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Liberty State Park is a work in progress. Remember it was only opened 30 years ago. Considering that it was all abandoned and desolate waterfront, what has happened is tremendous.

The entire interior has been off limits until now, and that will include trails and other passive recreational space.

FOLSP is not the organization that raises money for such developments. It is a citizens advocacy group that provides direction. I think they've done a splendid job. To the extent the state has not committed sufficient resources, that cannot be blamed on FOLSP.

Of course, since the JCLC just awarded them this year's Ted Conrad award, I obviously am partial in this regard.

Joshua Parkhurst
President
Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy

One of the things that make Central Park and Prospect Park nice, which LSP lacks, is variations in topography--i.e. hilliness. Without hills you have a vast emptiness, or soullessness as described by another poster once.

It is nice to walk up a hill and then be rewarded by a view. Which is why I rather like the landscaping of the new memorial. I only wish they would add more hills, ponds and landscaping to the rest of the park. Because right now, a large part of LSP has the feel of a large parking lot with great views of Manhattan--which gives me the feeling of being in a transient place, longing to be in Manhattan.


I am grateful to Friends of LSP for stopping some unpark-friendly development, like the water park, but (here's the part that will probably get me in trouble with them) I wonder if they are also holding the park back from reaching its full potential. Yes, I know every year they do some tree plantings and fundraising, etc. But a GREAT park needs more than just trees--it needs a master plan designed by a landscaping architect and big bucks. What other park in the NYC area is on the waterfront with such great views? This park has the potential to be world class, to be a tourist attraction as great as any in NYC and yet ...

A grassroot organization just doesn't have the power or money to bring this to fruition--this is a 1000 plus acre park not a community garden. We need new ideas to raise money, we need more publicity for this park, how many people in NYC even knows about it? and certainly we need to get rid of this fear of losing our view from every corner of the park--because it is standing in the way of making LSP something for Manhattan to look at.

While the memorial selection appears to be a done deal, the initial rfp was poorly publicized and the state to its credit "redid" the process.

However, it is unclear how the actual site location for the memorial was selected and approved. If it was done administratively, we might be able to force public hearings.

It is shame that so much effort goes into creating open parkland only for it marred and taken back. Liberty State Park is the result of 48 years of civic activism. In Hoboken, hard won Pier A park will host their memorial of which most of the proposals would have all but blocked the skyline view.

It may be hard to, but if we were to wait five to 10 more years, I believe more meaningful and appropriate memorials could be created.

I also have a personal aversion to memorializing the architecture of the WTC Towers. It is the loss of human life and the forever altering of other lives that stays with me.

I have got to agree that the monument is a bit, too, uh, monumental, especially considering it's location. If you're going to have some huge piece that's going to block out the skyline, why have it in the ONE place that will block out the most view? Why not have it further back from the water so that the only way it will block the view is if you go west of it?

And the fact that developers are currently blocking the view of NYC in the rest of JC is a great argument for stopping this monument--to preserve some of the remaining open sight lines.

It looks like there now will be public meetings on this, so hopefully a more reasonable design can be chosen.

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Therein lies the problem. Were family members really the right group to pick a design from 320 entries? I'm sorry, but most people don't have good taste, not to mention family members of those who died weren't thinking about how a monument would blend into the surrounding area. And, it's not their job to do so!

Each of these things will be twice the size of Tilted Arc and getting them removed in the future will be impossible!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/ ... sualarts/tiltedarc_a.html

check this stuff out!

http://www.schwartzarch.com/

http://www.schwartzarch.com/nj911memorial.htm

http://en.thinkexist.com/quotes/frederic_schwartz/

He seems to have been stuck on this whole line art stuff for a long time -- Liberty was from around 1985 or something -- it all looks some bad 1980's Laser show!

http://www.schwartzarch.com/liberty.htm

http://www.schwartzarch.com/timeslights.htm

http://www.schwartzarch.com/columbus.htm

He designed this awful space
http://www.schwartzarch.com/moondance.htm

Wow and check this out! NICE haha
http://www.schwartzarch.com/govisl.htm

Thanks for the artist's renderings Falcon. Holy Crap that thing is stupid! Who thought it was a good idea?

FWIW: Even though they've broken ground, if it ain't built, it ain't too late. And even then it's still possible.

Here are links to the Jersey Journal Articles

I think with all the TV coverage and the JC Journal editorial in today's paper, that there will be a call for a public forum on the design.

It's bad enough with all the high-rise condos blotting out the sun and sky; this memorial is ill-conceived.

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Yes, there was. And yes, it was. Say no more...

If I remember there was an ugly statue donated by the Russian Government after 911 - it was a "monument against terrorism" , and Jersey City didn't want it , so it was given to Bayonne?

Sorry, but it looks like it is way too late to stop it. This was approved 2 years ago and is the official State of NJ 911 memorial.

I think that it is absurd that the State of NJ is building this monstrosoty in Jersey City, NJ; where five 911 memorials already exist and the official national 911 memorial will be one mile away at the WTC site.

One of my favorite things about Liberty State park is that an illusion appeared as if we were connected to Manhattan with unobstructed views of the skyline from the cobblestone road. Now we have an ugly pile of dirt and I bet that that this memorial will not be finished until 2007...

I've been following this and agree! It is a very poor decision. I object to the location and size of they memorial. We need to preserve open space at LSP.

Some geniuses want to ruin the views of NYC so we will always be forced to remember the dead from Sept.11

This monstrosity is two 30 foot high by 200 foot long steel walls! Picture it! Please help stop this from happening!

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Group Concerned about NJ Sept. 11 Memorial

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- An advocacy group says New Jersey's planned 9/11 memorial at Liberty State Park could block priceless views of the Manhattan skyline.

The memorial -- called "Empty Sky'' - features two 30-foot high and 200-foot long steel walls atop a 10-foot high hill.

Family members of New Jerseyans who died on Sept. 11, 2001 chose the winning design from a field of 320 entries.

But the group Friends of Liberty State Park says the whole thing should be scrapped and done over. Sam Pessin says the public, which uses the park, should have a say in what goes there.