Each year, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation sponsors a five-kilometer run to honor the sacrifice of Firefighter Stephen Siller on September 11, 2001. On that day, following the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Stephen Siller strapped on sixty pounds of equipment and rushed on foot through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel to the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It was there that he gave his life while helping others. He was one of 343 firefighters who perished after responding to the World Trade Center alongside 72 police officers.
At its meeting on August 12, the Bayonne City Council voted for a resolution to authorize Bayonne to enter into a Regional Shared Services Agreement with Kearny, Jersey City, and Hoboken. That agreement will allow all four municipalities to work together to address the effects of commercial helicopter operations on their residents. The specific purpose of the agreement is to coordinate and share the costs of litigation seeking to protect Bayonne residents from adverse health, safety, welfare, and quality-of-life impacts associated with commercial helicopter operations. The resolution cited such adverse impacts of helicopter operations as excessive aircraft noise and overflights of Bayonne’s residential neighborhoods. Over the past several months, area residents have complained about noise and other impacts reportedly caused by helicopters that fly over Hudson County municipalities.
Third Ward Council Member Tommy Gillen said, “The residents of the Third Ward have raised their voices, and I am standing with them.” He continued, “Our neighborhoods are not a flight path, and this litigation makes that clear.”
Mayor Sharon Nadrowski said, “My administration is focused on protecting, preserving, and improving the quality of life for Bayonne residents.“ She continued, “Entering into this Shared Services Agreement with our partners in government increases our scale, limits our financial exposure, and solidifies our commitment to the health, safety, and welfare of all residents.”
The resolution authorized Bayonne’s financial contribution to the litigation to cover the testimony of expert witnesses. Those witnesses may be needed to testify about the negative impacts of helicopter operations on the four communities participating in the legal action. The resolution authorized Bayonne’s contribution to the case for an amount not to exceed $10,000.
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 notapply 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.
Events a day ahead, because it’s always better to know what you might want to do the next day
Jersey City 29th Annual Toy DriveDonations 2025: You can donate new, unwrapped toys to this event.Time: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. City of Jersey City Hall, 280 Grove St. Mayor Steven M. Fulop and the Resident Response Center will be accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys to distribute to children in Jersey City.
Movement Monday Yoga with Meg: This yoga class is for all levels. Location: Made of Leaves at 195 New York Ave. Time: 7:30 p.m..
The Bayonne Memorial Day Parade took place under beautiful sunny skies on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, 2025. Since 2022, the City of Bayonne has worked with the veterans of the Memorial Day Parade Committee to organize the parade. Mayor Jimmy Davis said, “As the son of a proud Korean War veteran, I am glad that the veterans and the City of Bayonne have worked together successfully on the parade.”
Bayonne’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Service is scheduled for Thursday, April 24, at 6:00 p.m., in the Dorothy Harrington City Council Chambers at 630 Avenue C. The event is sponsored by the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of Bayonne and the Bayonne Interfaith Clergy and is hosted by the City of Bayonne. Mayor Jimmy Davis is the honorary chairman of the program.
At the memorial program, elected officials will offer brief remarks and present proclamations, resolutions, and citations. Clergy from various faiths will offer prayers and reflections. Members of Bayonne’s veterans’ groups will carry the colors and the banners of their posts. Bayonne students will also participate in the procession. The Bayonne Interfaith Choir will sing.
Hara Lynn Benjamin, a cantorial singer with the Temple Beth-El Religious School, will lead the singing of Hatikvah. Alan Gordon Smulen, a cantorial singer from Temple Emanu-El and President of the board of Amore Opera, will lead the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner. The accompanist will be Sidney Hagans, Director of the Bayonne Interfaith Choir. Lee Smulen is also a member of the event’s music committee.
The event will include a candlelighting ceremony to remember the victims of the Holocaust.
The winners of the Holocaust writing contest at Bayonne High School will read from their compositions. The students will receive awards sponsored by the Preminger and Epstein families.
Arnold Wendroff is President of the UJA Federation of Bayonne. Dr. Ellen Goldberg is the Executive Director of the UJA Federation and the Jewish Community Center. Ilona Rosenberg is President of the Bayonne Jewish Community Center. Helene Kessel Nagiar and Joseph E. Ryan will co-chair the service.
This memorial program is free and open to the public.
This month, much of the world will celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, the anniversary of the death of the patron saint of Ireland. St. Patrick is credited with converting Ireland to Christianity in the fifth century after Christ.
Today, there are well over seventy million people around the world of Irish descent. For Irish-Americans, this feast day is a time for us to celebrate the contributions that Irish immigrants and their descendants have made to this country.
There is scarcely an area of American life that has not been touched by Irish-Americans. Just to take a recent example, a few weeks ago, the NBC television network celebrated the 50th anniversary of Saturday Night Live. During its history, that show has featured such Irish-American cast members as Jane Curtin, Bill Murray, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Chris Farley, Colin Quinn, Molly Shannon, Julia Sweeney, and Nora Dunn, among others. Martin Short, another former cast member, is Irish-Canadian.
