Saturday y'all got a quarterback someone took your quarterback done no fire time I'm not okay everyone we're about to get started if we can find our seats silence our cell phones as I am doing I greatly appreciate it and if we can close the side doors whoever's closest to the side doors and the back door I also great appreciate that okay good evening everyone we are on the record today is Wednesday the 13th day of December in the year 2023 this is a regular meeting of the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 6m start the clock on my cell phone is showing 6:03 p.m. May we have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting council person Ridley welcome back council person priner here council person buano here council person SLE will be here shortly council person Solomon council person Gilmore presid council person Dees she'll be here okay council person Rivera here and council president Waterman we have seven members in attendance at 6:03 p.m. May we kindly rise for a moment of silence please thank you very much on behalf of council president wman and members of the municipal Council in accordance with New Jersey public laws of 1975 chapter 231 the open public meetings act also known as the Sunshine Law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the posting on the bulletin board of the first floor of City Hall which is the annual notice is the schedule of meetings and caucuses of the municipal Council for the calendar year 2023 and filed the new office of the city clerk on Thursday December December 15th 2022 in addition at its time its preparation the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday December 8th 2023 at 5:55 p.m. to the mayor Municipal Council business administrator Corporation Council and a local newspapers and post it on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law council members before we move forward and not on your printed agenda is item that was discussed at the agenda meeting but unfortunately didn't make it because we had an issue with I Compass but it is item 10.42 resolution 23-945 is a resolution resending resolution 23- 812 and appointing Jennifer Moore as a member of the Jersey City Redevelopment agency since it did not make the agenda it is a late item so I'm going going to need a vote and a motion to add item 10.42 resolution 23-945 to the agenda motion motion made by council person Rivera may I have a second second by council person preri let's just make sure our mics are on on the motion to add item 10.42 resolution 23945 to the agenda council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano Hi council person Cay is not here yet council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees is not here yet council person Rivera hi and council president wman council president wman motion carry 70 with council members Cay and Dees absent okay on to our first reading ordinances if I can just read them into the record and if there's any changes that need to be made to one of the first reading ordinances we'll do that right after I read them into the record uh starting with item 3.1 city ordinance 23-1 126 is an ordinance amending and supplementing chapter 160 fees and charges chapter 296 Street skywalks and public rights of way article one General Provisions duties of property owners and occupants article two closure of the public right of way article three evacuate excuse me excavations excuse me within the public right of way and chapter 345 zoning article four fees deposits and inspections item 3.2 city ordinance 23-1 127 an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 9 parking for the disabled of the Jersey City code designated to reserve parking space at various locations throughout the city item 3.3 city ordinance 23128 an ordinance revising the street names in the Bayfront Redevelopment site council members before I ask for a vote on the first reading ordinances I believe First assistant Corporation counsel Britney Murray is going to address us with regards to item 3.1 city ordinance 23-1 126 uh there's going to be no change we're going to introduce as it okay never mind on that thank you that makes it easy all right council members so with that being said on items 3.1 through 3.3 council person Ridley I council person priner council person Bano I for introduction and on 3.1 I'd like a little more explanation on this uh for the next meeting all right council members we just got to make sure our mics are on because I'm I'm not hearing you and I'm really close to you mic's on there you go that's better all right uh three I I on all but on 3.1 I'd like some further information from the business I I wasn't picking on you council person baji was just it's a general statement anyway um thank you uh council person C is not here council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I'm g v excuse me I'm gonna vote I for introduction with regards to 3.1 I would really like to see um the fees congruent to the regular double parking um fees um so we look to have further discussion about that but i v i for introduction thank you council person thej is not here yet council person rera Hi council president wman items 3.1 through 3.3 are introduced 70 with council members Cay and Dees absent okay council members before we move on to our second reading ordinances I believe it's in the intention of council person Riva to defer to resolution excuse me item 10.33 resolution 23- 936 so I need a motion second motion made by council president wman seconded by council person Rivera on a motion to defer to item 10.33 resolution 23- 936 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano Hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Rivera hi and council president Waterman motion carry 70 to defer to item 10.33 resolution 23- 936 with council member Cay and Dees absent council person Rivera would you like to read it into the record steeve you have it up yes I'll read it up I'll read it oh he doesn't oh up here yeah we'll just vote okay where's Timmy so we would like to invite Timmy Lawrence up to the podium Tim before we um we're gonna actually take a vote on it first and then we'll probably ask you to say a little something afterwards hopefully it gets passed I I don't want to anticipate it's not all right so council members we're going to go right to the vote on resolution 23- 936 council person Ridley uh Timmy we know that you are always there uh helping us out helping the city out uh we see you everywhere you are an asset to the city of Jersey City uh with that ioi thank you council person priner so Timmy over six years it's been a pleasure to get to know you and work with you and thank you for everything you do within our communities also on a personal note thank you for helping me get out of an elevator and with an issue I have with my car always go above and beyond no matter what time of day it is I vote I thank you council person Bano I agree with the other two and uh congratulations yes of course council person slay is not here yet council person Solomon for for the folks watching at home and in the audience um if there's any emergency any type of incident in Jersey City and it can be at 6: am 10 p.m 2 am if one of us goes there the first person you'll see there is this man um he cares so much about Jersey City um and he does an extraordinary work that a lot of folks don't know about so I appreciate everything you do for the city I appreciate at 3:00 am getting coffee at Dunkin' Donuts to try to bring back to Via um anytime that the city need you you're there so I very proudly vote I council person Gilmore D I don't even know what your job is you you're literally everywhere but I do want to just um thank you for your service man you've helped me out several times like I said I don't even know if it was within your job description or whatever um just a caring person caring genuine person so I'll probably vote I council person to J is absent council person Rivera oh boy so there's a lot to say about this right so uh I've known this guy here since he was a kid I was actually one of his coaches uh when he was in baseball and uh Timmy is is is a special kind of character man you grow to love this guy I won't tell you the stories of Florida and when we did travel ball but he's definitely a a character but I just want to just share with you that um to be honest with you you know the Department of Public Safety will have a problem if you don't have Timmy on that if they don't have Timmy on their side this guy right here um is an amazing asset to this department he um you know there's there's so much that he does that there's there's not enough time to uh to just highlight it all but I just wanted to tell you last council meeting that we had here uh we were here till about uh midnight and you know contentious council meeting and uh Timmy was assigned from you know to the OEM department and he was back here when the uh meeting concluded uh Timmy was going home and uh he he actually drove right by a a working fire which turned out to be a three alarm fire four structures were completely involved and Timmy got out his vehicle and started to alert the families that were in those buildings to get the hell out so you know I mean to have this gentleman working for our city is 100 % Priceless I thank you from the bottom of my heart I did tell him that he was didn't have to say anything but I think we all want him to say something and uh I definitely vote I love you brother not to put pressure on you but they did ask what you did so you may have to say something I'm just saying council president wman Timmy thank you for your service every time there's a fire you can rest assur that he's there helping anyone that needs help with so with that I proudly vote I thanks Timmy resolution 23- 936 is adop is it approved excuse me 70 with council members Cay and the g absent congratulations Tim thank you Tim not to put you on the spot but I know you didn't want to say anything but maybe you just want to just let them know how important you really are to the police force I just want to say thank you but you know there's nothing really to say I just come to work and just do my job that's it but thank you for and a special thanks to Danny and to all of you I don't know what else to say thank you you said it all that's good enough congratulations again Tim we'll get your resolution for you later on you got to stay till 11:30 talking about punishment uh thought we were honoring him Al righty on to our second reading ordinances our first second reading ordinance is item 4. 1 city ordinance 23- 097 is an ordinance of the city of Jersey City in the county of Hudson New Jersey approving the execution of an amended and reinstated Water Services franchise and service agreement between the city and the Jersey City Municipal Utilities Authority to increase the payments to the city this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record okay motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23- 097 was made by council president wman seconded by council person Rivera on the motion to close the public hearing council person Ridley I council person priner Hi council person Bano to close the public hearing oh and council person CLE I'm going to Mark you present 6:18 p.m. so we now have eight council members present at 618 council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Dees is council person r hi and council president wman motion to carry I mean motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23- 097 is approved 80 with council person the G absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 23- 097 council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi council person bajano no because I believe it's going to increase our water rates thank you council person SLE going to vote I I know there's some concerns regarding this believe that um I spoke with Bon Council earlier and they told me that this can be re renegotiated at a later date you know if another Council wanted to renegotiate it but the taxpayers need tax relief now that I vote I council person Solomon yeah I'm goingon to vote no um a couple concerns just want to put on the record um I worry about the interest rates that the MUA will pay the bonds to pay The Upfront payment um I worry that those interest rates will be increased by the local finances board's negative findings on on that um and ultimately given that rates are going to be increasing given our infrastructure payments I think that is is too much to put on the rate payers ultimately uh the people who pay the water and sore rates um I had hoped that uh you know the administration and mua could have worked on a a smaller version of this uh smaller in length smaller in dollar amounts that I think would have been more responsible given current situation that we're in so with that I vote no thank you council person Gilmore also G to vote no um I'm just not comfortable given the level of uncertainty of how much um how much of an impact is going to have it says a Haven dul What a minor impact was and I'm I'm just not comfortable because water rates are like through the roof already uh I'm extremely scared um for interest I mean um increase in water bill so I vote no council person Gilmore if you can just repeat a couple of things that you said when you've just left off because your mic not yeah there you go yes um I said I'm going to vote no um I just don't feel comfortable given the the reasons rationals and they said it's going to be a minor impact they never divulge what that minor impact is going to look like and I just don't want to be in a position where we're charging more for water um as water rates have already risen so I'm voting no thank you excuse me council person reera Hi council president wman City wance 23- 097 is adopted 53 with council members bajano Solomon and Gilmore voting no okay council members our next second reading ordinance which is item 4.2 city ordinance 23-15 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic Article 2 traffic regulations amending section 332-5335 D7 prohibited turns at intersections and article three parking standing stopping amending section 332-22 parking prohibited all times to convert Wayne Street into a two-way street between Marin Boulevard and Grove Street council members I believe at the caucus it was the intention of council person Solomon to make a motion to defeat city ordinance 23-15 is that correct yes and I just say on the record what I said at caucus which was we had committed to do was a full review of alternatives to this proposal uh the plan had been to do those in the last month um that didn't happen and so we honor our commitment so we're going to defeat the ordinance which means it's just removed from the agenda we will have a review with traffic and Engineering we'll return to the community with uh their review of the different options and so anything that would restart would restart uh at the beginning and wouldn't be back on the agenda uh so we'll just uh start with a clean slate so with that I'll make the uh motion to remove it from the agenda so you're making a motion to defeat city ordinance 23-15 may I have a second second second made by council person Riva on a motion to defeat city ordinance 23-15 council person Ridley it's just a motion I council person Prince arid I council person bajano I council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person Dej absent for final consideration and the defe of ordinance 23-15 so you're going to have to vote if you're feing the ordinance you're going to have to vote no council person Ridley no council person priner council person Bano oh council person SLE no council person Solomon no council person Gilmore no council person Rivera no and council president Wardman I haven't heard that many NOS since I was an infant city ordinance 23-15 is defeated 08 with all council members voting no and council person Dees absent thought i' get a laugh at everybody on that one all right on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.3 city ordinance 23-18 is an ordinance amending chapter 90 animals article 3 dogs and other animals section 12 definitions and chapter 160 fees and charges section 14 permits and fees subsection e animals to add and increase fees for animal control and animal shelter services this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record second motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23118 was made by council president Waterman seconded by council person SLE on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 23-18 council person Ridley hi council person priner council person bajano Hi council person Cay hi council person Soloman hi council person Gilmore I council person River and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person de absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 23-18 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano I'm G to abstain on this one because I think we should be uh encouraging more people to take animals and everything and not increaseing fees OB staining okay council person s i council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person rera Hi and council president wman city ordinance 23-18 is adopted 701 with council person B abstaining and council person thees absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.4 city ordinance 23-19 this is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 