well now he does I know right I would like to advise all those present at notice of this meeting has been provided to the public in accordance with the revisions of the open public meeting act that notice was published Jersey Journal City website copies provided in the record norstar ledge are also placed on a bulon board in the lobby of City Hall any objections if any shall be made to the city clerk please r United States America Mr con Mr Dole M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes president Zano preso pres Mr Ramos Mr Russo present president gtino here want to give me the uh just put another sheet up there oh yes I'm sorry just before we begin the ebike ordinance is carried to the next council meeting and the Cannabis ordinance for first reading has been removed from the agenda and the resolution thank you a public portion on non-agenda items Joshua Einstein did I say his it right Joshua Einstein 606 Washington Street Council ladies and gentlemen I Rise because I'm aware that the same mostly outof Town Hamas supporters who protested in front of City Hall last week yelling quote from The River To The Sea Palestine will come to be an explicitly genocidal call for the destruction of Israel these same people similar similar if not the same as the people in the 20 car car parade that took place on Saturday night October 7th the night of the attack in which 1,200 Israeli mostly civilians were butchered those car parading people were waving Palestinian flags and yelling F the Jews and F Israel as they drove down Washington Street not against Israel's response to hamas's mass sexual assault and genocidal Invasion because Israel hadn't yet responded they were out publicly celebrating hamas's Massacre I Rise because these same immoral people have come tonight to ask you to pass a ceasefire resolution intended to pressure Israel to let Hamas an internationally recognized terrorist organization born of the Muslim Brotherhood and ideologically the same as Isis to survive of course the Hamas supporters pretend they are quote against the violence but they were not protesting in the days between when hamas's violent attack ended and Israel's efforts to get back the hostages began it seems some violence they are okay with the type that results in firearm shot into women's privates rape the targeting of civilians and the kidnapping of children as long as they are Israeli in pursuing this goal the Hamas supporters pedal propaganda they say Israel is an apartheid state despite the fact that in Israel Muslim and Christian Arab soldiers volunteer for the military Israel has had Arab Christian and Muslim Supreme Court Justices Arab parties and parliamentarians get elected to and sit in their Parliament the knesset Arabs serve as police lawyers doctors and in all sectors just like everybody else in fact there are so many stories of Arab citizens of Israel who were killed in the Hamas attacks by Rockets or by the genocidal gunmen when they were attempting to hide their Jewish Friends by using their Arabic and Arab ethnicity as a shield to protect their countrymen from Hamas unfortunately too many were not believed and were gunned down by the people they were attempting to gun down with the people they were attempting to save these Hamas supporters say they're against genocide but the actual attempted ethnic cleansing of Israelis from the border Villages Hamas raped and rampaged through on October 7th earns not a peep in protest from them rather these hamnik say Israel is committing genocide as if all war is genocide it's not all war isn't horrible it is civilians haven't actually been targeted in the Middle East and Syria in the hundreds of thousands and yet these Hamas supporters remain silent on those crimes on that genocide that's happened in Syria whether it's the yazidis or the Christian Arabs there when the Ottomans committed the Armenian Genocide the Soviets the H deore the genocide against the ukrainians the German National Socialist the Nazis committed the Holocaust there were Millions less Armenians ukrainians and Jews after israeli's one control of the West Bank in Gaza in 1967 infant Morality In the West Bank and Gaza went down life expectancy went up and there have been more Palestinians than ever before if Israelis or if Israel are guilty as these hosic that are here tonight say of genocide they are horribly ineffective at it the truth fundamentally is that these Hamas supporters want to ignore that there could be a ceasefire immediately if Hamas Returns the hostages and stop using the people of Gaza as human Shields say no to their ridiculous pramas quote unquote ceasefire propos say no to Hamas I'm thank you Kathy kotch Kathy oh good evening and thank you for allowing me to address you all I am a retired educator and have lived in Hoboken for almost 30 years as a secular Jewish American who has ancestors who died in in the Holocaust I internalized my family's Progressive values by steadfastly supporting causes for human rights and the liberation of people everywhere I am acutely disturbed that my tax dollars support the genocide of the Palestinian people destroying every facet of gazen society and Es escalating criminal actions backed by the US and Israeli governments despite the ruling of the icj F finding South Africa's claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza to be plausible Biden's Administration for the third time vetoed the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire while continuing the funnel weapons and billions of our tax dollars to sustain Israel's occupation and genocide I stand Here urging the city council of Hoboken to adop adopt an immediate ceasefire resolution as many cities and localities across the US have done in response to inaction from Biden and state politicians here are some Stark facts to illuminate Biden's complicity in Israel's war crimes the Israel aerial assault on Gaza in light is unlike anything seen since Vietnam the iof has hundred has used hundreds of 2,000 lb bombs supplied by the US government to intentionally decimate densely populated areas Gaza has become uninhabitable almost 30,000 Palestinians with hopes and dreams have been killed women and children make up 70% of Civilian fatalities two mothers are killed every hour in 4 and a half months more than 12,000 children have been killed euromed Human Rights group reports 24,000 children are orphans 70,000 civilians have sustained serious injuries with little hope of any medical care 10 children receive amputations daily now the most dangerous stage of the genocide is threatening where Rafa threatening Rafa where 1.6 million displaced people are struggling to survive every minute every hour under the most dire conditions as Israel denies people access to water food fuel shelter medicines or medical treatment all young children and pregnant women are starving in the north families eat animal feed as food runs out the wh reports that 627 health care workers have been killed by the iof staff in Hospitals and Clinics and civilians Sheltering inside and outside of hospitals are systematically attacked the targeting of medical staff has crippled the health sector by killing an entire generation of doctors under siege for two weeks Nasser hospital and Han Unice ceased functioning today 70 staff members were arrested 136 patients remain trapped inside heroic health care workers in a few partially functioning hospitals treat patients am amidst ongoing bombings snipers shooting inside and outside of hospitals as well as murdering patients and ambulance drivers President Biden and his cronies are complicit in all these atrocities history will not judge us kindly but it will Champion those who find the courage to say no no thank [Applause] you that a public portion no it's not okay oh that's fine that's okay you put it back thank you Mira Jaffrey good evening and thank you for this opportunity to address the city council my name is Mea Jaffrey I lived in Hoboken for many years and taught some of your children many years ago at Stevens Cooperative school I'm a retired public school teacher a member of jvp north of Northern New Jersey and an organizer for ceasefire now New Jersey I'm here to show support for the Palestinian people in Gaza and West Bank as well as to those who live in hobok and who have family there we held a vigil at Pier a in November in which a hundred people of all faiths were present we also held a rally on Wednesday night here in front of City Hall at which 200 people attended when a Hoboken resident and I met with mayor bhala to urge him to support a ceasefire res solution he said that he only dealt with local issues I reminded him that my hobok Hoboken choir was asked by the city of Hoboken to sing a couple of years ago at a Hoboken event in support of Ukraine I reminded him that City Hall chose to raise the Israeli flag three times in the past few months to show solidarity with Israel this gesture emboldens the oppressor Israel and send a clear message that the feelings of the oppressed the Palestinians don't count when people fight for the rights and freedom of the Palestinian people they are not anti-semitic let's be clear that anti-zionism is not anti-Semitism Zionism is a political movement and Israel is a state they are not a religion or a people when Palestinians fight against the taking of their land and against oppression apartheid and occup ation they are not being anti-semitic now getting back to why this is a local issue $10 million of our tax dollars a day are being used towards the annihilation of the Palestinian people this money more humanely could instead be spent right here in towns such as Hoboken for infrastructure education and Social Services instead of having to raise property taxes year after year to pay for those costs this is a local issue because many in our community are suffering because they have family in Gazza and the West Bank Palestinian supporters in Hoboken have also been targeted as anti-palestinian bigotry and islamophobia which in New Jersey is on the rise by 300% according to the commission on American Islamic relations this is a local issue because local Hoboken businesses have been targeted for supporting Palestinians who are currently being ethnically cleansed in Kaza and the West Bank we are here to ask you to support an immediate and permanent ceasefire resolution so that we can get all the hostages home and end what the international court of justice has deemed plausible genocide that is taking place in kazza President Biden has vetoed for the third time a UN resolution for an immediate permanent ceasefire which most Americans and the world are demanding he also cut unra funding to support the people in GZA most Americans do not want to see 2 million people being starve to death because they are being denied food and water they are horrified at the massacre of 30,000 Palestinians most of them women and children they are horrified by the targeting uh targeted bombing of hospitals universities schools and refugee camps they are horrified by the killing of 130 journalists and over 600 health care workers they're horrified that 20,000 children have now been left orphaned by our actions the media has tried to shut down news of these atrocities ities but the images on social media and Alternate sources of news have played out the horror in graphic detail we are trying to amplify our voices at the local level to end the violence restore humanitarian Aid and stop military funding to Israel we hope that hoken will join the 71 cities around the country including Patterson and Union City in New Jersey and choose to submit a ceasefire resolution and vote on it by the next city council meeting viol begets more violence peace will help us move in the direction where all people can live in safety with equal rights and freedoms thank [Applause] you Kristen [Applause] Haman she's coming good evening my name is Kirsten Hamman I've been a Hoboken resident for 22 years this morning I woke up and saw a video of a frustrated protester expressing her disbelief that her tax dollars are being used to masskill children she said and I quote I saw footage of shredded children's bodies and that's my tax payer dollars you're going to bomb these kids to which a US Congressman Andrew ogles responded I think we should kill them all it's called foreign policy well we do not accept that killing children by the thousands is US foreign policy and we ask that you do not accept that either according to a reuter's ipsos poll back in November three quarters of Democrats and half of Republicans supported a ceasefire I can only assume that these numbers have grown as we have all witnessed the appalling Carnage of the months since as US national politicians fail to hear the cries of their constituents ask for a permanent ceasefire Hoboken residents are becoming increasingly Fed Up and increasingly organized and because all politics is local we ask you to help us and sending a clear message to those National politicians and to our President Joe Biden of hoboken's values by passing a ceasefire resolution we are a town that cares so deeply about children that we became New Jersey's first book Sanctuary City it's amazing we are a town that is so Progressive that we elected New Jersey's first seek mayor that's beautiful but we are also a town that is sad sadly lagging behind on this issue we are trailing behind a growing list of cities including but not limited to Chicago Seattle San Francisco Detroit Atlanta Minneapolis smaller cities like Richmond California Wilmington Delaware Durham North Carolina carboro North Carolina Glenwood Springs Colorado Patterson New Jersey and many tens of others with more cities being added every day for Hoboken our in action on this issue it is an embarrassment we need to rectify this and pass a ceasefire resolution and that is what I am here today to ask you to do I want to end my statement with a CNN report from just today titled CNN investigation reveals possible war crimes the UN says that there are 300,000 people starving in Northern Gaza but they are no longer delivering Aid there why because on February 5th their un Aid truck was fired on and hit by the USF funded Israeli Navy despite this route having been agreed on in advance with the US funded Israeli Defense Force the IDF experts in international humanitarian law have told CNN that this may constitute a war crime well the majority of the citizens of Hoboken do not support war crimes and we want a ceasefire now and we want you our elected officials to make that official thank you thank you have a good [Applause] evening Roby Jaffrey and anyone here who's signed up to speak on non-agenda items can you please make sure you sign up on the right page because I see people coming up on signing up on agenda items just want to make sure you're on the same page as me thank you uh good evening members of the council my name is Roby Joffrey I'm a resident of Hoboken uh I've been a part of this community for 25 years having gone to preschool elementary school and middle school here um I'm calling on you today to bring a ceasefire resolution to a vote um as others have mentioned Progressive cities across the us includ including San Francisco Atlanta Seattle Chicago and closer to home uh Union City and Patterson have voted on and pass ceasefire resolutions countless others including our neighbor Jersey City