August 19, 2008

Maritime Villages:  Reclaiming a Sense of Place on Our Passaic and Hackensack River Waterways (by Matthew Walsh) - Many people in our region find it easy to overlook the natural heritage of our navigable waterways.  It is quite understandable, in light of the bridges and highways that traverse them.  With the exception of being stalled in traffic jams, the typical commuter will only experience these waterways as a “grey-blur” passed by on their way to their final destinations.

Additionally, in the post-World War II years, our New Jersey population has been engaged in an unprecedented migration away from our port cities towards newer residential subdivisions located on former farm or woodland properties.  The developing consensus on this 60-year migratory and living pattern is an increasing repudiation of “sprawl” and the often attendant destruction of life-giving and rechargeable aquifers located in our freshwater watersheds.

As New Jersey recognizes that its Highlands Region is being threatened to the point that perhaps one half of the drinking water in the state is imperiled, efforts have been implemented to curb development in the remaining pristine enclaves of this watershed.  However, this is not an anti-development-only approach.  In fact, this watershed preservation is tethered to a parallel program that is encouraging redevelopment of our older cities and suburbs, where infrastructure like rail lines, sewer and water lines, and navigable rivers already exist but are frequently underutilized.

The Passaic and Hackensack Rivers as infrastructure?  Well, let me dignify that description a little bit.  It is natural (“green”) infrastructure.  Our port cities were founded on the banks of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers for a reason.  They provided a focus for mobility and commerce, connected through their host rivers to the other tide-flowing areas of our region, continent, and even overseas.  Our proud Passaic and Hackensack River towns were some of the earliest Industrial Age communities in our nation.  They transformed raw materials (lumber, clay, ore, and crops) into valuable finished goods, making our young nation no longer dependent on shipping our homegrown commodities to Europe for repurchase as finished goods.  Our New Jersey river ports were de facto trade outposts that helped strengthen our nation.

Newark, Nutley, Hackensack, Harrison, East Newark, Kearny, Carlstadt, Teaneck, Belleville, Passaic, and Lyndhurst are all located on tide-flowing portions of these rivers.  Hence, they are all literally connected by water to the world.  From the River to the Bays and to the Oceans, they may have been ignored, even forgotten, but the tide ebbs and flows on their shores as it has throughout time.

All, or most, of these locations will need financial encouragement to clean up their polluted sites.  It is time for their second acts! Walkable mixed-use maritime villages will  become magnets for mixed income, residential apartment and housing as well as retail and commercial employment.  These maritime villages will not resemble the shabby-looking enclaves associated with some of the evocative writings of Charles Dickens.  Existing water taxi and freight cargo docks will become integrated into an attractive waterfront esplanade.  Abundant and attractive landscaping will become a centerpiece for the aesthetic reclamation of our waterfront maritime villages.

Higher Density Development does not have to be a disturbing concept, as many areas of Europe actively demonstrate.  Additionally, many densely developed transit villages located right here in New Jersey, provide demonstrable evidence that mixed-use, walkable developments in close proximity to existing train stations have actually increased the value of properties in these locations.

Ideally, our maritime villages located on our highways of water will not only relocalize some of our commerce but will encourage regional water-borne passenger and freight commerce.  Each maritime village can have regularly scheduled water taxi service.  Each river will maintain a regional transfer hub, where water-taxi travelers can transfer to larger vessels.  This is particularly true of the Passaic River towns north of Newark, where drawbridge clearances are problematic for larger vessels.  The raising and lowering of the bridges over frequent intervals would disrupt local traffic patterns in the communities that these bridges span, making a water jitney service invaluable for the upriver communities.

A commuter boarding in a maritime village in say Passaic, Clifton, Nutley, or Lyndhurst would ride the water taxi to Newark, either as a final destination or as a transfer point to a larger, heavier draft ferry.  The ferry would then proceed to such diverse points as downtown New York City and the Hudson River employment centers abutting Jersey City and Hoboken.  Incidentally, Jersey City and Hoboken have amply demonstrated, during the past two decades, a large-scale maritime rebirth.  However, these cases are the exception, since both of them (and particularly Jersey City) had thousands of acres of abandoned rail freight and water shipping piers and properties.

