Okay, everyone. We're about to get started. If we can find our seats, silence our cell phones, close the side and back doors, I'd greatly appreciate it. Council members, please come up to the deis.
Okay. Good evening everyone. We are on the record. Today is Wednesday, the 22nd day, 21st day, excuse me, of May in the year 2025. This is a regular meeting of the Jersey City Municipal Council. We had it scheduled 6:00 p.m. start. The
clock on my cell phone is showing 6:06 p.m. May we have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting? Council person Ridley here. Council person Huings here. Council person Bajiano. Council person here. Council
person Solomon here. Council person Gilmore. Council person Deise stepped away. Okay. Council person Ria here and council president Waterman here.
We have eight council members in attendance at 6:06 p.m. May we kindly rise for a moment of silence, please? I'd like to dedicate this moment of silence to Josephine Mahan. She was a long-term city employee, worked in the
office of the city clerk. Um, and she retired February of 20, excuse me, 2003 and passed away April 14th of this year. Jose Fernandez. Thank you very much on behalf of Council
President Waterman and the members of the municipal council in the coordinates with the New Jersey Public Laws of 1975 chapter 231, the Open Public 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 hall. The annual notice which is the schedule of meetings and caucuses of the municipal council for the calendar year 2025 and filed in the office of the city clerk on Friday, November 15, 2024. In addition, at its time of its
preparation, the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday, May 16th, 2025 at 12:56 p.m. to the mayor, municipal council, business administrator, corporation council, and the local newspapers and posted on the city's website. So, I can certify as to
our total compliance with the sunshine law. I do see council person deise present. We'll mark her present at 6:09 p.m. So, we now have all nine council members present. Is that feeding back?
It sounds like someone's hearing aid. See if I can adjust Egg is back. Oh, that's it. Oh, we now know the culprit. We love you, Council Person Bajiana. All right, on to our first reading ordinances, if you would allow
me to read them into the record. Item 3.1, city ordinance 25-058, is an ordinance amending chapter 175, food handling establishments of the Jersey City Municipal Code, creating an itinerate mo mobile truck parking zone
3. Item 3.2, city ordinance 25-059, is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 255, short-term rentals. Item 3.3, city ordinance 25-060, an ordinance supplementing
chapter 332, vehicles and traffic, article 9, parking for the disabled of the Jersey City Code, designating the reserve parking space at various locations throughout the city. Item 3.4, 4 city ordinance
25-061 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 2 traffic regulations amending section 332-9 stop intersections to designate the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Woodlon Avenue as a multi-way stop
controlled intersection item 3.5 city ordinance 25-062 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 3 parking standing stopping amending section 332-31 parking restrictions for street
cleaning purposes on Berry Lane and Forest Street. Item 3.6 6 city ordinance 25-063 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 7 metered parking amending section
332-48 designation of parking spaces on Liberty Avenue between Newark Avenue and Van Winkle Avenue excuse me item 3.7 city ordinance 25-064 is an ordinance amending chapter
A352 enabling ordinance es of the Jersey City Municipal Code dedicating a plaque on a bench located on Grove Street or Newark Avenue in the city of Jersey City in honor of Arie Patel. And last but not least, item 3.8, city ordinance
25-065 is an ordinance opting into the Garden State Cace program to facilitate the financing of the CPACE projects. Council members, I'm going to be taking a vote on items 3.1 through 3.8. I know
that uh Council Person Solomon had made some amendments to not amendments, but additions to item 3.1, but everything is up to date on the um agenda and online. So, with that being said,
council members, I'm going to be taking a vote for intro introduction on items 3.1 through 3.8. Council Person Ridley. Uh I want to say I'm happy to see 3.8 on the agenda. I've had some discussions recently with my Port Lib residents uh who are looking for us to adopt this
program and they'll probably be here next week to speak more about it. Uh with that I vote I for all. Thank you. Council person Huings I. Sorry. Council person Bajiano. I council person. I for all. Council person
Solomon. I for all. Council person Gilmore. I for introduction. Council person Deise. Council person rea. I. And council president Waterman. Items 3.1 through 3.8 are
introduced unanimously. 90. Council members. I believe we're going to make a motion to defer to a resolution that is on the
agenda which is item 10.8 8 resolution 25-334 is a resolution honoring and thanking Director Walter Greg Kierce, the Office of Emergency Management, and the Jersey City Police Department, and the Jersey City Fire Department for
their swift and coordinated response to helicopter crash incident. Council members, may I have a motion to defer to item 10.8? Motion. Second. Motion was made by council person Rivera, seconded by council person Sole. On the motion to defer to item 10.8, council person
Ridley. I. Council person Healings I. Council person Bajiano. Hi. Council person Site. I. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. I. Council person Deise. I. Council person Rivera.
I. And council president Waterman. Motion carries 90 to defer to item 10.8. Council person Solomon, do you have the resolution to read into the record? I do. Okay. I'm going to turn it over to you. All righty. Um, this is a
resolution uh, as Sean read the title, so I will read the rest of the resolution. Whereas on April 10th, 2025, a helicopter crash occurred in Jersey City, prompting an immediate and large-scale emergency response from multiple agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board,
New York Police Department, New York Fire Department, Port Authority, Jersey City Police, Jersey City Fire, and Jersey City Office of Emergency Management, to ensure public safety, secure the crash site, and investigate the cause of the incident. And whereas Director Kierce and the Office of Emergency Management acted swiftly to
coordinate the deployment of our first responders, ensuring effective communication, rapid deployment of critical resources, and ensuring that all responding agencies were aligned in their efforts to manage the scene effective efficiently and safely. And whereas the Jersey City Police Department responded rapidly to secure
the area, manage traffic, and provide critical on-site assistance to first responders and investigators. And whereas the Jersey City Fire Department displays outstanding professionalism and courage, deploying rescue resources and conducting thorough assessments to mitigate any immediate danger to the surrounding community. And whereas the
coordinated efforts of OEM, JCPD, and JCFD reflect the dedicated dedication, preparedness, and resilience of Jersey City's emergency services whose work protected lives and maintain calm in the wake of a tragic event. And whereas the city council wishes to formally acknowledge and commend these
departments and their leadership for their exceptional service and unwavering commitment to the people of Jersey City. And whereas the municipal council wishes to commend director Walter Gay Kierce for the leadership and professionalism he demonstrated and managing his department and coordinating the response of this tragic accident. Now therefore,
be it resolved that the municipal council commends and extends our deepest gratitude to Director Kierce, the Office of Emergency Management, JCPD, and JCFD for their exemplary response to the helicopter crash incident and their continued dedication to public safety and emergency preparedness.
All right, council members. Um, thank you for reading that into the record, Council Person Solomon. I think it would be um correct if we took a vote on the resolution and then maybe ask the guest here, our director to come up and maybe say a few words. Uh before we do that,
let's take a vote on the resolution. Council person Ridley. Uh I would first want to say thank you. Thank you for um service to our city. I think that we have some of the best emergency uh response teams here in
Jersey City in our different departments and they always show up. They show up when it matters the most. They do an excellent job when we have very intense situations. Um and I think that they should always be commended for that. Uh with that I vote I
Council Person Huings. I just want to thank um Director Kierce as usual. He, JCFD, JCP do a great job. They do more than they need to do for us in Jersey City. We can always count on them and
I'm glad to see it being acknowledged tonight and I vote I. Council person Bajanna, I want to say we probably have the number one police department and fire department in the entire state of New Jersey. And I want to say, Greg, every
time I call you with an issue and a problem, you take care of it immediately. You're one of the best, Greg. And I want to thank you for everything you do for me. So, and I vote yes. Council person Cle.
Director Kierce, this is but a small token of our appreciation as a council, and honestly, you deserve a resolution every day. You are rock steady. You are a mountain of a man and you are a gentleman cut from a
different cloth and um it's an honor to work alongside you. You are one of the most responsive people and you have developed a first class OEM, first class Jersey City Police Department. Everything that you do is amazing and I
proudly vote I um thank you for what you did that day and every day. Council Person Solomon. Um, echoing my colleagues, but just thank you, director, for your extraordinary service to Jersey City and extremely, you know,
competent and effective response in times of crisis and in particular the most recent tragic event. Thank you to your whole team. I know obviously Marty and and Tim and others. And thank you to we have great representatives of our fire department as well as all the officers of JCPD. It's also fitting to
to have this here because uh everybody was was in action a couple nights ago to save the man on the Pilaski Highway. So just continued service to our city and and we're deeply grateful. So I proudly vote I. Council Person Gilmore. Um in light of not sounding like a broken
record, I'll proudly vote I. Council Person Deise. Thank you very much, director, and to the members of public safety who are here. I know incidences like this with the helicopter are never wished for or hoped for. You know, our people are not
eager to run out into madness, but they are always commend should be commended for what they do because they go out there and they handle and execute everything without a hitch. You know, in all of Jersey City, we have the best fire department, the best police department, and the best emergency
management. They're prepared. they're given what they need equipment wise, training wise, but also the support from their leader and the other leadership of the city. So, thank you. I vote I. Council person Rever. So, um I've got a
lot to say on this. So, uh so let let's recognize the three departments. You have public safety department, which is police, fire, and OEM. and and the common denominator that the public safety has is Greg Pierce. Uh I think we
missed the the point by not appointing him direct the director of public safety, but that's for another story. But um but um Greg uh you are 100% spot on.
you know, you your departments work for you automatic. Not just, you know, the day of that that tragic accident, I showed up on the scene. It was the best thing to hear when New York City came over and you said, "Hey, I'm in charge of this
command." That's what Jersey City is all about, you know, and that's what we take pride in. We're not one of the best. We are the best, you know, and we take pride in that. And that's why I give you 100% support. uh to the men and women of
those departments. You continue to knock it out the park every single time this city has a crisis. And it's not because people are telling me. It's not because people is putting it on social media or the news is there. I'm there front and
center with you guys. And I see how your department just works for you and we need more of that. PD, FD, you guys are the best. OEM knocked it out the park as
usual and um I proudly 100% vote I and Council President Waterman, I want to thank you uh Director Kir and the fire department. You know, I want to thank you for your courage because in incidents that just happened all of a sudden it takes courage to make a quick
decision. I want to thank you for your compassion because you do care about the people of Juria City because when their situations are going on, uh, Director Kes is really always on the front line trying to figure out to make sure this city runs smoothly and safe. And I want to thank you. Thank you for your
commitment because you have always been committed to the residents of this city. So with that, I proudly vote I and may God continue to bless you. City resolution 25-334 is approved unanimously 90.
Thank you very much for your support, Councilman Solomon. Thank you for sponsoring. As the council as a whole, thank you for approving. Um, April 10th was a uh suffice to say, it was a tragic day uh with the loss loss of six people, innocent lives. However, I think it was
a good day for Jersey City because it gave us the opportunity to show just what we can do. Um, I have members of my staff here tonight. I'd like to start with Deputy Chief Lauren Hart, who was the incident commander from the fire department that night. Deputy Chief Rob Dailyaly from the fire
department, a member of my office. My Deputy Martin Valente who was the operations director that day. One and only Tim Lawrence, my logistics man. My deputy from communications, Bob Baker. my office manager who keeps us all in
line, Ed Baker and we have the newest member of our staff, Brennan Trobridge. But on behalf of my office and as you all alluded to, the two best public safety agencies in the state of New Jersey, Jersey City, police
and fire. Thank you. Director, can you just repeat the last person that you mentioned? Brennan Trobridge. Can you spell that for us? T R O W B R I D G E Brennan. Thank you so much, director. Congratulations.
They're going to take a quick picture. So bad in the party. He causes All right. Just make sure you're sitting down, Councilman, so we can hear you on this on your mic. Before we start, Sean, uh, I'd like
to Hold on. I got to pull it up. like to ask that uh resolution 1030, 10.31, and 10.32 be tabled to be withdrawn. Yes. So, you're making that motion,
council person Biano. So, for those who didn't hear the council person, Council Person Bajiano is making a motion to withdraw items 1030, 31, and 32 from the agenda. May I have a second?
Second by council president Waterman. On the motion to withdraw items 1030 through 10.32. Council person Ridley. Council person Huings. I. Council person Bajiano. I. And I think
the street should be opened. Council person Clay. I. Council person Solomon. Um, just want to make a a few quick remarks here. Obviously, it sounds like the motion will pass and and the ordinances will be withdrawn, which I think is the right thing for tonight.
Um, you know, over a year ago, I met with some members of the administration and and I made the point that if we as a city do not solve the legitimate issues that businesses and residents on the pedestrian plaza safe, there's not going to be appetite for more investment for more of these types of projects. And to
date, we have not done that. Um, and I'm asking the mayor and the administration to to put together a real plan as is the administration's responsibility for us to accomplish that goal. And so, uh, I will always be a partner in that. Uh, but also, uh, want to ensure that, uh, the administration is taking
responsibility and taking the steps necessary, uh, to ensure that, uh, the pedestrian plaza meets its full potential. Um, I have would love to see a playground in that, uh, location. Uh but uh I don't think at this time uh we can justify another investment when we
haven't done enough to maintain the original $7 million investment that was put in place. Uh so I'd love to be able to to sponsor this in the future uh but think there's more work for us to do and so with that I vote I council person Gilmore.
Sean this is to withdraw items 1030 31 and 32 from the agenda. Oh, the um barrel. Okay, I vote I. Council person Deise I. Council person Rivera. I and council
president Waterman. Motion to withdraw items 1030 through 32 is approved unanimously 90. Okay. And I'm just marking the agenda as such. All right. On to our second reading ordinances. Our first second
reading ordinance is item 4.1, city ordinance 25-005, is an ordinance implementing chapter 67, pedestrian malls, article 3, Provo Street, between Bay Street and Morgan Street Pedestrian Mall. This is a
public hearing on this ordinance. Any member of the public wishing to be heard, please come up to the podium and state your name for the record. Motion second. A motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance
25-005 was made by council person Rivera. Yep. And seconded by council person Sole. On the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-00005. Council person Ridley. I.
Council person Mulings. I. Council person Bajiano. Hi. Council person Cle. I. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. Hi. Council person Deise. Hi. Council person Reber. I. And council president
Waterman. Motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-00005 is approved. 90 for final consideration and adoption of city ordinance 25-00005. Council person Ridley. I.
Council person Huings. Council person Bajanna. I. Council person Cle. I. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. I. Council person Deise. I. Council person Rivera. I. And council president
Waterman. City ordinance 25-005 is adopted unanimously. 90. On to our next second reading ordinance. Item 4.2, city ordinance 25-055, is an ordinance authorizing the
execution of a temporary construction easement and access easement agreement between the city of Jersey City and Stacco Development LLC, Stacco, authorizing Stacco to install and maintain one monitoring well at 605
Mammoth Street. This is a public hearing on this ordinance. Any member of the public wishing to be heard, please come up to the podium and state your name for the record. Motion second. Motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-055 was made by council person Ribera. Seconded by council person. On
the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-05. Council person Ridley. I. Council person healings. I. Council person Bajiano. Hi. Council person. I. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person
Gilmore. Hi. Council person Deise. Hi. Council person Rever. Hi. And council president Mortman. Hi. Motion carries 90 to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-055. For final consideration and adoption of city ordinance 25- 055.
