number Jimmy I would like to advise all those present that notice of this meeting has been provided to the public in accordance with the provisions of the public meeting Act that notice was published Jersey Journal City website copies provided in the record the nor lend and also placed on the bulleon board in the lobby of City Hall any objections of any shall be made to the city clerk please rise to salute the flag to the flag United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible liy and justice for all Mr con here Mr Doyle any M fiser yes Mr Jabor here president Zano pres Mr Cano present Mr Ramos present Mr Russo present president gtino here um I would couple book peeping items we are removing ca1 cl2 and ordinance number three for first reading from the agenda and I would like to suspend the agenda to hear cl4 resolution congratulating the north HUD Hudson sewage Authority as the first Authority in the state of New Jersey to complete its CSO long-term control plan um nice and we have Dr doctor here wolf wolf sorry Richard wolf if you want to come up and say a few words s and then I'll allow council members to speak good evening council members uh I believe I know most of you some some of you for many years actually uh I'm Richard Wolf the executive director of the north Hutton sewage Authority and tonight with me is our director of uh our director of communications and Community Affairs and one of our commissioners commissioner asadorian representing who represents Hoboken uh I'm on behalf of the nhsa I want to express my gratitude for the resolution sponsored by councilman Paul presen Zano the resolution notes that nhsa is the first Wastewater Authority in the state to complete its mandated CSO long-term control plan and enter into an agreement with the njdep to implement the plan this is a comprehensive plan that will result in a progressively cleaner Hudson River and in further infrastructure improvements to mitigate flooding in Hoboken thus far we have invested $31 million in the collection system over the last 10 years in Hoboken alone that's not our that does not include our other three uh municipalities that make up our service area and 25 million in the plant that Services uh on Adam Street that Services H all of Hoboken and parts of Union City and and wehawken one of our two plants uh in the in the CSO long-term control plan over the next 5 years we'll be investing 75 million in Hoboken alone and uh uh 80% of that is coming through the the loan forgiveness program uh through the uh the state of New Jersey so we'll be paying a fraction of that we have the the financial plan in place to pay for it but there's going to be a lot of infrastructure and a lot of work being done in Hoboken so we'll need to coordinate this will include a new wet weather Pump Station uh storm storm water pump station in the Northeast part of the city that will address uh still areas that to flood slightly when you compare them to previously but they still flood uh it it includes the uh money that we've spent already on the uh on the northwest resiliency Park and uh it includes uh further uh improvements of the of the collection system itself so we're very pleased to be recognized by the state and by Hoboken one of our important constituent municipalities for our efforts to protect the environment and I thank all of you very much for your support and the Hoboken Commissioners for their support on on our board thank you thank you and we thank you for your leadership Council U one of the key things is that I believe fully in is that if we're going to if I'm going to sit up here and vote on issues I need to understand what goes into many of the projects in town and many of the things that the city does one of the first things I did was set up a meeting with the nhsa and went in and got a tour of their facility it was always to me it's just that big thing in the corner that nobody looked at and so when I went in I got a full tour and in the process I mean it was was interesting to see what they do uh but again I think it was also very useful for me to for them to explain a lot of the resiliency things that they have done which many people don't know about uh I for one got an education and some of the things that they're doing is pretty cool some of their explanations actually was really interesting to me and about flooding especially around ShopRite that not everything is set up completely yet and there's still a lot of things happening down there uh but I think any body up here would that hasn't gone for a tour I I would highly recommend it they're happy to see you down there um and occasionally wherever you they take you uh you might have to just hold your nose a little bit but it's really interesting to see what they do and and after hearing that that they first in the state to for this long-term uh control plan and helping keep the Hudson River cleaner uh we should recognize them for that and hence that's why I put this resolution forth thank you councilman any other council members yeah I'll uh just want to say my first foray into the sewage Authority was back in 2000 and we had a there a terrible storm at the time a lot of flooding took place throughout Western Hoboken and uh and many people said there there's Gates like by the river yeah they got to got to open the gates they closed the gates got to open the gates I remember and there are no Gates By The River they're still doing they still they still do that today there are no Gates no one's no one's uh pulling a lever opening and cl closing any any levers we were in 1880 very long time ago before all before your time even but that's the first time I heard the con right after that storm was the first time I heard the conversation about flood pumps and and and how they could move throughout the system and how that would help the city of Hoboken and we got our first ones in 2008 we advocated for those for a very long time that seven-year period now we're on our third and fourth flood pump so it's exciting to see where we were in 2000 to where we are today so I thank you for all your your efforts and all the members of the S Authority all the employees the board members all the elected officials we've had uh from the federal level to the local level to help us uh make our our suicid a lot more efficient when it comes to flooding mitigation so I appreciate your efforts thank you counc president just quickly you know these are the improvements that we have throughout the city that most people never see or even hear about so you know I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you for your steadfast leadership in this uh despite not seeing it despite not hearing about it all the time and and just keeping everything on track because under your leadership for all these years it's only gotten better and better for the city of Hoboken so I personally want to say thank you and I want to thank you on behalf of the city of Hoboken council president yes counc yeah I I'll Echo that uh to say thank you and just for people watching um you know we still get everyday flooding uh but if you were here like I've been in Hoboken almost 30 years completing my 30th year and I remember when I first moved here in Southwest Hoboken in '94 like there was really big floods every time not every time it rain but just more often and if you haven't lived here you know that long a period of time you just don't realize how much better it is now because of all the work that you know some of the people on this Council worked um with any a lot longer than I have but all like incrementally every time we put in a new pump and we make these improvements we just have less and less flooding and you don't necessarily see you you if you moved here recently you wouldn't see it but an example I always point to is the corner of Park um and 15 that used to flood in a rainstorm and it would have 8 to 10 Ines of water that would sit there for 6 7 hours and now we still get a few inches of water but it drains just like that you know within like 10 minutes and you know that that's working through this system where we've had so many upgrades so it's it's pretty amazing to see it and you know just thank you uh uh for all of that and also just importantly um just being on the other end of the phone if anyone ever has any issues with flooding or you know any type of sewer issues when you call the NHS they answer right away they send someone right away so they're just a a good partner um for the city so even though I can't see you over the paper towel I uh thank you guys sure um I just want to add on to the thanks um and kind of echo what councilwoman Fischer was saying is we have a we have essentially a new normal now in Hoboken when it comes to rain events uh and we take it for granted uh and so it's good to recognize uh the everyday work the the diligence that goes on uh to get us to that position because it really has affected everyone's lives for the better uh you know I too have been here 18 years when I first moved here forth in Madison rain like we had today which was not a lot we'd have at least you know three Ines on and it stay there for a while that's just not expected anymore and and and it's good that we have that new normal and and that and we can keep getting better so I'm excited to to hear that you know we continue with the infrastructure improvements we continue with our plan uh so that you know obviously the goal one day is so that nothing ever floods will we ever get there I don't know but we'll keep trying and that's the important thing and with the partnership between the city and and uh and you guys um will will make great strides in in in achieving that goal thank you thank you council president um when we had the ribbon cutting for Northwest resiliency Park director wolf made a speech and one of the lines he made in his speech was how we're get with all the work that we're doing on our CSO efforts that we're getting closer to the day where we can have a swimable Hudson we talk about about and that was a laugh line there were quite a few people in the audience who left but I but he was not joking uh this CSO work that is being recognized tonight is part of restoring the Ecology of the Hudson and taking all of the storm water when we talk about the mayor Bala talked at his state of the city address about having 3.1 million gallons of storm water retained when our uh resiliency Parks come online total uh that all that water I believe is going to be processed in a way so that it will not have the kind of pollutants that will uh make permanent injuries to our ecology and as we develop Maritime Park and you know we look at the future of our public use of our Waterfront the work that North Hudson's being recognized for tonight the vision that director wolf and the leaders of North Hudson have had will have a long-term benefit for generations and for everyone who enjoys the Hudson in our public water from so on behalf of uh the people we represent I want to thank director will for his leadership for his steadfast and serious and purposeful efforts to address not just our flooding but also our ecology thank you council president thank you Mr to call the vote Mr con i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes Rano I Mr Cano hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes thank you again and thank you for coming thank you everyone public portion Kevin yeah yes Kevin Davis usually where's the timer I think a lot of people are allergic to me so they should take some man his the main um I am here tonight to speak in favor of the proposed e delivery biker ordinance I know that's not a surprise to you I've only been talking about it for the last two months um in fact I've done some documentary film making uh through my Twitter account wheelie bad bikes where I have clearly documented that there's a problem such a problem that nobody's denying it anymore because for years councilman president zanana was talking about this issue and he was ignored now he's on the council and now you guys have to deal with it I think that's awesome and you can see through my videos evidence that something needs to be done and I think it's this proposal some people argue if we just had more protected bike Lanes people wouldn't ride on the sidewalk well if you look at my last mixtape uh which includes footage I got on my GoPro helmet cam many bik bikes in Jersey City on the protected bike Lanes not only run red lights they go on the sidewalk even though they have a protected bike lane they go behind strollers so infrastructure is nice but you need a behavior component and if you look around Hoboken and if you look to see which bikers are the ones committing the most traffic violations it's not recreational Riders like me I don't even have a car or a driver's license and yet I'm not welcome in bike Hoboken but that's another story uh that's they're they're only just five people that live in hobok and they're not a real organization but anyways the bikers who are running the red lights are primarily delivery Riders and people can make all sorts of excuses for them well they don't have infrastructure they have to make a living but they're basically breaking the rules because they can and people bring up the argument well we shouldn't try to require licensing for all delivery bikers because they've tried Licensing in cities before and hasn't worked well the cities that have tried licensing for bicyclists have tried it for all cyclists not just delivery bikers Los Angeles for example one of the examples they brought up is 465 square miles Hoboken one square mile and the delivery bikers are mainly concentrated in the commercial strips so it' be pretty easy to reach out to them there's a working group now I'm on it um but there's a solution right now you can focus on other Solutions but this solution well I believe will pass legal muster there's precedent for municipalities requiring licensing for sets of workers uh bartenders in Hoboken have to be licensed but if you're a delivery biker you don't strange to me um and let's say somebody's wearing a vest with a number and you see them riding the sidewalk when you called the police to make a complaint you say yeah I saw a 724 he was tailgating a baby with a carriage and then he hit another pedestrian because he was on his cell phone so it' be a helpful tool for law enforcement I understand some law enforcement leadership have come out against it one of them uh campaigned against councilman presen Zano so I don't know uh how seriously I can take his opinion um but you know if you vote against this tonight you're voting against pedestrians you're voting against parents so please vote Yes tonight support delivery biker licing thank you Evelyn mad first I want to apologize because this is not the Forum that I wish to complain because a lot of you might think that that's all I'm doing is complaining um through the email I've been sending unfortunately I have to come back to you cuz all of you are official elected okay this is what I have to put up with I don't know if you'll be able to hear it but this is what I have to put up with almost every other night and this is just dragging Furniture this is not saying racial slurs or anything okay I'm losing lack of sleep my disabled family is being hindered by this I spoke to you several times the text I sent you if I'm correct because I keep everything in my phone I sent to you I don't want to mess up your name Joe so I just that doesn't mean that I'm disr disrespecting you but I came here two weeks ago with the same problem okay the majority if I'm wrong I apologize ahead of time think that this is okay you complain and that's it that's it and I just sit there and listen okay now emails have been sending out I have not heard anything from anybody including rajie the Freeholder or the that took an anet place I'm not too familiar with that because I'm not politically inclined to nobody I'll speak my mind and that's it Mr Russo you told me that the apartment was given to somebody what I don't understand is and somebody please help me out here the young lady that this apartment was given to I personally went to housing notified that the girl that was living downstairs was renting those rooms okay and she was there for renting those rooms I said can I have it and I left it at that and I walked away cuz I'm not come to I don't I'm not after talking to anybody because I feel that if I'm talking to adults I don't have to repeat myself all right I left there like that the apartment got vacant in November I went downstairs I rang the young lady's Bell she says it was already taken what I don't understand is how can they give an apartment to a domestic dispute person 15 years ago that moved into this building and have a man and have kids can somebody enlighten me because this is fraud in its face by housing authority and I would like housing authority to be investiga now I'm asking all of you I'm asking all of you I really don't want to start doing emails out of Hoboken cuz like I said I'm not politically inclined but thank God I got good angels on my side and people don't like ugliness and that's what I'm upset about okay the only thing I asked from the very beginning was a floor between us that was it I didn't ask to be moved out of the building because I was not going