I am vice president of the Waldwick Community Alliance, the organization that is leasing the station from NJ Transit. The main reason we are leasing the station is simply to cleanup the community. Not for money, not for tax breaks, not to open a store. We are not rail buffs, (although I am quickly gaining interest). NJ Transit refuses to maintain the building in our neighborhood and stated to me personally at a meeting in Newark that they wish it would just fall down. We have been in the process of restoring the entire downtown area as well. There are NO tax breaks for ANYONE. Not us, not Waldwick, not NJ Transit. We will be putting up the money from our own pockets, having fundraisers and applying for grants to restore the building. Unfortunately, because the station is a state owned building and it is on state owned land, the red tape will have us paying approximately $10 for every $1 we really need to spend. The first thing we have to do is a scope of work study which will cost $16,800, 1st year insurance premiums of approx. $20,000. We looked into the possibility of having a coffee shop in the building, but NJ Transit would end up taking 100% of the revenue; non negotiable. We have a vigourous and well thought out plan to get this done. We spent over 3 years negotiating (fighting) for a reasonable lease with ways for us to continue to raise funds for maintenance and insurance. We need your help though. We are still waiting for the scope of work report to be completed, but initial NJ Transits estimates to restore the building approach $1,000,000. Please log onto our site for more information and forward the link to anyone you think may be interested.
http://www.WaldwickCommunityAlliance.org
