##VIDEO ID:P6yeFCp9Tu4## youa good I would like to V all those I'd like to V all those present that notice of this meeting has been provided to the public in accordance with the provisions of the open public meeting act and that notice was published in the Jersey Journal City website copies provided to the record nor Star Ledger and also play on the bolon board in the lobby of City Hall written objections if any shall be made to the city clerk Al flag pledge aliance to the flag United States of America stand Emily con present Fisher here Mr Jabor Mr President Zano present Mr Cano present Mr Ramos Mr Russo pres president Doyle pres okay oh for the two yeah do do we want to take care of the Proclamation now is what I was asking uh I don't think I think we can do it when it comes up in the agenda I don't think there's someone here yet okay so all right so we're going to start with two presentations RJ so we're going to start with uh 800 Monroe is that correct RJ so we have a motion to open for the presentation motion to open a public hearing public hearing for presentation for for 80 800 Monroe resiliency park is there a second second all right all those in favor I okay thank you did okay um council president on the city council agenda tonight there are two items both require a public hearing um both are Grant applications one is for 800 Monroe and the other is for Tom Oliver Park um RJ's going to go through 800 Monro first um there are no changes to what anyone has seen prior to this this is just the steps we have to take to apply for the grant thank you dror Freeman um so as you said this is a Grant application for 800 Monro resiliency Park um in 2024 the city applied successfully and received $500,000 um for the construction of the recreational amenities at this park and in 2025 we anticipate um applying for an additional supplemental funding of $500,000 and so in order to meet the grant requirements um we are holding a public hearing and Pres presentation to go over the concept plan so this is the same exact concept plan that was approved in June 2024 by the city um to briefly go over its 800 Monro uh Street site lot on the western edge of the city of Hoboken um and so if you look on the southern end which is the left the the program is comprised of a number of Gardens and Landscaping um and seating areas for the tennis area um and so on the tennis there's three different courts working further north in the center of the site there's a fitness area there's two two dog runs one for small dogs and one for large and then there's a large Central lawn and Plaza area with a gathering bench and then on the Northern portion of the the park would be a large gardening area it was part of that grand application we also completed an environmental impact assessment um this kind of goes through some of the details there uh but the key findings are that this would bring much needed recreational amenities to um the the neighborhood um and have no uh adverse effects um on the the area with that I'll turn it over to the council for public hearing night council president yes councilman Fisher just can you go back to the design is is and maybe you started it my apologies if I missed it in the beginning but where is like the kids play area in this is there a kids play area in this plan there is not a playground um at the next presentation for Tom aliv park there is an inclusive playground included um there are you see where the Gathering bench is there are a number of sculptural play elements that would be uh you know kid focused in terms of activities for them so maybe I'll ask councilman Russo because I know this is your ward I mean there's so much residential density in that area is it because it's so close to seventh and Jackson that we don't need a playground yeah so when if you don't mind council president I'm sorry um when we talked about this we talked about it in totality right so how this becomes almost a part of the plaza and the park on the other side of the plaza where it just becomes one big open space or one big Recreation space and that was really the concept for all of it where just a block away you have that toddler area you know you have a play playground for children you have the open field you have the gym then you have the plaza for more you know just passive Rec recation we could do different festivals as we have and then this gives us a little bit more active Recreation with the tennis courts and then the open area here is more like a just again a passive kind of a place but there is some active area if you look where the uh water feature is as well that becomes an active area with the water feature great thanks yeah no problem are you are you done RJ yeah is there public hearing any comments yeah we will we'll we'll see if the get questions if anyone else in the council all right okay the audience yes can thank you president can you describe the resiliency features in this park uh sure y um so as the concept plan was designed by aom um this park would sore about 430,000 gallons of storm water on site so it's similar to other resiliency Parks it's effectively um the the soils would be capped and then you would build ssts on top of it and so the water that falls on the site would then be detained and then slowly fed out into our storm water system so the ssts would be similar to the north Brazilian city park there would be on site below the surface of the park yes yeah exactly and then would there be above ground the resiliency features as well yes so you can see some of the garden areas um would be designed as rain Gardens so you would have the actual slowing effect of the water that would eventually reach those ssts would go through the rain Garden themselves first thank you CC president just one more question are there restrooms in this plan there are not restrooms included in this this park um but I think to councilman's point the the whole area as a whole has restroom access um at the the gym nearby um so that's why it wasn't included but the Gym's not always open so are there you also have the yeah there are okay yeah yeah and just one other point point there too uh when it comes to parking in this in this area area that um bike lane is actually on the sidewalk it's not in the street so we're not losing any parking along that uh along that street do we have any requirements um do we have any requirements to put restrooms in or no I just I'm remembering with Church Square Park we had a requirement that in order to get a certain type of funding at probably I don't know if it was Green Acres but um that it had to have a certain type of like accessible bathrooms we don't have that requirement here so the grant that we're getting for green anres here is an urban Parks Grant the grant that you're thinking of is a Jake's law Grant okay um when it's an inclusive playground it needs to have a restroom on site and that's why when we got that for CH Square Park we included the Portico you'll see that same requirement applies to tomal of yie Park and the next presentation great thank you thank you guess uh that we're done with the hearing there's no vote on this until the resolution right so uh yep all those in favor I I all right so and RJ you're handling the second one as well is that clear motion to open the public hearing on the Tom aliv Park improvements project thank you all those in favor I I thank you Council um so similarly this is um for a grant application to Green Acres um as I just mentioned it's for a Jake's law Grant um so this is focused on funding uh playground improvements and it's specifically for inclusive playground um design so in order to meet that we have a number of requirements on specifications for the actual play structure as well as having restrooms on site and so quickly um artial had a contract to design the full Park um that was approved at December meeting um so what you're seeing now is a very preliminary concept design for the purposes of applying for the grant there will be a comprehensive public Outreach um process for the full design there's actually a public survey that's out right now that closes tomorrow um for the public to comment on on actually finalizing this and so what you're seeing in this concept design is effectively uh a one forone replacement of the existing one with new and improved facilities um so on the bottom half of the the park you see um an inclusive play structure as well as improved uh landscaping and seating areas and then on the the upper portion of it you'll see uh an upgraded uh spray area um and so this is effectively the overarching scope of what the work will be um we'll come back to the council and the community with a more refine design as we go through the public process fully and so on on this one as opposed to 800 row you're saying the decisions have not yet been made whereas correct yes so 800 in a row city council has adoped we already approved that this one in order to make sure we can apply for the grant which is $750,000 we want wanted to make sure we you know had a concept plan prepared to apply for it but the ultimate design will be brought before the community and the city before we actually move forward with it and where did you say the bathrooms are in this one the little red things so it's right here on the entrance if you can see my cursor yep um it so it'll be the same uh Portland L kind of structure that is being installed at Church Square Park as part of phase one there and then just similarly to um the other one uh the enal impacts assessment for the for the grant largely found that by redoing the play structure will actually increase uh the amount of inclusiveness for the park and there'll be additional recreational opportunities um there will be no adverse impact open up for question yeah Council one could I just ask a question I don't know if it's better on this slide or the other one um one of the features about this park that I think tends to be challenging is the change in elevation relative to where the playground structure is do you anticipate that this design because you mentioned this would be an inclusive design I assume that means that would be leveled out so there wouldn't be that step necessarily for accessibility purposes there are certain grade requirements so that it would be handicap accessible um and so I don't know off top my head what those exactly would be but that is the intention that it would be much more accessible than the current reading stairs council president yeah so we had RJ you weren't in the meeting where we were having this conversation um with director Gonzalez but I think I think this park is actually not that old so if you haven't already I would encourage you and the designers to reach out to apply that built the original Park okay and they may they may have more clarity on why there's you know the different elevation and actually like if there's something under it or or whatever but they should they I believe they're the ones who designed that part my guess may be that has to do with the root structures of the existing trees um that's one of the design challenges of the site making sure that we can preserve the existing and canopy um and so in my preliminary conversation with the design team there may need to be elevation changes to make sure you don't affect those root structures or or just take the trees down and put a couple more new trees or something in there's yeah but yeah but it's still it's still worth having the conversation with applied given they built it um the other thing can I make a formal request to extend the survey one week yeah okay yeah definitely awesome councilman Cen thank president um one of the features of Tom Oliver Park which is what it's who it's named after is um Mr aler and the mural that's on the wall there my understanding is that there's a portion of the mural that's suffered some water damage uh is any part of this project including the either restoration Rehabilitation of the mural uh and I understand there's a portion that may not have been properly waterproof when it was originally painted uh are you aware of that or is that is that being contemplated as part of this project yes it's not specifically part of this project it is separate aart going to be used with with the our cultural Affairs team is working on the rehab of making sure that that mural is um restored to what it looked like when it was first painted using um our bond F our our Arts trust account and that's being done through the Arts committee as opposed to through this project correct great thanks thank you anyone else there are no members of the public signed up to speak a motion to close motion portion second all those in favor I okay thank you Mr theold have you got your he's not here yet but that's public portion on gend okay okay so we'll start we'll continue with the public portion comments on agenda items with regard to resolutions and I should emphasize I've been doing a bad job of keeping everyone to their five minutes so I'm going to try to do better and I ask you to cooperate along those lines so that being said I'm looking at uh I have I have someone who signed up for an ordinance number three on a resolution sheet so this this public portion is for the resolutions on the agenda if there are no ordinances for second reading tonight um ordinances on first reading we don't do public comment but there's a public portion at the end where people can speak so um Alexandra black you did ID identify ordinance number three uh batia Zumwalt uh and Jill Singleton are are you wishing to speak on resolutions or on the ordinances the for first reading okay so you um we'll put you on the other list and everything will be fine we'll hope we move along um so there's no one here um except uh Mr Rivera Solair I don't know if you're signing up for resolutions are not um okay well then if you the sheet is I don't think he said that Manny so Alyssa could you put the names of the three people on the onto the public portion at so I