146 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 10 city’s economic growth. Among them is the Song’E Napule Pizzeria and Trattoria, which also has a sister restaurant in New York. In addition, there is a new Mexican restaurant, the Taquería Nacho Libre, which is also doing very well by all accounts. And this growth is not just in the realm of restaurants- overall membership to the Rutherford Chamber of Commerce has tripled since 2020. “We’re growing,” says Nunziato, “and we’re trying to stay on top of it and manage it in a manner that is beneficial to everybody but not taking away from the original feel of our community.” Rutherford, he adds, is known for being a place big on independence and self-reliance. “We’re a very small and prosperous community at this point,” he opines, “and I’m a lifelong resident. When I was growing up, our downtown was so barren. Stores left. The town was not in a very good position. Yet now, we’re prosperous. You can’t find a location to put another store in our Downtown. Our out-of-town visitors on the weekends are overwhelming, so we’re pretty self-sufficient.” Why would someone want to do business with or live in Rutherford? For Nunziato, the answers are abundant and obvious. “We’re eight miles out of Manhattan,” he notes, citing Rutherford as the rail line’s last stop before the New York City borough. Further, he cites a recent State of New Jersey grant of some $5 million to redo Rutherford’s major park. That would be Memorial Field which consists of several acres along the Passaic River dedicated to recreational facilities. “We’re a very family-friendly town,” says Nunziato, jokingly adding, “and that’s our biggest problem! The number of families moving in, and the number of children being brought into this community have changed the way Rutherford plays sports. “We were a big baseball and football town. Now we have all these other sports, so that’s
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