have brought a resolution to the table you might ask what is the relevance of this issue to Hoboken City Hall City Hall has flown the Israeli flag on three different occasions in recognition of the victims of October 7th that's understandable but the support from the city has thus far been one-sided and devoid of any recognition of 137 straight days of bombing 30,000 plus killed and the result insulting humanitarian crisis in Gaza by putting a ceasefire resolution to a vote you have an opportunity to show the community that you care about all of those who have been affected by this ongoing crisis this conflict has caused a lot of tension and anxiety in our city and in our country in general it is not realistic to believe that these tensions will disappear simply by uh doing nothing and acting like everything is normal because nothing is normal about what is happening right now Within hoken there are many Palestinians and those who support a permanent ceasefire who feel unheard and unsupported by their City's continued silence the city has not yet created a space for dial dialogue and diverse viewpoints there's a not so subtle veil of status quo and privilege that makes these constituents feel unwelcomed here businesses have been threatened if they show sympathy for Palestinians um and families have been ostracized by members of this community if support a ceasefire silence will only make these wounds deeper it is important that you the Hoboken city council show that discourse is okay and that supporting peace for everyone is not a radical idea that deserves scorn thank [Applause] you Jessie [Applause] gong don't touch the mic they'll thank you good evening every everyone my name is Jesse gong and I'm here to ask the council including my representative councilwoman Fisher here to put forth a ceasefire resolution I've been a Hoboken resident since 2018 and I know that we as a town take a lot of pride in this being a safe space for everyone a peaceful town that we all live together in and I know that for me that was the main reason that I chose to settle down here and become a homeowner here I'm sure many others here feel the exact same way in the past few months there has been a lot of talk about feeling safe or unsafe in this town given what's been happening in the Middle East whether we like it or not the issue is in our town discourse now so I want to talk about that here right now who is making who feel unsafe here who is threatening whom we know that businesses in town have been threatened for showing Sympathy for the Palestinians we know that people in town have been threatened by others simply for expressing a desire for a ceasefire speaking from myself just last week outside of this very building right here there were men wearing full-on ski masks who came up to me yelling in my face calling me a terrorist and later that night as I was walking up Washington Street with a couple of my friends another man approached us and accused us of kidnapping children obviously in bad faith but that's what they're feeling emboldened to do right now you know it's one thing for us to disagree with each other about foreign policy and about other issues it's another thing all together in a town where we're all each other's neighbors to be treating your neighbors with such pure vital right out on the street I have never seen this kind of behavior before in my six years living in Hoboken and frankly it's just completely unacceptable behavior in any kind of civilized space especially in a place like Hoboken but this exact kind of behavior is what is being legitimized right now within this city within this community by the city council's continued silence thus far regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza but this Council right now does have the power to change that cities all over the country near and far have been discussing and passing ceasefire resolutions and Hoboken has a chance to do the same right now to support peace for everyone overseas and right here in Hoboken so right now as your constituent and as your neighbor I'm just asking you to create space for us as your constituents to share with you how we feel to bring a ceasefire resolution to the table and to show that Hoboken are town is a place that stands for peace where our neighbors with different viewpoints can coexist together in peace thank you very [Applause] much Maya arnov Maya hi my name is Maya ponton erov oh and um uh of the first speakers accusations about those of us for ceasefire one one was true I'm coming from uh Union City wehawken Line where I recently moved in with a relative who's lived here for 50 years um but I'm coming here tonight as a guest um to ask you to follow Union City's suit in passing a ceasefire resolution um why do I believe so strongly in this I'm Jewish um my part of my family is Israeli um my mom knew one of the families killed on October 7th and also one of the families um kidnapped who were released in the last hostage negotiation deal which came about as a result of a temporary ceasefire agreement um and I also know Palestinians with family Anda who are no longer alive who we don't know if they're still alive who are in Rafa waiting for the day that it will be their turn to be buried under the rubble or shot in the head or succumb to malnutrition or hypothermia um I believe that local governments have a really crucial role to play pressure is being applied to Hamas to come to the table and we are Israel's biggest Ally we're considering giving them $14 billion in Military Support we have a lot of Leverage to condition or withhold that support and pressure them to come to the table and make a ceasefire agreement including one that Netanyahu just rejected from his own cabinet which would have returned all the hostages freed unjustly imprisoned Palestinians many of whom are incarcerated without trial or charge um over 6,000 since October 7th um and it would have uh brought a permanent ceasefire to Gaza where 85% of the buildings have been leveled but not 100% there's still Rafa there's still almost 2 million people alive and every day that there's a ceasefire I look at the news and I think those 10 20 sometimes a 100 people killed yesterday would still be alive if we had a ceasefire so what is the role of local governments well our our federal officials are aren't listening to us uh you know initially I was out there pleading begging pressuring them please please please pressure our Ally for a ceasefire agreement pressure them to stop these war crimes pressure them not to level aaza like the leaders of Israel are constantly stating that they want to do but they're not listening to us and so my hope is that if we can all follow Union City if we can follow Detroit the city where I moved from or Lancing the city near where I grew up who were Detroit was the first one to pass a ceasefire resolution Lancing just passed theirs if all of North Jersey passes ceasefire resolutions Menendez Booker our federal officials they'll have to pay attention they'll see this is not only something that our voters support it's something that they're willing to take the time they care about it enough to take the time to go to their local governments to get these things passed and maybe if we don't fight for human rights at the federal level they won't vote for us we have to create that threat that we that they have to care about what we think and it's just not a given and so that's the crucial role that local governments can play and I'll just close on on a couple of last thoughts cuz I'm I'm not sure how much time we get here I see I have two more minutes well I got a big mouth so I'll use it um um this past week just a couple of the things I've seen I don't want to LEAP on like the the trauma porn of it all because I know you know from the news that Palestinians are being killed that they're being starved that the situation is dire but I think unless you're watching the journalist on the ground or have some personal connection maybe you're not getting the visceral horror that we're seeing I watched an interview yesterday of a palestinian-american doctor who listed every name of his hundred family members who had been killed ranging from everything from bombing their home to being sniper again in the head children women um to a baby who died of hypothermia because again 85% of Gaza has been destroyed raised the buildings are leveled um you have people living in tents Aid not getting through and just massive atrocity and and I'm really not asking these local governments to for everybody to agree right because all Palestinians all Jews we have a saying two Jews through op three opinions we're not going to all agree on every aspect of history but we should be able to agree that killing tens of thousands of children is wrong and today an Israeli minister of women's equality said that she was proud to be flattening Raza that she wanted future generations to look back and see what was done to destroy the Palestinian people Gaza to push them into Egypt or the sea these are her words not mine I'm I'm not putting them in any of these officials mouths I've just been saying since that's what the government is saying they want to do we can't let that happen I refuse to allow that that will happen to our ancestral the cousins the Palestinian people to the remaining hostages to those taken prisoner in the West Bank or cleansed from their villages we have to refuse and so let's do what we can I can come here and speak to you and you can pass a ceasefire resolution and we just do whatever the hell we can to stop this from happening one more day thank you thank you so [Applause] much St [Applause] Marlo hello and good evening Steven Marlo New Jersey peace action and longtime resident of Hoboken I'm here to add our voice to those calling on the Hoboken city council to pass a resolution supporting an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank 71 cities and municipalities around the country from Chicago to Union City have passed ceasefire resolutions showing their state and federal elected officials that their communities will no longer stand silent amidst the atrocities being committed any notion that Israel is acting in self-defense became implausible when the international court of justice found that genocide was plausible a few days ago Israel announced plans to take the war into Rafa where more than 1 million displaced gazin sought Refuge because that is where Israel told them to go the UN the world food bank and the World Health Organization state that famine and starvation are already evident in many areas suffering and death of inconceivable proportions are underway and they will only worsen every day until food and water are allowed to pass Israeli blockades the hospital system is on the verge of collapse as those able to remain open struggle with limited staff medicine and supplies including oxygen and of course the resolution should call for the release of all hostages and those illegally detained an immediate and permanent ceasefire is the best way to get them home in 140 days with 30,000 dead and 60,000 injured or missing unparalleled destruction the Israeli forces have rescued three hostages all that Carnage and they've brought home three hostages when a ceasefire could do it the operation of rescued two hostages last week they killed 70 people including women and children two hostages 70 lives taken and their indiscriminate shooting LED them to kill three of their own hostages who had escaped and were trying to get home in December let them come home bring them home with a ceasefire that ends the bombing and the Bloodshed so please Hoboken do the right thing add our name to the growing list of municipalities calling for a ceasefire and let Hoboken be on the right side of human decency and history thank you for your time and consideration Le yoi yes good evening dear members of the Hoboken city council thank you for the opportunity to speak in favor of a ceasefire resolution my name is Lewis and I have been a proud resident of Hoboken for more than 30 years I have seen hopan grow into a city that embodies Progressive values and inclusivity which is why I am deeply disappointed in your deafening silence around the atrocities being committed in Gaza over the last 140 days in just over 4 months tens of thousands of people have been killed injured or buried under the rubble children have borne the brunt a child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza entire neighborhoods have been raised to the ground to the point where the strip looks different from space hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced many multiple times and are living in the darest conditions even as winter sets in half a million people are on the brink of famine all while the bombs still fall and a ground offensive in Rafal looms there is no access to the most basic needs food water Health Care bathrooms the atrocities occurring in Gaza are there for all of us to see documented by Palestinian journalists many killed while doing so no one can pretend not to know no one can pretend not to see a grandmother taken out by a sniper while holding her grandchild's hand or read Main Street Street news reports of the targeted shooting of Children and Families atrocities that defy the often used human shield defense our tax dollars are funding these Horrors that are not only stripping Palestinians of their Humanity but further endangering the 100 Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza and threatening a devastating Regional War when asked to speak many of you have expressed a commitment to focusing just on local Politics as you were not elected to address international issues however this excuse has already been breached with a very public support of Israel expressed by Hoboken elected officials immediately after October 7th as evidence by flying the Israeli flag in City Hall for more than a month as well as statements made by the mayor and several Council people throughout this time no mention was made of the scope and intensity of suffering of the Palestinian people not even a passing sympathy or a kind thought Palestinians are also your constituents and similarly acknowledging them and mourning alongside them does does not erase others who are suffering the doomed path of psychical violence between an us and a them does not respect geographical boundaries and Spills over into our communities especially when there's a bias to one side and a silence to the other this spills over is evidence by a rise in anti-Semitism islamophobia and ugly divisions within our own hokan Community Injustice anywhere is dangerous everywhere history reminds us that this conflict will not be solved by bombs which serve to only traumatize and radicalize generations while undermining Global Security in the spirit of friendship as a city that Prides itself in modeling social justice it is our duty to remind Israel that in Democratic countries we do not bomb entired schools to neutralize an active shooter we do not level entire blocks of apartment buildings with 2,000 PB unguided bombs to kill one suspect we do not hold people indefinitely without a charge nor do we ever justify syst systemically depriving people of food and water as collective punishment pookan has historically been a national leader in times of strife and this is no time to stop you have the