good evening everyone okay good evening everyone we are on the record today is Wednesday the 26th day of February 2025 this is a regular meeting of the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 6:00 pm start and the clock on
my cell phone is showing 6:04 p.m. may we have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting council person Ridley here council person Prince AR here council person bajano council person C
not here yet council person Solomon council person Gilmore present council person Tes not here yet council person Rivera here council president Waterman okay I have seven council members in
attendance at 6:04 p.m. can we kindly rise for a moment of silence please David D Williams Maxima cologne remain standing as we salute to the flag thank
you on behalf of council president Waterman and the members of the municipal Council in accordance with the New Jersey public laws of 1975 chapter 23 1 the open public meeting act also known as the Sunshine Law at a quick notice of this meeting has been provided
by posting on the bulletin 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 21st 2025 at 3:30 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 uh before we begin I'd like to ask for a motion to add item uh 10.27 resolution
25-45 to the agenda I'll read the title in just one second this is a resolution authorizing the award of a professional uh Professional Services contract to French and parella Associates PA to provide engineering design services for the
Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street improvements Department of infrastructure division of Transportation Planning I have a motion to add this item before we add can can I ask a question I see director Patel here um
just briefly um since there is still some debate around the support of the bike Lanes on Franklin and Manhattan Avenue I understand that while the grant is restricted to those location if we
approve the design can we move that design to another Street or Street should there be consensus on that councilman I don't see why not we would have to redo the resolution because it's
written specifically for this project um but I don't see why those funds for Professional Services wouldn't be able to be used for another project I don't know if the Administration has you know um anything further to say about that
but we're just using funding that we would use for Professional Services to hire an engineer for any sort of project but specifically for this one so we would just have to modify that okay understood thank you how much do this
cost councilman the this contract is for $162,000 for the engineer it includes the design services for the engineer but then also construction management which is required by the do want if the project goes into construction all right
so if it doesn't pass eventually we're out $162,000 actually the tax payers of Jersey City are out $162,000 something should be done this is ridiculous that's that's what I was trying to explain at caucus on Monday which is that um the decision should be
made based on whether this will get the approval because while some of those funds we will fight to still get covered by the dot um we don't think all of those design fees will be covered by the do I think this should be delayed until
we get further knowledge and more facts and uh the figures and everything because the tax pay is to pay 162,000 right now when we have a number of problems in the city that are not being funded it's a shame well can I S clarify one is how much is the dot Grant
going to provide the city that we might lose $670,000 so just to be clear we we're at stake of losing $670,000 of dollars to make our street safer and and for the 162,000 if we author the contract C wrong the way the contract is worded is
that based on the is that you know that is that is in essence is up to that point so it's not as if they get all $160,000 now would be based on the work they would actually perform and if we don't move forward or if we shift it to another street that we have some options for how that money ultimately gets used
that's correct if we award this contract for $162,000 the expectation is like it would be for any contract that we would award that that that vendor is able to bill for up to that amount if those
services are rendered but for example this number that we got from this vendor of 162 was assuming a full buildout of the plan so if we say that we are not covering that full length and they're only covering part of it we would not
then pay them for services that they haven't performed for the remainder of that length of this Street yeah but then baa now what you're saying is we really don't know what's going on and to spend any money when we don't have the full
knowledge is a shame I I just want to put this on the record right aside of this grant aside of what councilwoman priner said if we can add you know another destination to
this I want to go on the record stating that there was a meeting with the department of OEM there was a meeting with the police department there was a meeting with the fire department and every single one of those directors said
no to this project every one of them said no we're aware of that correct every one of them and councilman cay was part of that meeting where they said no so we
are we are going to vote on something where the public safety department stated it is not safe I'm all for doing the resol the amendment on the resolution to maybe put
it on another street but I did speak with the bikes Jersey City bikes when they when they put me in the corner over there and we spoke in length I did tell them I am 100% for this project but we
need to make make sure that Public Safety needs to be on board a second meeting not a first not the first meeting the first meeting already happened and the first meeting was a no I am not going to be held
responsible God forbid if one of the one two three schools there school of the blind is there uh a fire headquarters are there you have a street that's going west and and you have another Street that's going east I did say to the to to
the members of the community I'd love for it to go all East we were supposed to have a meeting with Public Safety and here it goes this is on the agenda without the meeting what I don't want is
for this uh this this uh what is this called this resolution to go through and then you guys are going to come up to us and say we spent this money for this study you have to do this and that's
where it lies but I just want to be on the record that the entire Public Safety department said no John I think this should be tabled not tabled delayed until further study
and we meet with the Public Safety Division and everybody Danny's 100% correct and I know the block association's up there are very very uh much against this councilman there was a request to add it to the council agenda
and the council is going to decide where they want to proceed is there possibility to do what the council prer was suggesting and before just amend the title so at this point we're adding it we're getting the Design Services I know that the director needs a direct answer
from a majority of the Council on how to proceed you know to yesterday but but you know at least for today in in this context so just sort of give us that flexibility I would just caution that if we were to do that the number that is
listed in this the contract amount is specifically based on a quote we got from that engineer so if we were to change it and use it for something else I just don't know if that same number is applicable if it's more if it's less so
I I just want to clarify that um and I also want to state that the grant that we have from dot I don't know if I made this clear in my answer earlier the grant is specific to these two streets so the grant would then no longer cover
construction of anything this would just be for Design Services for looking at another Street if there was interest in another Street if if we were to remove the title or change the title it would essentially just become an open-ended uh engineering contract so I just want to be on the record again because we cannot
amend this resolution now I cannot Vote for This simply because the department of of of Public Safety said no to this so because of that I can't vote for this not against the project not against the
bike Lanes I want to be very clear but we need to like I told the the the organization we as Council people have to be common denominators for the entire city of Jersey City we have to make sure that everything fits for the
constituents that can't be here and for the constituents that come here we have to do that so unfortunately because we can't amend it my vote is no council Public Safety Department's comments
while they're related to their concerns about things like the fire route and circulation around the neighborhood the comments that you're referring to are not feedback on the traffic safety benefit and the traffic safety design
that's a part of this project I they are comments based on their directive as the public safety department which is to carry out you know um trips for Public Safety related to fire OEM Etc but I I
do want to say they are not looking at this project from the perspective of traffic safety and the people who are being injured and killed on the streets as a result of traffic crashes which is what our directive is so I would just love for those things to not be working
against each other um and you know I hear what you're saying and in the meetings we'll focus on how the project can Elevate both of those goals Walker maybe if we had a traffic division in the police department we had a real police department that was operating
like when I was on it we wouldn't have these AC acents above my pay grade councilman I know I know it has nothing to do with you so okay Barker hold I just need Clarity because every time I have out this conversation it just get
more murky um so the resolution tonight is for architectural plans up to $161,000 specifically for the studied area the study was
already done in that area um oh wow so if if we vote to approve this this resolution and then you guys have a meeting and then you say we're moving the lane we're we're moving
it to another Street what if anything happens in that instance no if if you were to vote on the resolution the way it is tonight for can't move it for that amount of money and for for that firm the way the resolution is written it
says this is for this is authorizing this contract in relation to the dot grant that is for these two streets Manhattan Avenue Franklin that little piece of Central and the purpose of this
contract is to design out a plan for those streets so if the resolution passes the way it is tonight we would not be able to shift it to another Street if the Council makes a decision to make it a general on call resolution
for Engineering Services to be used for a street that will be determined at a later time that may be eligible for bike lanes that is then a different thing that we are doing and that is no longer tied to this grant that we have that's
just our ability as a city to use the funding we have in our budget for this purpose and and and the grant wouldn't cover the bike lane going anywhere else anyway would it the grant would cover the construction of a bike lane but one of the
prerequisites of that Grant is to have this plan Dev so it you can consider it kind of like this is our local match for the grant that we have okay um Anda again okay so right now all I need
is a motion to add the item to the agenda later we will go through the agenda into the resolutions where we'll make our vote so again I'll just ask if I have a motion to add this item to the
agenda no motion to add this item to the agenda so this item I mean it's a border but I need the council to back me up if I do this so um motions for the
assembly motion to add the um the item to the agenda made by council person Cay do I have a second that was uh council person Dees okay motion to add item 10.27 resolution 25145 to the agenda council
person brittley uh let me start by saying that um I think that our bike advocates in this city are some of the best Advocates we have I feel like they did their job they met with all of us they talked to us my issue is I think we
have to start doing a better job as a city and um all of this confusion between you know Public Safety saying yes or saying no I know that I personally made phone calls um and I talked to directors in public safety and they mentioned that when we did bike
Lanes on mallerie Avenue there were um studies done there were video taken they were actually out there on the road and none of that had been done yet for these bike lanes and the Heights and I think that we have to get a way to do things and follow through with it and stick to
it on every project and also make sure that we're doing these things in advance of these votes coming to the council so that we can make the best and an informed decision um I am concerned about the public safety portion of this um I'm concerned about the funds um we didn't amend it so we can't use those
funds for anything else and I did uh get some requests for maybe using a different street from PE from people in that area who are not against doing the bike lane they just felt like maybe that's not the right Street um but based on the resolution the way it is
currently I am going to vote no to adding it okay Council person Prince hi council person bajano no council person C so want to say for
the record that um Department of Public Safety oem's um opposition to the plan initially uh you know let us go back to the drawing board to amend it um
and it took about a month and a half two months to go back to the drawing board to amend it to uh have it as those two blocks and then you know after the pilot was done there was some opposition to the proposal for the full length of the bike lane and I'm just going to lay the
cards out on the table they don't want to see from tunnle Avenue to Central Avenue on Manhattan as a single um Lane with a bike lane uh because they do have issues with the fire trucks and the
response times and uh the backup along Jefferson Street um when it comes to the parents parking there there's been a few issues with response time when it comes to the fire trucks uh OEM is up there fire trucks are up there and when I had
proposed the alternative plan Plan B they said that they would be able to stomach it with the plan B alternative plan would be a protected bike lane along Franklin Avenue um and I think that my eyes that's the best of both worlds and also
no one walks away fully happy uh it's the compromise plan um I am going to vote in favor of this I think that there are certain concerns that can be engineered um and done to mitigate those
concerns within the community and with OEM and um that's why I don't think it's should be should be the death of this project um so that's why I vote I okay thank you council person Solomon
sure just very briefly I we're adding it to the agenda here I'm going to vote I um the biggest thing is you know the director stood in front of us and said if this is delayed two weeks she can't guarantee that we're going to move on it and we have nearly 700 thousands of dollars to make people's streets safer
and and um I just can't you know lose that if we don't add it to the agenda tonight um to appoint my Council colleague Maiden to appoint to director made is she needs to know that she has you know a majority of this Council in support of a design and a vision and that basically has to happen in the next
two weeks so adding to the agenda saying we have to make sure that this is moving forward we can't lose this money um but then we all have to very clearly give her a clear Direction on how we're moving forward um so I just can't see the project killed tonight so I'm voting yes and then want to do my best to work
with the ward council people and the director and Public Safety to make sure we have a Clear Vision in the next two weeks and then go from there thank you Council uh council person Gilmore um wow
uh this one is interesting in the sense that I initially um wanted to vote for because I wanted to the opportunity because I thought that if it wasn't going to be the full length that they were going to
go to the compromise length um now it's kind of like a it's a monkey wrench in the sense that if we have a meeting and we decide to do it somewhere else you would essentially be on a hook if not
for the whole 60 160 for a portion of services that were rendered um but then on the other hand I don't want to see 600 or whatever the Grant is I don't want to see that go to waste either
um I think I think I'm I think I'm going to vote I'm going to vote Yes contingent upon and my vote Yes to be clear is to
allow the the um the contract to be initiated um for the construction of it um I do believe at some point probably yesterday today that we need to decide
if this thing is going to be full length partial length or somewhere somewhere else because the more we wait the more at Jeopardy we risk of losing a grant and then subsequently the more money the city will be on the hook for um the
architectural plans so I vote I with respect to that okay thank you council person Gilmore council person to please I okay council person Rivera so um unless the Department of Public Safety
literally lied when we made the phone call I want to reiterate that the answer to this project was no I do not and I am not in
the I'm not in favor of putting people's lives at stake here once the study happens this is exactly what's going to happen the we're going to we're being cornered here right this project this
this study is going to happen then the director's going to come back and say okay the study is done it's we got to have to do this we paid all this money we can't move it to another place aha
