NJ Transit board pulls Hoboken waterfront item from agenda

<p>Hoboken officials are claiming victory Monday after New Jersey Transit&rsquo;s board pulled a controversial item from Monday&rsquo;s meeting agenda.</p>

News 12 Staff

Jan 15, 2018, 5:04 PM

Updated 2,291 days ago

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Hoboken officials are claiming victory Monday after New Jersey Transit’s board pulled a controversial item from Monday’s meeting agenda.
The fight stems from a 3-acre plot of land along the Hoboken waterfront owned by ferry service New York Waterway.
The ferry service wants to use the site for a maintenance facility and hopes to sell it to New Jersey Transit in a $12 million deal that would keep the dock in commercial use.
But Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla wants the site as a public park and had vowed to fight the sale.
“It’s the last missing link of open space on our waterfront,” Bhalla says.
Many Hoboken residents told News 12 New Jersey that they are also opposed to the idea of the maintenance facility and would welcome a public park.
“I work in midtown and I live in Hoboken, and we don't have a terrace or anything like that. So it's good to get outside, walk around and get the dog out,” says Mike Castoro.
“On the weekends there's so many other people who come and really use the waterfront space, that it's becoming more and more important,” Ignacio Del Rio says.
New York Waterway contends that the company needs the maintenance facility and that its employees and 30,000 passengers will bear the burden if it is forced out of this site.
Mayor Bhalla says that the city will use eminent domain to seize the property if a deal is not reached with New York Waterway.
New Jersey Transit did not indicate if the plan would be put back on a future agenda.
The Associated Press wire services contributed to this report.


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