Dear Editor:
With all due respect to those who have their own views with regard to the location of the Metropolitan Television Alliance Tower, I hope that you might accept one more opinion. As Jersey City Council President, I and my fellow Council Members participated together in amending the Liberty Harbor Development Plan. Because the site presents accommodation problems, we intend to amend the Grand Jersey Redevelopment Plan to accommodate the Tower in the vicinity of Liberty Park.
Recently, I was taken aback by some who suggested that the proposed area presents a security risk to the New Jersey Turnpike. One cannot deny that we are living in trying times which continually test our resolve. However, many government leaders have urged us to not let the acts of terrorists dictate how we live our lives. We were asked to move forward and prove otherwise to the terrorists.
We must not display fear through our actions. We must put the Tower Project in perspective. The Linden and Elizabeth refinery tanks sit adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike. The Holland Tunnel lies at the eastern spur terminus of the Turnpike. The Pulaski Skyway spans above the Turnpike and ends at the Holland Tunnel. I am sure we must have a security plan related to these structure. The Tower would require similar planning. The Tower must be constructed and stand in a prominent area as a symbol of New Jersey’s, and for that matter, the Nation’s defiance to terrorists.
New Jersey’s Tower would be a Beacon of Hope and a magnet for visitors to our country and our state. It must be in full view to as many people as possible. It must sit as the Statue of Liberty sits; in a locale for all the world to see. Bayonne was rumored to have been a possible site for the Tower. The city of Bayonne is a wonderful community but it being a peninsula makes its location difficult for visitors, requiring them to navigate off the beaten path, thus discouraging many to make the extra effort.
In contrast, countless east coast travelers use the eastern spur of the New Jersey Turnpike by necessity on their way though New Jersey and into New York. The Tower in Jersey City would be a showcase for all the world to see. It must be located in a prominent location, possibly dedicated to the memory of the 9/11 victims.
Countless immigrants upon entering the harbor recall that they could not help but notice that symbol of the strength, defiance, unity and resolve; their first sight of the Statue of Liberty. The millions of visitors to Liberty State Park would not have to divert from the park to see this great structure, and millions more would follow after the word was passed on.
I would like to ask for your support for the Tower to be built on the proposed Jersey City site. In closing, I would like to thank you for your time and interest in the project but more importantly, for exhibiting great strength and leadership in governing the State of New Jersey in these trying times.
L. Harvey Smith
Council President