Every election cycle in Bayonne politics play out in the usual way. You vote for who you know. You vote because your friend or family member tells you that you should vote for this person or that person. You vote because your job with the city might be on the line. Or maybe you vote because your business interests rely on a certain person making it to office. But what gets lost is the real issues.

Bayonne is fast reaching a point where the hard issues can no longer be pushed aside or deferred for the next guy to deal with. Our financial woes are reaching critical points, and hard decisions need to be made.

That is why now is the time for Bayonne residents to get answers to the tough questions. Originally I intended to do a series of interviews with each candidate, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this election cycle the city needs a debate. A debate that won’t be about changing your mind, but about getting answers to the issues that will affect us all.

Because of this I have been speaking with candidates and their representatives behind the scenes in order to begin to organize a debate. The debate questions would be generated by the citizens of Bayonne for all candidates to answer. This is our city and we need to hear from the men who would lead it.

The Bayonne Public Advocate is now seeking citizens to join the Bayonne Citizen’s Debate Committee. As a committee member you will assist in organizing the debate, and most importantly you help compose the questions that the candidates will answer. If you have an interest in getting involved please contact me via email, so that I can begin to put together a list of people and coordinate our first meeting. Email me at: neil AT urbannerd DOT com.

The target for the debate will be mid October.

May 2008 Board of Ed Meeting Agenda & Resolutions part 1

May 2008 Board of Ed Meeting Agenda & Resolutions part 2

In response to requests from those who attend city council meetings, the city council has for the first time provided it’s agenda online ahead of it’s meeting. You can find the agenda for tonight’s meeting located here on the city’s official website:

http://www.bayonnenj.org/agenda.shtml

It seems as if Yitzchak David has lost interest in running for mayor, however a new unkown might be taking his place. As with all things that come from the nj.com forum, one can never be certain if what you are reading is misinformation, however, this message popped up today from a user name wcwman2212. I would ask Mr Rokicki to contact me via email at neil AT urbannerd.com so that I can interview him and discuss his platform further if he is for real & actually exists. Here is his message in it’s entirety:

My name is RAYMOND ROKICKI and I am running for MAYOR of the city of BAYONNE.

I was born and spent my entire life in Bayonne even though for thirty years I have spent just half of that time home in Bayonne. I spent the early years living with my parents in the LaTourrette housing apartments between 1st and 2nd street. I attended Mary J. Donohue School and Bayonne High School. Soon after graduating I started my life’s work of going to sea on merchant ships. Other than the two years I spent in the United States Marine Corp, from 1969 until 1971 it has been the only job I had until I left in Aug. of 2001. I sailed in every deck department rating from Ordinary Seaman to Master.

I am entering this race because I have heard so many citizens of Bayonne Saying they cannot vote for Mr. Conahan because he is not a true resident of Bayonne and they cannot vote for Mr. Smith of various reasons.

What can I offer the citizens of Bayonne that can improve the quality of life and break the back of the crippling burden of property taxes that we have been asked to endure with no end in sight.

1. I will first have the police who are in patrol cars to park their vehicles shut their engines off and walk for one hour per shift. One half hour before and one half hour after their meal hour. Let this small jester be a start of loosening this grip that gasoline has on our country.2. I will designate at least one day per week which will be a “No Driving of city vehicles”, except fire and police, unless in an emergency.3. I will ask the owners of the golf course to do some research and find a proper 6 or 8 passenger golf cart type vehicle, that the city will purchase, so our citizens who can not make the trip along the walkway by the golf course, without assistance, have some means of enjoying the view of New York Bay.4. We need to get our young citizens involved in our government. I will ask the principles of the high schools in our town to make a list of their students who they feel can serve on our various boards. Let our young citizens see what it is like to serve on the Zoning Board, Planning Board, Parking Authority or any of the other boards or authorities that have input into how our city is run.5. Having sailed for 30 years it has been with great pain every year during Fleet Week our countries naval vessels sail into Upper New York Bay right pass Bayonne with none making a port call in our city. The great naval history our city has had is all but forgotten, some of the greatest and best-known battleships and aircraft carriers have been berth or repaired in our town and now we cannot even get a destroyer to come here during Fleet Week. I will ask our congressional delegations to change this and inquire of the Sec. of the Navy about having a vessel dock in Bayonne. Let the citizens of Bayonne get to see what our present day navy looks like, let our citizens entertain the crews of the ships that go in harm’s way to protect us.By the same token how is it that not one tall ship has ever docked on our shores? As mayor I will personally lead a delegation knocking on the door of every consulate that has a Tall Ship to again “pay our shores a visit”. Let our Italian-American Citizens get a chance to welcome and entertain the crew of the “Americo Vespucci”. Can our Polish-American citizens have a bigger party for the crew of the “Dar Mlodzierzy”? Can our Irish-American citizens get the “Jeanie Johnston” to make a port call so they can see what the conditions were like getting to America during the Great Famine? I believe we will be able to get the “Amistad” here for a few days so our African-American citizens can see what the conditions were like for Africans coming to our shores. Can our congressional delegation convince the Commandant of the Coast Guard to have the “Eagle” dock at the Coast Guard station for a short period? I will work with the ship repair facility to try and bring the Protected Cruiser “USS OLYMPIA” to Bayonne for much needed repairs.

