A&P to close store in Bayonne
The city of Bayonne will seek a new tenant if A&P supermarket closes, officials said this week. Some workers at A&P told the Bayonne Community News this week that A&P – located on Avenue A just south of North Street – may close in March.
Then, Tuesday afternoon, NJBiz.com reported that the company will close five stores in New Jersey as part of a bankruptcy filing, naming Bayonne as one of the stores.
“We have no official word from A&P that they are closing, although we have heard that their employees have been told to expect the store to close in March,” said Steve Gallo, business administrator for the City of Bayonne. “Should that occur, the city would work with the property owner to identify and encourage a suitable tenant to locate in that shopping center.”
City Council will introduce temporary budget on Jan. 18
The Bayonne City Council – which is operating on a calendar-year budget for the first time since the early 1990s – is expected to introduce a temporary budget at its Jan. 18 meeting, until they can pass a final budget for the year.
The council also is expected to introduce an ordinance that would amend many of the fees the city charges. A public hearing on these will be held on Feb. 15.
The council is also expected to report on bids received for HVAC installation at the Bayonne Community Museum, work at the South Harbor Fire Station, and for bathroom renovations at Mayor Dennis P. Collins Park. If bids are acceptable, contracts for these services are expected to be awarded at the same meeting.
Rivera named freeholder chairman
After nearly a year of fighting for his life, Jersey City Freeholder Eliu Rivera returned to the Hudson County Freeholder Board in high fashion, being named chairman at the Jan. 4 reorganization meeting.
“Doctors thought I was a goner at least three times, and they still can’t explain how my lungs began to function again,” he said, calling it a miracle.
Rivera, who served as vice chairman in 2011, spoke from the chairman’s seat after fellow freeholders unanimously voted for him to serve as chairman for 2012, completing what would have otherwise been a routine rotation – in which vice chairman one year becomes chairman the next.
Hoboken Freeholder Anthony Romano was named vice chairman for 2012, and West New York Freeholder Jose Munoz pro temp. Jersey City Freeholder Jeff Dublin was named the county’s representative to the New Jersey League of Municipalities, where he will also serve as first vice president for the upcoming year.