good afternoon everyone we're about to get started we can find our seats silence our cell phones like I'm doing and if we can close the front and back doors side doors I greatly appreciate it good afternoon everyone we are on the
record today is Tuesday the 11th day of February the Year 20125 this is a city council Caucus meeting of the Jersey City municipal Council we had a schedule 400m start the clock on my cell phone is showing 4:06 p.m. may we have a roll call for
the commencement of this caucus council person r here council person priner here council person Bano council person SLE not here yet okay council person
Solomon council person Gilmore council person Dees here council person rer here and council president wman here and we have eight council members in attendance at 4:06 p.m. on behalf of council president wman
and the members MERS of the municipal Council in accordance 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 provided by the posting on the bulled board of the first floor 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 February 7th 2025
at 5:45 p.m. to the mayor Municipal Council business administrator Corporation Council and local newspapers and posted on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law council president I'm going to turn it over to you good
afternoon first director director KS good afternoon president Waterman members of the council I have five items before you today first is uh item number 10 12 resolution 25100 resolution will authorize the award of a contract to Millennium
Communications Group to provide four mobile surveillance camera trailers with automated license plate readers capabilities total amount of the contract is $324,800 uasi Grant so that was Greg 10.12 that was
10.12 sorry I was Greg for a minute next is 1019 25107 resolution will award a contract to neelson Fleet Incorporated to provide various emergency lights and sirens for the city's emergency vehicle Fleet total amount of the contract is $60,000 with a
temporary incumbrance of $5,000 which is available in division of automotive services operating account next is item 1020 2518 resolution of author award of a contract to T slack environment services to provide replacement fuel Towers at
various City fueling locations total amount of this contract is $63,750 which is available in a DPW operating account next is 1021 25109 resolution will authorize the award to TK elevator Corporation for
elevator repairs at various city- owned buildings total amount of this contract is $60,000 with an encumbrance of $115,000 which is available on the division of BU buildings and streets operating account and the last is 1022 25110 resolution will authorize the
award of an open-end contract to Western Industries North to provide pest control services for city-owned properties total amount of this contract is $150,000 with a temporary incumbrance of $10,000 which is available in a DPW operating
account Greg with regards to um 10.12 these um these trailers no the yeah these trailers are in addition to what we have or they slated to replace what we had no they we're replacing some of them
councilman they've been in service over 10 years but as every one of you will know I get requests for these types of this type of equipment almost daily we're able to equip put them out on the street where we do not presently have cameras and the addition to the AL right they're the
Mobile Trailer mobile yeah I mean and the best thing about these These are connected right into our system okay thank you thank you Ste good afternoon council president members of the city council I have one item in front of you today uh item
10.6 resolution 2594 it's a resolution authorizing the city to execute an indemnification agreement with Liberty State Park and authorizing the risk manager to issue a certificate of insurance for the continued use of
Liberty State Park by the city for our various City events question thank you thank you sing how you guys doing uh it's I'm new here so I'm just going to have Dennis uh take
over and talk on behalf so I can just understand this is sorry this is Ray sing can I have the um the papers sorry we have um item number uh 10.2 uh
resolution 250 90 uh regarding the cash management uh policy uh the cash management plan for the city of Jersey City um are there any questions for that or
questions go ahead B pres Council so uh this is our annual um resolution that any FDIC banks that we could do banking with so we we make sure that we um include all in case they come in the region or exit the region that we could
uh uh switch uh institutions okay uh the next one is um 10.3 resolution 2591 um there are seven it's for the uh petty cash fund is set establishing the p c Cash Fund for the year um there are
17 departments uh and it's a it's a total of $5,000 so most of them get uh 200 $1 couple get $100 and there's a $100
item I think that's it thank you okay thank you Jenny Jennifer good afternoon council president council members director Jennifer Wong uh division of traffic
engineering I have five ordinances and three resolutions for you this afternoon they'll go quick I promise um first one is St after for the meeting the first item is 3.4 ordinance
2512 this is to slightly modify the uh times that parking is prohibited by ps16 on Washington Street on the West Side the new times will be school days 7 to 9
between Grand and Morris Street and 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m um from Grand Street to Sussex street4 next is item 3.5 ordinance 2513 this ordinance is for Reserve parking all of these locations were
approved at the December committee meeting item 3.6 ordinance 2514 this ordinance is to um progress the next phase of no turn
on red at um at intersections uh 30 intersections yeah 30 intersections um as part of the Jersey City's Vision zero strategy to make intersection safer for drivers pedestrians and cyclists all of these locations are near schools parks and
protected bike Lanes um Jennifer or I guess legal um once we uh is there any I guess we can't I'm the issue the issue I have with with these new um no turn on
red is the notifications people don't get uh notified in a in a good amount of time so I wanted to ask but then I think that we can do it from a legal perspective we can't put it earlier than we vote on it so is there any other um notification
mechanism sorry the real notice is when it's changed like that's so I mean if the council people want to disseminate the information knowing that it's changed but it is public and published as a suggestion um knowing we have the 20-day period between should this be
formally adopted 20 days maybe to work with the graphics team and put something out on social media so that way when it is officially law and as the signs are going to be installed I know that's also not going to happen 20 days after this ordinance should it should it be
approved um we will have that time but that I think would be a really great way to share the information and then the council can also have Flyers so we can have something to hand out as well because to councilman's point this is going to be a pretty big change and people just aren't aware of it so they're they're not going
to follow the law because they're not thinking about the law not because they're not law- abiding right so well anyway out on that but but if we could do something like that that would be great great yeah I'll um I'll reach out to the graphics team to put um something together and put the info out and then
also when we do install the no turn on red signs will notify Public Safety um so that they can uh do enforcement Maybe not immediately but um for warnings and then period after then do full enforcement right or even even just
having some police officer or cars in in in hight traffic intersections is enough of a way to get people to slow down a little bit to see the new sign right so that that might just be enough thank you um next is item 3.7 ordinance
25-15 this is to establish a no parking area on the north side of 9th Street just across from ps37 um this is for school days from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
oh sorry this should be 900 a.m. can we modify that okay oh that's a drastic change we might have first read just send me an email Jennifer okay yeah that should just only be two hours in the
[Laughter] morning okay next one is 3.8 ordinance 2516 this is to extend the existing no parking time on Danforth at the Danforth a Early
Childhood Center School for school days um the new times will be from 7:30 to 5:00 p.m. this was requested to accommodate the morning and afternoon drop off and pickup halfday dismissals and after school
programs next okay next is 106 resolution 25104 this resolution is to establish a loading zone at all times at 3 New York
AB also known as the Devon this is a new residential building there's no on street parking along the frontage um but they do have a pulloff area for vehicles and that area would be established as a loading zone all times
the next is agenda 1017 resolution 25 105 this is for a loading zone again at all times at 88 Morgan Street this was requested by the property manager
um and this is to help out with the double parking that is occurring along Morgan Street this would uh provide a loading zone for that building the last one is item 1018 resolution
25106 this is for a loading zone at 212 Washington Street sa pistro this is for um on Washington at the corner of
Sussex this would be for Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. you've seen large trucks doing deliveries and they'd have a stage in the travel Lane so this would provide an area for them to do it safely okay that's
it thank you thanks jff good after good afternoon council president and council members I'm Brian Ram with the Division of Community Development I have three resolutions for you uh the first one one is agenda item 10.7 resolution
25-5 it's a resolution authorizing the city of Jersey City to accept an in-kind donation from paros associados for Community organization Incorporated commonly known as Paco on February 8th 2025 uh the Division of Community
Development held a focus group session uh for our Consolidated plan community outreach and um hako graciously agreed to donate their space to the city of Jersey City for us to host it um the market value for the fee was $350 so
we're just asking permission from you all to accept that donation okay the second resolution is 10.8 resolution 25- 096 it's a resolution of the municipal Council to authorize the business administrator to execute a discharge of mortgage
encumbering 338 340 Holiday Street um in January of 1993 um a constituent executed a mortgage and note in favor of the city of Jersey City uh the money was funded under the home program to allow him to acquire this property um currently the
owner is seeking to sell the property uh they submitted a request to our office um we did the calculation for the repayment and it was um $ 64,65 23 um the city of Jersey City will discharge the mortgage upon receipt of
the money it's it this a state or city homes program this is a city mortgage that used federal dollars to acquire the property but this this this is the 955 home right yeah it's a
