NJ-ARP comments on HBLR to Englewood Hospital:
The Chair of NJ-ARP's Light Rail Panel, Rose Heck, the Mayor of Hasbrouck Heights (and former State Assemblywoman) Rose Heck, was delighted when Karen Rouse, The Record's reporter, called her for comment on New Jersey Transit's decision to proceed with extending its Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system to Englewood Hospital. And, for good reason, because more than anyone else, Rose made this happen.
As one more step towards implementing light rail transit on the former Erie Railroad, now CSX Transportation, Northern Branch, NJ Transit's staff will recommend to NJ Transit's Board of Directors approval of an amendment of Jacobs Engineering's consulting services contract to assist in preparation of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for expansion of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) system from Tonnelle Avenue, North Bergen to Englewood Hospital. And what the staff recommends, it having been vetted by a committee of the board, almost always gets approved.
An HBLR terminal at Englewood Hospital will be less than a half-mile short of the Englewood/Tenafly boundary. In one respect, Tenafly's NIMBYS, led by Mayor Peter Rustin, have won - at least in the short term.
In the long term, however, there is reason to believe that the more sane residents of Tenafly, when they see what their community has lost, will change the borough's position, especially if the communities to the north of Tenafly that want HBLR extended to serve them pressure Bergen County and the Governor for closed-door operation through Tenafly in a future phase of the Northern Branch Corridor Project.
It is fair to say that extending HBLR along the Northern Branch would not be happening if it were not for NJ-ARP and our advocacy. We were the ones who proposed temporal separation (time sharing of track hours) between HBLR passenger trains and CSX freight trains that made the current preferred local alternative - instead of a DMU shuttle to and from North Bergen - feasible, affordable and supported politically.
Rose Heck (often supported by Jack May, Frank Miklos and Phil Craig) met with Governor Corzine, several Commissioners of Transportation, George Warrington, Richard Sarles, various Congressmen and our US Senators, the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders and County Executives, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, the Meadowlands Development Commission, and local elected and appointed officials, always striving to get our message across and, ultimately, getting results.
Our Light Rail Panel (helped on key occasions by Les Wolff) conducted a "truth squad" effort for years, attending meetings at every community along the proposed project and gave advice to those municipal officials who wished to support the HBLR extension but needed to find solutions to local concerns. Attending the venues referred to above, as well as meetings of NJ Transit's Board, NJT's informational briefings of on-line communities, DEIS scoping meetings, DEIS hearings, etc., required a lot of time and persistence, as well as being able to stand up to verbal brickbats at times (notably in Tenafly from NIMBYS who acted as an out-of-control mob while the mayor and police chief looked on and did nothing).
Still one can never expect those whose mind has been made up before they enter into a discussion, in which they are obliged to listen to facts that they do not want to hear, to alter their points of view. Tenafly Councilman Jon Worms is quoted in The Record's article as saying "As originally proposed, the train would have sliced through the heart of Tenafly as a dirty, noisy sawblade dozens of times a day." The Councilman still holds this position even though he was told on several occasions by New Jersey Transit and separately by NJ-ARP's Light Rail Panel that there would be a quiet zone through every municipality along the North Branch that was willing to apply to the FRA for establishing one (that being an FRA requirement) and that NJT would pay for all of associated costs as part of the project budget; he chooses forget this.
But where does the dirt come from with electric traction? Where does the noise come from with a quiet zone, with light rail vehicles equipped with resilient wheels, and with virtually tangent track (other than when going from double track to single track through the downtown area and then back to double track) throughout the Borough of Tenafly?
The mayor and the councilman of Tenafly led a campaign to incite the residents and business community against the project. There are many residents in Tenafly who hope in a few years the day will come when, if these politicians are still around, they will be voted out of office because of their deceptive behavior and misleading many of their constituents. And some of these people have come up to members of our Light Rail Panel both to say so and to express how embarrassed they are for the abuse that our people and other supporters of light rail took when expressing their views at public meetings held in Tenafly, the municipality in which they live and love.
In the meantime, NJ-ARP can take satisfaction that the key decision is made - HBLR to Englewood Hospital - is the preferred local alternative. There are hurdles ahead, most importantly arranging for federal grants and matching state and local funds. That is the policy goal NJ-ARP needs to work towards. Hopefully, we will see a ground breaking sooner than later, ideally within two or three years. It is do-able even if others, some at NJ Transit included, do not think so.
Just sit back and wait for Rose to work her magic, the ability to get holders of elected and appointed public office on both sides of the aisle to open their offices to her, listen to what she has to say, and then act upon it. NJ-ARP can be proud that one of our key and most energetic members has this talent and wields it for the public good.
