The Friends of Liberty State Park
P.O. Box 3407 Jersey City, NJ
07302 pesinliberty@earthlink.net
201-341-7895
Dear Governor Jon Corzine,
July
17, 2006
The Friends of Liberty
State Park fully support an official NJ 9/11 Memorial in LSP, on the CRRNJ
Terminal Plaza, which had the closest and best view of the sacred downtown NYC
skyline. However, a design was chosen that is totally wrong. NJ is creating a
Memorial as our legacy for generations to come, and this design blocks the
sacred and powerful view of the downtown NYC skyline and of the river. NJ has a
special obligation to guarantee that the public has the opportunity to speak
publicly about this design.
We
are asking for a meeting with you to directly request a public meeting on the
design for
the Memorial that was chosen with NO PUBLIC MEETING because of an
undemocratic process that came out of Gov. McGreevey’s office. We urge you to
rectify the flawed process. At your earliest convenience, we ask that you meet
us in the park’s historic CRRNJ Terminal Conference Room overlooking the Hill
and the setting for the 30 feet high Walls to discuss the DEP having a public
meeting. We very, very much don’t want to hold our own
dignified public meeting, but have reserved Wed., 8/16 to have one at the park,
if you do not ask the NJDEP to provide a public meeting,
so that people will be assured an opportunity to express themselves on
the Memorial design. We are
very aware of how sensitive, difficult, and emotional this matter is, and will
be fully respectful.
On Friday, September
14 2001, I was in the small crowd of Americans on the Jersey City waterfront by
Exchange Place when you as a Senator, and then-Congressman Robert Menendez, both
spoke strongly and wisely to those of us assembled across the river from Ground
Zero about the attack on our nation.
All Americans were
deeply affected by 9/11, and we have the responsibility to create a LSP Memorial
that honors the NJ victims but also one that doesn’t ruin the sacred view.
Senator Bernard Kenny, unrelated to this wrong design, stated this year that the
view of downtown NYC is a “national shrine”. This memorial design ruins the
national shrine. The Hill cuts off the view of the skyline view and the river,
which was used on 9/11. The view is blocked from within several hundred feet of
the river, by all approaching the end of the cobblestone Zapp Dr. and by those
using the eastern end of the North Field.The mostly senior citizen attendees of
the free summer concerts will see the back of the Hill instead of the full
skyline and river view.
It’s un-American to
not have a public meeting on this public memorial in a public park. This is not
a private memorial on a private estate. The public has a right to public input
on a public memorial in a public park behind Lady Liberty. The 5/31 “Jersey
Journal” editorial stated, “When New York City
selected a memorial at the Ground Zero site, public hearings were held to
allow the people to have a voice in the process. Yet, New Jersey avoided the
open process.” People deserve to speak on this major project.
We have heard from
many regular park users who have their opposition to the Memorial design. They
are heartsick about this design of the Hill which a Bayonne resident called a
“Berlin Wall that separates us from the tragedy”. Part of the mission of The Friends, an “Officially
Recognized Friends Organization”, has always been to encourage and facilitate
public participation in decision-making for major park projects.
People have said that
the Hill, that will be 10 feet high, and the 30 foot high by 200 foot long Walls
are a monstrosity. The design is not integrated into Liberty State Park, which
was a key criterion of the “Jury”, the “New Jersey 9-11 Memorial Design
Professional Advisory Committee." After the “Jury” narrowed 320 designs
down to 8, there should have been a public meeting as part of Gov. McGreevey’s
process in order to narrow the finalist designs down to 2 or 3, and then victims’
families could have made the final choice.
Whether at the much
preferred public meeting provided by the NJDEP or at the Friends public meeting
on August 16th by the Hill, with the Train Terminal as the rain
site, The Friends will not tolerate for one moment, any disrespect shown to
America or to victims’ families. This issue must be handled with dignity.
Sincerely,
Sam Pesin, president of The
Friends of LSP, and son of the late Morris Pesin, the “father” of LSP