Archive for August, 2006

Open Space is a Good Investment!

admin August 15th, 2006

The Association of NJ Environmental Commissions has a free publication that you can use to educate yourself and others in this very important topic. It is titled “Open Space is a Good Investment — the Financial Argument for Open Space Preservation“. We encourage you to read this article. Their web site also has an open space page and PDFs of ANJEC publications that might be of interest to you:

Hoboken Parkland Ranking

admin August 14th, 2006

         
Acres of Parkland per 1000 Residents
Selected High-Density Cities    
         
City Population Park Acreage Acres per 1000 Residents  
         
Minneapolis 383,000 5,694 14.87  
WashingtonD.C. 572,000 7,576 13.24  
Oakland 399,000 3,822 9.58  
Boston 589,000 5,451 9.25  
Baltimore 651,000 5,749 8.83  
Los Angeles 3,695,000 30,134 8.16  
San Francisco 777,000 5,916 7.61  
Philadelphia 1,518,000 10,621 7.00  
Camden, N.J. 80,000 507 6.34  
Long Beach 462,000 2,792 6.04  
New York 8,008,000 36,646 4.58  
Chicago 2,896,000 11,676 4.03  
Miami 362,000 1,138 3.14  
Newark, N.J. 274,000 803 2.93  
HOBOKEN, N.J. 38,577 30 0.78  
         
Average     7.5  
         
Source: Trust for Public Land, NJ Biannual Newsletter.  

Park Promises Broken!

admin August 2nd, 2006

Park Promises Broken1. Henkel Site School Field
4 acre park in Master Plan downsized by City more than 1 acre to allow for building. Proposed field for school use only. State Abbot funding in Jeopardy!


2. Community Center (11th & Madison)
Promised: In 1999 by former Mayor Russo.
Promised Again: In 2005 by Mayor Roberts.


3. Mid-town West Park
6 acre park in Master Plan including soccer field lost by developer deal with City for 12 story high-rises.


4. 800 Jackson & 600 Harrison Parks
Neighborhood parks in Master Plan lost by City deal with redeveloper for high-rises and land sale by NJ Transit.


5. Southwest Park
6 acre park in Master Plan vanishes. No park, no pictures, and no plan to fund, buy or build a park.

6. 1600 Park/Weehawken Cove
10 acre park in Master Plan downsized. Developer deal with City mandates passive park on City owned portion of cove.


7. 16th Street Pier Park
Park in Master Plan for entire pier downsized to half the pier. What’s the developer deal on the other half of the pier?


8. Maxwell House
Six acre park in Master Plan loses baseball field. Developer deal with City replaces baseball field with commemorative plaque and mandates passive fenced in lawn.


9. Pier C
Two acre park in Master Plan planned and funded in 1990s under former administration. Only design for park done under present administration. City website says park to open in Summer of 2005. Construction not started.


Tell your neighbors now before more of the following occurs! Download a printable copy of our public flyer here.

See below for comparison’s between the HPO Plan and the Roberts’ plans for the town!

Mayor Has No Plan

A Hoboken resident blogs about the grassroots parks efforts

admin August 1st, 2006

“Have you ever noticed that there aren’t a lot of parks in Hoboken? I have. I think I can count the number of parks in the city on one hand and those that exist aren’t very large. I’ve been seeing flyers, mailings, and advertisements for different pro-park non-profit groups and got interested in what they have to say. After meeting them, its become very obvious we do not have a good park development plan - and quite the contrary, have an over development problem. I’m not going to get into the problems of over development yet - I’ll save that for another day. But what I will do is try and put those who come to visit this blog in touch with the various organizations that support more park space for our us, our children, and our pets. If you like what they are working towards, please contact them and lend any support you can in any way possible. Even by…” Continued at Hoboken Blog.

Joseph Fung