got you where all we had to do was sit down with Public Safety once again to get the stories I guess straighter if that's a word highlight it even
more say it in layman's term we do not want this area to be blocked off because there's concerns of the many schools in the area we have bike Lanes throughout the entire city of Jersey City we voted for
it I've never had a problem problem Public Safety has never said no Public Safety is saying no to this it's got to be a reason maybe is the multitude of grammar schools and the school of the
blind that's in that neighborhood we need to make sure that we pay attention to that this is not about numbers and how much this grant is going to cost and how much money we're going to lose it's not about that it's about lives guys lives lives and God
forbid something happens this is on your hand definitely not on mine unless Public Safety says we're good 100% we'll be on board the fact that we couldn't amend this because the study says is a specific area I
don't know about that but my answer is no council president Waterman um first of all we we received this information late as a council um based on my conversation with the director going back and forth and JC
bikes meeting with the community we are a city of bike Lanes I have no problem with bike Lanes at all I believe in them it's a safety issue on both sides it really is a safety issue for pedestrians and it's a safety issue also for those um
um firefighters and police officers you know first a people get to sites there is so much confusion around this one here there is so much confusion we're not clear with it based on the grant the grant must be used for these two streets
it cannot be used for any other streets that's what the grant says and we know when you get grants grants are Pacific we can't waiver those grants and that's just the truth we can't they used for these two streets I have a problem with
getting the information so late and because it's so late because they got a deadline now that they have to meet in order to get this grant money but we're just getting this about two weeks now and now it's like the pressure is on us to just vote for it I'm concerned about what's happening up there safety with
Public Safety with um om all that all of the uh entities that's saying that there's a problem there I asked them to have a meeting with the public safety people to I met with JC B yesterday some of them and I told them my concern is that I'm getting the information late
and it seemed like we're the bad guys if we don't vote for it we're not against bik Lanes we just asking for more conversation with it because we really just getting it based on when Yousef and them had the meetings all of us didn't get it that's what y'all don't understand all of us didn't get all the information we're just getting it now so
that's why I would all let's say I'm abstaining because I'm just not clear on it period I'm just not but there's safety on both issues I just want that's out there it is council person uh council president
Waterman you are abstaining y okay so um this motion failed this resolution will not be added to the agenda we have we have five council members in agreeance with adding this we
have three and one abstaining pass what's the count five sorry it's pass Five it passed five it passes it doesn't it's six to yes six six council members to I'm sorry yes but it does not get add
it we telling you your job I'm sorry can we um move on council president go ahead Amanda yes okay sorry we telling you your job you need six to add you need six to add
main okay um I'm I'm going to move on to our first readings cor item 4.1 city ordinance 25-9 and ordinance amending chapter 69 special Improvement districts revising
article two sorry Amanda did we introduce what are we do yeah we 3 point wait 3.1 Amanda you got to start I don't think we did the first yeah we didn't do the first reading Amanda you got to read them all know Amanda apologies that was a little bit of a turn we took to add or
to have the vote to add so we're just going back to first read go back to the beginning I started that I apologize no no it's okay we're all on the same page let's go to our first ordinances first reading ordinances okay so that's items 3.1 to
3.4 okay first reading ordinance item 3.1 city ordinance 25 - 021 is an ordinance of the city of Jersey City authorizing the transfer of city-owned real property identified on the tax map of the city of Jersey City as block 1495
lot 17 18 and 19 AKA 302 Fairmont Avenue to the Jersey City Redevelopment agency item 3.2 city ordinance 25-22 is an ordinance of the Jersey City municipal Council amending the Jersey
City Land Development ordinance 45 article 3 application requirements development procedures and checklists item 3.3 city ordinance 25-23 an ordinance of the Jersey City municipal Council approving a technical
amendment to ordinance 24-96 language in chapter 3 345 for zoning fees item 3.4 city ordinance 25-24 is an order an ordinance authorizing the execution
of a temporary construction easement and access easement agreement between the city of Jersey City and FD uh Johnson Avenue LLC authorizing FD Johnson Avenue LLC to install and maintain two temporary well points and
one monitoring well in the portion of the public right away known as Johnson Avenue south of G Branch Street okay council members we are taking a vote on items
3.1 to 3.4 council person Ridley I for introduction council person preri Hi for introduction council person bajano Hi person C hi council person Solomon just briefly for the administration on
3.2 we're going back and forth with a community group about some possible changes to it I'm okay with introducing it because I know there are things the planning director has in it but um we may have some to that at the next council meeting uh but just B I just want to let you guys know that we'll be in kind of communication with the
planning director and you guys on 3.2 between before second reading okay absolutely if anything you need us to coordinate let us know okay great so I'll vote I for introduction he thank you council person Gilmore I have an
introduction council person Dees I for introduction council person Rivera I for introduction council president Waterman okay thank you items 3.1 to 3.4
have in been introduced unanimously 90 okay now we're on to our second reading ordinances okay our first second reading ordinance item 4.1 ordinance 25-9 and ordinance amending chapter 69
special district revising Article 2 Central Avenue special improvement district to be consistent with other special improvement district implementing articles this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public
wishing to be heard motion second okay motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 25- 9 motion made by council president Waterman second by council person
C motion to close this public hearing on city ordinance uh 25- z001 council person Wrigley I council person Prince AR hi council person bosano Hi council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council
person Gilmore I council person deis I council person Rivera I council president Waterman I okay motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance
25-9 motion carries 90 or final consideration and Adoption of ordinance 25-9 council person Ridley I council person preri I council person bajano I council person C want to thank the
Central Avenue Sid as well as David Diaz uh the purpose of this was to remove the it assessment cap and to unify the language with the other SIDS it's going to allow the Sid to basically raise more funds to keep Central Avenue cleaner and
do more programming with that I proudly vote I thank you thank thank you council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera hi council president
Waterman okay city ordinance 25-9 is adopted 90 he item 4.2 city ordinance 25-10 is an ordinance supplement menting chapter 131 construction codes uniform
adopting the updated construction site safety manual 2024 addition and requirements for sand pipes and incorporating the safety regulations contained therein by reference into chapter 131 this is a public hearing on this
ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard second motion made by council president Waterman second by council person s motion to close a public hearing on ordinance
25-10 council person Ridley I council person preri Hi council person bajano Hi council person s i council person Solan hi council person Gilmore okay council person Dees hi
council person Rivera I council president Waterman okay can come back to a matter that we'll close the public hearing 80 for final consideration and Adoption of ordinance
25-10 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano I council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore stepped away
council person Dees I council person Rivera I council president Waterman hi okay uh city ordinance 25-10 is adopted 80 with council person Gilmore nded the
uh days all right we're on to item 4.3 city ordinance 25-11 this is a ordinance amending chapter 60 fees and charges amending the fee
schedule for city-owned and operated swimming pools at persan field pool Pavonia municipal pool and Lafayette Aquatic Center this is a public hearing for this ordinance any member of the per uh public wishing to be heard we do have
members coming up to the podium can you please clearly state your name for the record good evening my name is Michael Griffin come closer and lift it up Michael Griffin got it thank you hi uh good evening everyone uh I was here a
couple of weeks ago uh just speaking on how important it is to pass this ordinance can't understand Too Tall you gotta pull it up can you hear me yeah all right I was here a few weeks ago um just to shed
light on how important it is to pass this ordinance so I am here today to thank everyone in advance uh for passing this ordinance tonight in about 10 minutes hopefully um it is very crucial especially in certain parts of uh our
city where you know $5 means a lot to somebody that that's that can be lunch or snacks for the kids um you know so please you know do the right thing let's get rid of the fees and um you
know let let people enjoy the city that they that they know and love thank you thank you Danielle d i e l e DMO D and David apostrophe capital a d m
o thank you go ahead good evening council members I'm here tonight to express my gratitude for the ordinance amending chapter 160 fees and charges which revises the fee schedules pering field Feld pool Bonia municipal pool and
Lafayette Aquatic Center growing up my family was lucky enough to have a pool but as my late mother and late father worked hard to put both my brother and I through high school and college the cost of maintaining it became overwhelming it
was no longer feasible and that's when my late mother and I started going to Persian field pool it became our special place but even then the fees sometimes felt like a stretch by adjusting these fees you've made it easier for families
facing similar situations to enjoy these Community spaces without additional Financial worry I appreciate your thoughtful consideration and commitment to making Jersey City more accessible and inclusive for all thank
you hi guys yes I'm work for education at Gore but I'm speaking upon myself Tina NOS um again for us to have the pool fee for our community it shouldn't be a fee oh wow um yeah it shouldn't be
a fee because again me doing the summer camp working with the kids we could not afford that bad enough we couldn't afford the food inside so again I said me working for education to G that Summer with the kids that was one of the
activities we was able to do three times a week for free because the kids could not afford the other trips because they moms had other kids so to see this happen to take from our community it's going to be very depressing we already depressed in our community because they
not getting jobs we already depressed that they don't have extra money to come in our community is just like we can't go to the park and play in the park on the swing because we have to pay $5 so think about it let's realize this is our community let's come together let these
kids play Let Them enjoy let family have one smile on their face that they are able to do something for free not only Community treasure want to give our free stuff we also want the community and City Hall to start doing stuff for free
too thank you guys good evening council members and Community leaders and fellow residents my name is lenisha Trent I'm a mother of three grandmother of one I'm a Jersey City residents for over 47 years and I am the constituent service liaison for
the WF Community I'm here tonight as a voice for the hardworking families of Jersey City families who like many of us live paycheck to paycheck where every single dollar matters for these families thummer should not mean choosing between
paying a bill and taking their children to a public public pool it should not mean that the public resource funded by taxpayer dollars become an exclusive privilege instead of community benefit the reality is simple these pool fees
are a financial burden on some many residents in our city are already struggling to keep up with the rising rent food prices and transportation cost adding yet another fee one to dis disproportionately impact low income
families only widens the gap between who can afford access to Recreation and who cannot let's talk numbers the average household in Jersey City is already stretching every dollar just to make ends meet the city collected less Revenue than expected from these pool
fees which proves they were not not a sustainable source of funding the 50,000 collected in fees is a drop in the bucket when it's compared to the city's $700 million budget according that can be absorbed without harming other public
programs meanwhile these fees create longer lines unnecessary delays and discourage families from using a resource meant for them public pools were created as a safe Community Center space where children seniors and families to cool off and connect during
the summer months charging for Access contradicts the very reason they exist this is not about the fees this is about Equity fairness and accessibility I urge you our elected officials to stand with the people who put you in office vote to eliminate these unfair pool fees and
ensure that every Jersey City resident regardless of income can enjoy the public spaces we all deserve thank you for your time good evening my name is Edward Perkins and I am very happy thank you very much
to the councilman who sponsored this bill to have the umption to do it just after the you all just or six of you all voted and spit it in our face to actually make us pay for our public
pools that have always been free all of my life and I'm 40 years old and many of you now are running for reelection and I don't see how you deserve support if you had the audacity to be a part of the last group who supported pool fees in
the first place like are you ignorant or arrogant like are you not living amongst us do you not know about or feel our pain have you not heard our cries so I'm so thankful to those of you you don't
have to insult us ma'am okay they said they insulted you can just tell us ma'am okay go ahead alling us ignorant that's that's ma'am okay so go ahead Perkin on my time I'm reclaiming my time you can reclaim
it that's not a problem but go ahead my time okay just claim it but I'm very happy and I can't wait to see what happens next that's right it's on you but under the mayor's leadership you had the audacity to vote
and to do that many of our kids attend our public schools are poor many of us that's right day to day it's the same story so you make it free for the kids and adults have to pay but what about the strain on the
adult what about the strain on the adults and what has happen is the lines are longer right and now it's Out Of Reach for many of us and you don't deserve support how dare you look to support to lead us again it's a no to
you right and it's a no to Mayor full up and no thank you thank you hi my name is Jim Nelson resident in the Heights encourage support for ordinance 4.3 uh Municipal poll fees I've often
spoken in support for coherent and coordinated planning of open spaces and recreational Spaces by the city school district other schools and County and would include Municipal polls in that conversation this ordinance as you know
maintains nominal user costs most of the year yet waves those costs during summer months just as we collectively assume responsibility for investing in and maintaining our Parks we collectively
invest in and maintain our pools opening each pool without fees extends a measure of equity in Access moreover it complements our school district's Renovations of certain indoor pools
these combined measures have of positive impact for restoring a New Jersey culture of swimming safely providing positive spaces for ref refreshing Recreation thank you good evening my name is jadea Brooks
you like me to spell that or not honorable members of the city council thank you for the opportunity to speak today would like to urge you to CL all right I'm sorry that's okay I would urge you to
reconsider pool fees can y'all hear me now okay pool fees for Jersey City residents I am in understanding that there is no way to just charge nonresidents versus residents I understand that however if you visited
the city's pools they are not inundated with non-resident people all ages this these are aquatic centers we look forward to during the summer families like mine my mother would take all of the
grandchildren with her multiple times a week pool fees are an impediment for people who are already struggling every day during the summer there are some free events yes they are great
however we cannot make it to all of them but we do know ponia is there we do know hery feel is there on top of that swimming is not simply a recreational activity it is critical life skills for
