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Secaucus, New Jersey

Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey, USA. As of the United States 2000 Census, the town population was 15,931. The town's name is pronounced "SEE-kaw-cus", with the accent on the first syllable, not the second as often used by non-natives.

Secaucus was originally formed as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 12, 1900, from portions of North Bergen. On June 7, 1900, Secaucus was incorporated as a town, replacing Secaucus borough, based on the results of a referendum held on June 5, 1917.

Before the 1950s, Secaucus was home to a number of pig farms, rendering plants, and junk yards, which gave the town a reputation for being one of the most odorous in the New York metropolitan area. In 1963, debris from the demolition of Pennsylvania Station was carted over and dumped in the Secaucus Meadowlands. In later decades Secaucus became more a commuter town. Today it is the most suburban town in Hudson County.

New Jersey Monthly magazine ranked Secaucus as its 11th best place to live in its 2008 rankings of the "Best Places To Live" in New Jersey.

Geography

Secaucus is located at (40.787600, -74.061784).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 6.5 square miles (16.9 km²), of which, 5.9 square miles (15.3 km²) of it is land and 0.6 square miles (1.6 km²) of it (9.66%) is water.

At the southern end of Secaucus is Snake Hill (officially known as Laurel Hill), an igneous rock intrusion jutting up some from the Meadowlands below, near the New Jersey Turnpike.

Being partly surrounded by the Hackensack Meadowlands, Secaucus provides opportunities to observe the recovery of natural marshes in the town's post industrial, post agricultural age. Some marsh areas in the northeast part of town have been filled to provide a new commercial area, and some to build footpaths for nature walks with signs illustrating birds and other wildlife to be seen there.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 15,931 people, 6,214 households, and 3,945 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,706.7 people per square mile (1,044.3/km²). There were 6,385 housing units at an average density of 1,084.8/sq mi (418.6/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 78.54% White, 4.45% African American, 0.11% Native American, 11.80% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.79% from other races, and 2.26% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.26% of the population.

There were 6,214 households out of which 25.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 10.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.5% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.08.

In the town the population was spread out with 19.2% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 16.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 97.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $59,800, and the median income for a family was $72,568. Males had a median income of $49,937 versus $39,370 for females. The per capita income for the town was $31,684. About 3.9% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.4% of those under age 18 and 9.0% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Local government

Secaucus is governed under the Town form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Town Council made up of six council members elected from three wards. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters. The Town Council consists of six members elected to serve four-year terms on a staggered basis.

The Mayor of the Town of Secaucus is Dennis Elwell The Deputy Mayor is John Reilly Other members of the Secaucus Town Council are John Bueckner, Michael Gonnelli, Gary Jeffas, Richard Kane and John Shinnick

Federal, state and county representation

Secaucus is in the Ninth Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 32nd Legislative District.

Education

Students in pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade are educated by the Secaucus Board of Education. The schools in the district (with 2005-06 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) consist of two pre-K - 6 elementary schools — Clarendon Elementary School with 566 students and Huber Street Elementary School with 498 students — Secaucus Middle School with 324 students in grades 7 and 8, and Secaucus High School with 536 students in grades 9 - 12.

Immaculate Conception School is a Catholic private day school, serving grades Pre-K through 8th grade.

The Nicholas G. Hayek Watchmaking School is also located in Secaucus.

Sports

Secaucus is currently home to men's soccer team Secaucus FC Founded in 2001 by some of the first generation of soccer players from the town, Secaucus FC now represents the town in the Garden State Soccer League, and several other tournaments and indoor leagues around the state. The team is the first ever men's soccer team to come out of Secaucus.

For the first four seasons of the league, Secaucus was the headquarters of Major League Lacrosse. The headquarters have since moved to Boston, Massachusetts.

Secaucus is located 10 minutes away from Giants Stadium, Meadowlands Racetrack, the Izod Center (formerly the Continental Airlines Arena), 15 minutes away from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, 20 minutes away from Madison Square Garden (across the Hudson River in Manhattan and 40 minutes away from both Yankee and Shea Stadiums during ideal traffic conditions.

Transportation

Secaucus has exceptionally good road and rail transportation. The town is divided into four by the intersecting roads of NJ 3, which runs east and west, and the eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike (part of Interstate 95), which runs north-south, with an interchange (16E/17) at NJ Route 3 and a new interchange 15X, near the Secaucus Junction Station , which opened in late 2005.

Because of this, many shipping warehouses and truck freight transfer stations are located in Secaucus, both for shipping companies such as UPS and for numerous retailers. For example, Barnes & Noble's "same day delivery" service to Manhattan is run out of a warehouse in Secaucus. The town also has a large rail yard run by Conrail/CSX/Norfolk Southern where loads are switched between trains or transferred to or from trucks.