Council person Ridley. I. Council person Huings. I. Council person Bajiano. Hi. Council person Sole. I. Council person Solomon. Council person Gilmore. I. Council person Dejis. Hi. Council person
Reber. Hi. And council president Mortman. City ordinance 25-055 is adopted unanimously. 90. On to our next second reading ordinance. Item 4.3. City Ordinance
25-056 is an ordinance of the Municipal Council amending Chapter 3, Administration of Government, Article 10, Department of Housing, Economic Development, and Commerce to amend the required wage, benefit, and leave standards for building service workers covered under development projects. This
is a public hearing on this ordinance. Any member of the public wishing to be heard, please come up to the podium and state your name for the record. Wait, wait. think we have somebody. Yep. If you can just spell your name before you start and I won't start the
clock until we have the complete spelling of your name. Okay. My name is Anna Maria Hill. A N A Maria M A R I A Hill H I L L. Thank you so much. Thank you. So, good evening, Council President Waterman and
members of the council. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. My name is Anamaria Hill and I serve as the state director for SEIU Local 32BJ. We represent over 185,000 property service workers on the East Coast, including
nearly 15,000 here in New Jersey, 1,500 of whom live here in Jersey City. I'm here to today I'm here today to express strong support for Ordinance 25-056, which updates and strengthens Jersey City's standard wage law. This
law was originally passed in 2012 to ensure that city's public dollars support good jobs, not poverty wages. But outdated standards and weak enforcement have left too many residential building service workers, porters, dormen, and concurge struggling
to get by even as luxury developments rise and developers reap enormous profits. The facts are clear. A small group of developers have have benefited from substantial city tax incentives, all while failing to invest in the workers who keep their buildings
running. These workers are disproportionately black and Latino, and despite driving the success of Jersey City's booming real estate sector, they remain shut out of the prosperity they helped to create. Rents here are now rank among the highest in the country.
Yet many of the workers who service these buildings live paycheck to paycheck, often without many without meaningful benefits. Ordinance 2556 addresses this injustice in five critical ways. First, it expands worker coverage. The current law only applies
to janitors and security officers. This ordinance would broaden coverage to all building service workers, including concierge, store persons, and handy people, ensuring more workers are protected under the law. Second, it updates wages and benefit standards. The
current wage floor is outdated and ineffective. The ordinance raises the minimum to the higher of 125% of the state minimum wage, which equates to 1936 an hour this year, 2025, or the relevant collective bargaining agreement
rate. It also aligns benefits like health care and paid time off with federal service contract act standards offering workers the security they deserve. Third, it adds anti-retil anti- retaliation protections. Workers must be
able to speak out about wage violations without fearing without fear of punishment. Take Javier Amador, a cleaner at 90 Christopher Columbus Drive. When he helped expose wage theft as an work site, he was fired. This ordinance would prohibit such
retaliation and create a presumption of wrongdoing. if an employer takes adverse action within 90 days of a worker asserting their rights. Fourth, it strengthens notice and pace of requirements. Right now, many workers don't even know they're covered by the law. The ordinance would require
employers to post clear notices of worker rights. Thank you. Thank you. Um, thank you. Just on behalf of the time is up. Thank you. Our next speaker, you can just state your name and spell your name for the record.
Sure. Uh my name is uh Joe Terzi. T A R R A Z I. Good evening counselors. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all of you tonight. I'm Joe Terzi. I'm a 32BJ member. I work as a concurge and a porter in a luxury apartment
building and a lifelong Jersey City resident. I'd like to talk to all of you about ordinance 25-056. Although I don't work in Jersey City, as a residential worker and as a city resident, I'd like to urge you all to
vote in favor for this ordinance to support essential workers like me. New development is reaching every corner of Jersey City with developers constantly asking for tax breaks. In exchange, the city makes developers ensure that workers like me are paid a standard wage
and benefits. But those standards haven't been updated since 2012. It's a standard that no longer represents a living wage and it doesn't represent our value either. I know it is like to have to take out trash and recycling for 200 apartments in one building or handle
nearly 100 packages a day while taking all sorts of requests from residents. Residential workers are the backbone of these buildings and we deserve a fair share of the wealth to create. This order is would set minimum
compensation at $24 an hour with 12 paid holiday a year and two weeks of pay vacation after one year of service. I can tell you that there is a lot of fear and uncertainty among essential workers that the burden on who bears the brunt
of rising cost is more unbalanced than it has ever been before. This new standard goes a long way towards fixing that. Thank you. This is still a public hearing on city ordinance 25-056. Any member of the public still
wishing to be heard, please come up to the podium and state your name for the record. Motion. Motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-056 was made by council person. May I have a second? Second. Second by council
person Ridley. On the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25day 056. Council person Ridley. Hi. Council person Huings. I. Council person Bajiano. Hi. Council person Sole. Hi. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council
person Gilmore. Hi. Council person Deise. Hi. Council person Rivera. Hi. And council president Waterman. Motion carries 90 to close a public hearing on city ordinance 25-056 for final consideration and
adoption of city ordinance 25-056. Council person Ridley I. Council person Huings I. Council person Bajiano. Hi. Council person Cle. I. Council person Solomon. Um I want to thank the members of 32BJ for coming out and
speaking in favor of this ordinance. uh when it was made clear to me that we hadn't updated the standard wage uh from the federal minimum wage to the state and the federal minimum wage remains that No, no, this is the vote. It's the vote. Can we be disclosing the ordinance, but
it's Oh, it's Don't worry. He's he's like he's like the New York Jets. He's behind at times. Don't worry about it. Um that uh you know basically you know was tied to the federal minimum wage which hasn't been risen in a decade plus and still at $7 an hour. was clear. We
needed to update the ordinance, make sure that uh any developer who gets city dollars, gets an abatement, uh has to ensure that uh the workers are paid living wages, fair wages, and not poverty wages. So proud to vote I. Council person Gilmore, this is actually
for the vote. This is to close the um um it's not for the Jets to win the Super Bowl. It's it's a vote. My goodness, they laughing hard out there. Um um first I want to thank uh my council colleague for bringing this um
to fruition. I think it's extremely important that we make sure that everyone is getting a fair wage. Um and this a step in the right direction. So I probably vote I council person Deise I. Council Person
Rivera I and Council President Waterman. City Ordinance 25-056 is adopted unanimously 90. On to our last second reading ordinance. Item 4.4. City Ordinance
25-057 is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 218 multiple dwellings if of the code of ordinances of the city of Jersey City by adding new section 12 entitled preventing algorithmic rent fixing in
the rental market, excuse me, in the rental housing market. This is a public hearing on this ordinance. Unfortunately, that's not going to hold. Um, and I see we have a a list of uh public speakers here. So, we're going to
start with our first public speaker. If you can just come up to the podium. I do have your name first. So, Sean. Yes. Before they start, we just want to let the speakers know we have three minutes and that's it. Right. We'll stick to the three minutes
and if you continue to speak, I will mute your mic. Okay. All right. All right, with that being said, our first speaker, if you can state your name for the record. Anna Maria Hill. A N A M A R I A H I L. Okay. Thank you, Council Council
President Waterman and the members of council. Thank you for the moment to speak. Uh in I'm here in strong support of ordinance 2557. Thank you to the entire council for voting to place this on tonight's agenda. I'd also like to thank Council Member Solomon for raising this issue and Assemblywoman Lopez and Senator
Gopal for championing this at the state level. This is a straightforward and urgent measure. It simply affirms that landlords and developers who benefit from our city's booming housing market cannot collude to fix prices and push rents higher through the use of so-called rent setting algorithms.
Here's what we know. Companies like Real Page and Yardi Systems have sold a software service to landlords and property managers under the promise that they can outperform the market by coordinating rent increases. These aren't just recommendations. their road map for collective price hikes and
they're enforced through real-time data sharing among competitors. It's no accident that Real Page advertises the ability to raise rents. In fact, one executive claimed that software could drive doubledigit rent hikes, something that in his words very few managers would be willing to do manually. This is
not innovation, it's exploitation, and it exactly what antitrust law was designed to prevent. As we speak, Real Page and many of the landlords using this software are being sued in class actions in federal court by the Department of Justice and most recently right here in New Jersey by Attorney
General Matt Matt Plton. That lawsuit named several major Jersey City landlords, including Kushner Real Estate, Greyar, Bazudo, and others. These are not fringe actors. They are major players in our city's housing markets. Attorney General Platkin put it bluntly. The defendants in this case
unlawfully lined their pockets at the expense of New Jersey renters. And he's right. Jersey City renters have seen a 50% increase in the rent since 2015. Our city is now routinely ranked in the top three of for the highest rents in the country, trailing only behind San
Francisco and New York. That's not coincidence. It's the result of unchecked profitering and workers, including the ones we represent, are among those being squeezed the hardest. SA32BJ represents the dormant concier cleaners and security officers who keep these buildings running. They don't get
to use algorithms to negotiate higher wages. Many of them already struggle to afford to live in the city they work in, and artificially inflated rents make that even harder. Ordinance 2557 would clarify what should already be obvious. Landlords cannot coordinate through
software to fix prices and undermine fair competition in the housing market. It's a common sense protenant proworker reform. It's so common sense that several cities across the country have already passed similar ordinances. We urge the council to send a clear message that rent gouging has no place in Jersey
City. Stand with its residents. Stand with working families. Stand with communities. Pass ordinance 250057. Thank you. Our next speaker, if you could just state your name and spell your name for the record, please. and you want to bring that mic
up towards you. Good evening, counselors. My name is Kylen Perez. It's spelled K A I L E N P E R E C. I am a 32 BJ member and currently employed as a
security guard for a computer software company and development in Caucus, New Jersey. I am addressing a counselor as a lifelong Jersey City resident speaking on how rent inflation driven by landlord
collusions through rent setting algorithm is impacting central workers like myself and threatening the stability of our entire community. I am currently facing significant challenge just to meet my basic needs.
With rent algorithm continue to drive up housing cost in Jersey City, I am increasingly worried about the very real possibility of no longer having a place to call home. With rent being
exacerbated by algorithms, I find myself asking, "How can I fairly continue to function and contribute in today's society?" The soaring rent in all of Jersey City are leaving many residents grappling with the fear of becoming
homeless. Many essential workers can no longer afford to pay high rent on the salary rates we are currently earning. Ordinance 25-057 will help alleviate the stress many of us face by preventing landlords
from colluding to raise rent across buildings in Jersey City. Please council members consider ordinance 25-057 as a call to action from the residents of Jersey City. This legislation will help ease the burden so
many of us are facing and allow lifime residents to remain in communities we call home for our entire lives. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Our next speaker
Joel Rothus RF. You don't have to spell it. Go ahead. Um coun good good evening council members um I'm speaking in support of ordinance 25-00057 entitled preventing algorithmic rent fixing in the rental house Marsik
given what the Trump administration and the real estate lobby are doing in Washington and across the country. It is more important than ever that we fight for state and local governments to have an to have and to exercise power to
prevent the abuse of these algorithms to prevent the use of their residents at the hands of absentee corporate landlords who are using these algorithms to siphon off hard-earned money, money that would otherwise be fed back into the local community.
Councilman Solomon, thank you for sponsoring this bill. Um, I understand that there are some loopholes that that may be addressed and may need to be fixed. And I I I understand that you may be submitting another uh ordinance for next week. Look forward to seeing
that. Thank you. Okay, our next speaker. Good evening, Danielle. D A N I E L L E Damo D and David A D and David A M O Council members, I rise in strong
support of ordinance 25-057 because this is a moment for moral clarity. Jersey City has a choice. Protecting the public or protecting the profit margins of corporate landlords using AI to game the housing market.
Let's be blunt. Real Page, Yardy, and their ilk don't just suggest rent prices. They collect sensitive data from multiple landlords and spit out inflated inflated pricing recommendations that landlords are then pressured to follow.
The result, artificially high rents and a decimated rental market where real competition doesn't stand a chance. That's not the free market. That's algorithmic collusion and our residents are the ones paying for it. These companies are already under federal
investigation and facing lawsuits for exactly this behavior. We don't need to wait until the damage is irreversible here in Jersey City. We've already watched neighborhoods hollow out, longtime residents pushed out, and affordable units vanish overnight. This
ordinance is a chance to draw a clear line in the sand. This isn't just a legal issue. It's a justice issue. Because these tools don't hit luxury developers hardest. They hit renters in historically workingclass neighborhoods. They deepen inequality and accelerate
gentrification, pricing out seniors, teachers, essential workers, the very people who built and sustain this city. The irony? These tools are marketed as a way to optimize rent. But what they're really optimizing is return on
investment for landlords at the expense of human lives, neighborhoods, and community stability. Let's let's be clear. We are not anti-technology. We are anti-exploitation. When technology is used to manipulate a basic human need
like housing, it's our job to step in. By passing ordinance 25-057, we send a powerful message that Jersey City will not be a playground for agometic greed. We will protect our residents, our housing market, and our
values. I urge you, vote yes, not just for what's right today, but for the future we want to build. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Sarah Lavine. S A R A H L E V I N E. I can't hear you, Sarah. I'm sorry.
Sarah Lavine. S A R A H L E V I N E. Thank you. Good evening. I'm a Jersey City native and a resident and I'm also an attorney. I'm a former deputy attorney general for the state of New Jersey and I'm an expert in antitrust and housing law. I'm here to support the
proposed ban on algorithmic rent fixing and I want to start from first principles of competition law. If I own a bodega in Jersey City and I have to decide what price to charge for a can of beans, what can I do? I can research what every other store in town is charging and I can decide if I want to
charge less, maybe take a hit on profit, maybe get more customers, or maybe I charge more because I think I have a better product. Here is what I unequivocally cannot do. If there is another bodega across the street, so a competitor, I cannot walk over there and say, "I'm selling my beans for $2 and so
are you." But let's both charge $ 250 and then everyone on this block will have to pay more or travel further. That is facially illegal price fixing and it's anti-competitive because it artificially increases prices and it distorts the whole market through collusion. And it does not matter how
that collusion happens. If I tell the other guy what prices I am charging and he agrees to charge the same, that is collusion. But even if I do not tell him what price I am charging and I just say let's both charge 250, that is collusion. And if I just say based on my
research, I recommend that we both charge 250 and he does, that is collusion like any other. It's illegal price fixing. It is also illegal if instead of doing that myself, I enlist a third party to do it. If I engage a company, let's call it Real Beans, and I
tell it I've been charging $2, and Real Beans recommends to both me and my neighbor that we charge $ 250, that has the exact same result of artificially beyond what the market calls for, increasing prices. That hurts customers, and critically, it also hurts
law-abiding, actually competing businesses. All of this, without a single exception, applies to the housing market. If I am a landlord, any kind of landlord, I cannot go to my neighbor and propose or recommend specific rent prices. And I cannot ask a third party
to do the same thing for me. And I cannot do that because that distorts the market in a single direction at the expense of renters and to the artificial profit of landlords on the supply side. The proposed ordinance is common sense. It holds landlords accountable to the
very same standards of marketplace fairness that apply to every single other business in this city. It does not hurt law-abiding landlords in any way because they can still set prices however they want based on any analysis they want to do based on any widely
available information. Again, just like any other business, if you are on the fence about this ordinance, I encourage you to ask yourself one single question, and that is, do I believe in the free market? And if the answer is yes, then you should vote yes to eliminate this
unfair and harmful distortion in our housing market due to rent fixing. Thank you. Our next speaker, Daniel Feldman, D-N FELD, man-m Thank you, Councilman Solomon, for
bringing forward this important ordinance and this proposal to combat rental price fixing in Jersey City addresses a substantial threat to our community. It's a critical step in protecting our residents from manipulative rent hikes driven by algorithms. I commend you for bringing
this ordinance to a vote and I fully support it and hope that you all vote yes on this to pass it. However, I did want to bring up a few loopholes in the ordinance as it stands now that deserve to be addressed in a future ordinance. For one, the ordinance currently bans
landlords from paying for algorithmic rent setting services. But what about free versions? Companies can and often do offer tools at no cost, perhaps through subsidiaries, trade groups, or internally developed software based on public data. Whether money changes hands
or not, the use of these tools must be clearly prohibited. Second, licensed real estate agents are not explicitly covered in this current ordinance, and that's a major oversight. Without clear inclusion in the language of the ordinance, there's nothing to stop
agents from facilitating or using these pricing tools on behalf of landlords, and we cannot allow this loophole to undermine the ordinanc's core protections. Third, there's no mechanism to address the rents that have already been inflated by these algorithms. If we
ignore the past, we're letting ongoing harm persist. So, we need a way to unwind and correct those price distortions to restore fairness in the housing market. And finally, the penalties. A $2,000 daily fine sounds significant to you or I, but for large
corporate landlords, it might be more of like a rounding error or a minor cost of doing business. Instead, we should tie the penalty to the scale of the violation, $2,000 per apartment per day. That would send a real message and serve as a genuine deterrent. Council members,
uh, this ordinance is a good start and I am fully in supported in support of it because we need some protections on the books as soon as possible starting tonight. However, we need a followup to the ordinance in the near future and please consider us as a resource for
future ordinance to ordinances to close up any potential loopholes. Thank you. Our next speaker Mark Boils, M A R K B O Y L E S. Thank you, Councilman Solomon, for introducing this critical ordinance to combat the
plague of rental price fixing in Jersey City. Your initiative addresses a critical issue that deeply affects our community, and for that, I'm truly grateful. I fully support the proposed legislation. It may need some follow-up because there are some loopholes that bad actors could exploit and the
enforcement and transparency could be improved. However, we need this legislation now and I urge the whole council to approve it. The concerns um following on from those concerns Dan mentioned a couple of seconds ago, he
mentioned free or non-monetary use of services, real estate agents, addressing pre-existing inflation and inadequate penalties. I would like to add enforcement challenges and burden of proof. Uh proving that a landlord's
using prohibited service will be tough. The burden of proof rests with the tenant or the city which presents a significant hurdle to effective enforcement. There's a lack of data transparency. The ordinance does not require landlords to disclose how they set rents or what information they use.
