##VIDEO ID:UKcQZQu5plE## e e e e e [Music] all right reconvening the work session meeting uh may I get a motion to reconvene motion to reconvene may I get a second second all right that's motion by councilman pointer second by councilman pel everyone please everyone please sit so we can continue counc president Ahad thank youman Gloria dipman all right council president can we remove that yeah can we move that to the side yeah counc president does the last speaker want to restart his time and come back up at a later time I just want to make sure we yield that time back to him if he choose to do to come back up I think we did I think we did we did all right the lights hi my name is Gloria dman midin Road in Edison you recognize thank you I was here uh the last time and I inquired about about Edison art Society being removed from this building I and I also had a question about Edison TV televising community events I was hoping that in this uh period this two- week period that someone would have called me and given me an answer I haven't heard from anyone I was wondering if anyone has an answer for me tonight we will be answering everything at the end I'm sorry we'll be answering everything at the end okay thank you thank you oh and by the way I do accept your apology I think it takes a special person to admit they were wrong and we all do make mistakes that was a big one but thank you thank you Gloria uh joa Freeman Jo sh Freeman U andison New Jersey I will start off with Democrats do love the flag also all right just certain things happen I just want to talk about how we got to this point where everybody's here all over the place how we got to this point we started in 2023 when this older gentleman started talking about broadband and he was admonished by one of the council members screaming at him and he wasn't be able to get his rebuttal back then next what happened was the council meetings that were filmed they started hiding them and stuff from the seniors so that we could not see the meetings everybody was like where' they go where' they go so they were at 10 o'cl at night all right then even though we got an outstanding Police Department in Edison I don't care what other people say uh police police were now being utilized to come to our meeting there four or five policemen which could have been other places cuz most of the time whether y'all believe it or not it's only about 10 of us that come to the meetings all right so and then people were escorted out of the meetings if they dared to ask a complex question or they dissented all right so then one member decides to wear a mask or that becomes a big issue the mats become the big issue and I don't know if you guys anybody knows like Elmer fud with he went into the house he seen a little mouse he shot up the whole building and still didn't kill the mouse so that's that's the incident that comes to my mind okay next it was the limit of free speech all right so now we cut down on the speech you know what I mean one 13% because I'm listening to the other guy count up the amount of time whenever was taken away they take away the Free Speech then after that they take away the rebuttal all right so then after that we're faced with the point of of people saying that um they're not showing you at the podium they're not showing you like if Charlie kitel didn't come here you wouldn't never even known that the other meeting that we had next we go to using props and then you say it arbitrarily I know for a fact for a fact for real um nobody really really wants to ban the flag but they don't have great leadership skills they don't have great leadership skills so the leadership skills mess them up like they go overboard because they don't have those skills okay so I'm just saying that about the flag and stuff for people so people can get a better understanding of it then uh the disrespect you know of the flag and all that's that's whatever and then they were saying about and I forgot the meeting chaotic but the most chaotic meeting we had this year was in the earlier part of the year when it had to do with marijuana that was the most chaotic out of all meeting that we have this year I don't want you to I don't want you to think that we just have chaotic meetings all the time and and then I want to tell some people kindly when they talk about people that are a public nuisance a public nuisance is why we have civil rights a public nuisance is why women have the right to vote a public nuisance is when they got Title Nine a public nuisance helps us a lot at through all the different things we fight and we challenge for we want somebody to challenge us we don't want it chaotic we don't want a ridiculous Place whatever but if we just give six minutes to somebody let them do their thing for six minutes but don't punish the rest like if one of my kids is acting up I don't tell the whole class you can't have recess today that's not fair and that's why people are upset because it's no fairness in it you can't punish everybody for what you may think some other person might be all right I'm just you know I'm very sad that we came to this point I'm very sad that we're all over the news because I I've always been proud of Edison because I've lived here my whole life and all of this stuff this is too much all this just so you can gain control what is it and no transparency what is this thing about control it's like somebody just you're just like obsessed with power all right and if you listen and you learn that's how you grow as an individual because that's what I did I listened to people when I was in positions to listen to people and I still do even in other positions at all you can't stand up and you can't smirk the people and you can't go and it's like oh oh we'll just go along with it all right because I it's more time spent on the Des rebuttal each other back and forth than it is the people in the audience so if you want to be honest and tell the truth about it just say h we did a mad overreach and that's what we did okay thank you thank you is Mii ini my name is m kayad from um 2901 r del way you recognized um I see that you have a lawyer with you and you had a lawyer with you um during the last meeting now I am a lay man in terms of what the law will consider me however I think the spirit of the first amendment is very clear to me a Layman and to a lawyer and even to my daughter who is in eighth grade it is extremely clear on what our rights are in as far as having time to speak is concerned now I don't know why anybody will spend thousands of dollars to get a lawyer for something that is very simple so I'll read the first amendment so that we are clear where we stand with this and it says Congress shall make no law respecting an establ establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or very important of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances I don't know why we are spending money on this it's straightforward it's simple the people have a right to seek redress the people have a right to come and question the decisions you make and this would not come up if you were truly representing the people because from where I stand you going One Direction the people are going a different direction totally different direction you cannot force things down our throats it's that not going to happen because as I stand here when I look to my left and I look to my right I see Patriots people who have sacrificed for this nation people have lost limbs for this nation people have lost kids for this nation people have lost parents for this nation who have sacrificed blood shed tears for this nation and then cannot just turn around and take away those rights from us we are the people you are supposed to be representing us you guys are acting like cancer you are eating the society that you're living in there is no other way of explaining this you guys are cancerous that's the only way to explain this when you stand up and say oh we going to limit the time for efficiency efficiency for who for what for whom for where we never said we are not efficient and the people are targeting are all citizens of Edison because they're old and it's called agism You're discriminating against them because of their age you need to remember that you sit on those positions because of each one of us here whether we voted for you or not it doesn't matter so these frivolous and juvenile kind of behavior that you're exhibiting really just tells me one thing if you can't stand the heat stay part of the kitchen thank you [Applause] Ray uh copper wats Ray copper watch 12 Dart Avenue Edison New Jersey you recognized and I look up there at the de and I see three people that I know of were at when I was Council and council president here at that time there's three people up on the state right down blown I say and but anyway I'm here because as a past member I I watched on television the uh basically the the sign of a president who was utilizing a copy of the Constitution and of course the American flag and I do have a copy of the Constitution here and I read it fairly often every now and then I'll take them read it read parts of it anyway uh and while he was here he was escorted out of the agend out of the building here out of the meeting because he was had a flag and he had the Constitution and he was going to be using it for whatever he wanted to do in terms of the the meeting itself well I look at now I said the thing there's like six minutes to speak here at the council meetings when I was on a council uh started it was two minutes then we upped it to four minutes for people to speak and I look now we get up to six minutes to speak which is pretty good pretty good uh I just want to say that one um watching that that particular meeting and and having somebody thrown out of the meeting um uh I can remember when I was on a council council president there were two people that were that were actually thrown out of the meeting at one time there's a couple and I'm sure the people up there know who I'm talking about and uh I sent them out and then called the police back and said bring them back in as long as they were able to behave themselves and they came back in and everything was fine I didn't tell them that they they couldn't come back or they would not be allowed to speak at the meeting so I thought that was a good thing so that was a good way to handle that particular situation U I just want to say that uh after watching the the part the part on the television with the removal of the citizen here for having a flag and a uh Constitution I thought was sort of not the way it should be I thought they thought there was overreaction by the council and uh I understand now that they're apologizing to a certain point of for what they did uh I think that's that's appropriate uh hopefully hopefully uh that those times of things won't happen again and and the thing is you look you look behind look how many people you have here if you would have just let the person speak for four minutes or six minutes or whatever he had and not said anything there wouldn't be all these people here sitting tonight so yeah so anyway U thank you thanks for letting me speak again I know I'm rambling on a little bit getting a little bit old I I came to this Township when it wasn't R it wasn't uh Edison Township it was ryen Township and it was a referendum as to whether it would be Nixon or it would be R Edison Township in Edison one so I've been here a long time my whole life life has been spent here in Edison and it's it's certainly different and certainly the the Quorum here at the meeting is a lot different than it was when I was here on on the council a lot uh some of it for better but some of it were could be for the worst but anyway um thank you for letting him speak and hopefully the township an will go on strong Take Care thank you emn laugher hi I'm Ain law Florida in New Jersey you recognized thank you I stand here before you today holding a simple yet powerful object one that I believe encapsulates the very essence of our rights as Citizens in this democracy and let me just go on record and agree with Joyce here I love this and I'm a Democrat as you're aware the recent ban on flags of Council meetings has raised concerns not only among the those who wish to express their views but also about the fundamental freedoms that we hold dear the Constitution grants each of us the right to express ourselves to speak our minds and to communicate in ways that are meaningful to us for many words alone aren't enough to deny this right is to infringe upon my ability to fully express myself it is not just a physical object or an extension of my voice it is my voice Banning any item weakens the very Foundation upon which this country was built additionally I would like to express my concern regarding the recent changes to the camera angles during Council meetings when watching these meetings remotely which I frequently do it's helpful for viewers to see the speaker this not only AIDS in communication but it also helps those who cannot attend in person it is my understanding that the council president and other members were unaware of these changes and in fact when the question was raised the response came from business administrator and not the council president that were simply trying different angles I am reminded of a time when residents requested live streaming of planning and zoning board meetings the council indicated that those boards were autonomous if that's the case and considering the comments and actions surrounding this issue it seems clear that the decision to alter the camera angles was not made by this body I urge you council president to turn to your right and ask the Edison TV reps to restore the original C camera angles as this was not a decision made by this body if you're unwilling to do so I am left to believe that the mayor is controlling this meeting is this meeting of the people held by the legislative branch of Edison's government truly being run by the members here or is it being dictated by the executive branch lastly regarding ordinance 2233 reducing speaking time councilman Schmo indicated the majority of the comments were made within 4 minutes and some were longer to the 6 minutes so why bring up why pass an ordinance that was already organically taking place thank you for your time thank you the ablan good evening Donnie Adelman Jackson New Jersey you recognized I to apologize my pre-prepared speech accidentally erased so I'm going to speak from the heart guys that was the most UN uninc apology we got caught with our pants down apology I've ever heard in my entire life I believe that the township is playing with fire and you guys have already opened up Pandora's Box before Pandora opened that box in Legend she was warned your attorneys have failed at every turn to warn you people to stop you people from enacting such anane insane and egregious policies against Freedom you don't like transparency you don't like freedom and yeah you got called out for course you didn't specify enough with the flags but here we are again with your new ordinance that you enacted on a whim without being properly notified without giving any of the due process that there will be subjective things that will get a person removed I demand right here right now before the next meeting on Wednesday that your ordinance be modified to lay out clearly and specifically what is not allowed this way we'll remove any animosity in any guesswork as far as what is and what is not allowed and what will affect the Quorum I've spoken with a few of these a few of you Council people and other than Mr brusher I see a bunch of fascists I don't know all you but certainly I'm going to find out more information about you as time goes on I'm not even from this town but I realize that things are going things are going on really bad as they say the fish stinks from the head down and if what they say about Mr Joshy is true it's your responsibility to remove him if he won't give up his power but from what I see and from what I've come across and understood you guys well most of you are equally as culpable if not corrupt there's no reason for you're here to do the people's work you're here to protect the people not enjoy the power and the privilege that comes with being a council member there's no reason for it you know I'm an American I'm a Jew and I'm reminded when I sit there and I turn on the news and I think and I think about my family and Israel who are literally fighting do they want freedom or do they want oppression this is what you have going on here we're living in 2024 where half the country thinks that when Trump takes office in a next month that there's going to be a revolution I want to remind you I don't necessarily believe that but when after they stormed the bastile they didn't start with the with King Louie and Marie Antoinette they went around first to all the local officials and put them through the guillotine why set yourselves up for that you could sit there you could be for the people of the people and by the people or you could be for yourselves and you could have your own private little fight them where you guys do what you want you have the police sitting there to back you up should anything go AR you know I met Christo through through doing my auditing work short points audits on YouTube and what I see going on here is just a cancer in this town there's no reason for it you guys have the wherewithal you're not stupid people you guys made it in business in life to get to this point where you're on the city council well use that intelligence don't turn into what you want it's what all these people want they are the people of Edison if they want to sit here and sing capella WAP you know from uh Megan the stallion and the other one well it's there six minutes take it enjoy the show hopefully they're on key but whatever it is if we have a guy com in here as a six- foot bong if he's got something to say that's his six minutes where he could sit there and talk about weed he could talk about Freedom he could talk about anything he wants it's not for you to judge and certainly not for you to say no you can't do that no you can't say that a simple mask that personifies the Revolution and personifies fighting uh a moral Authority a guy Fox mask which kristo likes to wear I mean come on is that really disrupting your meeting that much where he's sitting there it's not like he's running around saying I planted a bunch of dynamite under this building and come with me let's go blight it off he's sitting there protesting the insanity that you guys have put forth you guys put all this out into the world and this is just a this is just a reaction to what you guys have done there's no reason for as it is I told you last time I represent some uh business people looking for a home we as a company that makes equipment for the United States military to protect them to protect our troops who are there to enforce and protect our freedoms the people that gave us the red white and blue that make sure that this actually means something we're not going to give that five to six million dollars in tax money to a town that was dumb enough to sit there and say well flags and a of the Constitution is banned now you can sit there and say it was a mistake you guys knew better and it cost you $5 million congratulations you played yourself uh we're off the list anybody that would like to speak Elizabeth Conway 20 Netherwood Circle you're recognized I'm a regular you're used to me coming at least once a month if not twice a month if not four times a month and I usually come for things that concern the township whether it be an abandoned car whether it be a stoplight or leaf removal I care about the town and this is my chance to bring it to your attention but in the last so many months I feel that these Council meetings have gone ay I feel like you're pulling away from the normal person that comes with a concern and it's gotten out of hand I feel like the people that come to these meetings have gotten no respect from the council you're pulling back thank you cor you're pulling back from us and not allowing us to truly talk about what we would like to talk about I noticed I'm not being videotaped you know what Joe's taking care of that right now but neither are you I would sit over there and the gentleman that's in charge of the comp computer I used to be able to see what he was looking at and all it was was nine or 10 bobbleheads you couldn't see who was speaking you didn't see what was going on and it's showing me that you not only res don't respect us I don't think you respect one another and I was very upset last month when one of your Council people reached out and asked for something nothing to be done on her behalf and you blatantly ignored her you didn't give her a chance and you know it wouldn't have even made a difference on your vote because your vote was still horrendous but you didn't give her a chance and now you put yourselves in her place that you didn't get a chance well guess what we're not getting a chance and regarding this flag business I understood what you were trying to do council president you just went about it completely wrong and the lawyer that was here was even worse with his advice so I suggest that you go back and think about how to run these meetings and if you don't like what somebody has to say they only have six minutes let them talk but when you turn around and do this look what happen happens we might have six or eight people normally here and we'd speak for our six minutes we might get a chance to do a rebuttal but that's all we'd ever get but because of this it's now after 7 o'clock and many people still need to speak so it's kind of backfired on what you were trying to do so you need to really think about what do we really want our Council meetings to be like what do we want to show Edison as being a reasonable Township with a reasonable Council I like to see that many of you are actually looking tonight except for Mr Brer does look up and down but that's showing respect that you're looking and you're listening but when you don't and when you chat you're not showing respect and I realize what happened and I'm sorry it happened I'm sorry for the town that it happened but when mistakes happen look what happens but another thing I would like to thank you for even though he's in my way the time clock it lets me know how much more time I have so that was moving in a positive direction and another thing that I'm going to bring up I brought it up at the last meeting I'm still very disturbed at what the mayor has done with the Edison arts societ society moving them