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The Bayonne branch of the NAACP has rescheduled its second annual Juneteenth festival from tomorrow to next Saturday, June 24.

The celebration is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. with a kick-off parade that starts at Avenue A and DiDomenico 16th Street Park. The festival itself is set to take place from noon to 5 p.m. and is to include music, spoken word and poetry, student performances, vendors, food and game trucks, face painting, and arts and crafts.

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Gen. Gordon Granger of the Union Army ordered in Galveston, Texas, that enslaved people in the state must be freed. They were the last to learn of their freedom because Texas was a remote state at the time. The Civil War had already ended, and President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had been in effect for more than two years.

There’s some confusion about when the holiday is celebrated.

In New Jersey, state legislators decided to consistently commemorate the holiday on the third Friday in June, so state offices are closed today.

The federal government commemorates the holiday on June 19 itself unless that date falls on the weekend. When June 19 falls Saturday, the national holiday will be the Friday before; when it falls on a Sunday, the holiday will be the Monday after.

This year, the date lands on Monday so federal offices and the post office will be closed then.

The Jersey Journal follows the federal schedule. There will be no paper on Monday, and our offices will be closed. Subscribers will receive Monday’s Star-Ledger.

In addition to the Bayonne NAACP festival next weekend, several celebrations are planned in Hudson:

* Jersey City’s African Cultural Arts Juneteenth Family Festival returns on Saturday, June 17, from 1 to 7 p.m., at Berry Lane Park, Garfield Avenue at Union Street.

A main stage will feature performances emceed by Rob Crocker, host of WBGO-88.3 jazz radio. Headlining at 5 p.m. will be the Blackbyrds, who are preparing their 50th anniversary tour this summer.

Children’s Stage performances will include martial arts, rap, poetry and the Jump 4 Jerry Double Dutch Team.

Face painting and art and crafts are among the other highlights.

* On Monday, June 19, the Jersey City Economic Development Corp. presents a Juneteenth festival at Liberty State Park from noon to 8 p.m. Entitled “All About Us,” it will include more than 40 Black-owned food and artisan vendors, DJs, face painting, a gaming area, photo booths for kids, as well as live art activations from artists at Mana Contemporary.

There will also be a special performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip hop music featuring artists Slick Rick the Ruler, Sango, DJ Clue, DJ First Choice, DJ Wallah, DJ Buka, DJ Midnite, Winard Harper, Felicia Temple, Avante, and RXparations.

Tickets are $25 general admission; $18.66 for children and seniors; $20 for admission after 4 p.m. Children under 2 are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased online at allaboutusfestival.com. The Green Ring at Liberty State Park is located at 1 Audrey Zapp Drive, Jersey City.

* Hudson County Community College’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and its African American Outreach Committee will host a “Juneteenth Celebration of Freedom Through the Arts” at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, at the HCCC Gabert Library, 71 Sip Ave., Jersey City.

Pamela Gardner, a lifelong educator and a member of the HCCC Board of Trustees, will serve as program host. Song, dance and gospel performances will be featured, and refreshments will be served. For information, email [email protected].

BAYONNE, NJ - The City of Bayonne will host their annual Independence Day Celebration on Wednesday, July 5, at the lower level of DiDomenico-16th Street Park, Mayor Jimmy Davis announced.

Set to begin at 6:30 p.m., the event will feature attractions for both children and adults, including free children's inflatable rides until 8:30 p.m.; music by Parkway Soul, an Earth, Wind and Fire tribute band, beginning at 7:00 p.m.; and fireworks scheduled to go off at approximately 9:15 p.m. The fireworks show will run for about 30 minutes.

Food vendors will be located in the parking lot.

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A buffer zone will be created in the park and the bay for residents' safety. Only authorized people will be allowed inside the buffer zone. No pleasure craft in Newark Bay will be permitted within a perimeter of at least 500 feet from the launch site, as per the U.S. Coast Guard. The Fire Department will have a boat in the bay during the show.

The Bayonne Recreation Division is providing free shuttle bus service for the event and will pick up passengers at East 24th Street and Church Lane. This location is near two parking lots: Parking Lot 6 (behind Archie's Cab) and Parking Lot 7 (behind Valley Bank).

Shuttle bus service will begin at 6:00 p.m., and will drop off passengers at the lower level parking lot alongside the tennis courts until 8:30 p.m. Following the fireworks, at approximately 10:00 p.m., the buses will pick up passengers at the same area for the return trip to East 24th Street and Church Lane.

Shuttles will continue to run until all passengers have been returned to East 24th Street and Church Lane, by approximately 11:00 p.m.

To provide space for the shuttle, parking will not be allowed in a designated bus area between 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Signs will be posted in the designated no parking area.

The boat ramp on the lower level of the park will be closed to boats for the entire day and the boat ramp parking lot will be available for public parking.

The main parking area on the lower level of the park will be closed to the general public after 7:00 a.m. No parking will be allowed by the firing range on the upper level of the park.

On West 16th Street, between Avenue A and the park, no parking will be allowed on either side of the street after 6:00 p.m. Signs will be posted. The signs will be removed around 10:00 p.m. as the event ends. Police will create a single lane for traffic on that portion of West 16th Street for crowd control purposes.

