title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck's location at the crossroads of river, road, train and other geographical features has made it a site of many momentous events across the centuries. After the American defeat at the Battle of Fort Washington, George Washington and the troops of the Continental Army retreated across New Jersey from the British Army, traveling through Teaneck and crossing the Hackensack River at New Bridge Landing, which has since been turned into a state park and historic site commemorating the events of 1776 and of early colonial life. In 1965, Teaneck voluntarily desegregated its public schools, after the Board of Education approved a plan to do so by a 7–2 vote on May 13, 1964. Teaneck has a diverse population, with large Jewish and African American communities, and growing numbers of Hispanic and Asian residents.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The origin and meaning of the name "Teaneck" is not known, but speculation is that it could come from various Dutch or English words, or it could be Native American in origin, meaning "the woods". An alternative is from the Dutch "Tiene Neck" meaning "neck where there are willows" (from the Dutch "tene" meaning willow).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The earliest uses of the word "Teaneck" were in reference to a series of Lenni Lenape Native American camps near the ridge formed by what became Queen Anne Road. Chief Oratam was the leader of a settlement called "Achikinhesacky" that existed along Overpeck Creek in the area near what became Fycke Lane.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: A neighborhood variously called East Hackensack or New Hackensack was established along a ridge on the east bank of the Hackensack River, site of a Native American trail that followed the river's path along what is now River Road, with the earliest known buildings constructed dating back as far as 1704. Other early European settlements were established along what became Teaneck Road, which is the site of a number of Dutch stone houses that remain standing since their construction in the 1700s, several of which have been added to the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: During November 1776, General George Washington passed through Teaneck in the aftermath of the Battle of Fort Lee, as part of the hasty retreat of ragtag Colonial forces from Fort Lee on the Hudson River in the wake of the successful British invasion and defeat of Continental Army forces in Manhattan on the opposite side of the river during the Battle of Fort Washington. Early on the morning of November 20, 1776, Washington rode by horseback from his headquarters in Hackensack through Teaneck and across Overpeck Creek to Fort Lee. There he watched as 6,000 British troops travel up the river by boat. He had his troops abandon their position on the Palisades in a poorly organized retreat in which most of their supplies were abandoned, with Washington's troops moving inland across Overpeck Creek and through Teaneck to New Bridge Landing (in what is now Brett Park) and crossing the bridge, one of the few available at the time. The soldiers, many poorly dressed, ill-equipped and without shoes, faced the cold rain, leading Thomas Paine to compose the pamphlet, "The American Crisis", in which he captured the depth of the defeat by describing those days with the words "These are the times that try men's souls". Throughout the war, both British and American forces occupied local homesteads at various times, and Teaneck citizens played key roles on both sides of the conflict.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: After the war, Teaneck returned to being a quiet farm community. Fruits and vegetables grown locally were taken by wagon to markets in nearby Paterson and via boats on the Hackensack River to New York City. New growth and development were spurred in the mid-19th century by the establishment of railroads throughout the area. Wealthy New Yorkers and others purchased large properties on which they built spacious mansions and manor houses. They traveled daily to work in New York City, thus becoming Teaneck's first suburban commuters.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The largest estate built in Teaneck belonged to William Walter Phelps, the son of a wealthy railroad magnate and New York City merchant. In 1865, Phelps arrived in Teaneck and enlarged an old farmhouse into a large Victorian mansion on the site of the present Municipal Government Complex. Phelps' "Englewood Farm" eventually encompassed nearly of landscaped property within the central part of Teaneck, on which some 600,000 trees were planted. Subsequent development and house construction were focused along the perimeters of the township, with the central part of the community remaining a large property crisscrossed by roads and trails.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Township of Teaneck was established on February 19, 1895, and was composed of portions of Englewood Township, Ridgefield Township and Bogota. Teaneck's choice to incorporate as a township was unusual in an era of "Boroughitis", in which a flood of new municipalities were being formed using the decentralized and locally controlled borough form of government. The other two municipalities formed in Bergen County in 1895 were both boroughs, in addition to the 26 boroughs that were formed in the county in 1894 alone.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In a referendum held on January 14, 1895, 46 of 53 voters approved incorporation as a borough. Citizens of Englewood Township challenged the creation of a borough, but accepted the new municipality as a township, given its more rural character. A bill supporting the creation of the Township of Teaneck was put through the New Jersey General Assembly on February 18, 1895, and the New Jersey Senate on the next day. New Jersey Governor George Werts signed the bill into law, and Teaneck was an independent municipality.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: At its incorporation, Teaneck's population was 811. William W. Bennett, overseer of the Phelps Estate, was selected as chairman of the first three-man Township Committee, which focused in its early years on "construction of streets and street lamps (originally gaslights), trolley lines (along DeGraw Avenue), telephones and speeding traffic."


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The opening of the Phelps Estate in 1927 led to substantial population growth. The George Washington Bridge was completed in 1931, and its connection to Teaneck via Route 4 brought thousands of new home buyers. From 1920 and 1930, Teaneck's population nearly quadrupled, from 4,192 to 16,513.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Rapid growth led to financial turmoil, and inefficiencies in the town government resulted in the adoption of a new nonpartisan Council-Manager form of government under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law in a referendum on September 16, 1930. A full-time Town Manager, Paul A. Volcker Sr. (the father of future Chairman of the Federal Reserve Paul A. Volcker Jr.), was appointed to handle Teaneck's day-to-day business affairs. During his 20-year term, from 1930 to 1950, Volcker implemented financial management practices and a development plan that included comprehensive zoning regulations, along with a civil service system for municipal employees and a professional fire department.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The New Jersey Supreme Court issued a ruling in 1942 upholding a Teaneck ordinance that had banned pinball machines on the grounds that they were gambling devices rather than a form of amusement.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck was selected in 1949 from over 10,000 communities as America's model community. Photographs were taken and a film produced about life in Teaneck, which were shown in Occupied Japan as a part of the United States Army's education program to show democracy in action.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: After World War II, there was a second major spurt of building and population growth. The African American population in the northeast corner of Teaneck grew substantially starting in the 1960s, accompanied by white flight triggered by blockbusting efforts of township real estate agencies. In 1965, after a struggle to address de facto segregation in housing and education, Teaneck became the first community in the nation where a white majority voluntarily voted for school integration, without a court order requiring the district to implement the change. The sequence of events was the subject of a book titled "Triumph in a White Suburb" written by township resident Reginald G. Damerell (New York: William Morrow & Company, Inc., 1968).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: As de facto racial segregation increased, so did tensions between residents of the northeast and members of the predominantly white male Teaneck Police Department. On the evening of April 10, 1990, the Teaneck Police Department responded to a call from a resident complaining about a teenager with a gun. After an initial confrontation near Bryant School and a subsequent chase, Phillip Pannell, an African American teenager, was shot and killed by Gary Spath, a white Teaneck police officer. Spath said he thought Pannell had a gun and was turning to shoot him. Witnesses said Pannell was unarmed and had been shot in the back. Protest marches, some violent, ensued; most African Americans believed that Pannell had been killed in cold blood, while other residents insisted that Spath had been justified in his actions. Testimony at the trial claimed that Pannell was shot in the back, and that he was carrying a gun. A police officer testified to finding a modified starter's pistol with eight cartridges in Pannell's jacket pocket. Spath was ultimately acquitted on charges of reckless manslaughter in the shooting. Some months after Spath had been cleared, he decided to retire from law enforcement. The incident was an international news event that brought Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to the community and inspired the 1995 book "Color Lines: The Troubled Dreams of Racial Harmony in an American Town", by Mike Kelly.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck, and the neighboring communities of Bergenfield and New Milford, has drawn a large number of Modern Orthodox Jews who have established at least fourteen synagogues and four yeshivas (three high schools and one for young men). It is the functional center of the northern New Jersey Orthodox community, with nearly twenty kosher shops (restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets). It is within ten minutes' driving time of Yeshiva University in New York City. This community tends to be involved with Religious Zionist causes and offers strong support of Israel.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Several homes in Teaneck date back to the colonial era or the period subsequent to American Revolutionary War and have been preserved and survive to this day. Teaneck sites on the National Register of Historic Places and (other historic homes) include:


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 6.24 square miles (16.15 km), including 6.04 square miles (15.65 km) of land and 0.20 square miles (0.51 km) of water (3.16%).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck is bordered by eight municipalities in Bergen County, including to the west by River Edge and Hackensack which lie across the Hackensack River, to the north by New Milford and Bergenfield, to the east by Englewood and Leonia, and to the south by Ridgefield Park and Bogota.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include New Bridge and West Englewood.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: English is the sole home language of 72.4% of residents. Over a quarter of residents speak other languages, including Spanish (14.5%), Tagalog (2.3%), Urdu (1.8%), Korean (1.0%), and Polish (1.0%).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: A 2001 study under the Berman Jewish DataBank estimated the number of Jewish households in the 07666 ZIP code of Teaneck to comprise 16.5% of the total. In 2018, the number of Jewish residents in Teaneck was estimated to be about 15,000 out of a total population of 36,000-37,000. A large segment of this population is comprised of Modern Orthodox Jews, with a 2014 survey noting clusters of Orthodox Jews in Teaneck and Bergenfield.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $92,107 (with a margin of error of +/− $3,556) and the median family income was $108,777 (+/− $5,024). Males had a median income of $74,055 (+/− $5,587) versus $54,959 (+/− $4,129) for females. The per capita income for the township was $42,335 (+/− $2,061). About 5.7% of families and 6.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.9% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those age 65 or over.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Ancestry information reported in the 2000 Census reflects the diversity of Teaneck residents, with no single country accounting for more than a small fraction of the population. Residents listed Italian (6.2%), German (6.0%), Russian (5.3%), Irish (5.1%) and Polish (4.2%) as the most common countries of ancestry, and an additional 4.3% listed United States. 6.3% of residents identified themselves as being of West Indian ancestry, of which 3.4% were from Jamaica.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: After its founding as a township, Teaneck saw rapid growth in its population during the first half of the 20th century. As Teaneck changed from a sparsely populated rural area into a suburb, particularly after development of property that had been part of the Phelps Estate started in the late 1920s, Teaneck's population grew rapidly, far outpacing the growth of Bergen County.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: After World War II, the 1950 Census showed growth in Teaneck (33.6%) pacing Bergen County overall (31.6%). Starting in 1960, a substantial decline in the rate of growth compared to Bergen County occurred as Teaneck reached the limits of developable land, and the township neared its peak population. Population growth in the 1970 Census was small, but positive, with Teaneck reaching its historical maximum of 42,355. Absolute declines in population followed in both the 1980 (−7.9%) and 1990 (−3.0%) data. The 2000 Census showed recovery in Teaneck's population to 39,260, though growth (3.8%) was smaller than in Bergen County overall (7.1%).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: With almost no land left to develop for housing, Teaneck's population is likely to remain stable for the foreseeable future. A reluctance to permit high-rise development as a means to increase population density also places a limit on growth. Changes in family size and the possibility of zoning changes to allow denser construction are some of the few influences that may affect population over time.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: According to the FBI's 2016 Uniform Crime Report, there were 497 crimes in the township in 2016 (vs. 490 in 2015), of which 72 were violent crimes (vs. 50 in 2015) and 425 non-violent crimes (440 in 2015). The 2016 total crime rate per thousand residents was 12.1 (vs. 12.0 in 2015). The violent crime rate per thousand residents for the State New Jersey was 2.2 and the non-violent crime rate 10.4.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Gang violence hit Teaneck in July 2006 with the death of Ricky Lee Smith Jr., a teenager shot outside a house party by a member of the Bloods gang who had attended the party. In June 2007, the Township Council approved the hiring of five additional officers after the Chief of Police had requested the addition of 14 new officers to Teaneck's existing 98-member police force to establish a gang unit.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck has received attention in the media due to sexual crimes committed against minors by New Jersey educators. Joseph White, former principal of Teaneck High School, pleaded guilty to official child endangerment in June 2006 and was sentenced to one year in prison. White had been charged in 2002 with fondling a 17-year-old student and was subsequently acquitted. James Darden, an award-winning former eighth grade teacher at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, was charged with sexual assault and misconduct in June 2007. He pleaded guilty in December 2007 to a charge of aggravated sexual assault and faces up to 8 years in prison when sentenced on January 18, 2008. In 2018 another incident took place: A substitute teacher was charged with sexual assault. He was ordered to surrender his teacher's license and was sentenced to probation.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The December 1975 murder of Jean Diggs and her four children has never been solved. Police reported in 1977 that they had been unable to identify a perpetrator after two years and thousands of hours spent investigating the crime.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: A pair of killings hit Teaneck in 2010, with council watcher Joan Davis and software engineer Robert Cantor both killed in their homes, in cases that had not been solved in more than a year after the incidents. A conviction for the murder of Robert Cantor was made in 2015.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Based on a data analysis of 18 years, it is estimated that crime will continue to decline. In 2016, the city's crime rate was 55.76% lower than the national average of violent crime and  28.3% lower than New Jersey's crime rate. The crime rate in Teaneck Township was  57.79% lower than the national property crime average and  33.03% lower than the property crime rate in New Jersey.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Major institutions in Teaneck include Holy Name Medical Center and the Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University, the largest private university in the state. The Teaneck Armory is the home of the New Jersey National Guard's 50th Main Support Battalion.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Cognizant Technology Solutions, a major multinational provider of high-technology services, maintains its global headquarters operations in Teaneck, located in the Glenpointe Centre, Teaneck's largest single group of commercial ratable entities, which includes a 350-room Marriott Hotel and of Class A office space, as well as the headquarters of Phibro Animal Health, at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 80.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck has four main commercial districts: Cedar Lane, north Teaneck Road, West Englewood Avenue/The Plaza and Queen Anne Road/DeGraw Avenue. Cedar Lane underwent a $3.9 million Streetscape project, completed in 2006, designed to attract additional business to the area through new sidewalk paving with brick edging, bump-outs to allow easier pedestrian crossing, old-fashioned lamp posts and street plantings.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Givaudan Fragrances Corporation Creative Fragrances Centre, a division of Givaudan, was constructed in 1972 from a design by Der Scutt, architect of the Trump Tower. Givaudan Roure vacated the building in 2009 and the facility was acquired by World of Wings, which renovated the building for use as a butterfly exhibition aimed at families.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Puffin Foundation and its Puffin Cultural Forum have been leading supporters and producers of art in Teaneck, sponsoring plays and art exhibitions at its location on Puffin Way.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck is home to the Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County, founded in 1953. The Bergen Society is a member organization of the American Ethical Union.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Teaneck Community Band presents a series of outdoor band concerts at the Votee Park Bandshell each summer. The 69th annual series, in 2013, was sponsored by the Puffin Foundation.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: 2013–2014 marked the 78th season of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, which performed in the auditorium of Benjamin Franklin Middle School, having been founded in 1938 as the Teaneck Symphony Orchestra.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The now-defunct Teaneck Cultural Arts Coalition had organized many community-wide cultural events, including an annual First Night community celebration of the arts held for several years through New Year's 2005.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Garage Theatre Group, Bergen County's first non-profit, professional theatre company, stages fully professional productions, with members of Actors Equity, as well as youth conservatory productions at the Becton Theatre on the campus of Farleigh Dickinson University.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck New Theatre, founded in 1986, performs productions at St. Mark's Church in Teaneck and at the Hackensack Cultural Arts Center.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Black Box Studios is a theater group based in Congregation Beth Shalom, that has a relationship with the Bergen PAC in Englewood. The actors are mostly children and teens ages 10–16, with a 7–9 year old workshop, and an adult workshop. There are two to three performances presented in the first two or three weeks of January, and the first two weeks of June. Drama and musical theatre summer camps are offered.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck Cinemas had been the township's lone movie theater, and had also hosted live performances on its stage by local performance groups, until it closed its doors in November 2012, with theater operator Majestic Entertainment citing costs that could run to as much as $500,000 to modernize the projection systems on all four screens to use digital technology rather than 35mm reels of film. New owner Matthew Latten signed a lease in April 2013 and undertook extensive renovations that included new seating, modern digital projection systems and digital signage. After hosting the Teaneck International Film Festival in November, the reopening of the renamed Teaneck Cinemas was delayed until December 2013, with added time needed to complete the work needed to add modern features and conveniences while retaining the Art Deco character of a theater first constructed in 1937.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck has been the site of many films, including "The Family Man", the 2000 film starring Nicolas Cage. The Teaneck Armory has been used for films including "Sweet and Lowdown", and for interior scenes of "You've Got Mail".