power to join other cities large and small across the United States like Chicago Durham Union City New Jersey who have called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire as this is the only option that saves lives allows for much needed human humanitarian Aid frees hostages and begins to heal and strengthen in our communities I hope Hoboken will stand on the side of justice and peace for all please call for a ceasefire thank you Rabbi [Applause] Weiss Rabbi Weiss Dennis looks like Vince but good evening Council thank you for allowing us all the opportunity to speak here today my name is Dennis Vin last meeting I was here I spoke about holding a Citywide walk for Ms this week I'm here to talk about a resolution which calls for the permanent ceasefire in Gaza I want to make some things clear I am Jewish I am a Zionist and I am a college student on a college campus today I'm proud to be those things but the reality is Jews on campus and around the world are afraid Jews on college campuses around the world are afraid to wear stars of David they're afraid to speak up for what they believe in that wasn't made better when a congressional hearing of the leaders of some of the finest universities in the world failed to protect us Jewish students yes I believe in a land for the Jewish people to exist no I don't agree with the call for a per ceasefire in Gaza at this time let me make some things clear the horrors that occurred on October 7th when 1,200 innocent children parents and families were torn apart was appalling promoting a ceasefire when there is still over a 100 hostages being held it's frankly ridiculous if Israel was to agree to a ceasefire that would mean padding Kamas on the back and awarding them with a victory what in reality is passing a resolution in hok and calling for a ceasefire going to do for an Israeli or a Palestinian life all it's going to do is send a message to the Jews of Hoboken that you don't care about them and make them uncomfortable Israel is a land for the Jewish people but more than that Israel's population is made up of almost 20% Arabs before Israel was founded in 1948 then British mandate Palestine Jews were returning to the land they came from after living diaspora for 2,000 years Jew Jews were unwelcome and were persecuted left and right then after World War II and the atrocities that followed it was apparent that an establishment of the state of Israel was Paramount you know a lot of people speak of the atrocities that are now called the Holocaust why don't we talk about the amazing things that came after that Ruth Weiss an amazing author professor of ysh literature and Jewish history at Harvard and a recipient of the National Humanities medal said herself after World War II the establishment of Israel brought about the greatest return from a people all over the world a Reclamation to a Common Language of Hebrew with Jews arriving from 40 different countries including my own family the absorption of refugees that Israel was able to pull off and the establishment of a strong military force yes to defend its own interest as well as the interest of democracy maybe we ought to talk about that Israel is a lesson for the world and a Beacon of Hope say what you will will about Israel but name me another nation in the Middle East that boasts a population of Jews as plentiful as Israel you can't because it doesn't exist the national Charter of Hamas in 1988 spelled it out pretty well it called for let me get this right the complete destruction of Israel as an essential condition for Liberation and for the reinforcement of anti-Semitic tropes now don't worry hamash changed that 2017 after they realized maybe outright calling for the death of Jews is not the best option if only people on college campuses would follow suit but that Doctrine still States hamash seeks to out the very establishment of a state of Israel for the Jewish people this situation in Israel is never ending surrounded by forces that wish for their very annihilation of its founding but I do have hope my generation are the Future Leaders of the world I do believe that through discourse and Cooper operation we can put to bed the increasing anti-Semitism we see today and I believe we really can come together to acknowledge the importance of the state of Israel I want to end with a quote from Golden Mayer she's someone I really look up to she was the first female prime minister of Israel in 1969 she said one cannot and must not try to erase the past merely because it does not fit the present we should bear in mind the lessons of the past as it really does serve a dynamic force that shapes our understanding of the present and informs our decisions thank you Council and thank you everybody Matthew letco hello ladies and hello ladies and gentlemen of the Hoboken city council first and foremost I would like to thank you for allowing me to speak here today my name is Matthew Lasco I'm a student at Stevens Institute of Technology a lover of all things tennis and above all a proud Jew the issue I'm addressing today is hoboken's voice in the conflict in Israel and the resolution that others have advocated to pass calling for a permanent ceasefire I'm here to request that that resolution has not come to pass yet while the uh violence and bloodshed of civilians in Gaza is nothing short of tragic and appalling the actions of Hamas on October 7th were equally appalling they invaded Israel killing civilians just for being Jewish raping women before murdering them where they stood and taking innocent innocent hostages to use as leverage in negotiations these are not the actions of Freedom Fighters these are the actions of terrorists the families of these hostages are praying every night that they will one day get to see their sons daughters children's wives husbands or someone important to them again Hamas has not been Cooperative in the release of these hostages and therefore Israel must keep fighting and doing their due diligence until all of them are returned home safely it is already estimated that there are 50 dead hostages additionally testimonies from multiple released hostages have revealed that they were abused both physically and sexually left with only basic food to keep them alive and treated like cattle used for profit just to get a few of these hostages back Israel has had to make extremely lobs sited trade deals in late 2023 Israel uh released 180 convicted Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 81 hostages held by Hamas that is an over 2 to1 ratio in addition a stance from Hoboken for either a ceasefire or free Palestine is a subtle stance against the Jewish people the Jews have been kicked out or weeded out of every single civilization that they have been a part of this includes but is not limited to the Babylonian Empire empire in the 6th Century during the first diaspora the Roman Empire in uh the 1st Century CE during the second diaspora France England Spain and Russia during the uh Middle Ages and the modern period and of course Germany during World World War II for about 2,000 years this is the first true home that the Jews have and now people are saying that it's stolen land or an illegitimate State people are saying that it is no right to exist and would gladly stand behind a terrorist organization who wants nothing more than the destruction of the Jews since October 7th 73% of Jewish students on University campuses has have said they felt or have experienced anti-Semitism and this number is only Rising as people get more passionate arguments will turn from anti-zionism to anti-Semitism and I would not like to see that happen for that reason I'm asking you not to make a stance on this issue and to stay neutral for the moment for the sake of the Jewish Community both at Stevens and in Hoboken thank you I'm [Applause] high Joel Davidson I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who brought notes um thank you I've been a Hoboken resident for over 10 years and I believe the city of Hoboken should not get involved in complex and deeply emotional International policy matters such as those being discussed tonight now if you were to get involved I and many others would ask you to stand with Israel while it attempts to free the October 7th hostages and defeat Hamas so that peace between Israelis and Palestinians May One Day become possible I don't come to my position lightly and I won't pretend to give a crash course on the Middle East in my short time up here if you decide to take up this issue I could suggest a long reading list starting with the daily alert.org the thing is I imagine I'm not the only one in this room who would want you to read from their own favorite sources and we all have many different sources are you an expert on the Middle East how many upset constituents do you want on this matter if you become involved in this International matter how many upset constituents do you want on every other International matter that might come up in other Arenas I understand the council already has plenty to work on that directly impacts its constituents there are many in this room and many more still in town who prefer the council Focus its efforts locally thank you [Applause] Edward reap hey what's up everyone um I'm I'm probably am going to comment on the uh the more the international topic but first i'm going to talk about a few things not related to that uh or only in the Vaga sense I just want to let folks know that yesterday we had um um yesterday the Hoboken Republican Party had a wonderful uh Lincoln dinner event to celebrate the uh birthday of Abraham Lincoln who's uh of course one of the most uh famous Republicans in American history we had a lot of great people who came to the event um Jack chiarelli was there there were a lot of great people from around town some people were in this room were there and it was a wonderful time a lot of you know good people in Hoboken who mean well and love each other coming in to have a great dinner at uh ilolo in the Third Ward I also want to thank um councilman Mike Russo for uh showing up to the event and I know uh Ruben Ramos I've been told he would have shown up if you were not um unavailable and in general I just want to say that like we you know it's in in Hoboken we have a nonpartisan municipal government and it's very important for folks to be inclusive of all different political parties in town um trust me the Republicans in Hoboken are like really moderate and awesome Trump was not there was Donald Trump did not appear at the Lincoln dinner one bit it was a very nice group and uh you know it's like uh you know it would have been nice if some some additional folks from the the city council or government the city government could have shown up and shown shown some support shown some love you know it's a sign a good character to you know say hey we're not the nonpartisan government we care about all our constituents we might not always agree and that's totally fine though truth be told most in New Jersey like we pretty much do mostly agree you know uh you know just given the way that uh partisan politics kind of works in this uh in this state that we're all pretty close to the center anyway but uh you know it would have been nice if if some more folks could have shown up and uh you know if we want to set an example as a welcoming City uh that we like will respect each other's viewpoints and get together and show support and even if we don't always agree even if we're in a different party even if we're not going to support the same candidates we all respect that we're good people and we care about each other and uh if anyone is interested in running for mayor it's important to know that it's a nonpartisan race and building coalitions across different groups of people is very important so I just want you to know the hobok Republicans are here we're a very nice good moderate group that cares about people and we've done a lot of great work with the um I mean helping um you know various charity groups helping kids in the Housing Authority I talk to Republicans in Hoboken and they're all about you know they like they sound like you know they want to help the poor they want to help the needy you know help disabled people like it's not like people in top hats and monal and and it's you know different than it is in other parts of the country so great group here just wanted to let you guys know now I'm going to segue into the issue with national topics and there is there is some relationship to what I just said in the National topic issue first things first there should not be censorship in this town and we should not be hating each other or getting in fights or boycotting businesses because we disagree on an issue like this I I hate the censorship and Division and we can even disagree passionately on an issue and still be friends and still find kindness and still find love and I don't like to see you know boycotting businesses I don't like to see people being angry or hateful you know even if we passionately disagree now I will give my piece on this uh Gaz and Israel issue as well and so I was I was born Jewish a reformed Jew and in reformed Judaism you can be Jewish based on your father so my mom was Catholic but my dad was Jewish and in 198 they they decided that in reformed Judaism you could become Jewish based on your dad so I was born reformed Jewish but then I became a Christian in college and I'd like to and I'm a very passionate Christian and if there's one thing I'm going to tell you something that the most famous Jewish person in history said uh his name was Jesus and he said love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you and your enemy could be someone who wants to kill you and destroy you and murder you your enemy could be someone who wants to bomb you or your enemy can be someone who wants to come up and shoot you while you're at a concert now the truth about this whole thing going on in Israel and Gaza is this um Hamas is an organization that is violent and awful and you can't have a ceasefire until you get rid of that organization um if you if you could do something in Gaza that's like what happened after World War II where you had densification in Germany or you change the government in Japan then okay fine but you have to get rid of Hamas and you can't just like let the same thing happen again the guy in El Salvador n buul he's a Palestinian Heritage he cleaned up that country he should be the king of Gaza and D Damas 13 love in peace okay Patricia waiters Patricia Pat waiters I'm just here to to say one thing tonight and I know all you guys going to be surprised love conquer hate I'm not going to even speak tonight Love Will Conquer hate that's all I have to [Applause] say Rabbi wise uh I'm I'm I came in a little late now so I just want to apologize how many how much minute how many minutes I have to five minutes okay with the help of the Almighty I pray that he should bestow upon me his truth his wisdom that I may convey his message and so sanctify his name and bring peace to the world uh the the world uh looks at the conflict but is happening in in in the Holy Land in uh in Jerusalem and so forth as a conflict between religions and therefore uh as a conflict between religions they sympathize with people are suffering and look at anybody who opposes any of the religions uh for instance the Jews who had just suffered