The DiDomenico Municipal Pool on the upper level of the park will follow regular operating hours on July 5, opening at 10:30 a.m. and closing at 5:00 p.m., weather permitting.

The basketball courts on the lower level of the park will close at 2:00 p.m.

The park's regular bathrooms will be closed for the event. Portable toilets will be available. Both regular and handicap facilities will be provided.

In case of inclement weather the fireworks, concert, and entertainment would be rescheduled for Sunday, July 9.

One of the largest industrial companies in Bayonne is reconfiguring its commercial footprint, freeing up 130 acres of waterfront space for a new use for the first time in decades.

IMTT, a bulk liquid storage company, will be moving its current operations off the eastern portion of its 450-acre property south of the Bayonne Golf Club, and consolidating its work to the western side, closer to Route 440.

The company plans to find a new use for the land and anticipates the transition creating a net increase in jobs, though it has not yet decided whether it will sell that portion of the property, said CEO Carlin Conner.

“We want to do all we can to advance Bayonne’s interest and create a better town,” Conner said. “I feel although this is a big decision, I feel like it’s the right decision.”

In the meantime, Conner anticipates the IMTT workforce will be trimmed by 10% to 15%. The company will not fully shift its operations off the land for 18 months, he said, at which point he hopes early retirements and voluntarily accepted severance packages will be the primary means of downsizing.

IMTT, short for International-Matex Tank Terminals, stores petroleum products, commodity and specialty chemicals, vegetable and tropical oils, oleochemicals, biofuels and ethanol, according to its website.

Changes in the petroleum market prompted the decision to consolidate IMTT’s current work in Bayonne, Conner said. Transitions to alternative and renewable energy are forcing many companies in the oil and gas industry to update their business models.

“We’re not in a position that we have to sell (the land),” Conner said. “We can hold the property, we can contribute it to a joint venture, we can develop it ourselves or we can do a sale if that makes the most sense.”

Mayor Jimmy Davis noted that the transition will also likely include an environmental cleanup of the property.

“We are open to hearing a variety of ideas for that site,” Davis said. “Our main goal is producing new jobs there for our residents. Providing greater economic opportunity is vitally important for Bayonne’s future.”

IMTT is headquartered in New Orleans and owns and operates 16 terminals in the United States and Canada. It purchased its Bayonne terminal, a former Standard Oil facility, in 1983, said a company spokeswoman.

IMTT said even after the transition it will remain the largest bulk liquids storage terminal in the area of New York Harbor.

Bayonne’s redevelopment renaissance of the past decade went hand in hand with financial incentives doled out to developers.

A city administration eager for new apartment buildings and businesses to revive its local economy negotiated generously with developers willing to take a chance on a city at a standstill, most often handing out payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements, or PILOTs, that essentially provided tax breaks to developers.

Now nearly 10 years later, even as developers’ interest in Bayonne keeps the planning board busy year-round, councilmembers and Mayor Jimmy Davis’ administration aren’t ready to do away with those tax abatements, though they are perhaps ready to apply a bit more scrutiny.

In practice, that could mean that not every developer who wants a PILOT gets one, or that the longevity of tax abatement agreements is significantly shorter, councilmembers said. One newcomer to the council also said that Bayonne should increasingly use developer interest as a bargaining chip to reel in developer contributions to the community, or givebacks, in some fashion.

But after a nearly yearlong pause on PILOT agreement votes for major residential projects, which Davis initiated, taxpayers can expect them to return in some form.

“Given the building boom that we have experienced over the past eight years, there is no doubt that Bayonne can be a bit more discerning about development projects,” the mayor said. “We need to keep our eyes open to opportunities for growth, jobs and improved living spaces for our residents.

“The delicate balance between attracting investors and ensuring that our taxpayers are protected is something we must all keep in mind as Bayonne’s needs change.”

The PILOT program calls for 95% of the payments to go the municipality and 5% to the county, leaving the local school district with nothing. Under normal property taxation, a portion, usually in the 35-50% range, goes to the school district.

All councilmembers interviewed — newcomer Jacqueline Weimmer, Council President Gary La Pelusa and Councilman Loyad Booker — said that each development and affiliated tax abatements should now be scrutinized individually rather than the city taking a universal approach of approving or rejecting all of them.

Councilmembers Juan Perez and Neil Carroll III did not respond to interview requests.

La Pelusa and Carroll have leveled frequent scrutiny at PILOTs throughout their time on the council. La Pelusa estimated that he’s voted down more than 50 — though most of those votes were in the minority and unable to block council approval.

But even he does not think there should be a citywide shift away from incentives entirely.

La Pelusa said they could be good for projects that cultivate areas of Bayonne’s economy that he feels are still lacking, such as facilities that create scores of jobs or needed services like an assisted living facility.

New projects that resemble the bulk of those that cropped up in the past decade are likely less in need of tax abatements, and the council may look at shorter duration PILOT agreements if it does hand them out, the council president said.

