Betterwaterfront archives.
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. [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 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 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
(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 [...]
(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 [...]
(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 [...]
Date: Friday, May 13, 2005 Time: 1:30 P.M. Place: The Brennan Court House, 583 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, New Jersey The Fund for a Better Waterfront (FBW) and Stevens Institute of Technology are back in court again. On Friday, Superior Court Judge Hector Velazquez will listen to arguments from FBW's attorney, Michael Garofalo, that the [...]
FBW Board with family and friends celebrating court victory at Quays on Hoboken's waterfront (February 15, 2005) Critics of real estate development breathed a sigh of relief on February 9, 2005 when New Jersey Superior Court Judge Frederick Theemling threw out the final count of a two-year old case against the nonprofit organization, Fund for [...]
Proposed development plan for 800 Jackson Street superimposed on photograph of site, showing view of Palisades cliffs completely blocked for the building's 300 foot length. Mayor Roberts is sponsoring projects on west side that will benefit developers who are among his largest campaign donors (February 2005) Last spring, scores of demonstrators picketed Hoboken City Hall [...]
'Political fund-raising and the peoples business all happen in the same meetings over the same table.' -- Gov. James McGreevey. (October 2004) On July 28, State Senator Bernard Kenny sent out an invitation to a reception at the Mayfair Farms in West Orange, New Jersey honoring Hoboken Mayor David Roberts. This event, benefiting the Hoboken [...]
(October 2004) For the past three years, the Fund for a Better Waterfront (FBW), a local advocacy group, has locked horns with Stevens Institute of Technology over its waterfront development proposals and excavation of asbestos-containing rock on the campus. The conflict continued last week as FBW appealed the Hoboken Zoning Board's approval of a massive [...]
