[Music] all right we're streaming on YouTube and Facebook okay we're good to go guys we're good to go council president we're good to go okay 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 open public meetings act and that notice was published in the Jersey journal and City website copies were provided in the Hoboken reporter the record the New York Star Ledger and also placed on the bulletin board in the lobby of City Hall if everyone could rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America Amer and to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Jerry I see Phil waiting great thank you okay let me get Phil in before we do let me see Phil where are you I did it Jerry oh great thank you I hope it's Phil Cohen great we're GNA do roll call real quick for everyone Phil Co councilman Cohen here councilman Doyle presid councilman fiser here councilwoman Jabor presid councilman prano present councilman cantero present councilman Ramos present councilman Russo presid and council president gtino here okay got a quum ready to go um should I read the notice or yes please you got it on Friday July 26th please be advised that as of council president of the city of hogen I hereby call a special meeting of the governing body via virtual conference Zoom call for Monday August 5th 2024 to begin promptly at 7 p.m via Zoom for the following purpose we have a public hearing on 1 ordinance b695 ordinance of the city of Hoboken amending Hoboken city code chapter 155 rent control at various sections and we also have a resolution authorizing temporary budget Appropriations and public portion action will be taken and no other matters will be discussed and acted upon at this virtual Zoom meeting please ensure the city council members are noticed of this special meeting in accordance with the applicable laws and rules also please public this notice special meeting as required by the opma open public meetings act New Jersey statute annotated 10 colon 4-6 very truly yours Jen gtino council president thank you Mr lore uh just a couple of bookkeeping items we are going to limit uh public portion to three minutes this evening but we are first going to suspend the agenda and hear the temporary Appropriations so for anyone who wrote out a 5 minute speech you will have some time to make cut it down to three um Mr lur can you read and can you if you want to speak on temporary Appropriations can you raise your hand now I know a lot of you have your hand up already but can you please lower it if you are not wishing to speak on temporary Appropriations okay so we're ready for the vote uh resolution authorizing emergency temporary Appropriations in accordance with New Jersey statute annotated 40a colon 44-20 yes let me we do have a few people that would like to speak okay Patricia waiters hi good evening everybody where are those the temporary the temporary Appropriations y'all asking for going toward what what is it for mostly payroll payroll mostly payroll all right but but later on in the meeting we're going to get an opportunity for you to clarify where that money is going it's payroll and other expenses it's in the if you look in the agenda packet the amount for each one is laid out okay so please vote no thank you and one other request you can when you come in can you just state your name uh for the record and your address hey all uh my name is Brian o Conor uh I live at 527 Jefferson Street uh I actually just moved here about a month ago so very excited to attend my first meeting um so just some perspective for uh some context uh I'm a teacher out in Jersey City I'm a history teacher at a public school and one of the biggest issues that we talk about all the time is the cost of hous ran I'm sorry to cut you off this is on the temporary Appropriations vote so I'm just going to remove you and then when we vote on rent control I'll okay thank you thank you Manny Rivera yes good afternoon good afternoon council president Manu R hobokin council president I just have again a uh a very similar question to one uh uh member of the public had um but my question is um the list that's on the agenda packet that means that the money that we are transferring to the to this new rather to this account is paying for what's on this sheet on these two sheets actually because they're two pages is that correct Madam council president it's money just to get us through to the next council meeting correct we don't have an adopted budget correct that's that would be my that was going to be my next question so it's because we have uh no budget um yet and we have to obviously pay um our employees and our vendors and everything else that's on that sheet and CC president is that pardon me exactly okay pardon me and the amount is is is the one that's in the second where has um for is am I correct 38 million no no what what is the amount who who is 30 in the total amount is that yeah yeah is Jason here do we have Caleb's here isn't he the total temp budget if adopted will come to $108 million in change no actually councilor president what I'm asking is is what are we appropriating in this emergency resolution what is the amount tonight this evening that you're you're moving Caleb how much is the temporary appropriation amount if you know please uh I mean it's cumulative so how much more tonight is it a million dollars more is it uh of the total emergency temps would be $6 million thank you thank you council president uh um I believe that is the end of my questions I appreciate you acknowledging members of the public thank you thank you good evening to all Isaac Jimenez you're muted Isaac Isaac Jimenez you're muted hello all right I'm going to put you back in the waiting room Ron Batista Ron are you talking on temporary Appropriations uh no I'm not I'm talking about the ordinance all right I'm removing you we have no other members of the public signed up to speak on temporary Appropriations motion to close public portion motion second second all in favor I Mr L call the vote council president yeah uh just quickly um Caleb if I heard you correctly you said this brings us up to about 108 million for the year so far correct so that's authorized not spent that that is just funding those lines through to August 21st so I I just want to remind my Council colleagues that you know we we fall into the situation many times in the past and we're de facto voting for a full budget by continuing to vote for all these temporary emergency Appropriations um so if you are not in favor of keeping the taxes as high as they are um it's a fair warning uh that this will continue to happen so I would just suggest that you vote no Mr lur call the vote Okay resolution F1 councilman Cohen I councilman Doyle I councilwoman fiser yes councilwoman Jabor Emily yes okay thank you Council preso nay councilman cantero I councilman Ramos no councilman Russo no council president gtino yes okay passes all right ordinance for second and final reading now we'll hear the speakers Chris can you just State your full name and your address and you have three minutes Chris you're muted if you please State your last name as well Chris Chris you're on mute if you'd like to speak you have to take yourself off mute all right let's move on Rose Markle hi can you hear me did I unmute yeah hi I'm Rosemary Markle 6:30 Grand Street I'm a widow senior citizen living on a fixed income and owner of one apartment building which my family has owned and resided in since February 1st 1924 yes I am the face of corporate landlords or special interest groups whichever you'd like to put me at I'm here asking that you support your amendment that was written by you the council this amendment really helps the mom and pop landlords pretty much just us the ones that do not have a 30-year tax uh 30-year exemption from rent control that they are collecting I'm sorry 30-year exemption we are living in n in 2024 but we're collecting 1980 rents and this is one of the reasons that these buildings are being down torn down rapidly this amendment does not take away rent control does not promote Mass displacement as the fear mongers will portray it if we wanted to get the 25% vacancy decol we would have been displacing tenants all along it gives the mom and pop landlord most of us who are seniors who have been living here our entire lives a Fighting Chance to save our homes and to keep these units online at the rates of CPI most of us have to use our own money to pay bills this year alone a new inspection from the state for fire escapes cost most of us between 20 and $25,000 we have paint inspections state in inspections gas and electric bills Insurance all costs that go up every year you the council gave us a 200% increase in the cost of registering our properties all of we much all of which we must pay on our own yet were we only allowed to raise up rents by the CPI or currently 3% imagine a senior citizen on a fixed income has to use their own money because our counsel and some tenants feel it as my responsibility to sub subsidize someone else's rent this is an absolute disgrace I'm concerned of one of your councilmen has been that doesn't want our rents to be brought up to market rate I've said this before and I'll say it again there's no way I will ever get market rate rent for my units there are one one bedroom no elevator no gym no laundry no parking all I'm looking to do is not have to take money out of my pocket to make repairs and such on my building um it this will give us the opportunity to collect decent rents that can help us to improve our buildings we are not looking to remove tenants as some will get up here and promote we are asking to allow us to raise rent so that we can maintain the property and give the landlord an incentive to stay and invest in our communities and not sell to the highest bidder the $2,500 that we would have to pay per unit to raise the rent after a tenant moves out is adding to the affordable housing fund after all isn't that the goal you cannot expect the private sector senior citizens to provide provide affordable housing that government should be the so-called tenant Advocates if they were really concerned about rents they should go to the state and try to change the 30-year exemption from R control again as a mom and pop landlord I'm asking you to help us the senior citizens longtime building owners and residents and vote Yes on your Amendment thank you thank you Rose CL I'm sorry if I pronounced this wrong de Miola you got it right can you hear me yes okay CLA de Miola uh I live on in Mex Lane uh I am obviously a resident and last week or whenever the last meeting was the first the first reading about this I heard from a lot of tenants and a lot of them I noted were not uh residents of Hoboken um I am and I'm again like Rosemary I'm a small landlord I own uh two buildings one of them's very small building and one of them's a three family or four family I'm sorry has a store too um during the uh pandemic and back during the the downturn the you know back in 2008 I lowered everybody's rent now if that proposal that's on the table that you know is in action now uh had occurred then I wouldn't have been able to lower the rent because I wouldn't have been able to raise it back up to Market and again I I repeat what Rosemary said in order to there's a demand for upscale housing in this town you wanted a first class Town you've got it uh when I started working here back in the 80s it was not a first class town there was shooting galleries all over 14th Street there were glassed envelopes on the ground I retired as as a registered nurse and went into real estate and now I'm retired from both I want to be able to maintain my building and maintain my tenants we have good relations I I feel like we small landlords are getting lumped in with corporations um I'm considered a liberal politically I don't know why we're getting lumped in with you know people on not I'm not even to get political in name calling but at the last reading I mean they made it sound like we were trying to kick people out of their homes I've tried to keep people in their homes I didn't even demand that people repay me when I lowered their rents as a lot of landlords did all we're asking is that you consider the small landlords and not consider I don't know maybe there are a lot of big landlords moving in I'm really not sure at this point but I'm all I'm trying to do is maintain my properties keep them in good condition and piling on more and more rules isn't making it easy and yes I've had to take money out of my pocket I've had to you know put in as Rosary said fire escapes I had fire escapes but I had to improve them they didn't come up you know we have state inspections things have to be improved um there is a pass through but it's not for any of that kind of stuff it's for water s taxes as you all know and that has to be done annually uh I I just okay i' just like to thank you for listening to me I was wondering what that music was before thank you thank you Claire just so everyone knows the timer is up in the corner of the screen on the top uh right hand side Marlene Franklin hi I'm Marlene Franklin I'm a former Elementary School teacher and then subsequently a lawyer can you hear me yes great I thank you for this opportunity to speak to you tonight in addition to being a former teacher and a lawyer I am a senior citizen I'm 79 years old and my purpose tonight is to ask you to think of the impact of this compromise on senior citizens so teacher lawyer senior and I'm a prophet as well yes with certainty I prophesize that each and every every member of this Council will become a senior citizen it's only a matter of time so look into the future and imagine yourself after having worked hard and saving retirement that your rent is unfairly increased year after year and you are a long-term ten tenant your income is fixed no chance you're going to get a job now you're powerless so you're pushed out just as the landlord intended so what will hoken miss its seniors well do you want a diverse Community diversity is not only a moral issue it's an economic one economic diversity is essential to a healthy Hoboken seniors shop locally on the other side of the coin are the seniors who want to move to Hoboken to be near their children and their grandchildren and who may need help nearby as they age those seniors will be prud and many of them want to rent because they've given up their homes and the whole burden of home ownership those seniors will be comp precluded from moving to Hoboken because of inequitable rents factors such as these break apart family systems and the fabric of your community I may raise my voice here but I want to be heard according to my brief uh research senior citizens are the most reliable voting block I'll repeat that we're the most reliable voting block so by voting against the compromise you'll be able to tell those senior voters at the next Council election I protected you from unfair and inequitable rent increases I appreciated the diversity that you bring to Hoboken and I protected you from being pushed out I appreciate and protected community and Family Ties Sunday dinners babysitting playing in the park with your grandchildren I heard you and I gave you a Deo a voice my last prophecy if you help seniors tonight they will help you in the next next Council election thank you anarie Colona hi can you hear me yes hi I'm Amry Colona I live at 733 Park here in Hoboken I'm here to express my profound concern regarding the proposed rent increase regulations outlined in the recent compromise plan that's set to be voted on shortly as a resident of Hoboken for more than 15 years and having lived in my current residence for 10 years I have a unique perspective on how this proposal would impact long-term renters like myself the proposed ordinance would have devastating consequences for thousands of residents if enacted this plan would essentially place a Target on the back of someone like myself how many of you are renters and how many of you are landlords or have ties to the Hoboken real estate in some way if you had a tenant of 10 years and learned that you could be 100% more wouldn't you also want to find a way to evict me in order to raise the rent and find a new tenant 100% is incredibly enticing no there is a history of hoboke in hobok and of corporate landlords going after long-term tenants like me just so they can increase rent for the next tenant council president gatino I've been your neighbor for 10 years and a yes to this vote from you is a yes to yes vote for putting myself and my family in financial danger I am someone you know gives back to the community does tag sales for charity I am who a yes vote would be harming in my case if this were to happen it would be financially impossible for me to continue living in Hoboken the emotional and financial stress associated with such a move combined with the difficulty of finding affordable housing and an already strained rental market it would be life-altering in the worst way and it would extend beyond mere inconvenience it would be detrimental to those of us who have built our lives and invested in this community over a significant period of time moreover the process by which this this proposal has been handled raises serious concerns it appears that there's been little to no consultation with tenants or consideration of their needs this lack of dialogue undermines the Democratic process and disregards the voices of those that are affected by these decisions the most us renters who are building businesses raising families in this community and even students who have chosen Hoboken for their education year after year Educators who want to live close to their institutions the elderly who need to stay close to family and First Responders just to name a few while I understand that there are complexities involved in balancing the needs of landlords and tenants I urge you to reconsider this proposal and vote no a more inclusive and transparent approach that genuinely considers the long-term impact on renters is essential allowing for a more Equitable solution that does not disproportionately affect renters would be would better serve the community and uphold the values of fairness and compassion that hoboken's known for I thank you for your attention to this critical issue I really hope you take these concerns into account as you deliberate on this and work towards a solution that respects and supports all members of our community not just landlords thank you thank you eny lucenda can you please State your last name yes my name is Lucinda Mercer um I live at 98 Park Avenue um which finally got paved um so I am here to speak out against the compromise rent control law being discussed this evening I'm opposed to this compromise because it is undemocratic I believe that the voters should be able to have their say directly on the referendum put forward by the mil Square taxpayers Association I'm appalled by that referendum I understand that some or many of the signatures were collected in a highly misleading fashion I also believe that if the msta actually cared about generating funds for affordable housing the payment required to bring a newly vacant apartment to Market rent would have been set at a minimum of $250,000 or a million dollars or more that being said this compromise was generated quickly and apparently with little to no discussion with tenants in Hoboken this is not the Democratic way if the city council members are opposed to the referendum then they should speak out early and often encouraging their constituents to vote against the referendum rather than generating a compromise that appears to concede much to the landlords let's see what happens in November and I would just like to add that in listening to the meeting that happened a couple of weeks ago and to the last speaker I'm not the only one who is saying this um that that the Democratic process here has been run rough shot over and uh I'm I'm deeply concerned about that finally I also want to say that the statement that um couple of you made made that this does not affect current tenants is misleading at best well it doesn't affect them as long as they stay put the minute a growing family wants to move to a bigger apartment within the city of Hoboken then they will be faced with significantly higher rents and that's it thank you thank you luenda Liz nadoo hi good evening my name is Liz con and doy I live at 235 Garden Street I'm here tonight to urge the council strongly urge the council to vote no on this referendum we need to put this issue to a vote and I just underline what all previous speakers voting no or who are urging you to vote no been saying I would just like to add that there are many residents of this city who are the very people who have made this city the highly desirable place it is today who are already being forced to move because of the a astronomically High rents that we already have and I believe that this compromise would make it even more difficult for people to remain and would quickly make this city undesirable to live in and would do the reverse of what you are hoping to achieve so thank you for allowing me to speak and please vote no hi Council can you hear me sa if you could State your last name thank you sorry yes please State your last name and we can hear you that's right yeah uh so my name is Zachary King I live at 415 Newark Street thanks Council for listening tonight uh so I'm a social science PhD hope you can forgive that I'm a rter in Hoboken for about four years though my family has roots in Jersey going back to about 1634 uh they fought in the revolution I guess hooliganism in the words of simonini uh runs in the family um I'm here to urge you to vote no on any compromise with the out of town corporate landlords attacking the renters protections here in Hoboken nobody wants this nobody wants this except landlords uh even the people who pretend that even the people who do want it are pretending they don't want it they're saying that it's just to protect us um somebody mentioned senior citizens well trust me like there's way more senior citizens that don't have the privilege of property ownership than senior citizens that do um and you know what we just don't need this it's it's not helping there's not a shortage of people wanting to rent out properties in Hoboken or build new ones um and you know what rents going up it makes people stressed it makes people homeless the social science is very clear as rents go up you're going to see a bigger increase in homelessness and that makes me really sad thinking about things like that happening to the families here makes me really sad we got to fight for each other we got to protect our neighbors but mostly I want to speak to the condescension of the logic that we need this compromise to protect us from ourselves I don't buy it if you give us this referendum we're going to vote it down don't take away our decision and tell us it's for our own protection say no to simonini and his AstroTurf landlord organization say no to this ordinance and by the way thanks to DSA for getting the word out if it wasn't for you none of us would have known this vote was happening good looks and thank you thank you Council I I yield my time thank you Z back Shannon and Ray about that can you hear me yes okay uh good evening council president and members of the city council my name is Shannon Ray I live at 155 Washington um I I have a little bit of History I was placed here in this neck of the woods in uh during covid when I was a nurse and uh in 2020 and I fell in love with the area and couldn't couldn't stand to leave so I I stayed um I love living here I love um everything about this part of the country and about this part of New Jersey I'm here tonight to speak about this so-called compromise that's being presented to you let's be clear this is not not a compromise as the mayor assly pointed out this proposal is nothing short of a capitulation to corporate landlord interests we're being asked to sacrifice long-term stability and affordability of our community on the alar of short-term profits for wealthy Property Owners the word compromise that suggests a middle ground a solution where both parties make concessions for the greater good but what concessions are the corporate landlords making here they're offering a tiny fee while gaining the ability to dramatically increase rents potentially doubling them in many cases this isn't give and take it's take and take more we're being told that we should accept this deal out of fear fear of a potentially worse outcome if it goes to a referendum but let me ask you this since when do we make policy decisions based on fear and intimidation that's not how democracy should function we shouldn't be bullied into accepting a bad deal just because someone threatens us with the worse one this amendment if passed would severely diminish our rent stabilized housing stock once an affordable unit is lost it's gone forever and we're not just talking about numbers on a spreadsheet here we're talking about families forced out of their homes about longtime residents pushed out of the community they've helped build about essential workers who suddenly can't afford to live in the city they serve so consider the Ripple effects as affordable units disappear competition for the remaining one intensifies rents across the board will rise the character of our neighborhoods will change the diversity that makes this area vibrant and unique will erode that's not the future we want for our community some would say that this uh is necessary for property maintenance or development as was referenced earlier but in a market where median rents are already Skyhigh are we really to believe that landlords can't maintain their properties without these Extreme Measures this is isn't about necessary adjustments it's about maximizing profits at the expense of community stability so we need to reject this deal and I urge you in the strongest possible return in the strongest possible terms to reject this false compromise vote no on this amendment thank you thank you Shannon Matt please State your last name my name is Matt Shapiro I'm president of the New Jersey tenants organization I've spent the last 52 years of my life as a volunteer advocate for tenants rights and rent control and today I speak on behalf of our many members in hob openen I intend to speak plainly as the situation for tenants because of this compromise is dire vacancy be control in any form is horrible it says to a landlord find a way to get rid of your tenant and we'll give you a pot of gold well guess what there's enough gold in that pot landlords will do whatever it takes to get rid of their tenants unjustified eviction actions severely lowered maintenance 3:00 a. Anonymous phone calls threats or much worse whatever it takes to convince their tenants to move out in the current rent law that pot of gold is modest 