okay everyone we're about to get started if we can find our seats silence our cell phones like I'm doing I greatly appreciate it okay good evening every one we are on the record today is Wednesday the 22nd day of May in the year 2024 this is a regular meeting of the Jersey City municipal Council we had a scheduled 6 PM start the clock on my cell phone is showing 6:08 p.m. May we kindly have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting council person Ridley here council person Prince AR here council person Bano yeah council person SLE here council person Solomon council person Gilmore pres council person Dees here council person Rivera here and council president wman we have nine council members and attendance at 6:08 p.m. can we kindly rise for a moment of silence please thank you very much on behalf of council president Wardman 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 post and on the bulletin board of the first floor of 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 November 30th 2023 in addition at its time of its preparation the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday Friday May 17th 2024 at 7:44 p.m. to the mayor Municipal Council business administrator Corporation Council and the local newspapers and post it on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law well items we need to pull from the meeting Sean okay it's going to be item number 10:30 and then items 1056 through 1058 there's a few more details details and internal questions we need to research so we're going to withdraw them for now so items 10.30 is being withdrawn and 10.56 10.57 and 10.58 and 0 56 57 and 5'8 what was the other one Sean 10.30 10.56 10.57 and 10.58 one more there's one more uh yeah for the first readings before we uh begin the first readings uh Sean yes uh 3.10 um we're going to have the subcommittees with the council prior to introducing anything uh okay uh we did receive the memo but uh we have to get more clarity on the project with Finance in the room okay all right so ladies and gentlemen we're going to be withdrawing items 3.10 10.30 and 10.56 57 and 58 all right with that being said we're going to move on right to our first reading ordinances question do you want to call up the hospital workers item 3.1 city ordinance 24- 038 is an ordinance amending chapter 218 multiple dwellings Section 1 uniform Security Service of the Jersey City Municipal Code item 3.2 ordinance 24039 is an ordinance to amend and supplement chapter 160 fees and charges section three Public Safety of the code of ordinances of the city of Jersey City to include a fee for the use of the city's deescalation Center item 3.3 city ordinance 24- 040 is an ordinance of the Jersey of the city of Jersey City and the county of Hudson state of New Jersey authorizing the acceptance of real property identified on a tax map of the city of Jersey City as block 6004 lot 1.03 block 6005 lot 13.04 and a portion of the former 17th Street R of way also known as Cole Street Park item 3.4 city ordinance 24 day 041 is an ordinance of the city of Jersey City municipal Council creating amendments to the Jackson Hill Redevelopment plan item 3.5 city ordinance 24- 042 is an ordinance of the city of the Jersey City municipal Council amending Exchange Place North Redevelopment plan to allow for hospital and long-term care facilities item 3.6 city ordinance 24- 043 is an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to renew the lease with Brunswick community garden also known as Jersey City community garden Inc for the use of block 9905 Lots 89 more commonly known as 174-176 Brunswick Street or community garden item 3.7 city ordinance 24- 044 is an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to renew the lease with greater neighborhood alliance for the use of block 30003 lot 45 more commonly known as 81 Garfield Avenue for community garden item 3.8 city ordinance 24045 is an ordinance authorizing the city of Jersey City to renew the lease with Mandela Garden sponsored by the greater neighborhood alliance for the use of block 195 03 Lot 36 more commonly known as 447 Mont Luther King Drive for a community garden item 3.9 city ordinance 24- 046 is an ordinance granting a temporary construction easement to New Jersey Department of Transportation for construction of the drainage system along Route 7 affecting real property owned by the city of Jersey City known as block 287 lot 5 as shown on the TA official tax map of the town of Carney item 3.10 has been withdrawn and item 3.11 city ordinance 24- 048 is an ordinance authorizing the lease of city-owned theater located at block 11506 lot 2.01 commonly known as 151 Bay Street to the provos square Performing Arts Company Inc uh a New Jersey nonprofit corporation for the purpose of providing cultural enriching experiences to the Jersey City community Through the Arts Council Members before I take the vote I believe the business administrator would like to address the council yeah Council particularly council president just Fallen up on 3.1 we're still looking at some federal regulatory about the number of units but we can address it at the next meeting so we can introduce it and then address it at the next me thank you okay council members so we're taking a vote on items 3 .1 through 3.9 3.10 has been withdrawn and 3.11 for introduction council person Ridley I for introduction council person priner I for introduction council person Bano I for introduction council person SLE I for introduction council person Solomon I for introduction council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person ver hi and council president wman items 3.1 through 3.9 are introduced unanimously 90 item 3.10 has been withdrawn and 3.11 is introduced unanimously 90 before we make any defers council members uh council person Rivera does have to leave the meeting he has to attend to his mom who's very who's not feeling well so please keep the council person's mom in your prayers so before we do that we're going to go right to uh the resolutions council member Riva and I'll take your vote just give me one second to bring it up so we're going to approve the resolutions first we're going to make a motion to invert the order of business because there's a couple of claims on the agenda tonight and we need to approve the resolutions before we approve the claims so that is why I'm taking your vote on the resolutions first council person Rivera so with that being said items 10.1 through 10.15 I items 10.16 through 10.27 I items 10.28 through 10.38 with the exception of 1030 which has been withdrawn I items 10.39 through 10.49 no on 1040 I on the rest thank you and items 10.50 through 10.60 with the exception of 56 57 and 58 which all have been withdrawn I okay and your vote on the claims and addendums number one and number two I I'm not going to take your vote on the second reading since you're going to be absent for the public hearing so that will conclude your voting for tonight councilman and please um I hope your mom gets better and our prayers are with her I appreciate you uh and before I leave I want to really thank everybody for the well wishes on the passing of my dad really do appreciate it and uh I just want to uh let the uh health professionals and Allied employees know that you know my office is going to spearhead uh a resolution for you guys and I think that you know we'll we'll definitely chat with the council members I'm sure that you know it's something that is a a great uh thing to do I mean I I was hospital employees so I know how important uh Staffing is especially minimum Staffing so I'm behind you 100% thank you guys oh there okay sorry all right so what we're going to do is we're going to take a motion to defer to public speakers 5.5 through 59 which I believe are our kindergarten kids who would like to speak with the minister Council council president do I have a motion to defer to the speakers 5.5 through 5.9 second motion was made by council president Waterman seconded by council person SLE on a motion to defer to public speakers 5.5 through 5.19 council person Ridley hi council person priner council person Bano hi council person s i council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person Rivera oh that's right sorry and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person Rivera absent to defer to speakers 5.5 through 5.9 so everyone watching at home and everyone in attendance these are kindergarten students and we don't want want them to spend the whole night here with the city even though we would love to see them um I'm sure they're going to be past their bedtime by the time we adjourn so let's get them uh up in uh running and uh we'll start off with the very first I'm sorry they have they have one Frank I think they have right they you can't do a cheer Frank you cannot it's you can't do a cheer no they'll they'll do a wireless mic right right so if if each speaker can come up um he already spoke uh so before we let them start speaking if they can come into the front of the podium stand in the front of the they can come forward and stand in front of the podium so we can get them on the camera I think they got a step ladder it's still short it's right in front of the podium we should buy a mini Podium for our you know I don't know what happened to the um to the step stool that we had um John John mcken would you mind just looking inside the podium just open up the cabinet to see if the step stool is there but I don't know if that would help but in the meantime we'll start with the first speaker and that is Ashley 5.5 it's not there right or is it I think that's too small yeah yeah we're just waiting to get them in order and then I'll put the camera on them it's not a problem we appreciate their presence there it's very important to us and the council and everybody watching at home and everybody in attendance so I have Ashley as the first speaker with okay just it to them hi everyone we are kindergarteners and scandy school of Jersey City we are excited to talk to you today about something very important to us in know Jones Park we have spent a lot of time at Jones Park and it is very special to all of us because it is close to our house the school and our houses like me and my brother we live just around from the park it is where we play with our friends hang out with our family explore nature but lately this park hasn't been looking so good we think it is is a good idea if kids and grownups work together to make it better we hope you can help us thank you want to get with me our next speaker 5.6 Sarah we have some pictures that we would like to get you you can look at them while we speak great our next speaker 5.7 first let's talk about why Enos Jones Park needs fixing have you st by there recently we have have noticed that of that the part where the parts of the park are starting to break down we have noticed that the corner where the water animals are located could use some extra attention this area is peeling and falling apart the ground the animals are cracking we do not notice any natural materials or any green plants in the park there is also a problem with shade near the anals there is one tree in the corner the parks is not wait is not very shady this can be a problem on H we often have two prow under the same place is to get sh finally we noticed that en Jones Park is missing a really fun structure we like the ones that we have spotted in other Parks like Hamilton Liberty State and Barry Lane thank you and our next speaker 5.8 this park is important to so many children and grown-ups it's a place where our children go to get fresh air and exercise which is good for their health and happiness repairing and enhancing Enos Jones Park will make it a welcoming and safe place for the hundreds of kids living and going to school in its proximity it is also a chance for kids and grown-ups to work together to improve our recreational spaces almost as soon as the children identified the need for repair and Improvement they got to work thinking of new solutions they traveled around New Jersey and New York City drawing inspiration from Parks and green spaces talking to experts and even talking to government leaders about about what goes into creating vibrant recreational spaces they're so excited about making the park more fun and safe and welcoming for all and they love the idea of kids helping to design their own playgrounds they have come up with a very clever idea and have spent weeks building these full-scale models and now Julia is going to share their idea with you we want a tree hat zip line that will be in a triangle shape it'll have free trees it'll have climbing rocks you can climb to the top at the top you can zip to the zip line to the next tree it'll be shady and fun and cool and welcoming and safe it'll also be we want it to be Shady it'll help an area that needs some shade and in h day they'll help now before we move on just for the teacher sake are we on speaker 12 now Leo Luca okay I'm sorry Luca 14 I don't want to mispronounce the kindar thank you okay can go in our classroom to see our mono and we and if you want you can go in our classroom and we will give you pictures of our model and of our play model very good we also think it it is a really good idea if you go visit Jones Park so you can see for yourself the things that need repairing we would be happy to go with you we would also be happy to talk to you more about ways to work together to make don't Park more safe and exciting we want to thank you for listening to us today it was a really great time thank you thank [Music] you thank you thank you I I will um thank you as as the students are as as as the students are walking away I just want to thank you guys so much for coming visiting us um it was great for me to get to visit your classroom and the amount of work you guys put into this idea is extraordinary you've done in incredible research and then you've been incredible Advocates so thank you for trying to make your city and your community a better place thank you great job if I can just say that was amazing amazing public speak for Kindergartens keep up the great work okay got a little show too that's great all right so before we defer to an item I believe we're just going to turn it over council person selay you like to make a little special announcement see uh I thank you to the kindergarteners again um that was amazing I can't believe they did that I I do want to recognize uh some special guests we have here today if um The Troop 466 could stand up um Yep they're here today the TR for 466 is present at our council meeting today because they're trying to uh earn the citizenship in community merit badge and this is a requirement for them so it troop 466 is comprised of members aged 11 to7 and the troop is led by scout master Rich Peters he's a teacher at St Peters prep yep we'll give him a round of applause and on behalf of myself and my fellow council members I just want to extend gratitude for your presence tonight and your invaluable contributions to the community that you do thank