Don't start. Can I have um everyone just shut the doors on the sides if you don't mind, please? Okay, thank you. Good afternoon everyone. We are on the record. Today is Wednesday, the 8th day
of April, 2026. This is a regular meeting of the Jersey City Municipal Council. We had a scheduled 6:00 p.m. start and the clock on my cell phone is showing 6:09 p.m. May I have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting.
Council person Brooks, >> Council Person Zupa, >> present. >> Council person Afro >> present. >> Council person Little >> present. >> Council person Gilmore. >> Council person Singh, >> I'm here. Council >> person Griffin
>> here. Council person Lavaro >> here. >> Council President Ridley >> here. >> Okay. Right now I have eight members of the council present at 6:09 p.m.
Can we kindly uh rise for a moment of silence, please? Jamie Santana Baskville. >> I'd like to offer this in memory of my father's first year anniversary. Alando Lavaro Senior,
Jacqueline Nutinson, and Sue Ward. Please remain standing as we salute to the flag. On behalf of the city council, President Ridley and members of the municipal council in accordance with the New Jersey Public Laws of 1975,
chapter 231, the open public's meetings act, also known as the Sunshine Law, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the posting on the bulletin board of the first floor of city the annual notice which is the schedule of meetings and caucuses of the adunal
council for the calendar year 2026 and filed in the office of the city clerk on Tuesday November 25th 2025. In addition, at the time of its preparation, the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday,
April 3rd, 2026 at 4:27 p.m. uh to the mayor, municipal council, business administrator, corporation council, and the local newspapers, and post it on the city's website so I can certify as to the total compliance with
the sunshine law. Okay. Um, council, um, I'd like to have a motion to add item 10.38, resolution 26-189 to tonight's agenda. This is a
resolution honoring Montford Point Marine PFC Fred Jackson on the occasion of his recognition with the US Congressional Gold Medal. Um, may I have a motion to add this item temp9?
Uh, is that by Griffin? >> Yes. >> Second by Zupa. >> Okay. Motion to add item 10.38, resolution 26-189, made by Griffin, seconded by Zupa. Uh, motion to add. Council person Brooks
>> here. >> Not here. Okay. Thank you. Uh, council person Zupa. >> Hi. >> Council person Afro. >> Hi. >> Council person Little. >> Hi. >> Council person Gilmore. >> Hi. >> Council person Singh. >> I. >> Council person Griffin.
>> I. >> Council person Lavaro. >> I. >> Council President Ridley. >> I. >> Okay. Motion to add item 10.38 resolution 26189 is approved. 8 Z.
Thank you. Now we'll move on to our first reading um ordinances. Item 3.1, city ordinance 26-019, is an ordinance approving an easement agreement by and between the city of
Jersey City and ARK SK LLC for the benefit of the public for pedestrian access and passage over and across portions um property portions of the property known as 189 Philip Street, Jersey City, New Jersey, block 21504,
lot 4.04. 4. Item 3.2, 2 city ordinance 26-020 a franchise ordinance granting permission to 412 Liberty Avenue LLC by its managing member
Sha allowing the installation of stairs and that extend into the right of way beyond the boundary lines of lot 51 block 2601 and are for the benefit of lot 51 block 2601 commonly known as 412 Liberty
Avenue Jersey City, New Jersey. Item 3.3, City Ordinance 26-021, a franchise ordinance granting permission to Manson Ambassadors LLC, its successors, and assigns to construct private improvements within 200 square
ft plus or minus of the first street public right away adjacent to lot 26, block 1142 on the official tax assessment map of the city of Jersey City, 230 Street. Item 3.4, city
ordinance 26-022, a franchise ordinance granting permission to HHNJ Prop 3 LLC enroached within the public right away sidewalk at portions of 15th and 16th Streets to
allow for an elevated ramp and stairs for a building entry 316 15th Street. Council members, we are taking a vote on items 3.1 to 3.4. Council person Brooks
>> not here. Council person >> I for introduction to all. >> Thank you. Council person Afro >> I for introduction. >> Thank you. >> Council person Little. >> I for introduction. >> Thank you. Council person Gilmore. He
stepped out. >> Okay. Council person Singh, >> I for introduction. >> Okay. Council person Griffin. >> I for introduction. >> Council person Labaro. >> I for introduction. >> Council President Ridley.
>> I for introduction. >> We have um items 3.1 to 3.4. See, introduced uh 70 with Brooks and Gilmore not
present. Uh now I believe we're going to defer to a couple items. Council President, is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. Um may I just recap with you? Is it 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8? >> Correct. >> Okay. Uh we'll go we'll defer to these
items first and then we'll individually um vote on each item. Is that okay? >> Yes. >> All right. Um so I need a motion to defer to items 10.6 resolution 26-157. >> Motion second.
>> All right. We'll go there. Motion made by >> Griffin. >> Second by >> is it also um in addition to 10.67 6, seven, and 8. Are we also doing 10.37 and 10.38? >> Can't hear you.
>> No. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. Um, in addition to 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8, are we also moving 10.37, and 10.38 to the beginning? >> No, we don't have any representatives here for those. >> Okay, great. Thank you.
>> Okay, so we're just going to keep it to the three, 10.6, 10.7, 10.8. Um, I'll uh do the roll call to defer to the items. Council person Brooks is still not here. So, council persona. >> Hi. >> Council person Ephro. >> Hi.
>> Council person Little. >> Hi. >> Council person Gilmore. >> Still not here. Okay. Council person Singh. >> Hi. >> Council person Griffin. >> Hi. >> Council person Lavaro. >> I. >> Council President Ridley. >> I.
>> Okay. The motion to defer to items 10.6, 6 10.7 10.8 is 70. Now we'll individually go to each one and um then I guess we'll take a pause. So we'll start with resolution
26-157. Council person is not here. So we'll go to council person Zupa. This is the final um Okay. Amanda, can we uh would you like to read it into the
record the ordinance or the resolution? All right. So 10.6 is a resolution authorizing the installation of a bat house in Enos Jones Park. Whereas the city of Jersey City through the Department of Recreation and Youth Development, Division of Parks Maintenance, recognizes the ecological
importance of bats as natural pest control agents, reducing reliance on chemical pesticides, and supporting environmental sustainability. And whereas the Brunswick School with the support of the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association has proposed the installation of one bat house within Enos Jones Park. And whereas the
installation of a bat house provides a safe roosting habitat for local bat populations and contributes to biodiversity within the city's park system. And whereas the proposed installation method utilizes non-invasive nylon strips straps and mounting hardware that will not
penetrate or damage the tree. And whereas the division of forestry has reviewed or shall review prior to installation the proposed location. Okay, I'm I'm going to skip a few whereas clauses. Um, now for now, therefore, be it resolved by the
Municipal Council of the City of Jersey City, that the Department of Recreation and Youth Development, Division of Parks Maintenance, is hereby authorized to coordinate with the Brunswick School and the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association for the placement and installation of one bat house at Enos Jones Park, subject to final review and
approval by the Division of Forestry. The Brunswick School and HPNA shall assume full responsibility for all costs associated with installation, monitoring, maintenance, and removal of the bat house and shall remove the bat house upon request of the city and the city of Jersey City shall bear no financial obligation related to the
project. Um, so I want to say congratulations and um I know we all have to vote on it, but I know this is something that the um the ch the students and the neighborhood association were really excited about
working together on and I think this could be a great um ecological educational opportunity. And um I also want to um allow any students or neighbors the opportunity to speak on this. Would that be before or after we
vote? >> That'll be after. >> Okay. Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Now I'll take the vote on item 10. Resolution 26-157. Uh Council Person Zupa.
>> Uh I I vote I. This is a wonderful thing. And uh Senator, if any of the kids back there want to sit until Councilman Brooks joins us, they're welcome to come up and speak. Give the remarks from the day if they'd like to. I vote I >> Thank you. Council person Afro.
>> I vote I. Very exciting project. Congratulations everybody. Thanks. Council Middle C. >> I congratulations. >> He's still council person singing. I vote I and congratulations to Hamilton
Park Neighborhood Association as always. You do such an amazing work for the community and Brunswick School. Thank you so much for getting involved with this and I'm hoping that we can continue this concept in other parks. So, thank
you for all the hard work. >> Council Person Griffin, >> I just want to say great job, congratulations. And I vote I >> thank you to the Brunswick School and to the teachers and um and to all the
parents and uh of course to all the students um for your great work here. I look forward to seeing the bat house and hopefully you can teach us more about bats the next time we see you. I vote happily vote I. >> Okay, Council President Ridley,
>> congratulations. Thank you all for keeping our children engaged and I proudly vote I. >> Okay. Uh resolution 26-157 is approved 70 with council person Brooks and Gilmore not present. If do
you want to call them to the front? >> Yeah, I think someone would would like to speak. >> Yeah. Any any students or teachers or neighbors who would like to speak may do so now. >> Come on up. You do they want to sit in Councilman Brook's seat? Yeah,
>> I wasn't kidding. I'll give up my seat if they want to be closer to the stage here. >> Thank you so much. Um, we're just going to be speaking briefly and friends after you talk. >> Hello, city council members. Thank you
for letting us speak this evening evening. First, we we are first and second grade students from the Brunswick School. We have something to share with you. We
have an idea, but we need your help to make it happen. We had a bat expert come to our class who taught us that bats eat bugs every night. One bat can eat 600 to a,000 bugs
in one hour. This includes mosquitoes. Bats are also pollinators and they disperse seeds. Bats are a very helpful animal. Bats sometimes struggle to find homes or places to roost. That's why we
decided to build a bat house. We wanted to make a nice home for bats. So, we built a bat house using wood hammers and nails. We also painted it with black weatherproof paint. We would like to place the bat house in
a tree in the wooded area beside Eno Jones Park. A bat house would help kids like us to learn more about animals and science. We could see nature working firsthand. Batous are safe and they don't bother
people. They don't take up much space and they are not expensive. Adding a bat house would show that our city cares about nature and wants to protect wildlife. Please help us give bats a home in our
ecosystem by allowing us to install the bat house in the park. Thank you for your consideration and for the opportunity to speak with you this evening. >> I just want to thank all the students
who spoke. You all were incredible and that was amazing and you did a great job and I'm so excited to see you get to have your bat house. >> Can I take a photo? Yeah. >> Yeah. >> You stay up there. Folks are going to come down. And just for the record, they
were all under three minutes. >> I thought Sean was not working today. As for uh for the teacher, excuse me. That's me. Can you come to the microphone? Can you just state your name for the record, please? >> Yes. My name is Allison Scaggs. I'm the first and second grade teacher at the
Brunswick School. >> Thank you. Mars. something. Oh, he's with Sam and her a billionaire Batman Bruce Wayne. >> I know.
Okay, council members, we're going to move on to the next resolution. Uh >> um we're going to move to item 10.7, resolution 26-158. Council President, who would you like to introduce that one?
>> Uh Councilman Zufa will uh read that one into the record. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, this is a resolution honoring the tremendous work going on at the Golden Door Charter School on Kennedy Boulevard, right in Ward C. Before I read the resolution, just to give some background, uh, Golden Door is the only
school in New Jersey to receive a national award, which is is tremendous. Uh I attended the program honoring this um uh event this week and I learned that there are 24 different languages spoken by the students at Golden Door which
really encompasses the diversity of our ward and of course of our city. So I I proudly offer this resolution uh honoring Jersey's golden door charter school. Whereas the city of Jersey City is pleased to recognize and commemorate the academic achievements of the Jersey City Golden Door Charter School. And
Jersey City's Golden Door Charter School has been named a 2026 National Elementary and Secondary Education ESA Distinguished School. And whereas this recognition honors the school's outstanding work in serving its multilingual learner population and its
commitment to fostering an inclusive highquality educational environment where all students can succeed. And whereas the 2026 ESA Distinguished Schools program is sponsored by the National Association of ESA State Program Administrators, which recognizes
schools demonstrating exceptional student progress and strong performance on ESA indicators. Whereas as part of this award, the charter school received $15,000 to enhance programming at the school, which serves a high percentage of children from low-income families and
was celebrated alongside other ESA distinguished schools nationwide at the uh conference in February of 2026. Now therefore, be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jersey City that the city hereby recognizes the Jersey City Golden Door Charter School for its
academic achievements and for being named as the 2026 National Ele Elementary and Secondary Education Act distinguished school in recognition of its service to the residents of Jersey City. >> Okay, thank you. Um, we're going to take
a vote on this resolution 26-158. Brooks, I'd like to uh at 631. So, we now have nine council person uh council people in attendance. Do you want me to go back and do the votes with you now or do you want to do that at the end? >> Uh, we'll do that at the end. Sure.
>> Thank you. >> All right. So, we'll go from here. Resolution 26-158. Council person Brooks. I >> council person Zupa. >> Hi, >> Council Person Efro. >> Hi, >> Council Person Little. >> Hi, >> Council Person Gilmore.
>> I >> council person Singh. >> I and congratulations for the good work. >> Council person Griffin. >> I just want to say, you know, I have uh my little brother, my little sister, uh my little cousins, they all graduated
from Golden Door. Uh my sister and cousins graduated uh from the school downtown. My little brother graduated from Kennedy Boulevard. Um great school. Um very family oriented. Um quality
education and I just want to say congratulations. I >> council person Lavaro. >> Yeah. Congratulations to the administrators and teachers and all the the entire Jersey City Golden Door Charter School community. Great job. I
vote I. >> Council President Ridley, >> I want to say congratulations. Uh, thank you for all that you do here in the city with our kids. And I vote I. >> Okay. Resolution 26-158
is approved 90. >> And can we have some wonderful people from the school come up, including our principal, if you'd like to say a few words. Hi, good evening. My name is Tabitha Madera. I'm the principal at Golden Door Charter School. I've been there for 26
years. This is my third year in this role as principal. And on behalf of our entire school community, thank you to the council for recognizing our school as a recipient of the ESCA National Distinguished School, the only school selected uh in the state of New Jersey.
