##VIDEO ID:qbsEhaVQW0A## e I want well amend it amend it immediately it will be amended in a month this is true okay that gives me an idea I well we have to wait for I told Paul that he could go to the boys room so but other than that oh thank you I you know what we can we can do the Pledge of Allegiance right yes we can so why don't we get started here's the G Jim I would like to advise 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 were provided to the Hoboken reporter this is an old one the record The norstar Ledger also placed on a bulton board in the lobby of City Hall written objections if any shall be made to the city clerk the pledge to the flag United States of America to the rep for it stands one nation under God and divisible liy and justice for all roll call Mr con here Mr Doyle present M fiser Mr jabore here Mr President Zano pres Mr Cano present Mr R Mr Russo pres president gtino okay so um for some housekeeping we're going to there are I think cd1 is removed and cl1 are removed and um we have Council here for um a proposed settlement and so we're going to suspend the agenda and go to the uh cd6 right away because we also have some council members who are recused and uh it would be less the less fluid if we stopped and started and stopped so we're going to start uh with cd6 and um it's a resolution and if people signed up for cd6 uh anybody okay that hard to believe so cd6 resolution of the city of hobok and authorizing the execution of a settlement agreement with hobok and Western Edge LLC just block 112 LLC American Legion Hoboken post 107 Hoboken World War veterans holding Corporation and the veteran Center Hoboken thank you Mr clerk let's we'll give uh the public a little bit of time if they're running up to sign up yeah could you identify is it this gentleman right here uh you are okay we'll put it down on on there for you thank you you're more than welcome um um y you want to Prov tell him Roberto are you um you signed up but didn't indicate a resolution do you you know cd6 thank you I can't pronounce name the street a of it in the front that's that's the orentation I think settled part of the public right away which they're okay so public comment for on cd6 um Roberto I your penmanship is such that I won't even try to pronounce i i yeah would you please state it when you come up so that uh yeah um Roberto uh verti v r t h lyi so on this uh you know one one thing uh that I think would be very helpful for everybody since we have one version of events and that that was uh sent by my council person I would like to hear if there are any disagreements as to that version of events before you guys consider this and any ramifications um and uh if there are if you can tell us your version of how things closer to the microphone your version about how things uh developed so we can get a little bit better maybe more balanced view but if not if you don't want to tell you then I'm going to agree that that the version is correct and that uh the uh there there are a lot of issues um in here and certain things that in these recital um I I was surprised to find um one of the the the things that I thought was strange in uh number 11 elimination of lead certification obligations for the construction of all buildings but all buildings buildings must be designed to satisfy lead standards for new construction that seems kind of strange to me I've talked to a lot of developers and I've dealt with a lot of developers and they're um very proud of their lead certifications and if they're going to do all the work for the lead uh to be sat satisfying that why would they this uh developer want to actually get the lead certification that's one question the second question which um it doesn't really affect me as much because I'm up early in the morning but section 14 says that the work will be permitted between 7:00 a.m. and 700 p.m. so that means that and I think that's longer than the normal uh work and I think the the neighbors and the council person who represents those neighbors should be prepared to answer why they're going to be waking up with uh uh noise at 7:00 a.m. in the morning um for what could be what 2 3 four years uh between all the buildings so um there's there's a lot more things and that we could discuss I mean the the whole idea of you know we we were getting x amount of millions of dollars now we're getting less oh there's one other thing which I'm not sure if I read it correctly it says that the parking is not going to change so am I reading correctly that the parking for the 1,000 Apartments is going to be the same as the parking on the 700 Apartments so there's 300 Apartments more added with no parking and what does that mean that they're going to have to uh Park in in the shop right parking lot or I mean I I don't know where those those uh uh extra cars will go I mean this is a location that is not that convenient to public transit it's going be as far away from the path as as possible within Hoboken and so I would imagine that there will be a lot of people who you know will will have issues with that and it's not even that close to the Light Rail and and and the so um there's a lot of things here and I think oh the last question I don't know if if the um the lawyers can answer this or you can answer this in the case that we have to pay millions and millions of dollars for any settlement are those millions of dollars covered by the Garden State uh Insurance Fund so that which we're paying for is that going to be taken out of that or is a dollar for dooll going to come out of our budget um and uh are we insured for that we're not insured for that just a few points of clar CL ification thank you very much thank you Roberto um and Arthur n n thank [Music] you that's that's fine if you're okay with it Vincent last name Ferrara fer Council for city of Union City I believe right uh I don't know are we officially you let me know when Mr President you you've got five minutes and Jerry have you turned it on okay uh well uh good evening to all the uh council members again my name is Vincent farar from Chase lell malan and capuzzo uh we represent Union City in this underlying ation um Mr n wanted wanted me to go first as as party to the case um I would just say I don't want to regurgitate a lot of what I said A week or two ago but I would ask the council to be mindful of why we're here and quite honestly I'm kind of shocked we're back here in a week or two given what occurred just two weeks ago when the council decided I think prudently to go back into executive session but I just want to emphasize two themes the First theme is that there is a clear conflict of interest with two of your colleagues that have recused themselves from this vote um the highlight of that and so that the public is aware two of these two council members attended the wedding of one of the developers in this case Mr Mr ver I'm I'm not entirely clear what the relevance is of this line I mean I you have five minutes I I just be mindful not to be slandering individuals not that you've said no listen absolutely I'm not trying to demean anybody or uh cast a shadow on on these individuals they have every right to do what they wanted to do and they made their decision but I would point out to the council that it's it's demonstrative of the fact this litigation is not going to be settled if you vote Yes tonight Union City is not going to evaporate Into Thin Air uh myself and my colleagues are going to continue to litigate the case as I said to you two weeks ago you're all going to probably get a deposition notice and you're going to get your deposition taken H boken will continue to expend legal fees um and so I just want to demonstrate the fact that legally if the court were to deem their vote on these applications in the project in Conflict the previous votes all of this would be thrown out and you'd be back at square one and that's just not helpful for Hoboken it's not helpful for Union City or anyone else um I'm mindful of of councilwoman fiser who said you know with all due respect it's about Hoboken it is about Hoboken you guys are elected to represent Hoboken and the people here and when you look at this agreement it's just not a good agreement for home spoken if any of you can articulate what you're getting I couldn't tell you what it is you want people banging at 700 in the morning uh on a Federal holiday when people supposed to rest 50 more feet of height why is the council so cozy so bent over backwards with this developer that they want to give him all this extra incentive when the development was already a big project and now you're getting more you're doubling down on something this stuff no lead certification uh 50 ft of height on both buildings a very generous pilot program um again you're circumventing the entire planning board this gets approved now the agreement was amended we don't have the plans and now they're going to be provided at a later date it doesn't show the council the city of Hoboken this is one of the major cities in New Jersey is this the way we want to do things no transparent y to people people haven't read this there's barely any notice about this it was brought back in executive session it's not the way public servants should do it I Echo the sentiments of councilman Russo and also councilman fiser who spoke about settling the entire case and also about some of the potential criminal and ethical things that councilman fiser mentioned in her remarks the council shouldn't be party to this whatever those individuals did should be decided by a court of law there should be development in Hoboken and around the state of New Jersey but not like this don't just shove it down people's throats don't read it read it later I couldn't tell you what the building heights were now they're 50 ft higher it's going to add over 300 units parking congestion density where are they going in our in the schools of hoken um I say it also as a resident in New Jersey not just as somebody who represents Union City no variances no kind of waivers we're just this is going to be it they're going to get everything they want and more it's it's a sweet deal with a cherry on top for for this particular developer and the public has got a right to know why and there's been such a lack of transparency I mean we all respect executive session and your judgment as Council people but you're kind of calling that into doubt a little bit uh by just going through with this full-handed I saw on the revised agreement there's a $50,000 senior benefit payment now that's about the only thing you got I think in going back to the negotiating table if that's what has occurred but the lion shius agreement remains a bad deal for Hoboken and why is the council doing this why all of the sudden we're just throwing this thing through and we want a thing that's now a th000 units and we're not going to have any input Union City doesn't exist Jersey City doesn't exist and quite honestly the residents of Hoboken right now look pretty invisible to me because this isn't in their best interest while development might be this particular project as it's been annunciated in this partial settlement which is partial and will not settle the case we'll be back in front of a judge in Hudson County in several weeks I'm sure on the next motion cycle it doesn't do the job I'm a big proponent of settling litigation I don't be I'm not a lawyer to take argue every point I really believe everybody could have gotten a room and settled the case Union City and everybody else included and I don't think it would have been this we're never going to settle that's certainly not uh a position I would have taken or I think a lot of my colleagues will have taken you're going to hear from Mr n who's going to tell you his representation interest he's going to look to intervene back in this case it's simply not not going to go away this is a Band-Aid that is just not a good deal for Hoboken if any of you can really articulate what you're getting out of this and how this is going to help the issues I was looking at hoboken's master plan for a different case about parking congestion and this was from the residents 1500 residents were pulled it doesn't address that density concerns this is a nightmare I mean 700 units would have been tough but to go up to a th000 units and again the extra height and and so forth and with all the aaces of the conflict issue what would be prudent for this Council would to be public servants say you know what we got some issues here let's take it slow instead we got a rush job two weeks ago and now all of a sudden we're back here with very very minor edits to dis agreement um I I read both iterations if you really think this is a much better deal uh you need to maybe look at some negotiating skills because H boken isn't getting much of anything in here the community benefit payment that is such an important tool of a council to get millions of dollars to put in a linear park or a pool or whatever you want to put it towards in a place like Hoboken I was driving here all the wonderful families and people that are out and about on a nice night you're now getting getting less and less money and a developer any developer not just these particular people could afford that you have a right to that as a municipality you're not utilizing that properly so there are so many issues here and the council was prudent in tabling it two weeks ago but the fact is there is a conflict issue it is relevant it begs the question why is this Council so cozy with the developer and why is this deal so good for the developer and why not wait reconsider try to settle with everyone or better yet I would urge you to please vote this particular settlement proposal down because the litigation is going to continue so um I appreciate the council's time and I really would urge you as public servants to just do the right thing vote your conscience and please vote no thank you thank you very much um Arthur n that would be me good evening and thank you for hearing me uh my name is Arthur MN I am a member of the firm Bey pavano uh we're in Montvale New Jersey uh I represent UC MH Tera Heights LLC a 50% uh owner as tenants in common of certain property that overlooks this project um when these matters were tabled two weeks ago there was no new notice for tonight that I was aware of I became aware of this yesterday afternoon um I dare say that there may not be people from Hoboken here to hear this um I I I just have to ask isn't the public entitled to reasonable notice of your obvious intent to enter into these settlement agreements there's a requirement and and I'm just going to review quickly the settlement agreements to focus you on on some of the issues that uh Mr Ferrara raised um there's a requirement for Joint Defense of future claims which are not even known what does Joint Defense mean in the in the context of these agreements the city is agreeing to defend and get involved in litigation it has no idea about the city is not even imposing any limit or cap suppose the defense would be frivolous under the law the city is still required to defend the addition of 300 more units may be worth two may be worth 20 $24 million uh and that's calculated at 300 units at and we just I just put together an arbitrary figure of 80,000 per unit that comes out to more than $24 million and there's retail space of 50,000 Square ft this certainly has the appearance of buying approvals and is not legal under the case of nunziato versus Edgewater planning board 225 New Jersey Superior 124 it's an appell division case in 1988 and not withstanding the New Jersey state economic Recovery Act of 2021 that provides for Community benefits agreements I certainly hope and trust that the city has gotten a defensible legal position on this issue under the settlement agreements Hoboken is required to approve a concept plan and only and can only quote review and comment end quote on it we tried through the developers Council to obtain a copy of such a plan but we were told they had nothing to share have you seen any plan this current iteration of the settlement agreement provides that a concept plan shall be prepared by the developer but the first settlement agreement said it was to be attached to the settlement agreement well that disappeared it wasn't what's going on here in our opinion it is legal for a municipal illegal for a municipal agreement with a private party to require approval of a development plan in advance before