therefore they look at him as anti-semitic and it's my responsibility as the chief Rabbi of Palestine not to be confused with Israeli Rabin it uh Rabbi tidle bam very famous satar rebbi who Monro there's a community and in New York he was the chief Rabbi of Palestine uh he stated uh that it's a responsibility on us that not to let our religion be misrepresented maybe I should preface this with say that my father escaped from the Nazis when they came into Hungary the majority of my mother's and father's family of blessed memory were killed uh in my grandparents were killed in owitz my father-in-law was in owitz and so we suffered we know what it means and that the world was silent by suffering uh and and it's nothing it's not a small issue by us when we see uh God forbid uh Jews at danger but that's not the issue here the issue is that people have to understand we have a religion of uh 3,000 years Judaism to be subservient to God we practiced it we followed God into fire and water and we uphold the Torah strictly God told us that we were sent into Exile because we weren't on that high level required with the destruction of the temple and we are forbidden expressly forbidden to try to leave exile for 2,000 years we went through the Inquisition Crusades we never attempted to reestablish a country around 100 odd years ago a movement started a nationalist movement called Zionism these were non-religious Jews it was a t total transformation to nationalism but they're using my religion since then as a convenient tool to silence anybody who wants to uh uh to stop them in their tracks when they want to realize The Establishment or the solidification of their their home their sovereignty that they want to create but the sovereignty is being created in the land of another people there was over 500 Villages that were there the Jews were living there my relatives were living in in Palestine were living in the holy land for Generations as a distinctly different religion than the Muslims in peace and Tranquility they lived in every Muslim land in fact the Muslim countries took in the Jews we we the difference of religion is not the issue the issue here is that some 100 odd years ago a movement of nationalists to make a national Helm came along and decided they wanted to first go to Uganda anything because they weren't religious they had some a concept of ignoring actually that we're forbidden to establish a state and we're forbidden to kill a still and we have to actually we required to show gratitude to people that will kind to us the Muslim communities embraced us including not only in Iraq and in Iran and um Egypt and so forth but in Palestine the aroman Empire took us in and we flourished there so now but in order for this group of people to establish their state they had a problem a technical problem because there were people living there they had a narrative that it was land without a people but then when people started realizing there were a people there so they simply vilified them and say they hate the Jews this is by us so despicable so unacceptable and it is a fact because we have old Muslims and old Jews who can testify how we coexisted there was no human rights groups no United Nations the establishment of the state is based on using my religion My Religion to claim they have a deed to the land the Torah a deed to the land to take that land and the Palestinians are taking it from them and the ones uh and who trying to uh stop their homes being stolen they're anti-semitic they hate shws it's all hogwash it's not true it's again it's it's it was it was an inhabited land and they're taking the home away and the de that they're claiming first of all it's it's it's not an issue because the people that's we talking about a few a thousand of years ago 2,000 years but even if that would be so let's just uh but but but that deed is false the rabbis told us and we are not allowed to according to the Jewish religion take that home away now what they're doing is they've so vilified the people of Palestine that if one let's just say one murderer it hurts us of course the death of the the people of in the October 7th but if you let's just say one of those let's just say one murderer is in schoolyard of a thousand children which country would say you can bomb and kill a thousand children we're having this I apologize but okay so basically we and it's over 75 years that there's thousands of Jews dying for the cause of Zionism and and and and and the Palestinian people before that we weren't dying it was a different religion so they that is what is anti-Semitic and we're pleading with the world to recognize to disting to distinguish between our religion Judaism and uh a relatively new um uh nationalist movement that's using a religion and if you do that then you would be standing up and saying just like my grandparents died in awit and the world was silent for 5 years and everybody's tearing the hair from the head that they were silent and they feel guilty how could you be silent when people are dying and for what for a nationalist movement that started a few years ago relatively and they're using and they're simply occupying other people we can't be s because you're human and we call that Godly you're human you cannot be silent as a human being living in in in this world you dare not and we dare not be silent when people are being murdered senselessly for what for for for for people that want to make a nationalist home that the religious people right across here in Williamsburg Brooklyn the most religious communities and in Jerusalem they don't have an Israeli flag and they they're giving their lives for the religion because Israel is not an issue by us it's not that's important I'm sorry so I with stand up and do what you can and save these human beings thank you Lauren Thompson Lauren thank you Lauren [Applause] Thompson hi good evening I'm going to switch topics a little bit guys um good evening council members Lauren Thompson blue violet dispensary at 628 Washington when adults have more access to regulated cannabis the stores that sell unregulated or illegal products tend to go out of business when legal cannabis becomes more accessible for adults alcohol consumption also declines as a result kids can no longer Act access cannabis because they are not allowed in dispensaries dispensaries are discreet meaning there is less exposure to unregulated and illegal products and again and alcohol use also declines these are all great outcomes for our children if we continue to prevent dispensaries from opening and making it more difficult for our neighbors to access legal cannabis we only make the problem worse other stores will continue to sell products illegally because they know there is a demand unregulated products like Delta 8 and katum will continue to be advertised right on the street there is nothing today stopping a child from walking out of Hoboken Charter School and into Frank spot right across the street all of the dispensaries in town will be completely safe there are multiple levels of security we accept debit cards we have odor mitigation controls we are required to prevent people from consuming in public anywhere near our stores our windows are frosted so you cannot see inside and our signage is very discreet if you've been to Ben tunados right next door did you notice that my store was there cannabis is already here making legal stores less accessible just means keeping around these illegal products that can be accessed by anybody and your children I've said this before and I'll repeat it again I am a registered nurse and I was an elementary school nurse on the upper west side of in head before the co pandemic I had 900 students and even more parents I loved every one of my students and they loved me back so did their parents because they knew their children were safe with me I would never want to see your children harmed in any way as we've already tried to propose we are willing to address the concerns that we've heard by of our location by adhering to additional restrictions that make sense for such a dense City like Hoboken we are aligned on the goal of making cannabis less accessible to miners but in order to do that legal cannabis must be accessible for adults in Hoboken failing to allow regulated stores in hoboken's most popular commercial areas like Washington Street will only lead to more illegal products that can be accessed by kids please consider these points and I urge you to find a compromise that benefits everyone thank you you Max [Applause] Thompson what happened to agenda items I skip sorry good evening council members Max Thompson blue violet dispensary at 628 Washington Street increasing access to regulated dispensaries results in decreasing access to illegal and unregulated products especially for miners the longer we put off easy access to regulated products the more illegal product products will flourish because there is demand it is true that legalization and regul regulation of cannabis comes with the benefit of protecting our minors but when legal cannabis is not easily accessible to adults illegal Outlets arise and they do not care whether they are selling to children when legal cannabis is not easily accessible to adults adjacent products like Delta 8 and katum can be sold by anyone and advertised openly that is partially why New Jersey legalized and regulated cannabis so that adults can have access to safe and secure stores that don't sell to children do not advertise to children and by all measures operate discreetly and professionally Hoboken knites want access to legal and safe cannabis and they want it in a way that makes sense in Hoboken the model of a modern walkable Community it's no secret to our that our neighbors on sth in Bloomfield do not want to walk a mile round trip down to the station or up to Jersey joint every time they want to buy cannabis illegal shops like hobok and Exotics on the 500 block of Washington show up because of demand and while they were plainly obvious there are other stores around us selling a legal product under the counter and yes if they're selling it to adult adults are selling it to kids if we want to protect the children in Hoboken from exposure or access to cannabis we need to make regulated dispensaries easily accessible for adults but we're not deaf and we're not blind we recognize that for some the reality of cannabis legalization is still settling in we heard those concerns and we personally tried to address them last year we spent time putting together some thoughtful proposals that would have done several things meant to address the concerns we've heard it would have empowered the citizen group Hoboken for responsible cannabis to have their own form of oversight over our business as well as a commitment to support one another in the shared goal of safe cannabis and Hoboken it would have seen us provide cannabis education to parents of school children so that they are aware of the risks and what to look for and commit to marketing campaigns highlighting the dangers of cannabis for miners unfortunately those did not work and today the litigation continues and it's left us all in limbo when the trial court rendered its decision against us we tried once more to propose a path forward an amendment to hoboken's canus ordinances that would have done several things including giving more oversight to the city's campus review board and to you this Council for dispensaries within different proximities to schools given the restrictive nature of hoboken's current cannabis zoning rules I hope there is still a chance those ideas might be considered increasing adult access to regular cannabis for adults is an absolutely necessary part of the solution to reducing access to Illegal products for minors if you don't have stores along Washington Street you will be propping up illegal activity I have seen the flyers for illegal delivery services hanging on the doors nearby that doesn't mean we get to ignore the very real hesitations that we've heard and we have sincerely sought to address them eventually we hope the other side might give us that similar consideration I hope you all give real thought to these points as well as the proposal that we had sent around a few months ago and we can make this work together thank you Kevin [Applause] Davis good evening usually I'm used to the most heated topics at a city council meeting being cannabis bikes on the sidewalk everything else but we unfortunately turned into the United Nations tonight now I'm Jewish um I mean with a name like Kevin Davis you can't really tell uh but my dad's family their name was super Jewish and it was changed to Ellis Island and my mom yeah well that's but you know personally I'm what's going on in Israel right now you know is really negatively impacting me cuz I have family there and I just want to visit them it's not not safe right now and um you know I don't like Ned and Yahoo either and you know if you don't have him you don't have Hamas and you have permanent peace then maybe and bring back the hostages then maybe they can stop but I don't really see what the city council can do about it because we elect you guys to focus on the local issues um I don't you know care about Mike Russo's opinion on the gold standard uh or Jim Doyle's opinion on agricultural subsidies it's all about the local issues um and that's what I came to speak about tonight which is getting the ebikes off the sidewalk and a lot of them are from delivery Riders and you guys need to pass eventually when it comes up the delivery biker licensing ordinance it's simple take a test wear a vest because you have these bikes going all over the sidewalk running red lights I had enough of it I'm a biker I love bikes so much if I could marry one if there were a person but this is just getting ridiculous and it's not safe for pedestrians I even started a Twitter about it wheelie bad bikes where I just put up videos of bikes not following traffic loss because I'm upset and I want something to be done about it and you know licensing is not a burdensome thing I understand that the mayor put together task force but where where was he 3 years ago when this was happening he was nowhere to be seen because he only cares about the issues that can get him ahead politically but you know the only task force the city should be doing is a task force to look into all these patronage jobs we have in the city you know because maybe if the city government was much more efficiently organized maybe they would have the additional police resources to actually enforce uh the the traffic loss uh because frankly when I'm walking down the sidewalk I shouldn't have to look both ways now councilman president Zano has done some really impressive Hands-On research on this issue people said you know that councilman pres Zano doesn't understand what it's like to be a delivery Rider so guess what he did he became one and when he signed up for Uber Eats door Dash GrubHub what do they ask for an ID and a Social Security number so in order to work for these apps they they're already asking for personal information um you know you know so this issue of taking a short quiz paying $5 wearing a vest with a number you know being burdensome and delivery bikers not doing it is a red herring uh and then one argument I hear is you know take a test wear a vest it's not going to