Protect the People’s Park: We need the Liberty State Park Protection Act now

Stop the privatization of the gateway to America

We are just months away from the 50th anniversary of Liberty State Park — the People’s Park. Instead of celebrating this historic milestone, we once again find ourselves fighting battle after battle to protect it from privatization, commercialization, and backroom deals.

That is why the Legislature must pass S2924, the Liberty State Park Protection Act. The bill was released from the Senate Environment Committee with several amendments. This is the first step toward passing this crucial legislation.

This bill would establish long-overdue protections for Liberty State Park and create clear requirements for New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection actions related to the park, finally putting safeguards in place to ensure transparency, public input, and real protection for one of the most important public spaces in the nation. We still have a lot of work to do to make it law.

Liberty State Park is the gateway to America, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It represents our history, our values, and the democratic ideal that public land belongs to the people. Yet for decades, the park has been under constant attack, with attempts to put it under the Sports Authority, privatize it, commercialize it, and even industrialize it.

We have seen proposals for golf course expansions, luxury yacht warehouses, cricket stadiums, water parks, hotels and resorts, shopping centers, amphitheaters, Formula One races, marinas, and other schemes that would have turned the People’s Park into a playground for the wealthy.

The legislative process is complicated, with lots of twists and turns. Amendments and language changes are part of how a bill becomes law. The main point is to keep our eyes on the prize — passing the bill. There are always amendments to strengthen a bill, and others that can raise concerns. That is part of the give-and-take of the Legislature, as long as the changes do not interfere with the purpose and goals of protecting Liberty State Park. This will be a battle. The forces of greed and special interests will try to stop or derail the bill. We need to be unified in our determination to stop Fireman and his paid puppets and pass this legislation.

The bill still has to go through the Senate Budget Committee and pass a floor vote. It must then move through the Assembly and its committees before reaching the governor’s desk. It is a fight worth having and a victory worth winning for the People’s Park.

This land was bought by the people, to be used by the people, and is held in trust for the people. The government’s job is to protect that trust, not to cut deals for millionaires, billionaires, developers, communication towers, or corporate interests.

The bill would block the massive three-acre, 75-foot-tall warehouse for millionaires’ yachts if it is passed before the lease is signed. The bill would follow the 1990 Record of Decision from the United States National Park Service, which requires the footprint of any dry-rack facility to be equal to or less than one-half acre. The Suntex warehouse proposal is six times larger than that restriction.

More than any other park in New Jersey, Liberty State Park represents the idea that a park is for everyone, no matter who you are, where you live, your race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or income. Families picnic there. Kids play ball. People bike, fish, birdwatch, walk the waterfront, and enjoy nature with the Statue of Liberty in view. It shows what America looks like when public land truly belongs to the public.

This is not about opposing all park improvements. It is about making sure any changes enhance the park experience, are compatible with its purpose, and remain open and affordable to the public. Amenities should complement and further the goals of the park, not take it over.

Liberty State Park was created as New Jersey’s Bicentennial gift to the nation and is protected by Green Acres funding and the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, both of which require the land to be used for public outdoor recreation and conservation. You do not privatize or industrialize land that belongs to the people of New Jersey and the nation.

New Jersey has always stood behind the Statue of Liberty, yet time after time, the state has tried to stab her in the back with one privatization scheme after another.

As I have said before:

“The Statue of Liberty doesn’t say, ‘Give us your tired, your poor, and your millionaires’ yachts or golfers.’”

Once parkland is lost, it is lost forever. These deals undermine the public trust, violate the spirit, if not the letter, of conservation law, and set a dangerous precedent that no parkland is safe if the price is right.

The people have fought back before and are fighting now. Groups are in court to stop the latest proposal, a three-acre, 75-foot-tall Suntex warehouse for luxury yachts. It is even more important to pass this legislation so we do not have to keep fighting the same battles again and again.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill should cancel the Suntex lease, work to pass the Liberty State Park Protection Act, and sign it into law. She stood up for the people and the environment by stopping the massive NJ Turnpike widening project, protecting Jersey City residents and New Jersey from more pollution and traffic. She should now use that same logic and common sense to protect Liberty State Park from a massive warehouse for luxury yachts and support, and sign, the bill.

Liberty State Park is our Yellowstone. Our Yosemite. A priceless national treasure that belongs to the people, not to billionaires, not to developers, and not to special interests.

With the 50th anniversary of Liberty State Park approaching, the best way to honor its history would be for the governor to sign the Liberty State Park Protection Act at the celebration.

Protect the People’s Park.

Pass S2924.