Bayonne Dennis Collins Park 2013
WALK the WALKWAY
Dennis Collins Park and Fishing Village in Bayonne – July 7, 2013
On a hot humid morning, 16 Walkers, including 4 HRWC Board members met at the southern end of Dennis Collins Park in Bayonne. It was good to see so many returning Walkers and to welcome Max our youngest “walker” at 2 years old!
The Conservancy recently printed a banner showing the entire Walkway and HRWC Board members used it for the first time today to discuss the route of today’s walk. Ed also described the plans for the Bayonne Bridge to allow large container ships access to the Elizabeth and Newark ports.
With sunglasses, water, hats and parasols in hand, the group headed north at about 9:45 am. After a short distance, the walkers stopped to talk about the effects of Hurricane Sandy on the park. A passing resident told the group that there had been 6-8 feet of water over the entire park. Four dumpsters of debris had to be removed. In spite of this, there was little visible damage to the park or the Walkway and the Walkway was open for its entire length.
Proceeding north we passed several skate board parks, little league fields and playgrounds all in good shape. A quick stop in the restrooms showed them to be useable but not spotless. The Walkers continued to the middle of the park and stopped to cool off in the shade of a tree and talk about the large vessel that was moored in Kill van Kull. Tim, one of the walkers, found a resident who informed the group that the vessel was a dredge that was blasting the bottom of the waterway to widen it for passage of larger shipping vessels.
Next we passed the Bayonne bocci court pavilion. The courts are clearly well maintained and well used in the evenings when they are open. Continuing on, we arrived at the end of the park which is a large fishing dock but the fishermen were not in site. At this point, the group turned around and returned to the starting point. As we returned, a mammoth container ship appeared in the Kill van Kull coming from the ports toward New York Harbor. It looked like the ship would touch the bottom of the Bayonne Bridge roadway but it cleared by a few feet. It demonstrated why the bridge has to be raised if these large ships are to continue to use these ports in New Jersey.
We returned to our cars at 11:00 am after about 2 miles of walking and took a short drive to the Bayonne fishing village. The parking lot has a single giant windmill which was lightly turning in the breeze. It was speculated how much electricity can be generated from a single windmill. The Walkway here is a stone path with solar lights, benches and garbage cans. It was built by IMTT and the city of Bayonne and confirms that there is no danger or security threat between the tanks run by IMTT and the public access Walkway, contrary to the claims of the Bayonne Golf Club.
It was noted that the greenery along the path has been allowed to overgrow the path and the benches and we should ask Bayonne and IMTT to cut back the foliage. Looking across the inlet to the fishing village, significant damage to many of the fishing shacks from Sandy was visible. Some of the shacks are a total loss.
The walk ended at 11:30 with a reminder that the next Walk the Walkway will be on Sunday September 8 in Liberty State Park.
Photo Album (Dan Chall)