This honor reflects dedication of our teachers, uh including Mrs. Katherine Clark, who is our ESL teacher. Uh we were recognized for our multilingual population and the progress that the students made through our ASPA strategic
planning. Um we're also here joined by one of our ML families um who are here to join us today. So we are grateful and proud that our school has accomplished together and grateful for the partnership that we share with the city. Thank you for celebrating this achievement with us.
Hi, my name is Pawan and I am from the Golden Door Charter School. I am fifth I'm from fifth grade and I am going to talk about my school. my very deepest respect to all of the
council members and uh especially for uh councilman Jupa and I am very proud to be a part of uh the ESL program and thank you >> very good
>> I'm Kathy Clark I'm the ESL teacher PV um spoke at our uh celebration yesterday in Tamil because he's fully bilingual. And this is my daughter and she really wants to speak on the microphone when she goes to prek. She's five.
>> I'm proud of my mom. >> I love going to >> I love going to Golden. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Yeah, buddy. That's right there. Dr. Mom, sir, excuse me. Please
find the way. Thank you. See you soon. Oh, one more. We got Oh, right. >> I got mine. Okay, we're moving on to the next resolution that we are um deferring to.
Uh this is resolution 26-159, Council Person Brooks. Oh, council >> can um commit to we're going to uh have Councilman Zuka read it into the record. >> Okay. >> All right. I'm up again and I'll hit my
quota for speaking for the meeting after this. Uh and I'll do so proudly offering a resolution recognizing the month of April 2026 as seek heritage month. This is the third time Jersey City is honoring this community and we're being honored by this community. I want to appreciate uh Arjan Jeria from my office
for offering this once again uh bringing this to Jersey City and throughout the 12 towns of Hudson County. Whereas the city of Jersey City is pleased to recognize and commemorate the monumental achievements of the seek community and to bring awareness to the month of April 2026 as seek heritage month. Sikism is
the fifth largest religion in the world with nearly 30 million followers including approximately 500,000 in the United States. Sikism which originated in Punjab, India in the 15th century teaches its followers to practice the universal principles of truthful living,
service to humanity and devotion to God and affirms that every human being regardless of race, gender or creed is equal in the eyes of God. And seekism has long been recognized as a pioneer of social justice with female participation in religious ceremonies widely encouraged. And the religion's emphasis
on selfless service inspires members of the sick community to make lasting social contributions, including providing free meals to those in need throughout through initiatives such as the annual let's share a meal event in Jersey City and the work of the Naknam
Jage Guara, which serves as a hub for community service and engagement. and members of the SEK community continue to experience discrimination including school bullying and instances of physical and verbal abuse often rooted in the anti-seek bias and misconceptions
regarding articles of faith such as uncut hair and turbans. And whereas there is a continued need for public education and awareness to highlight the invaluable contributions of the sick community and to combat religious discrimination and bigot bigotry. Now therefore be resolved by the city
council of the city of Jersey City that the city recognizes the month of April 2026 as seek heritage month in honor of the seek community's dedication, contributions, and enduring impact on our Jersey City community.
>> Okay. Now we'll take um the vote on resolution 26-159. Council person Brooks, >> I vote I and uh congratulations um to the sick community and thank you for welcoming me welcoming me to the
Gurudada on the west side and I proudly vote I >> council person Zupa >> vote yes and just again briefly say that Arjan who is not of the seek faith uh shows the diversity and understanding and awareness of of multi multi being multicultural uh and bringing everyone
together that's and I proudly vote Council person Efos. >> I much appreciation to the community and much appreciation to Councilman Zupa and to Arjun for bringing this forward. >> Council person Little. >> I proudly vote I. Happy to honor RC
community here in Jersey City. Um, which contributes so much to the culture of Jersey City and um to to serving our neighbors. So, thank you. Thank you for all you do. Council person Gilmore >> I. >> Council person Singh
>> I vote I and Wesha Sasrial. Um I'm so proud the work this community has been doing over the years. let's share a meal even around co they were making sure feeding people and it's such
a selfless work they have been putting hours of cooking the food collecting the donations for the vulnerable in all the communities you never care about where they come from and doing the work which we are so proud of so thank you and I
vote I council person Griffin >> I vote Council person Lavaro, >> thank you to um the members of our C community, the leaders um you the contributions that the C community makes
to Jur City. Um and uh you know, Jersey City is the most diverse city in the entire nation and we're proud to celebrate the C community and all of our diverse communities here in Jersey City. Thank you. And proudly vote I >> and Council President Ridley,
>> I proudly vote I. Always uh a pleasure to celebrate our diversity here in the city. Thank you to the seek community for being a valuable part of Jersey City. We appreciate all that you do here. >> A resolution 26-159
is approved 90. >> I understand there's some speakers. I think Arjun's going to introduce those in the community who have come to celebrate with us. Good evening honorable president Denis Ridley and esteemed uh council members and valuable members of Jesus city
especially from Guroara Nanaknam Jahaj Gardara Sik community. My name is Arjuman Juvarya and it is profound honor to stand before you today as a pharmacist and community activist. I take great pride in being a
recipient of the presidential lifetime achievement award from our former president Joe Biden. The daily point of light award founded by former President George HW Bush, the New Jersey Governor's Medallion Award from Governor Phil Murphy, and the Women of Action Award from Jersey City. Additionally, I
have been honored with the Raspberry award recognition on the Jersey Cares Walk of Fame award and just last month I received a doctorate in philosophy in faith and public service. Today we gather to celebrate a momentous
occasion, Sikh heritage month. This month is not just a date on our calendars. It symbolizes a vibrant radio tribute to the rich tapestry of sik culture and the invaluable contributions um invaluable contributions that siks
have made to our community is a time to honor the principles of equality, justice and service that lie at the heart of the sick teachings and acknowledge the beautiful diversity that enhances our society. I take pride in
having led the effort to recognize Sikh Heritage Month in September 2023. A journey that has taken me through all 12 towns of Hudson County. I'm excited to announce that nine of those towns including Hudson County itself has
already passed resolutions supporting this important initiative with that remaining three actively working towards similar recognition. I'm having hosting events in libraries, colleges, schools and uh co uh community college. This
marks the third proclamation for sik heritage month from our city showcasing our collective commitment to promoting culture, understanding and appreciation. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude towards Councilman Tom Zupa
who upon my outreach stepped forward as a primary sponsor of this bill. Your support has been instrumental in bringing this initiative to fish life and I thank for your unwavering commitment to our community. Additionally, I wish to convey my
sincere appreciation to our mayor James Salman for his incredible support. I would also like to thank all council members including council president Dennis Redley, W B Councilman Joel Brooks, W D Councilman Jacob Pros, W E Councilman Ilana Little, W F Councilman
Educational Gilmore, Council at large, Lavaro Rolando, Mta Singh and Michael Griffin for their advocacy on this cause. Your dedication to fostering a diverse and inclusive community is truly inspiring. In conjunction with our celebration, I want to highlight the leg
share meal initiative founded under the visionary leadership of Omar Singh. This initiative embodies the spirit of selfless service as we have successfully prepared and delivered over 10,000 meals across the tri-state areas to shelters, the homelessness
and those in need twice a year. This remarkable effort exemplifies the power of community and compassion reflecting the core values of sikism, service to humanity and the importance of caring for one another. As we celebrate sik heritage month, let us take this opportunity to reflect on the teachings
of Gurunanak Dev Gi who emphasized equality among all people regardless of their background. Sikism teaches us about the unity of humanity, the significance of honest living and the necessity of sharing our blessings and others. Let us remember the sacrifice
made by countless individuals who have paved the way for the future where diversity is embraced and celebrated. Together, let us create an environment where cultural appreciation flourishes, where we learn from one another, and where our differences becomes the very
foundation of our strength. This month is not merely a celebration of sik heritage. It is a call to action for all of us to unite in our commitment to justice, equality and love for our fellow human being. Thank you for being part of this extraordinary celebration
of sik heritage month. Let us continue to work hand in hand building a brighter more inclusive future for Hudson County, Ja city and beyond. Thank you. Now I would like to invite Arvinder Singh GI to have few words.
Good evening. My name is Arvender Singh. I want to thank you council president M. threadly respected council members and especially councilman Tom Zupa, Manta Singh and Anjuman for introducing this bill.
Really really appreciate that and we really honor that you know April month is being celebrated as sick heritage month in a city hall in a city. We as a member of this Jersey City residents we love we want to be here. We are we just
feel that we are part of this community. We are part of this city. We part of this culture. That's the most important thing. Whether we do work here, we do business here, we we invest in this city. That's the most respected city that I felt that you know by living in New York for 10 years and living in
Jersey City for the last 25 years, I feel this is my hometown and we are honored. So, thank you so much council people, council members. We are honored to be part of this city. Thank you. >> Council members, you want to grab a photo?
>> I would I would like to invite one more uh Justin. >> Uh good evening esteemed members of the council. Thank you very much for the opportunity. Um s community actually has been very fortunate to find home in one of the most diverse city in the country.
We feel proud about it. Um of course city is one of the transit cities most people who land um who are expats are coming here for work uh whether they are working in banking IT industries or whether they are working in making buildings and uh whether it's
in real estate as you may know Singh has been one of the pioneers in doing great work for the community and taking along his vision uh to contribute towards the community and sharing doing that for over 13 years Now um just to thank you
very much uh Arjiman to basically and Tom um to introduce this bill. Thank you very much. Um and lastly uh we invite all of you and everybody over here u from the city uh to be part of our next food drive which is going to be
happening on 18th April. So um we will be actually going out to again 10,000 meals across uh various uh shelters. This is going to be fresh cooked meals. So we need a lot of help to pack and um and and and definitely bring your kids.
It basically gets them a great opportunity uh uh to see how how the word saber as we say as we call right community service works. Thank you very much. Hi, my name is Kira Singh and the the reason I like Jersey City is
because my family and friends live there and we help each other out. This month is very special for us because it's Vaki and in this month we're doing leer meal. We go to
different shelters and serve to people. And when we serve the food, we feel happy because you're sharing. And I realized that we can we can also share by caring. We don't need to share by
food only. Thank you. >> Great job, young fella. >> Going up. Hulk. No, nobody can see me. Yes. All right. Consent meeting should be like this
every Okay, thank you everyone. Um, before I move on to the second reading ordinances, I'm just going to go back to the first readings to the introduction. I'm going to have to get the votes for uh, Council
Person Brooks and Gilmore. So, um, for item for our first reading ordinances, items 3.1 to 3.4 for introduction. Council person Brooks, >> I vote I for introduction. >> Thank you. Council person Gilmore,
>> I for introduction. >> Thank you. Okay, so now we are um introducing items 3.1 to 3.490. Resolution 26 uh-157.
Council person Brooks, how do you vote? >> I. >> Council person Gilmore. >> Okay. Thank you. So, C uh resolution 26-157 is approved. 90. Okay, on to our second reading
ordinances. First, second reading reading ordinance item number 4.1, city ordinance 26-016. This is an ordinance that is carried from the March 25th meeting. I'll read
it into the record again. It's an ordinance supplementing chapter 332, vehicles and traffic, article 8, permit parking, amending section 332-58, restrictions in residential zones to establish a new permit parking zone 20
for streets adjacent to the Liberty State Park HBLR station east of Pacific Avenue. This is a public hearing on city ordinance 26-016.
Is there a member of the public Amanda? We I'm going to motion to table. We had our public meeting last night on um 4.1 and the community would like to go back and have another meeting. Uh they would
like to expand the area and maybe make a few changes. So we are going to vote to table this for now and once they meet we will um introduce a new ordinance. >> You want to table it prior to >> prior to the public hearing
>> prior to conducting a public hearing. >> Correct. >> So the motion is to table city ordinance. >> Give me the number. >> Motion >> 26-016 >> prior to conducting a public hearing. >> Correct. Motion made by council person
Griffin. >> Gilmore. >> Sorry, Gilmore. I didn't see. >> Second. >> Second by Griffin. >> Gilmore. >> Stop. >> Are you the attorney on a project, sir? >> Thank you. Sean,
>> motion to table city ordinance 26-016. Council person Brooks. >> I. >> Council person Supa. I >> council person Efro. >> Hi, >> Council Person Little. >> Hi, >> Council Person Gilmore.
>> I >> council person Singh. >> I >> council person Griffin. >> Hi, >> Council Person Labaro. >> Hi. >> And council president Wart. >> Ridley. >> Oh, Ridley. Oh my god. Sorry. >> That's okay. I
>> She can't do the uh meetings no more. Sean, I could be removing her from. >> If you don't stay in your seat, you make it more difficult for me to >> You're doing a great job. Keep it up. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> You're doing a great job.
>> Okay. So, >> remember, I'm the one with 10. You're not you. >> All right. So, we are going to move on to the next city ordinance. This is a second reading. This is item 4.2,
city ordinance 26-017, an ordinance supplementing chapter 332, vehicles and traffic, article 3, parking, standing, and stopping, amending section 332-24, parking prohibited certain hours at
PS16, 96 Sussex Street. This is a public hearing on city ordinance 26-017. Do I have any members of the public wishing to be heard? >> Motion. >> Second.
>> Motion made by council person Gilmore, seconded by council president Ridley. Motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 26-016. Council person Brooks. >> I. >> Council person Zupa.
>> Hi. >> Council person Afro. >> Hi. >> Council person Little. >> Hi. >> Council person Gilmore. >> Hi. >> Council person Singh. >> Hi. >> Council person Griffin. >> Hi. >> Council person Lavaro. >> Hi.
