Who would’ve thought we’d be looking at the rubble and ruin of Upper Montclair Train Station for nearly 20 months? This weekend, say good-bye to the remains of the historic structure, demolished by fire in February 2006. NJ Transit announced they hope to have crews cleaning up the site beginning Tuesday, Sept. 4. Good news, they’re saving the clock…
Demolition will occur in two phases, with crews first removing and storing salvageable items from the historic station for re-use in the new station or another suitable location. The station’s porte cochere, or entranceway, will be protected and preserved for incorporation into the new station building.
The second phase, starting Saturday, September 8, includes demolition and removal of debris. The work is expected to be completed on or about September 16.
The station will remain open during demolition. To protect passengers, a section of the platform directly in front of the station building will be fenced off.
A developer was selected in July by officials from NJ TRANSIT, Montclair and the Montclair Township Historic Preservation Commission to build a new station that will be sensitive to the historic architecture of the previous station…
A developer? We can’t have a developer involved in this. They’re the devil’s minions!
Nice location for a train station. Maybe the railroad will build one. A fireproof, vandalproof one, perhaps. We don’t need no stinkin’ restaurant. Just a station with tickets, and stuff like that. Maybe papers. Coffee in the morning. Vodka shots in the evening. You get the pitcha.
20 months? Don’t forget, that’s 20 months and we STILL don’t know why the train station wasn’t insured for full replacement value, and who screwed up!
And we still don’t know whether Montclair taxpayers will get holding the bag for additional funds for reconstruction of the train station!
Just goes to show: If you refuse to answer a question long enough, the public will eventually forget.
That is, most of the public.
Didn’t Lincoln say something like “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and that’s enough to make a decent living?”
I think it was Thom Thumb that said that.