Not the values, but the actual types of information. This lack of transparency makes enforcement incredibly challenging. Mandating data transparency would significantly aid in addressing violations. Next point, retention of old
data. The ordinance doesn't require landlords who previously used rentixing services to delete or stop using the data they've already obtained. Lastly, no protections for whistleblowers. There are no specific
protections for employees of property management companies who might report violations. Without such protections, reporting by employees could be limited. In the future, we need a follow-up ordinance. To borrow a phrase, we need one big beautiful bill to
address all of these issues caused by landlords use of price fixing software that makes life so hard for tenants. Tenants have a lot to offer when members of this council draft legislation. Together we could have come up with a tighter ordinance. Please consider us as
resource for the future. In summary, let's work together to create the one big beautiful bill, make it truly comprehensive. But until then, I urge the whole council to approve this ordinance as written and to adopt it as soon as possible. Thank you.
You. Hi, my name is Noel. That too loud? No. Noel Brower. N O E L L E. N O E L L E. Last name Brower. B R O W E R.
Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Noel Brower and I'm a resident and renter in Jersey City. I'm here to express my support for ordinance 250057 because I am a person, not an algorithm. My husband and I came to Jersey City during the Great Recession.
We had both lost our jobs in New York City. Jersey City offered us a second chance. We could afford to live here and rebuild our lives and we did. We love it here. We participate and vote here. Now, I'm a writer and last year I was commissioned by Jersey City's own Sparanza Theater Company to write a play
about Mary T. Norton, who I hope all of you are familiar with. In 1925, she was the first Democratic woman to be elected to Congress, and she represented us. She was from Jersey City, a daughter of Irish immigrants. She fought for the poor. She fought for Jersey City, our
city. She was instrumental in the passage of the 1938 Fair Labor and Standards Act that gave us a minimum wage, a 40-hour work week, a right to overtime, and prohibited oppressive child labor. I invoke her now because she would fight for us. She would fight for our right to shelter as a basic
necessity. She would fight for renters's rights. She would fight for and pass this ordinance. Being a renter can be tricky. While it allows for a certain degree of freedom, it also leaves one vulnerable to the ups and downs of the market. We used to be able to negotiate our rent.
Now there is no person we can negotiate with. In fact, the last time we were told the terms were non-negotiable. Take it or leave it. We are now disposable. That's when we heard the rumors about real page and the rent manipulations. This has led to overcrowding in our building. The landlords look the other
way as long as the rent is paid. This changes a community. It becomes more transient, less stable, less invested in the future of Jersey City. Many of our friends have had to leave because of rent increases of 20% or more. Connections are lost and we are all
uprooted. The developers want turnover. They want us out again. How does this build a community? How does this encourage families to stay here, to volunteer and give back, to raise their children here? It doesn't. It erodess those bonds that create a healthy society that may have place a home. I'm
for fair market competition, but I want it to be fair. It is not sustainable as it stands. And now I learned that our landlord and others have been using a software real page sharing our personal data with other landlords in order to auction off apartments the highest bidder to manipulate and use our data
against us and without our permission. Why as a renter can I not feel like I have a home? A home that makes me feel safe that allows me to exhale and build a life. I don't want to be reduced to zeros and ones in some software system where my value is null. All I ask, all anyone asks is that the system be fair.
And right now it isn't. In fact, it's illegal. We are at a crossroads. We do not want to go the way of the American oligarchs with names of Kushner, determine our fate as a city, as a people. I urge you to support ordinance 250057. Stop the artificial inflation of
our rents that are destroying the fabric of the city. Vote Jersey strong, not Jersey City wrong. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker, Wendy Paul, P A L, Jersey City
Apartment Owners Association. Thank you. Good evening, council. I want to begin by thanking Councilman Solomon for beginning a dialogue and meeting with the members of the Jersey City Apartment Owners Association and myself on the rising
costs of living in Jersey City. There is an affordability crisis here, the state, and throughout the country. It is no different for owners, managers, and builders of housing and all of our city's residents. The JCOA appreciates the opportunity to engage with
Councilman Solomon and all members of the council on these economic challenges. The ordinance before you today still needs more work. Ordinances like this one have been successfully enacted in other cities such as San Francisco, Minneapolis, and
Philadelphia. Those three cities developed finely crafted language that prohibits the use of non-public data in algorithms used to project and model a building's finances and suggest optional level of run based in part of non-public data.
The ordinance is still very broad and takes away from some of the adjudicative authority of the office of tenant landlord relations and creates a burdensome private right of action so that any individual without any substantial evidence can bring legal action against any multif family owner
forcing a costly and time-consuming legal process based on suspicion and not fact. A further burden is the fact that so many few property owners actually use this technology here in Jersey City. In 2024, the previous administration of the
White House, the B administration studied the use of non-public data and rent setting algorithms in a report titled the cost of anti-competitive pricing algorithms in rental housing. It found that the number of housing providers using this technology in the
New York metro area is approximately 5%. Assuming that Jersey City house assuming that Jersey City housing market is as much as 10% of the entire region, the inference is less than 1% of housing providers may use the tools in this
area. Given this figure, this amended yet still broadly written ordinance is the solution in search of a problem. Do we expect that this broadband will increase the supply of housing? The council can advocate for relief for continuously increasing utility rates
like PSCG, insurance prevs, tariffs, and other financial threats that make the cost of building and maintaining multif family homes so challenging. While the amended ordinance is a start to a more perfect local law, we ask that the council consider that this proposal be
tabled or we continue to work on it so that the whole council can weigh in on making initiatives to solve real problems facing the majority of our residents in Jersey City. Thank you. You our next speaker. Hello, my name is Kevin Weller.
Council President, members of the council, residents of Jersey City, I want to sincerely thank Councilman Solomon for championing ordinance 250057. This is vital legislation that confronts one of the most insidious threats facing tenants today,
algorithmic rent fixing. His leadership on this issue deserves our genuine appreciation as few elected officials have the courage to stand up to the real estate lobby. This ordinance must pass today without delay. We are witnessing an
unprecedented convergence of technology and real estate that creates a dangerous money cycle. Developers deploy algorithms to extract maximum rent from tenants. That money funds political campaigns which
then protect developer interests, allowing them to extract even more from residents. It's a perpetual motion machine where regular people's rent checks ultimately finance their own displacement. At Portside, we have
observed concerning patterns. Units sitting vacant well beyond the reporting timeline required by city ordinance, seemingly skirting transparency laws while creating artificial scarcity in the market. Meanwhile, rents continue
climbing beyond what the law allows. These patterns mirror exactly what industry insiders have revealed about algorithmic pricing systems. They coordinate outcomes that would trigger antirust concerns if landlords arranged them
directly. What makes this moment critical is the looming threat at the federal level. The real estate lobby has quietly embedded language in pending legislation that would strip municipalities of authority to regulate AI systems for 10 years. While local
protections cannot survive complete federal preeemption, passing this ordinance now creates a vital precedent that will attract national attention and might help to put up the muchneeded fight. The hardships at Portsight Towers offer a preview of what happens when
technology outpaces local protections. Council members, we at Portide Towers look forward to working with Councilman Solomon on strengthening this ordinance after it passes tonight, which it must. 30 seconds
left. since I'm following I guess landlord lobbyist 5% sounds pretty low unless the 5% control 60% of the apartment units there was another study done during the Biden administration Elizabeth Warren headed
it up and she found 40% of all rental units in the entire country are subject to real page and price fixing algorithms these are big numbers thank Our next speaker. Hi, my name is David Wilson. Uh, good evening, council
president, members of the council. I'm here to speak on behalf of this ordinance 25-057. Technology is morally neutral. Technology in and of itself is not good or bad. Doesn't necessarily lead to any particular kind of outcome. What matters
is what the technology is, how it's used, and who it benefits. Um, the relationship between a landlord and a tenant is extremely asymmetrical. It's very asymmetrical in terms of the information that each party has access to and it's very asymmetrical
in terms of the needs of the people that are on both sides. And to put it, you know, bluntly, people need a place to live. Um, I remember I was a tenant at uh Portide Towers from 2005 to
2007, and I remember each year receiving the notice of a rent increase and feeling uh feeling a um like a uh what do you call it? in the pit of my stomach, feeling a tightness in the pit of my stomach that
that thinking about was I going to be able to pay this increase. Was did it make any sense to pay this large of an increase? And then what you're thinking about is if I do accept this, what are they going to do next year? Am I going
to be able to make that one next year or and the year after that? Or on the other hand, what if I try and go somewhere else? What if every place that's in the area where I'm trying to live so that I can go to my job is charging comparable,
you know, extremely high rents. Um, so these are the decisions they had to make. I ended up I ended up leaving Port Site Towers in 2007. Um, and I ended up being back there now. But, you know, imagine my horror when I find out
that that was what I was dealing with without rent page, without algorithmic rent price fixing. Um, but imagine my heart to know that there's a system of big data that knows exactly how desperate I was, that knows you exactly
what my finan not just what my financial situation was, but the des the amount of desperation and the financial situation of everybody else that's trying to rent in the same area. It's an enormous amount of information that puts an a an
incredibly, you know, increased amount of pressure on people who are already under a lot of pressure. So, I do understand that this that there are loopholes that maybe that this ordinance I think could be improved. Um, and so I'd like you to consider that going forward, but first I would like you to
pass this ordinance today. Thank you. Our next speaker, if you can just spell your name. Absolutely. Good evening, Bruce Shapiro. B R U C E S H A P I R O. Good evening, members of the council. My name is Bruce Shapiro. I'm here tonight
on behalf of both New Jersey Realtors and the Liberty Board of Realtors, which is the local board that covers Hudson County. We're actually not here tonight to speak in favor of or against this ordinance. We do understand what what uh precipitated it and um obviously the
issues affecting residents of Jersey City. Um but we are here tonight to request an amendment to the ordinance um um to one of the changes that was incorporated after its introduction concerning the definition of non-public competitor information. First off, um we
would like to thank Councilman Solomon and your staff uh particularly Isaac for clarifying uh in this ordinance that as long as they're acting in the course of their regular business under their license in line with all applicable uh state laws and regulations um that this
does not apply to real estate agents. I would also point out I know a few people uh hadn't brought that up. I believe there is a provision in this ordinance. Um I don't want to speak on behalf of the council that does say if an agent is actually working directly with the company doing an algorithm then they
would be subject to the ordinance. But otherwise the exemption is if they're just engaging in the course of their regular business similar to that clarification that was introduced u a few weeks ago when this ordinance was put forward. We would like to respectfully request
whether it's tonight um or uh we heard there will be some changes coming to uh this ordinance in the future um that an amendment be made under the definition of non-public competitor information basically clarifying that entities such as multiple listing services which are
public uh facing websites where obviously you can look at homes for sale or for rent um that they're not included in the definition under non-public competitor information. I know uh copies of requested language was sent to your office earlier today and I do have
copies tonight if anyone needs them. Happy to share them with any members of the council or staff. The reason that we're requesting this is following discussions with one of our MLS's and there are representatives from uh that here tonight as well as our attorneys.