don't forget um and you can give me this sheet for resolutions well Mr Manuel Rivera thank you council president uh I'm appreciative of allowing me to speak this evening even though I came tardy uh I appreciate uh this agenda it's kind of full so uh I will be quick because the questions as I said the last meetings would always be why why are the um different resolutions especially the ones that have uh uh contracts um if you could explain them because there's like 12 on a couple of them on climate action and uh I believe in Community Development so it would be just you know the questions would be first of all the amounts are they always um going to be um the best that we can get I always ask that very same questions I know that a lot of these um uh resolutions are as you would call it or as uh the Insiders would call it housekeeping meaning things that you have to do because you have to control or continue uh the Departments having their uh necessary uh uh people in place to do the work and uh the operations that the city needs them to do but the question is why are they always um these excessive amounts again some of them are terorist but others are not again I asked the question in regards to the people who um get selected uh to the different boards and commissions again um many people who who are interested um always get looked over once again uh they're members of the public that I know have applied and and I ask and they never even get a response or or thank you but no thank you um again nothing against the people who are going to be um selected this evening and voted on uh to them a thank you because they uh heed the call and accepted to serve in these different uh boards and commissions uh again I want to thank you for uh whoever um does the grants but again um specifically when you get a grant can members of the public as well always know how that Grant is going to be uh implemented what exactly uh or where exactly is it going to be um put into use cuz many people always feel that they're not getting the full information and uh again with that council president I yeld back thank you thank you Mr Rivera solar there's nobody else signed up to speak I don't have the sheet but uh you yeah the res for uh resolutions so motion close second all those in favor I yeah we'll go with um the proclamation thank you Mr Cohen uh so on the agenda this evening is a proclamation from mayor Bala uh uh proclaiming January 27th 2025 is international Holocaust Remembrance Day in the city of hobo memory of the victims of the Holocaust in honor of the survivors as well as The Rescuers and the liberators and further proclaiming that all citizens of Hoboken should work to promote human dignity and confront hate whenever and wherever it exists uh council president as a representative from the United St of Hoboken board David haitz is here and want to say a few words about this all right Mr Mr ha heid thank you Phil and thank you Council uh David hait um Ward five b Cohen and uh and Trustee of the United synagogue of Hoboken I I wanted to thank the city tonight for this very important Proclamation I am a board member and longtime member of the United synagogue of Hoboken but the importance of holiday of Holocaust remembrance is not a Jewish issue it's not a national issue it's not related to anything related for National politics that we all uh struggle with on a regular basis or International politics for that matter this I I respect and appreciate that the primary purpose of this Council and and the city government is to provide for the safety security and stability economic and otherwise for our community and and proclamations uh are secondary to that but this uh this particular Proclamation speaks of something that's probably um overrides and correlates all those topics and that's humanity and H believe in the humanity of hobok can I believe in our our as a community that's welcoming to others and the Holocaust as I said it's not it's a Jewish it's not a Jewish thing it's not a national thing it's one of the greatest human tragedies uh the mankind has experienced it's one of the greatest atrocities unfortunately the past Century and it's brought about when there's not a good understanding and when we push each others to put points of starting with bias that becomes hatred that turns into action that is irrevocable I pray and know that that will never happen here but it is something that has to be understood for all ethnicities all religions all people of all backgrounds and like I said it speaks to the humanity it speaks to what's great about Hoboken that we can't make a proclamation for every community and every representative in this city however there are in our community and the one I represent in the united synagogue of Hoboken many many many descendants of H of Holocaust Survivors some who whose those last surviving Holocaust Survivors have only recently passed away one within the past year of our own the own our uh the own president of our synagogue so it's something that we should keep in our minds and again maybe outside of the responsibility of the council and and the city in terms of what you have to do to run the city but importance for us in in the strength of humanity and and hobok and being welcoming accepting and making sure we remember these kind of events um I only think that it's appropriate this week I know that's the it's next week is the actual date we just passed Martin Luther King day and uh I know although overstated over not overstated but very welln and stated is Martin one of I find one of be his greatest quotes that um Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere and that's why we do it here because we have to remember that Injustice is occurring all places at all times and it's our responsibility of individuals whether it be in the council or is or is uh just citizens to stand up against hate bias bigotry and everything that comes with it and uh I appreciate this Proclamation for that purpose you can stay up I think we'd like to present it then sorry I'm dressed as hobo I'd also just like to read the whereases because it's short and it I think it's it's also helpful and Echoes what David said whereas January 27th marks the international Holocaust Remembrance Day dedicated to the memory of the Six Million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of others and whereas the Holocaust remains one of the most horrific atrocities in human history and it is imperative to honor victims acknowledge the pain and suffering of survivors and ensure future Generations are educated about the dangers of hatred to prevent such horror from occurring again and whereas International Holocaust Remembrance Day condemns all forms of religious intolerance incitement harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief throughout the world and whereas Hoboken is a fair and welcoming City and recognizes the importance of promoting tolerance fostering mutual respect for all people and remaining Vigilant against hatred persecution and genocide and whereas Hoboken and his residents are committed to combating hate discrimination and intolerance in all forms while promoting human rights dignity and understanding while working to make the city an even more in inclusive and peaceful place for all now therefore I render as Bala mayor of the city of Hoboken proclaimed January 27 2025 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the city of Hoboken in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in honor of the survivors as well as The Rescuers and liberators and further Proclaim that all citizens of Hoboken should work to promote human dignity and confront hate whenever and wherever it occurs thanks [Applause] the [Applause] ready yep consent agenda anybody uh chance have anything like P oh yeah all right T3 and T4 are being carried council president um I got a message from the zoning officer about the uh ordinance on for first reading with the signs yeah that is being it's car carried Y and the resolution to the planning board okay I just wanted to make sure I Y she asked if I would make sure1 is the uh ordinance at the end and number seven of the ordinances for first reading so um is there is there something else council president I think CL 3 is removed which what cl3 that's not oh no not I'm sorry not cl3 I take a back my apologies yeah there's I don't think any of the CLS are REM totally fine okay uh questions on uh so yes just a comment on A4 okay uh ca2 cd6 cd6 cd6 yes that's what I got about the uh vouchers yep it's just really question related to vouchers quick quick and easy that it um think that's all I had anyone else oh and uh just a common on Communications as well council president okay petitions and Comm okay do you w to all right so Mr finina wait I got a couple oh all I just said anyone else and nobody said anything I was just but I could sense you were thinking something claims um A3 A4 I think A4 was said uh ca9 uh ca2 and that does it for me okay anyone else second going once so that's uh Mr finina A3 A4 C2 ca9 ca2 cd6 no problem C A3 A4 ca2 ca9 ca2 and cd6 uh cl2 was yeah yeah M cl2 was not mentioned but it is now okay I thought I did I had it cired okay I apologize no problem you got the ones that have been yeah okay great so uh call a vote on the consent agenda Mr foro Mr con i m fiser yes on everything no on cd5 Mr Jabor yes Mr preso I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Doyle yes on everything except cd5 okay on the claims claims Mr pres um director Freeman there was a $50,000 for Red Leaf um I don't his Red Leaf is 50k I'm guessing that has to go with the Cyber stuff that had happened last year is that correct or is that something different that's correct that's what it's labeled in in claims as well um is there any chance just for just for the 25,000 of that was has already been recouped through our insurance okay so is there any chance that we can get a briefing on that I know it's gone a little stale I know that there is some um law enforcement involved and things that nature but you know there's been a lot of questions in the community and I mean I have some questions too but is there a chance we can maybe get some internal um maybe be it at the next council meeting for Clos session to let us know what happened of what you can tell us sure in close that yeah all right thank you okay and Communications councilman Russo president I I appreciate it I just wanted to take the opportunity um there's a memo on here for the self-insurance fund commission um it's been an honor for me to serve on that commission since its Inception basically when uh Don Zimmer as the mayor decided we were going to change how we dealt with our health insurance in the city of Hoboken um in her uh wisdom uh she appointed me to that uh commission just because I had some expertise in the field mayab Bala Then followed suit and did the same so I just really want to say a big thank you to both of them to really putting politics aside really putting the residents and and and specifically the residents who live in the city of Hoboken but work for the city of Hoboken to make sure that they had uh someone representing them on that commission making sure that we had affordable health care for our our employees and it's been a pleasure to serve on that and although it's going to be a busy year for me so this year I will not be on it but um Jason knows and the administration knows that if they ever need anything from me want to help to to hand when I can so I really want to thank both Mayors for for allowing me to serve and from I app you served on it before I did and I appreciate your help on getting me up the speed it's not an easy uh getting an understanding of all that is not easy so thank you I appreciate it okay so uh A3 we're going to vote on the claim we're going to vote on oh we didn't vote on the do we even have to vote on the claims but yeah we do kind of but anyway all right call the vote on the claims Jimmy Mr I M Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes Mr preso I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Doyle hi resol A3 you want to read the title would you like me to resolution authorizing the city of Hoboken to enter into a contract with police chief Steven agar uh councilman Russo or did you no I councilman pres Zano I'm sorry director Freeman I have a question for you on this the attached uh contract is the one that we're voting on correct there's no mistake there or it's this the threeyear three-year contract okay and I have another question has the contract with the police Union for our regular police been settled or uh okay um so the the rank and file is not has not been approved do you have any time frame on that hopefully soon I mean contracts and negotiations kind of move at their own pace I oftentimes with Brian alloya and the mayor like to move them along quicker but everyone kind of operates on their on their own pace we have six full-time collective bargaining units there's a an agreement on tonight's agenda on A4 right after this the fire superiors are settling the firefighters have not yet they they're not necessarily link linear in how they ne how we negotiate or or how they look to negotiate with us okay um well I'll make a statement I'm a big believer and I know whether things aren't linear uh I'm a big believer in taking care of uh the the core the worker before we look at superiors or we look at management and that's the way you build uh a stronger Workforce efficiency people that care people that feel looked after so I struggle that for example some of our unions work without a contract they provide services although they cannot strike I get some of them can't do that um but I'm a Believer in making sure that the rank and file in whatever Department uh gets looked after before management and superiors it just sets a better standard so I'm a little bit struggling with A3 and A4 tonight um which I'll which I can reiterate on that and that's why I'm not in support