FITZPATRICK PARK An Old Park Sees New Life Post-facelift
Story and Photos by Daniel Israel
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hose who live near Avenue C in Bayonne, specifically the area around 27th and 28th Streets, now have a new gem of an amenity at their fingertips. The city has reopened Fitzpatrick Park across from City Hall following a major facelift. And residents have had nothing but compliments for the new upgrades. The park was renovated by contractor Picerno-Giordano Construction, a regular contractor for park construction in Bayonne. The upgrades include a roller hockey rink, a firefighter-themed playground area, a police-themed playground, a water spray area, landscaping, and benches. A clock and bell tower are in the works. Additionally, there were storm water management upgrades in the form of a new storm water collection cistern and a new storm water piping system, separate from the existing sanitary piping from 26th Street to 28th Street. New drainage structures were installed at each of the Avenue C intersections with 26th, 27th, and 28th Streets. The overhaul of the park was much needed, as it hadn’t seen any work done on it in many years. Firzpatrick Park was first constructed in the 1970s on the site of the former Police and Fire Headquarters, thus
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the appropriately themed playgrounds. It is named for former Mayor Francis Fitzpatrick, who served 12 years in office from 1962 to 1974.
Officials proud of double investment Officials from the city, state, and county were present at the reopening ceremony back in December of 2021. Mayor James Davis is proud to tout the duality of the park renovations as not just bringing Fitzpatrick Park back to life with new amenities, but also tacking storm water management. “This is a collaboration between the state, county and the city, to not only help open space, but to also help with the problem of flooding that every city in New Jersey deals with,” Mayor Davis said. Mayor Davis said that there would be additional anti-flooding initiatives elsewhere in Bayonne. He thanked Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise and the Hudson County Open Space Fund for their support. “This is the first project that we were working on that is completed now,” he said. “We are going to go to all the areas that historically flood in the city of Bayonne and start engineering it so that we can start changing the flood areas.”
Mayor Francis Fitzpatrick holds his granddaughter Allison at the first dedication of the park. Photo courtesy of the Fitzpatrick family New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette said that the park renovations were more than just a physical upgrade to the park amenities. “We’re not just investing in our environment, a garden, a swing set, or a hockey rink,” LaTourette said. “We’re investing in our communities and in our people.”