you so much back to you Sean okay I'm trying to work the camera too so just get bear with me one second all right so I believe council members that we are going to have a motion to defer to item 10.12 resolution 24375 which is a resolution expressing support of healthare workers to establish minimum staff to Patient Staffing standards do we have a motion motion second motion made by council president wman seconded by council person CLE on the motion to the defer to item 10.12 resolution 24375 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person Bano hi council person CLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person the and council president wman motion carries 80 to defer to item 10.12 resolution 24- 375 with that being said council person Bano would you like to read it in to the yes uh I have a resolution expressing support for healthc care workers to establish minimum staff to Patient staff and standards whereas there are approximately 146,147 18,34 are employed and whereas a 2022 survey of New Jersey nurses found that nearly a third of nurses have left the bedside hospitals in the past three years of those remaining in hospital 72% are considering leaving and an alarm and 95% of those with zero to five years experience say they want to leave and whereas the number one reason nurses are leaving hospital is poor Staffing and the number two reason is burnout and stress and whereas under Staffing at hospitals and other health fa care facilities has been an issue for decades and has led to severe crisis of retention of Staff in our hospitals and whereas a one personent a onepatient increase in the nurse's workload increased the likelihood of a a p a patient death within 30 days of admission by 7% whereas morality risk decreases by 9% for ICU patients and 16% for surgery patients with this increase of one full-time registered nurse per patient day whereas nurse staff shortages are a factor in one out of every four unexpect uh unexpect expected Hospital debts or injuries caused by errors now therefore be it resolved by the city council of the city of Jersey City that the 22nd of May fully supports healthc care workers attempting to resolve these matters through establishing safe safe sta staff and standards and collective bargaining agreements and fully supports the proposed legis ation and hereby urges the New Jersey legislature to pass assembly bill number 3683 and Senate number 2700 be it therefore resolved that a copy of the resolution will be forwarded to the office of the governor of the state of New Jersey the state legislatures represent Jersey City the speaker of the New Jersey assembly president of the New Jersey state senate the Senate Health Human Services and senior citizens committee the assem assembly the assembly health committee and the commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Health so all I know is uh I have a special attachment to Christ hospital because I'm here today because of them from 20 years ago after 911 so as far as I'm concerned your hospital is the best and we have to keep it and get things straightened out there so you people are the best okay so council members before we ask our guest speaker to speak let's take a vote on resolution 24375 council person Ridley um I vote I and I just want to uh you know reiterate how important our healthcare workers are and how it important it is to make sure that um our health facilities are properly staffed and that our healthcare workers aren't overwork and worn out so I vote I thank you council person priner so one of my aunts is a retired nurse she worked at Stanford um during the AGS epidemic in the very early years of that so I know all too well how stressful the job can be um coming out of the last years that we've had it's vitally important that we take care of the people that take care of us so with that proud to support this proud to speak to our today's delegation I vote I I read the resolution and I uh I'm 100% behind you and I'm going after a couple of our Senators and congressmen to get the damn thing passed all right thank you council person Bano your vote what I said I okay you did it before I even called your names great council person SLE want to thank you for everything that you do um we take it for granted as a society even even though we just went through a pandemic you know um I think memories are short but uh we the people that are elected into office owe it to you to remember you and to make sure that you're staffed appropriately that we don't take for granted nurses that are full-time nurses that you know live in the community and they don't have the option to move like some of the traveling nurses so you know the administration might take you for granted but we as uh the government shouldn't we should mandate and make sure that you're paid appropriately and that the hospitals are staffed appropriately as well so thank you I vote I thank you thank you council person Solomon you know it was the nurses who got me through you know my cancer struggle and and so we need to ensure that we're doing everything in our power to uh make sure that they have the Staffing that's required and people aren't overworked and and overburdened um so happy to vote I and hopefully uh can build a a good working relationship with HPA moving forward you thank you council person Gilmore um first and foremost I just want to thank you ladies and gentlemen for your hard work and dedication um so many times nurses are almost more important to doctors in a sense that you're actually there with a patient listening to the concerns listening to sometimes stories about their family sometimes they they're good stories sometimes they bad stories but nonetheless um you are there for them in their most um time of need so I definitely support this I think no one should be under staff especially doing the work that you do again we just seen how important firsthand you guys were during this covid pandemic we just had um so I'll probably vot I Sean thank you council person thees I proudly vote I and you can count on myself and the council colleagues as allies thank you for all that you do thank you council person Riva voted I earlier council president wman I vote I I see on your pamphlet it says cold red and everyone in hospital know when it's cold red everybody need to get to move into the site to make sure you save a life I hope we as As Americans see that this is a cold red and we need to start moving towards the nurses and those who work in the hospital facility to make sure that they get what they need so I hope this resolution puts some fire under the state to make them do what they need to do with that I proudly vote on thank you resolution 24375 is unanimously approved 90 thank you so much so if you wouldn't mind if you just state your name and spell your name for the record for our court report I greatly appreciate it absolutely my name is Debbie White I am and it's Whit te uh like the color um and I am the President of health professionals and Allied employees uh we represent 14,000 healthcare workers in the state um and I have some of them here with me tonight who feel very passionately about safe Staffing so I want to thank you all and thank you councilman buano for sponsoring this resolution it is critical that we address um safe Staffing in our hospitals can't retain nurses the only solution is safe Staffing and I think you read all the the resolution says it all safe Staffing is not new California did this 20 years ago and since that time we have that many years worth of data and research showing the enormous benefits of safe Staffing patients report more patient they have more satisfaction with their care that leads to higher reimbursement for hospitals so so this not only is good for patients but it's good for hospitals there are less complications for patients leading to higher reimbursement for hospitals again this is a measure that would save nursing in hospitals and it would increase the outcomes that the positive outcomes for patients um we released and in your packet we do have a a wealth of of research in there and that includes a white paper two white papers we've done one cites the data in the research the other sites stories from Frontline caregivers I think all of us are going to be patient at at some point in time and thank you for sharing some of your struggles um I heard some of you say that you know it was it was the nurses who were there for you during your your struggles and you are absolutely right when you say patients come to the hospital for the nursing care we don't have enough nurses what is that going to do for our patients so thank you so much for passing this resolution and for giving us this time and um again we appreciate it so much thank you let's take a picture G to take a picture [Music] right just one spot it's a you got it okay oh I forgot there was a step Dro down there I'm serious okay all righty okay moving on with our regular scheduling programming on the agenda we're going on to our second reading ordinances item 4.1 city ordinance 24- 031 is an ordinance granting an easement to Morris Carney Associates urban renewal LLC affecting real property owned by the city of Jersey City known as block 287 lot 5 as shown on the official tax maps of the town of Carney this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium sign your name on the paper that's on the clipboard there's a pen up there for you and please spell your name for the court reporter motion motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24-31 was made by council president wman may I have a second second second by council person Cay on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24 day 031 council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi council person Bano hi council person CLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees and council president Waterman motion carries 80 with council person Rivera absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24-31 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person Bano I council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore council person Dees and council president wman city ordinance 24- 031 is adopted 8 Z with council person Rivera absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.2 city ordinance 24-33 is an ordinance to exceed the calendar year 2024 Municipal budget appropriation limits and to establish a cap Bank accordance to njsa 40a col 4- 4514 this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium state your name for the record spell it for the court reporter and sign your name to the sheet on the clipboard motion motion to close the public hearing was made by council person Cay on city ordinance 24- 033 seconded by council president wman on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24-33 council person Ridley hi council person priner I council person bajano I council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person de and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person Rivera absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 033 council person Ridley I council person priner Hi council person bajano Hi council person CLE I council person Solomon no council person Gilmore no council person Dees and council president wman city ordinance 24- 033 is adopted 62 with council members Solomon and Gilmore voting no and coun person rera absent council members as discussed at the caucus I believe we're going to carry city ordinance 24- 034 to the June 12th Municipal council meeting since the local Finance board is going to be meeting on that like to do public hearing first and then car table it afterwards that was a little different than what was spoken okay okay just bear with me one second okay so city ordinance 4.3 city ordinance 24-34 a refunding bond ordinance authorizing the issuance of not to exceed 18,720 th000 arrogate principal amount of refunding bonds Andor refunding notes by the city of Jersey City and the county of Hudson the state of New Jersey for the purpose of funding an emergency appropriation to pay tax appeal liabilities pursuant to njsa 4A colon 4-6 and an emergency temporary appropriation tax appeal liabilities pursuant to njsa 48 col 4-20 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 and sign your name the sheet on the clipboard motion motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24-h 34 was made by council person CLE may I have a second second by council president Warman to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 034 council person Ridley I council person Prince council person Bano council person SLE hi council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees and council president wman motion carries 80 with council person Riva absent so council members I'm going to need a motion just give me one second I'm sorry Carrie nope table to table motion to table ordinance 24- 034 after the close of the public hearing motion to table motion was made by council person SLE seconded by council person bajano on the motion to table city ordinance 24- 034 after the close of the public hearing council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees and council president wman motion to table city ordinance 24 D 034 after the close of the public hearing is approved 80 with council person r absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.4 city ordinance 24- 036 is an ordinance approving a 30-year tax exemption for a multi-site affordable rental project to be renovated by Montgomery Gateway preservation LP pursuant to New Jersey housing and mortgage Finance Act of 1983 as amended and supplemented njsa 55 colon 14k -1 exact and the rules prated under njac 5 col 80.1 exact this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium state your name for the record and sign the clipboard the verw Washington this is this is not the Gateway that was already up on Mumy Street or is this the mcy project cross the street from this side is this Gateway one that goes down mg street right yes so what are we doing with it we tearing it down and rebuilding a something no they completely renovating it they you renovated it and still staying affordable right yes thank you is this still a public hearing on city ordinance 24036 any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 036 was made by council person CLE seconded by council president Wardman on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 036 council person Ridley I council person Prince AR council person bajano council person slay hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees and council president motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24036 is approved 80 with council person Rivera absent for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 036 council person Ridley I council person priner council person Bano council person SLE I council person Solomon just briefly obviously we have a very high standard for um approving any tax abatement in this case um all the units are going to remain 100% affordable no rent will be