Star-Ledger article on Edgewater

[Mike]

Excellent article on Edgewater in SL today. Click the cancel button when the printer dialog box opens.

Prosperity at a Price

[bossysooz]

I was surprised to see Neda ask where the icbe was in the '60s, '70s, and '80s. The precursers of the icbe were here. I came to Edgewater in 1984, and my neighbors, the Epsteins, had been working with people like the Hanuseks for years, starting with the construction of Admiral's Walk, which was deemed inappropriate development. Same with Hudson Harbor.

When I, a newcomer with no political experience, ran for office, losing with six fewer votes than Brian Christensen, a life long resident and professional pol, my entire campaign was based on fighting thoughtless development.

People like Jeff and Peggy Mattheiu were in the lead on fighting high-density, high-rise development, until they came to an "understanding" about twin buildings scheduled to block their view. Jeff got it down to one building and changed his views, so to speak.

Grant and Cindy Morgan founded the Edgewater Community Homeowner's Organization (ECHO) and picked up the fight. I was gone for a while when my husband was working in florida, but I think Katie Jones had an organization with the same kind of goal for our wonderful town.

When Neda and Mary Hogan had a falling out with the Democratic machine, they joined the ICBE and helped fight the fight.

I certainly don't speak for the icbe, but can say with certainty, that the ICBE is successfully upholding a long tradition in Edgewater, which is fighting to keep Edgewater special.

If not for this group of organizations, it would have, indeed, been much worse.

[mary1973]

It's too bad that article didn't note how so many long time residents can no longer afford to live there. That we have gone from a tight-knit community to a transient one. How they are knocking down many of the old homes and putting up mcmansions.

Yes, Edgewater has developed. Has it been worth the price? I don't think so. It's tremendously over-developed with no end in sight.

[nedarose]

Bossysooz, I am aware that precursors of the icbe were active in Edgewater prior to the 80s, did they question the businesses about the pollution that was left behind by the closing of the plants? Did they ask about clean-ups? By the 70s there was much information available.

I know a lawsuit was brought against Hudson Harbor development; three people Mr. Hanusek, Donald and Jack led the fight, and settled for a sum of money. Mr. Hanusek gave his share to the borough. Years later, Mary and I led a fight to downzone the remaining property to the north of the high-rise, so that another high-rise would not rise there, the site is now home to the beautiful townhouses of Hudson Cove.

The borough fought the Rosen property and had it down zoned from a high-rise, Mary and I were named in a law suit by Mr. Rosen for our efforts to have the large building stopped, and now Mr. Rosen is building some nice townhouses not a high rise on the site.

Mr. Hanusek sat on the planning board when it gave approvals for the building of two high-rises on the site of the St Moritz. There was only one no vote on the board, and that was cast by Peter De Paul. Through several approvals and a law suit, the developer had approvals for two such buildings. Gov. Whittman extended the time period of approvals, which stay with the land.
Over years, changes in developers, the planning boards came to an agreement with the current owner, Mr. Daibes, to build just one of the buildings. The St. Moritz.

The building known as One Hudson Park, came about over several years with great input from the public, and is an intricate part of the Master Plan. The parking and park improvements will be a great benefit to the Shady Side area, and this plan was made with the input and approval of the people who live in the area.

The master plan called for planted areas in River Road, you are correct.
Mary and I had concrete dug up out of the large center island by City Place and it was planted. The county did not allow more such islands, and our emergency services are against them for safety and traffic reasons. So plans were changed.

Could small houses have been constructed on the east side of River Road, considering the huge cost of remediation of the spoiled land, I doubt it. The cost of the cleanup is prohibitive for small homes construction to bear.

Edgewater is cleaner now than it has been in years, there are more sidewalks, more parks, a Marina /Ferry, a river walkway for all to enjoy. Shops to enjoy, jobs in town for youth, places to go and things to see. You and I like Whole Foods a lot. We may not all agree on everything, we may not all share the same views, but the town is better. Our financial health is better, our prospects are brighter, and we have become a place where people want to be. Not a place people drove through to get somewhere else, and did not look at the old buildings.

Yes it is too bad it was so polluted, but efforts are being made now to clean up the areas, no one s just leaving the land polluted and not doing anything about it. Avalon is certainly cleaner and more beautiful than the empty, unhealthy ALCOA plant. We all worked together as a community to accomplish that development. The people around the area did not want the high-rises, the developers listened, and the people in the area got the apartment complex they all compromised on.