the public can even comment we request distribution of a concept plan with a reasonable time period before the council votes on these settlement agreements you got to know what you're getting into and what you're buying the extent of the Monroe Street vacation is not disclosed in the settlement agreements how much of Monro street is going to be affected is it shown on the concept plan that you have not seen under the settlement agreements the council and mayor are obligated to execute an amended Redevelopment agreement they have not seen the language says quote mayor shall execute and this will occur before there's any opportunity for any public comment on the Redevelopment agreement again in our view this is not a legal way to proceed I certainly hope and trust that the city has gotten a defensible legal POS uh legal opinion on this issue the amended project includes five extra stories and a height increase of 50 ft how does this affect the views from the Palisades does it block other properties you know there's a supreme court of the United States case that says that Scenic resource regulations that protect aesthetic views from Residential Properties are a legitimate exercise of the state's police power that quote comes from uh case called Nolan versus California Coastal Commissioners in which it was quote agreed that the coastal Commissioners concern with protecting visual access to the ocean constituted a legitimate public concern end quote the same applies to the Palisades there are no details on or concerning the amended project that you're that you're voting on I promise I'll be very short quick if you'll just allow me I'm I'm almost done actually again there's no concept plan to review if you enter into these settlement agreements have you fully considered the implications we assume but do not know that the city wants age restricted housing but under the settlement agreements the development of age restricted housing is only at the developer's option the the last thing I would I have much more to say but the last thing because my time is up the last thing I'm going to say look if I'm sure there are significant reasons for why the city wants to move ahead with this but these settlement Agreements are so one-sided and so unforgiving to the residents that the terms of these agreements must be reconsidered and renegotiated were you my client I would be cautioning you not to adopt these incredibly unfair settlement agreements and would be urging you to get stakeholder input before you do so thank you very much thank you Mr M Jim Vance good evening Council I'm Jim Vance I am a resident not an attorney uh here to um address this from a residence standpoint um it's been 12 years folks it's time to settle this thing um stalling any longer creates great uncertainty for the city the taxpayers the American Legion Post 107 the paral will remain off the tax roles for who know who knows how long if we don't get this settlement through possibility of a multi-million judge judgment will cast even larger shadow on the city Bond rating will be placed in Jeopardy much needed expansion American Legion Post 107 homes for homeless veterans could be terminated settle now or plow ahead with the city council in charge risky business I think I can't imagine trying to negotiation with this clutter of cats especially with half of them running for mayor and the other half trying to hold on to their to their Council seats each vying behind the scenes and publicly to say gee I've got a better deal I just don't see it working if you the council have a better deal lay it on the table otherwise you get this over with once and for all so we don't forget how we got here this matter has to be laid squarely at the feet of Robie Bala he is mayor has acted in an underhanded and deceitful manner riging on contract meddling in the business of an independent board B campaigns on saving us from Trump who needs Trump when you have Bala settle now thank you Mr Vance uh for any for any people who came in late we suspended the agenda and moved cd6 up front we are done with the public speakers unless there's anybody who came in and wishes to speak um seeing none is there a motion motion Clos public portion second all those in favor I okay um I believe that a number of questions have been raised and I think it might be helpful to have Jessica Almeida um Council for the city of Hoboken to you know not rebut as much as try to objective explain the settlement you might start with the question of of last meeting to this meeting were there changes to the the proposed settlement in the intervening two weeks and then describe the settlement in general if you would um my name again is Jessica ala from the law firm of McManaman Scotland and Bowman we serve as litigation Council to the city the city council and the mayor in this litigation um the first question that you had for me um I have a couple of the questions that were brought up but the first one uh was the difference between the two settlements these two settlements that were amended um each give a $50,000 upfront payment to the city as opposed to it being given over a number of years the one building which the 106 has the ability to construct age restricted units um that will have a $50,000 upfront payment for senior services in the community the 112 the building located on block 112 that will have a $50,000 upfront payment to the city to be used for teen Supportive Services and what I mean by upfront payment is that instead of it being spread out over a number of years it will be paid at the time that non appeal non-appealable approvals are given so if we heard and I believe I read that it's at the discretion of the developer to determine if an age restricted portion or units will be provided so if if they elect not to what happens to the $50,000 payment towards senior it would still be given to the city and it would it would still be used for senior Supportive Services it just wouldn't the seniors just wouldn't be living in Black 106 at that point okay thank you um there was also um you would ask me to summarize yes the settlements in Hall so the I'll start with block 106 which is located um in Block 106 lot one uh 1 1200 to 1300 Madison Street um and that one is referred to as the Hoboken Western Edge LLC um under the proposed settlement agreement there will be at least two buildings built on the lot and there is a 300 unit change from the 701 residential units to 1,01 what that does is also not only um those 300 units there'll be an available 30 additional affordable housing units that will be the city will have um the entire project both one both on block 106 and one lot 112 are required to comply with 10% affordable housing setback so however many units that are in these buildings buildings and I'm not the best at mathing but say there's a th000 units altoe you have 100 affordable units that will be put in these houses uh in these buildings um there was a change in the number of Comm uh the amount of commercial space in the building um there will be none in the 106 and a reduction in retail space from 78,000 to 50 um as well as office space um they're eliminating the office space um the community benefit payment will be $3 million um there was some discussion about the lead certification um there was lead certification and I work on Redevelopment agreements throughout the state and also in Hoboken um it used to be that everybody wanted to do lead certification but there is a cost a great cost that's associated with lead certification so ma most of the Redevelopment agreements that I work on currently have them build to lead certification standards you just don't take the extra step to get certified so while the building will be built the same exact way it would have been it just won't be certified um the parking uh will be 526 spots uh there will be five additional stories and an increase of height in 50 ft um the building will stay within the permitted building envelopes um again the ability to construct age restricted units and there will be publicly accessible open space um which will include the the linear Park in the green circuit there will be a pilot agreement um as discussed so the pilot agreement is going to be common to both each one has the option for a pilot agreement um for those who aren't familiar with pilot agreements it stands for um a long ter p a payment in lie of taxes so the pilot agreement that will be it's the same on both sides it will be um 10% of the adjusted gross income of the building so that means anything from in moving in costs moving out costs parking costs anything that generates income within the building um and from a Hoboken perspective they will be receiving more money under a pilot agreement than they would under conventional taxes because under a the conventional taxes um Hoboken would receive only 66% as opposed to 83% on otherwise applicable taxes which um we have discussed so I'm going to move to the other building um so on block 112 which is owned by just block LLC this is 1300 Jefferson Street um there are still two buildings um they will have 357 residential units that was stays the same between the agreement the change is however that there was to be a 281 Key hotel which the developer now has the option to keep as a hotel or change those to residential units if they change those to residential units they are again subject to the 10% affordable housing um so so those 300 unit or those 281 could be again 2 more affordable units if that's what the developer chooses to do they've eliminated the commercial space um down the retail space is still there but uh less retail space there'll be a million-dollar Community benefit payment um the height stays the same uh parking stays at 326 and again the lead certification did we have any oh there was one council members questions for yeah just to excuse me what did you say can I I was just going to say there was a question that one of um the speakers brought up about the uh insurance payments um y yeah so I just want to well I mean that's in the event that that we got a judgment against us it assuming that this yeah isn't that kind of a Hy well go ahead and answer the question um Jeff does does will only not part of this deal is what I'm trying to emphase no it has nothing to do with the settlement now there isn't expected to be a payment under the settlement but I'm sorry did you answer the question of would it be covered y that was uh no um under the guard the jef which is the joint Insurance Fund for damages that are a tort in nature they will be but if there is anything other than a t so you know if you fall that's a t damage but contractual damages won't be covered okay thank you council member yeah uh thank you for the summary um what my understanding is in 112 they also have an extra 300 units that they can build in the western edge um so a is that true and B um Can those be built on 106 so um the 300 units currently is in the block 112 agreement um they can move them to 106 if they so choose but they don't get 300 there and then another 300 it's 300 there's 300 in each and I believe 106 says specifically it it is exclusive of any additional ones that are granted and can be moved so doesn't feel like it's 300 it feels like it's 600 So currently under the 106 agreement there is 300 additional residential units on the 1300 Jeffers Street currently there are 300 additional units right the redeveloper could choose not to build those on block 112 and instead build those on 106 in addition to the 300 additional so they can put 600 more on to 106 yes but they would not be able to put the 300 there and then take that same 300 and move it to the right so um if you if the density or the bulk is the question well except that they're going up five stories they're going to 100% lock coverage reduced open space and they're eliminating 100,000 square ft of commercial on the ground floor so they're really opening up the building envelope that they potentially can accommodate the additional 300 question and I I don't mean to interrupt you but we won't know I'm just saying like if they can squeeze in you know if they can squeeze in an additional 600 then you're going from 701 units on block 106 to potentially 1300 uh units on block 106 almost doubling um you mentioned that it's increasing by 50 feet how many stories is it um going up to now total it'll be an additional five stories on top of what is approved yes huh yes no I know but what is approved right now um it was 158 ft over DFA plus the 22 for the bulkhead I don't have the stories I don't have the stories written down so probably like 16 15 or 16 stories and another five so close to 20ish stories um give or take um okay those are my questions and I do just to answer the GIF question too we had asked I think we had asked our Corporation counsil is Brian here yeah we we had asked Brian that question in a a meeting two years ago and he said that the GIF wouldn't be covering this so in the early early stages of litigation we knew the GIF wouldn't cover it and that's always of course just to interrupt that's always of course a very educated guess based upon the claims you don't actually know what's coverage until you find out you know what's uh what the damages are and the reason for the damages if any but the but if there were if we didn't if the settlement weren't approved and there weren't an additional settlement if we were just go to um court and we were to lose that would mean that taxpayers would fund whatever damages were assessed and so I think one of the um attorneys mentioned that you know they're we're giving the developer 300 units um at 880,000 a unit it's probably more than that um but we're not we're giving them 600 units and the potential to convert um hotel to residential which it is I mean it is what it is at this point but from a value standpoint it's not 24 million it's significantly higher and I think people need to understand that we're signing something with significant value because the alternative is either equal or worse and to um so I just want to point that out your opinion I that's not well it's well I'm not contradicting you I'm just saying that it is is 100% my opinion um and it would be even worse if we thought we were only going to lose a dollar going to court and we wanted to give a 100 million to the developer so it's better if what we're giving is better than what we are potentially going to lose that's the only acceptable settlement would be my guess council members any questions for Jessica any more questions okay no no no I'm sorry council president okay and I just wanted to clarify at least my understanding I understand understand that two Council people aren't here um it's been represented by different individuals that there were conflicts my understanding is they do not recognize nor this city believe there's conflicts um they're just not here not participating to eliminate any potential issue and challenge thank you okay then uh council do we want to deliberate we've been told we have to explain ourselves I'm not sure sure that that's necessarily true but it's not a bad idea does anyone want to start say anything I'll kick it off um this has been a difficult two weeks for me um done a lot of reading I now realize why I'm not a lawyer uh however uh we're in an unfortunate situation and you're I don't ever know what a judge is going to decide on something but it could be the size of our budget it could be 100 million and my job up here is to make the best decision or the most educated decision that protects the taxpayers of this town if this went to trial and it rule was ruled against us um and that numbers $100 million uh we might have to bond for that that's not what I signed up for when I said I'm going to run to represent you guys um there's other things that would come on that we'd have to give away basically all the property that we own that doesn't have any development on it not something I'm content to do so I'm left with a a really difficult decision to leave it to chance and I don't like chance um or come up with something that I can maybe put my head down at night I haven't slept much on this and um it it's been difficult however um it's a lot of what is um barring whether somebody where the mayor did something right or wrong U um we're past that stage where we have we have basically uh this is kind of damage control right now and everything else that's been brought up um you know that doesn't erase those facts