This weekend, Jersey City is the site of the seventh Annual Meeting of the East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA). The ECGA is a membership organization made up of supporters of the East Coast Greenway, a 2,600-mile traffic-free path linking East Coast cities from Maine to Florida that has been an ongoing project for the past 10 years.
Among the topics discussed at the meeting will be the Sixth Street Embankment, which is the elevated structure spanning Sixth Street in downtown Jersey City. It was once the location of railroad tracks that were part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system. Now Jersey City is in talks to acquire the embankment by eminent domain.
The Embankment would then be transformed into a nature trail that would be part of the Jersey City link in the 92-mile New Jersey portion of the Greenway that would go from Pennsylvania and New York.
The Embankment would be in the middle of a large Jersey City link that would start from the Hudson River and continue along the old railroad path of the Embankment and onto the Bergen Arches, a section of train tunnels and open-air rail beds which were built from 1906-1910. It would then span from Palisade Avenue to JFK Boulevard. The trail would continue to Kearny until it reaches New Brunswick for a 64-mile addition to the 28-mile existing greenway in the state.
At the two-day meeting, there will be remarks from ECGA representatives, local, state and federal officials, as well as tours of Jersey City's various historic districts. Sponsors for this meeting include the Hudson Reporter, Fastframe Hoboken, and GMAC Mortgage.
The greenway meeting
The meeting was to start at Jersey City's City Hall starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 13. Events slated for the first day were a keynote address by Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association; and presentations by Karen Votava, the president of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, and Brett Barnes from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Awards were to be given to advocates of the Greenway including City Councilman Mariano Vega. There was to be a reception for the "Along the East Coast Greenway in NJ" photo exhibit currently on display at City Hall.
The next day consists of walking, bicycle, bus and light rail tours of Hudson County and the NJ Greenway ranging from a bus tour of the NJ Greenway route ($25 includes lunch) to walking tours of Hudson County Courthouse, Jersey City's Powerhouse Arts District, Reservoir No. 3, Lincoln Park District ($15), Liberty State Park, Liberty Science Center. All will be starting from the Hyatt Regency Hotel at Exchange Place at 9 a.m. Among the attendees looking forward to the meeting is Maureen Crowley, former president and currently the coordinator of the Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Stem Embankment Preservation Coalition and a member of the NJ Committee for the East Coast Greenway. She was one of the early champions to save the Sixth Street Embankment for being torn down in 1998 to make way for a plan by former Mayor Bret Schundler to put up luxury housing in its place, and an advocate for Jersey City being part of the East Coast Greenway.
"I started out helping to save the Sixth Street Embankment, and [the Embankment Coalition] saw there was this transportation corridor that should be preserved that has been in this city for over 150 years," Crowley said. "And so one of the objectives was to preserve this corridor and reconnect it with the waterfront because it's the only access for the public from the inner part of Jersey City to the waterfront." Crowley said the developments at Newport, the Newport Mall and the parking garages built for the mall were blocking much of the public access to the waterfront. The corridor that Crowley refers to is the old railroad beds and tracks that were once active in Jersey City and surrounding towns that have not been traveled in years.
"From the beginning of our work on the Embankment, we stressed the idea that we should have the Embankment link to the waterfront," said Crowley. "And in researching regional and national organizations that would help us, we came across the East Coast Greenway Alliance."
The Embankment Coalition found out that there were already people who resided in Jersey City like Mike Selander and City Councilman Mariano Vega who were active in the organization.
"So we got together and started attending East Coast Greenway Alliance meetings, and in the last year that organization worked with the New Jersey Department of Transportation on a route through Northern New Jersey. We had learned that there is 28 miles of Greenway in New Jersey as a result of the towpath of the Delaware/Raritan River in the western part of the state," said Crowley, "and the problem is how to link that with New York City, and not bypass the major population centers of Newark and Jersey City. Because initially they were going to take the D&R Canal towpath and extend that route to Perth Amboy, and it would have bypassed Newark and Jersey City. One of the goals of the East Coast Greenway Alliance is to connect major cities that run along the East Coast. "
Elizabeth Brody, chairperson of the NJ Committee for the East Coast Greenway, said that the ECGA was looking for a site to hold its annual meeting. She then contacted the Embankment Coalition in early 2003 inquiring about holding the annual meeting in Jersey City.
"The ECGA was looking to have a place for the meeting, and Jersey City offered to help," said Brody. "There were a few choices, but it was a delight to get a location like Jersey City. We have really lucked out with a high level of civic activity that has occurred in putting the meeting together."
Brody has traveled to Jersey City several times in the past year and has been impressed with every visit. "I'm very impressed by the enthusiasm, a combination of a city with a neighborhood feel for people if they want to a bit of peace and quiet. I think most people don't know Jersey City."
Brody is counting on somewhere between 150 to 200 ECGA members coming to the two-day meeting, and maybe even more, saying there are 235 members in New Jersey including approximately a dozen members in Jersey City, and more than 3,000 ECGA members nationwide.
For more information about the meeting, contact Maureen Crowley of the Pennsylvania Railroad Harsimus Stem Embankment Coalition at (201) 963-0232 or Elizabeth Brody, chairperson of the NJ Committee for the East Coast Greenway, at (908) 245-8007. Or visit www.greenway.org.
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