Uh they believe that MLS's might unintentionally be included in the bill. They're entities where obviously not only the public can access information on homes that are being sold or rented, but also where data is sto is stored on homes that have been sold or rented in the past that members of an MLS can
access. Our concern is that an MLS may unintentionally be included in the ordinance, even if that is not the intent, which is the reason for this requested change that was sent over to Councilman Solomon's office earlier today. Uh, and as I indicated, if the council would like, I do have copies of
that change. Uh, if there are questions, we're here to answer them, whether it's now or later in the evening. And, uh, thank you for taking the time to hear our concerns. Our next speaker, good evening. My name is Shannon Ray. SN O N R A. I'm speaking tonight a few
remarks in strong support of ordinance 25-057. Thank you councilman council person Solomon for bringing the ordinance to this point. Um I was raised with the belief that communities are strongest when the people who run those communities whether it be politicians,
police, teachers or healthcare workers live in those cities. And I believe this ordinance goes to the heart of this goal and that voting yes is vitally important. Voting no is a vote against regular folks who just want to run the
city well, who want to serve the city well. We look forward to the next ordinance that will amend and tighten up the language that will better protect tenants. And I again urge you in the strongest words to please uh vote yes. Thank you.
you. Our next speaker. Good evening. My name is Eve Taylor. I'm an accountant speaking in support of ordinance 25507. Failure to stop rent price fixing by allowing use of price fixing software as well as the Philip administration's
total refusal to maintain a basic accounting rent control price ledger are both audit violations which have gone on more than 5 years. The city of Jersey City is not in compliance with New Jersey state law NJSA530-6.5, which requires that the city must address audit violations
within 60 days by filing a plan of correction with the DCA. State law NJAC 530-6.5 mandates audit violations be stopped within 60 days, not five or more years. The city is best advised to pass
ordinance 25-057 and immediately take necessary action to bring rent control accounting as a whole into compliance with all applicable state laws. Thank you. You state your name for the record, please. Council Suzanne Deise. Um, just
want to spell that for me, please. I'm sorry. Yes. Suzanne. S U Z A N E and then D Feliz is D as a dog, E F as in Frank, E L I C E. Thank you. Um so I just want to thank uh
Councilman Solomon for championing this ordinance. Uh ordinance25-057. Um, for too long we've had this cartel of essent essentially a cartel running rents and dictating rents um, across the country and we need this
to stop and actually make sense for the neighborhoods we live in. Um, data just takes out any kind of sensitivity any kind of other factors. We know that real page is not allowing rents to be altered beyond I think two out of 10 rents that
the that the data or the program sets. Um so you know there's it just doesn't make any sense. So I just want to thank you for championing this. My my main question and concern is how we will how you will enforce it. Um there's no sense in having this ordinance if we can't
enforce it as a city. Um, so I think that that's where I would like to know more answers what kind of resources we put to make sure this ordinance is run properly and that we do the right thing for tenants and our tax paying and vote
vote uh voting population. Thank you. State your name for the record, please. Cogland. B R E N D A N C O U G H O L O L A N. Thank you, Councilman Solomon, for speaking, for bringing this legislation up. I am I, like many of my fellow
tenants, is am pro this. As I said in my last speech two weeks ago, these algorithms are designed to create trust by adding a middleman and cleverly ignoring the fact that it's a trust, claiming technology instead of price fixing. That is what these algorithms do and have been doing in many sectors in
our daily lives from rent to agriculture to everywhere. I do have some concerns about some of the loopholes left in legislation, but right now I prefer to pass this pass this ordinance and be start enforcing it and increase the
penalties so that way larger landlords can ignore it and call it well being fined again. Who cares? Personally, I would suggest linking compliant linking non-compliance to being unable to raise rents in newer buildings as that would
force them to act to keep their data public. That force them to actually follow the ordinance and not be able to ignore this the fines. Thank you, Jessica Bran. B as in boy rn. Good evening, city council. Um,
first I wanted to say I'm here tonight on behalf of course of our tenant coalition and a lot of us are port side but well beyond port side as well. Can you hear me? Yeah. Thank you, Councilman Rivera. Um, and we really
want to express our collective thanks and strong support for this particular ordinance 25-057 because it marks a bold and necessary step towards protecting Jersey City residents from algorithmic red setting and price collusion. And it
matters very much to feel like after speaking here on basically topics of rent and access to housing for essentially years at this point that we're being heard in a way by approaching this um legislation. So we applaud Councilman Solomon, we applaud
you, the council for recognizing that homes are not commodities and that the use of software to inflate rents and manufacture scarcity which is being done obviously in our building. We see units sitting empty, as Kevin mentioned, for not weeks, but actually
months. That manufactured scarcity is incompatible with housing justice. And I think there's an added benefit of this particular ban. And it's that if you do believe in a free market and that you believe in a free market competition,
that typically drives up the quality of the product. What we're experiencing port side right now is reduced service. We're seeing, you know, they're not cleaning their pest control is an issue. We have water intrusion. Um we have safety
issues. We have superintendent issues, repairs that take long times. Um and it's simply the not the fact that if it were free market pricing that people would not accept that and consumers would refuse to live in such a place.
But given that all of the housing in the area is market price, market price, this overinflated market price, there's nowhere to go. And if you live and work in Jersey City or if you live in Jersey City and work in New York, going farther out doesn't actually save you that much
money. It would also reduce the cost and process burden on Jersey City because you wouldn't be investigating all of the complaints and violations and illegal right uh illegal rent petitions as well. So this helps us all. It helps the
consumers, the renters, it helps um demand a better better product that delivers better safety and quality of housing and it helps the city as well. So, an algorithm is, you know, I use computers all the time and algorithms
with my work. I'm a scientist, as you know. Um, I'm not anti-technology in in the slightest, but an algorithm that perpetuates the opinion of a landlord is one that does not serve the community. Thank you for your time. Please vote yes.
Our next speaker, Joe Terazzi. T A R R A Zi. Thank you. Hello, counselors. I'd like to introduce myself again. I'm Joe Terzi, a proud 32BJ member and a porter and a concurge at the Horizon House luxury apartment
building in Bergen County. I'd like to speak with you with all you about this ordinance because I'm concerned for the viability of living in Jersey City as an essential worker. I lived here for 25 years coming from New York after finding a red stabilized
apartment and a union job. Like any long-term resident, I can tell you how much the city has changed. Luxury luxury apartments are popping up all over and raising prices for everyone, especially around me where I live downtown. But ma but making it even more
unaffordable are landlords fixing rents using algorithms. Algorithms like real page and yard systems have no place in our society. They've rent so high that only a select few can afford them. Jersey City already ranks among the top
three in the country in highest rental prices. Imagine how worse this could could get if we don't re in landlords now. unfortunate that I live in an unstabilized apartment with my partner, but I worry what might happen if our
landlord sells decides to sell the building. I don't want to be priced out of my community all over again. I urge you all to support this ordinance and and to ensure that Jersey City remains a city that welcomes working families.
Thank you. Our next speaker, Adrian Orosco, A D R I A N O R O Z C O. Um, so I'm the uh political director for uh 32BJ. And um
first I just want to thank um Council President Waterman and the rest of the council for placing this on the agenda today. um as well as for months ago voting for a resolution that urged the uh state legislature to uh work on
similar legislation. Um thank you to Councilman Solomon for uh bringing this on the agenda and and authoring this piece of legislation. Um and I think we we've also forgotten that our Hudson County Commissioners have also stood on this issue. So, I want to thank
Commissioner Bill ODay for um authoring a resolution that also urged the state legislature uh to pass this kind of legislation and for the rest of the commissioner board for for voting in favor of it. Um I'd just like to say that this is a common sense piece of
legislation. It's narrowly tailored um even more than some of the examples we see in other cities around the country. Um, you know, I think some sensible changes have been made such as uh getting uh excluding realtors from this
ordinance. You know, we understand that they collect information from different owners and then provide owners with recommendations on how much to rent at and how much to sell a home at. We understand that and makes sense to exclude realtors from this. Um, we the
uh bill also excludes owners of multiple properties. So if you own multiple buildings and uh you'd like to put that all into a algorithm so that you can view how much to raise rents among your own properties, you can do that because
uh you know it's not collusion. You're not dealing with another landlord. Um and um it even allows for the use of some public information uh information that is readily available to the public at no cost because it's not proprietary
data. These are, you know, common sense changes to this ordinance. Um and uh but would like to address um the issue of the multiple listing service. You know, we don't think it makes sense to exclude that from this. Realtors are already
excluded. So, if they recommend a price to their client, they are not caught up by this ordinance. Uh the MLS is not a public database, right? Only realtors can load information onto there. If we exclude the MLS from this ordinance, we
might be opening up a loophole for landlords to be able to take that information that is not readily uh and freely available to the public to then use it for the same purposes that they're using uh real page uh systems for. So, I urge you to vote in favor of
this ordinance and and thank you all again for uh raising this issue for the past few months. Thank you. Our next speaker, Lever Web Washington. Thank you. Thank you. And
thank you, council. I come here council after council fighting for housing class people that got to live in this city that builds this city. That's why I went for years to Washington DC on
the affordable housing coalition and I tell people there's a difference between affordable housing, workass housing and middle class. There's a difference. We are running people out of this city cuz
they can't afford to work here and live here. And I appreciate this to bring it back to reality. That's why I do affordable housing so people can live here and work here. And
this is why I get on developers like the last one I was here with to make sure that somebody can stay in them houses permanently, not 10 years, 20 years and take affordable housing and put it to market housing. When we built Newport
City, then people I got a lady here still living 40ome years. 40ome years we got away from making developers put housing down here, uptown, parts town, wherever. They need to build affordable
housing in their units. They building 200, 500 units and nobody can't live in there. These people work there and can't live in there. It's crazy. We got to do better. We got to do better. P is on it.
We still have to do better. We got to make sure when they come here and want help from here that they got affordable in there. They We not We need to stop letting them build houses and
skyscrapers without any affordable in it. It's crazy. People can build them houses, work in them, and can't live in them. Something's
wrong. This is a lesson. Here's a knife. It ain't about money. It's about somebody got to lay their head at night. Y'all be blessed. I'm out of here. My granddaughter got her strong. And your name? Shireen McCormack.
You spell that first. S H I R I N M A C O R M A CK. Good evening, council. As a Jersey City Woman of Action 2024 and Hudson County Women's History Month
honore 2025, I wanted to speak tonight in support of ordinance 250057 and those who already spoke about preventing algorithms from determining rent prices in the housing market. Thank you, Council Solomon, for bringing this
before the council and all of the council seeking to protect tenants. It's about fairness to community, to humanity. It's about justice. It's about equity. Thank you. Hello, Michelle Hirs. M I C H E L E
H I R S C H. Good evening. I stand before you tonight to urge you to take action against algorithmic rent fixing by passing ordinance 2557. This is a crucial step towards protecting Jersey City residents from
predatory practices as detailed in Attorney General Plain's complaint. No one knows the devastating impact of artificially inflated rents better than the tenants of Portside Towers. While Equity Residential wasn't named in Platkins complaint, Equity is a
defendant in similar lawsuits in Washington DC and other jurisdictions. Equity owns at least five properties in Jersey City, including Portide Towers, buildings we know should have been subject to rent control since their
construction. The connection between our experience and the price fixing scheme is particularly troubling. Paragraph 169 of the Platkin complaint specifically details how real page developed ways to quote runaround rent control laws. At
Portite Towers, we've witnessed the consequences firsthand with some residents facing rent increases beyond 50%. In addition, now we're now subjected to all kinds of junk fees. Things that used to be part of our rent have now been recatategorized to extort
more money from us. These aren't legitimate market forces at work. This is what happens when companies manipulate what they call market rate. A term that has lost all meaning when the market itself has been rigged through
collusion and algorithmic price fixing. The human toll is immeasurable. As you know, Portside Towers residents have experienced the anguish of potential displacement, financial strain, and the constant anxiety of not knowing if they
can afford to stay in their homes. We're not just statistics in a lawsuit. We're families, workers, and community members who contribute to the fabric of the city. Every error in oversight in our city's housing regulations seems to
mysteriously favor landlords and developers. Truly, the pattern defies statistics. But I'm here because I believe the that change is possible. I ask you to continue standing firmly on the side of Jersey City residents and
voting yes on this ordinance and vigorously enforcing the ordinance and holding accountable those who have profited from this scheme, including Equity Residential and all others who have exploited our housing market while
extracting millions from Jersey City residents. Thank you. Please vote yes. This is still a public hearing on this ordinance. Any member of the public still wishing to be heard, please come up to the podium and state your name for the record. Motion second. Motion to
close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-057 was made by council president Waterman, seconded by council person Sole. On the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 25-057, council person Ridley I. Council
person Huings. Hi. Council person Bajanna. Hi. Council person Sole. Hi. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. Council person Deise. I. Council person Rivera. Hi. And council
president Waterman. Motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-057 is approved. 90. That was just a public hearing. Just a public hearing. Oh. Okay. Before I ask for a
motion for uh not a motion before I ask to adopt I believe um as spoken I believe at the caucus council person Solomon has an amendment to read into the record. Uh so do you want me to read the amendment or motion first? I'll make
a motion to amend. I'll make a motion to amend. city ordinance 25-057 and those amendments you will read into the record. So this council person Solomon's making the motion. This is what was shared with the council on Monday. Oh, Monday. Um it strikes the
first and fifth whereas clauses. So those two clauses are struck. Then um definition 1 AI will now read coordinate or coordinating means with respect to a service provider collecting non-public
competitor information from real estate lessers and and then that's the that section and then uh section definition 1 AI2 will now read recommending to any other party rental prices, lease terms
or occupancy levels to a real estate lesser using the information described in subp paragraph 1 AI and then sub clause A. This definition exempts owners of multiple properties for actions related exclusively to multiple properties controlled by the same real
estate property owner. And and then last is a added section in that same section 1 A6 and that says non-public competitor information means information including but not limited to prices, supply
levels, security deposits, ideal occupancy levels, lease contract termination, renewal dates or residential dwelling units or any other material lease terms that is less than 365 days old and is not widely and ready readily available to the public at no
cost. Okay, council members, we have a motion to amend city ordinance 25-057 as read into the record by council person Solomon and motion made by council person Solomon. May I have a second? Second made by council person
Rivera on the motion to amend city ordinance 25-057. Council person Ridley I. Council person Julings I. Council person Bajana I. Council person Soy going to vote I because I want to see the finished
product, but I personally don't feel comfortable voting on the final final bill tonight, but I am going to vote I to see the final product. Council person Solomon, I'm going to vote I and then if I could just state briefly and other folks mention uh possible amendments,
I'm working with everybody on those uh moving forward for the June 11th meeting and all all parties that spoke out and sharing all those uh suggestions with the council. As you heard, there's some disagreement. So, we want to take a little bit of time there. Uh, but I do also in
uh want to speak to the urgency of passing today, both because of the extraordinary uh increases in Jersey City rent. And then something that was mentioned by a few speakers, which I only learned today, uh, but the uh, House of Representatives is considering, you know, banning municipalities from
engaging in these types of actions. And I think it's very important that we speak directly to that as it's being considered in Washington to say no, it's extraordinarily important that we have the ability to regulate our own real estate market. Uh so with that I vote I. Council person Gilmore I. Council person
Deise I. Council person Rever I. And council president Waterman. City ordinance 25-057. Motion to amend I'm sorry. Motion to amend city ordinance 25-057 is approved
90 for final consideration and adoption of city ordinance 25-057 as amended. Council person Ridley I. Council person Huings I hope that we can legally enforce this
and I vote I. Council Person Bajana, Council Person, I have a lot of questions. Um, I don't know if I'm going to put them on the record tonight or if you can answer them or
um, okay, so we said publicly available data would be the loophole and it would have to be at no cost, but Oprah costs money and even if you use the internet, that costs money as well. So, I don't know how um how that's going to
work. Um what else? I don't know. You know what? I'm I'm going to vote I. But this is the there there are a lot of concerns that I have as far as enforcability and if
we've engaged the prosecutor and division of uh housing on this, but I'm going to vote I in good faith. Thank you, Council Person Solomon. So, a couple of of thank yous here. Um first, I want to thank uh the tenants at Portside Towers.
You know, a lot of this began with a case called Weller versus Real Page, and uh they've been really calling attention to this for two years now. So, I think it's fitting that Jersey City is taking action uh in the city where a lot of the the concerns about real page were first raised. Um I want to thank the members
of 32BJ who have been an extraordinary uh voice for uh justice in Jersey City and for protecting uh working folks. Um, I want to thank obviously all my team and everybody who worked on this and thank my council colleagues for always collaborating in in behalf of of a better Jersey city. Um, I want to share
a story that someone shared with me today about how real page works. Um, when they knew I was considering this ordinance, they they said, "I hate real page." And I was like, "Okay, why?" and they said that um they had been going to get a rental renewal and they had been given a price uh via email from the uh
agent at the company and uh they said, "Okay, we think we're going to renew at this price. We're going to go down to the agent tomorrow morning and sign our lease papers." So, they go to bed, wake up the next morning, go down to the agent. And the agent says, "I'm sorry, that was yesterday's renewal price.