however I'm looking out for the taxpayer and what I feel is the best thing to do why you put me up on this in this seat and so with heavy heart I guess you could say I'm I've struggled with this and um it it sorry to those I I took into and waited 40 minutes for me taking this into a uh closed session last time but you know I needed to get comfortable with things and for the past like I said two weeks um discussion with lawyers and reading paperwork and I feel that a settlement is the best thing that would be for the city of Hoboken and the taxpayer because I do not want to see a judgment where we're paying hundreds $100 million to to settle this by a judge and it could be cash payment a lot of what is but I think that the settlement is a a better A Better Way Forward in protecting the taxpayer thank you counil others Cano yeah thank you Council vice president um I largely Echo councilman president sano's um comments I inherited this issue as did he uh and so you're dealt with having to understand maybe where there were some wrong turns in the past and lamenting those or dealing with where you are now and that's what we're doing um so for me this is about would I prefer smaller building absolutely um would I you know prefer a better deal sure uh but that's not the nature of negotiations you you give and take and and both parties um come to a mutually agreed upon outcome given what the potential for success or failure is moving forward so similar to counc preso uh you know wish I wasn't here but here I am um our job is to do what is in the best interest in the city of Hoboken that is to um leave as little a chance to use his words I agree with those as possible uh and so I'll be supporting uh this today council members do we want to call a vote or go ahead uh thank you Council vice president um I I think that you know a a good settlement is where people are on all sides are not happy clearly we've heard from people in Union City who are not happy uh with this out with this settlement uh and they've threatened to sue us and contined to sue us uh you know at the last council meeting Mr Ferrara waved a sheet a paper where mayor ballot said that he made a representation that he wanted to accommodate Union City with respect to this situation uh City tried it didn't work out uh and now because we tried to accommodate Union City uh we have to settle this case that uh that's POS a major Financial Risk to the city of Hoboken uh I don't think Union City thinks much of Hoboken when it comes to their development choices and we in the Fifth Ward look into the Doric parking lot on a regular basis the Palisades have been blasted under the watch of Union City's leadership for future development uh and we've watched that portion of the Palisades the part of the city that I represent disappear uh to Dynamite uh I'm sympathetic to people who want to protect their views you know it's it's it's a NY thing to do and you know uh I can't argue with them but we take our advice not from the lawyers for Union City but for the lawyers for the city of Hoboken and the lawyers for the city of Hoboken has told us that there is a risk that we could face judgment as councilman pres Zano said that would have a sign significant impact on the taxpayers of the city I haven't heard uh Union City offer to indemnify the city of Hoboken to preserve their views I wouldn't expect that they would uh because they want to protect their taxpayers as well as their their view lines uh I respect that too uh they don't want to raise taxes on their on their citizens but this settlement very importantly does not cost the taxpayers of the city of Hoboken a dollar does not no no check is being written no money is changing hands this is being done to increase density and height with respect to these locations uh I would prefer that they were not as high and not as dense and in fact when I was a zoning board commissioner many moons ago I voted for a smaller project on this site and I was accused of at that time of being too Pro development uh but here we are today uh looking at a project that's significantly higher so you know I have a long track record with respect to this project that predates my role on the city council uh for a smaller project on this site but we are fiduciaries of the city of Hoboken and we need to do what's in the best interest of all the taxpayers and we just approved a budget which is about $147 million budget uh and we've been told conservatively this could uh be tens of millions of dollars for the city uh and that's not a bill that we want to pass on uh and finally fin I I I just want to say that there have been you know somewhat unseemly allegations made about the conduct of the mayor of the city of hobok and I just want to very briefly say that I think that they're ridiculous claims uh when the mayor uh is trying to work with a neighboring Community uh who's a very powerful figure in the New Jersey legislature who happens to be our state senator uh there are Myriad numbers of ways we're having a good relationship with our neighbors and accre to the benefit of all residents of the city of Hoboken it's not a personal benefit to the mayor of hobok and it's a benefit to all of us to be able to address the issues that face our city on a regular basis and having a good relationship with our state senator is in everybody's best interest and it's unfortunate that uh that we're in court with this uh but clearly we're going to defend our interest we're going to do what we think is in the best interest of the city of Hoboken uh and that's why I'm going to be supporting the settlement tonight thank you councel president anyone else yeah um what' you say Council woman Council thanks um couple things one is you know we way back when in 2020 um the mayor and the city council the time which is uh everyone on the day except for um uh no I know I was like Paul but councilman presentano and councilman uh contero um the the council and the mayor approved both of the developments and actually a couple of us I don't know if I approved it I may not have approved it I don't think you did but generally the majority seven people approved it um and you know the council has always been supportive of of these projects but um our interests stopped being aligned in 2021 when the mayor went a different paths we already had um signed agreements and not withstanding of course we want to have a good relationship with elected officials in other cities um especially one uh like Senator stack who has a lot of influence um the mayor made the choice uh to breach the contract that he had already signed with these um with this developer so he did that and he did it without support from the city council so um I just want I just a I just wanted to say that it it is uh we're not here because of anything the city council did we're here as one of the members of the public said um because of what the mayor did and we are um I I disagree with councilman Cohen um that we're not writing a check we are we we had two existing um developments that were going to give us $9 million towards uh Community benefits this was a contract it was signed if they had built them we would have gotten 9 million and now we're getting 4 million so we didn't write a check but we're no longer getting as big of a check so it's the same thing as um writing a future check the uh I think that you know uh it's been a an interesting uh few hours I did put newsletter out saying we're basically here because of the mayor and some made some allegations about um potential violations of state law um his response was to put out a letter and call me a racist because that's just what he does um so my issue I reached out to our several council members um our Council for the city um who I've said repeatedly the city council needed its own lawyers because our interests were not aligned with the mayor in this um we've never been given our own lawyers we always had one lawyer that represented both the the council and the mayor if we were um aligned and we were not um but I did reach out saying I I so we clear I do think we need a settlement for all the reasons that everyone said here um we need to settle this we need to avoid writing a big check but how do we have confidence that the settlement that's been put forward for us is the right settlement when it was negotiated by the person that put us in this situation so what I had asked was the delay of one meeting so that the council could take over um the negotiations and just say maybe we didn't need to have up to 600 more units maybe we only needed 400 more units maybe we don't need a 30-year pilot maybe we could have done a 20year pilot um you know who we we literally have no idea because the person who put us in this situation is the person who negotiated the terms so I I similarly have struggled I've struggled for the last uh couple years actually on this I've raised it a number of times I've raised it publicly a number of times um and I just don't think I can vote on this settlement it's I have no idea if it's the right thing for uh it's better than the alternative I get that but is it the the best agreement that we could have for our uh residents I have no idea literally no idea I so although I know it has enough votes to pass tonight I just don't know that I'm going to actually be able to vote at all on it so that's just my view thank you Council woman um I we I heard from uh from Council pres Zano and Cano about you know inheriting this I I didn't inherit this I've I've been here from the beginning and I've voted against it every time um on this body so I I I do I'm somewhat amused by the council for the Union City who saying that there's some kind of a you know back room deal going on and so but there are you know there Comes A Time when there's a time to settle and a time to to vote uh on I wouldn't say principle but I do feel the notion that uh the alleged breach of a contract you know there's there are civil actions in every courthouse in the country where people are alleging the other party breached a contract and that doesn't rise to the level of there being a conflict of interest that's that's like so I I do feel that the the vitriol has has I'm you know both ways I certainly don't think you're a racist councilman Fischer but I I do think that you know both sides are understandably agitated so I I would love to vote no but I also respect councel that our Corporation councel and our retained Council and they've negotiated a deal and I I wish it was very different but I accept certain realities and so um I and I recognize that it's as councilman fiser said it's you know and it was threatened it it we may not be out of this tonight by any means but I think it's a step forward I think the comments about the the agreement not having enough finality is uh with all due respect it's it's somewhat naive when it comes to Municipal approvals and Redevelopment law to imagine you're going to have a settlement approval with all the everything tied up in a nice neat bow that's just not possible on a multi multi-million doll project like this so um I will be supporting it this evening and I hope it it goes well going for forward councilman councilman Russo thank you councilman I don't buy into a lot of the back and forth uh I disagree with how a lot of it's been characterized what I do know is that I've been committed to a settlement on this property for a long time I believe everyone who entered into those negotiations did that in the best fith that they possibly could I think it just fell to a point where they couldn't agree so I don't think councilwoman's a racist I don't think the mayor broke any laws I don't think any of it I just think this is probably not the best deal for the city of hoken it's the only thing I that's the only thing that I could say about this settlement I think there's a better deal on the table and I know we had members of the public say well put it on the table I have for two years I've put those settlement talks I was in involved in them I was at the the attorney's office when we were in uh a conference I mean I've been part of this for a long time I think we just got to a place where the part's couldn't agree and now we're at a settlement we're at a partial settlement between the city of hobok and develop there is another party outstanding I think it's I think we should regardless of the vote tonight I think we should continue to try to settle that other P portion of this settlement agreement I think there are other things that we could discuss I think there's more that the city could get I think there are ways that we can be good neighbors not only to the surrounding municipalities but excellent neighbors to our own residents and get all that we need I think there's a better deal and that's the only reason I'm not supporting it it's not cuz I think think the developers are bad people it's not because I think uh councilwoman fiser are racist and it's not because the mayor did anything wrong none of that really plays into my decision my decision is about this project and how much the city of hobo can get out of the development and that's what it's about for me so on that Merit I just can't support this but I am committed to continue to try to settle the other portion if this does in fact pass tonight thank you thank you councilman I'll wrap up and be brief um I'm trying to look forward with this uh I think the Dynamics around where we've landed are not ideal obviously for a lot of reasons um this is taller than I would want it is more density than I would want um but unfortunately because of the form of government that we have we don't have the benefit of being party the negotiations that is not role um it's just not uh and so we have to vote on the deal that has been presented to us and upon advice of council who um we have heard from both Jessica and from Joe Balman we have spoke to extensively asked a lot of questions um both at the last council meeting and I'm sure in between that meeting and this one um we've had the opportunity to go through the scenarios and at this time I think the best possible option for Hoboken is the deal that we have now uh I am looking forward to moving forward but I would like for the administration to recognize and acknowledge everything that will come with moving forward on this project um because this is a significant difference for the northwest corner of Hoboken I have strong concerns about our infrastructure I have strong concerns about our facilities our schools and everything that comes with a project of this size uh and so I would hope that the mayor and Administration will come to the table to talk about how we are going to move forward as a community knowing that this settlement will hopefully be moving forward tonight um with my support because it is the best possible option at this time thank you Council vice president thank you Council uh Mr fer call the vote Mr con I Mr Dole i m fiser present Mrs Jabor yes Mr presen xano I Mr Cano I Mr Russo no that's it uh so that passes thank you um are they in the clerk's office pilot the teacher schools are all here just get Ruben I'm GNA get could you could Jerry I just texted them I'll let the council president decide on that okay decisions if if people could raise their hands if they're here to see about the the pilot uh payment agreement right right okay we'll let them okay so I I think we'll recommend to the council president that we do that next and then move on to the rest of the regular business are you counseling the pilot payment no it doesn't matter it's we're all supporting it so there's not going to be any issue no no no this is something else on pil I'm sure you are yeah thank you is that R so J I got my arm Twisted to suspend the agenda for the pilot vote for the school 8% of the people in the room are here for that no I know I'm so jealous are we doing um close session at the end I brought Crepes for youry to go with your Crepes yes we're doing public por exactly where are we up to so where's the pilot the pilot is uh second reading I felt like it was on the first page uh yeah where is it Paul what here it is couldn't have been any bigger okay okay d700 it was very he was not that serious about yeah uh has anyone signed up for [Applause] it so the agenda has been suspended to hear b700 um first and we have a few people signed up to speak Lauren kmas uh just let me 700 good evening I'm Lauren CMAs I live at 84 Madison Street in Hoboken and I represent