I am a Democrat, and when I had problems with the Democratic Party, I still ran and won as a Democrat, I did not run as an ICBE candidate. I find them exclusive, too mean spirited, not willing to face the reality of market forces and compromise to achieve something for the common good.
I too, was a member of ECHO and the homeowners group that followed them.
Edgewater is special, and will stay so. It is a community that welcomes people, cares for its elderly and its children. That spirit is alive and well.

The planning board, on which I sit, is looking into ways to control the MCMansions through proper zoning. It is on our agenda now. There are several legal approaches to this goal, and we are looking at all of them.

[bburgis]

Mean-spirited? Aren't you the one who on the record at an open Council meeting threatened to punch Valory Bardinas in the face with your fist?

You won in 2000 because the ICBE worked to get you and Mary elected. Your own Democrats practically disowned you. Enough with the dissembling, Neda. Try for once to tell the truth. Not only is it liberating, but it's what got the majority of Edgewater voters to elect THREE Independents on Council.

[sloesser]

To quote just the most rankling paragraph in Neda's essay, "The building known as One Hudson Park, came about over several years with great input from the public, and is an intricate part of the Master Plan. The parking and park improvements will be a great benefit to the Shady Side area, and this plan was made with the input and approval of the people who live in the
area. "

This building, which has been known by several aliases, did come about with great input from the public. it was all negative. No one who spoke at meetings about this project wanted it except the developer and his friends the politicians. I remember especially Tina Munson speaking about how this building would block sunlight and create more impervious ground (as in flooding) and showing a design of her own as an example of a more responsible development. I also remember Mr. Daibes talking about the little park he was planning at the site, and when asked about how the public would access the park,saying, "oh no. it won't be that kind of park," meaning there would be no public access.

The development in Shadyside is atrocious. between Waterford and this new monstrosity, the artsy, low key, quirky environment of this old Edgewater neighborhood has been lost forever. Thanks, Neda.

[bossysooz]

Neda,

My point was only that the icbe and people with the same view toward high rise and high density building have been around and making their views known for a long time. Your question was "Where was the ICBE?"

It isn't as though the icbe invented protest against poorly thought out development, and it isn't a recent phenomena. The icbe is continuing a long standing conversation about development. I thought your original post made it sound like this kind of intervention was new.

[bossysooz]

Neda,

My point was only that the icbe and people with the same view toward high rise and high density building have been around and making their views known for a long time. Your question was "Where was the ICBE?"

It isn't as though the icbe invented protest against poorly thought out development, and it isn't a recent phenomena. The icbe is continuing a long standing conversation about development. I thought your original post made it sound like this kind of intervention was new.[/QUOTE]

[nedarose]

Point taken. Many of us have been in various organizations over the years to guide how this town has developed. The ICBE being one of them.
People have various points of view, and they should be respected. My statement still stands that Edgewater is better today than it was 20 odd years ago, enviromentally, financially , educationally, more beautiful, more parks, and more diverse. A great town in which to live. I love it here.

[bossysooz]

Neda, I can totally understand that viewpoint, and as much as I LUV Whole Foods and being able to walk to the supermarket, I liked Edgewater better when the waterfront was chock full of beautiful grasses, (yes, I know they were weeds, but they were lovely)our taxes were miniscule, traffic on weekends was non-existent, the flora and fauna were at least twice what they are today, and we all knew each other.

I don't suggest we should have stayed in that exact state, but when I visit communities developed about the same time as we were in much less desireable places, using New Urbanism as the guide, I am sorry that we missed our chance. Until recently, we still had that chance on the west side of river road, but with all the enormous buildings overpowering our lovely cottages and houses, this side is going away, too.

Yes, we may have placed an ad in the New York Times to find developers, but one doesn't find a position by placing one ad. We should have reached out to the firms who were building or rebuilding "old" towns. They were there; that possibility is the reason I got involved in the first place.

I am incredibly grateful to everyone who stopped any mid or high rise, but we can do better with what we have left.

[bossysooz]

I just returned from Whole Foods and am reminded once again of our possibilities. Just go by the Southwest corner of Hillard and Undercliff and imagine how lovely it would be if all our "old" houses were fixed up like these two houses, rather than torn down for megahouses.