to affect my family family stability once I move out of that building my family stability is going to be hinder and if that's the case I'll move out of Hoboken I'll do more better at a Hoboken with other people that I know that in here because I never come to the city council meetings I go to the Commissioners I go to the city council and I sit back there back there and I don't say nothing when it has to do with Hoboken Mr Co Mr filler here sends me emails and I read everything now I don't unfortunately can run to every event that you have but I'm aware of it but I don't think it's right that I have to put up with this okay I pay my rent I pay taxes so how hard is it I'm not asking for anybody to put me up in the condominium however if any lawyer wants to take my case for discrimination for disable hey email me I'm willing and aable and you know it's tiring it takes its toe you live in a nice place so does everybody here and they sleep good at night I don't I'm sitting in my living room 3:00 in the morning hearing curses fighting sometimes have to run out of my apartment because I can't deal with the noise I get backlashes and they're not very pretty so I thank you and I apologize but this is where I come right back when I ask questions or when I email certain individuals us are the Electic officials come to you this is the second time after this no more thank you and have a nice night thank you yeah Liz NY what good evening everyone it's a little um well I have something very positive to say tonight I'm here to thank the city council um not many people in this city know but this city council has been very active on environmental issues and I'm here tonight I'm a long-term resident of this city and I'm here tonight as an environment panelist to thank the city council for your heroic efforts on helping to save the environment here in New Jersey I'm here as a representative of food and water watch particularly for the central New Jersey branch of food and water watch I have tonight A thank you letter that I'd like to read into the public record if I may council president and it goes like this this dear Council on behalf of food and water watch and our 70,000 members around the state we thank you for your leadership our volunteers know the power of Grassroots activism in promoting positive change recently we had very good news to celebrate when competitive power Ventures decided to drop their plans to build another massive methane gas power plant in the kby section of Woodbridge Township which would have adversely impacted the health of all New Jersey residents your governing body the city council of Hoboken was one of 16 elected bodies that signed our resolution opposing this expansion although cpv claimed the project was dropped because of poor market conditions we know the tremendous Community outcry and years of protest against this plant were the key factors in this decision we thank you for placing the health of your community in the Forefront by recognizing the disastrous consequences associated with the proposed kesby cpv2 gas plant expansion your positive and caring action for others has made a difference we look forward forward to attending future Council meetings to discuss other environmental issues as we continue the fight for our food water and climate it is wonderful to have you as an ally in our Corner sincerely Charlie kravit Central Jersey organizer the Central Jersey volunteer team of food and water watch and I would like to add a personal thank you to this city council for the resolution that you passed unanimously to help us stop the New Jersey Transit power plant right here in Carney which really positively impacted the people of Hoboken and Jersey City so kudos to this city council for your environmental heroism you are my personal environmental Heroes I look forward to continuing to work with you now on the New Jersey Turnpike expansion which I think is a real ill advised project and also fighting against the power plan proposed by the pic Valley seage commission right here in Newark which also will negatively impact the air quality right here in Hoboken so thank you moving forward and I look forward to reading many more thank you letters to you in future thank you very much Liz leis yavon no I can't read the hi um just want to start off by saying uh thank you echoing the words of um this young lady about the environment I'm an environmentalist also so thank you very much good evening Hoboken city council my name is Lewis and I've been a resident of Hoboken for 31 years since we last spoke two weeks ago more cities in New Jersey have passed ceasefire resolutions including our neighbor we hawen on Monday Canada passed not only a ceasefire resolution but a pledge to suspend armed sales to Israel my question to you is given the overwhelming Global support for a ceasefire why the hesitation in this Council on passing a ceasefire resolution that will save thousands of lives and release the hostages it can't be because you don't want to get involved in international issues as your outspokenness on Ukraine and the flying of these flag in front of city hall both show that you can and have alarms are ringing in every capital of the world and human rights organizations are describing unprecedented catastrophes in Gaza why your silence respected members of the council this is the moral issue of our time the World Health Organization estimates one child is killed every 10 minutes in Gaza by Israeli violence which means that since we last spoke two weeks ago more than 2,000 children have been senselessly murdered by the Israeli Army using using American weapons furthermore in addition to the death deaths and mutilations of children by bombs per UNICEF reporting 23 children have died from malnutrition in the last two weeks yes they starve to death which according to Medical Doctors is one of the most agonizing Ways to Die imagine parents in this Council your child slowly starving to death today one-third of children under the age of two and gaza's North are suffering from acute malnutrition more than double the number from a month ago never in the history have children pushed into malnutrition so quickly these are the Grim opening statistics of a man-made famine man-made because the Israeli military has deliberately blocked the entrance I'm sorry sir whoever speaking in the back can you please be quiet it's difficult to hear the speaker thank you these are Grim's opening statistics of a man-made famine man-made because the Israeli military has deliberately blocked the entrance of life-saving human humanitarian Aid attack Aid convoys and gunned down starving people as he tried to collect what little Aid has managed to reach them Israel is using starvation as collective punishment and a weapon of War without an immediate ceasefire and the entrance of food and water into Gaza it's predicted that hundreds of thousands more are at risk of dying from starvation respected members of the council I reiterate this is a moral issue of our time I am not naive enough to believe that a ceasefire statement from Hoboken City Council will be the magic wand to sway the Israeli government into ending its genocidal Siege of Gaza and allow the hostages to return home however given the gravity of the situation I believe we must do something our words and actions matter and collectively they are the most powerful tools we have for our asserting our shared Humanity please use your privileged positions to State loudly and clearly that we are joining our neighbors and standing on the right side of History say yes to a ceasefire resolution supporting the release of all the hos ages a permanent ceasefire preventing additional loss of human life and requiring the uninterrupted entry of humanitarian Aid into Gaza thank you for your time thank you Olivia y dear members of the Hoboken city council my name is Olivia and I was born in St Mary's Hospital and raised in Hoboken I was even a part of the youth advisory committee here in Hoboken as an Arab Latina I loved growing up in this community that values Equity diversity and inclusion I recently turned 18 and I'm starting to explore idea ideas and responsibilities of what it means to be an American in fact this year I'll be able to vote in my first election and I am so very grateful for that right I'm here today because as a teenager I am in in a position of limbo I am not a child who can live in an ignorant Bliss but I also don't yet have the power or resources as an adult all I really have is my voice today I want to use that voice to advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza to save innocent civilians Palestinians and Israeli two weeks ago I came to my first ever city council meeting and listened to the voices of Hoboken residents opposing a ceasefire I left confused and wanting to ask what do you want I believe in the kindness of humanity and cannot possibly believe that you want the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to continue I cannot believe that you want innocent families to be extinguished in the coming bombardment of Israeli weapons donated by our government I cannot believe you are advocating for more starvation death and Trauma so I'm guessing that what opponents of a ceasefire really want is to go back to the way things were before October 7 the problem is that for Palestinians this reality was dangerous made up of checkpoints limited freedoms arbitrary arrests and being occupied it is a world in which Stones thrown by children are met with bullets fired by adults it is a space in which Palestinians are forced to live as Outsiders in their own land I would not have believed this level of Injustice to be true if I had not witnessed it with my own eyes have you ever met anyone who has been to the occupied territories and opposes a ceasefire a pal Palestinians want a permanent ceasefire a new normal of Freedom why is it so hard to believe that Palestinians just want to be free no ulterior motive just Freedom growing up all I could do was repost Instagram stories stories and cannot really build up the courage to speak out however after watching Palestinian fathers perform amputations on their own Sons without anesthesia and children dying of starvation within the rubbles of Gaza I cannot sit idly by silence no longer feels like an option I can live with there are other students like me in Hoboken who are just turning 18 and are looking to their Council people to stand up for all the values that Hoboken represents we are listening to what you are saying and also to what you are not saying we learned history and what happens when we look the other way we want to break the cycle of trauma and inequities locally and globally when you say that advocating for a ceasefire is not a Hoboken issue you are ignoring the younger generation which is overwhelmingly in favor of a ceasefire you ignore our cries for justice and peace we are part of Hoboken and we want the city council to represent our ideas as well growing up in the hobokin community has empowered us to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves and we will not be silenced ceasefire now and forever Patricia waiters Patricia waiters 1219 Willer Mike and I want to read this because I just text this to you at 239 all of you got can I have yall undivided attention please y'all didn't do this for nobody else and y'all know me by now I'm coming in here real nice and calm and try to maintain my composure with no emotions I've been coming here too long 25 years too long to Council meetings and you know me already I'm here tonight to say this I'm not going nowhere you're going to see many directors many Council people and the mayor going to be gone and I'mma still be here so with the retaliation okay I'm going just share a few scenarios tonight that I've been faced with if you haven't learned you'll never learn there was a time I wouldn't even speak to Jing gentino this election I did I reached out to you cuz I had to show y'all or when they told me to tack Miss fiser I reached out to you cuz that's Pat waiters I don't take sides I don't care who want to run for what I don't care who do what how closed doors I don't care about political deals but what I do care about is a two-tier justice system I set in this council chambers and listen to every story about the ceasefire and they experien is stuff that black people been going through for years and it hurts I shared with you Mr Freeman a incident that happened with my son a man happened to be upset about the whole guys the thing that's going on racially motivated speeding down Willow when Robie stood at that microphone last night and said the exact same location where my son's life could have been taken he had a city vest on cleaning the streets for the city of Hoboken when that man pulled up up and said you dumb black get out the street and he ramped and he went on and on he spited my son and rolled the window down but see it's different because I the mother of that child went through that in hoken but see how I handled it differently I hope like hell like that young 18y old girl just spoke my son is 20 I hope that people could get a heart like me and look the opposite way but y'all all in here got kids it's a very different ball game race isn't what we went through and we accept and allow and y'all took a known disre the kids ain't living like that today everywhere it's a problem Ravi won his election with his racist flyer it's a problem they look down on Michael del Fusco they judged every white person that lived in Hoboken and it broke my heart cuz I get 3,000 votes it's nowhere near 3,000 people in Hoboken that's black that look like me I love every body y'all see that I'm not going nowhere but I'm really upset with this one because the mayor and you're going to read this tonight three texts he text me back Pat don't do nothing I'll take care of it no no no you're going to do something as an elected official according to Jason Freeman well Pat your son hit the guy but you didn't mention nothing that guy did to me well a prosecutor said it's not all racist and it's not when Robie thought something was racist she was on channel 2 Channel 4 Good Morning America good afternoon at 6:00 news should I go on why is Justice different from mayor Bal than my son why I ask you this I'm a little upset because every time there's an election people say what they going to do people change they be friendly I'm going to be Pat waiters all the time I'm going to ask you again let's take action I ask Robbie to protect our reputation stop having lawsuit and thousands of dollars of legal fees is that what Jason want I guess so instead working on stuff inh housee they don't care if they going to be faced with a lawsuit because it's your' tax dollars and these people is still running our city y'all come on I want respect I was not respected my son helped me feed my household so I could eat and miss the both directors Gonzalez and the other one that was a open opportunity for them to retaliate against me and I'm closing this saying this weeks before I stood at the microphone and I told y'all take them off the agenda so that was just a quick opportunity I want to refresh your memory real quick Jason in 2012 when you and John Allen was best best friends and I stood at the microphone and defended them about y'all not wanting to give them money the next day my car was told the next day my car was told and Jason Freeman I got your text well next time keep your mouth shut before you go to the microphone talk to us that was was me standing at this microphone arguing about they making John Allen an administrator that's how I am I love everybody that come in my city but I tell you at the end of the day don't play politics with Pat waiters you won't like it you will not like it because see I'mma still be standing when you come and retaliate cuz I'm not desperate I'm not desperate to be a politician I'm a people's person a people's person so I'm Jen I'm wrap it up real quick because I want you to be the next mayor anyway don't wait until a see this up or election is approaching to be my friend I want something done and stop with the retaliation cuz I don't care and directors they come and go thank you thank you Gail Gomez hello everyone so I'm here today to present my case for Park can you just St yep better okay um hi everyone I'm here today to represent myself as a small business owner who partners with Amazon to deliver in the great city of Hogan I'm not a resident of Hogan but we've been working in Hogan for quite a few years right now I just want to address the parking situation and the tickets so we are currently in excess of these much tickets for last year which came out to $51,000 in parking tickets and that was for last last year as of right now March 20 what's itday the 20th as of March 20th of 2024 I'm up to $21,000 in parking tickets in three months and that came from the court because we have they have the plates and they're running them so it's not Amazon paines tickets it's the small business owners like us so whenever everyone in this room get their packages is company like ours that deliver the packages and it's a problem it's it's un bleeding we can't hire we can do much more than that um so I'm here to ask what can we do for proper parking sequences if there is designated parking we have