3 traffic regulations amending section 332-5335 D9 stop intersections to convert bramall Avenue between Van Horn Street and Pacific Avenue into a one-way Street in in the westbound Direction and convert bramall Avenue and woodwood Street into an Allway stop intersection I believe at the caucus council person Ridley wanted to make a motion to carry city ordinance 23119 to the January 20 excuse me January 10th 2024 council meeting is that correct correct okay so the motion to carry city ordinance 23-19 to the January 10th 2024 meeting was made by council person Ridley may I have a second second second seconded by council person CLE on the motion to carry city ordinance 23119 to the January 10 2024 council meeting council person Ridley uh I just want to say uh as was discussed in the Caucus meeting there are uh some residents that reached out to the ward F office in regards to changing the street um we are having a meeting the first week in January there's some residents that don't necessarily live on Bram hole but live in the immediate area who' like to weigh in so we're bringing the residents of bramall as this was a request from residents of bramall uh along with other residents in the area to have a meeting and then uh we'll revisit this at the January meeting after that community meeting you GNA have a community meeting yeah I'll give you the information Le thank you I appreciate with that I vot I thank you council person Prince AR hi council person bajano Hi council person CLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person rera Hi and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person Dees absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.5 city ordinance 23-12 0 is an ordinate supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic Article 2 traffic regulations mending section 332-9331 120 was made by council president Waterman seconded and a close second by council person CLE on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23-1 120 council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano Hi council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rea hi and council president wman motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23120 is approved 80 with council person de absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 23-1 120 council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi council person buano Hi council person CLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person rera Hi and council president Waterman City wardin 23-1 120 is adopted 80 with council person Dees absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.6 city ordinance 23-1 121 it's an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article three parking standing and stopping amending section 332-22 parking prohibited at all times and section 33231 parking restrictions for street cleaning purposes on Bennett Street between igy Avenue and clar Avenue this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion second motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23121 was made by council person rera seconded by council person CLE on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 23121 council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano I council person s i council person person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 8 Z with council person Dees absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 121 council person Ridley I council person priner just want to thank our Traffic Division um for doing the study to reopen parking on Bennett street once we learned that it technically the ordinance was closed on both sides so for getting some much needed parking in the area I vote I thank you council person bajano I council person CLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person rera I and council president wman city ordinance 23-1 121 is adopted 80 with council person de absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.7 city ordinance 23122 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 3 parking standing and stopping amending section 33231 parking restrictions for street cleaning purposes on Central Avenue between Route 139 and Newark Avenue this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion second motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 23122 was made by Council person SLE seconded by council person Solomon on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 23122 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano I council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rivera I and council president Waterman motion carries 80 with council person Dees absent for final consider ation and Adoption of city ordinance 23122 council person Ridley hi council person priner council person bajano Hi council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person rera Hi and council president Waterman city ordinance 23-1 122 is adopted 80 with council person de absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.8 City ordinance 23-1 123 is a franchise ordinance granting permission to theall Patel and jashi manip pursuant to resolution of the planning board of the city of Jersey City under case P22 d199 allowing the installation of Stoops bay windows and planting Beds which encroach and extend into the right of way beyond the boundary lines of lot 33 block 8502 and are the benefit of lot excuse me 33 block 8502 land now and formerly of Deval Patel and Jess Rishi manp and commonly known as 352 pavon Avenue Jersey City New Jersey this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23123 was made by council person s second second second was made by council person Solomon on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 23-1 123 council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano Hi council person SLE hi council person person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rivera I and council president wman ocean carries 80 with council person de absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 23- 123 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person buano stain on it because I don't know if the people in the and hear you council person I'm going to abstain on this thank you council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore no council person Riva I and council president wman okay city ordinance 23-1 123 is approved 611 with council person Gilmore voting no and council person bajano abstaining and council person Dees absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.9 city ordinance 23-14 is an ordinance of the municipal Council of the city of Jersey City adopting amendments to the Newport and harer Cove station Redevelopment plans this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion second so motion was made by council person Rivera I'm GNA give it was a really close motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23-1 124 and seconded by council president wman on a motion to close the public hearing council person Ridley I council person priner I council person Bano hi council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person r hi and council president Waterman motion carries 80 with council person the G absent as stated at the Caucus meeting council members and attached to the ordinance online for everybody who's watching at home and everybody who is on their cell phone that can pull up the ordinance there are there is an attachment that has the Redevelopment plan that has amendments to it um I did take the um mercy of numbering the plan so on page 12 anything you see in green highlight is the Amendments that are going to take place on the Redevelopment plan so it on the first page page 12 on the top it said at all times on page 13 only in southern residential area on page 19 striking out helicopters subject to the requirement enumerated in section 6A above helicopt hel helops for tourism is prohibited and page 22 um High highlighted in green hell stops is stri stricken out this is all stricken out of the um Redevelopment plan subject to the requirement if enumerated in section 6A above hell stops for tourism is prohibited did I cover all the Amendments council person Solomon you did yes okay so on that before we make the motion to amend I'm just going to ask Corporation counsel is any of those amendments a substantial change to the ordinance no not substantial on that may I have a motion to amend city ordinance 23-24 second I'm going to give the motion to council person Solomon it was close but I will give the second to council person CLE on a motion to amend city ordinance 23-14 council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano I council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rea hi and council president wman City motion to amend ordinance 23-14 is approved 80 with council person Dees absent for final in consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 23-24 as amended council person Ridley I council person Prince council person bajano Hi council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rivera hi and council president wman city ordinance 23-24 is adopted 80 as amended with council person Dees absent on to our last second reading ordinance item 4.10 city ordinance 23-1 125 is an ordinance to cancel fourth quarter omitted added assessment for the 2019 real estate state tax year on block 21401 Lot 29 block 5906 lot 14 block 17803 lot 6 block two block 23001 Lots 32.1 block 29 601 lot 38 Block 14 905 lot 34 and block 30101 lot 26 on the official tax map of the city of Jersey City due to erroneous assessments this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion second motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23-1 125 was made by council person Riva seconded by council person CLE on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 23-25 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person Cay I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person rera I and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person the J absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 23-1 125 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person CLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person rera I and council president wman city ordinance 23-1 125 is adopted 80 with council person the G absent before we move on to our public speaking portion of the meeting council person SLE can I catch you up on the introduction vote on first reading yes ordinances items 3.1 through 3.3 yep and you are voting yes yes sir I'm voting yes okay so just to recap the vote on ordinances 3.1 through 3.3 official vote now is 80 they're all introduced 80 with council person de absent okay council members as discussed at the caucus before we move on to our public speakers we have two orders of business and I believe we're going to remove two ordinances I'm sorry if I'm not speaking to the mic two ordinances from the tabled agenda just let me read them okay got them so we need a motion to remove item 11.3 City ward ordinance 23- 017 from the tabled agenda we're going to take them one at a time I'll read it into the record it's an ordinance it's ordinance number 23- 017 an ordinance amending Chapter 3 of the Jersey city code administration of government article 10 Department of Housing Economic Development and commerce assigning enforcement LED has a control assistance act to the division of housing preservation may I have a motion to remove item 11.3 City ordinance 23- 07 from the tabled agenda motion second motion made by council person priner oh sorry back Sean you know what you're back that's right that's right I gotta get used to that voice you slip me up all right hopefully it doesn't happen again and the second was made by council person Cay yeah okay I did get that right on the motion to remove item three uh excuse me 11.3 city ordinance 23- 017 from the tabled agenda council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person Dees absent for final consideration and adoption of city ordinance 23- 017 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person CLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rea hi and council president Waterman city ordinance 23- 017 is adopted 80 with council person de absent in case anyone was wondering City warden in 23 day 017 was tabled after the close of the public hearing just like the next one was tabled after the close so that's why we're not holding public hearings on this because it was already done at a previous meeting okay council members next item is item 11.4 city ordinance 23- 018 it's an ordinance supplementing chapter 160 fees and charges section one fee schedule established subsection 10 chapter 254 Property Maintenance establishing a fee for lead base Hazard inspection of residential units pursu to pamphlet LW 2021 C 182 and amending chapter 254 Property Maintenance to include the registration of properties for compliance under the lad Hazard control assistance act council members I need a motion to remove item 11.4 city ordinance 23-18 from the tabled agenda motion motion made by council person Ridley may have a second second in I'm going to give the close second to council person Prince Ary even though council person cay was louder on the motion to remove item 11.4 city ordinance 23-1 018 from the table agenda council person Ridley I council person priner Hi council person bajano council person CLE hi Council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Rivera I and council president wman motion carries 8 Zer council person de abson so as discussed at the caucus we are looking to amend ordinance 23- 018 and it's on page two which is attached to the ordinance it is titled amend Amendment um it's in under section 4 of chapter 254 Property Maintenance section 4 inspections made for lead based hazards a inspection fee payable to property owner in the amount and with striking out and adding $250 so I'm going to ask our first assistant Corporation councel if this is a substantial change it is a substantial change so council members we're going to amend it first and will'll give you instructions on what we're going to do after we amend the ordinance so council members as discussed at the caucus I need a motion to amend city ordinance 23- 018 to include the change the fee from 200 to $2 motion I'm G to give that motion to council person Rivera I'm G to give a quick second to the council president Waterman to be fair on the motion to amend City ordinance 23- 018 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person Cay hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion to amend city ordinance 23- 018 is approved 80 with council person Dees absent so council members since this amendment is a substantial change I need a motion to reintroduce city ordinance 23- 018 for a public hearing to be held on January 10th 2024 council person Ridley I excuse me on the motion I motion sorry I'm I'm moving fast so I'm gonna give the second to council person Ridley since she was ready to say I right away on the motion to reintroduce ordinance 23 day 018 council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano council person SLE I council person Salomon hi council person Gilmore I council person rera Hi and council president Warman the motion carries 80 with council person Dej absent so on the vote of introduction of city ordinance 23-18 just procedural council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi council person Bano council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Riva hi and council president wman city ordinance 23- 018 is introduced 80 with the amendment and council person Dees absent before we move on to our public speakers another order of business I know council person Gilmore has to leave us so before he does I just want I'm heing moans over there before he does I just want to take his vote on the claims and addendums number one two and three I and I'm going to take you slowly but surely through our resolutions items 10.1 through 10.13 again item 10.1 through 10.13 I okay items 10.14 through 10.23 10.14 to 10.23 I I'm losing my place next item 10.24 through 10.34 item 10.24 to 10.34 I sorry I thought we were keeping him until 11:30 he didn't hear that and lastly items 10.35 through 10 42 which was the late item that was added council person the late item is that's green I mean Garden State correct no no no no no the the late item is the resolution resending resolution 23-8 okay appointing jennif for more as a member of the Jersey City Redevelopment agency okay um I'm going to up stain on on 38 um I didn't I didn't receive the memo um I thought it was sent yesterday I didn't check today um so I'm gonna abstain on that and then I'll vote no on 40 um I do appreciate um Finance director uh sending us a breakdown um although I would like to see um a more detailed breakdown I do see it's 1,100 118 properties for excess of 20, 500,000 I would have really liked to see the beginning amount with we assessed it at versus what it was ultimately supposed to be assessed at I think ultimately we have to to get in front of this to make sure we're not going before the board with so many cases um so in light of that I'll vote no on that I'll up stain on 38 and I on arest thank you so much council person Gilmore you are now dismissed all right again another little hiccup before we move on to public speakers I just want to get my