Dear Editor:
I don’t know if I was more amused or outraged to read Mayor Russo’s recent assertion in this paper that the “traffic [in our town] is not because of the rise of new developments. It is because travelers are using Hoboken as a short cut to get to the tunnels.”
A short cut? Hoboken is bounded on the east by the Hudson River and on the west by the Palisades of Jersey City. Those coming from the north and northwest use Route 3 and Boulevard East to get to the Lincoln Tunnel. Those coming from the south and southwest use Route 1&9 and the Turnpike to get to the Holland. Unless the others are bungee-jumping with cars from the Palisades or disgorging them from yachts that belly up to Sinatra Park, I’d say our mayor is delusional–or believes the Hoboken voters are.
I’ve now lived here for 25 years, having lived all my previous life four miles north of the Lincoln Tunnel, on a town off the Hudson River. I’ve been going into Manhattan via that tunnel for over 30 years and went through it daily from 1972 to 1980. Hit the tunnel at the wrong time from whatever direction and it is jammed, no matter the year in question. What wasn’t jammed when I moved here, in 1976, were the streets of Hoboken–not at any time of the day, not at any season of the year.
Back then, if you didn’t catch the bus into Manhattan by 8 a.m. you were on a 20-minute schedule until 10 a.m. and then on a 40-minute schedule until the evening rush hour began. The buses were never packed, even at rush hour, and only NJ Transit serviced your commute into the city. Now there are so many buses going into NY that it’s like a caravan of elephants passing by every 5 minutes.
Back then, there was no double parking on Washington Street, even if you returned from the city, as I often do lately, at 9 p.m. Now the double parking is so egregious that buses have trouble negotiating Washington Street at that hour–and can never pull into a bus stop because of parked cars.
Back then, most stores weren’t open past 6 p.m., including grocers and dry cleaners. Now the streets are packed with people shopping, eating out, and bar hopping on work nights.
Back then, if you took your car out in the evening, you had parking on the street when you got home. Now you don’t dare visit your 80-year-old mother four miles north of here, except during daylight hours.
Back then, there were virtually no commuters going from Hoboken out into NJ’s corporate suburban complexes. Now the commute to points west is no longer about hitting the Jersey malls on a Saturday.
Back then, the people gentrifying Hoboken were mostly transplants from cities, with one car per family or no car at all. Now they’re mostly young people from the suburbs who were raised in multiple-car families and can’t imagine life without their own SUV.
Back then, there were no large apartment buildings under construction–and certainly none on the “college dorm” model, with three young car owners being forced to split exorbitant rents for the privilege of living in NJ’s “most desirable city.” Now, if you can afford to live here, you’ve got multiple roommates or are making a six-figure salary.
This isn’t to say that the changes in Hoboken are all bad or that they should be reversed, even if they could be reversed. It is to say, however, that politicians who lie or dissemble, who treat the voters as though they are idiots, should not be re-elected.
Sandra Skoblar