955 is it the state portion or the city portion City portion the city okay yeah and my FAL resolution is agenda number 10.9 resolution 25- 97 this is a resolution um authorizing the
reprogramming of funding and amending program contracts under the housing opportunities for persons with AIDS program for program year 2023 um pursuant to resolution 24 298 in April 24th 2024 uh the city awarded Hudson County
resource center $980,000 to administer a tibra program that's ten based rental assistance to give you some background this program provides housing related TOS services to low and moderate income people who have been diagnosed with HIV or Aids um we've had some issues
regarding um I guess their administration of the grant going back through our monitoring period this past year as a result we partially terminated um on October 1 2024 um partially terminated their award and reallocated
$149,000 to let celebrate um they were having a cash crunch due to them waiting for their 2024 award so we reallocated some of the money from HRC to let celebrate to fund their rental assistance program and now we're looking
to terminate uh the remaining balance on the award which is $547,500 uh our team has um worked with them has trained them has provided technical assistance uh they've inserted all the beneficiaries into their system so they're just waiting for the money and
they're going to pay out the rent effective February this year uh and moving forward um until the grants are no longer here thank you Brian thank you so much for your time Joseph good afternoon council president council
members K Chini building department uh I believe it's item 3.2 ordinance 25-10 it's an amendment to the city of Jersey City construction site safety manual I know we had discussed with uh Ry the
the weekend uh work questions so those are all this the same language we had all agreed to it's the same language yes no just whatever the the noise ordinance is on Saturdays okay great we're going to have the inspect
we're going to have inspectors available we have one inspector available every Saturday from s till three that's overtime but the amount of violations that's going on you'll be another you'll
be able to pay for five people on overtime we do ring in a lot of people we catch on Saturdays they all get summonses and get their work stopped uh we can bring in a second if if the uh they want to pay the second
inspector thank be up to Mr I think we should visit that um because I just don't see from a the ability standpoint for someone to be able to man the entire city ideally
you you want one in each War but at the very least you should have one on either side I agree we can get other people out there my guys don't mind working the weekends for enforcement and as long as they're there they're told make sure the
the summonses are issued okay make it we just gotta pay him that's it buy thanks a lot Joe thank you very much everybody no Amanda good afternoon council president good
afternoon uh I have one agenda item I'm presenting today which is uh resolution number 24-13 agenda number 10:15 resolution authorizing the execution of anou with
its electric ink for ride and drive electric program administered by the US Department of energy this is a uh grant-funded program no cost of the city um awarding its electric a uhou to
install operate and manage 15 electric vehicle Chargers uh in Bergen Lafayette Greenville and Journal Square uh additionally uh I want to put on the record that resolution number
25-12 item number for 1014 uh will be pulled for should be pulled for this agenda 10.14 10.14 can you say a little bit more about why it's being pulled oh I need to make amendments to it but I
intend for it to be back on very shortly great thank you thank you good afternoon council members and council president I'm Laur from the city assessor I have two resolutions today the first one is resolution 25- 092 item
number 10.4 a resolution granting a veterans exemption for the black 11101 lat 16 from local property taxation pursuing the New Jersey statute 544 d330 in the property address at 3114
stream property owned by 100% disable veterans are eligible for 100% disable tax of um tax exemption on primary residents therefore I'm requesting the municipal Council to authorize the tax collector to reinfor or credit the taxes in the amount of
$1,387 to okay the second one is um I resolution number 25-16 item 10.28 a resolution authorizing the cancellation of the prated 2024 added assessment taxes on
the Block 11506 SL 2.01 for the qualifiers p o 649 through P 654 which is a total of four parking spots due to the neous assessment the property location is 155 Bas stre in 2024 the tax
assessor created accounts for 94 parking spots however upon the review of the master did it was discovered that there was only 190 actual spots as a result that tax assessor deleted the accounts for 2025 and corrected the runner assessment value in
2024 I'm requesting the municipal counil authorize the tax collector to refund the credit in taxes in the amount of $1,476 72 for four parking spots can i s a question it sort of just this this
brings up a different question which is that we've had a few people believe that they were over assessed related to some of the affordable housing um you know rules related to the PowerHouse Arts District right so they were in affordable units
but their assessment got raised and I believe ultimately was lowered once it was clear what the affordability controls were is there a way to get folks like that a a refund fund similar to this in the sense of hey there was an error made we overcounted the parking spots we're going to reduce the the tax
you know in Prior years not just not just forward-looking we're changing the assessment but in Prior years is there a way to do that if if we think an error has been made in understanding the affordability controls and so someone was over assessed and so we're not just changing it going forward but also going back I mean is in case byk basis I had
to check what kind of properties and what are the restrictions I usually got notified about the affordable after everything is close and don't so they supposed to at least let me know with some time um ahead for me to be able to make a put a note or hold in the reassessment um it is properties when is
I know that it's going to be affordable I just keep it a lower value until I come up with a restrictions but many cases I never got notification after everything is actually being assessed and built no I know that but I can review that I mean in case by case I had to see the restrictions since when it
was after the Ral before the Ral I need to review the property okay yeah I mean I mean a lot of these were were you know older properties that are are getting closer to their 20 or 30 years but aren't there yet um and and you know we didn't have a good system of tracking
them internally in the city 10 years ago um but I can send you the specific properties in question to see if it merits uh looking a backwards look I know we fixed it forward looking but if it merits a backwards look too okay I wait for you then okay thank you have a good
night Annie council president before Danny comes up I just want to Mark council person Cay present at 4:28 pm. so we have all nine council members present thank you good afternoon council president
council members for your consideration I have one item um it is agenda number 10.1 resolution number 25-9 and the title of the resolution is a resolution authorizing an emergency
temporary appropriation for calendar year 2025 um funding is necessary for the continuance of city services without any disruptions any
questions what's the timeline for us um voting on the budget and amendments and all that we're actively working on the first draft so it should be com um you know pretty next month two months would
ballpark um I would say in about less than two months okay all right but we'll keep you posted on the progress thank you right good afternoon council president members of council Mike men director of the division of Transportation Planning
I have um two items on the agenda this for next council meeting they're actually related to each other um the first Is Res agenda item number 10.25 resolution 25-13 this is a resolution to authorize
a three-month extension of the Via Jersey City service um as you're all aware uh last year we authorized the the third one-year renewal option the the fifth and final year of the original uh via
RFP the on demand microtransit RFP um we did Issue a new RFP and we received two bids on November 21st uh however the uh City the administration needs some more time to finish negotiations on the next
upcoming contract um so we're looking for a three-month extension uh under the existing contract same budget same uh number of weekly hours uh just to to get through get us through the uh the finalization of the terms for the next
contract yes so what that's why don't we just choose between the two the issue there there is a recommended uh vendor that's being that's been being proposed but um the the you know the terms of
that new contract are still being negotiated between the vendor and the city so how do they bid what's that again if you bid you did contingent Upon A Certain set of guidelines correct
there's there were some there were two different proposals within the there were two different sort of uh situations that were uh asked for in the RFP and both vendors provided the the two different options and now it's just a matter of weighing the two different
options basically and that takes 90 days it's it's taking a little bit longer than than anticipated it's up to 90 days councilman it just authorizes the contract extension to be that long while the contracts are being reviewed and
negotiated don't select be in trouble do we have to extend 90 days will we have to extend the 90 days if we select the other vendor if it's not via because it's
two up for bit it's two proposals right there were two proposals that were received correct right so we extend in Via for three months I mean 90 days right so now it comes back 30 days and we do not select
via will we have to keep them the extended day that's what I want to know no it's just maximum 90 days that's it can can you remind me how much the Via contract was uh for the previous year it
was approximately 7.4 million um so this three-month extension would be for just one quarter of that amount so it's up to 1.8 million for the three months okay all right just
checking okay any more questions and next one M the other agenda item related to it is agenda number 3.11 and that's ordinance 25-19 this is authorizing the city to execute an extension of the lease for 70
ege Avenue for the the park the the lot that's being used as the the parking lot for the Via Fleet right now as part of the new uh RFP and the new contract the vendor is required to provide their own parking lot um they do have a lot
selected there is uh you know there is a plan to do that lot but because they're not able to sign a lease on that parking lot until they have a new contract with the city um so it's basically just also extending the lease for that lot for
another three months while the contract is being finalized and signed for like I just it's really angering me with with this contract and with via overall
