Ivy Hill, Newark, New Jersey Explained

Ivy Hill is a neighborhood of Newark, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a diverse neighborhood in the city's West Ward bordering South Orange, Maplewood and Irvington.There are many well kept homes and streets in the neighborhood. The Ivy Hill neighborhood is often considered a section of the Vailsburg area.

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 110acres was annexed by Newark. In the 1960s, novelist Philip Roth in his 1997 book American Pastoral, described the community as family-oriented and safe.[1]

Schools

Mount Vernon Elementary School and Ivy Hill Elementary School are located in Ivy Hill.

Mount Sinai Congregation

Mount Sinai Congregation and Jewish Senior Center is located in Ivy Hill.[2] Several hundred Russian Jews live in the area.[3] [4]

Ivy Hill Park

In 1927, the City of Newark designated 18acres of land to establish Ivy Hill Park in order to accommodate the recreational needs of Maplewood, Newark, South Orange, and Irvington.[5] [6]

Due to a 25-year, no-cost lease agreement between Seton Hall University and Essex County Parks for one acre of University tennis courts, this brings the total number of courts in the park to 10. In exchange, the County rehabilitated the tennis courts and allows Seton Hall University use of the park's facilities.[7]

The area hosts softball competitions.[8]

Ivy Hill Park also includes hard surface tennis courts, softball/baseball fields, a combination football/soccer field, a lighted basketball court, a playground, a shelter, and a band concert area.

Politics

The Ivy Hill Neighborhood Association was formed several decades ago and hosts forums for public debate.[9] 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."[9] Many city workers do not live within the city limits, according to one report.[9]

Residential

The area has many well kept single-family, duplex homes and apartment buildings[10] of various sizes.

The Ivy Hill Park Apartments consists of ten fifteen-story buildings on Mount Vernon Place and Manor Drive. It is a privately managed facility which spreads out for half a mile. "Groundbreaking for the Ivy Hill Apartments took place in September 1951, with the first tenants moving in November of the next year. The developers were Arthur Pedula and Ralph Solow. Though forgotten today, Pedula was one of Newark's largest developers. The Ivy Hill Apartments were built with federal and city assistance. The City of Newark sold Pedula and Solow the 31 acres for the apartments, and the federal government, through the Federal Housing Administration, provided $17 million in low interest loans to the developers. Newark further facilitated the apartment buildings construction to allow for cheaper reinforced concrete, rather than structural steel.[11] It is also a nuclear fallout shelter. In 1955, the complex was sold to New York real estate investor and manager Henry Moscowitz, owner of the Argo Corporation.[12] The Ivy Hill apartments were originally solidly middle-class. Nearly a fifth of all residents were transplants from New York City and 22% of the residents commuted into the great metropolis.[11] Throughout the years, it became home to an extremely diverse resident base. In 2011, residents from over 40 countries were represented, totaling up to 10,000 residents, with the sense of the complex being like a mini "United Nations". Of the 10,000 residents, 1,000 of them are Russian speakers. Due to its walking proximity to Seton Hall University, many undergraduate and graduate students live here too.[11] There are also a number of retirees. The complex is New Jersey's largest privately owned apartment complex.[13] There is a shopping center on nearby Irvington Ave.

Notable residents

Public transportation

Crime

The area has been plagued by high rates of crime in the past few decades, with numerous muggings and murders.[17] There was a murder of a 26-year-old man in 2008[18] and a woman in 2011.[19]

In 2007 there was a triple execution-style murder of three college-bound students behind the Mount Vernon school which generated national attention. The murdered students became known as the Mount Vernon 3. They had been bound for Delaware State University.[20] 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[21] as well as protests from residents about lack of police presence, an underused police facility, and lack of surveillance cameras.[22]

The Ivy Hill Park Apartment complex has had serious problems with crime, although there are conflicting reports whether the crime rate is improving. Some court cases involving these apartments include Kuzmicz v. Ivy Hill Park Apartments,[23] Ivy Hill Park Apts. V. GNB Park. Corp,[24] Ivy Hill Park Apts. V Sidisin,[25] etc.

There was a homicide victim in building 55.[26] There is a report of residents who were "often afraid to approach their own apartments because of the gauntlet of gang members lurking around the doorways of the buildings." Some buildings were plagued by "garbage and mischief". Illegal immigrants have lived in the Ivy Hill Park Apts. According to longtime residents, the management has recently changed for the better, but it is a slow process. There are also unmarked police cars parked around the area.

According to one newspaper account:

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

The complex was described as "rough"[27] with an "atmosphere of fear."[28] Criminal gangs either lived or robbed there, sometimes who slipped through apartment doors "cracked barely open by frightened residents."[29] One gang did stickups in elevators and parking lots to extort cash from victims.[29]

In March 2018, the city opened the first police precinct in the neighborhood in 100 years and things are improving. The area is much cleaner and tenants are not afraid to go out to the grocery store or anyplace else. Police patrols have been stepped up.[30]

