Dear Editor:
I big muchas gracias to Santo Sanabria for “Park Needs Better Care” (July 17). Last week I spoke in person with Director of Public Safety, Union City’s Mayor Brian Stack. He met with locals in Jersey City’s Washington Park under two shade trees in the midst of green grass. I told him that children were at risk of falling through large holes in a chain-link fence near Washington Park’s Soccer Field, and there are hazards from deep holes in the broken asphalt pathways in Washington Park, Union City. However, to date, no action has been taken by Mayor Stack. Residents of Union City have recently received mailings from Mayor Stack applauding his park improvements but broken and unsafe fences, broken asphalt paths, cracked masonry and other signs of disrepair do not point to improvement but neglect. This neglect has gone on for months. Mayor Stack proclaims “I am the most accessible mayor in the United States” does he not? What good is access to him, if he does not act on urgent matters in the park such as trees falling from decay and poor maintenance of park infrastructure such as rusting gates! In addition, I call on Jersey City’s Steve Fulop to take immediate action to investigate the dead Norway Maples in Jersey City’s Washington Park on the Patterson Plank side. Reporter Sanabria snapped a photo of a tree with most of its side ripped out with rot. They are too far gone to save but I know I can count on Steve for action now not later. Thus far, 1,065 readers have read “Park Needs Better Care” on-line. Trees mean a lot to people and this issue of dying and dead trees needs to be a top priority. I urge all Jersey City and Union City residents and tree lovers to demand your park trees get the care they desperately need. At the sound of sounding dramatic but for effect, Union City’s Washington Park is “dying” from neglect. This does not just need to be arrested; it needs to come to a grinding halt. Action from Steve Fulop and Mayor Stack must be delivered before a falling, rotting tree limb kills a man, a woman, a child, a dog.
Your neighbor,
Tony Squire