Today's renewal price is $100 more." and they said, "Okay, well, we want to negotiate." And they said, "I'm not allowed to negotiate. The price is set from the computer screen." And that kind of impersonal behavior obviously is just
concerning. But the fact to learn that that additional $100, that person paid $1,200 more dollars out of their pocket to a landlord, was set because that company knew what all of the competitors in the area were setting. new proprietary data that no one should have
a right to know. Um that's just wrong. That is the opposite of the free market and we have to take action to stop it. Um I did also want to share a quote from the federal lawsuit. Um a landlord was talking about the real page product and
he said this in a public setting. He said, "I've always liked this product because your algorithm uses proprietary data from other subscribers to suggest rents and term." That that's classic price fixing. He said it on the record
ended up in the lawsuit. Um, we we should all be able to agree that that this system is is wrong and as our rents skyrocket, there are many causes. We acknowledge that there are many many causes, but we should we all be able to take action on one of the the main
causes here. Now, this bill is not perfect. We're going to work with all parties to make it better. Um, we have limits to just what a city can do. But by moving now, we are sending a message that this conduct is unacceptable. We're calling on our state legislature to pass their bill, and we're doing everything
in our power to protect Jersey City renters. And that's what I think we should be doing as public servants. Uh, so with that, I'm very excited and proudly vote I. Thank you, Council Person Gilmore. I council person deise. Hi, Council Person
Rea. So, I want to just share a couple of comments. Um, definitely to my council colleague, you know, this is a great ordinance. Um, and I also want to actually thank, you know, and I concur with him, you
know, port side, you guys really, you know, for the past three years have been here kicking ass. And you know, this is this is one of the uh you know, uh highlights, you know, keep up the good work. [Music]
Um you know, since I've been here, uh I probably received 22 texts by people that are watching streaming on this. U and I'm just going to make a sad comment. I'm going to vote eye on this,
by the way, but I'm just going to make a sad comment uh with one of the speakers that uh made a pretty poor choice example with uh bodegas and beans and uh they were pretty concerned about that. You know, a
lot of Latino people chimed in and they were pretty offended by that. I'm sure that the speaker didn't mean anything by it, but uh to some it was offensive. So, um, once again, great job, Councilman.
And, uh, yes, you know, in order to enforce this, I mean, in order for this to work, there has to be some enforcement. Um, and I think that, um, and there are going to be more amendments to this. I think that, you know, you can see the puzzle coming together and, uh, that's what this is
all about. 32BJ, you guys have been amazing advocates as well. Keep up the great work. and um probably vote I council president Waterman um I want to thank the public for speaking. Um one of
the residents came up and I know her frustration cuz they come every council meeting because of the port side issue and she is for it but she said I just hope we can enforce it. That that's that is you know really
um nerve-wracking for people who really need help. It really is. I I I believe this is a good ordinance. I am going to vote yes for it, but my concern is really the enforcement because I I've seen this council. We passed plenty of ordinance, but we're very weak on
enforcement. And when you are in a situation and you know there's a law on the book and there's no enforcement, all that does is frustrate you. It really does. It frustrates you. So my concern is and they said they're going to bring this back, you know, to adjust it again. And I just hope when this come back we
are really um tight on the enforcement because if not then it's just like another ordinance on the book and nothing is being done. So I do vote on city ordinance 25-057 as amended is adopted unanimously
9 0. Okay. Before we move on to the public speaking portion of the meeting, we have a public hearing on the 2025-2026 Central Avenue special improvement assessment role and budget. Any member of the public wishing to be
heard, please come up to the podium and state your name for the record. Motion second. Motion to close the public hearing on the 2025-2026 Central Avenue special improvement assessment
role and budget was made by council person, seconded by council president waterman. On the motion to close the public hearing, council person Ridley I. Council person Huings I. Council
person Bajiano. Council person select I. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. Hi. Council person Deise. Council person Rivera. Hi. And council
president Waterman. Motion to close a public hearing carries 90. On to our public speaking portion of the meeting. Please play close attention to your agenda. I'm going to be calling the number and the first name of the
speaker. With that being said, I believe Leverne left. So our next speaker 5.2 Tina. Hi guys, my name is Tina and yes, I do work for Education of Gearmore. I just want to say congratulation. And I
thought that was beautiful, especially because of where we live at. That should be the number first thing is housing because if you um in a safe spot, you are able to do what you need to do for your household and your family and then
making sure that um we keeping the rent down and making sure that we doing what we need to do in the community. I want to also say that um this weekend of helping different families and stuff that I seen a bigger change in our
community and I'm just praying that um we just all come together and just bring Jersey City as one instead of us divide like the square the downtown. I believe if we come together and help each other out that our community will grow. I
definitely see it on in Ward F now since education of Gearmore had took office. We have been changing some stuff. Um me having my safe spot right there in my community. People are able to walk in and ask for help. I see now mostly in
our community is a lot of domestic violence going on. And again, I'd like to thank God for um antiviolence and education and um um yes, e for um stepping in in that for helping me out with that situation. But again, I just
wanted to say to you, I don't really have too much to say cuz I just been in the community just trying to uplift everybody. I just want us to please just come together and just listen and just stop and just realize it can be us walking in these people's shoes. It can
be us in this situation. I always say that by me losing my real mom at 25 and didn't have a mom. I always say that me helping the community. I always think that that could be me living like that or that could have been me going through that. So, I always put myself in other
people's shoes. So, I just want to thank you guys and keep up the good work. Our next speaker, 5.3, Edward Is anyone here still standing for justice for Drew? Justice for Drew. Justice for
Drew. Uh I'm here tonight in protest as always against Jersey City Mayor's uh Steven Fullup. He's running for governor right now and he does not deserve our support. On hold. Uh two years ago or almost two years ago, Andrew Washington
was murdered by the Jersey City Police Department. And although a couple weeks ago, the grand jury did not indict the police officer who shot the weapon, uh Drew's family is still moving forward with the civil suit. And uh the mayor did the family wrong. You know, although
it it only took an hour, less than an hour for them to kick Drew's door down. And Drew has a history of having mental health episodes. Only 10 years just before this incident was he shot by Jersey City Police Department. A traumatic incident only 10 years later
to be tased simultaneously shot and pronounced dead. It's unfair. They kicked his door down and he had a knife. But imagine if you were him. Imagine if you were Drew or if a brother your brother was Drew or
your son was Drew and it took less than just 60 minutes for them to expire his life. It will never be acceptable. And the mayor, we will the mayor, he's undeserving of our support. You all had the audacity, the
gumption to vote no confidence for public safety director Shay. That's emblematic of how the mayor has run this city. I promise you he will do us no justice if we allow him to represent us in this state. Everything that's been going on here tonight is really it
really illustrates that. What has he done for housing? Although Jersey City has seen development in housing skyrocket, most of it has been what? Luxury housing. He's displaced. This is
gentrification on steroids. on steroids. He's displaced many of us longtime residents while inviting outsiders in who ultimately earn more money and and and and because the developers right are able he's able to
pocket that for campaign contributions and the civic engagement levels here are so low. The mayor has made this choice to turn his back on us. That's what he's done.
That's exactly what he's done. And this council, this council with many members now have got to do better. We are hoping for a change. Of course, we are in November with the election, but until then, there's much more work to be
done. Justice for Drew. Justice for Drew. Our next speaker, 5.4, for Gina. Good evening. Dina Davidson, ward B, aid to Councilman Gilmore, but I'm speaking on my own behalf tonight as a resident as usual. Justice for
Drew. Justice for Drew. In 2020, city of Jersey City declared May 25th as Black Lives Matter Day in honor of George Floyd. I have not seen any events, recognition, or observance of this day
by our current administration. Thankfully, the Drew Cubed Project and Justice for Drew JC are holding an event this weekend. On Saturday, May 24th at 2:30 p.m., you can join us for a day of healing and remembrance. This is their
second annual event. They held this event last year and it was wonderful. Kids and adults alike are welcome um to come do arts and crafts therapy. There will be resources available and activities. It will be a supportive day of community and racial healing. There
are flyers in the back and we'll be sharing from the Ward F uh social media page as well. Justice for Drew. Our next speaker 5.5 Danielle Hi everyone. I'm here to address the quality of life and safety issues in the
area between JWT and Gautier Avenue on the west side. We've been meeting since 2023, organizing, speaking out, demanding change, and yet here we are, still asking, still waiting. We've been told our calls matter, that reporting crime helps build data. But let me tell
you the truth. We call and this is what happens. Flashing lights drive by, maybe they park for a moment, and then they leave without stepping out of the car. Sometimes no one comes at all. Meanwhile, our community is suffering. Open air drug dealing, gambling, public
drinking, even urination happening right in front of an elementary school and on the corners of Gortier and JW. It's happening in plain sight and we are left to fend for ourselves while our children walk these streets and our families try to live in dignity. Just last week, my
daughter asked me, "Mommy, why are grown-ups peeing on the floor like animals?" And I had no answer. How do I explain to a child that this is what our community has been allowed to become? That despite meetings, calls, and outcries, nothing has changed. There are
two schools in our immediate area and still this is the reality we are forced to accept. We watch as other high crime neighborhoods receive constant police presence while here on the west side we get token drivebys and broken promises. Why not us? Why is our safety not a
priority? People love to use the term west side like it's a trendy slogan, but where is the care when it comes to actually improving the quality of life for the people who live here? You want to say Westside Pride, then back it up with the resources, support, and consistent action. Even our local SIDS
have been included in meetings and briefings, and still nothing. Enough is enough. I'm not here tonight just to be heard. I'm here to demand change. We need real action, and we need it now. We've been patient. We've been reasonable. But that time is over. This
is our home, and we deserve better. I will not keep explaining to my child while the streets she walks are unsafe. We will keep showing up. We will keep speaking out and we will keep fighting for the west side until change comes for real and for good. We need community
policing that walks the beat and engage with residents, not just strives through accountability for those who ignore our calls and resources that reflect the taxes that we pay and the lives we live. So I ask you, what is your plan to make our community safe? And what are you
going to do? Not next year, not next month, but right now. Thank you. Our next speaker, 5.6, David. Good evening, council members. My name is David Jambuso. Um, I'm live across the street from
Danielle. Um, the Lincoln Park area in Jersey City's west side is Donald Trump's worst nightmare. People from a hundred nations speaking dozens of languages with the plurality of faiths live side by side going to work every day raising their kids in relative peace and harmony. Some of us have been here
for generations. Some of us have been here for a few years. Some of us arrived in the neighborhood in the US only recently. But our community is under attack and it's a result of neglect and poor decisions on the part of the city. For years, we've complained about the
lawlessness we see on Westside Avenue between Kensington and Duncan. We see drug dealing, violence, open drinking on the street, pounding music, and disregard for the law, the police, and the residents. One bodega on the corner of Westside and Goia Avenue is the
center of this lawlessness. 733 Westside Avenue. Everyone knows it. The police know it. Every resident knows it. Every night a large crowd gathers to drink, buy and sell drugs, play m music at obnoxious volumes. We call the police, they come, they go, and the crowds
return every night. People see this behavior and they see the city doing nothing. So they feel they can also operate with impunity. There's a group of people who gather almost every night on the steps of St. Al's Elementary School to shoot craps, drink, fight, pee
in public. I can see them from my porch. I've seen these guys gather around as kids are zooming back and forth on their bikes and scooters on the way to Lincoln Park. I called the police once. I was told if they're not fighting, there's nothing they can do about it. I took a photo that night of one of the gamblers
peeing 10 ft in front of my porch and then they came and did something about it. There's a guy who sets up every day on Westside Avenue with a folding chair, an iPad to watch basketball, and a little gym bag full of narcotics that he dos out to people as they approach him
openly in daylight on West Side Avenue. My three-year-old daughter, I'm sorry, two of his customers, two women, were brawling on the street at 11:00 a.m. one day over a bag of drugs. My daughter saw that outside of our front door. Just the other day, a piece of drug paraphernalia blew into our own backyard where she
plays with her toys. I've lived in cities my entire adult life. I know noise, drugs, and crime are a part of that life. But this is not that. This is neglect. The city can do more. The city has to do more. We've seen our taxes go
up 40% in 40 years. We're renters and homeowners shouldering an unfair tax burden because of mistakes by past councils and mayors who sold our city, sold out our city to downtown developers that are still not paying their fair share of taxes. But now this council and this mayor has to do something about it.
We're not looking to make Westside Avenue the Newark a pedestrian pedestrian walkway, but it would be nice if the city paid a little of that attention and investment on the people who are shouldering the burden of this city's property taxes. Um the city leader or leaders that can actually finally make progress
on this will be heroes to the west side. Thank you for hearing me out. Our next speaker 5.7 G. Good evening, members of the city council and fellow residents. My name is Gay Dunston. I've lived on Westside
Avenue for 26 years. I'm here tonight because our community is struggling, struggling with issues that we have been talking about for years, but nothing has changed. We've held community meetings. We've made phone calls. We we've
reported crimes and disturbances. We've done our civic duty. But despite our efforts, despite our commitment to this neighborhood, we have been left with nothing but empty promises and fleeting patrol cars. Meanwhile, our streets are overrun. Open
air drug dealing, gambling, drinking, and public urination are happening out in the open. I've even seen a couple have sex once, like on Westside Avenue. True story. On our sidewalks, in front of our schools, and at our local bodeas,
groups of people have taken over our spaces, turning them into hubs of crime and disorder. We are not just they are not just disrupting our daily lives. They are dismantling the very fabric of our community. We have asked for help.
We have asked for police presence. Not just a driveby with flashing lights, but real engaged community policing. We need foot patrols. We need accountability. We need officers. Officers who know our streets and aren't
afraid to step out of their vehicles and make a difference. And yet nothing. We're told to report for data, to call it in, but when we do, nobody comes. When we speak up, we are told to be patient. But how much longer
are we supposed to wait? Our children deserve to walk these streets without fear. Our families deserve to shop at local stores without stepping over broken bottles and suspicious deals. Our taxes have gone up 40% in four years. We
are paying more but getting less. Where are the resources? Where is the accountability? Why are our calls for help ignored while other parts of this city thrive with full support and services? I'm here tonight to tell you
that we are done waiting. We need action, not just talk. We need resources, not just reassurances. We need a real plan to take back our streets, to protect our families, and to restore the community that we love. So, I'm asking you, Mayor Fulip, city
council members, what are you going to do to protect Westside Avenue? Not next year, not next month, but now. We have done our part, but it's time for you to do yours. Thank you. Our next speaker, 5.8, Crystal
here. Oh, she's here. Sorry. Good evening everyone, council members. My family and I, we live on Kensington Avenue on between Westside and JFK. I'm speaking to you today through the deep concern of deteriorating conditions on the corner of Goautier and Westside
Avenue. This is this is an ongoing problem for our for for the side of west side. While we understand that public spaces are for everyone, the activities regularly occurring on these corners have moved beyond unacceptable public gathering that now are creating environment that is unsafe and
unsanitary for everyone on the neighborhood. We have public urinations. We have drug activities. And these issues have combined and created an atmosphere of neglect and insecurity for everyone. Resident feel uncomfortable walking past this corner. Childrens are
exposed to inappropriate behaviors and constant disturbance. This is not the standard we should be accepting if we live in Jersey City. We are asking to not we're not asking to display people without the cause, but we're asking for the laws to be the city to be uphold to
the most and claim the safe and clean space for all community members. Addressing this issue is crucial because we want our community to grow and see businesses coming to our area. A safe and welcoming environment is essential for the kind and positive development.
We're eager to improve and we're willing to work with officers and city departments and have a solution. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker 5.9
Corey not next speaker 5.10 Alexandra. Good evening. My name is Alexandra Hernandez and I'm a longtime resident of Jersey City. I attended PS37 as a child, graduated from County Prep. Hi, Misties. Uh, and attended St. computers
for undergrad. Excuse me. I was born, raised, and educated in the city, and I'm here to advocate for my community in regards to ordinance 25-061, which proposes Woodlon Avenue and Bergen Avenue as a multi-way stop.
