Hastings-on-Hudson

Hastings has tons of neighborly spirit because everyone is identical- It's a zero diversity town. Crime is through the roof with Children's Village for wayward children robbing and attacking strollers on the aquaduct and on public streets. A car was just stolen and there have been armed robberies of the bank with assault gun and a home invasion on Main St. and much much more. As far as green goes, the school board just tried to put synthetic turf on the school playing field and the mayor tried to kill the deer using "net & bolt." The downtown is filled with boarded up stores and the riverfront is a toxic dump owned by BP. The town caters to BP and takes money from them in exchange for advertising, like the new BP scoreboard an the Uniontown Field. Green? No town is less green than Hastings on Hudson. The huge deer population eats everyone's garden and is spreading debilitating Lyme disease so fast that the Mayor has called it a Health emergency. Hastings has been included in a law suit for not having affordable housing. Hastings is truly a town of checked out entitled YUPPIEs with a politically correct veneer. Tarrytown and Ossining are much more exciting and real. If you want to pay 20K a year in taxes to live in a town of pod people, Hastings is for you.

Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in the town of Greenburgh, located just over the border from the city of Yonkers and thirty minutes from Grand Central. It occupies 2 square miles and is home to 8,000 residents. The village is particularly popular with artists, authors and academics, and five Nobel laureates have called it home.

The village has a small, walkable downtown area, which looks like a throwback to another time. Though many of the shops reflect modern interests, the area has a definite vintage vibe. There are great restaurants and attractions, including The Museum in the Streets, which is a walking tour of 32 historic sites through the village. The appealing downtown area and the proximity to Manhattan via Metro North make Hastings a desirable place to live.

There is a recreation department which runs year-round programs. The James Harmon Recreation Center is available for meetings and other functions. Hillside Park has a pool complex, open during the summer months, and facilities for fishing, skating, and tennis. Residents who want to get closer to nature will prefer adjacent Hillside Woods and its network of hiking trails. Excellent river views can be found at MacEachon Park, which is located on the waterfront. There is a picnic area and playground at this park. Hastings is also home to a lengthy section of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, which originates in Manhattan and runs all the way up to Croton Gorge Park in Cortlandt.

The Hastings-on-Hudson district enrolls about 1,500 students and has an excellent reputation. There are three schools: Hillside Elementary, Farragut Middle School, and Hastings High School. Hillside has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education. Schools receive this honor for achieving exemplary academic results. Results on state standardized assessments are one measure of school district quality; overall, the students usually score above the median across all grades and subjects.

There are numerous housing options in Hastings, from large homes over a million dollars to small cooperatives and condominiums. Single-family homes can be found at a range of prices. There are also a good number of relatively new luxury condominiums.

If you’re looking for a fun, relaxing, community-oriented place to live with relatively reasonable housing prices, look no further than Hastings-on-Hudson. Here, hilly roads overlook the Hudson, and the Palisades and George Washington Bridge can be viewed from the town’s waterfront. Hastings is a very friendly town that was once thriving on farm produce, and then later on from its marble and bluestone refineries. (The refineries burnt down, but Hastings is still thriving, even more so today.)

Besides its eight parks that are great place to be in nice weather, In the heart of town is the place to be: where you’ll find lots of cute shops and great restaurants of all varieties. There’s funky consignment stores like the “unique children’s consignment” called Milk Money on bustling Warburton Ave., where you can find secondhand clothes that look brand-new. Here, the motto is to “Just Have Fun” but the staff will remind you, “no haggling please!” There’s also a second consignment and thrift store on Spring Street called Re-Find, where you’ll never know what kind of treasures you’ll discover.

Major roads to shop are Warburton, Spring Street, Washington Ave and of course Main Street (also known as Broadway, linking Hastings on Hudson to other towns like Ossining, Irvington, Ardsley and Dobbs Ferry). Hastings-on-Hudson has at least three delis, four bookstores (Galopagos and Good Yarns are both on Main Street), two grocery stores (Food for Thought on Spring Street and the Food Emporium on Broadway), cafes like Thomas’ Coffee and Tea on Main Street, and two antique stores (Suburban Renewal on Main Street, and Tea in the Attack on Washington Ave.) There’s even more stores where that came from.