“When the Davis administration took over in 2014, there really wasn’t much building going on at all, and the feeling was a lot different in town,” La Pelusa said. “The feeling from a lot of the developers was it wasn’t easy to deal with Bayonne. Now, no one can really say that.”

The city is currently wrapping up a study intended to review the development under the Davis administration and chart a path forward. It found a 92.6% occupancy rate in the 20 new buildings analyzed, La Pelusa previously said.

Despite Davis’ satisfaction with how far Bayonne has come, he knows that development is competitive and that neighboring municipalities are continuing to offer incentives. Tweaks to Bayonne’s process, therefore, might involve crafting more individualized deals for developers rather than attempting to do away with them, the mayor said.

“Within Bayonne, developer incentives might differ based on whether the development is commercial, residential, industrial, or mixed-use,” Davis said. “The incentives might also differ based upon the site of the proposed development or its size.”

The only PILOT agreement on the city council’s agenda for this month is for a new 70,000-square-foot industrial building at 7 Hook Rd.

The council will likely consider tax abatement agreements for the next phases of the Silk Lofts and Woodmont developments in coming months as well. Woodmont phase two plans include 85 new apartment units between West 52nd and West 53rd streets to supplement the existing Liberty Bay Club property.

Weimmer, who joined the city council last summer, said she was initially skeptical of whether PILOT agreements were still needed, but after conversations with colleagues has come to believe that developers often need them to make projects financially viable.

Still, she thinks that developers can probably offer the city more in return in the way of community givebacks and is exploring ways for to facilitate that.

“I’m looking for assistance to infrastructure costs, I’m looking for the betterment of the community,” Weimmer said.

She said she is skeptical of PILOT agreements that last up to 25 or 30 years.

Booker, also in his first year on the council, said he is also still learning, but he believes that considering incentives individually is probably the best approach for the city.

“There’s no broad brush for incentives,” he said. “That’s my take on it.”

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Bayonne High School students are getting two treats at the end of this week: a pep rally and a half day.

If they want more in the future, they’re going to have to behave.

The perks, as Superintendent John Niesz calls them, are one component in the launch of a new anti-bullying program that administrators and an array of student leaders are introducing at the high school to incentivize students to behave. The concept is that if students are kind to each other and there is less bullying and fighting on school property, the administration will dole out a series of rewards.

As school districts nationwide grapple with bullying in the wake of social media cyberbullying, the pandemic and a youth and adolescent mental health crisis, Bayonne wants students to be leaders in determining how to address it and wants to enact both preventative measures and disciplinary reforms.

Incentives like “no-homework Fridays,” an ice cream truck and half days are just the start of what Niesz describes as a blossoming collaborative response by students and staff.

Students have also pitched ideas including peer-to-peer interventions that could be a reform to the current disciplinary processes, space for students to relax alone if they are dealing with stress or anger, and a rage room to yell and scream out frustrations.

“All of us have to try something different besides just suspension, suspension, suspension and doing the same things over again and trying to expect a different result,” Niesz said.

Several Bayonne High School students said they have noticed an increase in bullying in recent years, much of which may begin in digital spaces, but lead to direct confrontations, often physical, on school property.

It has happened simultaneously as the high school has become a more vibrant space where students are embracing their own unique identities and choosing to express them, they said.

“I feel like now that people are being open with themselves and they’re not really keeping it to themselves, I feel like people don’t know what to do with that and it just causes them to act aggressively,” said senior Menna Hafiz.

Central Regional High School in the Bayville school district gained national attention last month when a student suicide brought public attention to what students described as a school environment where bullying had reached crisis levels and the district did little to mitigate it.

Niesz’s plan preceded that incident; he gathered student leaders from Bayonne High School to meet with him for the first time about two months ago.

Together, over lunch, they discussed what they were seeing in school in a series of sessions, where Niesz said he first worked to build their trust by asking them what staff could do for them. He then began inviting guests from the community, including a reverend, police sergeant and the local NAACP president.

The dialogues included brainstorming ways to address and prevent bullying, and Niesz invited administrators and the press to a final lunch Monday before the district announces the plan to the broader student body Tuesday. The high school will hold four assemblies Tuesday to tell all students about the program, and the students who helped develop it will all sit on stage.

Determinations of whether to dole out incentives will be made with both “formal and informal assessments,” Niesz said, and there is no expectation that there must be not bullying at all in order to earn them, at least at first. That will include monitoring of the digital records of student suspensions and fights, he said.

If they prove ineffective, the superintendent said he will simply call that idea a bust and move on to other strategies. But they key, in his mind, is including student in the problem-solving process.

And by bringing in student leaders to help create the roadmap, they will hopefully also lend encouragement to each other, or intervene when they see bullying so that the broader student body can enjoy the rewards, said Board of Education President Jodi Casais.

“I feel that maturity levels have gone down and that’s why we’re here to make things better — maturity-wise and just energy,” said sophomore Caitlin Gaetani. “If you have good energy in the school and sports and everything, everybody else is going to be more positive.”

Niesz plans to bring the high school leaders to elementary classrooms as ambassadors to discuss bullying prevention.

“Let’s not have a crisis,” Niesz said. “Let’s not ever be there.”

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