I believe the citizens of Bayonne can and will make these things happen.

Now for the biggest question, the Peninsula at Bayonne. I see it has been put out for bids once again, but do we have to sell the land or has anyone taken a look at leasing the land. We should look at the land as a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket and the city of Bayonne has won, do we take our payout as a one-time lump sum or do we take it as a forever annuity. The tough real estate market will make it hard to get top dollar at the present time. Leasing will also help any developer at they will not have to high up front cost of the purchase of the land. This will eliminate any need I believe for “tax abatements” and the city will have a lifetime income. I also believe the way the process should go is to have the BLRA look at all the bids and submit what they feel are the top six bids to the City Counsel with the counsel approving the top two which should be put

UPDATE (2:15PM): I just got en email from Stan Marko, as it turns out he emailed all members of the city Council on July 14th with the graffiti issue after the original story by Scott Y was picked up on a blog known as Plancks Constant.

Recently in the Jersey Journal and on the local Bayonne forums the topic of conversation has been the problem of graffiti in Bayonne. However a bit of a controversy has developed over who knew about & reacted to the problem first. Local Councilman and Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone appeared in the Jersey Journal in reaction to the problem kicking off reactions from forum users and the city claiming that the problem was being addressed. So where did the story start? When did Mr. Chiappone notice the problem? How bad is the problem? Is the city really on top of it? When was the first time it was written about? This is one of those issues that I find frustrating about Bayonne. To me, our politicians, police and newspaper have failed us on the issue, while each claiming to be working hard for the cause.

It has become defacto political stance now to make statements in contrary to the actual evidence that exists on a subject. Politicians and newspapers expect us to believe what they are saying just because they are saying. Either they are too lazy to do research or they know the whole story but are purposely misleading us. I think in this case the former is the case rather than the later.

However, in order for the citizens of Bayonne to be truly educated on the issue of graffit in Bayonne, here is the recent timeline I have been able to uncover:

July 10th, Bayonne Community Webboard, from user Scott Y:
“The graffiti problem downtown is at epic proportions, rendering some properties within a couple of blocks of my home more representative of the South Bronx back in the bad old days, rather than the oasis of Hudson County that Bayonne used to be.”
“Gary C. and the Quality of Life office have tried to respond to my and other neighbor’s complaints, but have been outdone by the repetitive, constant tagging that goes on.”
“HEY, TED CONNOLLY!!! You live a couple of blocks away from me. Ever take a walk through your ward? If so, how in the world can you let this area degenerate to the degree it has? Go to Orient and Evergreen Streets, or Cottage and Hobart, or Hobart and Linnett so you can get a gander at some of the “flyest” tagging you’ve ever seen in the First Ward.”
“I don’t know what the Bayonne Police Department has in place to control, if not eliminate this menace, but it ain’t working.”

Scott then goes the extra mile and actually documents the problem with pictures. Kudos to Scott for doing this, as it added real susbstance to his post.

This post is probably what grabbed Councilman Chiappone’s attention. It may be possible that someone who read this tipped him to it, but either way I do not believe that the timing of the Jersey Journal story folling this write up is coincidental.

July 29th, Jersey Journal publishes “Say ‘epidemic’ of graffiti is bringing Bayonne down” by Ronald Lier:
In the article, Councilman Chiappone is quoted: “The spread of graffiti has become so insidious that the city’s Quality of Life office has thrown up its hands, So I’m declaring war on graffiti - I’ll be urging Mayor (Terrence) Malloy to appoint a task force to address the issue.” The article goes on to say Chiappone toured part of the city’s downtown area yesterday with a Jersey Journal reporter and photographer to point out numerous businesses, the Bayonne Community Museum, mail boxes, and homes that have been vandals’ targets in recent months. “It’s now of epidemic proportions and it’s just too expensive and too time-consuming to deal with and it lowers the value of property,” the councilman said.

