Sleepy Hollow vs Tarrytown (Scarsdale, Hudson: renting, house, neighborhood)
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My understanding of the area is that they are served by the same school district. Are there many differences between the two towns themselves? Demographics, cost of living or communities?
In our house hunt we've seen a couple places listed in each town we like, is there any reason to pay more for a Tarrytown address?
If at all possible find a Tarrytown address that is within the Irvington School District. Area's south of 287, Van Wart/Paulding Ave, Sheldon Ave. and Sunnyside Lane. Those area's are called "Pennybridge" and "East Irvington". I would not recommend sending your children to Tarrytown schools. Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow are indeed in the same district. Both Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow have more impoverished people, which unfortunately has a detrimental effect on the schools. Sleepy Hollow being the least desirable.
Last edited by Ex New Yorker; 10-23-2014 at 04:09 PM..
Sleepy hollow has more Hispanics and is less affluent. Most of them are perfectly good people, but there a bunch of rotten apples that ruin the bunch. If you have children, they may absolutely thrive in either town, or they may fall into bad crowds. IMO parenting will play a much bigger role in which scenario your kids fall into. But to put things in perspective, people in most other parts of the country would kill to send their children to school there. However, there are so many good choices in Westchester that the Tarrytown district is not in the top and not even second to top tier.
Personally, I would gladly send my children to school there. However, the high taxes is a big turn off. I would feel like I am overpaying for my child's education. So I am sending my kids elsewhere.
Now you never mentioned kids. So if kids are not an issue, it makes things considerably easier. The tax is high, but there a lot of great town amenities. Again in this case, I would pick Tarrytown because of its main street restaurants. There are also many places to take a nice walk and enjoy the outdoors. Without kids Tarrytown falls into the top tier in Westchester. And sleepy hollow would be in the next tier. But both easily above towns with excellent schools like Scarsdale.
It really depends upon the neighborhood in both areas, since Philipse Manor in Sleepy Hollow is nicer than parts of Tarrytown, so you would actually have an improved neighborhood if that area is a consideration in Sleepy Hollow. Tarrytown is closer to the downtown for restaurants, shopping, etc., whereas Sleepy Hollow can be more suburban.
There is a difference of demographics in part of Sleepy Hollow, but there is no increase in crime, etc. from one area to the other. The schools will be fine for a motivated student, since test scores reflect the immigrant/immigrant parent nature of some of the students in Sleepy Hollow, but a motivated student with parental involvement would not have a problem in the district.
Sleepy Hollow had more of a blue collar character, when it was North Tarrytown and the GM plant was still open, but that has changed, especially with plans underway to upgrade the housing stock in the village and to redevelop some formerly industrial properties. It is slowly changing, and the areas that were middle/upper middle class have not changed for the worse, but the less expensive areas have had a new wave of people seeking affordable housing (by Westchester standards of affordable). If you find a house that you like in a good neighborhood that works for you in either area, I would consider it.
Redevelopment of the GM parcel has been stalled, though several rounds of planning, but the old plant was dismantled a few years after it closed in the mid-1990s, so from about 2000 onward, the site has been free from development, and used for temporary purposes. It's about 100 acres, on the water, and plans are for a mixed-use site, incorporating residential, retail, commercial, and hospitality properties, though what gets built and when is still under planning review. No matter, the site is important, and signifies a key change in the area, something that has played out on both sides of the Hudson with re-use of industrial land.
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