okay everyone we're about to get started if we can silence our cell phones close the back door find your seats again we're about to get started if we can find our seats silence our cell phones I greatly appreciate it theorum please dorum hello everyone if we're going to continue to talk we can take the conversation outside we have a lengthy agenda we'd like to get started thank you people in the front row front row over here yep yep please thank you no no good evening everyone we are on the record today is Wednesday the 10th day of April in the year 2024 this is a regular meeting of the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 600 p.m start the clock on my cell phone is showing 6:10 p.m. and we have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting council person Ridley council person priner council person Bano counc person SLE here council person Solomon here council person Gilmore pres council person Dees council person Rivera here and council president wman we have eight council members in attendance at 6:10 p.m. can we kindly rise for a moment of silence please ACD goel thank you very much on behalf of council president Waterman and the members of the municipal Council in accordance with New Jersey public laws of 1975 chapter 231 the open public meetings act also known as the Sunshine Law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the posting on the bulletin board of the first floor the city hall the annual notice which is the schedule of meetings and caucuses of the municipal Council for the calendar year 2024 and filed in the office of the city clerk on Thursday December 30th 2023 in addition it's time of its preparation the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday April 5th 2024 at 4:55 p.m. to the mayor Municipal Council business administrator Corporation Council and the local newspapers and posted on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law council members before we move on to the regular order of business we just have one item to add to the agenda and that's item 1077 resolution 24284 which is honoring the legacy of the Hudson reporter may I have a motion to add item 1077 moot motion made by council person SLE seconded by council person the on a motion to add item 1077 resolution 24284 to the agenda council person priner Hi council person bajano Hi council person CLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president Waterman motion carries 80 with council person Ridley absent to add item 1077 to the agenda on to our regular order of business if you would allow me to read them into the record I'll start with the first reading ordinances item 3.1 city ordinance 24-20 is an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of a section of the Hudson River walkway known as block 1452 Lot 4 formerly known as block 8 lot five from the Jersey City Redevelopment agency item 3.2 city ordinance 24- 021 is an ordinance granting an easement to the liner Board of Education affecting real property owned by the city of Jersey City known as block 233 Lots lot 11 as shown on the official tax maps of the township of Linhurst item 3.3 city ordinance 24- 022 is an ordinance authorizing an amendment to certain dedication agreement among 126-142 Morgan Street urban renewal LLC 134 Bay Street LLC and the City of Jersey City dated May 28th 2029 2019 excuse me for certain land and Improvement locate improvements located within the towerhouse Arch District R Redevelopment a area at provos Street between Bay Street and Morgan Street item 3.4 city ordinance 24- 023 is an ordinance creating chapter 276 lithium iron batteries prohibiting the sale of lithium iron batteries creating lithium iron battery business registry and charging regulations for lithium ion batteries and supplementing chapter 160 fees and is establishing a fee for the inspection of sellers of lithium onon batteries and powered Mobility devices device businesses and last but not least item 3.5 city ordinance 24-24 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 8 parking permit parking amending section 332-5800 district council members are going to be taking a vote on items 3.1 through 3.5 for introduction C person Prince arry I for introduction council person bajano I for introduction council person Cay I for introduction council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi for introduction council person Dej hi for introduction council person River hi and council president wman items 3.1 through 3.5 are introduced 80 with council person Ridley absent council members I believe I was told before the meeting started that you would like to defer to a couple of ceremonial resolutions before we move on to the second reading ordinances is that correct yes okay so the motion to defer to items 10.7 10.8 and 1077 we'll vote on them in order but I figured we'll do a compound motion to defer to all three so again that's the motion to defer to items 10.7 10.8 and 1077 council person Prince are I council person Bano I council person SLE I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person rera I and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person Ridley absent to defer to items 10 78 and 77 first resolution is item 10.7 and the title excuse me resolution 24-21 14 the title a resolution recognizing Sandy Guerrero as the first ever National Collegiate women's wrestling championship individual champion in the history of the state of New Jersey council person Prince Ary would you like to take a vote on it first or would you like to read it into the record let's read it into the record because it's pretty remarkable let's do that okay and I'll give you the honors thank you okay so the council offers and moves to adopt the following resolution whereas Sandy Guerrero is the first ever National Collegiate women's wrestling champion of the NC wwc NCAA individual champion in the history of the state of New Jersey and whereas Sandy is the first national champion from the Northeast in the history of the ncww C's all 49 other Champions at all 10 weight classes dating back to the inaugural 20120 championships are from an institution in the Midwest region with three hailing from Tennessee and one from Georgia and whereas for her accomplishments Sandy was selected as the NC wwc National tournament's most outstanding wrestler after she went 5 with four wins by fall or pins and whereas outside of her NJCU wrestling achievements Sandy assists her family in running the day-to-day operations of No Limit martial arts in West Orange New Jersey coaching youth classes in her downtime she also has a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and earned a bronze medal in the summer of 2023 as the world ibjjf Jiu-Jitsu noi championship and whereas Sandy is the first ever female wrestler in the history of West Orange High School and in 2020 she became the first njs AA champion in wohs history and whereas ncu's women's wrestling program competed in its inaugural season in 2021 or 2020 to 2021 the program has now finished in the top eight as Regional championships in all four seasons and the top 18 at the national championships all four seasons also this season the team earned a national ranking of number nine in the nation the highest in program history and whereas Sandy is the only three-time All-American in program history and currently leads NJCU in career wins with 63 wins by fall at 32 and career wins at 119 at 119 pounds now therefore be it resolved the members of the Jersey City municipal Council and the City of Jersey City do hereby honor the outstanding athletic and personal achievements of Sandy Guerrero on the occasion of becoming the first ever National Collegiate women's wrestling champion for individual champion in the state of New Jersey we wish her luck in her future endeavors and congratulations hey council members I'm going to be taking a vote on resolution 24-24 council person priner since I read the resolution I'll keep it brief just remarkable congratulations I vote I council person buano I council person SLE your accomplishments are truly remarkable and unparalleled and with that I proudly vote I and thank you for breaking so many barriers I council person Solomon and what an extraordinary set of accomplishments so glad you're here at in Jersey City at NJCU and you do us all proud so I proudly vote I council person Gilmore um I proudly vote I Sandy um congrats ulations it is so hard to compete um on a national level and to see that you are the first woman in the state of New Jersey to accomplish this fee um Skies is the limit for you young lady so congratulations continue to be great on purpose council person Dees congratulations to you you good work I vote I council person Rivera I'm sure you are an inspiration to many you know and I'm that's like an awesome accomplishment you've done you know throughout your whole life I proudly vote I and council president wman congratulations Sandy I resolution 24-24 is approved unanimously 80 with council person Ridley absent congratulations Sandy do you want to say a couple of words not to put you on this hot seat might want to wrestle now I just want to thank everyone so much I'm here with my family and my head coach coach Barry and the Women's Basketball team is here as well so I appreciate everyone I just thank you to Jersey City and NJCU they've done so so much for me and I have one more year with them so I'm super excited thanks okay we'll pause while they take the photo council members are you going to take the photo with them or no okay is up you Sean if you Sean want everybody to go downstairs can we go down Sean don't move just yet we're going to take a group photo you C okay so our next resolution is item 10.8 resolution 24-25 is a resolution recognizing the accomplishments of new of New Jersey City University women's basketball team record 19 victories for the 2023 2024 season council person priner would you like to read that into the record yes everybody settled yep so you guys want to come up coach team Okay so so a resolution recognizing the accomplishments of New Jersey City University women's basketball teams record 19 victories for the 2023 24 24 season whereas prior to 2020 the NJCU women's basketball program has gone s had gone since 1989 without making a trip to the postseason since then they've qualified for five straight postseason tournaments and have been in the Conference Finals four straight years winning three of them and whereas since 2020 2021 season NJ NJCU has compiled a 5833 overall record including a program record 19 victories 2023 2024 the green and gold have played in four straight njac Championship Games winning three of them two of those njac Championship wins resulted in the first two trips to the NCAA division 3 tournament in program history and whereas senior co- Captain dearis Rodriguez is a conference's two-time player of the year and she joins in on four of the program's nine all njac selection since 2021 Rodriguez named Rookie of the Year by the conference in 2021 the last two seasons NJCU has won 14 games in regular season conference play the most in program history and whereas annually the gothic Knights have collected a myriad postseason individual accolades they now boast three All-American honors all since 2023 including one this season for Ras and the D3 hoops.com second team she's also a four-time first team D3 hoops.com All Region selection including Rookie of the Year in 2021 and whereas Rodriguez was also named division 2/3 Player of the Year by Metropolitan basketball writers association in 2023 for the second time in her career she was the first ever freshman to win the same honor in 20121 as a team NJCU has four First Team all met selections since 2021 the Eastern College Athletic Conference selected Rodriguez as the division three player of the year in 2023 and she is a two-time first team honor now therefore be it resolved that the city council of the city of Jersey City and the City of Jersey City congratulates the NJCU women's basketball program on their many successes over the last four years and in particular for their record-breaking 19 victories for 2023 2024 and we look forward to many more successful seasons in the future okay council members going to be taking a vote on resolution 24-25 council person Prince are so again remarkable work ladies to you and your team and your captains um you know like with Sandy and like with your successes it's really important that we amplify all that's really great about Jersey City so congratulations again I vote I council person Bano congratulations and I vote I council person Cay congratulations we are so so proud of you and you have faced the longest of odds the cards stacked against you and by sheer force of your will perseverance and dedication you made history and you are a true Jersey City story and you embody the best Among Us I proudly vote I council person Solomon congratulations so much to be proud of you guys are upholding an incredible tradition of basketball in Jersey City so thank you guys for doing that lots of championships in Jersey City so I proudly vote I council person Gilmore um first and foremost I want to congratulate my brother Pat defy you're truly turning NJCU into a power housee um keep working hard at doing what you doing far as recruiting and everything and I'm proud of you I'm proud I still give you buckets but I'm proud of you I'm definitely proud of you um ladies congratulations you laid it all out there on the court and it's really a great feat I do have one issue to pick where Rodriguez you went to see caucus right and you hit that shot against Lincoln in a finals and I'm still upset over there but um congratulations on all your accolades I probably vote I council person de nice job ladies but I council person Rivera you know let let's not sugar cot you guys kicked ass you know congratulations you guys really did that and uh you know my my niece played with with you know in 2020 I think it's two her name is Emily Ruez you know and she was out there with you guys so I'm over here texting her and her sister over there but uh an amazing job I vote I and council president wman congratulations lady well done well done ladies I vote on resolution 24-25 is approved unanimously 80 with council person Ridley absent would you like to say a few words first and foremost I would like to thank our council members of Jersey City for presenting us with these Awards and acknowledging us um we thank you guys so much we think that we um we we stand for what jersey stand Jersey City stands for we're resilient you know we'll we'll be able to get through anything and that's just with the backend of our city and we hope to see you guys at games next year we'll have a VIP seaing for you all and next year should be bigger and better and at the division 3 level it's uh our girls juggle a lot they work full-time jobs we have two moms on the team who are juggling at single mothers so we have girls that are paying their own way through school so um it's a testament to the student athletes that we have here and uh we wouldn't be able to do it without them and without the the great Administration that we have and our um Gothic KN family so I want to say thank you all we greatly appreciate you all and uh I I want that 101 at njc one day better take him up on that offer absolutely guys don't go anywhere because I think the council is going to take a picture with you all e he Sean's okay how's everybody doing today uh great my name is Ron ban I'm assistant director of uh student athlete development at New Jersey City University uh we just want to thank all our council members for having us here today uh especially councilwoman Mira for putting us all together uh we're coming out of women's History Month which is a very important month uh we would just like to make a huge emphasis on our women's programs they made a lot of history throughout the years including our uh Women's Basketball team Sandy Guerrero being a national championship along with our women's soccer team as well making history in the fall I also speak on behalf of for the core of our teams majority of our uh student athletes are uh members of Hudson County and they call Jersey City Home their success not only represents the university but it represents the community and it is moments like these in Council meetings that show the alignment with the university the athletic department and what our community Can Build Together Outsiders may not know where Jersey City is but when our teams travel we let them know who Jersey City is we're proud of them and we continue to strive in our community I'll leave you with this if you want to go fast go alone if you want to go far go together when we travel on the road it's Jersey City versus everybody let's continue to build in our community and we're thankful for having us that was Ron gains can you can you can you come up for one second I'm sorry it's it's so hard to hear up here I I apolog if you could just spell your name for us Baines b a i n EES thank you so much thank you okay so our next resolution that we defer to is resol resolution 24-28 which is item 1077 honoring the legacy of the Hudson reporter so council person bajano would you like to read that into the record all right the legacy of the Hudson reporter and the importance of local news whereas Hudson reporter was originally founded in 1983 by Joseph Barry and was formerly known as the Hoboken reporter and whereas the Hudson reporter expanded and contined to deliver a new part to Hudson County and whereas the Hudson reporter has covered many long-term issues in Jersey City such as Liberty State Park's battle against developer Paul fireman and whereas reporter and editorial staff Jordan Cole write wrote stories such as Jersey City residents say the Code Compliance system isn't working an editorial n member Daniel Israel covered stories such as two years after its founding black and Bon becomes a nonprofit and whereas local news matters and what journalists do matters cities no longer have access to the printing press and as a result the role of journalists is to be sted of the truth and to pull those who serve our Civic institutions into account and whereas the closure of the Hudson reporters seemed to follow Nationwide Trend as many reporters are facing massive layoffs layoffs from their respective Publications and whereas a study commissioned by Harvard Business School found that after a newspaper shuts down violations of publicity listed companies increased by 1.1% and the penalties from Regulators Rose by 1.5% and whereas The pointner Institute found the Us lost nearly 25 2900 newspapers and 43,000 journalists since 2005 and whereas Civic engagement declines when local newspapers shut down and ultimately leads to the erosion trust a swift wave of democratic backlash in our given democracy and with the la loss of a local newspaper you lose that sense of unity and connection to your community and whereas the reader of the Hudson reporter would feel connected to the issues that turned that roed the city of Jersey City and whereas the Jersey City and its residents were privileged to have good journalists at the Hudson reporter who would listen to the issues brought by locals who and who simply cared and whereas after the oneyear anniversary of the closure of the Hudson report the city of Jersey City recognizes the journalists and sta staff who DED dedicated their lives to delivering these stories specifically managing editor Jean Richard richens staff writer Daniel Israel and Jordan Cole art director Terry Bish ad manager Tish C CAC senior account executive Ron CAC uh bookkeeper Simon Metro and art director Mary Helen Fink now therefore be it uh resolved by the city council of the city of Jersey City we hereby honor the staff of the Hudson reporter and thank them for their services and dedication and I just want to add you know people say that we don't really get the news anymore on crime on on what's going on most people don't go on Facebook most people don't turn uh especially older people don't go to this media and and use their computers it's a shame we've lost contact with the World by doing away with newspapers and I wish to God they'd come back and we'd have real real newspapers here in Jersey City again and throughout the country all right council members I'm going to be taking a vote on resolution 24-28 council person Prince AR so this vote is a little Bittersweet right because we are recognizing the accomplishments of you all and the Hudson reporter while recognizing that you guys have also been closed for a year right and the Press is supposed to be the fourth estate right the fourth power in government executive legislative judicial press um if not for the Press we might not know about stories like these women's athletes at NJCU right it opens up the door to have conversations and so people have a very very well-rounded opinion about you know what's happening in the world not just what selectively pops up in their feeds you know my you know my father my mother my grandparents when I was little we would read five different papers cover to cover we could talk to pretty much anybody about anything because of it so um you know obviously I'm voting I and thank you all for the work that you've done but it is certainly a Bittersweet vote council person Bano it was nothing better than sitting down in the morning having a cup of coffee and reading The Daily News not The Daily News but the newspapers uh and I didn't mean the Daily News I meant the newspapers and I wish you two guys would start a new newspaper here in Jersey City and get a hold of a couple of the other reporters that are around and start another newspaper here in Jersey City I vote I hey you go council person Cay journalism and reporters are not just sacran but critical for a functioning democracy um for you are the fourth branch of the government you hold us accountable you Monitor and Report the push and pull between different uh groups um the government organizations and you know you guys keep us honest and it is Bittersweet that you know we mourn the law of the Hudson reporter and we also honor you at the same time I hope that today with this honor we are able to inspire another round of Hudson reporter another generation of reporters in general who will take the helm the with the torch being passed to them and remembering everything you guys did and to continue that Legacy with that I vote I council person Solomon just on a personal note Jordan and Daniel thank you for your work um at the Hudson reporter and your ongoing work covering uh Jersey City echoing what my colleagues have said uh the local press is such an important institution um I remember getting you know Hudson report or free on my uh doorstep uh reading Al Sullivan's coverage of the happenings in in Jersey City and uh you know now I mean every single person getting a free paper to now having the paper not exist is a huge huge loss so you know by commemorating this hopefully we are uh encouraging and and you know doing everything on our part to encourage the flourishing of local press and in whatever new capacity it will emerge and continue to emerge with some of the new Outlets so I proudly vote I council person Gilmore a i council person thees with all of the amazing things that happen in our city every day it is a tragedy that we don't have a local paper that picks up on some of these stories on social media we live in bubbles so we're only following and reading things that our friends and family are sharing and we really limit ourselves we think we have access to everything we really don't so I really do wish there was a paper you were staple in my household for a very long time and we'd read about just people in our neighborhood students that went to Local Schools uh the guy who owned the store up the block it was something that you really related to and you wanted to read we don't have that anymore so thank you for what you're doing and yes it is Bittersweet i vot i c person Riva I vote I and council president wman resolution 24-28 is approved unanimously 80 with council person Ridley absent before we allow you to speak if you can just State your names for the record and spell them for our court report I greatly appreciate it Jordan Cole Jordan j o r d a n Cole c o l l thank you and Daniel Israel d a n i e l i Sr a e l thank you hello hi and so pretty much wrote a draft I'll make it pretty brief um but thank you guys again this is very historical Bittersweet as you guys have mentioned it um so it's pretty interesting to see now that there's uh you know there's actually movement and and things that are happening um so I thank you guys for that for for approving it unanimously um so members of the council salutations um last year on January 20th the unexpected happened around 2:30 p.m. I along with my colleague Dan is are incredibly Mighty editor Jee richings and our entire editorial staff were given some disappointing news the Hudson reporter a 40-year-old newspaper chain would no longer be running business as usual the city lost a pillar the living and breathing press but a little over a year later we humbly stand in front of the city and appointed members of the council to say that our loss a year ago is a win today this is a win today We Make History here and beond Beyond these four walls local news matters what we do truly matters just look at the state of the world a journalists will probably be on the sidelines documenting interpreting and Reporting the news at hand ironically The Last Story I was working on that day before we were let go happened to be on the theme of local news deserts exactly what happened to us a year ago cities that no longer had the beacon nor the access to the printing press as journalist our role is to be stewards of the truth and to be hold those who serve our Civic institutions into account call us Watchdogs because that's exactly who we are unfortunately the closure of the Hudson reporter is not much of a surprise look at what's happening around the world as many reporters are faced with massive layoffs what is at stake when you lose a local newspaper let's look at the facts and bajo council member bajo thank you for stating them a study commissioned by Harvard Business School found that after a newspaper shuts down violations of publicly listed companies increase by 1.1% and