The City of Bayonne will receive $500,000 from Hudson County, as opposed to the state, for their waterfront walkway project on Newark Bay.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Public access to the Hudson River Waterfront via an ever-expanding waterfront walkway has long been a key element of our Gold Coast’s redevelopment,” Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise said in a statement.
“Mayor Davis’s relentless advocacy for its continued expansion in Bayonne demanded we do whatever we could to support it. I am pleased we were able to find the funding to
replace what Bayonne lost in state funding. It is a most worthy investment.”
The county funding will replace walkway money that was part of the proposed state budget last month, but then disappeared before the final budget was adopted.
Sources indicated that leadership in the state legislature pulled the funding in response to Mayor Jimmy Davis replacing Assemblyman Nick Chiaravalloti (D-31), the assembly majority whip, in favor of first time candidate William Sampson IV.
“I would like to thank Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise for the county’s generous support of the waterfront walkway, an important recreational development that will improve the quality of life for the people of Bayonne. County Executive DeGise has proved yet again that he is a great friend of the people of Bayonne,” Davis said in a statement.
“Never mind the state of local politics. We’re here to fight for the people of Bayonne, and to make sure that our residents are represented well at the local, county, and state levels. There was a problem at the state level, so I worked with the County Executive to solve the issue at the local level. I can’t say enough about how appreciative we are for the county’s commitment to Bayonne.”
The goal of the Davis Administration is to have a walkway from Richard A. Rutkowski Park in the northwest corner of Bayonne to Dennis P. Collins Park at Bergen Point, the southern end of Bayonne.
The county funding will assist with the development of the portion of the walkway between Ahern Veterans’ Stadium at 25th Street and Newark Bay and the northern end of DiDomenico-16th Street Park.
The Newark Bay walkway on the western side of Bayonne is an extension of the plan for a Hudson River waterfront walkway from the eastern side of Bayonne up into Bergen County.
On the eastern side of Bayonne, there are portions of the walkway on the former Military Ocean Terminal, around the Bayonne Golf Club, and by the South Cove Commons shopping center.
“Bayonne is surrounded by water on three sides. We are now taking advantage of our great location by Newark Bay, the Kill Van Kull, and New York Bay. For close to 100 years, Bayonne residents had limited access to our East Side waterfront, because the waterfront properties were the sites of industrial and commercial operations and the Military Ocean Terminal,” Davis continued.
“With the closing of the Military Ocean Terminal and the decline of heavy industry, that
situation has changed dramatically. These walkways will give our residents greater access to the water, so that we can enjoy all our waterfront has to offer.”
Between 2017 and 2018, Bayonne received $1 million in prior walkway funding, half from the state and half from the settlement of an environmental lawsuit with Exxon.
