Comment EI-16940
Received or sent (printed as 4/6/2009)
Please conduct a full environmental study of the entire Harsimus branch of the Conrail right of way in Jersey. I live in this neighborhood with a 6-year-old daughter who loves the chunk of Embankment near our home dearly and kisses it whenever we pass it. It's part of our landscape. We don't want it torn down, anymore than someone who lives near Mount Everest or Mount Rushmore wants those parts of the landscape torn down. Second, it seems as if urban nature preserves have developed on top of the chunks of The Embankment." Development already has taken away much of the accidental wilderness that developed in Jersey City during the years when the city was falling apart. Why not make an effort to preserve some of what's left? Birds and rabbits are people, too, sort of, and it's not fair to force them from homes that they and their ancestors have been living in for many bird and rabbit generations. Third, The Embankment is on land that's been inhabited by the Lenape Native Americans for centuries and are of archaeological interest. No one should be permitted to further disturb the land in, around and under The Embankment without conducting a full, serious archaeological survey. Finally, The Embankment chunks consist of many millions of tons of "dirt." Who knows what's in that "dirt"? Maybe it's really all dirt, but maybe it's a mixture of chromium, lead dust, mercury-tainted auto exhaust dust, coal dust, etc. Why would you encourage my landlords to protect my daughter by encapsulating the lead paint in our building under crash paint and drywall, then fill my daughter's lungs with poisonous dust by letting a developer disturb The Embankment just to put up a few two-family homes? Jersey City is already an incredibly, no doubt dangerously dusty city. It seems foolhardy to to disturb all that dust. If you decide to let development proceed on part of the right of way, I think you should require the materials on the right of way to very well encapsulated, not broken up and carted away in a fashion that will make the quality of the air even more terrible for many years to come."
Submitted by: Allison Bell
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/AB-167/sub/1189X/comment/EI-16940 · back to the docket sheet