penalties from Regulators increased by 15% who is watching over these individuals who have so much influ influence at hand another eye openening report offered by the pointer Institute found the US lost nearly 2900 newspapers and 43,000 journalists since 20 05 up until now and those numbers are still Rising Civic engagement declines when local newspapers shut down ultimately leading to the erosion of the Public's trust a swift wave of democratic backlash in our given democracy without reporters the public is not informed on how their taxes are being used by the city they live in what is happening in the latest school board meeting or City Council meetings the ones that we presented here today what is happening with latest crime developments and the list goes on and on and on I am originally from Miami Florida I was drawn up here to pursue my Graduate Studies in journalism little did I know that I'd end up coming here to cover Jersey City in Hoboken like it was my own City back home and honestly I covered more here than I did back home in Miami it was an honor and a true privilege to report the stories that truly and fundamentally mattered in a city that's not my own I know a lot of you guys can relate to that in my reporting I found that a lot happens in Jersey City um our oneyear anniversary recently passed and I would like to kindly to propose a solution not a solution but sorry not a solution but a step towards the right direction let this presentation and demonstration that we have here set precedent to what can happen with local newspapers such as the Hudson reporter being lost we are those Watchdogs I'd like to end this with a quote from the esteemed French philosopher and writer volter and quote I disapprove of what you say but I will defend to death your right to say it end quote with the loss of local newsrooms we lose that space to defend and preserve the freedom of speech and expression thank you thank you I'd also wait wait sorry I'd like to thank bajano and Dana and for setting this up thank you Dana and Pam so much for putting this and then good evening I'm Dan Israel a former staff writer for the Hudson reporter for more than three years I wrote for the print and digital newspaper and its sister paper the Bon Community News and covered seven towns including Bon Union City North Bergen salkus we Hawkin West New York and Gutenberg from breaking news stories to hard-hitting investigative pieces holding officials and institutions to account to heartwarming feature stories highlighting outstanding individuals there was something in the Hudson reporter for everyone to read and enjoy covering our beats with passion and drive it was a shock to my colleagues managing editor Jean richings staff writer Jordan Cole and the rest of the editorial staff mentioned in the resolution when the rug was pulled out from under us and we were laid off as the print papers closed that's same month other Publications under the newspaper and Media Group umbrella also suffered the same fate so I'd like to thank the city council for commemorating the print newspaper with this resolution following the one-year anniversary of the print newspaper's closure in January the loss of the historic local institution right here in Hudson County is no doubt a symptom of a larger trend of the decline of print news industry and the entire news industry in general Nationwide and it doubtedly impacted the spread of information throughout the community and Civic engagement it is important to remember his for history's sake the impact of their Hudson reporter and the news that it broke this is especially pertinent considering the online news Archive of the two print papers was removed from the still existing but no longer the same Hudson reporter.com the website may or may not be under a new owner but it shows signs of some type of possible AI involvement in the creation of new content in addition many old articles written under the former staff such as myself and my other former colleagues were removed from the website although some have slowly returned but with the by lines purged of the original author perhaps this resolution can begin the discussion of ai's impact on journalism the industry's decline and the implications of that right here in Hudson County regardless we cannot allow history to be deleted or Rewritten many award-winning journalists got their start at the Hudson reporter breaking hard-hitting stories in the print newspaper and its former online presence that had longlasting ramifications while this resolution honors the staff that were laid off that day and metaphorically went down with the ship I would like to highlight some others who are once staff members and have now gone on to bigger and better things this includes former editor-in Chief and now published author Kate rounds the late legendary sports writer Jim heg former staff writer and now Hoboken Communications manager Marilyn Bayer former staff writer and now North Bergen public information officer art Schwarz former editor and Chief and now writer at patch.com Karen lisner former staff writer and now current tap into staff writer Al Sullivan and former staff writer and now Jour Jersey Journal reporter Mark cuso and many many others in fact the Hudson reporter and the B Community News is what brought me to Hudson County this job immersed me in the worlds of Bon and North Hudson as well as Jersey City Hoboken and the stories I covered the places I visited and the people I I met touched me so deeply I moved here so I could cover it better in a time when ensuring the public is well informed with the unbiased truth is of Paramount importance there should be more newspapers opening in Hudson County not more closures in order to not repeat the past we must not only document it but study it and learn from it local newspapers especially print are key in that preservation of local local history but may otherwise not be recorded anywhere else I hope this may start a conversation about the need and the importance to car about a future that sees a reversal in the trend of the decline of local news to quote Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Richard cluer every time a newspaper dies even a bad one the country moves a little closer to authoritarianism thank you guys again than they're going to take a quick picture with you yeah a little crull okay all right so council members I I believe your intention is to defer to second second reading ordinance item 4.5 city ordinance 24- 018 may I have a motion to defer to item 4.5 Ocean second ordinance 24-18 the motion made by council person Rivera seconded by council person CLE on the motion to defer to item 4.5 city ordinance 24-18 council person priner Hi council person bajano council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees hi council person Riva I and council president Waterman motion carries 8 Z with Council person Ridley absent to defer to item 4.5 city ordinance 24-18 so with that being said let me read it into the record item 4.5 city ordinance 24- 018 is an ordinance naming the Miller Branch Library Cultural Arts Center Auditorium as the Dow David Williams Cultural Arts Center in honor of Dow David Williams this is a public hearing if so let me just say this is a public this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name and spell your name for the record please directly yeah uh good evening my name is Sam Williams I'm the supervisor of the community awareness series uh serving as the cultural Department to the mighty Jersey City free public library which we are so proud to be part of uh and also at the risk of sounding like the most biased uh person here the son of D David Williams you're yes you're welcome um I've known this man my entire life so I'm going to keep my comments uh brief he knows how similar we are and yet how different we are we we clash and we love very hard um Community awareness series uh also the founder of the spirit of Life Ensemble jazz band from 1975 to 1977 ongoing to the stay 46 going on 47 years uh I cannot speak enough to how much uh my father has impacted so many lives over the years uh has introduced uh and really been an architect of culture uh organizing activism and and there is not a social uh political issue that this man has not gone the bat for over his long 80 years and uh with that we are so grateful uh in particular uh the Jersey City Council uh uh council person Dan Rivera thank you so much uh we we appreciate the love and support of the uh wonderful Jersey City Library staff leadership and uh truly it's an honor and uh I'm I'm glad that my dad is alive to see this day so thank you I want to thank the before you go can you just state your name for the record and spell it yes it's Jerome Choice um I would like to thank the council for doing this ordinance for D Daris Williams I grew up in the library I grew up with the cultural awareness series at the Miller Branch and it has enriched my life 100% as a kid growing up I was exposed to so many different arts and discussions and it's by chance that I got a chance to work with awareness and this is something I didn't even see it coming I am so grateful for this because it not enhanced me but it enhanced my community and I just cannot say enough about the library and about the community awareness and David Dar Williams and what he's done for me in the city and I want to thank you again from the bottom of my heart good evening I'm Terry Hill and I have the honor of being the director of the Jersey City free public library while I am a relative newcomer to Jersey City I and so have so much to learn about this great place I wouldn't feel as much a part of this community if it wasn't for dud to the days he spent taking me around to meet people all around Jersey City and introducing me to all the great places to eat which I had to buy new clothes after that thank you D um but that showed his his love of Jersey City but it's also a testament to his dedication to making sure the work and commitment he has to this community continues if you've ever spoken to dud even for a few moments you know that service to the community always comes up in the conversation right community community community he talks about it but most importantly he is about it so the list is very long of the things that he's done for Jersey City and for the Jersey City free public library however the measure of a true public servant are the things that don't always show up on the list of accomplishments to D would I want to thank you personally and on behalf of the Jersey City free public library I want to thank you for the time you've taken to uh welcome me to Jersey City to help me make this my home I want to thank you for the work you've done through the years through the community awareness series The Music you've shared through Spirit of Life Ensemble and for your contributions to positioning the library is truly the heart of this great City so council members thank you always as your continued for your continued support of the library and Council Rivera thank you again for bringing this resolution forward thank you good evening my name is hold on one second hold on one second sorry Terry yeah you're good good evening my name is Barbara Williams and I happen to be the proud wife of Da David Williams and also I am an educator in Jersey City New Jersey and I want to speak to another aspect of the community awareness series Dow David Williams I see him as the father of culture in Jersey City because long before there was all of this stuff going on D was making culture happen um in a shoe box and also I want to say that he has brought culture to the Jersey City public schools in performances uh many students have now understood the power of music not just rap but music in terms of the spirit of Life Ensemble bringing Jazz performers that are World seasoned artists to the Public Schools performing for the Youth of our city and a lot of them come up to him years later and hug him and say because of you I love jazz because of you I love music so D has on many levels worn many hats and has brought education in the way of edutainment to not just the city but to our schools and to the worldwide because the spirit of Life Ensemble which he is also the founder of has traveled the world and they have done things like made Jersey City sister cities in terms of the International Community Dow is long overdue this honor as a matter of fact I think the Miller Branch Library should add his name the David D Williams Edmund Miller Miller Branch library because he saved it from Demolition he saved it from Demolition and not only that that parking lot was his hard work day uh month after month coming down here uh lobbying for there needs to be a parking lot in the Miller Branch Library a major Branch a major Branch not anywhere in the city does the a level of culture and interaction go on like it does at the Miller Branch library and I'll say one final thing my own development and who I am today is because of knowing D David Williams thank you good evening my name is Omar Baro and I come to pay accolades to my comrade you read through the various resolutions from the um Library uh from the resolution that we have here before the council they all speak to the what and the when and the how but they fail to speak to the why why the spirit of Life why the spirit of Life Ensemble why the community awareness series why because you got one of the greatest humanitarians this city ever seen if you ever been to any of the communities where in the Ser in the 47 years you saw with the Multicultural activities Celtics dancers afroc Cuban Caribbean Latin you name it Caucasian whatever the race Creed nationality they made their way through the community awareness series when you think about Spirit of Life the name of a band you think about Ensemble emble means together French words means together so it's not D David Williams and the spirit of life it's the spirit of life's Ensemble he embodies that which we all like to feel is what we all would like to be this great humanitarian concerned about the welfare and the well-being of others and he's tiess in that regard and selfless in every regards we as young men were on the front lines of the Black Liberation struggle we made Oaths at that time that we would not take a single needle thread from the masses that we would live our life of servants and when we first started working with the community uh develop the uh uh tbg program we put in a grant for the for the cast program way back then they first said no we persistent and we finally got it going it's one of the best investments probably the city ever made at that time after 40 some years later so you're talking about a man here who lives for other people not only for this city I mean i d traveled the world and whatever he ran into The Manhattans all cool in the gang all the boys from Jersey City will get together and they sometime would gig together they all all do Jersey City proud that everybody know that's our hometown that's where we're from and I don't care if it's in Sweden whatever it was always doing Jersey City proud but he's a revolutionary I want you to know that and Revolution doesn't mean that somebody want to harm somebody reolution you want to make change for the betterment you want to do better for yourself than you for other people as well as yourself you want to make sure you bring culture awareness to young people to understand not only Jazz but that's other cultures and this other way to live life food spoken word what have you thank you Omar all right thank you my revolutionary friend and conrade DOW David Williams uh I'm f carington it extremely important for me to be here and seeing what I'm saying I came to Jersey City in 1976 D was there I was in all different kinds of organization was in the black united front I frequent with the Black Panthers the Black Liberation Army and so on and so forth no matter who we are or what political Dogma be involved with we could always go to Miller Branch Library we could always sit with that thou will save yes the library but there are people such of us and even now some people still run from me if you are black radical or militant the aage so-called upper class Negroes don't want to talk to you that would talk with you would argue with you go back and forth and show you the way and so I'm I will be remissed not to be here to give my brother his flowers while he is alive is extremely important he's still here is my brother I'm not going to say too much of anything else because what have been said before and you all know the history of the midle branch Li what he have done but I got to stay true to this the brother has always been there I mean it was me and KY and the brother from the Black United friend that we would go and meet in other dingy basement and so on and so forth one the best place we could meet was at the Miller Branch library and that would always encourage us and always entertain us I owe you my brother all the respect good evening uh my name is Juan can you spell your last name for me please c a r r t a g n thank born in raised here New Jersey City I am the director of the seak Bamba Ensemble and it's the director of its folkloric Center seak Kim Bamba proud Porto Rican who've been living in Jersey City my entire life and I want to tell you that Mr D David Williams has been supportive of the kind of music we've been doing in our community for many many many many years so I'm was happy to be here in this at this time I'm also a percussionist and I'm as all percussionists we have everything in common with Mr Williams and we are very proud of the fact that we can keep the Beats alive in Jersey City I also want to mention the fact that spiritual life Ensemble is world renowned my own daughter Rosa my own wife n herand is got to see Spirit of Life ensemble in Paris in Paris live oh that the incredible richness of that of that incredible trajectory of music is clear the Public School Systems have been enriched by the work of spirit of Life Ensemble and Mr Williams I had the luxury the honor to be invited to jam with them on set in front of stages and assemblies here in Jersey City in the public schools as well but I want to end with this and it's the power of the Miller Branch the power and the incredible Spirit of that stage and when you walk in that stage in that room and you recognize all the incredible wealth of music that has been emanating from that stage Mr D David Williams help organize and you recognize the richness of America's music jazz music and how it's been riched by the fact that it exists right here in Jersey City you recognize the power there the first time SE King Bamba played there I told D that I was an honor to sharing the stage is so many greats so yes councilman Hera thank you to all the members of the council thank you for doing this but let's start it we're naming a Auditorium for him it's time we name a street a park a building for this man and for all the work that he's done thank you very much we you my glasses our next speaker if you can just state your name and spell it for me i' greatly appreciate it first name Alexandro last name Del spelling no yes please D is in David E L is in Larry Capital C is in Charles o n is in Nancy T is in Thomas E as an Edward okay well um just say that we uh and I would say the community um thank you for going from this consideration uh to this action to this decision uh to honor the space with a name that uh really embodies the uh labor of love that this man has given to his community uh has chosen to give to his community so uh wise decision we thank you hi name is in City caucus New Jersey now but I was a long time resident but I have to reset the clock I need your name and the spell for me please name and your spelling oh uh the last name is C RB y the first name is Gil g thank you anyway name is Gil Corby I come from caucus New Jersey but 26 years years ago me and the late great quame aiman were co-workers of D Williams he was our boss for 13 years I worked for the community awareness Series in those years I've learned the community wiar series was a great great great program I mean we had jazz artists we had all different artists come in community awareness series was not just a music program but an educational series D Williams is probably the numo Uno black educator in Jersey City black history was taught and still taught by the community awareness series not only black history but when I was a member of the community wedness series I was in charge of some of the Multicultural programs and I got excuse my 74 year old memory but I can't remember the man's name where we had a black no an Italian Professor an Italian Professor come in from University and he talked about the great Italian labor leader ERS this is forgotten history history that's not even taught in our schools anymore history that might even be censored if certain people get into office next year or this year actually but so do Williams is not only a teacher of black history but American history working class history that's forgotten and musically I met so many great jazz artists when I worked there faroh Sanders Ted kerson I mean D Williams is probably in the top three of all time black activists black Educators the Jersey City ever had and I just have to say about the community awareness series there should be Community awareness series across the country one two many Community awareness series that's what I have to say thank you and nobody could deserve this more the Mr Dar David Williams B oh Sam pesson PES i n thank you I thank the council for what I expect to be a unanimous and righteous vote D is an inspiring lifetime social justice and cultural activist and is a true Jersey City hero he has been a pioneering Champion for the importance of cultural arts to uplift people's spirits and bring people together I'm proud to call daoud my treasured friend his wisdom guidance and character has enriched my life and that of countless others it warms my heart that he is being recognized with this deserved honor Community awareness Series has brought great Music Theater dance poetry to audiences and awareness to the community on current events and on real American history C also brings programs into schools and has become a legendary Jersey City Cultural institution it's amazing to think that Dow started C 46 years ago and two years before he became the founding member band leader and multi- percussionist of the renowned Jazz group Spirit of Life Ensemble which has been said has been liftting people Spirits in Jersey City nationally and internationally I have my refrigerator a few postcards from dud from Paris and Germany uh so uh CIS has had a very positive impact on lives of people of all ages with its Multicultural offerings I'm a regular attendee of CIS programs and am always in awe of the performances and learn from speakers and discussion I enjoy the African Cultural Arts family Festival in juneth commemoration which D founded and co-organized with his amazing wife Barbara and dedicated educator and also his son Sam who is doing a super job as cis's enthusiastic and Innovative new supervisor D has been a longtime tenacious and determined leader for Liberty Park supporting the park as a Central Park Side Park and opposing several major privatization and commercialization plans D has always been speaking truth to power he has been a proponent of the Liberty Park protection act and has been advocating for Park improvements and opposing those continuing to push fear-mongering lies and smear attacks to destroy Liberty Park with Paul fireman's exclusionary sports and entertainment complex plan to is being honored taking his rightful place as a recognized hero along with two other Jersey City social justice Legends both of whom were D's close friends the late mayor and state senator Glenn Cunningham and also Earl Morgan so thank you city council members for this special tribute to a special human being who has made and will continue to make Jersey City a better place and deeply about world peace Justice good afternoon Council my name is Glenda Canon I'm the hear you you can't I couldn't hear you because we were clapping we gotta wait till the clapping's done and then I gotta well God bless the council first of all and your first name my name is gendia that's spelled g n d i a the last name is Canon c a n n o n got that you went really fast so no I didn't I'm sorry India g l n d i a Canon c a n n o n got it thank you I'm the co-pastor of Grace Christian Church here in the downtown area for 40s something years uh there's a street that's named metha my husband Dr hen Kenan Jr way and I would like to say this in regards to this man that is standing near me I I left my text in my sermon home but I got three things I want to say and I'm going to make it sure let's approve it let's do it and let's get it done he started Kwanza I bring children to Kwanza I've been coming to Kwanza for years at the library if the Bible says give honor to where honor is due and I say to you all today that if anybody got any honor and it's due it's Mr Williams so but let's go ahead and get this approve and name that library after him God bless you all you guys I'm very proud of you're got cut I here I know all my life nobody and you couldn't did service to a better person like she said you give honor with honors but what you guys did that I'm so proud he's Head to Head you didn't wait till he laid out in somebody's front somebody church or somewhere and did this he can hear this today he can feel this today it's a total different thing that's been done in this place today far as I'm concerned you made history you understand that because I'm tired of this stuff happening when somebody lay out and they can't hear it so you did you did homage today that a man is well deserving that I knew all my life that did his father did he did you couldn't dig what you're doing today to a better person so to God be the glory and keep doing what you doing I'm not going to be a p thank good evening my name is June Jones and I am the executive director of The Morris canal Community Development Corporation a community- based organization that started back in 96 that was about the time when I met dud he was introduced to me through the late great Earl Morgan who was also one of my mentors I just want to say