Westchester County, New York

'' Westchester County is a primarily  located in the  of  with about 950,000 residents. It is part of the. It was named after, in , and the is.

Westchester has a reported of $58,592, the eighth highest in the United States.

History
The first ans to explore Westchester were in  and  in. The first European settlers were sponsored by the in the  and. English settlers arrived from in the.

Westchester County was an original county of the, one of twelve created in. At the time, it also included the present, which constituted the Town of Westchester and portions of three other towns: Yonkers, Eastchester, and Pelham. In, a new town, West Farms, was created by secession from Westchester; in turn, in , the Town of Morrisania seceded from West Farms. In, the Town of Kingsbridge seceded from Yonkers.

In, the western portion of the present Bronx County, consisting of the then towns of Kingsbridge, West Farms, and Morrisania, was transferred to , and in the remainder of the present Bronx County, consisting of the Town of Westchester and portions of the towns of Eastchester and Pelham, was transferred to New York County. By that time, the portion of the town of Eastchester immediately north of the transferred portion had seceded from the town of Eastchester to become the  so that the Town of Eastchester had no border with New York City. In, those parts of the then New York County which had been annexed from Westchester County were constituted the new Bronx County.

Today it is a rather affluent suburban county, home to many commuters from New York City as well as corporations and buisness, many which are located in White Plains.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 1,295 (500 ). 1,121 km² (433 sq mi) of it is land and 174 km² (67 sq mi) of it (13.45%) is water.

Westchester County is in the southeastern part of New York State.

The highest elevation in the county is a  known as "Bailey" at 300 m (985 feet) above sea level in Mountain Lakes Park near the Connecticut state line. The lowest elevation is sea level, along both the Hudson and Long Island Sound.

In popular conception, Westchester County is generally divided into northern and southern areas. The (places north of Interstate 287/Cross Westchester Expressway) is often seen as rural and wealthy; the southern portion (White Plains and south) is more urban. These generalities, however, do not necessarily hold true in all communities. For example, Bronxville, Larchmont, Rye and Scarsdale in the southern portion are among the wealthiest communities in the entire US. Officially, the Westchester County Department of planning divides the county into North, Central and South sub-regions.

At the closest point, Westchester is only 2 s north of Manhattan (from Broadway & Caryl Avenue in southern Yonkers to Broadway & West 228th Street in the section of Manhattan).

Cities, towns and villages
Westchester County has 6 cities, 19 towns and 20 villages. Any land area in the county that is not contained in one of the cities is in a town. A town may contain zero, one or multiple villages. A village can be located in more than one town, as two of Westchester's villages are.

Adjacent counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - south

Government
The is. The district attorney is Janet DiFiore (D, switched from GOP in Aug. 2007). The is  (D).

Board of Legislators
The Westchester County Board of Legislators is the legislative, policy-making branch of Westchester County. The County Board has seventeen members. The current board chair is (D).

Emergency Services
Westchester County has a wide array of Emergency services and serves as the home to 58 fire departments, 42 ambulance services, a Haz-Mat team, a fire academy and a fire investigations unit.

Law Enforcement
There are currently 46 local police agencies located in Westchester County. As well as other County, State, Private, and Federal Law Enforcement agencies responsible for protecting Westchester County, these agencies frequently work with one another and other agencies located in the surrounding counties and states as well as the NYPD.

Politics
Although the county used to lean Republican, it swung Democratic in the early 1990s much like other New York City suburbs, and nowadays Westchester voters tend to be far more Democratic than the rest of the nation. In fact, Westchester, after and, has produced the biggest margins for statewide Democrats in recent years. Democratic voters are mainly in the southern and central parts of the county. 58% of Westchester County voters chose in the, the highest total of any New York county outside New York City, Albany, or  (Ithaca, New York).

However, Westchester County is less Democratic in state and local elections, as well as in the northern part of the county. Hence, it voted for with a margin of 23.07% against his Democratic opponent in the, and of 26.22% in 1998. Governor Pataki hails from Westchester, where he previously served as mayor of prior to being elected governor. and, both of whom are Democrats, represent most of the rest of the county (Engel's district also includes parts of the , and Lowey's reaches into ). Westchester's third US Representative is Democrat, who was elected in 2006, defeating Republican incumbent. Hall's district includes most of Northern Westchester County. Additionally,, a prominent  who ran a short-lived campaign against  for the  in 2006 served as  of Westchester County. County Executive Spano is just the second Democrat to hold the post in at least a half-century. It also in 2006 sent county legislator to the  defeating 20 year incumbent Nicholas Spano in a rematch of the 2004 race in whence she lost by only 18 votes. Assembly Member switched parties in July of 2007 to become a Democrat. Current DA Janet DiFiore also switched parties from Republican to Democratic in August of 2007.

Westchester County was the home of former vice-president, who occupied the mansion of the  3,400-acre estate after the death of ; it is situated near the town of Pocantico Hills.

The County is also home to the former president and New York Senator, who live in ; as is it the childhood home of former First Lady  in , where she attended the.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 923,459 people, 337,142 households, and 235,325 families residing in the county. The was 824/km² (2,134/sq mi). The Census Bureau estimates 2006 population at 949,355.

As of 2000, there were 349,445 housing units at an average density of 312/km² (807/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 71.35%, 14.20% , 0.25% , 4.48% , 0.04% , 6.63% from , and 3.05% from two or more races. or of any race were 15.61% of the population. 64.1% were of non-Hispanic origin.

By 2005 the population was 61.6% non-Hispanic white. 14.9% of the population was African-Americans. Asians were 5.5% of the county population.

As of 2000 The main European ethnic groups are Italian 31%, Irish 25%, German 5%, Polish 3%. 71.7% spoke, 14.4% , 3.9% , 1.1% and 1.1%  as their first language.

'There were 337,142 households out of which 34.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.90% were living together, 12.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.20% were non-families. 25.70% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.21.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.00% under the age of 18, 7.20% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 14.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.30 males.

According to 2006 HUD data, the median income for a household of one person in the county was $67,555 and the median income for a family of four was $96,500.

According to Census data, the for the county in 1999 was $36,726. The lists Westchester in 2004 with the per capita income of $58,952, the eighth highest in the country. The Census Bureau reports that 6.40% of families and 8.7% (2003) of the population were below the, including 26.53% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.

The largest census reviewed area in Westchester County is the City of, New York's fourth-largest city, with a population of almost 200,000. The smallest is the community of in the town of  with a population of 624.

Population timeline

 * &mdash;184,257
 * &mdash;283,055
 * &mdash;344,436
 * &mdash;520,947
 * &mdash;573,558
 * &mdash;625,816
 * &mdash;808,891
 * &mdash;894,104
 * &mdash;866,599
 * &mdash;874,866
 * &mdash;923,459

Transportation
Westchester County is served by (the ),,  and. s in the county include the, the , the , the , the and the. The connects Tarrytown to Rockland County across the Hudson River. The crosses the Hudson from Cortlandt to Orange County. The combination of these numerous highways, proximity to New York City, and the county's large population all lead to substantial traffic enforcement (as seen in at least one Seinfeld episode) and very busy local courts.

The development corridors in the county have defined sections and follow transportation corridors. The main north-south corridors are, from west to east, the /Albany Post Rd/Broadway Corridor along the Hudson River from Yonkers in the South to Peekskill/Cortlandt in the North. The Saw Mill River Parkway Corridor traverses the country in a north-eastern path, beginning in Yonkers, and terminating at I-684 in Bedford, mostly following the path of the Putnam Branch of the New York Central Railroad, which was abandoned in March 1970 (and which has largely been replaced by a paved path known as the South County and North County Trailways). The Sprain Brook Parkway traverses the county's midsection from a point in Yonkers where it breaks off from the Bronx River Parkway until Hawthorne about 15 miles north where it merges with the Taconic State Parkway and continues until I-90 near. The Hutchinson River Parkway lines the eastern county, from the Bronx (terminating at the Long Island crossing - the Whitestone Bridge) until the state line in Greenwich, where it becomes the. I-684 begins at a junction with the Hutchinson River Parkway and I-287 in Harrison, and continues north into (with a brief stretch in ) through Bedford and North Salem. The eastern most corridor is the I-95/New England Thruway which traverses the county on the Long Island Sound, from the Pelhams through the Town of Rye and into Connecticut. The East-West corridors are the Cross County Parkway, which traverses the southern county from Yonkers in the west through New Rochelle in the east, terminating at the Hutchinson River Parkway. The Cross Westchester Expressway/I-287 is the mid-county corridor spanning from the Tappan-Zee Bridge in Tarrytown to the west to I-95/New England Thruway in the east. The northern-most corridor is that approximating the US-202 route from Cortlandt, and the Bear Mountain Bridge, to Lewisboro and the Connecticut border. But unlike the more southerly corridors, US-202 is for the most part not a limited-access highway and has frequent traffic lights.

and others once proposed a bridge connecting Westchester with Nassau County, most likely using I-287 to do so. Public opposition was fierce, and the New York state government abandoned the plan.



service in Westchester is provided by (operated by the ). Metro-North operates three lines in the county; west to east, they are the Hudson, the Harlem and the New Haven lines, each of which stops in between Westchester and. serves, and. There are plans for a cross-county rail line to connect all three lines and provide easier access to.

also operates a service between, in  and. Plans are currently underway to operate a ferry between and  with a direct route to 's.