Elsewhere in television, Irish-Americans have made their mark as great talk show hosts: Stephen Colbert, Conan O’Brien, Steve Allen, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas (real name: Michael Delaney Dowd, Jr.), and Jimmy Fallon (after leaving Saturday NightLive).
The ancestors of many American presidents came from Ireland: John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama (on his mother’s side), Richard Nixon, James K. Polk, Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Ulysses Grant, William McKinley, and others.
Here in Bayonne, the Irish began arriving in large numbers in the 1800’s. Most came here with very little money and a willingness to work hard. Many of the early Irish immigrants lived in the old Fourth Ward (now part of the First Ward) in the Bergen Point area. Bayonne’s Irish-American community has been noted for its large presence in the government sector. Irish-American elected officials, police officers, firefighters, civil servants, school administrators, and teachers have played major roles in our city’s history.
Wherever the Irish have gone, they have brought their religious faith, great music, and gift for language with them. The Irish also carry memories of suffering from religious persecution, poverty, foreign occupation, and the Great Hunger of 1845-51.
Millions of Irish-Americans are grateful for the opportunities this country has provided. Irish-Americans should be proud of our progress in this country and of our cultural heritage.
On Sunday, March 23, when Bayonne is having our annual St. Patrick’s Parade. We begin marching at 1:00 p.m. at 5th Street and Broadway. The parade will move up Broadway to 39th Street. It will move westward on 39th Street to Avenue C, and then will march northward up Avenue C to the viewing stand between 40th and 41st Streets. Finally, the parade will finish up in the front portion of Gregg-Bayonne County Park. I look forward to seeing you at the parade!
Recently, in the Bayonne City Council Chambers, the Bayonne Fire Department held a ceremony for six new battalion chiefs and eleven new captains. The promotions took place to refill the ranks following recent retirements in the department.
New Bayonne Fire Department Battalion Chiefs: Mayor Jimmy Davis and the Fire Department leadership posed with the department’s newly promoted battalion chiefs (BC’s). Pictured left to right: Mayor Jimmy Davis, Fire Chief Keith Weaver, BC Christopher Czuba, BC Theodore Wolf, BC Michael Smith, BC Edward Ratyniak, BC Roger Nunez, BC Marcial Pivano, Deputy Fire Chief William Bartos, and Public Safety Director Robert Kubert.
New Bayonne Fire Department Captains: Mayor Jimmy Davis and the Fire Department leadership posed with the department’s new captains: Mayor Davis, Fire Chief Keith Weaver, Captain Steven Pilanski, Captain Timothy Lynch, Captain James Pilger, Captain David Sisk, Captain Brian Petty, Captain Jeffrey Spengler, Captain Thomas Weber, Captain Richard Baccarella, Captain Michael Visone, Captain Brian Cotter, Captain Kevin Pietranico, Deputy Chief William Bartos, and Public Safety Director Robert Kubert.
The new battalion chiefs are Christopher Czuba, Theodore Wolf, Michael Smith, Edward Ratyniak, Roger Nunez, and Marcial Pivano.
Battalion Chief Christopher Czuba is a graduate of Bayonne High School. He earned a degree in HVAC Technology at Lincoln Technical Institute. He was appointed to the Bayonne Fire Department in 1999. His extensive training and certifications include: Hazardous Material Tech, Confined Space, Fire Officer 2, Fire Official, and Fire Investigator. He has earned several awards including Unit Citations for rescue on June 6, 2004 on 30th St. and Kennedy Blvd., and a Team Effort Award from the Cooperman Barnabas Burn Center for the rescue of a person who was trapped in rising floodwaters of Hurricane Ida in September 2021.
This week, our friends and neighbors in the Jewish community will be celebrating Hanukkah, which is known as the Festival of Lights. The festival recalls the events in the years 167-165 B.C. when the Seleucid Empire outlawed the Jewish religion in Israel. The Seleucid king ordered the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to be turned into a place of worship for the pagan god, Zeus. That king also ordered that pigs be sacrificed there. Pigs are considered unclean by Jews and many others, and their meat is not kosher under traditional Jewish dietary laws. The Jews rebelled successfully against the Seleucids and rededicated the Temple to the Jewish faith. Although there was only enough oil to light the Temple for one day, the oil provided light for eight days. This miracle was the origin of Hanukkah as the Festival of Lights. A special lamp called a menorah contains spaces for candles or lights that can be illuminated for each of the eight days of Hanukkah, plus an extra one in the middle. The menorah is one of the national symbols of the Jewish people.
My fondest memories of the holiday season go back to Thanksgiving nights growing up. After Thanksgiving dinner at my grandmother’s apartment in Jersey City, my father would drive us back to Bayonne. My sister and I would always anticipate what would happen after our car made a right onto 29th Street, and then a left onto Broadway. Suddenly, there it was – the sight of holiday lights and decorations on Broadway. We would drive down the whole shopping district seeing lights. In those days, big decorations crossed Broadway from one side of the street to the other. The anticipation of getting there was a big part of childhood.
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