Hoboken Charter School as a member of the Board of Trustees you guys want to introduce yourselves can I read the title oh can I just pause you for one second yes thank you Jimmy the hearing on an ordinance of the city of hobok and the county of Hudson New Jersey establishing a pilot education Trust accounts and approving the contribution of portion of the annual service charge provided to the city of Hoboken pursuant to the financial agreement by and between the city of Hoboken Monroe Center Hoboken Urban renewable renewable LLC and by and between city of hobok and observer Highway urban renewal LLC in to the city pilot education trust accounts thank you all right continue hello my name is is Arthur Aiden Kenny bill you missed one might have to pull it down yeah you can tilt it my name [Music] is okay um council president gtino Council vice president Doyle and City Council Members thank you for your support of the ordinance establishing and contributing portions of annual Pilot service fees into pilot education trust accounts as I walk through town this week seeing children returning to their classrooms enjoying many get ready for school and first day of school celebrations I was AED by the auspicious timing of today's vote and of course today I'm flooded with very different emotions and heartbroken over the deadly Georgia high school shooting I firmly believe that a community has no greater respons responsibility than supporting and protecting our children and hoboken's four public school districts play an enormous role in educating young minds caring for the whole child academically emotionally developmentally keeping children safe and healthy challenging young people to be positive contributing members of their Community nurturing the Future Leaders of our cities states and our country and building good humans today's vote demonstrates that you share the views of Hoboken School te leaders that we all must prioritize investing in our schools so that every student can succeed we thank Hoboken Charter School six word council person Jen gatino allegian Charis school's second word council person Tiffany fiser Olaf's fourth word council person Ruben Ramos and the entire city council for your investment of countless hours for discussions and meetings to help us get to this important vote I must also thank my colleagues from alian Charter School Hoboken dual language charter school and the Hoboken board of education for their commitment passion and advocacy on behalf of our respective communities and for the betterment of hoboken's public school students four years worth of efforts will now make a tangible difference in the lives of our students and has created unprecedented valuable collabor ative working relationships within our Public School Community thank you all for your leadership and your support thank you Nicole camarado it's hard to follow such cute kids but I'll give it a try um new cold camarada 13 Park Avenue First Ward thank you guys so much it's such an honor to be here today and such a journey we've all been on um I'm here to speak in support of the 770 Jackson and Monroe Center pilot education trust funds b700 it took us over four years to get to this point today and I don't want to take that much time in my comments I'll kind of keep them quick um first I want to thank my education Partners the leadership of this community is amazing thank you to my friends at allean Charter Hoboken Charter the Hoboken Board of Education it is incredible what we've accomplished working together and I truly hope this is the beginning of more great work that we can all do together second I want to thank mayor Bala hoboken's business administrator Jason Freeman thank you for getting us over the Finish Line on what's been a long journey next I want to thank every single person of the Hoboken city council I know we've met several times maybe more times than than we all liked over coffee talking about the education funding um thank you thank you for all of your time your commitment your desire to get this right no matter how long it took and while I would say everyone has been great there has been a few people that I wanted to sort of specially recognize but I'll keep it brief first I want to thank councilwoman Tiffany Fischer thank you for spending the time learning about the New Jersey state funding formula which is no easy feat thank you for diving into the math for understanding how that worked and I think a lot of the work you did helped us bring us to this place today so thank you very much thank you to councilman Doyle councilwoman Jabor you guys were a really key part of the education subcommittee that helped get this to the final place today I appreciate your work councilwoman Jabor thank you for all of the conversations and for wanting to get to a place that helped all of our students I appreciate that and last but not least thank you to councilman Ramos there's a saying in politics that sometimes you have to take the punches for the children and you took a lot of those punches the legislation tonight really mirrors the resolution that you put forward in 2020 thank you for never wavering from that position that this money should go to all of the public students in this town thank you for bringing us all together thank you for your leadership lastly I want to thank the Ola Community several of our Board of trustee members are in the room today all of them have worked in their own way on this over four-year effort thank you to the greater Ola Community who I always call the little school that could that will always rise to every Challenge and always advocate for our kids as you always hear me say Ola is one of the lowest funded schools in the state of New Jersey and so I can assure you that every dollar we get from this will go straight to our children I know Jen Sergeant will make sure that all of that money goes straight to our children and that we continue to do great things for the Hoboken students and as Lauren showed there are a lot of kids in this room and I hope what they see tonight is that we can all accomplish great things when we put aside some of our differences work together and work together for a greater are good thank you guys very very much thank [Applause] you aen mcer glad to see the microphone has a low setting good evening Aileen mcer 62 Patterson Avenue Hoboken president of the Hoboken Board of Education thank you all for the opportunity to speak this evening I'm here tonight as are my colleagues from the charter schools to speak in support of b700 for the pilot education trust accounts the board of education is hopeful that this important measure will pass with the unanimous support that it did on first reading it's essential that our community support Public Schools students and teachers through this multi-year process the representatives from the charter schools and the Board of Education have worked together to get us to where we are today and I want to say a big thank you you to the charter school board members some folks are ex charter school board members who stuck around to do this work and um the eight other representatives from the Board of Education this has has been a long journey and it hasn't always been easy but it was the right thing to do for the kids and the community I'm so proud of the work that we've done and the bonds that we've formed with leaders from the charter boards and I think that that is a good thing for the city of Hoboken we are grateful to the administration and to director Freeman who came up with this concept and to the council members who've worked with us from the beginning council president gatino I remember you on some of those early zooms we had about this uh Council vice president Doyle councilwoman Jabor councilwoman Fischer and councilman Ramos have been steadfast in their commitment to see this through and we are grateful for their partnership and I don't mean to exclude anyone on the council because I know that I've personally talked about this with every single one of you so thank you for listening over that period of time and I I don't think any of us really thought we would ever be the point that we are this evening this is a really important day in hoboken's history this vote shows the community that you our city council and the city's Administration acknowledge that your decisions in this case decisions related to development impact Public Schools the children who attend them and the taxpayers who fund them the traditional Public School District starts classes tomorrow with an increase of over 250 students from the year before in prek through 12th grade so going from around 3500 students last year to 37 over 37 3,760 students and it's worth noting that those numbers outpace what we saw in the demographic study we put forth a few years ago this isn't only because of the success of our schools but it's also in part based on the amount of development that's taking place all over our small state we're not seeing growth just in the number of students but our students are succeeding at every level level and I am incredibly proud of their work and the work of our teachers and administrators you may have heard that recently all five of our schools the high school Hoboken Middle School Brant Connors and Wallace were recognized with the Blue Ribbon Schools of excellent Lighthouse award and Hoboken is the first district in New Jersey to have all of its Public Schools district receive that recognition in addition we're also extremely proud that the Hoboken public school district is the top performing traditional K to2 District in Hudson County that's a big deal and that certainly was not that way when I moved here in 1999 so it's it's big progress and that wouldn't happen without all of us working together we are a little perturbed that occasionally there exists a small faction of people in this community who seem to derive some pleasure from either badmouthing Public Schools or attempting to draw the district and Charters back into conflict that is comes at the expense of children in this community I have a message for those folks this evenings your words only motivate the adults who serve this district and this community to work harder for students we thank the city council for being a above the fry and for standing with all the students of Hoboken we would also like to share that we are embarking on a new 5-year strategic plan and long-range facility plan we look forward to working with and hearing from the community council and administration to continue the path and our our Charter School colleagues to continue the path of strong community support for public schools especially given the amount of additional development that is slated to be undertaken by the city in the coming years one thing that we've heard tonight through all the public commenters is that planning for the collective future and that of our thriving Community requires careful and close consideration of the expansion of many public services that are required to sustain a community not the least of which are our Public Schools we are optimistic that this resolution signals an era of acknowledgement of the role of public schools as a Bedrock of strong communities and as a Cornerstone of the future of hoken thank you for your time thank you [Applause] I don't believe we have anyone else signed up to speak on this Legion Chris oh sorry Chris thank you didn't need it but I'll take it um good evening everyone Chris Ste philippus uh representing Legion Charter School 1220 for Bloomfield Street in Hoboken I've been a resident here for most of my adult life and and I'm extremely proud uh to be a member of this community uh I will keep my comments brief because many of them are consistent with what you've heard so far but could not leave tonight without thanking everyone involved uh certainly the city council uh city government and Leadership um all of the people from a community standpoint of the four public school districts many of my community have asked me to express their gratitude for fighting the fight not giving up and eventually coming to a group a 90 first reading vote sent a really loud message that we were unified as a community I will emphasize a point that is heard at almost every meeting that our sense of community is the success of Hoboken um that's why we've grown that's why we're an attractive place for people to live and raise a family and I cannot think of any statistic more important than a successful public school system to to drive that so thank you to all of you that were in this from day one uh I want to do a special thanks to my partners uh from the two other public charter schools as well as the Board of Ed uh there were many that said that those four groups could never come together and stand for what was best for Hoboken students and we did so thank you all right I believe now we have no other members of the public signed up to speak motion closed public portion all in favor I council members sure all wants to go first Michael I'm sorry would you like to say anything let's get it done let's go yeah just a couple brief comments um similar to the last issue I also inherited this issue uh but I think to a much better outcome thanks to all the folks that the the the speakers thanked so thank you to my Council colleagues who worked so hard on this happy to vote in support of it thank you I I I do just have to point out one thing he's no longer he's no longer serving on the council but I do have to give one quick shout out to former councilman Melo who uh was the uh Coast sponsor along with myself on the original legislation at 770 and now I get to add that as another feather in the cap with that project that project did a lot for hobok and so I'm very proud to say that and congratulations to councilman Melo as well thank thank you council president councilwoman thank you so much council president um one of the first things I had the opportunity to do um when I joined the council uh seven years ago and I think I was talking to councilman Ramos about this actually because I think you were council president that session um so I said I'm really interested in an education subcommittee I think there needs to be a space where the city is coming together to talk about the various needs of our education communities a United Way um and this issue came along later um and sort of in a slightly different space of things um but I'm just yeah I think I forget who said it I apologize but somebody said the thing that makes Hoboken so special is this community and this demonstrates that so clearly to me and all of the advocacy from the kids to the parents I mean countless hours were spent with each of us separately sometimes in committees sometimes in ad hoc committees I learned a tremendous amount through this process and I am so grateful because that didn't happen without the thought and the care that the leaders of each of these School communities took to spend that time with me because I am not an expert in anything and I am learning every single day and so coming into this I think I had one understanding of how this would work and how Pilots worked and how school funding worked I have learned so so much and I am just so grateful for the hours that we have been privy to spend with each of you as leaders and advocates for your communities um for each of the charter schools for the Public District um I just am so grateful and to all of the parents who have taken time to reach out to us to struggle through Council processes and to learn local politics and all the unpleasantness that comes with that it was for good because we were able to get to this point uh and I'm really grateful that this Administration in particular ba Freeman that you uh came up with this concept and were able to bring this over the finish line and that so many people were able to then Corral together in common interest and a common goal to make this happen um so thank you to the families thank you to the students to the parents um and everyone around this day who is hopefully going to unanimously support this tonight and keep working together um in the name of our very special community so thank you thank you councilman Cohen thank you council president uh when to I guess to borrow councilman Cano's expression this was something I inherited too uh I I learned a lot about Pilots I don't know I I I think I may have been naive but I think when I was elected I just assumed that every problem had already