Question about Fort Lee and Englewood(need opinions please) (Paramus: middle-class, 2010)

[tamta]

We are young couple and have a baby . Looking to buy a coop/condo/townhouse in NJ close to Manhattan. We did some reasearch and the places we are interested in are Fort Lee and/or Englewood .
I would like to get some opinions on them. are they good areas for a family with children, how are schools(Public and pivate) there? Is it safe? Which one is more family friendly ?
As I said we did some reasearch, but would like to hear from people who have lived/live there or know something about the areas.

Thanks in advance

[dance_or_REBEL]

Fort Lee is nice, close to NYC via George washington bridge, but it is mostly Korean. Englewood is nice only on one side of the train tracks, upper class, mainly Caucasian. Some really beautiful homes there. There are better areas to raise a family though in Bergen County that are close enough to Lincoln tunnel. Not sure about the school systems, but I have had friends who lived in both Englewood and Fort Lee and they always were sent to private or parochial schools.

[springcheer]

The public school system in Fort Lee is much, much better than Englewood. Both towns are diverse in population. Fort Lee has a large Korean population (about 30%), whereas Englewood has large African American and Orthodox Jewish populations. Both towns are very family-friendly. You will find a lot of mom groups and activities for kids. Fort Lee is very safe. Some parts of Englewood are very safe, and other parts aren't. Englewood has an adorable downtown. Good luck!

[New Jersey Knight]

The High School situation and Englewood is a most interesting one. I went to the Academies@Englewood, and I could write pages about just the situation and circumstances of its existence, but I'm not sure if that's useful to your situation.

[pavelvega]

Both towns are great Englewwod has more of a town feeling than Fort Lee
I prefer Englewood becuase of its housing stock is older. Ft Lee has better schools but Englewood has the nice town.

Both towns are diverse which is what makes them both great to live in.

[Illyn]

Fort Lee is heavily urbanized and contains many tall apartment buildings. These apartment buildings are all filled with young professionals and foreign businessmen and tend not to contribute to any kind of feeling of community in the city. After the explosion of highrise construction in Fort Lee in the 1970s and 80s (during the downturn in NYC itself), most of the surrounding towns enacted strict building codes to prevent the encroachment of heavy urbanization beyond Fort Lee.

So Fort Lee is very different from all other towns in the area. It's heavily Korean, as some mentioned, although less so than some towns to the south (particularly Palisades Park, which is probably nearly 70% Korean and is the hub of Korean-American culture on the East Coast). It contains many young professionals and also a lot of important businesses. It has a decent school system, partly bolstered by the large Korean population.

Fort Lee's downtown has been eaten up by highrises and the expanding Koreatown in the area. There's still some typical downtown areas once you get a few blocks south of the George Washington Bridge approach, but even if you live in Fort Lee you'll probably find yourself going to Englewood a lot for shopping--or out to the malls in Paramus.

Englewood is another anomaly. Englewood has a history of a very large African-American population, very unusual for Bergen County, concentrated on the west side of town. It also, as mentioned, has a very large Orthodox Jewish population, particularly in the southeast. Most of Englewood is split into a very, very wealthy area on the east side and a poor area on the west side. There are exceptions to this: a number of new apartments along Route 4 on the west side are home to commuters of medium incomes, and at the north end of town the west side also becomes quite wealthy. I grew up in the small middle-class strip on the west side between the wealthy area at the northern end at the poorer areas to the south, and it was a great experience.

Englewood's public school system has suffered from the wealth split: The very wealthy do not send their children to the public schools, and as a result the schools are primarily propped up by the poor. Things have improved somewhat in recent years since the opening of the Academies@Englewood, but having experienced the public elementary schools in Englewood, I would have to recommend a private school at least until high school if you live in Englewood. There are a huge number around.

Despite this, Englewood has a booming downtown in a traditional sense, with a truly stunning array of small stores and restaurants. The wealth of many of Englewood's citizens means that they prop up fine establishments, and it shows. You won't find a nicer shopping district in the inner suburbs than the one in Englewood; only Ridgewood (which is pretty far out) can compare.

As far as safety is concerned, there are no dangerous areas in Fort Lee. There are dangerous areas in Englewood, but you could live twenty years in Englewood without ever entering them because there's nothing there except residences. Despite those areas, Englewood's crime rate is below the New Jersey average, while Fort Lee's is far below it.

Feel free to ask any specific questions about either.

[Newarkbomb]

Fort Lee's public schools are A LOT better than Englewoods public schools by a land slide.

[kalim2008]

Originally Posted by Illyn

So Fort Lee is very different from all other towns in the area. It's heavily Korean, as some mentioned, although less so than some towns to the south (particularly Palisades Park, which is probably nearly 70% Korean and is the hub of Korean-American culture on the East Coast). It contains many young professionals and also a lot of important businesses. It has a decent school system, partly bolstered by the large Korean population

Nah, only around 40%

[pbergen]

Originally Posted by Illyn

So Fort Lee is very different from all other towns in the area. It's heavily Korean, as some mentioned, although less so than some towns to the south (particularly Palisades Park, which is probably nearly 70% Korean and is the hub of Korean-American culture on the East Coast). It contains many young professionals and also a lot of important businesses. It has a decent school system, partly bolstered by the large Korean population.

Originally Posted by kalim2008

Nah, only around 40%

i don't think pal park is 70% korean either, but i'm quite positive that it's above 50% by now. i guess we'll find out for sure when the 2010 census is released, but my guess is that the data will show a population that's 55%-60% asian (with koreans the overwhelming majority) and 25% latino, with most of the rest non-latino whites.

remember that according to the 2000 census (which actually reflects the town's 1999 demographics, since that's when the data was collected), pal park was already 36% korean (41% asian overall). i'm sure that this figure has gone up considerably since then.

[sweetpotato]

englewood has such a beautiful and great downtown area, i've always loved it and felt so sad that the schools weren't very strong at all. fort lee has a strong school system, but it's a town that has mostly bridge traffic, driving anywhere during rush hour is awful. it's not as pretty as englewood imo, but you do get a good school system. if you can afford private, i'd go with englewood. the downtown is so walkable, they've got great shops, it's the closest you can get to feeling like you're walking in manhattan. oh, englewood also has a great nature center - flat rock brook, that's great for small hikes and exploring with young children.