Dear Editor: It was commendable for Sandy Weiss, who wishes to develop the 1600 Park Avenue lot, to present his project in a public forum last Monday night. Too bad he felt the need to “paper the house” with his employees, a technique Joe Barry has used to give the illusion of broad-based community support for his development on the northern waterfront. Of those who spoke in favor of the building (with almost total lot-coverage,) most made reference to the “vision” of the project and its aesthetic appeal. And with good reason – take a look at what’s going on in town! It’s obvious that visionaries are in short supply and aesthetics, not to mention quality of construction, are sorely lacking in all but a very few of the new structures as well as the adaptively re-used buildings. So if you can believe Mr. Weiss and his architect, this building will be head and shoulders above all of them – literally and figuratively. Nice to know. Hoboken owns the land at the edge of Weehawken cove, shown in Mr. Weiss’ rendering as a park. Surely the successful marketing of these luxury apartments will depend in large measure on the views needed by keeping this strip of land un-built and yet no mention was made of a proposal to buy the land from the city, or even to build and maintain the promenade that will be the front yard of 1600 Park Avenue. At the meeting we were blithely told that the Lincoln Tunnel and its congestion and the cumulative effect of this project and current traffic nightmares added to what is already being built north of 11th Street alone, were not the problem of the developer. A light-rail stop at the development seems to be what Mr. Weiss is dependent upon to transport his tenants to the PATH and ferry. New Jersey Transit has made no commitment to building a light rail stop at this location. For those tenants of 1600 Park who wish to drive (SUVs no doubt), we were told that once cars cross 14th Street, they “disperse” into the city streets. Tried dispersing lately? No place to park once you do disperse. The last person to have the floor at Monday night’s meeting was the real estate agent who has been trying to sell this lot. The agent ran down a short list of the types of businesses he has tried unsuccessfully to market this white elephant to. A hotel, a supermarket, etc. It is ironic that all but one of these potential buyers would have been a developer requiring similar variances we are now asked to grant. Sounds like a marketing problem. The fate of this lot in terms of its real estate value was sealed when the decision was made to construct the Park and Willow Avenue bridges in order to avoid a grade crossing of the existing rail line. Just because there is a building boom and this is one of the few lots remaining this close to the waterfront doesn’t mean that the best use of the land would be to construct the largest, most dense residential building in the most inaccessible place in town. Granting the variances needed for this project would be tantamount to allowing the developer to mold our existing codes to suit their own purposes – which seems to have been done before. But there is another price to pay. By all accounts, this building of 344 units will be rentals. The folks who can afford the high rents in a luxury building are all guaranteed to be a transient sort. This transiency erodes the soul of the community as renters in general make less of a personal investment in the town. Please express your views at the zoning board hearing concerning this project on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. in the community room of City Hall. Paul Somerville