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Aaron Morrill

DEP Releases Design for Liberty State Park Interior

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The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has released a design concept for the restoration of the interior of Liberty State Park. First presented in a virtual meeting on Tuesday night, the presentation is now available online.

Two hundred thirty four acres of the interior will be opened. The proposed plan would turn 75 of the acres into separate saltwater and fresh water wetlands that would provide fish and wildlife habitat and protect the city from storm surges like the one that occurred during Superstorm Sandy in 2012; and 133 acres into multi-use trails and large manicured lawns that would serve as scenic overlooks, play areas, and places where families could picnic. In addition, the plan would create five new park entrances to provide greater access to the community, two new parking areas (near the entrances), and active recreation at up to three places outside the ecological restoration area.

The future of the park’s interior became a hot topic over the summer with the emergence of the group, “Liberty State Park For All,” funded by billionaire and Liberty National Golf Course owner Paul Fireman. The group’s creation coincided with Fireman’s efforts to insert a provision into the Liberty State Park Protection Act that effectively exempts a 22-acre piece of land in the park known as Caven Point from the Act’s protections. Fireman has sought to make the wildlife sanctuary into part of the golf course, a move that has met with stiff opposition from politicians, environmental groups, and Jersey City residents.

In July, Liberty State Park For All distributed an incendiary flyer entitled “Broken Promises of Liberty State Park” with the slogan “White Silence = White Violence.”  The flyer suggested that Jersey City’s Black community had been deliberately excluded from decisions affecting the park. The handout also implied that unidentified actors had prevented a cleanup of the contaminated interior of the park and had either privatized or prevented the construction of recreational amenities such as ballfields that could be used by people of color. The group Friends of Liberty State Park, which has opposed Fireman’s efforts, was assumed to the primary target of the flyer.

Friends of Liberty State Park has forcefully pushed back against the Fireman-sponsored group’s claims. Speaking with Jersey City Times, FOLSP founder and president Sam Pesin disputed the claim that it had opposed adding ballfields or that the matter had anything to do with the remediation efforts. According to Pesin, his father Morris, who is credited as the driving force behind the park’s creation, favored a “Central Park-type future,” i.e., that the park would include athletic fields and small concessions. FOLSP has always supported that vision, he told Jersey City Times. Another supporter of FOLSP, Ward F resident Daoud David Williams, who is also a member of the NAACP, told Jersey City Times that “it is disgusting that they want to racialize this. They are co-opting Black Lives Matter. They want to pretend that they are representative of the community.”

The DEP’s plan has been greeted with cautious optimism by Liberty State Park For All. In a statement to the Jersey Journal, Executive Director Arnold Stovell said “While I am still looking through the details of the plan, what we saw last night was encouraging at first glance. That said—and as was mentioned many times last night—we have heard these kinds of promises before.” He added that they “will continue to push for a cleanup at the park that is consistent with standards used in white communities and for active recreation.”

For his part, Pesin released the following statement. “LSP’s future is very bright with this visionary plan 25 years in-the-making, interior nature plan with trails, with the DEP’s commitment to active recreation and other improvements, and with the essential LSP Protection Act needing to become law to end privatization battles. The varied nature habitats will inspire urban residents and all visitors, provide special opportunities for urban youth environmental education and also for eco-tourism. The DEP’s protective and legally required remediation plan, the establishment of active recreation, and the DEP’s commitment to transparency and ongoing collaboration pulls the rug out from the lies and propaganda of Liberty National Golf Course owner Paul Fireman and his paid surrogates with his ulterior motive of privatizing LSP’s Caven Point Natural Area for multi-millionaire golfers.”

The DEP is asking that people view the presentation, take the survey, and share their thoughts on the future of Liberty State Park.

View the Presentation: https://youtu.be/QtMzOASx5bs

Participate in the planning by taking a survey by November 6: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/B7H3FGJ

If unable to submit a survey, email your comments to lspinterior@dep.nj.gov.

Jersey City Times Staff

Op Ed: Fulfilling a Dream for Liberty State Park

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This interview was conducted by Michele S. Byers, Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Liberty State Park in Jersey City – the state’s most popular park, with over 5 million annual visitors – has been called New Jersey’s Central Park. But it has something Central Park doesn’t: spectacular views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, the Manhattan skyline, New York Harbor and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

This state we’re in got good news recently when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced it will move ahead with long-discussed plans to improve Liberty State Park by cleaning up contaminated land in its interior section and opening it to the public. The restoration will expand the park’s usable acreage by 40 percent, with over seven miles of new trails.

