Photo courtesy of Reena Rose Sibayan / The Jersey Journal.
For over 40 years, a prolonged battle over the fate of Liberty State Park in Jersey City has been the subject of interest for developers such as Paul Fireman while park activists oppose the idea of privatization efforts.
This Saturday Jan. 25, an event addressing new revitalization proposals led by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), is set to take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Liberty Science Center located at 222 Jersey City Blvd. Parking for those in attendance will be validated free of charge.
The meeting, open to the public, will bring forward a discussion into the park’s long-term master plan, designs for the Audrey Zapp Drive corridor and the restoration effort of the historic train shed.
According to the DEP site, additional plans for the park such as active recreation amenities, clean-up of the long fenced-off park interior, along with feedback from the previous meeting held on Sept. 28, underscore its commitment to public engagement.
“You’ll have another opportunity to contribute your thoughts on the park’s holistic long-term master plan and the more immediate enhancements,” said Shawn Latourette, the commissioner for the NJ DEP, in a video posted on the DEP site.
The previous meeting was held at the Central Railroad of New Jersey Terminal Building.
“The Liberty State Park Revitalization Program will bring more than one hundred acres of active recreational, arts and cultural improvements to Liberty State Park’s perimeter and create a central park at its heart with world-class natural landscapes that build resilience to flooding and climate change while providing passive recreation and educational opportunities for the public,” according to the DEP site.
However, concerns persist about the park’s future direction.
In a previous interview with the People’s Park Foundation (PPF), which is funded and backed by the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation, they reportedly proposed to the DEP that of the 240 acres that has been closed off for decades, 85 of that should have active and passive and recreational spaces; at the time, the DEP only approved of 60 acres.
PPF proposed:
- 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art Community and Recreation Center
- Multi-purpose turf fields
- 5,000-seat football stadium
- 7,000-seat waterfront amphitheater
- Multi-functional cultural center at the historic railroad
- Community gardens
See the full list here. Source for number of seats here.
“[Jersey City] has lost the potential to have parks in most places of the city right now and this can be for us–a way of making sure that this next generation of kids will have adequate parks and have places where they can get together and meet,” PPF President and CEO Bob Hurley previously told Slice of Culture.
Advocacy groups, led by Sam Pesin, who is the son of the park’s founder–Morris Pesin–and the president of the Friends of Liberty State Park, are urging residents to participate in Saturday’s meeting to ensure the public’s voice is heard and the park’s mission remains uncompromised by developers.
One of Pesin’s chief concerns involves potential plans to expand Liberty Landing Marina to accommodate “superyachts”—a significant development he argues would contradict the park’s core mission.
“Unfortunately, there is a dark cloud of privatization hanging over the Open House,” Pesin told Slice of Culture, referring to the Marina expansion plans. “Because the DEP flagrantly failed to reply to those communications, their silence makes it clear that this DEP is supporting a marina privatization expansion.”
The LSP Liberty Landing Marina, about a 10-acre public lawn, is owned by Suntex Marinas, a $2.5 billion corporation based in Texas, hosting around 520 boat slips at the marina.
Back in December, the Friends of Liberty State Park sent several emails to the DEP, expressing suspicions that Suntex might “revive its 2017/2018 leasing agreement to privatize and expand its marina on Liberty State Park’s North Side.”
“LSP marina privatization expansion which will obstruct priceless and peaceful open views toward the Hudson River and the NYC skyline and have other negative impacts on people’s enjoyment of LSP for the present and future, and may include other harmful plans,” said Pesin.
These plans would involve extending the Marina Eastward to create “superyacht” slips along the North Field, reaching up to the Hudson River.
Additionally, the privatization could potentially include the picturesque Cherry Tree Grove near the Canal by Liberty House Restaurant and possibly other privatization efforts desired by the marina.
For more information on the Saturday event, you can visit here.
