Dear Editor:
I am writing in response to last week’s letter by Shane Conry concerning Ursa Development’s proposed park. I fear that Mr. Conry either doesn’t understand the facts, or perhaps he chooses not to. The point at issue is not whether URSA lied in the past or continues to lie. No one is accusing it of lying. It is not about punishing URSA. No one is seeking that. No one is urging that the city refuse to negotiate with Ursa. To the contrary, meet with them and get them to live up to their end of the bargain. And it is not about hating all developers. It is never that simple.
The city needs to let Ursa know what it wants based on what it is owed. If we want a ball field instead of some other more expensive amenity (like a community center), fine, that may be what we need right now more, but only accept the park if we get the balance of what we are owed in another form, such as other amenities or money for future parks. Do not, however, give Ursa more (in otherwise unavailable development approvals) and ask for less (a park rather than a community center).
As a founder and board member of Hoboken Parks Organization, I believe my credentials as an open space advocate can sustain accusations that I am not sensitive to our community’s dire needs for open, recreational space. I, with HPO, have fought that fight for years. We clearly and desperately need more open space of all kinds in Hoboken, and from whatever sources available. And while I do not want to be one to look a gift horse in the mouth, if the bearer of the gift actually owes me ten horses, then he is not really offering a gift; he is shortchanging me.
Lastly, in Mr. Conry’s letter he incorrectly assumes that it is a given that the extra residential units will be built. To the contrary, URSA remains required to provide public benefits that it has failed to provide to us for close to a decade. Just because we are in serious need of open space should not mean that we need to give away unfulfilled, valuable public benefits that we as a community have paid for with the density which we live within the city’s Northwest. We should not allow URSA to skirt the zoning laws with a deal that sounds too good to be true. It just may be.
Jim Kocis