July 25, 2001
R.D. Kushner

If you ask 100 people to tell you what they know about New Jersey, (97) of them will describe something of the derelict oil refineries around Newark Airport, and (3) will tell you of the beautiful beaches like Lavalette, Mantaloking, and Cape May; and of those three, two will be afraid to go in the water there because of the decade-old scare of one bag of New York City medical waste floating onto a beach in northern New Jersey.

New Jersey politicians have long done battle to inculcate New Jersey with some character to do battle against its identity crisis of not being New York, and not being Philadelphia. Governor Kean's 1980's "New Jersey and You, Perfect Together" slogan was an example of such benevolence, and Governor Whitman certainly did her share to boost New Jersey's economic prowess.

But a slogans and promising economic prospecti can only do so much for the state of the State of New Jersey. What New Jersey really needs, is some aide in the visual/aesthetic and/or artistic category. The NJPAC [New Jersey Performing Arts Center] in downtown Newark is a wonderful example of just such an effort. The building has, along with a very ambitious waterfront revitalization effort [as yet not fully realized], brought downtown Newark back from the brink of despotism.

Running contrary to this urban Renaissance, however, is a missed opportunity so unfathomable, that it takes a back seat only to the demolition of the old Pennsylvania Station in 1963, to make way for a new "modern" station, so forward-thinking and efficient, that it is now slated for demolition in the next fifteen years.

The new air traffic control tower at Newark Airport represents the kind of short-sightedness that often accompanies large scale bureaucrat-controlled construction projects. In its description of the tower, the PANYNJ [Port Authority of New York & New Jersey] reveals the limited goals set for the new tower:

This 325' structure, when completed will more than double the operational space available for staff and equipment. With improved positioning for line-of-site control, new state-of-the-art mechanical, electrical and security equipment and redundant power back-up systems, operations from this tower will be greatly enhanced. <link>

In meeting these practical needs [and only these practical needs] the PANYNJ is simply stating that the new tower couldn't have been any worse or it would have been illegal [and/or unusable].

The politicians and bureaucrats who rubber-stamped this new control tower have done a great disservice to the state of New Jersey, and the recent efforts of its citizens and politicians to elevate the state to fiscal and artistic and prominence.

Given the opportunity to raise a new flag in Newark, and to give the passerby, resident, or local Turnpike traveler something to revel in, the city of Newark approved an ugly severed-concrete-appendage that looks as bland, sad, and barren as any of the gas belching, methane spewing, Blade Runner-esque refineries in its midst.

The reason that this tower so deeply saddens me, is that I am a native of New Jersey. Born, raised, and schooled in New Jersey for the first 24 years of my life, I have spent the last 6 years since I moved away from New Jersey, defending the state from my soap box. Most people have no concept of rural New Jersey [Oldwick, Califon, Lebanon Township, to name only a few towns] and can only conjure up images of Newark Airport and the New Jersey Turnpike.

according to PANYNJ airport statistics located here, approximately 23,558,996 visitors, come and go from Newark Airport each year [Note that the EWR logo still includes the old control tower].

Newark Airport [and its subsequent view from the New Jersey Turnpike] serves [for better or for worse] as one of the most effective pieces of advertising that the state has at its disposal.

The Star Ledger recently ran an article on the new control here. Even the reporter, unaware that he was exercising his skills as an architectural critic, notes the obvious potential of this monument on the skyline:

Even unfinished, the new tower has made its mark on the skyline, jutting 325 feet above the ground, well above the 306-foot colossus standing watch in New York Harbor.

Not only can Lady Liberty be seen from the tower's roof, but so can ships docked at Port Newark-Elizabeth across the New Jersey Turnpike. There's also a commanding view of downtown Newark and Elizabeth, even Giants Stadium.

The new control tower could have been the proverbial diamond in the rough; and that it was not thought of in those terms represents the gross shortsightedness and shallow thinking on the behalf of the developers, politicians, and architects involved.

In dealing with the pragmatics of this new structure, the Port Authority missed an opportunity to solve the programmatic and logistical problems through creative architectural design. And in missing this opportunity, New Jersey missed a shot at giving travelers [by plane, train, or automobile] a chance to remember New Jersey as something other than an industrial wasteland.

A call to action

Put an end to these bad decisions which affect the state of New Jersey; email the Governor of New Jersey himself, Donald T. DiFrancesco, by following this link [the governor doesn't list his email address on his site]. Let him know what you know, and tell him that you won't let it happen again on your watch.

And when you're done there, here's another email address you might find useful:

The architect for the air traffic control tower project [if you can call them that] is Sverdrup Corporation: email: webmaster@sverdrup.com.