Holiday Shoppers Receive Four Hours Of Free Parking In Bayonne Parking Utility Lots Through January 1st, Help For Local Fire Victims
Free Four-Hour Parking for Non-Commercial Vehicles in Bayonne Parking Utility Lots, December 2 Through January 1
Editor’s note: Staten Islander covered the protests by PETA over the last couple of weeks for Free The Animals Friday (instead of Black Friday), reminding shoppers that Coach leather bags come from a cruel practice. Star 99.1’s Kristen James also kicked off the holiday shopping season at Short Hills Mall’s Macy’s store. We also covered a recent upgrade to the NYCHA South Beach Houses’ fire alarm systems. A house fire in Linden was recently put out with no loss of life.
Mayor Jimmy Davis 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.
Local Departments and Agencies Hold Meeting to Help Fire Victims
Mayor Jimmy Davis announced that several local departments and agencies held a meeting to help victims of last Friday’s fire at 456, 458, and 460 Avenue C. Bayonne’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Coordinator, Edoardo (Junior) Ferrante, organized the event. About thirty victims of the fire attended the meeting in the City Council Chambers at Bayonne City Hall on November 26.
Fire Chief Keith Weaver announced that the Fire Department would be distributing multiple fire reports to the victims present at the meeting. A fire report is the Fire Department’s official record about an incident. Chief Weaver said that a fire report would be the key to getting new official documents to replace the ones destroyed by the fire. He estimated that the recovery period for the fire victims would be from three-to-six months.
OEM Coordinator Ferrante urged the victims to get renter’s insurance after finding a new rental apartment. He pointed out that renter’s insurance provides funding for destroyed belongings and for temporary hotel stays.
Public Safety Director Robert Kubert pointed out that his own house burned down ten years ago, so that he understood the fire victims’ situation. He reminded them that the Bayonne Police Department provides services twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Director Kubert invited the victims to call the police at any time to request help with emergency services and contacts with other public agencies.
Calling Bayonne “absolutely extraordinary,” Superintendent of Schools John Niesz advised the victims that a fundraiser was taking place in the Bayonne school system to raise money for them. He announced that the Board of Education would provide school uniforms to the students affected by the fire. Superintendent Niesz advised fire victim families that move around to provide their updated contact information to Junior Ferrante.
Maureen Hurley Brown, Board of Education Principal of Culture and Climate, said that the Board of Education would provide transportation for the children who were displaced by the fire. She asked the families to notify the school system of their updated addresses.
Anthony Segarra, the Executive Director of the Bayonne Economic Opportunity Foundation (BEOF), said that gift cards were being distributed to the fire victims. He invited them to fill out various applications for assistance, and said that income verification was not needed. Mr. Segarra announced that the State of New Jersey is willing to help the fire victims with energy assistance. He advised the families that the children affected by the fire are eligible for various programs. After saying that there is “light at the end of the tunnel,” he invited the fire victims to apply for assistance at the BEOF, 555 Kennedy Boulevard, Bayonne.
Joyce Person-Perkins, Director of the Bayonne Office On Aging, said that she, too, was a fire victim a few years ago. She stated that the Office On Aging staff at City Hall could help people with applications for assistance and could also assist them with finding apartments. The Office On Aging specializes in helping people over the age of 60.
The county departments present included the Hudson County Department of Health and Human Services and the Hudson County Department of Family Services. County officials advised that fire victims may apply for an emergency hotel stay for up to thirty days.
After the various departments and agencies finished their presentations, fire victims met with them to discuss their programs and to apply for assistance.
Banner Image: Holiday window shopping in Australia. Image Credit – Heidi Fin
City of Bayonne
Bayonne is a community that retains many of the elements of a small town. One and two family homes, small apartment buildings, and small business predominate. There is a population of 62,000 people who take pride in their hometown and its history. Bayonne residents and their ancestors moved to the city from many parts of the world. During colonial times and the first century of the American Republic, the Dutch, British, and Africans were the first groups to arrive after the Native Americans. Subsequent waves of immigrants came from all over Europe, especially between the 1880s and the 1920s. In recent decades, sources of immigration have largely been represented from countries in Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeastern Asia. Each group has left its mark on the cultural, religious and political life of the community.
[…] Vehicles in Bayonne Parking Utility Lots, December 1 Through January 4 Editor’s note: This event has become an annual tradition in the City of Bayonne, and we covered their announcement about…. This helps people who don’t live in the shopping district to come and shop while they […]