No part of the city faces so many contradictions as the 2nd Ward.
While the ward is the future home to new malls along Route 440, it also has issues of flooding, deteriorating homes, and a Broadway shopping district struggling to reinvent itself. With the new master plan being formulated, the candidate elected to the 2nd Ward on May 11 will be at the heart of the city’s greatest hopes and its greatest concerns.
“We have a lot of people in the 2nd Ward with fixed incomes.” – Salvatore Gullace
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Salvatore Gullace
Gullace said he has never run for political office, but has done work in the city as a volunteer. He currently serves as a member of the Bayonne Fire Canteen.
Born and raised in the 2nd Ward, Gullace attended St. Henry’s Roman Catholic Elementary School and Bayonne High School. He is currently employed as a maintenance worker at the former site of St. Henry’s School, where he performs a number of duties.
“I’ve worked there for about 26 years,” he said. “I’ve also run my own business – Rocco’s Painting – for about 27 years.”
He said he decided to run for council because he believes it is time for a change. With the retirement of Halecky, who served on the City Council for the last 20 years, Gullace sees this as his opportunity.
“I’m running because I love Bayonne,,” he said. “I was raised here; I’m raising a family here, and I just think it’s a great place to live.”
Issues vary from ward to ward, but after listening to people during his campaigning, he soon learned the number one issue on people’s minds in the 2nd Ward is taxes.
“We have a lot of people in the 2nd Ward with fixed incomes,” he said.
Quality of life issues are of a particular concern in his ward – such as cleanliness of the streets. “Some people say trash collectors leave a mess behind and don’t clean it up,” he said. “Some residents go out and clean up the mess themselves.”
Flooding is a problem in the 2nd Ward, just as it is in other parts of the city, and Gullace said he would like to find out why it happens and what can be done about it if elected.
“I don’t have all the answers,” he said. “But hopefully when I get elected I can find them out.”
One of the big concerns among residents he has talked to has been access to the hospital. Many no longer go to Bayonne Medical Center except for emergencies because of the conflict between the hospital and national medical insurance carriers.
“You can’t even be born in this town anymore because they don’t have those facilities.,” Gullace said. “You have to go to a hospital out of town.”
Gullace said he would like to see Bayonne return to what it once way.
“When I grew up here, you could shop along Broadway for almost anything. Now I had to go out of town to buy a new suit,” he said. “I want to take back Bayonne, and I want people to know that I am an honest guy. That if elected, I’ll help anybody in any ward who asks me.”
Ramon Veloz
Veloz has the distinction of being the first Hispanic member of the Bayonne Rent Control Board. He said as a business owner along Broadway, he brings a unique perspective to the City Council, and would be a strong voice for their interests and concerns when elected.
The owner of the Hispano-American Travel Agency at Broadway and 18th Street, he said he is very concerned about what is happening to the Broadway shopping district, which runs right through the center of the 2nd Ward.
“The biggest issue is the way the administration has been governing the town in general,” Veloz said. “As homeowner and business owner on Broadway, I am very concerned about how the town has been managed by the current administration and its ties to the previous administration. This administration is not doing what is good for business, especially down at MOTBY (former Military Ocean Terminal. We have one of the most valuable pieces of property in the entire North East of the United States, and we can’t seem to develop it.”
Veloz said the city’s inability to balance its yearly budget is a sign of significant problems that will get passed onto future generations unless someone stops it.
“We can’t continue to operate in the red,” he said. “While I’m campaigning, I hear people telling me they are planning to move out of Bayonne.”
He said the city needs to develop, but not just at MOTBY.
“We have a lot of empty lots in Bayonne, and we need to get together with the owners to see what we can do about them,” he said. “This is especially true along Avenue E. We need to give the owners a time limit to develop the land or to sell it off.”
To reduce city spending, Veloz said he would fight for a pay and promotion freeze until the city’s budget problems are solved.
He said he would encourage the city to seek employers that would provide higher paying jobs, such as in financial services, and to gear future development so as to encourage those types of businesses to locate here. By promoting new revenues such as these, the city then can afford to maintain its public safety and educational ranks.