low to Moder income families such as mine swimming is important life skill to learn affordable swimming opportunities is a matter of safety equity and opportunity women can save
lives Sorry by imposing fees on pool access we are not just charging for leisure activity sorry we are putting an unnecessary barrier to something that should be a available to every child in our city and has continued to be free
since I've been alive honestly um wherever the funding can be found in the budget I think it's important to reconsider I believe it's possible to find somewhere I believe it's possible um thank you thank
you good evening Council so so of course this is about the pool fees um can I have your name please Essence Kelly on the record um so just to give a little bit of a backstory
um of course everybody loves a good pool day but I must say M's had um being able to pay it forward was really really important and I must say that really started with counselman more
um when I was a part of the stop the drop program coming out I believe at 18 years old I had worked at a McDonald's shop which is locally located on Martin Luther King Drive in Ward F now I used
to work at stop the drop on Sip Avenue which is in the Heights well well Midtown about in that area so Gilmore was in charge of that he would basically come around collect our supplies and all that other stuff and I used to have to
beg him to take me to work and he did of course he would fall on my cry and it would be this young boy there coming back from the pool he only had $5 and he had three friends and everything at that time costed
a17 as I vividly remember he could afford something for all three of his friends but with the change that was up over the 35 Cent I would Grace him and pay it forward and I would say just give me the $5 but he would be coming from the pool with his towel and his three
friends they all shared one soda and at the end of the day he only had that $5 to do that one thing so it always made his day and he would come back every single day with his three friends to share that one soda
and that one meal that afforded them $5 so to say that to say this is that we're supposed to to make some things free everything can't be free but some things can be free and a pool should be free thank you thank
you my name is Adrien Ganda G ha a i n d a uh I'm a resident of Westside and I'm a member of the Hudson County DSA where a lot of our chapter members live across the city and wholeheartedly support this
initiative that council members Gilmore and Solomon put together to ensure that we eliminate these recreational pool fees so I want to emphasize that with each passing summer we've seen record Heatwave after record Heat Wave and each
summer has become the hottest summer on Earth and with that in mind I think that families and children that live in Jersey City to serve a place where they can cool off in that Rec breaking humidity with free access to city pools
instead of having to wonder and contemplate if they would even be able to afford to cool off when it's 90° out and it starts to feel like 100° and the way that heat radiates off of the concrete and radiates off of the asphalt the least of
our children's concern should be if this day in the summer they're going to wind up in the hospital because of a possible heat stroke so for me I want to ensure that this ordinance passes because not only would it benefit children it would
benefit families it would benefit adults uh like I said I want to stress that it it would be pool fees that would be removed for adults during the summertime as well as parents who take their younger children to these pools as well as other individuals that need access to
cooling centers and can't afford uh the maintenance of maintaining their AC over the summer so all that to say is is that this is a public good that would benefit everyone and I would hope that you know after coming to city council for 5 years this would be one of the easier votes
that the council would be able to vote on and with that I want to thank you all for the opportunity to speak could I tell you something sir thank you for supporting local businesses in chees sh Jersey City members of the council my name is
is Galia green cman g a l i a green with an e at the end hyphen cman I am a resident of Ward d and a proud member of the aquanuts which is an aquaerobics community that meets twice a week at
persing field pool um so I thank you for the consideration I Echo the sentiment of my fellow residents that pool fees that the pool should be free year round um as somebody with a chronic illness uh the pool is one of the only places for
low impact exercise that does not um hurt my joints and I think it's also a space where a lot of seniors have access to Recreation at um low to no cost and could should continue to um be a space for that um I wanted to actually ask for
some clarity around the ordinance when I read uh the second page it seems like there's six-month passes available um at 200 $ for adults and $75 um for uh $75 for seniors um but for
if that were to be the case for older adults that are only attending the aquaerobics class this would be much more than they would actually be paying monthly and where I was confused was in the second page it said that there would not be daily fees for persing field pool
and I wanted for the summer so is that no fees at all or would it require a month pass to be able to access so it's just free for those for those months okay great um so uh so then yes thank you so much for passing uh for your
votes on this I hope it goes through and I hope we continue to progress forward to the point where it's free year round thank you for your time thank you hello my name is Amanda Levy a m n d a l v ie
um I am a member of the persing field neighborhood association I'm the newly elected vice president of the persing field neighborhood association I'm also a proud member of the aquan nuts um which is a an unofficial aquaerobics class um and Community Coalition that
meets on Tuesdays and Fridays um I do want to push forward for um no pool fees for the entire year as much as I appreciate a nice as much as I appreciate um throwing us a bone for the summer I do believe that we're not
making first of all these uh membership fees are not cost effective you would have to um in order to see your first bout of savings on a six-month pass you would have to attend the pool more than three days and you would save a you'd have to attend four days and you would
save a whopping $16 um this is not an effective pass I think the the six-month pass if like actually percentage should be much lower and I also think that if you keep that um price you should also lower the
senior rate seniors do not have any programming because our city cut them a lot one of the lowest impact um activities that you can have to keep in shape to keep healthy and to keep engaged especially with social groups like The aquanuts is at the pool it
should be free for seniors it should be free the same way it's free for kids um I also believe that because it should be free for seniors we associate like uh disabilities or impairments with maybe
be being uh older however that is not necessarily the case people with chronic illnesses people recovering from injuries people that are just trying to do loow Impact Physical Therapy for themselves um need access to the pool with no constraints having a pool fee is
a barrier and I know you're going to hate that I'm going to say this but you know Union City has a free Poll for everybody in the county so it is something that we can do we do have a lot of ways to make money and I don't find that this um that the the objective
of this was actually closed um we didn't close the gap on pool fees I don't believe pool fees uh helped us with our $ 57 million deficit I do not think it made a significant enough role in order to continue doing this thank you Britney
operation oh we remove it it would be substantial it would be okay okay we try by a whole we have to do a separate one we got to do a separate one we'll do a separate
one hi good evening my name is Lily hect um let me know if I need to spell that um I'm with the Jersey City Tenants Union uh we have members all over the city and we are fully in support of um removing pool fees um Jersey City should
be encouraging the community to come together and use these recreational spaces that are vital to the wellness of the Comm of individuals in the community and to the community as a fabric um and in instead of you know creating barriers that disproportionately affect the Working Poor Jersey City's residents are
keenly aware when their government charges people for basic public services but meanwhile lets Rich entities uh you know free ride or get subsidized rides on the back of working folks uh uh tenants across Jersey City are facing
deplorable crumbling living conditions um and like a genuine I have witnessed a genuine habitability crisis um that's rather shocking um and the least the city can do is give folks public services and public spaces um for
their safety for their wellness and for their sense of belonging um I also than it's important to shout out an elephant in the room which is America's very specific Legacy regarding pools and public service and public access to pools uh when SE segregation was
outlawed in the 1950s America's wide- ranging response was to shut down our existing public pool access just shut down public pools because of the idea that um integration was um not stomach
uh to the people in power uh specific speically across racial lines and so this is a third rail that we're not discussing which is the racial Justice implications of charging barriers to entry um and who does and doesn't get to
access the facilities said something um and so uh just pointing out the racial Justice um barriers to access when you charge folks for basic things that they are honestly owed um and yeah communal spaces are the
backbone of thriving communities uh and providing them to everyone without excluding excluding people um is the right but also the smart thing to do for the fabric of our community um so thanks so much for your time one second did you just say your name again please uh Lily
HEC um spelled l i l l y last name h e c HT thank you Shireen McCormack s h i r i n m c o r m a c k
hello the value of public pools free to residents can not be overstated it may seem like such a small thing but it actually has such huge reach and impact on life skills and everyday ordinary quality of life this one sits close to
my heart as a kid I learned to swim in a public pool as a teen I went on to swim for my high school swim team and I lifeguarded for seven Summers during high school and early college at my job I guarded the lives of all the swimmers
oversaw the busy swim meets and insured safety trained in first aid in CPR I learned um also the responsibility of monitoring the storm weather and maintaining waterers pH all the while soaking up all the beautiful vitamin D
however ever most importantly and of greatest reward I taught child after child how to swim so they could be their own Lifesaver keeping our City's pools free to Residents offers a safe haven to engage in a positive healthy
lifechanging activity like swimming it helps keeps kids out of trouble it metaphorically can save lives but having access to pools and learning to swim can also literally save lives it teaches a hugely empowering life skill to learn
how to swim can literally lead to being able to save one's own life or that of another while catching that next wave at the all always alluring Jersey Shore or just hanging out at the Town pool it's an absolutely invaluable skill and restoring free open access to all
residents to enjoy our City's pools is key free pools creates an opportunity that allows for family time Recreation personal growth community building and overall enhanced quality of life what's more it's about Equity it's about
inclusion we got to respect that it's already expensive to live here let's not charge and make families choose which of its members gets to go to the pool if any let those country clubs charge their fees and let Jersey City keep our pools
free and accessible to all residents many of us remember vividly the first time that we or our kids jumped into the deep end or off the diving board or in with without the water wings there's a profound sense of Pride empowerment peace and Liberation
and EM embracing the weightlessness that water off offers at the Town pool and of course the fun and excitement as a workout it in swimming increases resistance um compared to jogging for those recovering from injury swimming's
therapeutic having less impact than pavement and it also offers a common capacity so much so that some businesses like the amazing om life downtown order offer float therapy sessions so thank you Frank Gilmore and thank you James
Solomon for introducing this ordinance let's improve next summer next summer together tonight good evening Council I am Phil Gordon a Jersey City public school
teacher let's remember our children most of them get free lunches they qualify for free lunches which lets you know the parents income and the sacrifices they have to make to make ends
meet now the summer heat will begin sweltering here real soon children will be eager to go swimm in there should be absolutely no fees for Jersey City residents the taxes paid by the Jersey
City residents should take care of any and all fees this ordinance must be Revisited and undone before the summer heat
begins pools should be free for all dur Jers City residents this decision must be reversed no fees for our children no fees for the parents no fees for the
Jersey City residents and let me reme let me remind you that our Rel religious institutions should not be in competition with the opening of pools
these pools on Sunday are open at 10:00 they should not be open at 10:00 on Sunday allow our children to go to Sunday school our children will if they had the option of attending church and going to
the swimming pools you know what they'll accept they'll take the pool ver we have to get our children back into the churches and the pool should not be let me rephrase that the pools should not
open until after the benediction is given at all our churches so please take that into consideration the benediction should be given and the pool should be open after 12 God bless you miss miss
Phyllis Miss Phyllis yes you know you just gave me a serious flashback I thought my mother was talking up there you hear me like this you know because that was that was serious we couldn't do anything we had to go to church
absolutely but I ain't G to say what happened if we didn't go to church but we had to but uh you just gave me thank you for the Reminisce really thank you thank you very much please consider those ideas and thoughts good evening Council good
evening my name is randelle roers my name is randelle roers r o g i e RS a homeowner and I have I have 13
grandchildren we spend the summer together and we get together and we go to the the pools it's very costly and that's not including dear adults so I heard a council member said
earlier let Jersey City do better well let's do better let's do better for the kids for the summer let's let's do better for the adults to make sure that the kids are with them during the summer enjoying the family time like
I have with my family so they could stay out of trouble they could be eyed on they could stay off of the streets and they could also keep the fire hydrant from being run another
flashback stop okay so I thank you for listening to me but please think about the families in Jersey City who's really really struggling especially in these times and it's going to get worse so now
we getting into a summer that is going to be bad for them and they don't need to pay a extra fee for any more things thank you hello my name is Reverend duah Austin I'm on behalf with b and um
Bishop Bland she could not attend tonight and Reverend Rooney I'm a piggyback on randelle you know the last couple of winters we really didn't we have a very mild winter and we didn't have that much
water if you charge fees you know what going to happen the kids going to go open up those fire hydrants and homeowners we don't want that because if we keep we keep it up if we don't have no more snow and rain you know what summer going to be like we're going to
have a dry summer if people don't believe in you call environmental H um climate changeing thank you you better start believing it because last what was last year was Stoke Forest on fire that never was on
fire before Look at California we don't want no fire hydrant open we want children no family Jersey City reg said no feeds nonresident you could charge them but Jersey City resent
no my son is 45 years old I'm 65 he learned how to swim at those free swimming pool and his sons know how to swim we made I made sure my son know how to swim and he made sure his son's Three Sons know how to swim that's so
important I was a single mom I was looking for free camps whether it was the um summer camp through the church or through the school or St Peters I made sure every Janu by Easter time I made sure my son was in some type of pro free
program and I know a lot of these single parents or parents period looking for free program for their children whether through the library or through the church programs please no feeds charge the nonresidents
thank you thank you good evening my name is Maggie Branch I am a retired social worker and I know that the families in Jersey City are unable to pay the cost for the swimming pools
now I'm a taxpayer and I know that the taxes are very high in Jersey City and there should be re should be some um there should be some
Equity that will go toward this the cost of the swimming pool that sub could sustain them and maintain them and I'm not going to go into a whole spill we know that food is already high the rents are high
