Comment EI-17339
Received or sent (printed as 4/7/2009)
To Surface Transportation Board Officials: On behalf of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy - a not-for-profit 501c3 historic preservation organization founded in 1999 to preserve, protect and promote the architectural, engineering, environmental and cultural resources of Jersey City, New Jersey - I hereby submit this electronic comment in relation to the Harsimus Branch (Sixth Street) Embankment (Docket No. AB 167 1189 X). We find it incomprehensible - and shocking - that no complete environmental and historic resources impact study will be required for the right of way Conrail is seeking to abandon. How was this anti-preservation position determined? Can this STB action be explained to the citizens of our city? Consider the threat - consider the potential loss of historic fabric. Aside from the possible permanent erasure of the Embankment (1901-1905) itself, the site is flanked on both sides by two National Register of Historic Places districts: Hamilton Park (north) and Harsimus Cove (south). Its eastern terminus opens up to a waterfront vista; it southern terminus meets the ancient Prior's Mill forest (1836), Mary Benson Park (1899), and the Jersey City-Harsimus Cemetery (1831). How is it that all of these ancient perimeter resources are being ignored by the STB? The Embankment, it must be understood, is threaded through them. Although the imposing walls cut through the Downtown Jersey City area, there is the sense that they do not divide or draw lines. The industrial is infused with the residential. All is superimposed and therefore inseparable. If you rip out one site, you rip out them all. We ask that you order a full analysis and study of the Embankment. We insist. We take historic preservation seriously here in Jersey City - just take a look at our website at www.jclandmarks.org. And we expect all governmental agencies to follow proper protocol and allow a fair review process to unfold. Thank you for your time and consideration. Respectfully submitted, JOHN GOMEZ Founder & President, Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy M.S. Historic Preservation, Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Submitted by: JOHN GOMEZ · JERSEY CITY LANDMARKS CONSERVANCY · Jersey City, NJ
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-17339 · back to the docket sheet