work it's never worked anywhere else well it's never been done anywhere else because it's a relatively new issue and all the other municipalities are completely ignoring the issue because nobody else has done something so hoken needs to show some leadership uh the New Jersey proposal is overboard because it requires All ebikes To Not only be registered but to have insurance nobody's offering ebike insurance so how are you going to require something that doesn't exist and this is just simple it's licensing the actual workers who are using the delivery bikes I mean I'm in New York I have a part part time gig as a New York City Tour Guide if you think 5 minutes of me is entertaining wait till you spend six hours with me on a bus um but in order to get that job I had to take a test that's right I took a test 150 questions I didn't have to be a US citizen many of my co-workers are not Native Americans and then you know I pay a fee and then I can lead bus tours or Statue of Liberty Tours or whatever so it's a normal function of local government to provide licensing and you know I'm sorry that this isn't the most heated issue tonight because at a typical city council meeting it is but I just want you guys to get the the bikes off the sidewalk take a test where vest Eric bupy so just to clarify this is a uh this is the the public portion there is no resolution currently before the council right yeah um you know it's kind of very ironic that I it's a perfect segue I should come after this gentleman I didn't catch his name because uh he's wearing the Israeli uh hat and I'm going to disagree with him on that issue and I expected him to talk about it he talked about a local issue instead that I totally agree with him on I'm really upset about the bikes on the sidewalks and um and yeah I'm going to talk a little bit about local issue too okay so I'm going to try to have to manage my time but um yeah everyone's talking about the whole thing with the the Middle East a couple of people have said have asked should hobok city council be dealing with international issues and I I actually agree with those who say I don't think so I don't think it's something Hoboken should be dealing with however however you and not all of you because I know coun councilman Paul is new and in Council Mento he's fairly recent and so you weren't always here for that but hob has kind of put itself in the hole because the administration was displaying the Israeli flag after October 7th so they're putting their finger in that and then before that which upset me very much as all for long time there was a Ukrainian flag flying from our flag pole I wish we would just keep the American flag and the state flag and the appropriate flags on the flag pole and quit doing this business with the flag pole also this Council passed a resolution in support of Ukraine after the after the the war broke out in 2022 even though it didn't really break out in 2022 it broke out in 2014 no one was supporting the PE there was no resolution supporting the people of donbass and you know that and the Ukrainian government extremely unsavory but the city council went and unanimously supported that so you kind of put yourself in that position so since you did that I think it's only fair that you support a resolution supporting a ceasefire because I think a ceasefire is long past due I mean it's a horrible situation I point out something else that people haven't mentioned that I think I should point out historically Hamas has gotten support from Israel Hamas was given support by Israel because that was a very cynical ploy to try and divide a wedge between the Palestinians between the supporters of the PLO and the nons supporters of PL who went to Hamas some of them some of them also it should be reminded that the October 7th attack is very suspicious lot of lot of questionable things about that that was an extremely well-guarded border and that this border was left unguarded for hours and hours hours and hours of talking here Eric Eric just address us and please if the um I was going to call you public like I said that's extremely I I should get like some seconds back for that that border is extremely well guarded and yet for hours and hours it's left unguard while this goes on this was an extremely suspicious attack had had false flag written all over it so let's not forget that now does that mean the hostages and the victims do not deserve sympathy of course not no they absolutely do deserve sympathy Innocents get trampled by the cynical machinations of the big the people on top from whatever side that said 30,000 dead Palestinians I don't know people who were so against the ceasefire it's just kind of astounding to me because because this is just horrific and it's got to stop a ceasefire is not going to solve all the problems obviously but it does not seem to be like too much to ask [Music] for with that said now I can lose what support I have I thank people for that but I was going to say I was going to talk about and time is almost out but I was going to mention since I talked in the past here one of the voicers before said something about they'd never seen such tension such animosity on the streets of hobok and the neighborhood's hoking to this issue well I'm sorry but I have seen I don't know if it's the amount but it's pretty high I saw a lot of animosity about three years ago or four years ago when the whole covid thing was going down and people like me who refused to wear a mask and put up with all that nonsense were being harassed and yelled at and cursed at and so there has been that and also and I just saw that the city just recently held a vaccination clinic and which is astounding to me after the vaccine the so-called vaccine which is not a vaccine injection has now killed according to Bears or excuse me people have died 18,000 deaths after vaccination according to Vees the official government figures and people have attacked vs but that's the official government vigilance for the vaccine so the city's still pushing the vaccination and just astounding to Me Maybe the city should be investigating how many your time is up I did give you extra time thank you councilwoman thank you near Sand Bala sorry oh the he'll move with the mic what's it thank you hi uh I'm near sandbank I've been a resident of hoken for the last eight years my kids go to school here um we're part of the community and really really like the community um I actually didn't plan to speak but hearing all the lies and hate I just couldn't stand and I couldn't um couldn't be silent first of all I want I do want to start with a very short history lesson uh because a few people here are uh in a very creative way changing what happened changing history and picking uh you know the the pieces of the puzzle that really align with their team and their opinion so let's talk about history in 2005 a brave Israeli Prime Minister decided that Israel is going to leave Gaza and 100,000 Israelis were evacuated from their homes some of them forcefully in the hope of achieving peace in 2005 after Israel completely left Gaza there was no one Jewish person in Gaza the Palestinians elected Hamas as their government Hamas is an organization that was designated by the United States by the European Union by Australia and many other Western countries as a terror organization this is not a matter of a public opinion this is not a matter of Tik Tok or Instagram post this is a fact uh the only countries by the way they don't uh see Hamas as the terror organization are Russia China South Korea and their friends and Iran of course um since 2005 after Israel left Gaza Israel was attacked hundreds of times with missiles with Terror attacks imagine your kids almost every every day every week going to the shelter because missiles are fired on them I I have friends who lived like that for 13 years after we left Gaza now the question is what is this traveling circus trying to achieve I don't really think that there are lots of people from Hoboken here I don't think they really represent the community but what they did uh neglect back to mention is what happened on October 7 and what happened on October 6th on October 6th there was a ceasefire there nothing happened on October 7 at 6:30 a.m. thousands of Hamas soldiers terrorists crossed the border and attacked murdered raped burned people alive in their homes in their cars and kid kidnapped children kidnapped elderly killed children some of the people were identified four months after because they burn to ashes and it was very difficult to to identify their DNA I want to I want to read something it's going to be a bit difficult to to hear but I want to I want to read the testimony uh that was uh revealed in the last few months about the sexual uh um atrocities that Hamas soldiers has committed on October 7 many of the acts of rape were carried out in a group manner with cooperation between the abusing terrorists many victims bodies were found M mutilated and bound with sexual organs brutally attacked and in some cases weapons were inserted into them some B IES were discovered deliberately booby trapped that what happened that's some of the things that happened on October 7 this is not a fight about occupation this is not a fight about land this is not a fight fight about Freedom not a fight about peace this is a total brutality and hatred to you towards Jews and Israelis that's it now the the the weird thing is that Kamas after uh October 7 didn't apologize didn't stop the atrocities they actually publicly say they're going to do it again in every news Outlet so these guys are calling for a ceasefire a permanent ceas fire that would keep a terror organization in their government and basically allow them to do it again so if you're are going to accept that or or or in some point your five minutes is up so if you could wrap it up okay uh second point I just want to talk about peace another another really uh funny term to use when a ter organization is calling for the elimination of a country what kind of Peace can can be there's not going to be peace you can you can say lots of words you can confuse lots of people without information but they are not wanting peace second thing uh I'm sorry I I apologize but then I would have to let everyone have additional time and it's can I say just one sentence one sentence okay I just I want to no he can say one sentence thank you I just want to quote something that the Prime Minister gold May another person mentioned there said if the Arabs would love their children more than than hate Jews there would be peace thank you stop the hate thank you Rochelle Santos Joe Mike thank you okay we need a ceasefire resolution for two reasons for the sake of an ancient people the Palestinians who are being pushed into Extinction and for the sake of your own Humanity we watch the genocide with open eyes and hearts shut because Palestinians have been dehumanized by zionists and the media for decades you lose yourself as as your psyche takes on this narrative and by dehumanizing them you become dehumanized the mere mention of a country or even the people is met with years of they do not exist however Palestinians have the right to exist and to live live they have always existed and they are not as Thomas fredman wrote in New York Times article two weeks ago insects with the inference to be exterminated his article was published with no hesitation what can one small town do one individual do it can join the others in declaring their Humanity one small light in this dark depravity Union City passed a resolution on February 6th at his given hope to thousands one small with very significant no to what will end up to be another profit Endeavor with the $540 billion worth of gas and oil underneath of gaza's soil and the real reason for clearing out Gaza a genocide by every definition of the term a US funded Israeli bomb is dropping on gods every few minutes killing four children each hour nearly 14,000 children have been killed so far uh we can we are approaching 40,000 killed under the rubble and presumed dead at what number of dead will each and every one of us feel a temp a a responsibility to say stop when will we no longer be willing to pay for another child to be tortured or killed and when will we can stop continuing to use our taxes to pay to slay 80% of Democrats are in favor of a permanent solution yet their elected officials ignore them despite Biden's flagrant disregard for international law and a uh court order or or temporary Provisions from the international court of justice we are even are we even human anymore if we need to consider whether or not to ask for genocide to to stop by passing a permanent ceasefire resolution I just want to ask each and every one of you when you were growing up did you think one day I want to grow up and just be immune to death and hopefully keep my career safe so that more children can be torn apart thank you Laura Matlin Laura that's cool um so knowing that the uh cannabis resolution was taken off the agenda today I did email a copy of this to all of the council so it's waiting for you in your inboxes in case you miss any of what I say um but thank you for taking the time and everyone here for to listen to all of this I'm Dr Laura Matlin I've been a Hoboken resident and homeowner for nearly eight years now and I have a really deep love and pride for this city I'm obsessed with it um I'm also a professional in the Cannabis industry I received my masters in the business of cannabis from Lim College last August um and I work for a new york-based cannabis company but prior to that I was a pediatric clinical audiologist I received my doctorate from Northwestern University in 2015 all of this is to say that I'm coming with a decades worth of legitimate career experience in seeking out what's best for both children and a safely and sensibly regulated cannabis industry um so let's talk some weed cannabis was legalized in New Jersey in 2020 and recreational sales began in 2022 as a small densely populated Progressive Community famously friendly to small businesses Hoboken was primed to be uh a model of what could be in this emergency industry instead it deafed every opportunity it had as a result our City's lost out on not only the chance to be a model for a health healthy and well-regulated industry but it's quite literally lost out on the significant Revenue that could have been brought in over the last Almost 2 years so what happens when I want to buy my cannabis I am incriminating myself here but I hop on the path and I go into the city where there are legal dispensaries and variety um one in Hoboken is not enough and despite New York's own tragic roll out that's been its own issue and the subject of a lot of Articles um they've still managed to get things open so I'm here today to express my full support for the proposed rule change um to cannabis to hoboken's cannabis ordinance the current ordinance requiring a 600 foot buffer between dispensaries and schools is baseless it's a number pulled out of thin air by people with ulterior motives the city who prides itself on having one of the highest number of bars per capita in the country is going to clutch its pearls over legal cannabis dispensaries that seems just totally out of line um what's less safe for teenagers a legal dispensary with safe and test Ed cannabis that they don't actually