Two of the plan’s most enthusiastic supporters are Sam Pesin, son of park founder Morris Pesin and president of the Friends of Liberty State Park; and Greg Remaud, head of the New York/New Jersey Baykeeper advocacy group.

As the state prepares to introduce park restoration plans at a public meeting this fall, Sam and Greg spoke with New Jersey Conservation Foundation about the park, its history, their hopes for its future, and why New Jerseyans should support the restoration. Here are some highlights:

Q: Why is Liberty State Park so important to all of New Jersey?

Sam: Liberty State Park is priceless and sacred public land – a very scarce urban open space in a densely populated area. The park has been shown, especially during the pandemic, to be essential for emotional health, physical health, mental health and spiritual health. It’s so crucial to the quality of life of urban people, and it certainly uplifts the spirits of all who visit.

Greg: Hudson County is among the most densely populated counties in the country and there’s not a lot of green spaces, especially large green spaces. You come to Liberty State Park and there’s natural treasures, cultural treasures, historical treasures, recreational treasures. There’s something for everyone, with great iconic symbols that people from around the world enjoy.

Q: Sam, is it true that the effort to create Liberty State Park began with a canoe ride taken by your father in 1958?

Sam: I was seven years old when my parents took my sister and me to see the Statue of Liberty. We got to the statue and my father looked toward Jersey City and saw an eyesore, junk-strewn, desolate waterfront. He got the vision of creating a beautiful park on the waterfront to honor the Statue of Liberty, provide open space for the people of our city and state, and provide access from New Jersey to the Statue of Liberty. A year later, he went to the local newspaper to see what he could do to dramatize the idea. The editor said, why don’t you go out in a rowboat? He ended up going out in a canoe, and it was a seven-minute canoe ride with a reporter to show the close proximity of the neglected shoreline of Jersey City to Lady Liberty.

Q: The first section of Liberty State Park opened in 1976 during the nation’s Bicentennial. What was its impact on the area?

Sam: My father always said the park would be a catalyst for economic development of the waterfront, and he was right. The area is now filled with condos and towers.

Greg: It’s now known as New Jersey’s “Gold Coast.” It’s some of the state’s most valuable land.

Q: The Friends of Liberty State Park and the NY/NJ Baykeeper have been fighting for 25 years to get the interior of the park – once the site of railroad yards – cleaned up and opened to the public. What needs to be done?

Greg: For a whole generation, that site has been off limits to the public, about 235 acres.  Our understanding of the contamination that remains in the interior is a linear pipeline that was backfilled with chromium-laced soil that will be remediated by the responsible party, and the majority of the site is what is known as “historic fill,” contamination that the DEP will remediate and cover with a soil cap. The area would then be restored to a mosaic of habitats, including grasslands, woodlands, freshwater wetlands and a salt marsh. Unfortunately, most of the vegetation that’s there now will be lost. But the public’s safety comes first, and we’re supportive of the remediation. The area is going to get so much use, we want people to feel safe going there and not have to worry about their children touching the dirt. Trails will connect the Liberty Science Center with the park’s Nature Center for the first time.

Sam: This will be an international model for turning brownfields into a really special, exciting and extraordinary natural wonderland for enjoyment, education and ecotourism – and, of course, for wildlife.

Q: Is using state Natural Resource Damage funds the best way to make sure this restoration project becomes a reality?

Greg: This is really a once-in-a-lifetime funding opportunity. The project will cost tens of millions of dollars, which will come from the Exxon natural resource damage settlement. These are not taxpayer dollars – this is truly a “polluter pays” project. It offsets the damages to natural resources that occurred.

Q: What can the public do to learn more about and support this restoration?

Greg: The DEP will be holding a virtual public information meeting this fall, and after that there will be a public comment period. The public can help out by attending the public information meeting and then writing in support of the project. Anyone who wants more information can see the state’s press release at  https://www.nj.gov/dep/newsrel/2020/20_0037.htm or read more on the website https://nj.gov/dep/nrr/restoration/liberty-state-park.html.