25% increase every 3 years in the so-called compromise which you promote is somehow helping tenants the pot of gold is gigantic landlords can at least double the rent if they get rid of a 10-year tenant and in some cases close to Triple when you when you add in the new special Capital Improvement for a vacated unit it could push the rent above triple and there's no waiting for three years just get rid of your long-term tenants and the gold will flow the compromise if enacted will be devastating to tenants the M the proposed ordinance is just as bad with an unlimited one-time rent increase to whatever the market will bear but at least we can have a clear vote no campaign in November and stop it dead in its tracks your landlord friendly compromise is actually much worse as it would require a separate referendum to undo it that would appear to be its uh its purpose I'm sorry just having a technical problem uh to seal in the vacancy decol and to make it difficult to undo it but make no mistake the tenants of Hoboken will do whatever it takes if that means collecting signatures for for and voting in a referendum theut tenants will do it if it means filing lawsuits against it keeping you in court for years spending gobs of taxpayer money the tenants will do it and tenants will not forget any council member who votes for this this proposal uh one moment for this landlord loving compromise I'm sorry uh you may get landlord uh money in your campaign conference but you're not going to get any tened votes members of the council if you need to rethink this and vote no on this anti- tenant compromise and after you vote no on the compromise you should join the tenants in our vote no campaign against the rent control killing Mr ordinance in November we need you to actually be on our side thank you thank you Matt Cheryl phallic good evening Council can you hear me yes okay before I start there's four people here can we speak in succession you're was that a yes that's fine Carol okay I'll yeah we we'll each give our name um okay I'm going to try to read quickly because I prepared something that was four minutes because I checked the council rules and I saw that you couldn't shorten the time but you have anyway I'm saddened that any elected representative would ever consider voting for something that massively unraveled the existing controls on rental vacancy currently in our ordinance providing landlords with at best a hard-to-resist incentive to remove existing tenants particularly long-term and disproportionately seniors oh by the way I'm a senior tomorrow's my birthday I'll be 66 make no mistake about it if you pass this you are voting to rid the community of your most vulnerable renters it happened in the past in Hoboken and you are poised to add the next chapter to our ongoing displacement Saga instead of giving supporters of rent control the right to fight changes that undermine our protections you are voting to put a current stamp on hoboken's dark displacement pasted you will forever be known as the city council that permanently destroyed rent control in Hoboken you will be the council that was willing to support a unique Hoboken Twist on ways to clear out undesirable residents whose very existence is seen as an impediment to The Soaring profit margins of portfolio and corporate landlords and developers Decades of leaving rent behind in policy considerations has turned Hoboken into a city where with rare exception only the affluent are welcome and now corporate landlords are salivating over the prospect of siphoning more money into their portfolios from the wallets of persons with more cash to extract and this city council is literally contemplating being willing participants in helping them to do that instead of working with tenants to hand the corporate landlords a resounding defeat in November vacancy decol is a financial incentive for landlords to evict tenants especially tenants who have been occupying a unit for a long time it hurts lower income renters the most as they will struggle to find suitable housing that they can reasonably afford no amount of talking point about the approved number of future affordable housing units that are years in the offing and don't address our immediate housing crisis will offset ongoing displacement that your yes votes would amplify even with our current rent protections rents in Hoboken over the last couple of years have increased rapidly reaching previously unheard of levels resulting in massive and continuing transfer of wealth from tenants to corporate landlords and developers let's not forget that part of housing value is attributable to the land that it sits on increases in land value require little if any investment on the part of a property owner instead those increases are a result of private and public actions from the residents that make their Community a wonderful place to live typically this includes some combination of government services in investment in infrastructure and neighborhood investment while corporate and portfolio Property Owners frequently argue that rent control forces the landlord to subsidize tenants in fact it is the corporate landlords that are extracting unearned land value rent from their tenants taking public taking publicly created value for their private profit don't hand over any additional profit at the expense of your constituent a yes vote signals that you have little have a little too much comfort level with the unconscionable renting increases don't do that I'm going to cut off the rest ask you to join us and I thank the council members that have have had enough respect to stay on camera and listen to their constituents that you haven't allowed to have in the room for an in-person meeting the next speaker will be Mary right I'm giving Mary Andrea 1599 Street I find it audacious that all nine people that comprise the city council of Hoboken New Jersey which I will call out by name and in no particular order Jen gioino Ruben Ramos Jim Doyle Michael Russo Tiffany fiser Joe cantero Phil Cohen Paul penano and EMily Jabor will vote tonight to jeopardize mine and thousands of other tenants residents that exist in the town they have made their home how dare you rob me from my American Liberty right of being able to vote in the November 2024 election on an initiative that was leg allowed and devised by Ron Simon cini via msta to go forward to be put forth if so desired on the November ballot of the upcoming election which I as a legal resident and New Jersey voter since August of 1987 would be allowed to vote on who do you think you all are to take that opportunity away from me you are not my keeper what makes you think that your legislation that you have here in this ordinance that would affect every single renter in the town of Hoboken is some Panacea for the ballot question which at least would give the voters the freedom and opportunity to knock this out of the park and vote it down in November who made you my keeper to jettison me from Hoboken if the circumstances change for me in my residence you hold this over my head and every single tenant in the city of Hoboken like the sword of damle my home my life could be destroyed forever if situations change for me the legislation you are voting tonight would harm me because I am a long-term tenant of three decades and this ordinance is vastly biased toward long-term tenants I would be banished from Hoboken forever because any tenant that moves or loses his apartment to for to forces beyond their control will never ever be able to find another reasonably price apartment in this town unless you had at least $3500 to $4,000 to spend all of you all of you must not pass this you have no right to put me in put in place a mechanism to dictate and possibly destroy my future life in the city of hobok and I call home the next person speaking will be Dan Thompson thank you putting on his question classes City Council Members we Defenders of tenants rights and rent control protections ask you to vote down the compromise quote unquote compromise rent Control Ordinance amendments which will legalize huge rent increases and push many Hoboken renters out of their homes if you vote the compromise ordinance down tonight then tenants are tasked with campaigning against the msta ordinance which if passed by the voters will eliminate rent control protections and encourage landlords to push many presently rent controlled protected tenants out of their homes unfortunately the same is true of the compromise ordinance except that if the city council passes it pro rent control allies will have two tasks successfully collecting enough valid signatures to put the compromise on the ballot and then if we succeed with the referendum petition we will then have to c campaign against the compromise ordinance and defeated at the polls thus we will have to campaign against either the msta or compromise ordinance except the compromise ordinance will require that we successfully gather enough referendum signatures to stop the compromise ordinance from being enacted and to put the compromise ordinance on the ballot thus tonight's compromise ordinance will force us to spend twice as much effort we must successfully collect referendum signatures and successfully campaign against the compromise in a referendum vote we want the city council to understand that both msta and compromise ordinances are bad for tenants and will push many of them out of their homes and that the compromise ordinance will force senates to expend twice as much effort to stop it compromise referendum petition drive and election campaign thus at minimum we want to make it clear that passing T night's compromised rent Control Ordinance will harm your tenant constituents and that we demand that the council vote down the compromise ordinance tonight and work with tenant constituents to defeat the anti-rent control msta coordinates if and when it goes on the ballot please act in the interest of your constituents who rely on rent control to protect their homes the next speaker is Eric BBY yeah VY 109 Madison Street I don't have too much to add to what my uh my other friends here have said and also Matt chapiro and the other people have spoken against the ordinance in favor of tenants um first I want to say I think this tendency towards virtual meetings is a very bad habit and uh really got to get away from that it's that's there's no reason for that I am a 43 year resident of Hoboken and I'm a senior citizen and I would like to continue to live in Hoboken it certainly has it shortcomings but it also has many wonderful things about it that's one of the reasons I've lived my entire adult life here and I've been a part of this community and I love this community and I'd like to say here I just don't like I said I don't much add to what the other people have said except I'm against this and I hope you will vote no I will point out also something that msta people who attack rank control say continuously or imply continuously is that landlords are being forced to subsidize tenants or to operate buildings at loss and I will say what I say many times that everyone knows or should know is that there are hardship Provisions in the rent control ordinance in Hoboken as are in every rent control ordinance in the state of New Jersey by law and properly so no one's asking landlords to to operate buildings out of loss last way I make is this is called a compromise resolution or compromise ordinance I'm not sure what the compromise was were tenant groups ever consulted not to my knowledge please vote no on this ordinance thank you thank you Eric Mark boils hi I'm Mark boils from 155 Washington um I'm here to discuss an issue that strikes the very heart of this community the proposed changes to rank control in Hoboken first and foremost I want to point out that this amendment doesn't serve the public interest but rather benefits special interest groups and Wealthy landlords now to be clear this is not a compromise it's a capitulation to corporate landlord interests they want us to believe this is a fair deal but it's far from that obok shouldn't accept a bad deal out of fear this amendment would severely diminish the rent stab Iz housing stock and that's something nobody in New Jersey can afford this change affects every renter in Hobo not just those in rent controlled units indeed it could well affect every renter in Hudson County and perhaps every renter in New Jersey as the oped in the Hudson County view put it today quote an injury to one is an injury to all and attacks on rank control there are threats to rank control here I do not live in Hoboken but in Jersey City yet I'm here supporting hoboken's residents because it's the right thing to do and because we must support each other against the astounding corporate greed Ridgewood resident Simon CI calls foul on tenants supporting each other across City Limits yet he clearly has no issue with landlords working together across borders the very idea of allowing huge corporate landord to make a one-time contribution of $2500 towards affordable housing a return for an increase of $221,000 or more each and every year per unit is Unthinkable right knew if I could get 800% return on investment I'd probably jump at it just as these corporate lands will if they're given that opportunity as affordable units vanish competition for the remaining ones intensifies driving out rents across the board this isn't just an issue for some it impacts all of us this proposal systematically destroys affordable housing once an affordable unit is lost it's gone forever token contributions to affordable housing can't offset the massive loss naturally occurring for oken's elected officials have taken an oath to advance the public interest this amendment clearly fails that test if this goes to a referendum I believe an informed electorate will choose community over corporate profits a referendum allows for a Citywide discussion about hoboken's housing future let's trust the people of Hoboken to make the right choice for their city in closing I urge all of you to stand up protect hoboken's affordable housing and diverse community from corporate grade thank you thank you Mark Ashley Marshall hi Council thank you for taking the time to listen to us this evening um I didn't prepare something because I just learned of this this morning and I was at work so I just wanted to list a few other points um I I urge you to vote no I'm a single woman one income household my rent has continually gone up since I moved here nine years ago I have put a limit to what I can afford if I could I would live in Hoboken the rest of my life but I believe according to what I just Googled it looks like there's 65% of the people that live in Hoboken are renters I'm I'm not going to be able to afford to live here I'm going to not be able to enjoy this community that has meant the world to me um if this increase is to happen I'm not going to be able to feel safe in a long-term apartment I've lived in two apartments since moving here one for six years one for three the only reason I moved out of the first one is because a family member was moving in that's the only reason I moved out um more to the point how this came about I have been angry for months and I wish that I had known about these meetings previously because I would have come on a lot earlier to express my frustration I was approached to sign a petition while trying to get on a bus quick quick do you want to save rent control we are trying to get signatures to save rent control that is how I was approached the first time I felt suspicious I felt rushed I felt pressured I signed my name did not write my full correct ad address because I felt this is suspicious I don't like this then the path three um posted what did you really sign I was approached again after I read that article the young gentleman who I spoke to was like no this is to save rent control I'm like it is not read this line right here he was like well I was told it was to save rent control how this was presented to me on the streets of Hoboken was misleading I feel angry I feel taken advantage of I'm very much against this vote and how it came about in the first place they were praying on people who were in a rush who were not taking the time to look at what was put in front of them in the first place so I just wanted to put that out there to begin with I think that that from the very start is has been massively frustrating so that's it I yield the rest of my time but thank you for taking the time to listen to us all this evening thank you Ashley Craig can you please state your name last name for the record yes hi uh Craig hodm can you hear me okay yes okay thank you for your hosting the meeting um my name is Craig hodm my dad guy starting Hoboken in the early 1970s he's a preacher up at Stevens's Chapel back when that existed uh he bought an Hoboken when it was a very different city than it is today uh that said some of his tenants are still the same families who are in the units that he bought back then uh there hasn't been turnover in a lot of in a lot of the units today my dad be or this year my dad be 79 years old uh we have one tenant uh in a two-bedroom on second Second Street paying $500 a month this T makes well over $200,000 a year we have another tenant in a three-bedroom on the North End of Washington Street uh paying 7 30 a month for a three-bedroom unit another on the southern end of Washington Street paying 480 a month on a two-bedroom unit these are just a few of them uh these tents will likely outlive my parents we know this uh whether this or ordinance proposal passes or not there's nothing we can do to change that they're protected tant uh no matter what happens they're staying put just like every other render in Hoboken who's not in a 30-year newer building however when they do move out under the current ordinance will be able to get a 25% increase on these 1980s rents uh the only reasonable choice for us would be to renovate the units sell sell them because they are condos to buyers who will own or occupy them and then reinvest elsewhere outside of Hoboken these rent rentals once they're sold sold to end unit moveing buyers those are renters that rentals that will never be rentals again that's how the rental inventory in Hobo can collapses I mean compare the units we had in prior to rent control in the 80s early 80s to today the big condo conversion was a response to string R control and we're doing it again we had tenant uh John just checking my time in here John uh before Co he called us and he told us he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and was worried about his financing finances because his hospital bills were starting to build up he was a sweet guy he was a veteran he was older uh we voluntarily dropped his rent dropped the rent on his three-bedroom unit down to $1,000 a month and we kept it there for two and a half years until he passed away with without a solution like what the proposed ordinance change allows for or the referendum vote either one we would not be able to to make that extension to another tenant because we'd be locked in at that, a month it removes landlord's ability to be generous in the moment that or in the instances where it's called for uh I was in hobok in sanity I got flooded at 618 park for the next 18 days I lived in our water heater rooms my dad would drive back and forth to Pennsylvania cuz his car didn't get flooded out and he bring me water heaters boilers and sandwich I'd work until I get tired I laid down the ground slept woke up and kept on swapping out copper black Iron swapping out Waters and boilers because my dad taught me make sure your tents are okay make sure they have heat and hot water first we'll be fine that's who this this proposal helps thank you thank you Craig Justin calibra hi good evening my name is Justin Cal I am a resident of Hoboken at 406 Madison Street and I do not own any rental properties here however I do support these amendments because they're what's best for the city and for the majority of its residents uh to those of you who are grasping the idea that landlord's bad renters good high rent bad low rent good you grossly oversimplifying the situation and the reality um let's just take a quick minute to take Egos and emotions out of the situation and walk through what actually happens right now when a rent controlled unit is vacated so you know in the first situation a unit with rents well below Market becomes vacant landlord decides to rerent it the rent Control Ordinance has no component of income verification there's no qualification process so if a $1,400 a month two bedroom becomes available it's much more likely to be rented to someone the land Lord knows a nephew a cousin a family friend what's not likely unfortunately is that a lowincome family finds a new place to live and a second situation a unit well below Market becomes vacant the landlord chooses to rent the unit on a short-term basis through Airbnb or some other platform this allows them to collect far more rent and income than what would come in otherwise should they put it back on the market situation c as was just mentioned a unit becomes available landlord's going to decide to condo convert it rather than collecting $1,400 a month they offload the property and sell it for hundreds of thousands of dollars the commonality in each of these situations low-income residents who are looking for rent controlled housing receive no benefits the supply of rental units on the open market are reduced and restricted prices for renters who are trying to to rent on the free market go up anyone with a shred of Common Sense sees that this system does not work one more point to note this compromise will not impact any current renters and to those who keep saying that landlords will be harassed and their tenants will be forced to to leave it's clear that landlords are already incentivized for to have their tenants vacate so if that were going to happen it would already be happening by voting for this compromise you encourage landlords to place their units back on the open market you increase rather than decrease the supply of units available and you allow free trade to determine the price of these units you do nothing that harms the renters in place and you encourage further investment in the buildings and in the city whichever way the council decides to vote tonight I just want to encourage all residents to educate themselves Beyond these same tired talking points that are being pushed and actually understand the reality of the situation thank you I yield the rest of my time thank you Justin Nate please State your last name for the record uh Nate Hutchinson can you hear me yes all hi my name is Nate Hutchinson and unlike Ron simonini I live in Hoboken at Thon Clinton I've been a renter here for the last decade and I don't plan on leaving I'm concerned about this compromise Amendment um and the potential referendum for a few reasons on a personal level my fiance and I currently live in a one-bedroom apartment while the Amendments being discussed tonight would still protect us against outrageous rent in inrees while we stay in our current unit in a few years when we start a family we will inevitably need to look for a bigger place it's hard enough already to find a reasonably affordable place to live in Hoboken but if vacancy decol is gutted that may become impossible I'm also concerned for the broader Hoboken Community particularly seniors who are long-term tenants Simon Cena's suggestion that harassment will not happen because landlords fear the consequences is laughable he knows that there will be no consequences there never are I would now like to address a few of the arguments as well as the outright Lander that has been made in favor of the compromise over the past week first that the tenants organizing against this compromise are not from Hoboken I've have spoken to more of my neighbors in the past week than I had in the previous decade of living here as I imagine many of you on the council are hearing from people you have not previously met my conversations have been unanimous and thinking this compromise is a bad deal most of these people generally do not get involved in politics but have been spurred to speak up by this immediate threat to their Community North Jersey DSA an organization of which I am proud to be a member has been singled out in particular for their activity on this issue but the idea that we are parachuting in from outside to agitate on this is a flat out lie Hoboken residents Hoboken represents our third largest concentration of members and we are involved on this issue because we will have to live with the consequences whatever the city council decides to do it is true that we have some speakers tonight from Jersey City and elsewhere and I am thankful for their support they are right to take notice as any attempt to weaken rent control that succeeds here will be tried there Ron Simon cini's cowardly red baiting proves that he is unable ble to argue for the compromise on its own merits and is hoping to win through fear and intimidation we will not flinch next I do not share some of the council members pessimism about the November vote msta failed to get enough signatures for a low turnout special election and are now now have to share a ballot with the presidential race the fact that they are trying to force through this compromise shows you that they think they're going to lose I would also like to push back on the idea that these amendments can even be called to compromise I do not believe this council is capable of negotiating on behalf of hoboken's tenants councilwoman Fischer is a retired real estate Finance executive Council councilman prano is himself a landlord councilman Russo is Raising thousands of dollars from the real estate industry including from the president of msta and from Ron simonini personally in preparation for his mayoral campaign councilwoman gtino is a Goldman Sachs veteran and a real estate agent who stands to benefit from Raising raising rents there is no tenant voice on the council and there was no tenant voice at the table during these negotiations by passing this compromise without our input you are depriving us of our right to speak ultimately we are asking you not to not treat the tenants of this city as helpless bystanders who need saving but as the protagonists of this story vote no and help us beat the referendum in November thank you Nate Michael Evers oh okay thank you just that this doesn't start on an overly hostile note I would like to compliment city council president gatino on her outstanding glasses very cool looking all right um you guys all got a letter an email from me earlier today so you know some of the com contents what I'm about to say in a compressed Manner and guess what I predicted right the mayor just threatened to veto the thing so all you guys that are going to vote is turn yourselves