CIVIC JC Response to the T&M Recreation Master Plan Proposal
INTRODUCTION
CIVIC JC is a non-partisan, community based 501(C) 4 organization formed to promote good city government. Improving our open space and recreational assets is one of our priority initiatives.
Many of our Board members and subscribers have considerable experience and expertise with open space and recreation issues. In this report we hope to provide a broad perspective on how the T&M Proposal coincides with the current state of parks and open space in Jersey City and with the current needs and desires of its citizens. Mayor Healy said recently in specific regard to preserving Reservoir #3 as natural open space that his thinking has undergone an “evolutionary process.” We are glad that in this case at least evolution still moves forward. We also understand the T&M Proposal to be a plan in continuing evolution and that once adopted that implementation will also evolve. In this document we praise and reinforce a number of ideas contained in the Plan, and ask for reconsideration and more emphasis for those that are underrepresented or missing.
OVERVIEW
Major Strengths of Plan
The T&M plan documents the severe deficit in open space in Jersey City, comparing our land use to land use standards. The deficit has long been known, but this plan brings focus to the problem.
The T&M plan, for the first time, extensively documents the open space that the City owns and describes current conditions. This is an important foundation for decision-making regarding park improvements.
The T&M plan also lists six priority acquisitions for the City.
The T&M plan recognizes the strengths that citizen organizations bring to the parks. In this regard T&M has shown itself to be receptive to requests for changes in the draft plan from park associations and neighborhood groups.
Major Weaknesses of Plan
The plan’s title (formerly referred to as Parks Master Plan or Parks and Open Space Master Plan, or Parks and Recreation Plan) is now Recreation Master Plan. The history reflects a confused mandate given the consultants. The current title suggests a politicization of the process, specifically in suggesting pressure to emphasize recreational use at the expense of passive use and open space acquisition.
While the plan begins appropriately by documenting the severe deficit in open space by any standard, the plan then focuses almost exclusively on current open space. This failure to address the deficit seriously undoubtedly reflects a political culture emphasizing development over other human needs. The T&M plan should be revised to put more emphasis on acquisition, which in this time of rapid re-development, cannot be postponed.
The plan also emphasizes active over passive open space. This emphasis does not adequately recognize the diverse needs of the people who use city parks—not only students who need playing fields for organized sports, but young people who do not participate in such sports, seniors who need quiet sanctuaries for walking, resting, and low-key activities, and nature lovers of all ages.
In its emphasis on active sports, the plan calls for much paving over of open space in current city-owned parks. “Maximal build-out”—an ironical concept for a park—is called for. Such a practice is environmentally questionable and should be avoided.
Recommendations for environmentally approved materials and surfaces should be made for park improvements. Pervious surfaces for playing fields should be called for when at all possible.
The plan fails to provide even a mention of the East Coast Greenway, an off-road trail from Maine to Florida that has been endorsed by the City of Jersey City, Hudson County, and the five additional counties and 26 municipalities along the route in New Jersey. This trail should have a section devoted to it, and should be mentioned in the description of the Harsimus Branch Embankment in the acquisition section. It should also be described in a new description that the plan should add to the acquisition section, that is, the Bergen Arches.
The Executive Summary should reflect the important additions above.
In addition, the plan should follow the County Open Space lead and make land acquisition its first priority. Land must be acquired for open space now if Jersey City is to continue its policy of encouraging rampant development. This emphasis should be noted prominently and also included in the Executive Summary’s item calling for the creation of an Open Space Trust Fund. Additional recommendations should be made regarding this fund that would help keep it from becoming a political slush fund, or absolve City government from making usual expenditures for park improvements.
While communication may seem an extraneous issue, other recommendations made in the report cannot be effected without a major revamping of City means of communicating to its residents, principally the City web site, which is deplorable in its lack of information and updating.
CORE RECOMMENDATIONS
The T&M Proposal provides a comprehensive foundation for powerful growth and renewal for city parks. The following recommendations focus on initiatives that CIVIC JC and the other co-sponsors advocate for improving the current draft plan.