and we have other costs to families they cannot afford to pay for the swimming pool if you have a family of five a mother and uh a mother and five children it would be $40 a week just for
them to go swimming and have some type of recreation there's always there's also lack of recreation in Jersey City so the swimming pools are already here why not let them have that Recreation without charging thank you thank
you good evening ladies my name is I can't hear you your mic your mic I was just practicing no okay good evening ladies and gentlemen
councel I my name is I a Rosario I'm here for behalf of J City kids I'm a mother of five nine children one grandchildren set twin believe me swiming pool keep them busy me relaxed I
don't how to get sick you know so that will help thank you I made it simple thank you city council and everybody who took the time out of their day to come here and speak and listen and learn um I'm going to be kind of quick because there are
other people who spoke before me more eloquently and with more details and facts about the situation at large um but I know that in Bon the pool for bon in Bayon is for Bayon residents only and as far as I know they don't have to pay
to go there they have no problem keeping Jersey City residents from going there I'm not allowed to go down there and swim but I have friends down there who told me about this I'm coming from a position of someone with um disability I have a very limited income like many
people have for many different reasons and uh simply paying bus fair to get to the pool and to pay for the pool is something that makes me choose what I want to do with the limited funds I have so I want to thank the two council
members who brought this resolution forward and I hope you guys do reverse it and uh that's it thank you for listening to all of us what's your name my name is Anthony and the last name I hope you've got space it's inano i n c i
a r r a n o thank you very much afternoon I'm Nancy doet and I have work with young people and I know they would look f to have in a pool whereas they do not have to pay a fee if they give a
donation that's a different story but many our youth they just starting out in life and they don't have the Monies to pay the fees that they want them to pay and we don't have beaches around here so
they need pools to go to so if you could just reconsider and think about what they're going through with and give him a break show them love thank you thank you my name is Kevin Davis and I don't
even swim I'm usually the guy at the side of the pool wearing sneakers while my girlfriend isn't in there but even I can tell you this is a good idea like come on there's something called taxes we all pay into it and we don't get everything back I don't have kids but I pay for other people to go to school so
I should pay for other people to go into the pool and I don't even think it's you know would make much of an impact on the C on the city budget so taxpayers aren't even going to get soaked and if we can afford to have an art museum we can support the Aquatic
Arts good evening I'm Bill Lis lifelong resident of Jersey City I think this vote to determine whether fees should be required for kids to enter the Jersey City Pools defines who we are as a city in a way this city
Administration this city council and the Jersey City planning board has shown if you're interested in developing and putting up luxury homes you're welcome and supported if you have $3500 $4,000 or
more a month to rent these houses again you're welcome here this vote shows who's supporting our kids I grew up in Jersey City and my mother a lifelong resident of Jersey City I don't think she ever made it to
one of these meetings because from the 1950s to the 1980s she was Raising 10 children and I think tonight there are mothers throughout Jersey City who are watching their kids and they want this
Council to wave the fees not waving the fees would mean our most vulnerable children will not be going to the pool vote in favor of these kids vote in favor of these mothers and fathers because if the kids are not
going to be able to be at the pool that leaves open the possibility of them getting into negative behaviors so support the kids support the family wave the fees thank you good evening Council um my name is Terry
Fox the executive director for the Jersey City moms uh Community we're a true Community here in Jersey City we have about 19,000 parents in our main Facebook group we have other Facebook groups but I I came here to also ask to please
reconsider the fees on the pools um seen it conversation after conversation a lot of them are sing single moms they really are struggling about the fees on the pools and cost of living and groceries so I just want to the same remnants of
the gentleman before me like let's do this for the kids please reconsider this for the families it's just a few dollars but those few dollars mean a lot to the families here in Jersey City thank you thank you good evening EX Andy
Feliz um charging fees to the residents of Jersey City is frankly I find it insensitive to The Situation Jersey City finds itself in there are millions if not billions of tax dollars that have magically not been collected from landlords over the past
decade these dollars should be covering the maintenance and safety of those pools and should be contributing to many other areas that benefit Jersey City residents instead the count instead the council has chosen to all of a sudden put these fees on the most vulnerable res residents of Jersey City as others
have said rents are astronomical in the city groceries are overpriced you name it the fee has gone up the cost has gone up adding pool fees on is ignorant of the current situation of thousands in Jersey City we need access to safe and enjoyable recreational access for all in
this city otherwise like everyone has said they're going to PE kids are going to end up in trouble I very confident you could manage to collect the the fees necessary from the many large landlords who have lavishly operated in the city with their extremely full Pockets thank
you good evening Gina Davidson g i n a d a v i s o n board F I am very proud to be serving councilman Gilmore and all the efforts that he's undertaking to help his community but tonight I am speaking to
you as a resident um a 10-year resident in fact nine of those years were in Bergen Lafayette which is one of the many reasons I'm showing my support tonight for ordinance 25-11 many of my friends and neighbors rely on the Lafayette pool for their summer Recreation so that their families
can enjoy a healthy outdoor activity some of us maybe have forgotten what it is like not to live with central air conditioning uh there are many families in my old neighborhood who don't have a lot of options of where to go to cool down we know that as
everybody else has said here tonight that these fees have already caused families to not be able to use the pools during the summertime and we are really in support of rolling that these fees back if the recreation director and other leaders were here standing in
opposition insisting upon these fees saying that we needed them for some kind of Maintenance then we would feel differently but that's not the case um parishing Fields retractable roof was just just replaced and if there's something else that requires fundraising then let's have that
conversation but it just seems like this is something we tried it did not work and we should roll it back immediately unless that is Mayor phip wants to invite all of us to his inground balcony pool overlooking the city skyline this summer then I think we
should roll back these fees thank you my name is Kevin Weller word f also first I think this is great to wave as many of these fees as possible I think I overheard Rivera speaking perhaps unofficially about would it be a
small change or a significant change if we removed more of the fees and of course that's a significant enough change that that couldn't be made uh tonight but if it turns out that there is an opportunity to modify this and if it turns out there needs to be some
funding I was just discussing with um our councilman Gilmore that perhaps there is a funding opportunity right in w f um to fund the pools um completely so that they can be free and they can be fully funded there's a there's a lack of
balance in this city and we hear about it a lot in this Hall in our case a lot of times it's rent related but we've we've heard other struggles in this Hall and I think one of the things you you'll hear tonight from uh many speakers who are here every other week
um will involve the opportunity to hold the landlord's accountable via ordinances that already exist and fee structures that already exist for the Bad actors so I think we could all agree the kids are not the Bad actors right the kids are the good guys and we should try to help give them the best start
that we can and the landlords some not all of them but some of them are have been bad actors because they're violating their rules they're breaking the laws of this city so I found it interesting that in 2024 the pool fees were about
$50,000 this month February there's 28 days shortest month of the year pick one of the ordinances that Equity residential violated at Portside Towers in the month of February and find them the ordinance
required $2,000 per day and you will have $56,000 just for February and the pools can be free for the city for the entire year why don't we do that thank you my name is Eve Taylor and I'm an
accountant and I just listened to somewhere between 20 and 30 of my neighbors begging you to be able to pay for a $5 pool fee so this is where we are at with this city that everyone is in such a state of poverty that we can't pay for pool fees so I wanted to let you
know that I found $85,000 that we could be using for pool fees so that my neighbors don't have to come here and beg that lawyer Joseph Bowman that you hired has given 59 donations totaling $85,000 to the mayor Steven Phillips superat Coalition for
Progress so if he's being paid so much that he can afford to dump $85,000 into the mayor's donation account the is getting 25 grand 50 Grand from all these big developers that's money that the mayor's taking out for his Governor campaign donations that should be used
for the city that belongs to the city so my suggestion is that you should ask mayor Philip to give back that $85,000 so that people can use the pools here and have some Recreation okay thank you good
job good job but it's a disgrace to this city I've been here all my 77 years and I ain't never paid a fee to go swimming and now we allow this to happen in this city that's one of the largest
cities in the state of New Jersey not landwise but we done went up into the sky we bigger than North New Jersey population wise but yet we allow this to go on in this city and the sad part
about this we only got three pools and the two pools or the closest is in the hike why ain't it you don't know what you're talking about fonia Avenue and up there on I'm
born they are close the burn I'm sorry you right you right you right you don't know what you talking about I'm born and ra it's my city but them two pools this man pool down there on that Junction
specifically I mean on Van Horn Street we don't have a pool from up by puring field to on Van Horn Ain none coming up in Greenville not a pool not a free pool from Bay
online to van Street then you go up from Van Horn to go up in them Heights the pur Fon pool or closer than that one pool down there on Van Horn that half for Jersey City got to go to we allow
the school system to close all our Public School pools and they renting them out right now you can go swimming if you pay for it in our Public Schools where that money going to that we got to go pay for the the summer school the
summer pools where is that money going this is a disgrace we allow the wrong stuff in this city for our babies for our babies I run a summer camp and can't take kids
swimming the past 20 years I didn't have to do that we had a a a pool on Harmon Street they closed it down they never fixed it back up we have a gummy pool they put a field over there by the Turn Pipe then they have put us a pool on
Garfield course from Barry Lane they didn't they took that out and they put a pool we don't have a one pool for half a Jersey City to go on Van hor Street and then you want to charge then you want to charge or black
fol you want to charge into the swimming what's going on and this is still a public hearing on this ordinance any other member of the public wishing to be heard motion second motion hold on
some got hello my name is good evening my name is Morin Rios I'm here because I was here um two meetings back and I want to say thank you to Denise for her team contacted me
about the issue that I have in my building this about the pool no not about not not now okay motion to close second okay motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance
25-11 made by council person Rivera second by council person to close the public hearing on C ordinance 25-11 council person britley I council person priner Hi council person bajano
council person Cay hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi council president Wardman okay 90 to close the public
hearing on city ordinance 25-11 for final consideration and Adoption of ordinance 25-11 council person Ridley um I'll keep my response short I feel like if we have
an opportunity and then we if we can offer free pools then that's what we should be doing um we did try it didn't make generate the money that we thought it would generate and I think that if we have the opportunity to RSE that and allow kids to go to the pool for free we
should so with that o I thank council person priner I council person bajano pools should be for free I vote I council person s just want to clarify
that this ordinance is to make the pools for free free for the adults this Council last year did remove pool fees for children and it was part of all the information that we had at the time in order to make the pool fees free for the
kids we increased the fees on the adults I agree with councilman Solomon and councilman Gilmore now that we have all the information that we have that they should throw out the Playbook like it's a the Minimus fee it's $120,000 that's collected across the city when you count
everything right Persian field was always something that you had to pay for growing up I could count it on my hand how many times I went it was like a special treat for me to go to Persian field growing up um and you know I I
appreciate the fact that you guys did put that in the ordinance that you know even adults can now go to Persian field for free during Memorial Day to Labor Day um pools should be free you know I I do have a concern that the lines will
get longer but you know what build more pools build more schools that's it you know if if if the lines get longer then maybe we should start to you know take that into account and find other locations to build them and um I know
ps27 has a pool um but then they outsourced it to the British Swim School I think that needs to come back to the community and that should be the next step yes um so thank you councilman Gilmore and councilman Solomon for throwing out
the Playbook and saying hey like pools should be free all right with that I vote I also person Solomon just very brief thank you to my colleagues for working uh with us on this thank you to councilman Gilmore for co-sponsoring and thank you to I think it was nearly 30
speakers that came out and spoke uh so we're very grateful for your voices and just you know very simply um you know we tried something as a city um didn't work for a variety of reasons but most importantly it's our pools are a public they're public they're ours right and
everybody needs them um so many people spoke eloquently about having 13 grandchildren about living paycheck to paycheck and those folks deserve safe summer Recreation opportunities for themselves and their kids that families can come together um that our job as a city is to make those opportunities as
available as possible as accessible as possible make sure that every family in Jersey City has access to every single opportunity possible so I think that's why this was the right move and I'm proud to vote I council person Gilmore um first excuse I
would like to thank my um Council colleagues for voting on this measure thank you to councilman Salomon for co-sponsoring this uh legislation as well um I just think that is extremely important that we make sure you've have
productive ways to spend their time if we well we thought that we will generate a certain amount of money from these pools in fact I even thought that which Lafayette pool was under Green Acres come to find out it's not
even under Green Acres um but what really brought this to reality for me is when I was down the pool um the young lady she didn't know it was a fee now so she was bringing a group of kids in and
when they told her it was a fee she's like why are we charging for the pool she don't have money on her and because I didn't want her to turn around I offered to pay so she could come in the pool with the kids and I made myself available to go down to the pool just to
watch the transaction how things were looking who was doing what who had access to the pool and at every turn I look it was just it was a disaster it didn't work it just didn't work um and
I'm someone who come from Recreation I understand the importance of recreation um so that's why we thought it was fitting to revisit this pool fee um and determine that we shouldn't be collecting any money I don't think it's
100 and something it's we we can find a way to pay for that it's not a lot so I'll probably vote I two times council person Dees hi also person Rivera yeah I can't go without saying something all right
