| Borough of Seaside Heights | |
|---|---|
| — Borough — | |
| Seaside Heights boardwalk looking toward Funtown Pier | |
| Motto: Your home for family fun since 1913! | |
| Location of Seaside Heights in Ocean County. Inset: Location of Ocean County in the State of New Jersey. | |
| Census Bureau map of Seaside Heights, New Jersey | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New Jersey |
| County | Ocean |
| Incorporated | February 26, 1913 |
| Government[1] | |
| • Type | Borough |
| • Mayor | P. Kenneth Hershey (term ends 2011)[2] |
| • Administrator | John Camera[3] |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.8 sq mi (2.0 km2) |
| • Land | 0.6 sq mi (1.6 km2) |
| • Water | 0.2 sq mi (0.4 km2) |
| Elevation[4] | 7 ft (2 m) |
| Population (2010 Census)[5][6] | |
| • Total | 2,887 |
| • Density | 3,608.8/sq mi (1,443.5/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 08751 |
| Area code(s) | 732/848 |
| FIPS code | 34-66450[7][8] |
| GNIS feature ID | 0880450[9] |
| Website | http://www.seaside-heightsnj.org/ |
Seaside Heights is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 2,887.[6] Seaside Heights is situated on the Barnegat Peninsula, a long, narrow barrier peninsula that separates Barnegat Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. During the summer, the borough attracts a crowd largely under the age of 21, drawn to a community with boardwalk entertainment and one of the few shore communities with sizable numbers of apartments, attracting as many as 65,000 people who are often out until early morning visiting bars and restaurants.[10]
Seaside Heights was incorporated as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on February 26, 1913, from portions of both Berkeley Township and Dover Township (now Toms River Township), based on the results of a referendum held on March 25, 1913.[11]
Seaside Heights is a resort community, with a beach, an amusement-oriented boardwalk, and numerous clubs and bars, making it a popular destination. Seaside Heights calls itself, "Your Home For Family Fun Since 1913!"[12] Peak months are July and August, but the season actually runs March–October. Summer population explodes to 30,000 to 65,000.[10][13] Route 37 in Toms River is routinely gridlocked on Friday afternoons in the summer months as vacationers travel to the barrier islands. The community is also known as the location of the hit MTV show Jersey Shore, with the director of the borough's business improvement district saying in 2010 that "we can't even calculate the economic benefit" to Seaside Heights from the continued presence of the show.[14]
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Seaside Heights is located at (39.943068, -74.074193).[15]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.8 square miles (2.1 km2), of which, 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km2) of it (19.74%) is water.
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1930 | 399 |
|
|
| 1940 | 549 | 37.6% | |
| 1950 | 862 | 57.0% | |
| 1960 | 954 | 10.7% | |
| 1970 | 1,248 | 30.8% | |
| 1980 | 1,802 | 44.4% | |
| 1990 | 2,366 | 31.3% | |
| 2000 | 3,155 | 33.3% | |
| 2010 | 2,887 | −8.5% | |
| Population sources: 1930-1990[16] 2000[17] 2010[5] |
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As of the census[7] of 2000, there were 3,155 persons, 1,408 households, and 691 families residing in the borough. The population density was 5,162.2 people per square mile (1,997.0/km2). There were 2,840 housing units at an average density of 4,646.8 per square mile (1,797.6/km2). The racial makeup of the borough was 89.95% White, 4.03% African American, 0.63% Native American, 0.86% Asian, 1.17% from other races, and 3.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.70% of the population.[17]
There were 1,408 households out of which 25.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 26.8% were married couples living together, 16.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 50.9% were non-families. 40.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.17 and the average family size was 2.93.[17]
In the borough the population was spread out with 23.3% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 35.4% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 11.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 106.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.8 males.[17]
The median income for a household in the borough was $25,963, and the median income for a family was $27,197. Males had a median income of $30,354 versus $21,899 for females. The per capita income for the borough was $18,665. About 21.9% of families and 24.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.9% of those under age 18 and 12.3% of those age 65 or over.[17]
Seaside Heights is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at large. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office. The Borough Council consists of six members elected to serve three-year terms on a staggered basis, with two seats coming up for election each year.[1]
As of 2011[update], the Mayor of Seaside Heights is P. Kenneth Hershey (R, term ends December 31, 2011). Borough Council members are William Akers (R, 2012), Joyce E. Camera (R, 2012), Arline Ottoson (R, 2013), Agnes Polhemus (R, 2011), Richard Tompkins (R, 2013) and Ken Grachien (filling the seat vacated due to the death of Joann Duszczak).[18][19] Joann Duszczak served on the Borough Council for more than a decade before her death in December 2010.[20]
In the November 2011 general election, William Akers was elected to a four-year term as mayor and incumbent councilmembers Agnes Polhemus and Anthony E. Vaz were elected to three year terms on the borough council. The three Republicans will take their new seats in January 2012.[21]
Mayor Hershey had been in politics in Seaside Heights uninterrupted for over 35 years and had been first elected as Mayor in 1992. His predecessor George Tompkins (father of current councilman Rich Tompkins) served 16 years from 1975–1991, and Mayor J. Stanley Tunney served for 25 years from 1939-1964. Councilwoman Agnes Polhemus served from 1972–1993, and returned in 2006.