The question that arises from this article are twofold: Did Councilman Chiappone get the idea for this show & tell with the Jersey Journal because of the extensive documentation of graffiti on the Bayonne Community Webboard? If so, A) why did he not credit it and B) why did the Jersey Journal reporter fail to do his research to find what is redily available on the internet already on this topic?

July 29th, nj.com Bayonne forum, from user LORETIME:
He references a press release from the city of Bayonen dated 4/22/2007 (from Mayor Doria) noted that the city was offering a “graffiti removal service to Bayonne property owners” from the “Bayonne Department of Public Works, Parks, and Recreation.” The release goes on to say “There will be no charge for the removal of graffiti, providing the owner of the property signs a release and indemnification agreement, approved by the City Law Department, releasing the City of Bayonne from any and all liability. To request the graffiti removal service or to ask any questions about the program, please call the Public Works office at 201-858-6070.”

However the press release refers to no graffiti epidemic, neither does it refer to any task force being set up to tackle the issue. It appears to just be a reminder to residents that the city offers this service.

July 29th, nj.com Bayonne forum, from user RansomMike:
Mike posts a youtube clip that was taped on July 1st. This clip shows city officials describing graffiti & vandalism in city parks, stating the problem exists but has not been publicized and that arrests have been made of mostly juveniles. Mike states “This was recorded about one month before Chiappone went out with an unsuspecting Jersey Journal Reporter and Jersey Journal photographer to have himself photographed and quoted in front of a problem that was already being addressed.”

From this city it would seem that the city is aware of vandalism as it related to city owned structures and that they are dealing with the problem to some extent. However this does not deal with the graffiti outside of city owned properties, which is well documented by Scott Y in his original post on the Bayonne Community Webboard.

August 1st, City of Bayonne issues press release “City Departments Fight Graffiti” Some highlights:
“Mayor Terrence Malloy announced that the Bayonne Police Department and Bayonne Department of Public Works, Parks and Recreation have taken major steps to combat graffiti in 2008. ”
“According to the Bayonne Police Department, from January through June 2008, police officers have arrested 53 juveniles for incidents of criminal mischief pertaining to graffiti. In addition, there were other cases in which 9 juveniles were identified as actors in graffiti cases, but the victims did not wish to pursue the cases in Bayonne Municipal Court. ”
“Since January 2008, Public Works has issued 223 work orders that have removed graffiti from 274 locations. The Public Works Department has expended $3,382 in this calendar year for graffiti removal products. Graffiti removal work has covered 334 Public Works man hours at a cost of $6,295. Public Works has spent about $10,000 dealing with graffiti this year. “

The press release then goes on basically verbatim to the press release of 4/22/07. This seems a reaction by the city to the Jersey Journal article. Obviously the statistics sound impressive that are listed in the press release. If one were only to read this press release one might gather that the city has been well on top of this problem.

However, it is obvious from Scott Y’s orginal post on July 10th that the city is not on top of this problem. It appears that while some arrests are being made, and some scrubbing being done, the graffiti is going up quicker than it can be dealt with. All that has occurred has been politics, nothing more & nothing less. The problem remains as it was. Instead of listing statistics & talking about what has been done, what we need is the city, police & newspapers to take some PROACTIVE action on the issue.

Has the PD considered increasing the beat cops in highly tagged areas? If not then why not? We have identified at least a number of areas that consistenly get hit, why not stake the out?
Has the Mayor’s office considered the idea of a task force to deal with the issue? As reactive and come-lately as Chiappone is to the issue, would not a unit specialized on targeting the problem be a good idea?
Has the Jersey Journal considered showing some initiative and doing some investigative reporting on the graffiti issue? Perhaps staking out areas hard hit in order to find out who is doing it, why they are doing it, and what might deter them. re these tags gang related? or just teen angst? Why not interview some teens annoymously thereby shedding at least some light on the issue?

Laura DePinto  is a frequent contributor & supporter of the Bayonne Public Advocate. On June 22nd she wrote here on the Advocate that she was unable to get her initiative to have an elected school board on the ballot. In true Jersey Journal fashion, they picked up on the story a month later, and promptly got it wrong. Neither did they credit the Bayonne Public Advocate, which is on permanent ban from ever being mentioned on nj.com.

However, here is Laura’s letter to the editor in response to the Jersey Journal story:

The article in The Jersey Journal was very doom and gloom, insinuating that I’ve entirely rolled over on the elected Board of Education (BOE) petition. It’s just going to take more help. I cannot get it done alone. Since I don’t have a lot of contacts and resources to enlist in this objective, I’m delayed but still determined to push for change!

Bayonne has the highest property tax rate in Hudson County. More than 50 percent of property taxes go to Bayonne’s BOE.