because initially when via came they had their own lot then they went to the lot on igy then we requested that trees be planted because the additional films in the area then the
conversation came about the next vendor getting a own space then we did an extension and I said why we doing an extension he said oh we got to do it then we did another extension we like oh how many extension oh this should be the last one now we're here again
so for me is it's like I I I just don't see the benefit and constantly keep extending and paying for and paying for the lot and not allowing them to have to have their own
lot just hope this don't take 90 days I can't imagine it it taking 90 days if RFP went out it could been 70 components in I mean there there's a for the RFP there's times allotted to do that and
now we're asking for continuation after continuation I mean I don't know what the details is I don't know how far one is off from the other but I just hope that this is um sorted out uh sooner rather than later I'm not supporting it
just so the record is clear because at some point we have to be we have to be Stern on what we say when we say we're not giving extensions and then and we give an extension although this almost a reasonable explanation but again we said at the
last extension we wouldn't Grant any more extensions but we here giving an extension oh yeah understand your FR frustration councilman and just for clarification it's it's no cost to the city it's it's a free lease for that lot um and the original lot actually was provided by the city as well as part of
the original contract um but I understand your frustrations and um yeah I I do understand you know last time we said it was the last extension which it we do intend it to be but because the contract isn't finalized that's why we need the extra three months
so I hope we don't have to fund them no more I just hope not I just hope not you and I both contract I hope we don't have to fund them just hope not easy thank you Michael thank
you that's it Sean I have no more okay taking it from the top first readings item 3.1 city ordinance 25- 009 it's an ordinance amending chapter 69 special Improvement districts revising Article 2 Central Avenue
special improvement district to be consistent with the other special improvement district implementing articles so this was uh recommended by the Central Avenue Sid they want to remove the assessment cap they wanted the language to be unified and in
Conformity with the other SIDS and chapter 69 and that's why we're bringing this forward okay thank you councilman item 3.2 was touched on earlier item 3.3 city ordinance 25-
011 is ordinance amending chapter 160 fees and charges amending the fee schedule for City owned and operated swimming pools at Bonia pool and Lafayette Aquatic Center I just speak briefly on this Council M Gilmore and I are uh introducing this we wanted to
wait a year after the pool fees have been implemented to see their effect and we don't believe they've been the right decision for the city so asking the council to reconsider just the very very quick history you know uh Bonia and Lafayette were free until 24 we passed in 23 the ordinance uh putting the fees
on adults but not on children we took the fee off children for persing but kept it on for adults implemented in 24 um my understanding is uh Lafayette pool had about 47k in Revenue um Pavonia Mar had about akk that was obviously a
little bit less because of the closure but uh not a a massive amount that um you know is uh that we cannot cover in other parts of the budget and we did hear complaints we heard kind of two primary ones the first was the lines are
really long to get in because there's a lengthy safety process to check in um obviously we can't change all of that but the fee added to that so it made the lines longer it made harder and longer for folks to get in and second the fee was a burden for many families paying multiple times over the summer uh and uh
wanted to go back to the original system and think we can find the roughly 50k or so we got 20 24 in revenue and other parts of the budget to be able to cover this I wanted to bring it forward now in the start of the budget process because we're in February and U we have time now to make changes and adjustments going
forward uh so ultimately that's what it does the last other thing just to note is based on our research the Lafayette pool is not on our Green Acres or Rossy site and so that would allow us to charge Out of Towners at that pool while keeping it free for Jersey City residents so that's what the ordinance does propose he ask the recreation um
director or acting director oh ke ke how much does this fee generate how much how much does this fee generate um sorry guys I wasn't about a year what what what's the question much does this fee
generate within a year um it depends which pool you're talking about but overall just give us overall because we want to cut it all yeah each pool please you could tell us each pool I Council alment she wasn't ready for it that's why overall I I have all the information but I wasn't uh ready for it but um so
we're looking at um uh we're looking at Lafayette being around 50,000 for the summer looking at um um Pavonia being about about 20 grand maybe 30 grand uh we was was uh we had a couple day couple months where it wasn't happening and
then persing is around 50,000 so when so then I just want to make sure once we decide we have to decide if we um take this Fe back would this affect any other program because now you're talking about 100 something thousand
that we have to we have to find in the budget correct correct so what will it affect uh at this point um I hav't gone through D on it but I don't think it'll affect much what do you think it affect I have
concerns as well actually I just want to know what it affect if we pull this money back yeah uh Council so what we usually do with something like this is we look at the appropriation uh compared to the revenue if the revenue item is uh reduced then we have to find an appropriation in the budget that would
also offset that um doesn't have to be specific to a recreation item but we'd have to live with uh the reduction of a hire somewhere or uh a service cut um something of that nature uh
I in theory you know I I agree that we should have free pools for residents I have two concerns with this one is that if you do make it free I don't think the lines will get shorter they're actually going to get longer that's one number
two Persian isn't included in this and my I I feel like that's not right you know because a lot of w d residents go there that it should be we should do all of them or we shouldn't do any of them right this council did remove fees for
the kids which I think uh was a great thing but if we're concerned about and also concerned about the entirety of the city like I'm also concerned next year I don't know it's going to happen next year what if you raise someone comes in
and raises pool fees on the residents of the heights right like to make up for the pool fees that aren't being made up in the other pools so we we got to keep it fair and um if you solve for one solve for all that's
my my thing I think two things two things to what you said one is going to drastically reduce the process in which people come in even at a larger quantity of people come in in have you been to
any other the pools when they tried to collect that fee the fee is you have to I know in Lafayette pool right without the fee they can pass the clipboard around each individual could be signed but because of the fee and you want to
make sure everybody has to pay they have to they can't pass the clipboard around you only can pay the fee and sign in when you're all the way at the front so it's going to drastically diminish the time in which people wait um and then
two initially for whatever reason there was this presumption that Lafayette pool in particular was Green Acres that that was I guess that was one of the problems we were trying to overcome because we were trying to figure out how can we
charge out of town residents not bur in um Regular Jersey City residents so I mean I I in theory I love the oneid fit all but because of certain rules just like you can't do it but Persian field
the line is long in Persian field as well like I I go there the line is down the block and I think it's a payment processing problem that's not to say I don't think adults this is a proposal to have adults and seniors Go for free I
think it's a worthwhile proposal I think it's the Minimus amount of money that if you do for everyone but it should be for everyone if if we're going to solve for it and it has to be done the right way I don't think that reduce if you make anything free you're going to have
longer lines that's just a fact so director question for you um this may help inform some some of the decision whether it's it's all or nothing here part of the the challenge we're facing is anything that's on the rosi if we have to charge out of town residents we have to charge our own residents right
so what is the percentage do you know people that are utilizing ping field or any of these pools that are coming from out of town is it is it a small percentage and I know you and I talked about this over the weekend but just for the record and if you don't have that information now if you could just send it to the council that would be great
because that will at least for the the All or Nothing piece that might inform some of the discussion here it'd be better if I just said that yeah that's fine I'm not but I just if this is something we're considering we should have all of this information yeah it's an important topic so I want to make sure we we can make an educated
decision so his concern is that he want Persian feel included let me yeah let me just have quick quick responses so um on the funding piece I the first thought I had in terms of the um whether it ends up being you know roughly the 50 to 70k
discussed or if we add Persian more you know obviously the council had over a million fits line item last year that got transferred at the end and it feels like a very you know let's start there we can transfer 100 out of the council line item into inter W so it's a net neutral uh option for us there in terms
of the budget but open to the administration and other ideas if there's other places but that felt like the easiest place for us to go because we had the extra in the Council budget last year in terms of purging um the reason the initial proposal was like this was kind of reverting back to pre 2023 minus the kids um because
everything the kids have no fees now um we are very open to adding persing whether you wanted to add it just as a summer because obviously Lafayette and pavon are just summer pools so if you're looking at it as just a summer thing all three pools are the same and then winter and fall Persian would be different or if you wanted to to look at Persian year
round I we're open to any proposal related to Persian that's why we started here but we're open to to looking at the summer or looking at the year round perfect okay we'll definitely have that discussion then and if you if you have any information that will help
inform the council Out of Towners versus in Towners versus seniors you have the I do have numbers now you can share that with the rest of the coun only seven people but what we can do we have to figure out Persian because
