Referring to billionaire Paul Fireman’s plans for a private golf course at Liberty State Park, one headline put it this way: “It’s birds vs birdies.” In June the Governor signed a bill for “redevelopment,” which many saw as a way to put a golf course on Caven Point, an important habitat for shore birds among other creatures. A bill to protect the Point has been stalled until now. But it still faces the Assembly and State Senate.
The Caven Point beach area of Liberty State Park is the largest stretch of natural base in the upper New York Bay and Hudson River. Half a mile doesn’t sound that long until you realize what this estuary has: owl, peregrine falcon, osprey, harbor seals, yellow and black crowned night herons, horseshoe crabs, just to name a few.
Its critical habitat would be destroyed by development which would also ruin the water that flows down through the Verrazano. This should be one time the Soprano State does not yield to greed.
Prayer for the Day
Let us be like trees standing by a flowing stream,
With roots firm against the swell of greed and power;
May we search for justice like the bee seeking nectar,
Not satisfied until we discover how to establish it.
Open our minds to discovering new ways to live
So we reflect your call to righteousness and equity.
In the name of the One who points the way,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
When the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, only then will we realize that one cannot eat money.
- Alanis Obomsawin, Abenaki from the Odanak Reserve, Canada (b. 1932)
If you can privatize land purchased with Land and Water Conservation dollars, you’re jeopardizing most of our national parks.
- Greg Remaud, Director NJ/NY Baykeeper
The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.
Proverbs 16: 1-3