Photo by Neidy Gutierrez | SOC Images.
The community spoke, and the North Bergen Board of Education listened.
The North Bergen Board of Education announced that they are dropping their diversion application submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), which included plans to build a permanent preschool on parkland.
North Bergen has been occupying the Green Acres-funded land to house 17 pre-school trailers in Braddock Park, violating NJDEP’s Green Acres regulations for over 20 years.
Residents and activist groups spoke out in opposition to North Bergen’s application and plans through social media and at public hearings that took place in July and August.
But for advocates like Bob Walden and Mark Bloomberg, they’ve been fighting this battle for years.
“For years, we investigated and called out North Bergen’s false claims about site safety, school enrollments, the viability of alternative sites and a litany of incorrect facts and details,” Bloomberg and Walden said in a joint statement. “We rallied to get thousands of current and former New Jersey residents to sign petitions, send comments, attend public hearings and pressure local officials to pass resolutions.”
Ellie Gruber—who spoke for the League of Women Voters of New Jersey at the July 8 public hearing at North Bergen High School—expressed that the league, which has been a supporter of the Green Acres Program, had been writing to North Bergen, the NJDEP and the governor since 2017 about this issue.
“We have concern that for over two decades this department has ignored this mandate by continuously granting exceptions, extensions and delays to North Bergen’s order to remove 17 temporary classroom units, trailers, from Braddock Park. It appears that it’s North Bergen, rather than Green Acres, who is dictating the terms,” Gruber said at the meeting.
Thanks to the outpour of local advocacy—even from other municipal governments who were urging to protect the county park space against North Bergen’s plans—the town pulled their plan to build the school in Braddock Park, claiming that it would save taxpayers $17 million.
According to a statement from the Superintendent of Schools Dr. George Solter, proceeding with the diversion process and building a permanent school at the site of the temporary classroom units (TCUs) would not be “financially feasible” because of rising construction costs and cost of living.
As an alternative, North Bergen officially opened its new junior high school in September, which has allowed the township to find alternative classrooms for the pre-k program.
But even with this withdrawal, activists say there is more to do.
“Despite this victory, it is apparent that NJDEP rules, regulations and processes are woefully inadequate for protecting our green spaces,” continued Bloomberg in the statement, stating that municipalities are “seemingly encouraged to place public services in protected open spaces.”
He references: North Bergen’s constructed EMS building on another Green Acres-protected land on 43rd Street, Ridgewood building an affordable housing on a protected playground from the 1980s and Woodbridge Township seeking to divert 7.13 acres of parkland to build an elementary school.
Shirin Lopez, a volunteer of the Union City Community Garden and a member of the Hudson County Tree Allies, explained to Slice of Culture the importance of having and preserving green spaces in especially densely populated areas like Hudson County.
“I understand deeply that obtaining, creating and preserving our green spaces is essential to our health and well being. Our air quality is automatically compromised due to our proximity to Manhattan, and so it’s essential that we protect the few spaces that we have left and push for our municipalities to create more green spaces, ones that are environmentally conscious,” Lopez said.
“It’s not enough to just have a tree here and there with some grass. It’s time Hudson County as a whole invests in planting native plants and trees when beautifying our neighborhoods.”
The Hudson County resident hopes North Bergen starts to clear that land as soon as possible and encourages the county to collaborate with local organizations to heal the land where the TCUs stand.
“I’d really love to see a collaboration between the county and local organizations like the Native Plant Society of Hudson County, Wild Ones and NBEarthTalks (among others). My hopes are that we can heal the land by restoring the ecosystem, to encourage wildlife to thrive. We can’t forget that humans aren’t the only ones who suffer when we lack green spaces, we have to think about all the living beings we share this earth with.”
To view North Bergen’s previously submitted diversion application—on Braddock Park and the EMS building —you can go to the NJDEP page. To stay up-to-date on advocacy on your local parks check out: the NJ Conservation Foundation, Friends of Liberty State Park, NY-NJ Baykeeper, Hackensack Riverkeeper, Hudson County Sierra Club, North Bergen Earth Talks, the Eastern Environmental Law Center and the Friends of Braddock Park.