If you’re hungry, take the kids for pizza at the Pizza Grill on Warburton Ave., or have a cozy and quiet romantic dinner with your significant other at beautiful spots like Harvest-on-Hudson, where you can dine on an open patio overlooking the Hudson, complete with a stone fireplace and herb garden. Maude’s Tavern, located near the train station, where you can enjoy the bar or a good meal either before or after you decide to hit downtown Manhattan. (Hastings is 41 minutes away, and the train station has parking for $4 a day; it’s around $400 to rent parking for the whole year.

Hastings-on-Hudson has an exemplary school system, where 90% of the students that pass through the Union Free School District go on to receive a higher education. (There’s also St. Matthew’s Parochial school, for kindergärtners all the way to eigth grade.) There’s lots of things for kids to do in Hastings, like joining the town’s Little League, AYO Soccer, and a Catholic Youth Program. Seniors will be glad to know that there’s a swim club, a fitness club, and even a choral group.

You can buy a home here for around $716,939; townhouses and condos cost a bit more. There’s a predominantly white population of 86.5%, so Hastings is, unfortunately, not very diverse. You’ll want to have a car to get around, but you can always rent a taxi that can take you to the train station, and it’s less than an hour to get to the city. There’s lots of parking options at the train station and it’s a great place for commuters (though paying for parking can get a tad bit pricey). Overall, Hastings-on-Hudson is very family friendly and wonderful for a place to get away to shop for the day. It has its own library and is very welcoming to local artists (visit their annual K-12 Art show or the annual RiverArts Artists Studio Tour---also serving neighboring towns like Dobbs Ferry and Irvington). For all your medical needs, visit St. John's Hospital, Echo Hills or Community Health in Dobbs Ferry.

Hastings-on-Hudson is a quaint and bucolic village which boasts absolutely stunning views of the Hudson River, the Palisades, the Tappan Zee Bridge, the George Washington Bridge and the Manhattan skyline. And speaking of the big city, the express train from Hastings whisks you there in a mere 30 minutes.

Hastings is known for the historically famous Hudson School of Painting and renowned local artist Jasper Crowley even has a museum there in his honor. There are many art galleries in this area, as well.

The adorable Main Street was actually awarded a Best of Westchester award in 2008 for its eclectic blend of old and new features. On this friendly and walkable street you will find a collection of businesses and services including unique gift shops, women's and children's fashion boutiques, bookstores, stationary stores, a bootery, a wine shoppe, a florist and a toy cottage amongst others.

There is actually a wonderful family-friendly self-guided walking tour of town called “The Museum of the Streets” that has a grand total of 32 entertaining and educational sites and pit stops along the way.

Hastings restaurants include the spectacular Harvest on the Hudson which offers scintillating food right on the water with very romantic sunset views for sure. Also of note are Hastings Station Café, Blue, Buffet de la Gare, Comfort, Blue Moon Mexican Café, Center Restaurant and Antoinettes Patisserie, to name but a few.

James Harmon Community Center offers a fun array of recreational activities including a ping pong club, yoga, line dancing and tai chi. Inside you will also find the community youth center which has computers, video games, pool and a variety of board games. Most of these great amenities are free to use to Hastings residents.

Many folks get outdoors to walk the Hastings portion of the Old Croton Aqueduct Trailway. MacEachron waterfront park is also a very popular family-friendly picnic spot replete with a playground. Nearby Kinnaly Cove has a kayak launch where people can get some exercise while taking in the glory of the scenery.

Hastings on Hudson is very safe and crime rate is very low.

The school system is very good. The median combined SAT score is 1790 and it is reported that 97% of its high school students do go on to attend college,

The median home income is $108,078. The median home value is $562,130 and the median rental rate is $1,620.00

In recent years, Hastings actually opened their first set of “green” luxury lofts buildings called Riverton Lofts which actually uses geothermal heating and cooling.

Hastings on Hudson is 85% White, 6% Hispanic, 5% Asian and 2% Black.

The population is 7,335 with the median age being 43.