you want Persian field added in this so is this a big change or what I I know you making a face face we have the numbers Keith are we going to hurt Recreation you make a face here we want you know we got to figure this out no I
think persing is is a total separate piece from everything else we're talking about Lafayette and pavon two summer because they're two summer pools they're Outdoors that's what but that's what he was saying just for the summertime so what um I mean we're talking another 50 to $70,000 a year uh if we had persan in
there we should I mean we should if we're going to do it for one part of the city do it for the whole whole city for swimming yeah for the pool that's that so Persian field is about 130 a year with persing we talking about one 110
120 total total now is it possible if we if we um agree to this um so maybe we won have to get via 7 million next year no comment I just want to emphasize that regardless of what the outcome is with
how many pools or what um it's a revenue item that's challenged to the appropriations of the budget so it doesn't necessarily mean we have to take money from director Donut's budget it would mean that we have to holistically take a look together when we introduce the budget that you know um we got to
cut we we'll cut something else you know and we'll agree both the administration and the we G cut something that we'll have to cut something it doesn't have to mean that we're not buying soccer balls for the kids or right maybe it's a uh a training uh exercise or something else
but um something that we could live with that's basic okay so is is it a is it a big change to add Persian for the summer months for swimming that's the way it would have to be documented I think it's be clear I think in the first read we're
fine but I'm not the lawyer soine fine I'm scared if we don't do this oh you're right a good point next Administration whoever comes in I don't know you know it's just important that we amend it before the introduction on Thursday and we'll be okay and it's not a big change it it does it doesn't
matter about it being a substantial change because it hasn't been introduced yet so if we're going to make a change we can make it between now and Thursday councilman borano knows if you don't introduce and it doesn't exist right so the wording is what we looking
for yes okay all right thank you thank you okay I'll send that stuff over to your ASAP thank you go ahead Sean yep so Corporation Council you'll be able to Um send a language over reforce right
y all right items 3.4 through 3.8 we touched on earlier 3.9 city ordinance 25- 017 is an ordinance approving a 23-year tax exemption authorizing a financial agreement for a multi site affordable
rental project previously renovated by Rosel Avenue Redevelopment urban renewal pursuant to the New Jersey housing and mortgage Finance Act of 1983 as amended and supplemented njsa 55 colon 14 K-1 exact and the rules prated under
njac 5 colon 80-1 exac is where where's the locate where's this um this is a city Crossing at the end of uh Montgomery it's 100% affordable it's all painted over by Ferris High School
yeah Crossing yeah oh the the yeah no it's not the new house is wait on which side we can't hear you sorry are we on the record or okay they they just was giving me a visual shot oh
okay okay and just for informational purposes the um owner who submitting it says he'll this is for first read tonight he'll be available at the next Caucus meeting or um council meeting for the council to ask any additional questions it is a 100% affordable
property trying to keep okay next is item 3.10 city ordinance 25-18 it's a franchise or franchise ordinance granting permission to St George and St saduna Coptic Orthodox
Church to encroach onto the public right of way sidewalk along the frontage of 395 Sip Avenue block 11 18 01.01 lot one we have the attorney here to enter any questions that the council
may have and there was a hand out that we passed out as well president and members of the council my name is is Ronald Shi and I'm with the firm of Schuman Handlin and I've had the privilege of representing
the Coptic Church from the Inception of this project up until now uh and it's probably been one of the most uh rewarding experiences of my career to see this gorgeous building uh having been constructed on Sith Avenue uh I
have Father Tom with us uh right now he can ask uh any he can answer any questions that you may have about this um but it's a matter of safety for pedestrians and that was the reason that was put into the petition and the
accompanying uh letters that were submitted to the council but if you have questions Father Tom is here okay so in a nutshell it explain um in plainest terms uh you saying that croing on the public
what what in particular is a croing on the public right away the father why don't you explain using the visual that we provided to you yes we're talking about the sidewalk that you see going from the bottom of the picture to the top of the picture that's
Sip Avenue yes okay now the sidewalk as you can see in the rendering is quite wide in in the in the rendering uh for safety purposes father maybe you can step in and explain using this uh rendering White
so the sidewalk for um only front of the building the church building is about 21 ft wide um both sides both Neighbors on either side is about 10 or 11 ft so um we have two parking lots and the
gymnasium on the east side of the project so for children to go from one side to the other they have to go out to the street and come around so we're taking a portion of the sidewalk for the children to pass or all congregants to pass through the
other side of the of the project okay I see what you s a beautiful building and there there's space for the people that are walking on the outside of the fence andig is that space so
actually it's in sync with the rest of the sidewalk for some reason only in this portion extends out extra 11 ft so when um the franchise will take about 10 ft
from the sidewalk and the remaining is 11 ft which is plenty of space because it is in sync with the rest of the neighbors down the street and up the street that's and the food traffic in that area is very
minimal thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you okay next next item 3.11 was touched on earlier item 3.12 city ordinance
25-20 is an ordinance expanding the boundaries of The Exchange Place Alliance special improvement district to include sections of Marin Boulevard Christoper Columbus Drive Morgan Street Bay Street First Street stuan Street and boo
Street and hear you Council on the places involved have they had meetings with them and are they all are they all in agreement with this they were I know they were in agreement because we had pulled this before because Rachel wasn't
in agreement with we had to pull it back but they went out to all the other companies and they were in agreement did did they do you know if they sat down with the a with the Sid not Rachel she's not a no no no if if they s if
uh Council we do have the representative uh legal uh Council from uh downtown but um exchange rather but um they did review the map with Rachel's comments and and update it but he'll explain a little bit more about the
process there's no over is there any overlap with historic no overlap with Historic downtown if you can just identify yourself for the record uh Patrick conin from sceny Hollenbeck we represent Exchange Place Alliance you can just bring that mic up a little sorry okay Patrick just Patrick sorry on
the um couple quick questions so so first um the map clearly shows that there's no overlap and when I was looking at the property list I did see like addresses on the other side of of um yeah so we asked uh when we asked Butch taron's office to create the list
we included list we included the addresses of properties just on the other side as impacted it's not we don't have to notice everyone within 200 feet but we notice people across the street okay and and are you intending to notice just the folks paying the assessment or are you intending to notice all property
owners in the uh uh Powerhouse so I I'll have to review the the statute that governs that but we're planning to notice everyone that were required to notice you're right that the residential individual residential unit owners aren't subject to the assessment right I
I had gone back and forth with Don Pepe on this yeah I just need to know the clear answer because thing is if you're noticing all the residents what it does is just create all kinds of questions right because everyone's am I being taxed and they're not being taxed but then all of a sudden we're getting 500 phone calls into the office asking
if they're being taxed so we just need to know you know clearly who you're going to notice is it just the people who pay the assessment or is it every property owner because if it's every property owner then we the letter has to be extremely clear and then we have to have like a a clear meeting for folks to be able to get their questions answered
sure um so I guess I'll discuss that with Britney my I I think we only have to notice the people who will be paying the assessment no so how we've been doing it is we notice everybody just in case case at some point they can become part of the people assessed uh if
something changes so um what do you want James because it's confusing for you right and we did what's say we did do different letters and have hey if you're in schedule a you're being assessed hey if you're in schedule B you won't be assessed you're just being
noticed to add to that what we did when we did the historic downtown Sid the clerk usually does the letter we put a point of contact we're leading back to the Sid that way self the clerk or not any else is getting flooded with calls but the Sid who has the most knowledge of it can receive those calls and answer
any questions if they have them sure okay and in this case we just the the cond you know the condos are going to be the hardest one to clearly talk to about it and then you know obviously that has to be noticed and come back for a second reading is there a date in mind for the
second reading at this stage it can't be next meeting too close um it would either have to be March 12th and we would have enough time to notice it or anytime in March sure and then the last thing I just request from the the alliance would be just one Zoom meeting between now in the second reading so
anyone who has questions can just speak and and just have them answered I think it's all pretty self-explanatory um but I do think that that it's important just have that meeting on the books um is that something that you'd like us to do after we've noticed for the meeting yes so and I mean it's even great if we can put it
in the the letter that that the clerk's office sends out so people know and they have a question to get their their questions answered I I I just like my I would like my question asked the last time we stopped we we we canceled all this because you guys weren't in sync with both SIDS did
you guys have a meeting with with the hdsid yes or no I don't know if we specifically met with them I so this is this is why we stopped it right because there was Zero communication they didn't meet with her cuz Rachel had a lawyer right there
