[Music] Good morning. Welcome to the premeating of the Newark Municipal Council on Tuesday, May 20th. Council President, council members, we are on page four of the agenda, item five, reports and
recommendations of city officers, boards, and commissions. Question from the council. Hearing none. Next item. Public hearing. Second reading and final passage. 6P SFA is an ordinance granting
a 30-year tax abatement to 317 Malbury Street Urban Renewal Company LLC for a project to construct 24 market rate residential rental units in the central ward. And their sponsors on this. Silva
Gonzalez. Silva. Yes. Silva Gonzalez. Yeah. Yeah. Mr. Mr. President, if I may, this is a councilman. Yeah. Yeah. This is one of five projects by this developer. This one happen all market rate, but the others there was one that
was all affordable and there's another one with 10 units that are affordable. So, he's providing 30% instead of the 20% affordable housing. Yes. Thank you, Councilman. Anything else? All right.
Next item. B is an ordinance granting a 17-year tax abatement to SPG 100 Frontage Road Urban Renewal LLC for a project to construct a warehouse distribution building. Questions from the
council hearing? None. Next item. C is an ordinance to amend childhood lead poisoning to create the inspection of certain residential rental dwellings for leadbased paint hazards. Questions from the council.
Next item. D is an ordinance granting a 30-year tax abatement to Robert Street Hotel urban Renewal Incorporated. Council President, council members, this item will be deferred. All right. Next item. E is an ordinance
granting a 30-year tax abatement to 449 Washington Street Urban Renewal Company LLC for a project to construct a new five-story building with a total of 20 residential rental units of which 10 will be market rate residential rental
units and 10 will be affordable housing rental units which shall be restricted to tenants at 60% of area medium income AMI in the central ward. Council President, council members, due to advertising, the public hearing will actually be on June 4th. All right.
Thank you. Next item. Second reading and final passage 6FA will be deferred. All right. Next item. Resolutions. 7R A and B are temporary
emergency appropriations. A is to provide funds for the operating expenses and B is for substance abuse and mental health services grant. Question from the council. Thank my same my same comment regarding
the budget. Uh this now we are approving funds for June. We continue uh we continue the process that we started in March by which we were promised the budget by April. We are going to
June. Hopefully we will have it before the end of the year. At some point, Mr. Ba can step to the mic and make a comment if you'd like. You can do it later. Okay. Go ahead. Go ahead. C uh uh Mr. Ba. Good morning, Eric Pennington. Council
President to Councilman Gonzalez. You're working diligently to get this budget through to you and uh yeah, soon as I can. Thank you, Mr. RA. All right, next item.
Item C and D are purchasing contracts. C is competitive contracting to provide the payroll services to the Newark youth employment programs and D is an extension emergency contract for demolition. Questions from the
council? Hearing? None. Next item. E through H are business administrator resolutions. E is a competitive contract for governmental consulting. F is for governmental consulting. G is application acceptance
for sustainable Jersey PSEG energy efficiency partnership to encourage Newark residents to participate in PSENG's energy efficiency initiative. NH is the application acceptance of
grant funds for the innovative community crisis response partnership grant. Questions from the council hearing? None. Next item. Sevenar 2 A through C or private sales. A is new
construction of a three family home to rent out at market rate in the West Ward. Is the developer present? Yes. For for a 7RTA. I'm sorry. You was here at one
point in time. Yeah. Okay. Ne next. Uh B is new construction of two three family homes to sell at market rate in the south ward. Councilman council. Mr. Chair, I'm fine with this. I'll move it.
Next item. C is new construction of a three family home to rent at market rate in the north ward. Council Ramos. Yeah. Um, Mr. President, uh, this is really for deputy mayor is the justification of the
price. I know it says the um the assessed value is 20,000. I I don't believe that a lot in the award anywhere it's going for $20,000. So, you know, trying to figure out how do we justify these price points.
