Dear Editor:
Thank you for publishing my letter “Praying for landmark status for Blue Chapel” (9/6). I am pleased that the online letter to date has received 500 views, and I think this is a measure of the interest the community and Hudson County residents have in The Blue Chapel. I thank each and every person who took keen interest, but there is need for direct actions to send a message to Mayor Stack and Commissioners:
1. Put a “SAVE THE BLUE CHAPEL” sign in your window for all to see.
2. Become a member of my Save the Blue Chapel group at Yahoo.com.
3. Volunteer to distribute flyers to your neighbors.
Mayor Stack and the Commissioners can create an ordinance locally landmarking the Blue Chapel, as has been done for other sigificant buildings in Jersey City. Further, they can change the zoning for the Blue Chapel to designate it for historical use, thus avoiding commercialization or demolition of the site. In order to protect the Blue Chapel from vandals, there needs to be a police presence rather than only camera surveillance, and I would urge Chief Everett to consider this. When the former 15th Street Carnegie library sat vacant, it was vandalized inside and the valuable stained-glass dome was destroyed. As a former ordained minister, I call upon people of faith to join me in prayer to save the Blue Chapel. Finally I will work to see that an article is published in The Union City Reporter about the stained-glass windows, exquisite, glorious, sacramental works of art that surely will meet at least one criterion for landmarking the Blue Chapel. I hope a reporter will take an earnest interest here.
Tony Squire