of this tonight counc president councilman Russo thank you counc president you know I I've been struggling with this since it came up at our last meeting about the not so much the cost associated with it because I think the chief of police deserves what we're potentially giving him as far as a salary what struggle I have is that I've said this a thousand times at this day we make decisions at every council meeting and those decisions are going to affect what that budget looks like later on in the year this is one of those decisions we have an emergency that's coming up in the city of Hoboken it's going to cost us $30 million that's a million and a half dollars a year to our structural deficit a million and a half more every year that we're going to add on day one year-over-year for 30 years we continue to make decisions that will affect our budget which will affect the affordability of our residents and the taxes that they pay on their homes it becomes problematic time and time again where we're doing all these things throughout the year and then when it comes budget time we say well we don't have any influence over these things their salaries and their pension costs and their health care costs well we do have influence over them we have influence over them when we vote on things like this this is a three-year contract with built-in raises over the three years again all respect to the police chief he deserves what we're offering but maybe just maybe we need to start looking at things a little bit more closely as we vote on through the year so that's become it's going to become a theme throughout the year especially especially when we get to the budget time so I just want to make sure I reiterate that to my colleagues make sure we reiterate that to the public and that's kind of how I feel on a lot of these things thank you council president council president councilwoman javor so I'm confused at the context being applied to what we are voting on we are voting on a contract for the chief of police we as a community since the unfortunate incident that happened on Halloween have been extremely extremely critical about what's happening in Public Safety in this city understandably people have questions people have concerns parents want to feel safe they want to make sure their kids feel safe and chief agar when we had a meeting about that incident In This Very Room packed people in the hallway people in the lobby Chief agar stood there and demonstrated what it is to be a strong leader for this public safety department he has the support of the head of both of the police unions so the idea that somehow voting on this contract tonight has anything to do with the separate contracts with are actively being negotiated by both of the unions the fact that both of the heads of those unions have reached out to all of us and been on the record that they support this contract for their Chief who by the way is the lowest paid Chief in all of Hudson County it just shocks me that these are the conversations that we're having about this contract because we're talking about somebody who is an extremely valuable person in this community who responds to all of us on a 247 basis and I know that we all reach out to him all the time it doesn't matter what day of the week it is he is always responsive and the fact that we are not demonstrating a united front as the legislative body behind him is really disappointing because it is our job when there are times of Crisis and people have concerns about Public Safety to demonstrate that we all have his back so that he can have our back I am so disappointed that this is clearly becoming a political discussion in my opinion because the chief has earned this contract he will now be the fifth highest paid Chief in Hudson County he is not asking to become the top paid Chief and by the way he scored number one on his Chief's test not just in Hudson County but in the entire state I cannot believe that anyone would question whether he is deserving of this contract and I am disappointed that anybody would not be supportive given how much we have asked of him I am very ready to support this contract tonight and I would ask my colleagues to reconsider their feelings about this vote tonight thank you council president thank you Council woman council president Chief govern coun councilwoman fiser y so so um I'm not going to lie I struggled with this and the main reason why uh I am going to vote Yes comfortably uh the main reason why we struggled is because of the feedback that we've gotten from our community that they don't feel safe they don't feel the police are doing enough to make them feel safe that as a council person that's what we're all getting that's the 200 people that were here that night um all of the follow-up conversations and you know conversations with school leaders and you know uh continued efforts within neighborhoods to want to do more um it's just the reality that we live in right now um so having you know a contract come up that you know had whatever the significant increases in it felt very incon consistent with what as council members what we're all hearing that being said um throughout you know to uh councilman jawor's Point um you know Chief agar has answered every single one of my calls if it's early on a Sunday he's not very happy about it but he still answers every one of my calls um every one of my tchs he has come and met with neighbors and we've watched him attempt to rise to the occasion and address the concerns that the community has had with the resources that he has do I think there's more that can be done yes do we maybe disagree a little on how we get there yes but when I think about his focus and interest on you know community policing something we haven't had in a long time we're seeing evidence more of that we're seeing him be more supportive now that we don't have like the administrative Politics on top of us being more supportive to support test invests in safety on our sidewalks we're not anywhere near where we have to be but we're watching him use his police force to get to a better place so I um to me as I struggled I I landed on I believe in his ability to lead and I want to be supportive of him and I'm hopeful that we're going to continue to see um support so I'm a yes on this thank you councilwoman uh councilman Ramos next yeah uh I'll respond to give comments to a couple of my colleagues there's a there's a book I read a long time ago uh it's called group think and the book talks about uh situations uh in our country uh around the world where leaders had to make decisions and and a lot of bad decisions were made in those instances Cuban Missile Crisis uh you go on and on in the book and those bad decisions were made because other people in the room didn't speak out and it wasn't that they was they would speak out necessarily against the action being taken it it may be they could taken the same action but a different approach to it so I would never question any of my colleagues if they're questioning anything that we do because that's our job if we don't question anything on the agenda I just want to be Play Three Blind Mice that takes us to a place that I don't want to be at so if anyone in the council has a question about anything here feel free to ask that makes us better that makes us better that moves things forward in a right direction and I think if you're on this side of the day as where most of us were in the council that night in the chambers uh you know we Chief Agar was up here he answered every question that he can to the best of his ability right he put the best face forward for the cook in that night if you were on that side of the day and people that contacted afterwards I don't think they were too pleased that night right and that's that was the reality of the situation leading up to that whether uh for us that sponsor coun Russo president Zano myself who sponsored test invest and I think you look around the scene disappointment that you have with the the ebike Riders on our sidewalk still whether you look at the number of incidents that took place throughout our city where it's car jack as we never had before uh thefts that we never had before and in various locations that never existed before but we always had some sort of crime here right we're not going to stop zero I get that right so the fact that those issues have to be addressed when I requested uh allocation when from the prior Chief uh and then this Chief as well that we needed a second location in the western side of town for police precinct and that was a monetary issue we we spoke about that we spoke about that the way we had to move the needle on that was a murder unfortunately and now we get uh a mobile Precinct hopefully getting delivered here so if if you don't ask questions if you just want to do the group thing thing you know I don't want to be part of that you know I want to make the chief better I want to make our city safer right the reason I'll support it tonight because if I do call at 600 am on a Tuesday morning or Thursday night at 11:30 he'll answer my call or my text right that's important to us right the the common C citizen does understand that portion of access that we get that they don't get right we get that access we get the the inside baseball stuff but if you were in that room that night the number of people that left that night were disappointed that's the reality right because all them called us up of what that meeting was at that point in time they thought it was a course of action they were could take and they still don't feel confident about it all right and if I'm lying someone someone say I'm wrong all right and I'll challenge that as well that people left here that night pretty much disappointed in the way we we conducted ourselves as a whole right and the actions taken but the responsiveness is there the growth over a period of time has to be there I think when Council Jabor questions uh the rating of the Hudson County salary God a lot of the other Chiefs of the county have a lot more seniority on the job than our current chief does and that also leads to that ex to that differential when you have more seniority in a job that leads that differential as well but let's not leave here and say we just have to you know not question anyone at any time that's our job I was we were elected to ask questions I wasn't elected just to sit here and shut up that's what somebody else do not us I hope not us all right well thank you council president councilman Cohen thank you council president uh one thing that hasn't been mentioned in this discussion is morale accountability and professionalism in our Police Department uh leadership comes from the top I think morale is excellent in our department we ask a lot of our Public Safety officers uh we had a tragic death in the department uh from a longtime member leader of the community who was suffering from depression and the stress that comes with the job it was awful just an awful thing uh and all of the members of our Public Safety are feeling the pressure the pressure of hundreds of people massing into a room making demands for them to feel better about their personal safety in what is objectively a very safe Community I've lived here since 1986 my daughters walk the streets at night I'm going to leave this meeting tonight probably at 10:30 11 or so and I'm going to walk home and I'm not going to be looking over my shoulder because this is a safe community and our police department does an objectively outstanding job and they are professionals and when they're are issues and when there are questions and when there are concerns they are responsive and they are accountable they do not push things under the rug they address the questions that are presented and they do an outstanding job our chief should not be the lowest paid Chief in Hudson County it's not right it's just not right it's wrong he deserves this contract I'm proud to vote for it and I thank the chief for his service thank you council president councilman cantero thank you council president um first I'll say that I support Chief agarn will be voting yes uh on this contract today I think to um say that you know we need to hold up this while we wait for uh another contract negotiation is a little bit of a red herring so uh those will proceed and I trust the administration to uh to engage uh fairly with with that Union and and and when it gets approved I'll be happy to support whatever comes uh in front of me um with respect to budgeting I agree that there's plenty of things we spend slw our money on uh I have expressed my displeasure with a couple projects in certain areas which are way too expensive and you know as we go forward and we need to uh trim back I'll be loud about which ones I think should should go away um but a you know smarter guy than me once said don't tell me what you value show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value um look I'll say what I value I value public safy but I also Show You by voting yes for this and supporting our police our fire OEM and the entire Public Safety uh apparatus um Chief aiar shows up every step of the way faces off against angry people all the time with Grace with poise he's the definition of a leader uh in this Community I'm I'm proud to support him um we are lucky to have someone like him heling uh our police force um yeah no doubt there are instances especially over the past year uh side walks uh you know some uh symptoms of of of some of the unhoused population uh especially those with some mental health uh uh issues that make people feel unsafe right um that's true and that's real and that needs to be addressed but also the reality is that when we look again uh uh statistics crimes against property uh crimes against persons right assaults uh and although we did have uh uh you know an uptick in in murders uh generally the violent crimes have been down in Hoboken over the past number of years especially under uh the chief's