been considered and addressed and there was really nothing new and it was just a matter of figuring out how to do it and you know what's the answer and the more I learned about this the more I heard from the Department of education and from the Board of Education and from the charter schools is that this hadn't really been done before uh and that created a lot of frustration and one of the things when I first ran for office in 2019 was the feeling of a Schism between charter schools and public schools and are they all you know what side are you on or who are you with and this kind of thing and it was kind of sad actually uh because you know I represent people who kids go to Charter School public Public Schools private schools parochial school all kinds of schools and we all love Hoboken and we all love our kids and I really couldn't understand how come there wasn't an easy solution and I think the answer was is because this was something that hadn't been done before it took for the kids paron expression a hell of a lot of work uh to figure out a solution and it also took a lot of people a lot of time sitting together and talking to each other in rooms where they may not have talked to each other before and had productive conversations and come to a solution so uh I to Echo councilwoman Jabor I want to thank all The Advocates from all the boards who took the time to talk to me and to help educate me about these issues and uh and and congratulations to all of us for coming up with an equitable solution that benefits all of our kids thank you house president thank you pres got down on line uh I'll make it brief I'm a yes vote there's more Pilots coming you're going to get your money as long as I sit up on this tus n VES you need nine vot yeah I'm gonna fight like put your heck in there to make sure you get your [Laughter] money um I am a yes vote of course uh I think the you know this has been it has been a long four years and kind of where we started and where we finished um our two totally different places and um you know other people have mentioned the the Schism um that existed when I when I was first elected in 2015 um you know that was real and you know four years ago it was still real um there was a lot of hostility and acrimony and I think that to me notwithstanding I know the funding is incredibly important to our schools to me the single best thing that came out of this is the now is that schisms gone and the relationship between you know the leaders of all of our schools and um and there are some really difficult conversations along the way to to get there um but honestly every conversation that we had was rooted in you know how do we solve this right it was we had complexities we weren't sure we could we could actually give direct funding to the Charter Schools that's probably what contributed to most of the time um and then you know suddenly the lawyer for the city showed up and said oh yeah you actually can just give money directly to the Charter Schools um and suddenly we felt like oh my God this amazing thought and we're able to do this and get it done and really it was um those last couple months it was really counsman Ramos that was at that table just making sure like let's get it done soon let's get it done now you know let's stop talking about it we have a pathway the pathway is clear and let's do it so I'm just really excited about the path forward on this um I'm grateful to my colleagues on the committee it was myself Jim Doyle uh Council vice president Doyle councilman Jabor and councilman Ramos we've been kind of hovering around this for the last few years so thanks to everyone for coming out too and showing support and looking forward to getting this passed in the next couple minutes thank you councilwoman I I I would just very quickly just like to thank Nicole for her efforts uh of reaching out across The Divide many years ago and uh I know there are many others who who worked very hard at this but um two Federal lawyers you know got in the room and tried to figure out the bureaucracy and so anyway thank you Nicole and aen especially uh and I'm certainly going to support it tonight thank you um kind of the same thing that councilwoman fiser said I can remember I think it was 12 years ago like money can be found anywhere but what you guys did and now that you all have a relationship is pretty incredible I think it was about 12 years ago a group of parents all Charter School parents were getting together to discuss Hoboken High School and I said to my friend on the port of Ed I'm going to bring you and she's like I'm not going into that room I was like Oh no you're with me everything will be great it was not great it was horrible like just the anger the anger among everyone and just see where you are today is truly incredible and I am so happy and proud councilman Ras thank you uh council president uh thank you all my colleagues for indulging me the last four years uh with this issue and the administration as well uh tomorrow I start my 27th year as a teacher in the Patterson Public Schools so I've literally been in school so it's my first day of school again since I was four years old so I've been in school my entire life right College started teaching in Hoboken High for a year then they got rid of me that's fine that's start for another day they getting rid of teachers at the time that's fine but I end up in Patterson and it's my 27th year so this is kind of what I do right this is what I love our city so that gets me up here trying to uh lend a voice to all of you but teaching education that's my profession that's my career and I kind of felt awkward for a number of years my first run into city council we're voting for pilots and schools were left out and I think our last pilot I voted on as a council member before this one was in 2007 so the next council meeting I spoke with councilman Russo and I was like I'm not doing that again I'm not voting for another pilot where money is not going to the schools so the next council meeting we sponsored a non-binding resolution saying that another pilot comes up money is going to go to our public schools and then I was off the council for two years like my only my little Hiatus there everyone missed me but uh two years off the council and we came back on and 770 house was being discussed I think had a conversation with councilman Doyle you on the committee at the time with councilman Melo and councilman Russo and I said when they approached me about it I said does a pilot involved with it I'm out I'm out if money is not going to our school system I'm out and then I'm grateful that melow was a is a is also a professional educator teacher himself and he understood it Council Russ understood it from back then councilman Doyle understood it I couldn't figure it out you you going to figure it out but we we helped get him there we helped get him where he needed to be and so obviously when we did vote on it and it was time to disperse the funds back in 2020 four years ago I think we kind of got off on the wrong foot with that and I don't think anyone understood everyone's true intentions and unfortunately it seemed like a lot of animosity developed within our community about this issue but a lot of times like the journey is worth it right to get to where we are today so the animosity the fighting back and forth you know the knives out a little bit for some people not some people you know the angry emails right the angry text messages you get you know the happy text messages you get you know the nice emails you get all of that becomes worth it when you bring people together and I'm appreciative of the four public school districts you know making amongst themselves saying we got to get into the only way this gets this done if we get into the room together so I'm grateful that they like took that leap of faith and worked amongst themselves and allowed us to kind of like weave our way into it how we could resolve the issue where it could be you know lend our outside expertise in government to try how we could get it done I'm grateful for you know uh business administrator Freeman for allowing like various minations that we proposed uh back a couple of years ago with DCA and trying to walk through that process and and other variation that we went through it it required a lot of patience from everyone but patience led to a good result and not just for a result for this pilot agreement but for future pilot agreements we've now created a framework that not just for Hoboken now but for the entire state of New Jersey and ultimately that's something to be proud of right we put our heads together there's nothing we can accomplish and this is a great a great uh barometer of what that means to a lot of people and galvanizing our schools which Galvanize our communi so I appreciate everyone's effort in this I spoken long enough but let's make this happen tonight let's make this happen in the future as well I appreciate it guys thank you thank you councilman [Applause] Mr finina call the vote Mr con hi Mr dorl uh I miss fiser yes Mrs Jabor a very happy yes M president Zano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Jee Tino yes [Applause] have a hearing on an ordinance amending chapter 19071 entitle municipally manage electric vehicle charging to add bter charging station to the west side of Washington Street north of 14th Street we have no members of the public signed up to see motion to close public portioning all in favor I council members Council yeah what yeah give them one second Jessie yeah I wanted on I don't think so if no I think yeah they go back to school yeah we missed out Council out early yeah so I want to Caleb uh and maybe Jesse I don't know who knows the answer to this cuz Ryan used to um so this is something that we're eagerly awaiting in the second ward um it I know it's on Washington I generally know where it is but a question came up um on whether or not ultimately it is going to be in front of the alley on Washington and or if it's you know where they're doing the rebuild by Design right now I think it's Slightly North of there it's what slightly north of where the alley comes out is it iswing with Sally is it at all possible just to carry this one meeting for that at all does it if you guys don't mind it's literally because we've we've they've reviewed whether there's a conflict where you just want to confir the electrical it's a by the way I don't think that mic is working how about now yeah better um it's not so much a conflict with the rebuild by Design it's more um in conversations recently I think people would like that walkway to be able to have kids like ride their bike through it Etc and coming to an end and having like a car right in front of the alley as opposed to it being like a pedestrian walkway and I and I just realized that I didn't exact know exactly if this was going to be right in front of it or not and that's all I just want to confirm maybe before we vote so would you mind if we just carried it one meeting to I I think to be clear the curb Edge isn't changing hm the curb Edge isn't changing they're not going to the cars would be past the curbage well right now there's parking spots in front of it so if we were to make that more of a pedestrian accessible I just don't that that's just the question it if we just carry it one meeting if you guys don't mind I just want to make a motion to carry this just one meeting um just so we can know exactly where this is on Washington so it just doesn't block the walk that's and by the way b695 is carried to the next meeting wait it what' you say I think you right but I think Emily sign what did you say do you mean the signage no no no this is this is the electric vehicle where the vehicles will actually be so you can picture the alley that goes in between Washington all the way to Garden between the buildings and he doesn't want a car park right currently a car park that's what I think Caleb would just said no there there is but there is a discussion to not have them so the question is um a rebuild by Design change not just R edes and just so the community is looking to potentially have that not be a car at the end of the walkway so it's just confirming the exact location this is something the neighbors want desperately but that's it have two weeks to talk about it okay that's fine yeah I assuming there's no thanks uh hearing on an ordinance amending chapter 192 D4 parking for persons with disabilities to add and remove reserved parking spaces we have no members of the public signed up to I all in favor I vote I'm sorry council members Miss finina call the vote Mr con hi Mr Doyle hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes president Zano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes hearing on an ordinance amending chapter 141 entitled garage and lots public chapter 141a entitled parking permits and chapter 190 entitled vehicles and traffic to update parking utility fee schedule I don't think we had anyone right oh got you we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion all in favor I council members council president um I just hand an amendment by the clerk was what did you just outline what the amendment is not we're doing the amendment in new business but but they relate to each other so oh yeah it's changing um instead of being the business district on Sundays it's just Washington Street for the pilot okay but this is what we're voting on is the original that's we're which increases going to vote it if it passes we'll amend it all right yeah so I have a um question on two parts um one is H how in the past so this is going to allow people that are not people that are residents that don't have cars registered in Hoboken to park on the street right and it it's allowing up to three cars in one house to to do that but I think the reason why we haven't done it in the past is because I think it's illegal to be a resident and have a car that's not registered in New Jersey Beyond a certain date so like I don't know a I don't know how we give someone the ability to park a car that doesn't satisfy the state requirements which I think is the reason why we didn't do it and second I don't you know I don't know why why we're putting more cars on the streets and competing with our residents that do comply with the law so I just I have an issue with that one um and I'd love to see this amended for that it doesn't sound like it will be tonight but I'd like to see it amended and more importantly although I know we're amending there's a lot of ways for us to make changes to an ordinance in a public hearing we can just amend it and reintroduce it on first reading and have a second reading which is only 2 weeks from now um or what it sounds like is the ideas they're asking us to approve this tonight and then we'll amend something so we'll amend something during new business that we'll vote on second reading in two weeks so I I don't know why we just don't wait two weeks but one of the um Provisions in here that I was hoping we would be able to just remove and reintroduce the rest of it on first reading um is the elimination of free parking on Sundays in business areas um I just think it's it's kind of a last minute thing that was introduced in the middle of the summer I think it's something that people are not um going to support I'm happy to at the very least say that they're replacing business areas with just Washington Street but even that isn't necessarily um you know Washington Street has like different characteristics lower Washington is different different than upper Washington up to 14th from 14th to 15th is different um so I I just am opposed to removing free parking on Sunday's period I think it's something that our residents like and I know we can make money off of it but I would like to find better ways to make money off of it um so I'm going to be a no vote on this tonight coun thank you council president uh Caleb Strat uh came to the parking transportation subcommittee meeting uh with this proposal with respect to a lot of fees relating to parking that haven't been changed in 5 to 15 years uh our costs for maintaining our garages have not gone down uh and you know none of those things are things that the coun women Fisher just raised these are a lot of this is common sense things that Caleb who's been here for 14 years came to the to the subcommittee and said these are things that really should be updated uh and uh and the committee agreed uh