However, their waterfront revival can inform the inland revival of the Hackensack and Passaic River waterways.  On the Hackensack River, a commuter can board in one of the maritime villages located in Carlstadt or Hackensack, and travel to Jersey City as a destination or transfer point to larger vessels bound for the Hudson River waterfront or New York Harbor.  The Jersey City location will also have access to bus connections and a new PATH station.  Many of our new port cities will have potential to reinvigorate both maritime and rail traffic.  Our underutilized port areas also contain many abandoned rail beds that can be brought into service symbiotically with new maritime service.  The compact mixed-use, high-density nature of our maritime villages will encourage the use of public transportation.

There are some other national trends that will encourage development of maritime villages.  People of all ages are clamoring for a sense of community, and they are returning to cities.  This is a demographic phenomenon that defies narrow definition.  Young professionals, empty-nesters, and even retirees are “voting with their feet” to live in culturally diverse, convenient, and attractive urban enclaves.

Perhaps, sometime in the not too distant future, a commuter will step off of a water taxi on a warm summer evening at one of the dozens of maritime villages located in Nutley, Belleville, Hackensack, East Newark or Carlstadt.  The commuter will meet a friend for a waterside dinner of fresh fish that was caught, cleaned, and transported by freight ferry only hours earlier.  They will ruminate over one of those umbrella-bearing drinks that used to only be served in larger urban enclaves.  A whistle blows, and the last outbound water taxi connection for the World Financial Center is about to depart.

Matthew Walsh is a freelance writer interested in environmental and transportation topics.  He can be reached at mwals@hotmail.com.

August 8, 2008

Menu for the Future - 'Food is our common ground, a universal experience' - Garden State Earth Institute organizes a new course 'Menu for the Future'. It is a six session discussion guide for the workplace, community center or home. See a flyer below for more information about the course.

The course will be starting on September 28 at 1pm at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship. Please contact Garden State Earth Institute for further information/direction.

July 23, 2008

Ella Filippone Recognized for “Making a Difference” - For her many years of work in making the Passaic River and its watershed a better place, Dr. Ella Filippone was the recipient of a 2008 Russ Berrie Award for Making a Difference. 

The award is given by the Russell Berrie Foundation, a NJ-based philanthropic organization dedicated to finding and supporting dynamic leaders who improve the well-being of society.  It recognizes the contributions of “unsung heroes,” New Jersey citizens who perform uncommon acts on behalf of the common good.  The Foundation, along with Ramapo College of New Jersey, presents these awards annually to nineteen recipients, who are chosen from hundreds of nominees by a selection committee of New Jersey business leaders and professionals. 

Along with the award, Dr. Filippone received a congratulatory joint resolution from NJ’s Senate and General Assembly, signed by Senate President Richard J. Codey and Speaker of the General Assembly Joseph J. Roberts, Jr., commending her for giving generously of her time and energy to the various federal and state initiatives to preserve the Passaic River watershed.

Ella Filippone (right) with Mrs. Angelica Berrie (left),

President of the of the Russell Berrie Foundation

History's helpers receive $2.1M

25 county grants aim to preserve sites

Thursday, June 26, 2008

BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE

Star-Ledger Staff

An environmental group was awarded $250,000 in Morris County historic preservation funds yesterday as seed money for the potential purchase of Willow Hall in Morristown, an endangered historic site that has been targeted for townhouse development.

It was one of 25 grants totaling $2.1 million approved by the freeholders for historic projects in 17 towns, to be financed by the voter- approved Morris County Historic Preservation Trust Fund.

The Passaic River Coalition got the largest award, at $250,000, to help finance the purchase of Willow Hall, the 1840s Italianate pudding stone mansion in Morristown that was once the home of Speedwell Iron Works owner George Vail. The plan is to turn the building into the group's new headquarters, said Passaic River Coalition Executive Director Ella Filippone. The organization now operates from a house in Warren Township, Somerset County.

She said the organization wants to buy the entire 6.2-acre property, which borders Speedwell Lake and is across the street from Historic Speedwell, a county park and national landmark. Filippone said talks have been held with property owner Frederick Stradtman and K&K Developers regarding the tract, which is earmarked for 20 townhouse units.

But the scope of the purchase depends on the outcome of pending court challenges to the development plan, said Filippone, who declined to divulge a potential sale price for the tract.

