Betterwaterfront archives.
Attorney David White debunks NY Waterway talking points
Attorney David White, an FBW Board member, addresses the Hoboken City Council on August 7, 2019 regarding ordinance to acquire Union Dry Dock. More videos
The Legacy of Central Park: How Downing, Vaux and Olmsted Set the Standard for American Parks
Olmsted & Vaux original design for Central Park FBW | August 30, 2018 It is hard to imagine what New York City would be like without Central Park. The enormity of the vision that created Central Park profoundly changed the nature of Manhattan and development of urban parks across [...]
2009 NJ Transit study identifies 5 sites more suitable for ferry facility than Union Dry Dock
FBW | May 15, 2018 NJ Transit has repeatedly sought to acquire the prime real estate at Hoboken’s north waterfront -- the Union Dry Dock site -- for a ferry maintenance facility. This state agency first attempted this in 2012 but backed down after fierce opposition from the community [...]
Photos from the April 20, 2018 Rally to Protect our Waterfront
Rally held at Maxwell Place Park in Hoboken to protest proposed NY Waterway diesel depot at former Union Dry Dock site Children leading the charge to protect their playgrounds from being polluted with dieselfumes. Mayor Ravi Bhalla who organized the event being interviewed by the press. Noelle Thurlow, the head [...]
Master Plans, Official Maps and “Paper Streets”
Detail from the Commissioner's Plan of 1811 for Manhattan. This plan was laid out over a hundred years before the last parcels were developed at the northern end of the island. This article is an excerpt from Reclaiming the Waterfront, A Planning Guide for Waterfront Municipalities published by the Fund for a Better Waterfront [...]
The Mapping of Urban America
Map of the City of Hoboken from the late 1800s showing the expansion of Col. John Stevens original street grid for Hoboken of 1804. This article is an excerpt from Reclaiming the Waterfront, A Planning Guide for Waterfront Municipalities published by the Fund for a Better Waterfront in August 1996. [...]
The Public Trust Doctrine
Excerpt from Putting the Public Trust Doctrine to Work, Coastal States Organization. In 1820, a New Jersey man was collecting oysters along the shores when he was challenged as a trespasser by the upland property owner. The dispute reached the New Jersey Supreme Court, where a justice expressed surprise [...]
Privatizing the Planning Process
The Rouse Harborfront development at the Baltimore waterfront. Excerpt from Reclaiming the Waterfront - A Planning Guide for Waterfront Municipalities by the Fund for a Better Waterfront, Craig Whitaker contributing author, published August 1996. After the Second World War, many Americans left the city for the suburbs. For [...]
FBW will be Design Award recipient
Pier A Park at Hoboken's south waterfront. (October 20, 2010) In 1990, the Fund for a Better Waterfront (FBW) came out with a plan for the Hoboken waterfront. The plan called for a continuous waterfront park along the water's edge. The key to successfully executing this concept was to extend Hoboken's public street grid, thus [...]
Council will hear FBW appeal of 19 variances
Stevens plan would add turning lanes and provide overly wide vehicular lanes that encourage speeding traffic. The latest Stevens Institute scheme also maintains Sinatra Drive as a speedway around Castle Point. (January 2010) The Hoboken Zoning Board has had a long history of usurping the authority of the City Council by granting numerous exceptions to [...]
Stevens seeks convoluted street plan
Stevens Institutes proposal for Fifth Street to zigzag through their property. (September 16, 2009) Stevens Institute's latest waterfront garage proposal is fraught with problems. They are proposing to reroute a public street through their property so that it leads to the entrance of their parking garage. They are adding turning lanes and preserving an overly [...]
Stevens proposes ‘little plan’ for waterfront
Stevens Institutes surface parking on prime waterfront land between Sinatra and Castle Point Park. (April 8, 2009) "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized." So said famous architect and urban planner Daniel H. Burnham. His words aptly pertain to the latest waterfront scheme [...]
Stevens Offers Resolution to Parking Garage Saga
Photograph of site viewed from Sinatra Park looking west shows plans for garage (superimposed on image) approved by Zoning Board. Babbio Center above right, (November 8, 2007) In a dramatic reversal, Stevens Institute of Technology publicly unveiled a revamped waterfront parking garage proposal at last night's Hoboken City Council meeting. Instead of a bleak parking [...]
The good news & bad re: Maxwell Place Park
Fund for a Better Waterfront's design for Maxwell House Park in 2001. September 19, 2007 Yesterday, Hoboken Mayor David Roberts cut the ribbon to officially open the waterfront park at Maxwell Place. What has been in the works since early 2001, prior to Roberts being elected Mayor, is now becoming a reality. The first phase [...]
FBW appeals to NJ Supreme Court asking for sanctions
Stevens excavation site in April 2002 making way for massive waterfront parking garage. Operation sent asbestos from serpentine rock into the air. (July 2007) Today, a three-judge panel of the Appellate Division of New Jersey Superior Court affirmed major portions of the trial court's dismissal of claims by Stevens Institute of Technology that statements and [...]
Pay-to-play ordinances level political playing field
Team Roberts campaign headquarters at 231 Washington Street during the 2005 race for mayor and council-at-large. (April 2007) In 2005, Mayor David Roberts and his Council running mates raised $1.4 million to soundly defeat Carol Marsh and her team who came up with a fraction of that amount. After his re-election, Roberts enjoyed the support [...]
Appellate Court to hear arguments in FBW vs. HZB
Massive parking garages on Hudson St. serve to deaden the streetscape and contradict Hoboken's scale. Stevens' proposed garage would have a similar impact on Hoboken's waterfront. (March 2006) On May 17, 2005, Appellate Court Judges Howard Kestin and Steven Lefelt heard oral arguments in the case of Township of North Brunswick vs. North Brunswick Board [...]
NJ issues permit for memorial intruding on HRWW
(October 4, 2005) On Monday, September 26th, walkway advocates filed a notice of appeal with the Appellate Court of New Jersey challenging the decision. The Veterans from American Legion Post 107 are upset by the ruling and are also threatening to appeal. On August 12, 2005, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) issued [...]
POG takes City to court for campaign violations
(October 4, 2005) The powerful Hudson County Democratic Organization, chaired by State Senator Bernard Kenny, has provided $299,600. Another $64,000 has come in from the Election Fund of Senator Kenny. Local developers have contributed $162,600. The grand total collected by the two political committees paying for Hoboken Mayor David Roberts' re-election campaign has now reached [...]
Court strikes down de facto rezoning
(October 2005) In June 2005, the New Jersey Appellate Court upheld a challenge by the Township of North Brunswick to multiple variances for height, density and use granted by its own Zoning Board for a luxury apartment complex. The Court reversed the Zoning Board approvals stating, "The Board's action . . . blatantly rejected the [...]