Westfield

 

 History

The area was settled in the late 17th century as part of Elizabethtown. The Town of Westfield was incorporated on March 4, 1903, from the remainder of Westfield Township. Barely two weeks later, the Borough of Garwood was created from portions of Westfield and Cranford Township.

 

Location and Transportation

Westfield is a town in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 29,644.

 

New Jersey Transit's Raritan Valley Line provides rail service from the Westfield train station to Newark with connecting service to Penn Station New York at Newark Penn Station. New Jersey Transit's 113 route provides bus service to New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal seven days per week. Olympia Trails also offers weekday bus service to New York City. New Jersey Transit's 59 route provides local bus service, operating between Plainfield and Newark.

Newark Liberty International Airport is approximately 20 minutes away and Linden Airport, a general aviation facility is in nearby Linden, New Jersey.

 

Corporate/Residential Community

Westfield's downtown features many local shops and chain stores, such as Lord and Taylor, and many landmarks that were shown and used in the television show Ed such as the Rialto Theater. There are about 50 restaurants and casual dining establishments throughout town. Downtown is located just north of the Westfield train station. The downtown area is like a mini-mall due to the closing of many smaller town shops.

 

Recreation

The Recreation Department offers programs throughout the year. Programs include, but are not limited to: arts and crafts, Community Concert Band concerts, fitness classes, cultural events, bowling, summer playground programs, trips, teen programs, sports programs, summer camps, and many other regular and special events. Check with the Recreation Office (789-4080) for specific information.

There are 9 parks in town and one pool park complex. Brightwood Park (Prospect Street) has a pond, picnic areas and nature trails. Clark Park (Clark Street) has memorial trees and gardens as well as a jogging path. Elm Street Field (Elm Street) holds 4 tennis courts. There are 4 basketball courts with lights, 3 Little League fields, a children’s play area, a jogging path and rest room facilities at Gumpert Field (South Chestnut Street). Artificial turf and lights for soccer and all-purpose use have recently been installed at Houlihan and Sid Fay Fields (Lamberts Mill Road). Sycamore Field has a field suited for soccer and lacrosse as well as a children’s play area. Mindowaskin Park (East Broad Street) has a children’s play area, a gazebo, a pond and a scenic overlook. Tamaques Park hosts 18 picnic areas, 2 basketball courts, 8 lighted tennis courts, 6 shuffleboard courts, 4 softball fields, 2 baseball fields, children’s play areas, a pond a handball court, a jogging run way and public rest rooms. The Memorial Pool Park Complex (Scotch Plains Avenue) is the home of the town’s pool facilities, which include a diving pool, lap pool kiddy pools, a 50-meter pool and water slides. The park facilities include 4 softball fields, 2 basketball courts, 2 soccer fields, 1 handball court, 6 tennis courts and a children’s play area.

 

Education

Students in Kindergarten through 12th grade attend the Westfield Public Schools. The district has six K - 5 elementary schools and two grade 6 - 8 middle schools, which are divided by a "North Side / South Side" boundary. The schools in the district (with 2003-04 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are as follows:

The public schools on the north side consist of Franklin Elementary School with 586 students, Washington Elementary School with 334 students, Wilson Elementary School with 531 students and Theodore Roosevelt Intermediate School with 737 students.

Schools on the south side are Jefferson Elementary School with 583 students, McKinley Elementary School with 311 students, Tamaques Elementary School with 479 students and Thomas Alva Edison Intermediate School with 710 students.

Students on each side of town are divided amongst the three elementary schools on their side, go to a common intermediate school, and then join the other side of town in Westfield High School, which has 1,626 students in grades 9 - 12. The sides of town are divided into North side and South side, and they are divided by the train track for the New Jersey Transit Raritan Line that runs directly through town.

The Westfield school district is currently planning on combining kindergartens from across the district to a single location to free up space for other grades. This topic was discussed at the May and June 2006 Board of Education monthly meetings. This is currently planned to commence with the Fall 2007 school year.

There is also a Catholic school, Holy Trinity Interparochial School, which offers education from Pre-Kindergarten to 8th grade.

 

Parking Division

The Parking Division has now been fully absorbed by the Police Department and falls under the same organizational structure as the other bureaus of the Police Department. The Parking Division consists of a sworn law enforcement Supervisor, five Special Police Officers and three part time Clerks.

The Parking Division provides for the enforcement of state statutes and municipal parking ordinances in the Central Business District and other designated areas of the town. The objective of parking enforcement is to not only meet the transportation needs of the community as it relates to maintaining a consistent and safe traffic and pedestrian flow, but also provide visitors and patrons to the Town with safe and convenient parking.

Parking Spaces

The Parking Division is responsible for the maintenance and enforcement of 1,765 time managed parking spaces. There are 1,455 parking spaces located in the 9 municipal parking lots, 633 of these parking spaces are time managed by 19 paystations.

Paystations

The replacement of the traditional parking meters with paystations provided Westfield residents and visitors with improved payment convenience, predictability and reliability while expanding the payment options for customers offering paper and coin payment, accepting SMART cards and providing receipts. The paystations proved to be successful as evident by the 875,124 patrons who used them in 2006. Permits manage the remaining 822 parking spaces in the municipal parking lots.

There are 310 parking spaces located on the roadway that are time managed by parking meters.
The maintenance of these parking spaces include but are not limited to the daily collection of the revenue generated, replacing paper in the paystations for receipts and replacing batteries in the parking meters. Although the main effort of the Parking Division is directed towards the management of parking and controlling traffic in the Central Business District, the Parking Division additionally enforces the parking time restrictions on 34 town, county and state roadways in the town of Westfield.

In 2006 the Parking Division issued 20,533 summonses - an increase of approximately 20% from 2005. The increase of summonses issued can be directly attributed to the acquisition of skeye pads, which provide a more effective and efficient manner to monitor the paid status of every numbered parking space.

The Parking Division performs numerous duties during the course of the daily operations. Although the Parking Division is most notably known for their enforcement responsibilities, the Parking Division strives to provide professional and courteous customer service.