Ivy Hill, Newark, New Jersey

Newark neighborhoods
North Ward
-Broadway
-Forest Hill
-Mount Pleasant
-Roseville
-Seventh Avenue
South Ward
-Clinton Hill
-Dayton
-South Broad Valley
-Weequahic
Central Ward
-The Coast/Lincoln Park
-Government Center
-Springfield/Belmont
-University Heights
East Ward
-Five Corners
-The Ironbound
-Downtown
West Ward
-Fairmount
-Ivy Hill
-Vailsburg
-West Side

Ivy Hill is a diverse neighborhood in the West Ward of Newark, New Jersey which is notable for having high crime. While the Ivy Hill neighborhood is often considered as part of the Vailsburg area,[1] it is actually a separate area.

Contents

History

The Ivy Hill area had been part of the South Orange Township known as Maplewood until 1890 when the city of Newark bought this land. In 1926, another 110 acres (0.45 km2) was annexed by Newark. In the 1960s, novelist Philip Roth in his book American Pastoral, described a community as family-oriented and safe.[1]

Schools

This neighborhood has up to three schools and an Annex which had been a Ukrainian School and which later became the Mount Vernon School for two years and then for one year Vailsburg middle School.

Sports

The area hosts sports competitions.[2]

Politics

The Ivy Hill Neighborhood Association was formed several decades ago and hosts forums for public debate.[3] In 2010, concerns voiced by members included issues such as "increased police presence, job creation, failing schools, recreational facilities for children, control of the Newark watershed, and residency requirements for city employees."[3] Many city workers do not live within the city limits, according to one report.[3]

Crime

The area has been plagued by high rates of crime in the past few decades, with numerous muggings and murders.[4] There was a murder of a 26-year-old man in 2008[5] and a woman in 2011.[6]

In 2007 there was a triple execution-style murdering of three college-bound students behind the Mount Vernon school which generated national attention.[7] The murdered students became known as the Mount Vernon 3.[7] They had been bound for Delaware State University.[7] The shooting happened in a parking lot behind the Mount Vernon School just across Manor Drive from Ivy Hill Park Apartments. It led to lawsuits against the school for inadequate security[8] as well as protests from residents about lack of police presence, an underused police facility, and lack of surveillance cameras.[9]

Residential

Two-family homes

The area has many two-family homes.

Ivy Hill Apartments Complex

The Ivy Hill Park Apartment complex consists of ten fifteen-story buildings on Mount Vernon Place and Manor Drive.[10] The construction of the apartment buildings had been initially frowned upon by many in the neighborhood. It was built in 1952.[10] It became home to immigrants from many communities, including from Eastern Europe.[10] In 2011, there are immigrants from over 40 countries represented, with 10,000 residents, with the sense of the complex being like a mini "United Nations".[10] Some day-laborers live there.[11] In a freak accident, several persons were injured by lightning when they were outdoors in a small wooded area behind the apartments when a thunderstorm began.[12] It is a privately-managed facility which spreads out for half a mile.[10] Management policy is not to respond to questions from the media although some information is relayed by staff on condition of anonymity.[13]

The apartment complex has had serious problems with crime, although there are conflicting reports whether the crime rate is improving[10] or whether crime is continuing to fester.[4] There was a report of residents who were "often afraid to approach their own apartments because of the gantlet of gang members lurking around the doorways of the buildings."[10] Some buildings were plagued by "garbage and mischief". According to one newspaper account:

Drug dealing nearby is hardly uncommon. Parties could get out of hand. Cars were stolen. Lights were broken. Fists could fly, and weapons could be brandished.
—report in the New York Times,2007[10]

The complex management had trouble dealing with gang members who used the extensive complex as a hideout.[14] Security guards for the complex, including off-duty Newark police officers, gave "little resistance" to gang activity, according to one report.[10] Evictions did not seem to matter since gang members returned to the complex to menace residents.[10]

