May 19, 2003

NEW PARK DEDICATED IN FIRST WARD

RAHWAY – Officials from Union County and the City of Rahway dedicated a new 4.5 acre segment of Union County’s Rahway River Parkway on Saturday, May 17. The ceremony took place at the entrance to the new park, located at the corner of Union and Allen streets in Rahway’s First Ward.

Over the past year more than 400 volunteers from the community and local businesses transformed the land from a flood-prone neighborhood to a thriving wetlands area where trails meander along the river.

“This will be a great place for families to bring their children to learn about the natural world that is literally in their back yard,” said Freeholder Chairwoman Deborah P. Scanlon. “Every Rahway resident can be proud of the natural diversity and beauty we are preserving here.”

The park is named for United States Army Staff Sgt. Michael S. Bezega, who was killed in combat in Vietnam in June 1970, a few weeks shy of his 22^nd birthday. A lifelong Rahway resident, Mr. Bezega lived on Walters Street and attended Rahway High School. He went to Vietnam in January 1970 attached to the 101^st Airborne Division. He was killed in the province of Thua Thien, near Hue, by small arms fire.

Mr. Bezega is survived by his mother, Mary, and sister Mary Jane Homan.

“We worked closely with officials from the City of Rahway, particularly Council President Sal Mione, on this project,” said Freeholder Chester Holmes, a Rahway resident. “All of us agreed that it was important that we recognize Mr. Bezega, who lived nearby, and to the contribution he made to his country.”

The park was once a residential neighborhood where four years ago, residents were pulled from their homes by rescue workers during Hurricane Floyd, as waters from the Rahway River threatened their homes.

The City had purchased 11 properties in that community with funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the State’s Green Acres programs. The homes have since been demolished and removed. The City of Rahway currently owns the property and plans to cede the parkland to Union County this summer.

“This is a floodplain, and homeowners and their families were suffering from constant flooding there,” said Freeholder Rick Proctor, a former member of the Rahway Environmental Commission. “This is a better, safer use for the land and it ensures that all residents can enjoy Union County’s natural beauty.”

The parkland was improved through a joint effort of Union County and the City of Rahway, with state and federal funding and assistance from non-profit organizations. Union County provided more than $50,000 toward the project and in-kind services by the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation.

 The new parkland features two ponds, wildflowers, walking trails made with crushed stone, benches and wildlife blinds to allow residents of all ages to the wildlife that make the Rahway River their home.

Volunteers planted more than 7,000 perennial wildflowers and aquatic plants including Blue-flag Iris, Swamp Milkweed, New York Aster, Cardinal Flower; 5,000 shrubs including  Red Chokeberry, Red-osier Dogwood, Winterberry, Arrowwood Viburnum and shrubs and more than 100 trees including Red Maple, River Birch, American Sycamore and Swamp White Oak.

Merck and Company, St. John’s Russian Orthodox Church, Rahway’s schools, boy scout and girl scout troops, Union County government and the Morris Land Conservancy all provided volunteers for various stages of this project.

The site is home to a wide variety of local water-loving wildlife including wading birds like heron and egret, red wind blackbirds, wrens, ducks, geese and numerous species of butterflies and dragonflies.

The new parkland will be added to the  over 400 acres of land in the Rahway River Parkway, a long stretch of parkland that runs along the Rahway River through the center of the county.

In all, Union County has 27 parks covering more than 5,500 acres of land. Parkways were part of the original plan for the county’s parks system that was developed near the turn of the century by the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead. The plan envisioned unbroken strips of parkland along the Elizabeth, Passaic and Rahway Rivers.

Click here to see a photo gallery of this event.