May 28, 1999

Commissioner James Weinstein
NJ Department of Transportation
1035 Parkway Avenue
Trenton, NJ 08625

Dear Commissioner Weinstein,

We are residents of Jersey City and members of HART (Hudson Alliance for Rational Transportation - www.hartwheels.org), a citizens group. We have been monitoring the transportation planning and funding process for the currently inactive Bergen Arches rail bed in Jersey City. We are opposed to the highway being promoted for the Arches by Mayor Bret Schundler and have insisted on the full alternatives analysis mandated by federal legislation. The NJTPA (North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority) voted on March 8, 1999, in cognizance of federal rules and our letter-writing campaign, to redefine the scope of the Bergen Arches feasibility study to include all other alternatives, including mass transit.

It is our understanding that you will soon select a local Bergen Arches project coordinator from among a group of local governmental entities. We strongly urge you NOT to select the City of Jersey City. The current administration of Mayor Bret Schundler has shown itself unwilling and unable to supervise a fair and open public planning process for the Arches in accordance with the letter and spirit of NEPA and TEA-21. The public record is crystal clear. Mayor Schundler, in his March 8, 1999 comments to the NJTPA, plumped for his highway in eerie disregard for the regulatory mandate of the agency. Former Congressman Robert Roe, in subsequent remarks, reminded the Board that all alternatives must be considered. Mayor Schundler, in later public meetings in Jersey City, has ridiculed other transportation alternatives proposed for the Arches. In addition, he held a meeting on May 21, 1999 at City Hall with NJ DOT officials concerning Bergen Arches and the adjacent Rt. 139 from which Hudson County officials and HART were excluded and to which only selected members of the public were invited.

We hope that you will take steps to assure adherence to federal transportation planning regulations and public confidence in the integrity of federally and state financed transportation projects in Jersey City.

Sincerely,

Richard James
Stephen Lanset
Mia Scanga

CC: Gov. Christie Whitman, Joel Weiner, Paul Sauerland, Robert Janiszewski