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In 2007, two non-fiction volumes appeared dealing, "inter alia", with Teaneck's Orthodox Jewish community. In "", writer Shalom Auslander describes living in Teaneck and finding the Jewish community stifling and claustrophobic. In contrast, Rifka Rosenwein, in "Life in the Present Tense", describes the close-knit community as a gift she could not imagine when living in Manhattan.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The African American music group The Isley Brothers founded T-Neck Records, named for their base in the township. Other groups from the township include the rock band The Wrens.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Brooklyn Nets professional basketball team was founded as the New Jersey Americans in Teaneck for the 1967–1968 season, as charter members of the American Basketball Association. The team played their home games at the Teaneck Armory for that one season, and was scheduled to play a one-game playoff at the armory. However, the circus had been booked for the week, and the game was relocated to a court in Commack, New York that was unplayable, and the game had to be forfeited. After the one season in Teaneck, the team relocated to Long Island and was renamed the New York Nets. Following the Long Island run, the Nets moved back to New Jersey in 1977 to be named as the New Jersey Nets until 2012, when they moved back to New York and became the Brooklyn Nets.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In 1977, Teaneck hosted the "Junior Biddy National Basketball Tournament" with American teams from as far as Dallas, Texas attending and an international one from Puerto Rico. The tournament championship was won by a team from New Orleans, Louisiana.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Portions of Fairleigh Dickinson University's Metropolitan Campus are located in Teaneck, with most of the school's athletic facilities located across the river in Hackensack. The school's University Stadium, home for its men's and women's soccer teams, lies on the Hackensack River, just north of Route 4. The 1,100-seat stadium has hosted NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament games in recent years. The natural grass field was resurfaced with FieldTurf in 2004.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Naimoli Family Baseball Complex is situated between Route 4 and University Stadium. Fairleigh Dickinson received a $1 million bequest from FDU alumnus Vince Naimoli, founding owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, to establish a 500-seat stadium with artificial turf and lighting on the site of the current facility.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck has 24 municipal parks, of which 14 are developed. Votee Park, the township's largest, covers , surrounded by Queen Anne Road, Palisade Avenue, Court Street and Colonial Court. Including baseball fields, soccer fields, playgrounds and the township's inground swimming facility, the park was renamed in honor of former mayor Milton Votee in 1958. A Sportsplex was opened at the southern end of Votee Park in 2014, which includes two synthetic turf full-size soccer fields, one of which is also lined for use for football.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Friends of the Hackensack River Greenway Through Teaneck work to preserve and develop the greenway along the Hackensack River from Terhune Park at the Bogota border in the south north to Brett Park on the New Milford border, encouraging the growth of native plants and providing a verdant area along the river for residents and visitors. A series of 16 laminated signs were created by Teaneck artist Richard Mills along the Greenway, depicting details of history and the flora and fauna of the river in a series called "Hackensack River Stories" that was installed in 2000. The Greenway in Teaneck became the fourth National Recreation Trail in the state when it received the designation by the United States Department of the Interior at ceremonies held in Brett Park in June 2009.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Established in 2001 in conjunction with the Puffin Foundation, the Teaneck Creek Conservancy has restored a plot of degraded land east of Teaneck Road near the intersection of Interstates 80 and 95, removing decades of debris and creating a network of of trails.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Overpeck County Park, along the shores of Overpeck Creek, a tributary of the Hackensack River, is more than in size, of which about 500 were donated by Teaneck, and which is also in portions of Englewood, Leonia, Ridgefield Park and Palisades Park.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck is governed within the Faulkner Act (formally known as the Optional Municipal Charter Law) under the Council-Manager form of government (Plan 12), implemented by direct petition as of July 1, 1988. The township is one of 42 municipalities (of the 565) statewide that use this form of government. Following its founding in 1895, Teaneck used the traditional township form of government, led by a three-member Township Committee (later expanded to five seats) elected on a partisan basis. On September 16, 1930, Teaneck residents voted to establish a non-partisan Council-Manager form of government under the terms of the 1923 Municipal Manager Law, with five members elected concurrently on an at-large basis. In 1962, the Council expanded to its current size of seven members and the position of Deputy Mayor was created. In 1987, a referendum to alter the form to a Faulkner Act Council-Manager form of government was approved, providing for staggered terms for the council. With this change, Council elections now take place in even years on the second Tuesday in May. The council's seven members are elected at-large in nonpartisan elections to serve staggered, four-year terms of office. The three seats elected in 2016 will expire in 2020 and the seats of the four who took office in 2018 will expire in 2022, etc.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Township Council serves as Teaneck's governing body, setting policies and passing ordinances. It adopts an annual budget and approves contracts and agreements for services. The Council appoints the Manager, Clerk, Auditor, Attorney, Magistrate and Assessor. The Council appoints seven members of the Planning Board, the members of the Board of Adjustment, and all other statutory and advisory boards.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The current members of the Teaneck Township Council are Mayor Jim Dunleavy (term ends June 30, 2022), Deputy Mayor Elie Y. Katz (2022), Deputy Mayor Mark J. Schwartz (2024), Karen Lew Orgen (2024), Keith Kaplan (2022), Gervonn Romney Rice (2022), and Michael Pagan (2024).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In May 2000, three women ran for Township Council, and all three, incumbent Jackie Kates and newcomers Marie Warnke and Deborah Veach, were elected. Kates, Warnke and Veach completed their four-year terms and then ran for re-election in May 2004. Jackie Kates and Deborah Veach were re-elected and became Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively. Ms. Veach resigned her position in October 2005 and was appointed to be the Township's Municipal Prosecutor.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: On May 13, 2008, the township voted to re-elect Monica Honis to the council (with 2,981 votes). Elnatan Rudolph (2,852) lost his bid for re-election, falling 38 votes behind his running mate. Barbara Toffler (leading the voting with 3,356 votes) and Mohammed Hameeduddin (2,890) were elected and took office on July 1, 2008, filling the seats left by Rudolph and former mayor Jackie Kates, who did not run for re-election.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In the 2010 municipal elections, Adam Gussen, Elie Katz and Lizette Parker were re-elected to office, with former councilmember Yitz Stern taking the seat vacated by former mayor Kevie Feit, who did not run for a second term. At its July 1, 2010, reorganization meeting the council selected Mohammed Hameeduddin to serve as mayor, making him one of the state's first Muslim mayors, while Adam Gussen was chosen as deputy mayor.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In the May 2012 municipal election, Mohammed Hameeduddin won a second term in office (with 4,374 votes) and was the only incumbent to win re-election, with challengers Mark Schwartz (3,150) and Henry Pruitt (2,872) taking the seats of Barbara Toffler (2,526) and Monica Honis (2,238), who lost their bids for re-election and came in fourth and fifth respectively, while Alexander Rashin came in sixth (1,049).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In the May 2018 municipal election, Elie Katz won a sixth term in office (with 3,822 votes) and Gervonn Romney Rice, who was selected to replace Mayor Lizette Parker (after her death in 2016), won reelection (with 4,480 votes). Challengers Keith Kaplan (with 3,191 votes) and James Dunleavy (with 3,360 votes) defeated incumbent Alan Sohn (with 2,483 votes) and challengers Clara Williams (with 2,303 votes) and Charles "Chuck" Powers (with 2,282 votes).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: On July 1, following a municipal election, the Township Council holds an Organizational Meeting where the candidates elected (or re-elected) to serve on the council are sworn in and begin their terms of office. The newly inducted council selects one of its members to serve as Mayor, and another to serve as Deputy Mayor, who presides in the absence of the Mayor.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Mayor, elected by the council from among its members after each biennial election, serves for a two-year term of office which expires upon the selection of a mayor at the subsequent reorganization meeting. The Mayor presides over all meetings and votes on every issue as a regular member. The Mayor is an ex officio member of the Planning Board and the Library Board. The Mayor appoints the members of the Library Board, and one member of the Planning Board. The Mayor executes bonds, notes, contracts and written obligations of the Township and is empowered to perform marriages.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Municipal Manager is appointed by the council to serve as a full-time professional chief executive officer. The Manager implements Council policies, enforces ordinances and coordinates the activities of all departments and employees and is responsible for preparing and submitting a budget to the council. The Manager makes recommendations to the council on relevant matters, appoints and removes Township employees and investigates and acts on complaints. The Manager appoints the Municipal Courts Prosecutor and Public Defender, members of the Rent Board and one member of the Teaneck Economic Development Corporation, and one member of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck is in the 5th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 37th state legislative district.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Prior to the 2010 Census, all of Teaneck had been part of the 9th Congressional District, a change made by the New Jersey Redistricting Commission that took effect in January 2013, based on the results of the November 2012 general elections, making Teaneck one of 14 municipalities (and the only one in Bergen County) to be split across districts, down from the 29 that had been split after the 2000 Census. As part of the redistricting that took effect in 2013, 32,023 (about 80%) of Teaneck residents were placed in the new 5th District, with the remaining 7,753 residents (about 20%) mostly in areas of the township east of Teaneck Road and south of Bedford Avenue placed in the 9th District.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 24,862 registered voters in Teaneck Township, of which 12,646 (50.9% vs. 31.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 2,332 (9.4% vs. 21.1%) were registered as Republicans and 9,872 (39.7% vs. 47.1%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 12 voters registered as Libertarians or Greens. Among the township's 2010 Census population, 62.5% (vs. 57.1% in Bergen County) were registered to vote, including 83.4% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 73.7% countywide).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In the 2016 presidential election, Democrat Hillary Clinton received 15,053 votes (75.2% vs. 54.2% countywide), ahead of Republican Donald Trump with 4,229 votes (21.1% vs. 41.1%) and other candidates with 729 votes (3.6% vs. 4.6%), among the 20,152 ballots cast by the township's 28,631 registered voters, for a turnout of 70.4% (vs. 72.5% in Bergen County). In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 13,875 votes (71.5% vs. 54.8% countywide), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 5,256 votes (27.1% vs. 43.5%) and other candidates with 136 votes (0.7% vs. 0.9%), among the 19,394 ballots cast by the township's 27,145 registered voters, for a turnout of 71.4% (vs. 70.4% in Bergen County). In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 14,785 votes (71.6% vs. 53.9% countywide), ahead of Republican John McCain with 5,621 votes (27.2% vs. 44.5%) and other candidates with 95 votes (0.5% vs. 0.8%), among the 20,642 ballots cast by the township's 26,294 registered voters, for a turnout of 78.5% (vs. 76.8% in Bergen County). In the 2004 presidential election, Democrat John Kerry received 13,254 votes (69.4% vs. 51.7% countywide), ahead of Republican George W. Bush with 5,672 votes (29.7% vs. 47.2%) and other candidates with 78 votes (0.4% vs. 0.7%), among the 19,088 ballots cast by the township's 24,466 registered voters, for a turnout of 78.0% (vs. 76.9% in the whole county).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Democrat Barbara Buono received 57.8% of the vote (6,197 cast), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 41.4% (4,439 votes), and other candidates with 0.8% (90 votes), among the 10,991 ballots cast by the township's 25,615 registered voters (265 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 42.9%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Democrat Jon Corzine received 9,347 ballots cast (71.8% vs. 48.0% countywide), ahead of Republican Chris Christie with 3,242 votes (24.9% vs. 45.8%), Independent Chris Daggett with 343 votes (2.6% vs. 4.7%) and other candidates with 41 votes (0.3% vs. 0.5%), among the 13,027 ballots cast by the township's 25,513 registered voters, yielding a 51.1% turnout (vs. 50.0% in the county).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: In the 2018 Municipal Election, Gervonn Romney Rice received 4,480 votes, Elie Y. Katz received 3,822 votes, James Dunleavy received 3,360 votes, Keith Kaplan received 3,191 votes, Alan Sohn received 2,483 votes and Clara Williams received 2,303 votes.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Tax Foundation determined that Bergen County had the third-highest median property tax burden in the nation ($8,708 vs. a New Jersey median of $6,579 and a national median of $1,917) and the fourth-highest level of property taxes as a percentage of median income (8.59% vs. 7.45% statewide and 3.03% nationally), based on an analysis of data from the 2009 American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau for all 792 counties in the United States with more than 20,000 residents. As of 2010, Teaneck's effective tax rate of $2.492 per $100 of equalized value was the 12th-highest of the 70 municipalities in Bergen County, which had a countywide median effective rate of $2.115 per $100, ranging from a low of $.596 in Alpine to a high of $3.005 in Ridgefield Park.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: , just under 55% of a Teaneck property owner's real estate taxes goes to support the local school system, 36.7% goes to municipal taxes (including an open space tax) and the remaining 8.4% to cover county services (which also assesses an open space tax). In the decade from 2003 to 2013, municipal taxes had risen at an annual rate of just over 4.5% and school taxes by almost 2.8%, while the consumer price index for the New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island area had gone up 2.6% during that time span.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The 2013 tax rate was set at $2.486 per $100 of assessed value (an overall increase of 3.7% from 2012), which is composed of school taxes of $1.365 (up almost 3.3%), municipal taxes of $0.871 (an increase of 5.8%), a library tax of $.031 (down 3.1%) and county taxes of $0.206 (down 0.5%), plus a municipal open space tax of $0.010 and a county open space tax of $0.003 (both unchanged). The owner of a median-valued home in Teaneck, assessed at $465,300, paid 2011 property taxes of $11,190, which would include $6,244 in school taxes, $3,992 in municipal taxes and $949 to the county (including open space levies).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: During 2006, Teaneck underwent a revaluation of all privately owned real estate, as required periodically by the state. This revaluation adjusted property values to market prices, ensuring that taxes are equitably allocated. The average property in Teaneck was assessed at approximately $417,900, an increase of 132.1% from the prior year's average. The new valuations took effect for the 2007 tax year. In the wake of the revaluation implemented in 2007, a wave of tax appeals hit the township, resulting in a loss of about $110 million in ratables and costs to the township of $2.2 million for the 2012 tax year. The township agreed to complete a revaluation by October 2014 that would go into effect in 2015, awarding a $710,000 contract to perform the necessary home visits and determine property values.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Teaneck Public Schools had a Budgetary Per Pupil Cost of $18,417 in its 2012–2013 budget, 26.8% higher than the average of $14,519 budgeted that year by districts in the same grouping of grades and enrollment, ranked as the 101st highest among the 106 K–12 districts in the state with more than 3,500 students.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: At the April 2006 school elections, voters rejected the proposed $84.8 million budget for the Teaneck Public Schools for the 2006–2007 school year by a 1,644 to 1,336 margin. Based on recommendations specified by the Township Council, the Board of Education approved $544,391 in cuts. The school budget was rejected again in 2009, with the Council cutting $1 million from the $94.8 million originally proposed. After the 2010 school budget failed, the Township Council removed $6.1 million from the $95 million budget proposed by the school district, zeroing out what would have been an 8.2% increase in the school tax levy. The school board eliminated 77 positions to meet the cuts approved by the council.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Teaneck Public Schools serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2019–2020 school year, the district, comprised of eight schools, had an enrollment of 3,720 students and 347.3 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 10.7:1. Schools in the district, with 2019–2020 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics, are:


