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THE HARSIMUS STEM EMBANKMENT
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Embankment
Preservation
Coalition
COALITION
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NEWS/EVENTS
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The Harsimus Stem Embankment is an elevated stone structure that once carried seven tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad to the Hudson River Waterfront.

It runs for a half mile along 6th street in downtown Jersey City, and joins the National Historic districts of Hamilton Park and Harsimus Cove.  The Embankment is itself listed on the State Register of Historic Places, is eligible for the National Register, and is a Municipal Landmark.

The Embankment and streetscape will be a linchpin in a network of walkable, bikeable greenways within the City of Jersey City, and beyond.  From north to south along Jersey Avenue, a main boulevard, the Embankment will serve as a midpoint in a series of parks, including Hamilton Park, Van Vorst Park, and Liberty State Park.   From east to , west the Embankment will join the Hudson Waterfront Walkway with the Hackensack Meadowlands, via the Bergen Arches.  A 2004 Northern New Jersey Route Study for the East Coast Greenway recommends this latter route as the main ECG pathway through Hudson County.  The route has been endorsed by all six counties and 26 municipalities along it.
EMBANKMENT
ENDORSEMENTS
PRESS/ ARTICLES
More articles....
Click for Full Embankment Chronology
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SURVEYS/STUDIES
Please Patronize Our Business Sponsors!
Read more about the conceptual drawings in our newsletter #3
GREAT NEWS
June 12, 2008. 2008 Embankment Preservation Coalition Benefit More than 170 attendees from all over the City and region attended dinner and cocktails at the Embankment restaurant. 
Our 2011-2012 Supporters
JC Reporter 2/21/09 - Applying to demolish railroad embankment
JC Reporter 5/2/09 - Hyman shares his struggles to develop
May 14, 2009. Hardship Exemptions Denied
After 25 hours of testimony over multiple hearings, the Jersey City Historic Preservation Commission voted 6-0 to deny applications for hardship exemptions that, if granted, would have allowed demolition of the Harsimus Branch Embankment.
The Coalition board thanks supporters of Embankment preservation who attended hearings.  We were impressed by the intelligent questions and patience of the Commissioners throughout these long hearings, and are gratified by the decision.
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October 25, 2009. The Coalition's Annual Members and Supporters Meeting  Click here for our event  wrapup
August 18, 2009. Zoning Board Affirms Historic Preservation Commission Decisions  The Zoning Board of Adjustment affirmed the Historic Preservation Commission decisions that denied demolition permits for the Harsimus Embankment.
JCIndepedent 4/17/09 - Mayoral Candidates Discuss Open Space Plans
JCIndepedent 10/8/09 - Bike the East Coast Greenway
NJNewsroom 3/25/10 - N.J. historic landmarks receive renewed attention from preservation activists
October 9, 2010 "Come Home to History" welcomed hundreds of visitors to a day of exhibits, workshops and presentations on local history at the Culinary Institute Conference Center.  The Coalition was one of the organizers and exhibitors at this history fair,  which observed the founding of the first European settlement in New Jersey (Bergen in what is now Jersey City), as well as other key moments in local history.
January 22, 2011. "Under, On, At, From, and Through!:
A Winter Walk on the High Line. 
We started the New
Year with a slow walk on a brisk day, with temperatures
in the 20s.Historic preservationist Allen Kratz and Friends
of the High Line co-founder Robert Hammond led 24 hardy
souls on an exploration of Manhattan's elevated rail park.
Thursday, October 20, 2011 - DEMOLITION PERMITS DENIED.
T
he Jersey City Zoning Board of Adjustment voted 5 to 0  to deny applications by six Limited Liability Companies and their partner Conrail to demolish the Harsimus Branch Embankment. The decision came after summations by the Coalition's attorney, Janine Bauer of Szaferman LaKind Blumstein & Blader, and by the attorney for the LLCs.

