49 Comments

1. POSTED BY Jimmytown  |  March 26, 2009 @ 9:19 am

   I dont understand. Signing off of this means what? that nobody can tear down the falls and build condos?! That the great falls will now be a national tourist attraction, with small tour boats at the base of the falls???
   I feel like adding this to the public lands act does the same as not adding this to the public lands act.
   Can someone explain what will change?
2. POSTED BY MellonBrush  |  March 26, 2009 @ 9:24 am

   I think Patterson is hoping for more visitors to site and the concommittant economic benefit. Perhaps the town will be eligible for Federal $ that would have otherwise been unavailable..
3. POSTED BY Jimmytown  |  March 26, 2009 @ 9:27 am

   thank you MB2
4. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:04 am

   I generally think that our, uh, esteemed Congressman (the epitome of the Democratic version of party hackdom) is, at best, a noisy buffoon who loves loves grumping publicly on Fox News. That he trumpets this legislation is typical of his very minor “accomplishments” in office.
   Has anyone reading here been to Paterson lately? Especially to the area around the Great Falls? It’s very sad to note the generally rundown condition of the buildings there, the litter in the historical park, the overal wanness. Why, one might even trace this concerted neglect back as far as, for those who remember, Pascrell’s own undistinguished years as mayor of Paterson.
   Ah, but there’s a solution! Federal designation, by golly, that’s the ticket! Your tax money at work!
   I suggest that, should Montclair get the Dodge poetry gig, attendees should be bused to Paterson, the better to get the real flavor of William Carlos Williams’ poem of that name. But really, Liz, you couldn’t find a better item with which to start this gray day? Or you at least couldn’t have treated this “news” a bit more realistically? (The curious are also referred to Christopher Norwood’s book of 20 or so yearsago, “About Paterson,” which gives a picture of Pascrell and his county cronies that the sane will find totally dismaying.)
5. POSTED BY Katie  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:10 am

   Hey this is cool! Did it cost money to visit the falls before?
6. POSTED BY NoCorzine  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:18 am

   “Beginning today, Paterson, New Jersey will finally be fully recognized for the seminal role it has played in shaping American history.”
   Easy does it Pascrell…Paterson is more famous for Joe Clark than anything else.
7. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:19 am

   Katie, the only costs incurred during a visit to the area around the Great Falls (at their best in winter, I always thought) are a)a very minor fee for a museum in one of the industrial building which is eminently skippable; and b) however much you want to spend for texas weiners for lunch. You will not find anyplace more gracious at which to dine, I assure you, unless you head back s ways back eastward on Main Avenue, where thee are many Arabic and Turkish, usually halal, restaurants. Bulfuf, the rare one run by Christians, is my suggestion, since they won;t glare at you if you bring in wine and the food is great.
   And there is no charge for the solicitations by drug dealers, nor for the general sense of unease you might feel while walking Paterson’s streets. This is a city, after all, where jurors are bused to the courthouse from a parking lot 1.5 miles away and where the Sheriff’s deputies strongly advise against you walking the streets at lunchtime.
8. POSTED BY Mike91  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:23 am

   Has anyone reading here been to Paterson lately? Especially to the area around the Great Falls? It’s very sad to note the generally rundown condition of the buildings there, the litter in the historical park, the overal wanness. Why, one might even trace this concerted neglect back as far as, for those who remember, Pascrell’s own undistinguished years as mayor of Paterson.
   Ah, but there’s a solution! Federal designation, by golly, that’s the ticket! Your tax money at work!
   From a story back in January, after the House passed the bill, oh great bloviator:
   “The added federal resources should help boost a state initiative to retool and update the area around the Great Falls, which is located in a gritty urban neighborhood of great historic significance. “
9. POSTED BY profwilliams  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:27 am

   The Gov has been very good at “retooling and updating” poor, inner cities in the past, so this is a no-brainer.
   The “gritty urban neighborhood of great historic significance”, around the Fall will be the next Zanadu!!
   Can’t wait.
10. POSTED BY Mike91  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:34 am

    cathar and profwilliams, I have finally figured you out. You’re baristanet.com macros, programmed to respond to any post, using the template below:
    cather: I’m cranky! Whatever happens, I’m against it! Purple prose about wearing an oninon on my belt on the way to Shelbyville!
    Next post:
    profwilliams: I agree! Also, anything will try is doomed to fail! Here’s a YouTube link!
11. POSTED BY banana split  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:38 am