into enemies of the tenant class in Hoboken and want to run for mayor and that's at least it's a bunch of you you just shot yourselves in the foot okay by the way Phil glad to see you here I expect great things from you tonight okay great things okay now item number one I'm a landlord in Hoboken too okay these things these people are saying are crap okay I've yet to hear a single landlord who's got all these EXP expenses that we all have expenses it's the price of doing business as a landlord I've yet to hear any of them tell me how they've gone to the rent board to make an appeal to get their rents adjusted and been turned down okay not a single one so they haven't really taken advantage of the things that are available so they're just not credible this is if you've been a longtime landlord your properties have appreciated wildly so you have nothing to complain about you can pass your taxes on you can pass your water bills on so if you didn't manage your property properly or didn't manage the paperwork by being kind well you should go to the rent appeal board and get your rent adjusted it's just that simple from Game Theory this is a loser you guys vote for this the difference between what this does for tenants and what the the the Ron simonini and his and his dark hordes uh referendum does is is really minor and it doesn't address the central question which is you increasing the financial incentive to Gras tenants out of their apartments and and as you all know that's going on already and and if you increase the reward you get more activity if you vote it down we have a shot and as I think you can see this is generating a lot of interest in hobok and otherwise to beat these people at The Ballot Box and then we're back to where we started and maybe we can come up with a more Equitable deal for landlords and tenants okay now finally speaking as a taxpayer there is a uh Solid Waste storm of litigation headed your way and not just from not not from amateurs like me okay council president gatino you just rendered this uh meeting technically illegal because you denied people their statutory four minutes you didn't intend to do it but you did that okay we already had somebody show up willing to testify in public to the fraudulent manner in which the signatures were were were collected which means there's a very good chance that this thing is never this thing is never going to get to the um to the ballot anyway but you guys are all going to look like enemies of tenants so Michael I'm can you wrap it up your time's up absolutely so in addition to the moral grounds that been laid forward this is just a dumb thing to do for you folks personally for the city it's just the lousiest of the choices thank you thank you Michael Brian o' Conor hey thanks for letting me on uh so yeah just to repeat what I said before uh I am a very new Hoboken resident as of last month uh just moved in here on 527 Jefferson Street I'm a public school teacher out in Jersey City and I've really fallen in love uh with Hudson County and and Hoboken in particular I think like a lot of folks you know ideally I'd be able to live here for at least the next couple years if not the next couple decades um and you know one of the big challenges for that of course is the cost of housing right it's the absolute number one issue uh not just among uh you know my friends co-workers uh you know just people I talk to but in particular just young people in general right I know we've heard a lot from older folks and seniors who've been struggling um and and that's obviously like a very big group of folks but you know I also want to bring in the perspective of someone who you know I'm 26 just kind of starting out my life you know wanting to you know eventually uh you know set down routs somewhere um and the cost of housing is just making that more and more unaffordable every day uh I mean you know I'm coming from Jersey City before rents in Jersey City are not doing so great right now you know looking at Hoboken it was like oh my God this is this is like a whole another level um and you know pretty much everyone I know around my age that has you know a job as a teacher as a nurse as you know just entrylevel you know corporate work almost everybody has to have multiple roommates we're living in you know older buildings where you know things aren't always maintained um you know having to deal with landlords that don't always respond to issues um you know all the pretty typical stuff so I just want to bring that perspective as someone who you know again is you know contributing to to uh Hudson County you know trying to help out you know teach students uh help out in the local community you know be an active member uh again this is a month into my month into my my living here and and I feel like I'm already you know hearing about all this crazy stuff going on with rent control it's like whoa like I thought you know at least we could have some stability and and some protections here but now it seems that all of a sudden that's all going to get thrown out the window um I definitely you know think it's a great idea to vote no on this amendment tonight let voters at the polls in November make their decision we can have a real full honest campaign we can have open debate about this um and I think that's unfortunately what the folks who are pushing this stuff wanted they or didn't want they wanted folks to not know what was going on they wanted to keep things Hush Hush uh frankly I think that's what this amendment is trying to do is just keep folks in the dark and unfortunately for all of you folks it is not working um again I encourage you all to vote no as a new Resident and I hope that you do thank you thank you Brian Dan Silverman hey can you hear me yes hi my name is Dan Silverman I live over at third and river and I've been a Hoboken resident for a little over 12 years now including several years in rank control departments I own a business in Hoboken and I have my real estate held in Hobo real estate license held in Hoboken although I am uh currently not very active and I am in strong support of this ordinance um I think it's important when considering this to understand that despite what some of the opposition is saying the truth is that current rank control tenants in place are 100% protected and the increases wouldn't go into effect until after they vacate saying that landlords will harass tenants and force them to vacate is simply false I believe that the city council has the best interest of the Hoboken residents in mind and if they had uh any doubts they would never consider this in the first place let's keep in mind this is actually a compromise and is far more tenant friendly than what the landlords are actually seeking should this fail and come to a vote in the fall in my opinion I think it's clear this actually benefits both exist existing rent control tenants and new renters as well the unfortunate reality is that landlords are being forced to condo convert their rent controlled units because they can't afford the maintenance and upkeep of a building that they can't raise rents in when condo conversions take place in Mass like we've seen this reduces the overall supply of rentals in town when the supply is reduced that raises rents across the board it's simple economics the other reason this benefits tenants currently living in rank control units is that it allows the landlords to put money and capital expenditure back into the building with a restriction on rents the landlord could only make essential repairs and can't afford to make upgrades to the building as a whole and common areas with this new ordinance landlords will be will be more inclined to make much more frequent upgrades which benefits the quality of life for all tenants in the building including protected tenants it's clearly a win-win for everybody including the city of Hoboken which will now have much better ability to track rents going forward to ensure better protection and transparency for future tenants thank you for your time thank you Dan Jessica please state your name for the record hi my name is Jessica witty Dyer I live at 615 Willow thank you thanks thanks for allowing me to speak tonight um like many of those who spoke I was approached at Columbus Park with a petition to put affordable housing on the ballot that was such a filthy game to get signatures under false pretenses that led let us here tonight unlike many of you on the council Hoboken is part of my family history my great-grandmother my great great-grandfather owned a fish shop on Ninth my grandmother and my great-grandmother were born to Immigrant parents and raised in Hoboken my late uncle and cousins grew up here and my great-grandmother was a pastor at the Christian Science Church on 9th and Bloom field for decades I grew up in Jersey City and have lived here in Hoboken for 14 years in the same apartment with my husband and three children my husband and I are artists and we own a coffee shop here in town the hobok and I grew up knowing was an Eclectic vibrant and diverse workingclass artist community that I visited often and dreamed to one day reside among I've seen Hoboken rapidly change for the worst over the years from a diverse neighborhood community full of Natives creatives and young families to a developers and real estate agent dream I was heartbroken when my great-grandmother's church was converted to a multi-million dollar condo more and more incredible and valuable citizens are being pushed out of town by Soaring rents and for what some companies profit as a result of these conditions we have had to continue to raise our family and three children in a rented 500q foot apartment because we were priced out of Hoboken a long time ago and will not be able to afford an appropriately sized rental in our own community that we love if it wasn't for rent control my husband and I would not have been able to start our own business that serves our neighbors and creates jobs for our community we would not we would be displaced with nowhere else to go if it wasn't for rent control Hoboken wouldn't have any culture or diversity at all it's slowly losing its Soul thanks to greedy corporate landlords real estate companies and developers I'm here today to urge the council to vote no today on the compromise and allow this to go to vote in November your constituents will gladly come out and vote this down as we did at least a decade ago thank you for your time thank you Jessica Kyle Jackson hi can you hear me yes hi uh my name is Kyle Jackson I live at 109 Willow um I'm a resident h of Hoboken unlike many of the speakers tonight and the night before um I even live in a rent control Department um I'm also a realtor that specializes in renting apartments and I've rented hundreds of apartments in Hoboken since 2011 I don't think a lot of the speakers tonight realize that their tendency will not be affected um and what I want to ask them is when is the last time that a rank controlled the apartment has hit the open market the truth is that they don't I haven't seen it in a decade of renting apartments in Hoboken so these speakers saying that it's forcing them out is simply not true the fact is it's a broken system and it's a subsidy for people that don't need it and also the bigger thing is uh you know I can't tell you how many times Rin control has killed sales of condo units in Hope boken there's just no reason for it and it's those are the real people that you know the condo owners and the young couples that are you know they want to sell their place to find out that their deal gets killed from rank control or they have to take a huge price hit because of rank control so you know that's all I have to say I know everyone else is you know touched on the other points that I had thank you Kyle Jake ephos hi there can you hear me yes hi my name is Jake F Ros I'm a Jersey City tenant in ten activist and member of DSA Democratic Socialist of America I'm here to speak against the ordinance uh known as this compromise in solidarity with tenants across hobo um and just to off the bat address one thing we keep hearing uh from speakers the the few speakers who are coming out in favor of this ordinance uh that tenants don't realize this tenants don't realize that tenants don't understand this um we we understand a lot we actually have been doing incredible research I'm really proud of the the work the organizing work on the knocking on doors the legal research that's been done by my organization DSA by folks like the port side tenants um and by tons and tons of Hoboken residents themselves um and one thing I want to mention is that we we get hit a lot by coming in uh from other cities um and and supporting our neighbors like here in Hoboken um but the mil Square tenant association uh run by excuse me Miles Square taxpayer Association by Ron simonini representing landlord interests um you know he he also runs a similar organization that operates in Jersey City the Jersey City Property Owners Association uh he's come out against the Jersey City right to council uh which successfully passed thanks to tenant organizers and the Democratic Socialist of America locally here in Jersey City running a campaign to guarantee more legal rights in Housing Court um and legal defense in housing court for renters um and again you know whether it's 65% of renters in Hoboken 70% are renters in Jersey City we we are the vast majority uh here in in this area and and it's our duty to stick together it's Our obligation to show up in solidarity with each other um because we do know an injury to one is an injury to all as has been already noted um so that's why I'm really proud to come out and support uh the Hoboken residents the Hoboken tenants who are fighting back against this uh you know joke of a compromise and saying let's go to the referendum let's defeat it uh you know we we need to believe in the power of working people to come together to organize ourselves to defeat these attacks by interest groups by landlord real estate interest groups like The Miles Square taxpayer Association um and others so really proud to stand in solidarity and I'll yield the rest of my time thank you Jake Ron Batista hi everyone bear with me as I'm uh changing a diaper while you are able to listen to me right now can you hear me okay yes yes so uh you know I I did want to say that if if the community is truly your priority as as council members then right now is actually the time to stop your political infighting and actually work together to defeat this referendum that was proposed by our corporate land lobbyist I mean it takes money to do this kind of work and to hire a lobbyist so uh and that's I've heard many of you say that there's there's some fear around this referendum because of the money that can be poured in so we know who's actually behind uh this this type of initiatives each one of you won every W and Citywide as well your elections so this should be the time when the community sees every elected official coming together to defeat corporate landlords on the ballot question in November it's not the time to give up on tenants it's the time to stand with them can maruso year after year you vote against any tax increase and this ordinance that's up for a vote today would bring rent hikes of up to 100% in hob now it's a public it's public that you receive uh big campaign donations from Lobby from the lobbyist that's pushing for all this but I believe this is actually an opportunity for you to show that you answer to the community and not to the lobbyist uh that you're and your biggest block uh voting block are tenants so I hope you will vote no on this ordinance tonight and actively campaign with all of us to defeat the referendum in November C preso during your campaign Marine View pass attendance got a notice of a 15% Ren hype and you jump into the at the occasion to fight it and I hope that you will have the same enthusiasm voting no on this ordinance and campaign against the rhik ballot question in November as well I've worked and collaborated with council members uh Cohen and Jabor uh in the past with uh so that we can prevent ten evictions like unjust ten evictions in Hoboken so you so some of the uh people who are asking for the yes vote um they cannot say that that doesn't happen they cannot say that like we lived here I grew up here in town I've lived in I I I I grew up in for and Jackson I moved to for and Grand when I when I moved to um uh when I got married and then I moved to Tenth in Washington Street when uh I had my my kid turned two and all of them were in control and that's what allowed me to stay here in Hoboken with all of you guys and I see you I see all of you on the street when I walk around with my kids so I I appreciate that you are taking time to listen to us I hope that you will join all of us this is a big Coalition a big tent and I hope that you will all come and fight the referendum with us so that we can then look for better tenant protections because even with the tenant Advocate that we have right now it's not enough and you've seen uh all the different cases of rent hikes that are having been unconsciously ridiculous thank you so much thank you Michael Klein can you hear me yes okay uh Michael Klein I live at uh 1100 Maxwell been a resident of Hoboken for 27 years um I do own a couple condos that I rent out and I'm also a real in town um first of all I have to say it's amazing to me how many of the people that are against this at the moment keep saying that you shouldn't be pressured into voting in favor of this yet all they do is keep threatening you and saying if you vote in favor of this we won't forget you so you know let's let's talk about who's threatening who and we could see it out there and I I believe a lot of this occurred because of the pressure that's continuously put on landlords I don't remember exactly but it was six or seven months ago and this was not taken to a vote this was voted on by Council when at a meeting they lowered the ceiling of how much a rent could be raised according to the CPI from 7% down to 5% the tenant Advocate stood up and said to city council please don't do this you're going to hurt the tenants you're going to cause landlords to want to sell their properties you're going to cause the the landlord Advocates to want to fight for more I didn't see that go to a fair vote where it was was voted on the city council just made a decision themselves I've asked many times in the past if we want to be fair to the landlords how can we keep lowering the ceiling but there's no there's no floor so if if CPI happens to be six or seven or 8% one year the landlord might get a little bit of a of a of a of a little baby boost to get back a little bit of their rents they don't they're not allowed it but yet if CPI is zero or 1% they don't even get a minimum of 23% there's no justification of how a landlord could ever catch up you know everybody talk I I hear a lot of talk about 65% of the town is tenants I think it's great having a mixture of tenants owners diversification different ages different races but let's let's keep in mind that the landlords of this town not all just big landlords that everyone keeps talking about are the ones paying the taxes everyone wants improvements in the town they want better Services they want better Parks they want better everything and yet who's paying for it the landlords are paying for it when the city can't afford something they raise the landlord's taxes and then the tenants still just get to stay there um like has been said by a few people um they're not getting kicked out of their place and unfortunately when people go to upgrade if I if I need to get a new car and I need to upgrade I don't get to turn to the car dealership and say hey um you know what just because I'm upgrading why do you get to charge me more for my car it's just unfortunate it's a fact of life and I I just think that things need to be fair to the landlord and not just in a one-sided um Direction and I'm in favor of of voting this through thank you thank you Michael Andrew Miller hey guys how are you can you hear me yes thank you um so when talking about rank control and Hoboken um we talk about what goals are and um the idea is really to create affordable housing and uh you know when you talk about rent control rent control um as has been said on this call it really just gives subsidies to people that don't really need subsidies because practically what happens when someone moves out of an apartment is that the apartment goes to someone that has the most credit has the largest guarantor and um it doesn't really it doesn't create affordable housing so um there the concern of anti-harassment is one that we've been talking about on the landlord side for for a long time and how do we make sure that that doesn't happen but again um the ability for landlords to have discussions and not harassment discussions but regular discussions with tenants of whether they are looking to move and maybe there's a a deal there that listen you want to move out of this apartment and we're going to put you into a different apartment like there are ways to have these conversations with people that are not harassment um so I think that this this law or this this compromise the um the city doesn't really have a huge rent control office and a staff to manage the current ordinance so we put in things like um self-c certifications for landlords to do t uh individual tenant improvements um and I think that that's really important here is is to practically think of how the rent Control Ordinance actually um interacts with the landlords and with the tenants and to practically make changes that are going to work for both sides and I think that we've really thought about it here um in a thoughtful way to to make sure that landlords are able to do what they need to do to comply with the ordinance and it does not affect the tenants that are currently in the apartment and then we we as landlords put in the the fact that um when you are registering your apartments now there is a dollar amount that gets paid to city council to an affordable housing trust fund um which will um create affordable housing so it would be a pretty amazing thing on behalf of Hoboken to actually have something like that that by doing this which really does not help anyone um at all rent control um other than people that don't need subsidies You're Building affordable housing so thank you very much for listening to us and um I would encourage us to be voted for thank you Andrew Andrew chaffron hi thank you everyone um so just to to to I know we're going to be covering ground that's that's been covered already but whenever we talk about rent control and by the way I'm I you know just to full disclosure I I'm a property owner in New Jersey um I am the the the quote unquote typical evil landlord um cor you know big Corporation so you know that's just me by the way there's there's no big corporate uh Banker or anything behind me it's just me and my family and we've been renting properties in Hoboken for 40 years um and first of all we have I mean we have no desire and the vast majority of the people that I know through business we have no desire to force anyone out of their home we're not Monsters uh we are people who love this town who have prospered in this town and suddenly that's become a bad thing um we are operating small businesses and what rent control does is it has a whole bunch of unintended consequences notably it reduces our ability to earn a profit on our investments and when those when it gets to a certain point every landlord will evaluate their property and say you know what this doesn't pay anymore and I will sell my property I'll condo it or I'll sell it to you know I'll I'll uh I'll you know I'll give it to to somebody else make it somebody else's problem who maybe doesn't have any any emotional investment to town and you going to you're going to lose those units it also forces people who are in rent controlled homes to stay where they are it reduces home Mobility where people who would be able to go ahead and relocate for better jobs better paying jobs don't or can't because their housing cost would be more than they're prepared to spend this is you know there's research on this going back decades none of this is a surprise that that rent control does not do anything to contribute to the AL the alleviation of the housing crisis we need 300,000 more housing units in the state of New Jersey this doesn't this this is not a solution we should be focusing on you know uh changing the the zoning laws changing the tax burden and really going ahead and helping people that need it uh not going ahead and and focusing on small business people and saying that that we don't have a right to to prosper the same way that everybody else does because of the business that we're in thank you I'll see the rest of my time thank you Andrew Russell Hoover yeah I was just saying on yes um okay yes this thing is are a whole lot of reasons why passing your compromise will have been one of the truly ugliest and most destructive things ever to happen in Hoboken but I'm just going to mention a few of them and I would also like to remind a lot of these uh landlords who are speaking I'm sure they're very good and honest people but um in case you've forgotten R are at an all-time high in hobokin and all across America anyway those reasons number one Jen you said at the last meeting on the 24th that it doesn't affect current tenants I'd like to put that to rest right now because the compromise doesn't just incentivize landlords to evct tenants it literally pays them to evict tenants number two what I think the compromise really amounts to is a form of price fixing for which you folks could be held legally liable uh number three to repeat what a lot of other people have said it completely completely subverts anything resembling the Democratic process public had no input the tenants had no input and a fourth reason uh is that you'd all be committing political suicide by passing this um I mean really when you when word spreads around about this every single one of you is going to have far far fewer voters uh than you would have otherwise it's my opinion I mean I don't see how that can not happen uh now with the msta referendum on the other hand as fraudulent as it is it's at least something we get to vote on but let me point out that that that referendum should never have been certified three things about this number one as most of us know it's petitioners who are a bunch of Clueless College age kids um who were paid to collect signatures and a lot of them don't even live in town these kids lied every one of them lied to the public to get those signatures they spouted verbiage about affordable housing they completely broke down under questioning they had no idea what they were talking about number two mst's ballot question language is completely