Dear Editor:
On January 21, 2003 I attended my first Political Photo Op. It was to break ground on a 5000 square foot park on Jackson Street.
It will be a tiny improbable little park less than 50 feet wide and sandwiched between the cinder block walls of condo buildings and literally in the shadow of the 17 stories of 101 Marshall Street towers. I am sure it will look a lot better after the $425,000 the State of New Jersey is going to spend on fixing it up.
Hoboken needs parks even tiny little improbable ones,.
Governor McGreevey, Mayor Roberts and assorted politicians who probably had never actually stood on Jackson Street before, crowded a rented platform set up only an hour before and would be taken down moments after they left.
While most of the politicos just wanted to take pictures with each other, the Governor spoke to the news reporters and said some very relevant things about all the construction that was happening around him.
He told us that he supported local municipalities right and obligation to control rampant over development. That Hoboken can set in place with the support of the State of New Jersey a one-year building moratorium so we could plan development instead of lurching from one zoning request after another and to make the developers pay for infrastructure cost caused by their developments instead of the taxpayers.
Unfortunately the pile drivers and construction noises drowned out most of what Mr. McGreevey was saying. Let’s hope that Mr. Roberts not only heard him but has the courage to stand up to the developers and to actively pursue a building moratorium in Hoboken and allow the City to benefit from the much touted Hoboken Master Plan.
John Gregorio