signature on this important resolution to Timmy Tim Lawrence so if you want to come up and get the resolution from the council do you guys want to take a quick picture we're going to take a quick picture Tim c c councilman Rivera said you can be released before 11:30 so that's why we're giving you the reso now yeah congratulations again Tim okay ladies and gentlemen it's that time we're going to move on to our public speaking portion of the meeting please be reminded I'll be calling the agenda number and your first name so with that being said our first public speaker 5.1 l okay what we need to do is we got to pay more focus on our housing in Jersey City special affordable housing I'm very proud of the council that approved the Web building as the Housing Authority takeover and the people up there are very happy they cleaned it up they locked the door they can sleep at night that people are not uh trying to sneak into their building so to that I say thank you for that and the other thing is we got to do something more about our mental health there's some kids today 12 years old I don't know who keeps selling them them Viper cigarettes but they were off the chain up and down the Avenue and fighting and some little boy got shot on Union in Aron the other morning it's a disgrace what's going on in this city and with all this development and new buildings going on but who is really watching the storefront and we need to focus on our young people and in the school like this year I'm not doing a toy drive with my money and what I raise I'm taking the kids gting back the Chuck-E-Cheese do something that they can enjoy and take them off of the Street cuz right now our babies are losing it when I had my camp this summer and seeing these kids I had it for two months and our kids can't read write spell and S what's going on and it's not enough after school programs cuz enough mothers are not really focusing and we need to get a better connection with a parent in school you because because when I was in 22 school I couldn't acto my mother came over there and she would whoop me in front of the class I know we not allow to hit kids no more and that's why they act crazy but we need to get a better parent and teacher relationship for the because it's a lot of single parent homes that man sitting up there he watched me as a young lady coming up he made sure I walked in straight an hour away the coun boiani that's why I'm proud of him you know we we we don't have that no more it's no communication no more with the police the fire department or none of that we need to focus on these young people people please and housing I thank you have a blessed night thank you thank you our next speaker 5.2 Tina guys first of all I want to congratulate all of y'all for not changing the streets I heard it about the new good news what y'all did Miss Denise so I like to thank y'all for that and um second of all what Miss Denise um what um Miss L was saying that's actually true um I thank God that we did get control of the well building because her name exactly on it and I do live on it in the building and it is a different change of it and that's what I mean as leaders that's the stuff that we have to take care of before it get bad like that it should have never got that bad as us being in the community we should have known that and tooken good care of that um also I want to say that um I want to run if I ran for election I would run for nonprofit in community because nonprofit really suck like we don't get no type of help and I started just letting the nonprofits just start coming out and just letting y'all know we we are out here in the community and we should be able to find a spot that nonprofits is able to go in and to be in to be help the community a lot and Sean I'd like to thank you and your family for doing that for me I really appreciate you and your wife Miss niece I'd like to thank you for calling for my son cuz this was a depressing month right here because I've been helping the community and nobody was thinking about me and my son and I really appreciate that because I didn't know where way to go for my child either so that's what I talk about as us reaching out and helping us cuz this is all our community this is not mine I was born in Alabama Birmingham my bathroom was outside I didn't have a bathroom like here in the city part like that so for me to the love and the help the community I believe all us should come together and do the same thing we we say Jersey City is on the map then let's really put it on the map because we not on the map we may believe M map we in fantasy like we on that fake fake thing no we got to make sure we really do the right thing guys so guys I just want y'all to all come together and just try to help all the nonprofits out there if you see a space for us just come together and just help us and let's continue to brighten up our community and justice for Drew we'll never forget that name we are always carry that in our community and enjoy your holiday guys thank you thank you Tina our next speaker 5.3 Edward uh I'll begin with the ceasefire uh so 305 the resolution was defeated right and so my first response was this body is weak you know it's weak and um it's a shame so I did want to take some time to say that on record Miss Denise you weren't here to be a part of that vote I do wonder how you would have vote but um I do want to say that this is America right this is New Jersey Jersey City the Hudson river is right here we're directly across from New York City all of our relationship with immigration and people who migrate here from around the world all of our relationship is actually colorful right and although we concentrate on what happened on October 7th you'll know with this age that we live in now information is brought to us so fast that the people of Palestine have been living the people in the West Bank have been living living under occupation since before October 7th right and a ceasefire now would do justice for both sides the images that we get from war are so much different the time that we live in now it's not back in the day through radio right or through just newspaper and then television but social media it does something to your psyche to see it it does and a ceasefire resolution is just that it shows where we stand it it this you got and under your leadership city council president I just feel like if I was sitting in your seat that would be first order of business I mean it's your prerogative to vote how you want to vote but it's just more than important it's just more than important and back to my community a CCB you've seen what happened in the state house let me tell you I'm going to be down here every meeting because it's a 5e pilot but it's for it's 120 days so thank you Miss mcnight but it's 120 days that internal Internal Affairs will have to review the Injustice or if we say it's an injustice 120 days before we can get to our business how do you expect the community to be comfortable with that if you're trying to build a new relationship with community and uh Public Safety and community policing how can our board really have any um power and be trustworthy how can we bring that back to our community that's not acceptable it's not acceptable it's not acceptable thank you thank you have a nice holiday our next speaker 5.4 Carrie good evening happy holidays every body I'm here to uh address the situation on Clinton Avenue between JFK and Westside I came before to a couple weeks ago to gripe about um the trash problem on Clinton Avenue and the tra the same trash is still there from the last couple of weeks it hasn't moved um approximately one tank of gas of an SUV to drive up and down our roads probably cost about 70 bucks to $100 I'm approximating that is what it would cost to hire somebody on a part-time basis to come with some trash bags some brooms to clean up our road simply I can't imagine what it would cost in order to do this we are asking for extra help extra boost on the ground because this is a very heavily foot traffic block we have as much foot traffic as JFK we have as much foot traffic as Westside there are people on our block 247 and there's lots of litter on our block it seems like a very fixable problem to address to clean the streets and to have someone come by on a very part-time basis just to do this please help us out thank you very much appreciate your time thank you thank you our next speaker 5.5 Daniel uh good evening uh council members and happy holidays to all of you um councilman Solomon what is your reason for not following the same procedures for the resident res of Wayne Street that councilman councilwoman Ridley provided to the residents of bra bramall street changes he doesn't answer back just SCH okay thank you where are the 90% of residents are in favor of this change I haven't seen anyone in the last two Council meetings you stated at the October 23rd Caucus meeting that you spoke to the van Bor Association yet a high-ranking member of that Association confirmed you never spoke at any of the meetings and only sent an email to the general email box the main issue is between the days of Tuesday through Thursday which is a current work schedule and hours of 4 P p.m. to 5:30 p.m. is when there are anywhere from 100 to 200 vehicles coming out of the garage at 95 Columbus mostly at the same time you can put this issue anywhere in the world and it will create traffic Havoc you can have a case study on this issue and it will demonstrate that it is too many vehicles for such an area making way street a two-way street is not not going to accomplish anything but create more traffic and more importantly more public safety issues 95 Columbus has been there since 1986 why after 37 years is this an issue now councilman San are you going to accommodate the outou of Towners that are only in our area 144 days a year or or and who want to get home quicker or you going to be with the residents in your ward that voted you in pay taxes and are here 365 the best solution of 95 Columbus in their problem is what my neighbor suggested have the building pay for an off-duty cop to the direct traffic for them to get out again this is not the resident problem it's 95 Columbus problem thank you thank you our next speaker 5.6 Evelyn is Evelyn here no okay next 5.7 carara good evening to the city council council president Waterman happy holidays my name is Cara albanes I'm a longtime resident of downtown Jersey City I want to thank you for voting down ordinance 23 105 the proposal to turn Wayne Street between Grove and Maron into a two-way street it doesn't sound like this was done as a result of various voices dissension in the neighborhood that think turning Wayne to way is bad uh but I was happy to hear councilman Solomon state that we we will be starting with a clean slate thank you for that it's my request that the city council and traffic and Engineering take into account the thoughts and opinions of the residents on Wayne Street the surrounding streets Safe Streets JC bike JC and the van Voris neighborhood association when assessing any future changes I've spoken here and emailed you all to express what a bad idea this is and I stand behind uh what I've said in the past any change to our streets should serve the greater good of residents making streets safer for pedestrians and bikers the parking garage and building management in 95 Columbus should figure out other ways to deal with what boils down to a personal problem and not make it a permanent problem for all residents through talking with neighbors about the proposal I learned that even on this one small Street there were a variety of concerns case in point the concerns at the West End of the Street were totally different than the concerns at the East End of the Street that I was aware of this highlights that talking to people who live on our street especially more and especially talking to people who live on streets like mine a more complex street that serves many purposes is extremely important when proposing changes to that end I ask that myself and my neighbors be kept informed of any future possible changes to our specific street thank you thank you happy holidays okay next 5.8 Natasha good evening good evening my name is Natasha Brown and I thank you for allowing me to stand before you today it's up Mike pick your mic up in 2019 I was working at an after school program and I met a young lady she was 9 years old and she told me she hated herself when I asked her why would you hate yourself at the age of nine she said she was being bullied in school for her hair at that moment my nonprofit the cuss for kids project was born because I realized if she was being bullied I'm sure there was thousands of others so in March of 2020 cut for kids was born however we were immediately shut down because covid hit so we really just got underway in 2022 I started serving with five children a week I'm now serving about 200 I'm currently working with Jersey City antiviolence Hudson partnership CMO I work out of public school number 4034 and 15 but I am so disappointed in my city I can I've taught over 20 years of my life I have fostered for 16 years of my life fostering over 40 children adopting three and I have four of my own and seven grandchildren I'm now having I don't if you ask me to write a lesson plan I can do that in less than 10 minutes but if you ask me to write a grant I'm clueless so I have leeches coming at me asking for $5,000 plus 10% of the grant $7,000 plus 10% of the Grant I also work with the senior citizens better tomorrow's heard of what I was doing and they gave me a salon at the Lafayette Village in downtown Jersey City I got so flustered about a few months ago I was telling Tina who's another person who does so much for this community who I'm to have the pleasure of knowing I just wanted to throw in a towel a 86 year old woman who lived in that subsidy housing called me and she said Natasha do you think I come get my hair done once a month because I need my hair done I come get my hair done because you and your team are other than the residents are the only people I see I was back in the senior back in that building the next week she said I only get $1,100 a month after my bills I'm left with two but I'll give you all if you come back I was back that next week of course I didn't take her money but I just feel that it should be more 90% of what I do 90% comes out of my pocket I live in housing so that lets you know where my financial status stands but I will give every dime to help these kids and these seniors I don't want a hand out I just need a little assistance some help thank you if you can thank you thank you Tasha call my office stash our next speaker 5.9 Mauna Mya here 5.9 no next 5.10 and excuse me my name is just make sure you bring the mic to you my name is Ann Harwood I'm here on be 23-15 Wayne Street and I'd like to first of all say thank you for listening to us and delaying a vote and until more work and more Studies have been done but I also felt it would be very important to point out what what a ridiculous idea this is to begin with and to that end I took some photographs because photograph is worth worth a lot um this is this is a photograph of how much 95 takes over the entire block it is one side of the street three or four garage openings there is a loading dock it completely monopolizes the street then this is just giving you an idea of what it's like this is the intersection of Wayne and Maron with one little truck parked at the end of Wayne and how it blocks now one way the street completely clogs it up and turn you can't go through and last um this is a photograph I took on December 8th at 5:30 p.m. I believe that was Friday it is not even the heaviest time for po these are people coming and going from the subway Crossing Wayne or trying to while cars are pulling out of Wayne it is a nightmare mothers with baby carriages it is crowded and my question mostly is everybody's got to wait people have to wait at the line to cross people have to wait at the end of the intersection to pull around what is the hurry that these cars exiting 95 are in that they can also wait like the rest of humanity to get out and get home we all want to get out and get home and do it safely so I just want to bring everyone's attention and the only last thing I'll mention is double lines double lines in two-way streets provide safety you cannot do that on Wayne Street thank you you our next speaker 5.11 Jim is Jim here 5.11 no next 5.12 Jordy is Jordy here next by 13 Gerald I don't see him on here 5.14 Phillip carington council president of members of the city council and to on record Gallagher my name is Phil Carrington I really came to speak today on we can't hear you Phil the improper policing and there's many forms of improper policing my issue really is improper policing Poli in in terms of the fire department I must put that on the side for clarity if council president W was wrong she know I would tell her public in front of her face that she's wrong but I think she's right not to deal with this ceasefire issue it is imbalanced and unfair why am I saying it's unfair you see the Palestinians are complaining that the Israelis in in the north are overpar them with power killing them and seizing their land well the southern south people from southern Sudan are saying the same about the Arabs in the north are doing the same exact thing you're