that I am here to ask this Council encourage you to vote Yes to make this happen I would thank you Danny for bringing this ordinance to fruition and I hope that the council comes out and celebrate this massive event that I know we're going to plan for daud so that we can all celebrate him together I want to say that daud um I want to say thank you for including us in the founding and the partic for the participation of the juneth family Festival which we've held in Barry Lane Park for the last few years and has been a grand success I I don't know um if we can either phanthom the amount of education and culture that this man has instilled in us and listening to the stories today I think you get a sense of just how hard he's worked back in the day when I met dud they were in a real struggle I mean you have to give this man the accolades for the struggle the persistence that they went through to get where they are today and most of you weren't even around so you may not even know what that struggle was but if you if you know anybody that was around back then it was some tough times and Mr Babor kind of mentioned about the monies that they had asked for they didn't just ask for money they insisted that they got it and they didn't stop until they did so I'm very happy that D we are celebrating you today he is certainly more than worthy and I think there was some hints of suggestion a few minutes ago about maybe even doing a park or a building for this man he has done so much you have to acknowledge Him for his work thank you Tony Goodson commander of Samuel Shel VFW Post 2294 um being a lifelong resident in Jersey City I met I can't I just assume I was maybe five or seven years old just that's how long it's been so we'll fast forward because all the eloquent speakers that came before me told just about everything except the one thing he's also a veteran also a veteran of Foreign Wars which is the uniqueness of of that higher standing of a veteran and I had the pleasure of walking the beaches Normandy Sam dud and myself and we traveled throughout Europe Eastern Europe Germany Paris and I also had the honor of playing music so the guidance of D is in many facets to me leader in my life he's older than me too so it's somebody to look up to I took the advantage and it made me a better person because he was one of the few that came to me and said stay the course sometimes salvation coming the 11th Hour and to my friend I hope I can share his 11th Hour thank you name is Ray Benz b n i t z good evening everyone Council uh I'd like to say that um da is an amazing guy we we've heard it many times over this was past due one thing about D since I've met him he's been consistent and that's what we look for consistency we want people to be the same every day and da has been consistent since I known him I went to an event a long time ago and I started to speak to d in Spanish I said to him oh like because there was a music on which was I said to him and which means this is great and he looked at me he said see but then to find out I thought he was Spanish but the brother he's a you know afroamerican but for the most part past du everyone said what needed to be said about daul he's also a golden Glover he did his boxing as well so he's he's talented across the board pass through he's consistent it's a pleasure to be his friend I am your son and I can say that I love you and continue doing what you're doing and I'm glad that everyone decided to give it to you now instead of later because is well deserved so thank you one last one last cherry on top I Am David D David Williams daughter and I like to say your first name Kimberly thank William Sora daddy um my father can be very Comba and that's just out of uh caring and um I have grown up with him and you've heard all of the accolades but he's also a father he's also a grandfather so there's also another side to all of his I'm I'm going to keep it short because I'm going to get emotional but it would be a great honor for my father while he can still see this to see if you could accept this ordinance thank you Daddy for everything you've done as I always say we saved the best for last want to vote when vote people might contest let's do the vote first let's do the vote I want to thank uhe go ahead I didn't start the time I didn't start the time go ahead d you can St you want to speak before just just I want I want to thank uh Danny Rivera for shepher this ordinance and and recognition uh through the council I want to thank all the council members who are are V voting and hopefully voting yes and that and uh I also want to thank uh director Terry Hill and the library Administration and staff uh also uh Sam Oliver will Williams Barbara Williams Kim Kimberly and my uh family for being there um through thick and thin over the many many years and that and uh their support gave me a lot of strength and that I also want to thank some of uh my past um co-workers who uh one of them who's not here anymore he passed away in 201 uh 13 uh name is quame uh Dy and quame Dy is the uh nephew of Reverend Herber Dy renowned civil rights activist and that pwam was with me for about 30 years and that uh both as a volunteer and then as a um an employee of uh the Jersey City Public Library and that also Gil Corby who you heard earlier we go back and matter of fact in in our battles with the uh how is that be and that uh we me gil quame ended up on three three separate hunger strikes and that first one being 15 days and that and the administration what a powers that be uh capitulated and uh we were back in full standing but we had to do it two more times and that uh and many demonstrations right out in front of the library uh many times coming down here to the city council uh to the library board meetings all that you know to um let them know that this we this this program is important and that and uh you know not not just for me but for the community and that because I mean for myself I could go anywhere in the world and uh live live a good life and that and do what I'm doing here and that music art culture Etc um so but I grew up here I'm a I'm a product of Jersey City I grew up on Oran Avenue and uh I learned a lot during those formative years and uh from there I went into the uh US Army where I was stationed in Germany with the uh eighth Infantry Division so forth so this is all part of the nurturing and growing up I really hate to cut you off oh look I just want to thank you thank all of you including mayor phip and that thank you David let let's do the vote okay before guys let's do the vote before we start celebrating a little too early we still have to vote on the or that's David David David David stay here David stay right there m d stay right there cuz you're you're going to be the center of attention again for a little bit for a little bit little bit longer so may I have a motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 018 motion motion made by council person Rivera may I have a second second second by council person Cay on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 018 council person priner Hi council person Budan hi council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person de council person rera and council president wman motion to close the public hearing is approved 80 with council person Ridley abson for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 018 council person priner so councilman Rivera thank you for bringing this to the city council to allow us to be able to honor the remarkable work of this man amen you will probably never know how many lives you've touched how many people you've inspired but people will know who you are because your name will be on that Auditorium and anytime somebody goes into that room to comes back to experience what they saw maybe many years ago maybe for the first time we can point and say this is the one who's responsible so you know personally when I you know had seen Spirit of Life Ensemble many years ago when I had gone to the Miller Branch for the community awareness series programming I did not know that I would have the honor and privilege of actually working with you directly with music at the film so there are not enough words so I'm gonna stop now I'm just gonna say thank you for everything that you've done you're a remarkable example I vote I thank you thank you council person Bano congratulations and I vote I thank you council person C I'm literally in awe of everything that you've done and I'm sure it's only the tip of the iceberg they have three minutes to talk and it's not enough to encapsulate the totality of your life and all you've sacrificed and done for our city if you look at the most exemplary societies and civilizations throughout human history they all had great libraries they held steadfast to the pursuit of knowledge and they developed libraries as repositories of that knowledge and information it served as a community Gathering Place an agura of ideas culture and diversity one person can make a difference da dud David Williams you are living proof of that you saved the library and you also saved the city's Soul over and over and over again whether it was through the community awareness series The Spirit of Life Ensemble you saved the library and you save you spoke truth to power and we speak so much in Jersey City about our cherished diversity and multiculturalism that we hold so dear um but it took real Blood Sweat and Tears to preserve that and you are the man standing before us that has the Battle Scars to prove it thank you to councilman at large Danny Rivera for making sure we honor this incredible man and he deserves his flowers today I proudly vote I thank you thank you please council person Solomon sure I think all the comments uh today brought the phrase to me uh that we stand on the shoulders of giants and I think you are one of the Jersey City Giants and all of us are so lucky and blessed we live in the city that you have helped build and create so thank you for everything that you've done and I proudly vote I thank you council person Gilmore D thank you thank you thank you thank you I love you um from the from the day I met you you've always been a breath for fresh AIDS I'm always smarter for having a conversation with you I'm always getting history lesson every time we communicate um you've heard all of the Praises and accolades but the thing that stick out to me most is you had a major surgery some time ago and the first thing you said when I seen you after that major surgery I said D how you doing how's your health you said councilman what other programs can we create you're so concern concerned about the wellbeing of the community and for others and I just thank you for that because very seldomly do we see people who don't put themselves at the center of things and you check that box when you do that so thank you so much man I I really appreciate all that you have done um those cultural events it's just phenomenal you're just a phenomenal person and again thank you so much I probably vote I twice thank you thank you unfortunately I can only count one council person Dees Jersey City's Renaissance thank you for everything that you've done I wish the Hudson reporter gentleman were still here because I think you guys should put your heads together what we're missing a lot not just in our local news but in our community now is recognizing our culture celebrating our history of our culture and why it is why it makes us what we are today you know where we are today I think that you guys could put your heads together and do a community series through our local news too and thank you for everything you've done with the libraries and brought them to where they are today they're one of our most underrepresented resources um so I thank you vote I thank you very much council person Rivera David listen uh um I want to apologize uh because this took so long this should have been done a long time ago uh but I'm going to tell you uh you know there's so much you want to say you know trying to bottleneck into your brain and you know sometimes it doesn't work you know but I'm just going to be real with you your legacy is so golden because you feel the heartbeat of Jersey City you feel the heartbeat of the afro Latino Community you've knocked it out the park all these years you've been that example Puerto Rico has a an amazing salsa band and it's called the gr combo and one of their famous songs was what that means is whatever you're going to give me give it to me while I'm alive you know so you you've been a mentor you know I mean I love you uh with all my heart and you know I Echo the sentiments of of of of um councilman Gilmore because I remember when you had that that surgery and you know you was you was ready to go and there's not many of us that can say that for the city of Jersey City and obviously uh this might not be the first this might not be the last time you're here I'm really taking into consideration making another step and naming something else so you can come back up here and we can give you and we can give you the Praises you deserve to your family I want to thank every single member of your family that they loan you to us so that we could try a little little bit to copy what you've done for this city it'll be hard but you know those shoes will never ever be filled that's why you're getting recognized so from the bottom of my heart I proudly vote I let's not forget the council president da I first met Dau with Jean mcnight and um I don't want to be remiss not mention Jean's name because I knew Dau and Jean was very close and they believed in the culture and of the people you know in life we are born with a purpose and not many many of us really find out our purpose sometime but I can hear based on everyone comments about you Dau that you really understood your purpose and sometime in purpose we sacrifice a lot and sometime people don't even understand it I'm quite sure you sacrificed the times that you could have spent with your children you probably sacrificed times that you could have been with your wife because there was a drive in you that was bigger than you because you were setting the way you was making a way for others to come behind you because at the time in which you was born life was not easy and we needed people who would be on a Forefront to Break Down The Walls and the barriers that held culture back but you was born with this purpose and this drive and so I'm honored to name it after you because so many people i' I've listened to and and and and had honors to but their lives was not like yours you are a unique man I don't even know if you really know it how unique you are in the history that you will leave behind my prayer is that as we sit in this Auditorium that some of us will grab a hold of our purpose and understand that we must leave a legacy for our culture to carry on because there are young children that need to know the struggle there are young children that need to know that you sacrifice your life and what sacrifice really is so D I'm glad glad that we can give you your flowers I don't know how young you are now but I'm praying that you still have more in you because history still is right we still must write history we still must write history and not many people in life is willing to write history but I see you have that drive and so may God bless you bless your family thank you family for allowing him to do what he was called to do that's that's important allowing us to receive the gifts that is in him because without his gifts some of us couldn't be where we are because one thing I believe in life we all connect dots and as we connect the dots it becomes a beautiful picture and that's what the world need to see a beautiful picture so God bless you I vote I and may you continue to share thank you before we let you speak I just want to recap the vote ordinance 24 days 018 is adopted unanimously 80 with council person Ridley absent so we'll let you speak again uh want to they're not here anymore but uh I am a product of uh my mother and father who gave a lot here at the Jersey City and uh my father was the first in uh many many areas of government and uh community and so I was I'm following his foot path uh footsteps as well and as far as uh the media and newspapers and that I never forget my father would always come back with a stack of newspapers and uh on Sunday go get some Bakery some crumb buns or something and uh I would sit around going through all the newspapers and to this day and anybody could tell you this I buy a newspaper print media every day every day I don't care if it's the Jersey Journal The Daily News times whatever you know I get uh I want to support the print media that which is what these my mother was a yeah a businesswoman and a good heart she was uh she would if you were hungry she would feed you and that my mother had a restaurant on uh Jackson Avenue and uh she would feed people she also uh had a um dry cleaners so they were entrepreneurs in in their own way as small business but it it it um put us in the right direction as far as work you know hard work and uh sacrifice and and to make something out of yourself and pass it on and that and that's what we've been trying to do uh you know for a long long time say the mother her kindness was a mountain she was Kilimanjaro his mother was so wonderful kind human being yep so I was blessed and that I just put it that way I was blessed and to have uh you know a family like that that really you gave some to where you know I could be who I am and that and hopefully pass it on but also uh my some of my band members are here I would like to just say uh spiritual life band members stand up take a picture so while they're posing for that picture we're going to bring the council up and have a pcture with David as well after his ban piter David as much as you said you were blessed you blessed us with all your years of service oh yeah you you Way We Were Young remember that mic is hot still on the record on the mic just be careful hold on one more hold on hold on hold on was I heard that commission we said pres I'm ready to roll yeah all right congratul ations again so we're moving we're moving on to our second other second reading ordinances item 4.1 city ordinance 24- 014 is an ordinance amending chapter 87 Amusement devices article one automatic Amusement devices this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record moot second okay so motion to close the public public hearing was made by council person Riva on city ordinance 24- 014 seconded by council person CLE on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24-14 council person priner Hi council person Bano council person SLE hi council person Solomon okay council person Gilmore I council person Dees she stepped way too sorry yeah Amy yeah council person Rivera and council president wman motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 014 is approved 6 with council members Ridley Solomon and Dees absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 014 council person priner Hi council person Bano hi council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person de is still not there right council person Rivera I and council president wman city ordinance 24- 014 is adopted 70 with council members Ridley and Dees absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.2 city ordinance 24 day 015 is an ordinance to codify the planting of native plants throughout the city of Jersey City this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record hi guys that's a tough act to follow sorry I'm not gonna be as animated um congratulations your name um Carol McNichol um so tonight I'm speaking as a vice president of Wild Ones New Jersey Gateway chapter and co-author of this native plant ordinance Wild Ones is the national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting environmentally friendly Landscaping to protect biodiversity through the establishment of native plant communities could you please could you please keep it down we still have work to do by passing this ordinance Carol Carol hold on one second wait wait Carol guys guys guys if you want you could take the conversation outside please thank you that's thanks John go Carol hi okay um by passing this ordinance the city will codify the benefits of native plant landscaping for both the public good while committing to protecting native plant Gardens on public land um we have a very busy City filled with lots of concrete very little green space and very little biodiversity but if we plant these plants you will begin to see an amazing rise in beneficial insects like bees butterflies and birds birds need the caterpillars to feed their babies so it's all connected um this ordinance will acknowledge that pollination is essential ecological function that depends on native plants it it tells you that it promotes micro habitats and pollinator cor corridors for conservation of wildlife it will work to reverse massive pollinator decline from the loss of habitat it will educate both the public and private citizens on the importance of these native plants and the pollinators to the ecosystem it will also very lastly but not forgotten protect existing and new native Gardens on public land as you know we had a an incident that spurred this ordinance where a native rain Garden was mowed down in Jersey City Heights about a year and a half ago and um so this will protect these Gardens from being accidentally mowed down so we have to work on how we're going to move that ahead with the city um I want you I ask you to support this and vote Yes and I want to thank mirror Prince for helping us navigate this and um Selle councilman s and um my other councilmen who've helped me with this um please pass it and we look forward to working with the city audit thank you this is still a public hearing good evening council members my name is Elena little um I'm a resident of Jersey City I'm going to keep this really brief I think Carol covered all the bases um but I think this is a really good ordinance um for combating the climate crisis improving our natural Urban environments and habitats and um you know I hope the council passes this and um continues to move forward with uh native plants and things like rain Gardens for storm water management thank you this is still a public hearing on city ordinance 24 day 015 any member of the public still wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion motion to close the public hearing on ordinance 24 day 015 was made by council person C may I have a second second second by council person bajano on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24-15 council person Prince area I council person bajano I council person SLE I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 8 Z with council person Ridley absent to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 015 for final consideration and adoption of city ordinance 24 day 015 council person Prince are so Carol and Lorraine thank you both for bringing this to the council's attention and for working with us on it to my Council colleagues um councilman SLE councilman Solomon thank you for co-sponsoring this with me um also want to thank the environmental commission for their letter of support on this ordinance and our division of sustainability our director Amanda Diamond Andrew Fenwick and our Forester Michael De for working on this um you know we take the the the planting in the public RightWay very seriously the city is planting mostly native plants and trees where we can so this is a great way to codify it I also look forward to the educational campaign and component that's going to be coming later this spring to really teach not only um our residents about the importance of native plants but also our city staff so we can finally start working together to make sure that pollinator Gardens whether they're in the public right of way or on private property are maintained properly um so with that I vote I council person Bano I council person s so happy to co-sponsor this with council members priner and council person Solomon and um this is an important step we're taking um right before Earth Day and it's important because pator Gardens um native plants are critical to our society and the ecological balance uh within nature we've had two rain Gardens destroyed in the Heights and this is um you know there is a step we need to take to protect those rain Gardens and Native Plant Gardens and um I'm glad we have the penalty in there that um John mckin or uh lawyer wrote in there so I really appreciate that and hopefully we can expand native plant Gardens across the city and you know people can study them and Jersey City can be an example for other cities with that I vote I council person Solomon thank you colleagues great job and I vote I I say thank you to the community as well council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera I and council president Waterman city ordinance 24- 015 is adopted 80 with council person Ridley absent council person de you were absent for the vote on item uh ordinance 24- 014 would you like to vote on that now thank you so just to re recap that vote city ordinance 24 day 014 is now adopted 80 with council person Ridley absent okay on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.3 city ordinance 24- 016 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 9 parking for the disabled of the Jersey city code designated Reserve parking space at various locations throughout the city this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion second motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 016 was made by council person SLE seconded by council person bajano on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24-16 council person priner I council person Bano I council person SLE I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person Rea St the way sorry and council president wman motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24016 is approved 70 with council members Ridley and Rivera absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 016 council person priner I council person bana hi council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person de Jesus oh there you go council person Riva it is council president wman city ordinance 24- 016 is adopted 70 with council