##VIDEO ID:ccOWqz9nbyw## all right ladies and gentlemen we're about to start like I said please silence your cell phones please close the back door and any side doors that are open I greatly appreciate it if we're going to continue to talk if we can just bring that outside to the Lobby we would like to get started thank you very much good evening everyone we are on the record today is Wednesday the 25th day of September 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 6:03 p.m. may we have a roll call for the commencement of this meeting council person Ridley here council person priner yeah council person bajano here council person CLE council person Solomon here council person Gilmore council person Dees not here but she's in the building okay council person Rivera here and council president Waterman we have eight council members in attendance at 6:03 p.m. can we kindly rise for a moment of silence please i' like to dedicate this moment of silence to Lois chismar a family friend long-term Jersey City resident and Manuel C lto I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America the Republic for which it stands nation under God indivisible andice can someone please close the back door thank you very much on behalf of council president wman and the members of the Municipal Council in accordance with New Jersey public laws of 1975 chapter 231 the open public meetings act also known as the Sunshine Law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the posting on the bulletin board of the first floor the all which is the annual notice which is the scheduled of meetings and caucuses of the municipal Council for the calendar year 2024 and filed in the office of the city cler on Thursday November 30th 2023 in addition at its time of its preparation the agenda of this meeting was similarly disseminated on Friday September 20th 2024 at 12:03 p.m. to the mayor Municipal Council business administator Corporation Council on the local newspapers and post it on the city's website so I can certify as to our total compliance with the Sunshine Law and I will mock the record to reflect council person Dees present at 605 p.m. so we now have all nine council members present at 605 hey if you would allow me to read the first reading ordinance into the record time first first reading ordinance item 3.1 city ordinance 24-87 is an ordinance amending chapter 188 to establish a local preference for affordable housing units created by local regulations and requirement item 3.2 city ordinance 24- 088 is an ordinance amending chapter 321 of the municipal code of the city of Jersey City Council Members I'm going to be taking a vote for introduction on items 3.1 through 3.2 council person Ridley I for introduction council person priner I for introduction council person buano I for introduction council person SLE I for introduction council person Solomon I council person Gilmore we just need to make sure everybody's mic is on council person thees council person Rivera hi and council president wman items 3.1 through 3.2 are introduced unanimously 90 before we move on to our second reading ordinances I believe we have a special request if you can just bear with me one second so I believe we are going to defer to item 10.1 which is resolution 24708 is a resolution honoring Aaron Joan Williams and the rescue treats council person Solomon would you like to read the resolution into the record sure oh before we do that let me take the motion to defer I apologize motion motion was made by council person Solomon may I have a second second second by council person CLE on the motion to defer to item 10.1 resolution 24708 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano I council person SLE I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi and council president Waterman motion carries 90 to defer to item 10.1 councilman Solomon if you wouldn't mind reading into the record I greatly appreciate it sure and um Aaron if you want to come up to the the podium while we we read uh so this is a resolution honoring Aron Jones Williams and rescue treats whereas Aaron Jones Williams a local entrepreneur and former foster child who overcame significant personal challenges has demonstrated incredible compassion and Leadership by founding rescue treats company dedicated to supporting dog rescues through the sale of all natural dog treats with the Innovative model of allowing customers to select the local rescue to support with each purchase and whereas Aaron took the Bold step after a successful career as a risk analyst using his personal savings to launch rescue treats driven by a desire to give back to the rescue community and inspired by his own experiences as a foster child and whereas rescue treats a certified minority business Enterprise makes highquality allnatural dog treats free from junk fillers or preservative preservatives and donates its profits to dog rescue organizations helping to give countless dogs a second chance at a life In Loving homes and whereas Aaron continues to lead rescue treats with a deep commitment to philanthropy working tirelessly as both a CEO and consultant to ensure that all profits go towards supporting dogs causes and whereas rescue treats has become a vital partner to local dog rescues in the tri state area through its dedication to ethical practices transparency and Community Support it has earned a loyal following of customers and rescue Advocates who believe in its missions whereas Aaron Jones Williams life story and commitment to helping dogs find their forever homes serves as an inspiration to others demonstrating the power of pers perseverance compassion and the impact that one individual can have on the lives of both animals and people in their Community now therefore be it resolved that we the city council honor and recognize Aaron Jones Williams and rescue treats for their outstanding contributions to dog rescue organizations and their tireless efforts to improve the lives of animals in need and we extend our deepest gratitude for their continued dedication to make a positive difference in the world thank you before we ask you to speak we want to make sure the city council totally approves the resolution then we can clap again so on item 10.1 council person Ridley uh as a as a dog lover and um you know her baby mom I really appreciate uh what you're doing and your unique take on your business uh supporting animals and I think that your story your personal story is a great inspiration to people and business owners alike so thank you continue to keep up the good work and IO I you council person priner so as as an animal lover animal owner um Foster of animals um doing things like this to take care of the creatures that take care of us and love us unconditionally is so incredibly valuable and important thank you for all you do I vote I thank you council person bajano an animal level also I vote I you council person CLE thank you so much for all the work that you do within our community and helping man and woman's best friend um most people view dogs as members of their family and for you to help them find that forever home that is is uh not just good for the dog it's good for the humans as well so uh and thank you to councilman Solomon for highlighting individuals such as yourself that do all of this work in our community so that I vote I thank you council person Solomon I joked I don't have any dogs or pets at home because I'm busy keeping my children alive but one day that will change and um Aaron your your uh ability to combine entrepreneurship with with social vision and social commitment to a Community says so much and it's the exact model of what PE people we have have done in Jersey City and we want more of uh so welld deserved recognition and thank you so much for what you're doing I proudly vote I council person Gilmore um first and foremost I just want to commend you for overcoming as a recipient of foster homes it is extremely hard to get your life back together you've been holded in many directions from your family and friends whom you grew up with um so I want to commend you one on that and I also want to let you know that God gives his truest Warriors the hardest challenges you have a extremely bright future young man and as a dog owner in a former individual in forcer care I normally took to my dog as that companion and that comforted um comforting mechanism um so congratulations on all your endeavors I proudly vote I thank you council person proud rescue dog mom to many many rescue dogs thank you for what you're doing we're excited we'll try your treat soon and let you know I vote I person Rivera so um as the owner of probably the craziest French Bulldog east of the Mississippi um you know your products are great you know I proudly vote I and council president Waterman congratulations I I City resolution 24708 is approved unanimously 90 congratulations okay now is the time we're going to put you on the spot a little bit and if you don't mind bringing up the mic a little bit to you should all and the floor is yours so first off I want to thank everyone for your uh recognition um uh I just I'm here in a room surrounded by people who truly care for Jersey City and it shows and that's what we we have our Bakery here in Jersey City we we joke that our Bakery has been broken into three times by dog which we the security camera footage uh it's a it's a interesting problem um but you know we've we've gotten so much love from the community um c-spot rescued is the largest rescue here in Jersey City big supporters of us and we continue to con keep doing new and Innovative things um I would not be a successful CEO if I didn't pitch one thing we have a upcoming School fund rer program which is a double fundraiser and um you guys will see that hopefully soon um I we're just going to steer more money to rescues and that's it and that's what and that's just the goal we're different so appreciate you guys if you can just stay there a second they're gonna they're gonna take a couple of pitures with you e e okay on to our second reading ordinances and before I start with the first second reading ordinance I just have a just a couple of housekeeping notations so I'm sure there's a lot of speakers on specific spe ific ordinances one thing from the public we need you to stay on the subject of the ordinance you will be guided if you fall off the subject but if you fall off twice we will call the next speaker so you got to make sure that you stay on the subject of the ordinance and it's not a question and answer debate we don't want you guys to wasting any of your speaking time you get three minutes to speak so if you have any questions you can always get the council members um Aid or an email address to uh address those concerns that you may have as far as a question is concerned so I just wanted to go over that uh housekeeping rules as far as second readings go um and if you are speaking and you didn't sign up to speak when we get to specific ordinance we would just um like you to line up by the podium in orderly fashion and um just be patient and be courteous to your other speakers uh and hold the Applause until the speaker is done because it does interrupt uh the time uh that the speaker has okay with that being said I will go on to the first second reading ordinance which is item 4.1 city ordinance 24- 076 it's an ordinance establishing the Jersey City municipal construction board of appeals this ordinance was carried from the September 11th meeting this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public would wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record again I ask you to make sure that you stay on the subject of the ordinance if you do not you will be instructed to do so second time we will call the next speaker with that being said I see our first Speaker let me just get the M uh camera ready Philip Carrington I'm in favor of this membering this construction Board of appeal I've been before the construction Board of appeal a couple of times it has its use where construction is concerned but for everything you had to you do or you appeal you have to pay $50 and high attorneys to go before the construction Board of people let me say exactly what I mean I had to go I went before the construction Board of Appeal on the issue of Fire and Fire code violations I raised questions there and they didn't understand the real purpose for being there or understand the laws of the fire code what should have happened is that you should have been uh you should I should have been taken or go before the fire department up to the fire captain to ask a question on an appeal for fire as opposed to be in front of the construction Board of appeal spend hours days had to appeal it go through every court so the construction board appeal was not needed then and then I I had the appeal before the again the fire department now on it was an anate license and it was a simple question of the law that the fire department denied me and again I have to go I had to go again before the construction Board of appeal that law was a food cart needed a fire suppression system the law says if the uh car or truck was enclosed then you need a fire suppression system but if you have a free standing that was not needed and so I I question how you going to deny me when the law is clear to appeal that you had to go before the construction Board of appeal that was not needed and so I'm in agreement with removing dismembering the construction Board of appeal because it for the most part from my experience was not needed I'm agreement with that remove the construction Board of appeal and there's some other reason but those are the most glaring from my perspective I'm Phil Carrington that's my viewpoint good night thank you okay our next speaker if you can just spell your name for me um for the record I greatly appreciate it uh yes my name is Chris Capers CH r i s c a p e a r c a p p e RS e RS speak a little fast I'm sorry I got you you got it yes all right thank you sir all right so good evening city council uh like I said my name is Chris Capers I live in Ward F I'm a member of the labor Local 3 I'm here to speak about ordinance 24- 076 um so while I support the ordinance um voting yes does not help make sure workers are treated fairly in Jersey City I hope you agree with me when I say that every Jersey City construction worker deserves to go home healthy with enough money in their paycheck to provide for their families this isn't just about one bad contractor or one bad project these days development in Jersey City relies on worker exploitation so while serving as a chair of the construction board of appeals Sunny Kumar allowed workers to be underpaid overworked exposed to dangerous conditions on his job sites we at the labors union we are fighting back in the last 6 months we helped non-union construction workers in Jersey City recover nearly a half a million dollars in stolen wages and that's just from two job sites so can you imagine how much more money is owed to workers across dozens of projects we haven't even checked out or investigated uh construction workers put their bodies online every day but um developers line their pockets up to make profit over uh progress so while I supported I want to say that we do need to do more but thank you for uh passing this ordinance thank you thank you if you can do the same as the gentleman before you I'm try my best okay as far as just spelling your name for for instance first aliz first and last b e r n a r d Shivers s sh i v r s s h i b e r s e e RS v v v v b as in boy V V as in Victor thank you good evening everybody up there good I didn't see you guys in a long time uh you know I come for a reason always a reason why I come come I don't just come and speak out loud speak from the heart I speak the truth and I speak for the people the reason why we should get rid of the board is that the board decisions sometimes don't favor the right decision and it's unfair to people small like me and other contractors that get denied for something they shouldn't have been denied when you deny a small company you can corrupt and break that company so I say when you take food out of my kid's mouth and the workers that work for me kids mouth that's a problem that's a problem but the thing about fixing a problem solutionizing is y'all can make it right and I believe in every one of y'all and I know you're going to make the right decision so getting rid of the board and revitalizing it later on maybe a year and have rules and regulations and bylaws so that they can't do things that they want to do you have to go by bylaw by the law it's not structured right now it's a good thing but it's just not structured and the fair thing to me and to the people is to structure it and make it fair right now it's unfair some people that don't do construction would never feel that but I feel it other contractors feel it and it's not right and it's unfair thank you are you going to interpret yes I'm going to be so I just need his name how his first and last name if you could name is Elio benites can you spell that for me yeah e l i you gota go slow because it's hard to hear I'm getting an echo say it again e l i thank you I o a b s and boy e n i t e s thank you I live in the city of New York I work uh time ago I work for the company called ero concrete and I'm here for that is to let you all know why I went through with this company during the time working for this company I was discriminated R wrongfully paid uh not only myself and my uh co- workers once we start talking to the union representative and we're explaining our situation um immediately the company decide to let us go and and and that after that situation we start talking to our previous uh former workers about the options with the union and everything that we're going through the support of the Union is been very helpful to us to be able to continue not allowing this to happen and be able to bring our point to you guys we've been treated wrongfully um and finally we were able to bring to your attention all the wrongdoings under the company that we formerly work for aing because all this we appreciate your time and be able to say everything thank you so you want to just spell his name for me chrisan Gomez good afternoon my name is Christian Gomez c r i s t i a n Go g o m e z thank you so much I work a while ago for the company ero concrete because we were underpay and they never they never they never pay us rightfully what we deserve uh we work many hours and many cases we got into accidents and they never called the ambulance to give us the proper care for it have been threaten to my my personal ill and my family as well once they find out that we were talking to the union they didn't like that and that's where we got I got fir after that we've been talking to the union constantly and the previous members uh the previous workers um and since then we've been having the support from the union I I work in very dangerous situation and and with no security since they were not given us the proper tools or the items to work properly we have to buy them ourselves graas thank you thank you okay before before we I ask for the spelling of the next speaker I just want to remind the speakers you must stay on the topic of the ordinance again the topic of this ordinance is dis establishing the the municipal construction board of appeals understand your hardships and we care about them but you have to stay on the subject of the ordinance thank you you can bring the mic up could just spell spell his name first okay is Carlos randz my name is Carlos radic c a r l o s Hernandez h e r n a n d z thank you so much okay you go I work for AOC concrete again just got to make sure that he stays on the subject of the ordinance oh okay um this moment I feel okay my life have changed I live through uh um abuses uh at the workplace I had a good life besides what I went through with a contractor I'm I'm gonna pause your first second I'm going to pause your time I'm going to say it again he has to say on the subject of the ordinance I apologize I understand the hardships but you got to stay on the subject of the ordinance we got to be fair to every speaker okay um thank you council person Rivera we're here because we don't want to continue other people going through what we went through with the company we were before many changes like this one so that this doesn't happen again okay thank you and it's now you're up so I'm on point spell your name for me please my name is jual first name Juan j a n last name ital I Tu I Tu r r r r a l d e thank you sir first thank you for the opportunity um um I'm a immigrant for over 25 years here and I'm very happy to sit this old why I was the first in line at the job s sites with this company Euro concrete I I witnessed a lot of wrongdoings a lot of danger a lot of people getting hurt a lot of cutting Corners a lot of misusage of the workforce and I also was part of having somebody that represents the city or it was representing the city coming and telling me and you utilizing every POS possible um asset from the city towards myself for using my first amendment against what it was going out so I'm very happy to see that this ordinance is being taken in place to utilize every single vot of yours and do something about it because even though I tried for many months it was still going on and we still talking to workers and giving them a hand a channel to let us know what they were not being able to say inside behind those doors so I give to all of you a thankful from the bottom of my heart because those people they deserve to be treated better rightfully and be paid fairly to as well thank you for your time thank you read read the ordinance again so they know the topic read the uh ordinance again the topic please because they're not on it so again I'll read the ordinance into the record one more time and we got to make sure that we stay on topic of the ordinance this is an ordinance disestablishing the Jersey City municiple Construction board of appeals okay our next speaker good evening my name is osber oruna uh I am here to speak exactly on this ordinance uh I am in support of the The Establishment uh of this board uh I am the owner of Jersey City's only unionized cannabis dispensary uh de establishing the Jersey City municipal construction board of appeals is a step in the right direction but more needs to be done look around at the workers who have been speaking here tonight and who are here before you they've been exploited robbed taken advantage of because they don't speak English clearly or because they come from poor communities these workers here tonight are black and brown from the most vulnerable communities and predators that own companies that have benefited from Jersey City development dollars must be held accountable these companies and their owners should never hold another contract with Jersey City or have the opportunity to serve in any capacity not even a volunteer capacity on behalf of the city of Jersey City so I urge you to vote Yes to De establish the Jersey City municipal construction board of appeals this is what you can do as the city council to begin to make things things right but you should also go well beyond this measure to ensure that there is a future version of this uh board of appeals that has people on it who are responsible ethical and who respect workers rights and the workers that work in the construction industry thank you than you you if you can just spell your name for the record for me please Anita Davis c y n i t a d a v i s can you spell your first name I I missed that's okay c y n i t hey it's different Sita gotcha okay my name is Sita Davis of Jersey City residents I'm here for the same thing same reason um sunny boy he should never be on the board he should always be accountable for what he has done um I know we supposed to speak on the topic of the board and that's what I'm going to do Jersey City Board needs to be away going on a way figure out a better way and I'm glad that y'all made that decision cuz I used to be I am a construction union worker and we had plenty of jobs it used to be a career and we have to get it back to the way it used to be and I thank you guys for the decision you make I'm going keep it simple thank you thank you thank you this is still a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 076 okay can if you could spell your name for the record r i a z r i a z w a h d w h a h d w a a yeah thank you go ahead R good evening Council persons um yeah so we absolutely have no issue of you know you dissolving the board and it's something that you know like we can work with it that's not issue at all here there are many of us who are are you know like uh small and medium and large developers I hope in all interest is concerned here um this was supposed to be passed last week I me last board meeting and for some reason uh council person delayed it uh I really wanted to you to know what happened in that P time there was a coup and sunny was thrown out right and all this has to be discussed too why he was taken out I we as a community we really felt very bad for that when you going behind our back and doing things that and it is it could be done in the next meeting if you think that you know like the conern individual has violated any laws or anything you could refer him to ethics board we as a community also want to know I don't know why you know Mira got involved with this and you know she has to do this and I really I request you also again I'm saying on the topic when things like this come up you should do a proper audit and see who is on the board who is not on the board there are city employees sitting in that board did you do your backr right who called for this meeting how this was done this could be easily you know like a loss tomorrow morning for us and which tax payers will end up in paying because specifically it says that the law if you look at you know like the construction board appeals and statute it says that it there has to be a wice chair and etc etc the people exactly the point that I'm trying to make is someone like s who is part of us who grew up along with us and we are very happy to see him and he brought a lot of transparency to the board first time you know like there is a website and there everything is posted over there things were not like that but again we are happy that you're moving it I'm sure he's also very happy that you moving it over there but I really want you to look into this right the way it was done last week and why this was postponed and I I'm requesting the council president to come back and look at it who who can sponsor this kind of ordinances right when you Bo comes to it you had what B should have to look into what B issues there was you know like um in senior building was not operating at all for a long time where were you guys coming for rally and joining with us and fighting for us but rallying against you against yourself right this is not acceptable at all anyway we are happy that we deal with the county again talking about the union members here I sympathize with them but again these people this Union let people like you to vote in the ordinances where the union workers are not required to hire you voted for it okay thank you thank you thank you next speaker good evening everyone good evening I'm arania uh We Gather here today as a United Community representing diversity and standing as a minority we refuse to allow another expeditor to control the board are for non-minority individuals to regain dominance this is a battle we have fought for decades we urge the Council to send his board to the county it is imperative that we advocate for what is right and not allow non-minorities to suppress our voices once again the council should try trust the county both to represent jerse City residents effectively should the council choose they can always reinstate the board in the future but it must come with the new rules and regulations to ensure diversity is of H and non- diverse control is not allowed again we believe minorities will receive a fair chance at the county level unlike the current board which risk being controlled by non- minorities and the administration of their own benefit I urge all council members to vote in favor of transitioning to the County Board additionally I call for the appointment of two minority board members at the county level I support in the mo in dissolving this board thank you thank you okay good evening good evening if you could just spell your name for the record yes Kip s Kumar KU lde P Sun s n n y last name k u m a r don't don't boo okay go ahead um when the administration wanted to dissolve the board last time I was in support of that and today I'm in support of that as well so I'm requesting the council to dissolve the board and send it to the county thank you thank you you this is still a public hearing if you can just spell your name for the record for me hi my name is Nicole veon n i o l e just slow down n i c o l e d as inv victor e c c h i o n e i after the CC I didn't get it h i o n e e e is an elephant right because if you're not in the mic I can't here that's my issue is that good that's much better okay sorry about that go ahead so my name is Nicole veon I work with the labors international Union of North America we represent 45,000 workers in New York City New Jersey and Delaware including the members of the Jersey City brigade local three Eladio Christian and Carlos all who spoke to you tonight about their experiences working on Sunny Kumar's projects I understand that the subject is the construction board of appeals and I thank you all for taking the leadership to figure out a way to address this issue Sunny Kumar and Euro concrete are only part of the problem they should never have been empowered to be on a board and also allowed to exploit workers his position is connected to the exploitation that the workers that were here tonight and spoke to UND experienced so I thank you for taking the initiative but development in Jersey City has a lot of problems and I'm excited to see you all taking initiative and taking on this step and I look forward to seeing other ways that you're able to use your position to to to counteract the exploitations that that workers who should be unionized are experiencing I'm surprised to hear Sunny supports the dissolution of this board but excited because he should have never been on it I thank you I hope that you continue to use your platform to speak truth to power of other officials in government like Sunny Kumar is right now and thank you so much and thank you specifically to the hardworking workers who put their lives on the risk then put their livelihood on the risk so that we could be here tonight to address this problem he is not the only contractor performing poorly in Jersey City last year we were here talking about concrete Rising oh thank you oh sure thank you you're welcome stay on topic you got to stay on topic oh the topic is contractors should not be in a position to oversee work when they're exploiting workers and I hope that you remember that as you appoint new people to new positions and consider new projects that come before you so thank you I hope you vote yes thank you this is still a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 076 any other member of the public still wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion second I am going to give that motion to council person Riva and I'm going to give the second to council president Waterman to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 076 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person Bano council person SLE I council person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 90 to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24076 for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 076 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person Cay I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person Riv hi and council president wman Hi city ordinance 24- 076 is adopted unanimously 90 our next second reading ordinance item 4.2 city ordinance 24- 077 is an ordinance to amend the scattered site Redevelopment plan study area number five 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 as we're as we're as we're exiting if we can exit quietly I greatly appreciate it because we still got to conduct the rest of the business of on the agenda I have a motion to close the public hearing motion motion made by council person Cay may I have a second second by council president wman on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 077 council person Ridley hi council person Prince AR hi council person bajano council person CLE I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 90 the close of public hearing on city ordinance 24- 077 for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24077 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person Bano council person Cay I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dej I council person reera I and council president wman Hi city ordinance 24- 077 is adopted unanimously 90 hey council members it is my understanding that we are going to carry ordinance 24- 078 to the October 17th Municipal council meeting Sean i' I'd like to table that ordinance well I'd like to make a motion to table oh okay okay all right so we'll carry got a minut yeah so let do his job need a motion to carry city ordinance 24078 the October 2024 Municipal council meeting motion was made by council person Riva seconded by council president Waterman on the motion to carry city ordinance 24- 078 to the October 17th 2024 Municipal council meeting council person Ridley hi council person priner Hi Council Bano council person SLE I just want to make sure the planning component is that the separate ordinance that we have to untable or is that um but I know this one has to deal with the Caps so I just want to make sure that since we're since we're carrying this ordinance there's no need to untable item 11.6 because they're companion ordinances so we'll have to deal with the tabled ordinance um 11.62 3- 078 at the October 17th meeting correct okay I just want to make sure yep I thank you hope you didn't mind me answering uh Corporation Council council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person Dees hi council person Rivera but we we need to make sure that we sit down with this because there's multiple changes that have to be made here and amended I vote I and council president wman Hi motion to carry city ordinance 24- 078 to the October 17 2024 Municipal council meeting is approved unanimously 90 on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.4 city ordinance 24- 079 is an ordinance amending chapter 287 Solid Waste Article 1 storage collection and Disposal and article three p private collectors 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 second motion to close the public hearing was made by council person council president wman seconded by um council person SLE sorry I'm I'm trying to read to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 079 council person Ley I council person Prince I council person bajano council person SLE I council person Solomon stepped away sorry council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera I and council president wman motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24079 is approved 80 with Council person Solomon abson for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24079 council person Ridley hi council person Prince Ary just briefly I want to thank um sanitation and Code Compliance for working with me on this hoping that the changes specifically as it relates to trash collection and the colored bags for trash pickup for businesses will help with some of the issues we're having specifically in our commercial corridors there is a little bit more work to do with regard to some of the building sites but that'll be coming forward in future amendments I vote I council person bajano council person SLE I council person Solomon is out of the room council person Gilmore um I vote I I also look forward to getting rid of the garbage Collective for Jersey City they they do a horrible job um so i v um v i council person Dees I council person River I and council president wman city ordinance 24079 is approved 80 would council person Solomon absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.5 city ordinance 24- 081 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article 9 parking for the disabled of the Jersey city code designated Reserve parking space at various locations throughout the city this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion than you motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24081 was made by council person Cay seconded by council president Waterman on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 081 council person Ridley council person priner Hi council person bajano CC person SLE I council person Solomon is absent council person Gilmore I council person thees council person Rivera hi and council president wman motion carries 80er to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 081 with council person Solomon abson for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 081 council person redlake I council person priner I council person bajano council person s hi council person Solomon is still absent council person Gilmore hi council person Dees hi council person Reber hi and council president wman city ordinance 24- 081 is adopted 80 with council person Solomon absent on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.6 city ordinance 24- 082 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic Article 2 traffic regulations amending section 332-94 082 was made by council person CLE may I have a second second by council person Prince Ary on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24082 council person Ridley I council person Prince I council person buano council person CLE I council person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Riva I and council president wman motion carries unanimously 90 to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 082 for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 082 council person Ridley I council person priner council person bajano council person sle uh just want to say good work to the traffic engineering and also councilwoman miror preri for this uh I council person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera I and council president wman city ordinance 24- 082 is adopted unanimously 9 Z before I move on to the other second reading ordinances I just want to give council person Solomon an opportunity to vote on the ordinances that he missed so we're going to go for ordinance 24- 079 hi your vote is in the affirmative that changes the vote on ordinance 24- 079 to a unanimous vote 90 approved unanimously 90 next ordinance 24- 081 all right the vote is in the affirmative that will change the vote to unanimous 90 24- 081 is adopted unanimously 90 you we are all caught up thank you council person Solomon our next second reading ordinance item 4.7 city ordinance 24- 083 an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic Article 2 traffic regulations amending section motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24083 was made by council person SLE seconded by council president Waterman on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24083 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person Cay I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera I and council president wman motion carries 90 to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 083 for final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24083 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person SLE I want to thank traffic and engineering and also councilman Solomon's office for this critical piece of legislation because uh we lost a precious life on this uh at this intersection um last year so um I vote I thank you council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person rera Hi and council president wman city ordinance 24 D 083 is adopted unanimously 90 on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.8 city ordinance 24- 084 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 3 32 vehicles and traffic article 3 parking standing stopping amending section 332-2491 16 96 Sussex Street and at danith Avenue Early Childhood Center 160 danith Avenue this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion to close the public hearing on I'm in I'm in a motion but after we close web here I'm just going to motion a table to put it on the table agenda oh okay so let's do the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 084 was made by council president wman and seconded by council person Solomon yes okay just want to make sure had it right on the motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 084 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person SLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Riva I and council president Waterman motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 084 is approved 90 I can motion to table second give me one second apologize so we have a motion to table city ordinance 24- 084 after the close of the public hearing yep that was made by council person Solomon and seconded by council person SLE sir on the motion to table city ordinance 24- 084 after the close of the public hearing council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person Cay I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person Rivera I council president wman city ordinance 24- 084 is tabled after the close of the public hearing motion is approved unanimously 90 on to our next second reading ordinance item 4.9 city ordinance 24085 is an ordinance supplementing chapter 332 vehicles and traffic article three parking standing and stopping amending section 332 d27 angle parking on Second Street between provos Street and Warren Street this is a public hearing on this ordinance any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion MO to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24085 was made by council person C seconded by council president wman on a motion to close a public hearing on ordinance 24- 085 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person buano council person SLE hi council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore hi council person de hi council person Rivera I and council president wman motion carries 90 the close of public hearing on city ordinance 24085 final consideration and Adoption of city ordinance 24- 085 council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano I council person CLE I council person Solomon I council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera I and council president wman city ordinance 24- 085 is adopted unanimous L 90 and on to our last second reading ordinance joh I I'd like to let me let me read it into the record got read it all right read it rich so as we're lining up to speak I want you guys to be comfortable and I want anybody hovering over anybody just so you can line up and you can make the line go either left or right if it gets long please don't open the back door so it's an ordinance item 4.10 city ordinance 24- 086 is an ordinance approving a 30-year tax exemption for a mixed use residential project with cultural educational and art spaces and authorizing Financial agreements with 808 Pavonia Pavonia owner urban renewal LLC and 808 Pavonia 2 urb owner urban renewal LLC pursuant to the long-term tax exemption law njsa 40a col 20-1 exact before council person bajano reads his statement into the record before I call up the speakers I just want to remind everyone again please make sure you stay on the subject of the ordinance please don't ask any questions if you have questions please see one of the council AIDS you can get their email addresses and your questions can be addressed that way cuz you're only going to take up your 3 minutes again everybody has 3 minutes be courteous and kind to your fellow speakers and leave the Applause for the end of the comments council person bajano yeah I just want to read something when the mayor and the administration first had the idea of the pomad do they brought it to the council which required our vote on purchasing the properties of 70 Sip Avenue and 168 Sip Avenue during that time the mayor publicly stated the reason for purchasing the properties was that and I quote thought the residents should control the destiny of Journal Square after the meeting I witnessed this weekend along with how Rush this new plan is being conducted nothing is further from the truth if he actually believed in those words this would not be rushed through with a vote but it would have been a question proposed to a vote for the whole city or at minimum there would have been many many many more public hearings on the issue instead we are left with the last Stitch effort and in the form of a rush plan that is going to cost the taxpayers $4 to5 million a year and just operating expenses not to mention God knows how much it will cost to actually build the hole inside of it which I've heard some estimates to be anywhere from 80 to 90 million and I have to believe that because we still haven't gotten any concrete numbers on the cost of the buildout or how we are going to pay for it I in justifying this new tax abatement and agreement for 808 ponia we are now told that even if the deal doesn't go through with the Pompa do the city will now own 100,000 square fet in Journal Square that we couldn't otherwise purchase well we already own thousands of square feet in Journal Square we own 70 Sip Avenue 168 Sip Avenue the lowy theater and up until recently 701 NK Avenue why do we need more land if we already have and had these properties and why did we even spend taxpayers dollars on some of these in the first place simply put the people of Jersey City are tired of the taxes they are tired of the tax increases we just had to raise taxes two years in a row and now we are asking the people of Jersey City to pay more in pet projects this is unsustainable and the people are tired of being told that this is all for their own good I know the focus of this Mee is about the abatement of the 808 Pabon Avenue however the destiny of joural square is tied to more than just one building so before I close out my speaking time I want to propose these questions to the administration and my colleagues what is the plan for 70 Sip Avenue and 168 Sip Avenue we spent over $16 million on those properties just a few years ago number two how is the city going to continue to shoulder their financial burden going forward when the payments come due number three when we voted on acquiring these two properties the council included language to ensure if they were ever developed that they would include affordable housing the mayor even touted that he wanted affordable senior housing at 168 Sip Avenue what happened to that if these properties are sold how are we going to ensure that we fulfill that original promise we made to the residents when we voted to purchase them lastly how can we justify the taxpayers of Jersey City all these tax increases when we spend money on properties like these two which have set idle for two years and no definite plan going forward how can we justify these tax increases when when with even more spending on this new deal which would include $4 to5 million a year on operating expenses and up to 80 million in unbudgeted construction expenses just how consider these questions and think how we really can give control of Journal Square's Destiny back to the residents of Jersey City and as a resident of Journal Square all the people in Ward SE they're a little bit annoyed with all the construction and they're tired of what's going on traffic road construction streets ripped up should let I respect you we should let the people speak and hear them let the let the that great statement though okay but let's I I want to keep them waiting they're all standing okay with that being said this is a public hearing on city ordinance 24086 and our first speaker is R thank you so I agree with the councilman that you know it's being rushed out number one number two is that um uh you know this is in watch C and very important piece of property over here and I I hear what the artists are standing here for and we definitely need to improve the artist Community but there are other properties are available for that and here another problem that I have is the finance part which nobody knows Till There Was Eda yesterday made a statement that they're not going to be part of it they may or may not be part of it it's a big you know like a opening for us at this point of time very confusing for this so um and we talking about millions of dollars here I don't know whether you noticed few months back there was a homeless person who brought a toilet seat and sat in the middle of joural square right you can't even find a toilet for a homeless person in Journal Square today and you are talking here for millions of dollars to fund artist and K right let's what about the abatement you made a statement some time back there's no more new abatements coming etc etc here 30 years of abatement number one the second thing you look into the ordinance that you put in pompo is nowhere mentioned nowhere mentioned pompo why if you if you are all batting for pompo why is their name not in the ordinance right the third thing is I hope the union brothers are still here who are fighting for the Fair Labor what about Union contract is it mentioned anywhere the word union labor in the ordinance no no right what about that so this is all you know like listen if you are going to get elected next time this is going to be your problem so face it and if you want to have this problem for the next session next year go for it okay thank you very much thank you okay our next speaker if you can just spell your name for the record and just speak into the mic so I can hear you g a g e last name w r i g h t thank you so much uh I will begin with a desperate plea that we not make this decision today I recently renovated a house and applied for a certificate of occupancy it took months of calling every Department in this city and begging to make it happen but here we are ramming through this through at lightening speed for the cushioners I believe we need to start start with the numbers there's been a lot of discussion about what the cost of this actually is to the taxpayers and there's been a lot of trying to hide the facts according to the actual numbers released for the operating expenses the cost of the taxpayers is $165 million over the 10 years outlined there seems to be crazy efforts to hide this by splitting the amounts into multiple buckets and passing money through the library but let's be clear this is $165 million of taxpayer money 92 million of that is directly from the taxpayers of Jersey City with another 67.5 million from the state however njdea the agenc who's allocating those funds has said that they are not approved or guaranteed the application for that money has not even opened what is the plan if the $675 million from the state does not materialize are the taxpayers of Jersey City on the hook for that as well our mayor keep saying how small this expense really is I'll say again we're talking about 92 to $165 million of taxpayer money let's talk margin according to the released budget the operating margin here is 2.6% that is insanely small that means if it rains one extra weekend this whole business case is done after bending every fact and straining the bounds of logic we make this work by less than an inch and the projected attendance numbers are insane if you assume they charge $15 for admission with discounts for children seniors Etc we would need every man woman and child in this city to visit the museum every year that would have us doubling the performance of The Met most of their numbers are tourists not residents this is insane and unachievable mayor FIP has said this is more of a cultural institution than a museum So the plan is to have a quarter million visitors per year attracting tourists to pay to something that is not a museum I want to highlight that the published numbers have the taxpayers of Jersey City giving $42 million directly to the taxpayers of Paris you could literally fly every adult in the city roundtrip to Paris for a vacation for less money this is a hefty amount to pay for validation that no one outside of this room will ever care about if we want a museum let's have a museum of our own we do not need to pay $42 million to rent a name from Paris I will close by saying this 10-year budget document is titled possible pomp to 5-year budget this was such a slap Dash effort they literally got the title wrong I do business CA I build business cases in the regular course of my job if I had produced this document there were only two possible things that would have happened either they would have laughed at me and then fired me fired me then laughed at me thank you thank you thank you before you go Mike I I just want to remind the public speakers again we have a lot of public speak speaking on this ordinance please be pay attention to the 3 minutes and if you continue to speak after the 3 minutes I'm just going to mute the mic Michael Armon I think you know how to spell my name I do um I'm gonna speak from the other direction and I need to say these are my own views not any organization I belong to and also to say because I am going to praise the pompy doo that the only pompy do employees I've ever met in my life were the ticket takers at the center in Malaga so this is these are my own views there are a lot of issues here complex Financial issues but what I think it's important is not to have misinformation around to complicate what is a very complicated issue the pumpy do is a reliable partner in this Venture if the city decides to go forward it has successfully operated two major satellites one in France and SP and one in Spain for over 10 years and it's has just signed a lease with one of them that goes Way Beyond the well-known renovation period in in Paris number two the pompy do is a worldclass institution that puts on worldclass uh exhibitions not just in Paris but also in its satellites and I've watched that I've visited Malaga for the last 10 years and I've seen that that satellite put on wonderful exhibits have very good attendance both locally and from the outside there's also been discussion about as the last speaker talked about having everyone in Jersey City having to come to the museum to uh make it work there's a skepticism that a museum stuck here in Jersey City no matter what its name is we'll get attendance from outside the city we have an example in New York of a satellite that's worked PS1 of Moma in Queens gets a great deal of attendance even though it's only 30 miles away from from its uh mother ship in Manhattan satellites do work there's been a lot of discussion by uh cultural Facility Owners about the worry that if you bring the pompy in it is going to end up re wrecking their business there are a number of institutions in Malaga who existed before the pompy do and three other worldclass institutions and exists today finally the pompy do is being discussed as subtractive it takes away from resources that are to be spent elsewhere what everyone is forgetting is that if it it that if it works and I fully believe it would work it would result in at a whole regeneration process we talk about needing more money for schools too high taxes where are we going to build the base there are many ways to build economic bases I believe that the pompo is a very significant opportunity to spin off retail ex extra benefits I've been an appraiser that results in higher assessment thank you Michael thank you Michael our next speaker if you can just spell your name for the record my name is Carol Lester l s r l t okay thank you Carol hi everybody I know most of you if my husband were still with me we would have been talking for months about lost opportunity cost Break Even points quid proquo pilot in lie of payment in Li of taxes and tax exemptions and all the different things all I could do is for $1,700 1,700 apartments at $3,000 a month the cushioners would be making $51 million a year over 30 years that's $1.5 trillion let's say that it takes them five years to get to the point where they can rent out the apartments I would understand an abatement a tax abat for those 5 years because they are not able to rent out anything with which to you know pay off something and then we look at the taxes 1,700 Apartments let's equivalized those to 1,700 condos I don't know a lot of condos that are paying less than 10,000 that's what I pay for 800 square fet I'm sure these are going to be larger than 800 square fet that's $17 million a year in loss taxes in 30 years I think it's $510 million is that $5.1 billion yeah so what we're talking about here is lost opportunity costs and putting the burden on the taxpayers we already doubled taxes for most of the downtown owners many of whom I know are forced to move others whom I know are breaking through their ceilings and basements to build other units that they can't rent for affordable rents anymore because they have to pay these taxes and that's going to move up into the Heights and all over Jersey City for the next reval so we are going to be paying for one of the richest groups of people in the world The cushioners Who who also happen to be staunch supporters of he who will not be named but we're paying for them to take money away from us I do understand the dream and the necessity for having Journal Square be a beautiful place when we walk into Jersey City or arrive in Jersey City through the PATH train it should be beautiful and I like that and I think they deserve a 5-year abatement for that and that's about it and what is the difference between a tax exemption versus a payment in Li of taxes are we not even getting thank you Carol okay thank you please vote no our next speaker hi can you hear me yes Mary moraglia m i r a g l i a thank you I live at 50 Day Street in Jersey City which is Mary make sure that Mike is with you make sure it's yep right there um 50-day Street which is in the immediate neighborhood of where the pomd is scheduled to be now I want to say first of all it's a horrible location because you can only get to it from tennley Avenue and little tiny feeder streets and tunley Avenue is already the most congested Street in the entire city and there's has been absolutely nothing to improve conditions on that in the entire time I have lived there which is about 12 years okay next I really feel like Journal Square is a black hole of Jersey City there's so many things that we need and so many things that should be priorities and why is this a priority now councilman Solomon has been down to see us councilman Gilmore has miror Prince Ary Rich of course works countless hours every day on all of our problems what about you at large people I've never seen any of you there can Kennedy Boulevard fell into a hole for a year and a half and there was never any concern expressed whatsoever all right Journal Square is a food desert we don't have food stores we don't have delies produce rest markets restaurants we don't have a decent Pizzeria we don't have a sit down restaurant we have no neighborhood bars the building with the liquor license which was a neighborhood bar the mayor's knocking that down so that's the end of that um we don't have a grocery store the mayor promised me in 2013 that it was coming that's the same thing he said on Saturday that's 11 years ago be patient he said well I'm out of patience and the grocery store we had that was reasonably decent we can't get there anymore because all the streets are one way going away from it so nothing west of Kennedy Boulevard can actually get there we need parking we need our streets fixed um we don't have enough inspectors enough DPW again why is this a priority we need money the library won't let us meet in their meeting rooms because they can't afford the staff but we can build this Museum it's ridiculous I'm totally against it it's a terrible idea it's a terrible location I don't want to pay the taxes why can't we have some of the things we need first before we have this fantastic edifus that's all I have to say thank you thank you some people I actually know that's Gina Davidson Gina Davidson g i n a d a v i s o a thank you thank you Sean uh first I want to thank councilman boano for your comments on this matter um and Echo what everyone else is is saying I have serious concerns about ordinance 24- 086 um economic impact studies are ultimately based in speculation and trying to predict the future there's no promise that an abatement will pay off over time and the math doesn't seem to make sense even when yall have been asking questions of the mayor and his team you you got obusca answers you got they were dodging the questions they were not giving you all projections that were grounded in reality at all he was frankly our mayor was patronizing when he was challenged on this issue he was acting like we all just don't know what's good for us but we do and we don't need more Construction in Journal Square and we don't need worldclass artists we already have worldclass artists right here in Jersey City mayor flop flop kept referencing Paris and Budapest saying that we could be like these cities someday well we're not those cities we are Jersey City and our population is 1/8 of what those cities have as their populations we cannot support this kind of a museum here in Jersey City again nor do we want it I want to take a minute to remind you all up here on the deis of a couple of months ago we had a bunch of kids here talking about one of the local parks they were asking for trees the children were here asking for trees so they could have shade in the summertime and you all took pictures with them and you congratulated them for their civic engagement give us trees give us housing give us all the things we've been asking for SA safety we don't want the pompo here please vote no on this ordinance thank you you and it's Edward Perkins correct yes yes Gina thank you so much I'm echoing everything you said and uh Council we urge you to vote no on this ordinance and vote no on the tax abatement the project does not adequately address the need for affordable housing and our community which is more than just a pressing issue for many residents so no affordable housing equals no tax abatement it's that simple there has been insufficient public consultation regarding this project re residents deserve a say and developments that will impact their lives and neighborhoods existing art institutions we already have strong local art institutions that serve our community well it's important to support and strengthen these existing organizations instead of prioritizing a new one that may not meet all of our needs questionable Community benefits there is skepticism about whether this Center will truly bring significant benefits to the local community especially compared to the potential downsides of the project why can't we spend this money on a real homeless shelter another school better infrastructure for our streets more housing for our city more health care for our people it's indicative right of how this Administration has turned its back on us and failed this city we urge you to vote no we urge you to vote no we urge you to vote no our next speaker if you can just spell your name for the record I greatly appreciate it Danielle d n i e l l e DMO D is and David Apostrophe a d a m o thank you members of the council fellow residents I also Echo and also stand before you today to voice my strong opposition to ordinance 24086 to Center Padu project in Journal Square while the idea of bringing an internationally renowned Art institution to Jersey City might seem appealing on the surface this project does not serve the best interests of our community especially at a time when we are grappling with more urgent issues first let me remind you that Jersey City already boasts a thriving Arts Community from the local Galleries and street art to the Homegrown artists who live and work here the creative Spirit of Jersey City does not need validation from a paris-based museum what we need is support for the artists and institutions that have made our city a cultural destination in its own rights the resources directed toward this project would be better spent enhancing our existing Arts infrastructure and supporting local talent rather than importing an expensive cultural attraction that feels out of touch with our community's needs in addition I have yet to hear any mention of how this project will operate in a sustainable and environmental conscious manner as we Face the ongoing climate crisis it is unacceptable that a project of this scale fails to prioritize sustainability what plans are in place to ensure that this development is eco-friendly and consider it of its environmental impact Jersey city deserves Forward Thinking projects that not only meet our artistic and cultural needs but also address the pressing issue of environmental responsibility this project does not meet the needs nor the desires of their General Square Community what we do need is affordable housing improved public services and attention to the basic infrastructure that makes this city livable the center Padu may bring tourists but it won't solve the everyday problems we faced in Journal Square I urge you to listen to the voices of the community Jersey City residences are speak residents are speaking up and we are seeing clearly this project is not what we want nor what we need please vote no on ordinance 24086 let's focus on solutions that truly benefit the people of Journal Square not on a project that benefits the select few at the expense of the many thank you thank you hey I know Tina hey hey guys how y'all feeling so I'm just going to say it like this y'all said the mayor came with we already know cuz the mayor said Drew was suggested of what happened we should never ever believe what the mayor say the mayor is not even in our community to tell us what we need to be built and what we don't need to be built because if that's the case I wouldn't be still doing my clothes out my house and my car for 28 years for free for the community I wouldn't be running up into the hospital of doing that so we're going to say that the don't know what we need in our community he should come to us and find out what we need in our community we all know we don't need no art project we already got people that's in our own Community that's doing that we need housings we need jobs we need lab we need stuff to go in our community that benefit us that live here in Jersey City so I'm just going to ask y'all and y'all should know too y'all should know to say no I know some of y'all is with the mayor I definitely understand that that's why elections are next year but y got to get yourself together and y'all got to let the mayor go because the mayor ain't doing nothing for us the mayor is doing stuff for himself and that's it we got to come together as a community and build our community for Jersey City the right way so let the mayor go let me start clipping them scripts for y'all let me clip clip clip clip clip now you ain't got the Mayon no more yall got us Community bye all right next speaker if you can just spell your name for the record um Linda vest l i n d a I'm sorry Linda I got interrupted say it again l i n d a yep V as in Victor e l w EST West yes thank you I wanted to come here tonight to urge you all to vote no on this tax abatement um along with everybody else um I've been reading about the pomad do and this tax abatement and I have enough time I haven't had enough time to go over everything all the different numbers all the different articles about it it's come up so suddenly um with this pressure to push it through so quickly um and whenever somebody tries to make me spend my money so quick I think that they're trying to get me to spend money on something that's not really worth it um what we need to do is improve Jersey City if we have all this money to spend let's get infrastructure let's feed people let's get health care let's support the artists that are here let's double down on what we are not try to pretend to be a global City but be Jersey City um Jersey City against everybody we're Scrappy we are genuine we're real and let's be like that instead of getting all these fancy things um that don't really help us that just make us look pretty with all these other problems um back to being rushed uh there was a a motion or a resolution before about cannabis and alcohol and people tabled it because they wanted more time to think about it if I understand what happened um so I think we should table this and get more information about it or just straight out vote no and work on other things that are more important to Jersey City um that's basically it thank you thank you as a president yeah thank you uh please turn the page you see I Circle what I I give you there for and that's part of a legal document that I add to my case and it has ordinance uh this ordinance 24-85 and so I'm asking saying on the subject this or subject 24-8 six okay plain and simple are you with me my question is i' I've include that legally into my into my case and I'm asking that you table this matter until you give a hearing why because this is rather insulting this is uh we are having an issue on or we having a hearing on a cultural uh business for a French company for months and for two years I've asked you to give me one hearing on a question on the cultural business for me as a black person so this is a discrimination in front of your face it's a difference and treatment given to them as compared to me so you might need to you I think not you need to ask the law Division if I'm if I report that or have that in my as a legal document if you can still vote on that tonight you might have to table it I'm not sure but you should but if you don't then I'm just going to file a new complaint so that this this case cannot go forward it as simple as that and you can see of course the community is not well informed of this and this is really a scam this is really political scull dugery what am I what am I basically saying I'm saying that if you're going to buy a car for $100,000 and then you going to tell the man just give you the car but your salary is only $40,000 you really can't pay for it but you can find some other ways to pay for it unless of course you were you are getting some kind of money laundering so that's the same thing with this you asking us to let you uh get 100,000 square fet of space and you give us some funny numbers not telling us exactly how you're going to pay for it and of course 30 years down the road the taxpayers is going to have to pay for it why because all museums lose money this the foundations that help them pay for it the F the museums don't make money of course I've been to the mayor Kimi uh meeting last Saturday at the Hudson County Community College I I have not seen or heard anything in that statement or that meeting that benefits black people the only black people that benefit from that is uh pull the name off but anyway black people who who profit from that this number is a joke so you need to vote against that but if you don't vote against it and you made it make it a law I'm just going to make uh challenge it in court if that is not pliable if that uh document that I give you is not included is not allowed then I just going to challenge I have 20 days if you pass this the law go carington I shall return if you could just spell your name for the record for me please Cynthia Matthews c y n t h i a m a t t h e WS thank you the Poma do is to be placed right next to the joural square PATH station is the purpose of this to make Jour Square the new Arts District conveniently accessible to the PATH trains why did the French want to bring their Museum to Jersey City is it because of free space and funding and why do we need a French Arts Museum the state of New Jersey has already withdrawn Financial Funding support from this project but mayor Phillip still wants to March down this road the residents of this city need you the council to wake up if this project goes through I believe we will be saddled with this debt for the next 5 years if not longer the mayor's plan was to get get contributions from some developers while people in Jersey City are homeless jobless and penniless and he wants to spend millions and millions of dollars on an art museum and put the repayment cost on the backs of those already struggling some have said that the museum would be great for the city the question is great for who where is all the money coming from will we allow the city to continue robbing Peter to pay Paul the property taxes are through the roof the school system is still in disarray yet we gave the superintendent a 70,000 raise even though our children are not learning even with a billion doll budget High School seniors are not able to pass a reading and math test to fulfill the requirements to graduate the mayor reached out to some of his artist friends to get advice as to how he could or should move in the Arts world of politics this is not about politics it's about our livelihood the houses the museums 120,000 piece of artwork the city has agreed to bear the cost of renovating the building which Mak seed 40 million plus we might also be on the hook for a 16 million annual cost for 5 years according to a negotiation contract plus the mayor was also floating the idea of purchasing another building which could double the size of the museum it would just like to ask the council from where are we getting all this money for the building and the upkeep of this Museum the city May soon be on the hook for $100 a day fine for not reinstating two police officers for fines that could reach $220,000 all I'm asking is that you think of all the people in this city that are less fortunate than you are why do the developers get to avoid paying increased taxes year while a year while we as taxpayers get hit time and time again the tax abatement could cost the city 150 million in Lost taxes again how many apartments will be set aside as affordable and the buildings being built in the square is there a difference between thank you your time is up thank you I ask the council to to vote no thank you if you can just spell your name for the record for me please phis Gordon last name gor e thank you I was here at the last uh meeting and My slogan is no means no the governor said no the taxpayers are saying no no is no tax exemption for who it should be for the homeowners put it on the ballot let us vote on it why should the taxpayers be burdened down with the expense of a museum