uh Administration so while we do have some work to do on some of the quality of life issues uh the actual safety of in our day-to-day is still present right so when he says Hoboken is a safe place and we have a room full of people kind of rolling their eyes I understand why they've rolled their eyes in the past because the quality of I issues are present but the things that actually you know make you safe or unsafe when you're in bed at night those things are still under the control and I trust that this Chief will have a plan to address the other issues so that we can focus on the quality of life thingss because we shouldn't feel unsafe and I'm supporting this contract because I trust he has a plan I trust we'll roll that uh uh roll that out and see his vision for over the next three years to to to address those things and and and hopefully all be around to uh to help out with that President just a a quick comment thank you I appreciate it I I love that I heard so much support for our Public Safety it's amazing um I just want to remind everybody I'm going to hold you all to it when we ask for 20 more officers that the Chief came to that day to the day to tell us that that's what he needs to make a permanent Parks Patrol in the city of hobok and so I'm very happy everyone's soal supportive of our Public Safety and I'm going to hold everybody's feet to the fire when that vote comes up as well so I appreciate it thank you so your interpretation is is interesting but um I uh I I think I am going to support this contract I think the that perception really does matter it's it's kind of like the economy when everyone thinks the economy is going down the toilet people stop spending and the economy can be hurt and when people think that there's a pro they feel as we've heard we feel that there's been a problem um um then it's a perception and they grow more concerned and I'm not saying it's not real I I believe that the people who are in this room did leave disappointed I'm not questioning that but being disappointed is not the same as a fact and the reality of as councilman Cano has been saying of what this criminal statistics are um you know being disappointed is not reality and and and I think it's dangerous for us to depict a situation that that that there is a safety issue in this city when uh as councilman Cano I'm going to keep going back to you as the public safety chair it you know yes it's you know we don't like to see the homeless on Washington Street and and there are instances but there are things that are Public Safety and then there are other things that are public perception and so um I'm confident that uh the chief will rectify the situation things will get better and but I urge us all to to not overreact and to not exaggerate you know conditions in our city with regard to Public Safety Council president council president Mr con I Mr Fisher yes Mrs jbor yes Mr preso no Mr Tero I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president o i um A4 I believe me thank you Council so if I'm going to be attacked Again by councilwoman Jabor making a political statement I'm going to defend myself not once did I say anything about the qualifications the job or anything any of the superiors or she fagar of what he's done what I said was I want to see and I believe in the rank and file looked after first before management so don't ever put words in my mouth that's political grandstanding when you try to paint a picture of me I merely said the process not once did I attack the chief or anybody else I spoke about a process and God forbid I ask questions up here yeah we A4 is the same thing okay superiors as well but I got cut off and I have the right to defend myself up here if I'm going to be attacked that's not going to happen this year as anybody up here who wants to run for mayor wants to take shots I'm ready council president I think A4 was pulled by councilman Russo if I'm correct no both of us did actually I think okay thank you for the interruption again it's just it's going to be political grandstanding for the next nine months into into into the election the bottom line is the workers are to be taken care of first that's something I believe in a healthy system for a healthy company we are a company a healthy government is when we have healthy and happy workers where you have more productive workers it's a simple concept it's not challenging who's better at this if they're doing a great job not once was I saying that I was asking I was basically saying the process and that I want to look out for the workers that are doing the heavy lift for a lot of us that's why again I would be a no on A4 for the contract here and it's not a matter of the jobs that those individuals are doing it's a fact I believe that the workers should be taken care of first thank you councilman councilman Russo thank you council president um I know this has been an ongoing issue with the fire department with the tier system uh I know the uh firefighters and the fire officers are uh reluctantly optimistic for the oxymoron about this um but I am happy that they were able to kind of uh lessen that divide a little bit and I'm very supportive of this contract tonight because I know our fight of fired and and those superiors have been working hard with the administration to do exactly that to get with or at least get closer to what they're trying to achieve so uh I will be supportive of this tonight thank you councilman councilman Ramos yeah I mentioned many times in the past regarding here system uh I was a member of a union my teachers union had a tier system and how it really disintegrated morale within our district having that Seer system and we eliminated it eventually so hopefully you know we close the gap until this point hopefully were able to eliminate that Gap in the future because people doing the same exact job getting paid a lot different and uh and it's it's not fair and their's eyes they go to work feeling differently about themselves so thank you councilman anybody else councilman Cohen just quick comment uh you know obviously we respect the collective bargaining process here we have the unions negotiated a contract with the administration and uh that's a good thing so I just want to I'll be happy to support this contract thank you council president thank you councilman anyone else Mr fer call the vote Mr con I Mr Fisher yes Mrs Jabor yes Mr President Dano no Mr Cano I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president Ole I ca2 which is counc President can I read it or resolution authorizing an application to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres Grant Program to fund the development of 800 Monro res this is resiliency Park which is the presentation we just saw thank you the hearing yeah thank you council president so again this this story starts with mayor Zimmer when we were negotiating the building at 770 Jackson and I remember being in those negotiations for two years and talking about what I envisioned in that neighbor neighborhood and I'll never forget the time I sat in that in that one part of that negotiation Jim you were there and I said to our attorney I said and we're going to get that property at 800 and he would say to me we're in litigation Michael you can't say that out loud don't say that who would say that and Joe I thought you were blaming me no he would warn me all the time don't talk about it we're in current currently we're in litigation and we talked about it all the time behind closed doors and I made some serious promises about working as hard as possible to get that parcel of land and we were able to do that because we wanted to stop a 14-story tower that was going to be built on that land and we actually had the ability to accomplish that we actually got the property and it was not until now mayor Bala who negotiated that so we we we were able to achieve that get the property and now we're looking at the last piece of a full recreational area in the Third Ward where it's just going to be amazing once it's done so this is the next step to make sure that we're getting as much money as we can to build this out I'm super excited I'm asking all my colleagues here tonight to support this and to continue to support all funding options so that we can finalize this park so thank you council president thank you councilman Russo um anyone else on ca2 Mr finina call the vote Mr con hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr President Zano I Mr cero I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president Doyle I thank you everyone ca9 I believe this is you councilman Russo or is it counc pres I'm sorry counc pres I'm wor sure we're all chime in on this one no question no questions there um I know we all were briefed uh over the past couple weeks and there was a couple questions that Caleb had answered um for me today um I have a couple statements and then I also have some questions um in working on this Bond or this $30 million project are and I guess this goes to either Caleb or to uh director Freeman is there any are we're exploring other funding sources federal state loow county everything along which I'm guessing is that the case we we can there's limited in our initial there's limited amounts of money that are can be earmarked for like grant money be earmarked for emergency projects like this okay um projects that are much more attractive as it relates to resiliency climate action things like that oftentimes lend itself more to grant opportunities and things like this but we have been pursuing them we will continue to we just have not found any yet okay um and do we have an inspection process that we exist in that we have protocol inside the city on on your side of things uh for uh degradation of infrastructure um other than you know our water and sewer lines but like our Parks our Waterfront and things like that the answer is yes I think there's there's different things when it comes to parks and playgrounds that are all surface area when you're talking about things that are in the water um we are now going to be far more proactive in this but but again this is um you know this bulkhead was built around 60 years ago their useful lives are not meant to last this long um and this is kind of where we stand right now and we're going to move forward to repair that okay so if it was built I mean at 200 I think n correct me if I'm wrong people that were uh on the council 2009 or 11 when the soccer field 11 what's the question the last what when the last per collapse per collapse was the soccer field that's 11 or nine 09 okay 09 was 11 11 was it collapsed in 09 okay 11 was p with the worms or is that 11 was when we last inspected bulhe so 11 when we last inspected I'm struggling here and it's pretty easy for me to point the finger on this one I mean there's no question that we have to vote for this otherwise we lose our Waterfront but our while we sit here and we talk about all these things about climate change and everything else that exists you know we're suing Big Oil we're changing your electric bills um and we're building Parks left and right great it's awesome except we're ignoring we ignored our biggest park our biggest asset we didn't have anything set up to look at it I mean it's systemic it's a systemic failure and because of that we're going to saddle the taxpayers with that and and we had to stop that you know we we come up here and we think bonding is just like you know it's an easy thing to do but the stuff adds up um you know I I'm I'm perplexed a little bit um you know the the uh the settlement for the Monarch site just keeps it's a gift that keeps on giving we had to pay $80 for a DPW garage some people might agree with me I wasn't on the council for this but now that bulkhead or that part over there is needs 4.5 million or or four million 4.2 million of of some adjustment or some help I you know when we make these decisions when we buy these things or when we looked at when we bought Union Dry Dock did we do any research on this the bulkhead extends past that that's not a part of this this bond that we're going to do I mean before we go purchase land do we do the inspections that we need to make sure that down the road we're not going to be saddling the taxpayer more bills you know we bought Union Dry Dock we had the Monarch settlement I mean I would think that if we're doing our due diligence that we get somebody in the water to kind of look what we're buying or what we're getting or we're swapping for this isn't going to get any easier I mean if we want 20 more police officers right it's going to run money into the budget if we want a new high school that's going to put money that's going to cost us on not our side on the other side so nice things cost money what I want to see going forward is a maintenance plan for everything if we bond for anything going forward and I ask my Council colleagues up here that we should include a maintenance plan in every bond that we do something that's ad hoc that we can go by that in year five we're going to send divers down or in the fifth year we're going to do a comprehensive view of the Northwest Park which is breaking already we need to have something where we're protecting our our assets so that the cost don't get so exorbitant we could have probably this could have probably been either maintained or fixed before and I I'm I just struggle up here is is one of the as a newer person up here that some of the basic stuff we all take care of things in our house right if we don't paint the walls the the paint starts peeling or you they got scuff marks all over the place you if you got to if you don't take care of your gas stove you may have GL gas leaks your your grill for many of us that growing up I won't say in Hoboken but if you didn't take care of that Grill come the winter months you know you'd have that huge gas grease or gas fire that happens in the grill you take care of things and I feel as if we just don't do that and and there's