Petition Launched In Hoboken To Get 11 Sunken Boats Out Of Water

HOBOKEN, NJ — For years, people have complained about the sunken boats whose sails poke up from Weehawken Cove — an inlet of the Hudson River between Hoboken and Weehawken — but each year, more seem to arrive. Now, a resident has started a petition about them.

Singed by more than 300 people as of Tuesday morning, the petition reads, "For several years, Hoboken Cove has become a 'dump' for unwanted boats. These abandoned boats are not protected from the elements and most have sunk. The sunken boats with their skeletal masts rising out of the water ruin the aesthetics of our beautiful cove and pose potential environmental issues."

The petitioners say that with winter coming, it'll be harder to exhume the defunct vessels.

"As of September 10, 2020, there are 8 floating boats and 11 visible sunken boats in the cove," wrote the petitioner. "Responsibility of the cove is shared between Hoboken and Weehawken with a dividing line approximately in the middle. Unfortunately, it appears that all of the boats have been placed on Hoboken’s side of the cove and therefore are the responsibility of Hoboken to regulate and resolve."

The petition asks Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and the City Council to make three adjustments:

• Remove eight floating (presumably abandoned) boats before winter.
• "Pass regulation that prevents the mooring of boats in this unprotected area, and strictly enforce this new regulation."
• Come up with a plan to get rid of the sunken boats.

"By signing this petition, you are asking Mayor Bhalla and the City Council to protect the natural beauty and ecological integrity of our waterfront by ridding Hoboken Cove of abandoned boats and preventing future dumping," wrote the petitioner.

According to a Patch story from 2015, the city of Hoboken said it had no responsibility to remove the boats.

Hoboken-based writer Jeff Somers summed up in 2017: "Boats have been abandoned and left to sink in the cove for a long time, and every now and then a news organization looks into it, gets as far as discovering that city and county officials don’t care, the Department of Environmental Protection isn’t concerned, and the Coast Guard isn’t interested before giving up."

In 2018, the city of Hoboken announced it had spent money to remove four boats. A councilwoman said she feared teens would climb on them, among other issues.

A Reddit user explained, "It's a boat graveyard for those that want to avoid proper disposal (and associated fees) of their craft, and don't care about littering the Hudson."

One woman who signed the new petition had this to say: "It's about damn time."

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