excuse me correction Cultural Arts institution call it what you want it's the same thing one and the same what about the original Jersey City Museum we couldn't afford it we couldn't afford to keep it open now we want a french Museum correction pomidor Cultural Arts Center Institute if France wants us to have this Museum gifted to us they gave us the Statute of Liberty gift it to us we'll accept it let's keep it real people can't afford to buy food pay monthly bills and these high tax increases living in Jersey City New Jersey Council do not feel obligated to push this one man's Vision upon the taxpayers we are the true Jersey City residents you shouldn't push the mayor's agenda because the mayor will be long gone his aspirations to get to the State House his aspiration is to get to Triton so while he's in Triton we're here struggling to pay for a museum let's gather enough signatures and vote on this very issue let's see what the taxpayers have to say remember the Mir owns other properties outside of Jersey City outside of New Jersey so he has the option of leaving at his own will but do we we are here Journal Square looks second a circus you need a road map to get about in general square or you'll get lost vote no do the right thing do not allow this one man's Vision do not impose his vision upon us God bless you all thank you I know Tom good evening Sean counc members Tom zupa zupa uh as president of the Journal Square Community Association I hosted uh and moderated that the community meeting on Saturday and what was made clear to us was that plan a for this 100 square feet in Journal Square is the pompo museum so uh if I'm anticipating some of the remarks by the council people correctly tonight where you're trying to separate pompo from a later conversation with the discussion of the getting the 100 square th000 square F feet you can't because the mayor made clear that plan a is is the Pompa do so with that in mind we need the the details of what that will look like for the museum going forward and now I and we can can count I I anticipate that at least five votes will vote in favor tonight so let's talk about you know the details of what the the museum looks like and one answer we couldn't get on Saturday was how much is the papao going to charge the city itself and the taxpayers to come here and in all the contracts I negotiate as a lawyer not once do I put pen to paper without knowing the numbers so let me give you some numbers to be concerned about we pulled our membership of the JS qca 70% thought their opinion does not matter and that the council would vote regardless of what the public says and I imagine that uh the council's not going to defer to their Ward SE colleague today even though this is a warty project like you did on our affordable housing Amendment 75% of the membership thought the city was not being transparent enough these are concerning numbers uh and they should concern you the way they concern us so after our Saturday Marathon meeting some questions remain again what's the cost and what subsidies are available outside of Jersey City uh to pay for the Museum's operations the njeda pretty clearly contradicted the information you were given Monday at the caucus uh about what grants are available a you know these are all questions that we need answers to and you should want to have the answers to before voting now I I want to love this project look Journal Square being the focus of the city this is fantastic it hasn't been like that for at least a decade uh but there's a responsibility that you have not to do so blindly and to do the Dual do the due diligence excuse me so set aside for a second our astonishing lack of affordable housing our long police response times the garbage in the streets the the mere fact that people can't cross the street safely that that the city can't figure out how to get a traffic someone directing traffic in the morning or in the afternoon commutes you owe us that due diligence to get the questions before voting and maybe it is the right project for the city but you can't possibly know that with the numbers not being available thank you you can just spell your name for the record you can just spell your name for the record sorry oh hi uh Alvin Pettit that's alv n p TTI T thank you so much Alvin and um I'm here today as a representative of the Arts Community as well as a representative from the Jersey City Arts Council as a executive board member and I would like to read the statement that was released officially by the Jersey City Arts Council in regards to this project the Jersey City Arts Council unwaver un Waverly mission is to support the Arts in all forms ensuring that cultural and creative Outlets are accessible to Residents in every neighborhood of Jersey City therefore we are in support of seeing the central Padu project come to fruition the Jersey City Arts Council supports the efforts to establish a financially viable and sustainable path forward for the cental pompo of Jersey City we com we commit to working with the aforementioned stakeholders to facilitate a transparency and dialogue to ensure that this project will be beneficial to the Jersey City Arts community and the and responsible Partnerships with the broad community and it's um Journal Square has a long history of being a cultural and information Transit Hub of our city and it is vital that its current expansion includes venues that support our creative Community new developments in the area is happening at a rapid pace and the Arts need to be a bold and integral part of this growth the addition of a rowned and collaborative International art institutions such as the pompo with its proximity to the path terminal and newly developed and newly renovated low theer will not only help to revitalize the area as an Arts District for Jersey City but will also but also has the potential to transform it into a tourist designation for the entire tri state region and beyond in order to experience our City's full potential we must find ways to make to become culturally attractive for reasons aside from our proximity to New York York the economic and cultural benefits of Tourism are undeniable and the Arts will be a driving force in attracting this necessary ingredient for the city's well-being the Jersey City Arts Council views the center pompo as a Launchpad for economic expansions we we wholeheartedly believe that a healthy and supported Arts Community is a requirement for a truly prosperous City museums are a cultural and economic anchor in all of the world's major cities drawing tourist dollars while creating residential finan for creating res residual Financial growth for surrounding and local businesses and arts organizations therefore it would be shortsighted not to capitalize on this rare opportunity to create an economic impact that only helps artists survive but to also Thrive and just to I know some of people talk about how it would affect some of the Grassroots and I'm off the letter now but um how would affect some of our Grassroots establishments if you look at the history and the math of how uh large cultural institutions affect small ones the math shows you if you look at New York the Guggenheim the Metropolitan the Museum of utom Art it doesn't hurt the studio Museum Harlem it helps it The Tide Rises all boats when it comes to this and bringing in a major institution will help it exist thank you thank you thank you if you could just spell your name for the record n o r r i c e r a y m a k r councilman boano thank you very much for your remarks I attended the public meeting on Saturday regarding the abatements for two Kushner Real Estate Group highrises and I was undecided at that time after careful consideration I am opposed to the abatements while the idea of owning 100,000 square ft of property in Journal Square is intriguing the administration does doesn't have viable plans or a budget for the space the administration you're not in real estate you're in government what will we do with 100,000 square feet of raw space how will we build this out how much will that cost how will you fund it despite all the new buildings in Jersey City our taxes are not stable a dear friend of mine who lives downtown is paying $48,000 a year to live in what is basically a two family house it's an old Warehouse it's got two apartments two three-bedroom apartments and it's got a garage on the ground floor in a little space behind the garage and there and there's no elevator in that building the ceilings are very high she probably walks 50 steps up to her apartment which is on the top she's a widow her husband died when the youngest child was four she dragged those children and the groceries and the strollers up and down those stairs for 25 years and now her taxes are $48,000 a year for a basically it's a two family house she's forced out she has to leave Jersey City we cannot pay any more taxes to subsidi what I feel is an amenity in a luxury highrise with no affordable housing component if pompo occupies the space which seems very questionable the project becomes even more costly and the Arts tax which supports local Arts organizations could be diverted undermining the artists who have spent years building an art scene and who does this project benefit not the residents of any of your Wards the businesses and Journal Square might benefit although Emma's restaurant did not benefit from the three Journal squared highrises Emma is out of business and the existing businesses Popeyes Dunkin Donuts are they likely to attract the business of visitors to the Pompa do doubtful although their Sid will be assessed to subsidize the operation of the pompo but the kushers who are extremely wealthy are guaranteed 160 million and don't have to find a tenant to assume the cost of building out 100,000 square feet and carry the operating costs I urge you to consider the cost of the property owners in all of Jersey City and vote no thank you if you can just spell your name for the record I will not start the time until you spell your name hi um my name is Sarah Ibrahim uh it's spelled s a r ah last name i b r ah I am I'm sorry you were breaking up I you got to stay in the mic your last name is i b r a H ibraim thank you hi uh my name is Sarah Rahim um I'm here to advocate for the Cent Padu project um I'm the owner of a business I based here in Jersey City after I moved here nine years ago called Beautiful machine um we serve the museum landscape uh as a technology partner um creating and maintaining projects that utilize uh immersive and emerging technology I'm also o a professor at NYU in the interactive telecommunications program um I've been very pleased um with the progress that Jersey city has made over the past few years since I've Mo moved here um I've seen so much expansion in culture uh we asked you know the city to start investing in artists and then we saw the creation of the Jersey City arts and culture trust fund that literally writes checks to artists every year a project that I worked on benefited from um funds from the Jersey City arts and culture trust fund um and we were able to bring art to a a small church-based uh art organization that I was working with so I really appreciate the council and the administration's work here in expanding culture gentrification is coming to Journal Square no matter what what we do it's going to be full of luxury highrises there's already a Starbucks it is going to be we can we at this point have the option to make a choice to preserve space in the public trust in Journal Square for public cultural and educational use or to give it over to corporate interests that are going to dominate the landscape with the Starbucks Target and whatever other corporate interest logo if we don't preserve the space now because we absolutely will not have the opportunity to do that 20 years from now and if we don't I think that we're really going to regret this Choice when we look back on it uh in 10 or 20 years and I guarantee that I will still be here uh if the center pump project is successful will have protected 100 square fet of space for public use in the heart of Journal Square it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring a global institution to Jersey City that will allow us to assert our Scrappy working class hardworking creative identity on a global stage in a way that is sort of outside of the shadow of New York City I think that's an incredible opportunity um I hope that the the council will take this opportunity uh in front of it I would also like to note that the value of the property that we acquire for this abatement is greater than the value than the cost of the abatement in the long run and that was discussed already uh in the in the budget in the budget meeting that we saw on Saturday so if the planning for the Pompa do process falls through if the project is not successful the government will not have lost anything in the pursuit you still own that property and can do with it what you want you may even be able to profit from selling off the property or using it for other uses in the future and we will not have lost anything in the pursuit of preserving public cultural space in Journal Square thank you if you can spell your name for the record please yes my name is John Ross that's spelled j h n r o SS thank you John okay so the ordinance before us today is the approval of a 30-year tax exemption um so I think you're getting to hear from the people of Jersey City that we the people are not pleased with this we don't know of any negotiation we weren't drawn into anything um most people think 30 years is outrageous the amount of money that it's going to cost the amount of abatement the benefit to the developer and this does appear to be the vision of one man in particular our mayor who has a close personal ties with the developer the second part of this here uh says authorization of financial agreements again we the people have not are not aware of any negotiations we've not been drawn into anything we're not being told anything we ask questions many of us were there at the meeting on Saturday and we're told answers which nonsensical they are untrue nobody I believe that um a gentleman earlier said as a from a law point of view no one signs a contract or paperwork without knowing the cost of things surely at this stage of the game to make it simple um we should know more about the cost whether we're for or against this we should know about the costs and we should know why there has to be a 30-year tax abatement and to all of you on the city council this is your opportunity you either follow the vision of one man or you take this opportunity to listen to the people of Jersey City that's what I got thank you and good evening thank you you can just spell your name for the record yes o l g a l e e v i n a thank you hello everyone um so great to see you all today well um yes I'm Olina I'm also I'm also coowner of White Eagle Hall actually the cultural institution that was built without any benefits with a son of immigrants and an immigrant I'm immigrant from Ukraine in Belarus and our consultant cost us $228,000 I would like to repeat that $28,000 on Saturday mayor mentioned that Consultants alone cost the city $20 million I urge the city to close that checkbook now now to continue I would like to say that I am also a member of International Association of Performing Arts and when we have voices International theater uh theater Festival artists come with their governments on our terms artists come on our terms because Europe and many many well especially in Europe arts and culture actually funded and here's number in France friend and we have PR citizens here so they can't deny it 68 million people get 4.2 billion billion euros a year for arts and culture our national endowments for the Arts distributes 170 million dollar for 335 million people in United States is it just is it just that we also have to pay a French institution how every and I'm repeating every Festival every Festival in this city every cultural Festival struggles they even suing the city because they cannot pay for police for security we are diverse thank you thank you thank you thank you all our next speaker Jessica do you need me to spell my name no thank you Sean you're welcome good evening City Council I think you've heard quite a few people in agreement on voting no I'm here to add my two cents to ask you also to vote no and the pompo project before you today is not merely a cultural center it's a gentrification accelerator disguised as progress so let's disect this proposition with the Precision it deserves first consider the opportunity cost the resources allocated to this project represent a deliberate divestment from urgent housing needs every dollar spent on the pomad is a dollar not spent on enforcing existing rent control laws funding the Bureau of rent leveling or creating truly affordable housing units second examine the demographic shift this project implicitly endorses the pompo caters to a specific socioeconomic stratum one that can afford both Rising rents and Museum entrance fees this is not cultural enrichment for all it's cultural displacement of the many for the benefit of the few third let's address this fallacious argument of economic uplift the notion that this project will economically benefit all residents is a trickle down theory of culture that has been thoroughly debunked the jobs created will not offset the housing lost nor will they be accessible to those most in need of employment council members you standard a Crossroads your vote today will determine whether Jersey City Embraces inclusive development or succumbs to exclusionary exclusionary pardon me gentrification the 900,000 earmarked for affordable housing is a poultry distraction that fails to conceal the Project's true nature as a catalyst for displacement the people of Jersey City are watching they will remember who stood for their interests and who capitulated to a vision of the city that has no place for them vote in alignment with the will of the people reject this gentrification accelerator invest in real affordable housing Solutions your legacy in the future of the city hang in the balance and I would ask that you Choose Wisely and because I have a little bit of time left I wanted to share an article that a friend of ours shared with us it was published in art review in April of 2024 and it explicitly discusses the SRA pomu financial difficulties in in France there was an audit report conducted by France's Court of Auditors that revealed that the C SRA Padu has been operating under an unsustainable economic model long story short in this article they need about 400 million to finish some Renovations they've raised 39 let's not be in that situation thank you Jessica if you could just state your name for the recordan dce thank you good evening Council I'm gonna start with a quote um the measure of a city's greatness is in how it treats its most vulnerable residents council members as you consider your vote on the Pompa project today I want you to hold that quote in your minds because today you're not just voting on a museum you're voting on The Very soul of Jersey city mayor Philip would would have you believe that this project is progress that a $900,000 contribution to affordable housing justifies the millions more spent on a cultural center that many in our city will never go to because they are too focused on making ends meet to pay for the illegal rents Philip allows to continue but let me offer you another quote this one from James Baldwin anyone who has ever struggled struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor the Pomo project is in progress It's a progressive tax on the poor dressed up as a cultural enrichment it's a vanity project it will cost us far more than its price tag it will cost us our integrity as a city that claims to care for all its residents for the price of this project we could fully fund our Bureau of rent leveling we could enforce the laws already on our books and create 527 units of affordable housing at Portside Towers alone we could make real tangible progress in addressing our housing crisis instead we're being asked to build a monument to inequality a mon ment to inequality a shining Beacon that will serve as a reminder to every struggling family in Jersey City that their needs come second to the mayor's Ambitions council members you have a choice today you can vote for a project that may look good and headlines but do little for those most in need or you can take a stand for real progress progress that's measured not in tourist dollars or pipe dreams of future grants or donations but in families housed in communities preserved and City that truly lives up to its ideals the idea of I'm sorry the the eyes of the voters are upon you and they will remember this vote they will remember whether you chose a glossy facade or true progress they will remember whether you stood with the vulnerable or with those who would exploit them vote no to pompo vote Yes to Jersey City that truly cares for all its residents because in the end that is the only progress worth having thank you thank you Michelle if you could just state your name for the record Michelle H thank you Michelle with oneel no hell in my name good evening I urge you to vote no this pompo project is May Phillips ego-driven gamble risking taxpayer Millions while Kushner cashes out let's talk numbers the possible pompo 5-year operating budget which wasn't released until this past weekend is a fantasy IT projects Wild optimistic Revenue growth and relies on piie in the sky funding by year 10 Philip is dreaming of $6.5 million in Phil philanthropic donations and 7.3 million in Grants come on this city couldn't properly draft a grant to protect its citizens mental health now FIP believes we're going to get them now FIP believes we're going to get them for a museum that only two people want Kushner for his coffers and FIP so he can thumb his nose at Governor Murphy further state taxes plummet from 11.5 million to $3.5 million that's an $8 million hole with no realistic plan to fill it the net operating income it's a veritable roller coaster that would make Six Flags envious from $580,000 in year one to a measly $770,000 in year three then Magic Ally $1.28 million in year 7 I suffered Financial Whiplash trying to follow the numbers and let's not forget this budget ignores economic downturns no plan B no rainy day fund just blind optimism that everything goes perfectly for 30 years now about K's 30-year abatements have we learned nothing the 2019 pkf Connor davies's audit revealed at least 19 pilot projects where developers weren't submitting their required annual audited financial statements possibly costing us $41 million annually this reeks of rushed desperation when hastily arranged community meeting doesn't cut it for a decision of this magnitude where's the detailed cost benefit analysis where are the projections for how this will impact our city services and infrastructure philli is asking you to make a 30-year commitment based on incomplete information the risks are too high the benefits too uncertain the process too opaque and let's be clear FIP is leaving office next year for a doomed orial run saddling Us in this financial Time Bomb don't let fulli mortgage our City's future for his pompy DW pipe dream vote no thank you our next speaker you could state your name for the record Kevin Weller from w f thank you let's talk about the pompy do the intention of a project and the will of the people are what is important this weekend and today you are hearing the will of the people and I will attempt to shed light on the intent of mayor fup with regard to the pompy do if you vote against the will of the people they will vote against you the developer Lobby and politicians who support them at the Peril of the voters often attempt to manipulate people by throwing around the term affordable housing related to unwanted projects vote for the pompo because who can argue with about $900,000 added to a nebulous affordable housing fund nobody talks about affordable housing housing more than Ron simonini and mayor fulli but this is a trick they serve up the affordable housing misdirection so council members can justify their vote despite our cries for actual housing help just like Ron simonini recently attempted to gut rent control in Hoboken under the banner of affordable housing our mayor is attempting to manipulate those in need of housing assistance via the exact same plan in both cases they are actually reducing affordable housing by allowing developers to pay $1,500 per market rate unit to avoid any affordable housing to be Crystal Clear that's about $900,000 for 595 luxury units in phase two of the pompo project in exchange for a one time get out of affordable housing payment of $1,500 per market rate unit a fee which will be fully covered by the inflated rents paid by the new renter therefore this new expensive housing raises the city market rate for everyone rather than Comm