>> Council President Ridley. >> I. >> Okay. Uh to close the public hearing for city ordinance 26-016. Motion carries 9. For final consideration and adoption of
city ordinance number 26-016, Council Person Brooks, >> I >> 17. Right. I'm so sorry. Moving to 17. Council person Brooks. I Okay. Council person Zupa. >> I. >> Council person Efro. >> Hi.
>> Council person Li. >> Hi. >> Council person Gilmore. >> I. >> Council person Singh. >> I. >> Council person Griffin. >> Hi. >> Council person Lavaro. >> I'm sorry. I just want to clarify. Council President. We're we're
voting to approve 26-016. >> Correct. This is the for final consideration and adoption. 017. I I fixed myself. I 017. Yeah, we tabled 016. >> I'm sorry. >> Vote I.
>> Council President Ridley >> I. >> Okay. For uh city ordinance is adopted 90. This is city ordinance 26-017. Okay. Uh second reading item number 4.3.
This is city ordinance 26-018. This is an ordinance amending chapter 53 personnel article 2 fixed salaries to modify fixed salaries for certain employees. We have someone here to speak. Can you
please speak your name for the record? >> Ivonne Bolser. >> Thank you. >> Okay. I really have a problem with this because as I read it, it talks about maximum salary shall be reasonably consistent with the maximum salary
range. Well, you know, Jersey City had 4,200 properties in 2024 in tax lean. your neighbor Caucus had one which well they're onetenth our population but if you multiply that by 10 that would be 10
properties in in tax lean so we're talking about a city that's begging and going into Trenton and we have to get money to subsidize our budget we also heard recently that the school is asking for a $2,000
increase because they raised their taxes their rate 17% from what I read from Hudson County View. So, we're talking about what is reasonable. How much more do we have to pay? You people ran on the
notion that you were different from the previous administration. Yet, the previous administration also raised salaries. So, how different are you? You're not. The point of it is, how many more people do you want to lose their
homes? Because Jersey City, out of all the other counties in Jersey, Hudson County, we we are the one with the most tax leans. And we never talk about that. We always talk about, you know, affordable housing, but you can't have a
house that's just not affordable because of taxes. You you ignore the fact why it's not affordable. That's what you really ignored. So, you know, the point of it is if I was a legislator in Trenton and I'm seeing you're talking
about raising salaries to the minimum amount and you want money for me to to balance your budget, I would say no to you. That's what I would say. I don't think we're doing the right thing at all. I I think we should first take care
of our budget. I'm not against salaries increases. I am not. But we have to first take care of your home. There's no way I would tell my husband, "Let's buy a new car knowing that we have to pay more money in taxes this year because I have to balance my household expenses."
But you're not doing that. Thank you. Okay. Yes. the clock. Yeah, >> I didn't even introduce myself. I went actually before I before I begin when Ivonne Baller came up her time didn't even go off.
>> I apologize. That's her. >> Yes. >> So, can you restart that? Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Danielle Damo. D A N I E L L E Damo D and David A D and David A M O Good evening council president and
members of the council. I want to speak on this ordinance with both support and concern because the reality is it's not as simple as yes or no. On one hand, I understand the need for competitive salaries. Jersey City is no longer a
small municipality. We are a growing complex city and we need experienced qualified leadership to manage departments, oversee budgets and deliver services effectively. If we understand these roles, we risk turnover,
instability and ultimately a decline in how government functions for residents. But on the other hand, this cannot exist in a vacuum because residents right now are struggling with affordability, with quality of life issues, with inconsistent services. And when they see
salary increases at the top, the question becomes, where is the return on that investment? That's the disconnect. This isn't just about salaries. It's trust is about trust and accountability. If we're going to support increases like
this, then they must come with transparency, with clear expectations, and with measurable outcomes that residents can actually feel in their day-to-day lives. Because leadership should not just be compensated well. It
should be performing well, visibly, and consistently for the people of this city. So yes, invest in strong leadership, but do it in a way that centers residents, demands results, and builds public trust. Thank you.
>> Any other member of the public wishing to be heard? >> Motion. >> Okay. Motion made by Gilmore. >> Second. Second by council person Bridley. Motion to close the public hearing on city
ordinance 2 017. Council person Brooks >> I. >> Council person Zupa >> vote. I before we vote uh on the final question I have a question for the BA. >> You can finish the vote to close and then we'll take councilman Zupa's question.
>> Sure. Council person Ephro. Hi. Council person Little. >> Hi. >> Council person Gilmore. >> Hi. >> Person Singh. >> Hi. >> Council person Griffin. >> Hi. >> Council person Lavaro. >> Hi. >> Council person Ridley.
>> Hi. >> A. Uh. To close the public hearing on ordinance 9 is 90. for final consideration and adoption of city ordinance 26-017 council one second question Zupa has a
question for Peter I think I think Peter I think you're the one suited to answer so w with this change >> uh people who are currently in the roles can their salary be adjusted without coming back to the council might be a question for Sarah
yes they could be adjusted prior to coming back to council. However, as I stated previously, the ministry is committed to making the council aware of any salary adjustments before they occur by physically contacting with an email or meetings to discuss any changes before they happen.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> So, to I guess to follow up on Councilman Zupa's question, if we do receive that email and there is I guess discrepancies, the next step is what? Sure. What you mean by discrepancy in council
one? That's right. >> If there is um you know the changes are coming before the council. So I guess if the council has any questions about the salaries, we would just engage and work it out. >> Yeah, you could always contact us directly. Um the salaries will be in the
budgets when the budget's introduced and voted on. So you'll see them all there. So if anything is inconsistent with what we contact you about, you know, feel free to call us on it and we can have a discussion. But you know again the administration is committed to speaking to everyone pre prior to that and discussing before the changes actually
go into place. And um Peter, if you can um with respect to these positions um for the increases, if you can speak to how they're
equal to or in the realm of other first class cities as it relates to um those positions being paid in that city. >> So there's three first class cities. We have Patterson, Newark, and Jury City. So, it would be a look at what their
salaries are compared to what Jur City is. And then do an analysis of our local markets to see how that might uh you know, how those cities might compare to our local conditions here and whether or not it would warrant a potential increase or decrease compared to what their salaries are, what the conditions are in Jersey City.
>> No, if you can speak to like what are the ranges in those cities? So, it depends on what position we're talking about. Um, for certain statutory employees such as department directors, I think they're anywhere from 150 to 200,000. Um, I believe for the statutory
employees such as clerk, assessor, um, uh, the tax collector as well, I believe they're in between the 150 to $175,000 range. Um, the mayor, I believe, is around 180,000 in the different cities. Um,
again, this is more from memory, so don't hold me exactly to the number, but they're all in that general ballpark. >> Okay. >> Okay. Amanda. >> Okay. For final consideration of an adoption of 26-017,
Council Person Brooks, >> uh, is it 26-018? >> Yes. the last one that we're >> 018 >> 018. >> Okay. Uh I >> also persona >> I'm sure Ivonne will be shocked but I I
agree mostly with what she said. The only disagreement I have is that the reasonably consistent allows the city to pay less than other the other the other towns not just more. So it's not just characterized as as an increase. It could be that our ad um directors are
paid less than what the BA in Newark is for just as example what the BA in Newark is being paid. Uh because it says reasonably consistent, I'll vote I but uh I I will be concerned about the spending in our budget going forward. >> Council person Efro,
>> I vote I. >> Council person Little, >> I vote I. I echo Councilman Zoba's um comments on the reasonably consistent language and um I appreciate the administration's commitment to transparency with the council and we
will be keeping an eye on spending. Thank you, >> Council Person Gilmore. >> Um this one right here is a little little different for me in a sense. I I see what the administration is trying to
do by trying to attract individuals of the top t uh the top tier um to help steer the ship to get us out of the pitfall in which we are in. Um but on the other hand, I do also understand the
community cries as well. Um so for me just given all of those dynamics I'm going to abstain from this um 4.3 >> is that I >> okay
council person sing I vote I council >> person Griffin >> abstain Thank you. >> Council person Lavaro. >> I vote I. >> Council President Ridley.
>> I for final consideration and adoption of city ordinance 26-018. Uh, city ordinance is adopted 702 with council person Gilmore and council person Griffin abstaining.
We are now on to the public hearing section of our meeting. We'll start with uh Leverne Washington. >> Good evening. Uh, I appreciate
you council vice president Gilmore to help arrange for me to go into the well building commercial space. I have gave out over 100 rooms of furniture. A lady called me the other day. She was
Filipino. She couldn't understand. She said, "Miss, I lost all my furniture." and she moved down and she had four kids, five kids and three of my autistic and she called me on the phone thanking and appreciating to get four rooms of furniture, some nice This this
furniture is not garbage. Like I told y'all before, the bed the mattress run $3,500. This furniture came out of Mid Manhattan Marriott and these people that's getting these marble top dresses
lamps and nightstands with lamps attached television may back boys but it's been a blessing to Jersey City. Not WF but Jersey City. I
gave it out down here up in the heights and everywhere. I got a few more weeks to do this, but I've been looking for my own space. I hadn't heard back from the city yet. They supposed to be getting in touch with me cuz I got to the end of
this month cuz they're going to renovate that and young lady Pamela Johnson that let me use it. She going to have it been ready to do her pro project up there. But to say that it I didn't know was such a need and people coming to me from
the clients from across the street with the homeless people be they coming there getting furniture for them. They just first got the apartments. So, it's a big blessing to the city and I hope we can continue doing something like this
because the the the owner of the furniture of parents supporting it. He said, "I do a lot of hotels that's being redone and they have nowhere to store." This hotel is doing 160 rooms and they did about 100
and it's really been a blessing to our community. So I'm looking forward to getting some more help. Ain't about Leverne, it's about doing a work of God. He said, "Feed the home, give shelter to the poor, close the neck." And that's the only thing.
Nobody's paying me. Nobody can't pay me. I take my own money to get people to help me unload the trucks to bring the stuff cuz we get three or four truckloads of furniture at a time. And it's not light. It's good furniture. It's heavy. So I appreciate
for your help and that we can continue to do this for this city. It ain't about Leverne. God bless you and thank you >> Edward. >> Hello. I just want to start off by saying um as far as international
affairs go um I disagree with the way our country is going in the direction our country is going with the recent attack in Iran. It puts us all in grave danger. And um I just want to um encourage members of Congress uh and um
all members everywhere, representatives everywhere to um just stay steadfast and strong against this administration and fight back, you know, um hard as hell wherever you can, whenever you can. And
um on to Jersey City. Steven Fulip, I mean, I'm not telling you all anything, but he left the city in a mess. He left us in a mess. And I just want to say that I thought it was brave of you, Mr. Jake, to um sponsor or co-sponsor a resolution that you know, you were uh
just trying to look for pay increases for um workers here and at you know, the the the city hall here. And um it's just hard to live here. The cost of living is hard. And so I I I I
remember when Councilman Gilmore was talking about police officers, new police officers that are hired, they too find it hard, even from two family homes, to afford to live here. So how can you expect any one person to do their job and do it without the stress
and the trauma of not even being able to afford where they live? That's ridiculous. So it's on you. Your job is even harder. stop building housing that's going to be unaffordable for us. Like this last um you talked about it at the council
meeting 175 178 Stegman Avenue or Martin Luther King Avenue on the corner of Stegman Street. 40 units 10 affordable 15 parking spaces. That's not good enough. You're killing us with the parking. You keep developing. We don't
have enough parking. Okay, this isn't the fullup administration anymore. This is the who administration. Okay. So, no parking again and 10 affordable housing. I mean, this is what I want to tell you. On Stegman Street and Martin Luther King, that's the black and brown side of
town and we do not earn on average. Okay? So, you should just block any new development coming into an area where poverty is that disproportionately represented. There should be no new housing opportunities where rent is
maybe say over $1,000 because who can actually afford that? You will, as a political person trying to represent us, I I believe receive the support of the wider community because it's what we desperately
need. It's what we desperately need. Justice for Drew. Justice for Drew. Justice for Drew. Justice for Drew. Thank you. >> Tina. >> Yes.
>> Hi. Justice for Drew. Yes, my name is Tina. Um, yes, I do work for Education of GMO, but I'm speaking upon myself. Um, I have been doing nonprofits for years. Yes, my nonprofit is for the community as close and everything else for the community. Um,
also me just been doing my own nonprofit as me working for Education and GMO and Jerry, my thing went over. I guess people trust me so much that they've been giving other people my number. So, I like to share some information for housing. I put up a paper online to help
people. I end up getting 81.K people viewing it. Thousand people reached out to me about questions wanted to know how can they get help about housing. Thank God my bosses listened to me. I brought the information back because I realized it was just too much for me for getting phone calls from 1 or
2 and 3:00 in the morning about housing. We realized that we needed to bring housing out so they would be able to ask questions and find out how they would be able to get help. I realized that the people are so confused and overwhelmed
because we know that the leaders had fell us through the cracks and not helping us like the way they supposed to been helping us. I'm learning that the nonprofits from the community are the ones who stepping in like me as filling in the gap as helping out the community.
