Neat houses line the streets of Westfield, N.J. There isn’t a sound to be heard except for the occasional giggle from children playing dodgeball in the street. The speed limit everywhere in Westfield is 25 mph. When the trains pass over the tracks, everyone in Westfield knows because everyone knows that sound; they’ve heard it their entire lives. Not much goes on in Westfield, so why are people so eager to move there? Perhaps quiet is what people want.
Westfield lies just 25 minutes by car or about 30 minutes by train from New York City. It is about 15 minutes away from Newark by car. For people who work or play in the city, it’s close enough but far enough. If you want, you can get on a train and be in the city amid the glamour and the lights and the energy. Or you can sit on your deck and listen to the sound of, well, nothing. And everyone in Westfield seems to have a deck or at least enough room to build one.
Hyona Revere, my sister, doesn’t like to go to malls. “There’s something charming about shopping in Westfield,” she says. The shops all lined up in a row are neat, too. Not so neat, however, is the sharp contrast in the types of stores in downtown Westfield. There is a Banana Republic and a Victoria’s Secret and a Gap—huge corporate stores that can be found at any mall. And then there are smaller stores such as Stockhomme, a shop that sells charming, yet pricey, antiques. There is also a small store on Prospect Street in Westfield called Celtic Imports, Ltd. Inside are trinkets with Celtic family symbols and shirts that say “Kiss me, I’m Irish” on them. The store has been here for years.
Westfield has the reputation of being a great place to raise children. Jeffrey Sobel, a resident, says that he would definitely send his children to school in Westfield “because it has such a great educational system.” Many parents are trying to make the move to Westfield in order to reap the benefits of the public school system. Only Westfield residents can attend its schools.
“If I left Westfield, I would miss the community feeling,” says Sobel, who belongs to the Westfield Tennis Association. He tries to play one sport every day. On Saturdays, he plays basketball with his neighbors. Revere is part of the Westfield Girl Scouts Association. In fact, the Girl Scouts headquarters is right down the street from her home. Revere says, “If you need anything, you can get it right now.” Sobel agrees: “It’s very self-contained. There’s no need to leave.”
When you look at the parking lots in downtown Westfield, there are Mercedes and SUVs as far as the eye can see. Westfield residents, on the whole, are very well off. In fact, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average household income in 1999 was $98,390. the average household income was $98,390. While Westfield holds much income, there is a downside; it’s hard to move into Westfield if you haven’t lived there for most of your life. The 07090 ZIP code is desirable to many, but attainable only to some.
Elise Anne Revere is a student at Rutgers-Newark.
