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Belleville Post - October 2022

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BELLEVILLE POST

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Columbus Day Parade primer GC

TH

ANNUAL

COLUMBUS DAY PARADE October 9, 2022

— See inside

At the old ball game

— See Page 3

Girls soccer is upbeat

— See Page 22

VOL. 35 NO. 43

OCTOBER 2022

State purchases land for long-planned Essex-Hudson Greenway through town By Yael Katzwer Editor In a major milestone in the long-sought effort to create a multiuse recreational trail spanning Essex and Hudson counties, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Sept. 15 that the state has successfully acquired the inactive Norfolk Southern Railway Co. railway that stretches nearly 9 miles from Montclair to Jersey City, passing through Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Belleville, Newark, Kearny and Secaucus. The plan is to turn this 9-mile strip of land into a linear park. The acquisition of this former rail line property, the old Boonton Line, sets the stage for a transformation — New Jersey’s newest linear state park. The $65 million state investment marks New Jersey’s single largest conservation project ever and the largest transaction aimed at securing a nonmotorized transportation corridor, according to the state. The Essex-Hudson Greenway Coalition, composed of the Open Space Institute, the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition, and the Sept. 11 National Memorial Trail Alliance, which coordinated and advocated for the project over the last four years, is ecstatic about the purchase. “This acquisition by Gov. Murphy and the state of New Jersey brings us one step closer to creating much-needed green space for the most densely populated and diverse region in the entire nation,” said Kim Elliman, president and CEO of the Open Space Institute, which secured the purchase agreement for the 135-acre former rail property and provided extensive transactional support for the acquisition. “OSI is proud to have played a role in bringing this transformative project to today’s announcement and looks forward to building on our public-private partnership and fulfilling the promise to create a world-class linear park that will greatly enhance local communities and be enjoyed for generations to come.”

Photos Courtesy of Greenway Coalition

Above, is a section of the proposed route in Kearny as it looks now. At right is an aerial of Bloomfield with the linear park route marked. Measuring close to 100 feet wide in areas, the park will offer residents space for off-road transportation and recreational biking and walking. The greenway will offer green space for historically underserved communities and is expected to offer the communities adjacent to the property significant flood control and environmental solutions to resolve longstanding issues. “Today’s announcement of the acquisition of the land for the greenway is a historic step on the path to transforming our region with equitable and safe active transportation options and much-needed open space. We want to thank the many advocates who persevered over so many years to fulfill this dream, and to thank Gov. Murphy for securing this land and his commitment to creating it as New Jersey’s next state park,” said Debra Kagan, executive director of the New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition. In 2021, the Sept. 11th National Memorial Trail received unanimous federal legislation for trail route connections from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum in New York to the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Va., to the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa.,

creating a triangle-shaped, 1,300-mile trail route; 50 percent has so far been completed. The Essex-Hudson Greenway will be a portion of this trail. “Many people don’t realize that, in addition to providing nearby residents with new green space, the Essex-Hudson Greenway also has national significance as a component of the 9/11 Memorial Trail,” said Andy Hamilton, chairperson of the Sept. 11th National Memorial Trail Alliance board of directors. “It’s exciting to see that we are one step closer to realizing the full potential of this project, and we remain committed to supporting the state of New Jersey and our coalition partners as the project moves forward.” The local communities along the line have been very involved in advocating for the creation of the greenway. Groups such as the Bloomfield Open Space Trust Fund, the Friends of the Ice & Iron Rail Trail, and groups in North Newark, Jersey City and Hoboken have long advocated for the greenway. “It’s something that we’ve been talking about and eagerly anticipating here in Belleville for a while,” Belleville Mayor Michael Melham said in a Sept. 16 See GREENWAY, Page 2


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