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Longfellow Elementary school was closed in 1998. Other elementary schools that closed prior to 1998 included Emerson and Eugene Field School, which is used by the Board of Education for its Central Administrative Offices.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: 2011–2012 total spending for the district was $91,382,911, a Total Spending per Pupil of $22,894 based on 3,991.6 students, ranking 96th highest of the 106 K–12 districts statewide with more than 3,500 students, with the average district spending $18,047 per pupil. Based on the 2012–2013 budget, the district planned to spend a Budgetary Per Pupil Cost of $18,417 (a measure that excludes out-of-district tuition payments for special education, transportation costs, legal judgments and certain other expenditures), ranking 101st highest among its grouping of districts, compared to a statewide average of $14,519. Of the 2012–2013 Budgetary Per Pupil Cost, $11,394 per student was allocated to classroom instruction (104th highest of K–12 districts in the state with more than 3,500 students, with a statewide average of $8,588), $3,012 per student to Total Support Services (ranked 96th, average of $2,338), $1,662 to Total Administrative Costs (ranked 93rd, average of $1,448) and $2,031 to Total Operations and Maintenance of Plant (ranked 89th, average of $1,787). The district's 2012–2013 Median Classroom Teacher Salary of $77,614 is ranked 98th in the state in its grouping, the Median Support Service Salary was $92,539 (97th), while the Median Administrator Salary was $140,497 (95th).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: As of the 2010 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Report, Teaneck High School had satisfied the Adequate Yearly Progress measure and had a graduation rate of 97.0% for the class of 2009–2010, compared to a statewide average of 94.7%. On the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA), 9.4% were partial proficient, 79.5% proficient and 11.1% advanced proficient in Language Arts Literacy (vs. statewide averages of 10.3% partial, 75.7% proficient and 14% advanced). In Mathematics, 24.8% were partial proficient, 61.8% proficient and 13.4% advanced proficient (vs. statewide averages of 18.4% partial, 57.9% proficient and 23.7% advanced).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Teaneck Community Charter School (TCCS) had a 2017–2018 enrollment of 322 students and 25.9 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 12.4:1. TCCS is a charter school that operates independently of the Teaneck Public Schools under a charter granted by the Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education, which was renewed for five years in 2012. Admission is open to the public for available slots (after returning students and siblings of existing students are entered) and offers an after school program and summer camp. As the school is a public school, no tuition is charged. Funding comes from the Teaneck Public Schools (and the home districts of non-resident students), which provides 90% of its cost per pupil in the district; the balance of funding comes directly from the state of New Jersey. The school moved to a new building at 563 Chestnut Avenue in the 2009–2010 school year, from a space it had rented on Palisade Avenue.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: 2009–2010 total spending for the TCCS was $5,050,613, a Total Spending per Pupil of $16,614 based on 304 students, ranking 51st highest of the 77 charter schools statewide, with the average district spending $17,836 per pupil. Based on the 2010–2011 budget, the TCCS planned to spend a Budgetary Per Pupil Cost of $14,210, ranking 54th highest among the 77 districts, compared to a statewide average of $13,609. Of the 2010–2011 Budgetary Per Pupil Cost, $8,112 per student went to classroom instruction (57th highest of charter schools in the state, with a statewide average of $8,004), $1,124 per student to Total Support Services (ranked 14th, average of $2,116), $1,690 to Total Administrative Costs (ranked 4th, average of $1,453) and $3,282 to Total Operations and Maintenance of Plant (ranked 70th, average of $1,698). The district's 2010–2011 Median Classroom Teacher Salary of $55,860 is ranked 57th in the state in its grouping, the Median Support Service Salary is $82,433 (54th), while the Median Administrator Salary is $103,750 (56th).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Public school students from the township, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Paramus. The district offers programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on a selective application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The 2017–2018 total spending for the district was $101,642,004, a Total Spending per Pupil of $27,670.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck is home to the Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University, which straddles the Hackensack River in Teaneck and Hackensack. The campus served 4,114 undergraduates and 2,350 graduate students.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Private Orthodox Jewish day schools include the Torah Academy of Bergen County (for boys in grades 9–12) which completed an $8 million expansion project at the start of the 2013–2014 school year that doubled the size of the school, adding new classrooms and an additional gym to accommodate the record enrollment of 293 students, with room for expansion for the several years ahead. Ma'ayanot Yeshiva High School, located on the same section of Palisades avenue, serves girls in grades 9–12. In 2016, Yeshivat He'atid, a private K–8 Jewish day school, moved from Bergenfield to Teaneck, taking over an empty data center building near TABC and Ma'ayanot. The school employs a blended learning model. With enrollment growing from 116 to 600 students in under a decade, the school began an expansion project in 2021. Yeshivas Heichal HaTorah, another high school, opened in September 2013 at the Teaneck Jewish Center with an initial enrollment of 17 students.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Community School is a private school, founded in 1968 to serve the bright child with learning and attentional disabilities. Both the lower school and high school are in Teaneck.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck was home to the Metropolitan Schechter High School, a co-ed Conservative Jewish high school, which closed its doors in August 2007 due to fundraising problems.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Al-Ghazaly High School, a co-ed religious day school for seventh through twelfth grades founded in 1984, was located on 441 North Street, serving the Muslim community from the greater Teaneck area. The school relocated to a larger facility in Wayne and opened its doors to students in September 2013, with the Teaneck facility repurposed to serve students in pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade with the name of Academy of Greatness and Excellence which is also an Islamic school.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: WVNJ AM-1160 (licensed to Oakland, New Jersey) maintains studios at 1086 Teaneck Road. WFDU FM-89.1 operates from studios at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and there was a defunct AM Carrier Current version of WFDU on 640 through some time in the 1980s.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Teaneck Police Department had 96 sworn officers in 2012, in addition to 13 civilian employees, three parking enforcement officers and 25 school crossing guards out of a total of 106 authorized uniformed positions. Robert Wilson was named Chief as of July 2008, filling the acting chief role previously held by Deputy Chief Fred Ahearn, who had been serving in that position after the departure of Paul Tiernan in 2007. The department hired its first two officers in 1914; Freddie Greene, its first African-American officer, joined the department on September 15, 1962, and its first female officer began serving on January 4, 1981. In 1990, a Teaneck officer fatally shot Phillip Pannell, an armed African American man with his hands raised above his head while facing away from the officer. In 2012, the Teaneck Police Department received accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), following a two-year-long process that documented the department's compliance with 112 standards established by the organization as best practices. The department became the ninth in the state to receive CALEA accreditation.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Teaneck Volunteer Ambulance Corps (TVAC) was created in 1939 to serve the residents of Teaneck. TVAC has always been Teaneck's only emergency ambulance service and includes over 100 volunteers and five ambulances, serving Teaneck and its residents around the clock, without pay. In 2011, TVAC responded to over 4,300 emergency calls, routinely saving lives and reducing suffering with their rapid response and application of Basic Life Support skills. Throughout the last 70 years, TVAC has never charged a patient nor the patient's family for service. The services of the Corps are entirely free of charge, whether the patients are residents of Teaneck, visitors, or individuals who need medical service while passing through the town. The Corps also renders service in nearby towns as part of a mutual aid system, again without charge.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: The Richard Rodda Community Center, located near Route 4 at the south end of Votee Park, is a community and recreation center completed in 1998. The facility includes two full sized gyms, a dance studio, a kitchen and several multipurpose rooms of different sizes. The Teaneck Recreation Department offers educational, sports and arts programs throughout the year. The Rodda Center is home to the Senior Citizens Service Center, which offers educational and fitness activities for adults ages 55 and up, and serves hot lunch daily, provided by the Bergen County Division of Senior Services. The Community Center also provides a WiFi access point, which resulted in a police investigation in January 2012 after its identifying name was changed to a racist slur.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Holy Name Medical Center is a fully accredited, not-for-profit community hospital. Founded and sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in 1925, the hospital has grown to become a comprehensive 361-bed medical center. Affiliation with NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System further brings the advantages of large urban hospitals to the community, with access to clinical trials and expanded education for its physicians. Holy Name Medical Center has undertaken an ambitious effort to provide comprehensive health care services to underinsured and uninsured Korean patients from a wide area with its growing "Korean Medical Program", including attracting 1,500 people to its annual seventh annual Korean health fair in 2014. To accommodate the township's Orthodox Jewish community, the hospital offers a Shabbat elevator, a room prepared for families of patients staying at the hospital during Shabbat and Jewish holidays, as well as a lounge offering kosher food.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: , the township had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Bergen County, by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, and by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck is situated along a number of major transportation routes, including the New Jersey Turnpike (a portion of Interstate 95). It is known for being the Eastern endpoint of Interstate 80, which stretches west to San Francisco since the dedication of a segment in Salt Lake City on August 22, 1986, marking the completion of the first transcontinental portion of the Interstate Highway System. As the second-longest Interstate route, the highway stretches nearly coast-to-coast for , shorter than only Interstate 90. The easternmost of Interstate 80 runs from Bogota to the junction with Interstate 95.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: NJ Route 4 traverses east–west through Teaneck, running from Hackensack to Englewood. Unlike all other municipalities situated along the highway, there is no commercial development or billboards, with the open space along the highway maintained by the Township Council's Preserve the Greenbelt Committee. Route 4 narrows from three lanes in each direction on a section between Belle Avenue and Englewood, causing rush-hour traffic backups that may extend for miles. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has discussed a series of proposed replacement projects for bridges over the highway, pending completion of feasibility studies and design work. While the township has indicated its willingness to cede space along the Greenbelt for a third lane, the lack of space for a shoulder may preclude the creation of a full three-lane route through Teaneck. In November 2013, NJDOT informed Teaneck officials that it had no plans to widen the highway, as the need to focus the limited funds available on replacing and repairing deteriorating bridges and infrastructure precluded the implementation of a widening project.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Interstate 95 heads north for through Teaneck from Ridgefield Park to Leonia. New Jersey's other main trunk route, the Garden State Parkway, can be reached just a few miles west of Teaneck. Access to New York City is available for motorists by way of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee (via Route 4 or Interstate 95), or through the Lincoln Tunnel in Hudson County (via the NJ Turnpike) into Midtown Manhattan.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: County roads in Teaneck include Teaneck Road, Queen Anne Road, River Road and Fort Lee Road. Cedar Lane, another county road, crosses the Hackensack River and connects to Hackensack over the Anderson Street Bridge.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: NJ Transit bus service is available in Teaneck, with frequent service on Teaneck Road, Route 4 and Cedar Lane, and less-frequent service on other main streets. NJ Transit bus service is offered to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 155, 157, 165R, 167 and 168 routes; to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in Upper Manhattan on the 171, 175, 178, 182 and 186 routes; and to other New Jersey communities served on the 83, 751, 753, 755, 756, 772 and 780 routes. Scheduled bus service is also available from Rockland Coaches to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, on the 21T from New Milford and on the 11T/11AT from Stony Point, New York. Saddle River Tours / Ameribus provides service to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station on route 11C. Spanish Transportation and several other operators provide frequent jitney service along Route 4 between Paterson, New Jersey and the George Washington Bridge Bus Station


