North Bergen’s Broken Preschool Promise May Cost Hudson County Millions, Threatens Braddock Park

North Bergen, NJ .- A scathing letter to Hudson County Executive Craig Guy and the Hudson County Commissioners from local activist Robert Walden has reignited a 24-year-old controversy over the illegal placement of a preschool in James J. Braddock North Hudson County Park. Walden, spokesperson for the “Save Braddock Park-Safe Schools” committee, accuses North Bergen leadership—particularly Mayor Nicholas Sacco—of mismanagement, broken promises, and a cover-up that may cost taxpayers millions while jeopardizing public safety and environmental integrity.

The issue dates back to 2001, when North Bergen installed 17 trailer classrooms in Braddock Park, a decision Walden claims violated New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) and Department of Education (NJ DOE) regulations. Intended as a temporary measure, the preschool remains a fixture, fueling outrage among residents and environmentalists. “This fiduciary misstep has cost North Bergen and Hudson County taxpayers a lot of money ever since,” Walden wrote, tying the scandal to a broader pattern of corruption under Sacco’s tenure across township departments like police, housing, and parks.

In 2018, North Bergen voters approved a $65 million referendum to fund the township’s Long Range Facilities Plan (LRFP), designed to relocate preschoolers from Braddock Park to elementary schools by acquiring the unused High Tech High School campus. Yet, Walden alleges that in 2020, North Bergen abandoned this plan, choosing instead to keep and expand the preschool in the park. This shift, he argues, contradicts a 2014 letter from Hudson County and North Bergen officials to him, signed by County Deputy Administrator Laurie Cotter, North Bergen Superintendent George Solter, and Township Administrator Christopher Pianese. The letter promised that “no additional parking, building, or any other form of coverage would be brought to this location or any other location within the park,” limiting use to the existing preschool or its reversion to park space.

Additional evidence of changing plans surfaced in a 2015 memorandum from the Hudson County Office of the County Engineer, obtained by Walden. Addressed to Acting County Engineer Joseph F. Glembocki from Director of Traffic and Transportation Jose M. Sieira and Acting Assistant County Engineer Randall Voinier, the memo recounted a meeting with North Bergen officials about the preschool’s access driveway. Township Engineer Rick McGrath proposed widening the existing 16-foot driveway to 22 feet with a 4-foot sidewalk—totaling 26 feet—rather than constructing a parallel road that would cut deeper into the park’s woods. The memo highlighted utility relocations and Green Acres compliance issues but left unresolved who would oversee or fund the project. Walden contends that current county plans for a new parallel roadway, necessitating significant tree removal, defy this earlier recommendation.

The financial and environmental stakes are high. Walden accuses North Bergen of under-reporting the illegally diverted parkland in its NJ DEP application to reduce the required 5:1 compensatory replacement land ratio, possibly with help from then-Senator Robert Menendez’s office. He argues that removing the preschool now would lower the ratio to 3:1, sparing taxpayers escalating legal, consultant, and litigation expenses.
Safety concerns loom large. Walden points to a 2018 pedestrian fatality near a preschool parking lot, linking it to heavy traffic noted in a Hudson County Sheriff’s report. Despite the 2015 engineering suggestion to widen the existing road, plans for a new parallel roadway persist, threatening more park trees—already reduced in prior safety-driven cuts acknowledged by the Sheriff’s office.

Walden highlights viable alternatives, including space in North Bergen’s elementary schools and a 6-acre BOE-owned plot on 64th Street, arguing the park diversion is unnecessary. He calls on County Executive Guy and the Commissioners to join Mayors Brian Stack (Union City), Albio Sires (West New York), and Richard Turner (Weehawken), who oppose the diversion as harmful to Hudson County.

With the NJ DEP reviewing North Bergen’s diversion application and a 2022 lawsuit by Walden’s committee and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation to remove the preschool still pending, the battle intensifies. “Braddock Park is a treasure for all of us,” Walden said. “This isn’t just about North Bergen—it’s about protecting what belongs to every taxpayer in the county.” The fight for Braddock Park’s future remains far from settled.

Dear County Executive Guy, Hudson County Commissioners et al,

While Nicholas Sacco has been at the helm in North Bergen there have been corruption scandals in the the North Bergen Police, Housing, BOE, DPW, Parks and Law Departments.
The NJ Comptroller has reported on some of these scandals.
You may not know much about the following 24 year-old (and continuing) North Bergen scandal – it doesn’t just affect North Bergen, it affects ALL of Hudson County…

In 2001 North Bergen illegally diverted protected land when North Bergen placed its 17 trailer preschool in Hudson County’s Braddock Park in violation of environmental and educational regulations.
This fiduciary misstep has cost North Bergen AND Hudson County taxpayers a lot of money ever since.
Mr. Sacco doesn’t take any responsibility for what North Bergen’s violations led to.