increased and all the tenants will get renovated units um so you put that all together that's that's good for our residents um and I know councilman Gilmore and the development team are work closely to make sure residents um are taken care of during the construction process and so with that I vote I council person Gilmore I council person Dees and council president wman city ordinance 24- 036 is finally adopted a Z with council person rera absent on to our last second reading ordinance item 4.5 city ordinance 24037 is an ordinance amending chapter 175 food handling establishments and chapter 242 peace and 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 this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium state your name for the record but before you do that please sign print your name on the paper that's on the clipboard and please spell your name for the court reporter good evening my name is Melanie Ruden r u d i n sorry I missed the line um I'm here tonight uh on behalf of the restaurant owners of Jersey City Jersey City restaurant owners Coalition um I actually want to thank councilman solom in his office for looking out for restaurants by creating an ordinance that actually guards against the same platforms that helped us all to get through the pandemic get food to our houses there are a group of restaurant owners here tonight in support of this because it's so important that without controls around certain behaviors with the delivery platforms these restaurants aren't going to survive and we need that so I'm really grateful that they're here tonight they're not cooking food they're here and so we really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you and to let you know that we appreciate all you're doing for us thank you so much thank you you is still a public hearing if you can just sign the paper and then spell your name for the court reporter and then I'll start the time once you start speaking Andrew Mar Andrew can you just please bring the mic up to you yeah there you go my name is Andrew Martino m r t n o I am the owner and operator of ghost truck kitchen here in Jersey City um I wanted to voice my support for this uh ordinance uh to Echo Melanie's words we are fighting a very challenging battle against very very well-funded and intelligent organizations um the more orders that become digital the harder it is for us to keep that money in our pockets uh somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 to 30% of every single order um can get extracted um so it's not just restaurants that are being harmed but consumers are being harmed um the apps uh Force restaurants to essentially raise their prices to make up the difference consumers then have to bear the brunt of that raise there's also some beautiful Protections in here for delivery drivers who do overall a wonderful job in our community and make sure that food's given um so some safety protections the ability for them to use the restant room um during long and grueling shifts so um protections that we need I also want to thank councilman Solomon's office for for working side by side with us to really understand the nuances of this um work alongside the third- party uh companies to really find a reasonable resolution which I believe we have here today um so I wanted to voice my full throated support for this amendment thank you this this still a public hearing on this ordinance if you wouldn't mind signing the form on the clipboard and then spelling your name for the court reporter and then I'll start your time good evening my name is Karen ven I um I would like to thank the person that spoke ahead of me is saying that delivery uh drivers are important that they doing an important job I think a lot of people forgot that they were the ones during the pandemic who brought the food so people didn't have to leave their houses the same thing is still true when it's too cold to rainy to anything and um I must say as much as people might think that there is something in here that protects these people what it is mostly doing is punishing them for things that they are not if they're not doing something so um you have to wear um um high visibility anything a vest or or anything uh you also have to do um a test and for road safety that by itself is not a big issue but you have to have have the uh test result on your person and and also um you have to be able to um it actually says a commercial bicycle operator shall be required to produce the certificate of completion uh at the demand of an authorized employee of the police or any other person authorized by law now knowing that the majority of the people that do this works are immigrants and really new immigrants I don't see how we rhyme that with the um jurisic City being a um Sanctuary City it goes against what major FIP signed an executive order signed in 2017 don't if you remember we were all mad at Trump uh for doing what he was doing uh mind you he might be the president again in 2025 so not too sure why you put that in there like that that anybody can just be stopped so anybody on a ebike that is deemed to be a delivery writer can now be stopped and ask documentation I I'm not afraid of it myself I'm I'm a I'm a white lady they're not going to profile me but what's the difference between my Indian husband being on my ebike and another person that looks like him doing deliveries who are they going to stop what what's going I mean how how you guys seeing this also the um penalty that comes with this is stiff CU it's it's under I25 it can be as high as $2,000 for not wearing the Fest not for doing something for not doing the wearing the vest or for not having the paper on your person I I don't understand where you're going with this it's it's thank you you my time is up this this is still a public hearing if you can just sign the clipboard and then spell your name for the court reporter I greatly appreciate it and then I'll start your time once you start speaking RI r r a z w a d I'm um bit very surprised that I really want the restaurant business to flourish there's no doubt about that but what you have done in 3A is you put a 15% which means nothing you know it like aage order is $30 and you know the guy gets $4.50 and you know you will get only $2 per delivery why don't you remove the rigid number and put a dollar amount minimum delivery should be $6 right and and and then go by Miles every mile they get this much put something like that that makes sense for these delivery people otherwi they won't even get a minimum wage number one number two then 9.7 a list I I worry about the safety of everybody over here and when I was coming by I counted at least 12 bikes none of them were wearing helmets what are you going to do with them why are you here targeting one A specific group of people it's very unfair now you are telling about display the certificate and everything you are going to collect the data I know what is going to happen there is a large delay in Immigration as Karen said we are a sanctuary City we have people working let me tell you the reality if a bike has been given three four people who are in the process of getting immigration are using under one name the person may not even live here who are you going to book now give a ticket to these three four people who are using Around the Clock they are make they're hardworking people they this the reality look I don't want somebody coming from hobok and tell us what to do in this city this is a different city okay it's a sanctuary City and we have different of issues here now you take we are still serving people off and Syrian refugees these refugees today they coming from West Africa the language issues Arabic and French what are you going to do with them the solution is very simple all you have to do is create a specific police EV bike unit let them go with the people hang out put a tent create an awareness program this solves the problem instead you are trying to police here God forbid if Trump comes your data hands in those kind of guys all we'll have major problem of deportation right that's what we want as San City no we don't want that as a sanctu city even if you pass it I will this is nothing Progressive here honestly right you are trying to police what is Progressive here you are making it hard to people to live you are governing body please don't make it hard for a hardw working people immigrants coming and to make a living now you are going to take away their bread by putting this 15% cap right and now making it hard and for somebody you're going to catch hold of people they don't even own those bikes we as nonprofit given tons of bikes to people to make a living here which is very unfair please take it out or I may be to it thank you this is still a public hearing on this ordinance if you can come up to the podium sign the paper and then please spell your name for the court reporter and then I'll start your time once you start speaking my name is Kevin Davis Kevin spelled like the guy from Home Alone Davis spelled like Derek Jeter's wife um I am here um as a Hoboken resident you may be wondering why am I in Jersey City um I do have uh some interest in this issue um not only because you guys have better Chinese food uh than Hoboken and I like ordering delivery uh but because I'm friends with councilman Paul pranano uh who introduced a similar ordinance in Hoboken that became law and I helped them write it uh so I used to be a village trustee in codin on Hudson New York uh which some people call Upstate but I call the suburbs uh so I have some experience in drafting laws and we started looking at an issue we have in Hoboken which is bikers on the sidewalk particularly ebikes and many of them are delivery bikers uh so one thing you do when you start crafting legislation is you look for similar legislation has addressed the issue and one thing that you guys have probably noticed is there's not much legislation written uh governing the use of ebikes uh in municipalities particularly on sidewalks uh so we have this our brain storming and one thing we look towards is the principle of Kiss not nothing to do with Jean Simmons kiss stands for keep it simple stupid we wanted something that's easy to understand and that's why we came up with something that can be boiled down into six words bear with me take a test wear a vest see it's clear I have a number on the vest um which your legislation does not have and it means that you can easily know who the bikers are and one difference between the Hoboken legislation and this is Hoboken requires that you register with the city rather than the app uh because many drivers do it for different apps so if you're on GrubHub you're also doing Uber Eats you're doing door Dash and you know you know why register you know for a test for each one of them differently when you can just register with a municipality um so I think I'm really glad you guys are addressing this issue but I think the better approach would be to move it back to First reading amend it so the licensing is the same as Hoboken where it's a numbered vest and it's done by the municipality um and I think that would that's the way to approach it I as is an important public safety issue and I'm glad that you guys are addressing it this is still a public hearing okay if you can just sign your name to the form there and then spell your name for the court reporter and then once you start speaking I'll start the clock hi my name is Ian Rodriguez and I am the owner one of the owners of uh subas vegan cafe in downtown Jersey City I've been in business here for slightly over 20 years and I can tell you that within the last like two years we've really are struggling um with our B my profit even overall just our business uh our produce venders and I'm sure that all the other restaurant overs owners here will attest that all our Pro produce has gone up about 300% 200% and um you call your you call all the different vendors to purchase uh whatever it is celery spinach and all that cost the cost of all that has gone up about 200% on top of that you um I get a call from grub recently they jacked up um the their delivery service fees again um it's getting really difficult for us um and for a lot of the restaurant owners to stay open and I'm sure you guys have noticed several there there's been restaurants that have closed down um so I am in complete support of trying to get these fees stabilized by these delivery services so that uh so much money doesn't go out um from our profits so if you guys can help we really would appreciate um all that you can do to help us and thank you Solomon for for putting this on on thank you is there still a public hearing on city ordinance 24037 any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium please sign the form and spell your name for the record name is Julian musio J last name is mus C and uh I spoke last time as well just wanted to reiterate and kind of follow up with what a lot of my colleagues said uh in support of what you guys have put together here we've been working with uh councilman Solomon in creating this and uh you know there's kind of two sides to this whole thing there's the the caps and then there's the driver and uh it's nice to hear everybody's opinion on everything uh but in terms of the Caps I think we're all on the same page I think we're all in agreement for sure uh in terms of the drivers I know that there's it seems to be a lot of back and forth in that but you know overall being someone who lives in Jersey City as well and is a local and you know I'm right here on Grove and these guys do zip around a lot and uh I have a child now as well so you know kind of safety and control I think is always a good thing um Kevin actually spoke really well and I think the vest uh would be a great thing to see and uh in general just the the control of uh who's working and uh who's delivering what it's accountability in the end and uh I I've had to call a lot of customers who never got their food and stuff like that because sometimes drivers aren't who they say they are and they can get a little dicey so I think overall um the test the vests all of that stuff will end up helping restaurants and the public in general uh in terms of Safety and Security thank you thank you thank you this is still a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 037 any member of the public still wishing to be heard please come up to the podium state name for the record motion okay I have a motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 037 made by council person CLE seconded by council person Bano on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24037 council person Ridley hi council person priner council person Bano council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees and council president Waterman motion carries 8 Z to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24037 with council person Rivera abs for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24037 council person Ridley um I know uh councilman Solomon and his office have been going back and forth with this