packages being returned because the drivers it's too far for them to get a decent Park and walk the packages to deliver them to the residents of Hogan if there is any way that when you guys look at the counselor and parking and designated parking how can we do that for delivery businesses um I again FedEx like Amazon it's small business owners I know UPS is Corporate they pay the tickets no problem they can have that but we need some kind of resolution in how we can get that but as of right now to be paying 20 over $21,000 in 3 months I cannot eat live that's that's a lot and I have the proof I brought all of my documents to show you we're not exaggerating not to mention the other issue that I'm having is that the tickets are not left on the vehicles I don't know why I actually spoke I actually spoke to the parking officials downstairs they said that drivers are ripping up the tickets and throwing it at them there's no way that that's happening so I don't physically have proof of 21,000 I have the plates when the courts run the plates they can tell me where are these tickets they're in the abyss someplace okay so when we don't get the tickets then I get these in the mail and then there is a lot of fees added to them so it's like a lot happening when it comes to these parking tickets and I'm just here to ask for some kind of help some kind of resolution in what we can do because everybody here orders Amazon everybody in this room and I want to be able to deliver your packages and not have to return them to the station because drivers can't find parking I agree double parking is an issue but there is no parking that might take quickly run in and we are guilty of that my company delivered 90% of the packages in hob there's another couple other companies that deliver but we literally have majority of Hogan and it's a lot and I don't know how I can stay business with right now 20 plus thousand in parking tickets so what I would suggest is that we ARR have you come to a subcommittee meeting which councilwoman Jabor is the chair of Jerry can you just take her information also sharp is right here he's our director of Transportation I think we should also have a conversation it's his fault just so we're clear it's all his fault so go no I'm just kidding yeah I didn't I had no idea thank you so next St I'll follow up with you yes thank you so much absolutely thank you for coming Michael gos hi uh my name is Michael gos I'm with the uh msta uh so uh two weeks ago as you know uh our C Committee of petitioners came here uh just to announce their intentions um I'm not going to take up too much of your time especially on recol because it is pretty complicated issue but I do want to focus on just the one fact that what this proposed amendment can do is that it provides a steady stream of income to the affordable housing trust program and using that income you can use the benefits of State programs and federal programs on top of the city's excellent credit rating to borrow money and then raise more funds to build affordable housing that's dedicated just for the people who qualify for it and who need it so that's one thing that we really do want to stress with this proposed amendment is that it gives a unique very unique opportunity for the city to come together and and put together a plan and have that steady stream of income to build those units that the people need in the city um and you know a lot of times when I talk to a lot of the members of of our group you know you do have a lot of instances where um you have folks who work across the river in the city and they're making you know1 $120,000 a year but yet they're um living in a rent subsidized or city subsidized Department that's under rent control so they can afford to spend you know the $500 $3,000 but yet they're playing paying under Market because there is some inequity there um and we believe that affordable housing should go to the people that need it and we find that this way of uh funding that would be a very unique and great opportunity for uh the citizens of the city so thank you very much Jessica Dyer did anyone else sign up yeah thanks for allowing me to speak tonight and for listening to what I have to say I'm speaking on behalf of myself and my husband Jeff I had to leave my three young children who have special needs on a school night again to speak my mind my oldest begged me not to come because she thinks you're not listening and doesn't think it will make a difference she said those kids are already dead anyway how sad is that after the past 6 months only the willfully ignorant could ignore what's been happening in Palestine we've all seen the worst images and videos of burned maimed crushed and now starving mothers fathers and children and elderly approximately 200 people have been murdered every single day since October more children are being killed on a daily basis than were killed in the Holocaust have you ever ever wondered what you would have done during the Holocaust you're doing it now approximately I'm sorry it says a lot about a person's character to know what's going on and not be compelled to say anything or do something to try to stop it as a business as business owners and residents of Hoboken we are embarrassed by our city officials complete lack of compassion empathy and morality on this issue the fact that all of you as elective representatives of this community are unwilling to take the even most basic of action as ISS issuing a ceasefire resolution is disgraceful especially as our surrounding cities have done that just weeks ago it's beyond belief that you can look at your own children and not see the faces of all the children in Gaza being torn apart it's ridiculous that if any of you think you're so important or financially prosperous that if and when this kind of aggression comes to our shore that you and your children won't be targeted more people in this town care about the plight of Palestinians than you may realize I including your Palestinian constituents of which there are many who have come to our shop and let us know that they feel safe with us and not elsewhere there is a petition going around right now on ceasefire now nj.org over 100 residents have already signed it and more surely will what message do you think your silence on this genocide sends to those of us who value human life are only American children's lives important that's racist the greatest city in America Rob said we are not if you can't take a stand against racism and fascism then you are just as bad as the oppressors history will not remember you kindly please be on the right side of History pass the ceasefire resolution in Hoboken free Palestine and ceasefire now Manny Rivera Solair good evening and thank you council president I want to see um how many remember um from the last meeting I want to say this greeting Slava ukraini heroing Slava I guess nobody remembered but I appreciate the sentiment um um when a person stands and speaks before you um they are hoping and expecting even if you can't remember what they say or if they what they're saying is of no interest to you at least somewhere along the line some acknowledgements should come back what I did last week was that I know that I did it out of uh context uh in council president was generous by letting me speak um so anyway I appreciate it and uh council president what I would like to say and I would like to start off with what I ended last time before my minutes are up by saying once again the name of a person who was um a champion a hero a person with uncomparable Valor um in the world stage being that we are now a quasi uh national International Council that was meant as a joke um but this is serious business I would like to say his name again is Alexi naali the who I admired even though I obviously never met that person but his championing of um freedom and Justice and equality for his citizens of his country as we should all do for all our neighbors and citizens of the United States but this is a leader that will long be missed and will long Be Remembered in Russia and long may his memory live thank you council president and I would like to also say that um changing the the notes a little bit I would also like to take the opportunity being that I see I have time um to in this month which I was also going to do last time um I would like to congratulate all the women of Hoboken in this women's History Month especially the women who have held um titles of council um in this chamber some of them are well known some of them are not but I would like to say a thank you to former council member Beth m former council member Teresa Castellano former council member uh Vanessa Falco former assembly woman Anette chaparo and former councilwoman and first mayor Don Zimmer as well as all all the women that work in this building all the women that work throughout Hoboken all the mothers all the sisters all the grandmothers everyone everyone that's an advocate for the people all the women thank you thank you so very much um missing my mother and and my grandmother very very much I always remember all the love that was given thank you again and I also would like to say to all the people who are here I got to put my glasses on now to all our fellow residents who are observing the month of Ramadan I would like to say to all of them Ramadan Mubarak which means I which means have a blessed Ramadan so with that council president with the minute that I have and I know that I be able to speak on this in the future we need safer streets we need walkable streets we need streets that do not have divits that are not unleveled that are uncracked we need this now for all Hoboken nightes especially for our seniors our persons with disabilities our parents and Guardians who have uh children who walk uh with baby carriages we need safe walkable streets we ask for it now thank you again council president God bless you God bless you all and God bless hoken and I'll see you in a bit thank you we have no other members of the public signed up to speak for public portion motion to close public portion motion motion second all in favor I excuse me hearing on an ordinance to exceed the municipal budget Appropriations limit and to establish a c bank njsa 48 colon 4 dis 4 5.4 we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion second all in favor council members council president if I may I I it's a broken record year-over year every time we vote on a c on a cap bank here in the city we allow our budget to increase over the state mandated cap correct that's what we do we do it year-over-year and that just like it says gets better banked year-over-year so we always find ourselves in a situation that we may go over the state limit so for that reason this year and years in past I cannot support this other council members Mr finina call the vote Mr con hi Mr do Mr fiser yes Mr Jabor yes president Zano hi Tero I Mr Ramos no Mr Russo no president tintino yes hearing on an ordinance amending chapter 192 entitled parking for persons with disabilities to relocate Reserve parking disability parking space from Second Street to Willow Avenue we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion second all in favor I council members council president just a a a quick it's not necessarily just about this one but it's about the process of the um work spaces in the city for those with disabilities uh I know there's been a transition from year over year at this point uh but I continually get phone calls from residents in the Third Ward specifically one young lady um she's very frustrated because she was in the middle of a potential uh appeal and she submitted her documentation she's she's waiting for somebody so I'm just urging the council to to try to move this process along as soon as possible uh at least if the answer will be no at least this person will have that answer instead of just kind of waiting uh after supplying all her medical information things like that so I just want to put that on the record and just um just advocate for her again so thank you council president yeah as I think councilman Russo is aware we're actually seeking a medical professional to assist in that subcommittee to ensure that the applicants receive the most Fair evaluation possible and part of what's happened historically is that there wasn't somebody with a professional background in any sort of physical therapy or medical field to properly evaluate the extens of medical documentation that applicants provide and I know very well that people are frustrated but I have explained to this applicant in particular as well as others that this will benefit them in the long term because it ensures they're actually getting a more credible opinion about the necessity for that particular spot so I appreciate the frustration I respond to the residents the same as you do and we are going to do our best to get that committee meeting as soon as possible with the proper people at the table to give everybody a fair valuation yeah and I appreciate that councilwoman and I know you are I just wanted to make sure we had it on the record thank you Mr finina call the vote Mr con hi M fiser yes Mr Jabor yes president Zano IO I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president G Tino yes hearing on an ordinance amending Bond ordinance B 551 of the city of hobok and County of Hudson New Jersey we have no members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion oh one second no voting no sorry Manny is Manny coming or no Manny good evening council president once again um Manu Sol uh for lack of repeating last uh meeting's uh performance I don't want to come up all the time but uh I guess I'm the only one right now but I would like to ask on b653 um but before I say that I want to say I I applaud the medical professional that's coming in to the um persons with disabilities thank you for that council president thank you for the the um member who is in charge again on this ordinance this Bond can members of the public know where where and in what section is it being amended why is it being amended at this time um the reasons for the amendment and um if any other pertinent information can be given to members of the public if it's relevant to the ordinance at the moment thank you council president I you back see how we did it quick thank you we have no other members of public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion second all in favor I you have a question council members no Mr finina call the vote wait this is on the the bond right yeah I had a quick question um director Gonzalez could I it under you right the um the million dollars for chur cor Park we need to show that we have funding in other words to get the grant is that correct or is this actually being used for the park itself both uh so as presented in subcommittee the original um cost of the church gr Park project and this was actually included in the uh previous Council agenda last week um the original cost of the Church Square Park project was about a million dollar um I'm sorry it was $850,000 um and we had applied to uh the Jake law program at Green Acres Jake law came back and said program the uh Grant appc while uh you know was was reviewed very favorably was actually ineligible because we didn't have um ad accessible restrooms right so we added those to the project um they were initially proposed in phase two of the um of the uh Vision plan we actually moved them up to phase one so that increased the project cost to just about $2 million um actually also increased the amount that we applied to the jigaw program for as well because that funds up to 75% of the total project cost the 15 right we're about 1.5 million yeah exactly yeah so uh total project cost of of um roughly you know 2 million could receive up to 1.5 million we understand from speaking with d that the likely Grant Awards will be somewhere around 750,000 we also have um funding from the DCA local Recreation improvements grant program and we've applied for additional funding from the DCA program so um we're in the process of basically trying to leverage all sorts of Grant Monies to make sure that we don't you know need to use all of this um but you know we we may need to okay all right yeah thank you thank you director other council members Mr finina call the vote Mr cooh I M fiser yes Jabor yes pres xano I wio I Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo no president gtino yes hearing on an ordinance amending the chapter 168 streets and sidewalks at Article 5 currently reserved regarding certain electronic or motorized B bicycles or scooters used for E deliveries in order to promote improve sidewalk and Street safety Matthew Moran Kevin Davis okay chrisad good evening uh thank you for letting me speak my name is Chris air I'm representing by Hoboken and I'm also a Hoboken resident for the last 22 years we all agree that pedestrian sidewalk safety is important and we don't believe that bikes or cars should be riding or parking on the public sidewalk space we already have a lot on the books that already prohibits this Behavior tonight we ask you to enforce that current law rather than move this ordinance forward this new ordinance is just really a souped up version of what's already on the books um it adds more confusing requirements for e delivery cyclists