Will Real Estate Encroach on Liberty State Park?
Sam Pesin—whose father crusaded for the creation of Liberty State Park four decades ago—is on a mission to protect the 1,200-acre "oasis" on the highly developed New Jersey waterfront. The president of the 800-member Friends of Liberty Square Park is fighting yet another threat of commercialization—proposals for private development projects within the park, which apparently exist in a document prepared by New Jersey Future with help from Biederman Redevelopment Ventures.
New Jersey Future received a $120k contract from the Department of Environmental Protection to explore the “potential attractiveness of the park to revenue-producing developers, contractors and concessionaires," which was awarded right before the state legislature rushed out a bill putting the park under the auspices of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority; the Christie administration agreed. However, there's a secrecy behind the New Jersey Future document, which is still in draft form and has people concerned that bulldozers and cranes may be coming to the park. [Politico]