a two- faac hypocrite to come here and only ask for a ceasefire in Palestine and ignoring the same exact behavior is is happening in Sudan you see they're also in the UN asking the same question it is hypocrisy and so this is not the place to address that issue or ask for that issue to be raised and if you are going to raise such an issue you need balance you need parity you need to be fair I can understand all of that but you you just can't ignore the facts all black people are not ignorant and the Palestinians are hypocrites because they are asking for again a ceasefire and asking to be treated properly when they are ill treating black people in Sudan they Palestinians living in Northern Sudan as white people if they're not in if they're not in a part of the the militia that's murdering black people they are living there watching it go on and so you cannot ask for ceasefire in Palestine but you're taking part of firing and slaughtering and raping black people in Sudan it is not fair secondly the number one humanitarian crisis in the world is not in Palestine yes 1.2 million people but in DRC the the I always do it right the Democratic Republic of the Congo has the largest humanitarian crisis in the world where 27 million black people are being displaced 1.2 million people in Palestine 27 I see a whole lot of trucks feeding Palestinians in not one person not one truck feeding black people in the Congo you cannot come here with ignorance get your facts before you come I'm Phil Carrington that's my viewpoint good night good night Phil you next speaker 5.15 Cameron hello my name is Cameron um from word c um so I um I I do agree it would be great if the council wanted to take a would take also take a position on some of these other issues that my neighbor was talking about us is involved in all sorts of conflicts around the world for the benefit of us corporations including San the cono and all over the world um Palestine is one of those places and um you know I mean I think in Sudan United United States are supporting one militia to support another big Power that's supporting another militia and you got to you know United States need to stop funding different militias in different countries to promote conflict I mean that's kind of everywhere needs to stop doing that um but that includes in in Palestine where sends $4 billion doar every year to support a government that is extremely right-wing fascist government um that's bombing children I was really disappointed um in the council last week um those who abstains um thank you very much to council members Gilmore and S and Bano for um taking a stand it was very important that you did that and took a lot of Courage um uh the reasons that were given I I felt were not really honest um some people said it was divisive but the language of the resolution talks about how we're in a city with so many different communities that come together and support each other's you know religions and and and faiths and and traditions and stuff like that and how we need um you know a a department or a way for people who are victims of hate crimes to reach out and and get help and stuff like that um and then the for a ceasefire to Stop The Killing how is that divisive um and I you know one council member said we had to come up with a resolution that everyone was going to agree with well one of the main people against the ceasefire was a former that leading the charge in Jersey City was a former officer in the IDF what are you talking about we have to come with a resolution that a former IDF officer is going to agree with come on it's not honest um another council member when we when we met with them I was disappointed they said well the um you know it's well actually the whole Council it's not responsibility the council take positions on International Affairs well last two years ago voted on a resolution for the us to stop sending uh weapons to Philippines so why is Palestine an exception you're you're not being consistent it's not honest um anyway I also want to talk about the ccrb um uh we need um yeah more support from the council to get a stronger ccrb maybe you can meet with uh other rep in Jersey City that haven't supported it um thank you thank you C next 5.6 Tara is Tara here okay at the heart of all conflict Global local and personal is the deeply felt human need for connection to a stable home a sense of safety from threats to one's existence its significance is recognized in article 25 of the human declaration ation of the universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in December 1948 because of human Humanity's experience of the second world war the anticipation of losing one's home that sense of safety from threats to one's existence is the most anxiety-provoking feeling a person can experience it represents the complete loss of control of one's own life and imprints a trauma onto one's psyche that trauma then becomes inherited as dysfunction in new generations and that dysfunction becomes retained as culture the exact process is true of the body politic when corrupt measures are taken to maintain control of one's seat at the table corrupt government dysfunction is retained as its culture and like trauma political dysfunction breeds a removed Silence from one's Partners I only lived in Jersey City briefly before covid lockdown started and I lost the job that afforded me the ability to move here an event unbeknownst to me at the time that was A Sort of Homecoming I was born and raised in New Jersey but all I knew of Jersey City growing up was that if a great-grandparent was not born in Ireland or Germany they were born at Margaret ha and now having had ample time during lockdown to find new hobbies and research Family Ties to Jersey City I've come to know more about my family through Reading historical articles published in the Jersey Journal than I ever have through the words of my relatives they are quiet people I can no longer turn a corner in Jersey City without confronting family history like the time three years ago to this very day when I was on Van VOR waiting cross Grand in front the firehouse a group of firefighters in their class A uniforms Gathering behind me I thought to turn to ask them if they knew my cousins my mother's cousin Tim but I stopped myself having inherited an aversion to talking only to discover later that night that first Battalion Company 2 was gathering for the memorial procession to fer statue in Lincoln Park to commemorate the passing of deputy chief firefighter Tim Carney my mom's cousin's son my mom's cousin she did not know well because her her father and his brother Joe Carney Jersey City police Sergeant did not speak much when I asked my why my mother said she did not know my suspicion is that they grew distant having witnessed Horrors too great to speak as veterans of World War II it would have been so much more meaningful to converse with members of our fire department that day to learn more about my grandfather's firefighting nephews Joe Jim Tom and Tim still as the JC Fates have it I have ample opportunity to speak with them given that I live at 70 green an equity residential property that Jersey City Fire Department visits on average 30 days a year responding to catastrophic flooding events failed elevators and malfunctioning fire alert systems Equity residential Logan thank you thank you next speaker 5.7 Kevin good evening council members seems we find ourselves at a difficult Crossroads yet again regarding the enforcement of run control at Portside Towers on October 19th the rent leveling board got it right their unanimous decision affirmed that Portside Towers has always been subject to rent control however the recent letter from the Bureau of rent leveling from Jonah nol dated November 27th significantly contradicts key aspects of the board's binding decision it ignored the board mandated six-year look back period for rent rate recalculations from dates of our first petitions it erroneously asserts if not advocates for equities qualifying for certain increases which are not allowable under the law essentially the bureau's guidance dismisses material components of the board's determination despite it being the prevailing legal directive in this matter this is deeply troubling on multiple levels s first the board's ruling carries the weight of law for the bureau to now attempt to contravene critical enforcement mandates is a violation of due process and Regulatory procedures second this disregard for authoritative judicial directives that emerged from months of rigorous proceedings severely undermines public trust and last for wronged tenants awaiting rebates such post- ruling misrepresentations cruy deny them anticipated Relief by elongating proceedings Justice delayed is Justice denied so where do we go from here we have continually demonstrated willingness to collaborate towards Equitable Solutions evidenced by over a year of speeches here before you even while formal rent petitions remain stalled but we will not settle for partial Justice or backtracking of hardwon progress the board's ruling remains judiciously judicially judiciously sound and legally enforcable the subsequent Bureau guidance must strictly adhere to the determinations mayor phlip you are still on the hook if the ordinance is not enforced you are one difficult guide to try to help not get into legal trouble please direct all agencies to execute the existing ruling as mandated our legal team is hard at work on this matter fix this before it's too late when I first met mayor FIP in person I told him I would help him to become significantly more famous but he would get to decide what he would become famous for based on what he would do or not do a camera crew from a top five national news Outlet will be on site in Jersey City before Christmas so the world may know exactly what is going on now we may all be famous for what we have done or not done to the politicians who have my number call me thank you next speaker 5.8 Jessica hello Jessica Rulo it's good to be here I was sad to miss the last few meetings and it's good to see you all oh okay um I'd like to thank the red leveling board for their correct finding I'd also like to acknowledge the diminished seating in the room this evening the silences of the silencing of peaceful voices regardless of whether I agree is never okay and is anti-democratic the tenants of Jersey City have been dealing with ongoing censorship from the administration I understand the need for safety but I hope to see the seats returned in the near future to encourage ongoing healthy social discourse speaking of censorship it's amazing to acknowledge major May mayor Philip's continued failure to respond to the mistreatment of his constituents by large corporations here we are again away from our families in Philip's office speaking in the loud echo of his absence and Under The Cloud of his apparent ongoing censorship our ask to you council is to stay true to your word we followed the administrative process we got the right finding ensure that the laws of Jersey City are enforced and your constituents are protected thank you our next speaker 5.19 Gracie good evening evening my name is Gracie JY and I'm a tenant residing at Portside Towers East I was present at the October 19th rent leveling Board hearing when the Commissioners voted unanimously that my building was was never exempt from rent control it was both 100% the right outcome and a significant relief for me and my neighbors so why am I here it's not to tell you that my building is now rent controlled that's now obvious I'm here because of something that's very wrong related to my rent control building is happening my landlord my professional landlord is ignoring the outcome of the unanimous vote since the rent leveling board's decision was disseminated earlier this month my landlord is continuing to raise rents we all know it has no right to do this it is flaunting the non- enforcement of chapter 260 my one important important point tonight is to make sure you remain informed that my landlord is still acting as if my building has an exemption from rent control my fellow Neighbors in Portside East are continuing to receive new leases with rent increases upwards of 40% everyone in this room is smart enough to know this is wrong use your powers to to correct this thank you for understanding and for also enforcing your law I appreciate your time and look to you to protect your voters thank you thank you our next speaker 5.20 Tim hi good evening uh dear councilman dear councilwoman my name is Tim ja uh I'm the resident of 155 Washington Street Jersey City AKA pide Towers East Tower I'm here with my uh beautiful neighbors uh we here together again um I want to thank you for all the hard work and thank everybody here for all the hard work for this 2023 has been a long year um I myself also had a long day I didn't have dinner I have three kids at home that they waiting for me but I decided to come right have to work to hear uh because I want to stand with my neighbors um also fact I was in the October 29's uh rent level leveling Board hearing we got a good news we got a Justice um in terms of the determination fact also uh I was here last uh last time too on uh on the on the public speaking session uh we asking for help because we have not heard any formal in any any type of constructive Communications any actions from Equity residentials yet uh no actions to correct the course so here I am today again I think nothing has been done yet and in our life in Times when nothing has been done it's okay but here every day there are harm being done for not correcting the course um I think here you see this this crowd will get will grow bigger because every day there's harm being done uh if we do not enforce uh the laws if we do not enforce the determination thank you our next speaker 5.21 Mark good evening city council I'm Mark Bo you know I always wear a stealth shirt so you can't really see me um I live remarkably in Portside Towers two weeks ago I reminded this Council that city ordinance 28-1 section A requires Portside Towers to have uniform security patrols I also asked how this ordinance should be enforced no answers were forthcoming from this Council I asked the Department of Public Safety of Jersey City this question and the department wrote back and said that the Jersey City police department is responsible for enforcing all Jersey city ordinances I asked this Council whether is the correct approach if so is there a particular person or group to contact in the jcpd or should I call 911 and ask for help in the same vein city ordinance 07153 section 7 Clause e requires Portside Towers to close and chain the vehicle Access Lane to the southernmost portion of Washington Street every night from 8:00 p.m. through 800 a.m. the next morning yet this has not been done in the three years I have lived at Portside it's important to protect our neighborhood many of us have witnessed what could be drug transactions with cars parked in opposite directions at the secluded end of Washington Street and the drivers conversing how is this required chaining of the southern end of Washington Street mandated by city ordinance 07153 section 7e enforced by the Jersey City police department if so is there a contact or should I dial 911 to get the street chained every night and finally the same ordinance 07153 section 7 Clauses A and B specify the parking allowed in this area since this is a quote public park unquote but is owned by Portside towers does the Jersey City Parking Authority have jurisdiction or is this the responsibility of Portside Towers if the latter how can we gain compliance with the ordinance involve the jcpd again via the 911 service thank you our next speaker 5.22 Sylvia dear council members my name is Sylvia Meer I have been here before and discussed our issues with our landlord Equity many times tonight won't be different in spite of the decision made by the rent leveling board end of October we have yet to see any reduction in our rent our landlord has remained mostly silent about this event rent renewal proposals have been sent with illegal increases again and our monthly rents remain at least ,000 above legal ratees in addition we are still suffering from mediocre maintenance services and the building is in a state that has been described by many as worrisome mold is being painted off not removed water infiltrations disregarded basic fix requests ignored for months or judged irrelevant many of my neighbors have paid with their own money to fix buildings and apartment issues including filthy carpets repainting walls buying space heaters because the wall units do not function properly Etc I recently paid $800 for an external auditor to check the state of my apartment and Order mandatory improvements to be done without this investment all my concerns would have been again dismissed a Equity is not a landlord I would recommend to anyone they disregard the law modify official paperwork include closes in their contracts that are plain illegal dismiss any health and safety concerns we have constantly tried to bring up to their attention and so on they lie they cannot be trusted so we hope that you will join us in our fight for justice in our fight for our basic right to have fair and healthy housing and by doing so that we will encourage others to step up and fight their own slum Lords because no matter where you live greed