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"Stewardship of Public Resources, Risk Management, and Golden Opportunities - Undated"
Guest Editorial
by Clifford Zink
The Author, an historic preservation consultant, was instrumental in saving the Roebling Complex in Trenton It seems obvious that one of the charges we give public officials when we elect them is the stewardship of public resources. We expect them to be careful with our public funds and our public investment in roads and buildings, and to safeguard our natural and built environment for our own benefit and for the benefit of those who will follow us. We also expect them to steward intangible aspects of our commonwealth, like our heritage, our culture, our inventiveness as a people. We further expect that part of this stewardship is education - facilitating the way that we share our public resources with our contemporaries and pass them on to our successors. Thus it is disconcerting to see those to whom we have given this public trust ignore it, or at worst, betray it. When the United Water Company donated the Hackensack Waterworks to Bergen County along with $1,100,000 to facilitate the County's ownership of the site, formerly private resources became public resources. When land, historic buildings and historic technology pass into the public realm they take on additional layers of meaning - they change from private symbols to public symbols of our heritage & culture.
Buildings and artifacts are particularly powerful symbols of human existence. All over the world we recognize and celebrate human achievement though preserving buildings and artifacts. In Bergen County we don't have monuments like pyramids, castles, and aqueducts. Ours is a young civilization - our Bergen monuments are early stone houses, turn-of-the-century railroad stations, a great suspension bridge, and a magnificent Water Works. Why is it so hard for some county officials to recognize the local, state, and national significance of the Waterworks? Many citizens and public officials clearly do. In "The Architecture of Bergen County", published earlier this year by Rutgers University Press, the authors state: "The Hackensack Water Company (plant) in Oradell is one of Bergen County's most unusual and fascinating sites - a property with architectural, technological, and historical significance, and a handsome example of industrial architecture. The plant...documents the history of water supply technology...and played a vital role in the suburban development of Northern New Jersey, for the water it supplied was critical to late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century industrial and residential development". In a 1998 Historic Structure Report of the Waterworks commissioned by Bergen County, the plant is cited as culturally significant for multiple reasons: Industrial Heritage, Socio-Economic Development and Loca History, the History of Technology, Pride in Public Accomplishment, and Global Ecology. In listing the site on the State Register of Historic Places last month,
Assistant Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protectiuon Cari Wild wrote: "The New Milford Plant of the Hackensack Water Company is a rare example of early water treatment and distribution technology. It is apparent that this property is an important site architecturally, in its contribution to the suburban growth of the area and the technolological contributions of this industrial plant." Humans and indeed all living creatures survive in this world by managing risks. What is the benefit of a proposed action in comparison to its cost and the potential for failure? In modern life we have developed this analysis to a science in many fields. In the public realm, the role of public-private partnerships has developed into one of our most effective ways to achieve public benefit while minimizing the public risk. When a private, non-profit organization like the Water Works Conservancy is created by volunteer citizens to become a steward of a public resource, it presents the best of all opportunities - bringing private initiative and capital to enhance public assets. When a dynamic organization like the Water Works Conservancy proposes a visionary plan to preserve the historic buildings while presenting educational opportunities for school children and adults to learn about history, technology, and the environment, its a win-win situation for all. When a volunteer organization like the Water Works raises substantial funds up front and persists in its visionary quest despite disheartening bureaucracy and parochial attitudes, it has demonstrated the tenacity necessary to get the job done and to do it well. So why is it so hard for some county officials to recognize the merit of
public stewardship embodied in the Water Works Conservancy's proposal? Others clearly do. The New Jersey Historic Trust awarded a nearly $575,000 grant for restoration funds even before the plan was fully developed and recently extended the deadline on this grant for another year. The Save Our American Treasure's program designated the site as an American Treasure, making it eligible for up to $2,000,000 in special grants. The N.J. Historical Commission recently awarded the Water Works Conservancy $60,000 for general operating support, contingent on obtaining the site for preservation. Over two thirds of the respondents in an independent poll conducted in Oradell in mid-May favored preserving the historic buildings and creating a public park around them. How about the outpouring of support that the conservancy's proposal has received in recent months from local, county, and statewide residents? And the project hasn't even begun. Do county officials really believe that it is better to spend $3-5 million in public funds to demolish a national landmark? Have they considered the additional environmental cost of this demolition and its adverse impact on the Hackensack River - already listed as one of
America's most threatened rivers? Do they realize that demolition of
historic buildings may make the site ineligible for Green Acres and Federal park development funds? Are they really willing to throw away $635,000 in existing grants and millions in potential grants? Do they realize that State Register listing makes this a statewide issue and that the County would need DEP approval, which is highly unlikely, for demolition? Are they prepared for the "national firestorm of criticism" that Barbara Mitnick, Chair of the N.J. Historic Trust, said will result if the County tries to demolish the site? Have they considered the message they are sending to our school children? - our common heritage and monuments are not important, we don't care about our citizens' vision and initiative, we squander golden opportunities. What will it take for Bergen County Government to recognize, preserve and revitalize this public treasure?
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