Deep thanks and appreciation to Sam and Greg for their long-term commitment to ensuring that Liberty State Park is truly a people’s park, and for their diligence in evaluating and responding to the multitude of proposals for park property over the years. Never doubt the power of dedicated individuals to make a huge difference!

Thanks also to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for its commitment to using Natural Resource Damage funds to fulfill the vision of this public open space gem in the midst of New Jersey’s most densely-populated region.

As the pandemic has shown, open space and access to nature are critically important to public health and well-being. With people relying on parks more than ever for outdoor recreation and spiritual nourishment, this project will make more of Liberty State Park available for the public to enjoy.

Be sure to get out this fall and enjoy the beauty of Liberty State Park! In addition to the amazing views from the waterfront, there’s the Richard Sullivan Natural Area, a 36-acre salt marsh named in honor of New Jersey’s first Department of Environmental Protection commissioner.

To learn more about preserving New Jersey’s land and natural resources, visit the New Jersey Conservation Foundation website at www.njconservation.org or contact me at info@njconservation.org.

Photograph of Cooper’s Hawk at Caven Point, January 20, 2020 courtesy of Shayna Marchese

City Hall of Jersey City
Sally Deering

COUNCIL VOTES TO PROTECT PARK

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Call the Guinness Book of World Records. The Jersey City Council’s virtual meeting Wednesday night set its own record at nine hours and 20 minutes with 175 callers dialing in with concerns about Liberty State Park and defunding police. Callers voiced support for the Liberty State Park Protection Act and demanded the $159 million designated for police personnel in the FY2020-2021 municipal budget get reduced by half with the balance going to programs that support the needs of the Jersey City community.

In an 8-1 vote, with Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson dissenting, the City Council passed the resolution to support the Liberty State Park Protection Act. Before the 175 callers were invited to speak, Council President Joyce E. Watterman motioned for the resolution to be deferred to an early vote prior to the call-in speakers. 

“The City Council has done this before, moved things up to the top of the agenda, when there are a large number of speakers,” Council at Large Rolando R. Lavarro, Jr., said. “It’s been done in the past. Still, I’m going to vote no in this instance. I think we should hear from the speakers.”

The council voted 6-3 to move up the vote with Councilmen Lavarro, James Solomon and Jermaine Robinson dissenting. Before the vote, Councilman Solomon made a motion to amend the resolution, seconded by Councilman Lavarro, to include a provision for “the communities of Ward F and A which deserve fair and equitable treatment in the decision-making in the future of Liberty State Park”.   

“We are trying to make things better,” Councilman Solomon said. “Amendments will make it a better piece of legislation.”

Last week, Councilman Robinson held a public forum for his Ward F constituents to express their concerns about having a voice in the Liberty State Park Protection Act. Although more than 200 residents tuned in to the Zoom meeting—with many callers hoping to air concerns about saving Liberty State Park’s Caven Point wildlife estuary from privatization—the moderator turned off their computers’ audio, and the callers were completely muted. In the time since, Councilman Solomon drew up the amendments with input from Councilman Robinson, but according to Councilman Robinson, the amendments did not go far enough.

“We all agree Caven Point should never be touched,” Robinson said of the possibility of additional privatization, “but I do have deep concerns over the bill in Trenton right now. I want to send a stronger message.”

Councilman Robinson was referring to the bill in the New Jersey Legislature to pass the Liberty State Preservation Act. In January, the bill passed in the New Jersey senate, but when it came time to post it for a vote in the assembly, Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-19) refused, and it died on the final day of the 2019-2020 legislative session. The next day, three Hudson County assembly members reintroduced the bill. 

Meanwhile, just yesterday, billionaire Paul Fireman, who owns Liberty National Golf Course and who has expressed interest in turning Caven Point wildlife estuary into three holes for golfers, issued a press release stating he is not going forward with his intention to obtain Caven Point. Councilman Lavarro says it’s a temporary pause.

“Fireman’s not saying he’s out of the business,” Councilman Lavarro said. “We need to stay vigilant, redouble our efforts, and fight back against these billionaire interests.”

Preserving the People’s Park

Sam Pesin, the president of the Friends of Liberty State Park refers to Liberty State Park as the ‘people’s park.” In 1976, Pesin’s father, Morris, helped found the park. Since his father’s passing, Sam Pesin has followed in his dad’s footsteps, devoting his time to his non-profit, the Friends of Liberty State Park (FOLSP) which has thousands of supporters. His petition to support the Liberty State Park Preservation Act has 18,000 signatures. He called in to the council meeting to offer his thanks to the City Council for passing the bill and to warn the council against Fireman’s land grab. 