But I realized by me looking at this every time I say nonprofits nonprofits I see a couple of y'all did reach out to me for help and I appreciate that because that's what it's about. I'm asking my city to invest into all nonprofits from the grounds up. Not only
that, I'm asking y'all to give funds to nonprofits. I'm asking y'all to partnership with nonprofits because again, we are the ones who's out there doing the work. I also want to thank um Jeremy Walker, the assembly man. He realized I didn't have a car while I'm
doing outreach for Jersey City. Um it bothered me because people called me looking for the flies, looking for the information. So, he went out and got a veroo for outreach because that's what I've been doing, outreach. You would think that they would support that, but I guess that we have to be on our own
ground. We have to come together ourself to make sure that we can continue to make sure that the community is able to grow and do the right thing. We already see that we have been the ones who been helping out the most, the nonprofits. I'm going to give y'all this paper
because my phone ring every day for people helping out. And I believe again as me keep coming and coming and coming and coming to these meetings. Y'all going to help out nonprofits. I shouldn't have to keep asking y'all to help out. I know some of y'all other nonprofits are getting help and able to
do the work. But the ones who's doing the most work is the ones who's not getting help. So I'm going to ask y'all again to continue to continue to continue to find out which nonprofits are doing the work. Thank you. Gina Davidson.
Gina Davidson, W B. Um, I know that y'all are very tired, but the apathy I already see it setting in because my friend was just up here telling you about the hard work she's been doing on behalf of this city, for the people of this city, and some of you didn't even
look up from your phones. So again, remember I told you at the very beginning of your tenure here to be careful that the last council is a cautionary tale. Justice for Drew. Justice for Drew.
You're gonna hear from some of our cat rescue community again tonight. We are at a critical time right now. We lost a huge amount of our citywide progress during the pandemic.
TNR took about three years. trap new to return. Cat rescue work took about 3 years to get back into full full swing. We are in high kitten season. It's spring. And just as with social workers who work
with humans, we are working with animals and humans. There's burnout. This was a winter, the second winter that we had to trap all throughout the winter and there was no breaks. So on
behalf of the people, the amazing people who are doing work every single day for the city, not getting paid, sometimes paying their own money to fund the work, I want to thank you guys for the beginnings of the support that we're seeing from you. I especially want to thank Mr. Frank Gilmore for hosting a
meeting for us on Saturday, April 4th. We got to speak with him specifically about the problems of animal rescue in Ward F. I know a lot of you are poised to help us and we are finalizing our concrete asks which we will send to the entire council. Our conversations and
your feedback has helped us understand where some of you will fit in our fight for animal welfare in Jersey City. And so speaking of animal welfare in Jersey City, I do want to end by condemning the wanting destruction of
our one of our only remaining natural spaces in Jersey City, our pride and joy, Liberty State Park, which is currently being raped. The clear cutting was bad enough. It was a violation.
But just as abhorrent was the DP who's supposed to be protecting our wildlife, apparently fencing in the deer that were left homeless and then corelling them and shooting them to death and dragging their bodies
out of the park. The amount this is this of harm this is doing to our ecology and our humanity is shameful. topic. >> Okay. 5.5. >> Yes. Ivon Balsson,
>> I just want to make a comment that the cities of Norc and Patterson are now begging the state Trenton for $150 million. It's big difference. But I want to turn to what I spoke about uh two weeks ago, which is the bike lanes. I contacted the state on our bike lanes
and apparently it depends upon how you live. We have pave streets and we have curbs. The state recommends wants our bike lanes to be five feet. So, hey, some people go around, you know, checking these things and a lot of our
bike lanes were not 5 feet. So, I kind of think a lot of our bike lanes happened similar to what happened at Bergen Avenue, which the city pushed it and then all of a sudden there was a resol uh excuse me, an ordinance to make it legal, like closing down North Avenue, which happened by the mayor and
then later on after I complained, we had an ordinance to close North Avenue. So, I don't know how many of these bike lanes are really legal in terms of having it voted on by you or the city council then and then having a discussion and then having a bike lane
because this is ridiculous. The reason why I bring this up because I saw a uh ambulance coming down the street and it's crawling along because of the bike lanes especially along North Avenue. I mean, you can't and we only have one
hospital now, but you don't care about our health being in danger because that lobby called the bike lane, that's all you really care about. So, I'm going to personally um request an Oprah to find out what was said by our police
department in terms of their response to emergencies because I don't think it is right that people have to worry will it take a half an hour let's say you're coming from the heights or half an hour from Wayside Avenue to go to the only hospital we have in Jersey City now
because what we all care about is not upsetting this bike lobby in which I think many of these Uh, bike lanes are probably illegal. And I passed by Dickson High School. That was that's doesn't even look like it's three feet wide right in front of a
school. So, we put them in there cuz we don't we are afraid to speak up to people who don't believe people should have cars. They lived in another time frame. Well, we do have cars because we have children we raise. We have parents
who are older we must bring to doctors. And our life does not revolve around uh putting on a bike. And there's nothing wrong with bikes. There's really is nothing wrong with it. But you know, we went from really cars, you know, and we want to keep them. We're not back in the
horse and buggy days. And I think it's it's fine. None of my doctors are close by really that I can go to my dentist Elizabeth on a bike. Thank you very much. Next, Charlene. >> Good evening, council.
Charlene Burke, Ward B, vice president of the Jersey City Parks Coalition. I'm here to ask for your support, which I'm sure all of you will give, to those resolutions that are supporting grants for the Hudson County
Open Space. It's resolutions 26-180 to 184. I just want to speak about parks. It's the month of April. Earth Day is this month. In fact, it's your very next council meeting on the 22nd.
But parks are really important and given the fact that so much of our development is now multif family and the density has increased. So even in R1 sections of the city, you're allowed now to put ADUs in
the backyard. The backyard and open space is diminishing every single time a new building is built. And parks are really important and gaining in importance in a city that has
no green space, personal green space like backyards used to be, even large front yards for that matter. Back in November of last year, there was a ordinance by the last city council that was going to reallocate
monies, capital funds from bonds. 22 million of that was for park projects. That honestly the parks coalition in conversations with the city they kept saying there was no money for these park projects. Well, it turned out
there that wasn't true and these park projects need to be done. Gazeos in Vanvost and Hamilton Park need attention. There are other parks that need attention like Riverview needs more
trees. Even Persian Field, Boyd McInness over by me. Um there are many things that need attention and I really ask all of you in your tenure as council people to
pay attention to the parks in your ward because I know we're in a hole at the moment. Yes. But this money was already set aside and bonded for in the past. So if it can be looked at and then
activated into doing the right thing for the parks it was actually bonded for while you're here. Please work with the parks coalition to get that done because we need our open space to be healthy and
engaging and safe for everyone. Thank you. 5.7 Phillip City Council President Ridley, members of the city council, I'm Phil Carrington. Looking back in retros respect to March,
I raised the issue of very concern of inconsistency. I say inconsistency based on race can be construed as racism. I say someone call someone in city hall and ask about my place at 453 Martin Luther King. That place is zoned as a
community facility. I read a daycare center saying that place for 30 some odd years with a certificate of accuracy. The only response they got is that the place got violations. That's the only thing matter comparatively speaking to a white
establishment. I started here. This building as I said then and I say now always had violation. Well, first all new buildings you can find about five new violations. All old buildings you can find about 10 violations. That is just the norm. So anyway, however,
this building as I said always have violations. And I said that in in 1990 they spent a million dollars fixing the roof. Today the roof is still looking the same place. If violations are some place wrong for you to assemble, everybody
need to get out of here. But you see that statement is only rake or lift up when they speak about black people or black business or black establishment. White establishment they never did examine. I also mentioned that in the um Newport mall
in its inception in the late 1980s and the 1990s and the beginning of this century the smoke detectors and the alarm system and the fire alarm system never work but again if you call about that's why the establishment if you call about that you will not highlight the or
scare people off highlighting the violation that is there you will tell them miss the mall go to the website etc etc that's inconsistency I went on to say that the Mary McCab Bthoon Center was zoned as a community facility just
like my place and the same thing there. I was the first tenant in there in 2030 2016. The smoke the heat suppression system, the smoke detectors and the alarm system never work. I had babies in that place. It never worked. Again, no one raised
the issue of the violation. See, it's a white establishment compared to a black establishment. It got even worse. 127 that's 133. And that's my main point. I was leasing that building to purchase when I was there. I got violations all
over the place. I still have a copy of them. You see a copy there and an order to vacate without a a certificate of occupancy. The white Jews are in there today. When they were operating, same thing. Let nothing
happens. zero summons, zero fees, and they're still there. But what is even worse, last Friday, two Fridays ago, they called the police, not the police went to shut them down as they did to me. They called the police and ordered the
police to watch them as they violate the law. They had two police paid police free to watch the white Jews as they commit crime. That's inconsistency based on race. Where's my
>> 5.8 Ryan? >> Anyone? Ryan 5.8. No. Okay. 5.9 Danielle. Good evening. Danielle DMO, lifelong WordC resident and community activist. I'm here tonight to speak in opposition
to a resolution on the docket tonight authorizing a fireworks display. Not because I don't like celebration, but because I'm asking this council to start looking at quality of life in a holistic and consistent way. Because right now that consistency is missing. Fireworks
are not just entertainment. They come with real impacts. Loud explosive noise that affects young children. Trauma triggers for residents with PTSD. stress on pets and wildlife and disruptions for working families who rely in stability.
And yet these permits continue to move forward as if they exist in a vacuum. But they don't. But at the very same time, we are approving things like this. Residents are dealing with very real everyday safety concerns. Yesterday, a pedestrian was hit by a driver making a
left turn from Franklin onto Palisade. Thankfully, the injuries were not life-threatening, but let's be honest, they could have easily gone another way. We already know left turns are one of the leading causes of fatal pedestrian crashes. And what that moment highlights
is this. Traffic enforcement is needed now more than ever. Not just plans, not just future redesigns, but real visible enforcement that protects people today. Because when residents look around, they are seeing dangerous driving,
pedestrians at risk, and enforcement that feels inconsistent or absent. And then layered on top of that, fireworks permits, more dispensaries, more smoke shops, all approved one by one without stepping back and asking what the cumulative impact is on our
neighborhoods. And that brings me to something else we've been talking about in this city, zoning, and what's happening with places like the Hive. What that situation showed us is that our systems can be very strict and very reactive in some cases, especially when
it comes to small businesses. But in other cases, we move forward with approvals without the same level of scrutiny about long-term impact. So which is it? Are we being thoughtful and consistent or are we being selective? because right now it feels inconsistent
and residents feel that individually each approval may seem reasonable but collectively it becomes oversaturation and a real quality of life issue with in concern with dispensaries and smoke shops. So I'm asking this council to consider three things. First, reconsider
this fireworks permit through a true quality of life lens. Second, continue to prioritize traffic enforcement and pedestrian safety immediately. And third, implement a moratorum on new dispensaries and smoke shops until there is a clear enforceable plan in place,
including caps and distance requirements from schools and daycare centers. It is about what we choose to prioritize, and right now our residents deserve safety, consistency, and thoughtful planning. Thank you. >> 5.10 10. Elsa,
>> no. Not here. >> Not here. >> Okay, we'll move to 5.11. Sophia, >> no. >> Yeah, you're here. >> No. >> Okay, Mary. 5.12. >> Oh, that's >> Mary. Here,
>> Darlene. >> Here. I had a a lot of young speakers here that were natural, so bear with me. Um, my name is Darlene Maer and I live in Ward to F. And what I wanted to talk
about was the TNR funding for Jersey City. I inherited the care of two old feral cats, Napoleon and Josephine, after someone who had been feeding them moved out of the country. They are devoted, bonded pair. From neighborhood
history, I know that they are at least 16 years old. Napoleon was hit by a car at a young age, and as a result, his spine is crooked and bent, but he's still a brave and ferocious general. I have so much respect for that cat. And
the plight of these animals can be extreme hardship. This past winter, can you imagine what it's like to be old with arthritis and live through the winter like the past one where we had almost three weeks of temperatures that never got above freezing along with that neverending mountainous
snow. I'm bringing them up because while I buy their food and give them the best care possible, someone before me cared to do the TNR, the trap, neuter, and release. They both have their little ears tipped, so you can tell. This kind action
prevented them from having kittens for the past 16 years that would have contributed to the problem. I salute the person or group that did that. Recently, there was a young intact male that I attempted to trap unsuccessfully. He was wary and he never entered the
trap, even though it had a yummy dish of tuna and it was obvious he was hungry. However, throughout the day, as I checked the trap and hope that I would catch him, the following thoughts kept coming to mind. How will I get an appointment if I can get one? And how
soon can I get one? Where will I hold him and for how long will I need to hold him? How much is this going to cost? And how do I get him there as I work full-time? These are all hurdles for people that want to volunteer in a tough situation. Yet kind people are taking
this on themselves daily and on their own dime. While I have not been actively doing trapneuter and rescue, I do support this community with transport, food, supplies, vet costs, and donations in the hundreds of dollars. What I've
learned is that it comes down to a small handful of the same people trying to support this community with little to zero resources. There must be thousands and thousands of feral cats in Jersey City. The city needs to bear the cost of this funding.
It should not be spread across a small pool of individuals because they're caring and have big hearts. I would like my tax dollars, some of them, to be used to support these people and the animals they help to thrive or alleviate their suffering. I ask that the shelter be
fully funded to cover the vet expenses associated with TNR along with food pantry. additionally to restore the funding for lo lowcost spay and neuter and TNR including TNR rescues that existed in 2024. >> You I'm sorry Darlene, your time is up.