In hearings that stretched over more than a year, the Board heard numerous expert witnesses and reviewed thousands of document pages to reach its decision.  Among reasons for the denial, several commissioners cited the importance to the city of the Embankment, as expressed by citizens during the public comment portion of the hearings.   It was gratifying to hear the commissioners validate the importance of your voices in their decision,.

August, 2011
Community leaders and individuals stepped up for preservation during thepublic comment portion of the Zoning Board of Adjustment hearings on applications for Certificates of Appropriateness that,
if approved, would allow demolition of the Harsimus Embanmkent in its entirety, from Marin Boulevard to Brunswick Street.
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Saturday, June 4, 9:30 am until... Bike JC Ward Tour, Exchange Place, Jersey City. Stop by the Coalition/East Coast Greenway Association table to see what the Greenway will mean to you.
Image by RomanP.com
Click on image to enlarge.
Images by Cassandra Wilday, Demetri Sarantitis and Jason Gould
CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMAGES
Past Events and Outreach
Jersey Journal  2/17/11
Legends & Landmarks Gallery:  salutes preservation efforts
Atlantic Cities - Sept 2011
Descendents of the High Line, by Eric Jaffe
Rails to-Trails Conservancy - Sept 2011
High Hopes for the Harsimus Embankment: The Fight to Create an Elevated Rail-Trail in New Jersey, 
by Jake Lynch
Friday, February 3, 2012.  In a decision issued today, the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, gives the City opportunities to pursue remedies for Conrail's premature sale of the Harsimus Branch.  The decision reverses the previous dismissal by the U.S. District Court, D.C., of a suit brought by the City, Rails to Trails Conservancy, and the Embankment Preservation Coalition.

Click to Read the opinion and rejoice!  Nothing we can say here does a better job of summarizing the case and the history than the decision itself.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Talk and Book Signing Continues Coalition Series
                                 Monday, May 21st, 7 to 9 pm
      
Highway Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel
When it opened in 1927, the Holland Tunnel was an engineering marvel, the longest and largest vehicular tunnel in the world. Today 33 million vehicles pass through it each year, yet few of its travelers know much about it. 

Come to this talk, part of the Embankment Preser-vation Coalition's series on transportation history, and learn about this landmark.  Robert W. Jackson, author of Highway Under the Hudson: A History of the Holland Tunnel, will tell us about the tunnel's first chief engineer, George Washington Goethals, builder of the Panama Canal; Clifford Holland, for whom the tunnel is named; Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague, who blocked completion of the tunnel until he received money for street improvements in his city, and the sandhogs who risked their lives to build the tunnel.

The book will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

LOCATION: The Barrow Mansion
83 Wayne Street, Jersey City, NJ 07302

*Reservations to info@embankment.org recommended; there is a 70 seat limit.

Sponsored by the Embankment Preservation Coalition.  Co-sponsored by Barrow  Mansion Development Corp.


Jersey Journal - Feb 4, 2012
Federal Appeals Court rules Jersey City has standing in Embankment Case
February 8, 2012. The Jersey City Municipal Council unanimously approved a settlement tonight that would enable the City to acquire and preserve five Harsimus Branch Embankment blocks and additional transportation corridor easements, and that would end all litigation over the Embankment.  Now the only party left to approve is Conrail.
City Council Votes 9-0 to Authorize Settlement
Huge Win in Federal Court!
Appeals Court Decides City Has Standing

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Wall Street Journal  -Feb 7, 2012  High Line Hopes in Jersey City
HLB: February 8, 2012 - A Step forward for Jersey City
Thursday, March 22, 2012 - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Melissa Fisher, Chief Operating Officer of Friends of the High Line, gave an illustrated talk on the recently published book
High Line: An Insider's Guide to New York City's Park in the Sky to 100 Embankment Preservation Supporters at the Historic Barrow Mansion.  We thank Melissa, Robert Hammond and all of the people at the High Line who made this hugely successful program possible.  Thanks also to our Co-sponsor, Barrow Mansion Development Corp., and to Harsimus Cove Association for its support.
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