um which this which will cost the city to implement speaking to your point earlier what these things cost us um and they're going to have to keep track of ID numbers on the vests and it's not going to add to the enforcement or accountability aspect how does a delivery person who's delivering from Jersey City Heights uh and traveling into Hoboken to drop off their food delivery change into their hobok invest while they're coming down to meet their 20 minute time requirement that they've got to make so they don't get disqualified from the app maybe they have a different vest for Jersey City because we all know Jersey City is also working on an ordinance and now they have two vests one for Jersey City one for Hoboken so we need this is we are one square mile and we have to work with the cities around us to make consistent rules so that it's easier for everyone to adhere to these rules we've got to build cohesive and comprehensive legislation um we we do need to support certain things and we support supplying high visibility and reflective vests that will make writers more visible that's a good thing we want to see people uh we support education of these writers we want them to know the rules we don't want them on the sidewalks we don't want them riding the wrong way on a certain street that is a good thing um and we support enforcement of the current law um for both ebikes bicycles mopeds and cars these are all different forms of transportation what's missing in this well there's a lot missing in it the apps need to be held responsible for some of these behaviors um and the difference between this ordinance and the ordinance that's happening in Jersey City although I do know councilman president Zano has spoken with his counterpart in Jersey City is councilman Solomon's ordinance focuses much more on placing that burden on the app companies and here we're really putting it on the individual writer um also we don't really know what the costs are going to be associated with administering this program or and enforcing this program um we don't know who or how we would report Rogue e ebike delivery Riders I know Kevin talked about you could just call up the police and give them a number well you you can't really even do that for cars right now frankly there's really no good way to report a car that's double parked in a bike lane after they've driven away it's it's stun um and motor scooters and cars are purposefully omitted from this legislation and by the way motor scooters are heavy they can be over 200 pounds and they can travel at 40 miles an hour so it's disappointing to see that this ordinance singles out ebikes and is taking up so much energy and so much focus when we know that the real Road dangers the real Danger on the road are cars and any bill that creates requirements for delivery Riders on ebikes should apply to all forms of delivery including cars trucks and motor scooters Washington Street and vision zero need to include the entire public space the sidewalks the bike travel Lane the car travel Lane you cannot ignore any one part they're all connected a no vote tonight is not an anti- pedestrian vote it's a vote for a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to Street safety so please votee no on this performative ordinance and allow the working group to come to come up with better and more comprehensive solutions to present to you in the future thank you thank you Andrew Wilson thank you uh Andrew Wilson fifth W resident uh I'm speaking tonight in opposition to the ebik ordinance I'm a pedestrian I walked here tonight I also don't want to get hit by buy any bike I think we all agree on that uh I want safe sidewalks as much as anyone else here but this ordinance will not be helpful in achieving that goal the main issue here is that the proposed ordinance is completely unenforceable this isn't just my opinion this is the shared opinion of HPD and hpu the groups that you are asking to enforce these rules Chief agar personally told council person pres Zano that he does not support this ordinance Lieutenant Randi has similarly said he cannot enforce this policy directors Fon and sharp have both expressed similar concerns if someone chooses to not take a test and wear a vest there's nothing in this ordinance to make them do it that said If This Were simply an unenforceable ordinance that everybody could ignore then it wouldn't be too harmful of an issue the real harm is the administrative burden you're putting on your Police Department parking utility in City Hall according to administrator freed Freeman there is a quote strong potential for financial losses to the city under the proposed structure the $5 application fee simply doesn't cover the come close to funding the creation of and ongoing operations for this registration scheme you might be telling yourself so what if this can't be enforced so what if it's going to waste a bunch of taxpayer money my constituents are demanding that I take action so I have to vote for this I don't want council person pres Zano to call me anti- pedestrian well there is is an alternative the ebike uh delivery working group has met twice already and has made significant progress in finding real solutions to address the core issues of visibility education accountability and enforcement which the current ordinance simply cannot deal with in its current form I ask the council to vote no on the proposed ordinance and say yes to joining HPD hpu and others in our community who are working towards real and enforceable solutions to this issue thank you you thank you Patricia waiters Manny sometimes it works fast yes council president G man it again um council president my concern in in this ordinance is pros and the cons that everybody keeps um putting up some pedestrians some who are bikes I just don't understand if there is something proposed that could at least start something why not start it that a group is working on other ideas and other plans that they could then come back and say well your plan needs to incorporate this so it could be better but at least something is happening because members of the public need to feel that something is going on that something is working that the council is going to do something for them I appreciate the bike uh Association I understand what they're saying but then come up with the solution right that's what we need um because I don't care I'm not interested in having people with uh signs on their backs I just want them to be safe but if it takes to put them a sign on their back to be safe or to at least conduct themselves in a proper manner then that's what it's worth or that's what we need to do uh but to do nothing makes no sense either so I ask just for common sense if you all collectively believe that this is good then let's vote for it let's get it on the books so that we could have something so that we could then perhaps incorporate more uh tighter restrictions put uh higher um burdens on the fees or whatever or giving even the um drivers and the the people who hire them more information on the things that they're supposed to do and then we could also let our fellow um municipalities know this is what we're doing can you join us can we join you let's take let's make a holistic approach between everyone but not doing anything makes no sense as a pedestrian as a person with a disability I trust me what I said before about the sidewalk still stands here as well because you cannot go down a street where there is not a crack or a divot I don't even know how they ride their bikes on the street and they don't get hurt honestly or hurt others because it is a danger to walk on the streets of Hoboken in some instances and even I who love trees see trees who break the sidewalks who we have to pay attention to those those things as well so this ordinance good or bad like it or not um I don't know we have to have something we need something and if it's not this please work on something better if you're not going to vote on it today but please do something for um the fellow members of the public for residents of hobokin who need to walk and feel safe on their streets with their children with their children on baby carriages with their pets um for our tourism right because we also need people to come and visit us and feel safe walking on our street especially now in spring and summer so I appreciate the sentiment again on both sides of the issue but I wish that you discuss it and you come to an agreement and you vote on it either way but we need movement thank you council president thank you Council thank you Alex Garcia uh first for first and foremost I want to congrat all of you for being a reelected it's been a while I've been here I've been spoken to some of you because it's school but nevertheless Paul welcome aboard I'm happy you're representing my mom's district and um with that being said I came here in support for the oance for ebikes um last year when I was running when I was running for State office I spoke to Mike I spoke to Ruben and Paul actually too as well um I had two issues one of the issues was was I was in the housing authority and um I was going westbound by Mama Johnson's field and there was an ebik going opposite direction and basically going westbound almost went headon I beep the horn and basically um so get shouting and a bunch of group people started yelling because I beep the horn and a little issue happened there because they were going for the person on the ebike second issue Church Square Park I was with my three-year-old daughter acrossing the street looking bothways next thing you know a knee bike comes streaming coming opposite direction I had to yank my three-year-old on the arm before crossing the street if my daughter would have gotten hit that day I would have caught a charge so I'm just letting you know keep being straightforward you guys I need this fot to come through we need to do something about it now one the constitu says about how can we regulate this if it has to come up to the state level let it be let have everybody an ebike have a license plate register it everybody has phones nowadays you get hit license plate take a picture keep it moving cuz they're going to run away obviously can be a little kid an adult whatever the case may be everybody has a phone nowadays I know I do um but nevertheless wear vest light someone has to take accountability for the for the speed that they're going down the the street opposite directions they're going 30 m an hour on the on the bike Lanes on the on Washington Street I have to look three times before I open that door on Washington Street because I go to get the car great there's no carac by but the bikes are so small that one false Glimpse you're getting hit your car is getting hit the your car door is getting hit going they're going 25 30 miles out easily going flying through same thing on the sidewalks on Washington Street they go and instead of coming off the corners they drive in the middle of the street to get onto the corner but they're R they're they're driving on the sidewalk it's non-stop as as I see three of them on on the middle I can see three ebikes all driving on Bloom on um going Southbound on Garden all right they're all driving together three instead of going Lane by Lane back to back they're going through causing traffic there has to be accountability and I truly hope you guys support this and vote Yes for the a this thank you thank you Patricia Patricia did you want to speak on ebikes yes I was watching TV and I saw man speak and when you start talking about the bikes the young lady that spoke I'm here just to support Kevin and I'm with him that's why I rushed all the way back Kevin and the young lady I don't know her name you called her right after Kevin so I just came here to talk on that bike resolution to say yes vote whatever Kevin say yes or no thank you we have no other members of the public oh hany I'm Med sorry and thank you Hoboken so I heard a few speakers in I heard their points um you can't bury your head in the sand on this one they've all agreed that electric bikes on a sidewalk are a problem I haven't heard someone come up here and say it was fine two speakers ago I think it was Alex was I had a similar problem I was walking to my daughter at 5 they do weird things if you're not holding their hands they they abruptly turn they see a bug on the floor or something they they just abruptly turn these bikers are moving at fast speeds they're not going to be able to respond don't wait for the tragedy don't wait to light candles for an indidual and then you know the crocodile tears come out and like then we're sorry you could do something about it now these bikes should be impounded there shouldn't be a shot you should imp pound that bike 30 days someone wants to drive at a fast speed cop observes it you put a law on the books you imp pound it have the sheriff's department have the state police have them all know that you you're going to enforce that law you don't take it lightly there there was a time where you didn't need a driver's license for a motorcycle there was a time you didn't need a driver's license for a jet ski or a boat but the nonsense stopped at some point when they had people drinking on jet skis killing other people on it and then laws appear ebikes didn't exist 25 years ago they exist now there are good bikers that follow the law go up the right way of the street and the same with with with cars you have people that obey the law Drive the speed limit stop at stop signs then you have guys at speed that do double the speed limit you know what happens to them you lose your license automatically guaranteed one-year suspension what happens when you drink and drive several times lose your license they put you in jail there has to be a Line in the Sand where you say I don't care the public the the the care of the public is greater than that and we won't tolerate that in this in this municipality and like magic other municipalities will copy you whether this law is just a start and there's more laws that come I've seen you guys write ordinances and then write other ordinances and make them better but sitting around doing nothing is not the answer and then the nonsense that's going on in third in Washington how did that happen with all all of a sudden is that an ebike scooter moped I don't know what you call it mob hang out over there my wife's got to walk by and get whistled at and cat called that nonsense is starting now at what point will you take action when the public starts fighting and engaging with these people lawlessness is not something to be taken lightly and the other stuff that's going to happen in a few months it always does you get these quads run through town dirt bikes run through town ripping through your city in the Summers most of you are down to shore don't see it we see it when we're here New York City used to impound these things they would block off the road every one of them that weren't street legal they were crushed they would do it every year take all these bikes out and crush them do the same to ebikes these bikes aren't cheap I think people will get to hit once you take one two three bikes away that man I paid 1,500 for this bike maybe it's not a good idea maybe I shouldn't challenge the public and just because I'm being lazy and don't want to go into the street and ride they could drive faster than the Cars on Washington Street so it's not something we could bury our heads on I hear what other people are saying is there always a better law there's always a better law but you don't avoid making one either you you take action or if you bury your head in the sand don't show up at the vigil thank you thank you we have no other members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public Mo all in favor I council members um thank you council president um surprise I'm voting no on this one uh as mentioned we do have this uh e delivery working group and we've got four members of the Council on it we've met twice uh unfortunately at the last meeting we had some scheduling conflicts and so to accommodate um we're having another meeting on Monday and then we'll have as many meetings as as we need um just to kind of focus on that and and explain my rationale behind my no vote is we ultimately have a shared goal right safer sidewalks ebikes off sidewalks enforcing the existing laws uh we agree the components of it there's no one Silver Bullet there's components of of it uh around visibility education accountability and infrastructure some of those things are shortterm right we agree with people wearing highly reflective vests so that they can be seen is just a safe thing to do uh same thing stepping up education other things are longer term and harder to do and we have to be more thoughtful about how we do it uh the registration the accountability aspect is one of them um uh the infrastructure improvements whether it's soft infrastructure such as creating safe spaces for um e delivery workers to congregate so they're not congregating on third in Washington uh so that they're separated out uh and then and then hard infrastructure improvements such as the you know protected bike Lanes uh that we want in town so some of these things we can act on sooner rather than later some of them are easier to do and actually will have an