ordinance for quite some time and they've done some really good work and it seems like we um it seems like it's it's two separate issues right and it seems like the fee portion of this ordinance has finally got to a place um that seems pretty good and pretty good for our restaurant owners and then now we have you know a few issues still surrounding the bikes and the safety and how we're going to work that process out um which is uh is challenging because it's all in the same ordinance and like I said they've been working on this for for quite some time I'm not super comfortable yet with where they are on the delivery side of it even though I think we're at a good place with the restaurants and I want to see the restaurants get that relief um I don't know if there's maybe some room to move forward with one part and not the other at some point or to make some amendments um down the line I'll let Council Solomon uh speak to that um but for right now I'm going to vote no um until we can kind of work on some of the delivery side council person priner um so you know thank you to council suon Salon your office for doing a lot of thorough work and research on this ordinance and for the members of the public that have come to share what they feel is good and not good about this ordinance um I I do have some concerns about the piece with the with the cyclist and I know that that has been the one of the hardest parts to work through through all of this um I've been watching what they do in Hoboken and I do like that it's simple but when we were considering Municipal IDs here in Jersey City one of the concerns was how city government was going to keep resident information safe in case somebody at the federal level decided that they wanted to take action so I think that if the cyclist and delivery people are already registered through the third party app like they they're already in that system they don't need to be in our city system so with that I do think that that is a a better move um I I am going to vote Yes but with the caveat that I really want to see how the driver piece works here and um to councilman Solomon to to really coming back and taking a look at this over the next couple of months to see how it plays out in uality and not just how we think it might work in theory council person Bano hi v i I thought he said hold on was clearing his throat just Council council person so um I I hear well first I want to thank everyone that came out and spoke I want to thank councilman Solomon and his staff for their hard work on this um ordinance and it's a long time coming you know something has to be done um on the local level when it comes to all the different parties at play we have the restaurants that are getting squeezed we have the delivery drivers that are being rushed into delivering the food um that causes accidents it causes a lot of issues um and we have the the apps that are in constant competition for more and more profit year after year like Uber Eats had 12 billion doll in profit um you look at like door Dash 9 billion and it's up like 10% every year so these are profits that are being made like off the backs of the laborers the uh the restaurant do who have to purchase the product to sell it to us and the delivery drivers who are given the the menial wages that they're they're given and it's really sad but we have to set up a sort of a price floor government has to step in at some point and say these are the minimum services that you have to provide you have to not incentivize people to uh basically rush through traffic rush through sidewalks to deliver this product and you have to provide training and with the aaces of a federal election coming up this year you know I I don't agree with what Hoboken did which was to make sure everyone was registered with the city we can't we can't guarantee the protection of that data um and also there are three different apps I don't know how you guys do it but uh we need three different numbers and I don't know if we have the capacity to do it for a city as large as Jersey City if it works for Hoboken great um and but it might not work for Jersey City so I do like the middle ground that's being struck here I know a lot of the deliv delivery drivers are Muslim um I'm Muslim I see them outside every Friday like praying JMA prayer and we don't want to hurt them we want to make sure that they're able to use the bathroom when they enter these restaurants um that they are given a safety course a high VI vest so that they are seeing when they're riding in the street like we need to mandate these simple things unfortunately um and this ordinance does that I remember when I was council member in 2020 2021 there was um we were still virtual at the time and I heard like an accident outside of my house and it was a Uber Eats delivery driver and he got hit by a car on Summit Avenue in Manhattan and his bone was sticking out of his leg and this was in the middle of a council meeting meeting and you know this happens so often and it's just it's sad and it's unfair and they aren't given the protection they need this is a small step towards that protection um and we need to continue to help out the restaurant tours help out the Uber and door Dash delivery drivers and with that I vote I thank you council person Solomon um I'll just comment on each part of the ordinance quickly so first um on the first part we're setting the basic fees on the restaurants uh or on the apps as they uh work with the restaurants first I want to thank Melanie Andrew Julian um Ivon and all the restaurant tours who are here um you know we've heard from you about um how you know you kind of need these apps because they've you know there's only three of them that are the big ones they've controlled the whole Market but they don't really compete with each other right you know it's in like economics terms it's an oligopoly but like it's just not fair right and so that's when we have to step in and create basic um govern rules to ensure um as level of playing field as we can knowing we're a city government we don't have everything at our power um and you guys are are so important to our community um you are you know you um you know create uh jobs you uh bring Vitality um we need to see you thrive uh and this is a sort of a basic step we can take um to help you keep more of your hard-earned profits um so we're happy to to advance this on that front on the worker protections piece of the bill um I think it's really important that we create the foundation here um we're very I've been very honest in every part of the public conversation hearing is that this is not perfect this is about creating a foundation and now we've created a foundation here that says that app companies and the restaurants have to do specific things to protect workers um many of those came from legislation in New York at the time when New York passed that legislation app companies were violating those rules now they've largely come into compliance but we don't know if they're going to stay that way and now we can keep going right in the next couple of months if there continue to be um new ideas new violations new ways that we can protect workers rights we can now add that into the existing foundation of the bill um so it creates the initial Foundation um has a couple specific pieces around uh tips um and declining uh jobs and uh restaurants using restrooms and restaurants that I think are great and then the last piece is a sort of safety regulations around kind of ebiking in the city and I think it's important to sort of acknowledge that um you know ebiking has sort of just exploded since the pandemic right we obviously had it before the pandemic but it's now just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger and the projections are that in the next decade it's going to double triple uh in E deliveries so this is not going away um and we have had real legitimate safety concerns um we've had I mean I just say my you know my district right I've talked to parents whose children have been hit by delivery workers I've talked to a senior who just broke a bone after being hit um it is a thing that is happening frequently enough that it's not just an anecdote it is regular and for me to be you know as concerned as I am about Street safety have one of my major platforms that I've run on I have to be concerned about um the the you know unsafe behaviors that I am personally witnessing and that my constituents are reporting to me that um are happening on our roads now the key way to address that is protected bike Lanes right give people a safe place to go we've done a massive investment in that we will continue to do a massive investment in that but but that alone isn't enough um and so we were trying to find a uh you know thread a needle between really different important competing priorities understanding you have um largely immigrant Workforce uh that isn't treated fairly by these companies that treat them as contractors um that you have legitimate safety concerns that we're trying to kind of find our way through that so that we do sacrifice some Simplicity in the ordinance but we do so because we think it's necessary right we don't want the city we don't want to have any worker come to the city so a couple of the things that we incorporated to try to address those things are um we do not have registration at the city um we do not the city's not going to keep any lists um and we did take the numbers off the vest because that was a specific ask that have been made by a number of advocates in there but we do think there have to be basic rules in place and some of those basic rules do include wearing the high visibility outer wear which we think will help make it safe for everybody uh that the both the delivery workers and pedestrians and drivers um that has to be provided after a number of rides by the app companies um we do have basic safety course that we wanted to include an education component um in this um and then identification and I'm happy to work with The Advocates who have reached out and set up meetings uh the bills the the bike regulation safety effects don't go safety rules don't go into effect until October 1st as so councilman Prince AR's Point um we are happy to sit down and meet and see if there's language we can kind of tweak in there um to address some of the concerns you've raised although understanding our concerns about making sure that we have an ordinance that has those basic safety rules and can be enforced um and that even if we created a jcpd unit tomorrow on this there's no way they can Traverse the whole city we have to have a couple of those basic rules in place we understand it's a start we understand that moving forward there may be amendments and changes both in the next couple of months as we sit down with Advocates um and in the next year or so as we implement it and see its effects uh so there's no you know end of the line here as a commitment to keep working with everyone because the concerns are legitimate and and we're doing our best to kind of like I said thread that needle through them um but with that said I do think it's really important um I think we're protecting our restaurants we're putting in place safety protections we're putting in place worker protections all of those things are going to make Jersey City a better place I want to particularly thank Isaac on my team he spent a lot of time on this so he went had a lot of meetings a lot of conversations and Incorporated a lot of feedback into the ordinance so with that um I appreciate you guys letting me talk for a while and I vote I council person Gilmore um yeah I want to thank everyone for coming out to speak I think it's extremely important to voice how you feel about anything especially legislation that's going to affect you I do want to take the time to thank councilman salomon's office for continuing working on this um it's been a ongoing work in audience was at first reading we botched it went to second reading sent back the first reading then they changed it they put numbers they took numbers out um so he the office have really done his due diligence as it relates to trying to make this the most comprehensive Fierce legislation and even after all that is the ordinance perfect no it's not um but the reality is something have to be done and for me especially on the safety front um I like the idea of vestus because one it identif I the individual what they doing and who they're working for subsequently it illuminates the apparel that they wearing to give them a safer you know traveling route as they're traveling um so for me with all of the changes and amendments and the constant communication with the community I'm going to vote I um and I think still if there's be an opportunity to kind of continue to tweak and make it work so we have again it's not going to be perfect but we it's say you to do better so I vote I thank you council person Dees I vote I thank you very much councilman and to your team Isaac this was a great job thank you and council president wman thanks Jak okay city ordinance 24- 037 is adopted 71 with council person Ridley voting no and council person Rivera absent that conclud cludes our second reading wences moving on to our special improvement district public hearing so we're going to have a public hearing on the 2024 d225 Central Avenue special Improvement 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 second motion to close the public hearing was made by council president wman on the 2024 d225 Central a Vue assessment role and budget seconded by council person SLE on the motion to close a public hearing on the 2024 2025 Central Avenue special improvement district assessment role and budget council person Ridley I council person priner I council person budano council person SLE I council person Solomon council person Gilmore council person Dees stepped away okay and council president wman motion carries 70 to close the public hearing on the special Improvement District Central Avenue Sid 2024 2025 assessment role and budget with council members Dees and Rivera absent okay on to our public request for a hearing I'll be calling the number and the first name of the individual with that being said our first speaker is L 5.1 not going to start until you start speaking Le I'm sorry I'll be 76 in a couple months I'm trying to stay healthy take care God's work uh Tina Bland was here tonight you seen the three old ladies they had to leave they have a problem with they program at Lincoln High School and it's a disgrace tonight is a board meeting for the school on the same night that we have council meeting that never happened before they meetings usually on a Tuesday or Thursday so never on the night that we have our city council meeting this place will be packed out with people I'm glad Conor that it is but what went on here tonight but it's a shame that we need to do something that they closing them out of Lincoln High School for years they've been feeding a lot of people they had the garden and everything we need to see what can be