Coalition to Pass the Liberty State Park Protection Act and Save the Park’s Caven Point Natural Area

January 7, 2020

Dear Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and Governor Phil Murphy,

Senator Stephen Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, we urge you to ensure that the Liberty State Park Protection Act – S3357 and A4903 – passes in this legislative session, and without any amendment.  The only amendment sought during legislative hearings was to privatize protected public parkland to relocate three holes by Liberty National Golf Course, one of the nation’s most exclusive golf courses.

The land targeted by Liberty National is the 21-acre Caven Point Natural Area of the Park that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection uses as a formal urban environmental education area because of its unique location, and value as an urban wildlife habitat.

Moreover, to breach the protections afforded by State Green Acres and Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund would expose state and national parklands that are purchased specifically for their natural and public trust value to any privatization scheme devised by the richest individuals.  This would undoubtedly trigger legal action.

Liberty National has claimed that they would spend millions to remediate this site that according to NJDEP does not require any further remediation.  In fact, the unnecessary “remediation” they are suggesting is merely an excuse to fill the wetlands and habitat of Caven Point to elevate and transform it to three golf holes.

Governor Phil Murphy we urge you to publicly advocate for the Liberty State Park Protection Act, without any amendment pertaining to Caven Point. And, when it gets to your desk sign this landmark law, to fully protect the entirety of this great urban open space for people’s quality of life and for wildlife.

We urge your strong support to finally and fully protect Liberty State Park, a local, state and national treasure – “America’s Park” – a sacred public space behind Lady Liberty and Ellis Island. LSP is sacred because it is very scarce urban open space and nature and because it is adjacent to our iconic national shrines to democracy.

The park, which has over 5 million annual visitors, opened on June 14^th, 1976, Flag Day, in 1976 as New Jersey’s Bicentennial gift to our nation, and contains significant historic, natural, recreational, urban open space, cultural and scenic resources

For LSP’s four decades, the overwhelming majority – the broad public consensus – has wanted a “free and green” park and has repeatedly opposed, in grassroots battles, all exclusionary privatization/commercialization plans for this priceless park, no matter what revenue was promised in return for giving away this NJ public land, bought and improved with hundreds of millions of state and federal taxpayer money.

Proving again why the Protection Act is absolutely necessary to preserve LSP in perpetuity, the Liberty National Golf Course owner, Paul Fireman, has renewed its plan, rejected by the DEP in 2018, to privatize and destroy LSP’s Caven Point Peninsula in order to relocate 3 golf holes for multi-millionaires.

Caven Point is described in the Act as “the estuarine ecosystem for plants and animals, critical bird breeding habitat, and urban environmental education resource”. For this very reason, Caven Point was acquired using both NJDEP Green Acres and Federal Land and Water Conservation Funds, and is listed on the NJDEPs Natural Area Register as a site of significant natural resource value.

The billionaire owner of Liberty National, who wants to establish a “First Tee” golf academy for youth and also says he needs a new “back of the house” area for tournaments, has alternatives to privatizing Caven Point natural area. He can and should use his own vacant land next to his club house, where he wanted two towers for a casino hotel resort; or our senators and congressional representatives can facilitate his buying the adjacent 27 acres of Army Reserve land; or he can build a golf academy or community center in the inner city and bring young people to his golf course or to Jersey City’s Hudson County Skyway Golf Course. He can also seek other private land near his golf course for his needs.

The Star Ledger’s 12/5/19 editorial, headlined, “Liberty State Park is not for sale. At any price,” stated, “Fireman needs to be reminded of this immutable truth: This park is our state’s backyard, and our backyard is not for sale at any price — especially when these are 21 acres the public would never get back. … given that Caven Point is a premier ecological asset — not only a sanctuary for herons and peregrine falcons, but as a resource for school kids and explorers of all ages — that offer (of promised revenue) is cringeworthy:

On 4/27/03, The Star Ledger stated, “parks are not supposed to make money. They are supposed to provide green oases, particularly in densely packed urban areas like Hudson County. That’s why parks, a common public good, are supported by taxes.”

Our state’s popular and beloved urban waterfront state park will continue to improve from the DEP’s annual budget, CBT funds, park revenue –  near $3 million last year from ferry and marina leases and many special events, from the planned Terminal café, and private sector donations which will be much more likely in a peaceful era once the Protection Act once and for all ends the need for grassroots battles – and without the “quid pro quo” which Paul Fireman wants, of privatizing the public sanctuary of Caven Point for an  unspecified “revenue stream”. Caven Point’s real estate value is $32.5 million but its ecological value is priceless and irreplaceable.

The Jersey Journal 12/5/19 editorial expressed, “This is – or should be – a no-brainer. LSP is our Central Park. And it should stay that way in perpetuity. The act would preclude privatization in the park while still allowing for small-scale commercial enterprises such as bike rentals and concession stands. It would also revive the Liberty State Park Advisory Committee to further guide the park’s future with public input.  The peninsula, 21 acres of marsh, upland and sandy beachfront, is accessible via the public Hudson River Walkway and is a breeding and nesting area for migratory birds. Its role is so important that the NJDEP closes it to the public from March 1 to Sept. 30.”  This is to keep the foraging and mating cycles of treasured bird species undisturbed.