My parents have owned their home on Woodlon Avenue for nearly 30 years, and car accidents have been a reoccurring issue at this intersection. An awful car accident occurred on April 28th around 3 p.m. which was the catalyst for me reaching out to Council Person Ridley's office. The accident was
so awful that one driver swerved onto the sidewalk almost 100 ft from point of impact where her airbags imploded and the other driver's car was completely totaled. I spoke with Council Person Ridley's assistant Glattis who was very helpful. She's awesome. Um and she reported this issue with traffic and
engineering. And while it's nice that my request was acknowledged and an ordinance was proposed, it's simply not enough. Residents are hesitant to even park their car near this intersection, but sometimes have no choice because of limited parking. Property damage has occurred over the years because drivers
swerve into fences after impact. This is an extremely busy intersection. It has a bike lane, bus stop, and is near many schools, including Snyder High School, PS34, a Moore, which is a school for children with uh special needs, and NJCU. Since reaching out, two more car
accidents have occurred. One on May 1st around 5:00 p.m. where a cyclist was hit and the other on May 18th around 9:00 p.m. This is a total of three accidents in 30 days, and they occur at any given time. It's imperative that something be done before someone gets seriously
injured or a fatality occurs. Additionally, while I do believe in compromise, I do not think adding more stop signs will will suffice. There should really be a traffic light installed. As many know, some drivers believe a stop sign is merely a
suggestion, not a requirement. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker, Danielle Good evening, council president and members. First, thank you for moving forward ordinance 25-057 is a meaningful step toward
addressing the imbalance in our land use decisions and residents are watching. Grateful for action when we see it. Now, let's talk about what's happening across Jersey City. Developers prioritized, public needs ignored, and safety treated as an afterthought. In Journal Square, a
56-story luxury tower was just approved. Brought to you by Cold Deep Sunny Kumar, a developer with a history of labor violations, unpaid workers, and walls that are literally bulging. And we're told 11% affordable housing makes it
worth it. That model is obsolete. These are luxury towers for investors, not homes for working families. Meanwhile, a council member is using city vehicles to hand out campaign signs. That's not just unethical, it's insulting. The Pside
building, once promised as home to Senator Pompadoo, was bought with public money. But after the state pulled 24 million, the city gave up and is now quietly trying to sell it off. No plan, no community guarantees, another public promise, disappearing behind closed
doors. And these aren't isolated issues. At Hutton and Sherman, a PS8 student and her parent were hit by a car walking to school. Jersey Police Department is now posted there during drop off, but only after a child was nearly killed. The
PTA's petition for a crossing guard is struggling to hit 1,000 signatures. Why is it always too little to wait? on Manhattan Avenue. We finally got a state grant for a bike lane, a safety upgrade that's badly needed, but instead of
installing it, we're asking for an extension. Why delay infrastructure that saves lives? At Persian Field, people are literally driving onto the track because it shows up on GPS. Residents are begging for better signage and closing the gate themselves. We're
managing park safety by group text. On the west side, there's open drug use, public urination, and harassment in broad daylight. Taxes are up 40% in four years, but services are nowhere to be found. In 1949, at the dedication of
Martin and Wright Park, a speaker said, "No longer will the people of Jersey City tolerate a dictatorship that would eventually destroy freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and religion. The dignity of the individual is supreme. The vehicle of democracy cannot run on
entitlement. Start steering this city in the right direction. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.12 Cameron. Think he's here. Next speaker 5.13 Stephanie. Oh, Stephanie.
Next 5.14 Pam. Hello and good evening. My name is Pam Andes and tonight we have our college interns and volunteers with Councilman Rich Bojaniano. Two of them are students at NJCU and will speak tonight about
their experiences. They have been terrific and we would love to write a letter of recommendation for any job opportunity. So, please let us know if you want to hire them. I wanted to remind the students a few things about
city council and council chambers. First of all, please thank our council members. They work all of the time and their time is valuable and they used to be the ones that were here speaking in the public so they know how it
feels. Second, council chambers is a court of legislation like a court of law. Be respectful. Just to explain the layout in front of the speaker podium are the nine council member members chairs which are raised at a highest
level. On the next level in the center sits our gorgeous city clerk and our gorgeous court stenographer. And then on the floor level to the right of the speaker's podium are representatives of the
mayor's office, the business administration and legal counsel. Seated at the table and to the left also on the floor level is of the podium is the press. And in the
chairs on both sides are uh city council staff and in between the speaker's podium and everything I discussed before is a wooden banister which separates the
staff from the public. Last speak from the heart. acknowledge that there is a lot of pain and anger in this room, but also know that there is a lot of healing and resolution outside of the room.
Finally, I want to thank you both for helping the councilman and the people of Jersey City. You'll do great. Next speaker, 5.15, Roman Good evening everyone and justice for Drew. My name is Roman Dodia. You guys
have heard me speaking a couple of times. And uh I just wanted to say thank you Councilman Richie Biano and all the council members who work their lives out for um us public. H I understand there
are a lot of things you have to handle and uh we sometimes become disappointed but I wanted to appreciate what you all of you do to serve us and uh my experience has been great so far. I am
really enjoying the comedic timing of Rich and what he you know does and I also am thankful for what he stands for and what he you know embodies for us. That's all I wanted to say. Thank
you. God rich. Our next speaker 5.16 Jennifer Good evening everyone. My name is Jennifer Krispy and I am a student studying in NGCU um with the aspiration of going to law school. Um and I'm also
an intern for Councilman Bajiano. Today I want to talk about something that's affecting neighborhoods all across country and hitting close to home right here in Jersey City. It's called gentrification. At first it might look like a good thing. new shops, nicer parks, maybe even better schools. But
what's really happening underneath is that the original residents, the people who built the culture, the community, the soul of the neighborhood, and are being priced out. Rents go up, property taxes rises, and suddenly the people who live there for decades can't afford to stay. Now, affordable housing is a term
we hear a lot in Jersey City, especially when new developments are being improved. But here's the problem. Affordable for who? In many cases, affordable c housing is based on something called the area medium income, AMI, and that includes incomes from
places like Kogan and Manhattan. That drives the average way up. So, what ends up being called affordable is actually out of reach for very people who need it the most, such as working-class families, seniors on fixed incomes, single parents, and union workers. That's where rent control comes in. It
sets limits on how much landlords can increase rent each year, giving tenants stability and peace of mind. In cities where rent control laws are strong, people can stay in their communities, raise their families, and live with dignity. But here in Jersey City, rent control doesn't cover everyone. Many new
buildings are exempt. Some landlords exploit loopholes, and too often tenants don't even know their rights. We need stronger enforcements, broader protections, and policies that put people before profit. It's not just about rent. It's about fairness. It's about who gets to live here, who gets
pushed out, and who gets to decide what our communities look like. Jersey City is a vibrant, diverse, working-class city. And we need housing policies that reflect that reality. Real affordable housing, real rent control, protections for longtime residents, developments
that include the community now replaces it because everyone deserves a place to call home. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.17 Robert A. Good afternoon. My name is Reverend Robert S. Allen Jr., president and CEO
of the People Speaks Outreach Ministry of Hon County, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. I was hit with one of those ebikes put in the hospital many times. Since then, I've seen many women, kids, and dogs get killed. When are we
going to do something to eliminate what's going on? I talked to uh Councilman Busiano. He's down with it. We have to have this regulated and we need it now. What do you say about it? If we don't do something about it,
it's going to increase. The more that I go out 3 or 4:00 in the morning, these guys don't even have green cards, don't talk English, they don't care as long as they making their money. And as long as you guys are sitting around letting the police walk around doing nothing, it's
going to increase and kill people. What's going to have to happen? Your mother and father got to be killed or we're going to do something about this today. Thank you very much. You Our next speaker, 5.18,
Ralph. I don't think I seen Ralph. Oh, there he is. Sorry. Yes. Hello, council. I'm Ralph Seni. I'm the owner of Grove Street Bicycles, and I am here to speak about the ebike safety. Uh it is it is a huge
problem. I have customers coming in every day. Uh people are getting hurt. There's been fatalities. Uh there are going to be more fatalities. Uh the bikes are going around without breaks. They have tires that are blowing out. They don't have
lights. There's no regulation on any speed. Um the bike lanes, which we've spent so much money on, uh are not safe for our community. they're they're really overtaken by the delivery drivers
uh going the wrong way. Uh they don't stop at any type of intersections. It's really just every person for themselves. They're um it's definitely a problem and there is going to be further issues unless
something's done. I am asking for a resolution by the state to put into effect uh laws for ebiking regulations. Uh and I'm I'm here to help however I can. Um it's only going to get worse and
worse. The the population of all the ebikers is is growing and growing. It's overtaking everything. When I'm out on my bicycle myself, I feel safer on the sidewalk or in in car traffic than I do even on the bike lanes a lot of
times. It's definitely a problem and if something's not done, there's there's going to be many continued incidents and it is a major risk to our community. So, thank you so much.
Our next speaker 5.19 Karina. Good evening, members of the city council. Um, my name is Katarina Smith and I'm here today on behalf of the Lincoln Park North Association. Uh we appreciate the opportunity to speak and would like to bring your
attention to the ongoing concerns of our residents regarding public safety and quality of life issues in our neighborhood, specifically along Westside Avenue and Goautier Avenue. Residents frequently report incidents involving open-ear drug dealing,
gambling, littering, fighting, inadequate lighting, poorly maintained sidewalks, loitering, and an overall lack of consistent police presence as promised in the past. These concerns are not new. They're ongoing and deeply
impact the sense of safety and livability in our neighborhood. For several years, members of our community have consistently raised these concerns with both our ward council person and the local police precinct. Unfortunately, while we've had
had some conversations and temporary attention, the issues persist and in some cases h has worsened. Neighbors have recently reported presence of drug dealing and use on the steps of St. Alawishas Church and the school on Westside
Avenue. We're proud of our community and committed to working collaboratively to create a safer and more welcoming environment for all. However, we can't do this alone. We're asking the council and relevant departments to prioritize
targeted interventions, including increased and regular police report patrols on foot in the area. uh deploying regular visible JCPD officers on west side and goier and the surrounding areas particularly during
afternoon and evening hours when illegal activity is most pre prevalent. Assign a dedicated quality of life officer or unit to this area and provide monthly progress updates to the community. Ensure that funding for these targeted
patrols and quality of life enforcement measures is including in the in the upcoming city budget with clear metrics for accountability and success. Traffic calming measures to improve pedestrian safety, including install a flashing pedestrian crossing
sign at the existing crosswalk near this intersection of Westside and Goautier. Consider consider speed humps or raised crosswalks to further slow traffic and protect pedestrians. Improve street lighting to deter people from doing their illegal
business. Replace outdated or dim street lights with highintensity LEDs on both west side and Gautier. Um sidewalk maintenance and accountability to the property owner and the business owner of this hot spot
where these incidents are occurring. issue enforcement notices. Thank you very much. Our next speaker 5.20 Kevin Kevin not here. Okay. Next speaker 5.21 Joel
Hi there. Uh my name is Joel Brooks. I live at 232 Duncan. Uh and first I wanted to say congratulations to Council Member Huings. Um look forward to working with you through the remainder of your term. Uh and I saw you yesterday
at the captain's meeting. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to introduce myself. Um, before I talk about the public safety issues on the west side, I did also want to uh speak in support of ordinance
25-061, the stop sign on Woodlon and Bergen. Um, I don't live there. I live on Duncan, but you know, I do live on in an area where there are many, many blocks with no stop sign. And you know, the more space there is, the more time
there is for people to pick up speed. Um, and so I I support that ordinance. So I hope you guys pass that in the in the second reading. Um, I'm here to stand with uh my neighbors on the west side uh who came here to talk about um everything
you've heard about on west side and goier. They have had consistent turnout at captain's meetings, consistent cries for help, consistent calls to police in the resident response center. And so we deserve a consistent and comprehensive
response to the issues that people have talked about. I'm not in law enforcement. I'm not here to tell you guys or Captain O the way to do it. Um I it sounds like it's probably some combination of uh the police and the
quality of life task force. Um on a positive note, it sounds like that enforcement that enforcement has actually started today. Uh so I want to say to you know the people who have came to speak and who might be listening later that keep taking action because it
it is producing results. Uh so we need to keep speaking up. We deserve the same safe conditions uh that people in downtown enjoy. Uh the stuff you've heard people talk about, you know, if that was happening in front
of city hall day in day out, day in day out, you know, a block from a school, it would not be tolerated and it shouldn't be tolerated on Westside and Goier. Um people, you know, I've talked to a lot of people, they're exhausted, they're demoralized about this issue. We don't
want to believe that asking for help is futile. Um, but we're going to keep speaking up until we have safe conditions in our neighborhoods. Um, and that's all I got. Thank you for listening. Someone left their pen. Oh, next speaker. 5.22.
King. Nope. Not here. Um, next 5.23 23. Britney Britney's right there. Good evening, council. Good evening, Sean. My name is Britney Kelly and I'm here tonight to speak about the corner
of Westside and Goier. This corner has been an issue for over 30 years, but in the recent years, it's gotten increasingly worse. I fear for this community that someone's going to be killed. I fear for the students and
the staff at St. Alawishas. We need to make productive and proactive decisions instead of waiting until we have to mourn a member of this community. As the other speakers have um stated,
the direction from the police is to call. They need the data we have. They assign police to sit on the corner in their cars sometimes, but as we can see, that does absolutely nothing to deter this
activity. They do it in front of them. They're drinking, selling and using drugs. They're using the bathroom, and they're leaving little presents around. not only on the corner but by St. Als and god forbid it's a windy
day. Residents don't even feel comfortable going to the restaurants in that area which means we're not only failing our community but we're failing the small businesses as well. It's unacceptable. If we can see that it's not changing, why can't the police? This
is going to take a collaborative effort, but we really need the council support to clean up this corner. Summer is coming. and I guarantee you it will get worse. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.24 Melany is not here. Next speaker 5.25
Diane. Good evening. My name is Diane Atwell and I am proud to serve as the president of the Hamilton Park Neighborhood Association representing the voices of our vibrant and diverse neighborhood. Regarding ordinance
2558, as the weather warms and more families and visitors gather in Hamilton Park, we're once again seeing a significant increase in ice cream truck activity. These trucks are meant to bring joy and nostalgia, especially on a
hot summer day. But in recent years, they've also brought persistent challenges to the neighborhood. Multiple vendors park, sometimes illegally for extended periods, sometimes all day,
with engines idling non-stop. This creates constant noise, exposes childrens to diesel exhaust just steps away from the playground, and raises safety concerns. This has taken a toll on the quality of life for residents who
live directly across the park. At our HPNA public meeting this May, we heard a wide range of perspectives. Some neighbors spoke about how this issue has affected their day-to-day lives, while others shared their appreciation for the
tradition and convenience the trucks offer. What's clear is that we need a thoughtful, balanced solution that considers the needs of all, residents, vendors, and visitors alike. Councilman Solomon's office has made extensive
efforts over the years to work with vendors to find compromise. But despite repeated outreach, these issues have continued. And that's why we're here tonight to ask for your support on this proposal that provides clarity,
fairness, and a constructive path forward. This legislation restores balance. It establishes clear and reasonable guidelines so that everyone, families enjoying the park and residents living nearby, can coexist more
peacefully. It aims to preserve the joy these vendors bring while also protecting the health and safety of our community. We respectfully ask that you support this proposal. It reflects years of dialogue, the lived experience of residents, and a shared desire to ensure
that our public spaces remain welcoming and livable for everyone. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker, 526. Kevin, can I approach you and give you some Yeah.