so uh I was born and raised in downtown where in downtown was uh considered the land that God forgot it's 87% Puerto Ricans in downtown I lived right next to ps16 at 108 Sussex in an alleged Brothel
House so we I didn't grow up with a free pool actually ps16 used to charge the residents in downtown so as a kid growing up we were trained to open up that fire hydrant so we hid that monkey
wrench underneath top of the tires that not that I'm encouraging this well we hid that monkey wrench on top of the tire cops used to come by where's a monkey wrench we have no clue and here I am as a councilman but I'm just speaking
to you um reality right you know so when I hear that you know there was that it used to be free pool I didn't grow up and downtown was as poor as poor can be
it's not this downtown that you see now so I don't know and and and and my Spanish and Puerto Rican community and the little Dominican community that was there we don't know what it was to have a free pool but we know what it was to
open up that fire hydrant especially at 5:00 in the morning every woman in that 108 Sussex used to yell downstairs my water is dirty shut that fire hydrant off so you know uh I think that the
ordinance is amazing you know thank you Frank Solomon you guys knocked it out the park to the rest of the council it is amazing that we have something like this but you I I just want I'm I'm humbled and I'm happy but I was I was
that kid on the outside looking in you know I had to pay my it was a dollar and if you wanted to you stay in in the low chlorine side it was a $150 so they had a bougie side for more chlorine so um I
proudly vote I great job council president Waterman v i okay city ordinance number 25-11 is adopted 90 okay on to our next second reading
ordinance item 4.4 city ordinance 25-12 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 3 parking standing and stopping amending section 3 32-24 parking prohibited certain hours
at ps16 96 Sussex Street this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard motion second motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 25-12 made by council person
Rivera second by council president council president Waterman to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-12 council person Ridley I council person priner I council
person Banos noted there you goes okay thank you council person s i council person Solomon council person Gilmore hi council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi Council president Waterman I
okay motion to close of public hearing on city ordinance 25 there 012 carries 90 for final consideration and Adoption of ordinance number 25-12 Council person
Ridley hi council person priner Hi council person bosano I hear that council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Dees I council
person River hi council president Waterman okay city ordinance 25-12 is adopted 80 okay item 4.5 city ordinance 25-13 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles in traffic article
9 parking for the disabled of the Jersey city code designating a reserved parking space at various locations throughout the city this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard motion second okay motion to close a public hearing on city
ordinance 25- 013 made by Council per council president Waterman seconded by council person Cay to close a public hearing on city ordinance 25- 013 council person Ridley I council person Prince Ary I Council person bajano not
here still sorry uh council person s i council person Solomon I council person Gilmore council person deis I council person Rivera I council president Waterman hi he motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25- 013
carries 80 for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 25-0 13 council person Ridley I council person preri I council person bajano is still not here council person s i council person Solomon I
council person Gilmore council person Dees I council person Riva I council president Waterman I okay city ordinance number 25-13 is adopted 8 zero item four 4.6 city ordinance
25-14 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic Article 2 traffic regulations Section 332 d8 prohibited right turns on red signal to prohibit turns on red at all times at multiple locations in proximity to
schools parks and projected bike uh bicycle Lanes this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard second motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-14 made by council president Waterman
seconded by council person C to close the hear uh the public hearing on city ordinance 25- 014 council person rley council person priner I aano still not here council person Cay I council
person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi council president Waterman hi okay motion carries 80 to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-14 for final consideration and
Adoption of city ordinance 25-14 council person Ridley I council person priner IO still not here council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person
Gilmore council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi council president Waterman hi okay city ordinance 25-14 is adopted 80 he item 4.7 city ordinance 25- 015 and ordinance
supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 3 parking standing and stopping amending section 332-2437 along 9th Street East of eie Street this is a public hearing for this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard motion second motion
to close a public hearing on city ordinance 25- 015 made by council person Waterman seconded by council person slay to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25- 015 council person Ridley
I council person preri I council person bajano still not here council person s i council person Solomon council person Gilmore council person Dees hi council person Rivera I council president Waterman hi motion carries 80
to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-15 for final consideration and Adoption of ordinance number 25-15 Council person Ridley I council person priner I vajo still not here
council person s i council person Sal hi council person Gilmore council person Dees council person Rivera I council president Waterman hi okay uh city ordinance number 25-15 is adopted
80 item 4.8 city ordinance 016 and ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles in traffic article 3 parking standing and stopping amending section 332 -24 parking prohibited certain hours at Danforth Avenue Early Childhood
Center 160 Danforth Avenue this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard motion second okay motion to close a public hearing ordinates 25- 016 made by council person Rivera seconded by
council person Cay to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25- 016 council person britley Hi council person Zer I council person bajano not here still council person s i council person
Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees council person Rivera I council president Waterman I okay motion carries 80 to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-16 for final consideration and
Adoption of city ordinance 25-16 council person Ridley I council person prer hi council person Bano still not here council person s hi council person Solomon hi uh council person
Gilmore council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi council president Waterman council person bajano can I take your vote for this one since you came back yes I okay thank
you city ordinance number 25-0 06 is adopted 90 item 4.9 city ordinance 25-16 is an ordinance approving a 23-year tax exemption and authorizing a financial agreement for a multi-site affordable rental Pro previously
renovated by Rosel Avenue Redevelopment urban renewal pursuant to the New Jersey housing and mortgage Finance Act of 1983 and amended and supplemented njsa 55 colon 14 K-1 and rules prated under NJ
ac5 col 80-1 this is a public hearing for this ordinance we have some people up can you please just clearly state your name for the record sure good evening Council my name is John Robinson I am the owner of
got too gaming and also got too gaming Hub and I would like to um I'm a proponent of uh City Crossings that's how I know them uh my my business got too gaming and got too gaming Hub have done business with uh with City
Crossings for a few years now and one of the things that I wanted to mention I just wanted to highlight is the fact that they um they tend to promote multigenerational um uh discourse and dialogue so every summer or during the
fall when we actually have events with them there's different Generations uh from the youngest to the oldest you know as some of the council members here know and maybe some people in the audience know you know we do we do gaming and we also do technology and so it's great to
be able to partner with an organization such as City Crossing to um that promotes multigenerational discourse one of the other things that I wanted to mention and this is kind of a given with them is they also promote a sense of
community so you see everyone out there from the youngest the oldest you know you see all different ethnicities different cultures we get a chance to have a good time and uh and intermingle with one another so I'm definitely a proponent and hopefully you all will will support it thank
you I'm Trina Hinton I'm actually from the Jersey City Housing Authority I think most of the council members know me I just want you to know I didn't jump ship but I am definitely here in support of City Crossing we have been working with them for over three years providing
resident services and as John Robinson who spoke before me said um the one thing that I really love is that management and residents work together you know management really encourages to have
resident involvement um and I've seen that since we've been doing um Social Services with them we have been partnering with them to provide work fors development um job training education Social Services
um digital Equity so you know I can tell you over the three years you know when we sit down to the table we are having valuable conversations you know the questions are being asked you know how will this affect how is how is this
going to approve improve the community as a whole um I see people are coming out who prior to City Crossing taking over this property who didn't even know you know about the programs at the local libraries you know the programs that go
on at the Jersey City Medical Center and since City Crossing took over they have been exposing the residents to all the resources that are available to them locally you know they give them a voice to speak up and to let them know what they want you know and and how they feel
about their Community what's important in their community and I can tell you that management truly listens to them and I would just want to say that I am here given 100% support um because I know that they are a great group both
management and the community thank you thank you yeah sorry excuse me I excuse me can you please just say your name for the record again please I'm so sorry I missed it in
the Hinton h n t n thank you sorry good evening everyone my name is Cynthia Aron and I'm with greater Bergen Community Action and I have been working in the housing field since 1994 so I have a lot of experience dealing with
tenant landlord issues I wear a lot of hats and one of them is working with Social Service type programs with greater Bergen and we were working in partnership with City Crossing and I cannot say enough for how
impressed I am by that Community it is unique in the sense that it is an opportunity not just to have an affordable place to live but to have a community to have resources available while working there as a community coordinator we worked with families to
make sure their needs were met we brought resources into the community and there is a real sense of camaraderie and Community there there are people who've been living there for 40 years we all know that the cost of living has become
very difficult this is a crucial piece of of housing to keep affordable housing in Jersey City and I cannot say enough for the work that wind company City Crossing does to make it a
wonderful community in place for the residents there thank you Tina get on top it see see the stuff they got going on all right I got you but counsel pass this with High colors and we want to bring councilman Gilmore
let's bring some of that up there on Oak Street some of them outreaches thank you second to still a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard motion second motion to close a public hearing on city
ordinance 2517 made by council person Waterman seconded by council person Cay to close a public hearing on city ordinance 25-17 council person Ridley
I council person priner I council person bajano council person SLE council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person
Perera I council president Waterman I okay motion carries 90 to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25-17 for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 25-17 council person Ridley I
council person preri Hi council person bosano council person s thank you to all those that came out and spoke and I vote I council person Solomon um appreciate those who spoke um unfortunately I'm going to vote no because I don't see the um extension of either the number of
affordable units or the term of the affordability I guess it was supposed to be done when it was originally sold 10 years ago but I'm not sure why it didn't happen but at this point um that's not before us so my vot's a no council person more um I want to thank everyone who came to speak out um thank City
Crossing for the good job they're doing over there as it relates to management um I probably vote I this community is extremely near and dear to me as me and my family once occupied um a house in this affordable
unit um and I think that when we have an opportunity to make sure um some of our most vulnerable residents have um reasonable rents um that we have to take advantage of that opportunity so I vote
icil person toes I council person Rivera I council president Waterman hi okay um city ordinance number 25-17 is adopted 80 with a n from coun
person Solomon okay on to item 4.10 city ordinance 25-18 is a franchise ordinance granting permission to St George and St Chada Coptic Orthodox yeah I thought we carry
this this one to read it into the record oh you me let you do your job job you ain't telling me how to do my I apologize it's the second time we did that two for two I apologize okay thank you um I was actually pretty proud of myself for saying it
correctly um to enro onto the public rway sidewalk along the frontage of 395 SI Avenue block 11801 01 lot one um as discussed in the
caucus on Monday we are going to carry this ordinance to the March 12th council meeting are we agre with that law and correct y motion motion to carry this ordinance to the March 12th council meeting made by
council person Gil second second by council person Rivera okay motion to carry this ordinance to the March 12th meeting council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi council person bajano council person Cay I council
person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person de I council person Rivera I council president Waterman I a motion carries 90 to carry this ordinance 25-18 to the March 12 council
meeting item 4.11 city ordinance 25-19 is an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to execute an extension of a lease with the New Jersey schools Development Authority on the real property at block
21102 lot 52 of the city's tax map located at 70 Avenue for the purposes of temporarily uh part temporary parking for the Via Jersey City service this is a public hearing on this ordinance any
member of the public wishing to be heard motion second motion to close a public hearing on City ordinance 25-19 made by council person Waterman council president Waterman I'm Sorry seconded by council person Cay to close
the public hearing on city ordinance 25-19 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano Hi council person select I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person zis I council person
Rivera I council president Waterman I okay motion carries nine 0 to close the public hearing on city ordinance 25- 019 for final consideration an adoption of city ordinance
25-19 council person Ridley I council person frer I council person bajano Hi council person Cay hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I'm gonna vote no um because I know back some time ago
we did one extension well before that I I just didn't understand why we were providing parking for a private entity in the first place but we did one extension then we did another one they said that would be the last one and now here it is another one um they still
have not done anything to address the extra fumes that's in the area um and again I just think whenever's a private entity that's making money they should be able to provide their own thing they need to operate their business so I'll
vote person de I council person Rivera hi also president Waterman hi okay uh city ordinance is this city ordinance 25-19 is adopted 80 with a name from Council personil
Moore okay we are on to our public speaking portion oh command can we I have to go early um so I can um vote on the resolutions and also I just want to ask the ba it did
um what's her name again uh Finance director Carmen did she get a chance to send um I know she said she was going to look and send us some did she get a chance to do that with regards to the payment no I don't believe she's located it yet I know she is searching for it um
so you know once she gets it we'll be able to provide it to you so do we've do we vote on it or what do we oh okay all right all right Amanda um okay so I'll go with the claims and addent one and two
I you resolutions 10.1 to 1010 yes no I oh I'm so sorry I thought I was I thought you were reviewing I'm sorry um resolutions 10.11 to 10.21
