Upgrades to Jersey City Parks to Begin This Spring

The Jersey City Municipal Open Space, Recreation, and Historic Property Preservation Fund will disburse $3 million to 15 projects throughout Jersey City, the first such allocation since the city’s voters authorized setting up the fund in a 2016 referendum. Work is expected to start in spring 2020.

The city provided a list of the projects by ward: 

• Greenville: Ferris Triangle ($500,000) for a new play structure, splash pad, fitness loop, electricity, and water; Martyniak-Enright Park, $200,000 for landscaping, benches, and other passive upgrades; Audubon Park, $100,000 for improved lighting.
• West Side: LaPointe Park (no amount listed) for an updated splash pad, monument repair, and solar-powered park benches to provide free Wi-Fi and charging stations; Boyd McGuiness Park (no amount listed) for sunshade, bulletin board, and solar-powered park benches.
• Journal Square/The Heights: Pavonia-Marion Park ($500,000) to build fencing for easier access, expand the playground, repave the basketball courts, replace the bleachers, fix the cement pavement elevation, and add landscaping, trees, benches, picnic tables, chess tables, a water fountain, and a dog park; Canco Park ($100,000) to install benches, a charging station, fencing, a water fountain, and soft playscape modules for toddlers; Reservoir 3 ($400,000) for general renovations; and Pershing Field ($50,000) to restore the historic Bell flagpole.
• Downtown: Hamilton Park ($300,000) for benches, picnic tables, and an overhaul of the dog parks; Van Vorst Park ($200,000) to improve the playground equipment and surface, provide shade for the sandbox, and install a synthetic lawn; Mary Benson Park ($200,000) to clean and repaint the memorial, refurbish the original water fountain, and plant trees and painting the grounds surrounding both monuments; Brunswick Community Garden ($3,000) to prune an unhealthy mulberry tree to meet safety standards.
• Bergen-Lafayette: Bergen Hill Park ($200,000) to install fencing where none exists, restore a stone wall, install night lighting and security cameras, and create walking paths; Arlington Park ($100,000) for landscaping improvements, fencing, murals, and cosmetic work on the gazebo.