contributing to a token amount to a developer slush fund take the money that pomad do would cost and use it to remove the deliberate underfunding of the Bureau of rent leveling and not just allow but instruct the bureau to enforce the laws of this city we know mayor Flip's true intent because we are living it and we are not alone it is why he will not be governor of New Jersey and it is why we will encourage people to vote against anyone who votes against the will of the people tonight invest in enforcing our rent control laws and you'll instantly create 527 units of affordable housing right here in w f just at Portside Towers alone and it wouldn't cost a dime Philip's refusal to do so speaks volumes about his true intentions with the Pompa project it's not for us it's for a few developers to solve rich people problems as Philip likes to say about us vote no and instead support really helping this community starting with supporting those in this room who tonight will give their 700th speech begging you and mayor phlip to help do not become unelectable like mayor phip vote no if you can just bring the mic up towards you and you could spell your name for the record for me please my name is Samuel pot that's spelled s m u l p o TT thank you good evening city council thank you for taking the time to hear the residents of Jersey City I'm the founder and artistic director of nimbus dance and the Nimbus Arts Center it's the largest nonprofit Arts Center in the history of Jersey City we serve over 5,000 youth in Jersey City each year with Arts programming our professional dance company has a Statewide and National reputation I have to say I'm utterly confused by our current situation it's really confusing it's been about four or five years since the pompy was announced and many of us were very excited right the French Museum had decided to make Jersey City its home we were going to have this amazing Museum up in Journal Square some of us were flown to Paris we got to wine and dine with the most sophisticated Arts connoisseur in the world it took two days just two days for us to unpackage the amount of the the sheer lack of planning that has gone into the four or five years of the pompy de not only is their 10-year operating plan completely ludicrous because this they were relying on state funds for more than half of the income for this project and the state said no that that's a misuse of funds so the 10-year operating plan makes no sense we were not told by our mayor that to build out and fit out a museum quality facility to the pompy's standards at 100,000 square ft was going to cost $80 million we've got one of the top International architects involved of course it's going to be built to the nines that will be on the taxpayers shoulders let's understand that you know it's also confusing because I've spoken with many of you and I respect I respect all of you I have a close relationship with many of you and many of you Proclaim to be art supporters most of the city council at this point is is saying they no longer support the pompy do because they see how silly the the premise is they're actually switching their story now it's going to be a Rec Center they don't even want the poy do anymore so it's a very confusing situation and I hope you can get that we can't afford it the city council doesn't want it the mayor is gunning for it our our city officials say they have a plan but obviously the plan has no no merit to it so how are we making a generational decision for our city based on this sheer degree of confusion and lack of good planning I mean come on if we are going to build the Jersey City of the future that we all want the best midsize City in our country is this how we do it I'll tell you right now it is not people and you know it everybody in this room knows it so let's get over this come on let's shove this thank you very much for your time I'd like to thank you I'd like I'd like to register a document this is a petition signed by 200 uh residents indicating thank you thanks Sam our next speaker if you can just spell your name for the record please Adia 130 Congress Street I didn't realize I was going to be the male version of Madonna the material guy uh I don't know if pomad do will float here I don't know what happens after five years I don't know if you guys will approve Pompa do but that 100,000 square foot of space that's a real asset for the city that's a probably about a $50 million asset in today's money when I spoke to two prominent builders in Jersey City and in SE caucus they agreed at somewhere around 48 million to 50 million for that 100,000 built out shell and they and he said one of them said what do you think it's going to be worth in five years it's going to be worth in 10 years Pat I thought about my own house on Congress Street where it's worth a million dollars and I look it's a great house free family house I look at like how is this worth a million dollars but that's how the property is in Jersey City now in Jersey C in the last couple of years we started selling floors of two and three family homes for a million dollars on 12 Irving Street right now they're selling a floor for $950,000 and the top floor for $970,000 that was unheard of a couple of years ago but here it is now so as far as papao I I don't know if I'll speak to papao will it be successful do we need foot traffic on Journal Square sure it's a different Journal Square than the one I grew up with yeah know the only destinations we have now is the Lowe's and Boulevard drinks uh Poma do would would that work fine if not we have that space could we attract a major corporate tenant that can pay us real money then we could probably collateralize that property and pay off that Bond or mortgage with that rent and build the other papao papao one spot or build affordable housing that's up to you guys but seriously consider the asset I've done a lot of abatements in this city I I was Pro I was Con on them I don't recall one ever having a dollar figure like that attached to it and from the from what Sean read I don't think the abatement speaks to pomad do does it it speaks to the center and the the 100,000 square foot what happens with POA D down the road that's to be determined but don't turn down the 100,000 square fet that is an amazing asset for the city in a part of the city that's going through a huge Ren where's Journal Square going to be in 10 years back to being the H of Journal Square and an economic engine so again don't turn down this asset thank you you if you can spell your name for the record for me please my name is vaja Parker v like Victor a j a a h p a r k r you're going way too fast I'm sorry so it's V A J a a h a r k e r v a r k r like Parker p a r k r thank you good evening everyone I'm so grateful for the opportunity to talk about this ordinance when I started learning about this ordinance I thought it was about the museum this French Museum that people wanted to bring to Jersey City then I quickly understood that it's not about that it's about a tax abatement for a property and instead of collecting 100% of the taxes that this developer owes this city over the next 30 Years we're saying no no give a tax abatement and instead offer a pilot and collect 47% of those taxes and take on this real estate property and I'd like to voice my concern about that I don't think that you should approve another tax abatement when I first got interested in what was going on in the city it was because of the budget shortfall of this education system and this education shortfall was caused because of so many decades of tax abated development I thought the council realized that it was bad news and a trigger work to approve a tax abatement but here we are considering it again and I would hope that you would vote no for it because you have no problem taking tax money from taxpayers that have individual properties but you seem to be ready to let this development proceed without collecting the taxes for it instead of collecting the taxes for this property you're saying you would like to collect 47% of those taxes and then take ownership of 100,000 square feet in Journal Square 100,000 square fet that no one has a good plan on if there was a good plan about it we'd be talking about a good plan for it right now but one hasn't been brought forward there has been a precarious projection of numbers it will cost the city more to run some real estate venture out of it than it would for us to just say no tax abatement give us your taxes every year of them for 30 years so that we can improve our infrastructure and our quality of life and the congestion and all of the things that are necessary for the tax base to pay for this High paced development because that's what's going on in Journal Square High paac development and residents and their concerns they deserve to be heard and met with a tax base and you only have a tax base if you collect the taxes so say no to the tax abatement and don't be distracted by this Museum plan that does not exist because there isn't a space and it shouldn't exist because you should say no to this tax abatement thank you for hearing thank you thank you you just spell your name for the record please L IV live Malone m a l o n e thank you good evening Council I'm here to tell you A Tale of Two Cities both named Jersey City in one we have a gleaming pompo Center a beacon of culture that may full of proudly showcases to the world it's a city where 900,000 for affordable housing is applauded because progress is measured in tourist dollars and international headlines but there's another Jersey City it's the one I live in it's where families are being priced out of their homes where the Bureau of rent leveling is chronically underfunded and where 527 units at Portside Towers alone could become affordable housing overnight if only our existing laws were enforced and this city $900,000 isn't a Triumph it's a slap in the face it could mean five maybe 10 units of affordable housing while thousands struggle to keep a roof over their heads the pompo isn't a bridge between these two cities it's a wall a monument to misplaced priorities that will cast a long Shadow over the residence it claims to serve May FIP asks you to vote for his vision of Jersey City but I ask you which Jersey City do you serve the one that exists in glossy brur or the one where your constituents live work and struggle every day your vote today isn't just about a museum it's about which Jersey City you want to build Choose Wisely because the people the voters are watching and we will remember vote no to the pompo vote Yes to the Jersey City that needs you the most thank you thank you if you can just spell your name for the record please sir sure Punit sud p as in Patrick u n e e t as in Tango s o o d as in David thank you hi thanks for the opportunity to speak here uh lot of good points have been made I'll try to bring it back purely to the numbers and to the basic operation of a city's decision- making first of all it's a big decision so it should really be put to the vote by the city's residents directly and not be decided by a small select set of people here that's the most important thing if we are not willing to do that then I request the council to vote against this decision vote no on this and the reason again I'll bring it back to the numbers and I'll ask rhetorically if this project is so great why does it need an abatement why can it not stand on it its own feet of its own financial success I don't get an abatement from the city why does a developer and a big Art institution need an abatement here that's the fundamental question I haven't heard a good answer in the records I've have seen before no abatement stand on its own feet and to add to that another speaker earlier pointed out a report which was mentioned on art news which is titled Center pompo economic model is unstable and this is not from citizens like us it's from France's own Court of Auditors it's from the Francis Court of Auditors and I would like to ask this Council if they are aware of that article and they know the contents of that report because that seems like a very important piece of input the other thing I would say is this sounds similar to when Sports uh leagues in the US come to cities asking for abatements asking from facilities the profits go to the sports team owners and the players but not to the city around it I think we would like to see a cost benefit analysis to the citizens versus the people running the project thank you you you could just spell your name for the record for me uh Natalie n a t a l i e leemon l i m as in Monkey o n is in Nancy thank you um just like to say that Journal Square is full of lifelong workingclass residents and workingclass immigrants who run the city um I moved here almost 7 years ago for that reason uh to serve the unprecedented immigrant community that we have here and I've watched Journal Square changeed rapidly in the last few years and I feel confident that the pomu museum would be the nail in the coffin on ushering in a journal square that is a playground only for the wealthy both those who will Grace our new high-rise towers and those who will come visit our worldclass art facilities given that the Lowe's isn't going to be just a community theater but like an Off Broadway venue um for world class um acts so taken together with with that being the case with the Lowe's and with the pomad do um next we would need a five-star restaurant or two for these tourist patrons to dine at after their afternoon or evening of highbrow cultural events and these same folks are unlikely to venture deeper into our city to find real Jersey City artists performing at one of our many small venues perhaps not accessible by the p train so we are inviting in a demographic that won't visit the rest of our artists and won't shop at our small bodegas or perhaps even Boulevard drinks and perhaps that's unavoidable with the residential projects already approved and uh the desirability of this land that we stewarded um but as I said it would be the nail in the coffin to bring in the pompo museum in the midst of all of this um we should build something in this area that the mle class wants and desperately and immediately needs and would use and that's not this um it sounds like we would love a grocery store that's a really great idea um and uh what about perhaps a home a homeless shelter there used to be a lot of homeless folks in Journal Square that I haven't seen as much since we started breaking ground on all these projects and it seems clear that the rebranding of Journal Square would like for them to just disappear um hardworking average folks battling inflation and wage stagnation might like to visit these worldclass art amenities on occasion if they can afford it but we obviously really are asking for other things first real resources you know folks might ask for a community run art and Community Center or Museum but nobody is asking for a satellite of a French Museum or for people from outside to come in and provide us with something that we might like to do from the Grassroots um someone said we don't want corporate boxes like Target but at least regular folks can afford to shop at Starbucks and Target and they might actually use a Target like regularly in Journal Square um so I just say why why don't we consider if we're going to consider abatements at all it should be for something that the community is asking for um not not for something like this which is just so incredibly controversial and I love the term gen gentrification accelerator thank you if you can spell your name for the record sir and just bring the mic up to you you're kind of tall Richard lovir La capital r oov is in victor e thank you Richard uh I'm here to uh offer a suggestion uh Jersey City needs a Jersey City Museum of Contemporary Art uh for what it's worth I think that could be a solution uh for the lack of the Gap uh the ongoing gap of Mis of lack of representation of all the artists that we have here that we've had here for years that continue to have if we're going to have 100,000 square ft uh at least part of that should be Georgia City Museum of Contemporary Art and the reason why I stress Contemporary Art is because when we did have a Georgia city museum at one time uh and it closed it got sold the artifacts and the whole collection was given to the zimmerly museum uh the zimmerly museum is willing to give up its whole buildings of anything before the 20th century but any Contemporary Art of the 20th century and beyond they're not willing to give up so we have so we should have a contemporary art museum like like the way uh like Loca Los Angeles Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art that would put it that would at least put us on a national level if not on a global level and it would give representation to all the artists who are here now demanding that we do something with the local artist because it it begins with them and ends with them now if you vote for the pompo uh is the pompo gonna do a community reach out and work with a local artists or because that's been very vague and I actually asked the mayor that he says yes but then again what is it again it's like the the figures uh to create this thing to begin with it's all vague and uh let's rush rush rush and get this thing done well let's at least make sure that we have a Museum of Contemporary Art that would include all the Arts organizations all together to do something about that I guess that's about it uh but uh like I said we need a museum we had a museum it opened in 1901 it closed in the 1950s and then it reopened in 1976 and it closed in 2010 so we had a museum that opened and closed twice what makes you think that a ppao is gonna is going to work here in that case why because it's world class well um other places are world class too so I I just hope that you know there's some consideration for that whichever way you vote uh and I'd rather see the Jers City Museum over the pompo that's my opinion thank you thank you if you can just state your name for the record and just bring that mic up your a tall man Michael we we my name is Michael Griffin thank you w president um I wasn't going to speak tonight but just hearing everyone speak um and and you know just thinking about my thoughts the one thing I want to say is um you need to vote vote vote no on this 30-year tax abatement voting yes would be the most eliest thing you can possibly do uh also uh when you talk about tax abatements we haven't had tax abatements in seven years and between those seven years I actually know of developers who were looking to develop on the south side and use tax abatements for inclusionary affordable housing those ideas were all shut down we have one project between that time that was done with 55% affordable housing they were also turned down luckily the community came out and supported them at the planning board meeting and we were able to get that accomplished without government without tax abatements they also wanted to um partner with the city to bring back the YMCA that would have been a great place for a cultural um censor but that didn't happen um the bottom line is the mayor is doing this to save face he's doing this this is his ego this is his pride this is not Jersey City you guys know what Jersey City is all of you and you know this isn't it all right um look that's all I had to say I know that you gave us three minutes but trust and believe you're the ones on the clock all right Mia you could you could you could bring that down a lot more yeah I think so okay I would have to do the same thing so all right if you could just state your name for the record sure uh good evening uh Mia ganga SCA ngga I haven't been here in a while um I went to the Saturday meeting I left about 2:30 quarter to 3 um unfortunately I had not downloaded the ordinance which was a mistake because I since then have and I found a lot of misinformation by the mayor and it's all in the ordinance right first of all it's only 85,000 square feet okay and 10,000 of that is described as seller space okay it's storage space and then there's 14,600 of outdoor space which will be conveyed to the city for a nominal fee what losing $150 $200 million in taxes isn't enough we got to pay the more to get the outdoor space and I don't remember the city giving tax abatements for outdoor space I don't think the city of New York does that it's part of the agreement that they Pro provide amenities for the public and that's an amenity for their own uh building tenants who are going to be paying probably $4,000 $5,000 a month so that's item number one so that leads me to believe that a lot of the information he told us is not accurate and then in terms of the mechanics of the tax abatement it's $ 1,96 th000 2% is a service charge that's standard 5% goes to Hudson County that's standard there is no mention of 30% for the schools no mention of that and that was brought up numerous times on that Saturday meeting oh the council members won 30% because as you know in 2022 and 2023 those two years combined was a 40% tax increase for the Jersey City residents and a lot of that was due to the schools because even though the state go New Jersey in the governor's office informed Jersey City in 2018 in writing that they were going to be cutting State funding and they listed how much they would cut the city kept on giving out tax abatements with 0% to the schools so this is another 30 years with 0% send to the schools that's outrageous absolutely outrageous that costs the one really the burden falls on the one to four family homeowners because these rental units they have llc's which obscure and they the city never knows how much they collect in rent and how much they're getting in taxes and I got that from a previous tax collector also I want to mention that time is up oh too bad you could just state your name for the record um Brendan coglin so I want to start this piece by saying I am nowhere near nimi I am for development and Building Things in Jersey City I am not for building Schrodinger's building which tonight has been described as a art museum a center of cultural Recreation and now a overpriced storage shed that's also a attack shelter somehow I'm actually kind of impressed and shocked that we just found this out a few minute less than a minute ago now we are told this project is going to help expand our City's International appeal now right now our City's International appeal is lost tourist people got scammed on airbn be lies and corporate Travelers whose companies were too cheap to pay for Manhattan I'm not in favor of building this building it's going to cost the city a lot of money we've heard various numbers tonight I heard one number earlier tonight for $165 million total cost to the city think about what we could do with that much money right now we could actually have bike lanes that aren't that won't kill you if you go on them we could have a functioning Park we could plant a tree in the park so the kids won't get sunburnt maybe even two hopefully we can continue to expand and work on improving our City's enforcements maybe higher traffic copper 3 and in closing I want to honor offer us a lovely simple Modest Proposal as a alternative for this money we could buy every man woman and child a 6 ounce tin of caviar and a bottle of Don perang to wash it down for the cost of this project it is a stupid asinine proposal but it would be a better use of the money and we would still be getting kicked you'd still be getting kickbacks from a French company thank you thank you if you could just spell your name for the record please uh it's Robinson r o b i n s o n Holloway h o l l o w a y thank you so much um hello as an Arts Advocate I feel like it's my job to say more Arts More arts museums in every W do whatever you can More arts and generally um the Arts should be advocating for the Arts and then the Bean Counter should tell us how many we can have and for the most part that's usually a restriction of Arts most places especially nowadays are cutting back on the Arts the Arts is the first thing overboard and a lot of the opinions we've been he things are more important than arts schools are more important than Arts sewers are more important than the Arts roads are more important than the Arts I think the Arts is extremely important and I also think that this is a very brave City that does support the Arts four years ago there was an Arts referendum that almost got pulled it is something that I think is still too small but it does support the Arts right now and it almost got pulled because we were in covid and people were afraid it wouldn't pass if you listen to social media back then you would all you would hear is my taxes are too high already I already support the Arts but the Arts organizations got together we commissioned a professional pollster who specialized in referendum and told us this is the biggest slam dunk ever even though those people weren't on social media the people of Jersey City support the Arts