Yes. And Mr. Yes. Councilman Gonzalez. Yes. We we were provided with some information regarding this and the comparables to this are in the southward and the westward. So we should have comparables that are within the same
area that the properties being sold so that we can compare this that's that's a purpose. The purpose is to be able to compare the selling price with the properties that are being sold in the area. So if you are comparing this to
Aon Avenue, there is no comparison in terms of let's say the square footage and the and the amount of money that is being charged per square foot. I I I oppose this sale. I believe that this is giving
the a a home in that area is going to sell for close to a million dollars, a three family home, and we are giving this lot for 20 something,000. I I will not vote for that because I believe that the city of Newark is giving the
property away and that's not my philosophy in life. Thank you, Councilman. Anything else from the council before I ask the deputy mayor? Deputy mayor. Good morning, Council President, council members. Allison Lead, director of
economic and housing development. Um I did hear the council's questions. Um council president so um as you know um for private sales over the last six years we've been increasing the price
per square foot. Um originally I came in 2019 and the prices were $4 to $6 a square foot um regularly regardless of the type of development and regardless of um affordability of any project and
regardless of location within the city. Um over the last couple years we have been able to increase the prices uh to between$10 to $15 a square foot. So, we really have been doubling and sometimes
tripling the price per square foot for properties that we're selling in the city. Um, in addition, uh, for larger sites, as you know, we've been doing competitive solicitations, um, for sites that have multiple contiguous lots, um,
or land next to one another, and those prices are more generally um, the appraised value or the assessed value. So, we've seen that because the sites are larger. Um, I'd say in closing just on pricing, um, the reason for this is
really again, we've been increasing the prices. In the past, it would have been, you know, $6, $8 a square foot and now we're at $12. Um, so we're really looking to redevelop land that's in the city and bring taxes, um, revenue back
to the city. Um and just one more point I will say I know this has been a conversation in council for for some time um there is a mismatch between the assessments and the um sales prices partly due to the fact that our
assessments are going through a re-evaluation as we speak and we all know that. Um so I would expect that over time this would become um more um in sync with one another. Um second um question I know there was a
discussion about the sale price of the property once it's developed. I think that we don't know what a sale price will be um in the future. Um I know that developers have projected prices but all of us know that it's really subject to
market conditions. And so again, um, we believe that the purpose of selling city-owned property is for development, is for creating housing opportunities, affordable housing, commercial development, industrial development that
helps create jobs for Newark residents. And so, um, that is the logic as to why we continue to bring these items to the municipal council. Mr. President, if I may, Councilman, the developer in this in this transaction is someone that
knows the market in the in the city of Newark. He's been in the city of Newark for a long time, and he knows that a lot in the North would cost him at least $150,000 to $200,000. There's no doubt that that's a
price that these lots are being set being sold for. You are mentioning providing affordable housing. This house is not going to be affordable to any to any any employee of the city of Newark that is not let's say the mayor or any
of the or the people at the highest salaries. These rents are going to be in the two to $3,000 rents. So I I I I agree with you that we should be selling the properties in the city of Newark, but we have to
get I believe that we have the opportunity to sell these lands only once. We have to to get the price that we can get, not simply give the property away. Council Council Ramos. Yeah, I I I just
want to say that, you know, I know the area well and and this particular lot, you know, we we we deal with a lot of, you know, legal dumping there. And you know, I I agree with with the councilman in the sense that, you know, I think the the the property is probably worth a lot
more than the 30 something thousand. I know the cost of construction um and all the permitting that they require is, you know, substantially higher than it was a few years ago, but I I would like to see the property sold and developed because we deal with
complaints all the time from neighbors about the um dumping activity there. And it's it's been it's been a a lot there since I've been elected, you know. So, we city may have taken ownership
recently, but I do um I I did you propose this previously at the same sales price or was it less? Um because I know this was on the agenda some months ago and then it kind of disappeared and now it's back again. Um
Council President, Council Member Ramos's question, I'd have to look. I don't recall off the top of my head, but I could look and let you know. Um, I thought you were going to go back and have a conversation with the developer to see if we can get a little more money for the property, but I'm curious to see if it's the same price point that was
recently on the agenda. Sure. I'm happy to check that and let you know today. That's no problem. Um um I will just also say and again I'm happy to talk with the BA about this is is that we work really hard to be consistent with
our pricing and I think that I think that the council has seen that over the years is that we work to be consistent so that it's not one price depending upon X or another price depending upon Y. So that's why I gave you the ranges
is that again about five to six years ago we were doing four to$6 a square foot. Now we're doing you know 12 $15 a square foot. So it is just consistently consistency in some spaces. Um and so I just wanted you to have that as far as
your own background as you're considering the item. Thank you. Anything else from the council? All right. Thank you. Next item. Thanks. D is the reading and adopting of the 2025 annual budget for the Partnership
West Incorporated business improvement district and the public hearing will be at tomorrow night's council meeting. Thank you. Questions? Next item. E is designating an area in need of redevelopment.
Questions from the council. Next item. Seminar 3A and B are engineering resolutions. A is a professional services contract. The Newark Riverfront pedestrian and bicycle access concept development study change order number
two. Questions from the council hearing none. Next item B is amending grant acceptance resolution to request an extension from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Madam Clerk. Um, can we go back to
7R3A? Just wanted to ask the reason for the uh six-month extension. If we can have the uh uh director of engineering Good morning, council president, council members. Dolores Martinez within
director of department of engineering. Um, so this this project is underway in under uh design and we need additional time. This is a connector for bikes from the um Gibson and Central Avenue intersection down to the riverfront and
over to the area of the Milbury Commons. Um so we just need additional time um to finalize the design. additional time to to do what? I'm sorry. To finalize the plans. You were saying the design. Yes. Design. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
I'm I'm sorry, madam clerk. Go back. It's okay. B is an amending grant acceptance resolution to request an extension from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to allow the city additional time to award a contract for construction of the Mars Canal Bikeway
project. Questions from the council? Hearing none. Next item. Seminar 4 A and B are finance resolutions. A is the application to the local finance board for approval of a bond ordinance resilient hope project. And B is an
application to the local finance board for approval of a bond ordinance for various capital improvements. Any questions on 4 A? All right. Hearing none. Next, uh 7R4B, uh director, if you can come up and
explain. Good morning, uh council, council members, Benjamin Guzman, acting director of finance. Uh the resolution for 7R4B for various capital improvements. We are putting forth an application of local finance board for uh uh a myriad of capital improvements
throughout the city which includes uh you know the constructions of some uh facilities for uh public safety and fire department and for fire training. It includes uh the costs for upgrades and maintenance to the city's uh internet infrastructure system and IT system and
uh also the construction of indoor recreational facilities uh etc. Any questions from the council? Yeah, there's a list in the Can we have a list of the projects? Uh, absolutely. Yeah, they are included in in the uh in
the the ordinance as well, which will be coming later, but we could provide that list for you. Thank you. Anything else from the council? All right. Next item. 7R5 A and B are contracts with sub recipients to provide emergency shelter services. A is Newark
Beth Israel Medical Center and B is the Puerto Rican Organization for Community Education and Economic Development Incorporated. Questions from the council hearing none. Next item. Seminar 6A is settlement of civil litigation for
executive session and B is a professional B through E are all professional services contracts in the law department. B is for workers compensation. C is for special counsel. D is for labor and employment and E is
for labor and employment matter. Any questions from the council on B through E. All right. Hearing none. Next item. 7R8A is a reappointment as a member of the board of adjustment. Julius Munford
sponsored by council councilman council. Can we get a second? I'll second. Second by council Ramos. Duly noted. B is a ceremonial street designation for Parlet Jones sponsored by Councilman Council.
Second. I'll second it. Duly noted. Mhm. C is recognizing and commending resolutions and D is expressing profound sorrow and regret. Question uh questions or additions from the council. All right. Hearings? None.
Next item. 7R9A is appointment of special police officer. Questions? Next item. B is a 2025 Essis County hazard mitigation plan. Can I ask Councilman uh Gonzalez? Question
regarding the special police. See, is this a retired police officer? Is this a a New York resident? I do not see anybody from police
department. Yeah. From public safety here today. Uh, madame clerk, did the officer is he retired from se uh 7R9A special police officer? Is he a retired officer
or good morning? Uh, Kenyatta Stewart, City of North Corporation Council. So, I do not see anyone here from public safety. What I'll do is reach out to the director. They usually have a representative here. I think something else may be going on and I'll get the details. I'll get back to you in a few minutes. Thank you. Yeah, Mr. President. Thank you, Councilman Ramoff. Yeah, I
just want to note that I I looked up the backup and I recognized the name and they they they still live in Newark. They live right off of Second Avenue. I mean, I don't want to put the guy's address on the But they're current. I think it was a a former firefighter.
Retired fire. Oh, the former firefighter. That was my concern. That's fine. Okay. So, the retirement status is fine. That's fine. Yes. Okay. All right. We're good. Thank you. Corporation Council. All right. 7R9B. B is the 2025 Essis County hazard
mitigation plan. Questions? None. Next item. C through E are application acceptance of grant funds. C is to provide a system of emergency preparedness. D is funding for overtime to address violent crimes. and council
president, council members, this item will be amended on the floor to adjust the contract period that's supposed to end September 30th, 2025, not 2024. Okay. And E is funding for overtime to address
violent crimes. Also, there will be an amendment on the floor to change the funding source or amend the funding source for the fiscal year of 2022 instead of 2021 as it's stated.
Questions from the council? All right. Thank you. 7R1A is application acceptance of grant funds to provide meals to NORC children through the Sunup Food Program. Questions from the council? None. Next. B is a memorandum
of understanding with visual arts center of New Jersey to provide bi-weekly art therapy sessions for families of individuals who are currently or formerly incarcerated. Questions? Next item, communications. Item 8A is an ordinance
granting a 25-year tax abatement to the Unity 12th Street Development Urban Renewal LLC for a project constructing a four-story residential unit building consisting of 24 affordable housing residential units of which at least
three units shall be restricted to tenants up to 40% of area medium income and no more than 21 units shall be restricted to tenants up to 60% of area medium income. Questions from the council. Yeah, Mr.
Chair, I want to advance and adopt on first. I'm going to ask if we advance and adopt on first. Second. I'm sorry. You said for that one. Did you say a second one? The the first for just a A in it. Yeah.
And I'm going to ask for 8 B as well. A and B. Okay. I thought I heard you say B. Okay. We'll keep the the movers in the second count. Uh Councilwoman Scott
Roundry seconds both. Yes. Duly noted. He is an ordinance amending one-way street by designating East Run Street between Elizabeth Avenue and Sherman Avenue as a one-way street. Same movers. Yes. Same move. Second in advance and
adopt. C is an ordinance providing for the construction of the Resilient Hope project and appropriating $4,500,000 and providing for the issuance of $4,210,000 in bonds. Council President,
council members, there's requests from finance to advance and adopt this item on first reading. Any questions from the council regarding this matter? All right, hearing none. Uh, Councilman uh Gonzalez, is this the
$4.5 million the same one that we saw before? Good morning. Uh, Benjamin Guzman, the acting director of finance. Uh, council Gonzalez. Yes, this is in relation to the resolution approving the local finance board application. This is in in conjunction with that. Thank you. You're
welcome. And the next one is is uh companion piece to the previous that you came up and spoke about. Right. Correct. Yes, it is the companion piece and uh in the ordinance itself uh we do have a listing of the projects that uh will be covered under this bond ordinance. Uh
just to briefly uh explain or describe one of the products is improvements for city buildings and properties including you know city hall renovations to uh locker rooms inbound uh Ironbound ice rink uh installation of certain uh systems and improvements throughout city
buildings. Uh there is uh a project in here for the replacement of uh central avenue bridge over the New Jersey railroad train tracks. Uh as I mentioned earlier, we have uh IT peripheral equipment and uh computer equipment in order to improve the city's uh IT infrastructure and security uh as well
as uh uh purchasing of some uh larger vehicles for the transport of set equipment and also uh equipment and installation for radios and special operations command for public safety. Uh and there's more detailed information in the ordinance itself. Councilman Gonzalez, in order for these bonds to be
tax exempt, they say all these items must be more than five years in life. I suppose uh in order for bonding, there are certain exceptions, but all any materials that are going to be bonded for under the municipal qualified bond act must be a minimum of a life expectancy of 5 years or greater. Yes.
