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Supporters Meet at Ross Dock - 11 June, 2003
J.C. Baumuller
Northern Valley Suburbanite
Englewood Mayor Paul Fader filled in for Gov. James McGreevey at he Friends of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission’s first ever event, staged last Thursday at the newly renovated and reopened Ross Dock in Fort Lee.
Commenting, “it is important to say, ‘I was there at the first event’,” Fader said, “Open space – that is what tonight’s event is all about.”
Fader declared the governor has “saved 108,000 acres in his short term so far.”
He added that the next day, Friday, the governor was to sign legislation to preserve “millions more acres for open space.”
The friends group, organized to raise funds for more conservation projects in the area, gathered under the shadow of the George Washington Bridge talked about the park and conservation while dining buffet-style.
Carol Ash, executive director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, thanked the group for attending in support of the commission.
The commission, including the New York area as well as New Jersey, was formed in 1900 and immediately acquired the land that now comprises the parklands and historic sites maintained on the cliffs known as the Palisades and along the Hudson River by the commission.
A lengthy public campaign by the New Jersey State Federation of Women’s Clubs, initiated by the Englewood club, halted the destruction of New Jersey’s palisades by quarry operations, enabling the commission to acquire the land.
The New Jersey section of the Interstate Park was dedicated in 1909.
“If not for the forefathers, we would not be here tonight,” Ash said.
Palisades Interstate Park Commission Chairman James Hanson said, “The park commission began 100 years ago. Our legacy is to launch the Friends committee to bring forth a funding effort and preserve more open space.”
Hanson said that 9.5 million guests visit the 115,000 acres of park area each year. To give some perspective, he compared the attendance to a national park in California.
“Each year about three to four million guests visit Yosemite National Park,” said Hanson.
Fader was appointed in April by Gov. McGreevey to be chief of the governor’s authorities unit. The unit oversees relations with more than 40 independent commissions and agencies. One of the main projects he was to undertake is the combining of the authorities overseeing the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.
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