so we had the referendum and it passed in a very difficult year of covid and E economic uncertainty it passed and now we have it and why I say it's Brave this is something that's available to every other city in New Jersey and we are still the only one that has ever done it um we've also done things like the PowerHouse Arts District we have a plan developers get taller buildings they build theaters Nimbus has a theater art housee has a theater the symphony will have a theater because we have traded development for the Arts these Arts alley I've heard about for many years between the Lowe's and Mana they will be trading things to get arts and arts to start with an Arts anchor like the Pompa do will make that Arts alley in the future an incredible place and I will tell you the pompo has had an effect a positive effect on what I do just yesterday I had a major European Arts organization fly in from Paris and London to visit here they were so impressed they're going to partner with my organization and they're planning to move their New York City offices to Jersey City so and that is because the Pompa do and the strength of the community here all these things can work together and feed one another and make the pie bigger and make this a really great place I travel all over the state I travel to New York a lot and Jersey City's on people's radar in a way that it hasn't been people think Jersey City's next and it can be and it's because of the Arts and it's because of you guys thank you thank you you can spell your name for the record please sure good evening Paula P aul L Maha yosan m a h a y o s is and Sam n a n d that a n n a n d thank you um thank you good evening Council um I Ser rarely make these occasions to speak in front of you and most of the time my conversations are oneon-one or Community meetings but I felt strongly today after listening um two hours virtually I felt the strong need to address you personally um you've always been there for me and I'm speaking on behalf of myself as a resident not for the nonprofits that I support and they're always open to you know expanding ideas and getting residents involved but please say no and the reason why I say no is that um it should the cost shouldn't be on the shoulders of the residents you know your fiduciary responsibility is really managing the funds working with the ba to ensure that we're not going to leverage funding that we can't support and that's going to be hardworking individuals in Jersey City um I feel strongly that the funding can be used or directed to other projects you know as you know there are Park projects educational projects that we haven't seen in fruition they've been stale we've been challenged in getting numbers and how dollars are being set and spent and I feel that this Legacy project although exciting maybe one of those items where we won't be able to control our spending or understand um you know how it's going to be spent in um the future um I have a minute 31 left um i' like to say that it's challenging I know this is a legacy project a lot of the projects in the city are considered Legacy projects I can give an example but please think about this don't let this Legacy excitement um cost the residents of Jersey City thank you very much you can just state your name for the record Tara SMI I didn't hear you Tara SMI thank you when you ready imagine a desert miles of sand a community dying of thirst now picture a man unveiling his solution a magnificent shimmering swimming pool council members mayor Philips pmpd project is that pool and we are that thirsty crowd but we're in a housing crisis rents are skyrocketing families are being displaced and our Bureau of rent leveling runs on fumes yet we've asked support our limited resources into a cultural Oasis most struggling residents won't be able to afford to visit the mayor's plan offers a token $1,500 per luxury Pomo unit to avoid real affordable housing ing Solutions this is a mirage a distraction from the fact that for the cost of this project we could solve pressing problems we could fully fund rent control enforcement we could create hundreds of affordable units starting with the 527 at Portside Towers this pompo isn't water for the desert it's a monument of misplaced ego-driven priorities a mirage that will do nothing to quench our City's thirst for economic Justice and affordable housing council members you have a choice will you chase this Mirage or will you be the leaders we need who address our community's real needs the voters are watching come election time they'll remember who chose a shimmering swimming pool over the water we so desperately need vote no to the pompo Mirage and vote Yes to real solutions for Jersey City if you can state your name for the record please Mark boils thank you good evening city council um I'm completely against this ordinance this is a multi-million annual drain on the residents of Jersey City and to what end so that Jersey City can become a quote destination unquote a destination for whom New Yorkers of visitors to the area already have Moma the Whitney the met the gugenheim and a host of smaller museums and galleries so why would they make the track out to Journal Square to see a tiny subset of the pompo Holdings it seems to be more of a vanity project for us soon toe ex mayor and a giveaway to his real estate friends and what about affordable housing a measly 900,000 from the phase one project maybe 1.8 million from both phases a drop in the bucket compared to the profits that kushna will make to make this project acceptable it should be amended to make onethird of the total floor area affordable housing all apartments in the project should be rent controlled from day one and normal taxes should be paid not pilot payments and finally a guarantee that the city would never have to contribute in any way to the pomp of folly I could never vote for anyone who supports this project as it stands thank you you can just spell your name for the record please an Novado a an e n o v a d o n a v o n o VA you thank you good evening Council City members Jers Jersey City residents my name is an Nado I'm owner of Nado Gallery LLC located in Morgan Street downtown Jersey City and support at pompo Museum and Jersey City I'm here to offer my relevant professional observations as a local independently operated business as well as an artist 9 years ago I made the decision to relocate to Jersey City to open Nado Gallery with my business partner who is also an artist we decided Jersey City had the type of energy leadership and potential that would fit our retail Gallery business like starting any business it has not been easy certainly has not been boring but we are proud to be the first and unfortunately at the moment the only retail Gallery in the Powerhouse Arts District our Galler's clients and visitors range from longtime residents to more and more new residents and visitors majority are new residents looking to engage with cultural events and activities that they can enjoy with their families and children on this side of the Hudson unfortunately we often see clients relocating to for easier access to education culture resources and re recreational Green Space therefore I'm expressing my support for investment in the pomad museum for our community as the owner of a large retail art gallery I firmly believe this Museum will bring significant long-term benefits not only to the local Arts Community but also to our broader cultural and business landscape for businesses in Jersey City the museum presents us with an exciting opportunity as it will serve as another anchor and our City's cultural landscape attracting tourists and residents alike the pompo is a world renowned Museum that will further enhance the reputation of our city as a cultural destination for more the museum will create a welcoming space for All Families All Families to engage with the Arts fostering cultural appreciation and the development of CR critical thinking skills at an early age yeah idea that a contemporary museum is an elitist institution is outdated and false with the Padu plans for broad cultural programming this museum is slated to become a beloved Gathering SP place for family friend family friendly events workshops and educational activities that enrich the lives of all visitors this focus on inclusivity will help build a stronger more connected Community Jersey City will continue to evolve away from being serving as Manhattan's bedroom community into a thriving place for all in closing I hope that you will join me and the countless others and backing this valuable Initiative for the community as it promises to enrich the fabric of our your time is up thank you you could just spell your name for the record for me sir it's Raymond E MST r a y m o n d r a y r a y r a y m o n d middle initial e last name m m i n GST thank you good evening members of the council fellow residents and guests I speak today not only as an artist and a member of Jersey City's Arts Community but as someone deeply moved by what our city once had and what we are on the verge of regaining recently I came across a catalog for the 1993 Jersey City Museum exhibition states of loss which addressed powerful themes like migration displacement and colonialism issues that remain deeply relevant today what struck me most wasn't just the work uh worldclass artists like David vorovich and Carrie may weams but that this exhibition couldn't have happened without support from outside Jersey City the Whitney Museum and several prominent galleries contributed and international voices helped shape the project this reminds us Jersey city has always thrived through collaboration with external partners and the ppao X Jersey City project is no different critics have raised concerns about the financing of the pro project but let's remember major cultural initiatives often require external support the Pompa do and kre group are offering us a partnership that when managed properly can be transformative for the city this isn't just about bringing art here it's about establishing a sustainable institution where students artists and residents can engage with global ideas and conversations since the closure of the Jersey City Museum in 2010 our city has been without a cultural Beacon our need for an art m museum has far outgrown what could be housed on the fourth floor of the main library I despair for the Youth of Jersey City who no longer have access to exhibitions like states of loss they deserve a space where questions of identity Justice and creativity can be explored with depth and rigor the pompo X Jersey City can be that place to those who argue we should focus solely on local investment I say there is no contradiction between supporting local arts and welcoming a global institution the pompo will bring resources Partnerships and visibility that our local Arts Community currently lacks enhancing the entire cultural ecosystem of Jersey City to the independent leaders in this room particularly I implore you to see the value in cooperation and partnership let's not turn our backs on the success that is Within Reach past grievances should inform us not divide us insist that developers who benefit from our city give back and invest in its well-being we all have special interests make the work your time up thank you than them work thank you our next speaker if you can state your name for the record it's Esther lner e s t h r w i n t n r thank you how dare FIP and his administration try to force the pompo on the backs of the city taxpayers who does it serve has anyone here here asked for pumpa do to come to Jersey City I can't hear you no more abatements no more abatements unless it's an abatement FIP wants have we not learned our lesson on the long-term negative impact abatements have on taxpayers now he wants an abatement in an area that does not need to Spur any more development why should taxpayers help foot the bill for a major project that no one has asked for a museum with no connection to Jersey City's Roots we are reminded that the city has no money to fund long-standing programs that have served the residents such as repairing the ice skating rink or the public pools it now costs money for poor children to use the pools to many of which it is an unaffordable expense Philip with his two infinity pools for his children shows his disconnect and lack of concern for the children of Jersey City that now miss out on this small Joy on hot summer days when they have nowhere else to go no money to fix the luxury potholes that we endure when traveling through the city the notion that Philip in this Administration has a desire to enrich the Arts is a false narrative this vanity Pro project is only to help pad his resume for governor using the taxpayers as his piggy bank how are the local arts and Community groups supported by Philip over the years the mural project brought in outside International artists rather than using local artists the attack on Jersey City non for-profit icons such as the Kennedy dancers WFMU friends of Lowe's do not go unforgotten ethnic parades such as the Filipino and Caribbean parades are cancelling because they can no longer afford the prohibit prohibitively High Cost of police that FIP has set they now celebrate their Heritage by marching around in circles in Lincoln Park we now pay more taxes with our garbage costs being allocated to our water bills now Philip wants to siphon money from the taxes we pay toward the library and allocate it to this vanity project of his this project is a major undertaking in terms of long-term continued financing and cost it only serves to feed into Philip's fantasy of what he sees for himself and to strip Jersey City of the fabric of the communities it is not something residents have asked for or can afford as Philip transitions out of Jersey City we will be left holding the bag vote no to this abatement if you can spell your name for the record please Molita Ro m e l d r o d s thank you my name is Molina rhas I am a mother and a resident of Jersey City museums essentially serve twofold a two-fold mission beyond their cultural significance the museum sector plays a crucial role in the economy by creating jobs and generating tax revenue I believe that Collective efforts of the art community the museum the local government and state government can result in a very special moment for our City's Youth and our City's growth since first watching the ET movie in 1982 at the theater in Journal Square I've seen slow progress until recently I'm excited to witness its Renaissance in my lifetime hopefully catapulted by the presence of a worldclass museum working with the community including my community Greenville Jersey City there is data about museums and their economic impact put forth by Oxford economics with Andrew melon Foundation this is the data each job created by Museum sectors result in 16,490 an additional tax revenue per person every direct job at a museum supports an additional job in the economy this is a higher rate than any other industry museums return more than $5 in tax revenue for every $1 that they receive in funding from all levels of government in determining America's best cities Bloomberg Business Week placs the greatest weight on communities with museums Money Magazine best places to live surveys the concentration of museums as being ultimately valuable I know that we can work together hearing your voices the voices of my Greenville Community my fellow artists the art organizations uh I believe that the real estate the tradeoff the benefits of this deal can help us to acquire something like others have shared will multiply in value but not just monetary value that of the children who live here children who visit a museum during kindergarten have Higher Achievement scores there is a lot of data that I can't continue to share with you visit museumo impact.org there is a 2023 study and it will elaborate more thank you if you can just bring the mic up and then spell your name for the record for me please Chantel Martin sh a n t e l l m a r t i n thank you as a artist an educator a mentor a philosopher I see the power and the value in art I was the first in my family to finish high school first in my family to learn a new language first in my family to travel first in my family to live in Jersey City for many years and be a proud resident of this city I know from firsthand experience when your EXP OS to Art it will connect your head to your hand to your heart and I know that those are facts when you are exposed to Art you are able to enter more creative Industries and I hear people here saying not our kids why not your kids the more that we bring art into the city the more that we bring art into our spaces the more that we can expose art to our children we get to expose them to be professionals in many different careers bringing the museum like this to Jersey City I think people are just seeing it in one narrow lens there's lots of spectrums there's lots of possibilities there's lots of exposure that this will give Jersey City residents children and artists alike we need more art in schools and to do that we need to support our institutions our art spaces and places and for that you know I hope that this will bring more art and creativity to Jersey City and bring everyone together and connect them in that way thank you thank you he was next Jean he was next come on no he was next the gentleman right yeah but but before before we have the next speaker if I can just ask the Audi to be courteous on whoever is speaking I know it's a Hot Topic I know we have difference of opinions but if you can just let the speaker speak and not have anything going on in the background I greatly appreciate it I don't have a court reporter tonight so it's important that we get the speakers loud and clear thank you you can just state your name for the record yeah Daniel Feldman DN i e l f l d m is in Mary a n is in Nancy thank you good evening City Council Members I'm here to offer a stark Counterpoint to Mr Mink's glowing endorsement of the Pomo project you heard earlier Mr MST speaks of cultural excellence and Global Prestige but what good is a worldclass museum to Residents who can't afford to live in their own City he argues that the pompo will Elevate our community I argue that what truly elevates a community is investing in its people not in vanity projects Mr mink dismisses concerns about rushed planning and lack of transparency as mere excuses but in governance process matters transparency matters these aren't trivial concerns they're the Bedrock of responsible City management he claims that the pompo's expertise will solve all of our problems but expertise in running a museum doesn't translate to expertise in solving Jersey City's unique challenges we need Solutions tailored to our community not imported from Paris Mr minks suggests this project will attract new donors and investors but I ask you at what cost do we want to be a city that prioritizes attracting outside money over meeting the needs of its current residents he argues there's no contradiction between supporting local artists and welcoming a global institution but in a world of finite resources every dollar spent on the pompo is a dollar not spent on nurturing our local art scene Mr minks asks what kind of City we want to be well I'll tell you city that invests in its people City that prioritizes essential services and affordable housing over glamorous but unnecessary projects City that solves its existing problems before creating new ones you want to seiz a moment seize this one vote no on the pompo and yes on investing in our community's real needs that's the true path to Excellence for Jersey City and remember while we debate spending Millions on a museum hundreds of families at Portside towers are still fighting for their basic right to affordable housing let's get our priorities straight thank you you could just state your name for the record Eugene oconnell thank you I think like most of the other residents of Jersey City I supported the Pomo complex at the Public Service Electric and Gas building and um it was almost like I couldn't believe that the state of New Jersey would pull the funding from that project the 2024 budget for the state Jersey is $ 53 billion and they pulled 24 million of that budget from Jersey City and to add insult to injury gave the city 30 days to come up with another plan so I I drive through J Journal Square every day from my home on tuna Avenue to my office and I know there are over 6,000 new residential units in Journal Square but it's amazing to me that the retail and commercial space has really not come up to speed and I think Jersey City and joural square needs something to create a better retail and commercial space I think the lows theater is going to be a help for that I think the McKinley Square Park that has been recreated is going to be a help to that and I also think that the park that will be built on the uh Hudson County courthouse building building will help but I also think that we should continue to tried to have the pompo M complex at Journal Square because I think that will be the real Catalyst to bring Journal Square forward and uh so that brings me now to the abatement and um the abatement which is in two phases and it does create about $1.8 million in affordable housing trust fund money and it does give us about 100,000 square feet of commercial space and so the question is this is our chance to really have the Padu complex but if it's if it's I can occur is the benefits of reducing the taxes to the developer outweighed by the the the money for for howy trust fund money for 100,000 square feet of commercial space is that good for the city I think it is and I think it's good because we should not give up on having a worldclass museum in our Jersey City so I say vote yes thank you very much if you can just spell your name for the record please my name is La fo L A oos l a l a o o s last name is fo f o i s i s thank you um I'm a artist photographer uh Jersey City resident for 30 years now um I've seen uh 111 get torn down and be a rubble for a decade now it's got grass on it I saw um our Jersey City Museum close down and even when it was open it's a little difficult how it interacted with the commun community and um I'm also I don't know the numbers I really can't talk to how the financing is going who's going to pay for what and a lot of people brought a lot of really good uh points about doing something better with the money however I've been here long enough to know that that's not really it's not an either or right you guys are not going to just take all that money and go build affordable housing I'm I live in downtown I've lived here like I said almost uh well downtown 20 years now now and um it just grew into luxury apartments so the way I see it the opportunity is we build a cultural center we get a world class Museum or we don't because that money is not going to go somewhere else um at least that's been my experience and i' rather have a museum i' rather have uh support for the Arts i' rather there be a a center I don't know it's been uh ever since we lost uh 111 it's been very scattered um anyway that's all I have to say um I hope um hope it goes through thank you can you spell your name for the record please Charlene Burke c h a r l NE b r k e good evening Council I'm am so impressed with the speakers this evening and I hope you are as well they're well spoken they made excellent points they weren't redundant they made they hit on many notes that you should have certainly considered before you reached this point this evening and I truly truly believe that their message of considering the residents and our existing City before we invite a entity like the pompo M Museum to occupy Journal Square is really all important you have I have experienced many times in this city calling agencies in which there are not opportunities or Monies to do the repairs such as were mentioned before in our Parks such as we right now have a problem with lead lines in Jersey City and this money is coming out of our water bills for the next 5 years now if we actually use the money that we you have or the city has identified here and this project pays their fair share in taxes then perhaps it can offset some of these incredible costs that are being rain down on every one of the residents in this city particularly those that are the one to four family homeowners because they are the ones really who bear the brunt of these increases and they're the ones that actually are ending up selling their homes and moving away and that becomes the next knockdown and then a developer builds something that's out of character with the building that we've all been fighting so I mean I really would like you to vote no this evening on this because all as Mia skanga even mentioned the numbers aren't solid here you really need to have conservative projections over the next 10 years not something so optimistic that you are going to vote for you'll all be out of office