and utterly and totally misleading and speaking of that misleading language a few weeks ago I and the other officers of Hoban Fair Housing Association sent two urgent letters to each of you council members suggesting that the council had an obligation to use its authority to change the msta referendum's equivocating misleading interpretive statement from one that hides its true intent to change that into clear honest language we even in our second letter quoted liberally from the legal precedent case law that specifically gives you guys the authority to do this and that case law is the Sanctus versus borrow of Belmar we heard back from exactly one of you councilman Jim Doyle sure he got back to us but not with anything substantial absolutely nothing came of this there was no followup no attempt whatsoever on the council's part to try to rectify mst's fraudulent ballot question language in case it were to come up for a vote now if the council should happen tonight to vote down its compromise proposal in which case mst's initiative will go to a vote I would urge all of you to take another look at that replacement language we provided in our letter to you and use your authority to change that ballot question's current deceptive language Rusty can you wrap it up your time's up okay let me say Point number three here about the msta referendum and another reason why it should never have been certif f is that we know for a fact and we have the proof that HHA member Jeff trupiano's signature was forged on one of the petition pages of that referendum and if there's one Forge signature it's a very good bet that there are other Forge signatures and let me just take one last thing to say that let's take a minute to consider what happened with Mr Simon scene his anti rent control petition in Neptune New Jersey in 2020 in 2013 what happened what happened was that Rusty I'm so sorry because it for signatures and the mayor was quoted as sorry but I just can't it's not fair to everyone else Anthony spirito can you hear me yes all right um like the vast majority of people speaking against the amendment tonight I'm a Hoboken resident who strongly opposes this amendment um just about with the exception of maybe one or two of the people who have spoken in favor of this amendment uh the nice thing about people working in real estate is that they always put their web their information on their websites so just about everybody who has spoken out in favor of this amendment uh has a vested financial interest in this getting pass they're putting money over people and everyone should be able to see just how repulsive that is so it's been said by msta and some council members that this amendment only affects renters but in reality it would have irreversible negative impacts on the fabric of our community landlords would be incentivized to push out longtime residents many of whom are elderly and young couples like my like my wife and myself who are expecting a child would have to leave the community we love in order to build our family and the rent hike on controlled units will just allow non-controlled units to raise their rents even more instead of addressing ing any of the concerns that Hoboken residents have with this proposed amendment sanini and the msta have resorted to redcare bully tactics attempting to get someone fired for utilizing their First Amendment right to have a political opinion and tried to bring unrelated International policy into this conversation the msta have made their true colors clear as bullies who are not acting in good faith with the Public's best interest in mind these are obviously not people you want to compromise with it is frankly embarrassing that this amendment has made it this far and that our council members are willing to put their own Investments and connections to the real estate industry ahead of us their con constituents speaking as one of the people helping in the effort against this amendment the vast majority of people involved uh as you've heard tonight are Hoboken residents with a few of our neighbors in Jersey City helping us out this response is resident driven but what happens in Hoboken will undoubtedly affect those around us and helping others in situations like this is just the neighborly thing to do if we want to help out mom and popop landlords there are ways to do that that don't have the massive repercussions that this amendment would have City councils have City Council Members have admitted this is a bad deal but ensure that they're saving us from an even worse referendum but this is obviously a false dichotomy just like you can vote against this amendment you can use your influence your newsletters and your mailing lists to get turnout against the referendum you acknowledge is a bad deal and it in November uh I yield my time thank thank you Anthony Emily word yeah hi Council can you hear me yes fantastic thank you guys for letting me speak tonight um I just I would love to say as the kids would say you guys all of this is giving um late stage capitalism to me uh we live in a country that just uh at the Supreme Court level passed the idea that homelessness is illegal so you know attacking tenant rights is it's just it's giving something you don't really want to be associated with um I live at 1315 Washington I am a Hoboken resident I've lived in this apartment for about eight years I'm a great example I pay $1,700 a month for a 400 s foot studio apartment if my landlord evicted me for any reason I'm not going to fear monger and pretend that I am afraid of being evicted but for whatever reason if I were to be they could raise my rent to the next tenant to $3,400 for 400 foot unupdated no dishwasher tiny apartment the economics boys and the real estate agents on the line tonight are not wrong we can add Nuance to this conversation there is something to be said for people who abuse the rent control system or the fact that rent control units do not come up on the market but as everyone else is pointed out tonight the process of what of what we're looking at tonight has been extremely undemocratic the msta using the Hoboken housing authority and affordable housing as a pawn in their political minations is pretty disgusting to me in a town where we do have small mom and popop landlords and I my girl Rose is on the call tonight and please Rose I would love to still have you as a customer but um I respect that there are two sides to the coin we have corporate landlords we have Parts mountain building a giant multi-unit condo on the Northern side of town with billions of dollars that they could you know invest in affordable housing but instead they're also using the small mom and popop landlords as a pawn in their msta game because they're saying someone like rose who inherited a building and is a fantastic landlord should be on his side when he's being paid and bought for by the corporate landlords there's a lot of nuance here there's a lot to be said but I think that the only fair thing that we can do is to actually put this to a public vote so the public can have a say and if anyone wants to tackle rent control from another angle then I think that they should be opened up to the tenants to the tenant right Advocates and anyone who has a say in this game there are 65% of us that has been said that are tenants and renters in this town I'm not afraid of all of us getting evicted but as is true to the Democratic process we should not be putting it to a vote with nine city council people who none of you as we pointed out rent in this town and you very clearly have skin in the game when it comes to real estate and Investments lastly I would like to point out that not being able to own a home might be personal responsibility but being a landlord is also personal responsibility if you don't want to deal with all of that things that come with being a landlord perhaps you shouldn't be a landlord thank you guys thank you Emily Paul aanti Paul Paul you're not on mute but we cannot hear you yeah hello hello yes I can hear you can you hear me yes okay thank you my name is Paul pante I'm a senior and a veteran 30 plus year resident of the city of hoken um was raised somewhere else but this is my city now I like to think of it as that I love living here but I've heard some terrible things here today I would urge everyone to vote no um one of the um various people have spoken about senior citizens who might not be able to rent here in this town if they lost their apartment so I'm not going to go into that but there there's something that we're not even talking about as a coach and a baseball coach and a basketball coach in this town for many years I've coached hundreds of kids in my time and when I meet up with those kids who are now men and their children they don't live in this town because they can't afford to live in this town and nobody wants to touch on that it's okay however my own children who were raised and went to school in this town three of them are not able to rent in the town they were raised there there another thing that people don't talk about in Hoboken right now we have something called I mean that's not what we call it here but there are hidden homeless here in Hoboken that you guys are not even aware of because they've lost their Apartments because they've lost their jobs or whatever else and they're doubling up with families does that help does that help the landlord absolutely not you've got six people in the unit that should only have three so there's water and other things that are being used that also affects the land on top of that when you say this is a compromise bill it's compromising all right it's compromising to every tenant in this town I was the rank control chairman in this town for six years most of the hearings we held during those six years were tenants who were overcharged excessive rents by landlords they did it then and that I'm talking about 15 years ago so if they did it then why you know and they're doing it now there's a there's a bunch of landlords here that are collecting rents right now that are not the legal rents for those units are you looking into that that no when you talk about affordable housing you you have to understand that there are so many people out there looking for units that affordable housing is really a misnomer because most affordable housing programs have hundreds of thousands of people on their waiting list the wait can be anywhere between five to 10 years to get a unit and that's if you keep telling them that you're actively seeking if you don't send them a yearly letter saying I'm still interested you get bumped off then too and then you got to jump on again if the list is still open I will tell you very can you wrap it upbody yeah any anybody who votes no for this bill will not get my vote thank you Paul and they will not get a vote from anybody else in the Apon household and I will be out there I will be out Danilo kersner hello good evening hello firstly it is of great personal significance to me to address a statement by landlord lobbyist Ron simini in the last meeting I'm part of the group of Portside residents of Jersey City who have been fighting for justice for two years now Ron referred to us as having a profession profal interest in the outcome our interest has been very much Clear since the beginning and is solely about applying rent control laws stopping the illegal behavior of Mega landlords and making sure renters are treated fairly we do that in our precious Spare Time on top of our family and job duties without any payment in contrast to paid lobbyists because of the close proximity dependencies and collaboration between the cities yes we do honestly care in the last meeting and also today it was expressed that small landlords need to have to proposed addendum because they are not able to make ends meet let me say first of all I 100% agree small landlords should not be in financial difficulties due to rent control one example that they was made that they wouldn't make enough money to do necessary Renovations and upgrades the current rent control law already considers Investments as so-called Capital Improvements in section 55-8 and allows for Extraordinary rent increases to recuperate the cost also tax increases can be passed on to the renters another example was that small landlords who might have to give up units due to flood regulations or because of increasing cost will not be able to make profits anymore 55-14 appeal by landlord for the hardship rental increases states in the event that the landlord cannot meet his his operating expenses or does not make a fair return on his investment he may appeal to the rent leveling and stabilization board for a hardship rental increase all this to say why should billionaire landlords get a free pass of rent increases of up to 100% or even more if the rent is below $1,750 for a contingent event at some undefined point in the future if there are legitimate gaps in the current law to protect small landlords they should be addressed but not with a blank check for billionaires on top of that if all rent controlled cities would adopt the compromise a market rate simply would not exist anymore it would create a government approved price fixing tool a dream come true for Mega land Lords we tenants of Port site have seen how landlord Equity residential blatantly ignores the law in recent years we all have seen how landlords in Hoboken and elsewhere increased rents by 50% and more per year we also see how long-term renters get harassed by their landlords to force them out and convert their Apartments into Luxury Rentals 100 Montgomery in Jersey City is just one hello can you wrap it up your time is up there is absolutely no reason to believe that the proposed amendment would not be abused to force out long-term renters and increase rents to make maximum profits thank youo thank you I kindly ask that the speakers stick to the three minutes we have the clock right in the right hand corner so you can see it um just to be fair to all the speakers thank you Tom Green yeah that's my husband my name is Alexandra and um good evening I live at 100 waren Street uh I've been a longtime friend and neighbor of Hoboken and have had many friends live in the Hoboken Community as well as my sister and her young family Hoboken matters to me I'm disgusted by what I've heard by those supporting this bizarre compromise with a slanted and warped understanding of how market economics work facts still matter and so does the whole truth do not be misled by Bad actors with bad intentions I'm here to discuss the proposed amendment to our rank Control Ordinance that would permit landlords to increase rents by 100% when a long-term tenant of over 10 years vacates a unit this amendment is not just a local policy change it stands indirect conflict with New Jersey state laws and principles particularly those designed to protect our most vulnerable residents let's start with the Consumer Fraud act this act is crucial because it protects consumers including tenants from fraudulent and uncontable practices doubling the rent upon vacancy isn't just an inconvenience for tenants it is an outright exploitation of their fundamental need for housing it's a blatant attempt to capitalize on the basic necessity of shelter aiming to extract excessive profits from those who can least afford it such predatory behavior is exactly what the Consumer Fraud act seeks to prevent enacting this amendment would send a message that you condone profiteering at the expense of our community's welfare and that is just simply unacceptable next consider the Mount Laurel Doctrine which requires municipalities to provide Fair a fair share of affordable housing this proposed amendment would decimate the availability of affordable units effectively pushing low and moderate income families out of our community by making housing unaffordable for a significant portion of our residents we would be violating the principles of this economic inclusivity and fairness mandated by the Mount Laurel Doctrine this is not just a moral failing it's a legal one that could expose our municipality to significant legal challenges and liabilities moreover the Fair Housing Act mandates the M that municipalities actively promote fair housing practices and prevent discriminatory policies allowing such a dramatic increase in rent effectively discriminates against lower income residents making it nearly impossible for them to remain in their homes or find new ones within our community this is a clear violation of the Fair Housing Act commitment to preventing discriminatory housing practices the potential legal ramifications don't end there and acting this amendment could embroil our municipality in expensive protracted legal battles with housing advocacy groups draining public resources and tarnishing our reputation we must ask ourselves is this the Legacy we want to leave beyond the legalities let's talk ethics the proposed run hikes would lead to the displacement of long-term residents our friends neighbors and community members invested years in thank you Alexandra I appreciate your time depend on Kathy cotch Kathy I was just unmuting myself just bear with me um I live at 104 Bloomfield and Hoboken and I strongly oppose the amendment to hoboken's rent Control Ordinance for multiple reasons and I'm going to try and be brief because many people have spoken on points that I have here so I'm so I'm going to just try and be brief I'm 77 years old and if squeezed out of my rental by my landlord I would have to leave Hoboken as would many other seniors renters comprise 66% of Hoboken residents and there are many other reasons why residents in Hoboken are particularly vulnerable I was a teacher at Stevens Co-op for eight years and I've called Hoboken my home for 28 years I've seen enormous changes to the city since the mid90s when I moved here changes with Contin gentrification and recently I was appalled by the way the city council members were seduced by The Bullying tactics of msta and Ron simini who represents wealthy landlords and developers City officials should be protecting us their constituents and it's transparently clear that the city council cares little about protecting middle class and working families and wants even more gentrification in this already hyper gentrified town if there is any economic diversity in this town now it eventually will be utterly eradicated with this amendment the council should vote no against this compromise ordinance now and should a referendum appear on the November ballot I have every reason to believe that the community we vote it down thank you very much thank you Kathy C maybe can you state your name for the record yeah can you ncy Beva yes you hear me yes okay um at 106 Garden um this is actually I'm going to read it because I'm not good at speaking off the cuff uh it was a this is an edited version of a response I wrote to a an email about this from Phil a few days ago I'm G to try to say it fast um okay although I'm seriously blessed in a in being able to own my own home here now the effects of what appear to be cynical and unscrupulous tactics by the proponents of the push to make Hoboken even less affordable to renters than it's already become a frightening others have spoken eloquently about the political and legal aspects of the issue but I'm here simply as a resident who cares and who has known and loved hobok for decades just to be clear I'm neither a renter although I was one for many years nor landlord so I have no dog in this fight beyond the fact that I love hob Hoboken more than any place I've ever lived and a large part of that is because it's been historically diverse attracting wonderful creative people who add so much to the city's character but who are increasingly unable to scrape by here some of my friends most of whom are talented artists musicians writers Etc and have been making Hoboken the wonderful unique place it's been since before I first arrived in 1987 uh and some of and some were here uh during and remember very well the infamous delivered vacant quote unquote days some even appeared in the documentary they know the kinds of tactics that landlords and wouldbe developers may use to uh make tenants feel unsafe and insecure in their homes many are renters who absolutely cannot afford to move out of their apartments and remain anywhere near the pets when their home almost their entire lives many are now senior citizens as am I apparently um I personally don't want to live in a town that's affordable only to the affl and I'm concerned for renters some of whom are friends excuse me and I was one for years who in spite of regulations meant to prevent landlords from using various tactics to get them to move may be made to feel uncomfortable enough to do just that Hoboken had enough of the delivered vacant scenario in the 80s I've heard many of the newer residents in Hoboken saying very hostile and cruel remarks about our homeless neighbors here and I've worked for the both the Hoboken shelter and the uh same Matthew Trinity lunchtime Ministry years ago so this means a great deal to me too uh do these people want to make even more people have no place in town to call home while I'm here I this is just not completely related but I want to say I was really dismayed to hear about the plan to demolish the three rent control buildings on Grand Street I don't know all the details but it seems that it will be a disastrous situation for a lot of Resident a lot of residents there and set a bad precedent and I want to applaud the woman who said I don't remember her name that when someone decides to become a landlord he or she should be well aware of the risks and issues that may come up and the fact that they are dealing with human beings not faceless troublemaking tenants that's it thank you good timing thank you Sonia kersner hello can you hear me yes good evening council member members my name is Sonia kishna and I thank you for your time tonight I would like to start with letting you know why I as a non- US citizen and non Hoboken resident I'm here tonight I'm here tonight because I really care for this country which I've been calling my home away from home for over 10 years now 10 years ago I was sent on an international assignment by one of the leading chemical companies in the world to head their Learning and Development Department in North America for a few years what can I say my husband and I fell in love with this place we love our life here that's why we stayed I decided to leave my company and started my own business five years ago I'm giving you this background so you can truly understand who the people are who are speaking to you tonight that is important to me for two reasons first if I was you I would like to know who is talking with me and secondly last time we were here we were called professional speakers that was a blatant Lie by one of the lobbyists and likely not the only one I love watching the Olympic recordings of Simon biles and others cheering for my American team that's where I much rather be right now but back to my why I care when my husband and I came here we did look for an apartment in Hoboken it was bitter cold in January 2014 when we did our first house hunting in a completely different housing and rent rental market compared to what we were used to from back home and guess what po boken was our preference but despite having a very generous housing allowance budget from my former employer that was calculated by a renowned advisory firm for New Jersey even 10 years back a double income no kids midc career couple with two master's degrees and a relocation package was not able to find something affordable in your town to the now let's do a little real life calculation together imagine where this unit from back then would be today if the so-called compromise had been in place already I did in fact two calculations one with um 2% two-year turnover and one with fiveyear turnover with twoyear turnover the our unit from back then would be at $122,800 that's without any regular increases within rent control limits during a normal rental term 12,800 Now by based on The Source One One Source I found some estimates that people in Hobo can usually stay between three and five years so I calculated with five years that is 9,450 I want to ask you could you pay between 9,500 and 13,000 for a two-bedroom our lobby is time is up there is no Market regulation they will use their power if you give them the power thank you Sonia very much appreciated suda sod hi good evening are you able to hear me yes yes thank you hi my name is sudas SRO and I've lived on Jefferson Street for seven plus years as a renter um I'm here tonight to express my confusion and concern over the process of how this vote came about and the compressed timeline I'm also disheartened about the format uh being a zoom call as opposed to an in-person um meeting uh the first time that I learned the significance of this future event control issues is when I attended in person for the state of the city address in March 2024 and since then I've tried to keep an eye out for what is happening and the latest updates um as I read through the um website and the emails uh the second time that I learned about what is going on was about two days ago um in a very very rushed manner uh I considered myself a thoughtful person um I was able to give a few hours of the past two days to try to educate myself on what is going on and I imagine that if I had other personal obligations I wouldn't even have had time to do this um I asked a few of my friends who are residents if they knew about it and they did not so I urge you at this time um to have a more reasonable process and timeline for a vote um just because of of the significance of this issue uh thank you for your time thank you suda tan please State your last name for the record hi there I'm Tagan Brennan can you hear me yes I live at 415 Newark uh so I live in Hoboken I'm a renter and I'm here to urge you to vote no on the compromise I want to underline one specific point it's been made by others in the meeting but I think it's really worth emphasizing and I want to add my voice to it the logic that you're considering this compromise to avoid the referendum just doesn't make sense to me uh it makes it sound like we have no control over the outcome in November uh but we do uh we're going to be the ones voting on it I'm a resident of Hoboken you've heard from other residents tonight will'll be voting uh a lot of us like me will be voting no uh and some will be voting yes and they are welcome to vote Yes at least those that are residents uh but I think it's really interesting that those in favor want you to pass this compromise now instead of letting us democratically vote in November speaking of November it's a presidential election people will be out to vote and I think they should have the chance to vote on this ultimately I think it's really Deus to give