members Ridley and Rivera absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.4 city ordinance 24- 017 is an ordinance amending the charter of the city of Jersey City to adopt rank Choice voting as a method to elect the mayor councel and School Board subject to the approval of this ordinance by the voters to amend the city Charter by binding referendum to be held upon the enactment of State legislation permitting such Charter Amendment this is a public hearing on this ordinance and if we can just go in nice order and as we come up to speak if you can just state your name for the record and spell your name and I'll take take the first Speaker Veronica azua a uh hold on one second Veronica I'm sorry spell your last name AK AE Zu W thank you so much good evening Council on behalf of voter Choice New Jersey and as a Jersey City resident I want to first thank you for supporting the introduction of this rank Choice voting ordinance um at the council meeting back on March 20th uh this vote marks a significant step towards reshaping the future of elections in New Jersey uh for the better it's a collective effort to bring rank Choice voting to New Jersey and make it a reality uh necessitating the passage of both Statewide enabling legislation and local ordinances uh but we've seen an outpouring of support from Jersey City residents and from voices across various towns and cities in the state uh and I'm hopeful we can do it and with your help you can help make this a reality over the past 48 Hours elected officials have publicly expressed their endorsement for this ordinance uh Jersey city mayor fulli Hudson County Commissioner Bill o day Hoboken Council woman at large Emily Jabor and legislative district uh 32 assemblymen John Allen and he is also uh the primary sponsor of the uh Municipal and School Board voting options act uh in the legislator in the assembly passage of ordinance 24- 017 will serve as a powerful signal to state legislators that Jersey City stands firmly behind empowering voters smarter government spending and strengthening our Democratic process it will also help voters feel more connected to government tonight I ask you to vote Yes and pass the rank Choice voting ordinance thank you our next speaker hello my name is Joel rothus and I'm a Jersey City resident I'm here to express my strong support for the ranked Choice voting I support ranked Choice voting for the following reasons number one it improves the voter experience wouldn't it be great if we had real alternatives to Donald Trump and Joe Biden if rank chose voting were to be take place for this year's primaries in general election number one number two it reduces toxin toxic partisanship three it eliminates the need for costly runoff elections and four it's another way to level the playing field and eliminate the advantage of the County Line ballot design I respectfully request that you vote in favor of your constituents to give us more valuable C viable candidates than those that we have that have enough political influence to gain a prized countyline ballot slot vote Yes on ordinance 24-17 show us that you believe in the freedom of choice among the candidates for office that will govern our daily lives thank you Jo if you could just spell your last name for the court reporter rothus r o t h f thank you and again before you speak if you can just say your name and spell it for us we greatly appreciate it absolutely Barry Bender it's last name b n d a r and um again good evening members of the council it's nice to see you again I was here a few weeks ago um I don't live in Jersey City I think I mentioned I live down in Ocean County in a town called forkid River but I've been working with rank Choice uh voter Choice New Jersey here for a number of years um I think I also mentioned last time that I refer to Jersey City as my ancestral Homeland two of my brothers were born here my this is where my family came when they came from Europe they came right here to Jersey City and they were here for quite some some time and I'm hoping tonight you make me very proud to have my ancestral Homeland lead the way in the state of New Jersey for all the rest of the state to add more democracy to our voting process and uh you know show the others this is the way we need to go and uh from here on to Trenton we get those bills passed and then it goes on the ballot here in Jersey City night thank you again for your time this evening thank you thank you hello my name is Katie Brennan b r n n an and I'm a resident of Jersey City in wardc and I'm here tonight to express my strong support for the rank Choice voting ordinance recently there's been a lot of conversation about democracy in New Jersey and as someone just said this would further strengthen it how to nurture democracy in New Jersey there also been a lot of conversation about how smart voters are and if they can figure out a ballot now I believe the people of Jersey City and the people of New Jersey can but just in case you don't I have an example I was working for the City of New York when they adopted rank Choice voting and there we used pizza if you're ordering a pizza but my example is that if I go to wonderbagel and I want a whole wheat everything and you want poppy seed and they're out of both but our second choice is both plain and they have it plain wins that's it that's rank Choice voting and everyone's happy and we don't end up with cinnamon raisin so I know that the people of New Jersey can understand and I hope that uh we have your support thank you thank you evening my name is Elvin dominici e LV i n d o m i n i I'm a long life resident New Jersey City and today I'm here to support ordinance 24-17 um I believe that uh being a Pioneer in the in the in the in the state and moving forward with these orance is going to open uh a better process to El our elected officials when we can decide based on their campaign and political platform instead of just being choose chose or chosen by the uh the county line um recently as you know uh the the the state abolished the hon County uh primary uh the hon County um Democratic lines where you select the uh the elected official by the party uh choices and not the choices by the people and I'm here to say that uh supporting this ordinance and allowing the people to rank the political leaders in our community Community is going to open uh even more the step to get closer to a better representation so please vote Yes for this ordinance thank you thank you good evening my name is Brendan Duan d o hn I'm also a lifelong resident of Jersey City I live in more D councilman and I'm also a member of the board of the Riverview neighborhood association and I'm here in support of the ordinance as we see for all of our local elections and the more local they get the worse the voter turnout comes on average and I think when you have runoff elections especially when you have a November election with the followup or the runoff in December you'll see voter turnout fall off by 50% and then you have decisions about who governs us who decides how our taxes are used gets decided by just those folks who are mostly motivated and it's maybe a couple thousand folks so I think rank Choice voting would essentially have the runoff I think one way I like to understand it when I don't think in terms of bagels in terms of an instant runoff so that we're having the runoff we're pre-baking it in and there's not a majority we go ahead we have the runoff we save time we save money and we amplify voters voices so thank you can I just have your first name Brendan Brendan thank you hello hi uh my name is Michael m i c h a e l my middle name is Hugo h u o my last name is hnik h a l a n i k thank you I was born and raised in New Jersey now I live in Hoboken and I wanted to come and speak today to express my support for rank Choice voting uh now I'm not going to speak here about how rank Choice voting saves runoff election money reduces negative campaigning increases voter diversity which by the way it does um instead I want to focus on a select group of individuals me and my friends now let's be honest here I'm 23 I'm a pretty young new voter and frankly it's quite uncommon for someone in my age to be speaking at City Council meetings in fact this is my first city council meeting I have ever spoken at or been to ever the reason I am here is that a few months ago I sat down with myself and I said I only have so much time on this Earth what is something that I care out that I know I can make the most impact in and I have decided that the thing I care most about today is creating the best most free open version of democracy we possibly can and here's the crazy thing I don't think it's just me who thinks that um in addition to all these wonderful people who are here today I bring with me the words of my friends all young adults my age grew up in New Jersey all of them disillusioned by the voting system we exist and seemingly stacked against us my friends and I have uh had discussions on a variety of topics and like most good friends we don't see eye to eye on everything uh but overwhelmingly we agree that we feel like our voice isn't being truly heard that our vote is not representative of us of all of us and this makes total sense when you look at the facts in 2022 the voter turnout for the midterm elections ages 18 to 29 in New Jersey was a whopping 20.6% yay if that's what it looks like for the midterms I can't imagine what those numbers look like at individual local levels yikes um but there is a way to encourage these young voters to come out and I believe the first major step is implementing rank Choice voting I've seen it before my very eyes a second I explain what rank Choice voting is to my friends their eyes lit up and I'm not exaggerating when I say they were excited I support rank Choice voting because it makes me want to come here and speak to you today it makes me and all my friends want to go down to the polls and vote right now it makes me and my friends feel like when we vote we're not just picking one side or the other we're not just voting against someone we're voting for someone and the crazy thing is with rank Choice voting it's true so I would be proud of my state and of the second largest city in it if you all voted yes on rank Choice voting trigger ordinance 24017 to show me and my friends that our vote matters thank you my name is Edward E DW D last name is Perkins p r k i ns in regard to ordinance 24-17 I support rank Choice voting and I hope that you all do too uh rank Choice voting enables voters to rank candidates in the order of preference and ensures that winners of any election has the support of and are accountable to a majority of Voters this trigger ordinance enacted once the state law is changed to permit a method of voting proclaims that Jersey City voters will have the opportunity on the following general election ballot to adopt the RCV method on all mayoral Council and School Board member elections moving forward I support rank Choice voter and lastly councilman Gore must have stepped off but thank you so much councilman your office for spearheading this uh it's just emblematic of you know who you are you're staying true to who you are and uh we thank you my name is Athos at H oos curies KY r i a k i Dees I do that a lot um this also my first time speaking at a city council meeting ever I'm also 48 so I'm 25 years too late but that young man expressed everything that needs to be said about rank Choice voting it engages voters gives us real choices and it's very simple it's as simple as that please vote Yes and uh looking forward to that thank you thank you hi I'm Blake Zimmer I from Jersey City ward B and I'm 17 um I'm here to express my support for rank Choice voting due to how it improv the Democratic process it'll always ensure majority rule no matter how many candidates are entered to impair to the voting system that is Common Place throughout the country where you only get one or you only get one vote and it is very common for elections and primaries is uh with more than two candidates with the winning candidates win inning less than a majority so a majority of people won't choose a candidate and then they get somebody else somebody else entirely it's not it's not particularly Democratic to say the least and with rank choice we don't discourage more candidates from joining into an election just because just because someone who does is completely out of step with it could win and and and um and with more candidates that with more candidates entering in that would motivate more people to come out and vote because more candidates would mean more would mean more options for the average person so if somebody's dissatisfied with two to the two option and that um like in our presidential election that doesn't use any rank choice if people are dissatisfied with the two options then they may not even vote entirely but with more options that are enabled by enabled by rank Choice voting they can they would be more motivated to come out and vote and it ALS and Jersey City already has runoff elections which kind of solves the problem but not really because it creates whole new ones like the fact that you need a whole second election and V with voter turn out typically way lower because of because this country has way too many elections to say the least and people get fatigued and lastly it's e really easy to understand you could you could understand rank Choice voting with just with just something like that I somebody uh in the audience who somebody in the audience who isn't here anymore they asked about rank Choice voting and as soon as they saw that poster they got it immediately like like that they said they just they just can see a simple visualizer it's like oh and it's not like and throughout and it's not and it has been it is a tested method um um it is a tested voting system um throughout in this country like across the river in New York City and and a and in different states like Alaska and Maine and even in other countries like Ireland and Australia who've been using it in their national elections for over a century at this point so all this considered I asked the council to vote Yes on rank Choice trigger ring Choice voting trigger ordinance 247 thank you thank you Mike Zimmer Mike Zimmer uh good evening Council uh my name is Maximillian Machado that's M AO I didn't get your first name oh maximilan Maxi l l i a an so um and your last name I'm sorry Machado no worries m a h a d o so uh firstly before I begin um it's a bit of a surprise so that I would be here uh I'm not necessarily uh very politically active I should say uh I think my friends and family when they look back the video to see me here they're going to be uh very curious but um anyways my journey for uh rank Choice voting started a few months ago when I attended a beer ranking con uh a beer ranking event and uh that was my first taste like no pun intended but yeah um it was interesting um you know I initially went there for the beer and obviously to meet new people but in the process I did learn a lot about something interesting and that was uh you know rank based or ranked Choice voting uh the first observation or first of two I should say was that um I felt that my voice mattered a lot more uh with like typical voting voting systems um you know I I normally get kind of intimidated I feel like um you know it doesn't matter as much um I also don't feel as encouraged to learn about the different candidates in this case different beers like loggers ipas Etc but um this second thing that I thought was interesting is the the typical people who would love ipas that like won't talk about anything else were actually like you know let me give these other beers a shot let me talk about them and I thought that was interesting because in a way we were able to have discourse and figure out the characteristics of a beer that you know we might find you know awesome right or maybe it's there's a common set of facts in which that we agree upon and I guess to bring the analogy to elections I I think that rank Choice voting enables an opportunity for us to find the like commonality uh as a 24-year-old it feels like it's very difficult to you know engage in the current political atmosphere this to me creates an opportunity to bridge those gaps for us to be able to talk to one another and and understand so um I plead to the council um I urge you to pass the ordinance for rank Choice voting uh trigger ordinance uh 24- 017 thank you thank you uh my name is Jack Cunningham j a c k c u n n i g h a m hi everyone my name is Jack Cunningham and I'm a Jersey City resident and a volunteer for voter Choice New Jersey as your emails can probably attest the people of Jersey City and the people of New Jersey are watching how this vote plays out when this ordinance was introduced I talked about how every single rank Choice um ordinance has passed for the past three years and how it's been shown to improve Civic engagement for all racial group surveyed and for all age group surveyed we the people of Jersey City deserve to be asked the same questions as our friends in New York as rural voters in Utah as voters up in Portland Maine I urge you to vote in favor of rank Choice voting trick ordinance 24017 thanks thank you Ricardo roas r c a r d o r o j a s thank you uh good evening council members um my name is Ricardo roas I'm a resident of Wy and uh I'm going to take a slightly different approach than many others here will tonight uh and highlight that this is a trigger ordinance for a ballot initiative uh the fact of the matter is we're none none of you tonight are voting to implement rank Choice voting right now what you're voting on is to allow the people of Jersey City to decide whether they want that as form of voting for local elections so importantly here I think it's not just that the structure of the ballot is going to be more democratic but the method by which we bring about this change is democratic so I urge you to vote in favor of this ordinance not just because I am in favor of rank Choice voting because I hope that you're in favor of giving the people of Jersey City a choice in how they choose to run their elections thank you very much thank you hi um Linda belwest L NDA v l w s okay um I'm hoping people vote to vote Yes for the rank Choice voting initiative um I want to address the Linda one second one second I'm sorry new clock yep ow okay okay um I want to encourage people to vote Yes for the rank Choice voting initiative I want to address the idea that people are confused by the idea of rank Choice voting last month I was at an event an educational Community event for rank Choice voting and Council people Solomon and Gilmore were there they can tell you um people came for the free lunch but after 30 minutes 45 minutes of a presentation and a mock election not only did they totally understand what rank Choice voting was all about but they enthusiastically supported it so it you know if it might be something new for people that they're not too sure of all they need to do is have a little bit of education and they'll be all for it um so let us decide that this is what we want to do um that's all I have to say thank you hello my name is Denise alario Denise can you spell your last name for me uh yes first name d n i c last name d a l b r a CCI IO e r a b r a CCI IO thank you thank you hello my name is Denise and I'm currently a resident of sakas this is actually my first time coming to a city hall meeting Jersey City is where my dad's side of the family grew up so it holds a very special place in my heart I'm here today to urge City Council Members to vote Yes on rank Choice voting because it's easy to do as I got to try it out for the rank the beer event you heard about earlier it also makes sense because the rank Choice voting method will always will allow me to vote with my preferences without having to feel like I'm wasting my vote on a less popular candidate rank Choice voting would also motivate me even more to show up to vote at every poll not just the big ones because I'm fin feeling like my vote actually matters and counts every single time lastly New York City's ballot measure to adopt Brank Choice voting for use in primary elections passed with a whopping 73.5% of the vote and Hoboken city council passed rank Choice voting in 2021 unanimously so this is an easy yes in my books what about yours thank you your name anastasios zerus spelled a n s s i oos last name zerus z o u r o u d i s it's a dozy I know absolutely thank you yeah you're welcome you may proceed cool beans three minutes on the clock all right look let's be real I don't vote I just turned 40 last 20 years I'm sorry I've never voted there you go go cool I've never voted I've never cared because everyone keeps telling me you know you're supposed to pick the lesser of two evils and that to me just doesn't make sense I've always focused on media I do media I make movies I make TV stuff like I live in land of fantasy but with the way rank Choice voting was explain to me look I'm here I'm holding a sign I'm like with it it makes me want to actually get involved because now I can like rank it you know you got you got your favorites you got your lesser favorites one guy has a cool haircut the other guy doesn't one lady is like super smart and you you know it goes on and on but it actually gives me an opportunity to be like yo can make my list I finally feel like I'm saying something so yeah this is my first council meeting you guys this is a doozy I'm enjoying myself there's a lot of stuff going and I'm telling you like I just hit 40 never have voted in my life like I didn't care until this was explained to me and I was like you know what no no this actually makes me want to come up and be like all right I'm in let's do this so I uh what's the word I I I urge you guys to vote Yes for rank Choice voting it bring people like me out of the Woodworks and we'll actually get involved now cool no doubt that's it have a nice night thank you hello um my name is Florence Jinn uh that's J N um uh good evening Council um I'm speaking as the chair of the New Jersey chapter um of equal vote Coalition uh Grassroots voting science organization with a mission of achieving true equality in the vote utilizing EXT ens of research uh I did want to raise awareness of um potential concerns with brang Choice voting that equal vote and other election science organizations have found and more importantly steps we can take to address them uh some issues do include um ballot voting and the centralized tabulation of rank Choice voting for instance Oakland California which has used rank choice for a decade in 2022 found errors in their elections due to high rates of ballot voting and a number of ballots were also tallied incorrectly because RCV necessitates a higher degree of centralized tabulation which ends up complicating audits uh it's I just want to say that it's important for voters to be aware of these concerns so they can be sure of the power of their vote and that there are other methods out there that address these specific issues such as uh star voting and approval voting um for for example uh star voting where candidates are scored from 0 to five stars provides ease of recount and audit because it does not need centralized tabulation and is tallied locally instead as it is a matter of symol arithmetic also helping to reduce election cost it also goes a step further to reduce vote splitting because it uses scores that are added up simultaneously eliminating the risk of vote splitting in individual rounds such as those of RCV and has less of a risk for improper usage and thus ballot voiding however voting reform is a step in the right direction and I commend ordinance 24-17 and RCV and its correct message that our broken choose one plurality voting system needs to be changed but we need to be aware of the different voting methods out there and how efficient they are at addressing concerns of Prior methods the Jersey City city council has taken a trailblazing step by being one of the first councils in New Jersey to vote on adopting rank Choice voting and and I do hope it passes uh it's important that the path forward and the standard we set is also one of inclusivity of other methods however mindfulness of their pros and cons and willingness to adapt for a Freer and fair democracy thank you hello my name is Kayla k a y l a Birmingham l a yes and then Birmingham b i r m i n g h m I am a Jersey City resident in Ward C and this is also my first time speaking in a council meeting so I wanted thank you I uh I wanted to take this first opportunity to voice my support for rank Choice voting and to urge all of you to vote in approve vote in favor of passing rank Choice voting trigger ordinance 24-17 rank Choice voting improves the voting process it increases voter participation and it leads to fairer elections this isn't something that is going to benefit any one type of politician either it just ensures that the candidate who who is wanted by the majority wins my dad is a town council member and he's also a lifelong Republican and I on the other hand tend to have more liberal leanings but we can find a middle ground in our support of rank Choice voting we just want to make sure that the majority of people's voices are heard and that they see the names of the candidates that they can unquestionably support on their ballots so as a LIF long resident of New Jersey I look forward to a future of fairer elections in my state thank Youk you good evening City Council Members my name is Elena little and I'm a resident of Jersey City my first name is Ela and my last name is little litle my first encounter with rank Choice voting came in 2016 when I voted in Municipal elections in Berkeley California where I was living during grad school that year there were eight candidates running for an open mayoral seat a situation Jersey City may very well find itself in in 2025 as a voter who saw things that I liked and didn't like in multiple candidates I really liked having the ability to rank my choices accordingly I found it easy to understand ranking things is a very human tendency as anyone who has read a buzzfeed listicle can attest um and critics of rank Choice voting often say that it is too complicated and it confuses low information voters but data from across the country does