Seaside Heights Borough Attorney George R. Gilmore is grandson of the late Seaside Heights Mayor J. Stanley Tunney and is the Ocean County Republican Chairman.[22]
Seaside Heights is in the 3rd Congressional district and is part of New Jersey's 10th state legislative district.[23] The legislative district was kept unchanged by the New Jersey Apportionment Commission based on the results of the 2010 Census.[6]
New Jersey's Third Congressional District is represented by Jon Runyan (R, Mount Laurel Township). New Jersey is represented in the United States Senate by Frank Lautenberg (D, Cliffside Park) and Bob Menendez (D, Hoboken).
10th district of the New Jersey Legislature, which is represented in the New Jersey Senate by Andrew R. Ciesla (R, Brick Township) and in the New Jersey General Assembly by James W. Holzapfel (R, Toms River) and David W. Wolfe (R, Brick Township).[24] The Governor of New Jersey is Chris Christie (R, Mendham).[25] The Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey is Kim Guadagno (R, Monmouth Beach).[26]
Ocean County is governed by a Board of Chosen Freeholders consisting of five members, elected at large in partisan elections and serving staggered three-year terms of office, with either one or two seats coming up for election each year. As of 2011, Ocean County's Freeholders are Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari (Toms River, term ends December 31, 2011), Freeholder Deputy Director Gerry P. Little (Surf City, 2012), John C. Bartlett, Jr. (Pine Beach, 2012), John P. Kelly (Eagleswood Township, 2010) and James F. Lacey (Brick Township, 2013).[27][28]
On the national and state levels, Seaside Heights leans strongly toward the Republican Party. In the 2008 Presidential Election, Republican John McCain received 53% of the vote, defeating Democrat Barack Obama, who received around 44%. In the 2009 Gubernatorial Election, Republican Chris Christie received 64% of the vote, defeating Democrat Jon Corzine, who received around 26%.
The Seaside Heights School District is a public school district for students in Kindergarten through sixth grade. Hugh J. Boyd, Jr. Elementary School served 223 students as of the 2009-10 school year.[29] The original school, Seaside Heights Elementary School, was built in 1926 and later demolished after the opening of a larger school building on the bay front. The current school was built in the late 1960's, and is dedicated to Hugh J. Boyd, Jr., its longtime Superintendent of Schools who died in 1983.[30] Its Early Childhood Center addition was dedicated in 2007 in the name of longtime Board of Education Member Harry M. Smith III.[31] The Board of Education is made up of five members, each elected to three-year terms on a staggered basis, with one or two seats up for election each year.[32]
The Toms River Regional Schools provides administrative, maintenance, food and other services to the Seaside Heights Board of Education, and has done so since 2003.[33] Superintendent of Schools is Frank J. Roselli, who is also the Superintendent of the Toms River Regional School District, oversees the Seaside Heights district.
Public school students in grades 7 through 12 attend the schools of the Central Regional School District, which also serves students from the municipalities of Berkeley Township, Island Heights, Ocean Gate and Seaside Park.[34] The schools in the district (with 2009-10 enrollment from the National Center for Education Statistics[35]) are Central Regional Middle School (grades 7-8; 651 students) and Central Regional High School (9-12; 1,349).
Route 35 and Route 37 both pass through Seaside Heights, intersecting at the approach to the Thomas A. Mathis and J. Stanley Tunney Bridges.
New Jersey Transit provides seasonal bus service in Seaside Heights on the 137 route to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan and to Newark on the 67 line.[36]
Casino Pier and Funtown Pier are amusement parks, each situated on a pier extending approximately 300 feet (100 m) into the Atlantic Ocean. Each of the two piers is part of a boardwalk that stretches for 2 miles (3.2 km), which offers many family-friendly attractions from arcades, to games of chance, to beaches, to the wide variety of foods and desserts, all within walking distance.[37] Breakwater Beach (formerly known as Water Works) is a water park situated across the street from Casino Pier.
Seaside Heights hosted the AVP volleyball tournament for two years during the Summers of 2006 and 2007, with volleyball greats such as Karch Kiraly competing for the $200,000 purse.[38]
Seaside Heights is best known as the setting for MTV's reality TV series Jersey Shore. The first season of Jersey Shore was filmed in Seaside Heights and Toms River during August 2009. The show's third season was also filmed in Seaside Heights, during July, August, and September 2010.[39] After New York City officials nixed MTV's plans to hold a "Snooki Drop" alongside the Times Square Ball in Times Square New Year's Eve 2010–11, MTV moved the event (in which Jersey Shore cast member Nicole Polizzi is dropped in a ball) to Seaside Heights.[40] The show returned to Seaside Heights for its fifth season, which wrapped filming on August 2, 2011 and is planned to air in January 2012.[41]
Prior to Jersey Shore, the town was also the setting of MTV's True Life: I Have A Summer Share, which was filmed in Seaside Heights, as was MTV's True Life: I'm a Jersey Shore Girl from 2004, which was one of the network's first stories of guidettes looking for the perfect guido.[37][42] Additionally, the MTV summer beach house was located in Seaside Heights for many summers in the early 2000s.[37][43]
In 1985, New Jersey rock band Bon Jovi filmed most of their music video for the song "In and Out of Love" in Seaside Heights, mainly on the boardwalk.[37][44]
Portions of the 2006 movie Artie Lange's Beer League were filmed in Seaside Heights.[45]
ABC soap opera One Life To Live filmed a portion of its 2008 storyline in Seaside Heights, mainly on the beach and boardwalk.[46]
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