out of the building I looked forward to that whenever I came to the building and I had the chance I would enjoy looking at that and just willy-nilly telling them that they are being moved with no recourse is insulting they are such a vital group to this town and they were just slapped away that's another form of disrespect and I ask that the council think about this yes you are not the administration but you are the Town Council and if the seven of you got together for once and did something positive we would truly appreciate that and it's sad when things go to a vote we know how you're voting even before you say it and it shouldn't be that way you should be able to vote not the way someone's telling you to vote or the way you think you should vote please think please discuss and do something about it because this has turned into a circus and I'm thank actually I'm actually done okay uh God bless excuse me I'm I'm not used to public speaking uh just your name and address I'm rich and I'm from Earth recognize Rich I'm interconnected with all the other species on this planet and you brother and you sisters and God loves us all and I recognize that each of you are gold you were born golden you were born beautiful and I recognize that it's not easy to be to do what you do and you know we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal so you're not my servant and I'm not your master or equals you've been entrusted with the position in office of a legislator and part of that is as our representative is to listen to the people here speaking and our courts have defined what is and what isn't protected speech and I know it's boring and I know that I'm being an energy vampire right now boring you you know I understand that but the other day you you you replaced a word in um the courts about what is a a threat or not protected speech and you replace replace the word violence with anger well a lot of things make us anger but what would incite a reasonable person to become violent that's the difference that's what the court said I think but I'm not a lawyer and most people don't have a lawyer or can afford a lawyer and a lot of people think that in this country we have rights but we don't have rights unless you have money if you have money then you can afford a lawyer an attorney and assert your rights but if most people don't have rights then officers that have been entrusted with a sacred position can easily say this guy will never sue us we can do with him what we please and that's wrong that's wrong and I've seen that happening in my country all over and as far as symbolic speech goes you know before 1776 John Adams was a lawyer and he had access to one of the only libraries law libraries in the United States and he defended his cousin Sam Adams who was arrested because they didn't respect the Fourth Amendment those pesky British people and he was arrested and John Adams was in front of a board of uh English judges with the wigs on and all he had to do symbolic speech was take the only copy of admiralty law in the colonies and place it on the desk like that man had the constitution in his hand simp olic speech and what did and what did the Admirals do what did the judges do they got up went to the other room talked a little bit they came back and dismissed the case because he was going to be able to assert the law he knew the law and that that it and uh now I lost my train of thought because I'm not a good speaker but here we are I've seen you guys do this I've seen this all over the country and uh symbolic speech you this ordinance that you that you have that you that you read tonight you've approved certain speech you've approved the flag you've approved con like American symbols symbol what about what if I wanted to be here with this the flag of oric Anarchy what if I'm a communist I want to have the Communist flag I can't you've you've defined speech you've put speech in a box you've put my words and my thoughts in a box I used to serve in the church with a man named Ralph Vorhees and he donated a whole lot of art to the zimmerly museum in New Brunswick I don't know if you've ever been to the zimmerly museum but they have an entire Wing devoted to Outsider Soviet art art that was not approved by the Soviet government the whole wing of people who actually use speech to be critical of their government a lot of them ended up in mental institutions because the state said if you disagree with us you must be insane it's wrong and and coming up thinking about this I I've read a lot about Gandhi you know I I I started watching on YouTube clips from a movie that I saw my father made me watch when I was a kid of Mahatma Gandhi and how they British censored his speech because he was trying to reach the hearts and the empathy of the British people and he used peaceful means to do it the man was a genius and he was censored the entire time and if it wasn't for him to inspire Martin Luther King to come here to this country and secure my freedom because the BR the the at as soon as the Treaty of Paris was signed the counterrevolutionaries women didn't have rights black people didn't have rights Native Americans didn't have rights if the British has succeeded where would you wouldn't be here a lot of my neighbors would not be here thank you rich thank you uh anybody else would like to speak name and address please Meredith Matthews I live at 64 Howard AV my family is the only one that's lived there you're recognized okay I'm going to read you what I wrote even though what you said good evening I'm here to talk about the ordinance in November that you put in place saying the American flag is a prop the American flag is a right the citizens have from those who sacrificed their lives I looked online today and as of today it is 1,700 I mean yeah 758,00 683 soldiers in the US military that have lost their lives over this flag that have had their bodies draped in this flag they fought for this fight for this freedom of speech with their lives and they would be turning in their graves if they saw the comments that they saw last week that includes all Races and religions of all soldiers all all different types and races um doing this is disrespectful through our Town's members from the post uh from those who have died um we do have the the memorials okay my family's been here forever okay I've got at least eight members on there saying that the American flag is a prop and putting the ordinance in place violates the First Amendment of the uh right of the freedom of speech the flag brought into the meeting was not a giant flag which was reasonable for the situation at hand it was not like the one at um Wick Plaza which is ginormous it was just a small one like this being held if someone holding the flag is too much for those sitting on the board then you need to look for another line of work because burning the flag is freedom of speech but holding it is not that is not okay when representing this town when you took office and oath you became someone who was supposed to represent the people of this town that you were elected from sorry I'm trying to catch my trainer thought here you were not given the position to take away constitutional rights not even the federal level does this holding this office means knowing your US history and the Constitution and the [Music] Amendments that uh Trump everything else because that's what the national level is based off of many of you need to research it if you have not learned that about these you need to start researching them better to equip yourself for the future my family has been in this town since the late 1800s closer to the early 1900s we were here when the roads were dirt before they were paved when the turnpike was paved my grandfather was the one who paved it the first time when they started the the the turnpike they also said they were going to take down the tolls after it was paid for and never did as well we have been here through many changes in this town as it's grown over the years this ordinance is way out of line that you had this ordinance had to be cancelled immediately because it infringes on our first amendment right I will be here every meeting until it was changed which you told us tonight if you refused to do that which you didn't I was going to look into reasons on to get you guys out of your positions that was way out of line um and just to let you know I know a bunch of faces here and unfortunately I just realized it now the lawyer his father was the minister at my church for a while and Lieutenant dudash if that's you still I'm sorry if that's not your title anymore your father was my dare instructor in elementary school okay so many people have died for this flag that was way out of line what was said and I think you guys need to at least go someplace or do it on your own a better way of talking to other people and handling situations I am a school teacher I work with all types of personalities I am a special ed teacher I know what they're like because I get them before you guys get them as adults okay so you need to find a way that will be able to help you in the future because this mean national news 100% national news it should not have me national news it made our town painted in a negative light and coming from someone that's been here for a very long time that is not okay and I have 53 seconds left or 53 um I would like somebody to pass this to you guys and this way you have no excuse in the in the future to have a misunderstanding like this or go backwards and and not know what the First Amendment right is can somebody pass this to them thank you thank you thank you thank you anybody else that would like to speak sir sires you look wonderful I'd love you to go first I I picked up this flag in of Johnny Walker 14 Beach Lane Edison New Jersey youed about 19 years of resident here so I don't have a lifetime thing here but I'm going to die here so get used to me I like it here sort of just lately not so much so here's my flag that I just was given outside in my purse I have a pile of Contraband I have a bunch of little flags that I brought in in case anybody didn't have Flags but I go through my purse I went well now I'm in trouble CU they opened it up to look at it and there were Flags in there before I came I took off my religious jewelry because I thought they've cut your free speech they don't want you to have a flag freedom of religion is probably the next thing on the list so I took off the little Christian Medallion I had and I see a lady here wearing Christmas earrings Christmas being Christ masks uh you know St Nicholas being a saint I thought what's next how how low is this going to go before it kills its own self off or something so these are all thoughts that went through my head I heard about this about a week ago watched it online I actually got queasy and nauseous which surprised me because you think your brain is here but your gut your gut will always tell you before your brain will tell you when I saw Joel being escorted out by two police officers for having a flag and trying to speak at his town meeting what what am I looking at where am I and then I became concerned because these two police officers I mean if they look on the back of their insurance card there's probably a number they can call to get some free therapy sessions for a while you ask them I believe to go against their country to be a traitor their own flag which I made them pledge to every day when they were kids in my classroom as another teacher was pointing out we teach this stuff to everyone I'm the daughter of a World War II Lieutenant Commander on a ship in the Navy and I grew up in primarily in Washington DC where he was with the state department and all of this is like a kangaroo court when it comes down to telling people they cannot have a flag are you kidding me you out of your mind the Nazis would have said oh I was just following order but what damage did you do to the two officers that I watched escort them out I went oh my God what effect does that have on them if they say no and they have a family children what are you doing to these people if they do it how do they internalize that when they get home and sit down and tell the wife you're not going to believe what I had to do today I had to take a guy out and practically arrest him for holding an American flag what country am I in who are these people what is their mindset and why are they sitting up there and when you all stick together you're all in the same boat whether you like it or not because you haven't stepped out so nobody can say it wasn't me it wasn't me it wasn't me you you guys voted on this I wasn't here for the vote there may be somebody who voted against it I'm not up to speed on that it's just so disheartening what kind of trash are people who come up with this crap that you can't have a flag at a town meeting and then the no props if I had an issue about land I cannot bring the map if I have a question about a traffic incident I can't bring a picture of the intersection to help I can't do that well that that's the freedom of speech read those little constitutional booklets some new reading for you it might Enlighten you you might learn some things you're not aware of yet and you should you should so now I have two minutes and 25 seconds that I think I I didn't come in and plan to speak I just got inspired by the horrors I was hearing I I will pray for the officers to my God it's all one God for me so it doesn't matter I wish a happy holiday to everybody here including you guys I hope you get your act together as we do vote and we don't want to keep you here if you're not up to the standard uh that's about all I can tell you now yes my father too is rolling in his grave but he's feeling good that I'm standing here for the moment so Dad this one's for you in the [Applause] Navy anybody else that would like to speak he likes to discriminate who's to say that who said that sir if you're at the uh mik if you want to speak you can speak name and address please Donald Alina VI haded Court 37 Chapel Street Edison New Jersey two residents you recognized 52 years in Edison uh worked uh Edison heting Co 25 years First Choice five years AJ Perry two and a half years years doing Sales and Service back in 9798 uh I cannot find a job in this town because of the police department and because you married josi because of you I came out to the event at JP Stevens High School the high school I graduated in 1990 you would not even talk to me you were out there in the rain you only to come out in the rain you're afraid to show your face around Edison that's all I got to say take the six minutes and pass to somebody else thank you um you can come on up yes Su Malone barar 85 Pleasant Avenue you recognize at the last meeting um I said something like the hellbent attempts to control the public are Miss misguided deemed to be rude and juvenile and will only make things worse sadly I'm I'm really really very sorry that that turned out to be true um thank you for the apology that could not have been easy um it was definitely needed and appropriate but it came after national attention embarrass the administration and the council and so it just kind of rings Hollow and I can't help but wonder and I bet I'm not alone that um people wonder if it didn't get national attention would there have been an apology so you know in the in the spirit of actions speak louder than words um I urge you to take real action and hit the reset button um number one repeal the props ordinance it's a slippery slippery slope and what you deem to be props today there'll be different props tomorrow and it's it really is kind of completely arbitrary what if I stood up here with my father-in-law's purple heart that's not on the list in the resolution so I just have a feeling that while the resolution is an attempt to carve out things that would not be deemed as prop props that list is going to grow like the example of an intersection or anything anything it's just a bad idea it's a slippery slope give people their time let them wear and show whatever they want and move on we've wasted so much time time on this and I know I keep harping on it but it's true okay um again repeal that ordinance it's unnecessary it would show a really strong um commitment to the rights of people and it will hold up better than an apology you made a mistake you admitted it the administration admitted it I think the administration threw you under the bus I'm sorry for that but I think I think repealing it would go a long way to get the message across um number two give people back their time and even more importantly give them back their right to rebuttal which is is a show of a continuation of trying to control the public because without the rebuttal the council has the last word it's not right it's not fair and then number three um I have a couple of questions is this an autonomous board like the like the planning board and the zoning board okay we we'll be answering the questions at the end okay if it's an autonomous board like the planning and the zoning board why don't you control the camera POS position I don't understand that I don't think the administration's controlling the zoning board camera angles I I don't understand that I think again it's an attempt to control what gets out in the news um and and the the public is being stifled by that so two questions is this an autonomous board and what does that mean if you don't control the camera angles and number two will you take control of the camera angles thank you thank you s anybody else that would like to speak all right Christa one [Applause] up this point in time to far am I recognized uh name and address please you don't have to give it but I'm going to give it in case Fox News broadcast this and they need to contact me or any news agency needs to contact me next time you're not getting it uh Christa macropolis Edison New Jersey sou South Edison New Jersey am I recognized you you're recognized okay it's okay how hard was that how hard was that today I stand before you to address a grave Injustice that has persisted for years in our community this is just about one individual me and the fundamental rights that are being trampled upon by those in power we are here to discuss the ongoing violations of First Amendment and open public meetings Act and the deeply troubling allegations against Mayor Sam Joi first let's talk about the First Amendment violation the First Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the right to free speech the right to assemble and the right to petition government for redress of grievances these are not just words on paper they are the Bedrock of our democracy yet in Edison New Jersey these rights have been systematically violated I fear after the spotlight is off of me the council will try to go after my speech again I hope those of you who are here continue to keep an eye on Edison I hope Fire or the ACL steps up and takes on my cases of being expelled from meetings for exercising my rights I have been thrown out of meetings for wearing a mask or using words they did not approve of I am a dedicated civil rights activist and investigative journalist and have been at the Forefront of this battle for years I have faced Relentless opposition from the township of Edison the Township's ordinance Banning props including the American flag and Constitution during public meetings is a blatant violation of the First Amendment this ordinance was designed to silence descent and stifle My Free Speech nobody else's but you ended up going after everybody just to prove you're not discriminating on me it is an affront to the very principle upon which our nation was founded the open public meetings act also known as the Sunshine Law mandates that public bodies public meetings be open to the public ensuring transparency and accountability in government however the township is of Edison has repeatedly violated this law despite warnings from citizens like Steve Ronco Patrick D Duff Mike vinilos and Edward Grimes the township has continued to enforce this unconstitutional ordinance these Angel bass off these individuals have been removed from meetings and had their speaking time forfeited simply for exercising their first amendment rights this is not just a violation of their rights it is a violation of the rights of every citizen of America and is a criminal charge section 2 c-306 crime of official deprivation of civil rights and I'm going to charge you for that this uh this week now let's turn to the deeply troubling allegations against Mayor Sam Joi multiple women have come forward with allegations of Date Rape against mayor Joi on YouTube Leroy truth and councilman bre Brasher interviewed a victim of the Mayors these allegations are serious and demand a thorough and impartial in investigation it is imperative that we hold our elective officials to the highest standards of conduct the safety and well-being of our community depend on it d ations against mayor Joi are not just about individual misconduct but the abuse of power when those in positions of authority use their power to harm others it is a betrayal of the public trust we must stand together and demand accountability we must ensure that Justice is served and that the rights of all individuals are protected this ordinance goes above and beyond Banning the flag it bans all speech and freedom of expression they had to do all or nothing and got caught up in a nationwide Scandal how did that work out for you I demand the resignation of all those who voted yes to this ordinance I demand uh Burns Ron and Coughlin be investigated um I demand all my criminal charges that were filed for political reasons be dismissed here here's one of the people investigated investigated me for using a social media account when I was supposed to be restricted by the judge and ended up catching somebody in personating me we use the township resources in this town to see if I'm sending messages to the mayor asking him if he's banging this woman or banging that woman absolutely sick the truth is going to come out um God bless America who forced you to apologize I guarantee you the police and the council forced you to apologize you don't this guy he doesn't mean none of his apology as soon as as soon as all you guys leave here okay in one month and two months they're going to do it all over again and the chief is going to allow it D Das is going to allow it the cops are going to play like they're stupid like they like they don't know they're doing something wrong and then they're going to say oh we're just following orders the nurg defense how well did that work out for the Nazis just following