via email

TO: The Hoboken City Council
FROM: Fund for a Better Waterfront
DATE: April 6, 2021
RE: The failed concept for a “park” at North End Plan

The so-called “linear park” in the North End Plan is not feasible. Attempts by Council members to salvage it are misguided. Here are four reasons why it should be rejected in favor of an open space plan that is workable, based on sound principles of urban design:

  1. It creates a public safety hazard – The “linear park” leads people through the middle of four blocks toward the waterfront. At Willow, pedestrians are faced with four lanes of speeding traffic, but the waterfront beckons, just a block ahead, tempting people to cross this most heavily trafficked portion of Willow in the middle of the block. At Park Avenue, again, pedestrians see the Cove Park and waterfront just ahead, and are tempted to dash across. 
  2. It will not be public –  The “linear park” is proposed on private land and will be privately controlled. Agreements with owners and future owners will be difficult if not impossible to enforce. The owners will likely find ways to deter the public’s use of this space and preserve it for residential occupants of their property.
  3. It is not a park – This is not how parks are designed, running through the middle of blocks, abutting large residential or commercial buildings. Successful parks are bounded by public streets and sidewalks — public rights-of-way. The front doors of buildings face the street and the park helping to animate the streetscape. This configuration is what makes Hoboken’s waterfront so successful as a public park. Compare that to the experience along the waterfront in Jersey City, Weehawken and all the way up to Edgewater. The waterfront and the walkway does not feel like a park.    
  4. Developers are now rejecting it – The first development proposal for the North End excludes the “linear park.” Other developers are likely to do the same. They recognize that it is an unworkable concept, not good for them and not good for the North End community.

Cc: Mayor Ravi Bhalla
Director Chris Brown
Director Ryan Sharp
Business Administrator Jason Freeman