have access to or continuing to strengthen the hold that the elicit Market still has on our streets because there's no reason for it to go away I still have my girl that I can call and she will deliver it to me within 15 minutes faster than I can even get to the one dispensary in Hoboken so tell me which industry expert helped to craft these regulations what research and statistics were used to craft these regulations because as far as I can tell there weren't any um what the research and statistics do show is that there's a significant correlation between the presence of licensed dispensaries in an area and the decrease in opioid use overdoses and deaths that's what concerns me so I'm happy to take on a healthy debate about the pros and cons of allowing licensed legal cannabis businesses in our city but what I won't do is entertain fearmongering cherry-pick data and anything that serves an agenda I urge the council to take us proposed change more seriously and honestly to stop kicking the can down the street I came here despite the fact that it was removed from the agenda it's so frustrating there are legitimate businesses who are bleeding out money and Hoboken could be a model for so much better we are a model for so much better in so many other ways so we deserve we deserve better than this thank you Greg Ribbit Greg no yes Greg yeah hi um she'll someone over there will move it for you no you're good just don't talk to the mic what's that don't touch the mic don't move it oh I'm sorry that's okay okay um my name is Greg Rebo I've lived in Hoboken long enough to have witnessed some of the uh fires that were set deliberately and killed uh members of our community so we haven't always had the most peaceful friendly uh um uh neighborhood uh over 50 people died in narson fires and thousands were made homeless so um things settled down a lot of people got displaced and so on but uh you know um I have a lot of um I have friends around here who are Palestinian I got friends who are Jews I'm Jewish and uh what I that means is I have a value is that when I see something really wrong going on when I see violations of human rights I have I feel obligated to speak up what is happening in Gaza right now is a gross violation of Human Rights I'm not excusing what Hamas did I'm not asking the city council to endorse Hamas to salute their flag or to do anything else I'm only saying that we need to pass a resolution because the politicians above you aren't listening to us we're asking that there be enough noise that they get the message now because people are dying and they aren't the combatants it's the you know it's one thing when soldiers go after each other which is bad enough because most of them are young people who are forced into that position but right now there are innocent civilians being caught in the crossfire um it's not radical to say stop and feed the people who are civilians and even if some Hamas people get a little bit of it too it's you know worse to kill innocent people than it is to have somebody who's guilty of something Escape so um I also want to say that Palestinians and Arabs are also Semitic um Semitic is people who come from that part of the world Arabic Aramaic Hebrew are also Semitic languages and um so anti-Semitism could include all of that another thing is I'm ashkanazi Jew which uh comes from uh it's more like turkic it's it was converted to Jews about a thousand years ago I really have no long-term roots in the Middle East and as far as I'm concerned I am an American and there are a lot of people who are pro-israel who are anti-jewish and they support Israel because they want a place for us to be shoved to because they don't want us here so I've experienced anti-Semitism I'm not going to get into all the details I'm just asking please to to let it be known to the higher ups that because they're not listening to all of the letters and emails and you name it and phone calls that I'm making that there's a lot of us who are extraordinarily upset and it looks like genocide to me it smells like it we've seen it before when you when you are silent in the face of something this egregious that is a statement in itself I I would not want to be in your shoes because no matter what you do somebody's going to be really upset with you but you have to let your conscience if you have an opportunity to stop violence or to slow it down even to just do something to make it stop so people can eat so people can have a place to be so people can be healed who are wounded then I think you are obligated to do that you don't have to do more right now it would be nice if you would that's [Applause] all yakan landow for you please take your thank you with the help of the Creator thank you I have the honor to speak before the government I bring to you a message from some Jewish people those Jewish people who believe in the Torah the Torah we got on the mount C we plead to you about the Palestinians who suffering so much are we not all brothers from the same father and mother UD Adam and K what are they different from any other nation that they are being killed innocent man woman and children please help stop this thank [Applause] you Jessica Dyer Jessica thank you thank you all um good evening members of the city council thanks for your time my name is Jessica Dyer I'm a lifelong Hudson County resident and a Hoboken resident for the last 13 years my husband and I Jeff my husband Jeff and I own and operate Joey nut's Cafe since 2019 as you know last week at least 200 members of our community held a peace rally outside of the city hall in support of a ceasefire in Palestine many would consider a the hobok in a progressive town that calls out hate when it presents itself this is why my husband and I have chosen to settle down and raise our three children here I'm here today to appeal to your hearts your human hearts we are kind and hardworking people who believe in keeping family and Community safe as well as in everyone's inali in alienable human rights regardless of religion orientation and nationality these are core beliefs that our town advocates for regularly and we believe that they should extend to our brothers and sisters all over the world we are all human beings we are all one but how can anyone feel safe in a town where the safety of all people isn't important there is no doubt that the acts that took place on October 7th were horrific but it is also well known by now that Israel has been a violent occup occupier of the Palestinian people for the last 75 years its current government is operating under a farri extremist regime that has been treating all Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank as terrorists including women children and the elderly the Israeli defense minister yav Galant has publicly referred to them as human animals and that's a quote and that kind of hate doesn't develop overnight according to the UN Human Rights Commission 500 to 700 Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli occupation forces each year year with an estimated 13,000 detained interrogated tried in military courts and imprisoned since 2000 the UNR recently reported that during this conflict Palestinian women and girls in detention have been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers at least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped While others were threatened with rape and sexual violence they also noted that the photos of these female detainees in degrading circumstances were taken by the Israeli Army and uploaded online human rights attorney Norah erot stated Israel isn't just breaking international law it's creating precedent and changing it to make this violence permissible what happens to Palestinians matters for everyone everywhere it sets a precedence that means nowhere else on the globe is safe what more do we need to do to act right now as we speak the people of Gaza are St starving to death people have resorted to eating animal feed mixed with sand to make bread water is scarce and contaminated mothers bodies are unable to produce milk due to their own malnutrition infants are freezing to death and starving to death all of this is amid a near constant bombardment by the Israeli Army for the past 4 and a half months these poor people are being blown apart daily those who've managed to escape death are literally scraping up the remains of their families on the street not to mention there are tens of thousands of men women and children who have been permanently disabled and disfigured there are babies who haven't even learned to crawl that will never take their first steps they are literally begging for their lives from across the globe they are begging us to do something if we can do anything to help we must wouldn't we expect the same if it was happening to our children families and neighbors allowing this genocide to continue is opening the door for it to happen anywhere even here in the US the UN defines genocide as a Comm committed with intent to destroy in a whole or part a national ethnical or racial religious group it has already been deemed by it has already deemed the conduct by the Israel and Sorry by Israel and Palestine as PL sorry the icj has already deemed the conduct by Israel in Palestine as plausibly genocidal just yesterday Canada pulled out of their presentation in support of Israel the world is starting to come to a censes but not soon enough at least more than 10 CH 10,000 children have been killed in Gaza since October 7th and according to the 2022 US Census there are approximately 10,000 children here in Hoboken imagine if every single person under the age of 18 in our town were murdered my kids your kids every single one slaughtered with impunity as parents we feel the need to protect these children as if they were our own we cannot ignore their suffering what are we teaching our children by allowing this to continue we are calling on our elected City official offals you guys to pass a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for immediate entry of humanitarian Aid and the release of all hostages on both sides the president has already been set by 70 cities Across the Nation Union cities mayor and Board of Commissioners passed the ceasefire unanimously to weeks ago and just yesterday Durham City North Carolina passed a ceasefire resolution to end military aid to allow humanitarian Aid in the your time is up if you could wrap it up thank you please help please help us yeah Emily wart I'm short yeah yeah hi city council my name is Emily W wit anyone who wants to like further attack my business after this um I run do good Donuts here in Hoboken I have um lived in this town for seven years and I've also been a devotee to making sure that myself and my business are very integral to the community I don't have a shop I don't have an investor I don't have a partner it is quite literally just me and all of my efforts to run a doughnut shop when I came forward you know to say I believe in a free Palestine um not only has my business been attacked my personal Integrity been harassed despite the fact that I show up and I volunteer at all of our food banks are Hoboken shelter I donate my time I donate my Donuts but at this point draw the line I am a terrorist that's fine um you guys can go ahead and put those negative Google reviews I'll I'll wait for them I just wanted to give you one point because I'm don't really feel like touching on October 7th according to the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian Affairs prior to um according so from 2008 right after Hamas came into Power let's remember that right up until um October 7th 319 Israeli citizens were killed 319 you know that big bad militant group Hamas killed 319 and that's across all of Palestine so that also includes the West Bank and um let's also look at this statistic in that same amount of time from 2008 up until October 7th over 6800 Palestinians were killed so we love to say that they are not occupying us and that they left gasa before October 7th on October 6th alone while there may have been a ceasefire in case you're also not aware Israel controls the water coming in and out the electricity coming in and out of the West Bank of gasa so it they may not be physically in the Gaza Strip but they are quite literally occupying them the people they've destroyed their airports they give them it sounds so hauntingly familiar I I cannot help but say just like what the and I'm sorry I feel like we are living in aul Sor app I apologize what the heck we are living in some kind of weird simulation where we are sitting here arguing over whether children deserve to be dead we are having an argument while our planet is quite literally on fire if I may say another point on that in the first three months of uh Israel's attack on Gaza it is not a war because let's be clear gazin do not have a military they don't have a democracy they don't have a president they do not have a democracy of any kind but anyway so they were elected in 2007 the majority of gazen citizens are under 18 they did not elect Hamas so I will move on stop thank you I don't understand why people are I look I can get it here's my thing I didn't a script so you know so Su me um Israel was created in 1948 for all intents and purposes we'll start with that year the the first Zionist movement began back in the 1800s the 1890s I'm not uneducated although someone on the city council did email me to let me know that they thought I was uneducated on the matter um the way that I see it and I can only say this is someone who is not Jewish I'm not Muslim I'm from Oakland California a city which has passed a ceasefire resolution as as well as our city across the bay in San Francisco they have also passed a ceasefire resolution we're not sitting here believing that a hobok and seas fire resolution will actually make a difference but it does stand for solidarity in our community I find it really funny that when we all leave here tonight we are going home to our very nice homes we have food in our fridge our electricity is not controlled by anybody else no one is controlling my water I get to sleep very comfortably at night as does everyone else in this room I do not discount anti-Semitism I do not discount everyone's fears we are a very fearful and divided Society at large social media makes nothing better the fact that crime is on the rise homelessness is on the rise and if you want to make it a local issue then we should be talking about those points because we're sending billions and billions of dollars to to War as my guy Tupac says we got money for war but we cannot feed the fuding poor Okay so anyway I'll bring it back down if you want to make it a local issue we have a lot of divisiveness in this community at already we have an election coming up I don't know if you guys have even seen project 2025 but that scares the ever loving heck out of me it's a farri extremist Christian nationalist idea if Donald Trump wins our presidency our country is headed towards some kind of Reckoning and we are doubling down on the only export that we are good at and that is making war in other countries we're trying to ravish pick up all the dominoes that we have knocked over in the Middle East in Asia and in Latin America we have destabilized Nations all over this world in the name of getting war in the name of producing war machines getting oil