You will learn little from Rob Van Pelt’s Facebook page beyond the fact that he has five friends, comes from Columbus Ohio, and likes traveling, hiking, art and gardening. Yet when it comes to Liberty State Park, Van Pelt is expansive. He really likes a plan backed by former Reebok CEO Paul Fireman to take […]
Jersey City Parks and Recreation
FOLSP Rips Governor Murphy for Cancellation of Liberty State Park Event
The group Friends of Liberty State Park is blaming Governor Murphy for the sudden cancellation of an event scheduled for tomorrow at which a long-awaited revitalization plan for the park was to be unveiled. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced the event during a press conference last Thursday. This morning, a spokesperson for the […]
DEP to Unveil Plan for Liberty State Park at Open House Next Thursday
The battle over the future of Liberty State Park will enter a new phase next Thursday when the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection unveils its eagerly awaited plan for the 600 acre expanse on the edge of Upper New York Bay. In an virtual press conference yesterday, DEP Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette hinted at what the public […]
Op-Ed: Essex Hudson Greenway Project Will be a ‘Transportation Masterpiece’
Published courtesy of New Jersey Monitor In the future, we will look at the Essex Hudson Greenway in awe: A nine-mile vertical park running from Montclair to Jersey City, passing through Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Belleville, Newark, Kearny, and Secaucus. The state of New Jersey is taking an abandoned rail line and converting it into a walk […]
Rob Menendez Slams Helicopter Flights over Liberty State Park
Congressman Rob Menendez has sent a letter to the National Park Service and the Federal Aviation Administration asking them to designate all of Liberty State Park as an avoidance area for helicopter traffic. In so doing, Menendez has aligned himself with several groups, including Friends of Liberty State Park and NYC-based Stop the Chop NY/NJ, […]
Skaters Decry Ice Rink Closure
To the consternation of hundreds of local skaters, Jersey City has shut down the Charlie Heger Municipal Ice Rink at Pershing Field due to repeated failures of the ice-making machinery. In a February 10 posting, the city announced that, “After decades of countless repairs and various attempts to fix the 20- to 30-year-old equipment, it […]
Bike Path to Montclair Faces Daunting Cost and Engineering Challenges
Republished courtesy of New Jersey Monitor Almost since the start, when train service stopped on the old Boonton rail line in 2002 and the weeds and wildlife began taking over, plans formed for what the narrow 9-mile tract snaking through Essex and Hudson counties could be. Everyone from environmentalists to politicians envisioned a park that would […]
Open Space Tax Brings No New Open Space
To the surprise of some, a committee tasked with finding uses for money generated by the city’s open space tax has so far funded only improvements to existing parks, putting aside the acquisition of new open space. An investigation by the Jersey City Times has also revealed that the committee, known as the Open Space […]
Groups Push Back on Helicopter Flights Over Liberty State Park
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service are joining forces in an effort to encourage private helicopter tours over the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and Governors Island — all national parks — to self-regulate how they conduct their flights. But Friends of Liberty State Park and NYC-based Stop the Chop NY/NJ, which opposes […]
Park Advocates Call for Passage of Caven Point Protection Act
Today, scores of park lovers gathered in Liberty State Park to call for the New Jersey State Senate to pass the Caven Point Protection Act, a bill that would protect the peninsula’s 21-acre wildlife preserve from development by private interests such as the adjacent Liberty National Golf Club.