Rachel had an attorney they they didn't meet with you because they were supposed to because they got out of it wait so you're the lawyer for uh let's have a introduction you letters yeah they shook hands we're good yeah it's always love it's always love uh no
uh could even councel Gerard pisillo from Jan I do represent a historic downtown SI we did appear before you months ago we did have a conversation uh with regard they should have handled and the proposed sorry with the proposed uh
a amendment to increase the boundary uh post that conversation we had we understand the council kind of pulled it to go back to the table and discuss I could say not having an issue or not having an opportunity to talk to my client before this uh meeting this
evening we did not meet with Exchange Place Alliance prior to this uh I could say that on the record but I'm not here to say we're opposing the proposed boundary expansion we did have obviously our issues with the prior expansion area
uh but I could just affirmatively say to councilman Rivera's question yeah post our conversation with you the last time we did not have a meeting between the SIDS so why don't we just hold off on this until we have this meeting and bring it back yeah why no no no we don't
want to keep pushing it back because I know it's holding up certain things that they would like to do it doesn't come back to the end of March you have enough time to set up a meeting with the historical hid that you have enough time to do because um I know that there's
plans that they trying to do and we keep pushing it back pushing it back I get that but I just I just don't like when they say you know we're not going to meet we're going to meet we have to meet before this comes back it's on the agenda there's no meeting and here we
are you know we're going to be voting on this on Thursday first reading how come Rachel is in here does ra does Rachel know what coming this was coming up tonight he's got to come back what's Rachel's last name see he's a new
attorney not here so yeah the main attorney who works on this is Don Pepe my boss so I've been involved in in a lot of this um I don't all of the people um so we we could certainly try to make a meeting happen with Just Between the
SIDS that can happen we could try to make that happen before Thursday I know that our proposed expansion does not overlap with theirs with theirs which I think was the main point of contention the first time around um so I I can't promise for sure I don't if you look at
the map that's in the the P that is clear that it's Mar Boulevard and the East is now the expansion area for we had a map last time and it wasn't clear and they they said it was clear this is the only only reason why I'm bringing
this up so you know if if if you guys can meet before Thursday it's fine but the last map we had on the record was we are not overlapping and you guys were overlapping and that meeting never
happened and now we have a resolution for for an adoption just have the meeting before Thursday yeah I just just have a meeting before Thursday so Rachel can see this map and get CL to make sure she's attorney's
there people talk to interrup people talk that's it shake his hand again okay you guys can talk make sure and look at the maps and make sure historical down district is not in it that's what this was about the first
time sorry for your first name oh no please that's no that's what you get paid for we not sorry good answering a question he get he gets beat up hard from judges not from us and just a suggestion I mean it's it's up to the administration if they
want to do this or not but you know we can just say We'll introduce it and then for it'll be up for second reading March 26 which is the last meeting in March which I think will give ample time yeah well we'll also try to stress to get something done by Thursday okay they
work a lot of hours there on this is we got a Snickers we can go ahead all right second reading Oran is item 4.1 city ordinance 24-104 is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 69 special Improvement districts implementing
article 8 Cultural Arts Special Improvement districts of the Jersey City Municipal Code next item 4.2 city ordinance 25-1 is an or what's that hold on one sec sure
sure um first of all there was a meeting uh on a second let me find my notes oh there was a uh JC held a stockholders uh stakeholders meeting about the Sid the
Arts siid out of the uh 60 880 uh was it 85 property owners only six showed up I received calls from other property owners that they did not uh know anything about this meeting and uh I am asking you to carry
it to February 25th so JC can have a public meeting the property owners have many questions at the meeting the other night which uh I think meor and I were at uh they
said that uh property values will go up if our property values go up we're going to be paying more taxes I'm already as I said the other night paying $18,000 in property tax and the services are getting less and less so if my property value goes up more I'm going to be
paying more and most of my neighbors the residents of Ward C are tired of it so we have to sit down we have to explain more uh explain where the money is coming from who's paying for it and exact what's going on and at that
meeting many of the questions that the developers asked I met with some of them this morning we had a meeting up in Journal Square and uh they were a little confused about this whole thing and I think it has to be presented a heck of a lot better than what it was the other
day so I was as the councilman said I was also at the meeting the other morning with the stakeholders um and one of the the questions that had come up that people were looking for Clarity on had to do with with the the timeline of this obviously if you were to go by by
our statute it would be first read second read approxim how long that takes 20 days for it to become law and then they could start working from there but knowing that there are still maybe some questions about the projects altogether do we have a timeline does it make sense to put in something like a trigger to
have a little bit more clarity so the property owners really they that for me was one of the biggest takeaways they don't understand the timeline and they don't know how to prepare for that y absolutely councilwoman um I just want to emphasize uh going back to our meeting last week and some of the public information we've had um this started as
a holistic look at the area that' be impacted and we narrowed it down to properties that are worth $4 million or more um which comes to approximately 100 uh of the uh most expensive real estate Parcels in the city so that's what we're dealing with when we look at that um to
councilman's point uh real estate continues to increase particularly in the city um as uh we want additional resources like the Arts like uh the lows you know those will always spur um additional um increases in value that's
that's how the market uh Works um with regards to councilwoman piner's question yes this is a formal process that um once we include this second uh then the process will start on establishing the board um understanding the oversight of that board when they present their
budget back to the council so we're months away from this I know some of the property owners had um when exactly will I be taxed well looking at our timeline it looks like it goes into 2026 so to the councilwoman's uh point we can put in a triggering that you know we're working through the
process through the remainder of the Year and that at minimum it would go into effect the beginning of the next year I think also to the councilman's point because letters were sent out initially when the assessment numberers much larger then people were sent a second letter saying that they weren't
going to be affected we did hear from some of the people in somebody did show me another letter saying that they were going to be affected um I I feel like that's something that needs a little bit more clarity I know noticing it's difficult we went through this um when we did the Westside Avenue special improvement district and everybody was
noticed and we had to clarify if you are a school or a public building no you're not included if you're a vacant lot or parking lot you're not included or you are included this rate so I think that communication can be better here also um to the councilman's point as well with the development of the board since this
is not the more traditional structure of an SID meaning that the the members are the property owners are not going to necessarily be the first members of the board having some really clear communication on what that's going to look like and what a transition might look like I think would also be really
helpful here um should this move forward because there if this does not move forward there is no board and that's one of the reasons why you cannot answer some of these questions right but I think that whatever we can do in advance of that could be helpful yep I know Joe Bow's here uh just to give a little bit more clarity on that but my
understanding is a handoff for the board that once the board's initially established then those uh that are part of the community and affected would then be the shareholders of that of that board so and I understand that but for the record and for the people who are watching for the business and property owners who are listening I think that
this is some of the information that might not have been communicated out as clearly as it may have been at that meeting even though Joe did a very good job presenting this is no no talk of of his actual presentation but sometimes people need to hear the information more than once for them to truly understand
like how it's going to impact them yeah John and if you go on the computer the Pompa do in France is going to be Clos in five years the place is a wreck and uh you read some of the comments about the Pompa do in France
you know what's going to happen here why are they coming here to raise money uh I think this should be delayed we got to have more explanations and issues have to be solved uh John you said um it's only 100 properties that's going to be
affected by this Sid so and I don't know if this question was answered before um why Why Can't This s be expanded uh why can't the current SI
be ex the Sid be expanded to accomplish this yeah Joe yeah thanks councilman Joe Balman um so we've we've first it's I think it's 85 properties um 85 okay um and the notice that went out it was to
one to the 85 it said you're specially assessed the bigger District it's not assessed got a a letter as well as required but it says you're not a specially assist um there was I think one property that was on both lists because they have two codes in a tax
assessor's office but every other property owner as far as we know got the right notice um it's a great question um can we expand this uh councilwoman asked the same question I think some of the folks at the stakeholder meaning have asked that uh I think the concept is we'll
start in the area where the properties are most benefited by the arts district and then the padoo in particular um the cultural arts facility uh we picked the most valuable properties so properties
