ALPINE, NJ

Alpine is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is the easternmost community in the State of New Jersey.

As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 1,849, reflecting a decline of 334 (−15.3%) from the 2,183 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 467 (+27.2%) from the 1,716 counted in the 1990 Census.

In 2012, Forbes ranked Alpine as America's most expensive ZIP Code with a median home price of $4.25 million, after being ranked 4th in the magazine's 2010 listing of "America's Most Expensive ZIP Codes", with a median home price of $3,814,885. In 2009, Forbes ranked Alpine first, along with Greenwich, Connecticut, with a median home price of $4.14 million. Alpine was tied with Greenwich for first in both 2006 and 2007 on the ABC News list of most expensive ZIP Codes, with a median home sale price of $3.4 million. In 2019, PropertyShark ranked Alpine as the 53rd most expensive ZIP Code in the country with a median sales price of $1,785,000, a drop from a ranking of 33rd nationwide in 2018 due to a decline of 19% in sales prices. Based on data from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey, the borough had a per-capita income of $107,604, ranked second in the state.

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.

Alpine was formed by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on April 8, 1903, from portions of Harrington Township. The borough acquired a portion of Cresskill in 1904. The borough's name came from the wife of journalist Charles Nordhoff, who found the setting reminiscent of the Swiss Alps.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough had a total area of 9.22 square miles (23.89 km²), including 6.40 square miles (16.58 km²) of land and 2.82 square miles (7.31 km²) of water (30.61%).

The borough borders Closter, Cresskill, Demarest, Norwood, Rockleigh and Tenafly in Bergen County. Across the Hudson River, the borough borders The Bronx in New York City, and in Westchester County the city of Yonkers and the village of Hastings-on-Hudson (within the town of Greenburgh). North of the New York State border, the borough borders the hamlet of Tappan (in the town of Orangetown) in Rockland County.

Demographics

2010 Census

The Census Bureau's 2006-2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $172,054 (with a margin of error of +/- $23,256) and the median family income was $192,188 (+/- $56,076). Males had a median income of $124,375 (+/- $28,708) versus $56,719 (+/- $21,358) for females. The per capita income for the borough was $107,604 (+/- $18,758). About 2.3% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.6% of those under age 18 and 2.0% of those age 65 or over.

Same-sex couples headed four households in 2010, down from the eight counted in the 2000 Census.

2000 Census

As of the 2000 United States Census 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 per square mile (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. 6.2% of the population and 5.4% of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total people living in poverty, 8.5% were under the age of 18 and 6.4% were 65 or older.

Government

Local government

Alpine is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government, which is used in 218 municipalities (of the 565) statewide, making it the most common form of government in New Jersey. The governing body is comprised of a Mayor and a Borough Council, with all positions elected at-large on a partisan basis as part of the November general election. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council is comprised of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year in a three-year cycle. The Borough form of government used by Alpine is a "weak mayor / strong council" government in which council members act as the legislative body with the mayor presiding at meetings and voting only in the event of a tie. The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.

, the mayor of Alpine is Democrat Paul H. Tomasko, whose term of office ends December 31, 2022. Members of the Alpine Borough Council are Council President Vicki Frankel (D, 2024), Scott Bosworth (D, 2022; elected to serve an unexpired term), Steven Cohen (D, 2024), Arthur I. Frankel (D, 2023), Gayle Gerstein (D, 2022) and Laurence A. Shadek (D, 2023).

In February 2021 the Borough Council appointed Scott Bosworth from a list of three candidates nominated by the Republican municipal committee to fill the council seat expiring in December 2022 that had been held by John Halbreich until he resigned from office earlier that month. Bosworth served on an interim basis until the November 2021 general election, when he was elected to serve the balance of the term of office.

Joan Ornstein was appointed by the Borough Council in February 2012 to fill the vacant seat of her husband Steve, who had died the previous month after being sworn in for a three-year term of office.

In 2018, the borough had an average property tax bill of $21,299, the highest in the county, compared to an average bill of $8,767 statewide.

Federal, state and county representation

Alpine is located in the 5th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 37th state legislative district. Prior to the 2011 reapportionment following the 2010 Census, Alpine had been in the 39th state legislative district.

