Like so many other parents, Janet McGurty, a 15-year resident of the city, considered leaving Hoboken when her son Myles became old enough to go to school. “It was important to me that he get a good education without paying too much for it,” she explained Wednesday as her 6-year-old son happily wolfed down a slice of pizza on Washington Street. But unlike thousands of parents before her, McGurty stayed. In so doing, she defied a decades-old cycle of life in Hoboken that had become almost as certain as death and taxes. Since the late 1970s, the twentysomethings who began moving to Hoboken for its proximity to Manhattan, its bustling night-life and town-like atmosphere, invariably left once they started having kids. They moved to places like Montclair, South Orange and Maplewood for bigger back yards and a “better” education, following in the footsteps of the low- and moderate- income families who had been pushed out, and continue to be pushed out, by the city’s high rents. This exodus of parents and children decimated the public school system. Enrollment dropped from more than 10,000 students in the late 1970s to just over 2,700 today. But now, thanks to the recent opening of a pair of charter schools, a revitalization of the old ones and the successful launch of a free 3-year-old education program, more and more parents like McGurty are staying put, school officials say. “Seven years ago we were seeing a decrease in our total enrollment of about 4 percent a year,” explained David Anthony, the school board president, Thursday. “Today we are seeing [a decrease of] more like 1 percent. So we have started to turn the trend around. And I think we will start to see a gradual increase soon.” “The difference is that we are providing more choices for people,” he continued. “A lot of people who would not have previously ever have even thought of even setting foot in a public school are now sending their kids to public charter schools. But it is not just charter schools. We have primary school choices and middle school choices. Choices in the 3-year-old program. And we will have choices in the new 4-year-old program too.” Studies on the future of Hoboken’s schools back Anthony’s words up. A report released last summer concerning $52 million in proposed capital improvements to the schools stated that there could be as many as 1,063 more school-aged children in town by the 2003-04 school year, due to an expected 7,191 new units of housing. Although more families have begun to stay only recently, the trend is already starting to have an impact on everyday life in the city, some say. A handful of restaurants have begun to offer a children’s menu, and children’s oriented stores and services, like Echo of Art on First Street and Hoboken Kids on Washington Street, have begun popping up all over town. In May, Stone Soup, an up-scale consignment shop that sells children’s clothing, opened its doors on Willow Avenue and Ninth Street. “Everyone who comes in here says this is exactly what Hoboken needs now,” said co-owner Janice Bissell Wednesday, as she showed off a pair of itty-bitty girls’ pants which would cost $40 new, but are only $10 in her shop. “We need it. I moved to Hoboken in 1994 and I felt a little out of place because I was not wearing an alma-mater sweatshirt and going to the cafes, but not anymore. It’s really changing.” The good life It’s not just stores and services. The real estate market has shifted too. “There is a real change since the late 1980s when we were so focused on the one-bedroom apartments,” explained real estate agent Maureen Singleton last week. “More and more people are looking for larger units. It used to be that people were choosing to live in Hoboken because it was cheaper than Manhattan, but now we are seeing people choose Hoboken over Manhattan because the quality of life is better here and because they want to raise their families here.” Singleton pointed to a slew of new development projects including the just-built Castle complex on Clinton Street that features loft style apartments larger than 1400 square feet. “There is just not enough product out there for families right now,” she added. Although the trend of moving-after-the-kids-are-born appears to be slowing down, it has not stopped. While Kelly Welsh was playing with her sons Jack, 2, and Eric, 9 months, in Elysian Park Wednesday, she explained that although she loved the city’s parks and proximity to Manhattan, she and her husband were thinking about moving. Schools were one of her chief concerns with staying, she said. And although she said that it did not necessarily make her want to move, she did not like the way most of the restaurants treat her when she goes out to eat with her sons. “If they have two high chairs in the whole restaurant, you are very lucky,” she said as she pushed Jack on the swing. “If you go with a friend with a baby there just is not enough room for you. Places just don’t seem to be that family friendly.” Still others said that they thought that regardless of their feelings on the public schools (the elementary schools do above average on standardized tests, but Hoboken High School’s SAT scores don’t compare with suburban districts), the majority of new parents would probably still leave town. “A lot of people just want to give their kids what they were given as a child,” said Laura Lagano, a mother of three who has decided to raise her family in the mile square city. “They want to have a big backyard or a driveway. I grew up in Brooklyn, so I am happy living vertically with my family, but some people never will be.” Despite the difficulties, city officials are committed to continuing to try and encourage people to raise their families here. “I think that the key to the future success of Hoboken is ensuring that people stay,” said Anthony, who has three children. “Communities thrive and are successful because of the people that are in them. We have been trying to offer people here many of the same programs that are available in suburban towns, like girls softball and soccer and arts programs without raising taxes. We have had some success, but we still have more work to do.”
Families staying; People with kids are choosing Hoboken, for a change
