Dear Editor:
This morning I read about the renewed movement to bring the Battleship New Jersey back to Jersey City. Afterward, I went and pulled out an old article that I saved from the Jersey Journal on Feb. 3, 1999 with the title “Schundler Gives up the Ship.” At the time of that article, I had contacted our senators and congressmen and tried to convince them and Mayor Schundler of the value of bringing this important piece of history to Jersey City. The response I got at the time was that the NYC mayor and congressional delegation did not want the battleship in Jersey City or Bayonne because of their fear that it would compete with the aircraft carrier Intrepid in Manhattan.
A lot has changed in the past 13 years. Has Jersey City grown up enough that our leaders no longer feel the need to bow down to the will of politicians on the other side of the Hudson River? Jersey City has 1200 acres of precious land set aside as Liberty State Park. I’ve said for years that one of the best ways to help the Jersey City economy is to take advantage of the billions of dollars that over 50 million tourists spend each year in the New York metropolitan area. The park has become a tourism hub for Jersey City. We already have millions of people who visit each year en route to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, festivals, concerts, Liberty National Golf Course, and the Liberty Science Center. Adding a national treasure like the USS New Jersey will only add to the existing tourist draw in a way that one-dimensional cities like Camden (and Bayonne) could never realistically hope to achieve.
In my opinion, the NJ congressional delegation still has little regard for Jersey City – one of the most historic cities in the country. In 1999 I wrote in a letter to the editor, “If the battleship goes to Bayonne, it will eventually end up a rusty hulk and disgrace to everyone who has pride in the greatness of the ship.” It turns out that I was correct – except she is rusting in Camden instead. Without a reinforcing ecosystem of tourist attractions, Camden has failed to attract tourists from the smaller Philadelphia market in the decade since the ship was relocated there.
Now is the time to finally give her a home that she deserves – in Jersey City.
Rich Boggiano