something my wife always says that's it sticks to my head every time I think about this with money is a politician's tenure our four years never matches the balance sheet because we just keep kicking the can down the road for the next politician that gets in the seat and if you're lucky enough those 20 or 30 years no offense some of you up here um those 20 or 30 years you don't have to deal with the problem you left it with someone else so going forward I'm going to be I'm of course I'm supportive of this because it's the mo one of the most iconic things that we have in this town and and in the world I'm going to make sure that's taken care of but we need to do a better job of inspections so that we don't let costs get out of hand and the taxpayers are left saddling the bill uh one last point I think that I I hope there's some discussion tonight since this is an emergency Bond uh I I hope I know there was some discussion I I hope some of you bring that up that that think it's pretty important that maybe we need to look at that and maybe in the future how the mayor puts the executive order out that maybe we should start a fund for the Waterfront for the bulkhead because if it is 60 years old that means there's going to be more pieces breaking we're going to have to start saving up for when our kids are living in Hoboken and they're not going to be saddled with $100 million of a bond thank you councilman uh I'm sorry which one of you go ahead did you yeah I'll go after you that's thank you uh uh I did I did speak to some of my Council colleagues over the weekend councilman Fischer pres Zano councilman Russo with regards to this this Bond and specifically uh the 1% portion for the executive order and I did have a conversation with the mayor's office prior to this the meeting tonight if we could try and eliminate that 1% for this item specifically because we don't want to see the additional burden this is an emergency this isn't something that we plann for like we see 800 Monroe Street earlier today or Southwest Park or Northwest Zill Park this is uh an emergency so I don't think want to add on to that burden uh of carrying that 1% tax I think Mr fre did you have a conversation with the administration uh your party Administration I just want I just want to make sure I understand so the uh executive order was changed probably a year and a half ago that the 1% is actually split half and half so there's half percent goes to the Arts fund there's other half that goes to public facilities very similar to what councilman pres Zano had just talked about as it relates to the establishment of affordable housing I believe both it's Capital Improvements so it's up to you if you want to eliminate the full 1% or just the half say the full for this instant but down the road uh definitely supportive because not just this is coming up right we have reild the by Design coming up and one of the main concerns that I had the entire time through that conversation was there was no long-term maintenance plan to pay for that so if we have any future bonds we definitely have to allocate some funding potentially through by Design maintenance as well where that's that from the the the two cent tax for our Parks I think people about design as as a park there where we have Parks going over the city right now but that definitely a 2cent tax to go to that so all of this adds up and that 1% doesn't seem like a lot but on three on $30 million that is a lot it certainly adds up so if we could save uh that portion here with this Bond tonight and in future bonds I think uh uh the mayor said we could have a meeting next week to discuss this longer term for RBD and others and and and future bonding sources so I definitely want to have uh have that conversation on how we maintain not just the Waterfront but everything else that we have in town specifically RBD because it could be like 30 years from now it be New Orleans situation right the the the gates don't shut and town gets flooded again if we have a storm like Sandy again so we want to avoid that by any means necessary make sure we're doing regular inspections throughout the city with regards our Waterfront and RBD thank you council president councilman Fischer yeah just just to clarify just one point that was raised tonight um first of all I agree you know we should over the years we should have been more proactively maintaining all of our public spaces it's not a strength of uh this city this Administration um in terms of being able to like reserve money for future capital projects that's something that's only been able to be allowed probably in in the last year I mean we've we looked at that we spoke with our auditor we spoke with Council in the past and we're very limited in terms of what we're allowed to tax um taxpayers today and do with that money we can't just set up accounts here or there and put money in it and save it for future uses there's a very spe specific um kind of list of things that we're allowed to do and even under Don Zimmer When I Was Here we talked about creating something for infrastructure for our water system in the future and we asked all the questions we weren't allowed to do it so there is a big push and lobbying effort to be able to do that so this I don't even know what we're allowed to do under this half a percent I know we do affordable house affordable housing related um with the the half of 1% but I don't even know what we're allowed to reserve there so I'm not sure we're actually able to invest in an infrastructure um fund um I'm not sure it's allowed under state law but it's something that we hasn't been allowed in the past um but something that we clearly should look into because we have a ton of infrastructure that we need to maintain better I just want to be I just want to be clear on that piece that's that's really exactly what that second half of percent is um so my I I understand completely councilman what you're requesting based on the conversation I would recommend keeping that second half a percent in as it relates to public Improvement for facilities um because that's yeah that's just my recommendation based on that conversation council president councilman Russo council president I didn't like that look you know sometimes institutional knowledge and and and history kind of comes into play when p and and the beginnings of the waterfront were built there was a maintenance fee built into all of that and that was actually being funded by the Port Authority well it was the surface well it was a maintenance fee yeah it was still a maintenance fee still so there there were opportunities for us as a city to continue to do that as we continue down the Waterfront this is this is really concerning for me because I feel like we're so reactive active and we're never proactive in 2011 we inspected our Waterfront we inspected that bulkhead and there was a specific recommendation to make repairs then and we didn't do it and then year went by and two years went by and five years went by and 10 years went by and almost 15 years went by and we still didn't do it we waited for it to collapse that is not strong decisive leadership strong decisive leadership is taking on that as it comes that's what we need to do that is my biggest concern here of course we're supportive of this everyone should be we need to make sure that our citizens are safe but we also need to make sure that we don't turn a small problem into a $30 million problem that becomes a $1.5 million year-over-year problem with no recouping that funding except from everyone's pocket that can't happen anymore I'm supportive tonight but it's a warning it's a warning to everyone we need to be better thank you council president council president councilman I'll be brief I promise no no no um so actually I have a different understanding I think of the situation and I wanted to comment to say thank you so much to the Department of Environmental Services for having the wherewithal to do a full inspection top to bottom of the entire Waterfront so we all received a briefing uh with the findings from this inspection from coler's engineering um and what impressed me is the fact that we did take this opportunity to ensure that we would be proactive that there wouldn't be another sinkhole that developed based on what had happened the unfortunate first instance back in June um it's unfortunate to me that this wasn't realized in 2009 or in 2011 that there wasn't an opportunity to do a full investigation of the Waterfront because perhaps at that time there would have been an recognition um of the fact that the materials that were used for the bulkhead construction weren't actually going to be as long lived as we would have believed to be that was one of the findings that we were briefed on was unfortunately what caused the sinkhole in June in part is the fact that some of the materials that were used were not appropriate for purposes of a bulkhead and so there was an expectation that there should have been a certain longevity based on the initial construction date that wasn't going to come to be because of those faulty materials and certainly we have the benefit of time and Technology moving forward so that we know better now but I actually think the administration did a great job ensuring that everything about the Waterfront from top to bottom was inspected expected so that this is actually a full and holistic approach to ensuring that there won't be any future instances of sink holes like what happened in June so I just wanted to say thank you to the Department of Environmental Services um Jen Gonzalez who' handled this and to the folks at Colliers Who provided that information to us thank you council president thank you councilwoman councilman Cohen yes uh my recollection of that what happened back in 2011 that beevil the zimber administration was focused on shipworms that were eating the peers that were supporting the roadway that was collapsing uh and that was a major ordeal for her Administration uh my me 20 million is the number that comes to my mind back when $20 million and 2011 was $20 million now we're dealing with a $ 30 million issue not with wooden peers supporting the Waterfront but with a concrete seaw wall which I saw a diagram of that divers explored and all of the council people were given presentations on and this seaw wall goes from one uh end of the Waterfront all the way up to 15th Street uh and the the uh bond that we're going to be voting on later uh addresses erosion of the seaw wall in numerous places multiple locations main point is where you've seen the sink Hall and the fencing off down by cil's cave but there are other locations near closer to puree and also all the way down by the Hudson te building where there are eroded concrete and and uh business administrator mentioned that 60 years in my presentation I think it was it was at least 80 years this concrete seaw wall has been supporting and the the it's not a straight line it's sort of a it's yeah it's kind of a it weaves it Bobs it goes in different locations but part of it supports the roadway on Sinatra Drive part of it supports the walkway where people go out with their families so this is uh frankly this is exactly what you bond for we're gonna have this over 30 years uh we have about $150 million annual budget we're looking at a $30 million expense we want to do this over time we want to get our Waterfront restored as soon as we can I've had a number of constituents say to me Phil what's going on with the Waterfront when can we enjoy it again why is it fenced off it looks terrible we want to be able to enjoy it by voting on what we're voting on today we start the step forward of addressing the entire seaw wall from North to South uh focused mainly in the area where we have the sinkhole over by cbl's cave but the whole the whole anchel lot is being addressed here tonight so it's not it's obviously it's not a great situation it's frankly it's one I never even knew that the seaw wall was in this location I I saw for the first time in the presentation that I saw from the city uh but they sent divers down right away in August and this is what they came back with from the report thank you council president thank you Council Mr finina call the vote excuse excuse me Mr con i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr preso I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president doy I we're up to C12 I believe that was councilman preso yes uh I guess uh can you tell me this is just to resurface the floor or yeah sorry the resolution authorizing New Jersey Department of Community Affairs 2025 local Recreation Improvement grant for multi- service center gymnasium floor Improvement all right so I'll can we gymnasium floor impr no no that's fine I'm happy I'm happy we're doing it um we'll probably rip the thing down in three years because we're pretty good at spending money and then ripping something down in a few years uh councilman Russo didn't we just uh rip the closets out uh over there right um we going to I mean I don't know who's doing everything here but maybe we can do something together instead of Peace meal like because we could have ripped those out and redid the floor at the same time maybe I don't know I'm just asking the question because I know that was only a couple meetings ago but it seems from that from that standpoint we have uh um uh an issue of coordinating things but um I think also I think we I discussed over the weekend as well about the floors over at Jackson Street Jackson Street very very slippery a lot of complaints from parents and adults that are playing in that location uh slipping and falling and some people getting hurt in the Jackson Street 65 jackon 605 Jackson yep the gymnasium indoors it's not a hardwood floor that's a a pla well I don't know plastic but it's not is it hardwood it's a like a resilient rubberized yeah I think that's you need to always lit wet the bottom of your your uh shoes there um I this will lead me into