No problem. Evening, city council. Today marks the 59th consecutive city council meeting where our group has come before you. We've delivered over 10,000 speeches. We might be approaching a record here. perhaps
one of those really big records. Stay tuned. You won't want to miss the next council meeting. I hear there may even be some awards. I want to take a moment to recap, especially in light of a major TV piece expected to air early next week
and the increased attention we're receiving from the nation's top news outlets. Jersey City has become in many ways the epicenter of the affordable housing crisis, particularly regarding algorithmic software used to set rent prices and violations of rent control
laws, issues that frequently go hand in hand. At the last council meeting, I highlighted how New Jersey Attorney General Matt Plton specifically mentioned rent control avoidance in his lawsuit. Even as these investigations continue, which seem to cover everything
from junk fees to attempts to reclassify services such as amenity fees or charging $1,000 or more for the non-exclusive use of amenities when historically these fees were not charged. It's astonishing that our landlord would make such blatant moves. They don't seem to grasp that they're
only strengthening the case against themselves. And I'm not referring to the few relatively small lawsuits we filed. I believe these tactics will prove extraordinarily expensive and we hope they'll change their approach before they place their employees in legal
peril related to state or even federal actions. The defense of my company made me do it only goes so far. As a non-awyer, I guess it just seems like a bad idea to me. We often try to amplify the voices of those who are struggling.
Tonight, I'd like to share several new voices through their signed statements. I hope these guide the actions of Equity Residential and their employees and reinforce the importance for this city, its mayor, this council, and Director Richardson to provide honest services to
the taxpayers of Jersey City as obligated by law. Please enter into the record three letters signed by numerous members of Congress and senators. One letter signed by 17 members of Congress addressing real page mentions only two landlords across our entire country.
Spoiler spoiler alert, one of them is Equity Residential. Another letter is dressed addressed solely to Mark Peril, president and CEO of Equity Residential, sent by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Marky along with Congressman Seth Molton. You also have in your hands
letters naming Equity Residential, specifically signed by Representatives Corey Bush, Katie Porter, Alexander Okasio Cortez. Additionally, you have a letter signed by New Jersey's own Senator Corey Booker. For the sake of equities renters, investors employees, I
hope they take these congressional investigation letters very seriously. Thank you. Our next speaker, 5.27, 27 Daniel wanted to start off with a quick quote uh quote with respect to port side. I
wanted to see if maybe we can visit that security part because that's upsetting and it's pretty troubling. You know, when you see that there are so many breaches going on in that building, it's not fair for an entity to feel not secured. You know, that's completely unacceptable. So, I'm going to follow up
with the law department. My aid is going to follow up with you guys, but I just wanted to make it clear that we were talking about two different things. We're not talking about the litigation situation. We're talking about their safety, and that's, you know, extremely important. Not that they're not both important, but that security stuff is
very, very important. We want to make sure that, you know, that we're hearing you. End quote. That was a quote from the city council meeting on January 15th, 2025, 126 days ago, from councilman at large, Mr. Daniel Rivera. And yet we still don't have uniform
security guards in our building, Portide Towers. According to chapter 218, Article 1 of the Jersey City Code of Ordinances, quote, "Every owner or agent of an owner of a multiple dwelling of 100 or more dwelling units shall furnish a minimum of one uniform security guard
for each residential building in the property or premises upon its pre upon its premises 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." End quote. It goes on to say, quote, "For the purposes of this chapter, a uniform security guard shall consist of a licensed New Jersey
security guard as specified in NJSA 355A, hired for the purpose of protection of persons or property, real or personal, from injury or harm that wears a particular set of clothes that clearly identifies them as a security guard." End quote. Uh, so Mr. Rivera, you were right in saying that it's not
fair for an entity, namely our building port side towers, to not feel secured. We could have used 24/7 uniform security when an attacker chased a woman into our building last year, leaving a trail of blood. We could have used 24/7 uniform security when a bullet pierced a young
child's window in one of our buildings last year. The longer time goes without uniform security in our building, the more of a chance that something really, really bad could happen. So, I do think uh Mr. Rivera that you are hearing us. I do agree with that. But hearing us isn't
the same as taking action. And quite frankly, I just I don't believe that this council is truly powerless in getting us uniform security considering that we have an ordinance that clearly outlines that right. Um, President Waterman, you brought up a very good
point um when you were voting on the ordinance earlier regarding enforcement and that is a huge huge huge concern for us both for this ordinance that you all passed. Thank you for passing it. As well as the uniform security stuff because we've got an ordinance that
clearly outlines we should have uniform security. Whoever is in charge of enforcing it is not enforcing it. So, um really please act. Do everything you can in your power to take care of it for our safety. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.28
Anna. Next speaker 5.29 29 tower. Sorry. That's okay. Time's up. No, I'm kidding. Okay. Good evening, council. I'm Tara Smith, former equity residential tenant. I stand before you joining the voices of Portside residents who have been
addressing this council since November 2022. about several persistent issues including Equity Residential's failure to maintain resident superintendence and security personnel at both Portside towers. And I always stand with Portide because any of the issues that they
experience in that building, I also experienced as a resident at 70 Green or flooding might be worse. I'll challenge you on that one. Um, each tower at Portside over 200 units. That's hundreds of families,
seniors, children, and working professionals who deserve the safety measures guaranteed by Jersey City ordinances. I recognize the challenges of enforcing regulations across a growing city. However, when a 28 billion corporation like Equity Residential consistently ignores these requirements
while collecting premium rents, it undermines the very laws this council has established to protect residents. I'm not here to complain, but to collaborate. Many port side residents, including my friends here tonight, and I have expertise in property management, security, and
tenant organizing, were willing to work with the council and equity residential to develop a compliance plan that addresses these safety concerns. Tonight, I'm asking for two specific actions. One, establish a working group, including council members, residents,
and equity representatives. And two, set a firm deadline for compliance with superintendent and security requirements. Together, we can ensure that Portside Towers becomes a model for safety and compliance rather than an example of enforcement failure. Thank you for your partnership in addressing
the important issue. Our next speaker 530 Brendan. Good evening, council. Earlier we heard we um you voted on to pass the ordinance regarding banning rent control and council president Waterman expressed her worries that we will not be able to enforce this ordinance like many of the
ordinances passed by this council and enforced in laws such as rent control the security ordinances um lack of proper bike um sorry by um bike safety most of these ordinances are being
passed but not enforced. I jokingly suggested to the group and I am now forced to bring it up here. We should pass an ordinance to start enforcing the city's ordinances and repeat this process until they get enforced. Now, in all seriousness, a much better idea would be examining why these ordinances
aren't being enforced and providing the departments resources or reassigning the ordinances to departments that have the resource and capacity to actually enforce them. Why should a multi-billion dollar company get away of charging whatever they want, doing whatever they
want while the city twiddles it, while we are forced to twiddle our thumbs and hope someone is going to enforce an ordinance and it gets carried out and executed through the courts. That this isn't working. It's not how you run a successful city. Even the South would complain about how bad this
is. Now, here's what we can actually do. We can start focusing on passing and executing ordinances on landlords and entities. Enforce the bike lanes. It is unsafe biking around Jersey City right now just because of the ebike drivers
who have no idea what traffic is. I've nearly been knocked over trying to bike up the hill to the heights. A situation I do not wish to repeat. Now, moving on, I'd like to bring up sorry and even now with our with the
new with the new ordinance we passed regarding rent control, there are multiple holes in the ordinance that will allow landlords to bypass the carefully considered regulations that we need to reconsider in a separate ordinance. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.31 Mark
Good evening, members of the city council. I'm here tonight, not for the first time, and regrettably, I'm sure it's not for the last time, and I wish it was unnecessary. For nearly a year now, I've raised the alarm about the dangerously inadequate security at
Portside. Nine months ago, this council took an important step forward with the passage of ordinance 24055, strengthening the municipal code and clearly requiring uniform security services for multiple dwelling residences. When the mayor signed it
into law on June 27th, it felt like a turning point, a moment of hope. Yet, here we are after 9 months and the same threats remain. That beacon of hope is diminished. Despite the law's clear land mandate, we continue to lack the
required uniform security. In December, chaos erupted now lobby when two non-residents called a major disturbance necessitating a multi-officer police response. Where was the mandated security? Um on November the 5th, a resident received a death threat from
someone parked at the southern end of Washington. Again, a police report was filed, but the fear remains and it's spreading. To make matters worse, Washington Street is legally required to be secured with a chain at 8:00 p.m. each evening under Ordinance
07-153, a task assigned to port side security. But again, without security personnel, the task goes undone night after night. Residents are doing everything we have been advised to do. We've been documenting these violations with daily CClick fix tickets. Many of
the tickets are receive responses from Joe Barrows stating that summones have been issued. Yet we see no evidence the Equity Residential is responding. No change, no compliance. It leads us to ask, what consequence do these summones
carry if they result in no corrective action? What recourse remains when laws are ignored and residents are left unprotected? So I'm asked this council plainly, what tools does the city have to compel equity residential to meet its legal
obligations? Thank you. Our next speaker 5.32 David sorry good evening. Um I my name is David Wilson and I'm a
tenant at Portside Towers and um there were a couple of events that took place this month in May. One is I began paying a new increased rent which has increased as a factor over the previous illegally high rent that I was
paying. Also I received an email from Equity Residential. It said, "We're reaching out to share the most recent copy of our Department of Community Affairs certificate of registration." And then there was another sentence which I thought was
extraordinary. As a general reminder, our 24-hour emergency service line can be reached by calling. It gives a phone number and following the prompts. So, there's one time that I really don't
want to go through a voicemail system and follow the prompts and that's when there's an emergency. This is the exact thing that they are providing. Um, I noticed that today you recognized the director of the office of emergency
management and commended them and the fire department and the police department on their response to an emergency. And I was glad to see that and it shows that the city council takes emergency situations seriously and also that the city is able to mount a very
strong and effective response in an emergency situation. So, I would like to see that some of that dedication put forward toward enforcing the requirement that that we should be able to get a hold of
somebody, an actual real life person in the event of an emergency. So, thank you. Next speaker 5.33 Joel Good evening, Madame President and council members. Can we talk about safety and security in our homes?
Per uh ordinance 216-1A, every owner or agent of an owner in a multiple dwelling of 100 or more dwelling units shall furnish a minimum of one uniformed security guard on upon its premises upon its premises 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week. As we have repeatedly reported and members of this council have seen during visits to two multiple dw to the two multiple dwellings that make up the portside towers apartments, our landlord flagrantly ignores this provision. Your
ordinances I have seen no uniformed security guard since I moved into portside towers in 2019. For ordinance 2018-1B, each unifor each uniformed guard shall make a periodic patrol of
inspection of the premises and shall undertake all actions necessary to asssure that the personnel personal safety and privacy of the residents of each dwelling unit and their guests. This matters. Without security guards, the
employees stationed in the lobby often perform these patrols or otherwise address security issues away from the lobby. In such cases, the lobby of both buildings often are unattended for extended periods with exterior doors
unlocked and/or automatic doors maintained in the open position. I have personally observed absence of more than 15 minutes both during busy delivery times at nearly evening and after dark. It takes only one incident
for criminal activity to sneak into our homes and seriously injure us or worse. Please ensure that the city enforces all elements of 218 to protect the lives and property of your constituents. There is also a request from one of the
women one of the colleagues who was not able to make it here today and and is facing significant challenges in their homes. Um it is from Anna who was not able to join but they are having a rally
Sunday at 3 p.m. at 995 Summit Avenue. would appreciate for the council and anyone to show up come and show up up for them. Their landlord is evicting all tenants by the end of the month. Their landlord Isaac CBG and
Veronica. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.34 Barbara. Good evening city council. In the many, many times that I've stood before you in the past three years, I've told you how much I value the truth. That's why it's so gling to hear a Jersey City mayor
full of talk out of both sides of his mouth. His double speak is plastered on billboards claiming he is the New Jersey guminatorial candidate who will guarantee transparency that he is the one who will
allow all New Jersey voters to see how his government is at work. Yet everything I have witnessed in his job as mayor proves otherwise. Neighbors at Portside Towers have had their negative responses stripped from
his social media feed so that only glowing comments remain. Social media these days is often the only way some voters get what they consider news. On top of that, a federal lawsuit filed
against Philip by the Jersey City Times alleges that the Times and its editor were removed from the city's press list in retaliation for publishing stories critical of the mayor. The complaint was
filed on behalf of the Times by attorney Jennifer Borg, who's a fellow at Yale Law School. This case sounds an awful lot like President Trump's effort to muzzle the press in Washington DC. The Associated
Press filed the lawsuit when Trump tried to bar the newswire from covering him because of truthful reporting that he didn't like. A judge has ordered the White House to restore full access to the president.
That judge ruled that the effort to ban the AP over the objections to its coverage violated the first amendment. That's the first amendment to the US Constitution. The US Constitution that spells out rights of
those living in the United States even in Jersey City. In conclusion, you may be wondering, what is my ask? My ask is this. Several of you have announced campaigns to become the next mayor of
Jersey City. Please, please, please be more do a better and more honest and more transparent job than the current mayor. That means valuing the truth and
that means freedom of the press. Exactly like it says in the US Constitution. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.35 Shannon. Hello again council. Um I had to miss the council meeting two weeks ago. Um
I'll get a little personal because I had to have a lumpctomy. uh really wanted to be here, but I was in too much pain and I had to be smart and remember that I was a patient. Um on that note, I wanted to speak tonight as
though Jersey City's housing market is my patient. The symptoms of this patient um that this patient are exhibiting are clear. Rising rents, housing scarcity, and neighborhoods transforming from
residential communities to tourist zones. The diagnosis is equally clear. We have a shortage of affordable long-term housing. So now, fortunately, we're presented with a treatment plan. So, let's look at that plan. Ordinance
25-059. Unfortunately, this prescription contains dangerous contraindications that will worsen the excuse me, worsen the condition rather than cure it. The first contraindication, redefining owner occupied to allow corporate ownership
where one member identifies as a unit a unit as their residence. This will accelerate the corporate takeover of housing. The second contra indication allowing owners to operate multiple units as short-term rentals in multif family buildings. This converts
residential buildings into de facto hotels. The third contraindication, expanding categories of permitted short-term rentals rather than restricting them. This further reduces long-term housing stock. And the fourth contraindication, relying on reactive
enforcement rather than proactive monitoring. This ensures treatment failure. Any responsible nurse knows a treatment that contains ingredients that worsen the disease is simply malpractice. Every loophole in this
ordinance directly contra contradicts its stated purpose. I urge you to reformulate this prescription before administering it to our city. The health of our housing market and the well-being of our residents depend on it. Thank
you. Our next speaker 5.36 Drew. Okay, next speaker 5.37 Susan. Good evening. My name is Susan Roa and I've been a resident at Portide Towers since August of 2024. This is my
first time addressing the council and I'm very proud to stand with my portside neighbors. I'm here today because I'm deeply concerned about safety and management issues at Portside, which are two buildings, each with over 200 units that are owned and operated by Equity
Residential. What I've recently discovered has left me not only concerned, but genuinely alarmed. Despite Jersey City ordinances clearly requiring buildings with more than six units to have a residential superintendent, neither of our towers
have one. Jersey City law mandates this for a reason. Resident superintendent provide essential oversight, emergency response, and daily maintenance that keeps residents like us safe.