Um the anything that is under five years would not be uh permissible. Bondable. Yes. Yeah. Would not be bondable. uh everything that we have included in here is bondable because it is over a minimum of five-year life expectancy. Obviously any uh larger constructions we assure that the life expectancy is a longer
period of time. Therefore the average life expectancy of this ordinance is for a period of time that will allow the the the municipality to be able to bond for it for that period of time in order to maintain its uh debt service costs. Thank you. Anything else? Thank you.
You're welcome. And uh 8 D I'm assuming that they also want that advance and adopted. Yes. 8D is also request to advance and adopt. Okay. Thank you. Item 10, miscellaneous. 10A is the raffle
license. Council President, council members, we have two potential added starters. Uh the first one is from the Department of Economic and Housing Development. The file number is 25-0744.
[Music] Could someone explain to the someone here to explain this item? Good morning. Randy Daniel, legislative coordinator for economic and housing development. This particular item is an amendment to
a tax abatement for Spruce Park Associates. Um they were granted a tax abatement um back in 1983 and they also had a mortgage agreement with HUD. Um at this point in time
um the project is a 100% affordable um of course with funding from HUD um and their And because their mortgage is about to be paid off and it is due to
expire on March the 31st, 2026, they also need to get an extension for their tax abatement to match so that they could keep the property at 100% affordable for their tenants. And what is the address of the property? There are several um 3-60 Spruce Street,
37 Spruce Street, 39-47 Spruce Street, 59-61 Spruce Street, um and 55-57 Spruce Street. So, what's is there a name for the complex or for the development? Um I don't have that
information, but I can get it to you. I just have the name of the development. Okay. Uh, Councilman Gonzalez, is that an extension or is a renewal of the let's say an extension? They they have they
had what 1983 you said? Yes, sir. So, it's what 42 years? They had what 50? I can get that information and get it back to you be by the end of business day.
So we are extending or we are let's say providing for an extension to let's say to the completion of that tax abatement not extending the tax abayment beyond the 50 years or whatever it was. Correct. Okay.
Any questions from the council? All right. Seeing none uh next or hearing none. The next added starter is item is for the Department of Recreation and it's item
25-0765. Someone explain to the council. Director Reading. Great morning, council president and distinguished council members. Darnell Reading. Morning. Uh director recreation, culture, affairs, and senior services. Yes. um that particular
resolution. We always do a uh scope of service out of my office actually to uh get the pool cleaning services because actually we're opening up early this year like we did last year and that date is May 30th. Unfortunately, when we did our scope of services went over the
threshold. So since it went over the threshold, we had to send it to purchasing which delayed the process. So uh in order to not delay the process even further, that's why we uh recommended a added starter. So this is a resolution to go
out to bid for the P for pool services or to award to award which uh our pool early openings is May 30th. That's for the cleaning services. That's exactly
confir this was submitted to a bid to the bidding process because it went beyond the the Absolutely. So you are awarding to the winner of that bid process. Correct. Okay. Any other questions? All right. Hearing none.
Thank you, Council President. Council members, that concludes the agenda. Public comment. Yes. We are now in the 30 minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak. Please approach the podium and
direct your comments to the council. Is there anyone wishing to address the council? [Music] Deborah Salters. So in this election season, I've been hearing a lot of better to go with the devil you know
than the devil you don't. Now again, I gave you the history on that before. That's an Irish proverb from 1539. It has I believe it's 1539. Yeah, 1529. That has nothing to do with us. So stop adopting phrases that have nothing to do with us. That's number one. Um and if
you know the person is the devil, what you voting for him for? Make that make sense. Why go why go with the devil at all? Right? So it's time for us to make decisions based on uh what is going to benefit us. In Genesis 2, uh, the
serpent rolled up. Genesis 3, he rolled up on Eve after God gave the commandment to the man. You have free range of everything in this garden. Just don't touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So, you know, he gave it gave the commandment to the man. Eve was
there. But what does the serpent do in chapter 3? He rolls up on Eve. Well, did God really say that? And she knew what the truth was. But see, when you listen to the devil and you know what the truth is, you get beguiled, meaning sllicked out of your
spot, knocked off your square, tricked out of your position, right? If you know what the truth is, why are you going to allow somebody to make you go along to get along and then get shot down out of your position? Because that's exactly what he did. When you look up the
definitions in the concordance because it's not the same as a regular dictionary, you will see exactly what is being said there. And the point of this is again make your own decisions because the decision you make may cost you your
life. Read the facts for yourself. Stop being beguiled or tricked. And here's the point. If the serpent himself can walk up to somebody that was dealing with the true and living God oneonone, knew his voice,
walked in the cool of the day with them, but they can be beguiled or tricked or slipped out of their position by what my grandmother would call a silver tongue devil. What you think going to happen to you? How is that going to benefit you?
