Instead, environmentalists and park
enthusiasts say, the so-called cleanup bill would plot a course toward private
development of the state’s most-visited park, despite its many changes the last
several weeks. The sprawling park along the Hudson River has been eyed over
four decades for private development but each proposal has been fended off by
advocates. Christie, a Republican running for president, has viewed the park as
a revenue generator and commissioned a report last year on possibilities for
development there.

“It would be like a president privatizing the National Mall in
Washington, D.C.,” said Sam Pesin, president of the Friends of Liberty State
Park advocacy group.  

The law would allow the NJ Sports & Exposition Authority to review and
possibly finance private development at Liberty State Park — a goal of the
Christie administration, which has long seen the park, its 5 million annual
visitors and its spectacular views of Manhattan as an untapped revenue
source.  

The bill would give the final decision to the Department of
Environmental Protection commissioner, who oversees state parks. Pesin said
that was one of the bill’s positive changes, but Jeff Tittel, director of the
Sierra Club’s New Jersey chapter, said, “that’s not a fix because the DEP
commissioner works for Christie.”