For the City of Bayonne, 2006 proved a year full of historic moments and a time when the residents of the city made some hard choices about the vision they wanted for the future.
The first half of the year was dominated by a hard-fought election that included four candidates for mayor, incumbent Mayor Joseph Doria challenged by retired Municipal Judge Patrick Conaghan, retired police officer Leonard Kantor and Vincent Millitello.
The race also included significant challenges in all three wards for council, as well as a large field of at-large candidates.
Although Doria eventually prevails, he was forced into a run off against Conaghan in June.
The council races saw the reelection of three Doria running mates, Vincent Lo Re, John Halecky and Ted Connolly, but the loss of Maria Karczewski, who was edged out in the at-large race by an overwhelming reelection victory by Anthony Chiappone. Also the council saw the election of Independent candidate Gary LaPelusa in the third ward.
Behind the mayoral election, however, was a vision for the future of Bayonne with Doria promoting a mixed use development for the former Military Ocean Terminal and the construction of housing and businesses there, while Conaghan sought to retain the past industrial nature of Bayonne by promoting the use of the former base as a terminal for cargo freight.
Doria’s victory – although not overwhelming – was a vote on a new Bayonne that would focus creating a new vision for the city as the old industrial concept fades.
New faces
The year 2006 saw Doreen McAndrew DiDomenico take her place as a member of the Hudson County Board of Freeholders, replacing Barry Dugan who announced his retirement from the board in 2005.
Bayonne jumped into the 21st Century early in the year when the school district became the largest non-energy provider on the east coast to produce electric power through newly installed solar panels on several of the schools.
Early in the year, Bayonne also broke ground on new affordable housing and over the year, Bayonne saw several key developments begun that would help generate more housing for the city’s moderate income families.
In late January, Margaret Hamiel from the Bayonne Youth Center was honored for more than 35 years of service. At a ceremony held at the Hi Hat Restaurant, Hamiel was slated to retire. Later in the year, she agreed to stay on at the center until a replacement could be found. By year’s end, she remained as a fixture in the community.
In early February, Bayonne’s newest park, then called North 40 Park, was granted funding from the Hudson County Open Space Trust Fund. By Summer, the park was opened for the first time to the public and renamed Richard Rutkowski Park after an early environmental pioneer in Bayonne. By fall, Baker Residential lived up to a promise to relocate the historic Elco Boat Works crane at the park site.
Winter struck hard in February with a snow storm that dumped nearly two feet of snow on the city.
The former Babcok & Wilcox, and later Maidenform building was given historic distinction early in the year. The city would also name a home on Kennedy Boulevard as historic by the end of the year. But news came that Maidenform was going to relocate the last of its Bayonne offices, one more sign of changing times.
This was also evident when Irwin’s Discount Department store announced it would be closing its doors soon, although the closing of Holiday Tree and Trim by the end of 2005 was perhaps the saddest piece of business news.
Bayonne Medical Center issues
In March, Bayonne Medical Center announced its intention to purchase St. Vincent’s Hospital on Staten Island. This began a series of conflicts with employees over the year as BMC closed down unprofitable departments in order to keep operations going.
Although BMC officials said no connection existed between the purchase and the shut downs, numerous residents, doctors and staff put together the Coalition to Save Bayonne Medical Center asking for an accounting and an investigation of the situation. The largest outcry came in August when BMC said it was temporarily closing down its birth center. By year’s end, Robert Evans, chief executive officer and president of BMC, resigned, leaving BMC scrambling to meet unexpected shortfalls. This, however, did not affect the purchase of St. Vincent’s Hospital, which was scheduled to take place just prior to New Year’s Day.
Those honored and remembered
In March, Bayonne Public Library and Cultural Center saw the retirement of Dipali Sen, who had transformed the reference room and served as a guide for many through Bayonne’s historic artifacts.
In May, Sandy Haft left his position as executive director of the Bayonne Jewish Community Center for a similar position in Westchester, New York. In September, Jeffrey Hirshman was named as Haft’s replacement.
In May, Al Czarnecki served as the grand marshal for the Memorial Day Parade.