Proverbs tells us that the blessings of the Lord make rich and add no sorrow. And a lot of you are upset in the positions that you work and this is why the people can't get good character and services because of what you had to do to get the job and what you have to do
to keep the job. But when God's blessings bless you, you can be kind to others. You don't have to cancel them out. You don't have to be angry and nasty to them. So, I'm saying to you, the position that you're in, how did you
get there? Why are you there? Why are you staying there? And are you a benefit to the those people who need you in the city of New York? Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Good morning, George Tilman, Jr. Good
morning. Um, I had the the the clerk give you a copy of the agenda from the tax abatement committee meeting on May 14th, 2025. Um, if you turn to that second page, you will see an application there
for a new community homes development LP for a $78 million development to be constructed in the central ward. I sent you an email um Councilman Crump um discussing the abatement process that
occurred that was discussed in that hearing. I also sent you a email uh Councilman Gonzalez um discussing the list of the abatements. Um those who aren't aware, I sent an email um with all the council people involved in this
email so that you'll understand this process of this abatement. So, if you understand the history of what's been going on with New Community Corporation, the the council members um have been engaged with over the years
trying to get things done with new community corporation with those senior buildings. Um there's been uh complaints, numerous complaints from the tenant association about those buildings and there has been no resolution from New Community Corporation. So, when I
first got this email from um the invitation for this this uh tax abatement committee meeting, I reached out to the tenants of new community um building 140, 180, and 265. And they came in and they testified to the
deplorable conditions that were in New. Also, Councilwoman Roundtree also testified to the fact that she had been engaged in trying to get things with new community done and has not been successful. You also have been up there to that building. Uh, Councilman Council
has also been up there to that building without any resolution. So when we get opportunities like this, when we get a tax abatement before the before our committee with a a developer who already has existing properties in this city and is running it like a slum lord, there's
no way that we should approve any tax abatement until any those abatements are done. And so I sent you um uh the email of the list of the abatements that we sat down with the tenant association
president uh Ramona Derek from 140 uh the tenant association president Miss Darlene Davis from from building 180 and a representative from 265 Morris Avenue. So I just ask that you continue to watch this process as it unfold. Thank you.
Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Good morning everyone. Good morning. Can you pull the mic down so we can hear? Uh my name is Mada. I live in Lake Street and I'm here for an issue. Uh some my other neighbor they come and talked about it. The issue is the parking in
Lake Street. Uh uh we have many issue with the parking there but the main issue is safety. It is very dangerous for us to pull out of our driveway because the cars drive in a speed of higher than 35 miles per hours. And I know the city they came and they painted
to slow down the traffic and that did that did zero. Nothing has slowed down the cars. Um I myself I had an accident coming out of my driveway and it was a really bad accident and luckily that day my children were not in the car. It was
a day off of a school. The whole backside of my car was total and it cost me about $37,000. Now the issue to be resolved is simple. No parking there. There is other issue. There is uh disposal of trash.
There is noise. There is fight at night time. This is bring un uh bring uninvitable you know environment for us to sleep at night time. And just the parking coming out of the driveway is a safety is a big safety issue. Why do we
put a stop uh sign? For safety. Why do we put red light? It's for safety. And at this point, coming out of a driveway is like going from a driveway with a zero second straight to the highway. And people intentionally they speed up when they see a car coming out of the driveway. I don't know why the intention
of just hitting you, you know. And again, my children were not in the car that day. If they were, they will be hurt very bad. I myself had a still shoulder pain from that accident. And guess what? My insurance went up for my car. I lost my car. I had to buy a new
car. Another thing, my neighbor next door, she's over 70 years old and her husband just turned 90 this week and they cannot see. And sometimes she have to call me, come on, you know, you have to take me out of my driveway. And I go and sometimes she leave at 5 6 a.m. and it's still is you cannot see. You have
to take a guess sometime to come out of the driveway. I do have a car with a camera but it's not not enough that the the vision you can't catch it all the way to the light. People are speeding and uh I know you guys sometime you seen a police car to uh manage the traffic.
It doesn't work if they're there for 2 hours or about the the rest of the 22 hours. So the issue here is safety. The other issue they dispose the trash uh noise fight. I have video of people fighting in my street because those people just you know you don't live
there. So this is the issue and the only solution I know it can be oh we're going to bring a patrol or we going to do that. No the only solution be no parking or parking by permit for people there and each one of us who live there we do have we do have a driveway so it's
enough of us. I live there and my son is turning 16 this summer and he's about to drive. So, I'll be very worried for him to come out of the driveway. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time. Thank you for your comments. Uh, next speaker.