In 2003, the Morris County Park Commission offered Stradtman $1.6 million, but K&K agreed to pay $3.2 million if its development project is approved.

Filippone conceded the $250,000 grant awarded yesterday is not nearly enough to buy the house or property and said her group will apply for money from the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund.

Stradtman could not be reached for comment.

A freeholder-appointed panel made its funding recommendations yesterday, getting unanimous freeholder consent. Panel Chairman Lawrence Fast said funding was recommended for 25 projects in 17 towns for a total of $2.1 million.

Sixteen of 25 projects got construction grants, while 13 received full funding. Of the 25 projects, 17 received funding in previous years. Projects were funded in four towns that have not previously gotten historic grants: Butler, Chester Borough, Long Hill and Rockaway Borough.

For the first time, an acquisition grant was recommended, for $250,000 to the Passaic River Coalition for Willow Hall. Other projects getting large sums include:

·  The Oscar Kincaid Home in Boonton Township: $188,600 for restoration and rehabilitation of the kitchen and dining room, plus upgrades of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

·  Hartley Dodge Memorial in Madison: $150,000 as part of a larger project to rehabilitate the entire building, including restoration of bronze work and existing marble.

·  The Growing Stage in Net cong: $126,914 for restoration and rehabilitation of the front facade.

From the program's inception in 2003 through 2007, the county has awarded 104 grants totaling $6.7 million for 45 historic sites lo cated in 26 of the county's 39 towns, said Fast. The county closed on 18 grants during the past year, including for work on the Glen Alpin House in Harding, Nicholas Vreeland Out Kitchen in Montville, Friends Meeting House in Randolph and Middle Valley Community Center in Washington Township.

June 9, 2008                                                                                   

NJ DEP Mapping Contest - In an annual contest for the most creative use of computer mapping technology, our GIS Specialist Lubica Cverckova won 2^nd place in two categories. On Thursday, June 5, 2008, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection held its 21^st annual mapping contest in Trenton, NJ. Over 30 maps were presented in 5 categories, including Best Data Integration, Best Analytical Presentation, Best Software Integration, Best Small Format, Most Unique and Best Instructional Presentation. There were also five other categories which all maps were competing in, such as Best Overall Map (submitted by NJDEP), Best Overall Map (non-NJDEP), Best Cartographic Design, Best Internet Mapping Application and Newbie of the Year.

Lubica, in her first time representing the Coalition at the Contest, submitted two maps: 'Old Man Passaic' , an imaginative re-creation of the watershed as an elderly gentleman (for the Most Unique category) and 'Computation of Water Resource Values of Land for the Passaic River Basin Using GIS' (explaining how PRC calculates and visually displays water resource values for use in municipal natural resource inventories and open space plans) that won 2^nd place in the category of Best Software Integration and 2^nd place in the category Newbie of the Year. The winning map is going to be presented at the 2008 ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, California, August 4 - 8.

 Please, see the submitted maps below.

June 6, 2008

Organic Lawn Care Workshop - Join the Morris County Park Commission and AmeriCorps Watershed Ambassador Mike Romankiewicz for an afternoon of talks focused on teaching homeowners how to care for their lawns with the environment in mind. The free workshop is going to be held in Frelinghuysen Arboretum on Saturday, July 19, 2008 from 12.30 pm to 4.30pm. For directions, please click here. For more information about the seminar please see the flyer below.

May 20, 2008                         

Passaic River Coalition Stays On Top of Groundwater in Summit - Passaic River Coalition, working with its own Groundwater Protection Committee, spent Saturday, May 10, in Summit, NJ at the city’s first Green Fest to help raise awareness of the uses of groundwater by the residents and local businesses. PRC’s booth on the Village Green was illustrated by maps showing wellhead protection areas for Summit’s own and neighboring wells and showing the underlying bedrock that connects Summit’s water to not-so-obvious neighbors throughout Union and Essex counties. PRC staff Anne Kruger, Susan Nanney, Matt Polsky, and Eugene Reynolds together with GWP volunteers Chairman Richard Plambeck and Patricia Collington discussed the basic facts of rain and recharge, dams and droughts with interested Fest visitors, pointing out, for example, that they were standing on ground that would be included in the outer protective zone for the NJ American Water Corporation wells sunk on the south side of the city.  With a crowd estimated at 3,000 for the Fest, the PRC booth was never without visitors.