into this compromise when we actually have the opportunity to defeat the proposal outright I feel like compromising is giving a group of bullies exactly what they want I think we and Hoboken can do better and I think we should have the opportunity to vote I would also like to Echo a point earlier about who some of the people encouraging to say Yes actually are um some of them have introduced themselves humbly as like oh yeah I'm a landlord or like oh yeah I'm in real estate but the founding partner of Skylight real estate Partners the broker manager of Liberty realy those are two of the people that you've heard from in favor of the compromise tonight those are just the two I first Googled Andrew Miller Andrew chaffron there might be more um but I do wonder if maybe they have other reasons you know reasons uh for wanting you to vote yes thank you for your time and I yield my time thank you tan Kevin Weller hello can you hear me all right yes great hello again everyone my name is Kevin Weller from the rent controlled Building located at 155 Washington Street in Jersey City and chartered member of the New Jersey tenants organization also elected Hudson County Democratic Committee Member both of which represent renters in Hoboken I also serve as the elected president of the Portside Towers East tenant association I'm here in large part because I care about my friends in Hoboken and I like to help where I can as many of you know I'm involved in a rent control fight in neighboring Jersey City and I initiated a federal class action last year that included many renters of Hoboken both of these actions are on related topics to what is being discussed here today in addition I have represented tenants at the Hoboken rent leveling board as a tenant Advocate which resulted in a proper determination in favor of the tenants of Avalon Bay therefore I don't consider myself to be an outsider with regard to the matter before you tonight additionally I've spent countless hours on the phone with several of you and mayor Bala related to the ordinance which you will vote on today I try my best to contribute to solutions that are fair and lawful I'm not anti- landlord or anti- business sometimes a view from someone familiar with the issues but who has not been so close to what leads up to a problematic situation can be helpful since I spoke here last time I've learned a lot about the situation and I'm sure there is more to know it seems we have arrived here because of anger that resulted from landlord's feeling as though they were being treated unfairly from what I've heard there is some Merit to why the landlords would feel that way we have to be careful not to penalize landlords for being nice to tenants such as if they choose not to raise rents for a number of years the reaction to feeling like something was taken away when perhaps that something was permitted and may not have caused harm is understandable even if it was likely correctly deemed unlawful the rea the reaction by the landlords was to strike back so hard that we now find ourselves in an untenable situation the landlords are striking back in my view in large part to punish this Council because of their perception of unreasonableness okay you clearly made your point and you have everyone's attention that being said even if many of you tried really hard to solve a really difficult problem what is being proposed is not the solution it will only waste an enormous amount of time energy and money on all sides I believe after the fighting is over perhaps after significant litigation the net of all of that work will will be will'll be back to where we are right now please vote no tonight then I propose we come together between now and the referendum highly motivated to solve the original underlying problem which I believe is actually possible if you agree abandoning this abandoning this reaction only seemingly necessary propos thank you Kevin only seemingly necessary propos appreciate your time in winning can I just one more time because it feels horrible to me to cut someone off there's a clock in the right hand corner you have three minutes um I would really appreciate if you respected that Manny r bar Solair yes good I'm going to say good evening council president because I lost track of time uh I was almost going to put my hand down so I appreciate you calling on me I will be brief because I know uh the hour is long once again council president there's really not much that uh eloquently I could uh uh make sound better than any of the I would say more than 25 speakers I don't know we didn't take a tally of who was saying yes and who was saying no so we could have a um at least some kind of a barometer as to where or at least the temperature of the water as to how many residents are in favor how many are against how many were actual residents what were their demographics and all of that stuff but having said all of that councilor president I'm just trying to burn up this time is I would like to make sure that the words and the assurances that were given by you and by other council members that no one or no is going to be affected that is currently under rank control currently safe in their apartment regardless if they're not going to move pardon me that they're not going to move at this moment they will not be affected with any of these changes secondly I would also want if time allows if you just don't call the vote that each one of you as you see your con um constituents is very aware of what you're going to do that you explain to them what is going to happen and Council president with that I'm going to yield back because I don't see the the timer so I will assume that my three minutes are up and I thank you and uh thank you for listening to all of us and I hope this works out for the best for everyone thank you Manny Casey crownhart hi Council thank you so much for um listening to all of us tonight um my name is Casey crownhart I'm a resident and renter at 700 Wasington Street here in Hoboken I just want to um briefly add my voice to the chorus of people opposing this so-called compromise um I've lived in Hoboken for about five years now so I wouldn't call myself a long-term resident but I'd very much like to be um I've watched people and friends move in and out of the city and gutting rent control protections would make it harder for people to afford to stay and continue building our community um I'll re I'll um Echo another a concern that another renter raised um my partner and I current live in a rent controlled unit and so this doesn't directly affect us right now and I do understand that despite some comments from other speakers insinuating otherwise um so while this doesn't affect us right now as we consider expanding our family vacancy decontrol measures like this so-called compromise would very very much prevent us from staying in the city and finding a unit that would fit our growing family this compromise would make long-term rentals and people like me who would like to make Hoboken a long-term home um it would harm us and history shows us what happens with so-called compromises like this one in New York City um a vote like this one on vacancy decontrolled open the floodgates to a systematic dismantling of rent control I plan to organize against and vote against this referendum in November and I urge you to do the same and in the meantime I strongly urge you to vote no on this compromise thank you thank you Casey Rebecca Lewis hi um I'm Rebecca Lewis Mary Rebecca Lewis I live at 822 Garden Street I've been here since 1989 I've heard a lot of great points tonight and I all all the ones I were gonna I was gonna say have been covered so I'm gonna keep this short I believe in the Democratic process and I believe the best way to go about this is to let us vote on it us the voters you know all we can do is not vote for you next time if we consider you anti you know anti- tenant um but instead if you allow the Democratic process to proceed and allow us to vote then we can we can speak out we can educate people about what this law really does um we tenants I'm a tenant um and let's vote on it thank you thank you Rebecca Ron Simon cini thank you council president I think that there was a lot of debate that certainly was relevant to tenant protections as we discussed prospective ways to remove the referendum from uh the ballot um as council members you know that rent control is not to preserve housing for people whose family size changes that's not what rank control does there's no mechanism to reserve those units for existing tenants anyway so all that talk is impracticable you know that without changes to the rent control uh ordinance the unit count will decrease further it already went from 127500 and if you don't take action to ease uh the difficulties that uh property owners are having it's going to go down even more you know that you represented tenant interest above and beyond the call during the discussion about rank control you know that the performance of the rank control board has exposed the city to tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities and that this compromise provided balance you know that the fearmongering that's going on has nothing to do with you fear-mongering tenants over creating a compromise the fearmongering here is people coming to you and telling you that they won't vote for you if you do what you already know is the right thing to do there are no $122,000 unrenovated apartments in Hoboken the market would not bear that so the facts really do matter and you haven't heard any tonight that weren't already discussed and considered as we talked about what might happen if there was an appropriate compromise that persuaded us to take our measure from the ballot and I think one thing that people aren't recognizing here is we were the ones who were approached we're ready to go to referendum this is our last gasp here but it's not just our last gasp it's the last gasp for rental housing in Hoboken conversions will continue people will continue to not abide by the regulations that are there unless there's a rational support mechanism for the property owner that balances the interest of property owner and tenants we saw the wisdom that you had when you approached us to discuss this issue so if we go to the ballot we're back where we are a few weeks ago but where are you you're imely the puppets of a mob and anyone who should come to you with another mob and make any demand no matter how ridiculous how uninformed is that something you should do stick to what you voted for 80 you know it's the correct thing thing we think it's the correct thing but we are happily ready to go to the ballot because that's what we expected before and we will go and we will prosecute our case and there will be many people who are not so self-interested as people who think that rank control is to preserve units for their family size when their family size changes I don't think most people think that I think most people think that you should have housing that you can afford and that Hoboken is a place where there will be affordable housing and there will be housing that people can move into that when these units are vacated affordable housing is something that should be provided by the city this referendum allows that to happen at least s million and perhaps $15 million worth no one's even talking about that thank you Peter otaviano otaviano uh hi can you hear me yes uh my my name is Peto taviano uh and I'm speaking tonight to urge you to reject the so-called rent control compromise that is being pushed by multi-billion Dollar developers and their professional Advocates um our region is experiencing an unprecedented rent rental crisis uh Hoboken has unfortunately received Nationwide media attention as one of the absolute worst offenders for rent inflation over the past decade or so in light of this dubious history I am deeply alarmed by the fact that Hoboken is even considering addition accommodations for landlords and developers instead of codifying additional measures to protect its residents beyond the tonee approach to the socioeconomic issues at stake here this proposal is anything but a compromise at face value for a fee that can be completely offset in the first year landlords will be able to vastly inflate a unit's rent completely ignoring the protections that exist to safeguard tenant homes and livelihoods in fact landlords will be incentivized to raise the rents even higher than they might otherwise to op set this fee and I can guarantee that many of them are already planning to do so should you make the mistake of passing this resolution I'm speaking here only as a concerned private citizen but I'm a public relations Pro uh while working at agencies earlier in my career I at one point found myself representing some clients in real estate development uh to my shame I was quickly astounded by the utter lack of concern for a well-being of tenants who live in the buildings these were people who saw the people who lived in their buildings as walking doll signs that occasionally made inconvenient noises the last straw was when I found out that they had bust paid supporters into a council meeting like this one for the sake of my peace of mind I made it a point to separate myself from those clients as quickly as possible and never engage in that sort of work again we all have to sleep at night after all I have sympathy for smaller independent landlords but they are not the ones who will be responsible for the Cascade of socioeconomic consequences that will follow this decision it is easy to talk about these things in dry policy terms uh it's incredibly important to consider the human impact of a measure like this we're well aware that landlords utilize price fixing software to share data with one another and set rentals to the maximum rate the market will bear these increases that supposedly do not affect existing tenants will therefore will therefore cause the rates of renewals to Skyrocket as well school children will be forced to move and leave their friends behind elderly residents will have to abandon their longtime homes and attempt to pick up their lives somewhere else essential workers in lower income jobs will leave the city in search of more affordable Alternatives single parents will have to work additional hours or seek second jobs reducing the time they can spend with their children we are in dire need of courageous leadership against this backdrop of uncertainty and hopelessness that hangs over so many of us renters please do the right thing the Humane thing and reject this ordinance thank you thank you Peter Alex please State your last name for the record Alex you're on mute Alex you're on mute Alexa please State your last name for the record right hi my name is Alexa wood I live on first in Washington um I just wanted to uh just talk about how much I've enjoyed living in Hoboken I uh moved into a rent controlled apartment here in 2022 so um I know there was someone who mentioned that he was wasn't aware of uh rent control departments becoming available recently but um I guess he doesn't have the data on that um one thing I did want to uh bring up uh since I do live in uh council person pres Zano's um board is I just wanted to um give him an opportunity to uh hold to one of his campaign Pro promises to uh protect renters um on the fourth page of his uh campaign website uh he states that uh rent and inflation have continuously outpaced wage increases for years that leaves many families struggling to put food on the table people shouldn't have to rely on clothing donations or school supply drives to make sure their kids have what they need to prosper we need to stem the tide of rising rents and meritless evictions to keep people in their homes the rent the recent legislation pass help by the state A legislature is helpful but what we really need is an advocate who is not afraid to get their hands dirty using that legislation as a tool to protect the people of Hoboken I pledge to be the tip of The Spar for residents of the First Ward fighting against unfair rent increases in meritless evictions so um I do appreciate your uh your commitment to this uh councilman pres Zano and um I look forward to seeing you vote no on this um on this measure thank you Alexa Nicole mag magana hello hi can you guys hear me yes hi first off thank you council president and to all the council people because I know this is a hard job working late at night and on zooms and thank you for doing this Zoom tonight um I have been resident in Hoboken for 17 years now I've been a real estate agent for 16 years I am going to voice a different opinion than most real estate agents here I also live in a run Control Department for the last 12 years to put aside some myths some people are saying out there oh you know your landlord's going to convert your building and it's just going to go condo it doesn't happen as easily as that if you're in a four unit or less then yes you should be fearful if you're in a six unit not so much over 10 you're good over 15 anything over 10 you're good you're good so that's not going to fearmonger to take place of like oh we're going to lose all the apartments because bigger units cannot condo convert that easily with existing tenants in place um to start off from the very beginning of this whole thing that's happened because I've been following it I do not like how it started off from the start my name is one of those names on that petition and same thing I got distracted by a teenager down by TD Bank when I'm going in to try to you know make a transaction and oh it's about affordable rent control of course I live in affordable run control of course I'm going to sign it that to me is fraud fraud right off the bat so if there is things in place if you guys do all vote no against this and there is something that then goes against that from the beginning before we even get to the referendum why are we having this vote it is really frustrating that we're here at this point I urge you guys to encourage to vote no for the people out there saying yes this is detrimental once the unit is gone it's gone from rent control that is the truth there's nothing that can be done in a fund that's going to immediately turn over and turn into new apartments for people to move in to even a proposed monitorized like subsidized new building for third and Jackson is still three and a half years away from even being breaken ground so I remember 2011 when we had this vote and run control barely won but this is not it's not Democratic in one sense for a compromise to happen I went to bed last night thinking fearful of like can we do this can we not do this like can we beat this again like in 2011 I was living in new construction I wasn't even living in rank control but I was very very passionate about it please vote no it will change everything including lawsuits you guys and this hi can hear me you're on mute suzan thank you Suzanne D Feliz yes we can hear you good evening um I'm urging you all to vote against this compromise um while Mr simini and his landlord friends would like you to think this is good for all essentially this compromise would only benefit landlords and negatively impact your tenant population at substantial levels as others have called out this compromise puts a price tag on all rent controlled units why wouldn't a landlord try bribe a tenant to leave what would be the incentive for the landlord to maintain the unit within with the current tenant living there and if this compromise is so good for tenants then why the Crooked means of getting tenants to sign their Shady petitions I have a friend who has lived for a few years in a rent controlled unit in Hoboken she is fearful that if you were to pass this compromise that she would have her own price tag put on her in her unit and she would be harassed in some way to move out of course her landlord would want her to leave if he could jack up the rent to an unknown percent for a mere $2500 payment into an into an affordable housing fund only the true good-hearted landlords I'm I know they're out there who have a conscience would not take advantage of the potential massive games before them but majority of them would it's human nature while I can sympathize or be willing to understand some of the points made by some of those in favor of the ordinance this proposal is not the answer and it's far from a compromise between landlords and tenants while there are some great landlords there are many landlords who will not fear from finding a way to increase their units rent through means of harassment my follow-up question to the council is what kind of protections would be in place to actually protect tenants if they are being harassed and nearly forced out of their homes are you prepared to be inundated by your current tenants because of the unintended consequences if this compromise is passed I have a strong feeling that such harassments or complaints will go ignored and tenants will be left in the dark just like they have been in Jersey City to conclude let's be real a proposal made by landlords is never in favor of tenants and is the very reason why laws and regulation need to exist to protect tenants this compromise will lead to tenant harassment it will systematically destroy affordable housing you will have an onslaught of lawsuits and claims made against landlords or even tenants vice versa that the city will un be unable to handle and if you pass this you will be known for anying control in Hoboken which would be a losing proposition for any of your of your of your political careers please vote no thank you thank you Suzanne Samantha tringali hi good evening council members uh Samantha tringali Third Ward um I want to I guess there's been some great technical technical points made and many of the things I wanted to say have been covered so I want to speak a little bit from the heart um while I'm not Hoboken born and bred I've always felt a true kinship with this very special place and for innumerable reasons I know I am not alone among renters owners originals and transplants alike today as an Engaged and very politically aware resident for 14 years I can tell you I could never have imagined how I would fall in love with this little city or sadly have my heart broken by it several times during these last years it all started when I met and began dating my husband who is today a proud 23y old not year old excuse me um confusing teenager who's a proud 23 yearold Hoboken resident himself Hoboken is such an excellent place for families couples singles seniors and we never want to leave so as I settle into middle age considering at times mourning how this Mile Square we both fell in love with seems too often to be changing for the worse it's hard for me to Discount my origins in that meditation I was lucky enough to spend the first half of my childhood in 1980s Manhattan the Upper East Side of all places this was before the middle and lower classes there had been crushed and then as we see now totally eradicated my friends and I were nearly of all modest means and we were privileged to attend what was said to be the best public school district on the island all this before the city over subsequent decades gentrified and degraded in my opinion into what you see today almost exclusively a place for the rich decisions we make now have impacts that will Echo into the future my mother was a prototypical hardworking single parent to me her only child and in those days just starting out as a newly minted public teacher school school teacher she hails from a family of other public servants and second generation immigrants a very common story yet there we were in the epicenter of it all just the two of us benefiting from the most magical diverse complex and vibrant upbringing I could have wished my story would never have been possible without rent control I speak to you today as an apartment owner with a deep reverence for the social Mobility I was afforded by various economic programs in my past and that I believe should be fiercely protected by all today I bought my first apartment with my husband and we stayed in it over 10 years before needing to upgrade to something bigger to accommodate our family just like a renter would want to um I'm running out of time but in closing instead of listening to a carpet bagging Outsider lobbyist I'd like to ask that you our Council Center people like the kids and single moms of Hoboken the singles the seniors the families looking to grow the me and my mom of the 80s further I implore you to face that the political minations you are play acting dishonor you and the good you've done in your terms for this city they will eventually damage your reputation and erode the public trust as your electorate when properly informed bet on that happening is Jessica Bram good evening can you hear me yes great so first of all I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to speak today as someone has said earlier it's a long night and I really appreciate your attention and your care in this matter I'm here to express my deep concern about the proposed rent Control Ordinance amendments these changes Echo the extensive and disastrous vacancy decontrol policy that was adopted by New York City 1994 this policy allowed landlords to charge Market rates for rent stabilized Apartments once tenants moved out leading to skyrocketing rents and a Severe reduction in affordable housing and the gulf between the halves and the have knots further widened vacancy de decontrol there led to a sharp increase in homelessness and evictions families who had lived in their homes for decades are suddenly priced out unable to find afford affordable alternatives neighborhoods lost their character as long-term residents were replaced by transient populations driven solely by what they could afford at the moment as of 2016 in a pru article that's available widely they reported that a third of New York households paid at least half of their income in rent do you want that to be true in Hoboken as it is an hourly worker would need to make nearly $50 an hour to afford a standard one-bedroom apartment that costs $2,600 per month but the average rent and hob toen is now over $4,300 what hourly workers do you know who can afford that rent thus this amendment which enables landlords to level Levy unconscionable rent increases doesn't serve the public interest but rather benefits special interest groups and Wealthy landlords this is not a compromise as people keep referring to it it's a capitulation to corporate landlord interests we shouldn't accept a bad deal out of fear consider the increased competition for remaining affordable units when landlords can raise rents dramatically tenants who might have stayed in their homes for years are for to move are forced to move frequently disrupting their lives and their communities and this constant displacement leads to instability not