impact all of them together will I think get us to where we want to be so why am I voting no today it's because the current ordinance uh essentially it's three parts or two parts one of them to me is toxic right which the registration piece I think it puts the burden on the wrong parties it puts the burden on the workers uh who for a variety of reasons uh might be challenged with with um you know following these rules and and I think for me more importantly puts a a burden on uh the city to administer this hundreds of people and getting them in it puts our law enforcement uh and our parking utility in an awkward position of of being of making it extremely difficult for them to enforce uh enforce these rules um that's going to lead to massive confusion uh for the workers it's going to lead to massive frustration for residents and that frustration is going to be borne out on those of us who are asking to to enforce these rules so for me you know I think to response of Mr Solair is you know why wouldn't you do this if it's some of it's good well you know if I was thirsty and S somebody offered me a glass of water I would say okay I'll drink the glass of water but they told me you know a significant portion of that glass of water had poison in it would I still drink it the answer for me is no so I do find a significant portion of this ordinance to be toxic I worry about the enforceability um but you know I was wondering if we could hear from some of the folks who are charged with enforcing this uh so uh Chief agar if you could come up and just speak to some of the concerns I'm sorry if I'm fine if you want Chief agar to come up but you should ask through me coun to hear the council and then we can thank you thank you sorry Chief no not yet we're not ready are you done though I'm done thank you councilman Russo thank you council president you know I I I understand the argument of not supporting a portion of the legislation but I I think even members of the public who happen to be on this committee made the statements that a significant portion of this law that we're asking the city to implement they're in agreement with as a matter of fact three qus of this were in agreement with visibility education right that we're all in agreement about that so at at the end of the day what really comes down to is the enforcement side of things and with all due respect to the administration and the police department and the parking utility we as a council enact laws that's our job if we see a law that we would like to enact in the city of Hoboken we vote for it we move it forward it is upon the administration the police department parking utility it is now in their Court to administer that they choose not to administer that they'll hear for they'll hear about it they will find the way before bouncers in the city of Hoboken ever had to be have an ID card it was the Wild West I remember being a kid bar owners jumping over this this railing talking about who should and shouldn't be licensed but the council acted they said those those bartenders those bouncers they're all going to be registered they're all going to have a license so they didn't know what they were going to do at that point but they figured it out that happens with everything in the city of Hoboken I use the analogy in our working committee about the dogs in the city of Hoboken we license dogs should we Stop Licensing dogs because some owners don't pick up after their dogs do we abandon that whole thing no we continue down that path we ticket those that we catch the ones that get away with it sure they get away with it but eventually we'll catch them eventually we'll stop the behavior eventually we'll do the things that we need to do and if we have to amend the laws in the city as time goes on we most certainly can do that the other big issue that I heard in in our working committee was the infrastructure we don't need major infrastructure changes immediately we could set one loading zone put all the e delivery bikes right in front of the police station we can do that tomorrow we can do that today do it right now stops the cat calling stops the congregating stops the bad behavior we have our Police Department right there watching them there are solutions they might not be solutions that Everyone likes but there are solutions and we need to go down that road to start to implement those Solutions it may be uncomfortable but true leaders stand up and they're comfortable being uncomfortable and I am most certainly very comfortable feeling that uncomfortability to make sure that my residents in the city of Hoboken are safe if it needs to change tomorrow we'll do that but right now we as a council need to act we need to do something we need to put a law on the books we need to start this process rolling thank you council president thank you other council members counil R yeah thank you uh sometimes as legislators we lead the residents and sometimes the residents lead us and I think this is one of those cases where the residents are clamoring for some type of legislation with regards to to ebikes on our sidewalks riding down oneway streets the wrong way and other issues as well I mean just to make to piggy back off of councilman Russo's points with dog licenses sometime sometimes they do some they don't get away with it rent control big issue we talk about all the time some landlords register their rents every single time some the other ones don't right you got to figure it out taxis every taxi driver license in the city of Hoboken buy the city of Hoboken want to cut someone's hair you're LIC lied in the city hoken or in the state of New Jersey you're licensed to do that you want to serve alcohol you want to paint nails in the city of Hoboken license for that so we license many things in the city of Hoboken we also take tests for things in the city of Hoboken you want to ride a tax want to drive a taxi you have to take a test you misbehave in a high school sporting event and you want to come back to that sporting event you got to take a test yeah take a test simple things wearing a vest wearing a helmet riding the right way down the street are all positive things for us to do for us to focus on I mean as far as bike Lanes on Washington Street goes we spent 20 plus million dollars 20 plus million dollars to repave water lines all types of things going on under the ground on Washington Street you know there was a vote taken the current mayor didn't vote in favor of protected bike Lanes either not just other council members he also didn't vote vote for this so how many businesses went out of business because of those projects because of that project and how long it took and delayed it was specific blocks in the in the city so I don't want to go back back to that as well as far as longterm infrastructure think about that I'm I'm okay with it if it's a proper plan in place and Hoboken is not New York City New York City their Avenues have seven seven Lanes on Second Avenue they take a they put a bike Lanes in place on one side of the street trucks delivery vehicles they double Park all over that now comes a five Lanes trying to navigate that is difficult task as well in New York City they're looking to pass ebike legis as well they have a much better infrastructure Network than we have or Jersey city has I mean someone mentioned earlier uh what app would they work on if they have to deliver something what vest are they going to wear well if you look at Jersey City's legislation and asking the apps to to regulate it they're asking if you drive for Uber wear your Uber vest drive to Door Dash wear a door Dash vest it's all confusing is that as well so is this great no I say it's pretty good it's really good it's pretty good it's pretty good it's something to work with I I'll say that it's something to work with and you know we're the legislative body you know we get told all the time you know you're the council you can't enforce this you can't talk to this one you can't do this figure it out and we'll figure it out together know thank you council president thank you councilwoman councilwoman sure um I'm I'm definitely a yes for this I mean I I this is based on feedback that I got on a one question survey and conversations that I've had um this is kind of universally supported by residents it's a no-brainer I think the thing that is most attract the two parts that are most attractive uh to me um one is just increasing visibility uh just I I'm hoping that we're going to have some self-correcting behavior of people um these riders that are you know going through sections riding on the sidewalks once they feel like they're more visible um and two an important part is the education and it's you know the you know we when I was talking with the sponsors when they originally put it together the goal is to make sure the barrier to entry was as low as possible the registration fee is $5 it's a you know it's a five 10 question quiz on just like the rules of um riding an ebike in Hoboken like this isn't you know is good information to give to people that are breaking our laws and it's a low barrier to entry um I just want to add to some of what um what both councilman Ramos and councilman Russo you know just said you know we this is a law that we're putting in place because there's been no action on this public safety issue for a long time and by no action the administration didn't take any action our police has not actively enforced and people we have so many people reaching out to us all the time on social media on email Etc on this issue that they led us to come up with something and and I commend uh councilman presen Zano for kind of the initial um idea we you know we do license this isn't a huge administrative bur burden it's not toxic because we're going to have a couple hundred additional people seeking um licenses for something in hobok and we have thousands I think we have 5,000 dog licenses and that's not even half the dogs in Hoboken like we have the ability to license people and I will just say that I I have no problem increasing the burden or increasing pressure on hpu and our Police Department to enforce this I have no problem I don't know what um Chief agar is going to say when he comes up here I respect our Police Department I respect Brian um sharp greatly but this is a huge safety issue and if and right now we don't have adequate enforcement the point of this it gives you a framework to start enforcement and we can and we can add to it we can make changes but to have our police and our parking utility basically say they're not going to enforce a a real public safety issue in hobok and that's not acceptable that's not acceptable and if we need to make more changes around this in the future then we'll make more changes but we have to start we have to put this on the books and we have from now until June because I think the start date for this is June right we from now until June to figure out some of the Kinks and maybe we amend it we tweak it a little later but we have to start and we have to move the ball um down the road or down whatever the metaphor is I'm bad at field see not a sporty uh and Lastly lastly I I want I want I hope that we can stop giving air time to protected bike Lanes on on our streets in Hoboken you either put an ordinance uh up for a vote so the public can see it and we can talk about it or just stop talking about it because we we shouldn't be getting credit for for protected bike Lanes unless you're willing to put metal behind it put it down and let's have that discussion the last time we had a discussion on a protected bike lane was not Washington Street it was Clinton when we were going to do a pilot on eight blocks of Clinton and Ryan was there we had a public meeting on it it was the very last town hall meeting that mayor Bala had because there were 100 people in the room and 98 of them were screaming about not wanting a protected bike lane on their street it wasn't 5050 Chris you weren't there I remember you not being there but Alex was there there was a couple people from B Hoboken and and it was I mean it was people were aggressively opposed to it right and and and and marbal has not had a a Town Hall since because the questions were very difficult and there was not support so if you want to keep talking about protected bike Lanes just put an ordinance up pick a street and say this is the street we're going to do it and let's have that public discussion let's have it just pick one but we should stop pretending that we support Public public bike Lan or protected bike Lanes if we're actually not going to put them forward so anyway I'm super supportive of this I'm really excited I respect whatever Chief agar is going to come up and tell us I want to hear it but I also want to put pressure on our Administration to put enforcement practices out there one last thing sorry that's your third last I know other people are are going to talk about it the the Jersey City I'm just going to say broadly the Jersey city ordinance is falling apart it they literally can't figure out how to do it putting putting onerous operational requirements on a corporation is Way Beyond the purview of a city council and they can't figure out how to do it and ours they even even some of the council members in Jersey City have said that ours is a good starting point and let let's be first because once we have it and we have our vests and maybe they'll tailor theirs around our vests so we pride ourselves on being first this is a great opportunity to be first that's it councilman Cohen I'm I'll let Paul was the sponsor I'll let him go last okay uh well I I too would like to hear from the administration uh people are speaking for the administration I think they can speak for themselves with respect to their I said I would allow them to speak I'm not saying you didn't blocking them no but I'm I'm saying people are speaking for the administration I think they'll be able to speak for themselves and that's why I'd like to hear what they have to say before we have the vote as part of our deliberations I hear I understand you want to hear from the council people first but I do think part of our deliberation should be understanding what the position we talk again after this them okay I don't have any issue so I just wanted to make that point because I think it's important to hear what they have to say I don't think to coun councilwoman Fisher said that the hpu does not want will not enforce it I don't think that is the position you said they will not enforce it I think that's terrible but I that's how I heard what you said that's not what I said I don't think that's I think their position is that this is unenforceable that's a different concern which is a serious concern and I've heard many people on this Council talk about many issues and say we should not be passing unenforceable ordinances uh for us to to say it's it's their problem we we pass it people complain we need to do something well how are we helping our community if we're passing an unenforceable mandate how does that make people on the sidewalks safer so I would like to hear from Chief aior about Public Safety view if this is an an unenforcable ordinance because it seems to me that and counil wifer made a great speech and you know and so did counil and Russo and so they're all you guys make great points but how good is an idea if it cannot be enforced and if that's the concern I want to understand that now if you don't want me to hear from Chief aiar until my speech is done that's fine why do you keep saying that because when councilman Cano asked for said we were I already told the chief we were going to hear from him after we spoke and I said and then you can even speak after him and you just keep saying it but part of what I want to say is in response to what I hear from the chief if that's okay I know you want to have oh my goodness I've said like eight times you can talk you can speak after chief agar speaks okay second uh with respect to regulations Pat thanks that's okay so with respect to regulations councilman Ramos made a point about taxis being regulated and I remember before I was on the council many taxi drivers Medallion drivers coming to Council meetings complaining upset engaged with respect to how they were going to be regulated that the voices of those operators was loud and clear with respect to the process my understanding is that the delivery people one or maybe two came to the last meeting uh people are saying we're not doing anything we need to do something this task force is meeting and the people who are most directly affected by this regulation uh this ordinance are the delivery people so my understanding is at the next task force meeting that there will be delivery people coming to that task force meeting that they will be formally talking to the people who are trying to come up with this regulation and be actively involved with respect to the creation of this regulation so I think that their voice is an important one just just like the taxi drivers voices were let now maybe they're better organized uh they certainly have a bigger Financial wherewithal than drivers who are making a commission off of as many meals that they can deliver as a night as opposed to someone who's invested in a medallion uh but the principle I think is the same if