Bayonne not moving forward
To the Editor:
I think it is comical that the mayor chose “Moving Forward” as his theme for re-election. The more people I talk to everyday tend to say the same thing to me. “Bayonne has been in a time warp for the last six years”. It used to be the cutest little town.
The city council has placed the blame on the State and the Economy for Bayonne’s woes but I believe otherwise. The rubber stamp council has voted yes on every agenda item. How about Vision and Imagination? There are so many Great reasons to live in Bayonne. As industry has slowly left, where was the plan? There was none. I find it hard to believe that nothing could have been done to work with property owners and business owners alike to bring in new business to Bayonne and Broadway. Any mayor in office could have built the back highway.
With all the abatements given to billionaire developers, why wasn’t the community more involved in the planning process so that they have their fair say? I am definitely not speaking about the council meetings where the public speaks on deaf ears as the deal is already made. I am talking about developers working with the community hand in hand to make sure that jobs are open first to Bayonne residents. I am talking about the developer building a kid’s park or day-care center within the development. Let’s not try to create a glut of high priced apartments but build some for mixed income families also.
Broadway was intentionally left to die, in spite of our mayor’s “Looking Forward” theme last Election. The mayor stated in his July 1, 2010 address at his inauguration, “We will reinvent our Broadway shopping district, improving the local shopping experience to compete in today’s economy.” Six years later, the city is doing a block study and the Mayor wants to possibly bulldoze the block. How about a shopping district study? Would that make more sense? Or is it that the plan all along was to let the block decay so people would buy the property on the cheap, never fix it and then get bought out with Federal or state funds? The real question here is, “Is Bayonne better now than it was six years ago? I would say, “Sorry Charlie.”
I think it is important for everyone living in Bayonne to understand how important it is to play even a small part in city government. This town belongs to all of us. As you can see over the course of the last six years, the vision of Bayonne has been laid out by one man, Mayor Smith. It is a shame that He has shared no responsibility for his failures. Let us all be strong and stand up for Bayonne and not be bullied by anyone. Now is the time, now is our chance to step up and play our part in our community. Please join me in my fight for a Bayonne, we all love and can help rebuild. Together, I am confident that we can make the changes necessary to reshape our wonderful community for the better. Please contact me at johnsebik@gmail.com.
JOHN MILAN SEBIK
Candidate for Councilman At Large