Hoboken residents in the Jackson Street area of town held a community meeting on Thursday, July 21 in which they discussed safety, traffic, and how a future residential development and park will affect the community.
The meeting at the Jubilee Center on Jackson Street drew roughly 25 residents, Councilman Michael Russo, Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante, Traffic and Transportation Bureau Commander Lt John Petrosino, Lt. James Marnell, Jubilee Center Executive Director David Shehigian.
Jackson Street is one of the most western streets in Hoboken, just east of the Palisade hills.
The meeting came about because Barry Weinstein, who lives on Sixth Street, thought it important to have a discussion involving residents and town officials to air concerns as the area develops. He asked Councilman Michael Russo to set up the community meeting for the surrounding residents.
Parking and safety
Residents brought up the fact that the city recently approved an agreement for a private developer to build a new 424-unit residential development a 2-acre park at Seventh and Jackson streets. The construction could affect parking and traffic issues, the residents said.
“Our Parks Bureau is very active. We cover all 20 parks.” –Ken Ferrante
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Russo explained that “staging done within the property” – meaning, keeping trucks on the construction site and not in the streets — will help with traffic and parking.
Others were concerned with the safety in the neighborhood.
Robert Fraley said he witnessed a drug deal outside of his home on Sixth and Jackson.
“I saw a gentleman run up from the public housing, run up to the car that was in that intersection, reach into his pocket, throw the bag into the car, take money with his left hand, and the car sped off,” he said.
Ferrante said, “We will never reveal when and where we are [conducting surveilance], but I assure you we took [arrested] 21 middle weight drug dealers last May, and we didn’t forget about the area.”
One female resident expressed concern about safety in her yard, which will be near the park.
“I live along the property that will be touching the park,” she said. “What design elements will keep people from just jumping over a fence and into my yard and property? It doesn’t feel safe at all.”
Russo explained that the plans currently include a tall artistic metal wall that will keep park visitors off of her property.
What about the homeless?
A 10-year resident of Hoboken who lives near Monroe Street was concerned that the park would attract Hoboken’s homeless population.
Ferrante said most of the homeless who can’t get into the crowded shelters tend to favor Washington Street and the waterfront parks.
“We have a homeless population that’s nearing 200,” said Ferrante. “When I created the Waterfront Parks Unit, it’s because we had several suspicious deaths along the waterfront and 20 parks with no deployments in them so we had juvenile issues. I thought it would deal with waterfront safety and juvenile issues. Well, that unit almost became the homeless police because that unit is dealing with homeless problems every day.”
Ferrante said the police try their best to assist Hoboken’s homeless and identify those who have outstanding warrants.
There are three categories of homeless, said Ferrante. “The first of that are truly down-and-out, [people who have] bad luck and financial hardships. We try and help them and get them into shelters. The second category that we have is emotionally disturbed. They have psychological issues and aren’t medicating properly. They refuse to medicate or they over medicate so these people need to be off the streets so we try to help them and get them to hospitals. The third category is a dangerous category. We do have people here who come from out of state who are wanted criminals in other areas and we do everything we can to try and ID them.”
Ferrante said that identifying the homeless criminals is often the hardest part.
“Last summer I took a few officers and we walked through Pier A Park,” he said, “and we picked 10 homeless people that we have not seen before, and we don’t know them by name. We discovered seven of the 10 were wanted.”
Farrente assured residents that the Police Department’s Park Unit will patrol the proposed park — Pino Park — along with the 20 other parks they currently patrol.
“Our Parks Bureau is very active, Farrente said. “We cover all 20 parks and when this becomes park, we will be policing it.”
In fact, Ferrante said, he has met with the developers who assured him that they would provide additional funding for the employment of more officers.
“Only part of the project I was involved in was the public safety component,” said Farrente. “I had a meeting with the developers about six months ago and they asked my concerns. I said my concerns were that you’re increasing the population of Hoboken by almost 2 percent and you’re increasing our park space by about another 5 percent, and I need you to increase my department by 2 percent so I want you to pay for three officers and two crossing guards.”