In 2018, North Bergen conducted a special referendum in which voters approved the spending of $65 million to support North Bergen BOE’s 2018 Long Range Facilities Plan (LRFP), a plan which was approved by NJ DOE, subject to referendum voter approval.
Contrary to what North Bergen now contends, the LRFP’s primary purpose, the reason it was conceived, was to bring about North Bergen compliance with regulations in Braddock Park.
$65 million approved to acquire the unused 10 acre High Tech HS campus and to renovate District school buildings so that North Bergen could remove ALL the preschoolers from Braddock Park and place them in elementary schools.
NJ DEP, NJ DOE and the public all expected this would occur, until 2020, when North Bergen reneged on the plan and decided instead to keep its preschool (and build a new one), in the park.
North Bergen’s decision contradicts what North Bergen AND Hudson County officials promised in a 2014 letter to me (see the attachment).
The letter says “No additional parking, building or any other form of coverage would be brought to this location or any other location within the park”.
North Bergen’s decision doesn’t just contradict what Township and County officials promised, it is a misuse of $65 million and it is driving up all Hudson County taxpayers’ costs.

Further, North Bergen’s NJ DEP diversion application, submitted in NB’s attempt to keep the school in the park, under-reports the amount of land North Bergen illegally diverted in Braddock Park.
That’s because 5:1 compensatory replacement park land is required to be provided elsewhere for the land that North Bergen illegally diverted.
That’s why North Bergen lied to the State and Federal governments when it claimed it didn’t illegally divert the “tot lot”; same for the two parking lots the preschool utilizes.
This, even though North Bergen admitted it utilizes the majority of parking spaces in the parking lot adjacent to the preschool (the “preschool parking lot”.)
NB even enlisted Senator Robert Menendez’s office to help advance NB’s lies.

In 2018 a pedestrian was run-over and killed in a crosswalk just a few feet from a second parking lot that the preschool utilizes.
The Hudson County Sheriff’s accident report states:
“The area of the crash, at that time of day, has a high amount of vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the area due to the preschool located in the area”.
This fatality might have been avoided, had North Bergen removed its preschool from the park as it was supposed to do and as it said it would do.

North Bergen does not need to divert land in Braddock Park for preschool use because there is room in North Bergen’s elementary schools for all its preschoolers and because the North Bergen BOE owns about 6 acres of lands on 64th Street where there isn’t a single classroom and because North Bergen is redeveloping huge swaths of land without any plans for building preschool classrooms.

North Bergen-Hudson County’s Braddock Park lease states that North Bergen can use the land it diverted in Braddock Park for ANY public purpose.

Since North Bergen does not need a preschool in Braddock Park, it may instead put a fire department/EMS building there as it did illegally in 1996 in the NJ DEP protected 43rd Street Park.
This illegal diversion also requires compensatory replacement land and after 29 years, NJ DEP has failed to settle this North Bergen misconduct.

Hudson County has several times removed large swaths of trees in the County park, in order to make the preschool safer; the Hudson County Sheriff publicly stated criminal activity and safety were the reasons why this was done.

Now, after 24 years, Hudson County is considering chopping down many more trees in the park in order to build a new preschool road parallel to the current preschool road, in order to meet safety regulations.
The problem is that after my years of complaining about the current too narrow roadway which lacks sidewalks, North Bergen and Hudson County engineers undertook a study and recommended widening the current roadway, NOT building a parallel roadway as the County now intends.

If any of the preceding bothers you, then consider this:  If North Bergen and Hudson County changed course and removed the preschool from Braddock Park, North Bergen/Hudson County taxpayers would only be required to provide 3:1, not 5:1 compensatory replacement park land and taxpayers will see an end to the massive legal, consultant and other bills which will result from a likely lawsuit, should the State grant North Bergen a diversion after-the-fact.

I urge you to choose fiduciary responsibility – pay attention to Mayors Stack, Sires and Turner who all understand that the diversion of Braddock Park is not good for Hudson County.

If you have any questions, please contact me.  Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Robert Walden (Spokesperson “Save Braddock Park-Safe Schools” committee in North Bergen and administrator of nextdoor.com's "Friends of Braddock Park" website.)
7855 Boulevard East #15i
North Bergen, NJ 07047

[pdf-embedder url="https://hudsontv.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Engineering-Report-Parallel-Road-09-22-15.pdf" title="Engineering Report-Parallel Road 09-22-15"][pdf-embedder url="https://hudsontv.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Degise-No-New-Building-NB-HC-2014-Letter.pdf" title="Degise – No New Building – NB-HC 2014 Letter"]