orders the fact that we don't give these officers the flexibility to decide I'm not going to remove someone with a flag there's a danger are they are do they feel like they're in danger of of breaking their chain of command that needs to be investigated do they do are they in fear that they're going to be retaliated for doing their job is that what's going on here God Bless America I want everybody to know this that the only reason they're apologizing is because the whole world got caught they're not sorry they they want to continue violating my rights again as soon as everybody leaves from here in fact because they went National if anything happens to me if I get killed or something just know I'll never Jeffrey Epstein myself it was these people that did it it was these people that did [Applause] it yeah except for rich rich and Maro will never kill me or orer love you how you doing Patrick Duff I'm a New Jersey resident you're recognized so I want to kind of tell the story as to why you know the prop Band came uh this I'm a New Jersey activist I go town to toown if somebody's got a problem I'll try to go help them with it uh Tabernacle New Jersey they're trying to town tear down the town hall the hall wasn't going to fall down they said it was going to fall down uh but the political careers of all those that tried to get it to fall down I took them all down five five politicians toast so when I show up to town councils it's usually for you know smaller reasons and this is a national story but the reason why we're here wasn't because a national story it's because what happened prior to that on October 9th when we showed up here in October 9th we showed up because Christo was getting removed for wearing that mask that you didn't remove him for wearing just now which is pretty incredible um and we wanted to show up and be as ridiculous as possible so uh Mikey over here showed up in a 9- foot bong costume uh Edward showed up with a luch door mask on uh and I showed up with a puppet that I did a puppet show of Phil Murphy at the uh Podium I have a great impression of Phil Murphy by the way say let me be clear I your great Governor I am here to tell you that the first amendment is very important and it was it wasn't the puppet it wasn't a 9- foot bong and after that happened I I was surrounded by police they surrounding me they said sir you're going to have to leave I took the puppet I said no I will not leave and I refused to leave we went out in the hallway they told me I got to leave the building they already removed Mikey and Christo from the building I said call your supervisor guess what supervisor came out said he doesn't have to leave so I need you to call your supervisor because you enacting this ordinance is the same thing as throwing these guys out of the building you can't do it you are passing an unconstitutional ordinance what is a prop is my book a prop since we're going to be on TV Rabel RS are rising it's my very own book is this a prop I mean the the technical term for prop is property so any personal property a person has would be considered a prop like this shirt I had cancer three years ago and this shirt says cancer and I think the expletive before the word cancer is okay I took I had a 10-in tumor removed from my body and if it wasn't for that uh removal of that tumor from my body I'd be dead today I'm 100% I'd be dead today so I'm going to make you a deal you removed me from your council meeting and I told you I love to sue people I already filed my tour claim notice how's this I I'll agree not to sue your Township if you do not put that ordinance up for a vote just let it go you don't have to vote on it you didn't vote on it yet no it's already oh you already passed it yes isn't that sad and you know what Mr Patel after that meeting you came out to us at the car to talk to us you you weren't with your phone yeah you weren't offended you you actually were smiling and laughing about the events that happened who the hell are you um so you were smiling and we were laughing you asking do you do this all the time do you make big money out of this no we don't we do this because it's the right thing and that's what we're asking you to do is the right thing the right thing is to not ban props to not I mean imagine it I even said that night that you were going to walk right into a right hook and you did because I knew that you it's just the way you wouldn't pick Christo he had his hand up and you a little smile on your face power is the ultimate corruptor and you're a good example of somebody that shouldn't have power I mean you came out to us to confront us and then you probably thought about it for the next week of how the hell will I get them to stop embarrassing me by coming to this meeting with puppets and bongs and other things like that and I asked you a very important question when I was making my comments I said City attorney what are the words that allow you to remove me from this meeting could you state the words because the words are very important that's what law is it's it's a grouping of words and then you went ahead and you made those words you walked right into it think about that you actually created the words that I asked for I requested those words that you created that you've now passed that are going to 100% land your city in Township in a lost that's going to cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in just legal fees especially if the ACLU comes in so quick offer um to you is is like I said I I will 100% agree to not file a suit if you resend that ordinance if not I'm going to file a lawsuit uh for being removed unconstitutionally from your meeting you didn't even have the rules in place yet so think about that you pass X postao conditions that would have allowed you prior to to remove me but you had already removed me you already had me surrounded by police and and like she said I feel bad for those police officers and and let me apologize my mom didn't like my comments because I cursed and used a puppet I usually don't do that but we wanted to come here and show you the absurdity how far can the First Amendment go how far can we take it before it's not too far and the fact that you threw him out for a mask and me for the mask and tried to throw him out for the mask shows that you're in um you are not competent to be in that position thank you uh good evening Council um I don't get my name I don't get my address you guys know that all right you're recognized and the reason why I the reason why I choose to remain anonymous is because uh it's my Fourth Amendment right to remain cure I don't have to divulge any personal sensitive information to participate in a public uh council meeting so I don't have to exchange my Fourth Amendment right to exercise my first at the basis of of of my belief on that is well we have freedom of speech in this country so you can't force me to give up my personal sense of information to participate um that being said my name is Mike Vel already talked about that I also go by bang Holio that's me giving you my information as a courtesy it's not mandatory it's not required but that is my name and that's why I'm here I first came to Edison back on April 25th earlier in the year I saw what was happening to Christo I saw you guys violating his right saying that no profanity could be used at a meeting and I came here very professionally very polite I warned you guys about the road that you were possibly going down and this is just when we had a profanity ban because I saw the writing on the wall I was smart enough to know what this was going to lead to so there was just a profanity ban and again if you disallow members of the public to say certain things you don't have freedom of speech you understand that in this country in America is there's only a democracy if we have the freedom to participate the way we choose to say that decorum issues were violated or compromised is a complete joke because it's our time it's our minutes you might run the meeting Mr Patel but you don't run my life you don't get to choose what I say how I say it or how I look okay as a believer in the Arts and the music programs that have been cut from education over the years I express myself how I choose whether I want to bring a bong or whether I want to sing a song so when I came here me Edward and Christo came here and we humiliated you guys we embarrassed you guys let's call it what it is that was the last meeting we had camera angles on members of the public then we took away transparency keeping more closed door government activities Edison TV runs they do an amazing job with the way that they cut with the camera angles and who's speaking I mean that's a great resource to have some towns just have one camera angle and it's it's kind of boring but your meetings online are now like almost unwatchable because you can't see who's speaking you can't tell who's who you have zero sense of what is actually happening at the meeting so that's a huge problem you need to bring those camera back angles back immediately like immediately okay in October in sville members from the historical preservation Society came out with efforts to save the town hall the first town hall building fire department and part of what they did was they went to a council meeting and they held out the first American flag that ever was flown on the flag pole outside they held the American flag up at the council meeting if they did that here they would have been removed they would have been arrested if they didn't comply just think about that irony that's crazy that's crazy to me and your apology Patel your apology was garbage it was absolute garbage there was no misunderstanding we all watched you do it the whole country saw it we watched you at multiple meetings multiple times state that the American flag is a prop and within your apology on your official Facebook page that belongs to the government you banned Free Speech you took away the ability for members of the public to comment so in your apology you violated everybody's First Amendment right unreal you know who else did that Mayor Sam Joshi he did the same thing he put a statement out and within that statement disabled the com comments on our page this Hall does not belong to you those pages do not belong to you and Co you too through the chair to coil your apology you sat there you did nothing there was no misunderstanding you watched him them violate his rights meeting after meeting meeting after meeting the American flag was called a prop you sat there and did nothing and then you go up and you go tell long all that you love the work that he does well I let him know that you voted for the ban okay with the exception of coun councilwoman Harris uh councilman Brasher and councilman Patel ptil P the ptil sorry the rest of this Council all voted for the band they all voted to violate free speech that's what they did and how'd that work out for you pel Patel how'd that work out I was looking forward to coming to see you tonight you would not look eyes would look at my eyes the whole time but at least you're doing it now I appreciate that so uh oh yeah you know what let's do a song Yes Beat the Clock beat the clock [Music] I'm in Ed tonight because something has come life it's my you guys are doing except for your time is up I tried my best all right anybody else that would like to speak you know it's always difficult to speak after the big show tune so I I'll try I'll try to hold up my end of of my speech name address please my name is uh Susan Delan I live on new DOA Road in Edison you're recognized um thank you um so I've been attending the um um meetings for about a year now I'm kind of still a newbie at this um and I'm really learning a lot about the Democratic process and I something has just been kind of nagging at me and I I guess I'm looking for some clarification on the process um so I came to the November 13th meeting and the decorum rules which I believe are now posted on on the one of the doors next to this gentleman right here um were posted on the outside of the door where you would have stood to go through the magnetometer before it was moved and the decor rules were laminated and taped up to the door but it was November 13th and as far as I know they were just being proposed at that point but again as a teacher you know that you laminate the really important things so I guess you know what my first question is why were they laminated and posted before they had even been proposed um and when uh you know the last subsequent meetings the town's people were asked to either sit down or they were escorted out because they had flags and copies of the Constitution um the ordinance had not yet been voted in so they were being punished for something that had not yet become an ordinance like I guess a an established ordinance so I guess my next question is can you explain how you can enforce something that has yet to actually be voted on um uh so you know what and now I understand from lots of social media which is of course where the best education comes from that the ordinance has to basically sit and stew for about 20 days even after it's been voted on before it can actually be enforced which is why we still have six minutes on the clock even though that four minute time has now been voted on so I I guess I just don't understand how can people be escorted out and punished and uh and redressed when technically the ordinance didn't yet exist and my my biggest concern is the fact that things were taped to the door to kind of warn the people as they were going through the magnetometer that these are the rules but the rules hadn't even yet been proposed so I I know that a lot of the questions that have been uh and a lot of the speakers today have asked questions that kind of don't have an answer they're they're kind of just out there but I I really would like to understand the process so that I understand what it is that we're supposed to be following what decorum we're supposed to be following when and and what part of the process do I have to really start worrying about myself thank you and I have two and a half minutes left so I can do this in four minutes if you need me thank you anybody else that would like to speak hi uh okay name and address H press Hudson County you recognized let say a quick prayer for the tyrants to see the ways of their sins Heavenly Father Almighty judge We Gather tonight to call upon your Divine wisdom and justice for this city is burdened with leaders who have strayed far from the path of right rightousness Lord we bring before you the tyrants seated here those who have taken upon themselves to crush the voices of the people they swore to serve to strip away freedoms that you have granted and to trample the sacred values of Liberty Justice and Truth father you see the hearts of all and you know the corruption that dwells within these Halls these leaders have chosen to suppress descent to wield power as shepher not to wield power as Shepherds but as oppressors and to use fear and intimidation as tools of their governance they twist the law to suit their desires weaponizing the police to silence those who dare to speak to gather or challenge their unjust rule they cloak their tyranny in words like order and decorum but you Lord see through their lives Lord we cry out to you to show them the error of their ways break through their hearten hearts and confront them with the truth of their actions let them feel the weight of every voice they have silenced every citizen they have oppressed and every right they have stolen May their Consciousness consciences burn with the knowledge that they are betraying not only the people they serve but also the very principles that this nation was founded upon but father if they refuse to change if they continue to cling to their pride their egos their power and oppressive ways then we ask for your Justice to Prevail hold them accountable for their sins against the people let their corruption be exposed for all to see May their names become synonymous with shame their legacies tainted by the suffering that they have caused and their power Stripped Away leaving them to face the consequences of their arrogance and cruelty Lord we pray also for the people of this city who suffer under this tyranny strengthen their resolve embolden their spirits and unite them with the fight for what is Right remind them that no amount of Oppression can extinguish the flame of Freedom that you have placed within them as as you have done with throughout history raise up leaders from among the people leaders who will stand boldly for truth justice and righteousness and in the face of corruption and oppression and father let these tyrants never forget their power is temporary but your Justice is eternal teach them that no amount of police no amount of laws and no amount of Fear Can suppress the voice of the people who refuse to be silenced for as your words say woe to those who make unjust laws and to those who issue oppressive decrees we place the city in your hands trusting that you will bring both Redemption for the people and judgment for their oppressors in your holy and Powerful name we pray amen thank you council president point of order for motion for a three minute recess um okay uh can I motion by councilman Cole for five minute recess can may I have a second yeah no one wants it right can we I'll take the next person who wants to speak them back R Russell aell Skyler Drive you're this Edison New Jersey uh listen actions speak louder than words it's apologies are not strong the actions of repealing this ordinance says a lot I think you're caught in a rock in a hard place this flag is a very proud and patriotic symbol of how we all feel everybody here everybody watching and many of you feel the same way but this Edison runaway train has come to a stop it's off the tracks I apologize for wearing my hat inside my mother told used to tell me and hit me don't wear your hat inside but if you could read it it says make Edison great again this is a great town we moved here a long time ago the there's growing the Edison's been growing since I'm here there's growing problems there's growing pain that's why we come here we come to speak to you some of you are my friends some of you are my acquaintances some I've just become to know you don't have to like me and I don't care but you don't have to like me or agree with me but sitting there you were elected to listen you're elected to listen to what I have to say to my complaints my problems my quality of life issues I may praise you I praise the police the fire every day I I'm Pro God pro family pro-military Pro police fire and First Responders I'm not perfect nobody is apologies do come and and and they're appreciated but they're meaningless without the right proper action there's been accountability I'm a landscaper if I screw up your lawn if I don't landscape right you're going to find somebody else this Township these Mayors this mayor this administration US a frivolous spending this mis management left and right nothing would have been done with the animal shelter the the voiceless Pets the dogs and cats would have been they things would still be bad if it wasn't for certain council members to to open their ears turn open their eyes open their ears listen to the residents it shouldn't take that do the right thing from the beginning make the Edison animal shelter great again take care of the senior citizens I'm 62 I'm close to that maybe I am I don't know but I tell you what I can still work thank God he keeps me healthy I have to work because with the way the Democrats run the taxes are going up I'll be working until I'm 82 unless we vote you out getting back to where I was the senior citizens where's where's the money allotted to the seniors there are no activities there's no bus trips I get seniors calling me and telling me left and right what's going on we should be ashamed of ourselves the money that this town sixth largest municipality in the state of New Jersey what are we doing for seniors what are we doing for the Youth the parks half the parks that look like come on hire me I'll do it I'll do it for half price these kids deserve a park to play in that's safe and enjoyable like we all grew up in okay this veterans how much do we spend on acknowledging the veterans that allowed us and afforded us the opportunity to come here tonight not much thank you thank you for the veterans any anybody any veterans here and the veterans that are watching accountability there's a lack of accountability and transparency limiting I said let's go from six minutes to eight minutes there's a lot going on a lot that needs to be talked about I may not use my eight minutes or my six minutes but give me that option you're acknowledging I have a First Amendment freedom of speech but you only you want to limit it what right is that to you for any of you would you like to be limited you're not you don't get you don't limit yourselves that's not right do unto others as you want done unto yourself a lot of these are my new friends wouldn't be here tonight it's nice meeting new people it's nice meeting new friends let's do the right thing at this point in time with with everything going on with the lack of transparency with the frivolous spending I suggest that the mayor of this town steep down okay coun council president disrespect to you not personal wise but professional wise I think you should step down too the the remaining three council members that voted for this ordinance these two ordinances last meeting think think heavy think heavy about this decision you made okay think heavy repeal this this needs to be repealed the attorney that was sitting up there needs to be fired and terminated the attorney's Law Firm needs to be terminated the contract with that law firm with Edison Township needs to be null and void from tonight okay you there they're everybody there is is not against us you're there for us you're time is up sir thank you my time is up thank you I appreciate it the back hi good evening my name is John I drove here from Rumson you recognize John thank you Mr Renown um your colleague Mr Burns contempt that he showed for the public um and his lack of First Amendment subject matter was appalling um that's why I drove here I was quite uh upset I think he um I think the town deserves better Mr Renown and I think you know that too and I think that's perhaps why you're here tonight um Mr Patel from where where I'm from this is called a a good old dress and down and uh I think the the the town is attempting to try to uh tight RPP walk the third rail and this is only going to open up the the town to further lawsuits and I think you're going to get sued into submission uh I hope you my apologies I hope you all go home tonight think about what everyone said and uh Endeavor to do better because we deserve better no matter where we're from we're all Americans thanks thank [Applause] you Anthony Damron uh Wy ad Edison you recognize Anthony thank you um first of all thank you council president for your apology um though I agree actions uh you know determine that but I think about how we got here today and you know as my friend Russ said you know if if I think if the the mayor was taking care of the the seniors and the veterans and was running efficient government and doing what he's supposed to be doing knowing what I know about this matter trust me none of these radical policies would be in place that is just a fact all right so if he was doing the right thing he would want to he would want unlimited time that's what he would want he would want the opposite of these policies so the people now have started to open their eyes and realize that they look around and they see the rising crime is just out of control um the fact that we got to take officers off the road and put them in these Council meetings council chambers is it's just it's just it shows you where the incompetence lies I also want to discuss what I believe is the abuse of power this mayor has now uh installed uh personally you know what the Abus of Power by utilizing the police department and I there's been no bigger support of the police department than myself but the first time you know when I was I had on a Friday afternoon about three years ago I had out of about eight officers three cars come to my home to fire me okay that's from the mayor's orders all right that's the first time and then just last week uh as I attended a uh I I I I went to a Dunkin' donuts and along with uh my my buddy Russ I we saw kristo there as well but uh after I purchased a cup of coffee I I I was asked to leave I did nothing wrong all I have done over the course of the few years is is try to help move this town forward and do the right thing I haven't you know I I I I I I can't think of it a single incident that I've done to Warrant this type of uh abuse of power from the mayor I don't blame the officers they're they're simply doing their job and what is asked of them but as I said last time last week you know you're putting them in a bad spot cameras are on them everything else like that it's it's it's just incredible I feel I feel terrible for them they're taking one on the chin and it's just it's it's it's just it's about time we put an end to it um as far as the sexual allegations are concerned you know I I've I've came to these Chambers once before and and and made my comments on it and and and made them well known um I know others have as well Crystal has had uh and councilman brusher um I actually know the uh the the the victim as well um I've gotten an know and uh it it's just it's quite remarkable the story it's disgusting it's sad and um I hope these these this Council takes it a little more seriously um I don't know if you guys have daughters or not but um I I just I couldn't imagine that if you did you would uh you know you you would want your daugh your daughter's uh uh concerns to be uh unheard uh and and what has what happened to uh to this woman and woman and I'll say this you know the mayor has his right to speak as well he he we deserve to hear his side of the story and we don't we never do um he's always in this constant protective bubble council president he always is that's he he wants it his way all the time and as far as you know he this Council does not belong to him council president it just doesn't belong to him it is it you got to tell the the the mayor to keep his hands off off the counsil you and and tell him to go to hell when he's because these policies are not coming from you they're coming from the third floor as I said last time everybody knows that so I agree mayor should step down uh saying that for a while but and the abuse of power needs to end it needs to end that Police Department doesn't belong to him okay uh these Chambers don't belong to him uh and you know these residents deserve a lot more respect from their quote unquote elected leader thank you council president thank you anybody else that would like to speak I want to be quick mark bukachevsky alol road is in New Jersey okay you recognized thank you I'd like to thank my fellow Americans for bringing the American flag as a symbol of so many things i' like to take a moment and tell you that on uh July 20th 1969 when I was a quite younger man I understood what a symbol meant when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldren placed the United States of America flag on the moon as far as I know the only flag there and the first flag there that's how powerful a symbol is it's not a prop I also like to take this a little International there's a war in the Middle East and there's a war in Eastern Europe those Wars are indicative of people who want to earn their right for freedom and democracy and hope and anything else that a flag of a great nation such as this there's a reason why there are 13 stripes on that flag there's a reason why we're up to 50 stars it is a piece of fabric to some it may be called a prop but not to me to me it's a symbol of how far this nation has come how far the leadership of the United States of America has shown the world what the word hope freedom and democracy is about I'm a proud Ukrainian American I can sit here and talk and maybe do a college course on what the absence of Freedom hope and democracy is to a people and I'm sure there are many people who have come to America for that very reason so I'm not casting blame or aspersion on anyone I want to just remind everyone to celebrate that freedom hope and if it's a symbol of the American flag that we used to do that then that's what it is because I can tell you I've been all over this world and everybody knows the American flag everyone in this planet even the North Koreans but most of us would be hardpressed to recognize other flags that's how powerful a symbol the American flag is thank you good evening Charlie Caville I'm from New Brunswick I'm the editor New Brunswick today and uh I'll start by saying thank you to everyone for watching New Brunswick today it's uh great to see so many people here expressing themselves and to hear uh everyone's intelligent remarks I also uh have to say that what happened at the last meeting was uh chilling abuse of power and can't help but feel some sense of justice to be here today and uh to hear you have to apologize for it but council president if you're really truly sorry for what happened and you really truly want to make it right you will repeal the ordinance and and you do need to no matter what change your policies and practices for running these meetings uh I think it's obvious at this point that uh things are not going well here this year and I'll say the you know the main reason I'm here at New Brunswick today we're committed to transparency education and public engagement and I've become Disturbed to see uh meeting recordings deleted from the Edison tv YouTube channel um of course many people have been complaining tonight and I have have uh complained in the past about the uh lack of showing the public on Edison TV which is a new thing that came out of nowhere uh I asked about it and and I know that your ba said that they're quote trying out some new angles that's not correct there's no new angles uh there were less angles and and they suck is one angle and uh it makes it harder for people to understand what's going on at the meeting it doesn't serve a purpose other than to confuse and obscure uh what should otherwise be a transparent public process um I raised concerns about how you've you've handled some of the meetings uh in the past I think overwhelmingly it's become clear that uh it's it's been normalized to use the police during the meetings and that's horrible you should not be the the police should be at the meetings to make statements about their work right they they should be here to contribute to the discussion not to throw around their force and and use Force to toss people from the meetings but you know starting with that uh uh anti-cannabis Mob meeting that that happened earlier this year the police have taken on a new inappropriate role in these meetings and it is so wrong to see them used that way and I know that that's the reason that so many people are up in arms uh on all sides of the political spectrum because we want our meetings to be run by civilians we don't need the police throwing their weight around in these meetings and uh yeah I I do have a lot of concerns and and questions for the council um I know that the chief mentioned a statistic at one of these meetings that 76% of crimes are solved can he please tell us the source of that statistic what categories of crimes we're talking about and what time period uh because the you know the numbers I've looked up the most recent numbers available didn't didn't seem to to add up to that I'd also like to know how many police officers are on the for are you able to answer these questions now at the end okay I'll I'll hang out to get the answers the reason I bring that one up is I saw a letter from the mayor and the police chief uh I believe claiming 195 officers serving but the response to my Oprah requests I saw only 190 and five of them are suspended so I think that uh you know you shouldn't be counting officers that are currently suspended as serving especially since they're suspended due to Criminal investig and cases um I also just have to ask about the inflatable cops that have been on patrol uh I I can't believe it's a real thing but I saw it myself so I seen you know a cop car parked on 27 with a couple of blowup dolls with uh with Edison police instructor Uniforms on I want to know who authorized this is this a a a tactic that makes sense because to me it seemed so outlandish and and stood out as so fake that even someone just driving past would immediately recognize it as uh um you know not real and and I think that um all of these concerns sort of come together with the Revelation that uh the mayor uh brought for Edison police officers with him for a trip to Chicago to the Democratic National Convention uh he claims that he's reimbursed the township for all the expenses occurred incurred from that but it's impossible to prove we don't know what hotels uh we haven't seen any hotel receipts I've requested these through Oprah and uh for the record the mayor says that he used his campaign money to reimburse the township and uh that some of the expenses were were campaign expenses for him but uh last I checked he hasn't filed the required campaign fin Finance paperwork since April so we have no way of verifying uh whether these things are actually true whether the township actually was reimbursed the correct amount or not enough and uh it's kind of sad that I I keep having to come to these meetings to get these answers but again I'm here tonight because you're not showing the public and New Brunswick today wants to make sure that people can see what's going on at this Podium so I'm here and we'll be posting our video to the New Brunswick today YouTube channel I encourage you to come up with a let there be light ordinance to actually change the policies and practices of this meeting to legislate that the camera will show the public to legislate Zoom access to these meetings and to legislate that the Public's not going to get tossed by the police because one man says they should that should never happen at these meetings and I hope that you will legislate to make sure it never does again thank you thank you uh Mar will take it Mar Edward Lefty Grimes I'm with sativ across.org we're 501c3 here in New Jersey fighting for disability rights and cannabis patients rights I just passed my uh forward for you to look at it's my joint resolution from the uh assembly and the senate for my work with the disabled and for cannabis patients this would not be able to be done without props costumes songs we went to council meeting me and bang Holio here have been to hundreds of Council meetings all over New Jersey fighting for cannabis patients fighting for disabled rights and we use props I use a mask we use all these things and that ordinance it'll it'll talk about that and says how you guys are supposed to support what I'm doing with my mission you're supposed to support my mission but you're not you're you're stifling my mission I'm trying to help disable people if you look at the bottom of that it's signed by our great assembly speaker respected assembly speaker Craig Coughlin now if if Burns was here tonight I'd be yelling at him for embarrassing Craig coughlin's law firm with his lack of constitutional knowledge La lack of the first amendment being a crappy American and a crappy and a crappy attorney shame on him and I hope I hope this guy here I don't know who he is but I hope he's a little more competent than burns the uh well he left the room but uh the thing about Joshy and uh the sexual stuff it's really disgusting that we have to uh be talking about this for the next six months we're going to be talking about Sam Joshy and his police report about his penis for six months does he want this does he want us coming here talking about his penis for six months does he want that type of abuse none of us want to hear about his penis anymore we all want to keep Sam joshy's penis out of our mouths but here we are again talking about it we'll be talking about this all the way up to the election and embarrassing your town embarrassing this Council shame on you so the your police chief here now we Mikey you've been with me we've met a lot of great police Chiefs police Chiefs that want to smoke weed with us I mean these are great Chiefs and amazing Chiefs I was surprised with all the cool Chiefs I met and the ignorance is no excuse to her you're not one of them you allowed your police to be put in a position were they going to violate the constitution what is wrong with you that's your job look out for your boys you didn't do that you didn't protect their six yeah you didn't protect their six or your own you should resign as well Burns needs to resign all right where is it so I'd like to do the TR fecta I'd like to hold up a copy of this Bible because we're in a struggle not against blood and flesh but against the authorities against the against the rulers of this dark world and that's a couple of you up there you're actually in Scripture it talks about you in scripture how does that feel so I'd like to end this with a song with a prop a mask and a song oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we he at the twilight's last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the peress fight or the ramp parts we watch were so gly streaming and the rocket red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof to the night that our flag was still there oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave for the land of the free and the home of the Brave thank you for not arresting me hey I didn't get arrested for that amazing I got a minute and 20 seconds you know what let me tell you one more thing about Zoom access that's right you're you you took away Zoom access for disabled vets let me let me go back here for 19 months you gave access to Disabled Vets things that we've been asking for for years we've been asking for online school online online work online Church online meetings and you gave it to us for 19 months and then you took it away and so burns doesn't know anything about title 2 of the Ada there's a process for going through all that you have to have a question and answer period to have a grievance procedure you have to have a transitional period your Ada coordinator had to be involved which you don't even have so yeah your patriotism for and your lack and and your love for our vet is at an all-time low because now they can't take part my friend Jeff took part from his Deathbed he couldn't do that anymore I'm in pain I would rather take part from a zoom meeting because I have horrible neuropathy I have arthritis I have an artificial disc I have a fusion I have a two-level cervical I'm a mess I shouldn't be here right now in pain but I'm here because this is important and we couldn't fight for the things that we fight for without the First Amendment the first amendment is very important to us so there it is thank you [Applause] Rob Kento 61 meow you recognized um I wasn't going to speak tonight but a couple people brought it up so I'll answer that but for everybody who don't know me my name is Rob kentos I'm a 15th generation uh Edison resident my family's been here since 1668 um got about 104 veterans buried right here in Edison that are related to me um my family Mill was burnt twice during the Revolutionary War um I wasn't going to speak about that tonight I was going to speak about it on Wednesday um but I just want um I have a question finally from this and everybody I study Edison study the politics I watch these Council meetings like I'm dissecting like a forensic scientist Rich pressure asks Mr Burns specifically has anybody else in your Law Firm reviewed these ordinances and he said you did Mr Renault so I'd like that to be answered did you personally review these ordinances that's all I got for tonight thank you Zimmerman Edison you recognize thank you one of the reasons there's not a lot of people at these meetings no more is because was maybe one or two Council persons I'm going to mention her name Jim cougar if he was here tonight rest in peace he'd be ripping everybody in new We R he was a highly decorated service guy Union construction he knew his stuff if I can remember right I think he ran for mayor years ago and I wish people like him was alive you got people got thrown out of here don't even want to come back here no more Diamond Bruce diamonds won you attempt to throw me out on 9:25 I went to deputy chief D he said to sit back down I got up to thank AJ Batel about tell me the F job I did and I said the work I did for this town nobody's going to fill my shoes look at the town today garbage all over the place signs all over the place I was down in Mississippi last week L sale the place clean no litter no signs nothing but Farm areas I went to visit Union Brothers I worked with 23 years ago during 911 at the power plant in sville but one of the reason I came here tonight is like you know I was born for three years by a person that through 40 these in the garbage Ono Avenue 40 these in the garbage B any of these and he had me bought and I say it again when my wife passed away 28 months ago he was bored from the funeral I could have my job back right now in 20 days and for six months they couldn't pay me enough because I was abused I was borred I was Target and nobody did anything about it and everybody knew about it why and he answers any he answers anybody AJ knew I did a damn good job R person knew I did a damn good job and like the one person said you can't come up here to talk when you're working for the town and that is wrong a police officer a fireman or a Township worker they cannot come up here and John the issue I report you to about that high gr our Playfield I mean um Pleasant and gr youw it's not cut yet every year two counsil Peri but in this area you do nothing about it he doesn't about it I complained to board of Hell on W Avenue where the M place was or CH in the diner the g ain't been cut one time the board held speci said to me oh I ain't been in the area lately BS I say p area all the time when we did grass there wasn't a lot of high grass they give it a board of he they do this board of heal only take calls us we fora we see it we see it we do something about it and technically I was supposed to be making 51,000 a year Melissa pering was supposed to check out of towns when I got hired what the pace ago should have been with other towns she never did that was in [Music] February we got a check four months later the Friday before Mother's Day weekend I had a meeting with Tom the mayor Melissa and Moren at the time when am I going fulltime I got the F four months because of person she supp to call out of town they never did they sold me at 25,000 25,000 that's well fair price and we sat down I was supposed to get that raise I guess said three months ago why didn't I get a raise I wonder why you work like a dog and a jackass and get you goach Merry Christmas right anybody else that would like to speak all right can I got a motion to close the public no you can speak can I have a flag no he he already spoke identify as a flag pole did you already speak you already spoke once and you you took took away the video it's not on video it conveniently got got shut off seconds left so you had had 30 seconds left so go ahead I got 30 seconds nobody on TV saw me no that's not true you have 30 second that's not true at all it got shut off I think it got shut off it is true I don't know no I think yeah that's why I asked them to shut it off oh that wasn't on TV said you give it but you think I want to say this again give I will allow it uh oh thank you King because if I allow for one I have to allow for all so we're going to do this uh your name and address I I I identify as a flag I'm sorry I can't how long six minutes six minutes that's fine you're out of order this whole  thing is out of order all right uh sir sir sir sir please only the person that's thank you your name and address and you'll be recognized so I identify as a flag pole all right all right so um you know bad legal Vice really pays if you if you guys Google their Law Firm you're going to see it went from like $3,000 $40,000 a year all the places that they have you out of the 21 counties or uh whatever amount of counties they have a lot of different because they have a lot of different places that hire them because they think that because he's the assembly president they're going to get better favor so that's why they have this law firm and if you look the bad legal Vice they're going to get paid really nice because they're going to try to defend us um you know your apology is just because we told you we gave you the case law Rosenfeld vers New Jersey you ignored it and then you just said you know what you're out and then the officers threw us out so we had to watch everything that we had to say because we might get thrown out by the king um I op requested your video I get back today today's due 4:30 oh we have another seven business days um you guys turned off your commenting on Facebook