another question and I don't know who can answer this um the times for people going into the gym uh when I guess wreck department um who's wreck alry I can answer Council Caleb I can answer Council you can answer that so there are some I've had uh couple residents not just one ask me about how some of those are decided or how how you get them I know you can go through Rec desk and if it's there it's not there um is there any chance some of those I some of those times could be used for open wck time we've talked about it um I think it's a um it's something we would like to be able to do ultimately it's a balancing act right we've we've all talked about this about the limited space we have anytime we take any space away from any organization I think all eight of you get a phone call yelling and screaming about something that we're doing wrong so the reality is it's Balancing Act it's a it's a it's a priority it's a it's a decision related to priorities right so if the council along with the mayor wants to prioritize open gym um in lie of a organization or or or a different someone else renting that space that's an opportunity that we can explore I think ultimately it's a decision related to coordination is that council president could I jump in just a followup question yes Council uh director so organization I understand right but are there any individuals that are renting space yes so we've had this conversation this exact conversation as relates to the council and um I could probably actually pull up a lot of the emails that went back and forth the number one priority or the number one um factor that we were given initially as it related to when we implemented Rec desk and had some new Rec staff come in was to prioritize um Legacy organizations or Legacy um groups that had been reserving gym space so we have kind of had to rejigger the way we operate but the number one priority um as I think it lays down the ordinance is Hoboken resident the organization has to be based in Hoboken um we've seen a number of organizations that aren't necessarily based in Hoboken that have now opened up a PO Box to kind of get around some of those things um but I think the the the situation counsilman that you're referencing is there's one night a week for two hours in the winter where um um a group an individual or it's an individual but it's been the same I don't know how many people have been reserving the space from either 9 to 11 or 10 to 12 I think 9 to 11 um for the better part of probably 10 to 15 years now if that's something we want to get away from that's a com again that's a it's a it's a priorities and policy conversations relates to who we allow in the gym and and when I I asked the question because I remember specifically when we passed the ordinance there was that hierarchy right there was city city run um you know leagues then there was uh I believe it was housing authority and school right I forgot which one took precedent over the other and then there were nonprofits Hoboken based nonprofits not Hoboken based four profits and then four profets I think the bottom the Bottom Rung that you're just referencing like that tier it's kind of a little I'm sorry Ruben said never just a crew of friends right um so again it's it's a decision that we can go back and revisit exactly what we want that hierarchy to be I just want to be very clear someone is always going to for lack of better terms feel like they're screwed out of the process right and I think that's a conversation that we all can have collectively as to what's the best course of action and knowing that we have limited field space limited gym space we do the best we can um councilman preso to your point about coordination um probably about two months ago and the reason we had to take out those closets when we did was um cheer Dynamics um the cheerly program for the city received a grant from the state of New Jersey part of that Grant um they uh purchased a tumble track there you go it got delivered there you go we didn't I know I'm on it uh we were given one day's notice for the delivery of the tumble track so I will you go see it it's enormous we didn't really have the ability to just kind of store it so and and just to be clear this is just the application for the grant so I we have to wait to hear back then we'll have to so I hear you and we try but um sometimes there are certain parts that are out our control you you you said it like a proud cheer D I had to think about it for a second you good anybody else Mr finina call the vote Mr con I Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes president Zano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Doyle hi cd6 resolution toward professional service contract to Triad associate to prepare an environmental review record for the hobok community center voucher application in the not to exceed amount of $3,500 councilman Russo thank you council president uh I am 1 million per supportive of this but it just uh triggered something and I wanted to know uh director if you have two seconds to just come up and let us know where we are in the veteran housing vouchers as well in relation to their environmental study is that relevant to this particular yeah I'm I'm I took the opportunity because they're kind of the same not all it's not but go ahead yeah they're both they're both voucher-based programs lower okay and they both need the same Chapter 58 well answer answer the question if you would director sure five seconds for him to tell me where where we are he's running a tight ship tonight he said that from the beginning proud of him the process is wrapping up within the next week um and the next stage would be the Housing Authority board uh moving forward with a couple of um different reports the SLR and the ahap okay um to to effectuate their full request of release of funds perfect thank you very much all right I appreciate it director thank you thank you counc Russo for your inquisitiveness uh Mr fra call the vote C cd6 Mr con hi Mr Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes president Zano hi Mr hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president do hi council president I believe the next item is seal2 and the sponsors wish to carry it okay councilman Fisher uh cl2 okay that'll be carried uh which means we are done with resolutions can I just make I I I wanted to pull cd9 let's make a comment on cd9 really quickly if I can council president cd9 comment on we passed already pass yeah it passed just want to comment if I can really that's well councilman Russo talks about other stuff that's not president get used to it buddy all right uh this this uh cd9 was in regards to uh 38 Jackson Street we had a public meeting a week and a half ago yeah and many concerns with regards to any changes with 38 Jackson Street were were based upon traffic we're concerns about traffic in the area and the impact those changes may make we're making it an educational component to the site so this is paying for that uh that traffic study at that time and then when the traffic study uh is returned we're going to have another public meeting to give the results of the traffic meeting and how we can manage traffic in the area to try and accommodate the the school facility as well as the grocery store at the base of 38 Jackson Street so just want to make sure that everyone understands the process is still ongoing but this is is the second step in the process now the public meeting was step one the traffic plan is step two uh amending the V development plan is step three hopefully February 5th then go to the planning board after that public meeting for the traffic study planning board approval city council final approval hopefully uh sometime in the spring so that's the process uh going forward as far as 38 jackon Street goes and any potential amendments thank you councilman ordinances for first reading se2 was carried ordinance for introduction amending cap chapter 190 entitled vehicles and traffic to clarify off Street fees by day of the week uh Mr fer call the vote Mr con I Fisher yes boore yes president Zano I Mr Cano iOS I Mr Russo I Pres d i ordinance for introduction and ordinance amending chapter 190 Amendments forol of Public Safety EMT parking Mr frer call the vote Mr con I Mr Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes president xano Hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Doyle hi for introduction amending Amendment to the Hoboken city code chapter 138 outdoor dining to amend spe specific specification for parlets to require the removal of all permanent decking and require bordly license renewal you could call the vote I I just want to make a point in order on on something else okay thank you uh Mr fer call the vote Mr col no Mr Fisher yes on first reading Mrs Jabor yes on first reading president Jano I Mr Cano no Mr Ramos I Mr Russo hi president oyle yes I'm first reading council president on um the ordinance about the chapter um I'm sorry chapter 85 condominum conversions I just wanted to six yeah I I wanted to remove that y um I'm concerned I mean we we got some information from the state that they no longer dictate how rents are being calculated at Marine View but the second phase of what Marine View is trying to do has to do with the potential condominium conversions and I don't know if I necessarily want to do that now I think we should hold this until we get a little bit more clarity for Marine View where we are what that looks like and then we could revisit this at a later date well I my understanding is this just says it conforms with the ex I have no issue pulling it I think we should talk about in subcommittee just so you have a full understanding of what yeah that that would that would make me feel a lot more comfortable I appreciate that is is the sponsor willing to uh yes he is okay all right so Jimmy you can read yes ordinance number four yes we we're all going to go take a break they'll do this to poor Jimmy so am I Bond ordinance authorizing the completion of various Capital Improvements for the replacement of Shoreline bulkheads walkways at properties located at hobok City Block 259 lot two commonly known as the castle Point situated between 90 Frank Sinatra drive and nine Castle Point terce 2011 Sinatra Drive hoken City Block 23.5 Lot 4 401 Sinatra Drive Hoboken City Block 233 lot one 1500 Shipyard Lane Hoboken city block 264.0 two lot one for the repaving of Sinatra Drive between First Street and Fourth Street including public art acquisition installation and capital facilities Improvement allocations related there to and and for the city of hobok and County of Hudson New Jersey appropriating a sum of 3,224 240 therefore authorizing the is issuance of General obligation Bond or Bond anticipation notes for the city of Hoboken County of futon New Jersey in the aggregate principal amount of 28 million 8,28 making certain determinations and Covenants and authorizing certain related actions connection with the for goinging you get yourself a glass of water no council president um are we talking about the 5% Jimmy could you read that again um are we amending this or yeah to remove one are we voting to to reduce it by a half a percent the 1% 2.5 yes okay do we uh Sor I'm striking the public art portion I just want to be clear okay correct thank you is everyone okay with that yes do we want to vote on that as an amendment amend as amended as amended okay Mr finina call a vote amended Mr con i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes president Zano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo I president oyle I ordinance struction amending chapter 192 parking for persons with disabilities Mr fer call the vote Mr con I Mr fiser uh yes Mrs jaor yes Mr President xano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr ruso I president Doyle yep okay so the other ordinance is uh is is six and seven we have carried they Carri the new business no the new business comes after public portion which is right now so um we've added names which we're already on so um okay so Enrique Herrera uh you're five minutes everyone is is this uh can you lower that there you go it it says it's neuralink expose I I was just discussing something yeah I I understand that but I'm just asking why he wrote this but this is just if that was just that's not another name of somebody okay thank you okay um so uh I I hope uh we all realize that U one of the things I've been very adamant about is exposure in terms of any illegal technology usage or any compromising of any communication channels uh the one thing about the specific type of Nur link that's now in clinical trials in Canada and that it failed in New Jersey because of the ruers campus not being able to supply legal um trial work and it was just black market stuff that students were using um it was very much utilized for illegal purposes um one of the other things I advocate against is the AI um uh dsam which is deep fake sexual assault material which is something that the Defiance act would provide some sense of federal protections for on the local level by doing that I kind of nip at the bud of this specific topic of the technology used to transfer that information like any type of visual uh stimuli which is Advanced enough that you can neurokinetic technology images and airdrop into the human mind and this is actually very Advanced and very very new I think that preventative measures involving any type of um any type of New Age Technology should be looked at not necessarily put into the practice of like you know like that kind of practice where we're just stopping everything prioritizing it but just set aside like a day or two just to really like hit home at how all these things interweave um my target though before I even hit the communication Channel which is the nlink Expose and I think I got I got something here it just involves more or less the production of any and all AI alternate timeline assault material where you can literally create a timeline