with respect to the business district I just want to address that uh a lot of our businesses in Hoboken are open on Sundays and if we don't charge for people to park in front of the business districts uh you're basically saying you can have free parking for visitors on Washington Street uh on Sundays uh rather than turning turning the street uh parking spots over to allow people to conveniently Park in their businesses it's better for businesses to have customers come and go and not have people decide it's great day for free parking and just put park your car out front and I think when we were talking about the business district we really were talking about I think Washington Street I think that really is at least in my mind that was the place that made the most sense so uh I think the concept shouldn't be an unpopular one uh plus you know we just had our budget discussion and this is a good way that we can raise revenues from Mostly visitors who are coming in to shop in our our businesses it's not going to affect residential parking it's not going to affect residential 85% of the people in our business districts are are visitors uh so it's really not going to be affecting very many Hoboken residents uh a lot of them who walk into the business district but uh or use bikes which is a good thing so uh I I think this is a good idea I think it it came out unanimous ly out of the subcommittee as something that we thought was a good idea uh and I think with respect to the visitors pricing I think the thinking on those was that uh we've been underpricing those permits and that this is something that you know the people will be happy to pay the additional rates for it and uh I think uh council president in particular pointed out that this was ridiculously underpriced the way it was so that's that's basically the thinking with respect to that thank you council president thank you I think quick you're talking about the the out of town one yeah yeah thank you council president uh I think there's one thing that we just had to remember that it's a it's a a different word for the word pilot but it's a test to see if it works on Washington Street uh I know Jersey City is going through some talks right now and things may change uh I believe Asbury Park does it as well somebody I talked to somebody today about that um and that they've done Sunday fees and you know they they're a very transi in town with visitors uh it's a trial if it doesn't work happy to roll it back and not do it so this is something that some recommendations that we thought and one thing to note on Sundays with free parking 500 people still go on the and pay 500 people pay it was like some statistic that we got that you know listen I'm one of those guilty ones because I'm afraid I'm going to get a ticket I paid the 35 cents even though it said zero for parking you don't have to pay but there's there was 500 people every Sunday that pay these parking meters so on a side note that it makes some sense to try it to see what would happen and we'll get some feedback and if it doesn't work happy to roll it back thank you thank you councilman 85% anything other council members councilman doy you said 85% are visitors he didn't speak no he did well he he chimed in I chimed in yes we were I I think uh I was told that 85% par mobile us Street Parkers were in a random specifically on Sundays or or just in general in general we don't have that staff for Sundays though do we how we no because we don't we don't have we can't get it they don't have to pay our employees aren't aren't there on Sunday doing the no and they don't they don't pay anyway on Sunday so we don't know apparently 500 people do breaking your jobs Mr finina call the vote Mr con I Mr Dole I Mr fiser no Mrs Jabor yes Mr President ano I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos Mr Russo no president gtino yes hearing on an ordinance amending the lease with Bruno Bruna pacher Corp DBA let's see who's amending the contract Roberto did you sign up for this uh Roberto ver t h lyi i sign up for this because this is the third time we amending the lease at least and there was one provision there that I wanted some further clarification um they are it's not mandatory but they're giving u a an entrance to sell beer and wine uh which is somewhat inconsistent because the only place that they consume they can consume beer and wine is in the seating area but the seating area is not theirs it's actually Park and then you're if you're take the the beer and wine in the park uh isn't it a violation of uh hobo in low that you can't drink in in a city park I believe you have to be indoors but well but I mean the it indoors restaurant in in the in in the lease it doesn't say that they can only serve alcohol indoors they it and indoors is a very small space if it if it's a crime to drink it outside then you don't have to put everything in the lease you you you can't have open but we we'll uh we'll speak to the director after cuz I she's sitting there us like blue eyes can serve because they have a a fenced area right so but they there's there's no existing fenced area for um alus right there is indoor seating huh there's indoor seating there is some indoor seating it's it's but the majority of the seating is outside and the question is are we incentiv vating people people to by adding this which I'm not sure why we're adding this except that they say you say we're going to get a 20% cut uh that may be the reasoning but uh uh to have more alcohol you know around the parks and the resan park um which a lot of kids are around there you know it's just the usual concerns um and you know it's not an area that so far has been very um I have never seen any visible police presence in that area so you know if there are people that are intoxicated walking around there I don't know that there would ever be no that's not no longer illegal in this town sorry anyway just a clarification as to what the lease was meant to be and if it's only indoors and it's it's very wishy-washy because it doesn't actually say um that it's actually going to happen and it's like a spe permission so that's just what I wanted to hear a little B about that thank you we have no other members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion all in favor I oh no not on this on different one sorry I thought for a minute Ron you were for this but you're not correct um council members director Gonzalez can you just come up really quickly just just one one quick thing uh this this the council is not giving them a license for beer and wine all they're all this resolution does it allows them to apply to the state pursuant to state law to seek that license that's all this right no I think Roberto's question is though if they have a license where can you where can it be consumed so that would be specified um by the state in the license so when they make that application to the state they will have to provide a drawing that actually shows exactly where the consumption would occur just like any other special concession um permit license with the state um so this as councilman Co noted this that is correct um this is enabling them to apply to the state for that license um a layout would be uh included with that application and subsequent approval um but in terms of their lease area their lease area does include the building as well as um the area Under The Canopy that includes the the chairs right that doesn't directly answer the question because the permit hasn't been approved yet so we can't answer the question yet understandable thank you very much M other council members Mr finina call the vote M excuse me Mr con hi Mr Doyle hi Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr President Zano i i i Mr Cano I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president gtino yes hearing on an ordinance am amending Article 1 chapter 46 of the Hoboken city code on entitled lease agreement at 46- 9.5 to authorize the May to execute a lease with P hero LLC DBA blue eyes Ron Hine uh so Sinatra Park uh was established in 1994 uh it was hoboken's first Waterfront Park it included the Sonata Park Cafe as well as the uh Hudson River Waterfront walkway uh at the time it complied with all of the required uh state regulations uh but over time uh the city has changed the lease for the cafe uh for a use that violated the New Jersey Green Acres Administrative Code uh the city's restaurant lease in 2015 in fact was never approved by the Green Acres Program uh after beginning operations the leie added an enclosed patio that encroached upon the Hudson River Waterfront walkway so it no longer meets the requir ired paved portion width of 16 ft um uh the Green Acres approval of this new lease uh does not resolve the walkway issue uh the coastal zone management regulations govern the Hudson River Waterfront walkway uh these are two separate and distinct sections of the New Jersey Department of En Environmental Protection and they are governed by different administrative codes uh so Nancy Lawrence is responsible enforcing the provisions of the Green Acres Program in uh Hudson County uh enforcement of the coastal zone management regulations is handled by different Personnel in a different part of the agency uh um on this issue I've consulted very closely with the Hudson River Waterfront Conservancy which is the organization uh that is designated by the state of New Jersey to oversee the implementation of the Hudson River Waterfront walkway that extends from Bon all the way up to Fort Lee uh I've also communicated my concerns uh with the administration as well as uh this uh city council uh there's a simple solution to comply with the walkway regulations which is to remove the enclosed patio that would be uh would solve the walkway problem um now I think there's a couple other problems I'm sure you've all read the lease and it seems to that there's a discrepancy between the original RFP that was put out in March and what the lease ended up being uh you can see from the lease that it's no longer going to be operating the way it has for the last nine years and uh so it does raise questions about uh whether this RFP followed the law in terms of proper bidding on this RFP uh also the uh the per per square foot price the per square foot rent uh that the leie is going to be paying is $100 per square feet which is above uh comparable uh rents uh for this this kind of space and because the change in the use has been altered so radically I really question whether or not they're going to be able to meet that lease payment so uh thank you very much uh for listening to my comments thank you Ron Andy Epstein hello hello council members how are you um I do happen to agree with that gentleman as far as um them being able to continue working at the level they have been working at relative to the uh new RFP and the rent that they're requesting relative to the structure I do believe that if in fact it gets in the way of the walkway that it could be it could be moved and I'm sure that they would be happy to do that but I I wrote some notes that I wanted to read to you uh I've been living in Hoboken for 21 years and I'm a super fan of blue eyes I eat there with my family at least once per week you've had numerous failures on the waterfront and when they leased the space to Blue Eyes it was relatively valueless even though there is a uh request for three times the rent today I would wonder if it were even worth double that based on what the new RFP is requesting of them uh I've had I've been in the food business for 40 years and um I'm A supplier and I could tell you that restaurants have the highest failure rate of any business um changing the current model um would likely not end well blue eyes is a successful Family Restaurant um not sure why any would want to change anything in Risk losing that and based on the RFP and the new rent expectations as I said it would be impossible for an operator implementing those that new model to succeed and near impossible for blue eyes which has a proven record of success to succeed at the current rent request let's consider that it's predominantly a summer business during the winter things slow down considerably for 10 years blue ice has had outdoor seating and table Service uh and has set precedence in doing so the new RFP states that anyone could sit at the tables even if they're not dining at the restaurant I think that becomes a bit of an issue for people waiting tea with their families um this group is here to communicate and to negotiate apprciate and I feel that it's a time not to be combative but to be creative by finding ways for this business to continue and to serve the community um I think you need not look further than the whole boken girl post on Instagram that announced the imminent changes and the reaction that uh members of the community had to them they were unfavorable to say the least finally I ask as a member of the Hoboken community that you support this amazing business uh it's become a destination location for families and a a staple of um the Hoboken waterfront thank you thank you thank [Applause] you Giovani I'm sorry d d good evening city council and Madame President um I represent blue eyes and I'm not here as Mr Epstein said uh this is an in amicable approach to the city council um it is unfathomable when you look at the the terms and conditions of the lease agreement when you look at what has been imposed osed on Blue Eyes it is um it it is extremely difficult it almost seems like the a lease is a a recipe for closing them down now I don't believe anybody did that purposefully so I'm not here to accuse anybody but if you also in addressing some things that Mr Hine if I pronounce your last name correctly uh who has has a distinguished experience um here in um in uh in Hoboken for many many years in his interest for the Waterfront but he say he States a couple of things that are incorrect uh first of all uh about the uh D never approving The First Agreement if that were the case then then then then there's a problem uh that is much bigger than the issue here tonight but that cannot be visited on my on my friends and my clients anyway second when the enclosure was put on along the walk way which was done two years about approximately two years after the lease was uh entered into the D was on site the D was on site they had people there from Green Acres on site so to say that that was done in violation of the D well somebody has to go and ask the D why they violated their own rules and regulations so that makes no sense at all and again this is not an attack on Mr hind but it's just that's a fact um also so when you look at um the uh in in substance the lease agreement and I I appeal to the city council U to your memory and to your sense of fairness and to a better reasoning because I'm born and raised in Hudson County next door but I spent many many years and continue to spend the many many many days of of of of my life uh uh now over 60 uh years uh in Hoboken and what these four gentlemen three of which are here tonight alesandro gallotto rero POI and pasal D what they brought to a a disaster site to a disaster site no one wanted that place and from n and from 1994 and I I'm happy that Mr hin brought this up from 1994 until 2015 nothing had ever succeeded at that site nothing had ever succeeded these four gentlemen three are here tonight pasqual's brother Nic is at uh working these four gentlemen took a disaster a place that had been devastated by Sandy and they made it what it is today and they didn't only make it for themselves they've invested over a half a million dollars in that place up until now and they invested 10 years of their life you can't put a number on that and to and to effectively close closing them down by this lease I believe is a tremendous loss to the city of Hoboken not just to them but to the people of Hoboken now just to bring this into perspective the the the Terra the the terrorist by alesio their lease comes out to be $1,333 a month for an annual lease of $124 annually blue eyes' lease for much lesser space is for $16,750 a month and it's $21,000 annually blue eyes occupies 950 ft interior and 924 ft exterior the teras and there is no competition here I'm just trying to bring it into perspective by alesio is 2,260 squ Ft interior and 500 squ ft outdoor they were required under the RFP and the languages in the RFP they were required that the lease shall propose an annual per square square foot lease