Hoboken Environment Committee Actions in the 70s

Here are some of the HEC's accomplishments in the 70's.

• Hoboken Evironment Committee established in 1970 by a group of eight citizen activists including two professors from Stevens Institute and activists who had challenged a corrupt city election in the 60's and who were active in the creation of Model Cities and improvements in the school system
• Led two fights in the face of strong political opposition to prevent first an oil refinery (1971) and next an oil tank farm (1972-1975) from establishing Hoboken as Rahway-on-the-Hudson
• Created the Waterfront Coalition of Hudson & Bergen which brought together non profit groups from Union City and Jersey City (and ultimately 10 groups from Hudson and Bergen counties) that swelled the opposition to the above projects
• Developed the concept of the continuous waterfront walkway right here in Hoboken that was utlimately recommended to Gov. Byrne's 1979 waterfront commission and is now known as the Hudson River Walkway
• Prevented the establishment of a take-off-and-landing airport (STOLport) on the Hoboken waterfront
• Created the River City Fair - the first legal public access to the waterfront in over 100 years in an effort to focus on the waterfront as a place for people
• Started the first newspaper recycling program and used proceeds to create and distribute free of charge shrubs and flower boxes to stoops all over the city - the beginning of the greening of the city
• With the backing of two newly formed enforcement agencies - the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection - forced Maxwell House and Standard Brands to place scrubbers on their facilities to reduce the extreme amounts of particulate matter in the air
• Initiated the research that ultimately led State and the Federal historic offices to declare the Erie Lackawanna Terminal a National Historic Site - the first such designation in this historic city
• Created and ran the Hoboken House Tour throughtout the 70's convincing both Hoboken residents as well as visitors that Hoboken was not only safe but a treasure trove for gracious living
• Headed the drive to create the Hoboken Historic District; HEC chairperson led the district commission throughout the 70's and 80's