Laurel Hill Park Is Deteriorating After 2 Hudson County Parks Directors Were Indicted

SECAUCUS, NJ — Laurel Hill Park in Secaucus is languishing and in need of repairs because the two former Hudson County Parks directors are not there to oversee work, say some, one of which is Hackensack Riverkeeper.

The public bathrooms at Laurel Hill Park have been closed for a year now.

The bathrooms were supposed to be renovated in the past year, except the contractor that was hired to do the work, William Murray of Murray Paving and Concrete, was indicted in March for bribing the past two Hudson County Parks directors, Thomas DeLeo and Russell Fallacara.

Federal prosecutors say that from 2019 through 2024, Murray gave a total of $1.5 million in bribes and kickbacks to the two parks directors. In exchange, they steered $5 million worth of work his way, including paving, cement jobs and the bathroom renovation job at Laurel Hill. Federal prosecutors say the arrangement started under DeLeo, but Murray continued to pay off Fallacara, who took over when DeLeo retired in 2021.

DeLeo and Murray both pleaded guilty to fraud; they are each facing up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced later this year. The criminal charges are still pending against Fallacara.

Multiple people who frequently use Laurel Hill said the park has fallen into disrepair since the two former parks directors were indicted.

Hudson County hired a new contractor to renovate the bathrooms, and they will be repaired in the next few weeks, a Hudson County spokeswoman told Patch Wednesday.

Also, porta potties the county put in the park are not regularly cleaned and emptied, said Secaucus resident John Ricciardi, Jr. They are often too disgusting to be used, he says.

Several of the porta potties were also closed over two weekends in late May, including Memorial Day weekend when the park was highly used, said Ricciardi, who took those photos, above.

He reported the problem to the new Hudson County Parks director, Jonathan DeFilippo. On June 5, in an email exchange with Ricciardi, DeFilippo confirmed they were indeed closed. He said it was "because our vendor missed a cleaning. They are being clean(ed) today and will be functional ASAP."

But Ricciardi said yellow caution tape was back on the bathrooms as recently as last Thursday, June 4. He said last weekend, June 6 and 7, all the porta potties in the park were out of service.

"No working bathrooms in an entire county park, can you imagine that?" he said.

In less than two weeks, American Dream mall, Goya Foods and the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce are teaming up to host this World Cup Watch party at Laurel Hill. It will be June 21, a Sunday, and thousands of people are expected for it.

"They are having a World Cup party there with no working bathrooms?" wondered Ricciardi.

A spokeswoman for the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce said they will bring their own porta potties in for the event.

But the problems at Laurel Hill are not limited to the bathrooms. Capt. Bill Sheehan, the Hackensack Riverkeeper, said overall, he's noticed there hasn't been much work done in Laurel Hill since the two parks directors got indicted.

There is no longer a public boat launch in the park. For years, people launched their motor boats, kayaks and Jet Skis from there. Sheehan used the boat launch for his kayak tours of the river. Ice ripped the floating docks off the pilings this winter and they floated away.

"What's really slowing (repairs) down is the two former county parks directors got indicted," Sheehan said last month. "So it's been really impossible to get any work done. It's at a standstill."

The Hudson County spokeswoman said the county engineering department is currently working on repairs to the boat launch. It won't be back until August, at the earliest.

Secaucus Mayor Mike Gonnelli said this week he's aware of the issues at Laurel Hill, including the bathrooms, and he's spoken to Hudson County Executive Craig Guy about it.

Laurel Hill Boat Launch Destroyed When River Froze This Winter, Likely Not Repaired 'Till August (May 22)

Hudson County Parks Directors Accused Of Taking Bribes For Contracts (March)