you're going to be regulating people I think the people that you're regulating should be part of that discussion so that it's fully taken into account now I have heard that there have been ad hoc discussions with riders and to get their input but I'm not sure and correct me if I'm wrong but that has been formerly part of the task Force's effort but I think that's important so from my perspective I think that buy in from Public Safety is important uh and I'd like to hear more from Public Safety about that I think Buy in from the hpu is important and they do both have seats at the table with respect to the task force so from my perspective I think it's good that what we're doing I think there's a lot of good in the ordinance but I think we could get to a better point and I don't think I mean this is not taking effect until June uh this is March 20th uh it seems like there could be more task force meetings and there could be more work done I think when this was originally pulled when this was first offered on first reading what was told to me was that there was going to be more work done through task force TR trying to get more buyin on public safety and enforcement issues uh and that's why I voted yes on first reading because uh because that was what I was told that this was going to be this was going to be part that was going to continue the task force wasn't even a thought until we almost got it voted on so that was after we pulled it because we were improving from we got feedback from colleagues on the de here okay so but that my understanding was that there would be feedback with respect to enforcement issues and Public Safety as part of that process so whether it was through task force or through other means that was the goal and it sounds like and again I don't want to speak for the administration I'd like to hear from them but my understanding is that they're not there yet so I'd like to hear from them as to what is it that they would like to see that isn't here what is it that we might be able to do that when we get to June when we get to the point where this goes into effect can we do this in a way that is more likely to succeed because putting something into effect unless for politics to say you can go back to your to your constituent and say hey don't blame me I I I voted yes I did it blame the mayor blame the chief blame the hpu you know I mean councilman Fischer earlier said to the Amazon driver it's all his fault point of the now that was a joke that was a joke that was a joke but this might not be right council did our job we passed it now it's on them so if you're GNA if if that's where you're going and councilman R made pretty clear that's kind of where he's going I'd like to hear from them and I'd like to know if there's something that isn't in this ordinance that should be and if there's something that could be done better I'd like to know what that is so whenever we can hear that I'd like to hear that thank you councilman pres I'm gonna wait because this is ridiculous just Chief agar can you please speak I'd rather have him speak no or love you coun I actually have a question for you you got kud please yeah please come on yes before I say anything I like I want I do want to start with a quick question though how many um radar guns do we have two and how many speeding tickets did we give last year you have any idea give me a guesstimate less than five if not zero we don't we don't run radar because of the areas that we have to there's site distances that need to be uh in line that's perfect enough thank you you're tell me anymore you got what you needed done we can't run radar it's only specific places where we can run radar so I just to be clear about that it's not because uh we don't want to and training of officers who actually are actually uh certified in Radars uh it's not it's not it's not long enough distance to travel correct CP like 14 streets the only place you could really do and I believe Observer Highway um because the lights that Sinatra part of Willow I think uh Sinatra might pose a problem because of the the curvature of the road um but I'm not a traffic expert I would lead that to my traffic Commander who's actually uh certified in those things thank thank you uh I had a lot of things I wanted points that I wanted to I guess address at this Council uh meeting uh thank you for letting me speak council president um you don't need to thank me ever okay all right um I do want to I do want to start by commending the city council members and the city Administration have come together in order to address an issue that has been brought up time and time again at multiple cap meetings and multiple venues uh it is an issue right it's been brought to I you brought it up it was part of your campaign uh councilman preso um and I hear it time and time again and as the chief of police I have to support any initiative not have to I I want to support any initiative that uh promotes Public Safety unfortunately I can't support this ordinance as it's written I support the initiative and the thought behind it because it the thought behind it is the safety of the public right um but I can't I cannot uh support dis ordinance as it's written because it's it's it's not done in a way that actually in my professional opinion will make a difference outside of possibly maybe the vest where you could see somebody coming on uh on on the sidewalk we already have an ordinance that addresses uh writing on the sidewalk um and there's a lot of halft truths that were just said at this uh in the last couple minutes actually uh one you're right you are the legislative body uh for the city of Hoboken but when a law is written I would think that thought and consideration is going to be given into how that law is actually going to be enforced and input from those people who are going to enforce it is going to be is is going to be taken into high a high input value before it's actually finally written um and I and I think that that was kind of done at one point we we spoke the first time this was presented was January 16th correct I think that's when we when we met and there were a lot of issues that were raised by myself Lieutenant Randi who the traffic Commander uh for the police department and director sharp and I know you just said to councilman Cohen that uh a work group wasn't even thought of until after the first vote uh or when it was possibly not going to be voted but that wasn't true because a work group was suggested at that meeting um and it was suggested at that meeting because we said there's a lot of issues with the actual enforcement of this law because we've done enforcement we've done educational campaigns and they've proven not as effective as as we would like it to be and we've identifi identified some key features as to why um and councilman Fischer you you made a comment about how this is not being enforced currently that is completely untrue and you have to know that because you've been to caps meetings where we where we have announced how many summonses have been issued and I think it's in the area of close to 200 uh so to say that it's not being enforced you're right it's not being enforced enough and you know why because we don't have adequate Staffing to do so it's not about creating more ordinances you can write 10 ordinances right now doesn't give me more people to actually enforce them if I had 20 30 more people on the street where I can actually have a quality of life probably unit that would actually be able to address these types of things then maybe yes it's enforceable um there there's a lot of issues with with impr presence requirement as far as the expectation of the public um at these caps meetings I speak to a lot of the public I get asked a lot of questions in fact just tonight I think two people mentioned the same type of scenario where they think that they're going to be able to call the police department give me a number of somebody who has a vest on and a summons will be issued that cannot happen we don't have the authority to write that summons much like those red light cameras that were ruled unconstitutional in the state of New Jersey you can't issue that summons unless there's a complaining witness if an officer didn't observe it they can't write the summons try getting somebody on the street to actually come in and write that summon then show up the court and follow up on the judicial end it it's not going to happen we don't get that as somebody mentioned I forgot who and I'm sorry uh who said it um oh it was cped there actually you can't get that with a car we isue a summons like that on a car even if it's a police office that sees it and sees a car and just mails that summons that ticket gets dismissed in court and that was brought to your attention at that uh at the initial work group meeting I support the initiative I really do this ordinance just isn't right um for us to be able to enforce and it is truly more or less a staffing issue uh I agree with maybe wearing a v I think that would help improve but this is this ordinance is written around I believe it's registration uh visibility and education well you don't need an ordinance to do an education campaign we've done several already and you don't really need an ordinance for that now registration that's one thing that's on your end I don't see how we're going to enforce that uh it's very vague that's not that's something you said councilman Russo is that you write the laws and it's up to us to figure out how to do it but if I can't understand it myself on what exactly I am in forcing how am I supposed to explain that to officers and how they're going to apply that on the street there's a lot of things written in this in this ordinance that is very vague and can you give an example yeah give me an example of okay so what what is no no no I give one second because you're talking about both sides of your Mount there for a second you're saying we're enforcing current ordinance but someone wearing a vest is almost unenforceable no no no no not not wearing somebody wearing a vest is unenforceable I'm saying that the registration aspect is UN enforceable so you're saying that if we have everybody wear vest anybody who's on an ebike that's not wearing a vest is presumed what in violation of this ordinance a food delivery person it says commercial commercial right we're talking commcial not not me riding on a bike just hanging out commercial okay so you see someone on a you see someone on a bike without a vest on and they're on the sidewalk your police officer you walk up to them and you say I don't know how to enforce this are we presuming anybody who's on an ebike so you have a conversation Are you delivering food and they say no you say okay I have to get that person to stop first correct they're stopped okay how you currently to stop them we've been trying to trap them and and stop them okay so what's the difference what's the difference right more people to do that okay well you made that very clear more people to do it you made that very clear but I'm saying what's vague is because you didn't let me finish when I asked or you asked me what was so vague about it so somebody who's in Jersey City and I think that uh that was proposed as well somebody in Jersey City leaves Jersey City comes to Hoboken just picks up something from a Hoboken uh establishment and then takes off are they subject to registration are they on the sidewalk I'm sidewalk are they doing food delivery that's what I'm asking is it only about being on the sidewalk or is it about registration so which is it there registration on the sidewalk no so now they're in the street on sidewalk speaking about sidewalk sidewalk we have an ordinance for it's registration somebody who's driving uh riding on the street just fine but they picked up and they legally tell me what this ordinance is about this ordinance is it's not about on the sidewalk it's not it's about a food delivery bike or food delivery person on an ebike okay performing their business irrespective of where it starts or where it's finished in Hoboken the jurisdiction your jurisdiction do they have a vest on and a registration and if they don't they get a violation so we're going to be addressing anybody who's on an ebike that picked up food and is y what do you mean if that's my point what if they're not from here that's what's v council president if I may yes Council what doesn't matter what does it matter if somebody's order originated in Union City came through Hoboken ran through a sidewalk ran overit a minute all respect let me finish what I have to say Okay because it gets frustrating from our perspective too when I sat in those meetings and I had some members of your staff say that even our current law for ebikes on the sidewalk is very difficult to enforce because we can't stop them because we can't ask them for identification because of all the things that are prohibiting you from doing your job as a police department those are not local issues those are state issues those are changes in the law pertaining to how we address crime how we address enforcement that is a bigger issue Beyond we need to do in Hoboken when somebody originates in when somebody originates in Union City rides through Hoboken and on fif in Clinton runs over my 5-year-old child because they got to get to their their delivery 3 seconds faster than being in the street I don't care where they originate from they could originate from timbuk too it doesn't matter to me they're in Hoboken they're under your jurisdiction they're under our jurisdiction and my child and your child and everyone else's child is more important to me than figuring out well is it Union City is it Jersey City is it West New York it doesn't matter to me it matters to me that when they're in Hoboken they're acting proper and they're acting safe and they're acting within the law that we as a council set that is the goal so all those things could happen and just just because you're speaking louder doesn't make your point more valid is what I'm trying to explain to you that I'm not asking about the ones that are obvious where someone's riding on the sidewalk that's not what I'm asking about um you're asking me a question about what makes this difficult to understand and train and in my experience as LW enforcement throwing anything at the wall and seeing what sticks is not the proper way to apply law and this is this is a good idea it's just not executed properly and right in my opinion you're asking my professional opinion I'm the chief of police I'm telling you that this is going to be vague to explain to officers it's vague because there there's so many parts of this where who who everybody keeps talking about the the person on the sidewalk I get that that's obvious sidewalk people is clearly a violation not a violation of this ordinance it's not a violation of this ordinance we have one of those already M so this is clearly about enforcing registration and that's going to overburden the police department because it's going to be well this this person doesn't have a vest this person has that we're going to be inundated with phone calls although it says hpu is is also responsible for enforcement we all know no one's calling hpu for those for those violations it's going to be the police department and we're going to be constantly responding to areas where people are not wearing vests and if they're not writing or currently picking up we have to wait for them to to actually pick something up right in order to to stop that we expect that during the education campaign part of it that everybody will ultimately comply and register correct correct is that correct yes right but when they don't you expect officers just to stand on the street waiting for somebody to just pick up a piece of food so then we can stop them to issue this ordinance no you don't you don't expect that no the public expects that no the public they do I've spoken to the public it was just announced here twice the same example the public expects you to stop them from running through stop signs running through stop lights and running on the sidewalk that's what the public expects our Police Department Council woman because respectively that's not dis ordinance absolutely it is you know why because it makes it makes them more visible it makes them more visible for everyone for you doesn't address that no the visibility I I understand the visibility I get that but that doesn't that's not what disord Chief and council members not like this is just we're going to go back and forth all day long but this is why the work group is such a good idea because that's the proper place for this this is not productive right at all your your point and if I'm I need more people number one need more people but two it's un it's not they can't feel the there's nothing to do with the to right they can't fill them correct T has nothing to do with this right and it's not a hobing stop un un enforcable you don't have enough police officers and it'll it would just be too difficult to enforce as written correct correct and then it's vague it's it's vague WR and it can be cleaned up but that's what I thought the idea of the work group was before this gets correct put into ordinance because why keep changing it and have to keep modifying and then have to