“For 44 years, the people have put democracy into action and have fought for this people’s park behind Lady Liberty,” Pesin said. “The overwhelming majority strongly opposed park privatization every time, no matter what revenue was promised in return for sacrificing park land. From the time of its opening, the park has sustained overwhelming public support for green and open space and overwhelming opposition to privatization and commercialization proposals as expressed by people in public hearings, countless public comments, petitions and a series of coalitions of local, regional, and state-wide groups.”

Supporter Jill Posterino said protecting Liberty State Park from privatization is intrinsic to the Jersey City community. She said land should not be given away because wealth and privilege demand it.

“The golf course owner has inserted money and arguments into this democratic process in such a way to sow division and muddy the issue at hand,” Posterino said. “It is a strategy we have seen used time and again by those who want exemptions carved out only for themselves and who want to take ownership of something that doesn’t belong to them.”

Steve Krinsky, a retired school teacher warned that the work is far from done. 

“The fight moves to Trenton,” Krinsky said. “I hope you’ll stand up for this issue. We should be appalled at things like this and speak out against them.”

Defunding the Police

The City Council held a public hearing on the FY2020-2021 municipal budget and heard from many Jersey City residents demanding the $159 million allocated to the Jersey City police department be cut in half with the balance used for social services and community programs. Elena Thompson, a member of Solidarity Jersey City, said the diverted funding should be invested in services like affordable housing, youth programming, and access to quality healthcare. 

“Downtown Jersey City is safe not because it has the most police,” Thompson said. “Downtown is safe because it has the most resources. Decrease the JCPD budget by 50 percent. This is the civil rights movement of our time.”

Ward F resident Andrew John, a member of Solidarity Jersey City, agreed that the police should be defunded with the money re-allocated to housing, and health and human services.

“We’re all in agreement that the vulnerable need resources,” John said. “We need to look beyond this to what the community needs. This money is spent on police salaries. Since 2013 the force has nearly doubled in size. $50 million could create more youth programs, better mental health programs, initiatives like the ‘I love Greenville’ plan.”

CEO of Hudson Partnership Care Management Organization Robin Gorman called in and spoke to the council about the work she does with Hudson youth. Gorman works regularly with approximately 800 young people, and she receives most referrals from Jersey City where children are traumatized by gun violence, domestic violence, physical abuse, and addiction. 

“When I look at the youth of Jersey City, I feel we are shortchanging them,” she said. “The average age of youth that come to us are 15. By the time they come to us, they’ve experienced a lot of trauma. They’ve been disconnected from the educational system. If we had a handle of identifying their needs sooner, we could intervene in an impactful way. We choose to fund police, probation officers, the courts, detention centers, and prisons. If we’re going to put our money where our mouth is and be invested in anti-violence efforts, we need to move this money away from public safety and put it into kids’ programing.”

The next City Council meeting will be held Wed., Aug. 12 at 6 p.m.

 

Jersey City Times Staff

Fireman “Halts” Caven Point Effort and Launches Blistering Racially Charged Attack on Pesin

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Paul Fireman, through his public relations firm Kivvit, issued a statement today that he is “halting any efforts to pursue a public private partnership at Caven Point.”  For several years, Fireman has been engaged in an effort to convert Caven Point, a 21 acre piece of land that park advocates and environmentalists consider an important nesting area for wildlife, into three holes for his Liberty National Golf Club.  A vote to support a state law protecting Liberty State Park from privatization is scheduled for tonight’s city council meeting.

The statement reads as follows:

“For decades, Jersey City’s minority communities have been systematically shut out of the decision-making process on Liberty State Park. No one asked the communities’ opinions or cared about what was truly needed, and decisions were made for them. Meanwhile, 40 years later the Park is still incomplete.

“This fight for social justice is the most important fight taking place at Liberty State Park today. Those who do not want to empower minority communities are using me in an effort to distract from the real issue of who gets to make decisions. If people are serious about listening to minority voices, then we need a new effort that lets those voices be heard.

“I will not be used as an excuse for inaction any longer. That is why I am halting any efforts to pursue a public private partnership at Caven Point. I am doing this to force the supporters of the Liberty State Park Protection Act to address the social justice problems connected to Liberty State Park without using me as an excuse to keep ignoring minority communities.