and you know upholding capitalism which at this point capitalism is the reason we have the ebike problem so I can go on and on to connect all our issues so again if if you could wrap it up yeah if you are concerned about Hoboken issues and again the dispensaries are saving our children then I really think that you should consider a ceasefire resolution there is nothing about continuing to bomb Gaza that will lessen anti-Semitism if they're doing it in the name of Jews everywhere I just don't understand how people can't wrap their head around that if Israel says we are the Jews and they bomb children how is that you expect us to not equate it to the Jews I trying very hard to keep it as a government anyways you guys ceasefire now free Palestine oh Mohamed I don't even want to try sorry I can't pronounce your last name about it I'm not gonna be as good as Jessica but I'm G try to can you just state your name though Muhammad bin gsia thank you so I want to touch on two things first of all I want to try to dig into your empathetic bone and I want to try to provide a little logic my brother over here was speaking about the difference between Judaism and Zion ISM Zionism originally was formed due to oppression in Europe it it wasn't a it wasn't a religious group it was a political ideology because they were oppressed so yes ma'am so like I said Zionism is a political ideology which was born due to the oppression that Jews face in Europe for hundreds of years with the breaking point being the Holocaust I say that not to point fingers but to draw a clear root of this issue which is oppress oppression that Palestinians are facing right now oppression is what caused Jewish folks to migrate to Israel and the stench of Oppression followed on with them while sometimes referred to as a war I'd like to take into consideration how many civilians are being affected I want you to really think about if that was you if that was your child if that was your mother that you were holding in a plastic bag humans aren't supposed to fit in a plastic bag I really hope you consider that I really hope hope you try to put yourself in that situation I'm not sure if it's getting through to you 30,000 people a lot of people today are talking about the death toll of Palestinians however we aren't talking about the Unseen wounds the thousands that no longer have families thousands we can't comprehend that in the human brain that's just a number this is barely 100 people if everybody in here got hit by a air strike we couldn't imagine the chaos so when we say thousands our brain cannot comprehend that and it's on the other side of the world which makes us Le less empathetic so I really want you guys to try to empathize as you consider the ceasefire solution the thousands that can't find the bodies of their love ones to at least confirm that they are dead by not allowing the ceasefire resolution to be approved you not only add on to the generalization the actions of a few indicate the opinions of the majority resulting in collecting punishment now when when I talk about this logic of collective punishment councilman Paul I'm going use I'm going use you as an example just because I only know your name I don't know anybody else's name if you throw your pen at me right now and I punish this whole table what kind of logic is that it doesn't make sense if one group a resistance Group which bless you doesn't make sense if one group of people Which derived from oppression oppression that Israel excuse me oppression that Jews face in Europe which is what caused them to come to Israel or Palestine as it was in the time this is the same oppression that Palestinians are facing the UN was able to side with the Jewish people during the time but I'm not going to go into the history because we all talked about history that helps our point but yeah councilman Paul if you throw a pen at me and I punish him over there that doesn't make any sense why are 30,000 people either being injured wounded or dead if you feed your children tonight I don't know if you guys cook but just be thankful of the meal that you have be thankful that you don't have to eat animal feed be thankful that you don't have to eat soil and grass which is the condition that they're in right now I'm not sure if you see the videos online they're grounding up animal feed and turning it into bread towns in the same county have passed a Siege fire resolution and I hope you can too thank you Zed [Applause] eltima zad oh here Jerry the spelling my name is zad Al and I could really only just say how I feel right now islamophobia has been spreading like wildfire for a long time in America and even more since October 7th I should not need to feel worried about my Muslim brothers and sisters when they leave their houses I should not need to be worried about if they will come back safe I should not need to walk behind my mother and sisters in hijabs just in case someone tries to harass them I should not need to watch a Super Bowl ad that is coming from a country that is being accused of genocide by the highest court in the world I should not need to hear about 10,000 children that have been killed and I say children because the media wants to call 20-year-old women children and I say killed because the media continues to use words like found dead palestine's population is 52% children this is a war against children Israel has the military power to single out their killings to Hamas soldiers as they did to Salah alori Israel is killing the future generation of of Palestinians intentionally ceasefire [Applause] now Lara bruy Lara good evening council president and council members my name is Lara bizy as you know and I've been here living over 22 years one quote government 's first Duty and highest obligation is Public Safety again I want to say thank you to councilman presen Zano Russo and Ramos even though he's not here thank you for putting us first as well as addressing the growing number of e delivery individuals and how it relates to our safety and theirs last night I attended the community and public safety meeting along with other Hoboken residents top concerns and discussed discussions revolved around the ebike and what is being done to control them many residents vo their concerns about the safety of our community and when is something going to be done it seems a trend that an ebike delivery have been causing drivers to feel unsafe and uncomfortable when driving around the city many had stories of ebikes being on sidewalks and many want to know what what the solution is and what is being done many how many summons are being given to them in my own questions is how are they held accountable and for their actions and after getting the summons last night we had our police chief speak about that so there was over 200 summons given to these individuals as a whole but my thing is what happens to the next step how do we hold them accountable how do we know that they care about what is going on or the tickets that are received by them and that is my concern because we see people could just dismiss it it's not only a court case issue afterward it is how they feel in Hoboken doing their job so that is it what are the consequences that receiving the summons and where does it go for there we have to stay tuned for that and see what happens I am here to show my support for this ordinance and to remind our community that we need to protect our city and there is nothing wrong with having ebike delivery Personnel register with our city and be proud that they could wear a registered vest that they earned another quote the care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only object of good government so i' ask all of you as well as our Hoboken Community to support this ordinance with respect to taking care of what the ebikes mean to us in the future of that I will say a separate thing I pray for peace in this world and as a practicing and devoted Catholic we pray for peace in each and every day in our mass and when it's performed so in God's grace and as a again a Catholic as many as we are we play pay pray for peace and we hope everything is good with everybody and safek keepings of all our families in Israel and anywhere else so thank you thank you we have no other members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion second all in favor I ordinances no I feel like we'll never yeah we'll just do ordinance yeah that's fine ordinances for second reading hearing on an ordinance amending chapter 190-11 in titled restricted parking for police vehicles fire vehicles official business to designate one Reserve parking spot for official City business at the multi-service center and to designate two short-term res reserved parking spaces at City Hall for public use we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public hearing second motion Mo second all in favor I I just um one quick question oh council members anything the this is they're all at the multi no there's no that's there's two two spots are being added for short short-term parking around city hall and then it also says fire vehicles that's a the multi at that's what it is fire vehicles at City Hall no no no no it's two short-term public parking spots at City Hall and then a parking spot at the multi for the health department thank you oh wait here we go Serv is the multi raise up a little bit you're good uh yeah so ju just to clarify yes we're relocating Personnel to the multi-service center so this ordinance is doing a combination of um providing uh reserved parking for City vehicles uh we're also taking that space that has been uh voided here around City Hall tur into and turning that into a pilot public parking zone for people coming to City Hall great y thank you other council members Mr finina please call the vote M excuse me Mr con hi Mr do hi Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr P Pano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Russo he's not here president he's right there yes that's okay you want vote on the he voted yes okay a hearing on an ordinance amending to the Hoboken city code to repeal chapter 195 youth advisory commission we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close the public hearing motion second all in favor I council members Mr finina call the vote Mr con I Mr Doyle M fer Mr Jabor yes Mr Pano hi Mr quo hi Mr Mr Russo hi president Cho yes wake you up I'm getting everybody up I call myself that too a hearing on an ordinance amending chapter 190-11 title loading zones designated to extend the hours of loading zone on Washington Street between Observer Highway and nor street we have now members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public hearing second all in favor I I council members Mr finina call the vote Mr con I Mr doy i m fiser yes Mr jaor yes Mr Pano I cono hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes resolutions public portion one no we still have 66 two more one more 6 46 is that still on yes it is all right hear hammering on an ordinance of city of hobok and the county of Hut New Jersey approving the execution of a financial agreement between the city of hobok and observer Highway urban renewal LLC motion we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public hearing second all in favor I I council members Mr finina call the vote Mr con Mr Doyle i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Mr Pano hi Mr Cano hi Mr Russo hi president Gan Tino yes now um public portion agenda items Rosemary Markle not that many I'll be excuse me pay attention yes Rose seven minutes I'm going to do something I've never done at this mic I'm going to say my full name Rosemary marle Grand Street and a proud resident for almost 64 years go okay so um ca2 the $70,000 fee for water which I know we needed but is anyone being held accountable for this or just the city going to eat this cost like whoever maybe caused that little B main break maybe split the course with them wouldn't that be nice a settlement that was it yeah no that's not the whole settlement that's the cost of the water right that was used for pable water around the city but that was the only that's what that is yeah I know my question settlement money correct that's what she's asking the city isn't paying for it CD3 it says appraisals for real estate and you know I read the backup by the way for everything um exactly what is the what are we appraising is it something that the city does for City properties it's just to have people on hand to be appraised appraisers all right P1 um the engine this engineering firm that you're hiring for the rain Gardens only does a maintenance for the trash trash interception feature who is to take care of the top of those rain Gardens because they're usually pretty disgusting full of garbage is that up to the city to do or is that part of their contract just keep going I'm marking it down oh okay um only one more it's my favorite tx1 a $50,000 tax appeal woo that's a big chunk of change um and I know I shouldn't say this but maybe at our next meeting if it's going to be an international and a city can we have two separate meetings like you just never know I mean then we need to cut the time you did it for ebikes we were only by the way not that I want to go back and forth I completely would have except there was only about seven people signed up to speak and then everyone just continued and once I gave one person 5 minutes In fairness to everyone else I can't say now you have three right no I understand that all right thank you thank you uh yeah do you want to do tx1 the reason the tax appeals as long as we don't do a reval we're just going to continue to have tax appeals so the only way to solve that is a reval and P1 and P1 my understanding is there's like a box that the water goes into and it gets it's it's a filter to collect garbage so that and so the city and director Gonzalez can correct me if I'm wrong but the city cleans or keeps keeps maintains them thank thank you but for the the surface whereas this contractor gets into the box that's underneath Patricia waiters Patricia waiters speak said you weren't speak Patricia you didn't put down anything that you do you know which ones you're speaking on cd5 I got to say all of them just give me two cd5 and CD S I need glasses there's only four shut cd5 and there's only four CDs unless you have an older no was on the back the plan and the and then number four oh I'm sorry the school and the right away the distance in the right away remember you guys spoke about the right away thing with that other thing uh Mr Doyle and you said you would get back is this the same right away for the bill from the zoning board remember we had a discussion on it just read just ask your question is that's what I want to know about the RightWay one and the school zone for the cannabis cannabis is not on the agenda it is on it's been removed yeah I mentioned it in the beginning of the meeting five minutes so I'm all right so those the main two things because I want to talk about the I still can't talk about the distance with the school no yeah that's been pulled all right I'll talk to you'all outside about it yes thank you Manny Rivera Solair Manny he's been here the whole time stop with you nonsense over there Bo s right in front of you all I'm sure it's good evening council president good evening council members of the public uh