pause the timeline of what we're doing right now and I make a left turn it becomes something that's rated our elicit content which could be added to Defiance um act if it were to have passed if it's already on the way there um that way we can always have like some sense of basic netting for any type of ilicit content in terms in anyone's face I am a victim of it uh a lot of the women in my life were victims of it and I was one of the more braver ones to really out out that behavior of college kids making def fakes and um and New Jersey there were a couple news stories involving it in terms of uh I think it was West Westchester or or something like that I'm I'm pretty sure but this is a very new topic of matter and it's something that's not really spoken of now in terms of any type of Black Market technology like Nur links that are currently in clinical trials for people who have no arms or legs that they can move around the the computer screens I don't know if you've ever seen like a video or something like that but it involves that um this also uh kind of exposes that that behavior as something like almost demonic frankly because people could just sit there and look at each other and they just know what they're thinking and it's this communication Channel errors and stuff it's real-time communication so for some college kids that's just how you meet people because of the way some schools operate with terms of the technical institutes and rushers and Stevens and that's something I went to Wu lean the uh neurological Center's main head that involved himself with this type of uh neuralink uh clinical trial and stuff like that um you know nurlink is something people met someone through it's not necessarily just a Communication channel for students to plagiarize work and stuff like that Partners or involving any type of ilicit um prostitution or dating number system where you know we're the same compatibility and we utilize the same number system with an enforcement tool which usually is something of under the ground thing we don't really like to talk about um any type of friend groups that involve themselves in these type of circle or cluster mobs that involve the same kind of communication Channel involve these groups of Synchro junkies involving this technology which with advanced technology involving downloading or airdropping deep fakes into your mind and stuff like that that is advancements in that technology without government oversight which Defiance act would provide some sense of netting for you know not everyone is perfect with that you know with that type of expose which is something that my Instagram account provides and that's why I've always like tagged Emily in it or or Phil Cohen I just added you on social media my threads account was compromised because of certain exposes um it's also used for intelligence so like any type of uh Communication channel that compromises any court or anything should have some sense of way to communicate freely about it where it's not an off-putting topic and it does involve technology that's indistinguishable from schizophrenia where you can communicate that you can communicate that in real time in your private moments and stuff like that um and as a woman you're not properly educated on this technology it's used it's half Aid educating you so that your consequ es involve you not knowing too much and you know what it is or it's something involving illegal activity hopefully we can actually move past the off-putting subject of schizophrenia and look toward it as an Intel Channel not necessarily something to to be afraid of but I have no fear about it and I'm open for suggestions I wrote a book about it and I don't treat this as a tragedy I more or less exposed it already to the degree that anyone can speak to me freely about it and it involves curriculum so I hope you guys take that into consideration and uh I hope I'm going to be voting for DED for mayor okay thank you very much um baa zamal is it baa or you want to bring that down the microphone please great thank you thank you um thank you so much for having me and having us we've been sending a lot of emails since the summer about the rat issue an uptown Hoboken um it sort of took a while to get things going in our neighborhood but I feel like we finally have some action steps taken thanks in large part that the two of you councilman Russo and councilman Ramos thank you so much for um putting the ordinance forward for the parklets it's really something that needs to happen and it's it's at least a start um we started pretty actively uh we're only 18 Brownstones on our block we're a small block we're really pretty close group we started did a Rat Patrol um in the Summer where we have been going out in the mornings and in the evenings different groups of us taking pictures of garbage sending them very annoyingly to all of you at all times of the day and night however I think that we have um come to the conclusion that I'm sure you all have come to many times before which is that we have to stop playing whack-a-mole we don't want to solve the problem in one neighborhood and have it go to another neighborhood we can look to New York City and see what they've done and they've done things so effectively just by eliminating parklets they've been able at least even seasonally they've been able to greatly reduce the r population so I really encourage you to do that I hope everybody's for it one thing that I've noticed in this um experience of being involved with a Rat Patrol is that there's an issue with enforcement in town um because for example Condo Association so on 14th Street there are many build buildings there all condos each building may have a different building maintenance company and the maintenance company is not actually accountable for violations um because they're a company they're not a person so as we have sort of come across these obstacles that allows an actual human being to be held accountable I hope that you all are sort of keeping a list like here we are in the parklet problem and we have people who are creating a solution but I really hope that we are creating Solutions as we go to some of the obstacles that we have in the various departments to hold people accountable one of the things that um I noticed is that before we were getting a little traction we turned in a petition that I helped collect a number of addresses on about 160 and 45 minutes I didn't have one person that answered the door that didn't want something to be done with the rat situation I really hope as a town that we can come together in every Ward it's really feasible to elim not maybe eliminate the rats but really reduce the population and I hope we can all work together as a whole town the other thing that I noticed in specific was this issue at 139 Park which is really very interesting because 1319 Park is owned by three different owners and two-thirds of it or something is is on the land of the 14 string condos and another third is part of the old button factory my understanding is that taxes have not been paid on that building and Tiffany done a councilman fishs done a lot of work to investigate all of this for us which we really appreciate my understanding is the taxes haven't been paid on that property for a long time a group of people went to 1319 with the health commissioner and Miss Fischer and it was determined on uh November 8th that visit was that that building should be contam an orange sticker is now placed on that building saying that it was going to come down on January 8th the building is still up it's condemned there's been rats around them it was determined that there were rats inside of them the building has to come down so my question is between the tax department the sanitation department the health department and the zoning department before we sort of all started a little scut but about this where was sort of the catch for it like where's the accountability like where are we seeing that there's a missing piece so okay maybe it was missed up until now and now we're getting on track and that's super so as of January 8th according to the sticker on the building every week their violation for it not coming down um is $2,000 a week so we're up to $4,000 and I hope we're collecting it and I hope that we are using that money to support um the health department and the sanation department do their job and the only just want to say one more thing which is the parking authority does an amazing job they go down Garden Street starting at 203 on Mondays 203 on Tuesdays they don't miss a beat they hold every single person in this town accountable for everything that they do let's make every Department like the parking authority thank you thank you um Alexandra black Alex black 1307 Garden again um so I want to thanks first thank um council person Russo and council person Ramos U regarding the um amendment to remove the parking decking from parklet so they are properly come a little closer to the microphone or speak into it okay can you hear me now that's better y thank you um so thanks for that um I did hear two Council people not wanting to move forward with this um and it's funny because I watched the um September 20th 2023 there was a council meeting and councilman canteros and councilman Cohen both said that this was adequate for what's under the park list and that we would keep watching um so it's been yeah you you said we'll keep watching to see how the outdoor dining ordinance would work out so it's been a year and five months since we've been watching we're watching a lot of rats um I'm not picking on the parklets it's bigger than that it's garbage collection um which by the way is there another public portion after this or is this this is it got it okay didn't know that I had another thing okay um council person pentos you said it was Draconian for us to just get this cleaned out I don't think that's droning at all I feel like um these are permanent instructors that need to be cleaned um restaurants are our neighbors and we expect all our neighbors to work with us and help us eradicate this problem um I think this ordance is a good compromise restaurants get to serve the patrons um Outdoors the only difference is that it will be clean um and I think every restaurant owner should support that um and I know it's not a back and forth but at some point i' like to know why you voted no on the ordinance now because I received this picture from not my ward not someone that knew I was coming come and speak this is brand School 4:27 p.m. garbage outside m not picking on any specific restaurant because I don't know if that's are garbage but this is just Washington Street um this is the alley for barbz that they were saying that people go and go through the garbage this is not people it's not wackos this is rats that are going through the bag and opening and taking avocado pits this is what we found in the past around barbz this is 14th Street it's not just like I said it's not just a restaurant it's different violations that are contributing to the problem but the parklets and not be being able to clean under this is a big problem um what else like we said we saw this I have many more pictures that I've been sending you guys pretty much on the daily um some of you are not on the email but I would hope that this ordinance is something that everyone could come and try and help us eradicate the rats because it's I just don't see why anyone would be against clean streets so I'm specifically speaking to councilman contos and councilman Cohen so I would like uh if you can't answer now maybe an email or let me know exactly why you're not voting for this thank you okay thank you very much Mrs black um Jill Singleton hi everyone um I'd also like to thank both um councilman Russo councilman Ramos and also uh councilman Fischer for all the work that you've done we really appreciate the reach outs we're feeling hopeful we're feeling like we are making some progress um in this situation I too watched that um video of the meeting in September 2023 I thought there was some really good discussion about whether or not the regulations that were that that you know you all decided upon struck the right balance and at that point the feeling was that they did they were neither too quote Draconian um they depended on sort of the common sense I think that was the word that was used or the phrase that was used of the restaurant owner to really kind of um monitor themselves and their own parklets um and I think that that's worked with varying degrees but I think I'm so glad that this um ordinance has passed for first reading because I think it really deserves a serious look because I don't think it's happening in all places it was also mentioned that some kind of filler needed to take place for the gaps underneath so that the rodents wouldn't be able to Harbor there we know that hasn't taken place in in many of the parklets personally I don't see why we couldn't even go to Street Aries that's a whole other issue we could accomplish the same thing I'm really not clear on how it is that we're we're comfortable with our streets not being cleaned for years on end underneath those um parklets so I really hope that this this issue gets a serious look and that there is a way to power wash um under those things just like our streets are cleaned as baa said we have a great you know those two trucks are always in tandem the street cleaning T the truck and the kushman people know if you leave your car there you are going to get a ticket it works and then people then adjust their behavior accordingly we've made these containerization r rules but we haven't had the enforcement so we haven't changed the mindset nor the behavior of people going around this city and especially in our neighborhood for sure at any time of the night or day it's absolutely appalling to see how much garbage there is just overflowing I mean the idea of a lid or it being contained is actually a joke I mean you really have