Dear Mayor Healy:

As the president of an organization that has existed for 52 years and serves nearly 2000 children in the Journal Square and Heights section of Jersey City, I would like to thank you and the City Council for hiring T & M Consultants to produce a master plan for Pershing Field and all of the parks in the city. I completely agree with the fact that a master plan would certainly help streamline the City's decision-making process for parks and recreation.

I recently attended the Ward C & D Master Plan Meeting held at Pershing Field and would like to commend the Pershing Field Garden Friends and Laura Skolar for their wonderful presentation; however, I was baffled by the fact that after the Garden Friends' presentation there was an unexpected presentation by the Reservoir 3 Preservation Alliance without informing my organization that it could equally make a presentation. This second presentation to T & M by the Reservoir 3 Preservation seemed out of order because other people from the immediate area were not informed that they could present as well. We at Pershing Field Babe Ruth are tired of the Reservoir 3 Preservation Alliance trying to dominate the outcome of Reservoir 3. We would like the voice of our children and their taxpaying, voting parents to be heard!

To date we have collected over one thousand signature petitions and have enlisted the support of other, locally situated block associations (e.g. Hilltop Association, Journal Square West, Asian American Merchant Association, Daybreak Rotary, and Liberty West Block Association), and in the words of John Paul Jones, "We have just begun to fight!"

Mayor Healy, we know that you and your family live in the area and have participated in the many active recreation opportunities Pershing Field has to offer. We also know that you realize how the people around Pershing Field have outgrown the facilities in Pershing Field and we need fields!

Pershing Field Babe Ruth League has been in existence for 52 years and has grown to nearly 2000 families. We call on your administration and the City Council to allow us to host a meeting with T & M for the purpose of demonstrating to our families that this T & M plan is not a smoke and mirror, dog and pony cover up for the Reservoir 3 Preservation Alliance and that the voice and vision of the nearly 2000 families who live around Pershing Field, pay taxes and vote do matter in the park planning process. Let us step up to the plate and hit a home run for the taxpaying, voting families in the Heights and Journal Square areas. We thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our children. Sincerely,
Smokin' Joe Napolitano
President Pershing Field
Babe Ruth League