you miss me I just want to be brief consent agenda finance department F1 F1 thank you council president and I yield back thank you us with the question I idea just is that just taking temporary funding to long-term funding yeah it's just changing the way we we're funding the bonds F1 it it's temporary to long term council members agenda items oh we have to close public comment I'm sorry motion to close public portion moot no it's not I don't yes I do thank you all in favor all in favor I I council members on consent A4 to be pulled pres yeah anyone else jeez call it I don't please call the vote on consent agenda Mr con Mr dorl I Mr Fisher Mr Jabor yes Rano I Mr Cano yeah I oh no Mr Russo I president Jee Tino yes A4 resolution awarding a professional service contractor Greenman Peterson Incorporated an amount not to exceed $75,000 for rebuild by design engineer opinion for a term February 21st to May 21st 2024 to be funded by ARP I think uh last meeting we passed a resolution to hear from New Jersey D um based upon some information today uh I think we should hold off on this until we get that briefing um I don't know how much I can say on it maybe you guys guys can guide me but the memo we received today I think that we should wait to hear from the D before we approve this what memo I'm sorry uh was a memo sent this afternoon from Jerry um about again help me out what I from it's a yeah it's a confidential memo so not so don't discuss it was sent by you yes it was sent around two there was one 254 and then there was an earlier one in the morning I believe which was the same thing so I actually think we should personally I think we should hold we should table this OR carry table it and hear it again at the next meeting can I ask we all a general question I guess yeah we all we all voted well two people didn't vote to um hear from the D first but I believe seven of us did but yes what's your question well director it was my understanding the state DDP was part of the discussions about what's on the agenda is that correct the memo that was received today um as mentioned was confidential m from the D being that it's litigation sensitive um but that is as it stands right now that ising from um when as it relates to the item that is being considered for a vote the D and the state of New Jersey were both consulted and approved the scope of the work as it relates to moving this forward with REO by Design we voted on everything except for A4 any um yeah I think um I think the concern and I reached out to kale tonight and I know he's um he's sick is um I think it's understanding I think there's just a lot of questions around what we're stepping potentially stepping into and if if the result first of all we haven't seen the scope of um what we're looking to do the um and if we're stepping into a situation where what comes out of this is a potentially contrary to what the D has already negotiated um through their eminent domain process and if it's somehow the the result is inconsistent and somehow we end up being on the hook for something that um and and quite Frank FIP mayor of Jersey City has said publicly that Hoboken should be on the hook for the increased cost not withstanding you know supposedly the governor's office has said that they're willing to cover whatever the increas is we don't know what that is we don't know how much it is and we don't know if we get the benefit of that as well and I think it is just trying to have a better understanding before we step into something without um having a little bit more information and and and so what we were hoping was to delay this just one meeting so we could maybe have some of the either have a special meeting or something uh closed session to kind of go through in a little bit more detail about what we're really signing up for in the context of the this odd Dynamic so council president from the administration standpoint if if the city council wants to delay it that's fine the the message that we have received from all of you was hurry up move this forward we have had those conversations with mayor Philip what he asked us to pay for is not the differential in cost it was this engineering study councilman preso councilman preso yes you should move Phil's not here so like everyone's all right thank you um yeah put it in front of Brian um what what mayor FIP had asked us or someone not Jersey City to pay for was the cost of this study uh and what the hopeful outcome of this study is to understand what some of those unknown costs are and we won't have those answers for you in a future meeting without being able to conduct this study I I think like one of the questions sorry I came back so I was stepping in didn't realize I was going to talk on this issue right away um ju just an example one when I was looking through uh the resolution it it talks about um you know identifying conflicts with the project and and the concern is is the is it conflicts with the rebuild by design project is it conflicts with the big development that this developer is doing like it's um and and if it is with the big development like that's exactly what we don't want to have written in a report so it was more of and like I said I I literally I tried reaching an calb a couple times and and uh councilman Doyle told me later in the day that um he was just out ill so it wasn't yeah he's under the weather unfortunately yeah so it was we were trying to solve a little bit of this today so go ahead sorry but the the purpose of the study is to understand not the conflict of the issue of of the project itself but understanding um the two different um proposals that were put forth by the developers related to how to build the light the proposed Light Rail and what the potential impact Rebo by Design would have on the cost of the light rail not the cost of the right residential building and that's what the purpose of this study is with those conversations that we had with Jersey City was this was the step that they needed to be taken in order to Grant those easements so this is the next step in that but they don't have to Grant those easements right that we already have them don't they I mean this is where private easements and there's public right but this is where the D has the authority to step in and take them if they want they're trying to mediate an outcome um but I don't know I I just feel like there's I it feels like there's some moving Parts on this that we should have a clear understanding of what the scope is a written understanding of what the scope is um and also maybe even expand it and say we're doing this and you know we want there to be an acknowledgement that the city of Hoboken is not going to pay you know for um any of these additional costs that we're going to rely on whatever the governor told Jersey City the governor's office we're going to rely on that same thing like this is not you know zero increased liability zero increased exposure and that it is a very specific um a very specific report about it's funny because I'll even take a step back for a second right right now what's holding up rebuild by Design is the mayor of Jersey City is protecting private property interests and and it's and is what it is I mean just this is lincol equities they want to build they put together a Redevelopment site after we had already identified where rebuild by Design would go into um Jersey City so the the feasibility study that was done for the Light Rail station there was actually done by the developer so what we're going to be doing is a an incremental review of of their Pro their project their um their report their feasibility so we don't even know if that feasibility study is aaid feasibility study but we the city of hobok are going to wrap around that and so it just if the whole thing is about protecting their interests it feels like we should understand this a little bit better before we sign up and agree that we are going to w wrap around whatever their report says and the other thing I mentioned to to councilman Doyle earlier today it's not necessarily one of our requirements but I think it's helpful to understand if this vendor if they've done work with Jersey City if they've done work with this developer they may not be conflicted with with Hoboken but the question is is there any kind of conflict with Jersey City as well and uh you know we could have gotten that today but again this was not it wasn't meant to have conversation here we were hoping that we could have had it today and not necessarily here but would love to table it um just for one meeting and maybe we can just you know have a a more detailed conversation and just get some of these answered so we can just feel better about it councilman or thank you council president the the one concern that I have and and I think we expressed that at the last meeting as well is what that differential may look like right and do we then become so to speak on the hook for any of that money we don't have necessarily anything in writing that says if our report now conflicts with any current reports or any current current standards out there and that differential is $1 million $5 million $100 million who then has to come up with that money because I think mayor Philip has been very clear in in his comments both publicly and privately that Jersey City Jersey City is not going to foot that bill and I am all for being a good neighbor to our surrounding municipal alties I've made many comments that we should be good neighbors because at some point we're going to want those neighbors to be good neighbors to us and in this situation I want to make sure we have that reciprocation if in fact there is that differential Jersey City I want them to be a good neighbor to us so I want to know if this report comes back very different from any other reporting out there and there's a differential in cost will hobok and then be kind of pigeonholed into footing that bill later on down the road so that's my bigger concern and I don't see anything that we have in writing in any memo that ensures that we will not be paying that an increase if in fact that happens so if you could speak to that director I would love to hear it but otherwise I mean I think we should get a little bit more information again I'm if that's the will of the council that is totally fine it's again it's a hurry up and wait kind of situation um there's no obligation on the city of Hoboken to pick up a the bill on a project that is not the city of Hoboken um it's a state project it's the D's project they're the ones that are on the it's their they're going to get the invoices they're going to get the bills and that's the expectation the conversations that we've had with them on this so I I there's not a concern on my end that passing a a adopting this contract and moving this forward will pigeon hole Hoboken into anything um but again I I that's a ultimately a decision that understood I don't know how many there are of you tonight well I mean I obviously it's it's non-binding this is a study to get information so that doesn't mean we have anything in writing that we won't be asked to pay but the difference today there's no obligation for us to pay for anything and tomorrow after we have this report there will continue to be no obligation so right and and I think I mean that's absolutely accurate of course but I think the concern is what happens to the project if in fact everyone stands in the room and goes well I'm not paying well I'm not paying well I'm not paying and now we don't have now for over a decade we've been trying to deal with this situation now we don't have a final solution to it so that that's my real concern right so at the end of the day is Hoban picking up the the the cost is the state picking up the cost is Jersey City picking up the cost or someone else I don't I agree with you there's no real obligation for anyone but until we have the information to know what the the Delta is you know obviously the state's not going to say whatever it is we'll pay it but if we have the result and we can say now we have an estimate of $200,000 or $2 million at least we'll know what it is the nut that we're trying to crack so I understand is not you know it's it's coming out of ARP right so this contract is yes for for this study that is so I mean I I'm not opposed to waiting two weeks necessarily but I don't we've been told that they're not going to come in and brief us and give us the information so why not just start the ball rolling but wait but I read that thing it's they would come in after this memo we got today that after things were done they would come in and speak to us I think towards after we had the report no I heard say that this was was the briefing is that correct correct as it stands right now this is the briefing from the D yeah but the there's litigation going on and that's what they said that they can't speak on things and that they would come to us later and speak on it so I mean I would think that they if we're waiting until the there's an appeal for a condemnation proceeding where two $2.1 million was a court it's a you know public document and the the property owner wants it to be more than that and so I don't know that we want to wait for an Appel division decision on that you know that would be well there's already they already put a I don't know how much of Liberty to say but there's already dates on that email that memo we got today it's not like we're going to you really can't say anything about the memo I haven't read the memo so I I think also because there's confusion on the council I don't think it's smart for us to move forward on this I mean ultimately I would like to read prior to voting on it and no I would not like to read the memo right now but all right you're the sponsor so oh no I'm I'm not going to object if that's what just don't come back and say why is this taking so long okay you know we were the ones who asked for this well I forever is a long time but all right I mean all you have to do is it sounds like yeah that one two three there's four votes if to not move on it so so yes it's fine to carry it for the next meeting thank you I don't know who my co-sponsor is I think probably went it to you Emily but anyway ordinances for introduction first an ordinance of city of Hoboken in the county of Hutson New Jersey amending chapter 193-20 water consumption charges please call the vote Mr Pina Mr con Mr Doyle I Fisher yes Mr jaor yes prano I Cano I Mr Russo I president jeo yes or introduction amending to the Hoboken city code chapter 59a Department of Public Safety Article 4 division of fire at section 59 a-31 staff increase the fire department table of organization please call the vote Mr Kina Mr con Mr Doyle i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Rano I Mr Cano i m Russo should be 18 but yes president gentino yes on for introduction of the city of hobok and authorizing the execution of Public Access easement the park maintenance agreement between the city of Hoboken and AR at 1500 Adam Street LLC for property designated as block 130 loded through 32 more commonly known as 1500 Grand Street 1524 Grand Street and 1501 and 1531 Adam Street within the North and Rehabilitation area please call the vote Mr Mr con hi Mr Doyle hi M Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes re I Mr Cano i m m Russo I president gtino yes motion close second I I