>> Okay. Thank you very much. Council Pre, Council President, Council President, may I um I just want to say to the folks that are here from the animal welfare community, um I saw that the mayor is
going to appoint Linda Ivory Green as the um Department of Health director and uh I'm looking forward to talking to her about her plans for animal welfare. I've spoken to uh folks from Perfect JC and Feral Fixers and I appreciate the policy
briefing what the needs of the community uh is and yes we are in a budget hole but I would like to work with the administration to find a lowcost way to help the community. Uh, so thank you. >> 5.14 Susan
>> probably for the next. >> Hi, I'm Susan Nolan Ward Day. Um, first I wanted to thank those of you who were at No Kings uh alongside the residents. Um, I really appreciated seeing you there. Second, um, thank you Council President Ridley for meeting with Lafayette community yesterday and for
delaying um, the resident parking. Um, we look forward to community discussions. Um, third, um, thank you, Councilman Gilmore, for meeting with the CAT, um, people. As Gina mentioned, um, I wanted just to say that I'm here, uh,
among other things, to, um, argue for more funding of TNR, trap, new to return, as you've been hearing from my colleagues. Um, I also want to emphasize the crazy number of friendlies, cats who've been dumped, and that usually
occurs when people can't um, get vet care for them. and it's it's really out of control right now. I volunteer with a perfect JC and we've had more friendlies um than ever and we really need some kind of lowcost spayneuter um and
lowcost vet care for our residents. Um you shouldn't have to be wealthy to have a pet. And I mentioned this last time I spoke um underfoot is an excellent podcast about what Flatbush Cats did with various partnerships. It's not an exact model for JC, but it's an
excellent model of how to be creative and actually move the needle. And finally, I want to express uh my outrage uh at what happened in Liberty State Park very secretly. None of us knew um about I walk in the park almost every
day. None of us knew that this was happening. I know that the park workers weren't informed. A lot of people in JC weren't informed. Um it's an outrage that there was no discussion of any possibly more humane way to um deal with the problem of the deer. We didn't hear
from wildlife biologists. There were no community discussions. It it really is an outrage. I know not all of you knew. Um but it's it's it's something that given that the park is is ours really um you know it's not just ours but it's right here um we should have had um some
kind of community discussion. Thank you very much. Thank you. 5.15 Tom. No. Okay. 5.16. Denise. C. >> Sorry. Can I ask a a quick question because this is the first I'm hearing of this incident in Liberty State Park. Um,
this kind of intergovernmental operation where the D is conducting something in Liberty State Park. Does that kind of action usually um require a one of the petitions or communications that would appear on our agenda some kind of notice
to the city that such an you know an undertaking is going to go? I mean we're a a number of animals are going to get killed in the middle of the park. it would defer to corporation counsel. There's a legal requirement, but obviously we always appreciate and
encourage them to let us know anytime they do anything within the city or adjacent to the city. >> Okay. >> Any legal requirement? >> Okay. Yeah, that would be helpful. Thank you. >> And I just want to say for the record that we were not notified. We did not receive um any communication. and the
council didn't receive it and I don't want to speak for the administration but I don't believe they received anything either. So >> to my knowledge we did not. >> Uh is Denise here? Okay. >> Good evening. Uh my name is Denise
Develin and I live in Ward F where I care for the community cats. Um, the need for animal care and control services in our city is growing. As longtime residents struggle to keep up with escalating costs. As costs increase, including pet food and
veterinary care, more and more people are forced to surrender or abandon their pets. It also impacts those that care for the abandoned animals. I have seen the number of feral and abandoned cats explode in my neighborhood. In just a few months, I've gone from feeding five
to 10 feral cats outside of my house every day. Like many of my neighbors who also feed and provide shelters, I pay for the food myself. Uh Jersey City residents desperately need access to lowcost spay and neutering as well as
basic veterinary services in order to keep their pets. This would prevent further strain on the city's animal care and control system as well as the animal es rescue operations. uh and volunteers that are already stretched to the limit. My experience
with uh animal city shelter and control have been very positive. They have quickly responded my calls to rescue wounded wildlife or to pick up dogs who were abandoned by their owners. But several bud but severe budget constraints have prevented animal
control from providing services that are critical to both managing and to curbing the number of abandoned pets and feral animals. Providing affordable spay and neuter as well as basic vaccinations and medical care for pets is necessary to reduce the number of stray animals in
our communities. Fortunately, we have local organizations that have taken it upon themselves to tackle the problem. But keep in mind that these are groups run by volunteers who also have full-time jobs. Uh I have trapped cats for TNR and will continue to do so, but
it's pointless without the lowcost neutering. Too often the ACC doesn't have the needed resources to make the work of TNR groups and volunteers effective. Obviously, without neutering, cats breed and the problem grows exponentially. It is essential to
increase the availability of lowcost neutering for both rescue organizations and residents. And I appreciate that there are many important services that the city provides, but the work of animal control is equally critical to our quality of life.
Animal welfare is not an expendable city service. While we should apply for all appropriate grants, it doesn't replace ongoing dependable city funding. Animal control is less than 1% of our city budget. This small department is
overwhelmed and underfunded. For a relatively low cost, the city can greatly improve the lives of Jersey City residents, both human and animal. I urge the council to fully fund and expand essential animal welf.
We are here today asking for appropriate funding and only then tackle the crisis. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Denise, can I ask a question? What what is the average cost for neuter or um spay and also for vaccination? Do you
have that? Do you know that or >> um in my experience going to a a standard veterinary practice, the vaccinations and the neutering is probably going to be at least $300, $400
or more. depending on where you go. >> Yeah, >> thank you. >> Okay. 650 for Vax. >> And what about spay or neuter?
>> That's the Oh, it's all together. Oh, >> it's a package. >> No, that's not affordable for no one. Okay, next one. Amanda. >> Okay. 517, Ashley. >> No.
>> No. Okay. Uh 5 518 Jenny. >> No. >> No. Okay. 519. Camille. >> No. >> 5.20. Jamie. >> 5.20. 21 Stephanie
>> 5.22 Rochelle, >> she's not here. >> She's here. >> Oh, she's right there with the hat. I ain't see the hat. I couldn't. The hat. Is that I'm sorry, young lady. >> Hello, council. Can I give copies to
each council member? I do have My time is ticking. Thank you. >> Good evening, city council council president Denise Ritley. My name is Rochelle Hoffman and I speak to you today representing We Care Movement, an
organization dedicated to community and public health, youth safety, and equity across our neighborhoods. I come before you in support of Senate Bill S3761, a common sis public health policy that strengthened alcohol warning signage
throughout the state. But I'm not here to talk about theory. I'm here to talk about what we see every day right here in our own community along MLK Drive in Jersey City. On this one corridor along the stretch where families, children,
elders walk, pray and learn, there are multiple liquor stores within a very short distance. For example, Larry Liquors at 29 MLK, just less than two blocks away from houses and community services. Metro Liquors at 69 MLK Drive.
JNR liquor store at 217 MLK Drive. Raise Liquor at 200 266 MLK Drive. Again, just steps away from homes and community hubs. Full 10 liquors at 165 MLK Drive. MLK liquor at 455. And this is just
five. There's a total of nine. We did the we did the research. That's five liquor stores within less than a mile clustered near schools, churches, parks, and family homes where children walk and play. This is not a coincidence. It's a pattern over concentration of liquor
access in a corridor heavily populated with vulnerable residents and institutions. This constant exposure matters. Studies show that communities with high concentrations of liquor stores experience higher rates of alcohol-related health issues, violence,
DUIs, DWIs, and chronic diseases. And yet, the current the current warning signs do not fully reflect the wellocumented harms associated with alcohol use, including cancer risk, addictions, and long-term health
impacts. Senate Bill 3 S3761 would change that, requiring more accurate, more visible warning about those risk so consumers can make informed decisions. We care movement believe, no, we know in time for Jersey
City to become the first municipality in New Jersey to endorse and advocate for enhanced alcohol warning signage so we can be the first in the state to have the mark and set the mark for other municipalities.
We know economic access is important, but access without transparency is not fairness. It's neglect. So tonight, I urge the city council, endorse this Senate bill, support enhance the alcohol warning signage regarding the public
health safety of our residents, champion Jersey City as the model for responsible public health policy, and stand with residents who deserve equitable protection, honest information, and healthier communities. We care and together we can. I thank you.
5.23 Kevin >> Kevin's not Oh, Kevin. >> Hello. I'm Kevin Weller from the forever rent control port towers east in Councilman Gilmore's Ward F. Today is an
anniversary. One year ago today, on April 8th, 2025, your then acting corporation council, Britney Murray, sat right over here and told us that if we wanted the city to enforce daily penalties for the
violations at our buildings, we needed to report them every day. It was a year ago, so we did. Eight violations, two buildings, 16 reports every single day. Happy anniversary. I do wish we had something more to show
for it, though. But here's what today actually means. Under state law, municipal penalty actions must be commenced within one year. Today, the fines from April 8th, 2025
become permanently uncollectible. Tomorrow, April 9th's fines expire. The day after that, April 10th, one day of fines disappearing every 24 hours from now on.
Not because a judge ruled against these various violations, not because of litigation, because just following orders, because of a vote, because of faith.
We put our faith in you. Two weeks ago, seven of you voted to reappoint the director whose department oversaw 92 days of zero rent adjustments, zero refunds, and zero fines collected. Many of you said you were not a rubber
stamp and that you were placing your faith in the administration. Since that vote, 14 days have passed. Under Mayor Solomon's executive order directing maximum penalties, that's $132 million in fines that went uncollected
while we waited for faith reduce results. By the next council meeting, it'll be $265 million. I'm here because my neighbors are losing their homes. Just told you two weeks ago that from the original families on our floor who
filed in 2022, only she and I are left. The last two moved out one week before your vote. They couldn't wait for Faith. So, I have a question. Since your vote, has a single rent been adjusted citywide?
A single refund ordered? Has a single housing fine been collected citywide. In 5 days, your special investigatory committee meets. Councilman Lavaro and Councilman Gilmore. Thank you for voting
based on the evidence. For everyone else, the evidence isn't going away, but the fine sure are. >> Yes, I have a question. I'm sorry, >> Erin. >> Sorry, just a question. Uh for the BA's office, Peter, I I had asked for a report from Director Richardson on the
status of all the fines. Do you have a a copy of that? I asked for it a couple weeks ago. I do not have a copy yet, but I believe there's a the public meeting that's on Monday, and I know he was given other questions to answer there. So, I'm sure he'll be able to answer some of them if he doesn't have it by then. Okay. I just ask that be submitted to the entire council in advance of that
meeting because I I don't know if I'll be attending, but I do want this council to have it since this spot, this group comes to this this meeting. >> Also, Peter, quick question. Um, and I just want to make sure I'm understanding
this right. So when we issue a violation um in in the violation code, we have the opportunity to I guess penalize a entity daily. Um so if you issue a violation on
January 30th um and they go to court on March 14th, um do we have to constantly keep writing issues? because we know on January 31st we witnessed something took place subsequently on the 31st and we
went there again we still notice it haven't been rectified so do so I guess my question is do we have to keep going out to issue tickets every single day when it's clear evidence um whatever
that problem was was never rectified if that makes sense. I would have to defer to legal for that one. Councilman, >> depends on the type of violation you're talking about and what the burden of proof or the standard for prosecution in court would be. There are definitely
some instances where when there is a self-evident violation, you can shift the burden to the landlord to show that they have abated the issue and you don't need to prove that the issue has persisted every day up until it is abated, but it depends on the type of code issue.
>> Okay. So in some instance um we can see um that when we went back on the 31st it wasn't done. So we have the ability to I guess hold them to the violations during that whole duration. Ultimately it would be the judgment call
for the prosecutor of if they think they have enough evidence to prosecute for that particular violation. It is not the case that every single code violation would require a ticket in every single instance. That's my understanding. Ultimately, this is all within the purview of the municipal prosecutor. The
current acting municipal prosecutor has made clear that he is very happy to cooperate with the special investigation committee. Given that currently there are four prosecutors covering six courtrooms full-time, the only thing he asks is a little bit of advanced notice for when you want him to show up to a meeting. But he can speak much more
competently to questions of what happens in municipal court than I can. >> Okay. >> Erin. >> All right. Um, good evening, council members. This is actually my first meeting with the new council except for Frank. I know you and Denise, so it's very nice to meet you all. Uh, my name
is Aaron Kent. I'm a resident of Portside Towers and I'm here to talk about safety or more accurately the complete absence of it. Chapter 218 section 1 could not be more clear. Every building with 100 or more units must provide a minimum of one uniform
security guard per residential building 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That guard must be a licensed New Jersey security guard in identifiable uniform. Their contact information must be posted conspicuously inside the building.
Portide has over 200 units in each building and we have zero uniform security guards. Let me tell you what the absence of security looks like. A bullet fired through a teenager's bedroom window. Unauthor unauthorized people in our hallways at all hours.
Residents afraid to walk to their cars in our parking garage. Families with children who don't feel safe in their own homes. Meanwhile, the non-compliant landlords of Jersey City pocket the savings of not paying for the security our laws demand. Every day without a
guard is another day landlords profit from non- enforcement. The ordinance doesn't say security is optional. It doesn't say when convenient. It says shall furnish. That is mandatory language. Please enforce it. Find landlords for every day of
non-compliance. Help close the city's budget deficit. Our safety is not negotiable. Thank you >> Daniel. >> Good evening, council members. I want to start by briefly following up on my remarks from last city council meeting.