Uh, good morning. Can we get Can we get your address? I'm sorry. Your your address. Where you're saying what what's your address? What part of Lake Street? 413 Lake Street. Say again. 417 Lake Street. 4017. 417.
4017. 417. 417. All right. Thank you. Good morning, council. Good morning. Um, I am the uh spouse of uh my lady that just came up. We have uh been here many times before speaking about this issue. Um, on December 19, 2018, there
was an amended section 23 column 5-14E of Newark Municipal Code designating parking by permit only on Rich Street between Second and Abington. Now, I have spoken with all of my
neighbors. I have 90% of the signatures on my block. Now, if we are to push forward with residential parking on our block, we are only going to push the problem to our neighbors behind on Highland, on Parker, and on Clifton.
Now, understandably in the ordinance, Rich Street is already covered. So, I believe that we need a zone districting so that we have residential parking from Second to Abington to allow us to have nice homes like our honorable
Councilman Gonzalez, right? We live on the same street and it's very nice where you live, but unfortunately, as you know, we are very close to Second A um Avenue. Um, Councilman Ramos um fought to have residential parking permits on
Bloomfield to allow the um people who reside on the Montley Apartments to park there. Um, many of the residents there have multiple cars and they're allowed to, but they come and dump their vehicles on our side and as my wife just spoke, they throw trash outside. We're
constantly picking up their trash. They leave the cars there. They're blocking our driveways. Um, all of our neighbors are having issues. The accident she had, it affected us financially. And as she said, my son is about to start driving. Um, and it's a concern for
us. The next meeting that I'll come here, I will come with the signature of the entire zone and I would like to present it to the council and speak with my Northfor councilman, councilman at large, um, so that we could find a solution for our zone. Um, it's become
very dangerous. This is a safety concern. As my wife mentioned, I have to mention it. Perhaps the other streets or where you live, you don't have this issue. But Lake Street, being that it's right in front of the park, vehicles speed up. They're very they go very
fast. And if we come out, we cannot see it. This is always a recipe for an accident. And we're trying to avoid that. We already lost a vehicle. Our neighbors have also lost vehicles. and this is just a matter of safety at at this moment. So, thank you for uh for
listening. Thank you for your comments. Any other speakers, Mr. President? Let's close out. Any other speakers? And then we'll come back. It's a Okay. Good morning, council people. Good
morning. My name is Derek Lampley. I reside at two Colgate Drive in North New Jersey. Of course, I am currently the president of Society Hill Phase 2, which is a Condinia Association location. Um, as you all may be aware, we had a
pandemic. Everybody's aware of that, which financially hit everyone. Um, as a condominium association, we also was hit with financially with a uh instructional um act that require us to pay more money to our savings, which is
called the reserves. With that being said, we have in place the Kelly Act um which we would like to meet as a board with council people regarding this Kelly Act which was formulated in 1993. This act is also formed to help
financially secure us as an association. So what we want to do if possible before May 30th to meet with you guys to discuss this Kelly act in order to assist this association. So once again my name is Derek Lampley to Colgate
Drive. I believe you have my phone number Councilman Trump and my email address. Thank you. Thank you. Any other speakers? Hi, good morning. Good morning. My name is Michelle. I can you speak into the mic? I can. Hi, good morning. My name is
Michelle Scantalberry and I also live in Society Hill uh phase 2. Um I live at 34 Satan Hall Drive and I am the vice president of the board. As the president said, the MUN municipal services act is
there to help our communities um with garbage removal, with snow removal. And as he said before, um we do have uh um a uh deficit because of COVID and the
pandemic as well as the uh reserve uh study that has been placed um that has placed a burden on all of the um the uh the phases or the uh private I shouldn't say private the associations so that you
know for roofing projects for repair of uh roadway ways for repair of um uh the uh crumbling uh systems that are in the associations that have been here. Phase 2 has been uh present in Newark I
believe since 1994. So we have a number of things that have to be uh uh fixed. So that we would really like the council to consider this M municipal services act that has been put in place again as
Derek said since uh 1993 to help our association to become you know a uh or actually to help us uh repair what needs to be repaired and to also help us maintain the property.
Thank you for your comments. Thank you for the time. Any other speakers? Good morning. Good morning. Recovering from laryngitis. So I also reside I can't I can't really hear you. Speak up.
I'm recovering from laryngitis. I was Oh, okay. That's why. All right. Yes. So my name is Ja Duncan. I also reside at Society Hill and I am also on the board and I am the treasurer um of the association and to second um my
neighbors um it's been a complete hardship on the residents and this is something that other um municipalities are um doing for their residents. And we pay a great deal of money for services
that um our other neighbors outside of the community have already have taken care of because they pay their taxes. But we also pay taxes. And these are things that we are not afforded. And people don't know how much it costs to
do trash removal, to pay for lighting the area, our water, our um roadways. And these are big um capital projects. And as you know, the community has been around for over 30 something years. We are no longer um in an abatement and a
lot of our residents are seniors and they're looking to us to solve some of their um financial hardships, but it's really hard when the cost of goods are going up and services. So, we're just asking for the city to also help us and
meet us as we are also taxpaying citizens. we pay our property taxes and it's a beautiful community that is across from the courthouse. So, it's a lot of uh attraction and popularity, but a lot of people don't know the amount of
money that it costs to maintain that. And we're at the point now where a lot of our structures are at the point where it does needs to be replaced. So, as my neighbor said, this structural integrity act because it is to protect communities across the state from having very um
terrible tragic accidents as we've seen in Florida, we have to complete these projects, our roofs, our facades, our roadways, and all the infrastructure that keep us safe as um citizens. So, we just would like your help, and we thank you for your time.
