Time for an alternate plan for Sandy Hook
Your Turn
Peter P. O'Such Jr.
Guest Column

Nov. 8, 1999, was a long time ago. This was the date all offerors who were then competing for the long-term lease of Fort Hancock buildings were required to provide proof that they had the financial capacity to perform in accordance with the National Park Service (NPS) request for proposals, and their proposed offer.

More than five years later, the NPS's selected offeror, Sandy Hook Partners (SHP), still has not satisfied the financial capacity requirement of the RFP.

Plainly put, SHP still does not have the funding to perform, and it appears doubtful that they ever will. In addition, the NPS has been taken to U.S. District Court, where they have stonewalled and delayed the judicial process with motion after motion, to apparently preclude a ruling on their flawed procurement process.

If the NPS had been as attentive and adept at maintaining the Fort Hancock buildings during their 30 years' stewardship as they have been in delaying the federal court from hearing the case and issuing a ruling, the Fort Hancock buildings would not be suffering from "demolition by neglect."

The NPS commercial development, long-term lease plan RFP just is not working. It is literally built on a foundation of shifting sand. If it were at all practical, it would have happened by now.

The money being spent by both sides in the court battle could have been better spent to restore viable portions of Fort Hancock to its former glory.

But due to the arrogance and ignorance of the NPS, and its insistence on commercial development with a long-term lease, the NPS has forgotten that Fort Hancock and all national park lands belong to We The People of the U.S.A. And we have not given our permission to the NPS, or any governmental agency, to do other than be good stewards of our land.

Therefore, the time has come for an alternate plan, a broad-based coalition plan for Fort Hancock. To lead and nurture this effort in Washington, D.C., Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6), who has long called for such a plan, is the favorite son candidate for this task.

This plan must be in keeping with the original NPS mission statement to protect and preserve national park land for the recreational enjoyment of the U.S. public today and for generations yet unborn.

This plan must embrace the concerns, feelings and sentiments of the public, and should envision and encourage nonprofit public use for the many, not private commercialization for a privileged few.

Funding from multiple sources should be sought: federal, state and local government funding, as well as private individual donations, donations from charitable foundations, and businesses so long as their "gifts" do not seek to wrest control from the public. All the work that needs to be done may not happen overnight, but I do believe that if such a plan had been adopted back in November 1999, we definitely would have been further along in stabilizing and refurbishing the viable buildings of Fort Hancock than we are at the present time.

Snug Harbor on Staten Island, N.Y., another designated historic landmark, is an excellent example of a success story that could work here at Fort Hancock/Sandy Hook. The Snug Harbor renewal project used a broad-based coalition plan. An integral member of the team is now a local resident and is willing to be a participant in such a project for Fort Hancock, assuming the NPS will permit it.

How about it, NPS? Give the public a chance to work with you on such a plan, which will leave Fort Hancock for the public's use, who are its rightful owners.

For more information about the fight to save Fort Hancock for the public's use, please go to www.savesandyhook.org.

Peter P. O'Such Jr. is a resident of Fair Haven