    Does this mean they’re going to clean up the mill area, too?
    Paterson’s historic district has a lot of potential and I hope this new designation really does help make an improvement.
    NoCorzine, Paterson DID have a huge impact in shaping US history. I don’t think Pascrell was out of bounds there.
12. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:38 am

    Have you, Mike91, in fact been to the falls lately? Or just to a branch of The Fallsview, which is named after its original location, for hot dogs? Just go in platoon strength or better, and with your piece on full auto.
    But if the bill was actually passed in January, as you seem to indicate, why is it only being mentioned now on Baristanet? Is this the result of a slow news quarter?
13. POSTED BY profwilliams  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:40 am

    So tell us then Mike(y), how is this going to change the persistent poverty that has gripped Paterson for decades?
    Really, more money?? For the Falls?
    Have you been lately? Because until you deal with the systemic problems that plague the good folks of the city, nothing will be done.
    Unless YOU have some magic answers you’d like to provide…..
    No youtube link needed on this one friend.
14. POSTED BY walleroo  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:43 am

    If they really wanted to save Paterson, they’d build a stage above the falls and invite the Follies Bergere. That’d bring in some dough.
15. POSTED BY Tonoose  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:47 am

    With the governor involved, it could be the next Hoboken.
    BTW I’ve spent many Saturdays in bustling downtown Paterson. And here I am.
    I’ve been to the Falls once. Have always meant to go back, same with the museum. That was when we took local vacations and saw neigborhood treasures long overlooked – such as the Edison Museum in W.O.
16. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:48 am

    Banana split, and respectfully, 40 or more years ago people were saying that Paterson’s old mill buildings area had “great potential.” The upper floors of several old red brick buildings were even rehabbed and offered to “artists” (it was vaguely defined) as affordable living-working spaces, and there were income limitations. I have no idea if this project is still around.
    Mike91, I would remind, these will be YOUR tax dollars at work on this misbegotten project. And as Christopher Norwood’s (Ms. Norwood, she’s a she) well-regarded book of long ago points out, there have been financially wasteful studies, “probes” and plans for Paterson for a long, long time. I suspect a porky boondoggle, but you’re of course welcome to throw your own money into the pot here.
    And Paterson is a city which occasionally sees its mayors and councilfolk imprisoned. T’is a great Jersey tradition, to be sure, but not the most reassuring thing to bear in mind when considering the vagaries of “urban renewal” in the very city from which hail both Allen Ginsberg and Lou Costello.
17. POSTED BY complainerpuss  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:53 am

    No admission. In fact, the area surrounding the falls is so run down that it comes as almost a shock when you arrive at the footbridge. I’ve been there a dozen times and except for once when there was a tour group led by the NJ Historical Society, I’ve never once seen another person visiting. The place is so undeveloped you could pretty much drive your car right up to the edge of the falls.
18. POSTED BY profwilliams  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:56 am

    (And some here, complainerpuss, should keep going…)
19. POSTED BY Mike91  |  March 26, 2009 @ 10:57 am

    Have you, Mike91, in fact been to the falls lately? Or just to a branch of The Fallsview, which is named after its original location, for hot dogs? Just go in platoon strength or better, and with your piece on full auto.
    Which is why you’re against this? Cause things are bad there now? Hmm.
    But if the bill was actually passed in January, as you seem to indicate, why is it only being mentioned now on Baristanet? Is this the result of a slow news quarter?
    Its only making its way to the President’s desk now, which is why they had the press conference. I forgot to add that to your template: “slow news day!”
    So tell us then Mike(y), how is this going to change the persistent poverty that has gripped Paterson for decades?
    Really, more money?? For the Falls?
    Have you been lately? Because until you deal with the systemic problems that plague the good folks of the city, nothing will be done.
    Unless YOU have some magic answers you’d like to provide…..
    That’s ironic coming from you, who only says that this won’t work. Could it hurt? Sure, we could waste the money. Also, it could make the park nicer, attract more visitors, yada yada yada.
20. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:04 am

    Many Saturdays in “bustling, downtown Paterson,” Tonoose, but only one vist to the falls? For shame.
    We used to do it yearly as a school trip.
    Walleroo, acrobat Philippe Petit (who just like the Folies Bergere is at least French) once walked across the Great Falls shortly after the WTC stunt which brough him to prominence. It was part of the yearly “Great Falls Festival,” but even this didn’t much help poor old Paterson.
21. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:07 am