“A new effort must be launched on Liberty State Park that will allow Jersey City’s minority communities a seat at the table AND ensure no actions are taken until there is community say in the decision-making process. When the Park was created 40 years ago community leaders, faith groups, politicians and business leaders were brought together. Their recommendations, after a thorough process, became the Liberty State Park Master Plan. This plan remains active today and is still being ignored. Its principles and ideas should serve as the basis of a new effort and a new plan.

“Sam Pesin should have been the leader of making that original plan a reality. Instead, after 40 years, Sam has done nothing to implement the grand vision for Liberty State Park. Pesin has reinforced a do-nothing policy and shut out minority communities from the decision-making process. This exclusion would continue under the Liberty State Park Protection Act.

“Sam Pesin and the Friends of Liberty State Park do not support proper decontamination of the interior 235 acres of the Park, which sits next to a minority neighborhood. Pesin wants this land to be a preserve, not a park. The toxic contaminated land currently sits behind a chain link fence where recreational opportunities – which were promised to minority communities – should exist. This contaminated land should be cleaned and converted into a swimming pool, arts and recreation center, ballfields, basketball courts, picnic areas and natural habitat restoration. There was also supposed to be a transportation system at the Park, which would help minority communities get there. That has not happened either. The fact that none of this has happened shows Pesin has been focused more on control of the process at the Park, rather than making Liberty State Park a better place for all.

“I have never advocated for privatization of Liberty State Park. I do believe the reality is our parks need public and private support to be great. It is a model used across the world. But I am halting efforts around Caven Point so there can be a real discussion about empowering minority voices to have their say about the future of Liberty State Park and the 235 acres of the Interior.”

Fireman’s statement comes on the heels of a controversial “Ward F Community Conversation” hosted on Zoom by Councilman Jermaine Robinson, Arnold Stovell and Bruce Alston.   Neither invited panelist and president of Friends of Liberty State Park, Sam Pesin, nor any of the approximately 200 guests were permitted to speak.   The “conversation” was preceded by the dissemination of a racially charged flyer that made many of the same allegations contained in Fireman’s press release today. Some observers of the Zoom meeting had suggested that Fireman was behind the flyer and Zoom meeting.

In response, Pesin and FOLSP released the following statement.

All supporters of a free public park behind Lady Liberty will be relieved to read about Paul Fireman claiming to give up his relentless self-serving false narrative about the park and his goal of privatizing and destroying the Caven Point natural preserve and urban environmental education resource to relocate exclusionary golf course holes closer to the bay for a better view for his millionaire members.

Paul Fireman is in a long line of would-be LSP privatizers who have met with consistent, overwhelming opposition in 44 years of grassroots battles. Over 85 groups are in the current “Coalition to Pass the LSP Protection Act”, and over 18,000 citizens have signed an onlne petition without the opportunity to engage the public during the pandemic.

Most importantly, the LSP Protection Act is needed now more than ever to end privatization assaults on LSP. We urge the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate President to post the legislation championed by Senators Brian Stack and Loretta Weinberg and Assemblypersons Raj Mukherji. Angela McKnight so that the Governor may sign the essential and landmark law to protect, once and for all, our urban, state and national treasure behind Lady Liberty.

Without the Protection Act, Paul Fireman will come roaring back with his disinformation, political contributions, and lobbyists under a new governor for his ultimate goal of a land grab of Caven Point.

Minority communities and all park visitors would of course benefit from park improvements including active recreational offerings (which our group has always supported, and the NJDEP, which manages LSP,  is open to collaborating on) and the Protection Act requires comprehensive public participation.

If Paul Fireman actually cares about minority communities in Jersey City and about LSP, we hope his offers of philanthropy and a First Tee youth golf academy  will not go the way of his privatization proposal now that no quid pro quo is attached by way of seizing public parkland.

The Protection Act must become law to once and for all protect this priceless park, and establish a peaceful and positive era of collaboration with the public, elected officials and the NJDEP to make this great park even better!

