Dear Editor: The Fourth of July in Hoboken this year was a civic occasion in the best sense: a day long celebration for our community and of our community. Watching the flyovers, our common heart skipped one beat when the Stealth bomber turned and flashed black out of nowhere, like something out of a sci fi flick-but it wasn’t on a screen! The Tall Ships bearing slowly up the Hudson eased us into a contemplative rhythm, so different from our usual frantic pace. I met neighbors I’ve never taken the time to introduce myself to and chatted with born-and-raised strangers, like the grandmother in Elysian Park who agreed she had a vested right to stand at the fence with her grandson–though he was sure that OpSail was lots better on television. There’s always another side: at that same hour, I learned later, a Hispanic college student who has lived all his life in Hoboken was being “ID’d”–and profiled?–by police to make sure he belonged here. What made Hoboken’s real communal pleasures possible was not just the $500,000 the city received for extra police protection and emergencies, but the simple existence of a place: a waterfront open to the people–parents with strollers and toddlers, bikers and bladers, dog-walkers, lovers, solos, seniors and teens, longtimers and newcomers, the sweaty and the swank–enjoying each other along with the River under the wide-open sky. Pier A Park threw a party for the town that wouldn’t have happened if community groups had not opposed an office tower on that prime spot. Now that the party’s over, citizens must come together to keep private development off the rest of our piers. Applied Companies says they’ll allow us a path along the “sunny south side” of the North Pier, where they want to put up 4 stories of 120 residential units cased in zinc that were not part of the approved Shipyard plan. Stand on this imaginary path and your northward view of the River and the City will be obliterated. Look south toward the old Maxwell House property, and two more townhouse-filled piers will jut into your view–if you can see around the pilings for the Shipyard’s new ferry slip. Then walk over to the skinny pier at 14th Street that Applied has restored with some public funds for public use. Are you happy now? Try looking north through the new four-story structure just a stone’s skip upriver. Try it again and again as you walk down on the waterfront path. What do you see? Got the picture? We’re not there yet, but think ahead: Suppose these private developments at the Shipyard and Maxwell House are approved and preserve some version of the Hudson River Waterfront Walkway, roadways will cross over it so residents can get to their parking spaces on the piers. They’ve paid their million, so they have a right, right? Mere strollers will have to break their pace, dreamers stop dreaming, bladers skid to a standstill, parents hold toddlers back, while cars and delivery vans pass. This is a peaceful zone on the edge of things for all to enjoy? “Luxury residences” looming overhead and around won’t make the two-block walk to the “viewing platform” at the end feel like public space either. And even from Castle Point, three pier developments on our side–more, if other entrepreneurs and Stevens follow suit–will change the whole feeling of the River’s sweep from the Verrazano Narrows to the George Washington Bridge and beyond. In various ways state law and municipal agreements, as explained in several letters to the editor on 7/9, require public space on the waterfront. But our Council members, our Mayor, and the Zoning and Planning Boards that grant or deny approvals need you to remind them–by phone, FAX, E-mail, and your presence at every public hearing you can attend. It’s common sense and a civic duty, your Hoboken pride in action. “No” in this case is a “Yes” for us all. Or as the retired folks on the benches around town are saying now, “Enough is enough.” We don’t need more luxury condos, especially not on the piers: we need a whole lot more new outdoor recreation space for present and arriving residents. The piers that can be made structurally sound must remain “open”-unobstructed free space over the water, free of private interests and cars, accessible to anyone who wants to go there anytime at all. In an era of ‘privatization’ when most public space is commercial property, it was extraordinarily wonderful to have a front-row stretch along the River where we could rally with fellow citizens, all for free. The late-night traffic jams were not fun, but the rest off Hoboken’s Fourth for most people I’ve talked to was a memorable celebration of community. May we all be able to enjoy many happy returns of the day! Janet Larson Hoboken resident