Gov. Phil Murphy (D) and U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), joined Hoboken electeds to cut the ribbon on the five-acre ResilienCity Park, at 12th and Madison Streets – formerly Northwest Resiliency Park – amidst some protests over fossil fuel power plants.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“This park is a model for communities across the country that are grappling to deal with the impacts of climate change. It provides the amenities all around us while integrating stormwater infrastructure,” Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla said.
“This park will contain up to 2 million gallons of rainwater. Thanks to the governor, the senator, and their teams, Hoboken was provided with invaluable state and federal funding that allowed this park to be created.”
ResilienCity Park has transformed a former industrial site into public open space that provides the public with a new multi-purpose athletic field, a basketball court that doubles as a stormwater detention basin, playground, open lawn space, water spray area, and other open space amenities.
The park’s terrace pavilion, which will include a café and community room, is currently under construction and it is scheduled to open this fall.
“This park is a powerful example of how we can and should be preparing for the future. It’s easy to fall in a trap with climate change by thinking it’s a long-term trend that’s decades away,” noted Murphy.
“But our climate is already changing. We are at ground zero. We saw that last week with the unprecedented levels of smoke and hazardous air from wildfires in Canada.”
The governor also cited findings from Rutgers University that indicated that New Jersey’s temperature is warming at double the rate of the rest of the planet, with sea levels also rising twice as fast as well.
“We are going to hit again. The only question is when. We are not powerless. We can prepare. There is literally no time, to waste,” Murphy added, noting that after Superstorm Sandy ravaged Hoboken, they built infrastructure to prevent such great flooding.
“With a challenge as large and complete as climate change, we have to tackle it from every angle, he continued, further stated that they want the whole state to run on clean energy by 2035.
However, this didn’t sit well with some of the protesters who have been asking Murphy to halt fossil fuel plants, such as a fracked gas plant in Newark, which the Hoboken City Council passed a resolution opposing all the way back in June 2020.
“Governor Murphy: stop the gas plants!” an angry activist shouted from the crowd.
“It’s a climate emergency!” another cried.
“Forgive me, some of my relatives showed up,” Murphy joked, indicating that his administration is working aggressively to address climate change.
He also said “this park is exactly the kind of smart design we need” as he talked over the protesters.
Hoboken police officers asked several of them to calm down and the several in the crowd also shushed them.
Additionally, Murphy noted former Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer initially reached out regarding the site since BASF, a German company, owned it.
He was the U.S. Ambassador to Germany under President Barack Obama (D) and Murphy explained that federal funding and the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank helped fund the project.
Low-interest financing through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund also helped.
“Stop the fossil fuel projects!” a woman screamed from the crowd.
“The remains of a chemical plant have given way to this beautiful park, just as Hoboken’s industrial past has given way to its vibrant present and future,” Murphy added.
“I think we share some of the same relatives,” Bhalla joked regarding the protestors.
He noted Senator Menendez helped secure $10 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the project.
“It is just the latest example of just how New Jersey is leading on community investments. We see a shining preview of the future and the sustainable infrastructure of tomorrow,” Menendez said.
He noted that the ferocious destruction wrought by Superstorm Sandy prompted such a project, a part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Rebuild by Design flood resiliency project, which has received $235 million in federal funds.
“I fought tooth and nail in Congress to secure a $50 billion dollar Superstorm Sandy bill to help our state recover. I was shocked to have my colleagues in the Senate object. I have always voted for uh wildfires in the West, flooding in the Mississippi, hurricanes in Louisiana,” the senator said.
“But when it came time to New Jersey, somehow we weren’t deserving. I reminded my colleagues we call this country the United States of America. We’re all in it together. We ultimately overcame their objections. Here in Hoboken, climate change is not a theoretical exercise. It is a reality that’s already here.”
Shortly thereafter, Bhalla pointed out that the project received $1 million from Hudson County’s Open Space fund.
“This is a place, a park where people can come now and enjoy themselves yet still resist uh potential storms that come Hoboken’s way,” said Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise’s Chief of Staff Craig Guy, who won the primary to succeed him last week.
Furthermore, 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen noted the park is located in his district.
“This park is a national model for others to follow as we’re threatened by stronger, wetter storms on the front lines of climate change,” he said.
He also lauded Zimmer for having the vision to begin the process of transforming the area, which took three-and-a-half years to build.
“With today’s opening of ResilienCity, we make Hoboken – already one of the great and historical cities in America – an even better place to visit, work, live, or raise a family.”
The city has opened two resiliency parks since 2017: the Southwest Resiliency Park and the 7th & Jackson Resiliency Park, which together can detain a combined total of 670,000 gallons of stormwater during heavy weather events.
North Hudson Sewerage Authority Dr. Richard Wolff said the park christening is a highlight of his 32-year career. He explained that the stored stormwater that the authority will manage would help clean the Hudson River.
“This entire endeavor contributes to a cleaner Hudson Waterway and so doing brings us one very big step closer to a truly recreational Hudson River, and dare I say it? Perhaps even closer to a swimmable Hudson River,” he said to chuckles from the crowd.
During the public question period, Murphy criticized congestion pricing in New York City. He also justified his support for fossil fuel plants, arguing one in Newark is a backup to help prevent storm damage.
He also repeated his argument that the I-78 expansion to the Holland Tunnel, which is backed by labor unions but opposed by many elected officials in Hudson County, would not be bad since more cars will be electric.
“We’re stuck in this mindset that everything is gonna be emitting pollution, which is not the case, that’s not just a dream, that’s becoming a reality,” he said regarding electric vehicles.
Matt Smith of Food and Water Watch was a leader of the protestors and he told HCV that the fire and smoke last week was similar to the emissions from the plants the Murphy administration is proposing.