We thank all park supporters who have fought once again against LSP privatization plans, including the main sponsors of the Act  – Asm Raj Mukherji, Asw Angela McKnight, Asm Nick Chiaravalloti, and Sen Stack and Sen Weinberg. We also thank the media for their news coverage and the editorials which informed the public about Paul Fireman’s privatization land grab of Caven Point. Thank God for the People, whose involvement is still needed until the Act is signed into law, for advocating for a free park behind Lady Liberty and thanks for our nation’s free press!

It should be a no-brainer for the legislature and the Governor to protect LSP for future generations as a free park for all to enjoy behind Lady Liberty.

Photo of Red Tailed Hawk at Caven Point by Shayna Marchese

 

Aaron Morrill

Editorial: Do What’s Right Councilman Robinson

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Thursday’s Orwellian “community conversation” about the future of Liberty State Park marked a new low even by the already low standards of Jersey City politics. Promoted by Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson, “moderated” by Arnold Stovell, and featuring “panelist” Bruce Alston, the Zoom meeting was anything but a conversation. The tireless Sam Pesin, president of Friends of Liberty State Park, who was also billed as a “panelist,” wasn’t permitted to speak—at all. Nor were the approximately 200 people who logged on in the mistaken belief that they would have a chance to participate in a meaningful discussion. Instead, what ensued was a shameful exercise in faux democracy that would make Vladimir Putin blush. The microphones of all but Stovell, Alston and Councilman Robinson were silenced, and listeners were treated to a misinformed diatribe apparently calculated to sow division and pave the way for the conversion of a pristine wildlife habitat into an expanded golf course for billionaires.

It’s hard to know where to begin. Let’s start with the timing. According to local observers, Mssrs. Robinson, Stovell, and Alston had never before expressed interest in Liberty State Park. So why now?  As they say, timing is everything. The current offensive appears to have begun a month ago. On June 9, Assemblywoman Angela McKnight announced that her charity Angela Cares had received a 10 thousand dollar donation from The Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation.  McKnight, whose district includes Ward F, is a sponsor of the Liberty State Park Protection Act against which Fireman has fought a multi-year battle. We would hope and expect that Ms. McKnight won’t be influenced by this money, but greasing important political hands is apparently nothing new for Fireman. According to the New York Times, Fireman, who lives in Massachusetts, has given out $420,000 to New Jersey Democrats and Republicans. It would be nice—though unlikely—if all of our local pols would be as transparent as McKnight.

On June 30 an unknown legislator slipped a provision into New Jersey’s “stop-gap” budget that would allow businesses to submit proposals for development in state parks. Observers say the provision could only have been written with Caven Point in mind. Directing Fireman’s offensive against wildlife is the Trenton lobbying firm River Crossing Strategy Group, which boasts that it is “a powerhouse with institutional reach.” Its founder, Eric Shuffler, worked on both the Fulop and Murphy transition teams.

On July 1, Alston posted a slick race-baiting flyer to his Facebook page entitled “Broken Promises of Liberty State Park.” Stamped at the top and bottom was the Black Lives Matter slogan “White Silence = White Violence.” It included among a plethora of misstatements and half truths the straw man that amenities “important to Black and Latino communities” included in a 1977 master plan for the park had not been built. Not long after, these scurrilous flyers began appearing on car windshields in Ward F.

It’s hard to imagine a more cynical, Trumpian strategy than that dreamed up by the creators of the flyer and its disseminator and agent, Bruce Alston. To attempt to divide Jersey City residents along racial lines is bad enough. To do so by co-opting the social justice message of Black Lives Matter in order to destroy a wildlife refuge and provide three scenic holes of golf for billionaires is as surreal as it is vile.

The flyer’s claim, adopted by Alston, that Friends of Liberty State Park has stood in the way of active recreational amenities in the park was and is baseless. First, as Pesin points out today, it is the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection that manages the park and is responsible for collaborating with the community. As to the role of FOLSP, Pesin recalls his father’s hope that Liberty State Park would have a “Central Park-type future,” i.e., that it would include athletic fields and small concessions. Pesin and FOLSP have always supported that vision.

Thankfully other voices from Ward F have spoken out against Fireman and his surrogates. Among them is Daoud David Williams, 77, a lifetime resident of Jersey City,  army veteran and member of the NAACP. He put it bluntly: “It is disgusting that they want to racialize this. They are co-opting Black Lives Matter. They want to pretend that they are representative of the community.” 

