The County needs to get off the stick and get the proper traffic lights and crooswalks in place.

Considering the percentage of the County revenues Hoboken taxpayers pay we continue to get the short end of the stick when it comes to getting our fair share back for these sort of projects.

One bumpy ride down COUNTY ROAD Washington Street brings that lack of the County's funding to Hoboken home .

So the only thing preventing the opening of the field is a traffic light? The surface of 1600 doesn't even look ready for play. And the administration is surprised about safety issues? The speed at which vehicles move through that area is well-known for those of us who deign to drive occassionally. This delay should surprise no one. 1600 Park ...I'm betting September 2012. Don't blame this on the county.

Being a Leader takes making tough calls no matter how your opposition will exploit it.
Zimmer is brave and bold in announcing this decision now. While her venomous opposition will no doubt exploit the field opening one season later, we should remember it is Beth Mason who's only suggestion was to build two tunnels there and run them under a giant baseball stadium.
Meanwhile The residents of Hudson Tea may lose their view because Beth Mason isn't standing up for them since the developer who wants to build the two GIANT towers on PIERS nearby turned out their tenants in huge numbers for her.
Owners be damned, It's all about Beth getting support you know.

Mason quote " I have a baseball team ready to sign..."
What Happened Queen Beth that lie expire ?

The County needs to do their part first before a plan is put in place and anything built.

No one is surprised about safety issues including Freeholder Anthony "Stick" Romanno and now he needs to do his job for Hoboken. The traffic lights and crosswalks can only be put in place by the County. i

One has to wonder if the County delays are part of the negativity and anti-Administration of the Mason/Russo obstructionist politics that "Stick" has been a past ?

If this wasn't so pathetically stupid, it would be funny. Did the Mayor just find out how to get uptown? Cars driving 40 mph? What a revelation!!! Did Ian Sacs get this information in a dream?
Of course the paid Zimmer drones will try to blame everyone else (see Hobbs above), but this is clearly another example of the Mayor's inability to grasp reality.
I've been saying forever that I wouldn't be bringing my kids there to play soccer or anything else. The place simply is no place to put a park.
If Zimmer and Sacs needed a traffic study to tell them that cars fly by there every minute of the day, then I think they both need MRI's to study whether or not either of them has a brain!!!

Why not sell that land and use the money for a park in a better location I'm sure the land is valuable and we could get enough money to build a park in a safer location.

The Administration capriciously dropped the ball here entirely, it was obvious from the get-go this was not going to open this year and they led us along. Mr Bhalla soft-soaped this as soon as the funds were designated. I am completely disappointed in the administration on this one and as usual, it is the children who lose out once again, and will endure too few playing fields for at least another year, and let's face it, it will probably be three, and there is no excuse. Thanks for nothing and misleading us. I'm outraged and disappointed.
Laying the blame at the feet of a traffic light that it was "just figured out" is a requirement is just insulting. Open another field somewhere else then. Our children will never be their age again and this is a rip-off. In a word, this is bullshit.

So the kids have a place to play sports this season and the park will open for next year's season. I'd rather have more now too but if it takes a little more time to do it right I say take the time..
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And good job to the Mayor and Director Pellegrini for securing field space for the kids to play on.

Ply I see where you're coming from. However Sinatra field is a whole other monster filled with liability for misbuilt piers and possible county and state aid to defer the costs. Plus the city and council are getting reports on its progress.
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But to your point I'm disappointed that we won't have another field up and running this September but if field space has been secured for the kids to play on this season and we'll have the new field up and running next season I'll live with it.
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I think a major problem with wall street and business today is putting pressure on leadership to deliver results on a quarterly basis when they should be working for long term success. In this case if it means a safe park the kids can play on and people can enjoy I’ll give it the extra time. Though I’d readily agree fair minds can disagree on how the park has proceeded.

Ply...you're right on. And Red, the land can't be that invaluable as the huge condo tower propsed there years ago was denied based on density and traffic problems and not because of contamination. Hudson County is loaded with contaminated land-turned-to-a-variety-of-uses. C'mon now.

1) Make unrealistic promise, congratulations all around.
2) Five weeks of no apparent activity
3) Totally go back on promise, due to a "safety issue".