between 4 million and I think we have a worth 250 million so these are the most valuable businesses in the Journal Square and to put this in perspective the expected Sid tax now it'll be up to the Management Corporation to to set a
budget and you to approve it but by order of a magnitude our anticipation could be that a property worth 4 million would pay about um $2,000 a year a property worth 250 million would pay
about1 25,000 but the expectation is and I know councilman bojano and I spoke about the challenges with property values going up and that how that hurts people on fixed incomes because taxes go up with it but the businesses for example in my example
worth with a property worth 2250 million do if they just get a 10% increase on their property value right so now that's a $25 million property value assessment increase and all we're asking for them to do is contribute
$125,000 toward the districts with uh an expectation that they might have their property where up go $25 million so we've purposely targeted the most valuable properties that are going to be benefited the most and excluded everyone
else to your point though I think as a second stage the city should consider maybe after this is up and running two three years from now should we include hotels for example we''ve asked been about hotels throughout the uh City they will benefit by increased visitors at
the pomad those are all great questions but you sort of have to start somewhere so we picked this narrow area for this narrow set of sliver of property owners which again are the most valuable properties in Journal Square by a lot so these but these
85 properties are what's the what's the makeup of it these these people these owners are not it's not owner occupied so it essentially trinkles down and hurt the small guy who may have a business and they're paying rent and because the
Sid tax is implemented on his owner he's not going to say hey I can just pay the 25 he's going to pass it to his tenants which may have regular citizens working and stuff like that so we've heard that concern also on the tenants right it might be about $10 per month per tenant
we've heard the concern that that made these ibly wealthy Property Owners may decide instead of paying that $10 per unit per month I'm going to put it up on one of my tenants I think the market doesn't work like that they're going to charge whatever they can for that unit
and they're not going to necessarily pass through or not pass through this $10 so I understand the concern about the tenants Andor the smaller business owners but those my view is that those the rents they pay either the tenants or
the Landers is driven by the market at the end of the day and you know if this incredibly $250 million asset decides they want to pass down this $10 a month to each residential unit um and the market won't allow them to do that I don't think it happens frankly the the
solution to the market problem is going to be the numerous number of units that are being built in general square right competition and to the to the more units is going to want to drive those those prices down at the end of the day I can't wait till we get to that period because they've even saying that
for the last I don't know how many years and it's the more buildings go up the the higher the price and the cost of living around as Council o will talk there's a bigger discussion about how taxes get charged res as real estate taxes happen
in Jersey that's a big issue and a problem that's not unique to Jersey City but it's it is somewhat unique in the sense that you have these incredibly valuable properties right and this incredible demand to live here um and then you have a lot of people have been here a long time who struggling because they're property values are going up and the taxes are going up with them and
they just want to be able to not pay a lot of taxes they don't care as much that the property values are going up but I can tell you the people that are paying this Sid tax they care about their property Valu is going up that's the most important thing to them is that their property value is going up so this again in the $250 million piece of
property example that's going to have a benefit of call it conservatively 25 million bucks they have to now pay $125,000 to help sort of lift up all the boats because they're going to benefit from them that's not you know that's part of the pr of being a good corporate citizen in a in a city when you're
making know plenty of money are you going to tax the rich is what you're telling me is Rich moo on that list no just look just the most benefited the most benefited the most benefited you know uh most residents and
they all say the same thing they do not believe that people are going to travel from New York or travel from anywhere to come over to the pomad do here in Jersey and that's another issue uh you got New York City which has all these places
there why would they come over here rich I can tell you my experience with Arts Administration if people want to see a show or an exhibition they will go to wherever that show or exhibition is happening whether it's in Manhattan whether it's in Philly whether it's in
Baltimore whether it's in Jersey City that's I mean I I don't live in Jersey City I drive in for V and events all the time is there a time timeline with this so I mean I think the suggestion that the tax that in the ordin we had a
section in the ordinance which I don't think is material so you can do it before adoption um we could do it in time for Thursday uh that the assessment won't trigger until January 1 2026 is it a reasonable addition it's not a major change we can make that in time for the
adoption for consideration um at the meeting on Thursday and what because the the museum is is is far away so what happens if the museum never come
to fruition what happen the S right so um the sad one of the things about the Sid as you see even here tonight they can be expanded they could be dissolved like the future governing bodies will decide what to do about this Sid same
thing frankly again at some at some level with the pomad do or well what I would prefer to call the cultural arts facil uh space that space is going to be yours in perpetuity whether it ends up becoming the Padu or you you perceive in
the future some other amazing Cultural Arts used for that space 85,000 square feet in general square that is owned by the city of Jersey City and and the people live here for the next 100 years so maybe you'll decide that the dam it continues to exist but it funds a
different Cultural Arts already in there all those decisions are to be made the reason we are trying to move forward is because there's a lot of as I've said a lot of pieces to this puzzle and we're just aligning them as we move and this Sid is one of the many pieces in the
puzzle but again it wouldn't assess until at least 2026 so so maybe I asked this same question a slightly different way because this concern did also come up in the meeting right um so so the the intention and purpose for this is to help with the operating funge of a major
Cultural Center institution should a change to Recreation Center something that the city is going to own and operate why are these businesses being charge this amount of money for that purpose right so so I think the question becomes then if it is not going to
be S Pompa if it's going to be something else is there a mechanism in place to either transfer that money to say the current Journal Square special improvement district I feel like like refunds might be a little bit more complicated and might not be accurate but like like is there is there any
thought about that not that I want to put something out in the world to say that this one thing's not going to happen but that is a reality and maybe maybe the answer is within like like formation bylaws of the special improvement district maybe the answer is someplace else but I think a little bit
more clarity around that because I would share the same concern if I tried to do the Westside partnership special improvement district to fund recreation in the W the residents would be happy but the business would be like this is a city's responsibility and I would agree with them right and that's you know embedded into the downtown Management
Corporation membership is a majority of District members right so the initial board is uh pointed by the mayor as I think that's pretty typical but as their terms are all over the new board becomes
elected by the uh representatives of the district that board now will decide what happens with those monies in your scenario and they'll come back to you and you'll say you whoever you are at the time um that budget is acceptable or not acceptable the way you do for other
budgets so those decisions will remain in the hands of you know in court as the law sort of contemplates and seems appropriate the people that are in the district to decide that what happens in those future years but to your question uh do I think that under the existing bylaws you might be able to move that
money over to the uh existing journ I think that might be possible I double check it again I'm I'm not saying that that should be the answer I'm just saying I think that what we're hearing from the community and the property owners is that they they want to understand the thought behind all of these decisions and obviously you cannot
do them all before you do the enabling legislation we understand that but but what else might be helpful here to communicate that out and sort of you're not going to make everybody happy but at least you're trying to like directly address some of these concerns as opposed to saying like just something a
little bit more formal a little bit more specific as much as we can yeah and I would add I mean several of those uh Folks at that meeting reached out to me and I had I shared information over the weekend even Saturday and Sunday they would tell you I think so we've been really aggressive about trying to give
back to people that have questions um I I don't haven't found to be a lar long list of people that are going to be paying the assessment there were plenty of people that are not paying the assessment not even in the district that might have an opinion about it but in terms of the folks that are going to pay that bill there hasn't been a long list
of people reaching out to me or even anyone else at the city as far as I know uh many of the developers not reaching out for political reasons that's another issue but they still want answers and they still want to know how it's going to affect them fect them over the long
term the people that own homes in the in the area wanted the same information and they're not satisfied with what's going on the homeowners will not be affected not now but when their property values go up and they going to be paying more taxes because their property values went
up they are going to be paying for taxes again that issue is a bit a state of New Jersey issue that that that would maybe maybe this is exactly the reason why somebody should trigger the process for a reval moving forward right because
that's really our only mechanism outside of people doing appeals in court is when you do the revaluation process and just because your property value goes up does not mean your taxes are going to go up I'll say for me with the last reval our property values went up my taxes went down because the percentage of the pie was shiting around in a way that was