Notes and References

  1. News: Goldway, Terry. URBAN MYTHOLOGY; The Newark Dream. . 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 1960s. 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. . November 14, 2004 . 2011-08-15.
  2. "About". Mount Sinai Congregation. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  3. Bennet, J. "Ivy Hill Park". Newarkology. "Mt. Sinai has been led by Rabbi Samuel Bogomilsky since 1964. Bogomilsky, a member of the Chabad movement, saw Ivy Hill as an ideal home for the thousands of low-income Soviet Jewish emigres who began arriving in the United States in the 1970s. The Jewish Federation of Metrowest agreed with Bogomilsky and began funneling Russian Jews to affordable and safe Ivy Hill. Ivy Hill's owners agreed, even hiring a special Russian Jewish renting agency to attract Russian Jewish tenants."
  4. Web site: History of Congregation Ahavas Sholom . Congregation Ahavas Sholom . September 10, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150810112110/http://ahavassholom.org/index_files/Page316.htm . August 10, 2015 . "Of the forty Newark synagogues, all have either moved to the suburbs or merged with other shuls. One other congregation—Mt. Sinai, primarily composed of Russian émigrés in the Ivy Hill apartment complex in Newark's Vailsburg section—remains and conducts services daily." .
  5. "Ivy Hill Park". Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  6. http://www.essex-countynj.org/p/index.php?section=parks/sites/iv
  7. http://www.essex-countynj.org/p/index.php?section=parks/sites/iv
  8. News: Mike Lamberti. Essex Softball: Mount St. Dominic wins a thriller, 5-4, over Cedar Grove. . 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. . May 21, 2011 . August 15, 2011 .
  9. News: David Giambusso. Newark voters cite jobs, schools, crime as major issues in West Ward election. The Star-Ledger. 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. . April 12, 2010 . 2011-08-25.
  10. http://www.andrewscorp.com.au/ apartment buildings
  11. Web site: Ivy Hill Park.
  12. http://www.prismpartners.net/pdf/news_njc_2008_08.pdf New Jersey & Company: "Juicy: Developers find "the Oranges" Ripe for Picking" By Katie Wagner
  13. http://www.ivyhillparkapts.com/ Ivy Hill Park Apartments website
  14. http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0001.pdf 1 or 361X
  15. http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0107.pdf 107
  16. Web site: 37 . 2011-01-06 . 2020-02-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200214091013/https://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0037.pdf . dead .
  17. News: Richard Khavkine. South Orange neighborhood worried about rising crime . The Star-Ledger. 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. . September 30, 2010. 2011-08-25.
  18. News: Chanta L. Jackson. Man, 26, shot dead in Ivy Hill. The Star-Ledger. 26-year-old city man was shot dead Sunday in the city's Ivy Hill neighborhood, police said. . September 9, 2008. 2011-08-15.
  19. News: Star-Ledger staff . Authorities investigate death of woman found in apartment in Newark's West Ward. The Star-Ledger. 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 .... March 22, 2011 . 2011-08-15.
  20. http://blog.nj.com/ledgerarchives/2008/01/4_killed_as_a_night_of_gunfire.html The Star Ledger
  21. News: JoAnne Sills. Newark schools to go to court over liability in triple schoolyard murder . NJ.com. 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. . August 26, 2008 . 2011-08-15.
  22. News: Joan Whitlow . Newark's police work shouldn't be a secret . The Star-Ledger . ... 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 ... . December 11, 2009 . 2011-08-15.
  23. a tenant of Ivy Hill Park Apartments, Inc. (Ivy Hill), sustained serious injuries when he was assaulted on a vacant lot owned by Newark Board of Education (the Board). The lot was located between the apartment complex and a grocery store owned by Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (the A&P). Several years before the assault, Ivy Hill had erected a chain-link fence to separate its property from the Board's lot. Over the course of the years, Ivy Hill had repaired the fence three or four times. However, to gain access to the lot, which provided a shortcut to the A&P, the tenants or someone else had cut an opening wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side through the fence. Although the apartment complex abutted a lighted sidewalk leading to the A&P, Ivy Hill tenants frequently elected to cut the walk short by walking through the darkened path
  24. A summary action between landlord and tenant for recovery of commercial premises due to violation of lease covenants. The case raises the novel question of whether the specificity requirements of N.J.S.A. 2A:18-53(c)(4) for the notice to terminate the tenancy and quit the premises may be satisfied if such notice incorporates by reference a sufficiently specific recent notice to cease or cure the violations. This court answers the question affirmatively.
  25. In this summary dispossession action brought for non-payment of rent under N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1a., the trial court determined that defendant had failed to pay as additional rent under the lease $1,640 in damages to the plaintiff's property. The court determined that defendant had flushed cat litter down the toilet, that the litter had caused a blockage in the building's sewer line and that the blockage and resulting flood had caused the damage. The court also determined that the damage was the result of defendant's negligence.
  26. Web site: Authorities investigate death of woman found in apartment in Newark's West Ward. 22 March 2011.
  27. News: From Siberia to the MG Film Fest: Tatyana Z. The Star-Ledger. The family landed in Newark's rough Ivy Hill apartments. August 11, 2008. 2011-08-15.
  28. News: Joan Whitlow. The problem is criminals, whatever their immigration status. The Star-Ledger. 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.. August 24, 2007. 2011-08-15.
  29. News: SERGE F. KOVALESKI . Wanted: A Band of Men and Boys . The New York Times . ... 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. . August 15, 2007. 2011-08-15.
  30. Web site: This neighborhood is home to about a tenth of Newark crime. It's been 100 years since a police precinct opened there. 28 March 2018.

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