To honor former freeholder Neil Carroll of Bayonne, the Hudson County Board of Freeholders is expected to give his name to a portion of Stephen Gregg Park.
“This man has been involved in public service since he served in World War II,” said Freeholder Bill O’Dea. “That’s eight decades of service.”
O’Dea asked the freeholders to dedicate a portion of the county park near the 39th Street entrance and around the Spanish-American War Monument in Bayonne as “Neil Carroll Plaza.”
“Neil was part of the effort to restore the monument called ‘The Hiker’ when he served as freeholder,” O’Dea said.
Along with a number of Bayonne Historic Preservation members, Carroll launched the “Save the Hiker’’ project in 1997 in an effort to restore the Spanish-American War Monument. In 1912 “The Hiker,” sculpted by Allen George Newman and erected at the traffic triangle at 30th Street and the Boulevard, had been dedicated to commemorate the American infantrymen who fought during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Rededicated in 1997, it is now in Heroes’ Square at the Stephen Gregg Park. Final plans are unclear, but the freeholders may vote to rename a portion of the square after Carroll.
A real public servant
O’Dea asked for the dedication of the park space at the March 24 freeholder caucus as the board planned to honor Carroll for his role as a member of the Hudson County Schools of Technology Board of Education.
“Neil Carroll’s allegiance and reverence to the nation’s veterans living in Hudson County and his hometown stem from his own military service,” the proposed resolution said.
Carroll joined the U.S. Navy in 1944 and served in World War II. He returned to the Navy several years later to fight in Korea. He left the Armed Forces at the end of the Korean War and went on to serve as congressional aide for Congress members Cornelius Gallagher, Joseph LeFante, and Dominick Daniels. He has also worked on numerous gubernatorial and presidential campaigns in New Jersey.
Carroll is a former executive director and campaign manager of the Hudson County Democratic Organization and served as deputy political director of the Jim Florio for Governor Committee. In 1990, Florio named Carroll as chairman and executive director of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Carroll has been involved in numerous community efforts. He was named Man of the Year in 1989 by the Bayonne Sicilian Club, then Man of the Year by an Irish club in Bayonne in 1990. He was inducted into the Bayonne High School Hall of Fame for Community service in 1997.
Former West New York Mayor Sal Vega called Carroll a model public servant. Vega met Carroll when both men were elected freeholders in 1996, and Carroll went on to become a political consultant for Vega in West New York. Carroll served as freeholder from Bayonne from 1996 to 1999.
“Neil’s whole career was about putting other people first.” – Sal Vega
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“He served one term as freeholder, but I asked him to stay on as chief of staff to the Board of Freeholders when his term expired,” Vega said. “Neil is truly the definition of a public servant. Neil’s whole career was about putting other people first. He never sought the spotlight. His goal was about getting the job done.”
Carroll served as an advisor to former Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith when Smith was the HCDO executive director over the last five years, and has had close relationships with a number of powerful political figures, including State Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco.
Carroll is the owner of a security company in Bayonne. Most recently, Carroll served from 2009 to this year as a member of the Hudson County Schools of Technology Board of Education.
“During his career he’s worked with veterans and the aged,” said O’Dea. “He has dedicated most of his life to serving the public, and this plaza in Bayonne would be a fitting tribute.”
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.To comment on this story on-line, go to our website, www.hudsonreporter.com.