Politics

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 1,352 registered voters in Alpine, of which 341 (25.2% vs. 31.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 372 (27.5% vs. 21.1%) were registered as Republicans and 638 (47.2% vs. 47.1%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There was one voter registered to another party. Among the borough's 2010 Census population, 73.1% (vs. 57.1% in Bergen County) were registered to vote, including 94.5% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 73.7% countywide).

In the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 458 votes (50.8% vs. 54.8% countywide), ahead of Republican Donald Trump with 419 votes (46.5% vs. 41.6% countywide) and other candidates with 25 votes (2.7% vs. 3.7% countywide), among the 902 ballots cast by the borough's 1,480 registered voters for a turnout of 60.9% (vs. 73% in Bergen County). In the 2012 presidential election, Republican Mitt Romney received 522 votes (59.0% vs. 43.5% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 342 votes (38.6% vs. 54.8%) and other candidates with 9 votes (1.0% vs. 0.9%), among the 885 ballots cast by the borough's 1,416 registered voters, for a turnout of 62.5% (vs. 70.4% in Bergen County). In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 532 votes (54.0% vs. 44.5% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 434 votes (44.1% vs. 53.9%) and other candidates with 8 votes (0.8% vs. 0.8%), among the 985 ballots cast by the borough's 1,378 registered voters, for a turnout of 71.5% (vs. 76.8% in Bergen County). In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 588 votes (56.1% vs. 47.2% countywide), ahead of Democrat John Kerry with 451 votes (43.0% vs. 51.7%) and other candidates with 8 votes (0.8% vs. 0.7%), among the 1,048 ballots cast by the borough's 1,394 registered voters, for a turnout of 75.2% (vs. 76.9% in the whole county).

In the 2017 gubernatorial election, Republican Kim Guadagno received 53.0% of the vote (229 cast), ahead of Democrat Phil Murphy with 46.1% (199 votes), and other candidates with 0.9% (4 votes), among the 436 ballots cast by the borough's 1,416 registered voters (4 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 30.8%. In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 76.1% of the vote (348 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 23.2% (106 votes), and other candidates with 0.7% (3 votes), among the 465 ballots cast by the borough's 1,347 registered voters (8 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 34.5%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 328 votes (54.8% vs. 45.8% countywide), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 227 votes (37.9% vs. 48.0%), Independent Chris Daggett with 34 votes (5.7% vs. 4.7%) and other candidates with 3 votes (0.5% vs. 0.5%), among the 599 ballots cast by the borough's 1,347 registered voters, yielding a 44.5% turnout (vs. 50.0% in the county).

Education

The Alpine Public School District is a community school district serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade at Alpine School. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district, comprised of one school, had an enrollment of 138 students and 22.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 6.2:1. In the 2016–17 school year, Alpine had the 33rd smallest enrollment of any school district in the state, with 160 students.

For ninth through twelfth grades, public school students attend Tenafly High School in Tenafly as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Tenafly Public Schools under which the Alpine district paid tuition of $14,392 per student for the 2011–12 school year. As of the 2018–19 school year, the high school had an enrollment of 1,226 students and 103.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 11.8:1.

Public school students from the borough, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Paramus. The district offers programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on a selective application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district.

Transportation

Roads and highways

, the borough had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Bergen County and by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and by the Palisades Interstate Parkway Commission.

U.S. Route 9W, the Palisades Interstate Parkway and County Route 502 all pass through Alpine.

Public transportation

Rockland Coaches provides service along Route 9W to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 9T / 9AT routes and to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station on the 9 and 9A routes.

NJ Transit provides no bus or train service in Alpine.

Although, NJ Transit bus route 753 provides service in Cresskill, which is not too far away from the area. It takes you between Cresskill and Paramus at the Bergen Town Center.

Media

thumb|Armstrong Tower, Alpine

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, used various frequencies to broadcast from 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 the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks destroyed the World Trade Center. 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; it was originally designed by Charles Rollinson Lamb for 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. 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 New Jersey Section of the Palisades Interstate Park runs the length of Alpine along the top of the New Jersey Palisades and along the Hudson River. 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. Alpine Pavilion, an open-air stone picnic pavilion built in 1934 by the Civil Works Administration and available for rental is located here, as well as the historic Blackledge-Kearney House, said to be the site where Lord Cornwallis and his troops landed on November 20, 1776, in their pursuit of the Continental Army following the rout of George Washington's forces in the Battle of New York.

Notable people

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Alpine include: