Eliot's E-mail Updates

Please sign up for our e-newsletter to receive periodic updates*



*By submitting, you are subscribing to my newsletter.

button Write Rep Engel

About Our District

New York’s 17th Congressional District is home to the some of the most picturesque neighborhoods in the country and top-ranked public schools. Our district is proud to be highly diverse; composed of a community built of people from every walk of life, different ethnicities, nationalities and religious backgrounds, each adding to what makes this community unique and special.

The district encompasses parts of the Bronx, Rockland County and Westchester County.  It includes such neighborhoods as Riverdale, Woodlawn, Norwood, Williamsbridge, Van Cortlandt Park Village and Wakefield in the Bronx; Mount Vernon and parts of Yonkers, Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson and Tarrytown in Westchester; and the towns of Ramapo, Orangetown and the southern half of Clarkstown in Rockland County.

 

 
BRONX Top

The Bronx portion of the 17th Congressional District contains approximately 45 percent of the district’s population. It is also home to more than half a dozen ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Some of the most populous ethnicities here include Irish, Hispanic, Italian, Albanian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Jamaican and other Caribbean countries. The neighborhoods represented by Congressman Engel include Riverdale, Woodlawn, Norwood, Williamsbridge, Van Cortlandt Park Village and Wakefield.

Several notable higher education institutions are located in the 17th Congressional District, including Manhattan College, College of Mount Saint Vincent, and Herbert H. Lehman College.

Van Cortlandt Park Village includes Van Cortlandt Park as its northern border, which at 1,146 acres is the fourth-largest park in New York City. It is named after the first native-born mayor of New York - Stephen Van Cortlandt - and his prominent family.

Just up the hill is Riverdale, where Congressman Engel lives; and the neighborhood of North Riverdale, home of Mount Saint Vincent College and Manhattan College; and Wave Hill, a beautiful botanical garden and outdoor art gallery looking out to the Palisades.

South of Riverdale is Spuyten Duyvil, a sub-neighborhood, located on the Harlem Ship Canal across from northern Manhattan.

East of Spuyten Duyvil are the neighborhoods of Kingsbridge and Kingsbridge Heights, middle and working class neighborhoods whose name stems from the bridge built there in pre-revolutionary times.

Further east is Norwood, home of Montefiore Medical Center, a world-class hospital and the largest employer in the Bronx.

Moving further east you come to the neighborhoods of Williamsbridge and Woodlawn, home of the famous Woodlawn Cemetery where Bat Masterson, Duke Ellington, Celia Cruz, Miles Davis, robber baron Jay Gould (see Irvington below), Irving Berlin, and Lionel Hampton are buried. Next is Wakefield, notable for its large Caribbean population; and Eastchester, where Congressman Engel spent his early years.

 

ROCKLAND

Top

Making up the vast majority of the rest of the 17th Congressional District in population and land area are the Towns of Ramapo, Orangetown, and a portion of Clarkstown in Rockland County.

Ramapo

In 2008, Ramapo was named the safest city in the United States in The 15th annual "2008 - 2009 City Crime Rankings" published by CQ Press. Ramapo includes the villages of Suffern, Spring Valley, Montebello, Airmont, Hillburn, Sloatsburg, Chestnut Ridge, New Square, Kaser, New Hempstead, Wesley Hills, and a portion of the Village of Pomona.  Ramapo is also home to the hamlets of Monsey, and Tallman.

The Town of Ramapo is in the southwest corner of Rockland County, consisting of about one-third of the county's land area. The name is of Native American origin, meaning either "sweet water" or "sloping rocks".

Rockland Community College is located in the Town of Ramapo which in 2009 celebrates its 50th anniversary of outstanding service to the residents of Rockland County.

During the American Revolutionary War, Commander-in-Chief George Washington is said to have climbed the Ramapo Torne (near Ramapo hamlet) with a telescope to watch the movement of British ships off Sandy Hook.

Orangetown

The Town of Orangetown includes the villages of Nyack, Piermont, Grandview-on-Hudson and South Nyack and the hamlets of Pearl River, Blauvelt, Tappan, Palisades and Sparkill. 

Several exceptional institutions of higher education and science are located here, including Dominican College of Blauvelt, Iona College-Rockland Campus, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Long Island University-Rockland Campus, New York University-School of Social Work, Nyack College and Alliance Seminary, and St. Thomas Aquinas College.

Orangetown was first settled around 1680. The Town of Orangetown was the first town formed in Rockland County, after the county was established. During a border dispute with New Jersey, part of the town was lost from New York.

Clarkstown
Clarkstown is the most densely populated town in Rockland County and is home to New City Palisades Mall, which is the largest mall in New York and 10th largest in the United States. Clarkstown contains the village of Upper Nyack and the hamlets of West Nyack, New City, Bardonia, Nanuet, and Valley Cottage.  Parts of Spring Valley and Nyack overlap into Clarkstown. which is the county's seat of government. It also has a large number of business districts.