retraining people how to how to apply that law because if it changes in any aspect where you say all right don't do this it's confusing we already have laws that get Chang on a constant basis that come down from the state we don't need that happening at this level I'm just asking you to take this back and then let the workg group do something set a date for the work group to have a finalized right uh final product and let that work itself out so then you have your best ideas come forward and then put forth a better ordinance that everybody can support I I I fully support the initiative councilman presido I really do it's about Public Safety I get it but once we have that on the sidewalks the next thing is going to be is it's in the street and that I think is going to pose just as much of a problem for enforcement as it is on the sidewalk and that's all you ask me my opinion I'm giving it to you professionally I'm not saying you I'm just I have to address you do I not yeah okay I'm following the rules um but that's it and I just wanted to clarify some Mis information about what's currently being enforced and just so the public is aware if anybody does see it you recognize it you've posted it we put people out there when we have enough Staffing levels on on any current day during peak hours when when deliveries are happening and I put two officers out there highly visible in green vest to address that issue and to issue summonses when it's appropriate so we are doing I would love to do more I I can't say enough I I want to do more I don't like saying that I failed or I can't do something I'm trying I don't have the people I need people to do that if there was another way to get more people to to be able to enforce this I'm all for it I'm all for it I'm open for questions or suggestions or you want dis I appreciate all I appreciate your time and your responses thank you Chief all right um so I brought up the radar guns because all nine of us well at least eight of us voted for 20 is plenty and clearly that is not something that is enforced but it felt really good it felt really good to say oh we're going to vote for 20 is plenty and now everyone's going to go 20 miles per hour so no one had any issue with saying that's not enforceable I'm not really sure where the issue is here um and I do think it's a good start I would like to see people in yellow vest I I think that's what I mean I know that's what the residents want to see so I am completely supportive of it councilman Cohen you'd like to speak again I'm good councilman preso I've it's interesting to sit here and listen to everything here and I've been watching this for two years not sitting up here on this day this was a thoughtful process that went through that brought stakeholders in and talk to everybody we tried to keep it to a very easy access to do this uh by having taking a test learning the laws only $5 we would foot some of the bill in the city um I've been a part of the working group I'm not really happy how it's going it's stacked one way it's at times the last meeting we could basically three of the people going for this or supporting this couldn't attend the meeting we get people dropped in there that day of the meeting uh to come speak not even from Hoboken so we brought somebody that was a professional delivery driver we dropped them in too and he was and he was told he couldn't talk he was cut off he was our goal here is the whole thing is safety and how we're going to get there on my watch I'm not going to sit here and do nothing and sit on my hands and then we have a fatality on our sidewalks I'm a delivery driver I went and did it you all think it's for a a a farce I'm an Uber gold driver all right I've done about 70 trips you'll see me tomorrow morning you'll see me tomorrow at lunch because it's a busy time every morning put my helmet on put my jacket on I'm 001 you can't miss me in fact I'm getting C I don't know what you call Cat calls but the the uh the the third one Washington crew have said some Choice names it's I stick out I have a vest on people are actually stopping me on the sidew like love what you're doing at the end of the day I've spoken a lot with there's a gentleman that'll that'll be part of the working group next week that we talk every single day about his experiences on the road whether it's Jersey City or Hoboken he's educated me on a lot of the things that have happened there but I've heard this time and time again let's push it on the app company let's push it on the app company why is everybody so supportive of the Jersey city ordinance what because you're going after the delivery companies delivery companies said they're going to sue you if you do it and in fact I think some of the council members even brought that up in fact it was incorrectly quoted that the delivery companies would pay for the vests as I read in one of the uh articles I've spoken almost almost every single day with the delivery companies I've spoken with drivers every single day to get an idea of what's going on and we say that we have to push it back to the app companies to regulate this well let me explain something that happens how it works and how you make your money and how you make more than minimum wage is you multi-app you have door Dash you have GrubHub you have Uber Eats you might pick up on Uber Eats you go drop it off on 10th in Washington you go look at your apps again you have a chance of one out of three to pick up another order immediately and boom seven times out of 10 you get that if you're on all three apps and that's how you make your 25 to even $35 an hour we had some legislation that happened in New York City that's actually hurt the drivers and they will tell you this and they're now coming over here and we see an inundation of of new people and you'll notice it with the fluorescent bikes they're called whiz bikes there have been more than since they passed the law in January in New York City we have seen an inundation of new delivery drivers in Hoboken my some of my colleagues up here will find out tomorrow when they speak with the uh the delivery companies why they can't enforce things I'm not an employment attorney but I do know 1099s and what the limitations are with them and if we let's use an example here that if we're going to sit here and say that the the companies are are responsible for all of this let's think about this let's use an example we can all understand we many of us own a car many of us drive a car if we drive a car and we break the speed limit the car doesn't get the ticket the person gets the ticket but if we're telling that that we want to go after the delivery companies for riding on the sidewalk not being registered all this other things that go with this then maybe when we ride a ticket in Hoboken we should actually send the ticket to Ford Toyota Tesla and everybody else delivery apps don't drive on the sidewalks don't break laws humans do this is creating accountability I've been able to make every one of my deliveries on time stopping every single stop sign every every single red light and staying off the sidewalk and when I am on the sidewalk I'm walking my bike any of you are happy to you can follow me around all morning tomorrow I'll be out at 700 in the morning and watch me I'm the only one stopping it every single light and off the sidewalks every single light now it used to be one person going by me a couple months ago now it's two to three drivers we need to do something here this was very well thought out it wasn't like the Jersey city ordinance that starts to get into employment stuff and and profits and things of that nature but and everybody was supportive of that when you look to their side of the 25 points that they wanted people to do ours was simple take a test wear a vest it's education and there's an education roll out on this at the end of the day human nature if you see one person doing it usually you continue to do it so put a vest on it's simple so as we sit here and we say we keep doing the working group let's keep kicking the can down the road cuz the working group and working group and working group and working group where have we been for the past three years in this why is it that I had to bring it up why is it that I can't have my son run to the corner anymore because he's got an ebike potentially coming on the sidewalk the other way why can't my neighbors in the First Ward walk their dogs and let them run on the leash a little bit because they're going to get hit by an ebike I went to everybody's door thousands of doors and listen to people complain and I'm not going to sit up here and do nothing about it and sit here and keep talking because the more people we get in this town delivering there's going to be a fatality and it's not going to be on my watch this was very well thought out if people have issues ises of implementation we've had how many months now two months I've seen nobody come back to me with anything I've seen people come back let's get protected bike Lan it's going to fix everything no it's not I took the owner especially I took when I created this I thought about the police force and I tried to take the ownership this off of them their jobs already difficult enough but at the end of the day we need to do something here and we can't keep talking about it that's why I put this forth and so hopefully my colleagues can join me in voting yes tonight to actually say you care about the residents in this town and you especially care about the residents in the First Ward who deal with this on a daily basis for those of you that have live in other Wards maybe Tiffany's Ward none of you see it like we do every single day from 1st to Fifth Street whether you're on Bloomfield or Hudson I want something done about it and I'm going to do something about it please join me in voting yes today for this ordinance Mr Mr col sorry council president I've not spoken at all actually so I would appreciate the opportunity um in spite of of that um I will say and plan to say from the beginning I wish to thank councilman pres Zano for bringing this before the council and for creating um a really constructive conversation about this I know it has been an iterative process and I have sent you comments and my feedback and you've adopted some of that and so I appreciate that this has been an ongoing conversation uh I have voted yes for this the whole way through till this day um in part because I am in good faith trying to solve for the same issue that we all acknowledge and see uh I don't think there's anybody in this room at this point Who's disagreeing with the need for this initiative including the chief who was just up here what we're saying is that we don't want to make a false promise and I said this in the working group because my fear is that what we are communicating to the public is that because we have done our job as legislators and we passed this law we fixed that ebike problem and then on June 1st when that's still the case what are we going to do then because I'm not willing to blame HPD for this when they stood up when the Chiefs stood up here and said that this is difficult to implement that they in fact are implementing much of this already on the basis of an existing law that is to address the same concerns that it is vaguely written and let me be clear part of what the chief is referring to is that the enforcement section of this ordinance is one sentence this section shall be enforced by the parking enforcement officers in the department of transportation and parking hpu and by the Hoboken Police Department in that one statement there are two different entities that are actually given the responsibility and the onus for enforcing this without any detail behind that so when the chief says to me that this is vague and he doesn't know how to communicate that I'm looking at the language and I think we can do better and the work group meetings have been productive I understand that you have some feeling that people have been left out or that it was stacked one way I have actually learned a lot through that process and I think we're continuing to get to a better end point and that's what we should be trying to do because a complicated problem doesn't usually have a silver bullet solution we've seen this in a number of instances this is a difficult job and this is a very difficult issue to get our arms around to not be supportive of what's before us tonight doesn't mean that we are not supportive of pedestrians I walk around this town with my two daughters I see you Mr presen Zano out with your son so you know I'm out on foot more than anybody in this town I understand the concern it concerns me too but I don't want to promise people something that's not real that's not doing my job I like the visibility part of this I would like to go hand out vests to everyone because why not why ask them to pay for them let's get them in mass and hand them out everywhere but guess what delivery drivers are are transient so we're going to have to keep doing that to stay on top of that that's the nature of that industry we have to be smart about how we're doing this if we're really going to Pat ourselves on the back and say that we've done a good job and I am fully committed to continuing that conversation and I hope that you are too because I absolutely understand acknowledge and appreciate that you brought this before the council and I will continue to be part of that conversation even if I am not supportive of what's here tonight thank you councilwoman Fischer no I think Reuben I was yeah not me oh I'm sorry I just don't lot to unpack here tonight with a conversation but if there's if there's anything vague there's anything that needs to be added to it I think we're all Nate pretty clear that we're open to those things what we're not clear is leing here tonight with not having the understanding that this will indeed put the pressure on the working group to try and move the ball down the road because no this is the foundation and when I was getting involved in working group I wasn't able to attend at conflicts both meeting times my one instance said this is the foundation this is the foundation to build something off of not just let it Wither on a tree and die because it can't be enforced we have enough people people or the language is too vague send improvements to the language what can be what can make it less vague what can tell what could what what kind of guidance do the police need what kind of guidance does the hpu need to enforce this what type of education pamphlets would be giving handing out trying to educate the writers moving forward but to allow this just to go to the Nether world without a foundation in place to move forward I think this is this is the foundation to the building we're trying to build for our enforcement with this with the ebike legislation let's move that forward tonight and then build from there thank you thank you councilman Russo thank you council president in government great is often the enemy of good it happens all the time create a task force and I'll show you legislation that goes to die it happens all the time we have an opportunity to start to address this issue and I need to make a comment about this because several council members alluded to the fact that well we're just going to do something so we could go Pat ourselves on the back and and that's the furthest thing from the truth because I remember sitting at this deis years ago when the fire department and the ambulance Court came before us and said do not put a bike lane on Clinton Street it's going to it will it will inhibit our ability to serve our city what do we do we put a bike lane on Clinton Street try it anyway I remember when we talked about 20 is plenty we're not going to change the law first we're going to do 20 is plenty it's an initiative we're just going to ask everybody just to go 20 miles an hour had that work it didn't because then we had to come back we had to change the law we have to actually make the speed limit 20 miles an hour and it's still not working and I could go time and time again about different initiatives in this city and it wasn't about patting ourselves on the back it was about keeping our city safe it was about providing the things that our constituency wanted and needed in the city of Hoboken we do that all the time so it's not about politics it's about serving our constituency it's about standing up it's about leading it's about taking a lead on an initiative in the city of Hoboken that residents are begging us to take the initiative on if we have to come back two weeks from now and make a change because we figure it out that it's easier to enforce something else than we do it if we have to come back and we have to amend our law again so that we could hire police officers in a different way so that we have enough police officers out in the street to protect our residents then we do it if we increase to so that the city doesn't have to wait if in fact we could hire all those police officers then we do it but we can't sit here and pretend that this one little thing is going to change it all we can't sit here and pretend that this one little thing is going to stop after we vote on it we have to act as leaders in the city of Hoboken we have to move the ball down the field Council woman we