next year maybe on to bigger things maybe not but that leaves us holding the bag and not every one of us can get up and leave into some other community that has better schools no flooding beautiful Parks no traffic and maybe public parking even near our commercial corridors so that they can actually shop so I mean really think about this very strongly as many of these points were excellent this evening so I thank all my fellow residents for coming out making their statements tonight thank you hey if you can just spell your name for the record k a r i n k a r i n n as a Nigo last name v a n o p p n thank you I'm here uh to ask you or at minimum to table this because I cannot understand unless you had previous knowledge of this how you have enough information to vote on this today um at the very least um you the your constituents should have enough uh information to to know if this is a good idea or not I listened in via Facebook every minute of this meeting on Saturday I listened in on Monday I looked at all these uh um drawings and I still don't quite understand where this white box is that we're going to buy um apparently part of it in the basement part of it is this pink floating box part of it is outside we should have a little bit more concrete information that's one thing also this and and I looked this up because I I wanted to know more about it and I'm like okay what is this 808 ponia building it got approved in 2022 so for those uh apparently we need to vote today because there's such a rush it got it got approved two years ago and before that a similar project got approved in 201 2017 and thanks to um every um uh local reporter I found that the reason that got approved is because they changed the uh an ordinance in 2016 in October uh changed how the Zone looks like so for Zone 10 uh Within that 2016 whatever you call that thing um and that means that what the changes were you could go from building as of right uh at the height of 12 to 37 and if you made some more uh act some more changes uh like for example the a cafe and that walk and all these other artsy things they can build up to 60 so now on top of all of that what this project already has they're now going to get 30 years of abatement and I really need to know if did you all Crush these numbers does this make sense like could we not have a Cultural Center Museum whatever you want to call it some other place for the same amount of money or maybe even less I really hope that you know what you're doing and if you vot on this today you must have more information than me thank Youk you you could just spell your name for the record for me please Kathleen Connelly c o n n o l l y thank you it's very emotional subject and having these numbers all when we went Saturday we didn't have the numbers and it was very confusing I found that alone not having the numbers on Saturday just to be alone disingenuous we're supposed to take a a 30e abatement I thought abatements that that's we're not talking abatements anymore we're talking affordable housing that's what we're talking about listen to our candidates that are running for office presidential office they're talking housing housing housing you're not talking about we got to bring an art museum they're talking housing people need a place to live that's affordable so just hearing about the swimming pools I forgot about that we couldn't even have swimming pools for kids this money that's going to the pomad do and yes in the art news they say it's going broke I don't want to give a check to the pomad do we are fortunate enough when you talk about we need arts for we're fortunate enough to live across the river from some of the the greatest worldclass museums you just take a train over we don't need a plane ticket to go to a great museum we're lucky to be in close to New York City this we are a six bur as they say but anyway the we need affordable housing because affordable housing is a Cornerstone of vibrant communities also the library funding yes we now have this Library funding I pay $500 a year for the library and I would like to see the library to be part of buckles it's Bergen County cooperative Library System they have 77 libraries that are all connected in New Jersey you can get all the best books that our library doesn't have you have access to that so anyway that's another funding thank you vote no sorry it's okay was having trouble with the clock if you could just spell your name for the record please Anna hlon Anna H A Ann a hlon h i d d l e s t o n l e s t o n yeah thank you hello I'm a curator from the s pomu and I've been working on this project for the past three years my colleague charl Oban and the pomu team in Paris and I just want to express the Pomp's commitment to and belief in this project I'd like to begin to by talking a bit about the pompo in Paris it was founded in 1977 the S pompo transformed the museum experience by creating a cultural center connected to contemporary Society to community and to the young it was the first Museum to offer art workshops for children and it's Renown it is renowned for its multidisiplinary collection from paintings to architecture design photography and more education and Community engagement are at the heart of what we do and this spirit will guide us in Jersey City our goal is not to Simply replicate the Paris experience but to create something unique for Jersey City shaped by its history its communities and its concerns over the past three years we have met nearly 200 people from local cultural associations from schools universities as well as local artists we've already partnered with the Jersey City Public Library and Hudson County Community College and we plan to continue offering internships fellowships and collaborative programming we also plan to recruit the museum team locally the santro PPU in Jersy City will be a place for all for children students artists people with special needs and seniors we'll have spaces for children's art workshops a teen Lounge equipped for Creative Media projects and a dance studio for performance and dance classes and an auditorium for panel discussions poetry readings concerts and more we're also committed to supporting local artists through exhibitions production support commissions and mentorship the SRO pomu holds one of the biggest collections of modern and Contemporary Art in the world while we'll bring major artists like shagal matis Picasso modani our programming will make a point of highlighting living artists and local voices we aim to create a place for Community a place where people feel they belong the sentral pompo in Jersey City will be a vibrant inclusive space where art and life Come Together We Believe thank you so much finished thank you thank you all right all right let's respect one another we could disagree but let's respect one another okay go ahead if you could just spell your name for the record please um hello hi my name is Maria Ross that's m a r i a r o SS and um I just want to say thank you to the curator from the pompo that just spoke before for and she told us a lot of very nice things that the pomad do can do for Jersey City but um we it has been reported that the pomad do in France is in the red it's underwater and it needs help and it's going to close for restructuring and repairs and it's going to close uh for a few years this has been reported in art news somebody else quoted that um but actually the ordinance here uh is supposed to be about the uh tax abatement so I'd like to talk about that why does Mr K uh Kushner need a huge 30-year tax abatement that somebody quoted is going to cost Jersey City almost $200,000 why I don't understand that reasoning there what's the reason for the tax abatement when Jersey City homeowners have seen a 40% tax increase in their real estate taxes but yet these billionaires are going to get a 30-year tax abatement does that make sense I don't think so so this whole project which was um first introduced several years ago by our mayor um has really kind of been floating around nobody really knows what's going on the numbers that were posted the other day didn't make any sense he talked about money from the Eda which and the following day was immediately uh reported that this doesn't really exist exist he also talked about philanthropic funding which also doesn't exist so basically this is really a pipe dream a vanity project and it's going to wind up costing Jersey City a lot of money it looks like it's a lot of slight of hand on the part of the mayor and and uh K we don't really know what's going on but be sure that Jersey City is watching the city council and how you vote because it's on you what's going to happen whatever is going on with this lack of transparency you guys are complicit and we're watching thank you okay y got me tonight you know I'll be home in my bed but you know what this is a good experience for us CU you know I'm affordable a hous person but I love my art I got seven grandkids and they like drawing they can look at something and draw it so how do we work this out are he just giving us land or is he building this out for us cuz he can do both he can give us the land and he can build affordable houses we got two big buildings right up here in mgy Gardens on momy Street that man can take and build him to 24 or 15 story brick buildings and take that money so some affordable people can have about 80 apartments and he can also give us that land Krishna got that money he got that land tied up in that square for about 10 years 10 years and thebody can't tell me I know my city make this man do the art we need the art our children need it but we need affordable housing we got too many people in this city ain't got nowhere to live I got a phone over there if I ain't got 20 phone numbers that people need somewhere to live in this city affordable I ain't got one this is a shame if we don't wait to this out and don't jump to you your table tonight till you can come to meeting other mind we need affordable housing we need this art but we don't have it here it's a beautiful thing like I said my grand kids love it we got a sence sitting down there but we ain't got nothing here for the art and man got enough money to do the both he can do both of them make him come to the table and come to the table right if he want affordable housing he want that all he want that land do you know what 30 tax me building that buil the city too affordable with tax debate with tax Grant this man can do this he's a billionaire not a millionaire he wants to make money in our city make him give something that's real to the city the 30 years tax baby you know what that is that he can't do that art center for us and make and do them two it's nothing but them two building down there on mgy street where people can live again it's right here he can do both work it out councel we need you to make this happen don't let this man that's Rob us give us a land he ain't gonna build it out you want it pay for he got enough money thank you motion oh calling up hold on I got one more if you could just spell your name for the record please yeah name's Aon moral a a r o n last name moral m o r r i l l um good evening I hadn't planned on speaking but I couldn't resist uh it's a subject I've written a lot about uh nice to see everybody um I'll try and be quick um there's been a lot of confusion about the numbers I just wanted to for everybody here to be very clear about what the numbers for this project are the abatement is $150 million that will not be paid to the city coffers that's a tax break of $150 million yes there will be a building at some point or a space uh 885,000 square feet 100,000 square feet it's a little unclear because it's there's some outdoor space but uh that's what we'll get at the end but we're basically investing in real estate pompo is not going to happen everybody I got good news for some bad news for others and here's why it's not going to happen yesterday I wrote in the Jersey City Times I quoted the mayor and this is going to surprise you he was not honest in what he said on Saturday he said that eight that Eda grant that we were using for construction before we're permitted to use that for operations now so that carries the majority of the burden for the next 10 years this is what the mayor said to a room of 200 of of his uh voters his constituents he lied bald-faced lie to the people in the room because yesterday I spoke with the Eda and I saidis that true are there these tax credits which by the way amount to 67.5 million of the operating costs for the first 10 years virtually half of the operating cost of this Museum here's what the Eda wrote to me the santra pomad do project has not been approved for any tax incentives none none we are are sitting here tonight having this discussion wasting our time because the mayor has foisted on everybody in this room and in the city a project that is completely unfeasible financially is going to cost us a fortune and he lied to everybody we should not even be here right now because papao can't happen financially for the same reasons that the state pulled the funding because we cannot pay for it it's super expensive over 20 million a year to pay for it to operate it that's just to operate it and then it's going to be a quarter of a billion to pay for this tax abatement and then fit it out to build it out ,000 a square foot so guys papao ain't happening the only question right now is whether you guys are going to do what the mayor is asking you to do and I've got 14 seconds 13 seconds and I had so much more I wanted to say but let me tell you folks do the right thing don't go with the mayor here you have your legacy will depend on it you'll feel a lot better if you vote this down thank you vote no motion motion motion motion okay all right motion thank you so we can move on I have to ask this is still a public hearing on this ordinance is any other member of the public wishing to be heard motion second motion to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24- 086 was made by council president wman seconded by council person CLE on the motion to close a public hearing on city ordinance 24- 086 council person Ridley I council person priner Hi council person Bano council person s i council person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person Dees council person Rivera I and council president wman I motion carries 90 to close the public hearing on city ordinance 24-h 086 as discussed at the caucus I believe we have a motion to amend ordinance 24- 086 with regards to the definition on page two second paragraph from the bottom on page 12 last paragraph on page 53 first paragraph on page 63 section 2.11 page 92 second paragraph from the bottom and page page 96 paragraph 7 it should all read Museum comma Gallery comma educational comma recreational or other cultural arts space second wa okay Corporation Council just need to know if this is a substantial change to the ordinance no just give me one second I'm sorry got I get you on camera than I'm also a camera operator too so no it's not it's not okay with that being said do I have a motion to amend city ordinance 24-0 86 with the just the definition motion motion made by council person Cay may I have a second second second by council president wman on the motion to amend ordinance 24- 0686 excuse me council person Ridley I council person Prince AR I council person Bano no to amend no okay council person CLE I council person Solomon hi council person Gilmore no council person Dees hi council person Rivera hi and council president w bman hi motion to amend ordinance 24- 086 is approved 72 with council members bajano and Gilmore voting no final cons hold on I have I have a few questions um for the ba because every time I read about this this new stuff constantly keep coming up so John if you could just answer just some yes or no questions um as it relates to the $ 67.5 million that was a marked for the buildout can we use set funds for operating budget did we get approval from the entity in which designated the funds to do so first I just want to clarify for the record tonight that we're voting on a 30-year tax abatement for a cultural recreational space in the heart of Journal Square 100,000 square ft John I know what we're voting if you can answer the questions they haven't been approved yet because they haven't applied I'm talking to John if you can answer the questions just yes or no it's not that hard just answer yes or no they need to be get the people of Jersey City should be given the full picture okay it should be given a full picture we should have more dialogue rushing it through don't start talking about transparency at one breath and not talking about it in another ask for a yes or no question can't ask for a yes or no question when you want people to understand the totality of the picture no that John are you gonna answer the question just yes or no answer he's not goingon to answer the way he's not answering you don't want to answer that John all right next question not gonna answer questions on your terms pleas let them speak so we can hear it all yeah John okay yeah answer the question can we just vote motion to I have questions can't tell me I can't ask question no I can ask him now you don't dictate when questions can be asked okay ask the question but you're telling him not to do yes or no only that's not fair please answer question explain okay I have no problem with you asking questions now you want somebody explain when the rest explanations you was muff you ain't say anything I'm listening to them I know you listening you right you listening John can you answer the question please John to be doing this come on okay now come on Gilmore but I have the attention of the audience audience please keep it down you see the council people is in confrontation here let them have their moment okay just like you have yours now councilman gilboy asked the question he asked the question to the ba all right now it is up to the ba to give the answer the way he choose to give an answer for you to tell a person to say yes or no you're restricting the way they should answer you just like when somebody asks you a question all right they have a right to answer it the best way way that they can answer it for their comprehension oh I'll I'll accept that I'll accept that let him answer his question okay you don't have to agree but this is the way it is let him answer his question all right that's what we want now canman Gilmore you can ask your question no goad John you can answer how you please to answer question he has to you can't say answer it this way that's all I asked for no hold on he's answering the question on you don't have to agree how he answer it but he answering the question all right okay we we got that's the way it is got no no Tina let him answer a question like when somebody asks you a question answer it now go ahead John answer his question thank you council president so the tax credits that we're talking about is an njeda project that is they wrote These tax credits with a project like this in mind and we've had multiple conversations with the state regarding to uh that there's two tranches of money that needs to get this project done uh Capital stack to actually built it out we had the padside building now we have a new uh project here and also operating costs we talked to them about both aspects of that project it's transferred from one uh facility to another But ultimately we qualify for those tax credits and there's an application process in which we'll make a pitch for the funding sources that we need to allocate towards this project so hold on let them finish finish not gonna stand for let them finish when somebody's answering the question no one sh when you were speaking so have the same respect for the administration this is like me speaking please again again you you g to keep shouting you'll be removed so John is it is it fair to say that we have no definitive answers as it relates to these tax credits being used for operations we could Joe Bowman's here he's helped us with the application but the the premise is the tax credits are used for a project of this size and as I just stated before I was rudely interrupted is there's an application process to make that pitch that's okay all right now sorry I think it Joe can you Joe come council members how are you doing um let me try and clear this up so there is a tax credit program that we squarely fit under our project fits squarely under our project was one of many that were they had in mind when they drafted the legislation the next step in that process is to prepare regulations and then there's an application process we will have an opportunity to comment on the regulations which I'm told are coming out any day I've heard that for a while I expect them soon and we will make sure that the regulations also contemplate the project so at this point in time the law has written we fit squarely with under and we intend to use use that statute the regulations should come any day and then the application will follow that and we'll submit but we do have a high degree of confidence that we will sub submit and be successful because we squarely fit and we score very high there's a bunch of criteria and as you might expect Jersey City squares uh scores very high um and so I think I've said this before and I will repeat some of this we have to think of this as a multi-step process and this is not that different than what Jersey city has undertaken in all of its Visionary projects I've been blessed to be part of at least three of these with you I've seen what you can do when you have these extraordinary visions and you pull together and you make it happen you did that at Bayfront but you took Bayfront that was a contaminated property and now you're putting a mix jues foral hasing that was a huge Vision you did that with Lowe's incredibly complex also involving tax credit project took us many years it's under construction we're doing that with the embankment a Visionary project this is just like that you take steps you have a vision and the vision is at the end of the day as Anna described here very well a an cultural institution with tentacles agreements with the library agreements with the Board of Education agreements with the special improvement district agreements with the artists and connected to the to to the city that's the vision tonight what we're voting on is step one step one is the white box do you believe that the tax incentives you're giving this developer are enough uh the benefit for those tax incentives the white box the affordable housing payments is that worth the benefit you're giving them that's the question today you're also as a part of that question putting yourselves in a position to realize the Padu Vision but we're going to take a lot of steps to get there there's a lot of t uh stakeholders there's a lot of laws there's a lot of funding to all pull together we have a path but we're going to do it uh slowly methodically carefully thoughtfully every step of the way so right now today is do we want the white box and the opportunity to make that all happen or not that's the ant okay question can I Sor specific to the tax credit program that we're asking please let him talk I just let him talk just very te can the legislature amend this program at any point going forward or of course yes thank you okay thank you amend it yes the next question um do we have an estimate of the buildout of approximately how much it would cost because I know um John said we should have something in uh writing he was going to look into that so do we have an estimate of what the build out of the white box will I think we have estimates of what we've done in similar projects in Jersey City which John can share with you but that number requires us to design the buildout and so we're going to come to that over over time along with all the other things all the boxes we have to check so there's no confusion that this is a complicated process that we're going to be careful every step of the way and figuring out this number rather than sort of shooting from the hip and giving you a number that we can't live by let us design the project come back with a number and then we'll describe how we're going to finance it and that's going to be how this will work all the for the next year for sure uh where we're we're working with the various stakeholders the various parties will be back for the special improvement district for example there'll be agreements with the library for example there'll be agreements with the Board of Education these are all things that are going to come together over time um and if they don't we have this spectacular piece of real estate that as one speaker said will be worth only will'll get become more valuable over time um that you can use for but but right now the path is to poao and this is the first step to get us there so we don't have as theate let them answer let them answer guys we don't have a estimate right John let them answer