On March 25th, I spoke about Ordinance 07-153 and the requirement that the vehicular access lane adjacent to the Korean War Memorial be closed and chained between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. each night. I also discussed the enforcement provisions under section 125 of the
Jersey City Code of Ordinances and the ongoing nature of these violations. I also discussed this issue at the city council meetings on February 11th, February 25th, and March 11th. Now, following the last city council meeting on March 25th, Althia Burnernheim came up to me directly and has been extremely
helpful since then in working to move this issue forward. I wanted to take a moment to thank her publicly for that. I really appreciate her engagement and willingness to help ensure this issue is being addressed. Since then, the city has been actively reviewing the situation and the easement deed tied to
ordinance 07-153 has now been identified and is being evaluated. I think that's an important step in the right direction. That said, I do want to briefly regground us in what the ordinance requires. Under section 7E of Ordinance 07-153,
the vehicular access lane adjacent to the Korean War Memorial is required to be closed and changed between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. each night. That language is not discretionary. It is a condition of the easement accepted by the city. And despite that,
the access lane has remained open overnight on a consistent basis. So while I am encouraged by the progress being made, I want to emphasize that this is not a new issue and it is not an unclear one. The requirement exists. It is document. It is documented and it has
yet to be followed. This memorial stands as a tribute to the service and sacrifice of those who fought in the Korean War, including those who never returned home. Ensuring that it is properly secured in accordance with the ordinance is in my view a matter of both
legal compliance and basic respect. I'm hopeful that with the current momentum the city can tape take the final steps needed to ensure that ordinance 07-153 is enforced as written. Thank you again for your time and for your continued
work. Thank you, >> Deepa. >> Good evening. Um, uh, to re to reiterate what my neighbors have just said in the last two speeches, in 2007, this council passed ordinance 07153 vacating a
portion of Washington Street and creating the Korean War Memorial Park. The ordinance included specific conditions. Section 7 subsection E states the vehicular access lane shall be closed and chained between 8:00 p.m.
and 8:00 a.m. each day by port side security personnel. Excuse me. But port side has no uniform security which means the Korean War Memorial is not being closed and chained at at night as your own ordinance
requires. Cars are still parking there at night. This is unguarded and vulnerable. Now, this is what happens when one violation cascades into another. The failure to enforce chapter 218 security requirement doesn't just
endanger tenants. It leaves a warn memorial unprotected. The city created a legal obligation that requires security to exist and then looked the other way when the security was never provided. Council members, our
veterans deserve better than this. Respect to them and all the tenants. Enforced chapter 218 and ordinance 07153. Um, and just one last thing I did notice councilwoman Mta Singh walked away. I don't know if it's a coincidence even
the last time when our group was reading through the through our speeches. So just something to note. Jessica, >> good evening, council. Um, I've been coming to these meetings, although you haven't always been here, um, for three
and a half years. And most of that time, I've talked about my experience at my building, but tonight I want to talk about everyone else in Jersey City. So, we know there are roughly 270,000 people in Jersey City and about 70% of them rent. That's close to 190,000 people
whose housing is governed by the same ordinances we've been asking you to enforce at our building, chapter 260, chapter 254, chapter 218, the same registration requirements, the same superintendent rules, the same
disclosure obligations, the same penalty provisions. We know what happens when those laws aren't enforced because we've spent nearly a year documenting it. But what about the buildings that don't have tenants sending daily reports?
What about the buildings where tenants don't know their rights, don't speak English, don't have three years to spend at a podium? What about the landlord who watched what happened at our building and decided to try the same thing? That's why the special investigation
committee that you formed and are having your second meeting on Monday matters so much. Your mandate isn't to resolve our complaints. It's to investigate why enforcement fails. And the answer to that question doesn't live in one building or with one group of tenants.
It lives in the systems, the staffing, the culture, and the choices that determine whether the laws this council passes actually reach the people they're written for. So I want to speak directly to the committee members and I want to start by saying thank you.
Committee has met for people who have been coming here for years. That is not a small thing. It signals that this council is willing to do something more challenging than passing a law. You were willing to ask why the laws we have aren't working. That takes courage. And
on Monday, you hold your second meeting. Your interim report is due in 34 days. You have subpoena power. public hearing authority and anti- retaliation protections no previous committee had. And as you prepare, I'd ask you to think about this. For every question you ask,
think about how you ask it. Not just why weren't these violations enforced, but what is the process for enforcing any violation and where does it break? Not just why aren't fines collected, but how many fines have been collected citywide
in the last 5 years? And if you ask those questions, your report won't just help the 52 27 families in my buildings. It will tell 190,000 tenants across Jersey City whether the laws on the
books are the laws that are working. That is genuine legacy. That kind that the kind that outlasts any one council term. We'll be at your meeting on Monday. I think you know that. Not just for ourselves, but for every building.
Thank you. Brendan. Good evening. My name is Brendan and I'm a tenant at Portide Towers. No, that has not changed in the last 3 years. When I moved into port side, I expected the rules to be followed. Okay, let's be honest. I moved to Jersey City, I
expected some of the rules to be followed. But because rules create safety, they create structure. We can build our lives around the rules. But in Jersey City, the rules are still not being followed. There is no uniform security guard, even
though the law requires them. There is no superintendent information posted. I put a ticket in to try and get my washer m washing machine fixed and it took seven days for someone to check to see if it was working or not.
This is what there's no there's no systems. There's no one to call if something's broken. You've got to just hope and pray you find someone. I'm asking for what every tenant is legally entitled to. A building that follows the city's code and a city that enforces the laws it approved. When there's no
security, nobody feels safe. When there's no superintendent, you can't resolve problems. When when a utility bill arrives with no explanation that you can't make sense of, we have to guess and pay or we can get evicted. When the systems are broken and nobody
fixes them, it doesn't frustrate. It disables us. It makes things harder. It makes us harder for actually to be productive and function in the city we like. But council members, the rules do matter. They matter to every tenant, every person in this city. Now, I would
also like to thank the um woman earlier this evening for talking about the bike lanes being too narrow. I completely agree. Let's widen them out. Make sure every single bike lane is 5 ft is 5 ft so that way we have more proper we have proper transit. People can move around
the city because not everyone is an old retired person with too much time on their hands. As for um handling these ambulances, I've got this crazy idea. We put both bike lanes together on one side. That is 10 feet. Jersey City ambulances are 9 ft wide. That is enough
feet space. And it is faster for people on a bicycle to get out of an ambulance way than for multiple cars because guess what? There's limited space as to where cars can go. You can move a bicycle with the same amount of effort as the guys
who park in behind the Korean War war memorial uses to move the fence. That's a bunch. That's a hunk of aluminum that you can actually lift one-handed while biking. I was curious one night. Thank you,
>> Barbara. Good evening, city council. Since the problems that port side tenants have been asking you for help with for more than three years still haven't been fixed, tonight's speech is, as promised,
recycled from my huge stack of unanswered pleas for your help. This one is from November of 2024. Here we go. Good evening, city council.
It's been a long day. I'm tired and I want to keep it short and simple tonight when I remind you that under NJSA 4069A-36, this council has both the power and duty
to investigate systemic failures in ordinance enforcement. The law explicitly states that you may investigate systemic non-inforcement, review administrative decisions,
examine compliance pro processes, investigate public safety impacts. These just aren't just options. They're core responsibilities under the Faulner Act. When systemic
non- enforcement creates public safety risks, this council has a duty to act. Why does it matter? Because enforcement failures don't just violate individual ordinances.
They undermine the entire system of protections this council has established. We urge you to exercise your statutory authority and investigate
investigate these systemic failures. The tools exist, the authority exists, the duty exists. Thank you, >> Michelle. Good evening, city council.
I am a tenant of Portide Towers and I believe all of you know that I'm a flight attendant and I want to talk about something that could cost people their lives. Chapter 254 requires that in buildings with six or
more units, the superintendent must reside in the building and on the premises. Their name, address, and phone number must be made known to all tenants. Chapter 260 goes further. The rental statement must
identify the superintendent and provide a 24-hour emergency number. and landlords must be in full compliance with all these disclosures and to qualify for any of the rental increase. At Port Side, we don't know who our
superintendents are. There's no tenant disclosures, no posted phone number or apartment number. During emergencies, our calls are routed to a remote call center reportedly
overseas. The very ordinance designed to prevent this danger is being violated. Weeks ago, the city the city's own prosecutor told the judge that our
landlord has complied. That is false. Notifying housing preservation is not the same as disclosing to the tenants. The ordinance requires disclosure to all of us. with it posted visibly and
provided directly and neither has happened. Council members, please require the information to be posted and provided to every tenant. And more importantly, please investigate why the city's own prosecutor misrepresented the
compliance to a judge. People's lives depend on it. Thank you so much. Manu. >> Hello. Good evening. I'm a tenant at Portside Towers. Uh, every month along with my rent, I receive a bill for
company called Conc for water saber and curbage. The charges fluctuate a lot and I have no idea how it's calculated. That's because my landlord uses something called Wubs which is a ratio utility billing system. The problem is
we don't we have never seen the master bill. We don't know whether common areas vacant units or building operations are being charged to us. Further conservice adds in fees. So we are paying a fee to pay our bill. Bottom line we are being
built in the dark. Uh the national consumer laws uh call rubs opaque and warns it and enables abusive billing practices. They are right. Without transparency, rubs becomes like a profit center for landlords, not a fair allocation of
costs. Other cities have figured this out. San Jose, Mountain View, West Hollywood, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado. Los Angeles just completed recommendations for our citywide webs ordinance. In Jersey City, well, we are
all hopeful that a stronger tenant protections will be considered after rent fix price fixing was shut down. We know landlords are actively creating new ways to squeeze tenants for money. Tenants deserve to know what they are
paying for its basic fairness. Thank you for your attention to rubs and to this matter. Thank you man. Just a a quick update. Um we've been working on rubs legislation in part with one of the port side um tenants who I don't see here tonight, Mark. Um and
corporation council uh who has a lot of governance to review is reviewing that legislation. Um, again, as I spoke about, I think last session, um, it appears that we would be preempted by state law if we tried to do something
like outright ban rubs locally at the municipal level. Um, but what we can do is a first step at least of having transparency in the billing. Um, so this is what we're working toward. We're going to be working with corporation council ideally getting this very soon,
but we'll stay in communication about how this moves forward. appreciate working with uh Councilwoman Little's office on this as well. Mark, no. Okay, okay, Dan,
>> evening again. Um, I used to live at Portide Tunner. I'm not there anymore. Not because I wanted to leave. I was essentially pushed out due to absur absurdly large rent increases.
Every month I overpaid this city's former administration sat idle. despite my attempts to bring the property rent control status of the of the building to the attention of the rent uh leveling board at that time, my councilman who at
that time was Brad knew in his job and is now mayor and even the Hoboken reporter. I got no place because I was alone and I felt very alone in what I was trying to do. I can go into great detail about what I did but I'm not going to do that. Just
suffice to say that I'd made every effort that I thought a reasonable single person by himself could do. I'm here tonight because I didn't stop caring when I moved out. I've come back with something I didn't have before, a team. The tenants standing with me tonight are organized, capable, and
committed. They're also very caring people who give a voice to all of the tenants and former tenants who I still speak to and are a part of the organization but live far enough away that they don't come here to participate
and also people who are afraid to speak up for a variety of reasons. We're not going away. I've been coming here for damn near close to 50 years and I'm going to still be around until this is finished. I want to speak directly to the new
members of this council. You ran on accountability. Many of you know the port side story because of some common history here in the chamber or some other peripheral reason. But you are generally aware of what has been going on in this issue for three and a half years.
But belief, we believed in you. We still do the new council. But belief without action is just hope. and hope is not a strategy. Enforce chapter 260. Enforce chapter 218 and chapter 254. Enforce
ordinance 7-153. These aren't aspirational goals. They're existing laws that the city's prior administrations chose not to enforce because it was politically convenient for them. My message is simple. It's never too
late to do the right thing. The violations are documented. The tenants are organized. All the all that needs more of a transparent push through your political will. I was forced out of my home, but I still care about this city
and I'm standing here with tenants ready to support this council and turning things around. Let's get some good work done that will affect these folks and those who aren't here in meaningful ways. Thank you very much for your help.
Well, >> no. Okay, David. >> Good evening, Council President Ripley. Ridley, sorry. Members of the council, 12 days ago, a member of my family had a medical emergency in our apartment. She
is fine now thanks to the many people who came to our aid. Uh but there were some things that I would like to share with you about that experience. Number one, as soon as we were aware that the situation was something we couldn't handle ourselves, we knew what
emergency number to call 911. Um, and then also I contacted the tenant group chat and located there some uh uh one of my neighbors is a medical professional and who was able to come
and stay with us until EMS arrived. Um, and we're I'm very grateful for that. Um, we're lucky that the emergency room near us has not been shut down. Um, we're lucky that there's not a foreign
military that is bombing our civilian infrastructure. So, that's nice. And, um, so she was able to go into the straight into the emergency room, get the care that she needed. Um,
and even though we had everything kind of break right for us, it's a terrifying and stressful experience. Now imagine if ra instead of a medical emergency we had a building emergency know like a flood or one of these many
things that other people have have brought to your attention that have happened at port side. Um there isn't an emergency number to call. There's not a superintendent that I know how to contact. If the tenants in the building were not
organized, I would have no idea what to do next. And so I want to urge you to keep pressing to make sure that every building that is required to have a superintendent on site has one because
emergencies are difficult enough without additional hoops to jump through. Thank you. As you voted at the last council meeting, two of you told the public that you're not a rubber stamp council. A total of seven of you prove that you
are. You reappointed director Chilone on what you called a leap of faith. Let's be clear about what a leap of faith is not. It is not governance. Governance is evidence and accountability.
Governance is protecting the people who put you in your seats. We are the ones who've been taking leaps of faith at the direction of this council and its predecessors. Go through the municipal process. Former Councilman Cle said,
"Give us your leases." Corporation council Brittany Murray said, "Submit your complaints daily. We've done it all and not a single thing has changed. 92 days since the board ruled our rent
increases were unauthorized. Yet, not a single adjustment, not one refund, and despite 71 guilty pleas by our landlord, not $1 in fines collected. When asked, Chiloney confirmed not a single portside
tenant has received a rent adjustment. 9 years and she could not point to one tenant she protected. We don't need another leap of faith. We need someone with the backbone to enforce the law.