done and with that saying I'm G give you some flies about my summer camp I don't get money from nobody but these people that come here that I helped fight for in our community my Camp is going to start July 8th to the 30th at Heavenly Temple and I get community kids and they not only City payroll Grinny Plumbing for over the years maybe about 10 he gives me five to seven kids on his payroll now this year I went down to the new Chevrolet place on Garfield asked Chevrolet they're going to hire four of my kids on they pay Road and this way I have 11 counsels that's not paid by the city but by private people and I appreciate they having a new uh Memorial cookout on Garfield at the Turn Pipe Garfield um new Chevrolet place so I told him that I will mention it and I told to Mr gini pman they just got out bitted with uh another part of what they doing in our city but the thing is when we out get out bided and get it out of town I would like to know what they giving back to us I know what people like him these different uh Law Firm that help me out and help other people out in the city with my after school program my summer my C giveaway my back to school my Christmas toys these other people we don't even know them I don't know what they do for you guys but just like all these people here with the cook with the restaurants downtown we need to help make sure a local people are getting taken care and uh he does a lot with bikes and different stuff over the years G coming and help me out with the summer camp and other thing that I do in the city I don't get grant money I'm I'm not on nobody's payroll I run a nonprofit and I just want us to look at how we give uh out our money and thank you for your time thank you make sure you all stop by the Chevrolet place Le is is the is that fuzzy thing still there that F thing that came all right thank you appreciate that thanks so much you too our next speaker 5.2 Tina guys I just want to say a lot of positive that um been going on um since I partnered with jery Walker and um Ware um we have been doing so much good for the community like it had been a blessing like they saying like how we just came into the community that's all I've been asking for and you would think by people living here in Jersey City y'all would have known that bringing a resource inside of the community but it took me from Alabama to come here and show y'all how to do your job so I'm glad I did it but I am just so proud that Jeffy Walker education and geore took the time out to just listen and just continue to call me every week to see exactly what was going on in our community I definitely respect all of y'all too but I definitely need to see more work more faces more everything inside of my community if I can take out the time and do this for free y'all should be able to take out the time to do it just to see these kids faces and seeing that it's more to offer in our community it was like a blessing yesterday I was just so overwhelmed to see how many young kids that we was passing out all week e on the corners to the guys to see they had an opportunity all they wanted was an opportunity some of the parents couldn't read some of the parents didn't even know how to fill out the application from Ware some of them got approved for housing some of them got approved for Medicaid some of them got approved for cash so just to see that happen in my Community I know I believe doing a good thing it will come out the best thing as helping out the community and I want to talk about bite organization Miss Webb is correctly she is right it's a shame that nonprofits have to go through this it's a shame that nonprofit have to come here and beg for help it should be some type of building it should be something to help out nonprofits if you are helping out the community meaning that we know that y'all can't do everything so if you do have nonprofits in the community that's doing the footwork we can report back to y'all because I know y'all be sitting in the office so busy thank you you our next speaker 5.3 Edward my marks tonight are prepared and they've been prepared by members of the Andrew Washington family you all as members of council know that I've been with them since the murder of their son and nephew and so good evening the recent passing of Bill a536 S2 or s4250 known as the C Brooks Washington Community leg crisis response act allocates $2 million to Hudson County or to us all to tackle Mental Health crisis inspired by the death of both Andrew Washington II and Nasi now GC Brooks of Patterson New Jersey Andrew experiencing a mental health crisis was fatally shot by police officer ganti supported strongly by Andrew's family this legislation is named in honor and it's a significant step addressing racial disparities in New Jersey's policing and incarceration systems alike this legislation underscores the urgent need to shift towards community-led crisis response initiatives recognizing the disproportionate harm experienced by black men like Andrew like myself like Naj black men under police centered Public Safety models which exacerbate mental health issues like anxiety depression and PTSD let us move forward to Jersey City we're grateful councilman or council president wman for your leadership and as the community moves forward we are concerned with the progress made thus far and would like clarification on critical points we know there have been changes in the representation at the community meetings with the three councilmen led by Jersey City members of Jersey City's uh Public Safety Council but we request that the representatives of the Washington family and other community members from different organizations be welcomed into those discussions additionally we are interested in understanding what progress if any has been made in securing the participation of director Shay Communications with the committee and the fund for the RFP I've been here bi-weekly if any of you need any more clarification or any more understanding please reach out to me but it should be on each of you and your office to reach out to Andrew Washington's family he was murdered by the Jersey City police department the state has passed the legislation the $2 million has been passed the RFP we're working on it please include this family please include other members in the discussion thank you thank you our next speaker 5.4 Andrea is Andrea here no okay speakers 5.5 through 5.19 were special kindergartens students that we had spoke great so we'll move right on to 5.20 Albert I didn't see him here no 5.21 Chris Chris here no okay 5.22 zier no 5.23 Debbie I believe spoke earlier 5.24 Nancy oh 5.25 evangelene yeah what 5.26 Jean no 5.27 Bridget Okay 5.28 Kevin not here 5.29 David is David here sh no 530 Anna oh 5.31 Lucy 5.32 Joel okay he's got three seconds to get out of the bed no here he is Joel Michelle he's here Michelle he's here Joel it's your time it's your time countdown three seconds you got three seconds to get up to that Podium three how dare you leave the chambersa president Waterman and council members resolution 24421 has been withdrawn the second consecutive council meeting that resolution asking you to ratify to agree with and accept as this council's own a decision by Corporation Council to engage Eric M Bernstein and Associates to represent the city against claims by Equity residential to gut section 260 this is a lawyer in a law firm that has been awarded at least 1,1 195,000 taxpayer dollars over the past six years for a tax appeal work now after 6 years of tax appeal work and at least $20,000 donations to Mayor Philips Pax corporate Corporation Council is trying to engage this lawyer to defend the city in a federal constitutional case and his first action was to appeal oppose our intervention into that case in Alliance with Jersey City you have expressed your desire to help us this is my request cour Siders and other Jersey City residents and citizens already perceive this resolution is nothing other than a kick in our gut while it serves as a reward for Bernstein for his political donations this is a misuse of public funds and it further damages and erodes whatever trust is left in our local government especially the mayor's office do better Jersey City you don't need the stink of more corruption tied to our case find a clean capable lawyer who is not so obviously just another full up puppet thank you thank you you our next speaker 5.33 Curtis okay next 5.34 Jessica next 5.35 Brendan my name is Brendan cogin and unlike last time I actually remember to bring my speech this week I'm rather proud of myself so I'm here to speak to you about the deplorable situation we at Portside are currently facing I feel as though I do not need to repeat the same words we hear every two weeks as it's gone a tad tiresome for everyone involved as we all know people start looking away checking their phones checking their emails and probably whatever game's on tonight just last week the building had a water break things happen we get that but half the building lost water until I think 6 o'l at night and then hot water a few hours later this is just a symptom of what Equity is like they take over the building they put almost no money into the maintenance so when things break boohoo we're trying to fix it it's an emergency you shouldn't file a clicks a c click fix report which a bunch of us did file because we actually wanted to get get water on at some point this is what the this is what it's going to be like for the foreseeable future now that this decision was made Equity is going to keep lowering their maintenance and care until the building's about ready to fall over where it gets resold and they drop their lawsuits and say okay it is rank controlled we're we're selling the building that's what's going to happen if we don't stop things we've got to actually pursue it otherwise city is going to have a small crumbling building on its waterfront that the city is rather used to at this point if we look at history thank you for your time thank you our next speaker 5.36 Derek next speaker 5.37 Aaron I start can I start yeah okay ignoring isn't the same as ignorance you have to work at it that quote is from the handmaids tale a novel and subsequent TV series about an authoritarian government that forces its women into reproductive slavery it's supposed to be extreme a far-flung tale of fascism but what does it say when people have jokingly compare the state of our country to a story that's supposed to be a dystopian nightmare we are living in a place that many around the world consider ignorant we ban books erase history control women's bodies hate anyone who is the other again ignoring isn't the same as as ignorance you have to work at it ignorance is sad it stems from a lack of knowledge or information ignoring is infuriating worse it is disrespectful it is a very deliberate and conscious act in a country where authoritarianism is blooming maybe it shouldn't be a shock that our local governments are planting the seeds no I'm not accusing our government of the extreme acts we see in the handmaid's taale yet but we see glimpses of authoritarianism in this administration's actions every day ignoring rent control laws censoring social media comments blocking us from peacefully holding signs and protest no one can fake ignorance anymore that we've seen that act play out plenty of times in this room in response to council member Frank Gilmore's question about the legality of holding signs during a public meeting City lawyer John mckin who has just appropriately left uh I don't know he said I don't know if anyone is planning litigation on this I am not going to comment publicly on the record about anything and this was in response to his question about holding signs during a public meeting he also said he was happy to provide council member Gilmore with answers in his office away from the Public's ears what does litigation have to do with the law that protects our right to peacefully protest that's right it's the idea that litigation suddenly renders an objective law well conditional Jersey City proves again and again that it considers the law conditional and these conditions always seem to allow for ignorance but we have always known better we continue to know better this is an extremely intelligent educated group that stands before you and we know this city lawyers are obligated to offer transparent and reli iable advice in public forums hiding behind potential litigation as an excuse not to address fundamental rights undermines trust in the legal system and leave citizens without crucial information needed to exercise their rights we ask you council members to stop working so hard to ignore us and instead in the face of so many blatant violations of the law ones with consequences for you whether public ears are in the room to hear them or not we ask you to work smarter to actually protect us thank you our next speaker 5.38 Daniel good evening city council members at the Jersey City municipal council meeting back on January 10th of this year council president Waterman you addressed corporate Council Britney Murray and stated in reference to us tenants quote they think that we don't care which is not true end quote corporate Council Britney Murray then incorrectly told you that us residents can receive a rent increase as long as it's not above 4% which is actually not true because as noted in the letter signed by shyron Richardson addressed to Derek Reid equities lawyer on March 19th of this year quote since the requested proofs are currently being reviewed and the appropriate base rents have yet to be established the rents imposed on the tenants during the 2023 or earlier lease term are no longer the legal base rent upon which Equity residential is permitted to apply any increase to in accordance with the provisions of the ordinance therefore any increase in rent applied to that of which was paid by the tenant from 2023 or earlier May violate chapter 260 of the Jersey City Municipal Code end quote in layman's terms Equity cannot raise rents at all right now council president the reason why many of us or at least me sometimes feel that maybe you don't care is because it's been seven months since the rent leveling Board of Jersey City made a unanimous decision at both the East and West towers of Portside Towers so both 155 Washington Street and 100 Warren Street were subject to rent control and made a legally binding determination that rents must be rolled back to 2016 rates and that hasn't happened despite the fact that the board decision has no legal stay and US residents are still getting rent increases with no rowback to this day which is in violation direct violation of this City's laws and I understand council president and members of the council that you're extremely busy I'm sure you have a ton of responsibilities and I do truly thank you I really thank you for your service to this city but as city council members and council president I ask you please follow up with the office of landlord tenant relations to ensure that rent recalculations are completed as