not bear that out instead it shows that voters across all different demographic groups found RCV similarly easy to understand um there was one group that reported difficulty and that was older voters but then the data showed that they actually did complete their ballots correctly um at the same rate as other groups so they were just more likely to tell a holster that it was confusing but they still understood it at the end of the day um and voter Choice New Jersey has already done Outreach and is continuing to do Outreach to our senior communities in Jersey City with events like rank the sandwiches in 2016 using rank Choice voting Berkeley elected its first ever Latino mayor studies show that RCV leads to Greater diversity of candidates and that women and candidates of color do well in RCV um we saw the same thing in Alaska with the first Alaska native member of Congress Mary ptoa who was victorious in rank Choice voting in a state and Country where politics is dominated by white men RCV reduces the barriers to running for office for a more diverse group of candidates RCV is also called instant runoff because it's essentially that here in Jersey City we have runoff elections in December close to the holidays where turnout is consistently and abysmally low this means that in elections that go to a runoff uh fewer voices are ultimately heard in deciding who wins that election so RCV is a more is more democratic because it ensures that the winning candidate has at least 50% of votes and it also ensures more voices are heard versus a traditional runoff it also saves the city money by eliminating the expenses associated with a second election finally RCB reduces negative campaigning because candidates still have to appeal to the bases of their opponents um in a time of increasing polarization and Municipal races that start two years before election day isn't that something we could all use so I urge the council to stand on the right side of democracy tonight and pass this rank Choice voting ordinance thank you hey my name is Jules MMA J didn't get your first name sorry Jules J L S MMA m u g m a okay thank you so I'm a 10year Jersey City resident I live in w d and I'm here representing JC policy Circle we're a citizen Civics group focused dedicated to advancing smarter more effective public policies in Jersey City and I'm here to convey our enthusiastic support for the rank Choice voting trigger ordinance um adopting the trigger ordinance is a crucial step in implementing an obvious policy Improvement so first voting against the ordinance just means that we'd be purposely stripping Jersey City voters the right to make their own choice on this topic I think you'll find it difficult to just ify consciously standing in the way of giving people the right to choose how their democracy should function so even if you personally don't like ring Choice voting you'd have to ask yourself how you'd explain to a resident that you didn't think they were smart enough to choose for themselves how their own voting system should work so opponents of the policy are obviously free to put their arguments to the people when it's time to vote on whether to implement ring Choice voting or whether to retain the status quo next substantively rank Choice voting is just a no-brainer improvement over the status quo crucially it's more likely than the status quo would result in electing candidates that actually have majority support and identifying candidates that people actually want is a core principle of representative democracy we've seen over and over and over especially at the federal level that dissatisfaction f with government follows when we elect unpopular candidates rank Choice voting comes with a host of other benefits including encouraging more civil elections and is shown to be popular which has been implemented for this reason JC policy Circle asks that you do the obvious right thing and vote Yes on ordinance 2417 thank you thank you my name is Adrian fanz that's a d r i n last name fontz I can't hear you I'm sorry if you can just no problem Adrien fontanez yep Adrian a d r i n fontanez f o n t NN a council I've been in Jersey City for over a decade now and w d and I'm here to express my support for rank Choice voting and I hope that you do today as well um rank Choice voting really brings Common Sense policies that's going to avoid runoff elections save taxpayer dollars and frankly the thing that gets me most excited about it is that it gets candidates that actually need to now go reach to the other side of their base um we've seen too many polarizing elections as of late um and I think this will significantly help going forward um so I'm here to urge you to please vote Yes tonight thank you thank you Lou I know my name is Lewis Charlo last name is spelled CIA RL good evening members the Jersey City Council I'm a long-standing resident of downtown Jersey City and I ask that you please vote Yes to this ordinance at a time when so many people fear our democracy hang in the balance and so many voters feel so disillusioned with our current election process you're voting yes to this ordinance and rank Choice voting will provide the foundation for a stronger and thriving democracy with election outcomes representing all voters I feel the adoption of this ordinance and rank Choice voting in our city as well as state will be an important point in our history and I ask you again to make history and vote Yes to this ordinance and rank Choice voting my name is Brendan cogin b r n d a n c o u g h l i n I am not a longstanding member of Jersey City I have been living here only for a few months but I spent my full formative years in high school in this city and during my time here during my time in school I learned about the virtues of rank Choice voting I am not going to be spending the night um listing them out because I found out about this vote just when I walked in so instead I want to bring up the fact that we live in a democracy the people we created our country to have the people vote and make these decisions we have found a new way to vote and we need to implement to help impr improve our democracy this this ordinance law will go on this sorry this will help us help the people vote and more importantly it gives the choice back to the people do we want to change things do we want to keep things how we are this decision that should rest with the people of Jersey City and also be a beacon that the PE that Jersey City is interested in rank Choice voting to hopefully Inspire it in other towns and cities across country thank you for your time thank you evening I'm Hayden Hensley last name Hensley hen SLE y I'm a proud New Jersey or Jersey City transplant and last time I spoke at the city council was in Boston and I got to say you all are much nicer much more approachable as we heard already tonight with honoring dard David Williams Jersey city has has a history to be proud of a history pushed by people willing to show up and write history as the council president said this is a great chance to write history with the energetic constituents that showed up today I'm looking forward to seeing Jersey City choose RCV and make some history and chart a hopeful course for the rest of the USA thank you what was your first name oh Hayden h y d o n thanks hey guys my name is Tina Nos and I'm in war f um I don't know who made this Ru but that was the best thing ever because I know the first time when I ran I didn't understand it and all they kept saying go down the line go down the line go down the line go down the line and they didn't understand going down the line meaning some of them people wasn't working in the community some of them people have not been around some of them people have not even been in seniors building and less is time for election time and that's when they come out and give us them hot dogs and stuff but let me tell you something I'm glad whoever put this on the board because we need this because we need to find out who's doing what in the community so the next time my name is on it they don't have to say go down the line they see te of no was in the community they'll see that what I was doing by going down the line it was just getting the wrong people inside of the office Now by we having this Rule and so many people want to change that I'm so glad y out here guys so many people want to change that and I thank God for now we will have a better results of Jersey City looking better now we have the real people who supposed to be in the community doing the right thing instead of saying go down the mail line go down the line thank you your name hi hello uh my name is Jeff Goodwin g o o d w i n and I'm a Jersey City resident Ward F and um yeah I don't want to repeat all of the great reasons for voting for this trigger ordinance that have uh already been mentioned and REM mentioned and reiterated I I guess I just want to say talk about my own uh story a little bit I've seen a lot of Elections since I turned 18 and could vote uh I'm now 66 years old uh that's a lot of Elections and usually what happens is when I tell people who I want to vote for they start yelling at me they say no no no no you can't vote for that that person that's just going to help some really evil candidate get elected they say you have to vote for this lesser evil candidate I find that really hard to do you know voting for evil is difficult even if it's of the Lesser variety and so quite often I don't vote and I I know there a lot of people like me who feel the same way they just can't get motivated to vote for for the Lesser evil so one of the great things I think about rank Choice voting is that it eliminates this problem or at least very much mitigates this problem and you you don't have to vote for that lesser evil you can rank them number two or three or four or maybe you don't need to rank them at oh so I uh yeah I'm I'm enthusiastic for this type of voting because um it means you don't have to vote for evil thank you thank you good evening uh my name is Rebecca Mell m i ssel uh so you've heard a lot of folks speak to you tonight and appeal to you on logic and math your better Angels Your Love of democracy Bagels which I think we can all agree is the most compelling cause of all but I I know full well because I've lived in this city for more than a decade that you're better angels and your love of democracy is not what gets this city council to vote for anything many of the people in this County are in office because of low voter turnout right like we know that this place has some of the lowest percentage elections so I understand and do not remotely expect you guys to actually pass this ordinance tonight despite hearing from 2530 plus people all in favor of it my guess is you're going to vote it down because some of you will not win another election with rank Choice voting it's bad enough it's bad enough that y'all got that that we don't have the line and I understand that this is a nonpartisan election but the line is what helped to drive people up to attend voting in this State already because you could count on the people who loyally voted for the line and now that is in question and we already know that the voter suppression in this state is real because there are staggered year elections odd-numbered year elections are a form of voter suppression and I'm glad to enter that into the public record so I think at the end of the day you're going to do what you're going to do I've been at too many of these meetings where you ignore public opinion so I I but I want it stated for the record that voting against this this bill is a vote against the democracy and the logic and the choice and the freedom for voters thank you June Jones I am a lifelong resident of Jersey City I'm here to state that I am in favor of the rank Choice voting um my experience in understanding it um ex um actually participating in a session right here in City Hall downstairs and our candidates of of that we chose to rank were restaurants it gave us a clear understanding of just how it works it gave us a choice to look closer at the candidates and what the substance that they were bringing to the table so in essence I just do believe that it gives us a chance to analyze what the candidates bring to the table and I want my my candidate that I vote for to want what I want or something close to what I want or certainly what the majority wants and I want my vote to count I'm asking this Council to please vote Yes for rank Choice voting ordinance number 24017 thank you my name is Andre a n d r EI I last name ceser s e s e r m a n m a m a n thank you I am here tonight not because I don't have other things to do I'm not you know staying in line because I love to but I decided to come here because a few months ago I discovered rangos voiding and I thought I have to have my voice heard I wanted to come here I was never involved in politics or any council meeting this is the first in my life I had to defeat my fear of public speaking and elected officials to come here just to urge you to vote Yes on this ordinance please pass this ordinance Jersey City make us proud thank you good evening my name is Renee steinhagen I'm a Jersey City resident and I spoke last last uh two weeks ago on this ordinance so tonight I'm going to read to you a letter from Tiffany fiser councilman fiser from Hoboken Rene if I can interrupt you one second I'm gonna stop your time if you can just spell your name your last name sure s t e i n h a g n one second gotta start it over thank you very much Sean uh dear council president Waterman and Jersey City colleagues I'm writing you not only as a Hoboken city council member but also as a board member of New Jersey apped I fully support the efforts you're taking to consider and hopefully pass ordinance 2477 that you are voting on tonight that would allow voters in Jersey City to choose rank Choice voting as their method to elect elected officials once enabling State legislation is passed we are in a moment where we have seeing voters Statewide looking for their representatives to enact measures that will improve transparency and ensure Fair elections I hope that you will not let this moment pass and that you will support this ordinance unanimously like we did in Hoboken in TW December 2021 to show your constituents that you you stand for and support every possible step that can be taken to strengthen our democracy I wish I could be there to advocate in person but I have a community meeting on Public Safety at the same time otherwise I would be it is not often enough that we find ourselves in these unique positions where we can really have a positive impact on generations to come this is one of them and I hope you Embrace this moment and help set EX samples for towns across the state thank you Tiffany okay motion wait this is still a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 017 any other member of the public wishing to be heard motion motion to close the public hearing on City ordinance 24017 was made by council person CLE and I'll give the second council person Solomon he was quick to the draw on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24 day 017 council person princeeric Hi council person bajano council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Dees council person rera hi and council president wman motion to close a public hearing is approved 80 with council person Ridley abson on city ordinance 24-17 for final consideration and Adoption of ordinance 24- 017 council person priner I council person bajano gone to obstain council person SLE I want to thank all the residents of Jersey City and Hudson County that came out and spoke tonight uh I came tonight uh despite it being the Eid holiday just to take this vote I pledged my support early on uh the first meeting here City Hall with councilman Gilmore and councilman Solomon and um I'm proud to vote I today council person Solomon sure first want to thank all the colleagues for working on this bill together a special thank you to celil MC Gilmore for leading the charge uh to bring this uh to the uh Council and obviously to the um thank you to the theore S sorry I haven't voted yet Sean I gotta keep going oh I'm sorry I thought they were slapping when they heard you vote Yes it's the Oscars I got a long speech here now sorry and it's not timed right now uh thank you to the law department for working with us on on finding a path forward and IV say huge thank you to the uh voter Choice New Jersey uh crew and all the folks who came out to speak today for pushing for a better democracy and truly believing that your voice uh can create a better New Jersey so thank you all so much um proud to to move this forward because um what I think a lot of the folks reference is that uh we see a rising cynicism of public service we see a rising cynicism of politics of Elections and structural causes are are big part of that right when you're forced to choose between two people when the person that you think is the best choice is told not even to even bother running because the system is so stacked against them um and creating the fairis ballot creating the ballot which allows for the most Choice uh which allows for positive campaigning um which allows for voters to do what we do every day in our lives and rank things um it makes just the most sense in the world obviously this vote is is step one of a really important three-step process step two is getting threatened to take action um all of the changes in New Jersey I think are this is the perfect moment right for us to go to Trenton for all to speak with our legislative leaders and say you know don't just get rid of the line actually Adopt A system that is going to uh truly Empower voters in New Jersey um and then the third step is winning our referendum here in New Jersey but we'll take step one we'll celebrate hopefully uh and I proudly vote I council person Gilmore um first I want to thank um my colleague councilman Salomon for helping us get to the finishing line thank you to legal for helping us figure some things out to get through the Kings to iron the Kings out and I also want to make a special shout out and thank you to Veronica and Renee for doing um for doing countless workshops on what is rank Choice voting how is beneficial and just laying out the whole landscape um voter Choice New Jersey thank you thank you to everyone who came out to spoke um excuse me to speak in favor I wholeheartedly believe that this is a step in the right direction as it relates to allowing the people to choose how they choose to vote that is extremely important um and for me I just I just think that it's I mean it's common sense it's saves money it increases voter involvement it takes away this this negative back and forth D elections um and I think that we're always saying that we're pro democracy and I think this is something we can stamp by showing that we are actually Pro so I'll probably vote I two times again um thank you sea I hate to disappoint but I can only count one council person Dees a very commendable effort Collective effort on the Outreach and education for this I proudly vote I on enhancing this Democratic process council person Rivera so I'm I'm going to tell you councilman Gilmore came tomorrow we we never talked so much about football ever you know and I knew I was trying to understand where we were getting with these conversations right but uh listen uh the minute he actually the second he told me hey what do you thought listen I'm 100% with it so I want to you know give you kudos to both you and councilman Solomon for knocking this out the park I vote I and council president wman I want to thank councilman Solomon and Erica for really pushing this forth this this ordinance was back and forth and it took about a year to really get this done and we had to keep going illegal and trying to figure out what can we do what can we not do I know when they came to me in the beginning I said the public should know it's important to educate the public when you get do when you're about to do any change when it come to voting and they assured me that they were having public meetings and so they came back again and we went back to Legal sometime people don't know the process that you go back and forth just to get some type of legislation to go forth It's not that none of us is against because we all believe in Freedom of Choice we do we believe that strongly I I got to thank Erica because she was really on it I I got to because Erica was calling my office making sure it was on the agenda when it was not on the agenda where is it what was it going calling legal seeing what's happening because to get anything past you have to have a team that will work with you to get it across the finish line and so um I'm I'm voting I we never had a problem with it it was just that we had to keep Consulting legal what can we do how can we word it because they are our legal defense that defends us to make sure we doing what's right so I do thank Erica I thank um councilman um s not SLE Solomon Solomon I think Solomon and I think also councilman Gilmore because they really put a lot of effort in it and one thing I do want to say so often sometime when people come up here you you you say that we um just vote any kind of way and we just vote what the status quo says but I think by now you should know how we are we really vote our conscience we really do you may disagree with us at times but when you look at us look how we vote the majority of us basically vote 85% or 95% the same and so often you insult us and say you know you know you're going to just do whatever no we really trying to do it right so everybody has their opinion but one thing I can say about this Council we do vote least 85 to 95% of the time together we do so I do vote I city ordinance 24 day 017 is adopted 701 with council person bajano abstaining and council person Ridley absent okay if if we're going to make exits if we can just hold the conversations outside and exit quietly because we still have a lot of business to cover I appreciate it council person Rivera would you like to cast your vote on ordinance 24- 016 I vote I thank you very much so to re recap that one city ordinance 24- 016 is now adopted 80 with council person Ridley absent so now you're all caught up so the last second reading ordinance item 4.6 city ordinance 24- 019 is an ordinance amending chapter 175 food handling establishments and 242 piece in good order of the code of ordinances of the city of Jersey City to establish regulations for third party delivery companies and food delivery drivers as discussed in caucus I believe it's the council's intention to carry ordinance 24- one excuse me 019 to the April 24th council meeting and that motion was made by council person Solomon may I have a second second second by council person Cay on the motion to city ordinance 24019 to the April 24th um Municipal council meeting council person priner Hi council person bajano council person Cay hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 80 to carry city ordinance 24- 019 to the April 24th Municipal council meeting with council person Ridley absent before we move on to the um public hearing on the special Improvement districts for uh 2024 Jackson Hill Main Street um I know council person SLE does have to leave so I would like to take his vote on the remaining items on the agenda so he can count his vote and the first vote is going to be on claims and addendums number one two and three I vote I for all three thank you and we're going to go through the resolutions slowly so items 10.1 through 10.22 your vote I vote I God bless you items 10.23 through 10.36 I vote I items 10.37 through 10.45 I vote I items 10.46 through 10.56 I vote I items 10.57 through 10.66 I vote I and the balance of the resolutions items 10.67 through 1077 did we vote on 1077 we did earlier I'm sorry so 10.67 through 76 I vot I thank you so much council person SLE you are dismissed thank you thank you everyone Ed muar yes young okay with that being said we are now going to conduct a public hearing on the 2024 Jackson Hill Main Street special improvement district assessment role and budget any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion I forgot about you I'm sorry oh Phil is yeah Phil is definitely hello carington again tonight I'm not doub the budget or doub the people I I just have a serious problem understanding the purpose and how it's supposed to flow how it's supposed to work it is really not working for us uh time and time again I ask the question I look into it a look back and forth for an example let me um give credit where credit is due I me GMO just came on the scene and the amount of things that he's doing or the amount of information comes out of of his office that is the kind of thing we were expecting from this kind of program that this program will more more than just take our money and run around looking good in some expensive cars these Negroes does nothing for us it is a waste of time I'm paying paying to them direct for example that program been in existence for 13 years I've been in bu business on Jackson Avenue for 30 something years I I run de care centers and after school programs and a construction firm out of 450 Mars that came 453 in the Bon Center 127 153 none of my businesses are mentioned or on their list I have to run to them as they say to put my name on the list how the hell I'm paying you to do work and you're not working for me I I receive nothing from them at all I receive no information of nothing that they're doing zero zero zero I've been again I've been in business since 1987 almost the same place but in other places so I I mean what what are they really doing it is a joke it is an insult it is not needed the problems that we are having or the things that they're supposed to address is already been addressed the biggest program that they had recently was a facade program I mean before they had that that was that you can go to Redevelopment agency or or ACDC and get that information I mean you have to go to register with them they shouldn't be coming to us letting us know what they have they do nothing they a matter of fact I do I run after school programs I said before school programs early morning breakfast program again they get nothing from they don't even visit me these Negroes think that they're upper class and they