That it’s come to this is sad, indeed. Liberty State Park should not be a cause for division but, on the contrary, a place in which we all take pride. At this very moment, it is a place where people from all walks of life and every neighborhood mix. Tomorrow, the Jersey City Municipal Council will vote on Councilman James Solomon’s resolution in support of the Liberty State Protection Act. In 2019, Councilman Robinson supported a similar resolution. We hope he will chalk up this ill-conceived “community conversation” to experience and that he and the rest of the council will vote to approve the resolution. All communities in Jersey City should gather together to protect and improve the precious land we call Liberty State Park.

 

 Photo from Caven Point by Shayna Marchese

 

Sally Deering

Liberty State Park Meeting Sparks Outrage

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Councilman Jermaine Robinson and Other Event Organizers Prevent Community Residents From Speaking

Jersey City Councilman Jermaine D. Robinson scheduled a “Ward F Community Conversation” on Thursday for Bergen-Lafayette residents to voice their concerns on the Liberty State Park Protection Act. Instead, the Ward F community meeting sparked controversy when the roughly 200 community members attending the virtual event had their audios muted and the meeting’s moderator Arnold Stovell, panelist Bruce Alston, and Councilman Robinson were the only ones permitted to speak. Still intent on being heard, many of the silenced attendees held up makeshift signs to their screens for the three speakers (and for one another) to see.

“Tonight, I’m going to ask everyone to be respectful, but I want all three sides of truth and honesty to come out,” Councilman Robinson said. “I believe Liberty State Park is the best park in the world. I believe it should be for all of the people. I want everyone respectful so that all of our voices can be heard to come to some kind of happy medium. I want to hear what the community has to say.”

“How is this a community conversation when only three people speak?”  community member Ryan Moser wrote in the meeting’s chat room.

Privatizing a State Park

The Jersey City Council meets next week to vote on whether or not to support the Liberty State Park Protection Act. This would prevent further privatization of the park’s 1,200 acres, some of which already house the Liberty House restaurant, Liberty Landing Marina and Liberty National Golf Course owned entirely by billionaire Paul Fireman. Among its protections would be the Caven Point Peninsula, a wildlife estuary that lies next to the course. The protection act would extinguish Fireman’s proposed plan to extend his golf course and turn Caven Point into three golf holes with a spectacular view of the New York Skyline to lure PGA golfers.

“The fear of those who are accustomed to the status quo are putting forth a story that suddenly it’s going to be privatized,” Stovell said. “We’re talking about a state park meant to be enjoyed by the citizens of New Jersey. Jersey City is one of the most diverse cities in the country.

There’s no reason one set of people should be making the decisions.”

The issue of privatization has to do with selling off parcels of Liberty State Park to the highest bidder, and the protection act would prohibit further privatization to protect Caven Point Peninsula’s wildlife refuge. Alston seemed to confuse the wildlife refuge with areas of the park that he said are contaminated and in need of remediation.

“I’m going to keep saying this: New Jersey is the only place I know that will pass legislation to protect contaminated land,” Alston said. “I’m not saying give anything to Liberty National (Golf Course). I never had a conversation with Liberty National. When it held the Barclays event, we believe black people were shut out from vending opportunities and jobs to have that PGA event. I have no relationship with any developer or Mr. Fireman.”

One community member held a sign, “How much is Fireman paying you?”

“I haven’t received a dime from him,” Stovell said in response. “People were making it seem that because he has money, his intent is to take over the park. Aside from the fact that’s really ridiculous, what’s more important is the association of all people with money being bad. The things that he has offered to do would benefit the community. I’m seeing things with other billionaires that are helping the community. You need a millionaire or billionaire to get something done. We need to stop this nonsense that there’s a push by Fireman to privatize the park. It’s coded racism.”

Viewing the meeting, DK said, in the chat room: “Such BS. Suddenly the answer to racial equality is an expanded golf course?”

Evelyn Ibarra of Jersey City expressed her opinion in the online chat room: “This is a huge outrage, this entire meeting.”

The Master Plan of 1977

Stovell brought up the 1977 master plan for Liberty State Park that was created with input from community groups. Since then, all that’s changed, he said.

“What was the sense of having a master plan if it never was going to be followed, never going to be implemented,” Alston added. “The 1977 master plan promised people of Jersey City retail shops, restaurants, ball fields, and tennis courts. This park is big enough to have everything. If it takes public-private partnerships to get it done, that’s something we need to explore.”

