New York Officials Urge Christie to Halt LG Project

Two New York City borough presidents are calling on Gov. Chris Christie to stop LG Electronics from building a 143-foot office building along the Palisades in Englewood Cliffs.

Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said LG’s planned North American headquarters building would tarnish views of the Palisades.

“For hundreds of years, the residents of your state and ours have enjoyed unspoiled, pristine views of the Palisades, and this proposal threatens to change that forever,” Stringer and Diaz Jr. wrote in the letter.

“We are not opposed to LG Electronics, and in fact we congratulate them on their success. But that success cannot come at the cost of the Palisades, a natural resource that looks virtually the same today as it did when the United States was first settled,” the letter said.

The letter is the latest opposition to come from prominent New York organizations. The New York Daily News weeks ago likened the LG building to "a middle finger" atop the Palisades and the New York Times editorial board panned the project, writing it would "threaten the natural beauty of the Palisades Interstate Park System."

LG spokesman John Taylor called the letter part of an effort by New York-based groups to derail the project.

“It’s no surprise that these groups, who have no interest in the economic well-being of New Jersey, would insert themselves in the business of New Jersey,” Taylor told the Record.

The project has also drawn opposition from conservationist groups in New Jersey. Four former New Jersey governors condemned the project in a letter to the company’s chief executive. Court-ordered mediation in a suit filed over the building fell through, setting the stage of an upcoming court battle.

LG has said the $300 million project would be a boon to the region’s economy and has support from Englewood Cliffs Mayor Joseph Parisi, Jr. and Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan. The company received approvals from local and state officials after a series of public hearings on the project.