soon as possible and that Equity residential faces consequences for their continued ignorance of Jersey City's laws which were designed to protect your constituents we're sick of having to come to every city council meeting and I'm sure you're sick of seeing our faces too please help us follow up with the landlord tenant office seven months seven months is too long and the longer you wait the more Jersey City's families suffer thank you our next speaker 5.39 Mark good evening city council I'd like to thank you and the city's legal department for the work on ordinance 2438 which we heard a first reading of today about uniform security service for multiple dwellings it's a welcome change that helps everyone to understand the term uniform security guard in addition to thanking you I do have two comments first the changes do not Define a concierge or dman or person whatever nor do they make it crystal clear that concierge and uniform security are two complete different jobs even though that's implied by the uniform definition the uniform security staff need very different training and qualifications from the concierges I met with John mckin in October last about uniform security and then on November the 29th he told me that some landlords claim that a change uh sorry that the change well was written will have concierges putting on a baseball cap with the word Security on it and going off on a mandated Patrol while leaving the lobby desk unattended and the building wide open before returning taking off the security hat and becoming our concierge again like Clark Kent removing his glasses second comment is about exemptions from the uniform security requirement how do individual tenants or tenants associations provide input into the process for an exemption or is only the landlord allowed to have input for instance our tenants Association has been keeping a list of security concerns from the tenant support side is there a way to have this list reviewed at the time of the security exemption inspection or should each tenant open a C- click fix ticket every time they see a security breach such as a door propped open a package missing or an unal person in the building C click fix would ensure that every issue is logged by the resident Response Center but individual c click C click fix tickets can be quite burdensome on the RC with a lot of duplicates and they may not be easy to collate and review at inspection time unless the RC creates a new category of ticket just for this all these tickets will need to be reviewed by the security inspector an alternative could be a curated list provided by the tenants Association this should be far easier for the inspector to review your thoughts um if necessary we're happy to prepare a bulleted list of edits to would improve this legislation to whom should we email that thank you our next speaker 5.40 Liv hi um my name is Liv representing Ward B again um last time I spoke I share the issues still occurring at my building 429 Bergen Avenue I want to thank you councilwoman rener did I pronounce that right for immediately following up with me in person via email um as well seeking more information about what's going on I shared specific unit byun complaints um and today I saw a notice from the state of New Jersey on my building door that an inspector will be checking all units on June 5th between 10:00 a.m. and 2 p.m. I will be available on that day to let them in and for entry into units of neighbors who get me permission to do so um I'm aware that the city will also be coming to perform their inspection and I'm happy to do the same with them but my question is why might the state have been sent so quickly for this matter thank you again for this councilwoman as for the matter of rent control I'm aware that you're waiting to hear back from the director of the tenants landlord division about my landlords missing rent control exemption and annual landlord registration statement thank you Michelle for performing the the Oprah do you say Oprah statement search that also showed that these don't exist for my building it's my understanding that the exemption would have needed to be filed 30 days before the first occupancy of the building and the building is not on redeveloped land according to Housing Services that's all I had to say thank you thank you our next speaker 5.41 Anna are you ready um in in April our building at 995 Summit Avenue under a change in ownership accompanied by the introduction of a new management company and building manager on April 19th the building manager visited my apartment for meeting I allowed her into my apartment in good faith hoping that we could start off on the right foot however the conversation quickly turned sour when she disclosed several illegal plans for the building she stated that we no longer have a livein super and said that we can contact one of our neighbors to flip the switch in the basement if our electricity goes out additionally she outlined a list of new fees including late fees storage fees pet fees and rent payment fees when I expressed concern about these actions she provided inaccurate legal advice say legally they could do whatever they want as long as they provided notice then she threatened me with legal action for not wanting to continue the conversation that's a pretty extreme reaction this Behavior constitutes intimidation and retaliation for asserting my rights as a tenant she also refused to leave my apartment for several minutes after I told her the conversation was over fast forward to this past Saturday when my toilet began flushing vigorously non-stop despite reporting the issue to Chantel the building manager and her dispatching a handyman no action was actually taken to address the problem instead I was instructed to submit a maintenance request through an online portal which I'm not enrolled in when I expressed this Chantel responded with threats and dismissive remarks such as how she knows the mayor herself only further exacerbating the situation then she told me not to contact her anymore um I continued to endure vigorous flushing in my apartment for days um I contacted the councilman who helped me thank you so much um but this incident sheds light on the larger issue of bullying and intimidation by those in positions of power it is unacceptable for management to ignore the law and prioritize intimidation tactics over tenant safety and well-being we need protective proactive measures in place to ensure accountability for those who engage in bullying and intimidation tactics I stand here today in solidarity with the Portside Towers tenants and with concerned for the changing landscape of apartment buildings in Jersey City as unscrupulous management companies take over the city and do whatever they want I shouldn't have to fight a whole company just to live in peace in my apartment home and ensure my rights are upheld this whole situation has been giving me a lot of stress and anxiety and I don't appreciate it it was great that the councilman was able to help me but I shouldn't have to have reached out to the city to address this issue an on-site super should have been available to turn my toilet down in closing I urge the council to address these concerns and enact measures to protect tenants from abusive Behavior by building management everyone deserves to feel safe and respected in their own home and it's time for Action to ensure that right is upheld thank you our next Speaker 5.42 John hello again I really really don't enjoy coming here doing this I really hate public speaking but I am here because I have to support these amazing people behind me and all the tenants in Jersey City we're being screwed over by our landlord and by the people who are elected to protect us from Bad actors is anything going to happen as a result of us asking you to help us do you think it's okay for our landlord to break the city's laws and for the mayor and the city to allow them to do so so far the only meaningful event as far as I can remember is councilman s inviting us to provide evidence of legal rent increases issued since last November's hearing which we duly provided at the very next meeting that seemed to prompt the bureau into action and a letter purporting to be from Richardson went to equity warn warning them of fines and even jail time jail time if they didn't comply as it turns out it seems that letter was simply an attempt to lull us into a sense of security because up to now it looks like Richardson has absolutely no intention of following up on those punishments indeed my wife and I reluctantly signed a new lease last week with yet another illegal increase it seems we had no choice please will you intervene and publicly call on them to act according to the law and where is the investigation we have promised we need your support show the city that you represent your constituents and you're committed to protecting their interests I want happy holidays our next speaker 5.43 Mel hi um so yeah I'm going to go back to basics um as my husband mentioned we've has had to sign our lease renewal under protest um a 3% rise is a huge relief after the increases of previous years but as so many have pointed out any increase is currently illegal and 3% on top of the unlawful increases since we are rent controlled is an obscene amount of money sitting in equity's Pockets instead of where it rightfully belongs with the tenants your constituents now we keep being told that the roll back calculations are difficult and maybe this is part of the I don't know um we know that we've offered to help and I've done mine myself to give you just one example to put it into context um I've lived at Portside for 12 years if I roll back seven years as per the rolling and then offset it with a generous 4% increase a year this year my monthly payments that I've just had to sign would Reduce by $634 a month monthly that's over $75,000 just this year all in all with this initial ruling and roll back Equity currently owes me just shy of $225,000 I would really like that back please as a start so where are these fines I mean I guess a fine of 2,000 per apartment is actually better off than paying 25,000 just to my one-bedroom apartment um but why are they allowed to keep doing this why can they keep my money why do I have to continue paying rent when they're holding my money where is the mayor his prior excuse of not commenting on ongoing litigation is not acceptable as we've already pointed out about uh Mr mckin over here not commenting in case of potential uh litigation it's not acceptable we're asking what the law says and to make sure that people are following the law that the laws of this city are followed as written today quite frankly some support any support by the mayor for for his constituents is long overdue thank you our next speaker 5.44 Drew good evening my name is Drew kachowski tonight I will address critical issues surrounding the updated resolution for the contract with Eric Bernstein's firm even though I know it has been pulled once again our team has thoroughly examined the legal and ethical implications of this resolution and we strongly urge each of you to vote no your vote on this matter will have lasting consequences and a yes vote will undoubtedly impact future support from concerned citizens like myself and may lead to litigation against the city the RFQ process lacks transparency our legal team couldn't find the RFQ posted online with the other rfqs or in any newspaper while Bernstein's partially completed RFQ response was shared upon request we were told that obtaining any other their responses would require an Oprah request this raises serious doubts about the process's competitiveness and suggests little or no genuine competition for this contract furthermore Bernstein's firm response is missing critical information requested in the RFQ such as their experience key personal resumes and other details making it nearly impossible to assess their qualifications and suitability we have to we have a record of Bernstein's prior work for the city which was significantly unrelated to the matter at hand in just a matter of Common Sense how do you have a fair and open process for a contract where the work has already been done starting four months before the RFQ the removal of the full contract agreement only adds to these concerns without access to the complete terms of the agreement how can the council make an un Make an informed decision about whether this firm is the right choice for our city this lack of transparency undermines public trust and prevents the prevents the council from fulfilling its F fiduciary duty to the people of Jersey City moreover the revised resolution has removed the paragraph outlining adherence to ethical standards from the original version this glaring Omission coupled with the inconsistency of calling for a fair process on one page while referring to an unfair process on another renders the resolution either unapproved or deserving of a unanimous no vote it it is also worth noting that even if Governor Murphy has made changes to the pay-to-play laws the ordinance that was in effect when Mr Bernstein began work on this matter should still apply the ethical implications of a $220,000 political contribution made in close proximity to the awarding of an 880,000 contract cannot be ignored especially given that the same mayor who has yet to enforce the ordinance in question is the recipient of those contributions Additionally the contributions of $4,900 to the mayor's candidate committee for governor is independently disqualifying this is so flawed that no amount of shoehorning can make this work think carefully about whether you want to spend more time trying to make this happen do you really think anyone on the count on this council is going to sign off on this that would seem to be a fast track to liability did anyone here take Billow days advice to secure independent legal counsel immediately in the meantime I will continue to try to help you to help you steer clear of legal trouble thank you next speaker 5.45 Sonia good evening for the 25th time today I love elephants I love to travel and I love working with leaders so here's a little story for you all in their book Dean Sanders and Stuart mcclan describe a situation in which the protagonist faces an elephant in the wild the guy told us to stand behind him to say nothing and to stay still which is what we did but it was also very paralyzing in that situation it was an act of extreme compliance I can tell you from my own experience that this situation is no fun I've been charged by an elephant in Botswana it ain't no fun to s in front of your favorite animal thinking that it might be the last thing on Earth you see it ain't no fun to feel threatened by someone you think of as a good old friend and it ain't no fun for most of us at least to just comply but I believe this is where we've been for the past two years St stuck in front of the elephant in the room paralyzed how else could we explain statements like I don't know if anyone is planning litigation on this so I'm not