There were always problems in those apartments. I wanted to protect my sons.
—resident of Ivy Hill Apartments in 2007[14]

The complex was described as "rough"[15] with an "atmosphere of fear."[11] Criminal gangs either lived or robbed there, sometimes who slipped through apartment doors "cracked barely open by frightened residents."[10] One gang did stickups in elevators and parking lots to extort cash from victims.[10]

Notable residents

Ivy Hill is the home of artistic talent of such varying disciplines as rapper Rah Digga and artist Andre de Krayewski, and boyhood home of artist, Robert Florczak from 1953-1958. Teri Shields, mother of actress and model Brooke Shields was born in the neighborhood.

Transportation

Ivy Hill is served by the Number 3 New Jersey Transit bus lines, all of which meet at the Ivy Hill Loop "station" located at the southeast corner of Manor Drive and Mount Vernon Place. It is the second stop, after the South Orange Train Station, on the number 107 [16] bus to New York. Service on the 107 begins at 4:45 AM on weekdays and the last bus to arrive from New York arrives at 2:49 AM. The loop is the first stop on the number 37[17] bus to Newark Airport, which begins at 4:04 AM on weekdays. The last bus to arrive from Newark Airport arrives at 12:12 AM. The 1 or 361X [18] connects Ivy Hill with Jersey City and Newark Penn Station. Number 1 buses run almost every half hour starting at 4:34AM. 361X express buses run during the morning rush at 7:16, 7:23, 7:30, 7:37, 7:44, 7:51, 8:00, 8:14, 8:24, 8:40.