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: While there is currently no passenger train operation in Teaneck, train service is available across the Hackensack River at the New Bridge Landing station in River Edge and at the Anderson Street station in Hackensack. NJTransit's Pascack Valley Line runs north–south to Hoboken Terminal, with connections to the PATH train from the Hoboken PATH station, and with NJT connecting service to Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan via the Secaucus Junction transfer station. At Hoboken Terminal, connections are also available to NY Waterway ferry service (to the World Financial Center and other destinations) and to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system (serving locations along the Hudson River in Hudson County).


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck is split east and west by railroad tracks, which currently provide freight service by CSX Transportation. Until 1959, passenger train service was provided on these same tracks by the West Shore Railroad, with Teaneck stations at Cedar Lane and West Englewood Avenue. Commuter service was available from these stations, with 44 passenger trains operating daily to and from Weehawken, where Hudson River ferry service was available to New York City at 42nd Street and at the Financial District in Lower Manhattan. Train service from Teaneck was also available north to Albany, along the west shore of the river. Efforts are ongoing to restore some passenger train service on this line for commuters heading toward New York City, including extension of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail service via the Northern Branch to Englewood or Tenafly.


title: Teaneck, New Jersey

text: Teaneck's closest airport in New Jersey with scheduled passenger service is Newark Liberty International Airport, away (about 27 minutes) in Newark / Elizabeth. New York City's LaGuardia Airport is away in Flushing, Queens via the George Washington Bridge, an estimated 22 minutes in ideal conditions. John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens is and 34 minutes from Teaneck. Teterboro Airport offers general aviation service, and is a drive (about 13 minutes).


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: "" (; "The Commissioner") is a song recorded by Austrian artist Falco in 1981. The song was written by Robert Ponger and Falco. It reached the top of the charts in many European countries. It was covered in 1982 with greater success in other countries by English group After the Fire.


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: "Der Kommissar" was written by producer Robert Ponger and intended for Reinhold Bilgeri. Bilgeri rejected it, as he felt the song was too soft, so Falco reworked the song for himself instead.


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: Falco wanted to release "Helden von heute" as the main side (A-side), but the record company wanted "Der Kommissar" to be released, because they felt it had more potential. The record company decided upon a double A-side release and was vindicated when "Der Kommissar" reached No. 1 in German-speaking countries in January 1982. After this success, Falco's management decided to release "Der Kommissar" (as an A-side) in other countries as well.


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: The song recorded for other side of the record, the pop-rock """" ("heroes of today"), is a tribute to David Bowie's "Heroes". It was recorded in Berlin; Falco claimed in an interview that he went to Berlin to follow the "tracks" left there by Bowie, with his albums ""Heroes"" and "Low".


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: The song reached No. 74 on the US "Cashbox" chart in 1983, while failing to chart on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 or on the UK Singles Chart. Falco would break through with major hits in those countries two albums later, with "Rock Me Amadeus" and "Vienna Calling" in 1986. Updated remixes of "Der Kommissar" were released by Falco in 1991, 1998, and posthumously in 2008.


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: In the official music video for Falco's German-language version of "Der Kommissar", Falco is shown in front of a blue screen while stock footage of police cars driving the streets at night play behind him. Falco runs in place (to simulate running from the cops) while lip-synching the song. Another music video for the Falco single released in Europe also exists.