Jack Butchko
This is the third time Butchko is seeking a seat in the 2nd Ward. Twelve years ago, Butchko forced incumbent Councilman Halecky into a run off. With Halecky out of the picture, Butchko, who describes himself as a consultant/public relations professional, has a history of public service, locally and in Washington, D.C., is seeking the seat again. A former staff member to two legendary members of the House of Representatives, Joseph LeFante and Frank Guarini, as well as serving as consultant to Congressional elected officials from Hawaii and former U.S. Senator John Glenn, Butchko believes he brings a new level of experience to the City Council.
“Having served on the staffs of U.S. senators and congressmen, as well as on the staff of former Mayor Dennis Collins, I have a proven record of responding favorably to the needs of taxpayers and constituents. I know how to serve the people of the 2nd Ward efficiently and honestly,” he said. “I do not need on-the-job training to learn how to get answers, and alleviate the problems of people. And it won’t take weeks or months to respond back to residents when I am elected to the City Council.”
He promises to get back to a constituent within 72 hours of a complaint.
The most pressing issues are obvious to nearly everyone, he said.
“Taxes are out of control. The city has been mismanaged for over 12 years,” he said. “The tax rate must be brought down. And it must happen soon. If we don’t act now to lower taxes, Bayonne will experience an economic collapse too dire to even contemplate.”
City hall, he said, needs “fresh ideas and new blood,” and that the old guard cannot be relieved on to solve these problems, and he compared current leadership to leaders of the Titanic, who refuse to listen to concerns even as the city like that great ship sinks.
He said he would set an example for cutting costs, by refusing to accept a public pension for his service on the council.
“Unemployment in Bayonne is soaring to ever higher levels,” Butchko said. “Business is at a standstill. People are suffering. Ask any real estate agent in town how things are going. Ask any homeowner. Ask any taxpayer if he feels the pinch and is happy with economic conditions as they are. It doesn’t have to be this way. Other cities are coping better. But Bayonne suffers from having too much politics in City Hall, and too few public servants. Too bad for Bayonne.”
Joe Hurley
Born at Bayonne Hospital and educated a St. Andrew’s School, Marist High School and St. Peter’s College, Hurley joined the Bayonne Fire Department and rose through the ranks from firefighter to deputy chief.
The recipient of numerous commendations and awards for his duties, Hurley said he is particularly concerned about young people in Bayonne, and among the issues he is concerned with, he said providing a recreation center would be one of them.
A well-known local coach and sports official, Hurley said he recognized the need to provide kids with some place to go after school.
But he noted the 2nd Ward has a diverse interest and problems that as councilman, he will have to help address.
He said he would seek to meet with Bayonne Town Center – which serves the business community in his ward, and see what they’ve done so far and what improvements could be made to help bring back the once premier shopping district.
One trend, he said he would like to promote, is the development of new residential units above stores along Broadway. This would generate customers for local businesses.
Parking, which is always a huge issue, is also something Hurley said he would look into as a councilman. He would meet with the Bayonne Parking Authority and others to make changes that could help make it easier and more affordable to park near the shopping district.
With the state taking back some if not all the revenues generated through the Urban Enterprise Zone, Hurley says the city must seek to get some of those funds returned in order to continue some of the street improvement programs the UEZ currently funds.
Like some of the other candidates, Hurley is concerned about vacant lots in his ward, and he proposes working with the owners to make them less of an eyesore, perhaps seeking county open space funds to turn them into gardens or other aesthetically pleasing places until they can be sold or redeveloped.
Hurley also said he would seek out more security cameras for problem areas in the city so that police could respond before there are problems.
In campaigning, however, Hurley said most people say they are concerned with taxes, and he said the city has to bring in recurring revenues while at the same time cutting spending.
“I believe the mayor is moving in the right direction,” Hurley said. “We have to create new development and streamline government.”
He said he would work towards full development of MOTBY and other areas, a more vibrant Broadway shopping district, and city cleanliness.