• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice

The Valley Citizen

Pursuing truth toward justice
  • Arts
  • Education
  • Environment
  • History
  • Nature
  • Politics
  • Wit
  • About

Nick Bavaro: An American Story

March 19, 2022 By Eric Caine 3 Comments

Paul Bavaro
Paul Bavaro

Nick Bavaro’s father was already a veteran of the Italian Air Force when he decided he didn’t want to fight for Benito Mussolini’s fascist government. Discharged in 1933, Paul Bavaro was a working farmer who early on had the foresight to anticipate the awful consequences of Italy’s descent into fascism. After Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, Mr. Bavaro feared he’d be called back into military service. He loathed the idea of fighting for an undemocratic leader who favored invading sovereign nations on the pretext of expanding the Italian empire.

Sympathetic to his son’s disdain for fascism, Paul Bavaro’s father arranged a secretive departure from Naples on a ship bound for New York, where Paul entered America as an undocumented immigrant in 1937. After a succession of odd jobs, Bavaro learned he could enter Cuba and reenter America as a legal citizen with Cuban papers. By 1943, Paul Bavaro had become an American citizen. In 1944, he met and married Margaret Longo in Chicago, Illinois.  Shortly thereafter, they moved to Modesto and took up farming. Their son, Nick Bavaro, was born a few years later.

Following the American immigrant tradition of assimilation and success, Nick Bavaro went from Modesto’s Grace M Davis High School to earned degrees from University of the Pacific and the University of Southern California before becoming a successful Modesto business owner and consultant for employee benefits.

Maybe because he inherited his father’s streak of independence, Nick Bavaro in 2016 decided he didn’t want to belong to either of our political parties. A former Republican, he became a “No Party Preference” voter who is still very much engaged and aware of the upheaval in American politics since Donald Trump became president. Late last year, he decided to run for Modesto City Council because he wants to address quality of life issues like economic opportunity, housing, homelessness and urban blight.

Nick Bavaro
Nick Bavaro

Bavaro sees America as extending the dual promises of freedom and economic success. He says our greatest threat today is lost hope for those blessings. In an era of highly polarized party politics, he prefers a return to simpler values and expanded opportunities.

Nick is a proud grandfather; his son is a Stanislaus County Deputy Sheriff; his daughter, like his wife, is a speech pathologist.

We spoke with Nick recently and came away with the strong impression that he’s a man of quiet but resolute courage and far more pragmatic than partisan. He’s not the kind of person who needs anyone’s endorsement, nor would we expect him to make promises he can’t keep. He’s from the old American school where working hard, keeping your word, and giving back are taken for granted.

When a breakthrough comes out of the partisan paralysis national and local governments are mired in, it will come through a return to the American pragmatism that brought the country through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War. Though not as monumental as the great crises of our country’s history, local problems like homelessness, too few job opportunities and shortages of affordable housing won’t be solved until taken on by pragmatists whose only interest is in making things better. We’re convinced that that’s what Nick Bavaro wants to do, and he wants to do it without the baggage of prior commitments, partisan politics or private agendas. We hope he can stay that way.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: Nick Barvaro Modesto City Council, Nick Bavaro

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mary Ellen Emerson says

    March 19, 2022 at 10:03 pm

    A great story and a hopeful future.

    Reply
  2. Arlene (Haney) Machado says

    March 20, 2022 at 3:34 pm

    I remember Nick’s parents! They were wonderful neighbors and friends to my grandparents. All the best to you Nick!

    Reply
  3. Babette says

    March 24, 2022 at 1:15 am

    Tell Nicholas we’re 110% behind him…..wonderful man and great, loyal friend!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Note: Some comments may be held for moderation.

Primary Sidebar

Off The Wire

?Monster Fracks? Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
“Monster Fracks” Are Getting Far Bigger. And Far Thirstier.
A Times analysis shows that increasingly complex oil and gas wells now require astonishing volumes of water to fracture the bedrock and release fossil fuels, threatening America’s fragile aquifers.
www.nytimes.com
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has 'paralyzed' California cities
Newsom urges SCOTUS to consider encampment ruling that has ‘paralyzed’ California cities
The Democratic governor’s intervention lays down a mark in a legal dispute with potentially profound implications for one of California’s most pressing issues.
www.politico.com
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events
Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
www.propublica.org
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state
How bad is hunger in California? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but now is being reduced.
calmatters.org
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento DA sues city over homeless encampments
Sacramento County had nearly 9,300 homeless people in 2022, based on data from the annual Point in Time count. That was up 67% from 2019. Roughly three-quarters of the county’s homeless population….
www.mercurynews.com
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
At Last, a Real Possibility to Avoid Catastrophic Climate Change
After decades of minimal action, Congress passed the largest and most comprehensive piece of climate legislation in U.S. history. Will we make the most of this opportunity?
www.audubon.org
How the fentanyl crisis' fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
How the fentanyl crisis’ fourth wave has hit every corner of the US
The epidemic’s staggering scale and infiltration of communities is laid bare in a new study.
www.bbc.com
Can licensed tent villages ease California's homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Can licensed tent villages ease California’s homelessness epidemic? This nonprofit thinks so
Taking people off the street and into tents is a new twist on homeless shelter being explored by the San Francisco-based Urban Alchemy in two tent villages operating in Los Angeles and Culver City.
www.latimes.com
Mississippi has problems, but it's handling homelessness better than L.A.
Mississippi has problems, but it’s handling homelessness better than L.A.
The public tends to blame homelessness on poverty, drug use, crime or even warm weather. But other cities don’t have L.A. levels of street homelessness because they have more available housing.
www.latimes.com
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
Neo-Nazis March Through Florida Park
The demonstrators raised “Heil Hitler” salutes and waved flags with swastikas.
www.thedailybeast.com
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom's CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Families have high hopes for Gavin Newsom’s CARE Courts. Providers want to lower expectations
Gov. Gavin Newsom?s experiment to push Californians with mental illness off the streets and into treatment, CARE Court, starts soon.
calmatters.org
Pope says 'backward' U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope says ‘backward’ U.S. conservatives have replaced faith with ideology
Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church. He says they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.
apnews.com

Find us on Facebook

pp
The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Footer

The Valley Citizen
PO Box 156
Downtown Bear Postal
1509 K Street
Modesto, CA 95354

Email us at:
thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Subscribe for Free

* indicates required

Search

• Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 The Valley Citizen

Dedicated to the memory of John Michael Flint. Contact us at thevalleycitizen@sbcglobal.net

Editor and publisher: Eric Caine

Website customization and maintenance by Susan Henley Design