Betterwaterfront archives.
Celebrating 30 years: FBW Milestones
Celebrating 30 years: FBW Milestones 2017-2020 FBW works with the City of Hoboken and local groups to secure Union Dry Dock for an additional three acres of the riverfront park, fighting off attempts to make it a ferry refueling/repair depot. 2011-2020 FBW, the City of Hoboken and neighborhood residents [...]
Councilwoman-At-Large Jabbour at the September 4th, 2019 City Council meeting.
Councilwoman Emily Jabbour on why it's important to give the City of Hoboken the tools it needs for the creation of a fully connected public park on Hoboken's waterfront. More videos
Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher at the September 4th, 2019 City Council meeting.
Tiffanie Fisher, Councilwoman for Hoboken's 2nd ward, speaks about her vote to give the City of Hoboken the authority to acquire Union Dry Dock as a public park. More videos
Michael Russo, Hoboken Councilman, 3rd Ward, at the City Council meeting September 4, 2019.
Councilman Russo speaks about why he voted to give the City of Hoboken the authority to acquire Union Dry Dock as a public park, and why he has long supported the vision of a fully connected public park along Hoboken's waterfront. More videos
Hoboken resident Tina Hahn addressing the Hoboken City Council 8/2019: “NY Waterway knew Hoboken’s plans”
Hoboken resident Tina Hahn addressing the Hoboken City Council 8/2019: "NY Waterway knew Hoboken's plans for the waterfront."
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 [...]
The decline of public planning
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 much of this suburban development, municipal land planning functions have been [...]
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 [...]