Seriously, the Zimmer administration either needs to learn how to make more realistic promises or improve their buck-passing and finger pointing skills. This is an embarrassment...

Has anyone bought any salt for the coming winter? That's planning which is not Zim's forte.

A little history reminder might be appropriate here. In the run-up to the May elections, Beth Mason introduced a resolution to the City Council setting an artificial deadline for completion of the park. Because no one had the political courage to vote no just before an election it passed 9-0. Since the deadline was not based on proper planning but was a typical Mason political stunt, it should have been ignored by the administration. Instead, the administration tried to rush the process to comply with the Mason Council's demands. When it became clear that rushing the process in this way was unwise and would result in an unsafe park that could be better designed if the delivery time was extended, the administration had the courage to reverse course and get it done right.They should be criticized for letting Mason manipulate them into trying to do something stupid, and commended for having the courage to change course, not the other way around.

Wrong vote CO. That was a vote to approve a construction contract so the administration could try to meet the artificial deadline previously set by the Mason Council. The September deadline was invented by Beth Mason - if you'd like I'll look up the resolution and provide you with a link. You really need to brush up on your facts before you blog.

My facts are fine. In my earlier post, I'm referring to the "construction contract" resolution. But whether we're talking about a 9-0 or a 6-2 vote, we still have a case of politicians getting too easily frightened into making poor, hasty decisions.

But since you mention it ... which link would you send? I'm not interested in resolutions or agendas, I'm interested in reading the minutes of the meetings because the minutes reflect the decisions and events that actually occurred - not the decisions and events that were planned.

However, there seems to be a problem with the city website - no City Council meeting minutes have been posted since January. I will refrain from pointing fingers at any single person or group - there's probably enough blame to go around.

CO - your facts" are fine - they just happen to be incomplete and misleading. On May 4, 2011, the last City Council meeting before the May elections, the City Council passed Resolution #14 included in New business and sponsored by Mason and Occhipinti, setting an arbitrary fall deadline for completion of 1600 park. The resolution passed unanimously. You may not be "interested" in that fact - but it is a fact nevertheless. It's passage was reported right here on patch. It was likely covered by the Hoboken Reporter and other news outlets as well. At the July 1 meeting, Leah Healey argued for delaying the park opening for precisely the reasons now given by the administration. She failed to convince the Council - perhaps she was more successful in convincing the administration. It seems like a poor hasty decision was avoided by an administration willing to listen and change its mind- hard to see where the problem is in that other than your desire to hear someone utter the words "I changed my mind."

Tony I was speaking in general about what can be put up on a brownfield. My point was that you can't build anything residential on a plot like that.

CO- How exactly do you "know that's not what happened?" You say you "want the truth" but you seem to really want the administration to confirm whatever it is that you think is the truth. Iys obvious from your posts that you are not privy to the internal workings of this administration. In fact, it sometime seems that you get your information by reading the insane rants contained in Al Sullivan's Hoboken Reporter column. Like Al, you seem to discover the "truth" in your owbn imagination and cling to those imaginary "facts" long after reality has proven them wrong. Good thing your not a journalist or you'd be relegated to a gossip column just like Al.

So I guess no to salt. Wouldn't it be funny if a big story was done about the city's preparations for the coming winter?

Howard--you're right. We should sell this site and cut our losses. It was never appropriate for a park, way out on the edge of town and partly in Weehawken (and now a house has been built on one corner while we putzed around). This has been a fiasco since the 90s. Leafy--you're wrong about the history. A 10 story condo tower was proposed in the 90s, complete with a bowling alley on the ground floor we all could have been using for the past decade. It was never denied because of the contamination (so Scott, you're wrong about what can be built there). Instead the city browbeat the developer into selling the land for a park, and at a very hefty price because of its prime land with an unobstructed NYC view. Everyone was happy at that point--Roberts got the "park" people off his back, and the "park" people, who care a lot more about blocking development than actually building parks, promptly dropped the whole issue. So for almost 10 years the city has owned that site but has let it sit there vacant--not producing any tax revenue and not providing any recreation either. A total waste. And now Dawn suddenly realizes the traffic is rather busy. The people who argued that this was a terrible place for a park were saying that in 1999! Traffic lights don't go up overnight. It seems like this is the first the county has gotten this request. I'm guessing 2013 at the earliest before kids are playing soccer.