Over 200 species of birds have been observed at Caven Point and about 100 species make their nests there. The location of the site along the Atlantic Flyway and within the harbor estuary makes it an ideal stop for migrating birds. Naturalists have reported notable species including, snowy owl, deer, northern diamondback terrapin, peregrine falcon, osprey, harbor seals, horseshoe crab, yellow-crowned night- heron, black-crowned night-heron, red knot, black skimmer, northern harrier, American oystercatcher, blue heron, and many more. The Liberty National Golf Course privatization plan proposal would take away from the public and primarily urban residents, LSP’s unique urban Caven Point Natural Area. Destroying this well-documented natural habitat Natural Area and the myriad associated urban environmental education opportunities it provides, simply to enlarge an ultra-exclusive private golf course that charges six-digit membership fees is unconscionable.

The park’s environmental education program, annually serving over 600 urban students, focuses on salt marsh and beach habitats and provides students with an opportunity for hands- on exploration. Other programs serve another 500-600 people of all ages and include low tide walks, bird walks, volunteer beach cleanups, and stewardship activities. In addition, the park estimates that about 3000 visitors come to Caven Point to enjoy and learn in this rare serene urban sanctuary.

Caven Point was purchased in perpetuity to be a natural area for the park, and to serve people in a densely populated urban area that would otherwise have to travel far away to gain these enriching environmental experiences. To take this area from the urban public to enrich an exclusive private golf course would be a social and environmental injustice of epic proportion.

We urge you to make the LSP Protection Act a reality and an example for our nation!

Sincerely,

                              Sam Pesin                                  Greg Remaud

                               President                                CEO & Baykeeper    

             Friends of Liberty State Park                  NY/NJ Baykeeper

Eric Stiles, President & CEO, New Jesey Audubon Society

Bill Sheehan, Riverkeeper, Hackensack Riverkeeper

Jeff Tittel, Director, NJ Sierra Club

Hetty Rosenstein  NJ Director  Communications Workers of America

Ed Potosnak, Executive Director, NJ League of Conservation Voters

Tim Dillingham, Executive Director, American Littoral Society

Cindy Zipf, Executive Director, Clean Ocean Action

Doug O’Malley, Director, Environment New Jersey

Amy Goldsmith, NJ Director, Clean Water Action & Clean Water Fund

Michele Byers, Executive Director, New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Don Stitzenberg, President, Hudson River Waterfront Conservancy

Peggy Wong, President, Coalition to Preserve the Palisades Cliffs

Britta Wenzel, Executive Director, Save Barnegate Bay

Jim Waltman, Executive Director, Watershed Institute

Heather Fenyk, President, Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership

Jim Scarcella, President, Natural Resources Protective Association

Sally Rubin, Executive Director, Great Swamp Watershed Association                             

Passaic Riverkeeper Waterkeeper Alliance Affiliate

Alison Cucco, Chairperson, Jersey City Environmental Commission

Stephen Gucciardo, President, Embankment Preservation Coalition

Julia Somers, Executive Director, Highlands Coalition

Bob Spiegel, Executive Director, Edison Wetlands Association

Beryl Thurmond, Executive Director & President, North Shore Waterfront Conservancy of Staten Island, Inc.

Kevin Bing, President, Journal Square Community Association

Ace Case, Chairperson, Sierra Club, Hudson County Group                                                                    

Cynthia Hadjiyannis, President, Reservoir Preservation Alliance

Bill Schultz, Riverkeeper, Raritan Riverkeeper

Fred Akers, Administrator, Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association

Gil Hawkins, Environmental Director, Hudson River Fishermans Association

Joe Reynolds, Executive Director, Save Coastal Wildlife

Laura Skolar, President, The Jersey City Parks Coalition:
Riverview Neighborhood Association                                                                                      Bergen Hill Park Association
Skyway Park Conservancy
Enos Jones Park Association
Bergen Arches Preservation Coalition
Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association
Bayside Park Neighborhood Association
Canco Park Conservancy
Leonard Gordon Park Conservancy                                                                                         Friends of Gateway Park
Friends of Mary Benson Park
Historic Jersey City and Harsimus Cemetery
Sgt. Anthony Park Neighborhood Association
Pershing Field Garden Friends                                                                                           Friends of Ferris Triangle Park                                                                                                          Friends of Arlington Park                                                                                                                           Nick Lawrence, President, Washington Park Association

Eric Hoffmann, president The Village Neighborhood Association

Patricia Hilliard, co-founder, Bayonne Nature Club

Ron Hine, Executive Director, Fund for a Better Waterfront

William S. Kibler, Director of Policy, Raritan Headwaters

Jill Scipione, president, Bayonne’s Morris Park Neighborhood Association

Cc:

First Prime Senate Sponsor Senator Sandra Bolden-Cunningham

Second Prime Senate Sponsor Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg

Senator Brian Stack

Assembly First Prime Sponsor and Majority Whip Raj Muhkerji

Assemblywoman Angela McKnight

Assemblyman Nick Chiaravalotti

Assemblywoman Annette Chaparrro

Jersey City Mayor, Stephen Fulop

Jersey City Council

Hudson County Board of Freeholders