Secaucus is also the site of New Jersey Transit's Secaucus Junction (also known as the Frank R. Lautenberg Station, and sometimes known as Secaucus Transfer Station or Allied Junction. Currently there is no track junction, although one is planned for the future). The transfer station links all of NJT's long-distance train lines except the Raritan Valley Line and the Atlantic City Line. Access to the station from the rest of Secaucus is limited (it is in the southeast corner of Secaucus), via County Avenue or via NJ Turnpike Interchange 15X.

Numerous New Jersey Transit bus lines serve Secaucus, including the 124, 129, 190 and 320 buses to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan, the 78 to Newark, the 2 and 85 to Jersey City and local service provided on the 772 route. There is a bus park-and-ride at the northeast corner of Secaucus.

In the first half of the 20th Century a trolley line ran through the then main business district of Secaucus, on Paterson Plank Road from Jersey City and across the Hackensack River to East Rutherford. The extent to which the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail will resurrect this service is undecided.

The closest airport with scheduled passenger service is Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark / Elizabeth.

There are three taxicab services located within the town of Secaucus. Each taxicab service is licensed and inspected by the Secaucus Chief of Police and each individual driver of these licensed services undergo fingerprinting, motor vehicle record check and a complete background check each year.

Retail hub

There are several large retail areas in Secaucus.

Secaucus Plaza is the "downtown" area of Secaucus. It is just off of NJ-3. The Outlets are a collection of outlet shops selling discounted name-brand merchandise in southwest Secaucus.

Many factory retail outlets are scattered throughout the Harmon Cove industrial section, often located in warehouses or converted factories. Harmon Cove Outlet Center is the largest outlet mall, on Enterprise Avenue.

Harmon Cove Outlet Center stores
Reebok
Carter's
The Children's Place
East West Bridal
Perry Ellis
Lenox Factory Outlet

Secaucus Outlets stores
Liz Clairborne
Anne Klein
Gucci
Nine West
Kenneth Cole Shoes

The Mill Creek Mall (officially, the Mall at Mill Creek) is a moderate-level mall on NJ-3 on the west side of the Turnpike. It's currently under renovation. The Kohl's anchor store is still open.

Wal-Mart and Sam's Club are located east of the NJ Turnpike, near NJ 3 and Interchange 16E.

Best Buy, Ashley Furniture, Home Depot and Daffy's are located on Paterson Plank Rd in Secaucus NJ off Interchange 16E.

Linen's n Things and Pier 1 are now open at Harmon Meadow Plaza.

Corporate residents

My Network TV's flagship station WWOR-TV and NBA TV are headquartered in Secaucus, as is Red Bull New York of Major League Soccer. The MLB Network set to launch in 2009 will operate out of MSNBC's former studio in Secaucus.
Goya Foods, purveyor of the famous brand of foods sold in many Latin American countries and in the United States, is headquartered in Secaucus.
The National Basketball Association holds its annual draft lottery in Secaucus. NBA TV is produced from studios in Secaucus.
The Japanese consumer electronics giant, Panasonic Corporation of North America, has had its headquarters at One Panasonic Way in Secaucus since sometime in the 1980s.
Newegg, a computer hardware dealer, has a warehouse in Secaucus.
Secaucus is home to many datacenters including XO Communications (formally an Allegiance Telecom facility), InterServer, Inc, and Datek (now owned by Ameritrade) located on Meadowlands Parkway, AT&T located on Enterprise Avenue, and Equinix located Hartz Way.
The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. has its corporate headquarters in Secaucus.

Notable residents

Notable current and former residents include:

Dave Draper, bodybuilder.
Henry B. Krajewski, pig farmer and frequent political candidate.

Pop culture references

Secaucus was mentioned by the Beastie Boys on their first two singles, "Rock Hard" and "The New Style", on Def Jam Records in the mid 1980s.
Secaucus was frequently derided by various characters in the television sitcom, Will and Grace.
Secaucus is mentioned as the place of origin of Clare Raymond, a 20th century woman thawed after being cryogenically frozen for four centuries in "The Neutral Zone", the first season finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which aired on May 16, 1988.
Some scenes of the film Boiler Room were shot at 150 Meadowlands Parkway.
The killing of Chucky Signori in season 1, episode 13 of The Sopranos was filmed in Secaucus, at the docks below the two bridges of route 3
A scene in I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano episode of The Sopranos was filmed on Meadowlands Parkway near Route 3.
Indie-rock band The Wrens recorded their album Secaucus in Secaucus.
In a scene in Goodfellas, when Tommy (Joe Pesci) tells a story about how he got in a fight with a cop in an interrogation room, he mentions that the cop picked him up when he was laying down in the weeds in Secaucus.
The John Sayles film Return of the Secaucus 7 is said to be the inspiration for the film The Big Chill.
Bruce Springsteen's 1984 video "Glory Days" was shot in Secaucus, and other locations in NJ including Maxwell's in Hoboken.
Much of the music video for the band Naughty by Nature's 1991 song “O.P.P.” was filmed at the Royal Motel on Rt. 3 West in Secaucus. The motel's illuminated sign is prominently shown throughout the video. The motel’s interior lot is also seen in the video.