going to comment on the record publicly about anything here City lawyer McKinny at the end of the meeting last month or our hands are tight council president bman about one year ago or they told us no signs today Jersey City police at the state of the city address all supposedly good old friends right living in fear for such a long time ain't no fun believe us we know many of us have lived in fear for much longer than two years every time a lease renewal comes up we are in fear still Equity R residential is our biggest elephant in the room charging at us and sadly you are part of the same herd it would be so easy for you to step out of this pack and join the right side we've given you every opportunity to do so we need them to get beyond that to see that on the other side there is huge opportunity for Value creation the authors write further value by being reelected into this body or maybe even as the new mayor or just speaking the truth sleeping better being trusted again all very valuable things I'm Ending by remembering our fabulous guide who not only got us out of the immediate situation but who drove us right away to a camp with chame old elephants I remember I was shaking when I got out of the car actually I needed some not so gentle gentle pushes to get me out my beloved old friend the elephant had become a threat I was Dev devastated but then this giant old elephant came towards me put her trunk on my shoulder and I knew that I was beyond my fear on the other side exactly where I needed to be and you need to be too our next speaker 5.46 Telo good evening coner I had a different speech to prepared for today a speech about a First Amendment and how our rights got taken away at the state of the city address then I saw the Navy ship sailing by on the Hudson preparing for Memorial Day created by people on both sides of the river two German vessels amongst them all in unity this is so important it made me think about the behavior of the city government how little it is in this bigger context but still so powerful that it all that it can bring misery and distress to so many people just by doing nothing you know that I was born and raised in East Germany you know that freedom the right of free speech in particular has a very special meaning to me it is not just a phrase thrown out at the state of the city address just like diversity the mayor likes to talk about freedom and about diversity but just saying it doesn't automatically mean it that people are truly free and that there is true inclusion that became very clear as we got stripped of our first amendment rights at the doors of this very Hall just because the mayor didn't want any critics at his marketing show on Monday we celebrate Memorial Day to Hon honor the men and women who lost their lives fighting for a free world fighting for democracy many of them died to bring freedom and democracy to my home country if they knew what's going on here what would they say perhaps they would say how is it possible that these people have come here week after week speech after speech having to talk about the same Injustice over and over again how is it possible that they cannot enjoy the freedom we fought for and lost our lives for in our very own country how it is possible that there is full on censorship on social media by mayor fulop how is it possible that City lawyers can refuse to answer questions related to the rights of Resident while their very job is to provide transparent and reliable advice in public forms how is it POS possible that the pile of dirt gets bigger and bigger or do you really think they would agree with your actions or non-actions and would wholeheartedly say yes how people in Jersey City are treated is what we fought and died for we would so much appreciate if you take the opportunity tonight and provide some insight in how you uphold the very ideas that these brave soldiers died for and when you go and celebrate on this weekend yourself you and your loved ons you should ask yourself am I doing the right thing thank you our next speaker 5.47 Tara you ready I uh want to read this experience on behalf of two of our team members who are unable to meet in time to speak this evening one she was working overtime bringing new babies into this world giving her a wholehearted congratulations to new mothers and another accompanying our partner's mother through painful Cancer Treatments but still managed to be here to lead us and to let us know that our efforts are vital want to share a personal experience that deeply disturb me and highlights critical issues regarding our rights and the responsibilities of our city officials recently I attended a public meeting with a sign to express my concerns it read quite simply enforc 260 however when I tried to bring my sign into the event I was refused by police and threatened with forcible removal from the public event should I not comply and if I refus to leave I would be arrested this was a public event where I was simply promoting the enforcement of our laws just to be clear even though it sounds absurd to me and hopefully to you apparently that's where we're at right now I a citizen by promoting adherence to our existing laws was told this could result in my arrest this anti ant antagonistic Behavior left me shocked to my core and deeply upset as a citizen I should have the right to to peacefully Express My Views without fear or intimidation when we brought this issue to our councilman Frank Gilmore he asked John McKinny a straightforward question about the legality of holding signs during public meetings Mr McKinny refused to answer citing potential litigation concerns but said let's talk in private Instead This refusal is unacceptable City lawyers have a duty to provide transparency and clear legal guidance in public forums not not promote opacity and obsc hiding behind the threat of litigation undermines trust in our legal system and leaves citizens without the crucial information needed to exercise their rights legal advisers must address these issues openly to uphold the law and protect citizens rights it is imperative that the city's legal team fulfills the responsibility to provide clear actionable guidance in public settings the ethical obligations of City officials include upholding transparency and accountability John McKinney's refusal to answer my direct questions about our rights under the pretext of potential litigation erodes public trust and sets a dangerous precedent unfortunately this is not an isolated incident previously the acting Corporation Council Britney Murray also refused to answer questions about the rent Control Ordinance leaving residents vulnerable to landlord exploitation which our landlord has since leveraged to cause significant additional harm such repeated actions raise serious ethic concerns and May warrant formal complaints to New Jersey Bar Association the New Jersey Superior Court ethics and other relevant oversight bodies thank you our next speaker 5.48 Shannon next speaker 5.49 Michelle good evening as you know we we filed over 100 illegal rent petitions for our two buildings state record council members after my speech one please ask the city legal team once again for our right to hold small non-offensive signs within our own personal space that simply say enforce 260 while we're in a public meeting held in a public space such as the state of the city address held in this very room and two kindly ask again for the Law Department to explain what the phrase in order to qualify for any rental increase what that means in sections 26-3 H and 26-3 J of the Run Control Ordinance we will record that exchange so we can prepare 100 separate and unique complaints to be completed by tenants from many Jersey City buildings and then submitted to the New York New Jersey Bar Association and the superior Court's Ethics Committee and in support of any current or future investigations if warranted each complaint will identify one City lawyer by name specifically calling out what they did or what they neglected to do and the specific harm that has resulted each formal complaint will include all appropriate transcripts video and audio legally captured in this room leading up to an including tonight's meeting please council member stop allowing the attorneys from keeping you in the dark they're not helping you also for obvious reasons I hope that you all demand to know the real reason why resolution 24- 421 regarding Eric Bernstein was withdrawn we know why so should you thank you our next speaker 550 Charlene thank you next speaker 5.51 Kevin I believe he left next speaker 5.52 meon can we please clear the aisle whenever you ready can you raise the mic there you go good evening uh my name is man Wiggins and um I am a resident of Jersey City born and rays and I come here tonight to say to ask where you vote and to say thank you for your vote for Mimi's dink World resolution um Mimi's dink world is a retail migro uh class five cannabis dispensary that um bring into Ward a of Jersey City um the Greenville section um this process has been um long and lengthy but worth the fight um worth the weight um doing it the right way um I'm happy to do it in my community be a part of my community and be the change in something different for my community um meim dink grow I pride myself on my real estate experience in my community impacting lives and what I do through nonprofits also in my community and impacting lives I'm raising my kids here I'm a homeowner here I'm raising my grandkids here my mom is born and raised here um so I just say simply thank you for the opportunity uh for me as an entrepreneur and many other us like me as entrepreneurs not only in cannabis but any entrepreneurship that the residents of Jersey City pursue thank you sorry about that oh next speaker 5.53 Karen it's cutting actually I I think maybe you might understand why people don't want to be called a Karen okay I'm just trying to you know throw in something lighthearted because it's been a rough day um thank you um uh cons woman Ridley for saying no to the ordinance because I believe you understand what the problem is um I've made some notes on what uh people were saying while they were voting yes um um cilman s you mentioned that the apps are making the uh delivery Riders go too quick and that is that is correct but this ordinance doesn't address any of this so um I'm I'm kind of surprised that that wasn't in there um for example they are also telling people to go up to the door and then they have to go quickly to another another uh Rider and another person to deliver but here in Jersey City um it's mostly highrises so you have to go up wheel wheel high up in in these uh buildings um now with all these fancy new places some of them have elevators that don't even have buttons you have to find the person who can literally beam you up to the place where to the floor where you need to be because some people demand that you put it in front of their door and the apps don't seem to have an issue with that at the same time they're like where are you like we're finding the door so there's a lot of complications here that don't get addressed like um if you want to be elect New York you should look into um giving people hubs because the reason everybody is hanging out near McDonald's and um you know in that area where there's a lot of restaurants is because of the apps giving a hot spot and if you're not in that hot spot with your phone you might not get a delivery that's why people are just huddled wherever they tell you to go not because they want to hang out there to chat with their friends or something it's that's that's the reality of it so you need to please look into that I'm I'm happy that you're saying that you want to work on this hopefully you know will this will actually happen and you know you're going to speak to some people who who have done this in New York I can get you in in contact uh with some people if you want and uh we we can work on this to make it actually better for the delivery Riders thank you so much our next speaker 5.54 ranan good evening council members I'm Rihanna m i remember my family and I became aware of the potential rent control case against Equity residential in August of last year we have a July renewal so we've waited long time to have personal evidence about equity's renewal process to share with you as you may recall we have had many other challenges and I've stood here with my fellow community members as they've received illegal rent increases day after day after day lo and behold my renewal dropped into my inbox on Monday morning with an interesting subject heading it said renew renewal today and then there was a space and it said I kid you not test me I had to laugh as I knew I was about to be tested somewhat disappointed and yet not surprised our leas renewal has an increase of 3.7% new increases continue with no enforcement action from the city enforcement action does not require the recalculation process to be completed first Equity is continuously in violation of the ordinance including new increases since Richardson's March 19th letter threatening jail of by continued violations please can you take action please can you investigate are we supposed to just roll over and be happy with a 3.7 increase because it's not 10 20 or 40% it's illegal for Equity to send me this lease and yet what is my recourse should I not sign and find alternative accommodation uprate my family after four years when I know I'm on the right side of the law I love sharing stories today I opened the link to my new lease and there was a paragraph about the renewal with a deadline button and it said accept lease there were no other options except to click that button I clicked it assuming it would take me to bring to see the lease so that I could eign and I would be able to see the lease in full how wrong I was the next message I received said thank you for signing your lease I quickly emailed the building and let them know I did not intend to accept their offer but merely wanted to be able to see the terms of the lease I was signing I received an email back quickly from the building letting me know it's okay I hadn't actually accepted until both my husband and I as tenants had signed it I asked if they could send me a copy let's play a game how many people and how many emails do you think it took back and forth today to send me a copy four people six emails council members as of this evening I'm yet to receive a copy of that LE and when I do what should I do sign it sign something that's illegal uppr my family what would you do thank you for your time our next speaker 5.55 Isabelle good evening Council I'm here today as the daughter of a small business owner in Jersey City my parents have had their business here for over 20 years right off Indian Square we've witnessed the city transform with many of our long-term clients leaving but new ones emerging especially from nearby construction sites these new clients have been vital to our business and we've adapted to serve them however many businesses including ours are now