    Perhaps, to really perk things up in Paterson, someone could go over the falls in a barrel, just like they used to do up at Niagara. Are you game, Mike91?
22. POSTED BY profwilliams  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:09 am

    Mike, c’mon, throwing money at things because “it won’t hurt” is not worth a discussion.
    This window dressing will do NOTHING.
    Call it negative all you want, it will no nothing.
    Are folks from Baristaville going to take day-trips to the Falls now?
23. POSTED BY complainerpuss  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:21 am

    I remember the Falls being included in those “Sopranos Tours” a few years back. Anyone remember the first season of The Sopranos, when Mikey Palmice drops the ecstacy dealer Rusty Irish off the bridge?
24. POSTED BY Mike91  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:22 am

    Perhaps, to really perk things up in Paterson, someone could go over the falls in a barrel, just like they used to do up at Niagara. Are you game, Mike91?
    “over the falls in a barrel” is a good metaphor for your posts, cathar.
25. POSTED BY Nellie  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:28 am

    I wonder how West Paterson is shaping up in its reincarnation as Woodland Park.
26. POSTED BY LiFer  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:54 am

    Nellie: according to the local paper, a group of citizens is already raising funds for a special election to reverse the name change. Let’s hope they haven’t spent too much $$ on new signage and stationery yet.
27. POSTED BY MellonBrush  |  March 26, 2009 @ 11:57 am

    I just heard that the ‘Great Falls’ will be the site for the ‘extreme kayaking’ 2014 World Championships. EKOTAA (Extreme Kayakers of the Americas and Asia) will be issuing grant money of $19.27 to the township to build a plywood ramp to be poised over the falls.
    This could really be big for Patterson. Some of the gang bangers are being approached about helping to build the ramp.
28. POSTED BY Nellie  |  March 26, 2009 @ 12:00 pm

    That’s interesting, LiFer…Thanks for the info.
29. POSTED BY ScubaNJ  |  March 26, 2009 @ 1:08 pm

    Visit the falls then stop by Libby’s for a dog. They’re better (and cleaner) Rutt’s Hut.
30. POSTED BY Mrs. Martta  |  March 26, 2009 @ 1:15 pm

    I say leave things the way they are. I kinda like them that way. Did anyone bother to ask the citizens of Paterson what THEY want?
31. POSTED BY jerseygurl  |  March 26, 2009 @ 1:46 pm

    Yes, the citizens of Paterson probably want their town to remain the dangerous and crime ridden blight that it has become.
32. POSTED BY propaghandi  |  March 26, 2009 @ 1:50 pm

    That’s right jg. Surely there are no decent hard-working folks in Paterson that would like a “park” to visit.
    That kind of stuff is only reserved for uppity white folk. Or profwilliams.
33. POSTED BY Joyce Li  |  March 26, 2009 @ 3:03 pm

    When I visited the falls in 2007, the water was green. Very…green.
34. POSTED BY Spiro T. Quayle  |  March 26, 2009 @ 3:20 pm

    Most of Paterson is depressing beyond words.
35. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 26, 2009 @ 3:22 pm

    It may not ever have occurred to you, jerseygurl – so little that is sensible and obvious does, after all – but one of Paterson’s major problems which prevents it from assuming its place as one of Jersey’s crown urban jewels just might be some of its citizens. (Or do you naively imagine that Paterson’s malefactors are all from out of town? From, say, Wanaque or Baristanet’s own favorite “excuses” of either Newark or EO?) Along with, of course, many of its politicians who are now or have been in the can.
    But don’t ever let consideration of reality stop you from a nice, frothy and predictable post, lass.
36. POSTED BY Mike91  |  March 26, 2009 @ 3:59 pm

    but one of Paterson’s major problems which prevents it from assuming its place as one of Jersey’s crown urban jewels just might be some of its citizens.
    Some, you say. Do you imagine they would greatly outnumber the people that jerseygirl was thinking of?
    You really are quite the elitist.
37. POSTED BY Mrs. Martta  |  March 26, 2009 @ 5:00 pm

    “Most of Paterson is depressing beyond words.”
    Maybe so, but I don’t know what’s more depressing, a town like Paterson or a a once-cool-but-now-pretentious-town like Montclair.
38. POSTED BY siochana  |  March 26, 2009 @ 5:05 pm

