City Clerk Madelene Medina announced that early voting for Bayonne’s May 12 Municipal Election will take place on the following dates and times in the Council Chambers at City Hall and at the Bayonne Community Museum:

Friday, May 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 9, from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Sunday, May 10, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

City Hall is located at 630 Avenue C, between 27^th and 28^th Streets. The Bayonne Community Museum is located at 229 Broadway at the corner of 9^th Street. Designated, short-term parking spaces for voters will be established in front of City Hall and the Bayonne Community Museum on May 8, 9, and 10. The Council Chambers are located inside City Hall on the ground floor of the building, immediately inside the main glass door entrance to the building.  Voting will take place in the Community Museum on the ground level of the building.  Handicapped parking and a handicapped ramp are available at the rear of the Community Museum.

The offices up for election in the Bayonne 2026 Municipal Election are Mayor (vote for one), Council Members At-Large (vote for two), and Council Member for each ward (vote for one in either the First Ward, the Second Ward, or the Third Ward), depending on your place of residence.  Voters from throughout the city will be allowed to participate in the early voting at City Hall and at the Bayonne Community Museum.  Votes cast in the early voting period will be counted with those cast in the voter’s ward of residence on Election Day. 

            Only those who are registered to vote in the City of Bayonne may participate in the early voting program for the Bayonne Municipal Election.  Anyone who votes early on May 8, 9, or 10 will not be allowed to vote on Election Day, which is Tuesday, May 12, because they will have voted already.

            The early voting process will be administered by City Clerk Medina and her staff.  

The post Early Voting for Bayonne’s 2026 Municipal Election Set for May 8, 9, and 10 first appeared on River View Observer.

            The Chief John T. Brennan Fire Museum announced that it will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, April 30, at 4:30 p.m. The event will mark the start of regular hours for the museum, which will be open on Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  The museum is located at 10 West 47^th Street.  Regular Saturday hours will start effective May 2. 

            The museum building was constructed in 1875 as the first firehouse built in the City of Bayonne.  At the time of its completion, the firehouse was known as Bayonne Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, and it housed a volunteer fire company.  It was a hand-drawn truck company was located on what was known then as Northview Avenue.   The address was changed to 47^th Street in 1888 when Bayonne standardized a system of numbered side streets. 

            Originally, the firehouse had just one floor.  A second story was added in 1884, so that the building could accommodate new, horse-drawn fire trucks.  In 1906, Bayonne switched from volunteer fire companies to a paid fire department.  The paid firefighters continued using the firehouse until 1928.  After that, for several decades, the Association of Exempt Firemen held their meetings in the building. 

            In 1974, Mrs. Geni Brown, the sister of Fire Captain Edward Kaminski, suggested to Fire Chief John T. Brennan that the City of Bayonne apply to have the firehouse listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  In 1976, the firehouse received a place on the National Register with the support of Mayor Dennis P. Collins and Community Development Director Joseph Pulaski. 

            On October 15, 1979, the firehouse was dedicated as the Bayonne Firefighters’ Museum.  “Fireman Pete” Gwiazdowski was the museum’s first curator.  On May 19, 1988, the building was rededicated as the Chief John T. Brennan Fire Museum, to honor retired Fire Chief Brennan who led the Fire Department from 1960 until he retired in March 1988. 

            The fire museum includes the state’s oldest hand-drawn hose carriage and a hand-drawn hand pumper.  The museum also includes several original oil paintings of Chief Officers of the New York City Fire Department.  Firefighter artifacts include antique fire trumpets, fire helmets, badges, and numerous other items. 

            The fire museum will offer private tours by appointment only.  Members of the public can contact the museum by email at bfdmuseum@gmail.com or by phone at 201-725-1683. 

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            Mayor Robert Kubert announced that the Bayonne Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will participate in Take-Back Day. This event will allow the public to rid their homes of potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.  Take-Back Day will be held on Saturday, April 25, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Residents are encouraged to bring their medications for disposal to the front lobby of City Hall, 630 Avenue C, between 27^th and 28^th Streets.  The service is free and anonymous.  Residents are encouraged to remove their names from medication bottles.  Law enforcement recommends removing prescription labels that contain any personal identifying information. 

The DEA cannot accept liquids, needles, or sharps.  Only pills and patches will be accepted.  

            Mayor Kubert said, “I urge Bayonne residents to take part in Take-Back Day if they have unneeded prescription drugs at home. Your participation will help make Bayonne a safer and healthier community.” According to the DEA, medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse.  Rates of prescription abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.  Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets.       

Public health agencies advise that some methods for disposing of unused medicines, such as flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash, pose health and safety hazards.

             On Saturday, April 25, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., drop-off parking in Bayonne for Take-Back Day will be available in front of City Hall on Avenue C, between 27^th and 28^th Streets.