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: In mid-1982, British rock band After the Fire recorded an English version, also titled "Der Kommissar", and released it as a single, but the record floundered. Coming off a tour opening for Van Halen, After the Fire was working on material for a new album when in December 1982, the group announced onstage during a concert that they were disbanding. Both the After the Fire and Falco versions were rising on the Canadian charts at the time, but neither had cracked the US pop charts. Around that time, American singer Laura Branigan began working on her second studio album, "Branigan 2", and she recorded "Deep in the Dark", a new song written over the melody and arrangement of "Der Kommissar" which was prepared for release. Then the After the Fire version finally hit the US "Billboard" Hot 100 on 22 February 1983, and started rising. Though its version barely nicked their home country's Top 50, in 1983 the song's music video received extensive airplay on MTV propelling its popularity on US radio. The song entered the US top 40 on 5 March 1983, peaking at No. 5, and spending a total of 14 weeks in the top 40. The single was released under the Epic label, with a catalog number of 03559. Amidst all this renewed attention to the composition, Falco's own version, which had done well in some US markets but not charted nationally, was re-released, but the German-language record remained essentially a novelty hit there, charting concurrently with the After the Fire version but not rising above No. 74 on the "Cashbox" chart.


title: Der Kommissar (song)

text: In Canada, Falco's version had peaked at No. 11 the same late-January week that After the Fire's version peaked at No. 12. After the Fire's record company, CBS, pleaded with the band to regroup, but to no avail. While UK promotional singles for "Deep in the Dark" were pressed (the After the Fire version missed the UK top 40 and the Falco version failed to chart there), Branigan's record company, Atlantic, officially released "Solitaire" in the United States, where that song peaked at No. 7.


title: Little Fish (2021 film)

text: Little Fish is a 2020 American science fiction romantic drama film directed by Chad Hartigan and written by Mattson Tomlin, based on the 2011 short story of the same name by Aja Gabel. It stars Olivia Cooke, Jack O'Connell, Raúl Castillo, and Soko.


title: Little Fish (2021 film)

text: A couple fights to hold their relationship together as a memory loss virus spreads and threatens to erase the history of their love and courtship.


title: Little Fish (2021 film)

text: In March 2019, it was announced that Chad Hartigan would direct a film adaptation of Aja Gabel's short story "Little Fish", with Mattson Tomlin writing the screenplay, and Olivia Cooke, Jack O'Connell, Raúl Castillo and Soko starring. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Rian Cahill, Tim Headington, Lia Buman, Chris Ferguson and Tomlin were set to produce the film, while Cooke, Fred Berger, Teddy Schwarzman, Ben Stillman, Michael Heimler and Max Silva would serve as executive producers under their Black Bear Pictures, Automatik, Tango Entertainment and Oddfellows Entertainment banners, respectively.


title: Little Fish (2021 film)

text: It was scheduled to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17, 2020. However, the festival was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, IFC Films acquired distribution rights to the film, and released it in theaters on February 5, 2021.


title: Little Fish (2021 film)

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 91% approval rating based on 78 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Tough but stirring, "Little Fish" uses one couple's pandemic love story to illustrate the strength of human connection in trying times." According to Metacritic, which sampled eleven critics and calculated a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, the film received "generally favorable reviews".


title: Triangulation

text: In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points.


title: Triangulation

text: Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle measurements at known points, rather than measuring distances to the point directly as in trilateration; the use of both angles and distance measurements is referred to as triangulateration.


title: Triangulation

text: Computer stereo vision and optical 3D measuring systems use this principle to determine the spatial dimensions and the geometry of an item. Basically, the configuration consists of two sensors observing the item. One of the sensors is typically a digital camera device, and the other one can also be a camera or a light projector. The projection centers of the sensors and the considered point on the object's surface define a (spatial) triangle. Within this triangle, the distance between the sensors is the base "b" and must be known. By determining the angles between the projection rays of the sensors and the basis, the intersection point, and thus the 3D coordinate, is calculated from the triangular relations.


title: Triangulation

text: Triangulation today is used for many purposes, including surveying, navigation, metrology, astrometry, binocular vision, model rocketry and, in the military, the gun direction, the trajectory and distribution of fire power of weapons.


title: Triangulation

text: The use of triangles to estimate distances dates to antiquity. In the 6th century BC, about 250 years prior to the establishment of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the Greek philosopher Thales is recorded as using similar triangles to estimate the height of the pyramids of ancient Egypt. He measured the length of the pyramids' shadows and that of his own at the same moment, and compared the ratios to his height (intercept theorem). Thales also estimated the distances to ships at sea as seen from a clifftop by measuring the horizontal distance traversed by the line-of-sight for a known fall, and scaling up to the height of the whole cliff. Such techniques would have been familiar to the ancient Egyptians. Problem 57 of the Rhind papyrus, a thousand years earlier, defines the "seqt" or "seked" as the ratio of the run to the rise of a slope, "i.e." the reciprocal of gradients as measured today. The slopes and angles were measured using a sighting rod that the Greeks called a "dioptra", the forerunner of the Arabic alidade. A detailed contemporary collection of constructions for the determination of lengths from a distance using this instrument is known, the "Dioptra" of Hero of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD), which survived in Arabic translation; but the knowledge became lost in Europe until in 1615 Snellius, after the work of Eratosthenes, reworked the technique for an attempt to measure the circumference of the earth. In China, Pei Xiu (224–271) identified "measuring right angles and acute angles" as the fifth of his six principles for accurate map-making, necessary to accurately establish distances, while Liu Hui (c. 263) gives a version of the calculation above, for measuring perpendicular distances to inaccessible places.


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic, which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States with Latino communities. Merengue was inscribed on November 30, 2016 in the representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue was developed in the middle of the 1800s, originally played with European stringed instruments (bandurria and guitar). Years later, the stringed instruments were replaced by the accordion, thus conforming, together with the güira and the tambora, the instrumental structure of the typical merengue ensemble. This set, with its three instruments, represents the synthesis of the three cultures that made up the idiosyncrasy of Dominican culture. The European influence is represented by the accordion, the African by the Tambora, which is a two-head drum, and the Taino or aboriginal by the güira.


title: Merengue music

text: The genre was later promoted by Rafael Trujillo, the dictator from 1930 to 1961, who turned it into the national music and dance style of the Dominican Republic. In the United States it was first popularized by New York-based groups and bandleaders like Rafael Petiton Guzman, beginning in the 1930s, and Angel Viloria y su Conjunto Típico Cibaeño in the 1950s. It was during the Trujillo era that the merengue "Compadre Pedro Juan", by Luis Alberti, became an international hit and standardized the 2-part form of the merengue.


title: Merengue music

text: Famous merengue artists and groups include Juan Luis Guerra, Wilfrido Vargas, Milly Quezada, Toño Rosario, Fernando Villalona, Los Hermanos Rosario, Bonny Cepeda, Johnny Ventura, Eddy Herrera, Sergio Vargas, Grupo Rana, Miriam Cruz, Las Chicas Del Can, Kinito Mendez, Jossie Esteban y la Patrulla 15, Pochy y su Cocoband, Cuco Valoy, Ramón Orlando, Alex Bueno, The New York Band, Elvis Crespo, Olga Tañón, Gisselle, and Grupomanía.


title: Merengue music

text: The popularity of merengue has been increasing in Venezuela. Venezuelan Merengueros include Roberto Antonio, Miguel Moly, Natusha, Porfi Jiménez, Billo's Caracas Boys, and Los Melodicos. Merengue is also popular in the coastal city of Guayaquil in Ecuador.


title: Merengue music

text: The new line of merengue created in New York City has become very popular amongst younger listeners. Known as "Merengue de Mambo," its proponents include Omega, Oro 24, Los Ficos, Los Gambinos, Alberto Flash, Mala Fe, Henry Jimenez, and Aybar.


title: Merengue music

text: Although the etymology of "merengue" can be disputed, there are a few theories about where the word might have derived from. One suggestion is that the term derives from meringue, a dish made from egg whites that is popular in Latin-American countries. The sound made by the whipping of eggs supposedly resembles the guiro used in merengue.


title: Merengue music

text: The origins of the music are traced to the land of El Cibao, where merengue cibaeño and merengue típico are the terms most musicians use to refer to classical merengue. The word Cibao was a native name for the island, although the Spanish used it in their conquest to refer to a specific part of the island, the highest mountainous range. The term merengue cibaeño is therefore partially native and so merengue might also be a derivation of a native word related to song, music, dance, or festival. Another theory includes Western African words related to dance and music, based on the presence of African elements in merengue.


title: Merengue music

text: An early genre with similarities to merengue is the carabiné originating in the southern region of the territory of what is now the Dominican Republic, during the time of the French occupation. The name "carabiné" derives from the weapons called carbines (in French carabinier) that the soldiers did not dare to leave when a dance arrived, proceeding to dance with them on their shoulders. From the French word, the Spanish name of the new rhythm was derived, accentuating its pronunciation sharply on the "e".


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue was first mentioned in the mid 19th century with the earliest documented evidence being newspaper articles. Some of the articles inform about a "lascivious" dance, and also highlight merengue displacing the Tumba. The genre had originated within the rural, northern valley region around the city of Santiago called the Cibao. It later spread throughout the country and became popular among the urban population.


title: Merengue music

text: The oldest form of merengue was typically played on string instruments. When the accordion came to the island in the 1880s, introduced by German traders, it quickly became the primary instrument, and to this day is still the instrument of choice in "merengue típico". Later, the piano and brass instruments were introduced to the genre.


title: Merengue music

text: Three main types of merengue are played in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico today. "Merengue típico", which is usually called "perico ripiao", is the oldest style commonly played. The other two types are "merengue de orquesta" (big-band merengue) and "merengue de guitarra" (guitar merengue).


title: Merengue music

text: Merengues are fast arrangements with a beat. The traditional instrumentation for a "conjunto típico" (traditional band), the usual performing group of folk merengue, is a diatonic accordion, a two–sided drum, called a tambora, held on the lap, and a güira. A güira is a percussion instrument that sounds like a maraca. It is a sheet of metal with small bumps on it (created with hammer and nail), shaped into a cylinder, and played with a stiff brush. The güira is brushed steadily on the downbeat with an "and-a" thrown in at certain points, or played in more complex patterns that generally mark the time. "Caballito" rhythm, or a quarter and two eighths, is also common. The double-headed drum is played on one side with a stick syncopation and on the other side with the palm of the hand.


title: Merengue music

text: The traditional (some say fundamental) signature rhythm figure of merengue is the "quintillo", which is essentially a syncopated motif whose pattern is broken by five successive drumhead hits at the transition between every second and third beat, alternating between the hand and the stick. To purists, a merengue without quintillo is not truly a merengue, a viewpoint that has gradually disappeared as other alternate figures are used more frequently (as the one traditionally called "jaleo", also known as "merengue bomba", wrongly identified as a mixture of merengue and Puerto Rican bomba music, and which actually also has its roots in traditional merengue).


