141 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 10 Named for John Rutherfurd, who spelled his surname differently and served as a senator in the now state of New Jersey some 230 years ago, the city is known for a bustling downtown and much development over the last several years. We recently spoke with Mayor Frank Nunziato, Rutherford Chamber of Commerce Executive Secretary Jennifer Ersalesi, Borough of Rutherford Public Information Officer, Kim Bogosian, and Chamber of Commerce and local insurance agent, Dan Meredith. They told us what makes their community such an attractive option for both residents and businesses moving in. Ersalesi says Rutherford is a hub of much economic activity these days, as you might expect of a satellite benefitting from the financial gravitational pull of the Big Apple. Indeed, Rutherford is a very business-friendly place, where new businesses abound. “They just keep opening!” Ersalesi enthuses. The Borough’s aptly named Park Avenue area is the home of many such new enterprises, along with some pricy and beautiful real estate, and there is a lot of development in the western end of Rutherford as well, as Ersalesi also points out. Developers are working on what might be thought of as a British or European model; something more commonly seen in historic American communities circa World War II and still as recently as some 60 years ago: a lot of ground-level storefronts with residential capability above—the sort of thing that is very attractive to young, urban professionals with a great deal of disposable income to be lavished on downtown amenities and businesses. Nunziato points out that the Rutherford Borough Council Has been carefully reviewing such projects for years now that would fit nicely within Rutherford’s designated transit village area in the Downtown. The mayor, who is 57, adds that since he was a kid, there have been areas near the bustling train station that need improvements using RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY right vision and an eye on the 21st century. “I would describe it as a beautification of the downtown area,” Nunziato observes. Nunziato says some friends of his in local businesses said they were thinking of moving out of downtown, but he advised them not to do so. “I said, ‘If you move out of town, you’re never going to be able to afford to come back!’” he informs with a chuckle. Rutherford residential properties are in very high
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