to go and see it if you haven't seen it for yourself I know councilman Fischer we did a walk around and you got to see it for yourself and it was is really plain as day the other thing that I really want to just talk about briefly is the importance of Education um about this you know that the only city on the planet earth that is truly considered to be ratree is Alberta Canada outside of Antarctica and a few isolated Islands they are the only city that for 70 years has actually been able to achieve that status and the reason they've been able to do that is they're committed to it they're very serious about it if you look at their campaign their informational campaign it's downright scary look up some of their posters they actually use dead rats to bring to people and show them and really put the problem front and center we need posters we need signage we need social media we need mailings going home we need to be using our nixel alerts we need to educate people about the fact that garbage equals rats and that we have rats in this city um we need to Ed at them about the fact that two rats one breeding pair equals 2,000 rats in one year that same breeding pair is thought to be able to have half a billion descendants in three years we've had this problem for a very serious long time rats also live within 100 fet between 25 and 100 feet of their food source they're garbage so they're right there they just go from here to there to sleep eat sleep eat sleep eat and we are just absolutely running a rat nutrition program here that's what we are doing with this garbage and we have to do something about it um so I really hope that we take a serious look at this um between now and that second read that we figure out a way to educate people because the only way we're going to be able to fix this problem is by committing to it to have strong decisive leadership I love hearing that phrase thank you very much with education inspection oversight and enforcement we we have to do this a city that can't even control its own garbage cannot achieve half of the things we have on our agenda at any given council meeting please I beg you thank you thank you Miss Singleton Manuel rera Soler man thank you council president good evening uh council president Council vice president council members of the public thank you very much uh for your presence here this evening I would like to say thank you again to you all for taking the opportunity to um ask questions on tonight's agenda uh it does um the public a great service when you discuss and you give your opinions the reasons why you're voting for something and why you're not voting for something and uh that is uh what democracy looked like and I appreciate again everyone who participated all of you this evening and again as well as the members of the public who are here this evening and last meeting uh who asked pertinent questions who kept uh uh one after the other asking uh similar questions in regards as this evening for the rat situation we appreciate them and I would like members of the public to understand that I appreciate them as well as a resident and a member of the public and a member of uh resident Depart ofy of the six board um who doesn't have direct representation here this evening um because of the vacancy as well as I would like to also but I will save it for another uh day uh understand the the composition of this um Council uh I was aware that you were going to power sheare but I guess that was thrown out the window um but no offense to you council president you you are very fair um but with that council president I will say this before my time runs out um I quote or quote we must accept finite disappointments but we never but never lose infinite hope quote Dr Martin Luther King I say these words not just because of a government or a circumstance I say it profoundly because I feel pain I feel sadness in my heart and this is not the reason I usually come up to speak but tonight I will take a moment and apart take this two minutes that are left to say the name of a beloved brother a friend a hobok night through and through my beloved brother whose name will now forever be enshrined in this council's records and in the cities his name is Jose Antonio Rivera Soler a resident of 221 Jackson as well as 529 Park Avenue again a hope can I through and through with false but a good man I thank you all all those who sent their message of condolences to my person as well as my family those who made the effort to stand with us to join us and give us strength I thank you all for that all of you who also reached out whether it be online or with your presence I thank you all I would also like to take the opportunity to thank the day my brother needed them most the Hoboken fire department the EMT workers the paramedics the police officers were there so when you had the discussion this evening about the police or the fire uh Fighters and the chief of police it touched me because I saw their work I saw how selfless they are they rescued my brother they took him to the hospital as quickly as possible so to them I owe a Deb of thanks I will never forget them especially the police officers thank you all once again thank you council president for allowing me to say my brother's name and to all of you again and to all the members of the public thank you and God bless you and God bless hope thank you Mr Pera Soler uh Owen finegan hello council members my name is Owen finegan and I didn't prepare any um any notes but I just want to um mention that I do own a parklet and I believe I was here um 14 15 months ago on same issue issues and how did we get how did we resolve those issues was by putting in you know panels with removable decking and I did that so I'm just kind of confused as to like if I could get some answers while I'm here instead of me talking about like I I would like some answers to my questions like what what different do I need to do now like what is what do you propose and has someone else done it so I can like maybe have my contractors look at what what you plan for for me to do if you if you follow me can I get an answer or well this this really isn't back and for Sor okay you can the question basically so basically I guess I'm just saying that um I put on I put in all these you know things that you needed me to to put in place I put in various like panels that opens up and I power wash every week and so so basically I just I guess I'm confused as to what what's going to be new what's coming down the road and like if there's something coming down the road you're definitely be going to be need uh for like somewhere else so we can B something that was done elsewhere so we can base it off and tell our contractors or whoever it is that we need to like look at that model to see what what what what you guys want us to do because the last time I was here I did everything you guys wanted me to do so now we're doing it again thank you very much thank you Mr fenan okay um no there are no more speakers for the public por Anthony you know okay evening everybody hope all is well um identify yourself for the record sure yep Anthony Pino uh Anthony David's Ben 14 Hoboken yep um I look at everybody my neighbors hi everybody hi hi hi everybody and I get it like we're under a scrutiny of you know rodents right so I think we all need to um the rodents are under the SC of us yes yes um I feel like Billy Joel here um anyway I I I think I'm trying uh obviously we need to work together with both sides I'm also live in the community um I haven't seen many compared to where my neighbors live but I I do think there's an opportunity where the restaurant community and the neighbors can come together to make the proper adjustments that can work for everybody and I had some conversations with uh the HBA today and it is not just parklets from jaill I walk down the street I also see trash early late uncleanly sidewalks grease dirt on the corners where the trash goes where we have the bins more people more trash downtown yes but as you go up towards the Midtown and Uptown areas you do see restaurants in front of the whether they have a park lit or not you still see grease debris trash on the sidewalks that all needs to change with those actions of being for myself I take pride in my restaurant as it needs to be cleaned at all the times because that's the first appearance when you walk into a restaurant bathrooms are clean you know think are clean when the bathroom is not clean that just kind of shows you where they are uh I think the restaurant Community needs to do a better part but then obviously just trash pickup maintenance stuff of that sort it all needs to be done but it kind of needs a a nice big Degreaser of everything and start fresh obviously it's very cold right now so that's not happening um and I think there's an opportunity to get back to the table where we were talking before about what can we do together then obviously obviously more important things kind of come up and it goes to the Wayside and unfortunately we had you know other things happen uh I'd love to come back to the table and help advocate for both sides right where we can make it work for everybody uh we employ people a lot of people uh almost 100 between our both restaurants that Park lit is important to us even uh two Sundays ago when it was 40° you know we had 150 people outside that Sunday that's a lot of revenue for my staff and to uh make money but it's also the money that we need to keep running it and operating um so I hope we can work together to make uh the right adjustments that work um and for those people who can't abide by it then you then you need to go if you can't maintain your parklet where it should be and follow the proper procedures then uh you lose out you lose out on the benefit of having one and having the opportunity um to do those things so but uh I appreciate the opportunity to talk and I look forward to meeting and discussing next steps to prepare for this spring because it's going to be here before you know it and make sure things are working in the right direction um just not with the parklets but on the the maintenance of the streets sidewalks trash and so on thank you so much thank you Mr [Applause] P okay now there's no longer uh no other members of the public wish motion to close public portion second all those in favor I thank you uh we have one matter in new business um and we have an emergency resolution for the addition of an urgent item to the agenda the I may need my glasses this pertains to the elor yeah building at the bottom of uh the commercial excuse me the Residential Building there's the need the state of New Jersey uh Economic Development agency has a deadline which has been extended three times uh to today if you could please depart quietly um we would appreciate it and so the the resolution to consider the emergency resolution so that we can consider this which is we're it's authorizing the mayor to sign a community benefit agreement which is not changing at all as far as substantively we approved it in October already um and and there is also a parallel agreement with which just confirms that it's consistent with the Redevelopment plan and agreement the the change so both together both together if uh any questions I just would add I think the deadline for this agreement is today so that's why this is an emergency uh I think the mayor is signing it tonight right yeah yeah you're not over time Jason you're not getting paid over time to get this out I told we were going to go till 11 okay so Mr fer call the vote nv1 and nv2 Mr con hi hi Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes president xano Hi Mr ganto hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Dole hi anything else in new business oh can I go yeah uh just because it's our last meeting um before the path closure um the path is closing at midnight on January 30th um the I I think there's been a lot of communication out there there's going to be extra 126 buses 247 shuttle to the um the PATH stations in Jersey City and importantly New York Waterway is cross-honoring um path tickets that's actually available for everyone anyone at all who takes the ferry today um or potentially takes the path and now is going to need to take the ferry um a $3 ticket is available normally these tickets are $10 so it's a 70% savings for 3 weeks it's a two-part process you have to go on to New York waterways um app and acquire a special $3 Ferry ticket but you also have to have either a metro card smart Link card or download an online digital pass from uh Port Authority so you need both those things but if you take the time to do that you will only have to pay $3 for the ferry from now until the 25th and then um Second and related the 15th street closure will come to an end the day before the path closes so we'll at least see some positive traffic flow on the North End thanks just a second Council fiser um are you sure it's it's not closed on the 30th and it's closing at is it closing at 12:01 a.m. on the 30th so it's on the 31 at at midnight between the 30th and the 31st so the day of the 31st it will be closed all day so the 31st is f is the Thursday yes the 30th is open 30th is open sorry yep 30th is open 31st through through the 24th opening on the 25th yep thank you Council just quickly and most people left already so I'm not going to get into all the changes uh for that uh parklet uh ordinance but uh councilman Ramos and I have have already been discussing some times where we're going to reach out to some of the owners uh and then we'll take it at the next meeting so I appreciate that that's great so I didn't want to put you on the spot but I'm glad you're going to are you talking or no okay but it will likely go back to First reading after those changes if there's changes yeah right if there's changes right there will be changes I think we'll see changes it'll probably go back to First reading okay motion to close second all those in favor thank you I love nerds