Near the spot on the Passaic River bank where, in 1666, Newark’s British founder Robert Treat set foot on land later dubbed “New Ark,” present-day city and state officials gathered Friday to celebrate the opening of a new stretch of Newark Riverfront Park.
“We are happy to have something like this in Newark, so you don’t have to go to Hoboken to hang out at the river park,” Mayor Ras J. Baraka said at an afternoon ribbon cutting under blue skies and sunshine that glistened off the water behind him. “You don’t have to go to Weehawken to hang out at the waterfront. You can do that in your own backyard. And we’re excited about that.”
The new 2,400-foot ribbon of parkland is known as “the Notch,” after a geological feature of the river. Its opening expands the waterfront access and recreational space available to Newarkers that residents and visitors to Hoboken and Weehawken have long enjoyed on those communities’ Hudson River waterfronts — albeit with a view of Harrison’s low-lying landscape, not the Manhattan skyline.
The park’s development is a component of the gradual turnaround of New Jersey’s largest city, often called the Newark Renaissance. While the riverfront park is being constructed by the city, state and Essex County, the federal Environmental Protection Agency is leading an ongoing cleanup of the Passaic River from its mouth at Newark Bay up to Clifton, 17 miles collectively known as the Diamond Alkalai Superfund site.
Public access to the Notch comes 358 years after Treat arrived on the spot with a group of followers from New Haven who had left to remain independent when the king merged their settlement with Connecticut. The new stretch of walkway runs north-south between the river and McCarther Highway, from Center Street near the New Jersey Performing Arts Center to the Dock Street Bridge, a rail span for NJ Transit, Amtrak and PATH trains crossing the river to and from Newark Penn Station.
The latest stretch of the linear park was built for $14 million with city and mostly state funds from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette was among a dozen city, state and nonprofit officials who took part in the ribbon cutting with Baraka, including the city’s assistant director of economic and housing development, Gerah Crowder, who is leading the riverfront project.
The new stretch of park is a paved walkway, bi-level in places, with additional elements that include step-type seating and a metal railing with a diagonal shelf to lean on while gazing out over the water. Young trees, tall grass and shrubs are planted in concrete beds, and there’s a small amphitheater at Center Street. A jazz combo playing on the walkway for Friday’s event foreshadowed the live performances the amphitheater will host.
Three yellow kiosks made from shipping containers will be occupied by food vendors this spring, said Allison Ladd, the city’s deputy mayor for housing and economic development.
Murals and other types of artwork will line the space, which officials said will have its own artist-in-residence thanks to a federal grant. Newark artist Mashell Black worked on a canvas mural as part of Friday’s festivities, assisted by a city employee, Amatif Hisseine.
Baraka recalled being a city councilman in 2013 when the first stretch of the park was completed along 3,200 feet of Passaic riverbank in the city’s Ironbound section, east of the newly opened stretch. Smaller additions have been made since then.
That original section of the park, known as Orange Sticks for an abstract sculpture there, is broader than the one unveiled Friday, with more grass and trees, plus a dock for canoeing and kayaking on the river. The walkway continues east of Orange Sticks into Essex County Riverfront Park, which includes soccer and baseball fields, basketball and tennis courts, walking paths and a large lawn between the river and the shuttered Terrell Homes public housing complex.
The Notch and Orange Sticks sections are separated by about a third of a mile of undeveloped waterfront. Plans call for completing that stretch, linking the Notch and Orange Sticks, and forming a continuous stretch of about two miles, including the county section.
Public officials and park friends repeatedly remarked on Friday’s brilliant sunshine and mild temperatures, which made for a perfect day to walk along the river, something most of the 50 people taking part in or attending the ribbon cutting did.
Some munched on pastries catered for the occasion and served from one of the kiosks that will be open to the public next year.
One of them was Marcy S. DePina, executive director of the Newark City Parks Foundation, a nonprofit created by Baraka in 2021 to help care for Newark’s five downtown parks, Harriet Tubman Square, Mulberry Plaza, and Lincoln, Military and Riverfront parks.
Summing up the weather and the occasion, DePina said, “It’s a glorious day down here at the river.”
These three yellow kiosks at Newark Riverfront Park near the Dock Street Bridge, will house food vendors in the spring.Steve Strunsky | NJ Advance Media For Mosaic.NJ.com
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Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com
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