that's illegal Ronco versus curette that's a government page you can't do that Sam did that and actually as I was trying to type on yours you were actively shutting off your commenting actively doing it and I and I messaged you and I told you this you didn't respond to me right you just ignore me like you doing you do every meeting uh again the zoom meeting should be um on there so if if I want to be at home or because this went International people from all over the world could be talking on this but you stifle their speech too um you know the right now you guys cut the little pie saying oh this is allowed illegally because that you it's not even on the agenda and you just make the up as you go um so that should be resend the time limit should be resented back to 6 minutes um you know the reason we're all here is because of uh Crystal macropolis Jersey Watcher um he's on YouTube like And subscribe you know he's been subjected to the unjust treatment from this Council um his rights have been trampled on and his voice has been silenced you know uh this is unacceptable to us that's why we're here you know it it's above the the the flag and the constit ution uh we must stand together and enforce every member of our community has the right to speak freely without fear of Retribution uh I Fe that when this s Scandal subsides you're going to go right back to do the doing the unconstitutional ordinance you know and these officers do know better you know and if not they should have called the prosecutor's office there his own prosecutor that's always available to let them know but and I want to know too on Facebook why why all of a sudden people I may know do Dash you're on my thing that's cuz you're looking at me poter you're on my thing people I may know I don't know you people you're looking at us why because we're talking out uh chryst has been charged with crimes because of all this political speech are you going to charge them more now because you got you got international coverage now oh I I like the the eye look maybe yeah hey who knows stand by I I demand every charge that's against can be dismissed um you guys have the power to charge us and that's why you have the Gusto come out and send us the other way um we don't have the right to charge you but I think I'm going to charge you too with the two with the two-c charge um and official misconduct as well you're a public official and you're enacting un unconstitutional laws and then having the police escort out the people that violate the law according to you and you can't even look at me so he he can look at you Mikey he can't look at me um you know I demand your your resignation I already filed the IIA today oh yeah who gives a right yeah who gives a yeah really nice um and we express our our opinions and that's the that's the reaction we get who gives a my guy could look you up no problem you know we don't forfeit our rights when we say something you don't like you know and and I believe that with fire and the ACLU I she emailed the ACLU after that October meeting they didn't respond but they're they're about the money too so now they're jumping in on this um if you want to see the first time I spoke before conveniently the the uh the TV was all of a sudden shut off you can go Jersey Watchers page and a couple of the Auditors and stuff that are here and see the first thing because I'm not reading the whole thing again um you know I demand the Attorney General investigates the chief of police and I spoke to other Chiefs of police you know like there's no way I would have anybody escort anybody out of here for exercising their rights we know what the line is we we stay within the line of what we're allowed to do and say but yet you create unconstitutional ordinances and we we begged you back in October and other months you know stop going after kristo and just let him say his stuff if he wants to talk with a plastic mask on and you can't hear him that's on him uh I think the the ACLU the hlu should uh ssue you guys I know every everybody that's been thrown out out of your meetings hopefully the ACLU or fire will contact us because I'd love to sue the out of you like the other guy said sue you in submission uh I think the bar should revoke uh Mike Burn's um license I already filed complaints with with the bar association and I encourage everybody to go on the Edison New Jersey taxpayers page and and you can see exactly what I wrote Because I put it up there and you know don't just come out here and say something or or make a phone call make a paper trail so they have to follow through thank you thank you all right anybody else that want to speak yeah all right good evening Ben from medicine New Jersey do have the floor council president recogniz SP I don't give out my legal name but because the Press is here my name is Andrew M banga but please call me Benz I want to thank the First Amendment ERS are here I want to thank Charlie Kraven from new Bruns today and hello to your viewers as well great job Charlie I want to give a appreciate to Dan from Headline New Jersey he is amazing amazing article can wait to see you next couple of weeks all right well what a day we have a lot of people literally discussing about this issue for months and months and months after time between the Sam Joi allegations between our first amendments that were being stumped over and violating between of Joe bassoff being thrown out and now we got the Press here World nice well I already said my statement on on social meting I'm not going to read it but you know Mr council president you only you're going to be here for your last seat until we have someone taking over and I would like to recognize as Miss Margo as president for the next Council meeting to be honest and the vice president I want to pick you Mr Brer but you're doing a um you know you're running for mayor and I'm definitely got your back on that so to replace you I'm asking if if you guys can please become because this is this is getting out of control you got the media here you got people over here you're asking for lawsuits it we should you know we should have good things about Edison not how we are just violating people people's rights it just this is just ridiculous and I said this over and over and you you you know you keep you keep keep coming down this road coming down this road and now you get into a big big pile of where you have to cover your ass and the whole apology is a bunch of to be honest with you it's a bunch of  to be for real it is a bunch of  you guys know better you had crisis management they had middlex County Crisis management you know how much that cost thousands of dollars out of your pay because of their actions unexcusable you need to resign you need to repeal this or things are going to be start coming to everyone's way wait for Wednesday oh then then then you better then you better ask for the popcorn and the show and there you go I have nothing I that's all I'm going to Sayes you know oh the six minutes yeah you they're changing it from six to to to four minutes two minutes less to speak and that no we need to keep the six minutes we need to keep the six minutes keep get get rid of the props Act and the first you know this is getting ridiculous you guys are asking way too much do the right thing that's all I'm going to say thank you very much close the speak floor uh sir you recognize good evening Council rosto County uh 960 new over Edison you recogn nexted a 65e resident of Edison Township by the way and um I just want to remind everyone that um there's going to be an election coming up next year and you vote based on your beliefs and the voting record of those that represent you there are I think everybody on this Council has voted uh against my wishes over the last two years since I've been com into the township Council meetings on a regular basis um even though two members voted against the Ordinance one abstained Margot Harris was not uh was not here so I understand that she probably would have voted against as well it still would have passed but the U the the apology that came through tonight as a result of this was shallow uh it was appreciated but it was shallow and as others have mentioned I believe that the ordinance should be repealed completely uh just taken off the table uh my wife was kind of enough to point out that she started to to uh to uh have the ordinance followed you had you you made you made people you kick people out of the the Town Council meetings before it was even an ordinance the rules weren't even put into place yet and and they're still not in place but you guys are you guys are out of control tonight is a total 180 degree difference from what you've done over the past six months you've actually let someone come up here twice tonight you never would have did that before for and you know as far as I'm concerned everybody else should come up here again because we're not being photographed so I invite anybody else that wants to come up and speak again go ahead and do so because somebody else did it you should be able to do it because they're out of control they don't know how to control a meeting they this meeting got so far out of control about a month and a half ago with a member of the council and our police chief arguing and that display was far worse than any one of the the citizens had here it was it was out of control you got a guy with a gun arguing with a council member and nobody did anything about it what did you do he took a recess yeah so anyway I ask all the residents of Edison Township that um these issues matter to that come out and vote to vote based on the voting record of the council members and the mayor and anybody else that we elect to represent us thank you for oh and it's not about Democrats or Republicans this all this this the all these issues cross party lines so you vote on your on your conscience and the voting record of of what your beliefs are thank you right anybody else that would like to speak all right I'll take a motion to close the public you already spoke I'll take a motion to close the public portion to motion to close the public have a second all right that's motion by Council vice president second by councilman Coyle all in favor all right can I get a recess for like 10 minutes or five minutes and then we can a point of can I get a motion for recess point of order just because we're nearing 9:00 or when says that we have to extend time if it's past 9:00 so can we at least extend the meeting and then take extend it till 11 just to be I know it's going to be take a second opportunity to speak all right U Can I get a motion to extend the meeting till 11 motion to extend second all right that's motion uh by councilman president second by counc P all in favor all right all right may I get a recess for five minutes motion to recess and may I get a second want to bite the Apple again second all right that's motion by Council vice president second by Council pointer all in favor all right we're in recess for five minutes [Music] p e e e e e e e e e e e e e e hello you hat all right uh reconvening this meeting of the work session everybody please sit down may I get a motion to reconvene mot to Recon May second second last motion by councilman Patel second by Council vice president all in favor I I reconvened at 9:01 p.m. okay so we do have a lot of question question what we're going to do is we're going to get through the business portion and then when we get to number 17 uh actually we'll be removing 17 we will be answering the question and then moving into the discussion items uh we are removing item 11b from the agenda and removing ordinance 2241 from the agenda as well order it will be it wasn't noticed by clerk's office in time and the public hearing will be res schedule for January 8th can I please have order in the meeting so people can listen please sit down everybody please sit down we're going to continue all right moving on to uh review of minutes regular meeting is of October 9th any questions or comments just a point of order council president I I wanted to comment on the all the notes I took yeah we're going to be doing that PRI prior to after 16 after 16 after the business portion is done and then we're going to go into the discussion and and you're so you're going to put it into the discussion item before the discussion item I mean so so so they come up and ask a question then they have to sit here and we watch the whole thing to get their question I mean I understand maybe not at that moment but it would be bizarre behavior as any sort of running any sort of a meeting to push the answers to the end of a meeting Chris I understand that but this is uh we're gonna finish the business of the portion thank you uh moving on to regular meetings of October 9th any questions or comments you got to wait till the end of the me we are going to answer the questions like I said I want to go home I told you council president you're bizarre all right we will be answering the questions y hope you guys stay we're doing the council Township business I hope you guys are here point point of order council president my humble opinion to maintain decorum in this Chambers we should just answer the questions now okay I agree all right everyone can everyone pay attention we're going to be going to the questions the first thing was brought up everybody please sit down and pay [Music] attention all right uh first question was about the Edison art Society uh Council vice president yes um so I know that Joel bassoff and Liz Conway asked about the Edison art society and yes I agree that it is um dismaying that they were removed not only from the third floor but apparently from the building all together however the good news is as I am the leaz on to the library board and I'm also on the Edison the cultural arts commission um we think we have a rehoming for them at the main library which will be at the I think it's in the at the main library and I know that Allan um that Allan from the library board and Liz uh Liz Han are in discussion about this but um I brought this up at the last Library board meeting and uh the board seemed very very um they seem very very uh receptive to having the Edison art Society exhibit there so we think that we have a at least for now a home for them so um so they they they will have they will have a place to exhibit um but I agree I think it's a it's a shame that after all this time the the third floor which is really wonderful exhibition space I think it's a shame that they have been remove from there um so we're going to we're going to come up with and hope that we can get new exhibitions very soon thank you council president thank you Council vice president uh couple questions for Sonia what are the number of police on force on duty um council president you forgot about the filming huh the filming she asked about the Arts and then she asked about filming events uh that's something for Sonia Sonia can someone request to be have Edison TV film I will yes I will certainly um take that to the administration and provide them your input and request okay and then in terms of the number of police on duty or that we have on 194 194 okay and uh the question on Edison seniors what do what services are we providing on Edison seniors sure so uh we put together a monthly program um if you'd like I can run down through some of those programmingsoftware [Music] are Zumba classes and other uh physical activity classes there's also conversations and information regarding will trust um there's also a health um osteoporoses um programming that's coming up uh not to mention also and those are two locations so you have mini BV and then you have the Woodbridge um area I can certainly provide this uh fome to all Council um because there's just quite quite a bit I also have some January program that's coming up so again two two locations mini BV and at the woodb center um and those include regular programming uh the meals we also have the programming where we um take seniors shopping to various trips uh medical appointments and the like so I will provide this all to everyone um there's three separate sets of programming that we provide at both locations and throughout the township okay um council president yes in that same line of thought when they were talking about the how many police officers they were asking about the crime stats in fact I think I asked about that a couple weeks ago um to get them for the last three years and I was told it was going to get them but I haven't received them as of yet and he opened them and he said he can't seem to get them so where would we be with crime councilman I just and the chief couldn't expand on it they are available on the states website um so I can send you the link I was just made aware of that so right for the last three years Chief has anything yes for the last three years okay I can get last months I will send you the link okay for the ocrs okay U does that answer your question uh yeah oh and then they they had the question about the sh uh the Chicago um and about them getting it was about Oprah too where they were looking to get the information on the Oprah for any kind of cost um as far as uh hotels food you know lodging those those um specific op requests have been fulfilled okay I think that's what he was complaining about he said he didn't get them I I I know I I actually put them together and sent them to the clerk's office who has then uh submitted to the requesters all right I'll I'll check with them um that would be a council president okay uh um in terms of the camera angle I would request uh that we do change them back to what we had originally and do what must be done and I think that is a simple ask as the council and if this is what the council wants understood thank you uh council president uh councilman presure yes um I I the residents made it clear that that falls underneath our jurisdiction um so can we vote on it just as a body to put it back so that it doesn't get removed again unless this body Chang can we do a motion on that sure no we can do a motion C president you know before we do that motion I want to do it in full transparency it is not about just changing the camera or restoring how it was recorded but also restoring anything that was deleted yes add both of those as on line item in in full transparency okay so why don't you motion that council president just point of order I not sure I is this something we put on this work session to be voted on Wednesday correct correct okay thank you okay but can you motion that councilman P I think Joe moved right you yeah he's looking for a second what's the motion motioned and he second no but what what exactly motion motion to add restoring the council meeting recording as they were before plus restoring any Council meetings whether they were on the YouTube or any social media to be restored that's a motion can president just just for the priority of getting something done can we make a two separate motions so that the first one gets done right away which is what the public wants is the angles then a second motion so let's just split for the reinstate any videos that were edited I I just I don't want one to not happen without the other just let's get one done get the first one done that's most important understood you know I'm I'm okay the one you're talking about is all over YouTube so it's not like people can't find it we're going off on tangent here okay uh I'm fine with you know having two uh resolution I'm moving the motion okay so let's just do the motion for the camera angle motion for the ca Ang for the camera angle to a second second that's motion by councilman pel to restore the camera angle second by councilman vice president uh so just to go on for your um resolution on for your meeting on Wednesday yes all right and may I get a a roll call to add do I have to motion I don't think no we don't have it yet so it's just if there's a motion in a second and there's no objection then we'll just resolution so no objection any objection right all right so point of order council president yeah can we please distractions to the minimum so we can get there are plenty of people who are not doing that and he seems to just continue to do it you're piing on me sir I'm pointing out yes council president that someone's Disturbed the meeting continuously and no one else is but one person let's let's not just it's called the First Amendment continue with the meeting you start pissing me the off okay can we continue the meeting then thank you moving forward you need the second motion because I second resolution okay a motion to reinstate the motion to add to the agenda for Wednesday to reinstate any videos prior that may have been edited or deleted deleted deleted all right may have a second second all right that's motion by councilman Coy second by councilman Patel any objection all right so this is added to the agenda for Wednesday right uh that one's done ca's done now there was a question on this particular ordinance that was passed and how it will not be content based can you clarify that well the ordinance isn't I mean if you read the ordinance it's not it's content neutral and that's how it'll be applied so I don't I'm not quite sure I think your statements tonight were with regards specifically with regards to the flag but obviously the ordinance Itself by the way the ordinance itself doesn't doesn't mention the flag in in any way shape or manner or form so the ordinance as drafted is content neutral and just continuing off of that I think the question also was asked as to how were the rules uh implemented prior to as I stated in my uh president's remarks that I as the person is in charge of maintaining the decorum in this chamber and uh I have been uh I regret the decisions I made on those things and hopefully with this ordinance that we uh this resolution we pass we correct that council president Council Brer yes I'd like to comment on this yes um number one and I've said this people have said that one sec just in respect because it is technically on the agenda like the specific resolution I'm replying to What the residents came up and spoke to I will speak again about it when we get to that part um but but I want the residents just to know and it's a very very simple thing um I said it I okay I think they turned my mic down but no that's just joking the um I was talking to Residents earlier like if I go any farther I'm going to eat it um so I was talking to Residents I explained that the same people that are in this room were here before this mayor and his Council people got in that's a fact and I will explain that we had different Council