and immorality can take many appearances often times they even dress in suits thank you next speaker 5.23 Judith Judith Fury Rogers 100 Montgomery apartment 3A senior citizen white lady 100 Montgomery's property management is s HP Management Corp urban renewal limited AK a the Montgomery AKA pH residential the property management and and the Montgomery are owned by the same family in Maine they also own seven other affordable New Jersey housing units listed on the property Management's website the property management brag about 7,000 units of affordable housing and that they are Rec recognized leaders in the affordable housing multicult multifam Housing Industry this 100 Montgomery Property Management list the Montgomery on their website as affordable housing they offer new tenants parking they offer new tenants refurbished units with new appliances why does this matter why did I tell you I was white the Montgomery is not listed with the Jersey City division of affordable housing why this building must be funded by the federal government if they offer affordable units they are discriminating against African Americans and Hispanics I am part of this group parking is not available for us and old units are ignored and maintained to qualify for the Montgomery it's a secret restrictions May apply they are discussed during your physical site visit how to apply visit the Montgomery office why this is a disgrace this owner and management company is using Federal funding to rebuild departments discriminating against minorities they hire inspectors to work on their payroll there are about 30 new units available apply if they are not advertised and rented to working africanamerican and Hispanic residents not out of town people I will file a new a discrimination lawsuit against Jersey City and the Montgomery thank you next speaker 5.24 Ashley she's not here thank you next speaker 5.25 Suzanne good evening Council last night I discovered someone stole our doormat that read happy Christmas it lasted 3 days outside our door I found it very sad that someone would not only steal but something that read happy Christmas a time for gratitude love and giving to others for many I realize that I should not be surprised because sadly there are a lot of people in this world who will take what is theirs um for their own benefit this is exactly what the city and Equity have done and continue to do to us as you are aware we have yet to see action on behalf of equity in terms of rent adjustments new leases and repayment since our October 19th win what I have seen is still the Relentless support of the landlord by by the city and delaying their action to enforce rent control even though the determination barely clearly stated the city's acknowledgement that the tenants won and in the end more stealing and the enactment of wrongdoing continues to occur by the city additionally illegal rent increases are still being offered to existing and new tenants what does this city stand for have you decided to investigate any of the city's willful wrongdoing I was here with all these people last Christmas the city chose not to enforce its own ordinance 260 and now that we have one on paper there are still Shady actions being taken by the city to delay Justice furthermore our questioning and concerns over our rubs bills and conservice are growing many of us saw our November Bill triple versus our previous months I have to pay $63 just for sewer with a total for sewer water and trash of $163 we suspect that we are paying for all repairs made by equity on the building that have affected our water sewer and trash consumption to what end is there that equity in any big landlord stops abusing its tenants and willfully stealing from them and to what end does a city decide to support its tenants for all we will discover landlords are in bed with con service and the water system operating franchise I would like to know from the lawyers present if there is any ceiling in a rent control building for water trash and Sewer charges I would also appreciate an update on when the city will enforce the 10 the October 19 determination run control is retroactively in effect since each building was constructed when will the city demand our landlord turn over our leases which is standard after a board determination it's standard in Hoboken it's standard in Woodbridge and yet it's willfully neglected again in Jersey City for 25 years our landlord acted as if they had had an exemption and they do not and never have and never will when will the city ACC act according to the board determinations if there's any update that can be provided I have 16 seconds thanks for doing your job you next speaker 5.26 Carol uh good evening I'm Carol Cho my resident of Portside Towers I'm I'm back again and I'd like to discuss the ongoing challenges we're encountering despite our recent legal Victory unfortunately our landlords at Equity are still not complying with the law the board ruling in our favor should have resulted in a reduction in rent aligning with the rules of rent control however we find ourselves still grappling with non-compliance exemplified by a new lease I received that fails to reflect the reduced rate and instead it carries an increase above the stipulations of rent control we were instructed to finish the administrative process and we did we got the board's ruling but when will the city enforce the board determinations this situation highlights to me a broader issue the imperative for Vigilant oversight and accountability to ensure that the victories we secure on paper translate into reality this is about more than just rent control it's about us wanting a stable home a stable home is more than just a physical space it's the heartbeat of our community it's where we find Solace after a long day build memories with loved ones and experience peace and security but what happens when that stability is threatened when people of all ages face constant uncertainty about their living situation this is a reality confronting many in our community and it profound and it profoundly impacts the emotional and mental wealth beinging of all people especially that of our children how having a stable home goes beyond four walls in a roof it's about the security it provides the foundation for our families and the peace of mind it offers it's not merely a place to sleep but a space to grow dream and feel safe studies consistently demonstrate the link between stable housing and positive mental health outcomes across all age groups whether it's a young adult building a career a retiree seeking Tranquility or a young family raising children which research shows that frequent moves during childhood may have long-term consequences influencing mental health outcomes in adulthood it should be not surprising that a stable home is the foundation for emotional wellbeing let's broaden our perspective and recognize that prior prioritizing rent control and stable housing is an investment in the mental health of our entire community and people of all ages each of us deserve a space where we feel secure supported and connected we have the ability to create a community where stability isn't a luxury but a shared value thank you our next Speaker 5.27 John John John St here how about Mel okay hi there um so it's the end of the year when many people look back on the highlights and low lights of the last year as some Reflections um some of the speakers coming after me are going to use this this same theme I think so highlights uh number one hearing the hearing on October 19th the rent leveling board unanimously ruling in our favor of the Portside tenants we're be ungrateful for them and can't thank them enough fantastic number two uh no sorry that's the end of the highlights um to so to the low lights um we had one win with that's great fantastic um everything else that we brought before this Council this year no progress um pretty much it's not your job you can't do anything about it even the rent leveling board piece when we first came here with the legal rent increases we were told to go through the judicial system with no you know real support uh we did that um the group behind me in particular uh work their butts off to to get everything together the legal Team all the rest of it we got a successful outcome but we do need your help we still need you to look into other things that haven't happened the St of our buildings the cost we're paying for everything else that comes under um equity's uh responsibilities where they can just charge us whatever they want whenever they want and it's just never ending uh we now have this ruling and they're able to ignore it no one is telling them to change our rent our current leases or even the refunds that we're supposed to be getting um nothing they just carry on as usuals if these rules don't exist and the ruling never happened so we need your intervention we need your investigation you told us that you can investigate when something is not going as it's supposed to be well this is not happening um similarly with the the director of the I forget the his title Pastor Richardson he still hasn't done a single thing since he entered office as far as we can tell um we've had no response from him in nearly a year now uh we we're kind of past that it may be irrelevant but he's still in a job he's still supposed to be doing something I suppose um so yeah so we really we really want you to to really come and help us out here you know as we've said many many times uh 72% of your constituents are are renters um we vote we know there's a maral election coming up um we we love to see where you stand and we'd like to see you supporting us and helping us so that next year one we maybe don't have to come here quite so often um but we have some more highlights thank you and next speaker 5.29 Sonia good evening council members I'm Sonia kishna indeed it was for me the highlight of the year when in Fall the rent leveling Board of Jersey City unanimously determined and confirmed in writing that I quote both buildings and all units there are and have been for the duration of their occupancy subject to rent control finally we had some positive feeling ings like Joy a sense of accomplishment we just had one Justice for not only us P Port Siders but the city of Jersey City maybe even our state New Jersey maybe even the US and trust trust that truth wins that laws are worth more than the paper they are written on and yes trust in the city Administration and its execution of democratic principles a smart person I don't know who exactly once said it takes years to build trust only seconds to destroy it and forever to repair it and I'm honestly wondering which phase we're in right now before I attempt an answer council members I'd like to ask you how you feel in this whole process I want to ask you what you have learned about trust I would like to know whom you trust a mayor who is is running for governor of one of the most prosperous States in this country but to this state censors unwelcome comments on his constituents on social media the multi-million billion dollar firm who some of you sat at the table with at the Jersey City Summit for real estate investment in May 2023 but who now sues the city because they had relied on the rent control exemption which was by the way still not not produced to this state and the fact that the city directly benefited from the exempt rents that portes charged quoted from the lawsuit it looks like not only our trust was destroyed but also the long build trust between equity and the city but back to the outstanding answers I'd say we're in phase three sadly in October the city administration ensured US that both of our to have always been rent controlled and that we have to get new leases they are not here trust was destroyed and now hopefully you take the chance to rebuild it it is in your hands still and secondly to whom you trust I would not dare to speak in your name but I'm telling you once again that you can trust us we will not go anywhere we will fight for justice for all in Jersey City and we will take this to any instant that is needed to get our rights executed this is how quickly a highlight can turn into a low light it's sad our next speaker 5.30 denilla good evening um I can only second what my fellow speakers said about this year some true highlights and sadly many low lights when it comes to rent control one obvious Li highlight the rlb termination from October 19th uh the board came to the only possible conclusion that 1001 and 155 Washington have always been subject to hand control the other big highlight for me is the community we formed Sonia talked about trust these are the people I can trust isn't that a great feeling I can only hope that you you whether in the city government can have such a feeling of trust too especially in recent weeks after the RB decision some might have thought our group will quickly dissolve but the opposite is the case we see it through and are getting stronger and stronger by the day and the reason for being for getting stronger and having to continue leads directly to the low lights of the year uh the rlb has altered the decision from 1019 in favor of our multibillion land World Twice The Bureau did not follow through with the determination that was done in terms of roll back when the Woodbridge Board determined something similar they immediately demanding 19 years of lease roll back Jersey City wants to look back only six how does that make sense when the decision is that the bu buildings were always under rent control the due date for Equity to provide new leases with legal rents was December 6 to this day we didn't get any adjusted leases why hasn't Jersey City demanded any leases or rent Los rent roles almost two months after the ruling Equity continues to issue brand new leases as well as renewals with illegal rents people are continuing to be to be harmed what about the renters who try to stay but struggle financially they are desperately waiting for the correct rental rates and if we know one thing by now we can be sure Equity will not do that without Force the administrative process is finished we have the board ruling what is holding you back now when will the city demand new reles when will the city enforce the board's determination and once more where is our mayor he claims that fair and affordable housing is on the top of his agenda if he becomes NJ Governor how will that work if he cannot take care of that in this city and last but not least he is still censoring social media when will you will you do something about that thank you our next speaker 5.31 Erin uh good evening council members my name is Aon Kent tonight is quieter and calmer than expected but I'm going to start off by reading something called the Audra Lord questionnaire to oneself created by writer Divia Victor I think it's still appropriate for tonight as people in this room recently have been contemplating injustices both both large and small Global and local grossly and corruptly systemic and supposedly isolated and accidental the questionnaire number one what are the words you do not have yet or for what do you not have words yet number two what do you need to say list as many things as necessary number three what are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own until you will sicken and die of them still in silence list as many as necessary today that write a new list tomorrow and the day after number four if we have been socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition ask yourself what's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth so answer this today and every day and lucky you I'm going to take you through this exercise number one for what do you not have words yet actually the words do exist non-compliance non- enforcement Consumer Fraud Injustice corruption number two what do you need to say list as many things as necessary 20 or so people tonight 12 plus months so far 300 plus City Hall speeches to date 2500 hours of volunteer labor number three what are the tyrannies you swallow day by day that these numbers which also include one historic rent leveling Board hearing win and one is all we need determining that both towers are and always have been subject to rent control that these numbers are truth they are fact and yet Equity residential continues to blate ly disregard them that Jersey City hasn't demanded any leases or rent rolls almost 2 months after this ruling that we still are receiving renewal offers far above rent control limits that we still haven't received new leases or refunds for overpayment that our landlord to add insult to injury fails to deliver and maintain basic Services putting our well-being and safety at risk number four what's the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth is it being ignored it hasn't worked yet is it being threatened we aren't going away is it being told we are insignificant yes Equity is huge and we are small and seemingly inconsequential in comparison but as a whole we are larger than the sum of our parts we have immense power when unified for a Just Cause And so I ask this if Equity is so big why do regular inconsequential people such as ourselves continue have to to continue to have to suffer in the name of their incompetence for being so small and inconsequential we seem to be pretty essential paying literally in the Millions for the price of their mistakes thank you