I can see it now...dinner last night at the Zimmer table...Dawn: Stan, someone told me that there are cars speeding on 16th st. : Stan: Your Honor, I'm not sure. Isn't that in Weehawken? Dawn: I think you're right. I can blame Rich Turner. Stan: Gee, I don't know Your Honor, maybe we should bike up there and look at it. Dawn: No Stan, you may get hit by a car and mess up the freshly painted bike lane lines. Stan: You're right again, Your Honor, let's blame the County. Dawn: No,no, no!!! Let's blame it on Weehawken. I'm sure that's the next town over. Stan: Are you certain of that, Your Honor? Dawn: Yes Stan, I can see Weehawhen from my back porch. Stan: Sigh, no you can't Your Honor, no you can't. Dawn: I'll blame Stick. Stan: Pass the bread.

In a few months the 1600 Park will be a park and it will be a wonderful asset to Hoboken.

GOOD NEWS.

Considering that the mayor had a close family member killed in a hit and run a few years back OOC's little "kitchen" dialogue is not just her usual brand of stupid, it crosses into borderline reprehensible. I'd like to give OOC the benefit of the doubt and assume she 's unaware of the mayor's history but sadly I'm confident she does. More pathetic than anything else.

Amazing. For 10 years the kids of Hoboken have been waiting for some kind of park at 1600 Park. So who was the incompetent who didn't figure out that cars zoom past that location? Mayor Zimmer? Traffic expert Sacs? Recreation czar Pelligrini? I am so, so tired of our city (now, in the past, and most likely forever) run by lame incompetents. Can't anybody here play this game?????

Nobody dropped any ball.
In planning delays occur. Sure we could rush it like Russo did with Sinatra Drive and those projects. Or we could spend a million on Sybil's Cave and have a useless hole in a wall.
I think her own supporters need to cut her a break here. What is the mistake? I don't see it.
Better to have everything planned correctly.
Does Mason and crew secretly hope there's a tragedy at 1600 Park so she can exploit it?
Let's not forget Mason has been silent on this Park which is at the border of her own ward.

What's Mason's position on the Pier High-rises at 15 street?
Where's the transparency Beth?

The mistake was agreeing to a timeline imposed by Beth Mason at the last City Council meeting before the May elections. The administration should have said that it will not cut corners in the planning process in order to meet an artificial deadline proposed for political reasons ahead of an election by a councilwoman who doesn't seem to know the difference between grandstanding and governing. Instead, the administration played along with Mason's game. I for one am pleased that the city listened to people like Leah Healey and corrected a mistake rather than rush a process on a schedule dictated by Beth Mason's political priorities.

Gave this a little thought. Here's a couple of things to table right now, and have each in turn asked and answered:
1. Designate a point person to interface with public and media concerning project. Schedule once-monthly meetings for progress reports and press releases.
2. Is a traffic light adequate for safety? Feasibility study for overhead passageway for pedestrians, with an elevator at each end for bicycles. Only responsible way to do this is at least three bidders, with a tour of four past projects per.
3. Concession stand to address dehydration issues.
4. Permanent restroom facilities, Port-A-Johns too unsanitary. Running water.
5. Consider security and telephone issues for such a remote area.
6. Accommodations for locker rooms. Needed or not?
7. Thoroughly go over entire project in a competitive bid process with three insurance underwriters before groundbreaking.
8. Contemplation of shade requirements for hot days.
9. Consider equipment storage on-site. Needed or not?
10. All-case-scenario plan of action considering on-site medical emergencies.
11. Ruminate parking accommodations for child pick-up and drop-off.
12. Find someone smarter than me and in this industry to give this more than 30 minutes thought to see what isn't in the list above.
15. Poll vendors of all above for typical lead times.

O.K. That's all been tabled. Allow a HARD 90 days to address each in full and on November 15th hold press conference to suggest a HARD opening date.