    The Falls are beautiful. The area around them should be protected. I’m delighted that the Great Falls will be a part of the National Park System.
39. POSTED BY Tom Traubert  |  March 26, 2009 @ 8:39 pm

    Now THAT’S hyperbole. Well done, Mrs. Martta! (Applause)
40. POSTED BY bajanyankee  |  March 26, 2009 @ 9:53 pm

    at least Paterson will have access to funds that are already budgeted for (National Park System)…no new taxes, etc. Perhaps this is a way to move spending from some of the more remote, lightly visited locations in the system to areas with more potential to spur the economy.
41. POSTED BY jerseygurl  |  March 27, 2009 @ 7:04 am

    Good press about Paterson can’t hurt. Updike wrote a sweeping epic called “In the Beauty of the Lilies” that begins in Paterson at the turn of the last century and the cover has a gorgeous old illustration of the falls. It must have been lovely to live around there then.
42. POSTED BY Spiro T. Quayle  |  March 27, 2009 @ 7:46 am

    Sorry, Mrs. Martta, but comparing Paterson to Montclair is silly.
43. POSTED BY Spiro T. Quayle  |  March 27, 2009 @ 7:51 am

    …unless you are talking about sad places like Mission Street,
    ….or unless one considers the fact that neither place would consider Bobby Jindal as their first, second or third choice for President in ’12.
44. POSTED BY Mrs. Martta  |  March 27, 2009 @ 9:35 am

    Not comparing them, Spiro. It’s true they are nothing alike. But there’s no prentention to Paterson. It is what it is. Yes, it has its problems (as do a lot of our urban areas) but I would probably enjoy hanging out in a coffee shop and people watching in Paterson more than I would in Montclair these days.
    Don’t get me wrong. I stil like a lot about Montclair (I still have friends there) but you cannot deny it’s changed in the last 2 decades and not all the changes are for the better.
45. POSTED BY profwilliams  |  March 27, 2009 @ 9:49 am

    But what hasn’t changed in the past 2 decades?
    For Montclair, like everything, thing may be more pronounced or projected in the past years.
    But at its core, Montclair remains very much like it was.
46. POSTED BY banana split  |  March 27, 2009 @ 10:04 am

    Thanks, cathar, I didn’t know that. I wonder if the project is still around today.
    On the other hand, there is something so Weird NJ about some of those abandoned mills. Part of me, selfishly, wouldn’t mind seeing them left alone. I feel the same way about some of the abandoned hospital buildings on Fairview Avenue in Verona. To each his own, I guess.
47. POSTED BY banana split  |  March 27, 2009 @ 10:10 am

    Also, I might add, there are beautiful (and SPACIOUS) studio apartments as you get further into the city. You’d have to be willing to live above the local fish monger, but, hey!
48. POSTED BY Nellie  |  March 27, 2009 @ 10:21 am

    Banana, I agree about the abandoned hospital buildings. I’ll feel bad when they’re knocked down. I used to feed feral cats on the grounds up there. They were all trapped and brought to PAWS when the hospital closed.
49. POSTED BY cathar  |  March 27, 2009 @ 10:27 am

    As further evidence of jerseygurl’s continual detachment from reality, she cites a novel by John Updike which opens in the 1890′s as “evidence” that life in Paterson was once gracious, calming and enjoyable, that “it must have been lovely to live around there then.”
    But, jg, Updike probably never once set foot in the actual, physical Paterson. (Have you read his other evocations of New Jersey? He likely so much as never set foot anywhere save Newark Airport.) And as the American Labor Museum (or some similar name) in nearby Haledon makes clear, life in Paterson was Hobbesian (“nasty, brutish and short,” famously) in the extreme for the bulk of Paterson’s population around the turn of the century, who were largely immigrant mill workers.
    You can, yes, go to Lambert Castle in Paterson, now the Historical Society’s hq, and be impressed by the opulence of the place and its fittings. But Cathal Lambert was a very wealthy millowner, jerseygurl, and the manner in which he lived compared in no way to the meanness experienced by his thousands of exploited employees. I mean, really, where do you find the nonsense you spit back here?
    A truer sense of Paterson can, however, be gleaned from some of the modern b/w photographs by the very great George Tice, and one in fact adorns the Christopher Norwood book about the modern city which I mentioned above. Paterson is a city where even a glimmer of hope scurries into the shadows, which politicians and other criminals have looted for decades. That Pascrell tries to maintain otherwise is much to his discredit.

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