title: Merengue music

text: Three main types of merengue are played in the Dominican Republic today. Merengue típico, which is usually called "perico ripiao", is the oldest style commonly played. In English "perico ripiao" means "ripped parrot", which suggests controversy but which is said to be the name of a brothel where the music was originally played. The other two types are "merengue de orquesta" (big-band merengue) and "merengue de guitarra" (guitar merengue).


title: Merengue music

text: At first, merengue típico was played on stringed instruments like the tres and cuatro, but when Germans came to the island in the late 19th century trading their instruments for tobacco, the accordion quickly replaced the strings as lead instrument. Típico groups play a variety of rhythms, but most common are the merengue and the pambiche. In the 1930s–50s a bass instrument was also often used. Called marimba, it resembles the Cuban marímbula, and is a large box-shaped thumb piano with 3-6 metal keys. The main percussion instruments, güira and tambora, have been a part of the ensemble since the music's inception, and are so important that they are often considered symbolic of the whole country. The güira is a metal scraper believed to be of native Taíno origin, while the tambora is a two-headed drum of African origin. Together with the European accordion, the típico group symbolizes the three cultures that combined to make today's Dominican Republic.


title: Merengue music

text: One important figure in early merengue was Francisco "Ñico" Lora (1880–1971), who is often credited for quickly popularizing the accordion at the turn of the 20th century. Lora was once asked how many merengues he had composed in his lifetime and he answered "thousands", probably without much exaggeration, and many of these compositions are still a standard part of the típico repertoire. He was a skilled improviser who could compose songs on the spot, by request. But he has also been likened to a journalist, since in his precomposed songs "he commented on everything with his accordion" (Pichardo, in Austerlitz 1997:35). His compositions discussed current events such as Cuban independence, World War I, the arrival of the airplane, and US occupation of the Dominican Republic. Among Lora's contemporaries are Toño Abreu and Hipólito Martínez, best remembered for their merengue "Caña Brava". This popular song was composed in 1928 or 1929 as an advertisement for the Brugal rum company, who were then selling a rum of the same name. Brugal paid Martínez $5 for his efforts.


title: Merengue music

text: Típico musicians continued to innovate within their style during the latter half of the twentieth century. Tatico Henríquez (d.1976), considered the godfather of modern merengue típico, replaced the marimba with electric bass and added a saxophone (it was used before, but infrequently) to harmonize with the accordion. A prolific composer, Tatico's influence cannot be overestimated: nationally broadcast radio and television appearances brought his music to all parts of the country, leading to widespread imitation of his style and dissemination of his compositions. Today, these works form the core of any típico musician's repertoire. Other innovations from this period include the addition of the bass drum now played by the güirero with a foot pedal, a development credited to Rafael Solano. Many of today's top accordionists also began their careers during this period, including El Ciego de Nagua, Rafaelito Román, and Francisco Ulloa.


title: Merengue music

text: In the 1990s, most groups maintained the five-man lineup of accordion, sax, tambora, güira, and bass guitar, though a few new innovations have been made. Some modern band leaders have also added congas, timbales (played by the tamborero), and keyboards to their groups in an attempt to reach a wider audience and narrow the gap between the típico and orquesta styles. The most popular artist at present is El Prodigio, a young accordionist who is respected among típico musicians of all ages. Though he has become famous for recording his own compositions in a modern style, he is also able to perform all the "standards" of the traditional típico repertoire and is a talented, jazzy improviser. New York–based groups like Fulanito have experimented with the fusion of típico accordion with rap vocals. Young artists such as these have been able to bring merengue típico to new audiences.


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue típico songs are generally composed in two parts. The first section is rhythmically straightforward and is used to introduce the song's melodic and lyrical material; here, verses are sung and the only improvisation occurs at the end of song lines, when the accordion or saxophone fills in. The second section is dominated by improvisation, more complex rhythms, and hard-driving mambo, or the part of the song where melody instruments (sax and accordion) unite to play catchy, syncopated riffs or jaleos which help motivate and stimulate dancers. Típico rhythms include merengue derecho, or straight-ahead merengue, which is the kind of fast-paced time merengue most of us are used to hearing, usually used in the first section. "Pambiche" or merengue apambichao is similar but usually slower, and can be recognized by the double slap rhythm on the tambora. Guinchao is a third rhythm combining the first two that is commonly heard in the second section of a merengue. Típico groups do not have to limit themselves to merengue as they can also play other traditional rhythms from the Dominican Republic and elsewhere, though this was more common in the past than at present. Mangulina and guaracha are now seldom heard; the latter is a clave-based style in originally from Cuba, while the former is a dance native to the Dominican Republic. Paseo was a slow introduction to a merengue song during which couples would promenade around the dance floor in stately fashion. Orquesta or big-band merengue became the merengue of choice for the urban Dominican middle and upper classes in the twentieth century. Although merengue had been played in upper-class salons as early as the 1850s, moralists like then-president Ulises Espaillat succeeded in banning the dance from such locations only two decades later, causing the merengue to effectively die out in the cities. Still, it was kept alive by rural musicians such as accordionist/composer Nico Lora, and it began to reappear in towns of the Cibao during the 1910s.


title: Merengue music

text: During that decade, several composers, including Julio Alberto Hernández, Juan Espínola of La Vega and Juan Francisco García of Santiago, tried to resuscitate the dance by creating orchestrated, written scores based on folk merengue melodies. One of these was García's 1918 work titled "Ecos del Cibao." Composer Luis Alberti later reported that such pieces, especially the famous tune known as the Juangomero, were frequently played at the end of an evening's program that otherwise featured imported styles like waltzes, mazurkas, polkas, danzas, danzones, and one- and two-steps.


title: Merengue music

text: While these early efforts in orchestrated merengue generally succeeded only in scandalizing their audiences, the political changes that occurred in the Dominican Republic over the next few years made a resurgence of the merengue possible. The resented North American invasion of 1916 seems to have made the general public more disposed to support autochthonous rhythms over imported ones, though the raucous rural accordion sound was still unacceptable to high-society tastes. Nevertheless, when Rafael Leonidas Trujillo took power in 1930, he imposed the merengue upon all levels of society, some say as a form of punishment for the elites that had previously refused to accept him. The soon-to-be dictator must also have realized the symbolic power of the rural folk music and its potential for creating support among the masses, since he took accordionists with him around the Republic during his campaign tours from the very beginning.


title: Merengue music

text: Until the 1930s, the music was considered "immoral" by the general population. Its more descriptive and colorful name, perico ripiao (literally "ripped parrot" in Spanish), was said to have been the name of a brothel in Santiago where the music was played. Moralists tried to ban merengue music and the provocative dance that accompanied it, but with little success.


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue experienced a sudden elevation of status during dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo's reign from 1930 to 1961. Although he was from the south rather than the Cibao, he did come from a rural area and from a lower-class family, so he decided that the rural style of perico ripiao should be the Dominican national symbol. He ordered numerous merengues to be composed in his honor. With titles like "Literacy", "Trujillo is great and immortal", and "Trujillo the great architect", these songs describe his virtues and extol his contributions to the country. Trujillo's interest in and encouragement of merengue helped create a place for the music on the radio and in respectable ballrooms. Luis Alberti and other musicians began to play with "big band" or orquesta instrumentation, replacing the accordion with a horn section and initiating a split between this new, mostly urban style and mostly rural perico ripiao. New York City Latino radio is still dominated by orquesta merengue.


title: Merengue music

text: Following his election, Trujillo ordered musicians to compose and perform numerous merengues extolling his supposed virtues and attractiveness to women. Luis Alberti and other popular bandleaders created a style of merengue more acceptable to the urban middle class by making its instrumentation more similar to the big bands then popular in the United States, replacing the accordion with a large brass section but maintaining the tambora and güira as a rhythmic base. They also composed lyrics free of the rough language and double-entendres characterizing the folk style. The first merengue to attain success at all levels of society was Alberti's famous 1936 work, "Compadre Pedro Juan." This was actually a resetting of García's "Ecos," itself based on earlier folk melodies, and thus it upheld a long-standing tradition in merengue típico of creating songs by applying new words to recycled melodies. The new, popular-style merengue began to grow in quite different directions from its predecessor, merengue típico. It became ever more popular throughout the country through its promotion by Petán Trujillo, the dictator's brother, on his state-sponsored radio station, La Voz Dominicana. Musicians like Luis Senior and Pedro Pérez kept listeners interested by inventing new variations like the "bolemengue" and "jalemengue."


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue does not have as plainly strong African origins as other forms of Dominican music, and therefore did not conflict with Trujillo's racist ideology. Trujillo promoted the music for political gain as a focus of national solidarity and political propaganda. It helped his efforts to unify a Dominican identity.


title: Merengue music

text: After Trujillo's assassination in 1961, the merengue orquesta underwent great change. During that decade, Johnny Ventura's Combo Show drove crowds wild with their showy choreography, slimmed-down brass section, and salsa influences. In the 1970s, Wilfrido Vargas sped up the tempo and incorporated influences from disco and rock. (The term "orquesta," simply meaning a large musical ensemble, is now used to describe the pop merengue groups based on Ventura's and Vargas's models as well as the older Alberti style.) In addition, a new rhythm called "merengue a lo maco" appeared and was popularized by groups including Los Hermanos Rosario and Cheche Abreu. Far less complicated than other merengue rhythms, it was particularly useful for adapting songs from other styles like bachata, Colombian vallenato, Mexican rancheras, and North American pop. This process of remaking is called fusilamiento and continues to be a source for many merengue hits to this day.