Thank you for your comments. Uh, next [Music] speaker. Any other speakers? Seeing none, uh, public speaking is now closed. Councilman Ramos first. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, thank you, Mr.
President. I want to thank, um, the couple that came out from Lake Street to uh, speak about some of the traffic safety issues that, you know, we've discussed here at the meeting. Um, you know, I I would ask through your chair and the clerk. I know we don't have a
representative from police here, but if if we can I I I sent the chief an email in anticipation of today's Mars meeting to see if in the meantime until we look at this residential parking pilot as a
possibility to kind of step up, you know, enforcement uh parking right off of uh Second Avenue. Uh we do have uh vehicles that park very close to, you know, the homeowners driveways and that does obstruct the
views of um residents who are trying to back out of their their their driveways. And I I'm hopeful that more of the tenants from the apartment buildings there take advantage of the opportunity that um we were able to work out for
them to park on Bloomfield Avenue to alleviate some of the concerns. Um, I I would also ask through your chair, we have the engineer here, the the uh director of engineering to see if they can look at some possible traffic calming measures on Lake Street. I had I
had the opportunity to walk that area with Mr. Savage from um engineering some time ago and they did put up the digital speed signs, but I think there there probably other things that they can come up with uh to help us with the speeding
issue there. And and I would also ask through your chair and the clerk to see if the um police can um deploy the uh radar u unit to Lake Street. I know we occasionally get support from the sheriff's department um as far as
enforcement, but years ago that was one of the the the major spots for the north police radar person was Lake Street. So would ask if if they can reassign that officer if they have an officer assigned to doing radar in the second precinct.
Thank you, Councilman. Councilman uh uh Councilwoman's comments. Yes. I just um want to address the comments made regarding new community um when he said I testified to the fact that they weren't doing or baiting issues when myself along with uh James Laney just
for the record. Not James Laney, I'm sorry, Kenny Watkins and former councilwoman Macyver were attending those community meetings to abate problems. Some of those problems were definitely abated um because we followed up and we had a a track record. We ran um follow-ups for those meetings. Now
they have new things that have been brought to our attention in that meeting that you were and and they are um according to the paper trails that we're receiving abating them. We are going to follow up to make sure those issues that were brought to our attention are abated
but I don't want to go back and talk about what happened three years ago or four years ago with meetings that I definitely attended. We do attend their community meetings and we do follow up with Mr. Camari and those who were in power before Simone became the CEO and the the leadership before her and the
current leadership which is Simone uh the CEO. So we are um definitely following up on those issues. But those previous issues where they had um some really serious concerns about dumpsters and and living conditions of the quality
of life, they were addressed and the majority of them back then were abaded. As I stated for the record, these new found issues that have been brought to our attention, we are dealing with them almost on a daily basis and they are communicating with our office. Um, I
believe Councilman Crump and myself have received some emails from new community as to what they're doing to abate them and we are going to hold them accountable and follow up to make sure from the residents that these things have been abated. Mrs.
Thank you so very much, Council President. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Gonzalez is in. Yes, I I'm a witness to what my neighbors from 417 indicated. Let's say I have the same issues that they have in terms of
getting out of my driveways is sometimes it's almost impossible. If you try to do that 7:30 to 8:00 in the morning, it's almost impossible to get out. And the speeding is something that I have complained here many many many times.
And uh uh even though we have the the light indicating they say the your mileage when you drive by uh people are doing 40 50 60 miles an hour on on Lake Street and uh we have something said
that says you're doing 60 miles an hour but there's no there is nothing happening to them if they're doing the 100 miles an hour. So doesn't matter the speed that you are doing if there's no consequences to it. I believe that we need to have as mentioned by councilman
Ramos the raider operator of the northward uh station there permanently so that they can they can pay their salaries by the tickets that they issue there on Lake Street every if they were there every day and every day is the
same people doing the same thing. So I believe that we have to send a message. We have to uh to enforce the law. We have to make sure that people comply with the statutes of the city. Erh my neighbors let's say we will try to to do
as much as we can uh because we are affected as you are with the conditions there. Thank you Councilman. Councilman Silva. Yeah. Uh, I think the gentleman who came up to speak made a good point. When you
do permit parking in one street, um, the area around you is going to end up suffering. So, I think the BA agrees, uh, in doing sections at a time. Uh, I did a section in the East Ward,
uh, a whole section. Unfortunately, the signs aren't posted yet, so I can't move on to the next section. But I believe doing one street here, one street there doesn't work. So, uh, I mean, it's Councilman Ramos, uh, and Councilman Gonzalez, Councilman Quintana's area.