people at the time one of them is the chief of staff upstairs he told me what could we do to make the meetings better now that he's Chief of Staff I asked him what a we doing any different than when he was sitting on the dis so we had Christo from Jersey Watcher he was here our meetings were never like this never so you have to look at what changed in life right what changed is a different mayor a different Council and a different belief okay and I go to this with our Police Department okay and any of our policemen here that know the story about the Board of Education in Edison should be well aware Ware of this there was a board of ed president I forgot who it was they asked our officers to remove someone for being disruptive it could have been Christo actually but I'm not sure and then well okay you can't talk though but okay so at that meeting they asked him to be removed the officer said he is not disruptive and therefore I will not remove him so we've had but but here's the point again the same point we've had the same officers we've had the same Chief the only difference are three Council people and the mayor and that's the only thing that has changed these meetings go on till midnight they devolve into chaos all because they decided they were going to try and make a better scrambled egg and I warned them about this a few years ago and we've spent I don't know how many thousands of dollars could be $100,000 in legal fees to try and devise a way to stop kisto so all these intelligent people here it's all about trying to stop that one person where you give the six minutes and and we don't have a problem so the problem is not Christo the problem is not the public the problem isn't your minute speaking the problem is the man upstairs that that's where I'm going with it and and these are facts you can look at these okay it is it is self-evident um since that's happened since the new mayor came in and we have a new council president this year our laws are all inconsistent they change from meeting to meeting right so there is no order no decorum um we act childish here it's Reckless and it's irresponsible these are all key words that describe this Administration and the way that that this council's been acting over the last three years and that would be a council president on this thank you councilman pressure all right [Applause] uh have any other uh questions that I missed I might have missed okay I'm moving forward uh review of minutes uh 6A any questions or comments from the council all right moving to number seven reports from our Council committee starting on my right councilman presser yes the uh veterans committee we met we discussed um we're looking at can we please listen to council Brer thank you on the veterans committee there's there's two main things we looked at um we have uh memorials around the town and we're documenting which ones need to be cleaned up um some might need a little beautification um some of the stones might need some cleaning but we're going to put a list together to to give to the administration to take care of for us um because of the the new mayor and the new legal council we had um our plans on the Veterans Memorial um we had a change of strategy so initially it was like a community project where I was going to go out there and dig the hole myself right and we were going to put our own Electric in and that type of thing so the cost were were negligible I want to say negligible but but the costs were like I think we came up with10 ,000 or something um but since we were told we had to go to the township and the township has to hire people um and it is all Union um we had to reassess the cost and I think so far I'm up to about 65,000 we're going to put that together and do a presentation um of where the township has the money to allocate for it our commissioners uh Rios and Tamaro have told me that they would um Supply half of the funds if the township supplies half of the funds so I think this is like a no-brainer to to get the you know the organization uh the funding and then for us to get this drawn up and and done um at I'm going to hope next meeting we can present this um uh to the council um and then it would be up to like the business administrator to get somebody on board to um actually do like a you can do it two ways you can have DPW work it out or or you can hire an architect uh which would be more costly um but then we could just have more funds to the whatever I think it was about 65,000 I think we're up to so far um but that was U our veterans meeting thank you thank you Council mcoy none sir all right uh Council vice president yes uh starting with the animal shelter November report currently in the shelter 10 dogs two puppies 16 cats and five Kitt adopted in November 16 Kines 34 Felines and reclaimed in November were six canines but the best news that has come out of the November report is that Demetrius who was a pitbull mix who was in the shelter for 450 days finally got adopted so that's very very happy news and we're grateful to the people who took him on really beautiful beautiful dog Library board we had a special meeting on November 21st and this was dealing with the bids for the North Edison Branch project um 18 bids had been received on November 7th and were open publicly the bids were then reviewed for completeness and accuracy upon review it was determined that the low biders structural steel subcontractor does not meet the quality assurance requirements of the structural steel specifications since the lowest bid meets those requirements is in excess of the library's budget all bids will be rejected the project will be rebid with the specifications modified to remove that pre-qualification requirement and other changes may be made to the documents to assist in receiving bids add or below the library's budget uh Mark Bowski who's the library's owner's rep for the North Edison project further explained that the bid process and quality assurance requirements he said that the challenge to the bid and why it's recommended to discard the bids eliminate that requirement and rebid it was approved to reject the bids that were received on November 7th and it was also approved to to to rebid North Edison um and and then it was at that meeting where I had asked about the space for the Edison arts society and that uh Alan kimman stated that there is room and he will reach out um and I think that is it for Library board and finally the human relations commission I was not in attendance but that was December 3rd um commissioner Charles Tamaro spoke on the Hands of Hope food pantry 5013 C3 open the first and third Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to feed families in our area things changed during covid now there's a drive-thru please check please check out online on www.nj.org for volunteer opportunities which fills which fill up very quickly uh we have high school Vol volunteers such as Girl Scouts and boy scouts this past Thanksgiving we served 427 families and 1,000 hot lunches we received a $70,000 Grant which allows us to improve our pantry and add a cargo van we are now a choice Pantry with that Grant there are 160 food pantries throughout middlex County we are looking for non- perishable Goods we share our food like the recently sent seven pallets of food for a replenish we share our food so no one goes without our fundraiser at Top Golf in April is our biggest one no one has ever turned away but we service any middle sex resident on December 21st we will have a bowling tournament to gather toys for our clients with children on December 16th Edison police will help sponsor toy giveaway for over 300 children we shared services with Edison housing authority and Community Food Bank of New Jersey um and uh the library board president Pat Massie did join through the zoom call mentioned the construction of the top floor of the main branch looks forward to the lower level on December 13th um and that and the oh the next meeting is to be determined we're trying to find uh a time and space for that um Library board the next meeting is tomorrow thank you thank you Council vice president uh councilman P none this councilman pointer none sir Council SCH now this time if I could ask councilman brusher if if there's any specific veteran memorials that that you you were discussing your committee could go look that you're looking to refurbish um yes so we made we have a list actually Sue made up the list she's been driving all around town um there's are there seven 13 oh 13 right so we actually have 13 right like I I didn't know that there were even that many a lot um some of them we all know because we passed them you know what I mean um but and they're in different states some are really pretty good um other ones could use a sprucing up or the stones cleaned U things of that nature so they're going to put together um unless she Sue's taken pictures of everything um and then we leave it up to the veterans to kind of decide which ones they're going to want and then that'll be part of the presentation that we'll make or not me not that I'll make um but the committee will make yes thank you thank you uh none for me moving on to point of Lights any council member with point of Lights yes Council VI president yes um I I think I'm speaking for the rest of the council in wanting to thank profusely our fire and response teams for this the fire at the senior housing on Inman and Grove uh they did a remarkable job in taking care of this and they we owe them a debt of gratitude and I also want to thank the JCC for their volunteer efforts to help out those seniors who are displaced with clothing meals Etc so really great job to Public Safety uh our Winter Wonderland opening was held this past Saturday really a a beautiful beautiful site you can see all the lights out there and um it's very very festive um and and speaking of winter wonderland which uh the recreation department Department of P public works and and our police force did a great job in in working together speaking of recreation Joyce fcha who has been with has been with Edison for 40 years is retiring at the end of this year and she has been remarkable she's battled health problems but she has been on hand and has done such a great job and I believe we will be honoring her at the December 23rd meeting so just a shout out to Joyce fcha thank you council president thank you Council vice president any other council members uh just um I apologize if I miss this in your comment but just wanted to express appreciation to the fire department for addressing the fire on Jackson Avenue the other day he's just closing the door you can continue oh I was just mentioning my appreciation to the fire department and OEM for addressing the fire that recently happened on Jackson Avenue in addition to everything that happened earlier this week thank thank you council president any other council member all right uh as for me uh couple announcements the Holiday Dance for teens and adults with disabilities will be Friday December 13th at mini wheel at 6:30 p.m. the manura lighting on Thursday December 19th at JCC gym on Oak Tree Road at 7 p.m. the holiday house decorating contest deadline for registration is on Wednesday December 11th and the gingerbread house picture contest deadline for registration is Friday December 20th the Township offices are closed for the holidays on Christmas Eve December 24th which is a half day closed on December 25th for Christmas on New Year's Eve December 31st is a half day and is closed on January 1st I too want to Echo the sentiments that Council vice president councilman po pointer pointed out uh thank you very much to the fire departments for all the hard work and risking your lives to you know help out our residents and winter wonderland was wonderful uh I had a lot of fun and my wife had a lot of fun including my kids um I also want to mention Hands of Hope uh that I attended with Charlie Tamaro and which fed about 200 families and it's a great organization and they are looking for uh canned foods if anybody is interested uh green beans are what they're looking for currently I hope you can donate that uh and again congratulations to Joyce for on her retirement which is welld deserved moving on to number nine from the business administration a any questions or comments Council P question toia this is a 2-year contract right it is a one year it's one year gu somewhere I saw it's twoe and is this because we don't have license uh Health officer or it's in process it is in process and um it was my understanding even with the prior Health director that they did not have the license so if fell under the County's umbrella however as a condition of employment we've requested that Dr Patel hold a license so um there is a test to be um that she will be sitting in next year um uh and she is required by the state to have two years of administrative experience if you will and so um and that was confirmed um and it would it'll be March um will be her official two years she caned for the test in June perfect thank you I I just wanted I did speak to the county that I know this is a full year however our understanding once the license is obtained that we would then notify the county that we would no longer uh require their services thank you council president uh Council presser yes just for the record uh Sonia if we can just get those documents that I requested so that I can verify it I know you said that it'll be but you know as a councilman to hear somebody say something my job is to actually verify it so yeah if I could see it in writing sure I I can probably um send you the letter that I got from the state saying about the two years um about the state about two years that the required experience what I reference to to we talking about right you know I what I did was when we hired I thought it was one year condition of employment was that she'll get the license but in order for to get the license you has to have two years of experience okay but I thought it was supposed to be one year was was the original condition that's why I'm looking for the original document I understand if you're going to tell me that the state requires two years right um that could very well be um I would just have assumed that the administration whoever would have known it was two years and she already had one year if I was told one year so I'm looking for the original you know the original document from where you told it or I can go back and find YouTube videos or or Edison TV videos to see the exact question I asked but or all I was asking for was just the document that shows that you know she agreed to whatever it is a year two years that's all sure all right only one remark I can make all along for many many years uh we had engaged mes County but finally we'll have our own person who will be licensed and it's a good thing to happen yes and I think we didn't have one for the longest time so I'm glad we're getting this steps done so hopefully we'll have one of our own uh moving on to number 10 from the Department of Finance a through F any questions or comments Council pres Council p on F uh 2025 Debt Service I saw the payment starts from it says it's the temporary approval resolution for temporary approval but it least the payments right from January 2025 all the way goes to the December 20255 is there a reason that we are taking this in in one resolution blanket approval or can we do it either quarterly or monthly whenever uh the payments are due that's my question can you repeat that question counc I understand his question so councilman ptil we're required by the state to adopt this resolution um and even then when we have a temporary budget so because of that requirement we do have an allotted plan uh as you mentioned that covers Us for 2025 okay thank you okay councilman poter uh kind of along the same lines just because if one of those line items is a a pretty hefty number I'm presuming it's probably the Silver Lake uh Bond um if I can just get a call from Ken tomorrow just to kind of explain how that will work tie into next year's budget because my understanding is that this will be an appropriation that we're allocating funds to pay that Bond back uh not in a year like a a year over it's it seems to be the full remaining balance so I just want to have better clarity as to how that will play into next year's budget thank you council president okay okay uh moving on to number 11 we are moving 11b so it's just going to be a and C any questions on a and C counc person counc p on C is this for individual resident as in the packet I did see the name of the individual along with the driver license which I would never prefer to be part of any packet uh I'm perfectly fine to support this but just a question that is this for an individual or it is for a company uh I'm not sure is this for an individual or is it limited liability I think it's limited liability liability so this is for so this is for an a senior citizen it's an individual correct my only the question there is knowing that it is a senior citizen uh is there any reason that we include the copy of driver's license in the packet that was sent to this Council it's a driver license is a sensitive document I think it's only I it might be by completeness but I think we're just trying to show that it's proof that it's a senior citizen it's probably the proof that was provided to us Sonia is that correct yes um my understanding probably shouldn't be in the packet though right may only be to the council so I just want to confirm that with the clerk that this was only included for Council okay it provide your Council back up the the the driver's license right okay yes okay thank you uh moving on to number 12 A and B any questions or comments okay moving on to number 13 a any questions or comments president Council po pointer uh just a question to uh our deputy chief is it possible to know which fire station this pumper would be going to station two St station two thank you council president I think this is uh great that we are um able to upgrade our infrastructure in this capacity thank you thank you counc prer yes um the the chief at one time um he gave me a document I was trying to find I couldn't find it that gave us a list of our all of our fire apparatus the years how old they were and they had a replacement schedule um I can't seem to find it you know I got documents that are 4 feet high can I just get that list again thank you okay uh moving on to number 14 8 through e any questions or comments council president Council appointer uh just Item B I I think it's great that we have the opportunity to update our 911 U again infrastructure hopefully we are able to be awarded this grant because uh better infrastructure in the sense of being able to receive receive calls and then being able to disperse that information out will lead to a safer Community thank you council president thank you Council poter any other comments or questions all right as for me I just wanted to point out a uh that our cameras are working and is able to help us be more Vigilant and get more toy done so I'm glad for that moving on to number 15 A and B any questions or comments coun president on question a this is uh expired license inactive not expired inactive license correct correct and the address has multiple businesses do we know which business this one is tied to there is a restaurant there is a bowling Al which is supposed to be Senior Center uh it it's the bowling alley it's bowling I it's a senior center I'm surprised that they will have the liquor license but anyway thank you senior oh yeah senior senor bowling alley the old bowling alley location the old bowling alley location but it's a pocket license now yeah correct but that is getting converted as a senior center not the Township senior center senior daycare center I think it's a pocket license no so so the last place where it was active was at the bowling alley but now it's in Pocket now so it actually has no location okay thank you that's correct right council president yeah5 will Council vice president yes on B I just want to thank councilman pointer for having proposed this particular resolution about worldwide candle lighting day um it um it as a mental health practitioner especially uh it will pair I think it will be a good bookend to the suicide awareness month that takes place in September and this is about this is I think uh This was um put this is put on by Compassionate Friends is that correct yes um so this is a welcome addition I think in recognizing those who have lost children or if they are siblings or or whomever they might be um I think this is a nice book end to the suicide awareness month so I just want to thank councilman poed for having uh proposed this resolution thank you thank you Council vice president thank you Council pointer council president um while I appreciate the the appreciation uh I have to give the the sentiment out to several individuals that had publicly expressed their losses um out of respect I I'd prefer not to say names just out of respect for it uh so it's not an original item on my end it's a an effort to help wa raise awareness so that people know that um you don't have to grieve alone so hopefully people will read the resolution a bit more in depth to get that additional information and with that thank you council president thank you Council poter and we're also adding C so if you have any questions or comments counc yeah counc the C is the resolution that we are heading right yes technical questions on that that we added afterwards that be no John already on two we added were they're going to be adding them Blue's going to prepare them for Wednesday but you correct there are just uh just for the so that the records correct the two resolutions um that were proposed one by councilman Coy and one by councilman patile will be added and all they'll also be under the the clerk's I mean on the on your agenda the resolutions are just listed in number order so but they'll generally follow those resolutions but you know cons I have a question on the resolution that was added m in the beginning of the meeting so the ordinance that talks about the council deorum rules the 6 Minute 4 minute that all was taken care right it is already signed I saw the the notice posted into the media so it is pretty much signed now this is a resolution my question to attorney is the what is the LIF span of the resolution is this one year it the end of the year typically ordinance becomes a law resolution remains for a year and you need to continue to that's my understanding I may be wrong but my question is whether this resolution will end on 31st