have to do that here tonight and if we have to come back so be it we meet every other week we could always amend it we could always initiate another initiative we could always do that but to pretend that this is the end all Beall of this situation it's ludicrous we need to vote on this tonight and I would hope everyone would support it councilman so I remain unconvinced and we'll still be voting no despite all all the words um just a couple things I wanted to address and first first of all you know I find it disingenuous that we say some of us are saying oh this isn't purely about politics where I think in some instances if it wasn't about politics some of us wouldn't be taking credit for having safer streets after a first reading passed uh when when that just plainly not true so so let's be honest some of this is for some of the folks on this day is about politics let's not take credit this no there's no mission accomplished although about a month ago some folks were declaring mission accomplished with respect to uh Chief agar's comments and I thank you for coming up here and explaining it and the enforceability aspect of this one of the goals of the working group and we were using the ordinance as a basis Ruben uh and we made sure to to to start off with that um was to look at the reality of the situation the reality of the situation is we're not going to increase our table of organization by 20 anytime soon so what are the tools that we have to get to the end state that we want right and in those conversations we're we're discussing is this aspect of the of the ordinance enforcable either are we allowed to by state rules and and attorney general guidance or are we are can we enforce it from a practicality perspective and where the answer was no we would talk about possible solutions workarounds and and and how we could get to a place where we're getting compliance we had conversations about uh um you know positive reinforcement as well as negative as well as enforcement right what do we do to facilitate the behavior that we want to see cuz sometimes that is better than simply stopping people and finding people we're talking about who is in the best position to affect the change that we want is it going after hundreds of people who are transient as uh as councilwoman Jabor said or is it going going and working with a smaller group of people who are in we think in some cases may be in a better position to regulate their staff we don't have all the answers right now we did discuss what are some things that we can do relatively easily and as Chief Yar said some of those don't even need an ordinance right education let's step it up again and visibility let's do it we can have people invest in a month right let's wave the stoppable have people invests in a month happy to do that bring it up next time I'll vote Yes but if we start adding on things that I think are smoking mirrors and I don't think they were intentionally smoking mirrors but I think it's gotten there it's giving false hope it's going to put the burden on the wrong people I can't support it because of that so I hope it doesn't pass if it does I hope gets vetoed and we can focus on the things that work and build from there I get clarification what schar is Mr finina call the vote Mr con no M fiser yes Mr Jabor no preso I Tero no Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I pres J no yes can we go home now nope what's next we are done with publiction agenda items Patricia on resolution come on what do you want on resolution thanks for coming I my glasses here number page two A2 wait a minute I want to ask about the Cranford Police Department A2 everybody with me on page two resolutions right resolutions all right uh the pricing agreement with the Cranford police department and the um pricing system I I mean is that help I heard him say hello that's okay I'm like why can't I hear am I am I am I right I heard um the police say I mean Chief say tonight about they don't really have police officers are we going to take Cranford police officers on loan or something I mean that's not like I just want to know what that is about whatever it is please support him after I seen that attack tonight is crazy and oh ca1 it was pulled ca1 was pulled with the Housing Authority yes it was P appointment so we I I can't talk on that then right no sorry C why you answer me fast like that and um there's another one I circled oh the bond the bond not on the resolutions right there's no but there's not a bond in resolution hey stop playing y'all don't do that to Manny would you like me to wait stop playing be Ni no seriously um council president it is one on here it's says change where is it resolution number I circled it resolution authorizing contract for 100 thou I don't know it was on my other paper thank you that's it thank you thanks I don't see it on here all right Manny good evening once again council president Manuel Rivera Soler this is consent agenda but I would like to say that for public service anyone council president that offers you a half glass of water with poison do not drink it I rebuttal because my I was mentioned in that analogy and do not drink poison whatsoever thank you and I will continue now the consent agenda a one please um if uh members of the public could get more information in regards to what specific um senior um Recreation programs are going to be affected um members of public would appreciate it and I would like uh also on Community Development cd2 CD3 and um in this one is the agreement on cd2 also CC1 the increase per session for the prosecutor can members of the public understand is this a different term being that it says sessions is this the same as per hour per day and what is the increase uh going to be which is not here um as well as also in the clerks C L3 would like to also congratulate the um social workers and their social workers month that is appreciative but um we need even more social workers out there because there as many people would need and also on finance obviously F1 F2 um the temporary again flipping around in money um again is uh highly unusual and should stop because it does increase and confuse people at the time of the um budget uh hearings um again in Parks and Recreation PS2 it's again just the amounts and I will end it here even though I would like to continue but in uh the best interest of time also T1 again what is the um amount why is it being exceeded as um and then of course in first reading I know that always uh discuss it so uh with that have been said council president those are my concerns and uh I will yield back my time unless you want to answer any of the questions as a member of the public said Thank you thank you she said no council members on you know what we didn't vote on uh oh we do it now in consent that's fine council members on resolutions be fold um none oh wait F1 and F2 and P2 what was the other one p F1 F2 P2 se3 please which one T1 anyone else Mr Pina please call the vote on everything except cl3 F1 F2 P2 and T1 Mr con i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes preso I Cano i r i Mr Russo I president Jee Tino yes cl3 resolution to recognize National Social Work month 2024 Council woman thank you so much council president um I just wanted to take a quick moment to recognize um March being Social Work month um and specifically to acknowledge and thank um our city social workers Lori Hetzel and Bianca Hofer they were actually specifically mentioned in some of the data points around the work that they have been able to accomplish as part of the office of constituent Services Under the very um talented leadership of Nora D benedetto um they take on some of our most challenging and complex issues for the city and I'm so grateful I know that they have been a resource I think to all of us around this table um it's really helpful to always be able to know that um when we encounter a really complex resident issue um that they are there as a resource and I wish to thank them because it often goes un unacknowledged um and in addition the Hoboken Public Library also has a social worker they employ Emily Dalton we recognized her actually last year um and as part of our um recognition for social work month um just thank thank you for your ongoing work it is tireless and we appreciate it thank you thank you Mr finina please call the vote Mr con i m fiser yes Mr Jabor yes pres Zano I Cano I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president gtino yes F1 resolution to award a contract to Vincent leaga Esquire for Legal Services tax appeal attorney in the amount of 80,000 20,000 to be certified from the temporary budget pres yeah we can just combine F1 and F2 if we could it's just questions on it for a constituents that has some uh wanted to know a little more detail just so everyone knows F F2 is resolution awarding a professional service contract to Maguire Associates LLC for the amount of 93,500 to provide tax appraisal services so it's tax appeals and taxal so director Freeman could you just give a little bit explanation I believe that we're allotting a number it may or may not be used correct me wrong it is so we just give itct so we don't have to keep coming back it's a contract up to so last year we we applied for F1 specifically we had um appropriated the same amount of money we spent I believe $78,000 of the 80 so there was $2,000 left over from laps from last year's contract so we're using the same amount as last year and it's a pretty stable year over year it has been pretty similar yeah yeah and it's literally same for same for F1 and F2 and we've had existing relationship with these two counterparties for years correct correct okay so we so there could be money like we said money left over it just gets F inor my favorite thing all right well okay thank you very much any other council members want to vote on both togethera please call the vote on F1 and F2 Mr colen I M Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes prano hi cono hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo I president Jee Tino P2 resolution off authorizing the city of Hoboken to accept a donation from the New Jersey Devils LLC in the total amount of $240,000 for rink improvements and related hockey programming services and authoriz authorizing execution of agreement to effectuate the donation I forgot who asked this I did yes um thank you my I guess my question is aren't aren't we redoing the multi-service center so are we about to spend 240,000 we're not spending any what we're not spending any I understand it's the donation but we're about to take money from someone invest it in an upgrade and then rip it out a year later doing the work so I understand your question we have we have had this has been going this the conversation relationship with them is going on for several months now and we have shared with them that there is we conducted a study with a plan to at some point in the future hopefully sooner rather than later to redo the multi-service center they are well aare of that they understand it we told them we would bring them along every step of the way so they are aware of what's going on okay thanks just one comment yeah yeah the pictures of that rink look awesome I mean I think I I mean uh thank you to the New Jersey Devils for donating this quarter million dollar rank uh it looks awesome uh and uh I hope it looks half as good when it's as it does in the photos because people are going to love it thanks and just to add there's actually going to also be Services there providing programming through the recreation department which I think is even better uh in terms of what that will offer Mr Thee thank you Council Russo Council Ramos Council moo counc sorz original rank I had no idea you're welcome you are welcome Mr fin call the vote Mr con hi M Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes Rano hi Tero hi Mr Ramos hi Mr Russo hi president gtino yes T1 resolution awarding a professional service contract in the amount not to exceed $275,400 project because we we're doing this one but psng tore up tore up Southwest hoken and we had the incident last year with the with them hitting the water main the huge break that lasted a number of hours hour and the roads are still in shambles when they were just paved a year to a year and a half before that and everything from Observer highway to nor Street all the way to Adams is becoming disheveled uh we can't even get a new coat of paint for crosswalks uh in that area so is there any movement with psng to repave the roads in accordance with our ordinance that also seems to be unenforced right now from Curb to curb which is supposed to happen uh after any road construction projects take place thank you director I residents are growing extremely upset you know this in that area right now and I think throughout hob everyone drives out through that por of town yeah uh first of all good evening Council uh so to your point councilman uh there are multiple projects going on in that immediate area uh currently um so City Engineers office has been coordinating uh kind of when is the best time to um to do that restoration work so that it's not done multiple times and so forth there's also a traffic management component there um right now that jcmua project has been going on which has been closing Marin Boulevard Henderson Street uh daily um so in coordination with OEM and the city engineer uh and Jersey City and the county and so forth uh there are a lot of players involved in psng and it's definitely a priority um and as soon as we can get them out there to do that we will do that because it was supposed to be done last fall and and the information I've received from your office and I told constituents this and things roll downhill right it rolls downhill they tell me you guys tell me I tell them they're upset with me so I'm getting upset with you why does it happen in the fall then it needs to happen this spring it needs to happen this spring because the the road is a complete disaster they just did the street at the end of Jefferson and norc tore it up it's a disaster Jefferson between norc and First Street is a disaster from going from Observer uh from Harris person to Grand Street and past it is a disaster it needs it needs to be rectified because two years ago it was smooth right it was smooth right we spent the money we did our due diligence they tore it up two years later oh here we go you're good back to square Beyond zero so I'm extremely upset the residents in the neighborhood extremely upset I'm sure the res all the hobok that drive in and out of Southwest Hoboken every day extremely upset by this but it needs to be rectified and rectified soon thank you thank you CC wait uh if I can um so the some of the complaints of of Southwest have trickled to me as well and I've talked to councilman uh Ramos about it isn't one at least a near-term solution comes from RIS even just going out maybe painting some of the crosswalks like a simple paint like forgetting the Full Repair but at least make some of those simple paint just to make it safe that those are the ones that are coming that have kind of percolated even to me saying what can we do to make the those safe that I feel like if something is within our control we can do in the next week if possible yeah I'll reach out to the County engineer and we'll try to get that scheduled a set yeah thanks thank you thank you Mr vot Mr con I Fisher yes Mr Jabor yeso who hio Mr Ramos you gtino that's what I thought Russo hi president gtino yes that's why I didn't say anything I like got wake your all up a mic got to wake you up Jesus ordinance for introduction n to Men chapter 19031 entitled closing School streets parking and school zones to amend curbside regulations related to school districts only parking zones on six Street between mro Street and Jackson Street Mr fre call the vote Please Mr con I Fisher yes Mr Jabor yes president Zeno IO I Mr Ramos I Mr Russo I president Geno ordinance for introduction Nance amending chapter 19071 entitled Municipal manage electric vehicle charging stations electric vehicle charging stations on Washington Street please call the vote Mr Mr con all M Fisher yes Mr javor yes pres Zeno I cono I Mr Ramos Mr Russo hi for you president gtino yes motion to close two shout outs I did it I did it I have two shout outs Council can I just ask the councilwoman happy birthday to my youngest you know that's that's first important most important happy 16th birthday to my youngest Ryan happy birthday buddy and another shout out congratulations to my brother-in-law head coach of Wagner College uh won their first NCA game in school history last night G to be GNA beat North Carolina tomorrow night all right some good odds on that bet n and his best friend Co St Peters City native council president I just got to ask a favor I I mean I know directors want to get out out of here after most of our business is done but once in a while we do have some questions um I've been talking to want to move it up in the agenda what we'll do like director question oh dear I think that would be fun sure whatever something this meeting all right motion close I already did that you're late motion close make the motion Pat are we done we're done we already voted right I you two got to stop what is happening in this corner