facing unfair competition from illegal food vendors these vendors set up just 100 ft away from us selling to construction workers at unsustainable prices they don't have the proper I mean they don't have the overhead costs or permits that legitimate business like ours do this problem has escalated to the point where illegal food vendors from New York City are coming to Jersey City to sell food illegally over the past 3 years despite a few tickets being issued to those that they catch the situation has only gotten worse this is not just a business issue but also a public safety concern Health standards exist for a reason and these legal vendors are bypassing them ticketing these vendors is obviously not enough more stringent action is needed to address this growing problem thank you um Isabelle can you see my Aid Britney Kelly you mentioned your the business is in McGinley Square yeah she'll get your contact information so we can get back to you okay our next speaker 5.56 Kevin um good evening everyone my name is Kevin dunie I work for a company called solar landscape we are a Asbury Park Pace uh solar developer who specializes in community solar I come before you today with good news we are currently working with the Board of Public Utilities and pscg to bring another Community solar project to Jersey City the BPU has made it a requirement of the program that we make the mayor aware and we're here today to make the mayor and Council aware of the of the proposed project our previous Jersey City project was built in 2021 at 69 m Avenue at an easy space storage facility with the guidance of councilwoman prin we were able to secure a resolution of support for the project which is built and operational and providing discount electricity to homes and apartments in Jersey City in fact 1100 Jersey City residents are currently subscribed to our projects and saving on their electricity costs every month so what is community solar we're putting solar panels on large commercial rooftops we're taking the electricity and rather than powering the building we're using it to power homes and apartments in and around uh communities in New Jersey this particular project is at 25 lyen Avenue that will be applying with the Board of Public Utilities for it's slightly smaller than one megawatt it will power 152 homes councilwoman Prince iie was kind enough to introduce us to councilwoman Ridley and this this particular project is in her Ward we had the pleasure of speaking with the councilwoman on Monday to give her a full breakdown of the project and all the work that we're doing we're currently building and have built 180 of these projects across New Jersey where by far the largest community solar developer in the state once the project is approved by the board of Board of Public Utilities if in fact it is we come back to the city for any necessary permitting or variances or anything that's required discounts in this latest round of community solar for pscg were as high as 30% and that really moves the needle for the folks here who are trying to save on their electricity bills there's no cost for residents to get in there's no cost for residents to get out and there's no long-term contracts it's really a wonderful program councilman Gilmore you you and I spoke probably about two years ago when we had started our Workforce Development program I'm proud to let you know that we got $1.4 million in Grants for the work that we're doing we are matching that with 1.6 million we just received um um an award from the Department of energy for Equitable Workforce Development and we're training folks who are unemployed are underemployed how to become solar installation professionals I have two sons I have an attorney and I have a guy that that puts in solar panels my attorney hits me up the 28th of the month my solar panel guy just bought a house in J in uh Point Pleasant it is a wonderful wonderful career and it doesn't take a lot of of training to do that one final thing 51% of the electricity that we make has to go to low to moderate income households as a as part of the program ultimately what I'm looking for because we ran out of time thank you sorry thank thank you our next speaker 5.57 is a duplication of 5.52 so our last speaker 5.58 Milo doesn't speak very good English and was wondering if I could help him translate Yes okay thank you his name is Milo he's a little nervous so he he apologizes so he's very motivated to be here today cuz I'm with him and together we've kind of his business is right across from my my parents business so um you know this is someone else who's also been experiencing the same issues he also apologizes for not speaking to you in English sorry for this he doesn't know where to start he wasn't born here he feels grateful to be here he's been trying to adapt to the way that businesses ran here in the US respecting the law especially when you from Latin country where laws aren't regulated or yeah laws aren't regulated as they should be you see a lot of Regulation here or you should see or he he's observed a lot of Regulation here doesn't that he doesn't see in his home country a lot of the so he's saying that a big issue is a lot of illegal vendors taking over like um businesses or stationing themselves next to businesses and he's experienced a large loss because of this he thinks that there needs to be action taken to reinforce that laws are enforce here and also to offset the clear LW that his business has experience during this time when you um when you uplift um like entrepreneurs and business owners in the city you're help you're helping them out but with no regulation you're kind of tearing them down because ultimately they're the ones that um face the consequences of having no regulation oh sorry thank you okay council members that concludes uh public speakers for tonight um before we move on with our agenda I did say I was going to do this I wanted to give Ron leer a shout out uh Ron will no longer be covering our Council meetings no it's going on to bigger and better things um yeah maybe even acting I heard so we'll see how that works out for him but Ron has been a staple here so just wanted to give him a little shout out all right with that being said on on to our petitions and Communications any questions or comments on items 6.1 through 6.30 hearing none any questions or comments on offic of communication 7.1 through 7.10 any question questions or comments on reported directors 8.1 through 8.13 hearing none before we move on Council Members I just need a motion to invert the order of business to approve resolutions before the claims just like I explained in the beginning of the meeting because there is a couple of claims that are on the agenda but we need resolutions passed before we can approve the claims may I have a motion motion motion made by council person Cay may I have a second second I'm going to give that second is very close the council person council president wman on the motion to invert the order of business to approve the resolutions before claims council person redley I council person priner council person bajano council person SLE hi council person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person Dees and council president Waterman motion carries 80 with council person Rea absent on to our resolutions council members are going to be taking a vote on item 10.1 through 10.15 with the exception of 10.12 which was approved earlier again 10.1 through 10.15 council person Ridley hi Council excuse me council person priner Hi council person bajano I excuse me council person CLE want to say um I for all proud to vote for Megan Mory as a part-time judge uh she was one of the people that took me under my under her wing in the law department when I was an intern so uh really happy to have you as a judge and with that I vote I for all you council person Solomon congrats Megan there can be a family competition on who's the better judge and uh I vote I for all it's better than having football competition anyway council person Gilmore he said to 15 from 10.1 through 10.15 with the exception of 10.12 which was approved earlier all thank you council person Dees and council president wman can't hear you council president it's good to see you Megan it's really good to see you um I vote I on all and obstain from 10.6 okay if I can just recap the vote items 10.1 through 10.5 are approved unanimously 90 as counc person R voted earlier item 10.6 is approved 801 with Council per President Waterman abstaining and items 10.7 through 10.15 are approved unanimously 90 congratulations Megan John um Sean before you go hey hey John or uh Peter um with regards to 21 that is the public safety building but we don't own that building right that's that's the issue that is correct coun when we're leasing to own so they technically was tax is still on there we're just cleaning all up all right okay with that being said council members are going to be taking a vote on items 10.16 through 10.27 again that's 10.6 16 to 10.27 council person rid Lake uh on 10.27 I just want to say that uh similar to another um resolution we had a couple weeks ago for cannabis business it is good to see that we're getting more businesses from local residents people who actually live in Jersey City uh grew up here and who are homeowners here in the city uh with that I vote eye for all you said ey on all I'm so sorry council person priner Hi for all and best of luck to you council person Bano no on 1027 and I on the rest which one council person s it's up to 1027 right or yes sir 10.16 through 10.27 okay uh I for all and congratulations on um your new canabas business council person Solomon hi for all congratulations council person Gilmore want to invite oh excuse me I'm want to vote I for all MIM uh congratulations I know it's been a bumpy road you had a place you didn't have a place then you had a new place um so I know it's been a bumpy Ro um thankful that you stuck with it um and just thank you for all that you've been doing as it relates to helping nonprofits lending your spot out that you're paying um rent on um and congratulations I vote I on all Sean thank you council person Dees council person voted I council president Warman I have to abstain from 10.27 congratulations I vote I on all the rest okay I can just recap items 10.16 through 10.26 are approved unanimous Le 90 item 10.27 is approved 71 one would council member bajano voting no and council president wman abstaining okay on the next set of resolutions items 10.28 through 10.38 with the exception of 10.30 which has been withdrawn council person Ridley council person Prince AR council person bajano no on 28 and no on 37 28 and 37 yep an I on the rest yes thank you council person SLE I for all council person Solomon we're going we're going from 10.28 to 10.38 with the exception of 10.30 which has been withdrawn I for all council person Gilmore I council person de counc person Rivera voted I earlier council president Waterman abstain from 10.28 and I on all the rest okay if I can just recap item 10.28 is approved 711 would council person Bano voting no and council president wman abstaining items 10.29 excuse me 10.29 is approved unanimously 90 item 10.31 through 10.36 are approved unanimously 90 item 10.37 is approved 8 one with council person bajano voting no and item 10.38 is approved unanimously 90 on to our next set of resolutions items 10.39 through 10.49 council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi for all council person bajano I council person s we pulled uh 1040 or no said we did not pull that oh we did not okay all right um I for all still council person Sol so I'm staining on 1040 um and 41 and then I for the rest council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person rever voted yes and voted no on 10.40 and I on all the rest and council president Waterman right if I can just recap item 10.39 is approved unanimous 10 excuse me 90 item 10.40 is approved 7 one one with council person Solomon abstaining and council person Riva voting no item 10.41 is approved 801 would council person Solomon abstaining and items 10.42 through 10.49 are approved unanimously 90 and on to the balance of our resolutions items 1050 through 10.60 with the exception of 10.56 57 and 58 which all have been withdrawn council person Ridley hi council person Prince Ary council person bajano just want to say on 1053 the tax payers are probably spent about $14 million over the last 10 years and all the people that are getting rich of the lawyer is it's a joke no on 1053 I and all the rest 10.53 no and I and all the rest got it council person SLE just want to say I for all and thank the administration for um getting the ice rink um Chiller resolution up in as Speedy of a way as possible and crossing my fingers and praying to God hoping against hope that it's open for this Winter thank you I for all council person Solomon um yes thank you to ba uh Metro and ABA Horton for your work to get 1060 on this agenda and uh excited to to put the skates on in uh November when the uh rink opens so I vote I for all we're gonna hold you to that council person Gilmore um I'll vote I for all um but I do just want the record to reflect John is going uh Peter we did not receive the SWAT analysis again so another deadline have Eclipse unless you have it I do not have with me but I'll follow up and see what was the issue and make sure you got it well the issue is that they're non-compliance because they said they was gonna have it Chase said almost a month ago that toana was gonna send it then I missed them Monday but I asked John he said they should have it by tomorrow which was Tuesday today is Wednesday and it's not here now so just so the record reflect I mean at this point I don't even know I don't even know if we have a SWAT analysis I don't even know where the 200 and some thousand went I I just don't understand how hard is it to release the information if the information came in like it's not that hard hey yes Sean council person Dees council person Rivera I earlier and council president wman sorry thank you if I can just recap items 10.50 through 10.52 are approved unanimously 90 item 10.53 is approved 81 with council person bajano voting no items 10.54 and 55 are approved unanimously 90 and items 10 59 and 60 are also approved unanimously 90 the last order of business is our claims and addendums number one and number two council person Ridley I council person priner Hi council person bajano Hi council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person thees council person Rivera voted I earlier and council president orderman I claims and addendums number one and number two are approved unanimously 90 may I have a motion to adjourn at 8:50 pm. motion second motion made by council person Cay seconded by council president wman to adjourn at 8:50 PM all council members present by acclamation please say I I we are out of here at 8:50 p.m. thank you so much everyone present and everyone watching at home and remember teamwork mates the dream work have a great rest of the night stay safe