our next speaker 5.32 Joel not here next 5.33 Shannon good evening um I have a new name on the roster I'm usually Shannon Chang but after three and a half tough years my divorce is final I am not afraid to fight thank you it was a tough fight and it wasn't completely fair but I'm done and I am Shannon Ray um thank you I came to speak with you after a 12-hour shift at my busy Hospital why do I do this when I have to be there tomorrow at 7: a.m. for another 12-hour shift it's because we still don't have Justice at port side as evidenced by my three and a half year fight Justice and accountability matter to me a lot um and I'm grateful for what this community has achieved over the past year and a half we have rent control in both Towers what a win but is it really as you know the rent leveling board as we've all been repeating um unly determined both buildings and all units therein uh are and have been for the the duration of their occupancies subject to rent control later in the written determination the board concludes that rent needs to be adjusted as far as I know Equity has 30 days from the receipt of the written determination to do so those 30 days were up on December 6th one week ago everyone who I spoke with or checked in with got their gentle reminders about our balances due for December rent honor about November 27th none of those reminders had any hint of the reality of the rent leveling board determination all rent balances reflected the old illegally bloated rent rates we got those reminders in a timely manner no no problem there we haven't received our adjustment rent rates or any repayment so I'm asking again have we really achieved rent control at port side we can tell you the proof is in of the pudding is in the eating and we're not eating any pudding or cake just yet instead Equity continues to conduct themselves egregiously still leveling 40% increases in Lent rent renewals instead we come here week after week to represent over 500 Portside units in their tenants and the 72% of Jersey City residents who are renters in our beautiful city we implore you to help us we know that you the city council members have a huge interest in the execution of the city's laws and the rulings of your most important administrative bodies if Equity doesn't comply in a timely matter it sets an example that the city's laws and rulings don't matter they're not worth the paper they're printed on this can't be in your interest I let an apartment go um I looked for a place and I let it go it was significantly less rent we got our ruling and I decided to stay and I don't want to regret that thank you next speaker 5.34 Michelle good evening during the October 12 city council meeting resolution 23- 753 was approved ratifying the award of a Professional Services agreement with the law firm clear geoc cob Alfieri and Jacobs LLC we understand this agreement aimed to provide advice and Counsel on personel and internal best practices was related exclusively to our rent control situation and in reaction to our calls for investigations mandated by the fauler act it came at a cost of $35,000 to the taxpayers taxpayer cost means taxpayer accountability notably president Waterman and Corporation Council Britney Murray on the record emphasized that outside independent Council would scrutinize the processes and policies purportedly followed by the city throughout our illegal rent ition administrative process what were the results of that taxpayer funded effort Port Siders committed that legal action against the city would be avoided if the city adhered to the laws regarding our cases however recent developments indicate a persistent disregard for the law also on October 12th president wman indicated that if the city didn't act lawfully we should come back here and she would in in uh initiate an invest tigation she essentially conveyed the city better get it right or else president wman the city hasn't gotten it right ever since our Board hearing on October 19th not only is the city not getting it right but it also got it wrong in writing in a November 27th letter set to our sent to our significantly expanded legal team this warrants an investigation immediately the letter purportedly authored by and certainly signed by Jonah noell the hearing and landlord tenant officer expressly ignored the findings of the board and the ordinance despite our concerns being voiced during each meeting our cases regrettably for you continueed to be mishandled once again in favor of our grossly non-compliant landlord if the city would simply follow the board ruling and the ordinance we could focus all our energy and legal resources on our landlord however since the city opted to document in writing a blatant disregard for the legally binding determination and the ordinance we must take you up on your offer to investigate immediately if someone approved Jonah's letter that too should be investigated if there's no investigation or efforts will turn to the fauler ACT violations of the council and the mayor Madame President please initiate the investigation so our legal efforts can focus on the Bad actors and not on a council that enables those Bad actors through inaction thank you our next speaker 5.35 Richard honorable uh Council persons uh ordinance 23105 five on Wayne Street converting into a two-way is defeated by councilman Solomon and we thank all the council people for defeating we really appreciate that uh the division that overseas Wayne Street between Maron Boulevard and Gro street is the Department of in infrastructure and what I research is that the director is I believe I'm saying the name right uh bakara Patel and uh the project is stated that Wayne Street is between Marin and Grove that is part of this project The Grove Street public realm plan it's located from First Street to York Street on on Grove Street the study began in March 2023 the plan published in September of 2023 and it's being funded and operated Budget on cool Services the scope of this work is the city is conducting to develop a long-term vision for grow Street quarter what was done with this plan it was it gave open house flyers in April of 2323 it had a openhouse workshop flyer in 11223 it did survey final planning and feedback it had a final growth street plaza Vision plan and it gave back an 84% approval plan of it as it is I I have a copy of it which is on their website and when I looked at it there was no changes to Wayne Street so they spent all this money on a plan for a corridor and they didn't change Wayne Street at all from Gro Street to Mar Boulevard so we we're not looking for anything additional if the department of the traffic engineering works for the uh Department of infrastructure then all these plans should have been made and these impact uh plans and surveys should have been done so I don't understand why we're still waiting for something that is already done if you go on their website it you'll be able to see it and it's it shows you the flow of traffic one ways and the bike Lanes so I don't think we need to look for anything I think we kind of leave it alone and everybody's happy what's happening with the garage I think that's a separate issue not to change it this is going to affect that something that the city spent a lot of money on and I think the councilors should look at it before they interfere what they've done thank you our next speaker 5.36 Mo okay I'm going to start off by saying that my continuing to have to come here so regularly to ask for something as simple as to Stop The Killing and to stop the funding of a genocide takes time away from my family and it takes time away from me being able to play with my son before his bedtime but why do I keep coming here because each day that passes without a ceasefire there are 100 Palestinian children per day that never get to play or have a bedtime with their mothers and fathers ever again so we all know how the vote went last week I want to thank councilman Salah Gilmore and bajano for your courage and Humanity as for the others let's call a spade a spade here you were all quick to immediately condemn the October 7th attack with their revised death toll numbers false claims of 40 beheaded babies and various other outrageous debunked propaganda filled claims and I'm not even calling you out on the condemnation we Palestinians can look you in the eye and condemn the killing of innocent people without hesitation the difference here is that people that are chanting against the ceasefire right now would never be able to do the same because at this point in time if you are anti- ceasefire then you are pro genocide and you do not value Palestinian lives as much as you do Israelis or even ukrainians for that matter if you are chanting for no ceasefire then you view all Palestinians as terrorists that when killed at any age they are deemed as casualties that you can accept Point Blank period and let me be direct here if this situation were reversed with more than 23,000 Israelis killed half of which are children your votes would be loud and unanimous for a ceasefire and you'd be lying through your teeth if you said otherwise and I'll say it bluntly your exstension at this point in time with the death tolls that you have witnessed and with practically every country on Earth calling for a ceasefire is the same thing as voting no just as our corrupt US government did in fact in my direct opinion it's actually worse because it act it shows that after literally witnessing a genocide on live stream you do not value Palestinian lives the same as others and lack the moral courage to go against the status quo and Ed interest by turning a blind eye to it the iron is irony is that every single one of our open eyes is fully focused on your blind eyes and in what world do you think this is a war when two of the most powerful military superpowers and the most advanced Weaponry Israel and us fighting against a small subsection of an occupied territory that is deemed an open air concentration camp without a military where resistance Fighters and sandals are firing cheap rockets in which 99.5% are intercepted by the Iron Dome one of the most advanced defense systems on earth when when Palestinian death toll numbers are increasing daily by the thousands versus Israel having no updates on any civilian death toll num since October 7th aside from them actually revising their number down does that sound like a war to you our friends and family are dying each day we're we're over here thousands of miles away feeling like we're drowning and helpless so I'll ask you this one last question if you weren't paying attention and I saw one of your children drowning in a pool with their hands reaching out for help would you want me to grab their hands and stop them from drowning or abstain and walk away I believe in Second Chances bring the resolution back and do the right thing thank you our next speaker 5.37 Matt hi good evening council members I'm here to speak about ordinance 23-15 I just want to reinforce My Views about converting Wing Street to two-way street between Grove and Marin I'm a proud home Homeowner of a house on Wayne Street since 2015 I have two young children that regularly play outside inside my house during the eight years I've lived in Jersey City I really appreciate the actions the council has taken to make streets uh safer for pedestrians and to reduce the speed of traffic around downtown I believe this ordinance is wholly inconsistent with that goal to CL calm traffic around downtown streets and it's undoing all the progress that the city has made over the years I have five primary concerns number one after this change cars will be using Wayne Street to cut through the Holland Tunnel I remember 7even years ago when the palaski skyway was closed cars would regularly make the left turn from Columbus onto Marin and I never saw a single car get pulled over after making that turn number two gr stre has a tremendous amount of pedestrian traffic walking to the crossing um Wayne Street going to the pass station this would make that Crossing significantly more dangerous number three Wayne and Marin meets at a very strange obtuse angle and it makes turning right onto Marin from Wayne extremely dangerous because of of the obstructed view from the ballards that 95 Columbus has placed on the sidewalk and from the cars that are parked on Marin I personally actually made this turn a few times when Wayne Street was closed either due to a parade or because of sewer work and I can tell you that turn is very iffy and number four living on the street I'm naturally concerned about the removal of eight parking spaces it's hard enough to find parking space as it is because the city doesn't enforce per resident permit parking rules at all in fact almost a dozen employees of 95 Columbus regularly Park on Wayne Street every day with zero consequences and additionally when I maintain when I mentioned the difficulty in making the right turn from Marin uh Wayne to Marin Crystal mentioned that um the city would look into removing even more parking spots onto Marin and finally Wayne Street also acts as the loading dock for 95 Columbus you would regularly see trucks double parked on the street waiting to unload and so if you made the street two lane cars would regularly have to cross onto oncoming traffic in order to pass those trucks and finally I would actually like to offer a solution that doesn't eliminate any parking and I think that is to make um gr uh Grove Street northbound two lanes one lane for left turn vehicles and one lane for right turn vehicles I came to this conclusion because I spent a a lot of time standing at that intersection and I saw that only four or five cars would be able to go through on each green light cycle and the reason for that is because the right turn the right turning cars would often block the left turning cars because it's waiting for pedestrians and vice versa so having two lanes would allow the left turn and the right turn cars to not conflict with each other thanks very much thank you our next speaker 5.38 Colin good evening Council I am here to support the resolution for a protected path on the the 14th Street Viaduct and thank you for INT for moving to introduce the ordinance to find drivers obstructing a bike line the ordinance is about accountability and respect I'm on a bike just about every day in this city on my way to work or to go to the store I do it all year rain or snow it reduces my carbon footprint it forces me to move my body got do some exercise biking gets me and a lot of other people around efficiently we deserve safety and respect on November 4th gooo was biking from his day job in Hoboken to his second job on Nork Avenue in Jersey City at 3:50 in the afternoon he was struck and killed by a driver making a left turn at marine and 16th Street he leaves behind a wife and three boys the oldest just 16 guo died simply trying to get from one job to another just trying to provide for his family along that particular stretch adjacent to a shopping plaza there was no bike lane no curb extensions no daylighting no flashing beacons no devices of any kind to get cars to slow down building Safe Streets is urgent I watched the cus meeting discussion on Monday night and I couldn't believe any of you would say Road diets for safety are causing problems problems for who exactly just a few weeks ago we held vigil with Teresa asedo and the boys who just lost their dad it's Christmas time think about them and their problems your constituents need you all to be champions of Safe Streets not just reactive Pro proactive continue to work on improving city streets but also help us to act to Advocate at the county and state levels to save our neighbors from dying Stand On Any Corner watch drivers on the pH on their phones running lights driving recklessly with 3,000 pound weapons the conditions that exist are because of an utter lack of accountability and a lack of respect each of you has the capacity for change the ordinance you have moved forward is a start but I truly hope it's not the end thank you our next speaker 5.39 Mark Council uh I come to urge you to support resolution 2312 or pbl on the uh viaduct in 14th Street this is a vitting vital piece of cycling infrastructure that connects three communities you've got Union City you've got J Jersey City Heights and Hoboken um there are real safety considerations on this road presently someone coming down on a bike or some other microt transport could be a scooter is forced to do a choice of either coming down on the road which is dangerous or coming down on the sidewalk which presents a hazard to pedestrians um and with the Advent of city bike and its uptake in Hoboken and Jersey City uh people use City bike to connect from the heights to locations in Hoboken and vice versa uh so this has become an important pathway for those people that are using cycling as a a means of Transport um in Hudson County we have this kind of odd dance between the cities the the municipalities and the county uh it seems like the county owns roads that run through cities and has jurisdictions over them and the cities do not have agency to do anything about those roads or manage those roads that are County roads this road is one of of those roads and I have the feeling that the county will not do anything or take any action on this unless the municipalities that are connected to it urge it to do so Oken has already adopted a