Bus service is provided by the (operated by the Westchester County Department of Transportation) both within Westchester and to Manhattan (BxM4C). The also runs the BxM3 to and from Getty Square in Yonkers to Midtown Manhattan.

is adjacent to White Plains.

Media In Westchester
There are quite a few county-wide media outlets, including:


 * Westchester Magazine, an upscale lifestyle magazine focusing on Westchester County and its environs.
 * , a daily newspaper, owned by . operates a news-bureau in conjunction with The Journal News.
 * , a monthly news paper serving Tarrytown, Sleepy Hollow & Irvington.
 * , a monthly lifestyle magazine published by and.
 * , a weekly newspaper published by.
 * The Westchester WAG a Magazine of local people, events, and lifestyles.
 * Westchester, a cable news station owned by.
 * WFAS (103.9 FM), a radio station focusing on Westchester.
 * (107.1 FM), or The Peak, owned by.
 * WRTN (93.5 FM), a radio station broadcasting from New Rochelle. Varied programming includes news, education, and music.  Part of LinkUp Media, an all-inclusive Caribbean media company.
 * , a news station owned by WRNN License Company, LLC.
 * Westchester.com, a community news and information website that focuses on Westchester County.

Education
Westchester County contains 48, 118 private schools and 14 colleges/universities.
 * Westchester County Directory of Schools and School Districts

Libraries
Westchester County is served by the Westchester Library System which was established in 1958 and today comprises 38 public libraries.

Historic and cultural attractions

 * Emelin Theatre, Mamaroneck, New York
 * Ever Rest, historic home of painter ,
 * Irvington Town Hall Theater,
 * , Pleasantville, New York
 * , White Plains, New York
 * Jay Heritage Center, historic homestead of ,
 * , World Headquarters,
 * , historic home that is part of the estate founded by ,
 * , historic Gothic Revival home,
 * Neuberger Museum of Art,, Purchase, New York
 * and the
 * Paramount Center for the Arts, Peekskill, New York
 * , historic site, Sleepy Hollow, New York
 * , Yonkers, New York
 * , America's only government owned and operated ,
 * The Performing Arts Center at, Purchase, New York
 * , historic home of author ,
 * , Tarrytown
 * Union Church,
 * Westchester Jazz Orchestra,
 * Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra,
 * , Tarrytown
 * Union Church,
 * Westchester Jazz Orchestra,
 * Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra,
 * Westchester Jazz Orchestra,
 * Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra,

Interesting facts

 * In the universe, 's School for Gifted Youngsters (the headquarters and training facility for the ) is located in Salem Center in Westchester County.
 * Radio talk-show host started his professional DJ career at WRNW-FM radio in 1977, a low-power station located in, the central part of the county.
 * Talk show host resides in
 * lives in Bedford, down the road from the estate of, founding father and first supreme court justice.
 * The publisher of the  in 1733,, covered the account of an election held at St. Paul's Church in the town of Eastchester (now Mount Vernon) and was arrested and tried for seditious libel. He was acquitted and thereby established the legal precedent for "." This later was incorporated as a basic freedom in the.
 * Westchester County is often referred to as the "Golden Apple"
 * The origin of the fictional town Bedford Falls, where 's "" is set, is a combination of the hamlet of Bedford Hills in Westchester County (a small suburban town about 45 minutes away from New York City), and Seneca Falls in Seneca County (a small town midway between Rochester and Syracuse).
 * The series of "girl detective" mysteries is set in the fictional town of Sleepyside-on-Hudson, based on the village of  in Westchester County.
 * Artist resided for most of his life in the Larchmont section of the town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County.
 * Fictional TV characters and  move to Westchester County after the final episode of .
 * Teen fiction series The Clique by is based in Westchester.
 * Westchester County is also often referred to as "The Beverly Hills of New York"
 * Westchester is profiled in the 1979 book by the Vanity Fair journalist, Westchester, Portrait of a County