and black folks such as myself doesn't even get an attention I went to see the president one time he run in another room again I went to Michelle Massie in in 2020 to explain I was having a problem she said she had to go to uh whatever she was going it was never heard it is not needed I'm against this budget I'm against the program period until they hold the meeting and explain to us what are they doing for our money I got a serious problem with that and I'm sue the whole time is up thank you well their time is up uh good evening Council Tyrone Rose um spelled t r o n e r o s e uh I am a board member of the Board of Trustees for the Jackson Hill Sid um Jackson Hill Sid is uh has been in existence for the last 10 years our budget and the monies that we've been asking for ha have not changed during that period of time um unfortunately the majority of our budget uh in the past which is over over 50% of it has gone to street street cleaning um almost 101,000 uh right now the board is in a position where we are completely restructuring uh one of the things that we've changed in this year's budget is that we've decreased the amount for street cleaning from 101,000 down to 41,000 uh switching that 60 ,000 into uh beautification we're trying to just restructure things uh so that the property owners uh can be more involved and have more in act uh one thing uh volunteerism is like um uh uh serving on a council it's a thankless job um but we are open to all property owners and business owners are open to to join the board and have a voice so we're not here just to dictate what needs to be done and how it needs to be done we the input of the uh the community and the people who are stakeholders and and pay into this tax assessment um normally our annual meeting we don't have anyone show up normally the annual meeting when we're deciding this budget no one is there um the the budget line items like I said they haven't changed um but like like any business after a certain point you have to put some new eyes on it and reevaluate and see what things that you can do differently and I think that's the position that we're at right now like I said I'm I'm not a fan of public speaking or or this is one of the few times I've been here to the council but um I think this is a sign of of some the changes and the things that that we're doing now so I ask all the property owners and and the business owners to be patient but more importantly reach out and find out what's going on and get involved uh we need your input um we don't want to take your money it's my money too um you know I'm a business owner and and uh a multiple property owner as well so it's all about monies and the monies are trust me are going where they're supposed to be going but we need your ideas we need your input so we can continue the the process and make it work for everybody thank you so much okay um T so you're here on the behalf of Jackson Hill I am um um just just a quick few questions um with with respect to the reallocation or the diversion or um because he said you're moving away from the sweep in to the tune of aund and some thousand um what specifically is this um beautification program and what can we expect to come to fruition so right now one of the ideas that has come out of the um uh some of the meetings that we've been having is to move the responsibility of cleaning into the hands of the property owners so right now like I said we we have the street strepers all coming down this the CDs they're coming down and it's they're cleaning up me for instance I'm out there every day cleaning in front of my property so if we can take some of these resources and give the money back to some of the property owners so that you can buy or even everybody has a local guy who's always in front helping you out uh Dunkin Donuts has one I'm sure everybody else can think of someone who's local one one thing you can do is use these funds to kind of pay someone to help keep your property as well we're not going to cut it down completely we're still going to use CDs we just want to redirect it and figure out other ways other things are adding uh beautification adding garbage cans uh and different projects and programs we also have grants that we're we're getting so that we can incorporate that so we just think it's not fair that that large of a piece of our budget is going to one company to Street the sweeps to to uh I'm sorry to clean the streets and we're not satisfied with the the job that they doing okay and um my last question with regards to to leadership are you guys moving towards having a director or a board as a whole because I've been hearing conflicting story yeah yeah you know I'd rather keep this discussion to to the budget but I I I definitely like to talk all you know all freet if you like to okay any other questions no that's it thank you okay hold on Dan no okay that's it still a public hearing on the 2024 Jackson Hill Main Street special improvement district assessment role and budget any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record okay we have a motion to close the public hearing on the 2024 Jackson Hill Sid special Improvement uh District assessment role and budget made by council person Riva and the second I didn't hear the second was rich bajano councilman bajano thank you on the motion to close the public hearing on the 2024 Jack Hill special improvement district assessment role and budget council person priner council person Bano council person Solomon council person Gilmore council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president is absent correct right motion carries 60 to close the public hearing on the 2024 Jackson Hill special Improvement District assment role in budget with council members Ridley SLE and Waterman absent okay on to our public request for a hearing please pay attention to your agendas I'll be calling the number and the first name of the individual and we do have a new clock the alarm is not that loud but I will remind you when your time is up with that being said our first Speaker 5.1 L hell y'all Y give me in tonight I love you for it but I'm here tonight and I stay here my knees hurting and cold I went to a few meetings with the Liberty State Park and I need my city council to get involved in that I know you live in this city so you're a part of that state park and it's not fair what's going on about it we need that development in that Park when I was going to that eaten yesterday I roll around my area Bas uh Barry Lane course Street T de here around the corner Alon Park Round course from 22 School Park all them Jerry Walkers all them little small and that little square mile all them basketball courts were full kids were waiting the play ball but yet we got people talking about we don't need that Park we done down there with an inside and outside basketball court just like tonight we had a university kids at one supp they want to do a tournament here in Jersey City outside of that colge in a place like Liberty State Park we need that Park where our kids can have somewhere to go I run a free summer camp for 20 years I don't get grant money I I raise my money from my camp but I don't have to want to take a bus from the county or the city to take my kids out of Jersey City to have fun this is not fair when we can that Wasteland down there when I was a child we played down there from down there the foot of here Jersey City to the swamps to the swamps of Liberty Park some they got $52 million let's let work and let that whoever else want to put some money in that Park we need that we got to go to se car CU out of Jersey City when we got all that Wasteland down there the state got and ain't doing nothing where our kids can take advantage of it our babies the city is growing look at down here look up where we at now you can't even find apartment I got people call me about they homeless let's get on board don't let that that that that liing State Park go to waste you all live here you all a part of it please do something about it and about this housing situation thank you have a blessed night our next speaker 5.2 Jeff is Jeff here did he leave okay next 5.3 Tina hi guys Justice for Drew we'll never forget that one we will always remember that well you know guys I'm here for nonprofits and I just wanted to say I see Trenton was able to help the nonprofits in um murky County that's where it is guys so maybe y'all should do some resource with them because y don't know how to help out with the nonprofits here in Jersey City so maybe I need to go to trit and find out how they was able to work out with the nonprofits CU it's a lot of nonprofits here in Jersey City that are helping out in the community I want to thank um for chief staff Erica um jery Walker um education of Gore because no everyone knew I didn't have a space I end up going back in my house and still helping out the community the hospital my blog anybody that call resource anything but no one still reach out to see if I had a spot I thank God education and GMA all them got together to talk to HUB and Steve in the building so I was able to get space so I would continue to help out the community we just had a fire last week and thank God who they call Community treasure they think it's a big organization but it's just me I had to reach out to education of Gore and chief staff ERC because Red Cross was was not doing their job so that made them come to me so all I'm saying guys I guess y said y all helping each other connecting with each other I don't know I'm not for sure I pray y'all are but I just want y'all to come together so we can make history in Jersey City I went somewhere for the um two weeks ago to do a nonprofit to help a community and they was actually a community they mayor was working with them the leaders was working with them it was such a beautiful thing that see their kids was able to do different things to see the moms the family so to see that happen I know we can come together to help each other we need to put our pride away put all the evenness away that we have in our community and start coming together to working with nonprofit and working with people who's willing to change our community thank you guys hey our next speaker 5.4 Edward I've been away for a couple meetings and how you have them scheduled here has probably been about a month and I'm back but the same issues are still near and dear to my heart and we haven't had much progress on the issue that's most near and dear to my heart even though there is work being done behind the scenes and that's the murder of Andrew Washington almost 12 months ago now when his family called Crisis Intervention right to come for help for Andrew instead the response was jcpd SWAT and not long after death the family was broken a tragedy tore our community of heart and I've been down here ever since and so thank you councilman Gilmore for your leadership councilman Solomon any RFP you present or you plan to present to the city should at least be 24/7 I went back to read some of the uh news reports of when Andrew was murdered that happened on a Sunday in August so it can't be that you've worked tirelessly you've given Stacy Flanigan and Department of Health and Human Services all they need and then it's Monday through Friday 8 to 3: or Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. there is no service life saving service on the weekend a 247 service that should be the priority we will never forget Andrew alongside nigc Brooks this is a very important issue Mental Health crisis interf intervention funding for our communities Naj was also murdered last year by patteron police and we rally we called on you all especially the leaders in our state house to do something about it to afford US funding to have a culturally appropriate program to respond when we need cultur appropriate culturally appropriate meaning people who look like us people who know what we go through they speak the same language they can understand Us and something finally that's not as combative something that's not just represented solely or that has the face of police on it I will never give up this cry for Andrew we will never forget and it's on us it's our responsibility it's on us where's director Shay where is the public safety department where is leadership here calling them to the table where thank you Edward next speaker 5.5 Gina I don't see Gina next speaker 5.6 Phillip president Joy wman members of the city council I am Phil carington I'm here to get an answer that was lingering for the last two years to the same question please give me an answer it is important that you do you're either obstruction of justice you're either blocking the process the legal process or ignoring the court order um I have a court order in my in my hands of course sure your attorneys has uh have that as well two years ago I came here complaining that the that I was I receive uh a denial for an event and I had license and the license was cancelled and the and the denial for the event was never given the purpose for that and so my question here is number one I have a series of license at that particular time in 22 some of them are in my my files and my question to you is what law would allow you to suspend or avoid a current license or license without due process I didn't violate any law the fees was paid and everything was done appropriately I would like to know from you tonight I need an answer where can I find that law if you have light license I had food license I had Street closing license I had a festival permit they were all current and I could not use that and I could not use them so I'd like to know what law would allow that to happen additionally um we are in for for that be we are in court and of course all the you the exception Gil of of Gil um Gilmore are part of that suit and it just simply ask you a simple question to ask the S the public safety director what was is purpose for the um denial I asked that from the time I started in J in July 2022 can't get an answer single answer to that question and of course we are in uh in Discovery I have a letter here that I sent over and over I give send Discovery to all of all you there are 13 people on this not one of you answered a single question and Discovery I mean this is morally uh repugnant but the way you're behaving I have a letter again from the court saying that Discovery is going is going to be finished Discovery started in March the 2nd not a single question and so I need an answer tonight first what law was used to to the um void or suspend the license or license secondly what was the purpose look in June 2022 you approve the the some members of the city council members of the city for an event in July Marther King you deny me in August you approve Angie mcnight so to tell me that you have a reason well no okay what's the purpose June Martin Luther King and gram Hall approve thank you Philly sorry answer I need an answer please I need an answer to the question my time is up your time sorry what law I need an answer tonight because I'm going to write I'm going to write a a writ of mandemus because you continue to forget if not I'm going to um bring a complaint against your attorney Bill we have a lot of speakers your time is up please I need an answer the law say if I make a question but I need an answer your time is up fine I start speaking your time to speak next speaker 5.7 Jonas there's no answer no it's not not tonight they're not how can to get answer you have a I have a court order you have a coure order Bill no no you have a reach out to the legal department you have a coure order since October 26 you all of youil Gilmore and your attorney Phil we don't no no I'm gonna write a WR you're not gonna get an answer they're not answering you the time is up I don't want to see you remove from the Changers let them arrest me no I I I don't want to I I canay I can pay Bor then I sue all you all individually I need an answer let's be a gentleman come on thank you Phil okay you're not going to answer the question they are not going to answer all right next speaker 5.8 and Marie father complain discipline for your attorney for the Supreme Court thank you Phil welcome to the club thank you I'm not playing with you all and Marina zaro Jersey City together and Our Lady of sar's Parish in w f I thought it very important for me to be here tonight with you when we are so well into April and next month on the 25th of May we Mark the fourth anniversary of George Floyd's death due to the police practice of lethal action taking lethal action when I think of that incident and that this anniversary coming up I see an image in Camden New Jersey it was in 2020 that summer after his death and the Camden Police Chief Waki and the mayor were were marching in the group The the action formed by black lives matter and the chief of police wasaki he was at the head of the March holding up one side of the banner that read standing in solidarity how important an action was that by that police chief I have two questions I know you won't answer them tonight but I'm going to put them out here will the requests for proposals the RFP that we're working on and we want to use to implement the behavioral health response to 911 calls for mental health or addiction crisis will that be announced by this critical anniversary the May 25th 4th anniversary of George Floyd the the end of that month marches us toward the one-year anniversary of the sad loss of our own Drew Washington my second question is if we're using the Denver star model as to imitate for our program I just want to say that has a behavioral health person and an EMT an emergency medical technician go going out even if we use that model of sending these two Behavioral Health persons we must have the collaboration the complicity the integration and will of our own police force that's critical they have to understand what we're undertaking they are essential keep the image of Chief Yaki carrying the side of the banner that said standing in solid it thank you next speaker 5.9 Terry I believe he left next speaker 5.10 Laura not here 5.11 Carol thank you 5.12 Harris hello every everyone good good afternoon I mean good evening my name is Harris Maser and I will be talking about ordinance 24-3 which entails prohibiting the sale of seconduse lithium ion batteries lithium batteries are used in many household items like cameras toys flashlights and personal devices like cell phones laptops and tablets lithium batteries can be dangerous if managed improperly they can cause fires and possibly explode under certain circumstances the purchase of secondhand lithium batteries should be prohibited since there is an increased chance those batteries have suffered from performance degradation creating a greater risk for potential fires or explosions according to New York City's Fire commissioner there have been more than 100 battery fire fires that have killed 13 people in 2013 2023 including the incident where an ebike battery erupted into flames while charging in a Mana in repair shop which killed four people these incidents and deaths can be definitely be can definitely be prevented if sellers of such products are prohibited from the sale of these dangerous goods for sellers to distribute potentially unreputable unreputable lithium batteries they should be labeled by authorized organizations approved by the Jersey City division of fire and such labeling should be disclosed on the battery or the packaging for such battery with all the information Incorporated herein it is safe to say that the prohibition of selling secondhand use lithium batteries will benefit society and reduce the number of fatalities caused by battery accidents therefore I support such an ordinance to take a effect thank you next 5.13 Jerome left 5.14 Elena good evening city council members and fellow residents of Jersey City my name is Elena little and I come before you tonight as a concerned citizen who believes in the power of our Collective voice in recent months we have witnessed a disturbing Trend in our city one that threatens the very foundations of our rent control laws and the protections they afford to our most most vulnerable residents and one that raises serious questions about the priority of our city government tenants support side Towers have bravely come forward with 35 documented instances of rent control violations These Are Not Mere allegations but clear evidence of a systemic problem that demands immediate action the director of landlord tenant relations has sent a letter declaring fines and penalties for these violations but as of tonight more than 3 weeks later we have yet to see any real action taken to enforce these consequences this inaction is not only a disservice to the tenants of Portside Towers but to every resident of Jersey City who relies on the protection of our rent control laws when these laws are not enforced it sends a message that the rights of tenants are secondary to the rights of land or to the interests rather of landlords and developers as you will hear from the speakers tonight there are troubling indications of a coordinated effort to evade rent control a concerted attempt to undermine the laws that serve as a Lifeline for so many of our residents this is not just a matter of legal technicalities or bureaucratic procedures this is about the fundamental rights of tenants about the promise of fair housing and equal protection under the law when we allow these violations to go unchecked when we permit the powerful to act with impunity we erode the very trust that binds our community together we must ask ourselves as a community is this the kind of City we want to be one where the powerful can flout the law without consequence while the voices of the people are silenced I stand here today to say that we deserve better we deserve a city that prioritizes the needs of its residents that enforces the laws fairly and consistently and that holds those in power accountable for their actions to the members of this Council I urge you to listen closely to the testimonies you will hear here tonight I urge you to take action to use your power to investigate these issues thoroughly and to ensure that our rent controll laws are enforced to the fullest extent the tenants of fortside towers and the people of Jersey City are counting on it thank you next speaker 5.15 Kevin good evening today I stand before you to raise concerns about a troubling pattern of actions by our city officials and Equity residential that appear to disregard the rent Control Ordinance the recent attempt to manipulate the rent Control Ordinance through director Richardson's letter is just the latest in a series of actions that favor the landlord at the expense of tenants despite the clear language and intent of the ordinance consider this the city has repeatedly failed to enforce the clear requ requirements of the rent Control Ordinance which has allowed Equity residential to engage in actions that appear to violate Provisions related to rent disclosure rent increases and tenant notifications director Richardson's letter which raises questions about the involvement of acting Corporation Council Britney Murray seems to create a loophole that could allow the landlord to collect an additional $2.5 million from tenants which I believe would contradict the ordinance's purpose the city's in Action a full 6 months since the unanimous rent leveling board determination has left tenants financially uncert uncertain and distressed these actions raise concerns about the city government's role in enabling the landlord's potential violations of tenants rights the connections between the city's actions and the landlord's Behavior are too numerous and consistent not to raise a concern that they are a mere coincidence the pattern of behavior we are witnessing raises questions about the potential violations of laws designed to combat ongoing lawful activities such as Rico the racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations act under Rico and Enterprise is a group Associated together for a common purpose including government entities the conduct must involve a pattern of racketeering activity committing predicate crimes like mail fraud wire fraud or extortion at least twice within a 10-year period demonstrating continuity and relationship the city's continued refusal to investigate this matter or issue fines for obvious violations of the ordinance rais concerns that should be looked into despite the uh the support expressed for our cause in this Hall we continue to pay higher rents than ever before as we face with appears to be a corrupt intent and lack of transparency in the rent recalculation and damage calculation process Madam president and city council you have a choice rather than having history suggest that you were complicit in this deeply concerning situation you can stand with the people you serve use your power to investigate subpoena and bring the truth to light otherwise it may become increasingly difficult to distinguish between the actions of the city government and those of the landlord in this troubling situation is important to note that as a concerned citizen I'm not qualified to make a legal determination however our legal looking after looking into this for us thank you our next speaker 5.16 Jessica our next speaker 5.17 Rihanna good evening council members I'm Ranna M it's a pleasure to be back I do first want to take the opportunity to thank you for your engagement and for supporting the push for the successful implementation of the rent leveling board decision of last year while we're not there yet progress has been made and it feels as though our efforts are not in vain I would respectfully call upon you to urge Pastor shyron Richardson to fulfill his written promise to issue fines and penalties in accordance with the ruling and based on the 35 cases we brought forward at the last meeting while progress has been made I do think it's important to continue to have highlight the ways in which Equity residential continues to be a bad actor firstly from personal experience we continue to experience water leaks in our bedroom and living room every time it rains we have had the carpet lifted in our bedroom to prevent the spread of mold and despite reporting this in January we're yet to have anyone come and see the damage let alone try and make repairs we've raised