To the Editor:
In recollection of my 27 years of growing up in Bayonne, I have taken it upon myself to share the changes I am experiencing. Growing up on 4th and Kennedy Blvd, we knew all our neighbors, knew their families as we each looked out for each other. Like the small town of Bayonne, we were all living in our world where everyone knew everyone. Now as I look upon my neighborhood, I’ve noticed my neighbors have moved out, the park on 4th and Juliette, which was like a backyard to me, is eroded over and new complexes are cascading over the quaint homes that my friends grew up in. Bayonne, what is your current goal with downtown? The pollution from the Bayonne bridge construction is harming our once child friendly streets. My windows are constantly sealed due to the debris coming in causing my family to choke. We are offered a voucher for a new air conditioner due to the fact that our current one is eroded with pollution. Walking my dog along the streets I’ve come to realize that my past has been trampled on by machinery, broken trees and torn down buildings. The small town that I grew up in, the memories it held and the people who were family, are bulldozed, trampled, demolished and buried under new complexes and transit routes to allow way for newcomers. Bayonne, I ask you, is it in with the new and out with the old? With all this construction and blindsided building did you forget to make new friends, but keep the old? One is silver, and just like Bayonne and it’s memories, the other is gold.
LAURA JOYCE