only for families directly affected but for entire neighborhoods real life scenarios illustrate the human human cost of all of this and some of you may have heard this analogy before but but give me uh forgive me imagine a grandmother wanting to move closer to her her grandchildren for Mutual support for her to move nearby someone needs to vacate an apartment when they do the rent can double making the situation impossible and where the grandmother moves from that apartment rent also doubles preventing another person from moving in we're breaking apart Family Support Systems and changing the very essence of the community and picture a young teacher someone who like who spoke earlier on this call excited to work in Hoboken schools and under this amendment they find they can't afford to live here because previously unaffordable units have seen their rents double this proposal systematically destroys affordable housing please vote no and I have confidence in Hoboken voters will be voted down Jess April Harris wow I I I originally thought that this was a done deal so I was prepared to urge you to keep the implicit promise of providing true affordable housing that is means controlled I don't believe that rank control in the existing uh composition of Hoboken really Provo provides the diversity and affordability that people are advocating for here but I want to come to your defense as the the nine council members I think you worked hard and I think that uh there's no fear-mongering here the last time there was a referendum it only won by 54 votes that too was a presidential election 16,000 people voted and yet we only defeated that rank control ref uh vacancy referendum by 54 votes to 114 depending on how you calculated it that doesn't seem to me like a sure deal at The Ballot Box and that is means that I don't think badly of you personally uh for trying to come to some sort of compromise that gave some kind of fear of fair accommodation to the landlord class I don't think that saving rent control as it is in any form really gives us affordable housing and affordability think you have to keep the compromise that's implicit in this compromise which is to provide and create affordable housing is the msda really willing to work to leverage their contribution to really create affordable housing is the city prepared to really commit to building more affordable housing right now you've passed the uh resolution to uh build the Redevelopment plan and the Housing Authority so right now you have an opportunity to really be uh have access to the expertise the Specialists the developers who know how to provide affordable housing and I'm sure that you could do it if you had the will and uh I'm sorry you about everybody who thinks it's fear-mongering I think the fear was justified and I do think oh let me just say one thing about myself I am an original Hoboken knite I have been running a Ministry to the poor since the Austin crisis with the clergy of Hoboken I have watched literally thousands of people displaced I have been helping them at their moment of exit I am watching the hardships they continue to serve so I am not anything but being practical that we need a way for the people to come home and I think I might have used my three minutes and I good night thank you April uh council president you're on mute thank you that's what I said Thank you April appreciate it Daniel cluck hi this is Daniel cluk third in Bloomfield um and listening to the speakers tonight it seems clear that there are really three parties involved you have the tenants the large corporate landlords and the small family landlords I fit in the last group as my family of five live in a three- family home with two rental apartments above our unit as was mentioned by some of the small family landlords on the call the consequences that the most recently amended rent and Control Ordinance has had on small landlords like me and my family has been immense due to those changes I'm now stuck renting my two apartments below my covering cost and well below the previous officially calculated legal Rent All Because I had the bad fortune of having to rent out my Apartments during the pandemic when the market rents were terribly depressed let me give you my real numbers for one of my Apartments during the pandemic my tenant moved out and I had to lower the rent by $300 a month since it was hard to find a tenant even though this was over $200 below my actual carrying cost due to the previous Amendment I'm not stuck having the legal rent be $200 uh low these my actual costs because my tenants have had these lower rents uh thus far my family has uh lost 8,400 just on this one apartment uh just to be clear uh we love our tenants we see them every day my kids love the little Community we have in our little three family building uh we have consistently rented out well below Market rents normally our tenants are firsttime job uh graduates uh we have never raised uh rents on existing uh tenants um but I definitely understand that we might be in the minority um so having said all that uh I'm not sure that the compromise ordinance really fixes the situation at all for anyone but the large corporate landlords will the compromise help me out yes but it seems to me that there has to be a better way of balancing some of the Val valid interest of tenants mentioned tonight and the valid interest of small familyowned landlords mentioned tonight as well why don't we consider a rent control model that helps both of these constituencies instead of something that focus on protecting the tenants from the large corporate landlords maybe a model similar to what is done in DC where it provides a ex exemption for small landlords you know owner occupied maybe four units or less something that actually protects the the mom and pops um ability to continue living here um and protects the the tenants uh from these unscrupulous large landlords um because you know we've all been tenants at one point in our lives I think so that's it and uh you guys are amazing uh I I call this meeting to uh close because you need to go to bed thank you Daniel William ree yes hi can you all hear me yes great I want to thank the council for their time um I uh live in in Hoboken and I am uh my wife and I own a couple of units in Hoboken and I wanted to share an anecdote which I think really reflects how broken the system is so we purchased a a condo in Hoboken a few years ago there was nobody living in the condo and we purchased it to to rent it out and when we purchased it we learned that back in the 90s somebody had bought the apartment and I guess rented it out and registered the rent at $700 a month so that's what it was registered for now somebody spoke earlier and they said they didn't know of any examples where a landlord attempted to rent the place out and and and actually appeal and see if they could get a hardship application well I did that I went to the rent stabilization board I contacted them half a dozen times I filled out a voluminous application and they never responded to me I called and called and they delayed me and told me they would look into it and after more than a dozen subsequent phone calls nothing was ever done so I was stuck with an apartment with a registered rent of $700 now the the unit above me same unit basically just right above me they rented out their unit at almost $4,000 a month now that is a a broken system so I I don't necessarily know all the specifics about this ordinance and how the referendum is is being uh you know with the petition was being passed but I do know that that the system is wrong and I know there were folks that were talking about the problem of doubling the the rent well I mean if I'm renting it out for $700 a month or $600 a month and I'm going to charge $1,200 a month is anybody truly getting injured in that situation I I I just I feel that there's this sense of entitlement that that folks should be able to come in and pay whatever they they want for the rent but I think as owners we have a right and we should be able to to rent out the apartments for what we think is is right and fair so with that I yield my time thank you thank you William Michelle hch hi good evening Council I'm Michelle hirs a member of NJ and an elected Hudson County Democratic Committee Member which serves rers in Hoboken I also serve as the elected president of the Portside Towers West tenant association as a former tenure Professor who has taught honors level propaganda and persuasion feel compelled to unmask the manipulative tactics being employed to push through this destructive rank control Amendment Ron Simon cini's August 2 letter is not just misleading it's a calculated assault on our community's ability to make an informed decision let's call out the propaganda tactics so you can innoculate at yourselves against them the claim that msta was approached by the city council is a textbook appeal to Authority it's designed to create an illusion of legitimacy and consensus where none truly exists this is misinformation by Omission strategically concealing the true motivations behind the so-called compromise the Letter's use of minimization is equally egregious describing rent increases up to 100% as quote unquote marginal is not just misleading it's an insult to the intelligence of every Hoboken resident and every member of this Council the straw man argument suggesting that opposition comes primarily from non-residents is a transparent attempt to delegitimize the very real concerns of your Hoboken tenants perhaps the most Insidious is the false dichotomy presented that you must either support this amendment or the referendum will succeed which isn't true there are alternatives to be explored this is a manufactured crisis designed to pressure you into a hasty decision by presenting a false Choice as an expert in this field I can tell you that these tactics are not just unethical they're ass sign a fundamentally flawed argument when the merits of a proposal can't stand on their own propagandists resort to these emotional manipulation techniques it's a Playbook as old as politics itself and it's being deployed here with striking transparency I implore you to see through it push back against this amendment isn't coming the push back isn't coming from political lobbyists it's coming from your constituents your neighbors the very people you sworn to represent the diversity and affordability of our community hangs in the balance I urge you in the strongest possible terms to vote no this evening show Hoboken that you can't be swayed by Propaganda and false narratives demonstrate that you understand the grave implications of this amendment for the future of the city let the voters decide we will continue our efforts to educate and inform we are prepared to fight and the stakes are too high for anything less thank you for your time and attention the future of Hoboken is in your hands thank you Michelle Osborne f B Osborne you're on mute Jeff trupiano okay not sure if I'm ready for this uh let me uh let me let me refer to my own references uh maybe msta were Med m or misled by rental rows where increases have surreptitiously or otherwise let's say by uh neglect present Ed in a lucer booming market and perhaps an investigation into that and what led to sim cini's initiatives would reveal why he was compelled to go to such lengths such as deception forgery and misc characterization to make the money he was expecting would compel him to encourage the legal authorities to see if he was justified in his and his AstroTurf uh machinations were Justified uh at all uh racing rents drowns all renters boats um I wonder why anything that was offered by uh Ms you know simini uh were considered as legitimate and I guess that's where I have to leave it thank you Jeff nambia D can you please State your last name for the record my last name is donadio good evening thank good evening everyone and members thank you for this time I am really appreciative of neighbors who shared that this there was going to be a special session about this issue and I want to share that for me this this case is very personal or case that's that's a foran lip I'll I'll share more um so I've been living in 931 Garden Street for many years and about about almost four years ago when I was pregnant with my son I you were being experienced a series of things that led us to understand that the building wanted to push us out and so we actually went through an eviction case in the building we are managed by a a property a company that has many properties in Hoboken a long time landlord and and so I think what's clear to me in listening to what people are saying is that there is there are multiple conversations that are being had and so I I both want I hear with compassion uh people who are renting and landlords who are doing something for their living and are making individual choices to be compassionate with their tenants and at the same time I also have the lived experience of um of a series of things that were actual harassment um that happened with me and my family and that did not get resolved until after we won the eviction case um and in order to get support for that legally um we went to three different uh we S three different series of legal council the first said we had no case the second said maybe we might have a case these were all like private people would have tried to hire and the third was actually the hokan landlord and tenant Advocate who looked at our case and said this is an open and shut case you have all the right to live here there're like and there's preent and so if if we hadn't gotten that support um we would not be able to live here and so um that's just that's my lived experience and I and so this is actually happening um and I have a very different relationship with the the managers in my building now it's it's it's friendly and it's very Humane but that didn't happen until we literally know we sought a lot of support to advocate for ourselves so I also want to say that I understand now what it means to protect the fabric of a community because as an artist and educator thank you for for this time yeah like we wouldn't be able to listen otherwise I'm gonna mess it up again but Namibia Namibia thank you so much thank you Oz I'm trying you again you're on mute can you unmute Dennis can you please state your name your last name for the record good good evening can you hear me okay yes great uh my name is Dennis Stewart I live in the fourth ward and I asking that you oppose a rent control compromise I lived in hobok for 12 years as both a tenant and a homeowner you've already heard from a lot of people who would be harmed by these changes from varent control rules I'm fortunate enough that I wouldn't be directly impacted but everyone in Hoboken would lose out indirectly among the many issues with this proposal is that the landlords who benefit most do not live in Hoboken seven years ago I bought a home in a building with eight units at the time half the units were owner occupied but for the last few years I was the only owner occupied unit none of the landlords lived in Hoboken most of them didn't even live in New Jersey five out of seven landlords could not even be bothered to vote in Board elections it's the tenants and the homeowners who clean up after a storm who volunteer in the Ambulance Corp who serve food of the Hoboken shelter the tenants and homeowners are the people who take care of each other and make Hoboken a great place to live any landlord who claims that they can't make money with that with rent control can spare me their tears the median list price in Hoboken is up over 14% in the past year if you're holding an asset that increases in value just by doing basic maintenance while also collecting rent on it and you think you're losing out that's a skill issue even if these changes would make my property value go up which is dubious I would ravers see the people who live in Hoboken continue to afford living in Hoboken and make a rule change to benefit out ofate landlords we should not reward the bad faith actors who had to lie to the people of Hoboken to bring us here tonight any compromise shows outside interest if they could get what they want by dumping money and defrauding us there is no need to volunteer to be the Lesser evil my partner and I are going to be part of the phone banking and get out the vote effort for this election and I want to be spending my effort on defeating the out ofate landlords ran city council members who vote against their constituents uh it looks like I got a little bit of time left on the clock I'll see it in a second uh I think that if you do want to make some sort of compromise it would need to require of a landlord to be a permanent resident of Hoboken uh I yeah I see the rest of my time have a good evening thank you Dennis Patricia waiters Patricia before you start talking I think if you hang up it kicks you back to the end and that's probably he happening to you all right I'm waking up Patricia waiters I fell asleep and I actually lost my chain of door no Jerry could verify that I called in since six o'clock and every time I would wave my hand that's what I was trying to get your attention to text you Jen it was booting me back out to last but it's worth me staying up for because I heard a little bit of it and I fell asleep so I'm sorry if I don't mention other things that I did have in mind to mention but the first thing oh I'm sorry pway there 15 Church Towers the first thing I want to say is I did hear a few valuable points but I also want to talk about accountability because we have neglected the rent control the way the process is the people that's on the board and for so many years is and I am one person I'm hearing a lot of new people tonight I'm one person in the last 20 something or more years never miss a meeting okay and I'm very involved I know exactly what's going on I hear these fights and I say it all the time I don't like it when it's near an election I'm not taking no signs it doesn't matter and y'all already know I'mma say what I have to say as a strong outspoken Advocate it doesn't matter who vote for me or not I still fight and advocate for everybody in this city and now I don't like it I feel a little disappointed the way everybody's attacking Ron sasini just simply because when I was approached from somebody a young kid that walked up to me with the petition even before I helped surface the petitions the first thing that grabbed my attention was affordable housing y'all know I'm real sentimental about that I felt bad because the first people I thought about was the ring control people making sure they can have a place to go cuz I'm good I have section 8 I live in a her with a hard voucher and other people don't but I look at those people as family let me tell you real brief how I met Cheryl phallic I went to court with this guy that was real good friends of my uncle in in know 595 to Tennessee court with issues because the the guy from Hoboken couldn't help us Cheryl knew end and out about Ren controlling her sleep and because of dirty politics they were not a sign her back to the rent level and boy this is I'm only giving a little brief synopsis to all the new people I'm hearing saying I just moved the Hoboken welcome to Hoboken and welcome to dirty politics and I'm also looking at all of y'all faces up there with with the with the look like your body language is like we already called the vote y'all know y'all already made the decision and this the part get me mad I gotta stay up three hours three hours and I feel like I like you guys portraying the people they some of them feel so portrayed I hearing in Mary and all of their voices they voted for some of y'all this rent control thing ain't just happen this been happening for years stop making promises saying we GNA get affordable housing and I don't want nobody else to accuse me of tricking I'm sorry I'm I'm closing it up or or forcing or lying about the the petition that I we need affordable housing guys thank you Brendan can you please State your last name for the record of course thank you I'm Brendan cogin I used to live at 413 Adam Street I'm here to address the false choice being presented to us and the importance of the democratic process in this crucial decision we are being told that we must accept this amendment or risk a worse outcome through referendum that is a false ton om and a manipulative tactic designed to pressure us into accepting a bad deal by real estate agents landlords and of course Ron our favorite lobbyist let's be clear voting no on this amendment doesn't automatically trigger a referendum it gives us time time for a proper Community discussion about the future of our housing time to explore real solutions that balance the needs of property owners and tenants while gutting people's protections even if the referendum does occur it's not the Doomsday scenario that's being painted as it's an opportunity for informed public debate and decisionmaking why are why are we so afraid of democracy that we'd rather accept a flawed proposal than trust the people of Hope boken mayor Bala said at best when he's when he rejected this logic he reminded us that our primary obligation as a community is to advance the public interest not to Cave to pressure from special interest groups this amendment was born from a process lacking in transparency and genuine Community input the signatures were gathered under questionable circumstances with many signers believing they were supporting affordable housing rather than undermining it by voting yes you are not avoiding a fight you're short circuiting a fight you'd be saying that the voices of lobbyists matter more than the voices of your constituents council members Your Role is to represent the people of Hoboken and not to make decisions out of fear or pressure from special interests a no vote isn't a final decision on rent control it's a vote for the Democratic process and informed decisionmaking we elect our officials to make tough decisions to stand up for our community members even when it's difficult tonight we're asking you to do that just that vote no on this amendment give us the chance to have a real CommunityWide conversation about the future of Housing and Hoboken if this goes to a referendum trus in the power of the informed electorate we're preparing to engage in this process to educate our neighbors to fight for the soul of our city but that fight should be happening in the light of day not in the dead of night on a zoom meeting passing this ordinance will allow profiteers to raise rents to astronomical levels just as Adam Smith sarcastically asserted as the as a stock way of landlords to sell us on the idea of improvements to justify the increasing of rent it'll always go up as the rents are raised to the landlord's notion of what the market Will Made be thanks thanks to their price fixing software and magical P pixie dust to justify these beliefs thank you very much for your time also I was under the impression the time limit it was four minutes for these not three minutes have a great night it's actually typically five but I changed it to three for this meeting due to the number of speakers Ain please state your name for the record hi can you hear me yes my name's Aaron Kent e r n ke n t thank you good evening council president and members of the city council my name is Aaron Kent I am a current resident of Jersey City but I lived at 826 Garden Street which is directly across from uh mayor bala's home for 11 years I'm here to address a serious concern regarding the procedures being followed in this meeting which appeared to have violate the council's own rules of procedure the council president's decision to limit speaking time to three minutes directly contradicts resolution 21- 374 passed on May 5th 2021 Rule 13 Section 8 clearly States during any city council meeting that is held virtually members of the public may speak for a total of 5 minutes including comments on resolutions General comments intended for the public portion and any comments intended for the public hearing on the second reading of any ordinance this arbitrary reduction of speaking time is not just a minor procedural issue it's a direct violation of the council's own established rules these rules were put in place to ensure fair and adequate public participation especially in Virtual settings where engagement can already be challenging furthermore the sudden requirement for speakers to provide their addresses is not stipulated in the council's rules this new practice aligns suspiciously with the communication strategy of the mil Square taxpayers Association which has been attempting to discredit public input based on residency these procedural irregularities raise serious questions about the fairness and legality of this meeting they appear to be an attempt to limit public participation and skew the discourse on the critical issue of rent control before us I also want to note that these actions May potenti Al conflict with the spirit of the open public records act which emphasizes transparency and public engagement in governmental processes I formally object to these violations of procedure and reserve the right on behalf of all participants in this meeting to challenge any decisions made under these improper conditions the council's own rules are designed to ensure Fair public participation in government decision-making by arbitrarily changing these rules without proper Amendment the council is undermining its own established processes the issues before us are too important to be decided under a cloud of procedural impropriety thank you for your attention to these critical matters of public interest and governmental transparency thank you thank you eron iPhone can you state your name full name for the record you're unmute WJ mccan hello can you hear me yes thank you uh I don't see the clock started is that uh oh thank you wonderful uh so I would like to begin by first saying that I will give the members of this Council absolutely the benefit of the doubt when it it came to your elections last year I read many of your platforms and understood that many of you believed in rent control and did not want to see it uh removed or reduced in strength so I understand that potentially y'all had the fear that based on interest in money and larger organizations that a rent control Vote or removal of rent control would be likely to be passed however that is just simply not true and I think that what y'all could see from this meeting today and all of the voices have shown that the people of Hoboken and the people who actually live here do not want to see this pass I personally live on Fifth and Washington Street and I see every single day many renters who would be impacted by this change and I just do not understand like I understand that there are small landlords who would be negatively impacted if this wouldn't pass that