Ye Olde Gas Tax Revolt of 2003
As Rep. Frank Pallone said, it is time for the National Park Service to pull the plug on its attempt to lease buildings at Fort Hancock to Sandy Hook Partners.
Two years after James Wassel and his group were selected, and four years after Wassel originally submitted a proposal for the adaptive reuse of the fort, Sandy Hook Partners apparently still cannot get financing for its plans. Because of that, the park service recently extended the time Wassel has to secure the funds.
Even if Wassel shows up with the money tomorrow, he and his group should not be granted a 60-year lease.
Wassel has never been forthcoming about his plans, though he promises that will all change tomorrow at an open house he will be holding on Sandy Hook.
It is very unlikely that his present plan has anything to do with what he originally submitted four years ago. It also seems possible that four years after his proposal was created, some of the original Sandy Hook Partners may no longer be part of the project. If that is the case, it would not be fair for the Park Service to grant a lease to an organization that essentially never took part in the bidding process to win the lease rights.
Pallone has not been alone in his criticism of the National Park Service’s plan to lease the property. Both New Jersey senators, Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine, have said they do not support the proposal, and Gov. Jim McGreevey also has spoken against it.
Save Sandy Hook, a grassroots organization that sprung up in opposition to commercialization of the park, has made a strong case against proceeding with the project, and this week the New Jersey Environmental Federation added its voice to the chorus of objectors.
In a statement released Tuesday, the New Jersey Environmental Federation said, "We believe that leasing publicly owned buildings to a commercial developer is incompatible with the conservation ethic that has guided our national park system. In addition, this leasing plan will establish a dangerous precedent in the future for other commercial intrusions into our national parks."
There is much to be said for the preservation of our nation’s history, and there is no doubt that there is history at Fort Hancock worth preserving.
A plan that puts business offices in a building that once served as an officers’ residence, or a cafe and bar into a building that once served as a mule barn does not accomplish that. A large and growing number of people recognize that. It’s time the National Park Service did too.