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue has been heard in New York since the 1930s, when Eduardo Brito became the first to sing the Dominican national music there before going on to tour Spain. Salcedo-born, Juilliard-educated Rafael Petitón Guzmán formed the first Dominican-led band in the city with his Orquesta Lira Dominicana, which played in all the popular ballrooms in the 1930s and 1940s, while at the same time Angel Viloria played popular tunes on accordion with his "conjunto típico cibaeño" for Big Apple fans. However, it wasn't until the massive migration of Dominicans in the 1960s and 1970s that the music reached a mass audience. In 1967, Joseíto Mateo, Alberto Beltrán, and Primitivo Santos took merengue to Madison Square Garden for the first time. Later, New York–based groups like La Gran Manzana and Milly, Jocelyn y los Vecinos, a group unusual for being fronted by women, gained a following in the diaspora as well as back on the island.


title: Merengue music

text: By the 1980s merengue was so big it was even beating out salsa on the airwaves. That decade was also notable for a boom in all-female orchestras, and Las Chicas del Can became particularly popular. Since then, musicians like Juan Luis Guerra, trained at Boston's Berklee school, Toño Rosario and former rocker Luis Díaz have brought merengue even further abroad, truly internationalizing the music. Guerra collaborated with African guitarists, experimented with indigenous Caribbean sounds, and explored Dominican roots music with típico accordionist Francisco Ulloa, while Díaz (an innovator since his work with 1970s folklore group Convite) fused merengue, rock, merengue típico, and bachata in his productions.


title: Merengue music

text: In the 21st century, orquesta musicians began to voice concern that their style would be eclipsed in popularity by bachata and merengue típico. Perhaps for this reason, some pop merengue singers have gone to extreme lengths to attract attention, such as Tulile and Mala Fe's excursions into women's wear. But even without such antics, recordings by groups like Los Toros Band, Rubby Pérez, Alex Bueno, Sergio Vargas, and the ever-popular Los Hermanos Rosario continue to sell well. Pop merengue also has a remarkably strong following on the neighboring island of Puerto Rico, which has produced its own stars, like Olga Tañón and Elvis Crespo.


title: Merengue music

text: In more urban settings, merengue is played with all manner of instrumentation, but the tambora and the güira are signatures. Today, "merengue de orquesta" is most popular. It uses a large horn section with paired saxophones, piano, timbales, hi-hat, backup singers, and conga, in addition to tambora, güira, and bass. In modern merengue típico a saxophone is an addition to the accordion, along with electric bass guitar. A proof of the great adaptability of the music can be found in the Dominican National Symphony's presentation in 2003 of a concert series entitled "Symphonic Merengue", in which the Symphonic Orchestra consisting of woodwinds, brass, strings, and the like played popular tunes.


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue music found mainstream exposure in other areas of Latin America in the 1970s and '80s, with its peak in the 1990s. In the Andean countries like Peru and Chile, merengue dance lost the characteristic of being danced close together, instead being danced separately while moving the arms.


title: Merengue music

text: Merengue, from its conception and through time, has classically been a male-dominated genre. In recent times, however, the genre has experienced a change in this situation. Several female artists and all-female bands have risen to relative stardom. This upheaval was influenced by the contributions of singer/bandleader Johnny Ventura’s modernization of the sound of merengue in 1960, modernizing the sound from its “big-band”-esque setup with a quickening of tempo and inclusion of a visually-appealing element, with glitzy costumes and choreography. In the early 1970s, trumpeter and singer Wilfrido Vargas furthered the modernization of merengue by including electronic elements and strengthening the focus of a visual stage presence. These two men modernized the merengue stage, thereby increasing the palatability of a female merengue presence.


title: Merengue music

text: One of the most influential women in merengue is Fefita La Grande. Her birth name was Manuela Josefa Cabrera Taveras. She performed for Petán Trujillo, the brother of the Dominican Republic's president, convincing him to give her father a home and a job she could earn money from. Her rise to fame led to a great demand for her performances in New York, the Dominican Republic, and even Europe. Fefita's efforts forced men to work alongside women in merengue and accept that there is a place for them.


title: Merengue music

text: Female merengue bands began to emerge in the 1970s, with examples such as Gladys Quero's "Orquesta Unisex", but started gaining popularity in the early 1980s with Aris García's "La Media Naranja", "Las Chicas del País" and, principally, pianist Belkis Concepcion's band, Las Chicas del Can. They are known by their fans as Las Reinas del Merengue, or in English, The Queens of Merengue. The band currently consists of eleven members, including horns, rhythm, dancers, and singers. After Belkis Concepcion left the band in 1985, Miriam Cruz took over as lead vocalist and led the band on tours through Europe. Soon after Concepcion followed the “mother figure” of merengue—Milly Quesada. She led the group Los Vecinos, which includes her sister Jocelyn and cousins Rafael and Martin, based in New York City. In reference to this female-merengue phenomena, Jocelyn Quesada states,


title: Merengue music

text: Yet another notable all-female merengue group is the trio Chantelle. The women are Puerto Rican, not Dominican, and both this and their gender testify to merengue's growing popularity.


title: Merengue music

text: Las Chicas del Can was the first all-female band from the Dominican Republic, formed in 1981, which paved the road for other Latina artists. Known as “Las Reinas de Merengue”, which means “The Queens of Merengue”, they not only sang and danced, but also played a variety of instruments such as the trumpet, conga drums and the guitar. Las Chicas del Can were extremely successful, earning several platinum and gold records. Their hit single “El Negro No Puede” was later remade by Shakira, in her song “Waka Waka”.


title: Merengue music

text: Milly Quezada was born as Milagros Quezada Borbon on May 21, 1955. She is a singer in Latin America. Her hometown is Dominican Republic. She graduated from New York City College with a communications degree. Then she was known as the Queen of Merengue, or La Reina de Merengue. She had a group with her two brothers and sister called Milly, Y Los Vecinos. The band would write songs about women's independence and freedom of choice.


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: The murder of Laquan McDonald took place on October 20, 2014, in Chicago, Illinois. McDonald was a 17-year-old who was fatally shot by a Chicago Police Officer, Jason Van Dyke. Police had initially reported that McDonald was behaving erratically while walking down the street, refusing to put down a knife, and that he had lunged at officers. Preliminary internal police reports described the incident similarly, leading to the shooting being judged as justifiable, and Van Dyke not being charged at the time. This was later disproved after a video of the encounter was released, showing that McDonald was walking away.


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: On November 24, 2015, thirteen months after the shooting, a court ordered the police to release a dash cam video of the shooting. It showed that McDonald was walking away from the police when he was shot 16 times by Officer Van Dyke. That same day, Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder, and was initially held without bail at the Cook County Jail. He was released on bail on November 30. The city reached a settlement with McDonald's family for $5 million in April 2015. On October 5, 2018, Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder, as well as 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm.


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: Protests followed the murder of McDonald, demanding changes in police and judicial procedure, and for the dismissal or resignation of city and county officials. Rahm Emanuel won a second term in 2015 as Mayor of Chicago (prior to the release of the dash cam video), but Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez lost her bid for reelection in 2016.


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: At the request of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the United States Department of Justice initiated a civil rights investigation into McDonald's murder and the activities of the Chicago Police Department. It released its report in January 2017, describing the police as having a culture of "excessive violence", especially against minority suspects, and of having poor training and supervision. DOJ and city officials signed a consent decree for a plan for improvement to be overseen by the courts. Moreover, three Chicago police officers were tried for allegedly attempting to cover up events related to the murder, and were found not guilty by the Cook County Circuit Court on January 17, 2019.


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: Laquan Joseph McDonald (September 25, 1997 – October 20, 2014) was from the 37th Ward of Chicago. According to NBC Chicago news, McDonald earned $1,100 working after school in the Youth Advocate Program in 2014. His final report card showed that he had earned an A in personal finance and music, a B in world studies and reading, and Cs in biology and algebra. He had a younger sister and brother. One of McDonald's teachers described him as "very respectful and reserved". The teacher added that McDonald "was not aggressive".


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: Toxicology reports later revealed that McDonald had PCP in his blood and urine at the time of the encounter with police. Defense expert pharmacologist James Thomas O’Donnell testified that the amount found was enough to suggest he had taken the drug on the day of the shooting, and that it could cause "significant bizarre behavior".


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: Jason D. Van Dyke (born 1978) was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, and graduated from Hinsdale South High School in 1996. He earned a bachelor's degree in criminal justice from St. Xavier University in Chicago. A 14-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department and earning a salary of $78,012, Van Dyke is married and has two children. Since 2001, some 20 citizen complaints have been filed against Officer Van Dyke, but none resulted in disciplinary action. Ten of the complaints allege he used excessive force, and two involve the use of a firearm. A jury awarded a Chicago man $350,000 after determining Van Dyke employed excessive force during a traffic stop. One complaint involved verbal abuse by Van Dyke, who used a racial slur. Van Dyke was involved in preparing questionable documentation of a separate shooting in 2005.


title: Murder of Laquan McDonald

text: According to CNN, "the Chicago Police Department has about 12,000 officers. Like Van Dyke, 402 officers have 20 or more complaints on file in the database. The most complaints against any officer, according to the database, is 68. The database shows that of the 20 complaints against Van Dyke, none resulted in discipline. Five complaints in the database were "not sustained", five were unfounded, four resulted in exoneration, five had unknown outcomes, and one resulted in no action taken."