1. Green Belt Circuit: The centerpiece of the City park system should be a green belt traversing the heart of Jersey City. A continuous route is within reach, comprising riverfront walkways on the Hudson and Hackensack with the Harsimus Stem Embankment and the East Coast Greenway serving as an east/west link on the north, and a necklace to parks and bikeways linking sections of restored Morris Canal greenways on the south. This bike and walk route would provide valuable recreation opportunities, would be a tourist destination, would provide a alternative transportation link between neighborhoods, would offer safe pedestrian routes for school children. Last but certainly not least it would be a source of urban pride and a visionary open space amenity in many ways surpassing similar projects in Paris and New York in scale, and grandeur.
2. The Bergen Arches, the East Coast Greenway and the Harsimus Stem Embankment: The abandoned railway cut known as Bergen Arches provides a unique and stunning opportunity to experience a natural environment in the heart of the city. When it was excavated this was the deepest man-made canyon in the world. Now it boasts an urban forest oasis filled with trees and birds living yards from some of the busiest streets and most heavily-traveled highways in the region. The experience of walking through the Arches is similar to visiting the most spectacular sections of Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. Furthermore, The Bergen Arches should be a high priority for acquisition, because it is a recommended segment of the East Coast Greenway which is also missing from the current T&M Plan. The Arches and the Embankment will be featured destination points on the Greenway attracting visitors regionally and from beyond. The Greenway is being developed by a coalition of citizen volunteers and local and state governments up and down the East Coast.
3. Active Recreational Facilities: There is a desperate need for sports fields and facilities of all kinds. Unfortunately, some of the best opportunities for meeting this need through new acquisition have been squandered, in particular the myopic insistence on designating the PJP landfill site for development as a warehouse. Also, compounding the problem are the misguided plans to add recreational space where it is inappropriate, for example in Reservoir #3, Riverview Park, Mary Benson Park, and Veteran’s Park (Freedom Point). Some of these issues have been addressed and hopefully the voices of the community will continue to be heeded in correcting such mistakes. Still, the problem of where to build new sports facilities remains. Despite the apparent loss of the PJP site there are still significant opportunities for creating recreational use on the scale needed in undeveloped land in Lincoln Park West, and sites to the north along the Hackensack. Partnering with the county in this effort will help to solve the problem. Also, existing recreational sites need significant attention. Some high priority locations are Bayside Park, Dr. Lena Edwards Park, Muhammad Ali Park, Pershing Fields Park and Reverend Ercel F. Webb Park.
4. Swimming Pools: More municipal pools are needed for general recreation and for senior fitness classes. Reopening the Harmon Street Pool on Communipaw Avenue should be a high priority initiative.
5. Comprehensive Bike Lanes Program: A network of well-designed, well-marked, safe bike lanes would provide tremendous return in terms of quality-of-life benefit at low cost. A system of on and off-road, protected bike lanes should be developed throughout the city. The core of this network should be the Green Circuit proposed above.
6. The Hudson and Hackensack River Walkway: Segments of the waterfront walkways need to be completed. The completion of continuous, public walkways on both rivers will benefit all, and the city must work in concert with other authorities to realize this common goal. On the Hackensack River side where much more remains to be done, picnic sites, playgrounds, and parking lots are required to attract people to a little used areas.
7. Community Gardens: The Brunswick Community Garden is an important educational and recreational resource that needs to be supported and protected. Community gardens are an ideal use of small lots scattered throughout the city where other park uses would be difficult to establish. Community gardens by definition involve community support and maintenance for green space.
8. Lawn and Garden Irrigation Systems: Many parks organizations have requested irrigation systems to help maintain their lawns and gardens; these include Reverend Ercel Webb Park, Pershing Fields, Hamilton Park, Isetta McDuffy Park, Van Vorst Park, Sgt. Anthony Park and Paulus Hook Four Corner Park. T&M has agreed at community meetings that this is an important maintenance initiative. It should also be kept in mind that in these times of increasing strains on our water supply, native grasses, and green space that requires minimal maintenance should be encouraged.
