After receiving the results of a recent mailed survey, Weehawken residents voted to the tune of a 96 percent approval rate to ask the U.S. Postal Service for its own identity in the form of a separate zip code beginning in July. The town will separate from the 07087 postal zip it has shared with Union City since the zip code system was introduced nearly 40 years ago.
Of the 8,000 surveys sent to 5,000 Weehawken households, Mayor Richard Turner said that his office received 1,798 responses. Of the responses received, 1,724 voted in favor of the new zip code, 69 voted against it and five had undetermined responses.
“They were dimpled chads,” Turner laughed. “We were holding those up to the light to determine which way the votes were leaning, but we couldn’t decipher. But there will be no recount in this vote.”
Turner said that the survey response, which turned out to be 36 percent of all households and 22 percent of the entire survey, was better than expected.
“I believe it’s a tremendously high number, especially for a mailing,” Turner said. “You’re asking people to fill it out and return it in the mail, so that sometimes can get lost in the shuffle. It was much higher than what we expected. We thought the responses would be around 10 to 15 percent. We had no idea.”
Added Turner, “But to receive 96 percent in favor of the new zip code is really astounding. We’re ecstatic with the turnout and we’re ecstatic with the results. You would assume that most people would approve, but this was much better than anyone could have imagined. There was a place for people to write comments and the comments were overwhelmingly in favor.”
The comments ranged from a simple “Thank you,” to “It’s about time.”
“Our residents really took the time to fill out the survey properly, even down to the place for comments,” Turner said.
The results of the survey were officially announced at the regularly scheduled Township Council meeting last Wednesday night. The council then instructed acting township clerk Ariely Laszlo to officially forward the results to Rep. Robert Menendez’ office, in order than Menendez can present the findings to the U.S. Postal Service office in Washington.
By the end of next month, Weehawken residents will know their new zip code, which will officially begin to be used on July 1. The Postal Service will continue to recognize 07087 for the first 12-18 months, but then, the new zip code will be only Weehawken’s.
The process to secure the new zip code was a very tedious one. First, it took the better part of 40 years for the Postal Service to even recognize the need for Weehawken to have its own zip code. For the last three years, Menendez and Turner have been diligent with their efforts, making numerous pleas.
Finally, when the Postal Service agrees to consider it, then they requested to be able to monitor what was sent out with the official survey.
“They made changes to the cover letter we were sending out, because they said that it was too much in favor of the new zip code,” Turner said. “We had to change it about three times. It was basically their survey and we were mailing it out on their behalf, so they wanted to make sure that it was done correctly. The Postal Service is very reluctant in issuing new zip codes.”
Needless to say, Turner was very pleased with the results.
“This was a grass roots effort, with a lot of people getting involved,” Turner said. “More and more of our residents were demanding a new zip code, because the zip code has become more of a means geographic identification, especially on the Internet. You punch up 07087 and it automatically gives you Union City. Our identity was being lost. We had about two-dozen U.S. Census forms that had Weehawken addresses and were sent to Union City. To this day, I don’t know if those forms were ever counted.”
Added Turner, “When the congressman’s own mailing was being sent to Union City automatically, I think that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. We’re one of the oldest communities in Hudson County, well before a lot of communities, and we had no identity. This way, we can insure that the identity of Weehawken will carry forward. I’m very pleased. I expected an overwhelming response, but I am amazed that we were able to carry it through.”