Uh, you know, I think doing sections at a time would be a lot better than just doing one street at a time. So, that's something that we should look into. The city keeps growing every day. uh people leaving their cars parked in the city,
no matter where it's at, to get into a construction van, to get into a work van, to get uh to car pool with somebody, and they leave their their their cars on the street or their vans on the street. And so, with the city growing the way it is, I believe our
residents deserve when they get home from work uh to find a parking spot close to their home uh in a reasonable distance from their home. And so this is definitely something that needs to be worked on. Thank you, Councilman Silva. Council Councilman Gonzalez. Again, I
just want to say I know that we defer the the lease agreement for shelter, but I just wanted to put uh to ask a question regarding the say the commitment of funds that this transaction would require. Let's say we
are renting a first term of 15 years and two options to renew the lease. One is for 10 years and the other is for seven. If we were to exercise uh the two options on this lease, we would be paying
$129,758,382.14 over the 32 years of the lease. Erh, my concern is why don't we bond and buy a building instead of paying rent to somebody for a building that is not worth that kind of money. I
I believe that if we were to buy a a building in that capacity, we can buy that building for maybe 25 $30 million and not pay aundred 29 million almost$130 million for it. So I believe
that we should reconsider this lease. I don't know who is benefiting from from this transaction but it's something that we have to we have to be careful because I don't know if the city is doing this
because we don't have the capacity to bond but this is a this is a debt that the city would incur for the next 32 years. Thank you, Councilman Gonzalez. Uh before we get to anything
from the administration, just with regards to um uh Society Hill, um what I'd like to do is is and I appreciate the uh the leadership coming up and speaking today. Uh what I would
like to do is maybe have a meeting next week um with the leadership from Society Hill. But before we do that, I think it would be good if uh and I know Mr. Lampley has sent me information previously, but a list of the of of the
concerns um a total list so that we can research and be prepared to respond prior to the meeting. I would appreciate corporation council or somebody from his office um include it on that email but
also include it in the meeting and if we have the meeting with the leadership then maybe we can have it here in city hall in our conference room. Um so let's first uh uh and I hate to say I forgot your name vice president
uh if you you can relay the message I'll also email him back uh Mr. Lampley and if you can get us a full list of everything or even yourself of the concerns um preferably by by tomorrow then we can schedule a meeting for next
week at some point here at city hall. All right. All right. Great. Uh anything from the administration? Good morning. Eric Pennington, business administrator. You you actually addressed just now with Society Hill.
I'm not clear on what the ask is. And so I think a meeting would be good um to address that if they're no longer tax evated. There's certainly things that the city has some responsibility to assume. So we'll take a look at that and see, but I'm I'm not clear about the infrastructure of the buildings
themselves that they're asking for the city to do. So a meeting would be helpful. That's why I wanted him to give us a list of all the issues so then we can really parse it out and figure out which one that would definitely be helpful. And with respect to comment from a resident about parking on Lake Street and difficulty getting out and
Councilman Silva's comments, I do agree that rather than looking at street by street permit parking, it's much better to look at zone parking because as the resident indicated, uh a single street where there are other adjoining streets that may also have parking issues. If
they get parking permit, it's going to push that problem off to to an adjacent street. In this case, Slake Street to Highland Street to Parker up to Ridge uh to Clifton. It it it needs to be looked at in a in a more global way. We need to get engineering involved in that process
and look at it. And also to Councilman Silven's point with respect to the zoned parking in the East World, we got to get the signs up. So, I don't know exactly where that stands. So, uh, I will take that as a as a directive to me to to follow up on that and and get that, uh,
taken care of. Um, and with respect to not having anybody here from public safety today, I've reached out to the director. We'll make sure somebody is here for tomorrow's meeting and we'll have a representative at the pre meetings uh, going forward. And, uh, apologize for not having anybody here. I
don't know if there were any other Oh, I think uh Councilman Gonzalez, with respect to your request on the deferred item. Um, one of the reasons why that project is deferred is for us to look at
your your point that you raised and know the city is not a particularly good landlord. So, um, you know, bonding to build a building that then we would have to manage and run. Uh, I'm not sure that's the best answer, but certainly is something that we need to look at and
see if perhaps we bond the building and then, um, you know, have an RFQ to find a manager of the building and then the manager of the facility and then manager for the u uh, homelessness and transitional housing. So, those are some of the things we're looking at and
that's what one of the reasons for deferring it. We deferred it till next month. We likely will have to defer it again because we are in the middle of looking at uh those questions that you have raised. Appreciate it. It's a I believe I'm not suggesting that we
should manage the the the say the shelter. That would be a good idea that we can have hire someone that to do the administration of the shelter. Y well take it. Thank you for bringing it on. Thank Thank you, Mr. VA. Sure. I was just gonna say the mayor has been
we we with the mayor have been looking at that very uh issue. I don't know if you already spoke to him or not but that's okay. Well, I guess you and on the same page then something now. So All right. Thank you, Mr. Ba. Uh so we
we got a quick executive session. I need all five of you. Yes. Motion for executive session. Council Gonzalez. Yes. Kelly, Kintana, Ramos are absent. Scott Roundtree, yes. Silva, yes. President
Crump, yes.