Meanwhile, there have been several additions to Liberty State Park since the 1977 master plan, was written, notably the Liberty Science Center, which was built in 1993.

Alston said forcing Ward F residents to accept the Liberty State Park Protection Act without their input was a “Trump-like moment” and referred to a comment by right-wing commentator Laura Ingraham who told NBA star LeBron James no one cared about his political opinions.

“Our community needs to have the opportunity to state what we want to have inside Liberty State Park,” Alston said. “There should not be any legislation proposed until legislators come to Jersey City. This is the systematic marginalization of black and brown people. I was very disappointed with Assemblyman Raj Mukherji. He was going to support some type of legislation. Assemblyman Mukherji, Senators (Loretta) Weinberg, and (Brian) Stack, you need to review that master plan before we decide anyone passes legislation. You’re going to push something on Black people and then say Black Lives Matter. This is what is being said: ‘Shut up and dribble’.”

Some supporters Friends of Liberty State Park protested that Sam Pesin was not part of the event even though the flyer advertised him as a panelist.

“We invited Sam, but he did not want to be a part of it,” Stovell said. “So, I left it alone. Basically, it’s not about Sam, it’s about this community having this conversation.”

Pesin did attend the virtual meeting and later said Stovell barred him from speaking.

“I never indicated I was not going to the meeting,” Pesin said. “They totally lied by saying I refused to participate. Then they muted me and blocked me from writing anything in the chat room. The meeting was a sham. Last night they expressed a lot of distortions, falsehoods and lies.”

Pesin clarified the confusion about Caven Point and Alston’s description of it as contaminated land. He said the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) does not require any further remediation of Caven Point which was cleaned up in 2004. If Fireman does a land grab of Caven Point for a golf course, golf is an active recreation and the land would need remediation if golf holes are put there, Pesin said.

“Caven Point is a priceless, natural habitat,” Pesin said. “The sign at the entrance states it’s a, migratory bird habitat and nesting area. It’s also an urban, environmental education resource. Over 600 students a year go out there for programs, and it’s a nature sanctuary enjoyed by a few thousand people a year for bird watching and for families to enjoy a peaceful place.”

Local historian and former vice president of the Friends of Liberty State Park Mandy Edgecombe attended last night’s virtual meeting, but her audio was muted, too.

“I was muted, and the chat was disabled the entire time except for the end,” Edgecombe said. “Then you saw it explode. They turned it off after five minutes.”

You could see through the lies, Edgecomb said of the meeting last night.

“The entire script comes from Paul Fireman’s lobbyists, River Crossing Strategy Group,” Edgecombe said. “It is owned by Eric Shuffler, the same lobbyist that got Mayor Fulop elected and Governor Phil Murphy elected. (Last night) they made completely false claims, claims that are boastful enough and interesting enough to catch people’s ears. It’s a marketing campaign. They’re using Black Lives Matter issues to attack Sam.”

Edgecombe said she doesn’t understand why Fireman would want to destroy Caven Point to install three golf holes when he already has a hole right behind Caven Point.

“He has a hole, he just wants more,” Edgecombe said.

There was no clear reason why the meeting ran 1 1/2 hours and yet no community members were invited to speak. The flyer stated the Zoom meeting would be from 6:30-8:30 p.m., but it ended at 8 pm. In order to have the 200 meeting attendees speak—it was billed as a community conversation, after all—Robinson could have extended the meeting to hear what they had to say since this was his original intention when he asked the City Council to table the protection act resolution.

“It was this conversation between two people trying to flood our communities in Ward A and  Ward F with lies,” Edgecombe said. “Most of their platform that the south side of Jersey City is voiceless with Liberty State Park and their concerns are not listened to, is just an attack. The voices of the south side were on that meeting, and they were holding up signs. People had to hold up signs on their videos on the Zoom chat to be heard. It was like a protest. Everybody on the meeting said our voices are right here, we see through this, we see there’s some kind of agenda. It was a complete sham. They did a really good job of embarrassing themselves. They have no platform. No valid claims. They did not invite the DEP when their questions were for the DEP What are you pushing here? You want the south side to have a voice, but all you’re doing is attacking people and not saying anything valid or getting anything done. Jersey City doesn’t swallow pills that easily.”

The City Council votes on the Liberty State Protection Act at its next virtual meeting held Wed., July 15 at 6 p.m.

 

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