In Lady Liberty’s Shadow, Builders Eye N.J. Playground for Rich
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Photographer: Sarah Blesener/Bloomberg
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Lady Liberty, raising her torch above New York Harbor, welcomes the world’s poor. Below that flame, New Jersey may make a near-priceless swath of taxpayer-owned parkland into a playground for the rich.
On the harbor’s west shore, 5 million annual visitors flock to Liberty State Park, where the Manhattan skyline, tour boats and an historic rail terminal are a more popular draw than Yosemite’s ancient sequoias. Though its 1,212 acres (490 hectares) are set aside for public use, that hasn’t kept private interests from pitching visions of luxury-suite crowds toasting elite auto-racing teams amid the relics of America’s immigration story.