as a redevelopment zone (275 acres, or about 35% of the town). Plans are now underway to transform the aforementioned area of the town from deindustrialized, abandoned factories into a transit village containing high-rise office complexes and street-level retail. The current design will introduce seven- to nine-thousand new housing units. Redevelopment groups participating in these projects have separated the designated site into two zones - the Harrison MetroCentre and the Harrison Commons. The Advance Realty Group, along with Red Bull, oversees the MetroCentre site, consisting of the area stretching from the south side of the PATH station to the Passaic River. The Harrison Commons initiative, led by companies thePegasus Group, LLC and Applied Development, extends from the south side of the I-280 overpass towards the north side of the PATH station and will feature building designs depicting "modern 19th century architecture," headed by Minno & Wasko Architects, as well as Torti Gallas and Partners.

[edit] Sports

After a few years of delays, Red Bull and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) announced in 2006 that Red Bull Park will be the new home of the Major League Soccer team, Red Bull New York. The new stadium is part of the large redevelopment plan for Harrison. The stadium will hold 25,000 fans and will feature a European style roof. In addition to soccer, Red Bull Park will also host games for professional men's lacrosse and international rugby teams as well as championship matches on the collegiate and secondary school levels. Furthermore, AEG Live is sponsoring 8-12 national concerts at the stadium each year. For more information, visit the Red Bull Park website.

[edit] The Adler lawsuit

In July 2006, property owner Steve Adler filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court alleging, among several grounds, that the Harrison Redevelopment Agency was illegally formed and its actions are void ab initio.[16] The lawsuit alleges that the composition of the Harrison Redevelopment Agency violates New Jersey Department of Community Affairs guidelines for membership of the board, the Town Ordinance promulgating the board, and the State Statute empowering the redevelopment agency. The board from its onset did not have professionals of various fields as members. Rather, it had, in violation of the town ordinance and state statute, more than two members who were political officials or employees of the Town of Harrison. If the lawsuit is successful, all designated developers could be stripped of their development designation. The court voted in favor of the agency in 2007, but an appeals case by Adler is to be pursued.

[edit] Notable residents

Notable current and former residents of harrison include:

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Harrison had the longest-serving Mayor in American history, Frank E. Rodgers, who was first elected in 1946 and served for 48 years, from 1947 to 1995, being elected to 24 two-year terms. He also served one term in the New Jersey State Senate, from 1979 to 1983.[27]
  • Harrison has been featured in portions of the HBO hit series The Sopranos. In 2000, the high school was used as the location of an open casting call by HBO which brought 10,000-plus mafia hopefuls to the town, doubling the town's population and bringing traffic to a standstill.[28]
  • Nathan Lane performed on the high school's stage before breaking into acting.

[edit] References

  1. ^ USGS GNIS: Town of Harrison, Geographic Names Information System, accessed December 30, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Census data for Harrison town, United States Census Bureau. Accessed August 11, 2007.
  3. ^ a b American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  4. ^ US Board on Geographic Names. United States Geological Survey (2007-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  5. ^ "The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 146.
  6. ^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
  7. ^ Jersey Resident Population by Municipality: 1930 - 1990. Workforce New Jersey Public Information Network. Accessed March 1, 2007.
  8. ^ Chinese Communities, Epodunk. Accessed August 23, 2006.
  9. ^ Harrison Town Council, Town of Harrison. Accessed January 1, 2007.
  10. ^ 2006 New Jersey Citizen's Guide to Government, New Jersey League of Women Voters, p. 58. Accessed August 30, 2006.
  11. ^ Legislative Roster: 2008-2009 Session, New Jersey Legislature. Accessed June 6, 2008.
  12. ^ About the Governor, New Jersey. Accessed June 6, 2008.
  13. ^ Abbott Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed March 31, 2008.
  14. ^ Inter District Public School Choice Program, Harrison Public Schools. Accessed May 23, 2006.
  15. ^ Hudson County Bus/rail Connections, New Jersey Transit. Accessed July 3, 2007.
  16. ^ Adler far from pleased with redevelopment, The Observer, October 25, 2006.
  17. ^ Dell'Apa, Frank. "NEW ERA DAWNING IN DALLAS", The Boston Globe, August 13, 2005. Accessed October 11, 2007. "When Dave D'Errico was growing up in the '60s, he played on the hardscrabble soccer fields of Harrison, N.J., then for the US national team and in the North American Soccer League."
  18. ^ Sam Dente, The Bseball Cube. Accessed December 30, 2007.
  19. ^ Wadler, Joyce. "PUBLIC LIVES; An Unlikely Organizer as Cabdrivers Unite", The New York Times, December 8, 1999. Accessed December 30, 2007.
  20. ^ Durrani, Shandana. "Thriving Miss Daisy: From MTV Veejay to Model to Actress to Talk Show Host, Daisy Fuentes Is Always Seeking New Worlds to Conquer", Cigar Aficionado, November / December 1997. Accessed July 3, 2007. "After five years there, the Fuentes emigrated to the United States, moving to Newark, New Jersey, and eventually settling in neighboring Harrison."
  21. ^ Fred Allen Hartley Jr. biography, United States Congress. Accessed July 3, 2007.
  22. ^ Forrester, Paul. "The Overachiever: Ray Lucas Surmounts All Obstacles as He Guides the Jets Back to Respectability", The Village Voice, December 1, 1999. Accessed July 3, 2007. "It's the sort of tale that Lucas has been writing, and rewriting, since he was a teenager in Harrison, New Jersey."
  23. ^ Edward Francis McDonald biography, United States Congress. Accessed August 12, 2007.
  24. ^ Mifflin, Lawrie. "Doing a Star Turn for the Home Team, at Last", The New York Times, August 18, 1996. Accessed January 7, 2008. "Giants Stadium is a short trip up the turnpike from Old Bridge, where Mr. Ramos lives with his wife, Amy -- a former North Carolina State University soccer player like her husband -- and their 16-month-old son, Alex. And it's just a few miles from where he grew up, in Harrison and Kearny, towns that have been soccer hotbeds for generations."
  25. ^ Fred J. Shields, National Soccer Hall of Fame. Accessed January 21, 2008.
  26. ^ George J. Tintle, National Soccer Hall of Fame. Accessed December 30, 2007.
  27. ^ Nieves, Evelyn. "OUR TOWNS; 24 Terms Are Enough, Harrison Mayor Decides", The New York Times, March 29, 1994. Accessed January 21, 2008.
  28. ^ Mallozzi, Vincent M. "A Big Crowd That Aspires To Be a Mob", The New York Times, July 23, 2000. Accessed October 11, 2007. "Almost 30 years later, I got in line for another part. I was one of thousands who showed up at Harrison High School today for a much-publicized casting call for those interested in auditioning for parts in the hit HBO series The Sopranos, which happens to be my favorite.... By that time, Lt. Charles Trucillo of the Harrison Police Department estimated, 4,000 or 5,000 people were already in line."

[edit] External links

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