10.1 say that again amand uh 10.11 to 10.21 item the resolutions resolutions 10.22 to 10.26 except for 26 um I didn't get any of the
documentations um I I on all the SE for 26 we didn't receive any of the documentation as it relates to if in fact the was actually pay um the recapture amount so I just
don't feel confident voting uh yes not knowing that we receive set funds i v i on arrest thank you so we will go to our public hearing portion first person 5.1 L web
Washington good evening again uh before you goes uh councilman Gilmore if any assistance that I can get the community to do see about us open up another Pool we own uh
Harmon Street pool been closed for 20 years the building and stuff you know we need to bring something back in your area uh up that way another Pool to bounce it off because we got kids I have a summer camp I got know where to take them I have to take them to the park and
they have to go in the shower we because I'm not paying that money for 40 50 kids to go swimming it don't make sense and another thing we need to step up with the affordable housing in our area um
the city uh public housing authority is doing a great job of uh bringing more affordable houses in our area like they took over the Web building tiing building on Grand Avenue and Bergen we need to support the Jersey City Housing
Authority more so we can get things done by our community cuz it's getting ready to get hot and there's a lot of homeless people people can't afford this rent here no more and I know it's election time but let's put this out front take
care of the community people need us have a blessed time I'm out of here bye go okay 5.2 Tina n yes I work for education of Gore but I'm speaking upon myself right now you
know um I wanted to say that um me doing Outreach for Jersy City for the for the organizations in I seen that when I called bon to let them know that um they had a list open for apartment could I send someone over there and they respond
was yes they put them on a list but they take care of their own in B I thought that was dope I'm like oh wow so you telling me y'all don't take care of Jersey City first y going to take care of your own town and then y'all come and
help us that's what we should do here it's no way that we keep talking about the same stuff every four and five years about the same about housing right now we got about 10 people from sleeping in their cars that been sleep sing in their
cars for a minute it's no way that people are still sleeping in their cars it's no way that we don't have nowhere to live in our community that they've been born here that they was raised here but the rent is too high for them to live here we have to do better as coming
together just like we came together about the pool I believe that we all put our head together and not think about ourself and think about the community I think that more stuff will get happen and we get done in the community I just wanted to say to y'all guys thank you
guys for tonight by coming together and talking about the pool I would love to also see the Martin Luther King Parade back in Jersey City too we also do a lot of different parades here in Jersey City but we don't have our own culture I'm
from Alabama and I see that I do interact with every culture that do something but to see that we don't have our own to appreciate of where we came from it's like a problem and bother me to see that we forget about how long we had struggle and what we went through I
would love for us to come and do the parade for Martin Luther King just like everybody go through trouble every fights every problems we also can be able to be forgive and have our parade Justice for Drew y'all Justice for
Drew mental health is next month guys I don't never want y'all to forget Justice for Drew cuz mental health is definite is in our community so please guys let's come together for that thank you thank you 5.3 Edward Perkins it's been 18 months I just read
an article thank you very much Jersey City times for your service 18 months since the Jersey City police department murdered Andrew Washington and you're right it is election season
Edward and um you all deserve or you all have to answer for Drew's death that's right the attorney general has been busy because we have bigger problems at the federal level right so
he's busy doing his thing and what is he doing about Drew and Drew's case we've been coming here bi-weekly what is the city doing arrived together is finally
here you all are probably knowledgeable about the CCT Grant right what's happening with the public safety department and deescalation and the use of force and how the police respond to us and then
how they respond differently historically in black and brown communities Drew's family has not gotten Justice our community has not been served and although this Administration
although he isn't an ally what Authority does this body have it's seemingly everyone here is against this family and against Justice we haven't we haven't seen you do your due
diligence absolutely not and you're undeserving of further support and that's just the truth there's more to it than mental health with policing Jim McGreevy running for mayor okay with an oped and the same
publication okay Jersey City Times his view of Public Safety and policing thank God that we finally have a view on what's happening with crime but crime is risen mayor Philip has been lying to us and what have you all been doing to keep
them honest we've been trying to hold you all accountable it's like you run from accountability you hate accountability in this place but you can't run from it you won't run from
me you will not what our city needs is leaders like Frank Gilmore you know who are independent not beholding to any one Corporation any one developer or any one leader or
party a shining example of what leadership should be like here you know like a voice for the people just a storry place with just sorry leadership and we are deserving of
more much better Kevin Davis interesting discussion earlier on the Franklin and Manhattan uh proposed protected bike lane um I was under the impression that there weren't the votes for the Manhattan protected bike lanane
but I'm hopeful after tonight as well as for Franklin as someone who lives in the Heights who bikes um I would benefit from it I did have two ideas for things the city could study to move to address some of the concerns about protected
bike Lanes in general now the other night uh I was in front of Dorian on Washington Boulevard um I was not doing standup comedy I saved that for the City Council meetings and op EDS um I was counting the number of bikers uh in
between chefan the Sichuan place and Kira Sushi the uh revolving sushi place uh and I was counting the number of bikers the number of bikers and it's a pbl there so it's one of the safest bike areas around so it's was counting the number of bikers running red
riding on the sidewalk uh going the wrong direction um 33% and I got a sample of over 150 uh 33% Road um on the sidewalk uh 20
4% um ran a red light and 22% went the wrong way so that was a little bit better than I was expecting uh cuz in this yeah I know I saw a council member raise its eyebrows uh because it feels like it's worse uh certain areas of the city where I've
also been getting numbers myself are a little bit worse so the protected bike Lanes do help with getting compliance uh but it means that protected bike Lanes alone aren't going to solve the issue of bad bikers uh so I think the city rather than me should do
the study on the number of bikers and the percentage of them that are compliant now the other idea I had oh my God one minute left the other idea I had um was I was biking down here and there was a car double parked and I thought
what if there's an emergency that's going to take the fire truck longer to get through so it's not just protected bike LS that may cause a delay it's other factors as well so what if we Quantified how many seconds it adds for
emergency vehicle trips uh for protected bike lanes for double Park cars for parking at a fire hydrant all those violations combined why don't we put a number on it so whether or not we build them or not I really hope we do build them we could figure out ways to have
faster emergency response times Dina Davidson Gina Davidson Ward F tonight I want to talk to you about Animal Welfare and I want to commend Stacy Flanigan and her team for all their great work in
2024 back in December at the HHS budget hearing it was clear that this team continues to do a whole lot with a with very little excuse me as you all know I'm embedded in the animal rescue work in this city I in myself and six other animal Advocate
leaders we're talking this week about what incredible positive change has taken place since the city has taken over shelter services for Jersey City expectations have been very much exceeded you all heard that youth in
Asia rates um listed in December they came in around 6% for 2024 the national Benchmark to consider a shelter and no kill shelter is actually 10% so in the very first year of operation the city managed to hit an exceptional rate of
care for these animals and so we have a lot of work still to do but they're doing an amazing job in fact my f others came to you at the beginning of 2024 with doubts about how the city would handle this incredible task and so we all uh I stand
Here corrected that again the work that has been done by Stacy and her team has been exemplary and the reason I say this to you all is because again during that conversation this week with a bunch of the other rescue organizations that I partner with there were concerns brought up about the changing Administration
that will will be facing and so this is why I want to make sure that we all understand where the hard work is happening and who has had success in the animal rescue work here in Jersey City because when it comes time to change administrations we do not want to lose
the progress that we have made so short of convincing everyone who is running for mayor of Jersey City to please keep this team on in 2026 and Beyond we just going to come and talk to you for the next couple months about the great work that is being done because
again we don't want to lose all this great progress for the past over 10 years all of us rescue organizations were telling residents not to go to LHS we were saying if you go there you'll never see the animal again and we don't
know what happens behind those closed doors but that has change the doors of the shelter are wide open I'm there every week personally my rescue organization I've been able to get 22 cats spay neutered rabies vaccine distemper make sure they don't have FIV
and other communicable diseases therefore making their lives more enjoyable and making our residents and our pets safer so again I just want to thank the HHS team for the incredible strides in animal rescue and care that have happened in the city and you'll be hearing more from me as the months go on
thank you thank you 5.6 Danielle good evening again council members Danielle DMO Ward C I'm here tonight because we need to talk about the future of Jersey City not just in terms of
parking spaces but in terms of affordability sustainability and Community investment we hear a lot about affordable housing but I have to ask how do parking mandates which drive up construction costs fit into the plan are
we building for the people who need housing the most or just for those who can afford multiple cars if we're serious about affordability we need to rethink policies that are make that make housing more expensive and while we're
on the subject of priorities let's talk about infrastructure we hear a lot of talk about parking but where is that same energy for sustainability climate change isn't a problem for the next Council it's happening now investing in sustainable
Transportation options isn't just about convenience it's about our City's long-term future then there's the issue of safety we hear it all the time safety safety safety but if safety is truly a
priority where are the plans for better lighting pedestrian friendly streets and safer intersections because right now it feels like safety only means making sure cars have plenty of places to park take the proposed protected bike Lanes on
Franklin Street and Manhattan Avenue we know they work according to Jersey City's 2024 Vision zero annual report our protected bike lane Network grew by 21% last year and traffic fatalities
under City jurisdiction have dropped by 50% these Lanes aren't luxuries they save lives and yet instead of focusing on these facts some critics would rather spread misinformation by blaming cyclists for everything here's the
reality B JC and the city have been working together for years to educate kids on safe cycling through the kids ride program teaching Young Riders how to use protected bike Lanes properly helps create responsible future cyclists
that's what real investment in safety looks like we have an opportunity here not just to build more parking lots but to build a safer more sustainable and more Vibrant Community let's make sure we don't let outdated priorities get in
the way of progress thank you 5.7 Ashley not here okay 5.8 Moren good evening I was here on January 15 for the
other meeting and I spoke about my landlord um Denise Raley reached out to me and her team helped me do some stuff that I needed to do which I did um as of right now I'm living with
no stove in my apartment for a month and a half which means we cannot cook in my home BNG shut off my my gas because it was a gas leak our fire es skates are very
unsafe the city gave my L law in 21 violations and that's only counting my apartment that's not counting the whole building there's 14 family in this building I don't know how the state come to this building and they pass this
landlord um I went to the court on the 20th on yeah of the 20th of February for the violations we did a zoom and he was a Nal he has another court date on the
10th for a violation for these violations if he don't show up I think there's a bench warrant for his arrest or something like that they were saying but I want to know what can the city do for us because there's 14 family in this
building you have senior citizens in this building some of them are scared to speak about what's going on in the apartment we have Plumbing um leaks from other apartments going into other apartments that's not even counting other stuff that's happening in this
building um he comes in the building the daughter is the city inspector in newon City she works for the city of newon city and she gets involved and she tells us she's not going to fix because this is a rent control building
and we pay low rent I have a video from the wife telling me that I PID low rent and because I pay low rent she's not going to fix I don't understand how this landlord continue to treat us like this this is inhumane having no stove no flushing
toilet cuz I don't have a flushing toilet I have to put water in my toilet to flush it my tub I have the the the fer doesn't work where it says hot water it's cold water where it says cold hot water um
cold water is hot water and sometime it shut off on us he shut off my light from the basement he turned off my lights and because I have the switch in my apartment I was able to turn it back on this is crazy and the and yesterday I had another incident um today we had
another incident because because we know they selling the building that's another thing I think we are being pushed out there's a lady that comes to our building supposedly I don't know we don't know who she is all we know she comes to this building and she asks the
tenants what apartment you live in why we have someone that we don't know who she is she doesn't identify herself questioning us thank you you know what Denise you done you done talk to her
right we chter shine 5.9 Sarah Horrible no okay 5.10 Charlene okay 5.1
Terrence no 5.12 Dana hello uh my name is Dana I'm here to advocate for the B biking um the last couple of times I was here I talked about safety and all of that still applies but tonight I want to talk about a specific situation I
recently found myself in I'm sure others may have as well uh you're at Journal Square your cell phone died and you're trying to make it home on a Sunday afternoon you didn't drive to Journal Square because you're one of the 41% of households in Jersey City without a car you didn't bike to Journal Square
because you don't feel safe without a protected bike lane you don't want to walk cuz your home is over 2 miles away how are you getting home if you live near Journal Square and you're physically able you might be able to walk but I hope you don't get Pit by a car on the way home if you're going
downtown that's pretty easy because you can only wait for a path for maybe 5 to 10 minutes after that it gets a little I live in Mor D I prefer to take buses down the Boulevard and let's say it takes me about 5 minutes to get my pass and to find the gate cuz it does
keep changing um I might be able to make the 1210 88 um but if I miss that one the next one is 40 minutes later I can also take the 125 um and that's going to be a mere 20 minute weight this all assumes that New Jersey
Transit which is known for its punctuality um is on time and that I know which numbers to take you may object to the scenario um and say I should have gotten a better bus used a specific app or used some other way of getting home but um I mentioned your
phone is dead right there are no paper schedules at Journal Square there are no screens telling you when the next bus is coming you are in an information black hole until your next bus comes and if it's 20° outside I really hope you dressed
warm New York City subway headways during off peak hours are 8 to 12 minutes and I've certainly waited longer um I know a lot of us have and at the very least I know when it's coming in comparison long headways are an everyday night and weekend reality if
