Editorial
Pull plug on LSP Development Corp.
05/13/02
Over the weekend, conservationists rallied at Liberty State Park in Jersey City demanding that Gov. James E. McGreevey put an end to the Liberty State Park Development Corp., a public-private partnership created by the state to help fund improvements at the urban waterfront park.
The rally was held because the conservationists smell blood.
In April, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley Campbell gave the development corporation 60 days to show why its 16-year contract shouldn't be terminated. A final decision on the contract is expected next month.
The Friends of Liberty State Park and the Liberty State Park Conservancy are just some of the groups that have been at war with the corporation for more than a decade, accusing it of trying to commercialize the park rather than keeping it in a natural state and free for everyone.
What has annoyed the conservationists is what Peter Ylvisaker, chairman of the corporation, sees as successful.
Ylvisaker said the park's OpSail Millennium celebration raised $2.4 million. He also lauded a concert by opera singer Andrea Bocelli who performed with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the use of the park by the Cirque du Soleil, all of which raised money and publicity for the state's most popular park.
What annoys the state is alleged mismanagement - consistent under-collection of rental fees for the park's parking facilities - that resulted in state expenditures of more than $800,000.
Over the years, the corporation also came up with unrealized schemes - a golf course and water theme park - that seem out of touch with the idea of an urban park with some of the most spectacular views in the world, including the Statue of liberty and Ellis Island.
For all these reasons, it's time to clean house. The Liberty State Park Development Corp. has forgotten its mission and should be closed down.
Note from Sam on couple of points in editorial and about the clear choice for Governor - "Its mission" was actually to implement the 1984 "Action Plan" which never had a public hearing; it was based on 3 DEP-sponsored workshops led by a Philadelphia architectural firm. That "plan" was for the golf course.DEP Commissioner Bradley Campbell wrote in his letter of default of contract to the Dev Corp (April 3) that when Gov. Whitman's rejected the golf course, the "Action Plan" was no longer viable. The premise of commercializing and privatizing the park was fatally flawed from the start, as the vast majority never has and never will support anything but a free and green urban state park for people and nature next to Lady Liberty. Tens of thousands as individuals and in Coaltion organizations have called for a non-commercial park.
The Opsail raised money by selling the use of the historic CRRNJ Terminal to private corporations for July 4, 2000, and also the prime viewing spots to the south of the Terminal were reserved for corporations using private tents. The Bocelli concert was a fiasco, because so many people had trouble getting shuttled to the site, and lawsuits had to be settled. The Circus was a horrendous disaster because it caused Spring weekend traffic jams last year, depriving the general public of convenient access to and use of this urban state park;DevCorp went over DEP's head to Gov. for the OK..
Commissioner Brad Campbell's letter to the Dev Corp stated that, " it is clear that the
Dev Corp's direction doesn't coincide with the mission of the park". Regardless of the financial mismanagement and undercollection of $800,000 found in a piecemeal DEP audit(the first one in the 16 years of the Dev Corp), the Dev Corp must go because the people want a free park and an end to the years of wasteful, negative battles. As long as the DC is in the park, acting as the frontmen for developers and promoters, there will be the constant threat of commercial plans being forwarded, and attempts made to have the Governor approve them over the heads of the people and the DEP.
It's time for the park to be in the stewardship hands of the DEP with public input, and the ongoing work of the Interdisciplinary Committee (including DEP, Jersey City, Hudson County, Friends of LSP, LSP Conservancy, Liberty Science Center and NJ Audubon Society). It's time for a new cooperative and positive era at Liberty Park.
Will Governor James E. McGreevey listen to the decades-long (from 18 years before park opened, to the 26 years of park history) strong and broad public consensus for a free park or back down from the backroom pressures of the big money connections of the Development Corp? The Governor can be a champion and hero to the park and all New Jerseyans or he can perpetuate this public-be-damned entity which only guarantees more battles. The public's voice and the Governor's mandate is clear. The park next to Lady Liberty must be freed by Governor James E. McGreevey. Once and for all, the Development Corp, a monumental mistake from the outset, must "get its plug pulled."