Truly, the goal is to improve the academic standing in Bayonne. The goal is to balance the exorbitant property tax rate with academic/financial excellence. Aside from the obvious benefits of better preparing our youth, having a supercharged school district will be a draw for our city, which is seeing a sad exodus of home-owning taxpayers. Secondly, an elected board will help to keep things honest and keep patronage from what it’s become - expensive to the taxpayers, inequitable, and quite frankly a “let them eat cake” condescension among the privileged Bayonne political oligarchy.

Can these things be done without an elected board? Yes. But, Bayonne must step up to the plate to actively define and regulate “substantial conflicts of interest” among the BOE, administration and board members. Board members and administrators who head and vote on million-dollar projects like the solar panels and who coincidentally have financial interests in companies called Solar Science. Families that have more than a quarter of a million dollars in BOE incomes and who have some unknown inability to vote (presumably due to family or financial conflict) in the highly lucrative lunch program supply company, or board members who have spouses that don’t hold the full credentials for their positions but are paid as if they do. Administrators so powerful that teachers are afraid to come forward on many issues for fear of retribution. These issues need investigation, clarification and mostly remediation. These situations are highly questionable.

Until Bayonne holds school administrators accountable for continuous improvement performance through annual merit increases directly tied to district performance improvements, we’ll keep getting mediocre education while paying dearly through our taxes.

Getting BOE information is mired in unnecessary dissuading bureaucracy, seemingly designed to avoid transparency to the public. To get BOE public resolutions, one has to put forth formal Open Public Record Act requests when in most towns these are published on either the BOE web site or in local newspapers. Not so in Bayonne. Why?

It’s time for a change in Bayonne. With so much potential, we as citizens cannot afford to NOT be involved.

As many have noticed, the past month has not been a good one for the Bayonne Public Advocate website. I attempted to merge with another website, thejcboard.com, in order to offer more forum-like functionality to facilitate easier conversation for the users. Unfortunately the plan to merge was premature and many wrinkles were just not ironed out. Because the election is less than 100 days away, I thought it best that I bring the site back to it’s original state and begin working on the projects I have concerning Bayonne’s mayoral election.

I have planned to do an interview with each serious candidate for mayor in Bayonne. Each campaign has agreed to answer the questions submitted, so I expect to be posting 2 interviews in the next 30 days, one from Mark Smith and another from Pat Conaghan. The third declared candidate, Yitchak David, received a list of questions including reader submitted comments over a month ago, however he has not responded with the questions completed.

Another project that I have hopes for is organizing an impartial and unbiased mayoral debate. This idea is still in the works, so I will advise on the progress as things development.

In the meantime, accept my apologies for the absence of a working website for a month, and please feel free to post information and ideas concerning Bayonne on this website.

Thank you,

Neil

Hi All,

At this time I don’t have enough signatures to get the elected board question on the November local ballot. Unless I can get help over the next two weeks, the petition will have to wait.   This petition committee needs 10-20 dedicated people to get to the schools and public places  to obtain the correct number of signatures from Registered Voters in Bayonne and, if people aren’t registered, to register them on the spot.

I do appreciate the signatures of the 350 people or so that signed and hope that they will courageously continue to support change in Bayonne

Laura 

I have acquired a copy of the Exec Summary and the Draft.  Though requested, I was told I’m NOT  entitled to the entire unabridged, unredacted version.  Is there any interest in my posting them?  They are lengthy.

Box movers making $37 an hour. Some workers making up to $75 an hour. What are these rates for? Working the city elections. It seems that a “tradition” has been set up over time to give the city workers an extra “bonus” in their salary for working early & late hours on election day.

This issue came up as a last item on the agenda at the council meeting. The motion to pay the salaries was requested to be tabled until July. However City Clerk Sloan requested that it not be tabled, and insisted on a vote quite adamantly. These workers were under his direction, and he wanted to see them paid. The tension rose quickly, with Mr. Sloan’s assistant providing an emotional outburst agianst the city councilmen.

The debate apepars to be over the legality of Mr. Sloan to set the rates that are paid to the city workers. Councilman Chiappone (as well as other council persons) believe that, legally, the rates should be set by City Council.

At one point a city worker came up to challenge the city council, whio is obviously doing it’s best to scrutinize any out of line expense. This worker said there would be chaos if not for the work the city workers do on election day, and that we would find no one to do the work if the rates were cut. Mr Lapilusa responded: ”I am pretty confident that at half the rate that you get paid, we can get someone in here”

Ultimately the resolution to pay the workers passed, with a promise that the issue would be looked into.