more well I would say more appropriate people will not agree with me especially if they live downtown but but in that like that's I mean Rich that's the answer to that I but but your point is so well taken that if I'm I'm I don't want my property values to go up because
I'm have to pay nor taxes then something's broken in the system if you don't want your property values to increase and you're you're putting your finger on that which is they because they're not tied to your income in New Jersey and again I think this is I'm way out of my leak here or even on this
point here but that's a bigger issue that we really be should be tacking as a state in other states your property taxes are adjusted when the home is sold so people who are in their homes for 40 50 years actually have some protections but that's that's just not how we do it in the state of New Jersey
and that's that's a state issue so State delegation this is a state issue you you know but and also many of those developers know how to reach me by the way they could find me they have my phone numbers Creator a lot of them think the
old mentality of Jersey City and politics so know please I don't know where you're from I don't know how much you know about Jersey City uh Joe but I'll tell you something people are looking around they see all these new buildings all these giant buildings and
the taxes are going up and all these improvements are doing nothing for the people that have lived here for 40 50 60 years and we're driving a lot of them out of the city because of all this I feel you're what you're saying
councilman I do okay did we exhausted this conversation enough so for the record it's between 4 million and 250 million I think I I I think we have one for 250 I have to go check but yeah there's very valuable properties in
there okay what is it could you say that again the property the assessed property values are between 4 million and I'll find out what the highest one is but it's it's 4 million to to the highest one there is this is just the commercial properties correct just commercial yeah
I don't know why the residents are are are getting the information that is their property too so we had to send letters to but said you're not assessed but I hear what you're saying yeah these are canar very valuable commercial properties this is a concern that's why
rich is getting um all these phone calls because a lot lot of the residents I I'm hearing his conversation he keeps saying the residents the residents the residents so evidently we're not doing a good enough job to get the information out there with the community so they can understand the difference yeah I know every time we do an SID we go through
this because it is somebody's being tax and so often it is the little guy that can't afford it that you know that is being taxed so that is our concern I mean I I believe SIDS are good ideas but I know when you're starting to create one I think you really have to take it
slow because it's really a process and and you can see all the confusion and I'm listening to both Council people who were at the meeting and there's still not Clarity on certain issues yeah I mean I stayed till I we we didn't stop didn't stop talking until they were done asking you know and and um that's that
that is a concern and I know one of the concerns is with the funding when the U money come in does this help fund everybody keeps saying the Poma do that's what's out there we keep funding the Poma do if by any chance that it cannot completely fund the papao then
the city they want Clarity on that do the city have to pick up the remaining funds that is necessary to fund the papao that is concerned with the residents because then they say they'll be taxed yeah let me I've said this I think
hopefully but I've never been clear enough but we all yeah the papao museum can't go forward unless the city and the Redevelopment agency have identified secure uh secure sources of
funding to build the entire pomu and and to have it operate for a significant period of time because the tax credit program itself requires a feasibility study so we can't put a shovel in the ground until all of those questions get answered how is it going to get paid for
it and built correct how's it going to be operated and we just don't have those answers yet U which is why we're sort of taking it step by step this is exactly what the businessmen the other day said they asked these questions and you didn't have the answers I I I have all the answers we
have today I don't have any answers that we don't have today only answer cannot go forward until we secure funding and for the construction and operation okay and part of the challenges now with everything
going up people are afraid that somehow or another this will fall back on them one way or another Point nobody wants increased taxes we have a school budget that's coming again yeah you have to be mindful that we have a a government that's cutting everything so we're going
to have to figure out how certain programs are going to be funded or even how staff will be paid depending on if some of us is on grants it's a because everything is cutting so at this point that's why we asking all these questions because we we're now asking the question
is it the right timing now for this that's it yeah the right timing cu now it seem like we have to get in survival mode as a city because there's too many things cut that's coming that's that's where we at really yeah you know and look we all for Arts
we all for everything but sometime it's not the right timing because of all the um tax increase that we all feel throughout the city and if we have to fund this in any way as a city we may cannot fund it because we going to have
to just figure out how we going to have to stay afloat as a city just to give the public regular services that is the challenge now yeah that of course is not on the question right now I know but we just at a different time now we got a different
Administration everything is cut we getting answer you know we may not get G we may not get this grant we may not get that Grant and now we want to build this beautiful thing think people going to come and we may have to knock it down and say no let's house homeless people I'm just saying we just don't know
what's going to happen so that's where we at now that's all Joe I know I I I I appreciate it it's just that this is where we at today yeah versus you're not alone I was out every night in a different city and everyone's feeling your pain it's so
that's why it's it's like you know we can't even push forward with it because we don't understand right now that's why I don't want to waste nobody time we just can't because of all the uncertainties that we feel right now yeah that that that's it that's a concern so just don't let them freeze
you Joe I guess my my last question is um what if anything happens if we don't vote on um vote us on this immediately by Thursday yeah and we'll carry it I guess or you don't you vote
it down is what it is know what I'm saying is because rich rich wants to table so what I'm saying is what if anything would happen I guess my my question is is there harm
done in table in it and bringing it up later versus voting on it now here's here's my only concern for all of you right so we put out certified mail to 85 people and said the council is going to have a public hearing on this on
Thursday so not everybody as you know is always in the loop so you then have people showing up for a public hearing to be told come back in three or four weeks they are all the entire all the folks that have questions are looking to
come and talk to you Thursday I'm prepared to answer okay with them on Thursday so the whole universe of people impacted are line to show up on Thursday so I don't I don't know that it's fair to them even to say oh I don't I hear
you it happens I get it but I know you came here you arrange your schedule whatever you did never never mind we're going to come back in two more weeks that would be the biggest issue for me I would say I would let them come and talk to them you sent 85 you sent 85 notice out to the the properties that's going
to be affected well all 400 or so got notices one notice said you're not assessed one notice said you're assessed I didn't do it but I think the clerk's office did or or the law department but yeah and you sent that same amount of notices out for the meeting you just had to so for the meeting we only invited
the stakeholders which were the ones who were being assessed we didn't expand it to the whole 400 people because we didn't think it would be particularly productive so we only invited the 85 at that meeting and I should say that was the our third attempt at a meeting the meeting we had a meeting before that we
sent out notice it probably wasn't fast enough we only had one or two people so we did it again and that that the letter that I went out for that notice was sent 22 days before the last meeting so it was three weeks notice um and again I know some of the developers that you're referring to they all can know how to
reach me too so so so they'll come on Thursday Thursday they come on Thursday all five of them and they say that they oppose it is your position now is would would would the administration be open to push
it further or no I think we should let let them come in here and then decide whether you want to vote or not I mean you can always Table after you hear from them but I think you should hold the public hearing for them anyway because no I think that yeah I think we should definitely hold the public hearing yeah I agreed guys there's so many loopholes
for properties and property owners and the IRS tax code like the fact that you're even proposing at the Minimus tax on people that own properties 4 million and above like that it rubs them the wrong way is like ludicrous to me the government has to be creative in the way
that we maintain our cities like these people are getting away with murder I'm sorry but like all I know is Trump like declared like a $950 million loss and he didn't pay income taxes for decades okay they have their ways we need to start
like figuring out how we're going to maintain our cities everyone complains it's so dirty right like when are we going to like actually it's such a small tax on people that can afford it I'm sorry I just get the IRS tax code out
like the NFL doesn't pay taxes how many of these people don't pay taxes okay and I we had one property owner who's has a tax Bayman was objecting to the special Improvement tax and they have a their property tax deated those with money
will always want more money that's La the universe we I think we're you you and are on the same page councilman we should have the public hearing are frustrated because like the the tax code is so thick with like these loopholes for these people and it's just like oh
you want to have like a little Sid tax like and $125,000 for like a $250 million property is like peanuts dude like to maintain that area and make it clean and make sure that that whole area is operating properly Jal Square needs to
