Like most people, I have a vested interest in what my government is proposing at Fort Hancock, not only because I’m a taxpayer and New Jersey resident, but also because I am an American citizen and thus part owner of the property in question.

Everyone should be reminded Sandy Hook does not belong to the National Parks Service (NPS), it belongs to the people of the United States. We should all take offense at their suggestion that they are entering into this lifelong lease with a real estate developer on our behalf — for purposes of historic preservation. Answer me this: Does anyone believe Sandy Hook Partners LLP plans to return these buildings to their “original stature”? Will the fireplaces once again give warmth to everyone, the bedrooms outfitted with military accoutrements, the parlors furnished with period pieces from that era? I seriously doubt it.

New Jersey should not forget the outlandish commercial plans the NPS had proposed for Ellis Island National Park nearly a decade ago ... hotels, convention centers, restaurants, etc. Similarly, that scheme warranted public outcry, and we eventually gathered enough support to squash the effort. The people are speaking out again — “Cease and desist in your efforts to rob us of our public property.”

The military has deemed these buildings useless, and the dilapidated structures — along with all associated lands — were placed in the care of the “underfunded” NPS as curators on our behalf. I would call on all residents to instruct the NPS to continue to leave the buildings alone to degrade in the same fashion as the nearby gun turrets and concrete bunkers, or demolish them and return the land to its natural beauty — as it was before the military presence. Either way, the NPS does not have majority approval from the property owners to lease portions of Fort Hancock to private entrepreneurs for any purpose. Nor do they have overwhelming local support for the proposed additional commercial traffic that will further burden the already overcrowded streets of our tiny hamlets.

I sincerely believe it is the National Parks Service’s responsibility to request acknowledgment of their plan, in writing, from every American resident before they continue along this disastrous path. Public debate meetings at Sandy Hook and articles posted in local papers and Web sites do not constitute, in any shape or form, a sincere and acceptable effort on their part to meet this goal.

Bill Ward

Highlands