Additionally, neither building has uniform security personnel in buildings of this size housing hundreds of residents. This absence creates significant safety vulnerabilities that put all tenants and their families at risk. When I signed my lease, I assumed
that residential equity residential was operating these uh operating these properties in compliance with city regulations. I trusted the basic safety requirements were being met. Now, I realize that isn't the case, and I worry what other corners have been cut. As a
resident who chooses Jersey City as my home, I'm asking for your help in enforcing the existing ordinances that were recreated to protect residents like me and my neighbors. This isn't about compliance or technicalities. It's about the safety and well-being of hundreds of
your constituents living in these towers. I respectfully request that the council ensures equity residential fulfills its legal obligations to their tenants. All we are asking for is the basic oversight and protection the law
already guarantees us and the services for which we are already paying. Thank you for your time and your consideration. Our next speaker 5.38 Suzanne Evening council. Sorry, make this bigger. My
story or my speech and um involve the story of the three little pigs. Everyone remembers the story of the three little pigs, right? We all learned as children that the house of bricks was safest because it was built
property with attention to detail and adherence to standards. The pig who built that house understood something fundamental. Proper construction and maintenance aren't luxuries. They are necessities. Today at Portside Towers, we're living in what
appears to be a house of bricks. But it increasingly feels like a house of straw. Our buildings look impressive from the outside, towering structures with over 200 units each, but they lack the fundamental safety infrastructure that your own ordinance requires. Since
2022, residents have been telling this council that we have no resident superintendence and ID tower despite Jersey City's law clearly mandate man mandating them for buildings with more than six units. We also lack security personnel, leaving hundreds of residents
vulnerable. When the wolf of emergency comes, whether it's flooding, fire, medical crisis, or security breach, we're left with no one to call within our buildings. Like the first two pigs, we are discovering too late that our
housing lacks essential protectance protections. Equity Residential, our landlord, has been huffing and puffing with excuses since 2022. while collecting premium rents from Jersey City residents. Big bad big bad wolf.
I'm not asking for extravagance. I'm asking for the basic protections that Jersey City has already determined are necessary through its own legislation. Don't let Portside Towers become a cautionary tale about what happens when we allow developers to ignore safety
regulations. The moral of this story shouldn't be that rules only apply to some. Please enforce ordinance 254-45 and require Equity Residential to provide the resident superintendence and security that hundreds of your
constituents deserve. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.39 Jessica Good evening again, council. Thank you for hearing us this evening on multiple topics. Um, actually pivoted completely from the original speech I had for this
section in response to President Waterman's concern about enforcement because as we've said, we're also concerned about enforcement and what tools are at our disposal. And you know, we all know that a law that is in isn't enforced is essentially just words on a
paper. Intention is good, but action is more meaningful. And as a city governed under the Faulner Act, we know the mayor holds substantial executive power. Here, we know Mayor Fulip has consistently prevented ordinance enforcement and in
fact should never be allowed to become governor. And tonight, I just received yet again an illegal rent increase. My rent is now 60% higher than in 2021. But we also know that the council
has the authority and the responsibility to ensure the will of the people is actually carried out. Tonight, I'm offering a path forward. First, we need to start writing ordinances that do require enforcement, not ones with vague language. Nothing like may issue
penalties or at the city's discretion. Let's use language like must initiate enforcement within 30 days of a verified complaint or failure to act within 60 days must be reported to the council. Without that kind of clarity of language, ordinances become optional,
and that's just not how justice works. Second, I urge this council to pass a resolution requiring quarterly enforcement reports from all departments responsible for compliance, housing, zoning, code enforcement, and so on. These reports should be public, and they
should include basic metrics. How many complaints were filed, how many were resolved, and how long it took. It's not about gotchas. It's about making government work better. And I happen to know that where this would have been a process burden even 3 years ago, it no
longer is. With the power of large language models and AI, this can be automated. This can be touch of the finger. This doesn't mean hiring more people. It doesn't mean hiring special software developers. It means delivering an effective database. Third, let's
create a public enforcement sorry enforcement dashboard. Cities like Boston and Minneapolis already do this. Residents can see in real time how many violations are reported. Now you might say we have Cclick Fix, but it's actually nearly impossible to see all of
the violations for a given property in Cclickfix. There is a way to do this, but not through that portal. So just want to emphasize we're not powerless. There are things we can do to demand and ensure enforcement. You have the power.
Thank you. Our next speaker 5.40, Carol. It's Carol. Oh, she's Thank you. Next speaker, 5.41, Liv. Hey y'all. My name is Lit Balone. I live in Ward B. I don't think we've met
yet. Um, but I'd love to speak to you if you or your aid is available. Um, last public hearing I incorrectly said the rent control exemption letter for my building was 17 days late. The truth is it was 47 days late. My landlord, Amir
Ben Yohan, attempted to file this exemption 17 days after filing the CO for the building instead of 30 days before the CO as required by chapter 260. So 30 + 17 47 days. I majored in
biology, not mathematics. So 47 days. This case of is it rent controlled? Is it not rent controlled? It's clearcut and it's already been deliberated in both the New Jersey lower and appellet court just a few years ago. Like have
you guys heard about Willow Ridge Apartments in Union City? I know who's standing behind me. So, I'm guessing yes, but that it's been a while. It used to be unclear what happens if an owner files or fails to file the required
exemption notice on time. Luckily, the New Jersey appellet division fixed that right up. And I'll read a quote. and Willow Ridge Apartments LLC versus Union City Rent Stabilization Board. The court held that the property owners who fail to submit proper notice of exemption at
least 30 days before a CEO is issued forfeit their right to rent control protection under the New Jersey newly constructed multiple dwellings law. In this case, Willow Ridge, the owner of Willow Ridge, was unable to prove that
the prior owner had properly filed the required exemption notice. And as a result, the property was not exempt from rent control. Yes, the lower court ruled that burden rested with the owner and their failure to comply resulted in the
loss of their exemption. The appellet court affirmed the lower court's ruling and that was the end of it. Amir Ben Johannan built 429 Bergen Avenue what like six years ago and
didn't do it by the book. The book was there. He didn't do it. I don't know why. None of my business. The consequences are clear though. Can we please get on with this? Landlord tenant should not have begun to review my illegal rent petition
if they wanted to sit on it again. So maybe councilwoman, the interim council woman for my word, maybe we can work together with director Richardson and talk about moving it forward. Thank you. Our next speaker, 5.42, Michelle.
Good evening. Imagine walking into every grocery store in Jersey City and discovering that a carton of eggs costs exactly $12 everywhere you go. Not $11.99 at one
store and $125 at another. Exactly $12 at every single store. You'd be suspicious, wouldn't you? Then imagine finding out that all these supposedly competing grocery stores were using the same secret computer program to set
their prices. A program designed not to give you the best deal, but to charge you the absolute maximum that they think you'll pay before you give up eating eggs altogether. This is just the market rate for eggs. They tell you when with a
shrug when you complain, but there's nothing market about it when competitors secretly secret secretly agree not to compete. This is exactly what's happened with our homes, the most essential purchase we make every month. Attorney
General Plain's complaint reveals the scheme. Landlords across New Jersey have been using the same algorithm to set rent prices designed to extract maximum profits while ensuring no one undercuts their competitors. Paragraph 169 of that
complaint reveals something even more disturbing. This algorithm was specifically programmed to find ways around rent control laws. the very protections meant to keep housing affordable. At Portside Towers, we've
lived this nightmare. We're still living it. While Equity Residential wasn't named in Plain's complaint, they're facing similar allegations in Washington DC and elsewhere. In November 2023, our rent leveling board unanimously ruled
that portside should have been subject to rent control all along. A protection that would have saved residents from increases of up to 60%. Instead, tenants who once paid $4,500 a month now pay
$6,500 a month or more. Imagine if your grocery bill suddenly doubled with no improvement in the food that you're buying. You've taken action by passing the ordinance that prohibits price fixing the price fixing scheme. But just
as we wouldn't trust price fixing grocerers to police themselves, we need robust enforcement to ensure landlords comply. No one understands the impact of these artificial price hikes better than the residents of Portside. We're not
just statistics. We're your neighbors who have been forced to choose between paying inflated rents or leaving the community we call home. Thank you for taking the first step. Ensure all loopholes are going to be closed and
enforce it vigorously. Thank you. Our next speaker 543 Meredith left. Okay. Next. 5.44. Eve.
Good evening. Since I last spoke two weeks ago, prosecutor Gloria O once again refused to issue fines on years old building violation summons issued to my landlord despite I have been repeatedly attacked with carbon monoxide, which I now have brain damage
and permanent disability. When I sent a mass email asking Gloria O exactly how dead do I need to be before the core issues and collects fines, she totally disregarded me again. The rent leveling board recently told the municipal
prosecutor's office to prosecute bad actor not my landlord but landlord Aluther Feldman. The prosecutor office refused to do it instead lied to the rent leveling board who bounced the summons matter to superior court. So Feldman's tenants are now getting shuffled between three courts on top of
landlord harassment. Feldman summons show a high rate of ticket fixing years old fire violation summons. Feldman's tenant Anna Basset already went six months without working plumbing and was driven out of her apartment while the court has done zero with 10 open
harassment summons against her landlord Luther Feldman. Hey team Fulip, how dead, injured, and bankrupt do we need to be before this stops? This unlawful circumvention of Democratic law is Mayor Steven Phillips and city council's job
by law to stop. Steven Fulip has now failed to appear at city council. nine times in a row and totally ignores me and the legions of other citizens in suffering because ticket fixing is his policy. Despite the fact that ticket fixing summons is a felony and that carries a mandatory minimum 5-year jail
sentence for fixing one summons and there are thousands. Steven Fulip is just determined to hang on to his total failure to enforce housing law, follow basic public accounting statutes, and enforce basic rules of court. Constituents pleading for relief are retaliated against or ignored while
Fullip donors and insiders are shielded. The city, meanwhile, has no rent control ledger. Philip isn't controlling rent prices when he won't keep a ledger of what the legal rent prices are or what buildings are rent controlled. The that violates
NJSA485-4 and chapter 260 rent control ordinance. The city must address audit violations within 60 days by filing a plan of correction with the DCA under NJAC 530-6.5. Municipal court ticket fixing has been listed on the city audit violations for eight straight years.
Failure to maintain a rent control ledger is an audit violation which has gone on more than 5 years. Again, New Jersey state law NJAC 530-6.5 mandates audit violations be stopped within 60 days, not 5 years and not 8 years. I'm asking again for uh
immediate enforcement of all of the laws and we also need the department of justice and the state comproller here now. Thank you. Our next speaker 5.445 Jessica think she left
right? 5.46 Robin. No, gone. 5.47 Adrian 5.48 Kaen 5.49 49 Anna 550
Joe 5.51 Frederick 5.52 Sharon resolution 25264 April 23rd and 2532 26 May 7th were to allow an open space grant
application, a chance at a chance, one component of a possible future conversation, adding real funds to a discussion. So, I'd like to debunk some of the confusion and the myth. When the university's community garden was sold to a developer a few years ago, knowing
community hoped to buy it to keep it a garden and allowable use in its U zone, the 24year green space suddenly came under threat of ceasing to exist of reszoning by variance. Once this space
is gone, it's gone. The resolution was not about taking, claiming, or imposing on someone's property. It's about a grant to possibly offer money to save this green space. Yes, there's a zoning
application. What business person wouldn't want to increase their assets value? They told us repeatedly they're willing to sell for the right price. We were told that the city would contact them. the community did our part and reached out
to them to relay our intentions from the beginning and that this resolution was for an open space grant that could be part of a conversation and an agreeable outcome for all. With the amount of time, care, energy, learning, and work this has taken us for over two years. It
seems quite certain that this won't lead to many others doing the same. This lot with its 24-year green history, its zoning, 40-foot endangered elm, and specific location within the Mayhew Terrace historic 1895 row on a denser
block than all surrounding presents a unique situation. A rare real opportunity with special defining circumstances. We've done the work to save this green space to help restore it as an urban
oasis, a community garden, an educational, cultural, and wellness space for the students and all to holistically benefit from as previously for generations to come. It's been a process of generous sweat equity and
grounded creative problem solving. The county has requested the resolution match their template. So, let's do that. We've clarified the issues. Let's resolve it together. Thank you, council, for seven letters of support and your 6
to2 vote to approve on May 7th. Thank you, mayor and business administrator for your letter of support. Thanks all to all who support us. And lastly, shifting gears, I strongly support addressing the chronic issues on Gordier and Westside a improving the west side.
Thank you. Our next speaker 5.53 Ryan not here and 5.54 Bruce I believe left. Okay, that will conclude our
public speaking portion of the meeting. We're now moving on to our petitions and communications. Any questions or comments on items 6.1 through 6.34? Hearing none. Any questions or
comments on office communication 7.1 through 7.3? Any questions or comments on reporter directors 8.1 through 8.3. Next on to our claims and addendums number one and number two. Council
members going to be taking the vote on claims and addendums number one and number two. Council person Ridley. She stepped away. Okay. Thank you. Council person Huings. Yes. Council person Bajiano.
Council person. I for council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. Hi. Council person Deise. Hi. Council person Rivera. I and council president Waterman claims and addendums number one
and number two are approved 800 with council person Ridley absent. On to our resolutions. Council members going to be taking a vote on items 10.1 through 10.14 with the exception of 10.8 which
was approved earlier. Council person Huings. Yes. Council person Bajiano. Council person Sole. Hi. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore.
That's a 14. Yes sir. Hi. Council person Deise. Hi. Council person Rever. Hi. Council President Waterman. Items 10.4 through 14, excuse me, 10.1 through
10.14 are approved. 8 Z with Council Person Ridley absent. On to our next set of resolutions. Items 10.15 through 10.26. Council person Helings. Yes.
Council person Bajanna. Council person Sole. Hi. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. Yes. Hi, Council Person Deise. Hi, Council Person Rea. Hi. And council president
Waterman. Resolutions 10.15 through 10.26 are approved. 80 with council person Ridley absent. And on to our last set of resolutions. Before we take a vote, I just want to confirm with the business administrator that we are withdrawing
item 10.29. That's right, Sean. and we'll bring it back at the next meeting. Okay. Thank you. 29 29. So with that being said, items 10.29 through 10.32 are withdrawn. So council members going to be taking a vote on items
10.27, 28, 33, 34, and 35. Council person Hulings. Yes. Council person Bajana. Council person. Hi. Council person Solomon. Hi. Council person Gilmore. Hi.
Council person Deise. Hi. Council person Ria. I. And council president Waterman. Items 10.27 and 28 are approved 80. Council person Ridley absent. Items 10.29
through 32 are withdrawn. Items 10.33 through 10.35 are approved 80 with council person Ridley absent. Oh, hold on, hold on. I just I want to ask uh legal or the BA um with regards
to the situation um with the uniform security. Um I know, well, I know I've been down there personally yesterday and I haven't seen any security. Also seen several people sending in emails um for potential violations. Do we have any
updates as it relates to um the citations that was issued and if any of them went to court yet? All I know is that there have been multiple violations issued. I don't have the specific ticket numbers. I would look them up, but I have to follow up with the prosecutor's
office to get the actual ticket numbers so that we can check up and see where they're at. Have been multiple different violations issued though. I don't have any court dates for you though. Okay. I um I want to follow up with that uh just to see how the process is going as it
relates to the citations. Hey, can I have a motion to adjourn at 9:26 p.m.? Second. Second. Motion to adjurnn was made by council president Waterman. It was seconded first by council person.
on a motion to adjourn at 9:26 p.m. All council members present by acclamation, please say I. I. We are out of here at 9:26 p.m. Thank you so much everyone present and everyone watching at home. Remember, teamwork makes the dream work. Have a great night. Stay safe.