-Nancy Kist, Executive  Director BLRA By Tom Dwyer
Sometimes a development project can be so massive it’s hard to wrap one’s head around it. You know that it’s moving forward, but where’s the end? The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor fits this category. The Riverview Observer spoke with Nancy Kist, the Executive Director of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, to get an update on the ongoing project.
SOME HISTORY
In 1999 the US Army lowered the flag at MOTBY—the Military Ocean Terminal, a 430-acre former military base that jaunts out into the Hudson River off of Rt 440. In 2002, the city of Bayonne took over complete ownership of MOTBY through the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority and renamed the property The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor. Since then the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority has been working to transform the old base into a world-class mixed-use waterfront community of residential, light industrial, commercial and recreational space. The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor is currently the largest redevelopment effort underway in the metropolitan region.Â
With a population of over 600,000, open space in Hudson County is essential for the well-being of its residents. Open spaces like parks, and having waterfront access, help provide a ‘quality of life’ for a community; an oasis of calm in an urban environment.
Anthony Caputo, the port director for Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, could not be more proud of the success of the partnership of the city of Bayonne and Royal Caribbean Cruises. In just three short years, Cape Liberty Cruise Port has become one of the busiest cruise ports in the country. The port is ranked second among Northeast and mid-Atlantic coast ports in passenger volume. In 2006 it hosted 71 cruise ship calls, with 321,000 passengers during the 2006 season which ran from May to November. The port was also recognized as one of the top three-rated ports, worldwide, for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, which merged in 1997. “When you take into consideration that we only have one berth and we are home-porting passengers which means that the passengers sail from here and return here unlike port–of-calls, our growth is really incredible,†Caputo said. The 2007 season, which begins in May, will commence year-round trips to its destinations.
I first met Dan Morgenstern more than five years ago when I picked him up one Saturday morning outside his Journal Square apartment in Jersey City. Our destination was the Catskill Mountains home of the late George Handy, a genius experimental jazz composer/arranger from the 1940s’ and 50s’ with whom I had studied piano after getting out of the Army in 1970. Dan and I had never met until Handy’s widow, Elaine, asked us to drive up together that day to discuss archiving his scores, albums, and memorabilia with the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark. Dan Morgenstern is the director of the Institute, where he oversees the world’s largest collection of jazz-related material. Our two-hour drive to the mountains, that included a few wrong turns, was like my own personal history of jazz, in fast time. During the duration of our trip, as I asked Dan about some of the jazz greats and not-so-well-known players he had met over the years, he recalled stories and memories about the many musicians he was “lucky enough to meet.†We returned home to Jersey City that night; Dan had secured George Handy’s collection for the Institute, preserving his legacy for future generations of music lovers. And it was a ride that opened my eyes to a man whose life is jazz; and who loves every moment of it.
Liberty State Park will celebrate its 30th birthday on June 10th, and considering that last year alone 5 million people visited the park — this could turn out to be one heck of a birthday party. If you’re one of the lucky people who have already discovered Liberty State Park, then you might want to take a moment to honor Morris Pesin, the driving force behind turning a once-desolate Jersey City dumpsite into one of the greatest parks in America. Mr. Pesin, who passed away in 1992, was honored by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1985 with a Volunteer Action Award for creating Liberty State Park, the Gateway to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.