Hillsdale (in Bergen County) (Ramsey, Westwood: condos, high school, college)

[springcheer]

Hi,

Does anyone live in Hillsdale? It is one of the towns that my family and I are considering moving to. What is it like? I know the schools are rated very well. Is it very conservative (voting records appear to show that the town leans strongly to the right... My husband and I are more moderate, and we probably wouldn't fit in if that was the case)?

Thanks!

[JerZ]

I lived in Hillsdale a bajillion years ago, and then as recently as two years ago, I lived in River Vale...these two towns share a high school (Pascack Valley).

I LOVE HILLSDALE. It is very expensive to live there. (Okay, I didn't love THAT part...) Hillsdale is pretty...tons of trees...not such terrible traffic, all things considered...there's a lovely park there, Wooddale. Lots of ducks and a big long tarmac around a pond so you can walk or rollerblade, and a kids' playground, grass to sit out on and benches...I mean standard park stuff but it has a great feel to it.

Your main drags will be Kinderkamack Road and Broadway. In Hillsdale proper, Broadway is the one with the stores. There are a million stores, including a ShopRite but also "fun" stores...a sports place...a Japanese eatery...a great Italian eatery, well, two of them...all sorts of places to shop.

The schools have a good reputation. The continuation rate (onto college) for PV High was 100% the year we left.

It's easy to get to Route 17 from Hillsdale; on 17 you'll find the malls and all that, and a fairly local movie theater. Etc.

A cute, cute town. Getting overcrowded but so is Everywhere, USA.

[JerZ]

Oh, um...voters. I think you'll find much of Bergen County in general, especially the moneyed areas, weigh heavily Republican. That's because they're, well, moneyed. I won't comment on that except to say that: 1. I'm a Dem and 2. I never felt like there was a big problem town-wise with the Repub slant...a budget is a budget is a budget, and the town council LARGELY weighs on preserving land vs. building up (at least from the peoples' view) and I know there was some big vote-down several years running on building a bunch of condos in Hillsdale specifically.

A paper to check out to keep up on what's happening politically/governmentally in BC towns: The Bergen Record. There's also The Community Life, but I don't think they're online yet. Or at least they weren't when I left. Google for the Record and you'll find that one online.

[CrazyJerzyKidUNO]

Jerz,

Im not sure about North Bergen county but lower bergen county is primarily Democrat.

[JerZ]

Originally Posted by CrazyJerzyKidUNO

Jerz,

Im not sure about North Bergen county but lower bergen county is primarily Democrat.

Crazy, yup. And in fact NJ is statistically a Dem state. But the area the OP is referring to (Hillsdale...River Vale, Westwood, Ho Ho Kus, Woodcliff Lake, Ramsey) ... from my experience leaned HEAVILY on Repub. OTOH--I don't remember specifically crunching the numbers to make sure of that. I only know that Republicans were extremely vocally all around me, at all times, esp. at voting times--but at all times. For instance, letters of "thank you" from George Bush to company owners for contributions diplayed to customers, etc......that sort of thing. And the push of telephone calls asking to vote Republican. Political signs--I recall we had a Bush/Cheney sign staked into our yard without our request or permission. We tore it out and somebody came in the night and put it back in. You could drive down the street and see a Bush sign literally every block and not see a Dem sign for a mile or two. Stuff like that.

Anyway...I hope not to come off as political. I actually don't think the Dems are always right or any one group is always right, I just thought that was what the OP wanted to know because perhaps she does want a certain political atmosphere and this may or may not be it. I haven't really let it get in my way one way or another no matter where I lived.

[njchick]

Does it really matter how your neighbor votes? That is supposed to be personal anyway. Sheesh, I don't know if my neighbors are Dems or Republicans.

[CrazyJerzyKidUNO]

well you dont wanna live in a community where everyone has opposite ideas from you.

I grew up in a heavily black community so being white was hard, knowing that everyone hated Republicans made things easier. haha

[JerZ]

Originally Posted by njchick

Does it really matter how your neighbor votes? That is supposed to be personal anyway. Sheesh, I don't know if my neighbors are Dems or Republicans.

I don't know if it does or not (shrugs). But the OP was curious about it. So I told her my experiences.

I did know how my neighbors voted--because it was pretty much stated in front of and around me for 1.5 years prior to each and every presidential election. But I didn't like or dislike anyone based on that. And I'm sure they didn't like or dislike me based on how I voted.

The OP asked a question. People answered.

[njchick]

Well, that's not so funny to me because I'm a (gasp!) Republican.. I can see your point that you don't want the whole town to have opposite opinions, but I doubt that would ever be in NJ, this is not the South after all! NJ is primarily Democrat, (all recent elections show this). There are a few heavily Republican towns, luckily mine is But either way, Hillsdale is a great town, very family oriented.

[njchick]

JerZ, (love that name) I wasn't directing that at you, I actually meant it to the original poster, in general. I was suprised that she would look up voting records, lol.