this as a habitation complaint and while folks from that department have been very responsive to us Equity continued to delay avoid and generally Dodge any real answers offer any timelines or in fact show any interest or care in this matter indeed we invited the building manager to do a walkth through but our invitation remains unanswered secondly I profer that Equity is a bad actor because they're attempting to dup both prospective and current tenants alike in an email dated March 19th to prospective tenant to the East Tower the tower that continues to insist they're not rank controlled Equity stated and I quote since the community is rent controlled we are required to keep the rate according to the previous residence rate you may recall from the last time we offered up a Litany of examples where Equity had deceived new tenants they're now claim claiming to comply with the rent control decision or are they council members it's difficult to tell because Equity residential continues to insist that current residents sign their renewal leases that include an ADD dendam stating and I quote pursuant to njsa 2A colon 4284 do3 we hereby notify you that the premises and Community are exempt from the provisions of any rank Control ordinances instituted by Jersey City and said premises and Community will be exempt from any future rent control rent stabilization or rent leveling ordinance instituted by these municipalities respective tenants are being duped into moving into the towers while current tenants are being forced to sign something illegal you couldn't make it up we're not making it up unlike Equity residential who is making it up as they go equity's bad faith behavior is only rivaled by their hypocrisy at worst or their incompetency at best thank you for your time our next speaker 5.18 Eric not here thank you next speaker Sylvia she's not here okay next speaker 5.20 Seamus hi it's uh it's Sheamus Sheamus sorry no worries it happens a lot uh my name is Sheamus Sullivan I live at Portside Towers um I am here to speak about rent control but I want to change it up and start by talking about a bad experience that uh my family and I had with Equity residential that turned into a good experience with city government um around December 29th of last year uh we also had a uh water leak uh return to our kitchen ceiling it was particularly concerning because it was right above our stove where we prepare food for ourselves and our two small children and we were not able to get a timely response from Equity to repair this for the entire month of January uh by February 5th uh there was a hole in the ceiling uh that turned out to be toilet water that was Dripping in and black mold was also coming into our kitchen um so at this point we did log the problem on C click fix this is around February 5th within 2 hours we heard from a city code compliance inspector who called spoke to me established enforcement actions and a timeline uh they came and they looked at the problem later that week uh they verbally and in a letter communicated uh to equity that there would be consequences for not initiating their repairs in a timely manner and within a week of that the hole was gone I would like to see rent control enforcement work in the same way um and obviously it's not working that way right now uh we are uh one of a few apartments where our lease is coming up for Renewal soon it's up on May 15th right now Equity is not budging from a proposed increase that is not in compliance with the rent leveling board's October decision um and you know we know from evidence that we hear tonight at other meetings that equity and other City landlords are going to continue acting this way if the city does not intervene it took one city employee less than a day to intervene in my repair situation and if no such mechanism is in place for illegal rent increases why not if such a mechanism is in place why isn't it being used here I'm thrilled that the hole is gone I'm grateful to Jersey City for intervening in that situation I would love positive experiences like that to be the norm particularly where R control is concerned and I do believe it is within this council's power to make that happen thank you our next speaker 5.21 Derek evening Council lot of empty chairs okay not expecting that uh yeah before I get started just want to say um thank you for the engagement in past uh Council meetings that is heartening to see as someone already mentioned there's still a lot of work to do um but I do appreciate that first step uh this is my fourth uh council meeting third time speaking on this topic um I've only been at this a short time compared to some of my uh more dedicated uh neighbors behind me and truth be told I look forward to a time when this is no longer necessary um that's probably a sentiment that we we probably share on both sides of this uh this desk here um that said we'll keep coming back as long as it takes to get this done the the right way and I have all this written and just hearing this all over again and again I just want to kind stand up here and just ask why and then just sit here in silence in three minutes but um I spent all this time writing this on the train ride home from work today so I'm going to say unfortunately uh that day when we can stop showing up here every two weeks for our meetings uh will only come when our landlord is held fully to account to the laws and determinations of the city no compromises no half measures and especially no interpretations of the law that are conveniently friendly to the offending party to that end I spend a lot of time wondering why something that seems so simple enforcement something we were it was the word of the day in the last council meeting um has been made so difficult the only logic I can come up with is that there's just a lack of political will that in and of itself as a disappointment a lack of political will to enforce the city's own legislation it seems strange just to say that out loud some of my neighbors have been fighting for this in time measured in years you've heard countless hours of our speeches delivered in tedious three minute intervals you've heard very real consequences for very real people due to the egregious actions of our landlord and the inaction of the city all of this effort just to build that political will to compel the city to enforce its own laws all in an effort to protect their own citizens from corporate Mega landlord really does not have to be this way I don't understand but I get that's how it works sometimes local politics is often too often a stepping stone to hire office tomorrow unfortunately this ambition can compromise the decision-making process instead of confronting a problem to find a solution from a perspective of what's best for the people I represent it's looked at through a perspective of what's best for my political career what happens when those answers to those two questions don't align my theory is that in this case in action so I pose a question each of you will you commit today to doing the right thing for the people you swore of to protect and represent thank you our next speaker 5.22 Joel good evening president Waterman and council members my focus tonight is again a call for a public public not a closed door investigation into public figures to begin with I must remind you that the Tipping Point of governmental change is often public hearing that result in surprising testimony many of you on the council and in this room may not have been alive during the Watergate hearings in June 1973 during the US Senate's hearings Senator Howard Baker asked the pivotal question to former White House councel and a cover up and the coverup coordinator John Dean the question was my premise is still what did the president know and when did he know it while Baker thought he was Protecting President Nixon with that line attempting to insulate the president from his the actions of AIDS who might have done something wrong his inquiry broke the wall protecting Nixon John Dean turned it around and charged that Nixon had been involved in discussions about clemency for those who had carried out and organized the break-in as well as talks about payoffs John Dean the former White House Council said the president had continued these activities even after he as White House Council had warned his boss of the cancer on the presidency public Congressional investigations of the executive branch have produced some of the most dramatic and consequential moments in American political history such investigations can shine a light on alleged EX executive misconduct Andor failure to act they can also bring popular pressure as we are trying to do repeatedly to bear on the executive in ways that material affect politics and policy we've been demanding a public investigation of the office of landlord tenant relations for over a year an investigation into the selective enforcement of chapter 260 and the associated failure to enforce this chapter against corporate Mega landlords as the journey Jersey Journal recently reported council member Solomon has pointed out another area where businesses including these corporate Mega landlords have failed to register under the corporate payroll tax law shortening as much as $29 million in uncollected taxes each year how much more do you need to open an investigation into the entrenched failure to enforced city ordinances against developers Builders and corporate Mega landlords and the related detriment to Jersey City residents and taxpayers it's time to act perform your oversight duties under the Faulkner act thank you our next speaker 5.23 Tara good evening fellow residents of Jersey City and members of the city council I stand before you as a citizen who believes in the fundamental principles of Justice fairness and the rule of law and it is with a heavy heart and a sense of profound betrayal that I must say these principles are under attack in our city the recent attempts to manipulate the rent Control Ordinance the failure to enforce its provisions and what could be interpreted as collusion between City officials and Equity residential if true would represent a staggering betrayal of public trust these actions are not just illegal they are a moral affront to every citizen who believes in the basic tenants of good governance and ethical leadership we have presented evidence of what we believe to be corruption time and time again we have shown how director Richardson's letter seemingly written or reviewed by City lawyers appears to create a loophole that would allow the landlord to extract millions of dollars in illegal rents we have demonstrated how the city has failed to enforce the clear requirements of the ordinance which could enable the landlord to violate tenants rights with impunity and yet despite this mountain of evidence we have been met with nothing but silence inaction and a seemingly endless cycle of delay and obfuscation it is if our city officials have forgotten that they serve the people not the powerful interests of wealthy landlords but we will not be silent we will not allow this betray Trail to go unanswered we are here today to demand accountability to amand action and to demand that our elected representatives fulfill their sacred duty to uphold the law and protect the rights of all citizens we are not just fighting for the tenants of Portside Towers we are fighting for the soul of our city for the principle that no one no matter how wealthy or powerful is above the law we are fighting for a future where every citizen can trust that their government is working for them not against them so I ask you members of the council will you join us in this fight will you have the courage to stand up to the forces of greed and Corruption to use your power to investigate to subpoena and to bring the full weight of the law to bear on those who have betrayed us the eyes of the city are upon you the hopes of countless tenants and citizens rest on your shoulders you have the power to make a difference to be the heroes that Jersey City so desperately needs thank you our next speaker 5.24 Marlene thank you next speaker 5.25 David good evening I'm Dr David Mason and this is my third time speaking directly to the council quote in life we are born with a purpose we've been told this evening a purpose to obfuscate or to Champion our responsibilities I wonder politics I feel is an exercise in trying to get people to believe what you want them to believe or at least pretend to leadership on the other hand seems to be more about inspiring people to do what they need to do on the off chance you are as yet unaware it is April to say it for what must be the 100th time if not more the ruling we're all talking about here was in October it's April if you're waiting for people to believe what you want them to believe you've bet on the wrong horse consider inspiring people to do what they need to do instead for a change if you think this is an issue of mitigating the overall damage to some corporate bedmate by haggling over the minutia from the October ruling then I'd like to disabuse you of that notion let me instead draw your attention to the overt and current law breaking to do so I'm actually going to ignore the October 2023 ruling for a moment let's just talk about August 22 which came with the ruling that Equity itself has left entirely uncontested recently a neighbor shared an email with us in it a Portside leasing rep stated they are unable to raise rent at all over that of the previous tenant due to the rent control ruling of August 22 it's a funny thing to see that explicit recognition it didn't seem to stop them from raising my rent by roughly 16.5% over the previous tenant after the August 22 ruling the case should be cut and dry even reflecting on E's own words at the beginning of this month I sent an email demanding a refund of nearly $112,000 in stolen money and an immediate roll back to the rate for the previous ret tenant until such time as the official recalculation is done today was the deadline and there has been no compliance I also emailed director Richardson to flag their violation and demanded action in accordance with his own recent ordinance today was the deadline and no action has been taken forgive me but I I I just don't get it are are we subject to the rule of law in this city or are we not are we invested in the expeditious and right enforcement of law or are we not you'll have to excuse my frustration but I simply don't understand I have a bachelor's with two minors a master's of Science and a PhD in computational Neuroscience by all accounts I'm an exceptionally well educated person and I'm simply dumbfounded I just don't understand what's going on here lead stop playing politics and Lead Inspire to do people to do what they need to do there's no better leadership than by action and example our next speaker 5.26 Daniel good evening city council members on March 6 city council member Cay addressed one of our speakers directly asking us to quote compile all of the documents of the illegitimate increases the letters the leases all of that information to send them to the landlord tenant office and to CC myself and councilman Gilmore so that we're aware of that and we can follow up with the landlord tenant office to ensure that this doesn't happen we need evidence we need something to work with I sympathize with you I hear you every time I would not want to be in the this position and for you to help us help you that's what I'm asking for those are hi's words now at the last city council meeting on March 20th we provided 35 examples of specific rent control violations I also mentioned at last city council meeting that new tenants looking to live at Portside were required to sign off on a statement indicating that the buildings aren't R controlled and just recently I signed a new lease at Portside and the lease contains a rent addendum which required me to sign off on the following statement pursuant to njsa 2a4 2843 we hereby notify you that the premises and the community are exempt from the provisions of any rent Control ordinances instituted by Jersey City or West New York as the case may be and said premises in community will be exempt from any future rent control rent stabilization of rent leveling ordinances instituted by these municipalities for a period of 30 years following the completion of of construction at the community this rent control addendum constitutes Consumer Fraud rent control in Jersey City is the default and the only way to gain access to an exemption via the statute they quote is if the original owners would have been eligible for it by building a qualifying structure they did not and filing for an exemption they did not even if they had built a qualifying building and filed for an exemption it would have been limited by the duration of the initial mortgage which matured on September 27th 1992 ending any exemption even if there ever could have been one Equity residential is consu committing Consumer Fraud at the expense of its tenants us your constituents and it's happening right under your nose we've provided you with mounds of proof and yet nothing has been done it's not easy to fight for what's right it takes courage especially in the world of politics you can fight for us or you can sit back and do nothing next speaker 5.27 I bet thank you next speaker 5.28 denillo good evening I rarely had encountered that that impacted me so much even 3 weeks later I'm upset and think about it a lot a group of concerned citizens including myself came to City Hall for the state of the city address on March 21st to peacefully express our worries regarding the injustices faced by renders in our city we were met with blatant suppression and intimidation tactics that have no place in a Democratic Society upon arrival we were informed that we could not bring signs into City Hall the smaller of those signs we were met with dismissive responses and refusal to provide clear explanation for the sign Ben EA after security recognized us we confirmed that we came to just hold the signs peacefully as every other week when we questioned a Jersey City police captain about this this Deion he initially explains design are considered a fire hazard after three firefighters confirmed that they do not see a fire hazard in the signs the captain stated they told me signs are not allowed the ambigous reference of day L of wondering who exactly is responsible for the decision the lack of transparency surrounding this directive is deeply concerning and Rises the serious questions about the Integrity of our local government while at this point we have no 100% certainty we can all have our interpretation of who instructed the police considering there was no advertisement or even information about the event up front it seems this was planned for friends and family only no critics allowed censorship supr of free speech and blatant lies are methods of a dictatorship I know what I'm talking about I grew up in East Germany and that was indeed the last time when someone told me I cannot help a sign or say something the encounter with police and security at City Hall was not in the slightest different than how police and Stasi in East Germany operated fearmongering was one of the tools and yes at the state of the city address we were intimidated and feared about consequences if we exercised our rights I implore you to conduct a thorough inist investigation in these events hold those responsible for the violation of our constitutional rights accountable our democracy and our rights are not negotiable it is erative that we hold our elected officials accountable and we will our next speaker 5.29 Sonia council members I'm personally still rattled by the events my husband just mentioned and frankly I have rarely seen him that agitated as after the state of the city address but I get it what we had to endure there threatened our core values and had us question if we actually live in a democracy that's why I want to tie in by some additional quotes and further events please listen carefully Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech spe or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances Constitution of the United States first amendment you remember me from last year if for some reason you need to be removed from this venue it will be me to do so a security guard at mayor FIP state of the city address on March 21st to my husband quoted as I recall call it from my memory Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble exerpt from the Constitution Progressive ideals demand we protect current renters too mayor fop must enforce ordinance to 60 under the fogner ACT ensuring affordable living for all a comment on the live stream of the state of the city address from my friend Shannon who is here tonight as well Port Siders who could not join us in person that day dominated the live stream with their critical but non-offensive comments All comments were turned off shortly after the event and have remained invisible for the public to the state congress shall make no law AB Bridging the freedom of speech exerpt from the Constitution of the United States let us all syn that in and please share with us what you have personally done over the last three weeks to ensure constitutional and local renters rights are met for your constituents you were all there you witnessed this directly in addition some of you specifically you council president Waterman were made aware through a letter directly after the event anyone want to share your choosing of Silence sadly comes once again as no surprise that's why I want to to share the next quote with you as a longtime resident of portet tow West and a member of the tenant association I'm reaching out to the ACLU of New Jersey for help my First Amendment right were violated at the Jersey City of the city address um on March 21st when police silenced our peaceful protest against the city failure to enforce rent control laws stay tuned for more my friend Carol will read the rest for the ACLU filing thank you I'm deeply sad you are not helping us time is up the next speaker 5.30 Drew is he here thank you our next speaker 5.31 Erin good evening council members my name is Aaron Kent first they Fascinate the fools then they muzzle the intelligent the famous philosopher bertran Russell said this about fascism but it also summarizes stepen Phillips state of the city address that took place on Thursday March 21st where I and six other members of this group were effectively silenced and an act that not only violated our First Amendment right to free speech but also undermined the very purpose and spirit of the open public meetings ACT first came the fascinating you'd think Jersey City was Pleasantville according to the address no problems here at all then came the musling though silent and peaceful apparently our presence was deafening and something that needed to be contained we were confronted by security at the front door again by Security in this room effectively threatened by police captain Brian a gaji who revealed he had been expressly instructed to prevent us from holding signs initially asserting that the signs were a fire hazard three Fire Department officials confirmed that the signs posed no risk same as all 75 publicly held meeting before that and same as this meeting we are attending right now how embarrassing that a few little signs could be considered such a threat that they were so intimidating that the only way to suppress their power was to assert that their mere presence could set this room Ablaze I can assure mayor Philip should he become governor that far scarier things than little cardboard cardboard signs and Facebook comments reminding him of his failure to do his job will await him one of the foundational elements of fascism is the suppression of dissent we have seen this from Steven Phillip time and time again in his regular suppression of comments on public social media accounts with his office associated with his office as mayor what he and many other people don't realize in this world is that your fears don't manifest into reality because of some kind of inherent power that they hold they manifest because of the attention and importance that you assign to these fears his fear was that our peaceful display would somehow end in disrupting his carefully planned event that night and make him look bad but by paying attention to us at all to those little cardboard signs he showed just how important how he showed just how much importance he had assigned to them and to us things that are inherently neutral in the order of this world cardboard signs Facebook comments says he realized he gives more power to the things that he chooses to suppress again because only powerful things are worth suppressing or manipulating though a blatant violation of our rights I guess we can take this as a compliment thank you our next speaker five 32 Shannon good evening city council members and fellow residents of Jersey City I'm here before you tonight to expose a blatant attempt to manipulate our City's rent Control Ordinance and undermine the rights of us tenants and all tenants on March 19th March 19th 2024 director shyron Richardson sent a letter to our landlord's attorney a letter that was likely written by or approved by City lawyers this letter is nothing short of a Smoking Gun revealing a concerted effort to twist the law in favor of the landlord and extract millions of dollars from hardworking tenants the letter in question conflates section 26-2 f1g 263h and 269 e of the rent Control Ordinance attempting to create a loophole that would allow the landlord to impose illegal rent increases by adding the words rent roll to the Lang anguage of 26- f uh 1G when those words didn't appear in the original text the letter attempts to circumvent the clear requirements of the ordinance and Grant the landlord unauthorized increases for three of the look back years please let me be clear this isn't a minor clerical error or a simple misinterpretation of the law it is a deliberate and calculated move to benefit the landlord at the expense of tenants the Financial impact of this manipulation is staggering if allowed to stand it would result in an additional 2,55 56,2 18 being extracted from Portside tenants over the course of just three years with a compounding 12.49% increase carrying