9. Park-Based Community Policing: We endorse this proposal from the Jersey City Parks Coalition. Two police officers per shift should be assigned to each of the nine largest city parks. The tour would be divided between time spent in the park getting to know park goers and also touring adjacent streets. By covering city blocks surrounding nine park communities, much of our City’s residential population would be policed on a full-time basis. This would reverse a situation that currently allows some of these parks to be safe haven for vandals and drug dealing. Park-based policing would provide a structure for building strong cooperation between citizens and police.
10. Tree Planting and Care: The planting and nurturing of street trees is a top priority in every neighborhood. Many neighborhoods have conceded any chance of securing a park of their own, and look to a dream of tree-lined streets as their only realistic opportunity to add an element of greenery to their quality of life. Civic groups are working with The New Jersey Tree Foundation and other sources to plant more trees. A Shade Tree Commission should be created and given broad powers resources to save threatened mature tress, remove unsafe trees, and plant and care for new trees.
11. Create a Partnership-for-Parks Program, and Support Local Park Conservancies: We support the initiatives outlined in the T&M Implementation Strategy to encourage strong community support for parks and strengthen partnerships between citizen groups and municipal government. These alliances are vital to the preservation and health of existing parks and the creation of much needed additional park space. The Jersey City Parks Coalition is the leading City-wide Parks conservancy and other individual parks organizations plan to form conservancies.
12. Create a Jersey City Open Space Trust Fund: A city open space tax complementing the County tax recently approved by voters would provide some of the much needed revenue for acquisition, maintenance, and programs. Many municipalities throughout New Jersey have instituted this program. This is one tax that voters consistently support.
13. Parks and Open Space Grants Writer: The City needs a full-time, experienced grant writer, working on recreational and open space grants exclusively, who will aggressively compete for available dollars from state and federal sources. An Open Space Advisory Committee made up of Council people, Parks Department professionals, and qualified citizens should be established to enhance communication and monitor open space funding. Local parks organizations have done an impressive job of identifying and raising funds for parks, notably the Embankment Preservation Coalition, and Jersey City Parks Coalition.
14. Supervision and Maintenance: New initiatives to maintain, supervise, and educate in parks are essential to the success of an upgraded parks program. Parks personnel must be visible participants in the daily activities of every park. Programs for children, young adults, and seniors must be significantly expanded. Volunteers and “friends of parks” groups should be mobilized to bring their commitment and energy to the effort of revitalizing and maintaining parks. In many neighborhoods, supervision supported by police presence is necessary to make parks safe and accessible to all citizens.
15. All-Weather Recreational Surfaces: We support the T&M Associates recommendation to convert to all weather field surfaces for recreational use.
Seasonal sports use can be overlapped in-season and fields can be scheduled for use year-round. Many scarce recreational spaces are currently monopolized by one organization when they could be shared by multiple users. Some fields are rented to out-of-town leagues while local groups are locked out. Many of the recreational fields in Jersey City could be more creatively managed to add uses for adult leagues and multiple sports use while maintaining a high level of field conditions.
16. The Paulus Hook Waterfront Park Complex: This densely-populated neighborhood with little local park space has prime waterfront lots that should be developed as green space – a potential city showpiece that has languished in an unusable or neglected condition for years. Though the patchwork of ownership adds an extra level of challenge to developing this site, shaping Peninsula Park, Veterans Park, Colgate Park, and the Morris Canal Historic Site into a world class riverfront park is a landscape architect’s dream. A playground, dog run, lighting and a finished link in the riverfront walkway are at the top of the wish list. Residents have overwhelmingly rejected the additional parking and the soccer field recommended to be shoe-horned into the site.
CIVIC JC
Dan Levin, President
Andrew Hubsch, Vice-President
Peter Delman, Member
