Fearing that the Liberty State Park Development Corporation’s high-profile connections might try to save the private entity from being dismantled, park advocates brought their criticism to a rally at the state park in Jersey City a week ago.
To remind the state Department of Environmental Protection how park advocates feel about the Development Corp., organizations joined together at the park on May 11 to voice its opposition to the 18-year-old entity.
“Our strong message to Governor [James] McGreevey is that he must go through with DEP Commissioner [Bradley] Campbell’s default of contract notice and totally terminate the Corporation,” said Sam Pesin, president of Friends of Liberty State Park. “He must listen to the people’s voice and not surrender to the backroom pressures of big money.”
Recently, the state DEP has expressed dissatisfaction over the way the Development Corporation has managed the park’s finances. In an April 3 letter to the corporation’s president, Peter Ylvisaker, Campbell wrote, “The Office of Audit review memorandum raises serious concerns about the Liberty State Park Development Corporation and its oversight of the facilities under its management.”
Citing underpayments to state agencies, alleged mismanagement practices, and plans that go against the public’s vision for the park, Campbell called for a termination of the contract and gave Ylvisaker a 60-day period to justify the accusations cited.
According to the audit review, the Corp. has failed to collect $833,000 in the past two years from the two parking lots.
Ylvisaker said the Development Corp. is responding to the letter and will answer all questions by the June 2 deadline. The Liberty Harbor marina generates approximately $250,000 in revenue for the park, according to Ylvisaker. He said the Development Corp. spends $380,000 each year in the maintenance of the park’s two parking lots. The revenue from the parking lots has not been disclosed, and the amount collected is the subject of this dispute.
Most of the operating budget comes to the park in the form of state aid. Whatever revenue comes in from private interests goes through the Development Corp.
“The purpose of the rally was to make sure the job is complete,” said Greg Remaud, president of the Liberty State Park Conservancy. “We wanted to make sure that there was strong support for the governor’s position given the political pressure on the other side.”
According to Remaud, the Development Corp. has already hired lobbyists and attorneys to plead its case. Remaud wants advocates to continue delivering its message until the decision to abolish the entity is finalized. “They should’ve been audited and disbanded long ago,” Remaud said. “We know they have political connections. It’s going to propel us to work real hard until it’s all over.”
After the agency was founded in 1984, park advocacy groups opposed its purpose. They were fearful that private interests would dominate an oasis of green space created for public use. Those fears came to light a few years later when the Development Corp. sought to build a private golf course in the park, thereby eliminating green space for public use.
Fights continued through the 1990s when proposals for a second golf course, a water park, and an amphitheater surfaced at meetings concerning the park’s future development.
Aside from collecting those fees, the mission of allocating money for the park via private investment is no longer necessary or possible, park advocates said. Because the remaining 251 acres of undeveloped land in the park’s interior has already been slated for nature trails and a wildlife preserve, the purpose of the Development Corp. has diminished, advocates said.