Bayonne suffered a significant loss in March with the passing of Dorothy Harrington, the first woman council member, and one of the key Bayonne leaders to help steer the development of the Hudson Bergen Light Rail line into Bayonne. As a tribute to her, the council voted to name its meeting chambers in her name.
In May, Harrington’s legacy was expanded when Gov. Jon Corzine and other state and federal officials came to Bayonne to unveil the next leg of the light rail that would bring the train to 8th Street where a new train station would be built.
Development of the MOTBY moved ahead
City officials had high hopes for the development of the former Military Ocean Terminal in March members of the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority saw the details for the first section Harbor Station North. This was shortly followed by yet another hopeful sign as the BLRA began negotiations with H.R. Horton and Trammell Crowe for the Bayonne Bay section — whose down payment would help bridge the municipal budget gap. Everything seemed to fall apart in June when Horton backed out of the deal leaving the city $11 million short in its budget. But officials quickly recovered forming a separate deal with Trammel Crow, and later came up with deals with two additional developers to make up the Horton loss as well as to expand the development into a third section. By the end of the year, the city had made up the budget shortfall,
In April, Bayonne High School’s Eric Delgado won top honors in the Hudson County Science Fair and was allowed to compete in the International Science and Engineering Fair in May.
Big names come to Bayonne
May saw the long-awaited opening of the Bayonne Golf Club, a private facility constructed on the top of the former city dump. The facility would draw some of high profile guests before the end of the year including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and perhaps even grander, former U.S. President Bill Clinton – who held his birthday fundraiser for his charities here.
This was Clinton’s second visit to Bayonne. On Sept. 11, the fifth anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Clinton helped unveil a gift from the people of Russia.
The construction and instillation of “To the Struggle Against World Terrorism” was paid for by the artist Zurab Tsereteli, a close friend of Clinton’s. The monument was installed at a new park at the end of MOTBY to become one of the icons of New York Harbor
Royal Caribbean expanded cruise ships in Bayonne in 2006, although the highlight of the season was the unveiling in May of the Freedom of the Seas, the world’s largest cruise ship. In the fall, Port Liberty would also welcome a visit from the Queen Mary II, which docked here for a day when other locations in New York Harbor were not available.
In December, Port Liberty would receive one of its most distinguished guests, the U.S.S. Intrepid Air and Space Museum. This was somewhat delayed from its original planned date in November, when the ship got stuck in mud. The ship made the successful voyage to Bayonne in early December.
Marguerite Baber received the 2006 Rosealynn Carter Caregiving Award in June. Clara Hyman turned 100 in 2006, while another Bayonne resident, turned 106. The Bayonne Fire Department celebrated its 100th anniversary this year as well.
The school uniform controversy
In June, the Bayonne Board of Education voted to force elementary school students to wear uniforms, raising a protest among some parents, and concern among other families about the cost and quality of the uniforms, and how the school district went about selecting the single vendor from which parents were required to purchase the uniforms.
After a series of confrontational meetings in which parents loudly protested, the school board relented and assigned an alternative vendor. But some parents, opposed to the uniform policy, filed suit to stop the implementation. The suit was dismissed by the court because it was filed beyond the 90-day limit. The New Jersey Department of Education reviewed the ruling and later concurred with the court. By year’s end, it was unclear whether parents would appeal the matter to a higher court.
Not all was positive in 2006
Two of the less illustrious events of 2006 included the Board of Education’s settling its suit over teacher Diane West, who pled guilty in 2005 to charges resulting from an affair she had conducted with a high school student.
Also in 2006, Adeline Sambade, of the city’s most respected citizens was charged with extortion.
A birthday for a bridge
Bayonne Bridge celebrated its 75th anniversary this year, and resulted in a series of events including a visit from Gov. Corzine in November.
Bayonne also took huge steps towards highway mall development with approvals for land subdivisions on a big box store mall on Route 440. This accompanies recent openings of a Staples, Houlihans and other stores at South Cove Commons a short distance away.
Development at the south west edge of Bayonne also saw progress as plans were unveiled this year for the a site which was formerly the home of a Texaco storage facility.