North Arlington

Joseph Zadroga worked for the North Arlington Police Department from 1970 until 1997, when he retired as chief.

A retired North Arlington, N.J., police chief, Mr. Zadroga was instrumental in the passage by Congress in 2010 of the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which provides federal medical benefits, including monitoring and treatment, to police officers, firefighters and emergency medical workers who became ill as a result of their exposure to the contaminants in the aftermath of the 2001 devastation in Lower Manhattan.

Route 50, traveling west from D.C., splits Arlington in half physically and psychically; the southern half is less white and more poor than North Arlington, epicenter of the yellow signs.

On a recent ride around North Arlington, I saw only a few in tony neighborhoods like Country Club Hills and Rivercrest.

And the arguments from North Arlington homeowners citing the Arlington Way resembled the arguments that homeowners always make when the housing battle comes to their backyards: They bought their homes because they wanted a particular kind of life, and now that way of life feels under threat.