December 2024 and we to reintroduce again no I think well Council I think at the very least it's an expression of this Council and this council's term doesn't end until the end of 2025 but I think it's an expression of the council so um okay I would have prefer that to be date somewhere reflecting uh the effective end date of this resolution that's number one number two is is why we are passing a resolution why we are not repealing the ordinance and putting it back with the appropriate verbage language Clauses so that there is no confusion and anyone comes as the next council president it will not up up to his or her discretion to decide what is pro what to be called what words to be chosen again this is my thought process rather than passing a resolution I would have preferred to repeal the ordinance and redo the ordinance in good faith and introduce that so that there is a transparency uh so I believe that this resolution the ordinance first of all does not Target any specific thing is very content neutral uh there was and this resolution essentially intends to capture that fact that the ordinance was content neutral and it the main idea being the rules of the Chums will be forced only when there's a disruptive and inefficent uh disruptive to the orderly and efficient executive execution of the township council's ability and that being the key content here that makes that the ordinance does not get activated otherwise uh but Lou if you can speak more to it yeah I think that that's that councilman I think you you pretty much um summarized that the the purpose of the ordinance was actually to be you well let me step take one step back back you've always had an ordinance that regulated um acts that breached the Quorum right that that is what your ordinance said the the ordinance that you adopted actually is actually tried to identify specific conduct so that you could put the public on notice and people could understand what the cor meant and it actually was and and I know that you know it it's hasn't been perceived that way but it actually is a restriction on the on the chair's ability to just decide what this chairman or that chairman or this chairman might decide what the Corum means so um and and really it's it's it's the outgrowth of our joint Insurance Fund starting to recognize that these claims are out there unless you have specific kind of codes of conduct so I thought that's all Council uh wanted to do and I think your resolution as the council president says explains you know once again this is the characterization of this ordinance as Banning the American flag of course is untrue you all know that nobody would have voted for that if that had been in an ordinance and we're just making it clear that that's not what it meant I I think that that's I think that's what the council's I think that if I understand you know the council president's intent in doing that but that's correct the intent may be uh to correct the wordings but only the difference again I'm coming to the technicalities and that's what I was asking it's better to repeal the ordinance and here is why for ordinance there is a public hearing for resolution there is no public hearing it is now this body which is adop in this resolution whereas the ordinance is published people have an opportunity to come and discuss about the ordinance council members have an appoint and discuss are two meetings it's not something put in our agenda pass it and it is done and if you look at from the way people are going to infer the ordinance no one is going to look at the resolution because this resolution is not really tied to the ordinance even though technically it is supposed to be but no one is going to look when I'm going to search what the law is about the council decorum and if somebody watches those YouTube videos they're going to perceive this as the American flag is banned and that is what I was saying we need to be explicit in in certain cases given the outcry from public again this is my opinion again I will leave it to the rest of the council uh but I'm happy at least we have something to clarify thank you sir thank you coun and as I stated I think this resolution addresses um the concerns of making sure that no American symbols are treated as a prop and I think the ordinance in itself is very well worded and it is meant essentially recommended by GIF to ensure that we have something to uh you know something on the legal documentations yep that's that's perfectly fine if we were doing this to codify these my the second concern came in I didn't finish my thought here is we change the ordinance from 6 minutes to 4 minutes yet today we allowed people to speak for six minutes that ordinance isn't an effect yet that's not effect yet it doesn't take effect it takes effect on the 16th yes December it takes 20 days after the mayor mayor signs it so it's not allow rebut well I don't think well I well just for the record I don't think we allowed rebuttal I think that what happened was that councilman Brasher and councilman Coyle asked that we reset the gentleman's time because we had gone offline so there were a couple of people who wanted to yeah but they didn't get to people didn't come back twice no people wanted to rebuttal but they didn't and this wouldn't allow it because of the new law but the law wasn't in place yet that's Council was rebuttal before but I thought they wanted to speak for a second I that yes it was not a I thought it wasn't a if it a genuine mistake I get that thank you sir council president yeah just one comment and I I think that um I know we had the the guidelines post on there um one important note is that it has to be accompanied by an actual disruptive behavior it's not that that that you can't do this and you can't do that by bringing something up right it has to be accompanied by an actual action that is a disruption to the meeting so I think that type of clarification I appreciate that's included in here um but I think that to councilman P's Point having that noted so that people are aware that that's a good point I think that that needs to be noted into the the correct I no question about it and that clearly is what your ordinance says so it there's not there's not any reason why yes I I agree I appreciate it thank you councel and I think little speak to this I was trying to keep the idea was to keep content neutral and the idea kind of was not that P portion was not conveyed I age so I think after this convey I think we do need to correct ourselves okay yeah got president yes on on this ordinance I I understood your original intent um wasn't to say the flag was a problem but if you didn't say the pr the the flag was a prop then you were opening yourself up to this whole thing being like arbitrary and kind of capricious here and it means nothing so but but you guys fell into that little trap there but but here's another question so so we still can't bring props right if the props are being used to disturb okay so if somebody brings a Bible one of our residents said if they bring a Bible they're holding the Bible up like this towards you right well that would be oh now you're saying it's right but no no no holding it up like this is a prop no it's not but it's not I think the point of it councilman I think that's where we're trying to get well that that's where I'm so I I think the point is that it's not disruptive and I and I think that that can you give me an example of what would be dis how about throwing it at you oh throwing it a projectile how's that so I I mean I I'll give you a good there's a good example I mean can we can we say that can we make this very simple well I think that you do I think that you I think that your ordinance says that it's where the conduct is is is disruptive so this resolution tries to capture correct well that's that's the whole point right is is what's here is subjective what we had before was subjected so what you did was you you took the scrambled EG like I said before right you scrambled it instead of going right to left you scrambled it left to right it's still a scrambled egg but the public right now is offended they're outraged they don't believe in you're you you're you know you saying you're sorry they they believe it's intentional um they believe this is going to come back and when all the news goes away you're going to say that you know you can't bring a different flag up or you can't take a Bible so the what they're asking for is just to repeal the ordinance very simple thing but if you believe that you and three of your other Council people are with the mayor right over ride the public which which I'm hoping you're actually going to go down this road right now okay don't repeat rep it don't repeal it thank you Council brusher but I think we are trying to clarify uh what's the uh as it states on number three which is that rules Andals are only enforced if those behaviors lead to a disruptive of the meeting which was not clarified it's not what the people ask for So you you're not doing what the people ask for you're doing what you and the mayor deemed the kingdom of Joi wants and that's the point that the people were here that's why they were here because believe you work for them you're showing them that you don't and I'm actually okay with that okay but I just want to make a point that you're not working for the people you're working for yourselves thank you thank you councilman Brer uh moving on to counc president counc I just wanted to hear from the councilman to clarify he mentioned something important which is different flags Council BR what different flags um are you discussing yeah there you go there's no talking from no no but that that that's it so so like where we were doing the flag thing it's just more than that it's it's the right you know we don't stop people from carrying around a rainbow flag or anything else we're very open in everything and and this here is because it's arbitrary um it was arbitrary before right if you read it and and this is still arbitrary and and so they're both arbitrary you've done nothing nothing to make anything better and the people ask you just to repeal it but out of your own arrogance or the mayor's arrogance because I believe he actually controls this Council okay I don't believe we're an independent body because of his actions we're not doing what the people asked and and that's my point I think this ordinance and the one that we had before will be exactly the same they're arbitrary right but the people asked you and and I'm just trying to point out that it is a um an an arrogance that comes from upstairs and that's it so don't repeal it um prove the public right okay uh moving on to number 16 from the council member of the planning board uh the next meeting is next Monday the 16th 7M here in council chambers thank you Council pres uh the number 17 will be scratched because we're removing ordinance 2241 uh we will what's the date for that one it'll be rescheduled for January 8th moving on to discussion items uh starting with on my left councilman pointer uh thank you council president um I'm going to skip over B we've uh kind of discussed that at length today um just as a general update I've asked uh for followup and I've had conversations with the administration in regards to uh the uh zoning potential zoning adjustments uh along the greenway and um just getting that feedback so just wanted to make mention that that is in the works um and then we had been contacted in regards to this is on item C on my list um certain Aesthetics on the south side of Edison particularly with the uh the amount of cars at Auto uh auto dealerships uh just the quantity and how they kind of overflow um I know that zoning and traffic is currently working on it so um my request I guess is at the next meeting if I can get like a general update from the administration okay thank you uh Council vice president all right um regarding the decorum ordinance I had to write because I had a lot to say seven years ago Edison made national news with the infamous racial flyer it was a stain upon this town that has never been removed fast forward to these past couple of weeks in its deja vu all over again this time with what amounted to four council members forming a circular firing squad and abandon abandoning all common sense in adopting the disastrous deorum ordinance as it was originally set down what has unfolded since then has been a horror show whereby once again our town is mired in negative headlines across the country because of an ill-advised unforced error I had been away during all all of this but even on vacation I was following very closely the latest developments some of the developments were brought to my attention unavoidably through vulgar emails several of which called me the seword and others that were threatening telling me to watch my back I'm sure my Council colleagues received similar nasty Communications needless to say none of this is surprising in the wake of the November 25th meeting most of which I watched when I arrived at my destination I take no pleasure in stating that my adamant opposition to the ordinance was based on the vity of the rules set forth knowing that chaos would follow and follow it did perhaps it might have been better if Council had allowed me the courtesy I had requested of delaying the final approval until I came back from vacation for the December 11th meeting but alas apparently there was some unknown urgency in the rush to adopt this ordinance so here we are unfortunately the apologies that were issued eight days after the ordinance were was approved were to the masses too little too late during this past week I've received Communications from several media Outlets asking if I would be willing to comment on the brewhaha around this ordinance I replied flatly that I would not be issuing any comments to any news outlets rather than risk making a bad situation worse I preferred to see this colossal error handled and better still fixed inous the resolution set forth this evening helps clarify the original ordinance but it basically reflects the point I was previously trying to make all along which was that ultimately what falls under the category of A disruption is that the discretion and common sense of the presiding council president actually from what I've observed in most cases the disruption has come more often from the council side of the chamber when it's the Public's turn to say their peace as we move forward I would like to see us be more discretionary and interrupting public speakers in addition I believe apologies are owed to Christo and to Joel bassoff in particular for their unjust removal from meetings the residents who are stalard in either attending the meetings in person or watching them on Edison TV or YouTube deserve nothing less than our respect and attention in return let's view this event as a teachable moment Turn the Page and do better starting now so that we can get back to doing the necessary work and business that Edison demands from us thank you council president thank you Council vice president can we get Council Council P go uh no we're up there counc yes yeah yeah we're going discussion okay I will be going through pretty much everything uh it's closer to 10:00 uh I'll start fairly quickly glal Stratus including the plan uh do we know there's an echo uh bti is there an echo for councilman Pat bti there's an echo uh for councilman P you want to try using Council pointers sure any any update on the glendel property we have no update councilman PTI okay any updates on flooding remediations I don't see the department head so I will skip that's link to the department heads uh but the couple of those that probably if you can answer me uh the questions the township website anyone tested the website anyone done any due d due diligence in clicking every single link every single form yes we we spend lot of money I'll tell you you know we still see some of the PDF files which have mayor lank name there on some of the forms uh there are some links if you look at the metadata when you search it reflect some other Town name that is the reason I've asked the question you know have anyone done the due diligence before ruling this out so if you can if you want I can send you the report that I have prepared uh so we can fix those links yes that would be appreciated thank you thank you uh resident concern I think you know I sent you an email on the water bill yes that was taken care of that is taken care of yes okay middle sex water perfect thank you I appreciate that uh and the question is on the various Township projects I will send an email if I can get where we stand in terms of the uh to Center how far we have progress what is the date looking to what is the completion date and how much money we spend same thing is for the uh the sport complex uh it's a proposed date you know what date we we are looking uh for to open thank you counc thank you Council pel um as for me I just wanted to follow up on the the central out back uh bike path and the jcpnl uh I understand we got a grant for the jcpnl Sonia yes we have uh two separate grants actually council president um and one for Central a so once we accept it uh what What's the process if you can walk me through it so once we accept the grant and um we'll wait for the funding meanwhile our Township and Junior has been working on those plans um as well as our legal team uh Mr Burns has been working on the jcpnl agreements do we get any further information from jcpnl I have not but I will touch base with him okay uh Council Council McCoy thank you council president I just had the um we talk about the economic developer I asked the administration if some funding can be spent that is in the budget for the economic development for marketing for Edison is that and um the second question was are we going to roll over this difference into 2025 because we didn't spend any of the money that was set forth and it is an important role and I know it's been challenging to fulfill but the fact we haven't done anything I'm your question regarding the allocation of funding for next year's position yes we'll take we'll take that into consideration we are discussing the budget right now okay and are we going to roll over the budget from this year into next year as well or we just are we going to use those funds back in the general budget um so anything that we don't expend um obviously there be a positive there so so um any positions that we haven't filled okay thank you Council Brer since it's getting late I'm going to make it quick um I'm not going to talk about BC D still looking into those things but Sonia fire alarm can I get the inspection report the last inspection report for a for all of our buildings that we have uh we'll get that to you um just as our that bid was awarded for the fire alarm system so that's being worked on okay so okay well I don't know if that your question relates to that but it's being you it was meain if I'm expecting to see fire alarms working it is working yes so they are working well it's smoke detectors work all of that right yes okay so then can we just get the the report from the the companies that's that's all I'm asking I just want to see where we are in the process um so I like our fire department does one and then they collect it from the different companies because they they actually test the system so if I can just get those reports or the last ones if you show me a last one from two years ago you know I'm going to be upset right but I'm sure you you've done one um that and that's what I'm looking for but that would be a council president thank you Council pressure um moving on to adjournment may I get a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn do we have to extend the meeting uh I think we extend it to 11: good uh there uh we can talk after um yeah may I have second for second all right that's uh motion by Council vice president second by Council pointer all in favor all right this meeting adjourns at 10:04 p.m. so sorry Miss Gloria my word I keep my word w i i didra e e e e e e e e e for --------- ##VIDEO ID:IEWy1b62QFw## e e e e e e e e e e e e e serious because um I'll be honest with you I I no idea to me this a big favor for you I look at it like this it's only all right all right calling the work session meeting of December 9th to order please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag United States Amer God indivisible liy and justice for all Madam clerk roll call please council member brusher here council member Coyle here council member Harris here council member Patel council member ptil here council member pointer pres council member schmuel here okay mine's not okay it's working okay uh Madam clerk adequate notice please adequate notice of this meeting is required by the open public meeting Act of 1975 has been provided by the annual notice Cent home News Tribune Star Ledger Desi talk and news India times on December 12th 20123 and post May Lobby missal complex on that same date thank you madam Clerk um moving on to council president Mark good evening everyone I want to begin by addressing the concerns that have been raised over the past few weeks I take full responsibility for my actions and decisions I want to offer sincere apology this moment has been an opportunity for reflection and I have thought deeply about how I can do better moving forward let me be clear I made a mistake as the person charged with maintaining the decorum of this chamber the responsibility to get this right is mine in my effort to uphold order I made an error in judgment one that unintentionally gave the impression that the symbols like the American flag or the Constitution were being diminished that was never the intent and I regret that my action sent that message the flag the Constitution and the symbols of the countries are sacred they represent the values and sacrifice that bind us together as a nation and they deserve our utmost respect to be clear the ordinance at the center of this issue does not ban Flags the Constitution or any symbol of our nation the flag is here in this chamber and we pledge of allegiance to it at the start of every meeting this symbols are not just present they are cherished to make our intent crystal clear and to ensure this misunderstanding never occurs again I am introducing a resolution tonight to formally capture and reinforce that intent the intent of this ordinance has always been to create a space where everyone can speak listen and engage in meaningful uh dialogue without distraction or distra disruptions however I understand that my handling of the situation has caused frustration and concerns for that I