Director Chiloney told this council, quote, I serve the person I work for and they set the policy. End quote. That's not public service. She may serve at the pleasure of the mayor, but her salary comes from our tax dollars. She serves
us. The fact that she doesn't understand that and that seven of you didn't catch that really troubles me. Council, being qualified on paper is not leadership. An employee follows orders. But a leader
fights for the people she's supposed to protect. And if her hands were tied by the prior mayor, she would have said so publicly or she would have walked away. Where was her moral compass? Where was yours? Did you vote based on her record?
Did you vote to protect your constituents who are the only reason you have the power to vote at all? So despite your rhetoric, I witnessed seven rubber stamp votes out of allegiance to the mayor and sympathy for a colleague.
Councilman Gilmore and Lavaro got it right when they said they would not vote to reappoint someone whose track record didn't earn it. Look, this city needs a change. It needs leaders who are critical thinkers willing to do the
right thing, not the easy thing. Going forward, say you've got to say and no to rubber stamping. Be the council members we elected you to be. Please with every vote remember to be the change. Thank
you. Handeka 5.38 HCA 5.39 Felicia >> maybe. Okay, no worries. Take your time. >> Oh, sorry about that. I have a
>> some handouts that I should give you guys first. >> Okay. Is it Is it one missing >> one? >> Yeah. >> Hi. >> Are we starting? Okay. Good evening, council members. My name is Felicia Palmer. I'm a 30-year Jersey City
resident and co-founder of the tech company Tapioca. Hello. For the past two years, I've been working directly with local businesses here in Jersey City, restaurants, shops, and community organization focused on one question. How do we make sure that small businesses actually benefit for the from
the coming World Cup? To date, there's been over $250 million in public investment, our tax dollars tied to this moment, including $5 million recently allocated by the governor for local activations. And yet the question I continue to hear is how do we capture
our share of the $3 billion in promised economic benefit? And this is coming from small businesses we're talking to. So we created Tapioca created Tapioca Local Rewards. It's a simple process, a simple initiative, no app, no friction. A visitor taps one of our fan cards to
their phone and instantly collects connects with their local businesses offering rewards, incentives, and discounts. More importantly, it allows us to measure real world engagement when people when people interact, where they go and provide firstparty data to our
businesses. This isn't theoretical. We've already had dozens of businesses across New York and New Jersey sign up and with our fan cards are being distributed in 86 locations including hotels, restaurants, and tourist attractions between New York and New Jersey. Recently, the New York uh New
Jersey World Cup host committee announced its own rewards program, and that's a good thing. But this moment is too big for a single solution. One program can't capture the full opportunity across all of our neighborhoods. We need multiple pathways
and more access, more ways for our small businesses to connect with the people coming into our city. I also want to share some context. I first presented this initiative to the JCEDC in June of last year, 2025. Since then, I've met
with SIDS, business organizations, and hundreds of local stakeholders about this initiative. About a month ago, we presented a proposal to the mayor's office, including the in the meeting was the JCEDC again, cultural affairs, in support of a pilot right here in Jersey
City. and we have not yet received a response and I understand how that works and why that is. This is a fastmoving situation, but decisions are being made right now that will determine whether Jersey City businesses fully benefit or
are left trying to catch up. So, I'd like to respectfully ask the council three questions. What portion of state World Cup funding is being directed to Jersey City? How is that money being allocated? And how are we ensuring it leads to measurable
outcomes for local businesses here? And are we creating multiple pathways for those outcomes or just one? Here's my asks. As a Jersey City local business owner and resident, support our tap local rewards program in Jersey City.
>> Thank you, >> Alicia. I just want to let you know that I did speak Hi, this is connected. Thank you. Yes. Um I did speak to uh in the meeting with Sid also mayor's office and they shared that you are already in
touch with them. So they should be getting back to you soon. >> That's what I'm hoping. >> I think they do have few questions and we'll be meeting about it soon but we will meet before that. So >> I appreciate you >> the answers.
>> Thank you. Our next speaker, Katherine. Uh, hello. My name's Katherine Moore. I live in the middle of Ward E. Um, I've been working with a few people here in the city, um, after we redistricted in 2025, uh, 2022,
and we're still kind of feeling the, um, results of that redistricting in our election districts. We have an important election coming up with the midterms, and there's a possibility that more people will be going to the polls as opposed to doing mail-in voting or early
voting. just depends on what our federal uh administration decides to uh force upon us. Um I kind of feel that there are some uh election districts that were not drawn or redrawn to adhere to the
new um uh redistricting of D and E specifically. I can only speak about what's around me, but I think each ward needs to check and see where their polling locations are and are they at capacity? Are they ready for more people
to come or are they should they be rethought and maybe replaced um according to the population that now lives near it? Because of downtown, we've had a lot of growth. And so we ended up getting a whole bunch of new election districts. And within those election districts, just one example,
444 Washington Street, um is two buildings. One building uh and it's rentals. One building is in district 25, the other one in 24. One building votes in Newport, the other one votes in uh Harborside. When you type in where do I
vote, it will randomly pick one of those locations. You will not know until uh the um sample ballot comes to which place you should actually go. We've had some problems, you know, coming from when the municipal elections happened,
but that's another story. Another one that's big is in D4 in Ward D. Three buildings are downtown because of the um locations. Um it's voting district is in the heights. They have to walk over a
mile uphill because there's no public ta transportation to get there. So they are disenfranchising those three new buildings. When you look at the districts, you see that W D has six polling locations with 27 districts served. You look at um the different the
other wards and you'll see a completely different number over 14 15 16 voting locations for over 30 um districts. uh you have some districts, you know, in C that have over 7,000
people going to one voting location, but in let's say Ward E, you have people that are um only 350 people are going to one location. Just at city hall and met Metropolitus, whatever it's called, across the street, each of those only
have one district voting in three locations, one district each. they could be combined easily into one polling location. All of this just really needs to be looked at and time is um happening now before they have these locations
happening in June. Thank you. >> June Jones, >> she's not here. >> She's not here. >> Thank you, Katherine, for bringing that to our attention. Want to work with you on that. >> She's not here. No. Okay.
>> Patrick. Patrick, >> you hear me? Perfect. Uh, good evening, council members. My name is Patrick Ambrosie. I'm a trustee of the Jersey City Parks Coalition as well as founder and president of the Londor Park Conservancy. I'm here to actually talk
on item uh 10.29 29 through 10.33 which is our park space and the open space trust fund uh dollars are going to go to improvements. Um as you know many of you guys know um you know Leonard Gordon Park has been a park that historically
as well as Terrace Avenue Park has historically seen uh actually zero capital improvements and disinvestments in our community. Um, Larorn Park actually had seen its first capital improvement um, in a span of over 40 years. Um, and I'm happy to say that,
you know, we've been able to kind of move forward in making sure that we're activating the community, having events, involving our council people. And one of the things that, you know, we want to make sure that we're doing with phase 2 is expanding our playground, adding splash pad, uh, having, uh, dog runs,
um, and making sure that we're continuing the progress that been seeing. So, you know, I look forward to working with the Western Slope Neighborhood Association, Councilman Efro and and his office and the community overall. Um, there's another point um that actually I just saw today
uh with the agenda. It's 10.36 uh which is um awarding funds to uh Monahan. Um, you know, in the last couple of years, uh, in in the last couple of months, we've actually seen, uh, benches from Laren Gordon Park
actually being ripped off. Um, and we actually have, uh, photos of a ripped off bench right next to a Monahan, um, vehicle. They're stating that it's not it's not them who did it. I'm going to blame the two-year-old. Um, but I think
that, you know, we've had two missing benches, uh, one damaged bench, and, you know, I want to make sure that, you know, I I keep a closer eye on them, but also the city council to also keep an eye on the contract and making sure that they're paying for things that they've
damaged that we've actually been working really hard to utilize taxpayer dollars on. Um, so but overall just uh thank you for hopefully voting for uh our open space trust fund dollars and continuing the improvements in our park. Thank you.
>> Thanks Patrick. Um just on that last note, uh yeah, one, we definitely are interested in bringing these services inhouse so that we have more direct control over these services as soon as we can. I think a lot of the council were on the same page about that. And then I um I got photos of those benches.
I shared them with parks um and quality of life so we can get on top of this. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you for bringing those points up. I also just want to note that this is um just a a threemon month-to-month extension and and we don't have the capacity to bring these
services inhouse right like at this moment like tomorrow. Um but we we you know as councilman Efro said and you know I think most of the council is aligned on on wanting to bring these services inhouse long term. So, thank you for raising that
speaker Stephanie. Hello, my name is Stephanie Starts. Don't worry, that bat house warmed my heart so you guys can relax. Listening to folks tonight, I kept thinking, "Oh, they feel the same way." And it's this kind of pervasive
feeling no matter what the issue is that crime is kind of free or crime is legal. You know, it might be a lack of enforcement. It might be because a state law is watered down. It might be very powerful people just know how to get
around the system. Um I don't have much of a solution to offer to that, but that it's discouraging. I know everyone on this council wants to make this city better and it
just feels like there's a disconnect between planning, strategy and execution. I've lived here for 10 years and you know I found myself thinking in the warm weather, oh it's fast and furious season
and that's when you know people drag race down Grand Street and if I'm noticing there's a pattern, why don't the police notice that pattern and enforce traffic tickets? They're like the folks at Portside Towers probably know there'll just be a random
car meet up in the Korean War Memorial and it's like that's fine if you have a permit but I highly doubt it. So that's just something I would throw out there. You know just my comments last week I
didn't get to a couple questions just throwing them over the fence. If you eminent domain the property that Christ hostel sits on, how long could that litigation last, what could it cost the city, does it help the community if you spend
a prolonged period of time in litigation? Who would pay for the just compensation to eminent domain that property? Where would that money come from? I also want to just talk about briefly
cost containment in health care. Emergency room visits are very expensive. Their burden on the the whole health care system. Using an emergency room for something that preventable care could have, you know, leads to excess
costs for taxpayers um provider burden and uh reduces quality of patient care. And when you divert those preventable visits into an urgent care clinic or you know preventative screenings, it's estimated to save about 4 billion
annually and that's USwide numbers. Now there is a crisis stabilization center opening in Newark that anyone who is experiencing a mental health or substance abuse issue can walk in. the police and fire departments can walk in and bring people in there and that will
hopefully get people the care they need and also bring down costs overall. >> Thank you Stephanie. >> Okay, we are done with our public speaking section. We're moving on to our P's and C's have communication 6.1 to
6.48. Are there any questions or comments on these items? Just want to reiterate that. Um I'm looking forward to seeing 6.1 um rest of that on Monday. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um our officer's
communications, there were none. Our reports of directors, there were none. Moving on to our claims and addendum one, two, and three. >> Have a question if I can. Go ahead. >> Peter, thank you for getting back to me about the furniture I asked about on
Monday. Uh I I appreciate you noted that there's capital money being spended as opposed to spending down the operational uh budget. Uh question is is the capital money that was um set
aside for the the um renovations of city hall could that have been used on other things or is that specifically for the city hall renovation? >> So it's specifically for the city hall renovation. It's not all capital. Some of it was COVID funding, other kind of funding sources, but all the current
renovations and probably the majority of renovations were from capital. >> Okay. And and so could that money have been spent on anything any other capital project that the city was invested in? >> When we do the capital projects, they're done through bonds. We have to identify
in the bond what the money would be spent for at the previous time is approved for doing renovations to capital for the city hall premises. So the the desk, desk desk chair, guest chair, table, the delivery fee, and the
desk were all out of that money bonded for the furniture for city hall. >> No, the the work on city hall, the renovations came out of the capital. The furniture came out of the operating budget for the department. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Peter. Um, quick question, Peter. Um,
just by way of processes and how things supposed to go. um if you know um so I received um information and I don't know if it's accurate or not but it's problematic for me um
there's so if a developer gets um if a developer gets excited and the building is not supposed to be occupied how do a developer then begin to get permits to do work.
>> Not entirely sure the context of that. If you want to email the details or specific example, that might be the best way to address it. >> I guess a better question is what is the city's process as it relates to individuals being able to get permits when they have open violations of a
building not supposed to uh be being be occupied? >> It would depend if they have a TCO. There's multiple elements there that I think it'd be hard to just theorize around. If there's a specific example, I think the best way to handle, we could go over this example with the director of ATDC and the construction staff to
kind of address the points one by one. But generally speaking, you know, if you're not permitted to have, you know, a permit to work be done, you can't do it or you can't occupy until that work's completed. How are there some examples where if you have a TCO but there's permits that allow the building to be
occupied but you have to do some electrical work or something like that that's non uh involving the habitability of the building there are some circumstances that can be done it's again it's very technical so I don't know with the details how to parse that one out for you specifically >> all right thank you
>> okay I'm going to take the vote names one two and three council for some folks. >> Again, for the members of the public watching at home or anyone here in the aggregate, this is 59.9 billion in spending. Just if you're keeping track,
uh I vote I >> uh just on meeting claims list 9.1 or claims one. Uh I was asking about the furniture expenditure which totals about $5,600. I think it was for one office renovation. There was a a desk for $3,600,
a guest chair for $430, a desk chair for $420, the table was $920, and the delivery of of that was $300. Um I I know our obligation in the claims is is this money was already paid already expended. Uh but if the administration
is going to ask us to tighten our belts and ask our citizens to tighten our belts, we need to spend less money on on stuff like desks. Uh so I vote no on the claims. Council person Efro, >> I'd vote I out of obligation to vote
high on the claims, but I appreciate the sentiments of my colleagues. Yeah, >> Council Person Little. >> Um, I believe I am allowed to line item vote
yay or nay. Um, I I would like to vote nay on the furniture that Councilman Zuba raised and I would like to vote I on the rest. >> Okay. Council person Gilmore >> I. >> Council person Sing
I vote I. Council Person Griffin. >> Hi. >> Council Person Lavaro. >> Hi. >> Council President Ridley. >> I claims and
uh number one. Just gonna c number one is >> 7 two >> nine. >> Addendums number two and three.