you take the bus in Jersey City and you have no idea when it's going to be there safety is a critically important reason to build infrastructure um but we can't keep avoiding the very real problem that public transportation is failing us here in Jersey City it is very challenging to
get around certain neighborhoods without owning a car or having to pay for a taxi or having access to a smartphone we need Subways we need life rail we need protected bike Lanes there are zero miles of protected bike lanes and Heights the Franklin Manhattan bike lane
is one step to making our city more accessible to folks without a car we need options not only to make it safer for cyclists people on scooters and pedestrians but also to relieve traffic for drivers this Lane isn't just help Cycles it cyclist it helps everyone and I hope that you all will support the
next time it comes up for a vote thank you thank you 5.3 to anarie good evening Anar nazaro but you have that we live in not in an historic
disrupted time again we have questions we want to raise them you as counselors you share this we hear it in your voices you have questions and the sadness and
frustration come when the answers don't follow the questions even if you wait and repeat and wait again on the February 13th council meeting here in this chamber several of you in particular
councelor bajio and Gilmore fervently described asking for an upgrade to our 911 system you said actually I think it was you Mr bajio who said the system is
broken and understaffed other counselors joined in with that frustration saying we don't get a response though we ask and we email Public Safety we don't get a response we want to speak about this as
Jersey City together and the public health Public Safety Committee of Jersey City together because you recall the 911 system is so so integral to our proposal for a behavioral health response when a
mentally challenged or substance challenged Community member has a crisis we need that system robust we need those answers we need answers and actions and
that would make some amends very small but some amends to Drew Washington who lost his life when the training of 911 and the the response wasn't quite what it could have been if we do the gold
standard program that Jersey City together is proposing also my second item tonight is just to say that we actually have some money in the budget we have the behavioral health response money of $1.2
million please nod your heads and tell me yes we've safeguarded it it's still there could this in some way help with this area it's integral to a good Behavioral Health response does HHS have
jurisdiction over some of that of that money I believe they do because they were the ones who were generating the rfps to try to let out the money if they do could they team up to make sure the 911 system is operational at a high
level and also that the the respond are special people they need training they are the frontliners please please we'll help you let's get it done thank you 5.14 William B Lilith member of our Lady
sorrow's Parish also a member of the Jersey City together health and Public Safety Committee I too want to note that as far as we're concerned there is that $1.2 million available not being
utilized the funding was approved by this Council for the hiring of Outreach workers and as this money has not been spent we at Jersey City together would like to meet with members of the council and appropriate members of the administration to see how that funding
could be used in a manner that makes sense however we have strong reservations about that money falling into the hands and under the control of the Department of Public Safety as little has been done by that department to address this particular
issue I also want to make the council aware that we at Jersey City together have been in communication with the Hudson County antiviolence Coalition as that organization received and have got re received funding to
address this particular issue to hire out we workers unfortunately the state attorney's General's office has yet to release funding to get this program underway so we support the antiviolence Coalition in their efforts to get this
program going and letting you know that another anniversary on the death of George Floyd is soon coming occurring we at Jersey City together will continue to work and advocate for
our city to put a program of a continuing of care that serves our residents dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues and we support the family of Jude Washington for their push for justice and for their hard work
to ensure that what happened to Drew does not happen again to other people thank you 5.15 Kevin good evening city council this weekend I attended an event
at a Jersey City Church hosted by Jersey City together fortunately the mayor was there and let me tell you what he had to say was powerful he focused on rent control enforcement I was able to obtain a
transcript so I'll read what he actually said and I want everyone to listen very carefully quote from the mayor one thing I would recommend from my experience with rent control buildings a lot of larger buildings either have never filed a proper claim for exemption or the
30-year exemption has expired so rent boards in Jersey City are determining that certain buildings that didn't comply with the proper procedure are actually under rent control that is being litigated but enforcement is key
in Jersey City you can have the law I think it's chapter 260 but if the city government isn't enforcing it you're only going halfway then he continued there's a large 200 plus unit building we determined was under rent
control they ignored us we went to the municipal prosecutor I told them to issue a summons to the landlord the landlord didn't show up eventually they did and we got them to register their rents with the rent control office they sued Us in federal court we got
that dismissed then they sued Us in state court that case is pending but they're still under rent control they're still not complying so we're working with the tenants to issue further summonses to actually inforce
rent control still quoting the mayor for Jersey City it's iCal to work with the administration and prosecutor's office to say we have a law and your job at City Hall is to enforce it right isn't that the administration's job especially
when corporate landlords of big buildings raise rents Beyond what's allowed under rent control you have to enforce the ordinance if there aren't strong enforcement mechanisms the law has no teeth then he finished by saying this has to be aggressively prosecuted
the directive has to come from the city Administration to the the chief prosecutor that these are our laws they're part of Jersey City code and it's the administration's job to enforce them the prosecutor has to issue summonses and drag landlords to court that's how you fight it was hard not to
get emotional hearing the mayor speak the truth in New Jersey City Church so thank you mayor Bala from Hoboken who spoke the truth at this Jersey City Event where our mayor was nowhere to be found thank you
5.6 syvia good evening city council we hear the word enforcement thrown around a lot but what does it actually mean if you ask tenants enforcement means action it
means stopping illegal rent increases forcing compliance with the LW and holding landlords accountable it means protecting people from being priced out of their homes enforcement is not a once a year
letter that gets ignored enforcement is not waiting for landlords to voluntarily comply enforcement is daily fines enforcement is regular
suances enforcement means landlords bu consequences every single day that they violate the law every single day let's talk about what happens when enforcement is weak a single summons in
a year isn't enforcement it's theater a letter warning of potential consequences without ever delivering those consequences teaches landlords one thing they can and they will ignore the
city if a tenant breaks their lease they are taken to court if a landlord breaks rent control laws they get a warning and keep collecting illegal rent for more than a year the ordinance is clear the
Bureau of rent leveling has the power to bring appropriate legal charges the law gives the city the tools but laws mean nothing with without action if you want issue fines you telling landlords the law is
meaningless if you want bring legal charges you are telling tenants they are unprotected so I ask this Council will Jersey City enforce its laws will director Richardson issue daily fines
will director Richardson issue regular summonses will his office put violations on record in court where they cannot be ignored or will landlords continue treating the law as an optional
suggestion Richardson has to treat his determination as The Binding orders the ordinance demand our landlords will believe they are just suggestions thank you thank
you 5.17 Angelo Angelo Angela Rano I'm recently came here from New York City I'm an architect and um wanted to come here to move and I found out that there was this rent problem and
um on knowing U my friend Eve Taylor after the council meeting last time she joined a conversation and she shared something very shocking she said that the director Richardson told her um his rent audit determinations are really
just suggestions and if landlord ignores them there's nothing the landlord tenant office can do now let's review that this section 26-9 States the Bureau of rent leveling under the direction of rent leveling Administration shall have the
following powers and functions to remedy violations of this chapter by adjusting rental um and ordering rebates bringing appropriate legal change um but if landlord Street rent
control as optional maybe that's because the director is told by Jersey City Hall that rent prices enforce and enforcement powers are only suggestions so the city has to make a choice every time
landlords defy binding determinations and the City does nothing this is making a choice every time tenant reports violations and nothing happens this is making a choice every time uh every um enforcement does
not mean um politely reminding landlords that there's a law it means taking action it means taking making fines it means legal action especially um in violations it means ensuring rent control is
respected as as this is the future of us I'm very passionate about everybody having a place to live everybody having a place to lock their door and seeing professionals live in
their car and um this Paradigm that I notic as an architect I'm very passionate about the solution to this and noticing this as where it's coming from I'm hoping that you know there's something that can be
done here we are 518 Barbara good evening city council I have great respect for facts and Truth apparently that's not reality for all Americans and certainly not reality for the powers running Jersey City fact
number one forside Tower tenants October 20 23 won a ruling by the Jersey City rent leveling board confirming that our buildings are indeed protected by Jersey City's rent control law under ordinance
260 reality two years later we are headed into March of 2025 and that ruling is still languishing unenforced despite Portside Towers showing up here every T every city
council meeting begging for help mayor of our neighboring city of Hoboken mayor Robie Bala recently spoke to Jersey City renters about the importance of rent control enforcement specifically during ongoing
litigation I am not a lawyer but mayor Bala is a highly respected civil rights lawyer a mayor and soon to be nurse Jersey assemblyman if litigation really is really paus the law all landlords would have to do is
keep a case going forever and they would never have to follow the law right now it seems that only works in Jersey City fact number two section 26-9 explicitly gives the director of
landlord tenant relations shyon Richardson the power to quote remedy violation by adjusting rentals ordering rebates and bringing appropriate legal charges
unquote reality landlords treat director Richardson's determinations as mere suggestions they ignore the law without facing any daily fines or legal consequences why not do the right thing
follow mayor paa's lead and take right enforcement action sorry okay fact number three section 2617 states that quote each day a
violation continues shall constitute a separate offense unquote reality not a single daily fine has been issued against our landlord Equity despite continuous
violations since the October 2023 ruling director Richardson don't you think Equity would have gotten the stay of the rent leveling board's determination confirming rent control and Portside Towers if Equity thought a federal judge
would Grant one the judge did not issue a St why are you pressing BS on your legal enforcement thank you thank you thank you 5.19 Mark members of the city council I'm here again not with a new grievance but
the same urgent plea I've voiced repeatedly since November 20123 what side tenants demand yes demand uniform Security on the premises as mandated by the Jersey city code uh you know I'm not going to go
through the list of the Grievances because you've heard them from me what once a month for the last 18 months um so I don't wish to keep coming here standing before you for the same reason all the time with the same information AB slightly new
phrasing our community deserves better we implore you act and help us don't just sit there and listen 5 point 20 Eve um good evening Council section
26-7 A1 defines harassment as a reduction in the quality of basic service to the health safety and Welfare of the tenants the Jersey City Municipal Court still as of last week refuses to enforce chapter 260 building code and fire code uh fire code violations in my
building basement from 2020 became a fail chimney which became recurring carbon monoxide which has destroyed my left eye not only did the court still refuse to issue fines on any of those summons last week judge Ramy Eid now threatened to charge me with criminal
contempt if I talk about his Court's ticket fixing anymore Meanwhile my landlord Muhammad Shahed has failed to appear three times in a row and again received no punishment I came here for a year observing Portside Towers speaking to
you I looked at them and I saw some of council's board apathetic attitude and I kept thinking how if only you listen to Portside Towers I might still have my vision in my career here's an example of harassment chapter 260 section 783 explicitly named
inadequate security as harassment yet at Portside Towers there's still no uniform security whatsoever a direct violation of chapter 218 Article 1 which requires a minimum of one uniform security guard upon its premises 24 hours a day 7 days a week for buildings over 100 units this
isn't just about feeling safe this is about life and death I'm not kidding when a bullet pierced a window at port side there was no security to respond when a bleeding woman sought help there was no security to assist when unauthorized individuals access their building at 3:00 a.m. there's no
security to intervene director Richardson has the explicit Authority Under 26a 9 A1 to remedy violations of this chapter by adjusting rentals ordering rebates and bringing appropriate legal charges daily fines are not optional they are required by law for each day a violation continues
when landlords fail to provide security it isn't just a service reduction it's tenant harassment under the legal definition in chapter 26-7 and by failing to issue daily fines Jersey City Hall is enabling this harassment many of you have children many of you have
elderly parents if they lived in a building with no security where is legal where it is legally required where strangers could freely wander the Halls would you consider that acceptable I don't would you call that save I don't I care about my neighbors the law is clear
the obligation is clear what remains unclear is why this Administration refuses to enforce it please support director Richardson and give him enforcement authority to issue daily fines for security violations under 267 and 2181 today the next emergency at
port side and in my building shouldn't require us to ask where was security and where was enforcement thank you thank you hi everyone um my speech is called where is the
superintendent there's a simple law in Jersey City large buildings must have a resident super endent that's not a suggestion that's not a guideline it's the law a resident superintendent and yet at Portside towers and many other buildings the so-called resident
superintendent doesn't actually live there we've had emergency situations where tenants had no one to call leaks floods fires no super inight and what has the city done about it absolutely
nothing let's be clear this is a safety issue this is about compliance with 254-4545 to it that other related ordinances are enforced 26-7 covers anti-harassment and tenant complaints this section includes a list
of seven things that qualify as harassment the very first item on the list a reduction in the quality of basic service to the health safety and Welfare of the tenants director Richardson please enforce to 60-7 and issue daily
fines for violations Richardson 26-7 says harassment of tenants shall mean con conduct whether direct or indirect committed intentionally or neg
negligently by a landlord or anyone acting on his behalf our landlord and our local management acting on behalf of our landlord is in violation of 26-7 so here's what needs to happen
inspections need to be conducted Ed fake addresses need to be flagged and landlords who refuse to comply should face immediate penalties and daily fines if Richardson is not doing this he is not enforcing ordinance
26-7 because a law that isn't enforced isn't a law at all and right now Jersey City is sending the message that its laws don't matter enforce 26-7 thank you I'm sorry what is that Suzanne
