The Bayonne Public Advocate

It seems as if Yitzchak David has lost interest in running for mayor, however a new unkown might be taking his place. As with all things that come from the nj.com forum, one can never be certain if what you are reading is misinformation, however, this message popped up today from a user name wcwman2212. I would ask Mr Rokicki to contact me via email at neil AT urbannerd.com so that I can interview him and discuss his platform further if he is for real & actually exists. Here is his message in it’s entirety:

My name is RAYMOND ROKICKI and I am running for MAYOR of the city of BAYONNE.

I was born and spent my entire life in Bayonne even though for thirty years I have spent just half of that time home in Bayonne. I spent the early years living with my parents in the LaTourrette housing apartments between 1st and 2nd street. I attended Mary J. Donohue School and Bayonne High School. Soon after graduating I started my life’s work of going to sea on merchant ships. Other than the two years I spent in the United States Marine Corp, from 1969 until 1971 it has been the only job I had until I left in Aug. of 2001. I sailed in every deck department rating from Ordinary Seaman to Master.

I am entering this race because I have heard so many citizens of Bayonne Saying they cannot vote for Mr. Conahan because he is not a true resident of Bayonne and they cannot vote for Mr. Smith of various reasons.

What can I offer the citizens of Bayonne that can improve the quality of life and break the back of the crippling burden of property taxes that we have been asked to endure with no end in sight.

1. I will first have the police who are in patrol cars to park their vehicles shut their engines off and walk for one hour per shift. One half hour before and one half hour after their meal hour. Let this small jester be a start of loosening this grip that gasoline has on our country.2. I will designate at least one day per week which will be a “No Driving of city vehicles”, except fire and police, unless in an emergency.3. I will ask the owners of the golf course to do some research and find a proper 6 or 8 passenger golf cart type vehicle, that the city will purchase, so our citizens who can not make the trip along the walkway by the golf course, without assistance, have some means of enjoying the view of New York Bay.4. We need to get our young citizens involved in our government. I will ask the principles of the high schools in our town to make a list of their students who they feel can serve on our various boards. Let our young citizens see what it is like to serve on the Zoning Board, Planning Board, Parking Authority or any of the other boards or authorities that have input into how our city is run.5. Having sailed for 30 years it has been with great pain every year during Fleet Week our countries naval vessels sail into Upper New York Bay right pass Bayonne with none making a port call in our city. The great naval history our city has had is all but forgotten, some of the greatest and best-known battleships and aircraft carriers have been berth or repaired in our town and now we cannot even get a destroyer to come here during Fleet Week. I will ask our congressional delegations to change this and inquire of the Sec. of the Navy about having a vessel dock in Bayonne. Let the citizens of Bayonne get to see what our present day navy looks like, let our citizens entertain the crews of the ships that go in harm’s way to protect us.By the same token how is it that not one tall ship has ever docked on our shores? As mayor I will personally lead a delegation knocking on the door of every consulate that has a Tall Ship to again “pay our shores a visit”. Let our Italian-American Citizens get a chance to welcome and entertain the crew of the “Americo Vespucci”. Can our Polish-American citizens have a bigger party for the crew of the “Dar Mlodzierzy”? Can our Irish-American citizens get the “Jeanie Johnston” to make a port call so they can see what the conditions were like getting to America during the Great Famine? I believe we will be able to get the “Amistad” here for a few days so our African-American citizens can see what the conditions were like for Africans coming to our shores. Can our congressional delegation convince the Commandant of the Coast Guard to have the “Eagle” dock at the Coast Guard station for a short period? I will work with the ship repair facility to try and bring the Protected Cruiser “USS OLYMPIA” to Bayonne for much needed repairs.

I believe the citizens of Bayonne can and will make these things happen.

Now for the biggest question, the Peninsula at Bayonne. I see it has been put out for bids once again, but do we have to sell the land or has anyone taken a look at leasing the land. We should look at the land as a winning Mega Millions lottery ticket and the city of Bayonne has won, do we take our payout as a one-time lump sum or do we take it as a forever annuity. The tough real estate market will make it hard to get top dollar at the present time. Leasing will also help any developer at they will not have to high up front cost of the purchase of the land. This will eliminate any need I believe for “tax abatements” and the city will have a lifetime income. I also believe the way the process should go is to have the BLRA look at all the bids and submit what they feel are the top six bids to the City Counsel with the counsel approving the top two which should be put

August 12th, 2008 | by admin | Category: elections | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL