Monthly Archive for September, 2006

Dear Hoboken Southwest Parks Coalition supporters,

We had a great turn out at the zoning board hearing on September 19th. Thank you to those who were able to attend. At the meeting the lawyer hired by the Hoboken Southwest Parks Coalition, Michael Rubin, presented our case. He effectively forced the developer to request an adjournment before a decision is made with regards to development on Block 11. Located across the street from the Sky Club, Block 11 currently has a car wash, auto body shop, and car service. (This property is part of the park study agreed to by the City Council in June, and therefore is currently under consideration as part of potential Southwest park space).

We believe that a very strong statement was made both to the city and the developers in the area that business as usual will not be tolerated in the Southwest.

For those of you wondering what this means:

Winning this battle was definitely a victory towards our overall goal to create a significant sized park with residential, retail and open space for the Southwest community.

Follow up: We will keep you updated as to when property owners/developers try to apply for zoning board variances that could impede our goal for park and smart residential and retail development.

What’s the strategy for getting a park with smart residential & retail development?

We also want to give you an overview of our strategy to make a park for Southwest Hoboken a reality. In a nutshell, our overall strategy involves a three-pronged approach that can be equated to a simple saying, “You can turn a cucumber into a pickle, but you can’t turn a pickle into a cucumber.”

1. Legal approach:

• We are conducting a legal strategy to ensure that the cucumber (our potential park space) stays a cucumber while we use the political process to define an enticing pickle for the community. (i.e. a large active park supported by well planned retail space, etc.)
• This legal approach is intended to slow things down, and make sure the status quo is maintained until we can continue building our coalition of support from people like you. We are also using this legal approach to get the Hoboken Southwest Parks Coalition a seat at the decision making table with the city and the developers who want to build in our neighborhood.

2. Coalition building approach:

• We are continuing our efforts to bring property owners, the city, and the Southwest Hoboken Parks Coalition together to develop a realistic plan for a park that addresses the real needs of the community based on park space, retail and reasonable development.

3. Community approach:

• Every day the Hoboken Southwest Parks Coalition expands its support from the community, the better positioned we are to have our voices heard by city official and developers.

Results to date:

As a result of our efforts we successfully convinced the City Council to study seven acres in the Southwest for potential park space.

Last night we stopped a developer from squashing this potential park space when they tried to ask for a variance to develop on the land under study.

Finally, Hoboken Southwest Parks Coalition members met with Mayor Roberts to hear his vision for a park in Southwest Hoboken, and received an invitation to “get a seat at the table.”

Save the date for a Southwest parks fundraiser: We’re planning a fundraising event at the Nine (333 Washington Street) on Thursday, November 9th. Please save the date, and we’ll be posting information soon.