thank Joel good evening city council mayor Philip wants us to believe that Ren control enforcement is out of his hands he says things like the matter is in federal court he says the city has done
everything it can that is simply not true and there is no court ordered stay rent control Remains the law determinations remain binding and they should be
enforced the ordinance is clear director Richardson's job is and I quote ordering rebates and bringing appropriate legal charges but instead we see see a pattern the moment landlords push back enforcement stops a federal lawsuit is
filed and suddenly it's as if rent control ceases to exist if that's worked if that worked well I guess it kind of is working in our case landlords can avoid the law for years just by filing a federal
lawsuit and then an appeal and then another appeal is that what Richardson and Philip would have us believe that we get enforcement in 5 to 10 years sounds like a sentence that's why we bring our enforce 260
signs this is not how the system is supposed to work that is not how the ordinance was written as mayor Bala made clear when he spoke to the in in a Jersey City Church directly to tenants he told the truth litigation does not block enforcement the Administration has
full authority to act and it must if this Administration continues down this path then let's be honest it's a choice it's not a legal necessity Jersey city has the same enforcement Powers as Hoboken the difference one
city uses them and the other makes excuses this Council has a duty to its residents the residents who elect you this Council has a choice will you demand action will you ensure tenants
are protected or will you continue accepting excuses from an Administration that would rather let landlords violate the law then stand up for renters this Council has the power to investigate if Corporation Council does not advise you
how to conduct an investigation or if you believe that their advice is in conflict with your duties remember my previous please and the suggestion of commissioner oday to engage independent
Council thank you Drew 523 Drew okay Jessica good evening city council when you said 10 years Joel you freaked me out um but let's talk about
ordinance 26-17 which states a quote a violation affecting more than one tenant shall be considered a separate violation as to each tenant yet at Portside hours hundreds of tenants face violations with
zero daily fines issued section 262b could not be more direct any rental increase in excess of that authorized by the provisions of this chapter shall be void and 26 260 section 2D requires such
excess rent to be refunded or credited by the landlord forth with I was also in the room with mayor RI Bala from Hoboken um when he said that Jersey city code is enforcable even during litigation
perhaps especially during litigation because otherwise we're not protected otherwise courts can be used as a legal workaround this is what mayor FIP is currently allowing in our case has our landlord refunded a single dollar just a
dollar no has director Richardson issued daily fines as required by chapter 1 section 12 125 which St States quote each day a violation of any provision of this code shall continue shall constitute a separate
offense no he hasn't the word shall appears 264 times in in this ordinance shall is not optional it is not optional language it mandates action meanwhile the human cost
mounts a tenant who loses his home doesn't just lose an apartment he loses his community his Children's School stability and sometimes his dignity when a landlord ignores man control determinations with impunity they're not just breaking the law
they're breaking lives these landlords and their lawyers are coming up with strategies to make us leave to rip money out of our pockets and make us go away that's what you're being that's what you're allowing to happen
our neighbors have packed up and left in the night I see Furniture outside all the time of people leaving and not having enough money to take their belongings with them they don't want to leave these illegal rent hikes make
staying impossible even after 18 months after the rent leveling board rolled in our favor I have a friend and neighbor leaving this weekend she's lived at Portside for years and because nothing has tangibly changed for her since our
petitions were filed she has to leave she finally has to leave she's being forced out because she can no longer withstand these overcharges fix it Gracy good evening Council I want to talk about a
fundamental part of rent control that keeps getting ignored rent registration because enforcement isn't just about punishing illegal rent
increases it's about transparency it's about making sure landlords actually document what they are charging so the city can verify if it's
legal right right now many landlords are failing to file rent controls despite it being a basic requirement under ordinance 26-3 some haven't filed for years others
submit incomplete or fraudulent records and what happens nothing no penalties no consequences the city has the power to find landlords for this yet it either
doesn't or there is a or there is a oneoff token fine or summons that get dismissed or ignored why is that why does enforcement seem to stop
at the landlord's doorstep when tenants miss a rent payment they face late fees eviction threats legal action but when landlords ignore their legal responsibilities they
get a free pass here is a solution start issuing fines for every missing rent roll start treating incomplete filings as violations and most importantly start
making it clear to landlords that their compliance is not optional these should be daily daily fines or the landlords will simply ignore them director Richardson the ordinance calls for daily
fines when you do not issue them you are not enforcing ordinance 260 enforce 260 because without rent rols enforcement is impossible and without
enforcement rent control is a joke an ordinance 26 is a force 526 sto okay 527 Sonia good evening Council I'll open up the perspective now from local to Federal level from Jersey City to
Washington I'm going to read a piece by the Jersey City Times editorial board to you three days old slightly shortened to get through it ready story hour begins fup and Trump are Kindred Spirits when it comes to the Press hey Associated
Press we feel your pain we've been there we are referring to president Trump decision to bend the 178 year old news organization from important White House events here at Jersey City Times it was a deja vu in
2021 mayor fop cut us from all Communications and effectively banned us from press conferences ceremonies and official events how did the AP get itself excelled it decided not to use the name
golf of America to describe what we have always called the Gulf of Mexico how did the Jersey City Times get put in the Penalty Box we reported that the mayor was not being honest about crime in Jersey City full up appears to have the
same authoritarian thin skin as the many as many think the man is heading to the count to the country towards a constitutional crisis bullying knows no political party we know that here when challenged Trump and fop also share a
similar taste for the offensive personal put down a White House spokesman said the AP is clearly suffering from a severe debilitating case of trump derangement syndrome that has rotted their peanut-sized brains after the
Jersey City Times broke the story that the mayor had taken a group of underlings on a secret junker to Caris SRA pompo he launched into VRI personal attacks like the AP we sought Court intervention in
2023 the media freedom and information access clinic at yay law school filed a federal lawsuit on our behalf under the First Amendment on Friday Friday the AP brought a nearly identical suit against Trump okay we know what you thinking 280
Grove is not the White House but for us it makes no difference we exist to cover City Hall and inform our readers about what's happening here but the stakes are higher than our convenience both Trump and FIP know the intimidate that
intimidation and isolation are effective ways to keep press criticism to a minimum I leave the last two sentences out because I want to get to um the uniso with the Jersey City Welcome to trumps and fops America and I leave you
all tonight to see if this is just another story hour for you or if you want to do anything about it and I'll also say labeling criticism as an insult like President Waterman did earlier today with Edward is just another method
like this 5. 28i okay uh good evening Council uh it's been a while but uh tonight I'm here with Solutions practical Solutions hopefully uh because I want to be optimistic I want to be forward looking
now as you know at psite Towers we have a unanimous rent level determination that our buildings are rent control yet our rents continue to increase illegally months after months right why because apparently we we've built a system where
determinations have no teas our current process is like installing smoke detectors without connecting them to an alarm system they can detect the fire but they can't protect the buildings no fire department shows up you know
sprinker St kicking here what I mean so director Richardson and his staff follow the law and issue determinations right but then those determinations enter a bureaucratic void where enforcement responsibility is like fragmented across
multiple departments you know the bureau determines violations and then the Rambo confirms them then the Municipal Court should enforce panel toes and the prosecutor should purs pursue violations and meanwhile you know Public Safety has
other jurisdictions so when communication breaks down between those entities determinations just become mere paper I mean technically correct but practically meaningless the section 26-17 actually
specially States each day a violation continues shall constitute a separate offense yet these daily paneles are rarely if ever imposed so my solution is actually just simple we should create
we should create an automated pathway where once the determination is issued dat defines of $2,000 per violation under chapter 1 section 1-25 just begin immediately and
automatically right I mean no landlord could ever afford to ignore determinations if those State fines actually accumulated this is about this is not about blaming an individual but it's about fixing broken system when parking
laws are violated you know tickets are automatically issued when Health sches are violated businesses close immediately only rank control can of exist in this accountability vacuum and of course this this method should be fiscally responsible because issuing
those daily valuations couldn't cost $2,000 each day right so council members we need you to close this gap between determination and consequence without this critical link no amount of determinations will ever protect the
residents of Jersey City thank you Michelle Madame President and all council members kindly look up and give me three minutes of your time waiting how do we determine if there is
an Enforcement issue in Jersey City let's be fair if officials were unaware of a situation we couldn't hold that against them but let's choose a case where that excuse doesn't apply let's take a group that has been to every
single city council meeting since November 2022 a group that has delivered over 900 speeches a group covered over 100 times by the Press including the Wall Street Journal
CNBC and the real deal if enforcement existed anywhere it would have to be here yet what do we find at Portside Towers in 2022 illegal rents no resident
super in either Tower no uniform security no complete Ren roll violations of New Jersey landlord identity law then in January 2023 director Richardson took office and
what changed nothing in October 2023 the rent leveling board ruled unanimously 60 for tenants and what changed then nothing all of 2024 the violations
continued under FIP and Richardson not a single fine paid now here we are in 2025 still no enforcement Philip and Richardson claimed there's no enforcement
Enforcement issue that's convenient because if we the most vocal and visible tenants in the city can't get enforcement then who can if daily fines required under ordinance 260 are never
issued then enforcement does not exist if repeated violations receive no legal action then enforcement does not exist if officials ignore their own determinations then enforcement does not
exist so what happens next you are forcing us to ask the nation if they agree that this crisis has been handled as well as you claim but we all know what's more likely you will become famous not for leadership but for
allowing this Injustice to continue despite unmatched effort by those in need take action or we will make sure the nation sees exactly what in action
looks like we have two offers on the table thank you Ryan no Ryan okay 531 Sharon no okay 532
Gloria no Gloria 533 Olga 534 randelle 535 Ronald Maggie Phyllis Elma
Aid Brian TOA Essence Marilyn Manuel oh Erin I'm Miss uel but if Marilyn's
here okay no your Manuel almost at the end uh good evening Council um some of you know me my name is Emanuel Morgan um I'm a trustee with B JC and a co-founder of Hudson County complete
streets I just want to thank everyone on the council who voted yes to add them uh for the motion to add the uh resolution to the agenda for the engineering contract for the Manhattan Avenue and Franklin Street Bike Lane project um it was really just an engineering contract
not a vote on a design just a vote to uh to save the the grant funding to prevent a loss of grant funding and um there are 272 miles of streets in Jersey
City and less than 20 miles of protected bike Lanes this is not Equity there's zero miles of protected bike Lanes in the Heights the proposed project is less than one
mile I'm not sure I understand the controversy over this particular Bike Line what are public safety's specific concerns we deserve the right to know councilman Rivera who left the the
day mentioned safety a few times tonight St safety is exactly what is at stake for constituents trying to travel around the city at the last city council
meeting councilman Rivera I'm sorry I called you by name at the last city council meeting a young man spoke named danan Aguilar he could tell you what safety meant to him on an evening in January 2021 when he needed both the bike lanes
and the ambulance but he had but if he had had the bike lane he would not have needed the ambulance I also have a a message for director kce because he has not returned any of our emails Safe Streets Advocates and Public
Safety want the same thing I truly believe we all want more safety we all want reduced emergency vehicle resp response times but it's not bike Lanes or one ways that increase emergency vehicle
response times it's traffic congestion it's single occupant Vehicles people often ask why the bike Lanes appear empty the reason is that bikes don't get stuck in traffic and neither will they impede or
obstruct emergency vehicles we are simply trying to achieve a reduction in traffic by offering residents more choices and by reducing crashes with proven Vision zero safety
infrastructure I'm out of time thank you he Jacqueline Maggie Adrien Jim Tony hi Tony burelli from bike JC I'd like to
say that I I think it's a shame that you all weren't able to even agree to put something up for a vote I hope that'll happen again the next time we're here uh and I'll see you then on
no okay so we are done with our public speaking portion get back to our cameras okay we are on to our petitions and Communications we have items
6.1 to 6.38 are there any questions or comments hey there are no officer Communications there are no report of directors we are on to our claims and
addendum one and two I will now take your vote for the claims in addendum one and two council person Ridley I council person priner I Council persono council person Cay hi council person
Solomon council person thees I council person Rivera icil president Waterman she steps out okay claims and addendum 1 and two have been approved 8
Z we'll move on to our resolutions I am taking I vote on items 10.1 to 10.10 council person Brickley I council person priner Hi for
all council person bosano Hi council person SLE hi person Solomon council person to I also person Rivera I
so president Waterman's not here um okay so items 10.1 to 10.10 are approved 90 Council president's here yes need your vote for 10.1 to 10.10
please yes okay unanimously 90 approved right now we're on to resolution 10.11 to 10.21 council person Ridley hi council
person freri Hi for all council person bajano counc person you said to what which one to 10.21 uh I for all council person Solomon council person
deis I council person Rivera I Council okay resolutions 10.11 to 10.21 are approved 90 onto our last set of resolutions 10.22 to
10.26 council person Ridley I council person priner I for all council person bosano I council person Cay going to vote I for all and thank the administration for 1025 and taking a
step forward towards the new North District Council person Solomon council person Dees hi council person Rivero I council president Waterman I okay items 10.22 to
10.25 25 they are approved 90 10.26 is approved 8 Z with council person Gilmore uh he has a nay here then we go
to oh that's the last one 10.26 hey motion motion to adjourn made by council person Rivera second by second council president Waterman it is 9:26 p.m. we are out of
here thank you so much everyone get home just want to thank my Council colleagues for having a surprise birthday party for me I I was I was not aware of the surprise birthday party I didn't get a heads up about it
but I did I did not know about it before show up we anonymously adding thank you thank you I love you all thank you so much and uh enjoy the cake it was really good cake I I swear
to God I very C for