Bayonne is getting $ 500,000 for a section of its Hackensack River waterfront, despite funding withdrawn from the 2022 state budget in an act of political comeback.
County agreed to give Bayonne the half a million dollars it needs for Newark Bay project, city authorities announced on Tuesday, barely two weeks after Governor Phil Murphy signed the state budget without him.
A broken relationship between Mayor Jimmy Davis and MP Nicholas Chiaravalloti was responsible for the disappearance of the state budget item, a state source said – retribution for Davis’ decision to effectively start Chiaravalloti of re-election by supporting newcomer William B. Sampson IV in the Democratic primary in June.
But if a relationship gone awry was the cause of the Bridge’s predicament, an intact relationship may have been what solved it. Hudson County Director Tom DeGise traveled to Bayonne on Monday to close the deal, even posing for a photoshoot with the mayor, city spokesman Joe Ryan said.
Bayonne and county officials have not said where the county found the $ 500,000 to give Bayonne.
“Mayor Davis’ relentless advocacy for the continued expansion (of the waterfront walkway) in Bayonne demanded that we do everything possible to support him,” DeGise said in a statement. “I am happy that we were able to find the funding to replace what Bayonne lost in state funding. It is a most deserving investment. “
The funding will be used to build a section of the walkway along Newark Bay, from 25th Street near the Don Ahern Veterans Memorial Stadium to the northern section of DiDomenico-16th Street, the city said. .
The waterfront walkway in this area has been gradually built over the past few years, while other elements have started to come together on the town’s eastern waterfront.
Davis said the problem with state funding had caused him to look to local funding opportunities, and he thanked the county for its “commitment to Bayonne.”
“County manager DeGise has proven once again that he is a great friend of the people of Bayonne,” Davis said in a press release. “The state of local politics doesn’t matter. We are here to fight for the people of Bayonne and to make sure our people are well represented at local, departmental and state levels. “
City and county spokespersons said they couldn’t provide more details on the conversations that led to DeGise’s decision to provide the funding.
Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis, left, and Hudson County Director Tom DeGise were pictured in Bayonne on Monday where they discussed county funding for the waterfront walkway.