being said uh there are large corporate landlords who have shown that they are willing to submit these crazy and Shady practices and are willing to do anything to get more money why do we want to encourage that behavior if they are willing to stoop this low simply to get a ballot resolution they will stoop that low to kick out their tenants when this resolution is passed should you vote so I please urge you do not vote for this there are so many laws for tenants rights in the state of New Jersey and across the country because it is easy for landlords to take advantage of the tenants and we cannot rely on the Goodwill of soulless corporations or even the Goodwill of small landlords who might want to make more money when it comes down to the rights of a person who is living within the city or a couple thousand for a person who does not live in this city I will pick the people who live in this city every single time I apologize for y'all that you have to stay up late I understand that's less than desirable but if it comes to the point where there is the ballot initiative you can see that the people have spoken do not vote for this do not say yes if it comes down to a ballot initiative I will go to the Mad Hatter I will talk to people on the side of the streets I will go to the pass station whatever needs to be done in order to inform the public of this that will be done please please please I am urging you vote no listen to the people who live here thank you thank you WJ Isaac jenez hi yes uh my name is Isaac Jimenez sorry I didn't know was going to go this late um and I'm a resident in Jersey City and I'm really startled by the um the fact that this is on the agenda but I didn't know too much about Hoboken politics uh part for a couple of months ago um but I am a renter and I've heard some of the arguments on this call especially on the side of uh landlords and their lobbyists to be really factious and borderline misleading about the sort of stakes this uh kind of amendment to the rent Control Ordinance would have in a city like Hoboken uh because it affects all renters and I'm a renter in Jersey City uh and I first also want to note how this meeting is really just a I guess a a portrayal and and uh image into Hoboken hoboken's democracy small D democracy and that a referendum could get close to the ballot that was conducted as fraudulently as the MST with Ron simonini who we are no stranger to in Jersey City in fact the tenants in Jersey City fought Ryan Simon cini to enact a stricter if anything an actual um uh in-house right to counsel office for Jersey City um an advocate for um tenants and enforcement which I hear Hoboken needs more of um so it's Democratic and we want to build a more democratic City and we hope Hoboken can too and we think Hoboken should um I think Hoboken is is great um and so it's also a workingclass issue uh rent control um um living as an experience having an eviction not on my record of course but as a result of a soft eviction some of the really nuanced um Contours of the housing system right now for a lot of people in Hudson County uh seniors definitely young people starting families um and this is an injury to one so it's an injury to all um and so some of the arguments we heard tonight about just where our housing system is with regard to condos and uh uh Renovations and and the that a landlord should have if we see as a landlords not having not needing to really exist but they do and they leech off of the working class the people who work for a paycheck to put food on the table because housing is a human right and the floor is us and we raise the floor and you're trying to break the floor down and we pay your taxes and we work and we don't want to pay you to take care of your car for someone who made that argument and we're not just the ybi we are fi but this Council and the City of Hoboken don't don't don't know too much about that uh building public housing public housing in my backyard and so I I've heard there is Redevelopment happening in the housing authority and that's great um and it's clear that we need more struggle in Hoboken so I hope you vote this down uh and I hope U many TS get activated from this thank Elena little hi can you hear me yes can you hear me yes okay great thank you umry um I'm I apologize and Advance if the signal is bad um I'm on an Amtrak train right now near Philadelphia so um but thank you city council uh my name is Elena little I live in Jersey City about half a mile from the Hoboken border I'm a former Hudson County Democratic committee woman and I ran for County Executive last year where I received 47 % of the vote off the line in Hoboken so I talked to countless Hoboken renters I myself am a renter in Jersey City I urge the council to vote this down this creates a major Financial incentive to the tune of up to $21,000 per year for landlords to push tenants out I can tell you there are many many things a landlord can do to push tenant out Beyond simply evictions uh Isaac was just talking about soft evictions you know it's it's asking a tenant to leave it's refusing to make habit habitability repairs I can tell you from experience one time um in my and we couldn't walk without water seing up through the floor boards uh my landlord had to not only repair the leak but also to replace most of the floor boards in the unit I'm lucky that they did but I shouldn't have to call myself lucky because that's their job that their job as a landlord um but if this were to pass tonight uh it would incentivize them to delay fixing it until we gave up and moved down um you know it could be refusing to fix a lock on the door refusing to address a mold problem or chipping lead paint or delaying action on an infestation all of these actions serve to push tenants out decrease affordability in Hoboken it harms the tenant and this proposal would give the a financial incentive to do so you know I I I hear that you know landlords sometimes aren't making money on their units but I want to point out that a residential property is an investment and sometimes Investments make money and sometimes they lose money uh we can hope that they make money more often than they lose but you know you you are assuming a certain degree of risk when you take on an investment and uh and you can't be guaranteed to make a profit on it so out I urge the council to vote now thank you thank you Elena s catalo hello can you hear me yes um my question I have a question actually for councilman Cohen uh can you please explain why you should be allowed to vote on this when your Law Firm represents the owners of the Jordan and 1125 Jefferson Street also known as Lincoln property company in claims involving the use of the uh software that's designed to control the demand in the rental market using a pricing algorithm called real page I yield my time to to councilman Co I'm not S I appreciate your question but I am not going to have councilman Cohen answer that question if he wants to talk about it in when it's the council's time to speak he can if you'd like to continue you have two minutes left I would I I I would urge the council to vote no and to allow the residents of Hoboken make the decisions for themselves and I yield the rest of my time thank you thank you very much s Austin Kaplan hello hello hi everybody um thank you Jen thank you for Council people for for having this meeting and for allowing us to speak on it um I have a couple just quick points that I was thinking about that really made me excited to join this meeting uh first and foremost um if not for a couple concerned residents that uh are on the call as well I wouldn't have known that this was being held or was being spoken about to begin with um I'm a renter uh down in on in the Jackson Street area of Hoboken and uh to landlord who does not live in Hoboken themselves so with that I can I can also say that uh without being personally affected by what you know what could be being discussed right now I think it's important to realize that there are a lot of people me myself I lived here for four years and this in a rent controlled building is the first year I've been able to comfortably live in a Hoboken without to worry about looking for an extra work or looking for extra jobs so I think that by you know voting to to push this through You' be hurting a lot of people who might be in a similar situation as me in that regard number two I think that you know in a larger scheme of things when I'm spending more money or thinking about the potential of spending more money on rent it actually has a much larger you know uh to do with with starting a family right that money that I could be going that be putting towards uh that I'll be putting towards rent in this case or could be putting towards rent it's going to be making it harder for me to potentially raise a family here in hobok and have me who would also be looking to start a business here uh unable to do so because that additional money would be going towards rent so as somebody again who who this this seems the information given by other speakers and it seems like it was a very rushed to judgment uh call on on your guys' part um by no means of yourself this seems like it was pushed by other groups but I think that this has muchar L implications than just rent and I think that it has larger implications for just the just what people are have the uh sort of the thoughts on the living in Hoboken I I think that the the small amount of information that I was able to gather from being on this call for the last half hour I think that um I you know more time needs to be had to to think about this and again it affects people living here long term uh we don't want to be just a a town of people who are you know make a lot of money in the Wall Street type we want to be a mixed bag of people who come from different cultures and areas and if we can make this more a more affordable place to live I think that list that tide would lift all boats as opposed to sinking all the renters boats as somebody else previously mentioned call so again I I thank you guys for your time and for hopefully truly listening to the concerns of your constituents because this wasn't uh you know during the election when we voted this wasn't a major issue but now that it is and you're hearing from us I think that it's very important for you guys to to uh you know take that into consideration so thank you again for listening and I yield back thank you Austin Mikela capka uh this is finally Osborne folk Mel I was not getting an mute button looking for it but anyway uh I am uh speaking to urge you to vote no uh this compromise is as bad as the original misrepresent uh misrepresented ballot initiative and would deny the public a chance to speak at The Ballot Box tenants did not have have a place at the negotiating table the small amounts of money that landlords would be paying in to affordable housing would not have the effect just through the math how many units would have to be vacated before you had enough money to build one unit uh will have a much much uh NE much more negative impact uh on on renters and and tenants my wife has lived in our apartment for 31 years and I for 29 we feel like we're the ones that'll have the the first Targets on our back uh I'm also a senior and I believe a lot of the longtime renters in hobok and our seniors and uh they are a strong voting block um I'm also just concerned that you're even reaching a compromise with msta uh at the when they had their ballot initiative in I think it was 2011 out front in my neighborhood every windshield had a placard on it from them claiming that all the renters on rank control were criminals and drug dealers uh these are not honest Brokers uh Rusty Hoover was referring to the forg signatures down in Neptune um you got an email calling uh opponents to this compromise lovers of or well Pro Hamas and uh got warnings of of Out of Towners having this influence on us Out of Towners like who like simini Out of Towners like the guy from Queens that approached me twice trying to get me to sign the petition by telling me that it was to build more affordable housing and that it was uh to stop the fact that most uh renters under rent control and Hoban don't qualify for affordable housing trying to confuse me uh to to uh sign a petition that was not in my interest um and and misunderstand the difference between a subsidy and a consumer protection if you have something to say that's good for the people that's what you're saying if you are going uh with name calling misrepresentation lies that's because you don't have something to say that's good for the people and when we're deciding the future of Hoboken rers hobok teners I don't believe that a seat at that table please vote no so Rod I need your assistance for a moment I have two people one says I phone which I had come in before and another that says Eli King but I can't let either come in for some reason can you hear me okay yes okay um so let me ask him I asked one you know what iPhone I said are you there and they didn't respond so I think we're fine yeah I let me just try it with I mean we can if they didn't change their name um you're you allowed them to talk right uh I was able to let the iPhone in and allow to talk but Eli King I tried several times but they it won't allow him to come in I tried to even make him a panelist I'm just gonna and they're not I don't know they if they've Chen motion to close public portion motion second all in favor I I excellent who wants to go first I'll go first go for it um so F first of all I just want to thank everyone all I think at some point it was close to 200 attendees I think we had almost 70 speakers um super helpful uh public discussion on this topic um whenever we have public conversations I always feel like I learn a lot and so I'm just appreciative that everyone who came out um second I'm very appreciative of my city council colleagues um and I and I just I just want to spend just one second on or a minute on just how we got to this point and um just because uh there's a lot of accusations thrown at our way that I I feel were misplaced um you know we uh to the last person that I've spoken to on the city council for the last my colleagues for the last couple years years this process the last few months the process for the last couple weeks um everyone has been focused uh and concerned about tenants every single one of them um this is a situation that none of the nine of us want to be in um at all uh it's a situation that has a statutory timetable on it um and it's a situation where the asks between what tenants would like to see and what um the landlord group wants to see the gap between the two is just so great that there isn't in this particular case there isn't a way to bridge that um you know we we started this process uh unofficially last spring I think everyone on this call spoke with msta and different landlords um trying to you know see if there was a way that we could avoid a referendum um you know the referendum question that they were focused on um was their starting point it actually got worse for tenants at some point which is was a little bit frustrating um and then once it was determined that the petitions were certified whether people are questioning or not that's really when um we sat down and said is there is there a way that we can avoid it uh you know it was led by councilman G council president getino Council jaor councilman Doyle and myself we really tried to bring all voices um from the council um kind of sitting around a table sorry uh we you know started it not even knowing how we could move off of our own positions that were Pro tenant to get to something that could be acceptable to msta this was not a negotiation with tenants this was a negotiation with msta because the the trade was to get them not to do the referendum I respect everyone tonight that said you know let's go to vote and I I think a lot of people um are going to support that idea uh but I but I the one um speaker tonight that resonated and I think reflects a lot of what we were all thinking was April Harris who you know pointed us to the last referendum when it said it was a close vote because if this referendum passes um it's I mean it is it will irreparably harm uh this city in a way um that I can't even fathom and it is way worse than what we are considering tonight so I just I just think it's important because a lot of people are accusing us of things this isn't where we want to be um I think you know we spoke at length with Ron simonini uh he is representing landlord interests they they way more you know interested in the um the profits for landlords it's it's it is what it is um but he was thoughtful in talking with us um repeatedly he made himself available um I do think that he's a little bit insincere in saying that we approached him because the conversation with msta began um last spring so you know this this going into it I think was a harder decision um you know clearly being a pro tenant person I am you know will be voting against this tonight uh but but going into this um it wasn't that easy because I think we are all from the very beginning just gutted inside at the idea of this passing um in November and just eliminating effectively eliminating affordable rent uh rental units um in Hoboken so that's what's guided us and I want to make sure that um I'm thankful to all of my colleagues I didn't speak with all of them in this process but I spoke with most of them and I honestly you know we got to the best place we could in the time frame that we were working in and I just appreciate everyone that helped um get us to that point so with that I'll hand it to whoever wants to go next [Music] Jen you're thank you and while councilman Fischer and I don't always agree on everything I I think you just did an excellent job of summarizing and assessing the situation you know I mean to be very clear I just want to get past this referendum issue and I I 100% prefer the status quo and uh so it's really a a riskmanagement situation um you know the prospect or the risk of the referendum is it's a very serious concern um you know I say get past it meaning either to avoid it by a compromise on something that's that may be less objectionable than what the ballot initiative referendum is or getting passed it by defeating at at the polls and it's really you know the latter is prefer is certainly preferable for me but it's considerably more risky because it's not as April Harris said and councilman fiser alluded you know 2012 was 12 years ago the demographics in Hoboken have changed considerably the number the population has changed so I think assuming that we are I think some people people are deluding themselves if they think this is going to be an easy Victory but I'm not here to you know to scold anyone or object to them um you know against this backdrop you know I my concerns are really there were many many misunderstandings that we even all heard tonight which again I'm not here to to scold but you know people said many things that you know with regard to you this quote unquote compromise yeah I mean this is a much better ordinance than the referendum so so it is a compromise whether it goes far enough for you you know that's your your entitled to your opinion but to and and then the notion that it was rushed there are statutory deadlines where these things have to happen if they don't we just lose and it's on the agenda so would we have liked to have more time to have meetings push back Reen negotiate longer um you know yes certainly but we are here where we are so you know but clearly the you know we had 65 speakers tonight I think there were 10 that voted in favor and there were a couple that I'm not sure what their position was but the vast majority very much so is not in favor of this ordinance and you know 55 people wherever they live I I don't care about this notion of you know people are entitled to their opinion and if you want to step in and and and uh Lobby uh you're more than welcome but I do a second concern is I I hope that all the the tenants in town agree with the 55 you know essentially Pro tenant position here because because if we lose this as Tiffany said as councilwoman Fischer said it's going to be a lot worse than If This Were to pass so but hearing loud and clear but everyone is is asking for tonight it's hard for me to say I'm I I don't believe that the tenants are in your your Camp so I to will not be supporting this notwithstanding the fact that uh I spent a fair amount of time with councilman Fischer Jabor gtino conferring with other Council colleagues to try to work out a compromise and you don't like it so uh you know it's the will of the majority I do think I have to end by saying the notion that this is anti-democratic is it I don't agree with because that's what this uh five hour meeting is is the whole essence of democracy we each meeting we have we we put on 40 things roughly and we don't put 40 things times 24 meetings a year on the ballot so the Democratic process includes this part of it as well as the referendum itself so um with that I will quote Manny and say I yield my time thank you councilman Dole other council members councilman quento uh thank you council president um first I wanted to start with a question before us as I see it uh and that is do we accept this compromise or not do we take a deal or do we take a chance fighting in November we didn't get to this place or this compromise overnight as councilman Doyle and fiser had said this wasn't done under the cover of Darkness this was done in good faith to avert what many of us think is a worst case scenario which is the referendum ping in November so I thank those council members who worked so hard over the past few weeks putting this together specifically council president G Pino vice president Doyle council members Jabor and bisher these negotiations occurred in good faith for the purpose of putting up something for us to consider and I thank you for the opportunity to put uh to provide input into that process in Hoboken we deal with a lot of issues from the truly significant to sometimes relatively benign but often the rhetoric is Extreme um but today is different um and that's because we're dealing with people's homes on the one hand and people's Investments on the other uh so there's passion and while I wish the level of negativity and accusations on both sides uh was with less I do understand it but let's remember landlords aren't evil and tenants are just trying to protect their homes the msta has gathered enough signatures to force a referendum uh were there less than desirable practices during that process undoubtedly I denounced them along with some of my colleagues and I hope they continue to be investigated further along with most of my colleagues have been public about my opposition to this referendum going back months regardless here we are and we find ourselves working against the state mandated timetable the petition was certified in early January this opened opened up a negotiating window in which the council could work with petitioners to see if we could avert a referendum some argue that we shouldn't have that negotiating or being bullied into negotiating was wrong I disagree as members of hoboken's governing body we each took an oath to do what we think is best in the best interest of the city to be responsible stewards so we worked within the state defined timeline to see if a solution amendable to the petitioners and the residents through this governing body could be achieved I can't speak for all of my colleagues but I certainly had input into the compromise do I like it all no way do I hate it all no either I think this proposal tries to address some inequities experienced by some landlords while raising money for enforcement and adding tenant protection measures but I also think it could add ways for the most unscrupulous of those in our landlord Community to take advantage and displace our most vulnerable residents so the question again is not how can we address all of our issues with affordable housing and rent control no it's do we take this deal or do we fight in November I believe this referendum passing is the worst case scenario for a nominal fee would allow for full decol affecting many many residents this deal ceased to mitigate that against that worst case scenario in my time on the council I've worked hard to promote policies that protect tenants I voted to lower the cap on rent control at 5% I voted to ensure rent increased banking was stopped so when faced with the choice of taking a chance on the worst case scenario losing in November or accepting something less bad what should I do elections are hard they're expensive and they take far more work than people realize those in favor of the referendum will be well funded and they will be aggressive last time the subject went to referendum as we've said before uh thousands upon thousands of people voted and rank control won by close to 100 votes I personally was a renter at the time in Hoboken and I remember being confused and I had to do a lot of research to even understand which way to vote luckily I voted to keep um rent control so do we take this chance again do we think we have what it takes to kill this referendum in November frankly after speaking and hearing from a number of residents renters and Property Owners alike yes I think we do so I'm going to vote no today because while I think we need further moderniza modernization to our rent control laws this isn't the way to do it let's kill this thing today let's kill this thing in November let's work together on sustainable policies that work for us as a community if this fails today and I hope it does I'm committed to working with our allies in the rental Community as I've done in the past I stand with you today and I will stand with you all the way to November Jen you're on mute thank you councilman Ramos thank you council president did I just glitch okay uh and I want to thank uh council president councilwoman Fischer councilman doy counc Jabor for uh bringing this compromise before us because I know it's not easy uh to try and work with various people to try and bring a solution to a very difficult problem because in Spring 2023 I was in your exact same shoes and working with council president getino councilman Fischer Ron simonini and Cheryl phallic to create a to try and create a compromise a compromise that could avoid this exact situation that we found ourselves that we finding ourselves in tonight because of the mayor's veto at the time if the mayor had signed that we had a compromise where tenants and landlords agreed and unfortunately that was veto and we knew that this was going to come to this and that's why it was so urgent to compromise at the time and I thank uh you guys for making the effort and putting the time in to try and bring us to a point tonight to try and avoid a referendum