(Left) Assistant Director Eugene Reynolds offers groundwater education at Summit Green Fest

(Below) Members of Boy Scout Troop 67 help enlighten Fest visitors about compact fluorescent bulbs

Along with PRC and GWP, other environmental and watershed groups exhibited at the Green Fest, including the Rahway River Association, Sierra Club, and Trailside Nature and Science Center of the Watchung Reservation.  Civic groups and green-minded businesses were also well-represented, holding workshops on recycling, organic cooking, and micro-lending for sustainable ventures, as well as offering a variety of eco-friendly products like organic clothing and personal care products for sale.  The Green Fest also provided educational entertainment in the form of movies on American agribusiness (King Corn) and transportation (Who Killed the Electric Car?). 

May 15, 2008

PRC participates in the 4th Annual Passaic River Paddle Relay – On May 10, 2008 the Lower Passaic witnessed a great event – a 9 mile relay of kayaking and canoeing from Riverbank Park in Newark upriver to the Nereid Boat Club in Rutherford. The relay was organized by the Lower Passaic and Saddle River Alliance (formerly WMA 4) and the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners. It was cosponsored by the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation & Cultural Affairs.

From the veterans to the first-timers including New Jersey Congressman Bill Pascrell and the Essex County Executive Director Joseph N. DiVincenzo, everyone gathered on Saturday to help the Lower Passaic /Saddle River Alliance reach their goal of reconnecting people to an ignored and forgotten urban treasure – the Passaic River.

The race was held in individual kayaking and canoeing. The canoeing portion of the race was divided into three legs with teams consisting of six paddlers, with two paddlers per canoe on each leg.

      Bill Pascrell, Tom Pietrykoski, Joseph N. DiVincenzo

Our GIS Specialist, Lubica Cverckova, represented the PRC office in kayaking at the relay, and, although she did not place among the top finishers, she helped the Nereid Team to come in first place when she saved a lost paddle after their canoe tipped over into the River.

The race finished around noon at the Nereid Boat Club where all paddlers, friends and family members met after the race for the finish line festivities such as Paddle awards ceremony, a nice lunch given by Whole Foods Market and beer donated by Anheuser-Bush. There was also an exhibit of artwork from local children entered in Essex County’s Earth Day Poster Contest.

Special thanks go to Tom Pietrykoski, Chairman of Lower Passaic & Saddle River Alliance for putting such a great event together.

(Below) Heron and gull on Lake Erie

This year, the Rally was held in Huron, Ohio, on the southern shore of Lake Erie, the first Rally to be held within the watershed of the Great Lakes. The welcome to the Rally was given by environmental officials from Ohio and Wisconsin, and the opening plenary speech was given by Chris Brown of the US Forest Service, in which he celebrated the 40th anniversary of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act with personal reminisces of freeing rivers from dams.

Passaic River Coalition gratefully acknowledges the support of Continental Airlines, which provided free air transportation for PRC staff to attend the 2008 River Rally in Huron, Ohio.

April 30, 2008

Amid Galaxy of Green Stars, Passaic River Coalition Gives Tour of River Through Time - Passaic River Coalition spent time recently exhibiting at PSEG’s three-day Global Green Expo, held in Liberty State Park’s historic Central Railroad of NJ Terminal building, where an estimated 16,000 people attended talks on global warming, workshops on composting, and speeches by NJ notables (Gov. Corzine, Sen. Lautenberg), Hollywood eco-activists (Ted Danson, Ed Begley Jr.), and environmental superstars (oceanagrapher Dr. Sylvia Earle, Animal Planet’s Jeff Corwin).

(Right) After delivering the keynote speech on Friday, Sen. Frank Lautenberg stops by to discuss groundwater with Trustee Dick Plambeck.

With the success of our appearance at this first PSEG eco-fair, PRC is looking forward to returning to Liberty State Park for the 2009 Expo.

Please click below to view the maps presented at the first annual PSEG Global Green Expo.

April 8, 2008  Please register for the 4th annual Passaic River Paddle Relay - See flyer below:

The registration form with directions can be downloaded here.

April 8, 2008   -   SAVE THE DATE FOR SUMMIT GREEN FEST!

 ENLIGHTENMENT ON A GREEN JERSEY