fee equal to or greater than the current market pricing for restaurant Space in Hoboken the RFP says restaurant space now it's been his whole idea well it's got to be a concession well the RFP required them to propose a lease uh uh fee that was equal to or greater than what is the market rate for uh restaurants in in in in Hoboken you know sir I'm sorry your five minutes is up so if you could wrap it up if you look actually the the they they are in compliance with the purpose of a greenacre program because they do promote the use of Parkland for recreation and conservation purposes and so this I appeal to the city council to stay this process okay to negotiate a better lease uh in revising this lease cuz otherwise you are effectively closing uh this business down and inviting I think then a more adversarial situation thank you much thank you very much I don't see um I don't see any other members of the public signed up to speak does anyone want to speak on this sure come on up Patricia Waiters I was wondering where you were Pat and the price is right you know good and well I'm going speak on anything that's going to cause adversary in this city I came in here first of all tonight to congratulate you guys when I seen the Educators outside with the whole funding thing that's what I ask Mr Cohen did I miss did they is that on here with the money for the Y done v on it all right so I I can't speak on it I'll speak back on the public portion on that but I'm a little disappointed when I heard about blue eyes let me get this straight first okay is this right directly across the street from the the field where we play ball and all of that all right so with the lease being I hope you guys are awake tonight too please and start saving stuff like this okay cuz this this make our city look crazy tonight with all of y'all voting on the money after four years y'all did what's right finally do the same thing for this because I don't understand why the lease is saying to move is it because the rent or is it because it's a a bad sight could y'all give me a little more clarification cuz I was running late and I will appreciate that because in summer meetings it's no transparency but I need to know about this cuz he's absolutely right I knew a time when we had no blue eyes nothing was there the site was horrible I remember like it was yesterday cuz my kids play sports there so if that's the reason they removing it excuse me I'm being disrespected um if that's the reason they moving I mean I I hate getting up here and being emotional but just hearing closed down we don't want to hear that no more old hoken have lost so many businesses I don't even want to get into what happened with the feast it's crazy y'all please take this into consideration I'mma sit back here and listen more but you sure it's not because they trying to say indent domain or whatever a bad site no or they just have it for one of their buddies to buy and take over okay thank you [Applause] we have no other members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion all in favor I I can director Gonzalez I thought is this a lease that someone wants to sign yes right no that's what I'm going to add I mean one my first question would be if they're not signing this Le is there any point of us voting on it well my answer to that would be that we issued an RFP and the lease is in response to the responses that we received to the RFP so this information was in the RFP the RFP was approved by Green Acres it was subsequently turned into a lease the lease was approved by Green Acres we don't really have flexibility the RFP in the leas Govern um no but regardless of that if they're not going to the lease is there one appoint of us voting on this tonight issue we is issue I would highly recommend that the council if the council approves of the lease it doesn't mean they have to sign the lease you're giving them the ability to sign the lease if you don't approve the lease today we'd probably have to reissue an RFP a different RFP we'd also have to look at at what if any um issues arise because of the refusal to sign after a bidding but but more importantly if you approve it tonight it will give them the ability to sign it if they change their mind if you don't there's a possibility that the whole process will take longer in which place nobody will be there they will they will they be able to operate are they like hold over reissue an RFP I'd have to review the lease to find that but it's it's likely that because the RFP went out to bid that no they would not be hold over they've bidded the RFP they've won the RFP they're refusing to sign the lease their lease and their rights would be terminated in fact they might even be barred from applying to the next RFP I'd have to look into that um my other thought is I I mean I I did read the RFP um and I was kind of surprised after reading the RFP that it says no it says no table service in the RFP um and I can tell you all the businesses that were there before were they were horrible I was at nothing against the CRP place I like Crepes but just it it wasn't the business you know everyone kept failing and I remember before I was on the council one of the owners coming to a council meeting um and saying it's impossible for them to function and make money with all the requirements that they were given um and then the other gentleman had said maybe we can get creative and I just said to councilman Ramos I'm like isn't do you think Lincoln Park is has green acre monies because they just opened a restaurant there which I feel like Lincoln Park would be Green Acre money I don't know if it is or isn't but maybe maybe there is a way to be creative but I don't I don't think the Green Acres is is limiting the the operation I think we are I yeah I think I think the the parameters of the RFP is what no I read I read from the D I actually read the language and it said say um going through but it says you can't you you cannot have table service the purpose of um the service that the restaurant would be providing is actually to benefit the park recreation yeah benefit people in the park which I definitely think it does I mean course so do I I've been at a you know at a soccer game and you run over and you can even grab a pizza to go and you know go back and watch your kids play but I I mean there's I just I really enjoy eating there I think everyone does and maybe there is a way around it but I definitely I like I did my research and the DP I mean I was shocked that it says what it says and I can you know share it with everyone but again if if Lincoln Park can open a restaurant maybe there's maybe there is some way to do it that we just haven't explored or maybe there's a way to just carve out somehow divide the whole park and say this little piece doesn't is not what Green Acres applies to but it applies to the rest of it this might be a classic example of when D or other agencies try to apply a one-sized fits-all approach yep to Unique settings and unique opportunities here our Waterfront is different from the Waterfront in Fort lay our Waterfront is different from the Waterfront in Edgewater uh our this location is is unique from the Uptown Waterfront in Hoboken so maybe we have to work with d to try and see if they meet our needs we have had businesses fail there time and time again this business has been successful I think when we first discussed the RFP going out I think everyone would say blue eyes is going to be there right blue eyes is goingon to be there I think we're to to a council member they we're all fearful of losing such a great business and here here's a business that we all talk about it that we have to support our businesses that support our city right and blue eyes is the businesses that supports our city and and puts a great face forward for our city that people from all over come to visit and I think that's something we want to support so there's ways that we could try and uh fit this into meet our needs as opposed to them the meeting their needs we should try and make every effort to do that how long do the Green Acres restrictions last so you're dead really they they never go away you can't you can't like extinguish it by like paying them back or but you have to don't you have to yeah but that's four to one is that what it is yeah like Casey might know better than I do I don't know the ratio off the top of my head well we did yeah but direct we've done other diversions have a bunch of land to is there a time limit in which we have to vote on this we have we have are I mean we have the entire North Waterfront we could probably move we're not putting restaurants on any of those could probably move it whether it's the Monarch site or the the do we not already green F I don't know so so if um the short greenr is very funny because it's it's also even if you have a proposal go back for a park space you really can't go there and a prime example is that the Housing Authority space we look to move the community garden that's on Jackson streets behind the Housing Authority but they said because we proposing a park there that we can't move it back there Casey am I right on that thank you Casey council president wait one second Council casy we listen to you two things number one the lease terms were proposed by blue eyes so I just this wasn't the administration or the city telling them what the lease was this was part of they set the terms as part of their response number two I would recommend carrying this not voting it up or down tonight their lease is up in November we can go back to green acors to try to get a better understanding and assess what that is but I just want to be clear on those two points knowing their lease isn't up till November is helpful okay however we need to complete the public procurement process by November so I just back into that time exactly so well if we did have to reue an RFB how much lead time would we need to do that to get if if they back out how how much time would we need we should do it immediately um but that said if we could take two weeks go back to committee and and Green Acres and have this discussion do that yeah all right we're going to carry this to the next meeting and try to is that our it's our uh yes climate is it ours yes it's what is it our committee is it my or is it Jo your it did but I think that was simply due to timing um so but I think Joe I think it's Joe's your committee right you yeah I think that was literally just due to schedules and okay so we'll try to come to some resolution and see if we can find any way around it it is being carried to the next council meeting we're not voting on it thank you thank you uh hearing on an ordinance b71 an ordinance amending chapter 19-9 entitled stop streets designated to add multi-way stop control to the intersections of Jefferson Street and Third Street Jefferson Street and Second Street we have no members of the public signed up to speak portion motion all in favor council members Mr fin call the vote Mr con hi Mr Doyle i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr preso I Mr cero hi Mr Ramos Mr Russo hi president gtino yes gentlemen in the back if you guys could take it outside that would be really beneficial gentlemen in the back can you go outside if you wish to speak thank you hearing on an ordinance and ordinance amending chapter 168 D100 entitled bike share location designated to relocate City bike Docking Station from City Hall to pedestrian Plaza at nor Street and Washington Street we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion all in favor I council members Mr finina call the vote Mr con hi Mr Doyle I Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr President xano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos Mr Russo I don't we have yes do we have President jeene do we have any um people signed up for Resolutions yeah that be sweet motion close motion to close the meeting second all right this is public P oh good no we have no council me there's no public portion well I already took the sheet and the everyone who signed up signed up for ordinances cd6 so so no one no one else there's no one else signed up Mo close no this isn't publica agenda public motion this is agenda items not car we carried that okay wait no no no the end I'll call you up I'll call you up wait till the end uh council members any items to be pulled council president um F2 to F9 just one general question about all of them an F7 within that but a more specific comment CD3 and cd5 can you say it again CD3 and cd5 any other council members once one cl1 is off C oh all right so Mr finina please P the being pulled cd5 full okay please call the vote on everything except CD3 cd5 F2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 uh Mr con hi Mr Doyle hi Fisher yes Mr Mr Jabor yes Mr President Zano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes CD3 resolution to amend the affordable housing spending plan to allocate funds towards the affordable housing project at 11th and Willow I think that was councilman Cullen thank you council president so on on this one uh this has to do with the affordable housing project at 11th in Willow uh 36 affordable housing units uh relates to transferring some money within the budget to in order to have this go forward uh just a brief comment one I know that we're very proud of the fact that this is going forward and that this is being funded uh at a recent council meeting uh a proponent of the uh referendum suggested that this Council does not spend money on affordable housing and does not support affordable housing and that they were actually the true supporters of affordable housing and this uh resolution puts the lie to that uh we're putting our money where our mouth is to build affordable housing for our seniors at 11th in Willow and it's a good thing that's all I wanted to say thank council president thank you call Mr finina call vote Mr con I Mr do I M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes pres Zano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Cho yes cd5 resolution authorizing a settlement agreement in the matter of Hud l364 3-11 councilman Cen thank you uh thank you council president so uh this is the advanced project uh this has to do with the transfer of the affordable housing units from the harlo to another development uh also on the Fifth Ward uh and uh you may recall at our last council meeting before the vote we got a letter the day before the meeting from fair share housing they had uh felt that they hadn't been consulted they asked us to hit the pause button so that fair share could be heard uh they were heard uh there was a resolution fair share housing got the developer to give them $220,000 uh to cover their fees which I'm sure Fair shar's happy about uh and they'll be uh they'll probably be shopping that around to other communities uh but they also got assurances with respect to the construction of the five Workforce housing developments there a time frame for it a timeline for it has to be built within four years and that was a big concern of our committee when we discussed this uh is the affordable housing going to get built if we approve this settlement today that affordable housing is going to go on the clock and we're going to be able to move forward with respect of the settlement so this was discussed extensively in our committee uh and I think that this is is a good settlement uh it it ensures that the harlo units will get constructed in the other property they've got four years to get it done uh and uh and fair share has signed off on this agreement they were not signed off on it previously thank you council president council president yes coun just quickly I just want to put a little exclamation point on this too uh in the settlement we actually got five units that are considered Workforce units right those are the units that we talk about all the time for the middle class you know the the servers the uh the nurses the the police officers you know everyone union members whatever it may be but uh just continuing to try to pick away at trying to house that population in the city of Hoboken so that the people that actually work here have the opportunity to live here as well so just wanted to add that so thank you again um couple things about uh this settlement one is uh that we haven't talked about is um the new building where um so half of the settlement is settling the litigation for the 14 units at harlo um it's been