resolution uh in favor of this pbl I urge Jersey City to adopt a similar resolution so that the people that are the growing audience of people who are using cycling infrastructure can have a protected route to and from the Waterfront from the Heights from Union City thank you thank you our next speaker 5.40 musab I don't see him next 5.41 Justin good evening my name is Justin Rivera I'm a proud resident of w d Jersey City Heights representatives of the council I stand before you disappointed and deeply concerned for the conscience of its Collective body on December 6th 2023 Al jazer reported nearly 177,000 dead civilians in The Gazette strip of occupied Palestine as a result of mass bombardment displacement and targeted military violence imposed by the Israeli Defense Forces and its government since the 7th of October 7,000 of those killed were children today those figures are upwards of 19,000 killed 8,000 children included and over 2 million displaced that evening Jersey City convened for a special meeting to vote on resolution 2393 I extend my respect for councilman ysf CLE of w d the project manager behind this proposed solution as he responded to the demands and outes of Jersey City residents five members of this counc IL EST stamed from voting defeating the inclusive resolution councilman boano and of course councilman s the people of Jersey City salute you for your vote in favor the violence against Palestine is not unfamiliar Jersey City founded on occupied LPE hoking is a multiethnic incredibly diverse multinational City with residents that also recognize displacement Corruption of governance and state violence against them we at the golden door of America are hurting for the people of pal Palestine in spite of that heaviness we remain a community that Embraces the diversity that shapes it and our belief in equality Mutual Aid and a home to all Jersey people show up and we take care of each other with the exstension in last week's vote I'm concerned this Council has misrepresented the interest and Humanity of its constituents yesterday the United Nations General Assembly held an emergency session in which they passed a ceasefire resolution with 153 Nations voting in favor we have joined the ranks of Nations that voted in support of State violence instead and continue genocide exstension is in action in action is permission to violence rather than toil with frustration I must plead with the council to reconsider and think on how we can reconcile the choice of inaction at a time where our activism must be relentless where we where we must show our alliance with Justice we must find a way to respond for the martyrs and steadfast survivors of genocide our action also o speaks to the Jewish CI citizens of occupied Palestine and around the world who vly reject the conduct and broken moral compass of the Israeli government as we approach an end to the year of the municipality I implore you to dive deeper into what is happening as in the West Bank see what we are all seeing and join us at a protest talk to us on a more personal level Palestinians are suffering and we have a chance to act I hope we can move forward as a council who can still reconsider doing the right thing when it truly counted thank you our next speaker 5.42 Tony hi Tony barelly from bike JC um why should you uh on second reading next month uh start treating bike lane parking as a more serious offense than some other marking violations there are two good reasons uh based in the fundamentals of law one is the intention of people doing that and the other is the effects of doing that if uh if one of you forgets to move a car for street sweeping you can do that by an honest mistake you can oversleep you can forget what day of the week it is when redesign wrong um if you do it the street will stay a little dirtier for a few more days it's not ideal but you know frankly a slap on the wrist is about all that's appropriate there um if on the other hand you see a bright green strip of street with bike stencils excuse me all over it and barriers in front of it specifically designed to keep cars out and you should maneuver your giant SUV carefully around those barriers and stick it into that green space and leave it there that's um that's not something you do by accident um so there really isn't a call for leniency when somebody deliberately does that any more than if I took a big cargo bike and dumped it in the middle of JFK Boulevard and locked it up I don't think people uh would treat that charitably um the effects of it as uh one of my colleagues will elaborate on shortly can also be very very deadly people literally die because of this um cyclists are forced to do one two things they can go left into the street and merge into car traffic often in the middle of the block where drivers are not expecting to see us and people can and do die while doing that quite regularly um if they take a safer course they're ending up lugging their bikes up a curb through some mailboxes across some grass maybe some dog poop down the sidewalk they're doing the the reverse of that on the other side of this land yacht while the kids are in the child's seats crying if that happens once okay but when that happens regularly when people are trying to go to school to pick up their kids to go to work they gradually stop wanting to use the bike Lanes which defeats the whole purpose of the bike lane Network that you created it it robs us of safety and it robs the whole Enterprise of the utility that it was intended to have so uh for for all those reasons uh I strongly urge you to uh give this more than a slap on the wrist next month thank you next speaker 5.43 Suzanne good evening I know that uh I've been here before I'm sure you remember that I live in Historic downtown Jersey City um and it is a wonderful place to live um uh it is in fact our home is considered by the historic preservation commission to be um a building that may not be changed so it's beautiful as long as we keep it up but my point was really to be here with Rich um talking about the ordinance that you defeated um so I am hopeful that because you listen to him that you will not do to his street what happened to ours um I wish that I had been knowledgeable enough to have been here early so that I could maybe have prevented it from having it having that happen on Christopher um we do have two bike Lanes um much to the satisfaction of our bikers um one in each Direction um but we do not have enough parking and it still has not been restored and my whole purpose here tonight other than to be supportive of rich in case we needed to be but apparently not yet um is that you would still uh keep me on your radar and allow me to be a part of um the future decisions that are made about parking because there's a lot that could be restored to us thanks thank you our next speaker 5.44 Amory good evening Council and community members and I want to thank you for persisting in working toward getting Jersey City a gold standard program of 911 response in behavioral health and mental health situations so thank you for that I also thank you that there will be a meeting this coming week and Community will be invited my hope is that it will be more than one Community representative at the meeting on Tuesday afternoon here in City City Hall I want to go over quickly just eight points that we want to see included in this gold standard program and these have already been shared with Isaac and the three counselors assigned to this new program explicit cooperation from the Jersey City police department and Health and Human Services with clear memoranda of understanding expressing just how this cooperation should look Crisis Intervention teams which include a police officer mental health professional and possibly EMT and all of these to be co-trained together in how to do Crisis Intervention training of 911 operators and responders so they can accurately direct mental health calls the creation of a follow-up long-term care program for our mentally challenged community members the program should start with the training as the lead element to begin with and it should start 45 days after the award that training should start then integration with 988 Services input from Community Representatives at every stage of developing this new gold standard program that means from creating the RF p through implementation and especially have ongoing Community representation when you're looking at program results all along the way that the program exists 247 services and ensuring and this is important also ensuring Outreach to and inclusion of family and faith community members who have a connection to the me mentally ch challenged individual in all the deescalation processes thank you so much again and have a good evening and good holidays for anyone we won't see at the meeting on Tuesday thank you thank you our next speaker 5.45 Alia hi my name is a Shermer I'm the president of bike JC and board member of Hudson County complete streets these organizations work on behalf of thousands of residents to make our Municipal and County streets safe for all travel modes I'm here to speak about three different street safety issues first I want to voice my and bike JC's full support for item 3.1 which establishes a fine for driving or parking in a bike lane anyone like me who regularly Travels by bicycle will tell you it is nearly impossible to complete a bike ride around Jersey City without encountering multiple hazards blocking these bike Lanes we currently dedicate only a tiny sliver of Jersey city streets to cycling and other micromobility modes so it's imperative that that space is not compromised cars parked in bike Lanes even if it's just for a minute are huge safety hazards that Force cyclists into traffic in places where drivers aren't expecting us parking in a bike lane happens because someone chooses their own convenience over the safety of others and that simply is not defensible while ultimately we want bike Lanes to be physically separated from cars as much as possible some responsive enforcement is necessary to deter drivers who still find a way to block them as a reminder this Council all unanimously supported the city's Vision zero action plan a fine for parking in a bike lane is another tool to work towards our vision zero goals and keep people safe next I want to voice full support for item 10.9 and thank you councilman CLE for your support a resolution supporting a multi-use protected path on the 14th Street Viaduct which is a County Road the viaduct is a straight shot that includes up to five Lanes of high-speed car traffic though the speed limit is only 20 M hour you would truly never know it with cars often pushing 50 it's unacceptable that cyclist do not have a safe and protected way to travel on this main Corridor connecting Jersey City Hoboken and Union City all three Mayors support this and with an affirmative vote tonight all three councils will as well this will send a strong message to Hudson County that change is long overdue on this dangerous High injury road finally though it got removed from tonight's agenda I want to oppose the proposal to turn Wayne Street two-way between Marin and Grove I've lived at the corner of Wayne and Grove streets for over a decade it's a quiet and safe block due in large part to the fact that it is one way opening this block block up to two-way traffic strictly to cater to a private parking garage is a huge mistake it will make the scary and dangerous pedestrian Crossing at Marin and Wayne infinitely worse and it will create much more opportunity for bike conflict because cars traveling East on Wayne will now be able to speed through the Grove Street intersection and the protected bike lane there I have other reasons why I oppose this but I think I'm out of time so I just wanted to say thanks for um giving this more thought and involving the community moving forward thank than you our next speaker 5.46 Rochelle hello okay in this moment in time humanity is in crisis and the international law that has been corrupted and failed our sorry our national law has also failed as forced ideas that run against the First Amendment which completes criticism of government with racism our local government is complacent I want to point out the beginning of democracy came from Native Americans who represented the idea as a bundle of sticks each unit was a stick all being bound together which represented the federal government each stick in that bundle was a separate unit and had an influence over the whole remov one stick and the bundle did not hold together each person city and state had a definite influence over the larger power Palestinians and Arabs have been dehumanized for decades by our media and our government islamis phobia is still an acceptive form of racism in this country this racism is what led to the shooting of three Palestinian students the stabbing of a Palestinian mother and the stabbing death of her six-year-old Palestinian son all in small towns which probably felt that they had no influence over the national state of Affairs but in fact are Lynch pins where is the protective legislation As Leaders speak or do not speak the population follows our media and our government have Unleashed a terrible license for a force that must be checked we're all sticks in the stain bundle we watch as a children's hospital is bombed with white phosphorus which burns to the bone as parents pick up the remains of their children in plastic bags as people starve and have no protection from the elements as the page of bombs that have dropped is now equal to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as the damage to the infrastructure has now reached the point of no return additionally there is a war in the West Bank that is not being discussed where hundreds have been killed and thousands have been arrested and tortured sometimes to death and as of today the West Bank is being bombed this is a war of extermination we are watching the deadliest conflict in modern times the civilian proportion of deaths is higher than in all World conflicts in the 20th century there's no separation ation of humanity as we collectively watch it in real time and are collectively responsible for opposing it we criticize the calls and slogans for peace and accept the rampant hatred of those that call for more Slaughter the reason for all of these atrocities lies in the hatred and greed that has always erupted throughout history Israel's plan to take this territory for years that awarded drilling two weeks into the conflict uh and a as you abstain from representing the legitimate moral obligations of leaders of this community and the citizens of the world we see that you choose to be another Cog in the wheel of annihilation you do not represent us we are organized our numbers are growing and we will seek other representation thank you our next speaker 5.47 Gina Gina Davidson w f as always I want to start by thanking the council for their time and attention and their energy in representing us I'm here tonight to ask you to continue the work that you've been doing at and holding our city accountable for the type of policing that's happening uh right now you know watching the budget hearings with director Shay uh if you look at some of the details of what he's asking of you to approve he's continuously asking for more tactical training more hires all things that result in problematic interactions with our community we're seeing things line items like sniper training but what we're not seeing are line items like deescalation training and that's what I'd like to ask the council to start pressing on is where is the deescalation training where is the accountability when police barge into somebody's home and kill them when all their family did was ask for help with Andrew Washington being murdered in August this City's reaction to all of that has not been uh thorough enough and I want to continue to ask the council to help us get Justice and figure out how we can continue to deescalate the tensions in our city between the police and the community there's been uh finally some studies on deescalation training and how effective it is the first study just appeared in the American Society of criminology journal and it shows a 28% fewer uh use of use of force incidents reducing after deescalation training also what's been realized is a 26 26% reduction in civilian injuries reducing things like the city's liability when situations like this occur and most importantly for director Shay to be aware of is that these kinds of trainings can lead to a 36% reduction in officer injuries and so if he's really concerned about the safety of his officers he would do well to look into Beyond this Tomahawk security company private security training group and look to other options to help his police force be able to respond to the community in ways that we actually are demanding thank you for your support our next speaker 5.48 Terry Harry here no next speaker 5.49 Tyler good evening Council uh my name is Tyler Nukem I'm a resident of Ward B I sit on the board of bike JC and Safe Streets Jersey City firstly I want to encourage you to vote in favor of the resolution to support a uh multi-use protected path on the 14th Street Viaduct and I want to thank councilman CLE for your cooperation in this uh and your work in moving this forwards the 14th Street Viaduct is a critical connection between the Jersey