References

  1. ^ a b TERRY GOLWAY (November 14, 2004). "URBAN MYTHOLOGY; The Newark Dream". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DEEDA1F3CF937A25752C1A9629C8B63&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "In Mr. Roth's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel American Pastoral, ...It was very family-oriented, said Eileen Smith ... lived in Vailsburg's Ivy Hill Apartments in the 1960's. My parents never had a car. We walked everywhere, and it was safe. You could take a bus downtown and come back at night without having to worry about crime." 
  2. ^ Mike Lamberti (May 21, 2011). "ESSEX SOFTBALL: Mount St. Dominic wins a thriller, 5-4, over Cedar Grove". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/softball/index.ssf/2011/05/essex_softball_mount_st_dominic_wins_a_thriller_5-4_over_cedar_grove.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "Cora Ianiro and Melissa Tighe had three hits each to lead Mount St. Dominic past defending champion Cedar Grove, 5-4, in the Essex County Tournament semifinals at Ivy Hill Park in Newark." 
  3. ^ a b c David Giambusso (April 12, 2010). "Newark voters cite jobs, schools, crime as major issues in West Ward election". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/newark_voters_cite_jobs_school.html. Retrieved 2011-08-25. "Candidates faced questions prepared by the Ivy Hill Neighborhood Association, the decades-old community group that hosted the forum, and residents. Many of the themes echoed issues facing candidates throughout the city: increased police presence, job creation, failing schools, recreational facilities for children, control of the Newark watershed, and residency requirements for city employees." 
  4. ^ a b Richard Khavkine (September 30, 2010). "South Orange neighborhood worried about rising crime". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2010/09/south_orange_neighborhood_worr.html. Retrieved 2011-08-25. "Although Irvington Avenue through the village is by all accounts a safe thoroughfare during the day, residents say a wave of muggings, break-ins and robberies over the last few months have turned the corridor menacing after nightfall." 
  5. ^ Chanta L. Jackson (September 09, 2008). "Man, 26, shot dead in Ivy Hill". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/newark/laworder/index.ssf/2008/09/man_26_shot_dead_in_ivy_hill.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "26-year-old city man was shot dead Sunday in the city's Ivy Hill neighborhood, police said." 
  6. ^ Star-Ledger staff (March 22, 2011). "Authorities investigate death of woman found in apartment in Newark's West Ward". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/authorities_investigate_death_4.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "Police have identified a suspect in the death of a woman found Tuesday in a West Ward apartment and expect to make an arrest soon, officials said. Newark police arrived to 55 Manor Drive near Ivy Hill after receiving information there may have been a homicide victim there..." 
  7. ^ a b c The Star Ledger, by Suleman Din and Claire Heininger/The Star-Ledger January 29, 2008 4:19PM This article first appeared in The Star-Ledger on Aug. 6, 2007.
  8. ^ JoAnne Sills (August 26, 2008). "Newark schools to go to court over liability in triple schoolyard murder". nj.com. http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/newark_schools_to_go_to_court.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "The survivor and the families filed a civil suit in June, alleging that the school board failed to provide adequate security in the playground, despite knowledge of serious criminal threats arising from the nearby Ivy Hill apartments." 
  9. ^ Joan Whitlow (December 11, 2009). "Newark's police work shouldn't be a secret". The Star-Ledger. http://blog.nj.com/njv_joan_whitlow/2009/12/newarks_police_work_shouldnt_b.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "... a supposedly empty police building on Irvington Avenue in the Ivy Hill area of Newark’s West Ward.... 50 Ivy Hill residents marched in a cold rain one night calling out a list of demands that included more police presence and full staffing of that facility..." 
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l SERGE F. KOVALESKI (August 15, 2007). "Wanted: A Band of Men and Boys". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E4D71539F936A2575BC0A9619C8B63&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "... Carranza, 28, possessed of a temper and a growing rap sheet, appears to have directed the group of a half-dozen or more -- answered to like a boss. The group pulled off petty stickups in the elevators and parking lots of the sprawling Ivy Hill Park Apartments in the West Ward, according to interviews with relatives, friends and victims, who say the crew extorted people for quick cash, sometimes slipped through apartment doors cracked barely open by frightened residents." 
  11. ^ a b Joan Whitlow (August 24, 2007). "The problem is criminals, whatever their immigration status". The Star-Ledger. http://blog.nj.com/njv_joan_whitlow/2007/08/the_problem_is_criminals_whate.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "People in the Ivy Hill Apartments say that some of the young suspects arrested in the Mount Vernon case had been strong-arming residents for money, creating an atmosphere of fear." 
  12. ^ Carly Rothman (July 27, 2009). "4 are injured by lightning as storms rake New Jersey". The Star-Ledger. http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-14/124866810725180.xml&coll=1. Retrieved 2011-08-25. "In Newark, the men injured in the lightning strike were socializing in a small wooded area behind the Ivy Hill Park Apartments on Mount Vernon Place when the storm began, neighbors said." 
  13. ^ Kasi Addison and Mark Mueller (January 29, 2008). "In quiet complex, trouble was brewing". The Star-Ledger. http://blog.nj.com/ledgerarchives/2008/01/in_quiet_complex_trouble_was_b.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "Two Newark police officers who moonlight as security guards at Ivy Hill Park said Carranza was ejected from the grounds several times in recent years because he was violent and drunk. The guards spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to address the media." 
  14. ^ a b ROBERT D. McFADDEN and ANNIE CORREAL (August 13, 2007). "A Life of Hardship, and Now, Two Fugitive Sons". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/13/nyregion/13newark.html?pagewanted=2. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "... With her sons, she moved into the Ivy Hill Apartments. ... Asked why they left Ivy Hill, Ms. Gomez said: “There were always problems in those apartments. I wanted to protect my sons.”" 
  15. ^ "From Siberia to the MG Film Fest: Tatyana Z". Newark Star-Ledger. August 11, 2008. http://www.nj.com/morristown/index.ssf/2008/08/from_siberia_to_the_mg_film_fe.html. Retrieved 2011-08-15. "The family landed in Newark's rough Ivy Hill apartments, and" 
  16. ^ 107
  17. ^ 37
  18. ^ 1 or 361X

External links