I visited a house in Brandford, Ct. last week. It is smaller that the two houses I mentioned, and is worth a million dollars. The town is highly restricted as to what can be torn down and what can be re-built. Yes, they do have an ugly mall, but it isn't in a prime spot for living or recreation. It is in a place that would not have been developed except for retail or office buildings.

Aesthetics are legislated in lots of nice places.

[nedarose]

Susan, those homes are lovely. I agree.
Do you remember when we tried to get an architectual committee formed to set some rules on single/two family homes? The owners of many of those houses where very opposed to anyone having any say over what they could do with their properity. They spoke loud and clear..

I learned that the town had for years tried to get people interested in buying the land along the river for various projects without success. Edgewater sold land back to ALCOA, land that was given to the town, because of pollution and lack of funds.

For awhile no developement at all was possible until and unless the sewer treatment plant was constructed.. that is the EMUA debt we have today.
Edgewater was in bad financial straits... they even had to replace the paid fire department. Thank goodness for the volunteers.

The factorys paid the majority of the taxes, when they left, everything fell on the properity owners. In most cases, the factorys left a mess that we are still working on getting cleaned. Thank goodness it is getting cleaned up.

Today we are in good financial shape, getting greener, and hopefully will be able to save some historical locations.

I live in an old home, and the costs involved in keeping it that way are getting out of hand. You can not simply replace a window for example, everything is custom made and costly. This house is also not green.

I just returned from a long trip to North Carolina, lots of solar going on there, and developement everywhere. England now requires every new home be equiped with solar panels. Should we require the same, what are your thoughts?

[bossysooz]

I think solar panels are a great idea, especially with our morning sunshine. I think tax incentives are the way to go.

As for the people objecting to the architectural committee, I can't judge without knowing who, what, where and when. Something like that has to be phased in for current owners and accompanied by a pr campaign. I am hoping those two little houses, as well as the one being renovated across from EVG will inspire more people.

I've been here for 22 years, but arrived after the other things you talked about. Most of the river in the center part of town was bare, perhaps polluted, but beautiful. We still had Crown Wire up by me, and Grand Cove was in the process of being built. Take away the gates, add some retail and recreation, and Grand Cove would be even better for the town, in my always humble (lol) opinion.

[bossysooz]

And, by the way, my husband took a day off of work and went to Trenton to try to stop the new sewer system upon which development depended. We (Edgewater, not me personally, much to the dismay of some people) handle an immense amount of Cliffside's sewage at a modest cost to them, and could not do that or develop to the degree we see today without the new sewer plant.

The first time he went down for the hearing, and people saw him there, they rescheduled and he had to go again. Hard to think of him as David vs. Goliath, but in this case, that's how it went.

[mary1973]

Several years ago, a man wrote a book about Walt Disney that was chock full of lies. The hack researched so poorly that he did not even realize that Mrs. Disney was still alive. The lawyers were called and the truth came out. My point is that you should not revise Edgewater history until you are sure all of the participants are no longer alive or here. I realize that most of the people involved in the 1960 campaign are gone (except, for example Joe Kerwin and Larry Bannon). However, I must refute a couple of the facts in one of Neda's posts.

You must remember that in the 1950's most of the industry had left/was leaving Edgewater. At that time, we were still a manufacturing contry and things looked grim. We had just gotten out of the grip of the criminal Henry Wissel and Edgewater was considering its future. Now, I was quite young at the time but I remember that Hudson Harbour was looked at as a wonderful addition to Edgewater by many people. The waterfront north of Shadyside was mostly undeveloped.

Arnold Hanusek was opposed to Hudson Harbour because it would block his view. Neda, you yourself wrote that he voted in favor of the St. Moritz. He was not some saviour out to save the town. As for Jack Bredin, if he was living in town in 1960, he most certainly was not involved in politics. I am not sure about Donald.

You go on and on about all of the development and how wonderful it is. Well, it's not all wonderful. Why does every square inch of Edgewater have to be developed? You used to say that we need access to the river and now that access seems to be shrinking but I could be mistaken about that.

The Edgewater I grew up in is long gone. Every once in a while I drive from the north end of Undercliff to the south. Every time there are 1 or 2 new mcmansions being built. Who will live in them? Will those people love Edgewater as much the people who came before them? How long before the people on the streets north of Maple Street start selling their homes and huge edifices are put up? I think you will be singing a different tune then.