apologize again I I have learned an important lesson from this experience and I want to thank the community for holding me accountable and showing me the importance of unity even in disagreement moving forward I ask for your understanding mistakes happen but what matters most is that what we learn from them and how we can move forward together I hope we can share we can focus on the critical work of serving this Township a responsibility we all share let us move past this and return to what brings us here the desire to make our community stronger I am committed to doing my part and I invite you to join me in that effort now Madam clerk please read the resolution a resolution designate display of the American flag Constitution other founding documents as protected speech whereas the township of Edison has recently enacted ordinance number 2239 d224 which set forth the rules of De Quorum at public meetings of the Edison Township Council whereas the ordinance does not and never intended to ban a member of the public from displaying the American flag the United States Constitution or any other founding documents of the United States whereas the purpose of the qum orens is to provide a framework for the orderly and effective conduct of the Township's public meetings um whereas the clear intent of the ordinance is to protect only those behaviors which are in fact disruptive to the meeting and impair the council's ability to conduct the business of the township and whereas the township of vettis which is is to clearly express its respect for those symbols representing American freedom and democracy and whereas the township Council the mayor and the administration of the township of Edison wish to be known that display of the American flag the United States Constitution and other founding documents to be considered protected speech that is welcome in the council chambers now therefore be resolved by the town vetes Municipal Council as follows ordinance number 2239 d224 does not include a prohibit on the display of the American flag than the United States Constitution or any other founding documents of the United States the township of Edison respects honors and welcomes all displays of the American flag in council chambers the rules of dearm are intended to be enforced only against those behaviors which are in fact disruptive to the orderly and effective execution of the Township's ability to conduct the business of the town and shall be interpreted accordingly the resolution shall take effect immediately thank you madam clerk now now I'm going to be moving on to oral petitions and remarks and starting off with starting off starting off with Joel bass off yeah let me are we adding this to the agenda so councilman this is the work session correct so this is an item that I believe the council president has asked to be added to the um the uh agenda for the meeting on Wednesday correct on Wednesday you're going to add it or no it's tonight he's adding it to the agenda for the meeting remember this is a work session meeting so it's added where we adding it to what section um uh the clerk is just going to give it a number I not sure what number that is I yeah right I mean on my sheet would it be listed under the clerk or is it under the chief of police like at what point do I get to speak about this it should be under 15 15 okay of okay uh Joel bassoff Joel Joel b sir hi I'm L I'm the attorney point of orders or for the council members the members of the this is now a time for you to speak so you you'll have a chance to speak when your turn no but you're not a member of the governing body so you don't get to make motions I apologize um I think Mr bassoff is the first person we called Mr bassoff you can come up uh name and address and Joel Bass 17 Beach Lane Edison you're recognized wait so Mr President I'd like to address something that I wanted to bring up at the last council meeting but I didn't have a chance I'd like you to address the eviction of the Edison art Society from its exhibition space on the third floor of the municipal building you know Arts enhance our lives and it serves as a form of expression that that's often more eloquent Than Words uh the eviction of the art Society uh bothers me not only because art should hold an honored and prominent space in in this The People's Building but also because I personally know what it feels like to be expelled from the municipal building on your orders the police removed me from the podium twice once for referring to a copy of the Constitution uh that I held up in my hand and then referring to an American flag that I held in my hand uh the second time you had the police eject me from the chamber and uh ask as me to leave the building so based on rules that existed only in your own head you declared that the Constitution and the American flag were quote props and constituted breach of decorum uh my understanding now based on this current resol resolution is that you're going to be engaging in some form of viewpoint discrimination so now certain objects will be acceptable and certain objects will not be acceptable for expressing yourself in a constitutionally protected manner uh it'll be interesting to hear how the attorney parses that out when that ends up being questioned um so also nobody who was watching the meeting on Edison TV could see what was happening because someone ordered Edison TV not to show the podium anymore uh you and the mayor don't want the viewing public to get a full picture of what happens here because you feel threatened by transparency so fortunately New Brunswick today recorded the meeting uh everyone who wants to see what happens at the last meeting could go to nb. today and hopefully while you're there you'll support local investigative journalism by clicking on the Donate button because without local press a lot of what happens here uh just goes under the radar uh also you can go to YouTube and search for New Brunswick today another way for people to see what you and the mayor don't want the public to see is to go to Facebook and join the group Edison NJ taxpayers uh it'll be enlightening uh also you could go to the blog paulot people blogspot.com and you'll learn a lot about uh the way Edison spends its money uh wisely or not uh finally uh a group that's defending free speech in Edison uh there's the foundation for individual rights and expression uh you could go to the fire.org uh read news release about Edison and hopefully click on the Donate button there too uh so I'd like you to look to the your right and focus on the American flag that that's at the front of the room and think about what it means when you Pledge Your Allegiance to that flag uh and by the way now that I've called your attention to that flag I hope we still have decorum in the room uh except if you do look at that flag you're no longer focused on the speaker at the podium uh so I'll hold up the flag to make it easier to get your attention uh and as you can see dorum has not changed we still have dorum in the room no matter what someone holds in their hand the decorum doesn't change uh so when you recited your pledge of allegiance to the flag you also pledged your allegiance to the Republic for which it stands and that's based on a constitution that guarantees us certain rights and that includes the right to petition the government for redress of grievances you voted to curtail that right by cutting our speaking Time by 33% and it also gives us the right to freedom of speech so you should want these meetings to be fully transparent to the public so what I'm going to ask you to do right now it since it's supposed to be your meeting direct Edison TV right now to start focusing on the podium so that members of the public who can't make it here can get a full picture of what goes on people want to see which neighbors of theirs are speaking out on issues that concern them uh they want to see uh what members of the public are speaking on these issues so why don't you do that right now direct Edison TV to focus on whoever is speaking whether on the day or at the podium why don't you do that that's the question your time Joel I'll listen here okay well uh well here's what I'll do I'm holding up a picture of the Great Seal of Edison okay it says our motto let there be light that indicates that we're supposed to be enlightened here we're supposed to shed light on things and one of the ways of shedding light on things is broadcasting what happens at these meetings if you don't broadcast the the full extent of what goes on at this meeting you're not letting there be light you're you're casting a good portion of the Township in darkness and that's not what you're supposed to do your your interest is supposed to be for the public and not just protecting the mayor and yourselves from criticism which is what you're doing now so how about it let's let Edison TV focus on everything that's going on at this meeting let there be light that's our motto uphold it [Applause] council president and I i' asked a question about the art Society answer and I will be answering all the questions at the end as we will have a lot of people to get through and I want to make sure we hear everybody first uh moving on to Ben Frank point of order yes what's the point of order are you changing how we normally do CU normally they come up and speak we answer their questions and now you're changing it you're very if you're going to do that I'm going to say you're you're inconsistent and irresponsible and Reckless and that is what has led to this meeting that was a statement I I asked you I just said if you're going to change the meeting format again over and over you're irresponsible and Reckless yeah moving on to Ben Frank name address Frank name and address good evening everyone my name is sha Paul re an independent journalist and constitutional activist I came here today to speak directly to Mayor Sam josi I see the mayor isn't here tonight which is unfortunate you think the so-called leader of the township would be here but I guess he is hiding in shame no worries though I'll be sure to send in the link to this video so you can take a look I'm sure he'll take a look at it so I was goingon to say some other things I'll get to that your apology was really weak you know it wasn't a misunderstanding you got called out by the mainstream media for violating the First Amendment for being patriotic from trying to control people this has nothing to do with decorum you see all these people here today with their Flags decorum has not been interrupted in any single way you wanted to control all of you want to control most of you wanted to control what we the people do while we're standing at the podium because it's about control it's about power nothing to do with a misunderstanding props or anything else what if I had a Bible in my hand what if I had a cross in my hand are those banned as well and I think the lawyer made a great point about your it being Viewpoint uh it's not Viewpoint neutral so we'll let the courts decide with that but again I thought your apology was uh you know lackluster to say the least um so I will say that the uh hold on one second during my years of activism I have never I've seen a lot of tyranny and Corruption but to ban the US flag and Constitution is something I've never seen or heard of before this is why I decided to come here tonight from Long Island New York and show my big beautiful American flag and I was told by somebody in the media that you didn't B the flag you just ban the waving of the flag so I'll do that too um you know just in case but you know you definitely walked everything back um I want to uh I want to read I will not back down I will not be intimidated now that the story has got National media coverage I am told that you will not be doing damage control you will be doing damage control about the waving of the flag so you know if you're getting arrest anybody for for having a flag do it to me I have good lawyers and you can check my track record when it comes to dealing with tyrants um Long Island oned on YouTube check it out so you're you're uh what's going on here in Edison is is completely pathetic and tyrannical makes complete sense though seeing as your Mayor Sam Joi has been accused of pay-to-play corruption and sexual assault which all of you have been made aware of and not have done nothing about my friend and fellow activist Leroy truth is going to go into specifics on the sexual assault allegations as he interviewed the victim of the mayor I just want to read one of the mayor's classmates what what one of the mayor's classmates wrote about him I went to JP Stevens High School with Sam joy and I remember when we were seniors I saw him do some sexual predator Behavior things at a party we are at not rape but early signs making girls uncomfortable he always struck me as an opportunist and someone with no morals he just tries to get what he wants sadly that kind of megalomaniac mentality can get a person into office as I'm sure most of you know um as mayor apparent and mayor apparently thank you Leroy and Council brusher for shedding light on this and helping speak for this victim and hopefully serve some justice this is about excuse me this is about more than just excuse me hold on one second this is about more than Banning the flag and Constitution that's how it started and what got the national media attention but when independent journalism started to look closer Journal started closer we found so much more this is about outing Mayor Sam Joi who is tyrannical corrupt and by all accounts a sexual deviant which is why I will be supporting councilman Richard brusher for mayor I have spoken to the councilman and he has assured me that he will bring about positive change here in Edison I look forward to him winning the election and evicting Sam Joi United We the People are strong and will take back our government thank you for your time lackluster apology do better thank you thank you everybody thank you next is Leroy truth hello everyone name and address please I'm Leroy truth or Leroy truth investigations and I encourage you to all subscribe to my channel Le right truth investigations on YouTube and Facebook now first of all we're here because of this man right here and Christo he has been relentlessly speaking truth to corruption so I want to acknowledge you and that's why I'm here that's why Long Island audit is here and that's why everyone is here thank you for what you do Jersey Watcher on YouTube like And subscribe like And subscribe now the flag is the least of your worries rape rape is the most vile thing a man can do to a woman I am here because a woman came forward to me she came forward to me and she had a story I'm going to read you her story I interviewed her yesterday along with the extraordinary Richard drer councilman here who I'm also supporting for mayor this story is vile and Sam Joi who is the coward as always he doesn't come to these meetings he is accused of anally raping a woman he can't be in office for one second more yet none of you except Richard Brer has done an investigation as to what went on a story as a sexual assault Survivor myself I understand the incredible courage it takes to speak out for four years starting at the age of seven I was sexually assaulted by a Catholic priest and it took me 33 years to get justice so I know what this woman went through this vile Story begins during the covid-19 lockdowns a man in his mid-30s the mayor of Edison New Jersey befriended a woman through Facebook who was 25 years a senior old enough to be his mother that man is called Mayor Sam Joi let's call him Mayor Sam over time their conversations grew more frequent on Facebook and he earned her trust one day Mayor Sam during the middle of the pandemic in the midst of the severe lockdowns broke the law and invited the woman to his home she declined reminding of the lockdowns and his responsibility as mayor to enforce them he insisted it's okay I'm the mayor but she stood her ground months later he invited her again by this point she believed him to be a friend and had heard from others in Edison that he was gay which is all good feeling no threat she decided to accept his invitation into his home when she arrived at his gated community condominium Mayor Sam began making drinks for her different concoctions one after another some tasted off she didn't think much of it at first but after several drinks she began to feel extraordinarily ill she started vomiting uncontrollably please don't let me die she begged Mayor Sam Joi she was that ill she was terrified but instead of calling 911 or taking her to the emergency room Mayor Sam Joi did the unthinkable as this woman lay on a bed trying to stop the room from spinning and from vomiting continuously he raped her according to this woman he anly penetrated her aggressively this is your mayor that you love to take photo ops with and support he an anally penetrated her aggressively she said without her consent and with no regard for her or her condition it was cold calculated and utterly violent ating what kind of man does this she thought what kind of man rapes a woman who is vomiting so violently she thinks she might die but Governor Murphy loves Mayor Sam josi as well after the assault she expected him to show remorse to apologize but he did not determined to seek Justice she filed a police report but instead of action she faced a system designed to protect the powerful and I'm ashamed at all the women on here who should absolutely have been protecting her if the men wouldn't the middlex County prosecutor's office did nothing New Jersey attorney general Matt platkin did nothing Edison Council Members except for Richard drer did nothing the cover up had begun this woman was victimized All Over Again by A system that should have fought for her that's when she found me lero truth or lero truth investigations she shared her story and I had the honor of interviewing her on my YouTube channel I stand with her now demanding Justice and accountability for this horrendous crime and I hope each one of you will do the same going forth from this meeting tonight to the people of Edison New Jersey and Beyond This Woman's story demands action Mayor Sam Joi must be held accountable and must be investigated immediately upon the conclusion of this meeting anally raping a woman who is incapacitated ated vomiting and begging for her life and for help isn't just criminal it's the behavior of a sexual predator I look forward to hearing of Mayor Sam Josie's indictment very soon do the right thing for this woman and for all women who have been raped and sexually assaulted throughout the United States and the entire world we must protect women and hold those who violate them accountable for the full extent of the law period And I saw look forward to each of you now doing the right thing you did the wrong thing but now is the time to do the right thing support this woman have an immediate investigation into the actions and the allegations against Mayor Sam ji thank you thank you uh Vincent Caputo We Gather here today not just for the flag name and address please no thank you We Gather here today not just for the flag B it's bigger than that this is a direct attempt to silence one person Crystal macropolis for years I've watched Christo endure Relentless bullying from Edison Council and Edison police enough is enough the flag ban is just the tip of the iceberg a symptom of a larger calculated effort to suppress his opposition cutting the speak speaking time from 6 minutes to 4 minutes isn't about isn't about um improving efficiency it's about stopping kristo from exposing all the corruption in Edison why else would they target him this is not this is not only about Christo but every citizen's right to free speech when you suppress One Voice one's voice you threaten us all Edison Council has repeatedly violated our constitutional rights ex expelling people from meetings expressing their opinions that they don't like this is undemocratic and an abuse of power let's be clear this Scandal is more than uh just about the flag it's about attacking aspects of the First Amendment the council has banned props to justify suppressing Christo's use of symbolic tools for his protests but just because but because they had to ban everything they got caught up in their actions which included a flag a national symbolic Unity of freedom I demand the Attorney General investigate the chief of police and council president Nish Patel for Direct ing officers to enforce unconstitutional policies and I demand charges against Christo be dropped immediately these charges are political tools to silence him this Council has shown time and time again that there is no respect for the Constitution or the people it serves I encourage you to go to Christo's Channel Jersey Jersey Watcher to witness the corruption at these meetings and the disgraceful interactions with the Edison police he has truly been treated like G garbage by the authorities in this town he has been kicked out of meetings arrested assaulted by Edison police show nothing but disrespect and I'm tired of it you really treat him differently and it shows we will be here every meeting until this clown show stops when you visit his channel don't forget to like And subscribe uh it took Joe bass off getting kicked out of the meeting and Russ azarello Ted Cruz saying russow making the news Ted Cruz saying it's a disgrace and the new uh bordar John hman saying this is unamerican to expose what this town truly is the laughing stock of America to the council members who voted for this ordinance you were unfit for office and I demand your resignation I also man demand that the bar associate investigate Mike Burns and assembly president Craig coughlin's Law Firm Mayor Sam joi's alleged misconduct must also be investigated to ensure accountability at every level the Edison Council has violated Christo's rights for years and now they're they're trying to take take away your rights too you cannot put the blame on kristo for simply exercising his Free Speech this is his right and it's granted to all Americans by the First Amendment Christo has been persecuted for speaking out but his actions are a direct reflection of the freedoms we are supposed to enjoy in this country this is not about not just about Christo but it's about the fundamental rights that protect us from oppression when you silence him they attempt to silence silence us all we stand here today we make it clear we will not be silenced we will not be intimidated we will continue to speak out against corruption and fight for the Injustice and and and transparency this town deserves