To the Editor:
I am writing this letter because I am quite disturbed about what I have been witnessing for quite some time. I am sick and tired of the goings on around this town. We have a mayor who is not doing very much about anything that is taking place around city hall.
There are so many people who just sit outside of the building doors of city hall smoking. Not just once in a while, but this is an ongoing problem. I am retired so I have a lot of time on my hands. I see what is going on. If you go to city hall at any given time of the day you will see the same people over and over again in the doorways or on the side of the building smoking and spending lots of time getting paid for doing nothing except smoking. If I am not mistaken, there was a law that you were not supposed to smoke in the doorways of buildings and you had to be so many feet away from the doorways.
Then we have the people who work for the city but don’t live here. How about that one? Why is this still allowed to go on? I have a friend whose former neighbor just sold his house and moved down the shore but he still works here. I know there is a law on the city books that to be employed here you have to live here unless you are a police officer or firefighter.
Now for my last problem with the city and the administration. What the hell happened to the hiring freeze that Mr. La pPelusa had put in place? There are all these new people working. So if you raise our property taxes, raise our school taxes, and raise our water bill, where do you come off hiring people all year since last May 2016. It is as if you are laughing in the face of all the taxpayers as well as the lack of respect for an elected official putting something in place to attempt to curb the spending. Not only is it a salary, but another person’s health insurance, and whatever else they are getting from the city.
I am grateful to Mr. La Pelusa for trying to get some kind of grip on the hiring, but I guess the mayor, his administration and the rest of the council have absolutely no respect for what is good for the city of Bayonne. I hope all of the homeowners will remember which buttons not to push on Election Day. I remember in 2014 asking all of my friends and family to vote for all of you because you were going to be different. I have done nothing but apologize to these people for the last almost three years.
CATHERINE JONES
