Mayor Steven Fulop was joined by Hudson County and city officials, as well as community activists, for the inauguration of Berry Lane Park: Jersey City’s latest $38 million, 17-acre park.
[fve]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI1AGyES_VU[/fve]
“This will soon be, after today, the largest open park owned by Jersey City in the City of Jersey City. We have a lot of open space, some is owned by the county, some owned by the State of New Jersey. This has been a great partnership as we expand Jersey City’s footprint,” Fulop said.
Hundreds came to do a walk through of the park, which was a former PPG Industries Site.
Although the park has gone through extensive chromium remediation, activist were still not convinced the site was 100 percent safe for children to play on it based on a public meeting from March.
Mayor Steven Fulop first thanked Jersey City Freeholder Bill O’Dea (D-2) for the county’s help in funding Berry Lane Park.
O’Dea also publicly promised that the county will also provide funding for the Berry Lane Skate Park.
The skate park also received funding from the Tony Hawk Foundation.
Fulop also announced that the city has invested “more than $6 million into park renovations and expanded overall open space by a little bit more than 10 percent.â€
The $38 million park features a water splash area, ball field, tennis courts, picnic area, exercise stations and a turf field – which offers demonstrations of soccer, football, rugby and lacrosse.
The basketball court was also filled with children and young adults taking advantage of the free clinic.
“And today is really, opening of this park, which is going to be the jewel of the entire park system in Jersey City. And it’s going to further energize this area, creating more opportunity for children, a placed to go to and creating just a better environment for everybody,” the mayor concluded.