The Town of Clarkstown was created by an act of the New York State Legislature on March 18, 1791, during Washington's first term of office. Since Rockland County was not created until 1798, Clarkstown was first a Town in Orange County before it became a Town in Rockland County.

In 2008, Clarkstown became one of 600 municipalities nationwide to sign the United States Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 7 percent below the 1990 levels by 2012.

 


WESTCHESTER Top

The 17th Congressional District includes the entire city of Mount Vernon, the southern and western portions of Yonkers and the western areas of the Hudson River villages of Hastings-on- Hudson, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, and Tarrytown, leading to the Tappan Zee Bridge which spans the river to Rockland County.

Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is the eighth-most populous city in the state of New York. It is a predominantly African-American city but with a large Brazilian population estimated by the city and the Brazilian Consulate to be one in 10 residents. Between 2000-2006, Mount Vernon's economy grew 20.5%, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the metropolitan area of New York. Mount Vernon has a large amount of commercial industry which boosts the city's economy, with industries such as manufacturing, electronics, engineering, and high tech mainly located in the Southside section of the city.

Mount Vernon is typically thought to be divided into four major sections in four square miles: The North Side, the South Side, Mount Vernon Heights and Downtown. Within the city are a number of parks, large and small, and Wilson Woods Park, a 23-acre county-owned park. The city has the largest public library system in Westchester County and the sixth largest in New York State.

Mount Vernon was named after the Virginia plantation where George Washington lived, just as neighboring Wakefield was named after the plantation where he was born. A landmark on Gramatan and Lincoln Avenue since the late 1800s was called simply "The Circle" until about 1942 when it was named McArthur Circle after General Arthur MacArthur. The general was a Civil War and Spanish-American War hero, a Medal of Honor winner and father of WWII hero, General Douglas McArthur. A statue of a Spanish-American War soldier was added and the area was rebuilt and reopened in 2000.

Yonkers
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York (behind Rochester, Buffalo, and New York City), and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 196,086. Yonkers borders the Bronx and is two miles north of Manhattan at the city’s closest point. Though Yonkers contains many small residential enclaves and communities, it can conveniently be divided into four quarters, demarcated by the Saw Mill River.

Amidst a growing need for increased economic viability in Yonkers, a vast revitalization project proposal has been designed for the city. It promises to add luxury housing, waterfront development, commercial and retail space, has been designed for the city. With hopes of increasing the city's tourism and economic importance in the state and county, the project is one of the largest revitalization projects ever proposed for any locality within the New York Metropolitan Area, totaling more than $3 billion.

Several exceptional institutions of higher education are located here including Mercy College, Sarah Lawrence College, Westchester Community College and St. Joseph's Seminary

For its first 200 years, Yonkers was a small farming town with an active industrial waterfront. Yonkers’ later growth rested largely on developing industry. In 1853, Elisha Otis invented the first safety elevator, and created the Otis Elevator Company the first elevator factory in the world on the banks of the Hudson near what is now Vark Street.

River Villages
Hastings-on-Hudson is located in the southwest part of the Town of Greenburgh.

Hastings-on-Hudson is located in an area of hills on the Hudson River opposite the Palisades cliffs, north of the city of Yonkers. The village is home to beautiful views of the river, the Palisades and Manhattan to the south.

The area that is now Hastings-on-Hudson was once the home of the Weckquaesgeek Indians, one of the Algonquin tribes. Around 1650, a Dutch carpenter named Frederick Philipse arrived in New Amsterdam. In 1682, Philipse traded with the Indians for the area that is now Dobbs Ferry and Hastings.

Dobbs Ferry is a quaint historic village located on the Hudson River, approximately 20 miles north of New York City. Its sloping geography and beautiful waterfront afford dramatic views of the Hudson and Palisades from many locations. Its character is friendly and diverse, with many ethnicities and religions reflecting the waves of immigrants who have passed through this area.

Named after a ferry service that traversed the Hudson River at this location, Dobbs Ferry played a vital role in the American Revolutionary War. In July and August 1781, during the seventh year of the Revolutionary War, General Washington’s Continental Army troops were encamped in Dobbs Ferry and neighboring localities.

Irvington is a prosperous suburban village in the Town of Greenburgh. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, 20 miles north of midtown and is served by a station stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.

The village's main thoroughfare is Broadway, which runs north-south parallel to the river, and connects Irvington to Dobbs Ferry in the south and Tarrytown in the north.

Tarrytown brings together the charm of an historic Hudson River town with the vibrancy of a living community - a place where parents raise their children, where seniors retire and are welcome, where a full range of businesses meet our needs each day.

The village is in the Town of Greenburgh. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about 25 miles north of midtown Manhattan.

Tarrytown is famous as the home of Washington Irving who wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle”. He was also wrote biographies of George Washington, Muhammad, and several histories of 15th-century Spain. He died at 76 in Tarrytown. His Sunnyside home is preserved as a museum. Another famous home in Tarrytown is Lyndhurst, where Jay Gould lived.

 Back to the Top