litigated for a decade um and we're agreeing to allow harlo to not actually have to have 14 affordable units at harlo they can keep those as market and then move these to another building that they have um this other building that they have is uh on Adams um just north of the viaduct uh this is a building that um the zoning board had denied they went to court over um they won and they were given approvals for 58 units that building and I think it's important to know that building is growing from 58 units to 117 units and is going up um two stories here we're going to get we're going to have the 14 units moved we're going to get 12 uh total affordable units plus the five that councilman um Russo mentioned so we're getting like an incremental 11 units six affordable um five Workforce but importantly the developer is getting 48 Market units so this is you know a typical you know settlement that we enter into where we just give o you know developers a bun a boatload of money um when we settle so we are giving them uh the economic value of 48 New Market units in this settlement I wish that was pulled out um of the discussion um is what it is one of the positives though that we did negotiate into this is um we're actually having them uh build on the ground floor and on the roof uh seven pickle ball courts they will be um not managed by the city of Hoboken but they will be a third-party manager but they will commit to having um indoor pickle ball courts which is something that has been very important um and I just want to thank uh director Brown um we talked about the idea of maybe making better use of some of the ground floor space that often sits vacant for some sort of community benefit even if it's not a specific you know like giving it to us and having us manage it just making sure they're leasing it to someone that would benefit it's a great location it's a couple blocks away from The Climbing Gym um so it there's kind of this interesting theme that's like Health oriented um Etc so those are the positives um one of the things the expectation is this is a settlement but this is not approval of the project yet we will come back with a financial agreement so if we're going to give them 48 more units in the settlement agreement we're going to come back and ask for a much bigger Community benefit payment when we go to the next level so hopefully we will also get some additional um uh contributions to towards you know whatever we need up there infrastructure Etc so this is um you know has some good aspects to it but I just want to point out the fact that you know the settlement has we're giving them 48 Market units as part of this but I will vote Yes Mr finina call the vote Mr con hi Mr Doyle hi Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr President Zano hi Mr cero hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president G Tino yes um instead of reading each of them I'll keep F7 out but F2 F3 F four whatever your question just a general question um actually you director when were we informed of all these revenues um it varied throughout they they all come in but we put them all in once the budget's adopted so this was the first meeting post budget adoption so all those grants then get inserted into the final budget right I know we put them in after we adopted budget but when will we inform that we're getting those revenues to come into the city again it varies they've come in at different times so I'm I'm looking at councilman Fischer mentioned um the urban forestry one I'm looking at the response August 29th so last week okay thank you yeah so um just um F7 is actually really interesting um this is a million dollars to be spent basically on trees in primarily correct me if I'm wrong director but our low-income areas right right so when we think about um we have a lot of trees everywhere but when we think about the um the low-income areas within Hoboken whether it's a census tracks or the Housing Authority um we're going to be able to do some really nice benefit the the other two I think positive features are we can use a portion of this to contribute maybe towards like the Landscaping of the Housing Authority we ask so maybe take on some of their costs as you know their operational costs we can use this so that they it frees up money for other needs yep and also um there's a Workforce program to hire um kids like in the summer to work on this so there's just a ton of benefits and you know this is a Federal grant that I know I think bendz worked on and a few people worked on um so I think it's actually going to be a great you know benefit to our community and I just want to point that out and thank you to whoever was involved at the city for applying for it that's it thank you so Mr finina call the vote on F 2 through n Mr con hi Mr Dole hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr pres Zano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president Jean Tino yes ordinance F introduction of first reading in ordinance amending chapter 192 D4 entitled parking for persons with disabilities to add General space for persons with disabilities on the west side of Garden Street between six Street and Seventh Street um please call the vote Mr fro Mr con I Mr Doyle I Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr presen Zano I Mr Cano I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president shtino yes ordinance for first reading an ordinance amending chapter 19 90- 71 entitled municipally managed electric vehicle chargings to add BTA charging stations to the east side of Jackson Street at 7th and 8 7th and Jackson uh resiliency Park please call the vote Mr finina Mr con I Mr Doyle i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr presen Zano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos Mr Russo hi president gtino yes um oh you do new business do you want I don't want should we add in the oh yes Amendment sure um so Mr clerk uh distributed this on the deis in hard copy so everyone has this but per the previous discussion regarding the ordinance updating some of the parking Provisions um there was an agreement to make a modification to sec 190294 time limits on paid parking uh so that it will be specifically only applicable to Washington Street um so I can read into the record um that would we have copies of it oh you don't have to yep well you can yes it's just it's literally just changing out from B no it's changing one item paragraph a which changes from business district to Washington Street that is the only change perfect so first Mr finina please vote on the emergency resolution oh did I ask you to vote no that would be new business number one resolution Mr con I Mr Doyle I Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr pres Zano hi Mr Cano I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo no president gentino yes uh new uh new business for first reading what's what was the title that what's it's the same title actually the same you want me to read it for you yeah I can update uh ordinance amending chapter 141 entitled garages and lots public chapter 141a entitled parking permits and chapter 190 entitled vehicles and traffic to update the parking utilities fee schedule thank you please call the bo can I a Qui question is this a pilot or not a pilot this is officially changing or this is a pilot it is a pilot for how long that has not yet specifically been determined it's it's absolutely changing it there's no Sunset no there's no Sunset but with everything the city council has the ability to make amendment when so it's not a it does it say the word pilot anywhere I think in the memo I don't think in the but it's not so this is just changing the law yes yes okay correct call the vote Mr con I Mr Doyle I fer yes Mr Jabor yes Mr President xano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr yes um council members new business a lot of us have to take kids to school tomorrow including me public portion what kid do you have to take to school tomorrow no what kid are you taking to school I'm borrowing a kid to take to school tomorrow so what something we didn't know about yes no I knew we had public portion but new businesses before that um Patricia waiters Roberto you have a spell hi um do we have to swear now or is that no okay so um you could swear at us if you'd like yeah I want to um talk about the two items that I uh I mentioned earlier one the alesio um just because there there seems to be a lot of confusion and uh about the lease um when we you first brought the lease it included the canopy area and you charged for it then you took it out now according to the H because it's public uh anybody can sit there they don't have to patronize um and but now according to what the uh the person said here the lease so I I don't know when whenever you know the lease includes the uh 500 square feet of outside space that was taken out in the in the second revision of the lease we're not getting paid for those 500 square F feet um so I I I don't understand how that's going to work and at the time that they make the petition to talking about the other one the uh uh State I guess they'll have to be more precise but there seems to be confusion as to what is the lease the lease is only 2240 indoor square footage and that's it according to the last lease that I read um a word about resiliency Park I love it I went to take a bunch of people that came to visit to hoken at resiliency Park and boy was I embarrassed when I got to I don't know how long has resiliency Park been around is it a year but how long has it been since it's been open year a year and I we were walking and then we noticed that the slabs are disintegrating in part of the uh Terrace and I sent an email with a picture to my council person then I also heard that the splash is not working I don't know what if anybody uh you know takes charge of like you know if something gets uh ruined in like a year do we get a free replace placement is there some sort of warranty for this work um it's embarrassing to say oh we just opened this park and now it's all crumbling up and there's like lots of uh you know little Stones where the where the slabs have come out right we're repairing it we approved repairs to the system one or two meetings ago and we're dealing with our contractors with regard to that issue so okay the other thing I want to push back on some these comments that uh um a councilman coin mentioned that it it's not going to cost us um well already uh Tiffany said you know when you when you don't get six you get4 million it costs us $2 million but it's also going to cost us in a number of other ways that I don't know how we're going to deal with uh I for one drive that area to go to shop right weekly um I don't know with all the construction the trucks and everything it's not that easy to maneuver that area it is a uh if you don't know the area well you're going to go down the wrong side street very easily and uh if you you know with the trucks and there is no space I don't know how that's going to work out I think you should definitely uh you know consider that the other thing which I I I sort of want to Echo the the comment one of the lawyers said this is a very vague thing and I know that uh Council mon Dole said that this is the municipal way I don't know I I I do not I normally have been dealing with contracts between two private parties and they're much more precise I mean for one thing here it says they talk about lead standards as if that was one lead standards come from bronze to platinum so they're many so what lead standard are we talking about that they're supposed to keep up with it's not specified and the fact is that when she uh the lady came uh the um lawyer came and said it's expensive you know what what is this this deal 50 million $100 million total value a lead certification probably is 20,000 bucks maybe 30,000 whatever it is is you know I've this developer did a bunch of of other projects in which they got lead certification so there is a reason why he's not doing in this one uh and uh the other thing is uh the the comment I don't like the comment that uhto I'm sorry can you can you that nobody comes out satisfied I think there's one party that comes out sat satisfied and that is the developer and uh the nobody's is is taking care of that um and the developer is all seems to always win here and that's not right it's not right on the top on the on the uh backs of us that the developer wins all the time okay so thank you very much for listening thank you thanks Jo I or was it Giovani I'm sorry got my grandchild to school just very quick no I really did borrow a kid to take to school tomorrow cuz I don't have any left at home well first of all I I commend you uh Madam president and the entire city council for um the decision they made tonight to look better into this thing and and make sense of it just quick response to Mr Freeman with all due respect um my clients didn't just happily uh and agreed did this and proposed this on their own page 21 of the RFP don't believe me page 21 the RFP says that the lease shall propose an annual per square foot lease fee equal to or greater than the current market pricing for restaurant space in hobok New Jersey so uh they looked into what is the current market price and they said well this is what the Brokers told us and this is what we're going to do because that's what we're required to do by the RFP by the RFP because the next sentence that and very quickly it says the city of Hoboken is committed to working with the selected Lei to ensure their investment in the cafe operation is successful well not under these conditions least SE shall submit a lease fee and cost proposal that maximizes Revenue to the city open space trust fund for Parks and Recreation obviously my clients whatever they want to do they want to obviously do what's good for the city of Hoboken but obviously if the city is committed to working with the selected Lea seeds that their investment is successful well obviously then the conditions have to be so because once you take away I've heard you take away their outside space outside dining area uh you take away their table Serv which by the way alesio has table service and I'm not here to argue against what's done there I wish them lots of luck and I think they're great people I've been in there and I've never had table service they don't have table they don't have table you order you order at the counter and they bring you the stuff and they bring you the stuff but well now what are we going to Define as table service that's a different story that's not defined in here but that's okay I'm not here to talk about that I'm just simply saying this was not my client's choice this was an imposition of the RFP thank you thank you motion to close I'm giving uh got some beef uh Manny sick Manny Rivera Solair feel better our friend we miss you tonight thank you did he text you I text him to see where he was I'm very concerned Manny's here motion to close wait yeah Council woman and then we're gonna go yeah um so tomorrow is the first day of uh school for number of people teachers and students included uh including hobok and Public School District um so it feels particularly awful to have read the news today about another school shooting um and I just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that even now going to the first day of school we are already dealing with um a mass casualty shooting with four people dead over 30 people wounded um political season is coming at the national level and I just hope that we um as residents and people who care about this issue will continue to vote and support policies that prevent these shootings from continuing because I am too heartbroken to keep reading these headlines and send my kids off to the first day of school tomorrow knowing that these things keep happening um so I would be remiss if I didn't just take a moment of silence in light of Today's tragedy and um just hope that this never meets our community amen amen thank you council president council president motion C president very brief in the same vein uh tomorrow night 7 p.m. United sag of hobokin having a vigil in memory of the six hostages who were murdered uh by Hamas uh you can register at Hoboken synagogue. org uh for you need valid ID in RSVP uh another tragedy uh and the communities coming together for this event again tomorrow night 7 PM United St God pook thank thank motion to close motion to close what is this