be cleaned it needs to be cleaned it's filthy I'm sorry this Sid is not going to cover supplemental Services I understand just I mean but just to to be clear here because there's already a lot of confusion so I I cannot say that they
the Journal Square special improvement district does supplemental services this special improvement district would be strictly for operations for a cultural institution so you have economic activity over there I'm not just that I just like I just don't want people to
think that should this move forward it's going to be to clean the street I understand Rising tide lifts all boats we need to well Joe we done all right good evening all good before you go you said 85 people were notified speak to most of them they never got the
notification I don't know where the heck they sent to who they sent them to but they never received them okay well well Joe I said my concern is just what I I address to you because I know it's just a different time it's a good and if you know we have to figure out
how to operate that I don't know if it's the right timing because people are taxed everywhere we're years away from that taxed everywhere we're taxed out the wrong people are being taxed that's tax so um all right Council thank you
very much joh you want to say John I'm asking wait a minute Denise want to say something Jo ask can you recirculate that list of the 85 properties I think it's still on our website but we'll send it around right yeah yes thank you thank you this way we could know we could it's the schedule be to the ordinance but we
can send it here Rich John John Rich no John uh um I think most of us up here want this to be carried over until there's further explanations and further information given out and that's we're going to have a public hearing on Thursday uh we'll have
three or four of the most wealthy people uh that own land in Jersey citycom and if you decide that you don't want to tax them that's your decision but we're looking to use that for the Arts this is the first step in a process that create a board and then establish the tax we're not asking for tax tomorrow this is well
into 2026 but this is the initial point to get a access into the process so um we're going to proceed on Thursday and and take it I'm going to ask to for it to be carried and let the let the uh Council decide on that we should have a
hearing first speak to the homeowners the home owners what they what what some of the council would like is to have a public hearing to hear from the public we want hear hearing the public we want to hear from the public because part of us let's see what they say then you can carry it after
that down or you can vote for it but what we want to hear from the public at this point counc we're going to have the public hearing and just to uh councilman borgo's point with uh the the noticing um you know he's saying constantly that the homeowners are sick of it and they're tired of so clearly they were
noticed it it's that they didn't care enough to show up so they don't they didn't care enough to show up because nobody knew about it no no I'm talking about the 85 that were ad nobody let's that's how can they not know about it and then complain about it right does make
sense okay okay he Sean so we'll have the public here and then from there we'll see because we want to hear from the public okay because I just wanted to be clear if you're looking to carry I don't want to um blab the conversation that we just had but if you're looking
to carry it that means you're going to carry it without a public hearing so we got to hear you're gonna have a public hearing then you can decide whether if you want to move to vote or you can table it after the close of the public hear okay all right those are your options I just wanted to put it out
there and just just to clarify with the notices real quick we noticed about 13 100 people in total because we noticed the approximately 85 that are being taxed and then the additional 1,00 people within the Sid so we would have
to Ren notice everybody If They carried it if they carry it hit a public hearing and how much did that costal with significant amount of money right no John you're saying uh yeah public hearing most people are so disgusted with stuff's going on in the
city right now they don't even want to come out to things well they need to come out that's that's that's the problem Rich they need to come out so we can hear from them councilman just part of the process we're going to provide them an opportunity to be heard let the reverse Robin hoods come we need to hear from the public that's why public
comments are important this way they can address the whole nine Council normally we can't all meet at one time because of the sunshine Lord but this is the proper place for us to meet for the whole Council to hear what everyone is saying
instead of getting two this way two that way three that way this way we all can hear and make our judgment from there motion go ahead oh wait we on now about to did we finish no ahead yeah we are
item 4.2 city ordinance 25- 001 is an ordinance adopting amendments to the Morris Canal Redevelopment plan including regarding standards in mixed use C and mixed use e districts item 4.3 City or hold on Sean Chuck can
you come up um if you could just explain here Chuck I know we um we met and we've pretty much discussed everything initially just so the public um so the record reflect initially um I think we were going to do five or six stories but since you guys
have obliged to add more affordable which is 12 now 12% which they're both oh yeah they're two different ones so the one that's really in question is the one that's connecting the greenway yeah that no
that's still 10% but what changed is now they're dedicating private land at the back of of the property to add to the to the Morris Canal Greenway that was a big change from from initially because uh they had they had the building the propos building at the
six story was all the way out to the property line uhhuh and then then it was discussed with planning to to push that back so we can add that to the greenway and kind of take take that and and add a story there's also on the side of it we're creating a a kind of a side street
that that will be open to the public so that they can access the greenway off of Grand Street and wait so how many is the unit count the same the the affordable count the it's % so it'll be no the unit the number of
units in the establishment is it the same or did it go up it's it's the same it's yeah the six story version and the seven story version yes all right and um The Junction one um it was going to be it was five but now is it's five and then six at the
latter end of gville yes and the only reason is because of the grade change from Grand Street down to Summit so that you know the the building is like here so so you can get five up here and then you know six because of the gray change okay all right thank you
CH okay our next ordinance item 4.3 city ordinance 25-4 is a franchise ordinance granting permission to Sam seinberg his successors and assigns to approximately
21662 square feet over the public RightWay within 50 feet foot of First Street adjacent to Lots 8910 and block 1 120 excuse me 12603 on the official tax assessment map
of the city of Jersey City item 4.4 city ordinance 25 days 005 is an ordinance Implement implementing chapter 67 pedestrian malls article 3 Provo Street between Bay Street Morgan
Street Pedestrian Mall item 4.5 say ordinance 25 days 006 is an ordinance of the municipal Council of the city of Jersey City amending chapter 105 demolition chapter 131 uniform construction codes chapter 160
fees and charges and chapter 345 zoning article 3 section 30 and 31 local Landmark designation standards and section 33 item 4.6 city ordinance 25007 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article
3 three parking standing and stopping amending Section 3 32-24 parking prohibited certain hours at PS 37 along 9th Street East of eie Street and item 4.7 city ordinance
25-8 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 8 permit parking section 332-5800 Avenue between 6th and 7th streets we have our public speakers right now we're up to
42 and on to our petitions and Communications any questions or comments on items 6.1 through 630 there are no officer Communications there's only one report of directors any questions or comments on that and claims
we have our list and on to our resolutions items 10 point 1 through 4 were touched on earlier item 10.5 resolution 25- 093 is a resolution celebrating the life of Wanita MC urchin
October 27th 1949 to December 30th 2024 items 10.6 through 10.9 were touched on earlier item 10.10 resolution 25- 098 is a resolution authorizing an amendment of Professional Service
contract cont with Dr Mary alore or providing uh additional animal services for the Department of Health and Human Services the vision of animal care and control item 10.11 resolution 25- 099 is
a resolution authorizing the payment of a claim submitted by Associated Humane Society for providing animal control services for the Jersey City Department of Health and Human Services Division of Animal Care control and control items 10 point excuse me item 10.12 was
touched on earlier item 10.13 resolution 25-11 is a resolution authorized in an agreement with H&L Systems Incorporated for the annual support of proprietary computer software without public bidding for the Department of administration division of
Information Technology items 10.14 through 22 were touched on earlier item 10.23 resolution 25-1 111 is a resolution of the Jersey City municipal Council approving the appointment and reappointment of coun city council
members to the boards of special Improvement districts also known as District management corporations next item 10.24 resolution 25112 is a resolution authorizing the settlement of action entitled Danielle
sin versus John Doe uh docket number hu- l- 897 -22 item 10.25 was touched on early item 10.26 resolution 25114 is a resolution appointing Ashley
Sullivan to the women's Advisory Board of the city of Jersey City next item 10.27 resolution 25-15 is a resolution of the city of Jersey City municipal Council authorizing the tax collector to apply
erroneous collected land taxes towards February 1st 2025 pilot payment due from kkf block 5B urban renewal LLC 33 University Place and credit The
Entity item 10.8 was touched on earlier item 10.29 resolution 25117 is a resolution of the municipal Council authorizing the tax assess of the cancel real estate taxes on block 17503 lot
1.01 also known as 125 Monitor Street as the property was acquired by the city Jersey City Redevelopment agency and last but not least item 10.30 resolution 25-18 is a resolution of the municipal
Council authorizing the city to enter into an equipment lease purchase agreement between lease Servicing Center um as the Lesser and the City of Jersey City and the county of Hudson the state of New Jersey as the Le see
okay I have a motion to adjourn at 553 pm. by council person Cay may I have a second second by council person priner on the motion to adjourn at 5:33 p.m. all council members present by
acclamation please say I we are out of here at 5:33 p.m. thank you so much everyone who was present and everyone watching at home remember Teamwork Makes the DreamWork stay safe safe and have a great rest of the night