My bad - I meant to type "school age kids" since he is 20. Funny thing is he actually didn't go to school in town (we don't have a middle or high school). We tuition out our kids to nearby towns. It gets a little under my skin to have such a high percentage of the taxes actually going to another town's coffers and it not have a direct impact on us.

That all is a matter of contention around here. We only have one grammar school, a very small police dept and very little else. Our kids do go to good schools - I believe about half of the kids in town go to private schools, the rest to neigboring towns over the 5th grade. People have actually proposed closing Wandell and letting parents with school age kids pay the out of district tuition themselves. What precipitated that idea was the fac that such a high percentage of kids do go to private school. I think the real appeal of the town has nothing to do with the schools. It really feels like living in the English countryside - and yet 10 minutes by car and you are in Paramus (the #1 retail location in the US - a cool wikipedia entry too), and NYC is less than 30 minutes away. It is a very unusual town in that if offers relatively little in terms of services, and yet remains so desireable.

It's still just as nice - though they don't bother to carry much of the "vintage" silverware and pieces that they used to. I like the Wayne store for its housewares...

Ever since they renovated the mall and took out the waterfall/garden in the center it just feels so barren.

Did you know that Paramus Park was originally built as a tax write off for Rouse (developers)? After their success with things like Willowbrook Mall and the Baltimore Harbor project they needed something to generate a loss. It was originally going to be a hybrid office/retail space - so putting it where it is "invisible" wasn't a problem. It can't be seen from Route 17 and though it faces the Garden State Parkway - there is no access to it. Rouse figured that it could be used as a write off for years with huge portions going unleased. No one could ever really explain what happened - just a "lining up of the planets" type thing. Within 2 years of opening it was the top grossing mall in the country. It still pulls amazing numbers despite the Blue Laws, but it's glory days have passed...