City Heights Union City and Hoboken um it's current configuration is not safe for most Road users the viaduct has Highway width lanes and speeds of 50 m an hour Alternatives such as partisan Clank road which recently saw three killed in a high-speed crash and um Mountain Road and New York AV are also dangerous for bikes Hudson County unintentionally installed a demonstration bike lane last year while installing guard rails on the viaduct uh with no significant impact to traffic over the course of construction residents deserve Safe Transportation options regardless of how they move and supporting a bike lane on the viaduct is a small step towards achieving that with my remaining time I'd like to tell you a story of a girl named Lily Lily was a three-year-old girl who lived in Chicago with her parents uh Lily loved going for bike rides on the back of her mother's bike Lily and her parents were biking to school on the morning of June 9th 2022 when Lily on a child seat on the back of her mother's bike her mother was riding in a bike lane and came across a utility truck that was parked in the bike lane just before an intersection Lily's mom was forced to move into traffic besides a semi-truck to continue forwards as the semi- truck moved forwards it struck the handlebars of the bike causing it to fall over and Lily was thrown underneath the truck and crushed by the rear wheels I hope that none of you ever have to witness anyone being truck crushed by a truck in my work as an EMT I have it is gruesome it is violent and it is traumatizing I cannot imagine the pain of a parent having to watch it happen to their child an innocent three-year-old girl Lily was killed because a driver chose to put their convenience over the safety of others and to park in a bike lane the driver chose to do so because of a series of policy decisions that made that possible made it easy and cheap as elected officials you sit before us all Tas making similar policy choices when you consider the changes for fines for blocking a bike lane I ask you to ask yourself whether Lily's life was worth more or less than $175 thank you next speaker 5.50 Eliza good evening council members and happy Hanukah my name is Eliza and as a member of the Jewish community of Jersey City I am increasingly concerned at the growth of anti-Semitic rhetoric and activity in our city from stickers and graffiti in the historic downtown and po hook neighborhoods to directed and personal attacks on businesses business owners and their families many members of the Jewish and Israeli Community are feeling increasingly uncomfortable and unsafe in our city when members of my community see stickers and graffiti that say en Zionism Zionism is Terrorism from The River To The Sea and Long live in tata we feel that our Jewish existence and the existence of a Jewish homeland is being threatened by our neighbors en Zionism implies ending Israel and those who support it from the river that is the Jordan River to the Sea being the Mediterranean Sea Palestine will be free implies wiping out the state of Israel as it falls Within These borders and long live the inata while inata literally translates to shaking it offer Uprising for Jews and Israelis it carries the meeting of the first and second inas while Terror where terrorist uprisings and support for sorry for terrorist Uprising supported by the PLO in the 1980s and then Hamas in the early 2000s violently killed Israeli citizens for being Israeli additionally graffiti and destruction of public property is just is becoming a problem as well one example at Van vorce Park saying Muslims hate you is harmful to both the Jewish and Muslim communities in Jersey City when local business owners choose to hide behind their businesses on social media and use them as a bully pulpit results can be detrimental there have been issues with not only Jewish businesses being attacked but their owners and families being publicly named and attacked as well we have had to go so far to involve Council representatives from the wards that these businesses are based in to stop the slander and hateful attacks I myself has have had to address issues of anti-Semitism specifically by those whose job it is to protect the city and I'm currently working with the appropriate authorities to address this experience these actions are done in hiding under the cover of Darkness or behind social media I am here as a member of the Jewish Community to ensure that this anti-semitic rhetoric is brought into the light if it is not we fear that this language attacks will only become more visceral as they have generation after generation for the Jewish Community from ancient Greece through the Nazi Holocaust where 6 million Jews were killed just for being Jewish I ask you our city C Representatives that you condemn these anti-semitic actions I also ask that you condemn anti-arab and islamophobic attacks attacking your neighbors in such a way is unconscionable I ask that you create a plan to address this growing hatred and increased vital towards Jews Arabs and Muslim community members I ask that you begin to address the growing animosity in your own Community before it reaches a point of no return I ask that you create a framework where these issues can be brought to the attention of those tasked with representing us and keeping us safe finally I ask that you create a city that is safe and welcoming for all of us thank you thank you our next speaker 5.51 Mira good evening and thank you for this opportunity to speak first of all I wanted to thank councilman C and Gilmore and borano for voting yes to a resolution last last week that was going to support Jersey City with anti-Semitism and islamophobia it took the United States two years to get involved in World War II even though our government knew that there was a genocide taking place in Germany I think that the Jewish people who were being marched into the concentration camps were wondering why why isn't anyone helping us do they want us to die Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are wondering the same thing and our elected officials are turning a blind eye I'm sure the Jewish people who were being exterminated would have wanted any compassion or support they could have gotten from the United States whether it be at the federal level the state level or or the local level a gentleman at the last board meeting who was angered by the ceasefire resolution said that the resolution wouldn't have been even submitted if it had not been for Yousef Sal who is Palestinian but he is wrong he was wrong Yousef may have submitted the resolution but he was responding to the wishes of his constituents many of whom spoke spoke so eloquently and convincingly at the last council meeting it is no secret that United States citizens have lost faith in their government which seems to put special interests money and power above the interests and desires of the majority of people my friends told me to leave this issue alone that I would be speaking to deaf ears but when two million people are being displaced and being denied food water and medicines and when children are buried under Rubble with no hope of anyone coming to save them and when children have to undergo brain surgery to get rid of shrapnel without anesthesia and when women are undergoing C-sections without anesthesia and when 23,000 people including doctors reporters professors and artists have been killed with our weapons of mass destruction and when 200,000 people may die this week of starvation and dehydration the situation in Gaza is desperate I may be speaking to deaf ears but I am imploring all of you to stand with Humanity not politics and resubmit the ceasefire resolution thank you and our last speaker for the night 5.52 Nicholas hello good evening uh thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak tonight uh if I'm not mistaken I believe there is supposed to be or will be a vote on an ordinance to amending fees and charges related to vehicles that park or block bike Lanes um as someone who works doing food delivery in the downtown area I would most definitely urge each of you to vote Yes to finding these drivers that block the bike Lanes in our city it is not just irresponsible but it is illegal it forces not just myself but other cyclists as well to Swerve into oncoming traffic risk collisions and danger which can be a struggle in itself when are bikers riding the wrong way not just on ebikes mopeds but scooters at such high speeds we shouldn't have to fear for our safety of being injured or Worse killed due to the negligence and recklessness of these drivers in fact just today I was almost hit on Washington Street in front of Avalon Cove a driver ran a red light as I was merging into oncoming traffic due to the the bike lane being inaccessible to the construction I believe in New York City you can report idling for vehicles for reward if you have video proof of them idling for three or longer minutes I believe such a program would be a good thing in Jersey City not for that but for cars that are blocking the bike lane illegally for three minutes or more not for reward but to show them that our city needs to do better um every day I see RI drivers double parking uh yeah that's all I have thank you thank you okay that will conclude our public speaking um moving on to our regular business but before we do that council president uh I believe council person Ridley would like to uh make a few statements so I just wanted to uh go on on record and just say thank you to everyone to uh the residents that reached out and called and sent emails and text messages um during my maternity leave I really appreciate it to my Council colleagues that made sure that they were there to support me kept me in the loop all the way to Sean with me calling and saying I can't hear there's no sound on the on the video or the the recording isn't up um to my AIDs that held the office down everybody just was really supportive and helpful during this process process and made sure I didn't meet Miss A Beat so I just wanted to publicly thank everyone um for all your kind words and your support thank you very much Lin says thank you also welcome back your back yeah and he's adorable by the way wait wait stop don't influence him yet please let him make his own decisions you did it to your own family councilman I mean you know you got tattoos stop all right enough of that um on to items uh 6.1 through 6 16 any questions or comments on petitions and Communications hearing none there's only one officer communication 7.1 any questions or comments no reported directors and on to our claims and addendums number one two and three so council members are going to be taking a vote on claims and addendums number one two and three council person Ridley I council person priner I council person Bano council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore voted earlier council person Rivera I and council president wman claims and addendums number one two and three are approved 80 with council person Dees absent on to our resolutions K council members going to be taking a vote on items 10.1 through 10.13 again that's items 10.1 through 10.3 council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi council person bajano council person s just want to say uh for 109 I want to thank councilman Solomon and councilwoman Amy Dees for co-sponsoring this with me I know that we take road safety very ser seriously and we've been listening to the bike JC folks we had meetings down at the viaduct with County officials I've had meetings with Hudson County Executive elect Craig guy he is supportive of this and you know 6,000 pedestrians use this Viaduct every day 600 cyclists it's been supported by the mayors of Union City Hoboken there's been respective resolutions for both and I'm hoping that this this third resolution will be the uh will be the thing to push it over and make it a reality because we deserve Safe Streets for everybody and with that I vote I for all coun person Solomon um I and thank you to my colleague for bringing 10.9 forward and and hope that we see the protected bike land on the viaduct so person Gil voted earlier council person Riva um on 10.9 really good job uh Council colleagues off for that uh B JC you continue to knock it out the park keep on doing a great job as well advocating for the bike for the bikers out there and uh I vote ey on everything and council president Warman items 10.1 through 10.13 are approved 80 with council person de absent on to our next set of resolutions be taking a vote on items 10.4 through 10.23 again 10.14 through 10.23 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person CLE I council person Solomon I council person Rivera um I vote I but I also want to go on the record you know with uh 1014 uh not just for 1014 but if we can reach out to the uh firefighters because uh they are in desperate need of gear U they're like at one uniform each so if we could reach out to them and you know take care of that I vote I and council president wman items 10.14 through 10.23 are approved 80 with council person the absent on to our next set of resolutions items 10.24 through 10.34 again that's items 10.24 through 10.34 coun council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Rivera hi and council president Waterman items 10.24 through 10.34 are approved 80 or council person Dees absent for the balance of our resolutions items 10.35 through 10.42 council person Ridley uh Asain abstain on 1036 and I on all the rests thank you council person priner council person bajano council person CLE I for all council person Solomon I'm going to be no on 10:35 and 10:40 um I just want to say on the record on on 10:40 we're in a tough situation and there's no good way out of it um but I do want to State uh in the budget hearing in June 1st with the finance department I asked a very specific question asking them what the preparations we were making for tax appeals at the time they gave very short small answers um nothing happened I followed up after that and wrote multiple emails to the administration asking for reports on tax appeals and how those might be affecting our City's financial position didn't get any answers and now we sit here in December with a $21 million liability so um would have been difficult to to I want to be clear there was no way to avoid a problem like no matter what with the budget here with the tax appeals we were going to be in a difficult situation um but it is extraordinarily important that we are using every tool in our toolbook and are fully planned and I we have a memo in front of us which I think is the right first step um but a couple things we have to do obviously know every single possible tax appeal and what are possible liabilities may be so as we plan the 2024 budget we know how much we might lose in tax appeals uh we need to file reverse tax appeals at a significantly greater rate including some of the ones that were on our list today those are residential buildings that sure in 2021 had lower rents but rents have gone through the roof uh so we need to file reverse tax appeals against the largest residential buildings on this list um and those all need to be filed I forget the exact date but we'll work with the administration on getting them done um and then you know we just continue to need to to spend as responsibly as possible um we have these tax appeals we have the accumulated absences these are going to be paid not by taxpayers next year but over the next five years the MUA bonds today are going to be paid out over the next 30 40 years um we are we are increasingly pushing costs um onto future taxpayers and and it's going to harm future city governments um so um you know I just had to get that all on the record uh so no on 35 and and 40 and eye on all the rest thank you council person Gil will voted earlier council person reera I and council president Waterman if you would just allow me to recap item 10.35 is approved 71 with council person Solomon voting no item 10.36 is approved 701 would council person Ridley abstaining item 10.37 is approved 80 with council person uh theg absent item 10.38 is approved 7 01 with council person Gilmore abstaining item 10.40 excuse me 10.39 is approved 8 Z with council person deg abson item 10.40 is approved 62 with council member Solomon and Gilmore voting no and items 10.41 through 10.42 to or approve the 80 with council person the abson motion okay before we uh um entertain a motion to adjourn I just wanted to say on the record happy holidays to everybody here and everybody watching at home and again thank you jcpd for all your help during the council meetings is greatly appreciated and just through advise you know your clerk will be turning a year older this month so uh just want to put that out there motion toour at 907 Sean can I wish you a happy early 29th birthday oh I can talk to you guys all night maybe we won't motion motion second motion to adjourn at 9:07 p.m. was made by council person CLE seconded by council person Solomon on the motion to adjourn at 9:07 p.m. council person Ridley council person priner council person Bano council person CLE council person Solomon council person rera and council president wman motion carry 70 to adjourn at 9:07 p.m. with council members Gilmore and the absent remember stay safe everyone teamwork mainy DreamWork have a great and safe holiday and a very happy and healthy New Year that