where you know many of us have been elected for a very long time and I think the fear of losing a referendum is because each of us that runs for election on a consistent basis understands the demographic and the voters who are voting in elections today as they were in 2012 a lot has changed and that margin of victory in many my colleague said tonight and speaker said tonight was extremely thin and I think that was the fear factor that led the council president and the other my other Council colleagues to try and get this compromised does the fear of losing that election November and the risk of it and the impact that will have on our residents is just too great and they did a great they did a very good job of bringing us from a crappy place to a less crappy place so I so I boy we're stuck between a rock and a hard place tonight but you know as someone that's elected on what the voters want to do and it seems like the voters want to things to go to the polls in November fight in that November uh election and the ballot initiative and the referendum so I'm willing to again give them what they're requesting tonight rejecting the compromise and hopefully they are successful in November and hopefully if they are successful in November if that is the case we could then go back to the compromise that we had established in Spring of 20123 that was fair for both parties at that time I know people some people don't don't think that was the case at the time but I thought it was fair at the time and it should have been V vot in legislation we will be here tonight people wasting counsel's hours on and fearing for their future so thank you council president I appreciate your efforts thank you thank you councilman councilman Cohen thank you council president uh first I want to thank all the people who came out tonight and all the people who have emailed us uh about this uh very important issue uh one of the criticisms that uh has been leveled against the council is that this was not necessarily done in a transparent way where people had an opportunity to participate uh I think that uh because of the statutory uh limits that were created by the committee of petitioners that got the adequate number of signatures we were forced to deal with a very compressed time frame but I want to thank uh I issued a newsletter I asked people to participate tonight I know the mayor asked people to participate tonight uh and I I don't think I've ever gotten more feedback from people who live in the Fifth Ward on any issue uh than this one tonight and I don't know that we've had a meeting where there have been as many speakers uh in the five and a half years that I've served on the city council uh and uh for all the critiques of the zoom setting I think the council president did a good job uh letting everyone have an opportunity to speak and participate tonight and have their voices heard and I think it's pretty clear that we've heard your voices I I will be voting no on this tonight uh for a number of reasons I I do think that it is important for us to make decisions about the future of Housing and Hoboken in a way that's thoughtful and rational and reasonable and I think that we that my Council colleagues did the best job that they could in a compressed time frame to do that and I thank them for their efforts uh but we as many of the speakers noted tonight we are in the position that we are in uh because uh there was a petition drive that was not done in good faith and an appropriate way uh I was personally approached on 10th in Washington by an individual who asked me to sign a petition in support of affordable housing that's how and a number of people mentioned that uh they had a similar experience vacancy decontrol was not mentioned at all and that is the Hallmark of this referendum uh and it was it was hidden it was and people who were tricked there was a there was a person who worked in the housing office the rent leveling Office of the city of Hoboken who uh who I represent who told me that that she had been tricked into signing this uh so so they were effective at at deceiving a lot of people uh to uh deal with an issue that is extremely important and uh for the folks who said that uh that if this was such a great idea and such a great argument and these were such compelling points and there were landlords who did make and have made uh legitimate and compelling points then that this question should be presented in a transparent and open and clear and honest way so that people who sign the petition know what they were signing for and when we vote on this in November uh then they know what they're going to be voting on uh I Echo councilman cantero this is going to be a very well-funded fite in November uh I hope and expect that the more than a hundred people who emailed me about this uh the many people who spoke tonight uh will be true to their word uh I I love the one speaker who talked about how he was going to go through the bar and talk to everyone in the bar about this because it's going to be an all handson deck effort to defeat this uh I uh have uh called on my Council colleagues to pass a resolution condemning these practice back in April uh in July I introduced another uh resolution where we unanimously said that we should oppose this and uh there's a lot of things that Council colleagues and I disagree on but this was a unanimous vote we all agreed all nine of us that this should be defeated I hope that it will be I'm committed to do everything in my power to help make that happen uh and I thank uh the public again for their participation and hanging in there with us tonight and having their voices heard thank you council president thank you councilman Callen councilman Russo thank you council president I think it's important that we all understand that there's been a lot of uh misinformation and misunderstanding I think through all of this because even here tonight we had a lot of The Advocates uh the tenant Advocates speaking about rent control when in reality they were really talking about affordable housing in the city of Hoboken and and that issue always gets conflated um back in I think it was February when we voted February of 23 when we voted on rent control then we got certain things passed right we reduced the the overall increase uh from 7 and a half to 5% which was a a tenant friendly uh position but we also changed the look back right from however many years to only two years which was more of a landlord friendly friendly um position so a lot of things changed in the last year unfortunately we were able to kind of get a little bit it and I think even in the second vote when there was a compromise between landlords and and and and tenants we would have got even more and I'm not opposed to doing that I'm not opposed to changing the rent control laws slowly and surely and getting more and more for our tenants and making it e more Equitable for our landlords one of my biggest fears here tonight is that if this referendum passes we will not be able to vote on rent control changes for three years we won't be able to do those types of things that's my big concern you know right now everybody's and I and I do council president I thank you councilwoman fiser councilwoman Jabor and councilman Doyle I thank you very much for sitting in a room and negotiating this compromise but I'm not as rosy as some of my colleagues about it because we took a lot of time we took a lot of effort and we called caused a lot of angst in our city we caused a ton of angst in our city where people were concerned because number one they didn't understand it I I think council members probably didn't even understand it until we had some clarifying language late in the game after uh right before our first reading but but ultimately I think we need to do better right I think we need to do better when we when we sit in a room and try to when we try to govern and solve some of these very difficult positions um I I do I I thank you all for doing what you did but I think we need to make sure we articulate that better for our public because this was a five hour meeting and I think probably every council person is going to vote against this here tonight but I don't know if that was necessarily the case before we came into this meeting let's just call it what it is right there were council members that were willing to vote for this there were council members that sat in a room to negotiate it there were council members who had some concerns but they thought it was a better position than a potential referend so it's just one of those things that I think we need to do better in communicating to our residents and I think we need to figure out what the next step is because not particularly about rent control but specifically about affordable housing in the city of Hoboken so when when we move toward Redevelopment of our housing authority and we ask for additional properties that the city May potentially own and to hand those over to the housing authority to do what we're advocating for I'm expecting my Council colleagues to support that when I put forth a uh Redevelopment plan that's a 100% Workforce housing Redevelopment plan I'm expecting my Council colleagues to support those things those are the concerns that our residents have it's not just about rent control we're using rent rent control to to try to fix a housing issue and that's not necessarily the best way to do that so I'm I'm hoping my Council colleagues will support those initiatives as they come up thank you very much council president thank you councilman councilman presan thank you council president I think the past two weeks for many of us I think I've had sleepless nights um it's been call after call email after email and and a lot of research on on I think many of our parts and I I Echo what uh councilman Ramos had said you know we shouldn't be in this place a veto got us here you know tinkering with the refer with with rank control ultimately got us to The veto that got us here today and when I was presented with the compromise I had my questions the way I look at things um but I had a dig deep and start listening to other people listening to both sides you know I had some people that were informed some people that didn't even know this is happening um but ultimately when I put the numbers next to each other and I looked at where rents are today in some of these units and just in general and then looked at market rate rents it literally scared the hell out of me and the question I asked everybody um if you're ready to go to a referendum are you comfortable with the possibility that the scenario of going to a three-bedroom potentially for $6,000 uh could be a reality if the referendum passes and you know I know we have 66% or 65% renters so every time three people were comfortable with that one landlord was not um again I hate to refer back to council Ramos but sitting in many of our seats here and us going through elections you never know sometimes what can happen and I I think one of the the positive things that that we should look at tonight or at least I hope the public looks at us is that the politics were put aside and each one of us talked to each other um haven't had to talk chance to talk to everybody but we had a discussion and it wasn't um the book of whole book in politics it was we tried to get to a solution that worked best for us we got the feedback from our constituents um I'm still death deathly afraid of this referend uh and especially that you know 100 votes separates things so going forward um I I feel happy that uh my decision to vote no tonight is based upon listening to the feedback from everybody from the constituents in my area from residents and Marine View to Residents down at the West end of town uh in the ward and I it was a great learning experience for me I I I thought I understood rent control and I think by speaking with some of my colleagues actually helped me understand a little bit more and some of the nuances that maybe I wasn't well vers in I'm not a I'm not an expert now uh however I do feel going forward that since we're all kind of on the same page uh there could be a better path forward I do believe that we do have to make some some changes uh it is a concern that if the referendum does pass for three years we can't touch that that is something very very important I think that is an option as the compromise looks like it's going to fail the compromise would have allowed us some ability to change things but that's kind of out you know that's be be on us now uh but again I think to reiterate to the public that I don't think any I can tell you anybody here the sleepless nights and and the the stress that it's had on all of us uh I don't think I could put words to it so I just like people to see that but the positive thing is that we worked on it together you know we all talk to each other and that's something we don't always get to do in Hoboken as we know it's a bless for the political scene here but uh again thank you for everybody put their time in and thank you for everybody that's reached out and uh we'll be in touch with you as as we get to the next phase of this thank you council president thank you councilman councilwoman Jabor thank you council president uh just to Echo the thanks that my colleagues have shared to the members of the public uh for reaching out as part of this conversation whether it was in an email or speaking tonight as part of the meeting or just watching the meeting with interest um understand rent control is an extremely complicated area of policy and I think every year that I'm on the council I learn about it in a slightly different way and my understanding develops um and I think that's part of what drove um I can safely say that's part of what drove the conversation that happened between council president councilman Fischer councilman Doyle and myself when it came to the discussion leading up to the consideration of the ordinance that was on the agenda tonight we were very concerned that this is a very complex area of policy and that it might be misunderstood and you didn't have to look any further than how the petition signatures were collected by msta to know there was a possibility of this Being Framed in a way that could dke people because that's how as people commented on the call tonight they ended up signing something that they didn't actually agree with and how can you hang your hat on being being so confident that a referendum that is about such a complex area of policy that is about people's homes and their lives isn't going to pass and and that's what really compelled much of our conversations and working together to try and get to a better place um I agree with councilman Doyle that the reason that this was considered a compromise is because what was put forward is better than what the referendum stands for I'm very confident in that I loud and clear hear the feedback from the public and appreciate that people don't feel comfortable with what has been put forward um and I on the merits of how this process works for me as an elected official um it is the will of the people to take this to a ballot I have to support that I have um no doubt in my mind that um given the feedback that that's the right thing to do um but I will say you know this was really this was a really difficult um this has been a very difficult period of time I think you've heard that from all of us because renters are our family members renters are our neighbors but so are some of these landlords um people who spoke on the call tonight who especially who are Mom and Pop they're are neighbors too and I don't want anyone to feel like they were targeted as part of these discussions because we do have to figure out ways to address some of the concerns that were raised tonight on both sides of this uh and I think that there are pieces of what was proposed that can move forward perhaps um and I'm very hopeful that the commitments that people made to stand up tonight on behalf of renters and say that this referendum is dangerous and it is scary will continue to bang that drum because we're going to need everybody to come out to fight this referendum in November and I'm not as confident as some of you who spoke um but I look forward um for all of us standing up together um you know in February of 2023 which was referred to you know we were able to strengthen some of the protections for tenants um I really continue to take issue with the idea that that one veto that happened subsequent to that was the thing that brought this on because I feel like if we had had a United voice then the way we have a United voice now inste to hang a referendum as a threat on the other side of that that's just not a good way to make policy and I think one of the successes of this whole process is the fact that we were able to have better conversations and try and get to solutions that we could get behind um but I really just hope that this is um the opportunity for us to work better together moving forward in the name of these continued protections um for tenants so thank you council president thank you councilwoman javor um first I just want to say I thought April Harris was spoton I apologize if I'm not say for you exactly but she um was trying she was articulating that rent control does not solve for affordability I think it used to I really do think it used to but it no longer does and um I really appreciated her comments on that um councilwoman javor I couldn't agree more with you about all of us working together um I felt like we were getting to a really good place but on the other hand of the on the other side of that I did reach out to the mayor at the beginning of last week and said if you want to talk rent control let's talk and I didn't get a single phone call and then he puts that email out today and I feel like we really missed an opportunity because of that because if there were things that he wanted to change possibly we could have had them in the compromise and possibly we could have been at a place where all of us and the mayor would be on the same page but but because that call never happened there was never that opportunity um I do appreciate everyone who called in again I really appreciate my council members um now if we can just work on the budget that would be awesome but thank you to all everyone who called in tonight and you know took your time oh and one other thing for all everyone who was complaining about my time limit um I might mess it up but I think it's like Rule 13 section e says the presiding officer can establish the time so I was not breaking any of our rules um Mr lore please call the vote okay councilman Cohen no councilman Doyle no councilwoman fiser no councilwoman Jabor no councilman pres Zano hey but you said no n he's a horse I'm G start using that Paul cantero nay councilman Ramos no thank you councilman Russo nay and council president gtino no we can't close the meeting people because we have to have public portion but since I get to set the times if all of you are going to start raising your hands again everyone has one minute does anyone want to speak in public portion there they are there go all right Jerry get your one minute timer started you got it Kevin Weller I won't use a whole minute thank you for your vote we very much appreciate thank you thank you Nicole Manana hello just want to say thank you all for the vote I hope that all of this comes out for real in the real votes um I'm not g to like lose the point on my original point was that this started with the referendum it started with fraudulent atures and even if it's lost in the referendum I do think there's ground for people to fight the fraudulent of how this whole thing was even brought apart and brought about but thank you guys for all of your support tonight thank you for working late and thank you for hearing everyone I yielded my time thank you Nicole chyl phallic who I think call Stan good evening again Council two of us here me speaking first um I agree with the previous speaker we should look into that if this was a fraudulent ballot but secondarily if it is if we're not going to pursue that or that isn't pursued we do need to respond to the Hoboken Fair Housing Association and the and the issue of the language on the ballots interpretive statement um so that would be the next step and I just wanted to put that on the table we will be moving on that even if the council doesn't but based on that legal case that was cited earlier by one of the previous speakers you actually do have to vote on it and that's your opportunity to fix something that's very misleading thank you and then Mary's going to speak Mary Andrea 1599 Street I heard you gy um I was there I killed myself on that referendum in 2012 I was responsible for so much to help win that vote I know it was horrible and I said I would never want to go through that again but this there are new tenants in town you have to have faith we will overturn it we will unite we didn't have one one single Council member's backing in that 2012 except for you I ran into you in the park and you were worried and hopeful for us and I appreciated that and we'll never forget that but you nobody helped us there was um a a few people that helped us and we still won and we won twice and we won after that stinking uh the the the flood but we did we will win Zach yep hi just saying thank you so much for your votes uh you know we really appreciate it and we can't wait for you all to campaign with us against the referendum in November because you know you all care so much about the issue we really saw that tonight and we really want to see that come out when you campaign with us against the referendum in November we're counting on you yield my time have a good night good night just uh echoing it Dennis Stewart again uh just echoing everybody else saying thank you uh for your vote and yeah I look forward to meeting this in November thank you good night Austin Kaplan hi Austin Kaplan thank you I just wanted to thank you guys again for your time um you know this is the first time in four years that I'm getting involved in local politics and so to be on the call to feel as though I had my voice heard and that you guys actually were listening to the voice of your constituents gives me a lot of hope to get involved in elections moving forward and uh more more hope that we can get this done in November especially given the gravity of the presidential election and the outcome of of Voters being out toh get the vote out now so thank you again and have a good night good night is this Dan Cheryl are you on for Dan did you want to say something Dan okay I'll say something go ahead you only got a minute okay well thanks very much for voting that way I think you should look into the the fact that the misleading information was on the the original ballot that's something that we pointed out that nobody really looked into and and and passed so so it's going on the balance so if that's possible that something should be looked into thank you Dan Brendan thank you sorry I was muted I'm falling asleep as well as everyone else only two hours late um just want to thank you all I look forward to helping fight this referendum and we should prank we should investigate what H the um the duplicitous means they Ed to get this referendum passed good night everyone good night lisis toivio hi um oh sorry that's fine um I was a Hoboken tenant for 42 years uh my husband and I are in Jersey City now for about one year and um thank you for your vote uh echoing the uh uh the interpretive statement must be accurate and reasonable and we are all aware of the deceptive tactics that have been in play recently and were in play in 2012 I was also active in pushing back to that referendum and we must stay vigilant against the deceptive tactics and we look forward to your support of reasonable and honorable campaigning in November thank you I yield my time thank you thank you coun thank you thank thank you council president I'm G to be quick I want to thank you all for your time council president you and all the members of the council and members of the public once again thank you for your time and yes I yeld back see you all tomorrow than I should night out um Patricia your hand was up and it's not now so it's not up I'm taking it you do not want to speak uh I know we had one up it's up there it goes Patricia waiters I'm glad I woke up thank you guys thank all of you for your vote it's just time to work together I don't like it when it get to this point to where the fight is ugly and is you against them it's all Us in This Together residents and please think of new tactics that we could do to not make nobody be misplaced and forced to leave out of Hoboken because we all like family and friends thank you for the vote good night good night oh and thanks Michael Russo M uh it's said oh Tony Tony sores hi Tony sores um you know democracy will will will work this through but I just want to say a couple of things one stop saying you're all for affordable housing when you don't develop housing stop with the talk about we're not going to we have to have a density ordinance stop with reducing the R1 Zone from four family the R2 Zone from four families to three families to actually now basically one family homes if you really care about preserving affordable housing think about the affordable housing we currently have the studio apartments the ground floor Apartments the OV exaggerated elevated flood elevation and I know Mr Doyle's putting his hands in his face because he doesn't like to hear the facts but he talks constantly about reducing hoboken's density but every smart urban planner with experience will tell you you build affordable housing through density that's how you do it now if we even if we preserve every single rent control apartment as it is now for in for for time in in Memorial we still need more affordable housing thank you thank you Tony Michelle hirch hi I want to say thank you to everybody for your votes tonight I look forward to working with you to defeat the referendum and I'd like to say it's pretty exciting to have a community of people to come together so that um you know when we've got a common cause and I truly truly believe what I said which is that there are alternative solutions to be explored and I look forward to working with many of the people that were on the call tonight to uh to to explore them and see what we can bring to you thank you thank you Jessica BR yeah hi I wanted to Echo what Michelle said and I really appreciate you guys and I know for a fact that several of you listened with Open Hearts and Minds on this and we appreciate you being responsive to all of the arguments that you heard tonight thank you thank you have a good night we have no other members of the public signed up to speak motion to close public portion motion favor everybody the meeting we didn't close the meeting all everybody