[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1865]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 LEGISLATION TO PRESERVE GREAT FALLS HISTORIC DISTRICT IN PATERSON, NJ

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                        HON. WILLIAM J. MARTINI

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Saturday, September 28, 1996

  Mr. MARTINI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this legislation 
which includes the Preservation of the Great Falls Historic District in 
Paterson, NJ--a city in my congressional district.
  During the 103d Congress my predecessor, Representative Herb Klein, 
introduced the Great Falls Preservation and Redevelopment Act of 1994. 
The House of Representatives passed on April 13, 1994. However, this 
bill failed in the U.S. Senate at the end of the 103d Congress. 
Unfortunately, a Democratic Congress with a Democratic President was 
unable to accomplish this important preservation.
  At the beginning of the 104th Congress, Senator Lautenberg introduced 
S. 188, the Great Falls Preservation and Redevelopment Act. As the 
representative for the Paterson area, it was my responsibility to 
fight, on the House-side, to make sure the Great Falls language was 
included in this package.
  After all, it is reported that Alexander Hamilton and George 
Washington, while traveling to the Dey Mansion in Wayne, NJ, stopped 
and viewed the Great Falls and were extremely impressed by the power it 
generated. Inspired by this source of energy, Hamilton envisioned the 
Great Falls area as a manufacturing mecca that would free the United 
States from dependency on foreign manufactured goods.
  In 1791, with the founding of the Society for Establishing Useful 
Manufacturers [SUM] by Hamilton and the development of a raceway system 
designed to harness the power of the river, America began to 
demonstrate the profitability of manufacturing on its own soil.
  Through tremendous support from the Governor of New Jersey and the 
New Jersey Legislature, Paterson established itself as the country's 
first manufacturing center which led to the evolution and development 
of the United States as an industrial nation. The energy source of 
Great Falls was the magnet that created the idea of Paterson, NJ, and 
it was the entrepreneurs and the people of the area that made the city 
an industrial powerhouse. Great Falls and the surrounding community are 
a testament to American ingenuity and the great dream that so many have 
come to the United States to pursue.
  At the beginning of my term I went on record stating that if the 
Senate acted on the Great Falls legislation, which they had failed to 
do in the past,``I would shepherd it through the House.'' As such, I 
worked in close contact with the Resources Committee to secure this 
preservation and redevelopment language. A May 20, 1996, response from 
Chairman Don Young to my May 14, 1996, letter indicated that he had 
``serious reservations'' over the ``appropriateness'' of Federal 
involvement given budget restraints and questions of vagueness in the 
provision's legislative language.
  The language incorporated into this bill properly corrects the 
Chairman's concerns by allowing the Department of Interior to make 
grants or enter into cooperative agreements with the State of New 
Jersey, local governments, or private nonprofit organizations to 
develop resources within the Great Falls Historic District. Whether a 
private or public cooperative venture, the Department of Interior would 
shoulder only 50 percent of the costs. The provision would authorize 
$250,000 for grants and cooperative agreements for the development 
plan, $50,000 for technical assistance, and $3 million to implement 
development projects.
  I would like to thank the Chairman for his work on Great Falls' 
behalf, as well as thank Mr. Norm Robertson, a Passaic County 
Freeholder and former president of the Passaic County Historical 
Society who has worked diligently toward this end. Through the 
realization that specific projects should be sited to ensure that 
Federal redevelopment money goes directly to the brick and mortar 
projects that the district desperately needs, we have accomplished an 
agreeable solution and practiced good government.
  Passage of this bill represents yet another great accomplishment of 
the 104th Congress. While others tried in the past to protect 
Paterson's heritage, this Congress clearly gives our Nation's history 
the respect it deserves.

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