Dear Editor:

"Hurray for O'Shea" should have been the title given to Karen O'Shea's August 1 letter to the Hoboken Reporter instead of "Beating a Dead Devil!" For a newspaper that shies away from editorializing, the Reporter was perfectly clear about its opinion regarding the siting of the Devils' hockey arena in Hoboken. Most unfortunately, the Reporter, along with a lot of usually insightful people, continue to be lulled into complacency concerning the proposal for the gargantuan hockey arena and entertainment center over the railroad tracks in southern Hoboken. The complacency probably comes from the fact that our City Council and Mayor have passed a resolution opposing the arena and have been loudly proclaiming, since February, that the "arena is dead." Well, folks, it is not.

First and foremost, the property involved belongs to the state, not Hoboken (this is why the city has no jurisdiction and would not receive any ratables from the project while having to pay for all of the inevitable spill-over costs, parking and traffic being among them). Only Governor Whitman has the final say, and it is beginning to appear that she will find against Hoboken's overwhelming wishes.

I state this because the response from the governor's office to the 1,000 signatures collected on a Hoboken Quality of Life Coalition petition was not encouraging. The petition was sent on June 11. On July 7, a response was received from the governor's chief counsel stating that she recognizes our concerns "as a major consideration related to the siting of a new arena." The letter made it clear, however, that her two overriding considerations were that any development plan must be "responsible to the taxpayers of New Jersey and (that the plan) seeks to limit public investment while encouraging private capital to be invested in the facilities." This is a red flag when you recall that Cablevision recently announced that it would partner with the Devils thereby bringing more "private funds" to the project. The letter ended by saying Whitman would decide "over the next several months;" possibly to give her time to consider the extent of "private funds" in the Hoboken project?

You can help Whitman make her decision by contacting your state senator, your assembly representatives, your freeholder, the county executive to ask them to make the governor aware of the vast opposition to this facility, private funds or not. Every elected official should be asked to personally contact the governor. Even if you have signed a petition or written before, do it again. Write Governor Christine Todd Whitman to let her know we have not been lulled into silence. Write to 125 West State Street, Box 001, Trenton, NJ 08625. It may yet come to a march on Trenton, as Ms. O'Shea suggested. For the immediate future, write, phone, FAX, e-mail. We need to save Hoboken and we can do it, if you help.

Helen Manogue, Coordinator
Hoboken Quality of Life Coalition