forward indefinitely this is an outrageous abuse of power and a direct assault on the rights and well-beings of Jersey City's tenants we will not stand by idly while our laws are twisted and our pockets are picked to line the coffers of greedy landlords we demand immediate action from this Council to address and correct this blatant attempt to undermine the rent Control Ordinance we call on you to launch a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding this letter to hold accountable those responsible for its creation and to take Swift and decisive action and steps to ensure sure that our laws are enforced fairly and equitably the stakes could not be higher the Integrity of our rent control system the financial stability of our families the very trust we place in our elected officials all hang in Balance you have a duty to serve the people of the city not the in interests of wealthy landlords we are watching we are demanding action and we will not rest until Justice is served our next speaker 5.33 Suzanne good evening everyone I am here to shed light on a disturbing pattern of non-enforcement and neglect by our city officials in relation to the rent Control Ordinance while much attention has been given to the recent attempt to manipulate the ordinance through director Richardson's letter it is crucial that we do not lose sight of the numerous other ways in which our landlord has failed to meet the basic requirements out LED in the law section 26-3 of the rent Control Ordinance is unambiguous in its stipulation of the obligations that landlords must fulfill in order to qualify for rent increases yet it appears that our landlord has consistently and flagrantly violated these Provisions without consequence let's look at the facts section 26-3 requires landlords to provide new tenants with information about the previous tenants rent are our landlord has failed to do so section 26-3 I outlines the consequences for landlords who misinform tenants about prior rents or illegally increased rents our landlord has done both with impunity section 26-3 J mandates that landlords provide tenants with the truth and renting statement and comply with the landlord identity disclosure provision again our landlord has never been in compliance with these requirements to this day even 6 months after the rent leveling Board hearing there has to be a point where even City officials who were hellbent on helping our landlord extract a legal rent from us must tell Equity look we tried you just took this way too far each of these violations independently disqualifies our landlord from receiving any rent increases under the ordinance so I ask the city lawyers and chyron Richardson why are you focusing on manipulating the or to benefit the landlord when they have so clearly failed to comply with even its most basic requirements the ordinance is not a negotiable set of guidelines to be bent to the whims of the powerful it is a legal framework designed to protect the rights of tenants and to ensure that landlords operate within the bounds of the law by failing to enforce these Provisions the city is not only failing its duty to tenants you have failed us so far but is actively enabling the landlord's illegal Behavior which director Richardson's own letter calls out we demand that the city act now to enforce the ordinance as it is written we demand our landlord be held accountable for their non-compliance and that any rent increases be denied until they have met all the ordinances requirements this is not a matter of interpretation or politics it is a matter of Law and Justice the city's continued inaction in the face of such BL violations is a betrayal of the public trust and a dereliction of its most basic duties we will not be silent we will not be ignored we will continue to fight for our rights as tenants and to demand our city officials do their job and enforce the law the ordinance is clear thank you do something our next speaker 5.34 V lii good evening uh tonight I want to focus on an aspect of the Portside Towers rent control battle that affects not only the tenants but the entire city The Staggering Financial cost of the cities in action in the face of our landlord's illegal behavior for far too long our landlord has been allowed to impose unlawful rent increases causing undue hardship and financial strain on the hardworking tenants are Portside Towers the burden of these illegal increases is not just felt by individual tenants but ripples throughout our community affecting families local businesses and the overall economic well-being of our city let me put this into perspective based on the proof of violations we presented at the last council meeting our landlord should have faced fines totaling tens of thousands of dollars these fines had they been enforced would have served as a powerful deterrent against further violations and sent a clear message that illegal rent hikes will not be tolerated in Jersey City but instead the cities in action has emboldened our landlord to continue their unlawful practices secure in the knowledge that there will be no consequences for their actions this complicity has come at a steep price not just for tenants but for the entire city every dollar the 10 are forced to pay in illegal rent increases is a dollar that is taken out of our local economy it's money that could have been spent at local businesses used to support families or invested in our community instead it Li in the pockets of a landlord who has repeatedly shown a blatant disregard for the law and the well-being of their tenants the cost of the cities in action is not just Financial but also moral by failing to hold our landlord accountable the city is sending a message that the rights of tenants are secondary to the interest of wealthy Property Owners something we know this is dangerous president that determines the very principles of fairness and Justice upon which our city is built the tenants of forside towers are not asking for special treatment we're simply demanding that our rights under the law be respected and that our landlord be held to the safe standards as any other businesses or individual in the city it's time for the city council to take decisive action to address this issue we demand that the city immediately enforce the penalties and fines outlined in the rent Control Ordinance and that our landlord be held fully accountable for the their illegal actions the cost of continued inaction is simply too high for tenants for our community and for the very soul of our city we will not stand idly by while our landlord continues to flood the law and the city turns a blind eye thank you our next speaker 5.35 Carol good evening Council uh my name is Carol Cho and I'm gonna continue where my my neighbor my friend left off with our ACLU submission uh so continuing we went as a Group of Seven tenants to this public meeting to peacefully raise awareness of the lack of enforcement of rent Control Ordinance of Jersey City known as ordinance 26 Z by holding small signs the city has been in violation of that ordinance for many years and we regularly express our concern at City Council meetings to try to get the law enforced the practice of holding signs has been allowed without incident um at more than 75 of these meetings in the same venue including the night before when an even larger crowd of tenants was present on Thursday however police and building security denied us access to City Hall with our signs we had to take them to a nearby restaurant so that we could finally enter without them shortly before the start of the address we were approached by a security person threatening us to remove anyone who would speak up or signal any form of protest these actions captured on police body cameras and our own video recordings demonstrate that it was the content of our message that led to the unconstitutional suppression of our Free Speech we have also collected substantial evidence of mayor Steven Phillip censorship of his social media accounts which he uses to prevent the public from learning about his administration's failure to enforce rent control and other laws this censorship combined with the abrupt shift in enforcement at the state of the city's address when our signs address matters of public concern raises serious First Amendment concerns it's heartbreaking to see our please for help ignored while the mayor claims to support affordable housing but allows our landlord to charge illegal rents I believe the ACLU with its history of Defending free speech is Our Last Hope For Justice field two they're asking to list any steps we've already taken organizations we have filed with and um anyone that we're working with like attorneys and our response to that is I have spoken at numerous City Council meetings sharing my personal and our community struggle with illegal rent increases despite the rent leveling board's unanimous decision in our favor the city has failed to enforce it and my landlord continues to overcharge me in my neighbors at Portside Towers our attorney Neil Mara has been instrumental in guiding our lawful actions and documenting evidence of free speech violations furthermore our story has been covered by numerous Outlets including the Wall Street Journal CNBC and the real deal but still no action has been taken I ready to share my experience and evidence with the ACLU to hold our local government accountable in field three briefly describe the type of assistant uh you would like or ex organization to provide so we responded as I am asking the ACLU to investigate the suppression of our free speech at the state of the city address and take legal action to protect our rights please hold mayor FIP accountable for the suppression of our peaceful expression at the March 21st 2024 state of the city address for censoring his social media and compel the city to enforce ordinance 260 I am one of many tenants suffering under illegal rent increases and we need your help to fight back against the selective enforcements of thank you thank you our next speaker 5.36 Brendan good evening fellow tenant city council members and residents of Jersey City tonight I stand before you not as an individual tenant of Portside Towers but as a growing movement that is united in our fight for our rights and the Integrity of our laws as we continue to battle against the illegal actions of our landlord complicit of certain city officials I want to remind everyone that of the power that we hold when we stand together over the past 6 months we've seen a groundwell of support for our cause both within Portside Towers across the city tenants activists and concerned citizens have come together to to demand accountability transparency and Justice we have organized we' have spoken out we've made our voices heard and our e efforts are making a difference the extensive documentation we have gathered the legal preparations we have made the unwavering commitment we have shown are all Testament to the strength of our Collective action we are sending a clear message that we will not be silent we will not be intimidated we will not back down until our rights are fully protected and the law is upheld but we cannot do this alone we need the support of every tenant every Ally every person who believes in the principles of fairness and Justice bloody thing we found our country on we need whistleblowers and brave individuals within the city government to come forward and stand with us to expose any wrongdoing that and hold those in and to hold those responsible accountable those individuals I say this your courage and commitment to doing the right thing is invaluable you have the power to make a difference in this fight we stand ready to support you in every way we can together we can shine a light on any attempts to undermine our rights and manipulate the law and to my fellow tenants I said this keep fighting keep speaking out keep standing up for what you know is right our strength lies in our unity and unwavering commitment to Justice we are not just fighting for ourselves but for every tenant in Jersey City deserves fair and Equitable treatment under law as we move forward let us remember the power of our Collective voice let us draw the strength from one another and the knowledge that our cause is just let us never forget that together we can achieve great things United We Stand United we fight and United We Will Win power of collective action is our greatest weapon in this battle for justice and we will wield it with courage determination and the unwavering belief that our cause will prevail I call on every person tonight every per every resident Jersey City to stand up with us and fight stand with us for fairness stand with us for justice and stand us for the rights of every tenant together we will make a difference our next speaker 5.37 Jessica good evening city council I know it's been a long night um I have lots of words to read to you but I kind of wanted to talk to you for a second because um I think you know and you've heard from the speeches that we've given over the last two years um year and a half year and a half 18 months seems like longer um that we have stamina that we care about this that we care about laws being enforced that we care about Equitable enforcement not selective enforcement of the laws in our city and I really I wasn't you know I feel strongly about rent control clearly and been coming every two weeks for as almost as long as Michelle and Kevin um but I was galvanized by the events at the state of the city address because I'd never actually had someone tell me as a citizen that I could not exercise free speech and I think that I've established in these speeches to you that I'm a rational logical person Scientist by training go Neuroscience David um and it just it utterly shocked me it to have a police cap and look me in the eye because it was me that he told that I couldn't bring a sign in one of those plastic signs actually not cardboard Aaron um I I I almost couldn't I couldn't fathom it I I I just I was like what it didn't it didn't register as English to me and because we walk in here every time every other every every two weeks and with our Santa bag of signs because that's the bag I had um and I just I was blown away I was shaken I was so angry tears sprang to my eyes because I could not imagine being told as a citizen that I could not come into this room and tell hold up a sign that says enforce the law there's no uh bad words on it I don't use them when I'm speaking um clearly we're frustrated sometimes our voices get raised but that was never the way we were going to be in an event like that that was not by the way the way we were at the same event the year before when the same people came to us with their earpieces earpieces and said Thou shalt not protest I've been told they don't want any signs here it just blew me away it blew me away and it really reaffirmed to me that we will need to keep coming here we will need to keep speaking we will need to keep raising these issues because we're not going away you're not enforcing the law and we're not going to give up on it and we are noticing the problems and we can do math and we will come back that's all I have to say tonight our next speaker 5.38 Michelle my name is Michelle h president of the Portside Towers West tenant association and while I'm honored to have been recognized as the 2024 Ward F extraordinary woman of the year for 10 advocacy everyone behind me is an extraordinary tenant Advocate and we all Stand United behind Kevin and Jesse's in everybody's words expressing concern about potential corruption and abuse by our city officials and our landlord I found it very troubling that director Richardson's letter to equity's attorney misrepresented the ordinance by conflating landlord registration statement requirements with separate rent roll requirements which a bad actor landlord could leverage to circumvent rent control the letter also fails to address essential tenant protections and prerequisites for rent increases outlined in sections 26-3 B through J such as providing prior rent information prohibiting illegal increases in mandating compliance with landlord identity disclosure I believe Mr Reed's March 27th letter further raises concerns by mischaracterizing the January 10th city council discussions and by relying on an overturn disc decision both letters distract from the ordinance's clear language and intent we Face a troubling lack of transparency regarding rent recalculation and damage calculation resulting in financial and irreparable harm to tenants this appears to be the result of a coordinated effort to undermine rank control and enrich a landlord the evidence raises serious questions about a potential racketeering Enterprise under Rico City officials and equity's actions suggest a coordinated effort to manipulate the law mislead the public and collect unlawful rents if true this would not be mere incompetence it would be a serious concern for tenants rights council members your in action may be a election of Duties and could raise questions about potential Rico liability launch a full investigation hold those responsible accountable and restore Integrity to our rent control system protect us against what we have felt to be predatory actions of equity residential in the apparent complicity of City officials given how worrisome our observations have been we've asked our legal team to investigate and determine if there may be any Rico violations occurring their investigation is already underway while I'm not qualified to determine if there are Rico violations I am confident that our legal team will thoroughly investigate these concerns and take appropriate action to protect the rights of all tenants of Jersey City and Port Siders and ensure that the laws are upheld thank you our next speaker five .39 Jackie good evening council members uh my name is Jackie Cox and I was here most recently in January accompanied by a small army of passionate Jersey City youth hockey players who wanted you all to know how important the persing field park ice rink is to them you invited them to sit up with you you took pictures with them for local press and you committed as Leaders of this city that you would do everything you could to advance the repairs and restore this precious community resource that has been in Decay for now two seasons well that was January and now we're in April and as a community we have yet to receive any meaningful update from the city on progress made in repairing the rank what is going on and what is causing the delay the season is now over but we are at risk at sacrificing another one if we don't prioritize repairing this community resource now we're not asking for something impossible and yet it feels impossible to get information and meaningful updates from this city I am asking you tonight to please push the city city administrators specifically John Metro and the mayor to share any and all updates on the rink and to prioritize restoring it for use this fall thank you our next speaker 5.40 William good evening council members I'm also here to talk about the rink my name is William ler I appreciate the support from councilman Solomon and others who have been as helpful and transparent as you can be but it seems we're all working with limited information which is beyond frustrating what we do know is that the story keeps changing and the mayor is either hiding in embarrassment or focusing on priorities further from Jersey City so I'm here tonight to make something very clear the Jersey City capitals and youth hockey in Jersey City are on life support youth hockey programs in Jersey City have been in existence for over 60 years and for 45 years under the current Jersey City capitals Youth Association this wonderful youth program is run entirely by volunteers and relies completely on the Charlie Hager ice rank at perching field this city facility that was once a recreational Jewel has been totally neglected run into the ground and swept under the the carpet by the mayor and his administration this has already caused complete Havoc for two seasons and the fact that the organization is still alive is a testament to The Passion of the people involved including Charlie Hager and Mike Marinello but without a home rink for the 2425 season it will die and our local children will be left with no option to play the sport they love here or build the next generation of passionate athletes after 60 years do you you really want this to happen under your watch does the mayor want this to be his legacy does he want it used against him in his quest for governor if not please you have to act now as time is not on our side the season starts in November and planning has already begun we urge you to prioritize this matter for the sake of local children who are impacted and do everything in your power to get the rink back up and running thank you that's it so just if I can pause are we able to provide any updates tonight on bri not if they're going to keep saying the story keeps changing I mean I've been pretty transparent with the council that we work through some environmental testing pressure testing and uh we're looking at options that if we're not able to alleviate the leak to use some external chillers to make sure that by September we do have ice for the for the team um that that's what we have right now we're working on three different options to try to do everything we can to make sure by September we have the ice ready prepared for the capitals them afterwards okay okay our next speaker 5.41 Omar I believe he left Katie's gone 42 43 is not here 5.44 nowh left 5.45 Blake G 5.46 Florence I believe is gone 5.47 Ricardo we left 5.48 Sheron here and the last speaker that signed up before the meeting started 5.49 Charlene not here all right that will conclude our public speaking portion the meeting council members any questions or comments on visions and Communications items 6.1 through 630 heing none any questions or comments on office Communications 7.1 through 7.10 none any questions or comments on reported directors 8.1 through 8 .1 heing none right on to our claims and addendums number one two and three council members will be taking a vote on claims and addendums number one two and three council person priner I council person Bano council person Cay voted I earlier council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees hi council person Riv hi and council president wman claims and addendums number one two and three our approved 80 with council person Ridley absent on to our resolutions council members going to be taking a vote on items 10.1 through 10.22 with the exception of 10.7 and 8 which were approved earlier council person priner Hi for all council person bajano council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president wman items 10.1 through 10.22 are approved 80 with council person Ridley absent on to our next set of resolutions items 10.23 through 10.36 again 10.23 to 10.36 council person priner for 1031 I just want to thank joh McKinny and council president Waterman for working um with me on getting money set aside for rental assistance I know as we're waiting for um our spending plan to be approved and worked through as we bringing the consultant on for that and as we build out the division of um right to council the immediate need is still rental relief um so with that I for all council person Bano council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore 10.23 through 10.36 council person Dees I council person River hi and council president Waterman items 10.23 to through 10.36 are approved 80 with council person ridle absent on to the next set of resolutions items 10.37 through 10.45 10.37 through 10 45 council person preri I for all council person bajano council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president wman items 10.37 through 10.45 are approved 80 with council person Ridley absent on to our next set of resolutions items 10.46 through 10.56 46 through 56 council person Prince ER hi for all council person bajano Hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president Waterman items 10.46 through 10.56 are approved 8 Z or council person Ridley absent on to items 10.57 through 10.66 again that's 57 through 66 council person Prince Eric council person bajano council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees council person Rivera hi and council president Waterman items 10.57 through 10.66 are approved 80 council person Ridley absent for the balance of our resolutions items 10.67 through 10.76 because 1077 was approved earlier count council person priner I all council person Bano council person something on um which number is it 70 whichever one is the 16 Street Park which one is 73 um just thank you to council president councilman Rivera I've been talking about it since I started you guys were talking about before I started so it's been a very long time to move it forward and Department of infrastructure worked hard it went out for bid twice and and didn't have an appropriate bid then the third time uh sent it out to 18 folks and so took a lot of work to ultimately get a bid but um if anyone has gone to 16 Street Park recently you won't think it's a park right it's it's fenced off there's trash the pavement isn't level um and this will create um basketball court it will create uh three pickle ball courts it'll create a children's play area um all of which we had a couple of planning meetings at Holland Gardens um so it it is the type of thing that we've talked a ton about with the community so we very excited for that to move forward with that I vote I for all council person Gilmore council person Dees hi council person R yeah and on 1073 thank you for that extra push councilman I mean it's that was 11 years into the making so uh great job I vote I and council president Warman items 10.67 through 77 are approved 80 with council person Ridley absent hearing no other items motion to adjourn at 10:56 PM motion was made by council person Solomon may I have a second second by council person Rivera on the motion to adjourn at 10:56 PM all council members present by acclamation please say I I we are out of here at 10:56 pm. thank you so much everyone who is present and everyone watching at home remember Teamwork Makes the DreamWork have a great night stay safe everyone for