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Bayonne Mayor Robert Kubert presents a proclamation for Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) Awareness Month:  Mayor Kubert presented the proclamation to Colleen and Roy Feeley, the parents of Shannon Feeley, who died in 2007 from an unexplained cause. Members of the extended family gathered in the Office of the Mayor, where Mayor Kubert read the proclamation aloud to the group. Pictured left to right: Caitlin Feeley, Megan Feeley, Colleen Feeley, Roy Feeley, Mayor Robert Kubert, Gina Nowak, Victoria Nowak, John Nowak, and Jake Nowak.

Bayonne Mayor Robert Kubert has issued a proclamation declaring March Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) Awareness Month. SUDC is the unexpected death of a child over the age of 12 months, which remains unresolved after an investigation is conducted, including a full and thorough review by a medical examiner.

Mayor Kubert presented the proclamation to Bayonne residents Roy and Colleen Feeley, the parents of the late Shannon Feeley, who passed away suddenly at the age of three-and-a-half in 2007 from an unknown cause.  Several members of the Feeleys’ extended family joined them for the presentation of the proclamation. Mayor Kubert read the proclamation to the family members in the Office of the Mayor. In their daughter’s case, as with all SUDC cases, the medical examiner could not determine a cause of death. 

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            On December 16, public officials and film industry executives took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the 1888 Studios, the motion picture and television production complex that will rise at the foot of Avenue A in Bayonne.  The event took place inside a tent on the studio construction site, the former location of the Texaco refinery that closed in the 1980s. The new facility will include 23 soundstages on 58 acres.  More than one million square feet of building space will be constructed.  The construction phase is expected to produce 2,300 union jobs for the building trades.  When the facility is complete and operational, it is expected to produce 2,000 union jobs.  Paramount has already signed an agreement for a ten-year lease for a major portion of the 1888 Studios.

            Speaking about Bayonne at the ceremony, Arpad (Arki) Busson, the President of the 1888 Studios, said that the production complex “will reshape the city for generations to come” and would make Bayonne “a global connector.”  Mr. Busson thanked Mayor Jimmy Davis for making Bayonne “a most welcome place to do business.”

            Paramount’s Global Operations executive, Jose Turkienicz, said that his company will lease 285,000 square feet of space at the 1888 Studios. He called the studio complex “a major step forward” and a source of “creative momentum.”   A former New Jersey resident, Mr. Turkienicz, thanked the state’s public officials for supporting tax credit programs for the film industry in the Garden State.  He said that the 1888 Studios were “building a future.”

The post Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for 1888 Studios in Bayonne first appeared on River View Observer.

            The City of Bayonne, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and New York Waterway held a groundbreaking ceremony on December 17 at the future location of the Bayonne-New York ferry.  That parcel is located on the southern side of the former Military Ocean Terminal, about one mile east of the main part of Bayonne.  The future terminal will be located next to a former military motel, located at 51 Port Terminal Boulevard. 

The post Groundbreaking Ceremony Held for Bayonne-New York Ferry Terminal first appeared on River View Observer.

Free Four-Hour Parking for Non-Commercial Vehicles

The Davis Administration announced that the Bayonne Parking Utility lots will offer free four-hour parking for non-commercial vehicles in its parking lots from Monday, December 2, 2024, through Wednesday, January 1, 2025.

Regular parking charges in the lots will resume for non-commercial vehicles on Thursday, January 2, 2025. Mayor Davis said, “The goal of the four-hour free parking program in the lots is to encourage people to shop and dine in Bayonne during the holiday season.”

Mayor Davis thanked the Bayonne Parking Utility for supporting the four-hour free parking policy again this year. He said, “The Parking Utility deserves our

gratitude for offering free four-hour parking to non-commercial vehicles in the lots during the 2024 holiday season.”

The four-hour program does not apply to commercial vehicles or to on-street parking meters. All commercial and non-commercial drivers must continue feeding the meters on the streets. The paid permit program for commercial vehicles that park overnight in the lots will remain in effect.

On certain dates in the holiday season that will be announced, parking charges will not be enforced for the entire day. Otherwise, the free parking will be limited to four hours. In some previous years, there was free parking around the clock for a month. However, the program was abused by certain commuters who left their vehicles in free spaces all day, in order to avoid paying for spaces at Light Rail stations. That is why the holiday season parking program was modified a few years ago to allow four hours of free parking at a time in the lots for a given non-commercial vehicle.

Photo courtesy of Bayonne

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          Last week, the New Jersey State League of Municipalities held an important seminar on getting cities and towns ready for the motion picture business.  The City of Bayonne was represented at the event because the 1888 Studios will play a very important role in our community’s future. 

          According to Jon Crowley, Executive Director of the New Jersey Motion Picture and Television Commission, New Jersey “has gone from being the nation’s eighth largest production hub to the fourth busiest domestic location for film and television production.”  From 2023 to 2024, qualified spending on television and film production in New Jersey rose from $592 million to $833 million.  Jon Crowley called that “a phenomenal 41% rise in production.”  In his presentation, Mr. Crowley explained that film crews can find a variety of locations in New Jersey, going from the shore to the mountains in 90 minutes. 

The post Mayor’s Corner- Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis-The Film Industry is Growing in New Jersey first appeared on River View Observer.