>> That's good. >> Are voted 81. Okay. So, we are done with the claims and addendum. Onto our resolutions. I'm going to take a vote on items 10.1 to 10.13.
Now, 10.12, I believe we're withdrawing. That still accurate. >> Yes, that is correct. >> Okay, thank you. And we also voted on 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8 earlier in the day.
So, I am taking a vote on 10.1 to 10.5, 10.9 to 10.11, and 10.13. Council person Brooks, >> before I vote, um, am I able to record
votes for the resolutions when I was not here or No, there that's >> I took them earlier. >> Did you did it already? >> I did that. >> You vote on the resolutions now. >> Okay, great. Long day. All right. Um I vote I on off.
>> Thank you. Council person Zuba. >> Uh I on 10.1 to 10.13. >> Council person Efro. >> I vote I. >> Council person Little. >> I vote I on all. Um I also want to note
on 10.10 um resolution 26-1-1 or or 161, sorry. um that um these these are the polling places that the Hudson County Board of Elections has selected and um we are just entering into a
polling place lease agreements. But I really appreciate Catherine the um points that you brought up and my office will be working and reaching out to the Hudson County Board of Elections to find out more about how these polling sites are determined and if there's a more
equitable way to um to locate them. Thank you. and and we will include you on that as well. Thank you. >> Council person Gilmore, >> I for all. >> Council person Singh, >> I for all. >> Council person Griffin,
>> I for all. >> Person Lavaro, >> 10.1 to 10.13. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I want to defer to Councilwoman Singh. Did you want to say something on 10.9? You're the co-sponsor with me. Come on.
>> I want you to speak about it, please. >> I'll start with the good stuff. So, the 10.9 hap glad to co-sponsor this with the councilwoman Singh. Um, it's I'm glad to be on the council with a fellow Asian-American and to be able to
commemorate Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month >> in the month of May. Um, you know, it was a lonely place up here until Michael Yunya was here as well. And now now I'm glad to be up here with the the council woman and the council woman is planning
um with my office a series of events and cultural affairs. Um hopefully that uh we'll be able to celebrate the May in May and and truly bring out uh um the all the contributions of Asian-Americans here in Jersey City. Um, that being said, um, I'm going to vote I on all,
but I do have on all the resolutions. Um, but I do want to put something on the record tonight. Um, with regard to 10.1 to 10.3, um, these are the resolutions requesting permission for the dedication by writer.
Um, and during Monday's caucus, I had asked uh why these dedication by writer requests for the arts tax and the payroll tax weren't submitted to the the division of local government's services earlier. Um, the administration has been the city I should say has been
collecting those art taxes since 2022 and the payroll tax since 2019. um that is a long time to be collecting funds and not having designated those specific purposes within the legal framework um in order to ensure those funds are uh
legally restricted to those purposes. Um I asked for the annual balance of these accounts and whether the funds have been collected and um and not been co-mingled with the city's general funds. Um I did receive verbal assurances that they had not been and I appreciate that
assurance. Um but I am not satisfied. Um, I am formally requesting that the administration provide a written accounting from the CFO or the BA um, showing the annual balances of each fund since collection began, where those
funds were deposited, and what, if any, expenditures were made from those funds prior to tonight's actions. uh the residents who pay the arts tax and the payroll tax deserve to know what that money that their money was used for the purposes was collected for and not as a
a general um operating fund and a slush fund um for the previous administration. Um but I will vote yes um because this is uh just establishing the proper legal framework and I want that to happen. And um I also just want to close with this on the statement is that uh for for the
public I appreciate the administration. They've shared a great deal of information even in my best times with the previous administration when I had a decent relationship with them. Did not get this kind of um information and cooperation. And so I appreciate that.
Um but um we want to make sure that uh anyone who's um may if if any funds were not used for the purposes that they were dedicated for that people are held accountable um who may have been involved in that process. I vote on
Asian too. Rolando >> 10.9 I'm Asian too. >> Yes. I vote yes on all. >> Yes. >> Yes. Council person Ridley. I for all. >> So just to >> two. >> Yes.
>> All right. I'm sorry. I apologize, Councilman Gilmore. >> I just want to be included. >> Yes. >> I'm Asian. >> Go ahead, Amanda. >> Resolutions 10.1 to 10.13
are approved. 9 with the exception of 10.12 with uh which was withdrawn. Now we're going to move on to 10.14 to 10 to 23.
>> That's again 10.14 to 10.25 >> 25. >> Okay. >> Council person Brooks. >> Uh before I cast my vote, I just want to speak on 10.22. I appreciate the response from um Amadi uh who came and
presented on behalf of this resolution and um heard the public speaker talk about the effect of building market rate or luxury rate apartments in
workingclass and poor neighborhoods. Um this development does have 10 affordable units. That's 10 more than we had. Um, and you know, this administration, um, I'm looking forward to their
approach to the affordable housing trust fund, um, digging in to build build more units um, and to focus on the very low income level. So, I do appreciate I appreciate the explanation
from Amadi and the developer. Um, so I am voting I on all. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Person Zupa. >> Okay. On 10.15, that's the uh the attorney serving as public defenders.
I've known one of the members for 13 years, long before he was a public defender for Jersey City. Um, he was my friend for that for long before that. He was a public defender long before he he donated $300 to my council campaign. Uh,
and I would assume regardless of whether he did that or not, he would have been reappointed. Uh, but I will abstain on 10.15. I will vote no on 10.20. It's a beautiful golf course, but the
event celebrating our 250th anniversary of independence should be open to the public if they want to do a firework show. Uh and on 10.19 I want to congratulate everyone but also that the individuals who live in w C for serving on the arts and culture trust fund. So
abstain on 15 no on 20 I on the rest >> I I just have one question on 10.20. Um one of the concerns raised was whether uh this firework display is going to cause a significant disturbance to animals in the park. I mean, was any of
that built into the permanent questions that there would be environmental effects beyond noise pollution to residents? >> It's not part of the permanent process. >> Okay. Um, yeah. I mean, with with that in mind, we'll vote I on all except for
10.20. >> Are you nay or abstaining on 10? >> Oh, excuse me. Uh, no on 10.20. Council person Little, >> you know, I I recognize the joys of watching fireworks. Um, but I think also at this
point in time, we need to recognize the air quality impacts from fireworks. Many municipalities have begun to move towards light shows or drone shows u in lie of fireworks displays. I remember I think it was last year, maybe it was the year before, um the morning after the
4th of July, there was really dense particulate matter hanging in the air uh after the fireworks display. And Jersey City already has um some of the highest rates of asthma in the state. And um you know I I think you know I think we need
to begin to look towards you know identifying other ways to c celebrate patriotic occasions that don't involve making our air dangerous for sensitive populations to breathe. Um so I'm going
to vote no on 10.20 and I on the rest. >> Thank you. Council person Gilmore. >> Um, voting no on 1020. I on all the rest. As it relates to 10.22,
um, I'm I'm elated that this area is finally seeing um, some development. Um, it's not the amount affordable that we that we were hoping for, but it is a step in the right direction. Um, I'm thankful that these developers are from
the community who took um, the chance and develop. It is a rough area, I'm gonna be honest. Um, so I I think this project is how we should be doing affordable housing. Um, so I'm looking forward to see what comes to fruition.
Um, I'm always also looking forward to more development in Ward F that's encompass of the entire community in Ward F. Um, so I vote I on all but 10 20. >> Okay. Thank you. Council person say
>> I have a rescue dog and I go I see him going through torture every single time there is a firework and I know what animals go through and I have been big advocate of animals right um I would know I would vote no for 1020 but then
other I vote I thank you >> thank you council person Griffin uh on 10:22. Uh Brenley David, you guys, you know, you're young men from the community building where nobody wants to build and you're building affordable housing for the community for people to
have a place to stay and you should be proud of yourselves for doing such. So, you know, you get my support anytime. Um, as far as 1020, um, I have to agree with my colleagues, but I do have a question. Is this Are
these fireworks being shot off the river or in the park? >> Not entirely sure, but I believe in the park or the private property of the park. There's the golf course that's over there. I believe they'd be having the golf course. >> Okay.
Yeah. I'm going to vote no one had an eye on everything else. Hey, thank you, Council Person Lavaro. >> Um, on 10.14, I just want to congratulate Andy Abrams,
um, and thank him for his longtime service to Jersey City. Um, and congratulations to all the public defenders in 10.15. Um, on um, 10.17 and 10.18. Again, just want to thank the administration. they
provided uh asked some questions, got some answers here and appreciate that and their cooperation. Um and then on 10.22 to the gentleman um developing Harmony House, um good luck with the project and we look forward to the development that will serve the people
of Jersey City um and serve people at all incomes and the affordable housing opportunities there. I vote I and all. >> Also, President Ridley Uh, we're going to 25 you said, right? >> Yes. >> Okay.
I vote I on all. >> Okay. Just give me a moment to recap, please. So, we have uh resolutions 10.14 to 10 19
approved 90.20 20 is defeated and 10.21 to 10.25 25 approved 90. Actually, you know what? I'm sorry. Zupa on 10.15 abstained. So,
let me do that again. 10.14 to 10.14 alone is 90. 10.15 is 8001. That's Councilwoman Zupa abstaining. 10.16
to 10.19 approved 90. 10.20 is defeated. 10.21 to 10.25 approved 90. Okay. So the next group of resolutions
10.36 to 10 38 >> 26 >> 26 to 38 >> 10.36 to 10.38 >> 26 26 They're
they're they're numbered wrong on the agenda. I apologize. So, it's 10.26 to 10.38, but you'll see it on your agendas. It also says that, but >> 10.26. >> Yeah, Sean made an error. >> I don't know who. I'm not going to do
that. >> Okay. Council person Brooks. Uh before I vote, I just want to speak briefly on 10.37. Uh my partner is Afro Latina and we had
a black doula and um so I'm excited to see this uh I'm excited to see Black Maternal Health Week um being honored in Jersey City. I
vote I on all. Thank you. Thank you, Council Person Zupa. >> Just on 10:34, uh, consistent to a prior comment I made, I wanted to thank corporation council for the way she's evaluating cases, recognizing this case was settled before Sarah, Miss Lavine
took office as corporation counsel and um, and me recognizing that I do similar or I've done similar work in the past. We're overpaying the plainif. Um but but I won't disturb the settlement but I just appreciate corporation council for
better evaluating cases. I vote I on all. >> Thank you. Council person Afro. >> I vote I on all. Very excited for the open space money to be coming through to our city's parks. um excited that we
have uh further resolutions in honor the end there of Black Prince Health Week of Fred Jackson. Um thanks to Councilman Griffin for bringing that last resolution up. Excuse me. Gilmore. >> Council person Little.
>> Um, I vote I on all um proud to support open space improvements. Proud to support black maternal health. >> Council person Gilmore. >> Council person Singh. >> Sorry, I for all. Council person
Griffin. >> I for all. >> Council person Lavaro. >> I just wanted to take a moment on resolutions um 180 to 184 um or 10 uh
10.29 to 10 uh 33. Um so I'll be voting yes on these resolutions. Um they're they're good investments in parks across our city. Um, and I'm glad we're pursuing the Oakland County space funding to support them. Um, but I do want to put something on the record, and I raised questions at caucus about the
source and availability of the city's match. Um, which totals $2.82 million across all five resolutions. So, it's important we get this and make sure um that these funds are available. Um, and so I'm just going to ask the business
administrator on the record to um, you know, I received a response from director Weller and follow up from you today as well. Um, and you confirmed that the the monies were available and if you could just speak on the record about that. >> Hello. There we go. Just to clarify, of
the five resolutions, the request to the county, they're not guaranteed. So the council is correct. The total request is about $2.82 million. It's not guaranteed we're going to receive that um of those awards from the county. We always ask for it and we usually get, you know, a half or so of the requests that are
made. So, we would have to have around $2 million, you know, approximately uh available to match those funds if we are granted them. We do have multiple capital accounts that cover parks. Right now, we have about $15 million allocated to parks in general. of that $15 million
there is sufficient accounts in, you know, various miscellaneous accounts that would cover that two or so million dollars that we need to match these funds. So, we wouldn't be asking for any new bonds or any new, you know, new money. They're already existing in the capital accounts. We can utilize funds for any of these matches if they're awarded to us.
>> Thank you. Um, thank you for that clarification. And with that, um, I will also just add, um, congratulations, um, and, um, to Montford Point Marine PFC Fred Jackson, um, on his recognition
with the US Congressional Gold Medal. It's a extraordinary um, recognition and looking forward to seeing I think he's 93 years old. Is that right? seeing him on uh Saturday so and honoring him and um I vote I all.
>> Thank you. Council P uh President Ridley, >> I vote I on all and on 1037 uh honoring black maternal health. I just want to let my colleagues and the public know for the second year in a row
I am hosting a black maternal health event on Tuesday at Jur City Medical Center from 6:00 to 8 open to the public. Right. >> Hey, just to recap on 10.26 to 10.28,
all resolutions are approved. 90. Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> Second. >> 9:16. Motion made by Gilmore. Second by Ridley Labaro.
Okay. Motion to close the meeting at 9:16. Council person Brooks. Hi, >> Council Person Zupa. >> Hi, >> Council Person Efro. >> Hi, >> Council Person Little. >> Hi, >> Council Person Gilmore.
>> Council Person Sing, Council Person Griffin. >> Hi, >> Council Person Lavaro. >> Hi, >> Council President Ridley. Okay, thank you. We are out of here at 9:16. Oh, teamwork makes the dream work.