have an exact number okay see let them answer all right what we do have is we have four years of institutional knowledge built into this project right we understand the needs of what the space would look like if it's a museum we understand what the old project had versus what the new project would need we understand what the Kushner k group is going to provide us from a a white box and electrical and you know HVAC they already have elevators this the creating space would be underneath the building that everyone keeps talking about as a basement you know so these these concepts are already put into place so we we understand what we're getting from the white box we understand what we may need to build out I can't tell you how much the lighting is going to cost today but what I can tell you is that we've had numerous projects throughout the last few years uh with regards to uh building senior centers deescalation centers uh various different types of buildings that don't have these particular line items but we're comfortable that we've been through this exercise numerous times and we know how to cost save all right so we don't have an answer we don't we don't know a price and we don't have an estimate all right next question is there a licensing fee for the Poma do Center to come to Jersey City to operate and if so what is that fee or we don't know the fee what is the estimate of the fee no so I think in the in the spreadsheet that you've seen the multi-year spreadsheet it has a line under are we voting on that today just say that we've talked about before there's a line item I don't know off the top of my head but there's a line item in there what we estimate the fee would be so there is a fee there is it's in the chart you have yes all right um I just want to say in light of all this uncertainty we don't we almost don't know anything about this project with the exception of who wants this thing ramm down out through and I'm just I'm just extremely perplexed as to who things get rushed to for and who have to we now for me this is not necessarily a conversation of if we want the Arts or we don't want it's a matter of is it financially responsible and does the number make sense and you guys have failed to provide a detailed financial analysis for us to consider can we discuss I'm talking I'm talking nobody else off the mayor sat here for two hours you ain't say nothing stop cutting me off stop cutting me off not cutting you off now what when can I talk wa wait wait when I I got was saying let let let let councilman Gilmore finish then you have your turn to talk there no need for nobody to interject let everyone talk so everyone could be heard I'm that is Fair we have disagree but let him speak we have no comprehensive financial statement for us to make a confident decision again this may very well be worth it but just show us the numbers have us vote with a level of confidence that you've divulged all of the financial information and again I'm not saying that the project is not going to work I'm just saying I need a enough financial information to make the proper decisions for the taxpayers of Jersey City that's all I'm saying coun s go ahead councilman s Joe Joe councilman s have if you have something you want to say you can say suggest to the to the councilman so um there is no way a project like this shows up on day one in a in a box all tied up in B like we would like it to happen it just doesn't happen that way the mayor told a great story he talked about 1987 when mayor sharp James and Governor kanaine got together and they said we're gonna build a New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the state of New Jersey appropriated $22 million to start buying land in nework that's all they knew at that point they didn't know how much was going to cost they didn't know whether it would succeeded a lot of skepticism I checked to see what that $22 million we wor today it's about 55 million bucks it's almost the same thing what we're doing today which is we're taking a first step not knowing all the information but with a path that we think makes sense and we're investing in real estate and we're buying the same way in Newark with mayor sharp James and Governor Kan deciding to start buying land before they knew they would actually ultimately have a project same thing you you can't you it be wonderful if we had a fully baked project day one it just doesn't work like that so you take thoughtful careful incremental steps trying to be risk adverse every step of the way so that's why in this case we're giving a bment for a white box and then we'll have to prove out every next step to you to the agency to everybody to the mayor the Eda we're gonna have to prove every step that it makes sense each step until we get to the Finish Line okay councilman go ahead I appreciate that and I also I don't appreciate how you and councilman Bano just dominate the entire conversation and don't let your fellow Council colleagues speak okay I'm not trying to cut you off I do want questions answered and in parliamentary procedure okay I want to get back to the heart of what we're actually voting on tonight okay what are we voting on tonight what is the question at hand for the council tonight you're being asked to adopt a ordinance that would Grant a 30-year tax payment to K for a two-phase project the decision you make when you make that uh take that vote is whether you believe the benefits associated with this project are so great that you think the payment is worth giving so the benefits include um 100,000 square foot admittedly 85,000 indoor 15,000 elevated outdoor um some of the spaces in the basement which is where we want it that's the white box on top of that there is contributions to affordable housing there's a p agreement um and then housing General if you've read as someone referenced our uh presidential candidates we need more housing that's how we drive prices down by building more so there is arguably a significant benefit to building more housing because supply and demand dictates that the more Supply the the lower the prices should become now does K need this abatement to build or do they currently have approvals and a plan already and they're going to build anyway so the the uh can you clarify for the people so in the abatement law we talk about it as influencing the locational decisions of the probable documents So currently they don't not need that abatement but if we want to influence the decision of this cultural space they do need it and what I'm saying what I mean by that is our financial adviser looked at the numbers and said the price to provide this white box um requires that they get a payment to help offset the costs associated with that so the answer is yes and that was validated by our financial adviser okay and if we vote for this tonight and let's say everyone here in this room that spoke out against this project is correct what are we left with as a city like let's say the financial projections don't pan out let's say the Poma do okay is Pompa done and financial gravity takes hold and like we can't find the funding to do the outfitting for the building and you know the donors don't come and the economy takes a nose dive what does the city get after tonight what yeah so the city will own this 100,000 square ft white box in the heart of General square at the foot of the path in perpetuity long after the abatement is done 30 years is a long time but in perpetuity you own that space have we ever done this sort of arrangement anywhere else in the city and can you be specific I think John you could do it better than I can I think Andre L counc but uh most recent uh the East District that we're building out um on uh downtown here uh that that was part of it we've negotiated some schools uh the boys and girls club that was actually done by this developer themselves and um several other projects for loft space and art art artist uh um units and and other projects that they deliver it basically uh a white box I mean it's the term that they use but it literally is um an already constructed facility that we we literally put the finishes on so um the building's coming regardless they have the pre-approvals and it's up to the council tonight if they want to have an investment in that property uh for public use whether it be the pompo or another public use but we will own it um entirely 100% of the 100,000 square feet okay I I'm going to yield back to the chair and also I do want to apologize to councilman Gilmore uh for for the passion you know that passionate exchange between us I respect you as a colleague I consider you a friend and no matter where we end up on this side um you'll always be that for me okay thank you that's the way to do it all right uh they should apologize yeah it got air he's my brother even though we get heat a little bit apologize y uh counc counc president I forgot an important one for the white box we're actually opening a library tomorrow uh that was white box from the white box we did a library Mr Balman um Rich do you really need to talk to him we can move on Tina come on Tina Tina come on now I know you passionate about it but let us respect one another okay let's do that yeah I just want to say one thing real quick Mr Balman you were at Saturday's meeting for four hours like I was 54 people got up and asked questions tonight people got up and talked still don't know it gotta be honest I presenting a project which the people want information want to know there's too many unknowns and this is wrong uh this should have been held off there should have been more meetings there should have been meetings in each district of the city and we should have had full explanation of everything that's going on and nobody knows nothing you're saying oh this is going to happen this is going to happen probably it's not going to happen okay you know all right Sean Sean move on the only thing I would say to that is we proved the concept when we did Lowe's people didn't think it would happen that's true it's happening was advocate for loads Rich oh I hear what you're saying well years and it's still it's been sitting there for years and nothing's been done if I've not learned anything in four years representing Jersey City you're resilient you're Visionary and you don't give up and you closed the alleyway ticked off a lot of people not me personally and personally okay thank you Joe appreciate it go ahead Sean all right council members anyone else have any questions before I ask for the vote okay all right council members we can have everybody's attention I greatly appreciate it on ordinance 24- 086 as amended council person Ridley so this is definitely um a contentious item right we all know that we have people here who are for it who are against it I've had residents in my w come up here some for some against um there's like we're obviously split I think that um Miss L said it best right she said does she want this uh cultural institution so her kids and grandkids can uh utilize it yes I think we all do is she also want affordable housing yes I think that's what we all do and she was saying we need to find a common ground so I think that um that is was kind of my sentiment and that's what I'm trying to figure out is what is the best way to do that right we have to find a common ground because we can't say that we are going to uh bring this institution in and I don't really I know some people might not want it some people might be dead set against it but I think what people are saying more than we don't want the museum is that we want you to give us the services that we need like it's not really about the museum or not the museum it is we need this also we need affordable housing we need Recreation we need and we feel like it's being um looked over for other things that weren't necessarily asked for at least that's my take on uh what's being said and I think that's important and I think that shouldn't be lost and I think that we do have to do a better job of those other things um I realize this is a valuable asset real estate wise which it is I'm a real estate agent I can see that um I do want to clear up the thing about the schools because the council we did vote and we did an ordinance um sponsored by councilwoman priner where we uh make sure that the schools are getting their fair share so I don't want anybody to think that that's not happening that is happening we took care of that a couple years ago um also pathside building I think that we have that asset and we should uh liquidize that asset and we should sell it and take that money to either use towards this or use towards something else some council members may want to do something else with that that just my opinion um what else was there also back to the affordable housing I know not everybody watches the caucus but at the caucus that did come up we are getting 1.9 million towards affordable housing trust fund and um during the caucus I talked about making sure that we know where that money is going because there's this feeling that money goes into that fund and then we never build anything so um I am making that commitment tonight to make sure that by that next meeting we have an answer on whether or not we can dictate where that money goes so my push is for us to dictate where that 1.9 goes because I think people need to feel and know that yes this is a museum and we're we're pushing for the museum but what are we pushing for for the rest of the city and for our residents so that's what's important to me so I'm making that commitment publicly on record to have an answer for that by the time we get back here um I want to make sure I covered everything that I had to say I think those are the most important points that I had so I won't belabor the point I am going to vote Yes with the commitment to make sure that I'm working with the administration to make that affordable housing 1.9 million a real thing that is designated for something specific that we could do today council person priner okay okay so there there's been a lot that's been said tonight for against on the fence a lot was said last week and then there's a lot that has been part of this conversation over the time that we have been working on this project first with the pathside now with this new um I don't want to say opportunity because that's not quite the right word but with this new iteration of a plan which would give us an asset in Journal Square I do think that the tax abatement versus what we're getting in Journal Square when you're looking at the way the tax abatements are structured is actually over time will end up panning out in the best interest of the city because it is an asset and we do not have a number of those um I also know too that when it comes to some of these reports and studies about economic drivers in the Arts that information does bear out we had a report done with our division of cultural Affairs that showed how much money is spent in this in our city when when the people come to attend cultural performances and we actually outpaced the race of the state for that so to say that is not an economic driver is is not exactly true every report that you read about this does bear that out um again this is to to other points that have been made tonight this is a multi-step project you cannot look at one piece of it in isolation and in a styo but we do have to look at the bigger broader plan here alog together um I think that the other piece of this is that when you listen to the conversation and I agree with councilwoman here our residents are asking a lot for us they're asking for a lot of different things but these things do not have to be mutually exclusive when it comes to Arts programming especially programming it there is a recreation component to it there is a steam and stem component to it and these things I also don't want to get lost here when we're talking about what this is going to look like for us now and what it's going to look like in the future um I'm going to go ahead and vote Yes for the tax abatement knowing that there is going to be continued conversation further on down the line with the project Al together come on be quiet guys you could disagree all right okay next council person Bano look there are too many unknowns here if the city was sincere about doing this project they should have focused on getting the information out to the people sad day's meeting the people were very vocal and tonight the people were vocal and I'm going to tell you uh people are not going to forget I vote no see there's no problem with that just when the council members are talking let's just respect them like they respected each and every one of you when you came up and spoke okay council person SLE you're not on counc all right friends Jersey cians lend me your ears I'm not here to defend the pompo okay I'm here to discuss the choice that's at hand I was born and raised in Jersey City the son of immigrants yeah you can roll your eyes it's okay this is my story and I'm here to tell it okay um son of immigrants I never really went to an art museum and the people here today um I didn't get to go until I was an adult and that was to take a girl out on a date and I really didn't understand the utility of art museums okay so if you ask me as a business person whether or not they have utility I'd probably say no I'd look at the the math every Museum or every Art Center that you see they need support from the community and for indigenous people when you go into a museum it's like looking at your family stolen artifacts okay so I I have very conflicted as to what to do about this um never really traveled you know my family didn't let me out when I was growing up cuz it wasn't safe um and I went to the public school system here in Jersey City um so let's just say there was a lot of things that this city needed um that we didn't get and tax abatements are dirty word right tax abatement they were used to plug a lot of budget holes in the past they were used as um a way at the end of the year to essentially you know fill those holes and it was abused and the schools didn't get their proper fair share and that's why if you I mean it's part of the reason why the schools weren't fully funded when I was growing up because there were so many tax abatements and they just gave them tax abatements to Spur development to um fill those budget holes and it what happens with the tax abatement is the payment goes directly to the city right under typical tax scheme when you pay your taxes a third of it goes to the county a third will go to the city and a third goes to the school so when you have a tax abatement the city is getting the full payment that's why it's payment in Li of taxes the traditional taxes and it's it's a tool to Spur Development Across the city for blighted areas or get investment um and some people will say that it's abused and that the schools obviously didn't get their fair share so it also can be used to Spur affordable housing okay it could supersize the affordable housing within a project so that that is the other tool they're they're neither good nor bad but they have to be used appropriately um for the right reasons and for the people ultimately so I just I just want everyone to Think Through the way this tax abatement is okay this tax abatement whether it goes through or doesn't go through this building is going to be built the developer doesn't need it to build it in the past this is true we just heard from Joe Balman the bond Council they don't need this tax abatement this tax abatement what we're voting on today is for a white box okay for 100,000 square ft of space now for those that came out against this you would have a lot in common with councilman Steve FIP because he voted against the purchase of the parking enforcement building back in 2009 and just a month ago we cut the ribbon on a new Senior Center a new Veterans Affairs office immigrant Affairs office uh hydroponic Center the Wii project where we have food for the food insecure and award DNC satellite space okay the I'm sure if you ask councilman Philip if he would ever use that space for that he'd say no we don't know what we're going to use this white box for let's say all of you here today are correct and it doesn't work out we still will own that space and yes we are making a generational Choice here today it's like planting a tree and not sitting in a shade because we don't know future councils what they'll need what the city will need if we need it for a staging site if we can convert it to affordable housing I agree with all of you today that we should be investing in our local population I think that we should be incubating entrepreneurs and artists so that we can have the next van go or Bill Gates right here in Jersey City um and so we have that pathside building and you know could use it for a school we are a growing city we don't know when we're going to what we're going to anticipate um down the line now Nimbus dance was essentially given the opportun given the opportunity because a developer was told you don't have to build affordable housing so we're going to build you art center and in lie of that we're not going to build affordable housing so my question is does nimbus Dance Center deserve not to be there or do they serve the local kids in Jersey City and they're teaching them how to dance okay I this is true these are tradeoffs that are being made Bayfront $180 million bonded on a old chemical site okay and every even affordable housing has a cost because we end end up bonding for it the city's going to have to pay pay it back and guess what we're only getting only 35% affordable housing but that's the most it's the most you could ever hear about in the community the biggest gentrification accelerator is higher taxes and let's see higher the higher taxes and um lack of Supply in housing which is why Camala Harris said she wants to build 5 million more homes because we have growing country and not enough units to fit people into so yeah I I am G to say yes because no but we okay let let him okay let him finish listen guys let him finish Sean keep my Michel let him let him finish okay you could disagree but let him finish aon's too they they didn't approve it the center Pompa do project has not been approved for any tax incentives from the NJ Eda hold on okay the museum could be eligible could be eligible for incentives under our Cultural Arts and Facilities program but applications for the program have not yet been opened as with all tax incentive programs applications would have to be approved by our board that's true but the the granted s okay I sit behind the curtain and I'm trying to give you guys the transparency that you're asking for this grant itself was done with the pompo in mind this and one other project in New Jersey so that that the the reason why they have not been approved is because they have not filed for it and it's like saying I never lost a football game well I never played a football game I went to McNair and like they didn't have a football team so they didn't apply for it and that's why they haven't been approved but if they apply for it they might get approved but all I know is after today we're going to have a white box okay and we could do with it what we please future councils could do with it what they please and with that I vote I before I go on to the next Council I mean can we just be respectful and listen we spent hours listening to you the least you can do is listen to your Council thank you council person Solomon sure um first just as always thank every resident who came out and spoke to us took the time out of their days to try to fight for a better City uh it was a for me personally uh have people that I consider very close friends who spoke both in favor and against the project and know many many people um who I deeply respect who have been really fighting and pushing for this project to move forward um and with that said to me this is a pretty clear no vote um and I want to explain why um first I hear uh my colleagues and and the citizens arguments about this white box and this is a public space and this can be a great asset in Journal Square and I simply say to folks with that said there's no need to for us to rush into this right if we need a public space in Journal Square there are dozens of building going up in the Square dozens of opportunities for us to do that um this this is all going to in the second tower that isn't going to be built for another couple of years right if if we are looking for a public space in the Square we should take our time we should plan it thoughtfully we should think about if is it a youth center is it a school right is it a a Multicultural Center we have so many different options we should not rush into it sure could it become something great in the future of course but there's no need for us to rush into it we were told we have to do this quickly because we have this is our only opportunity for pomad do this is first tower has to be built to the second tower is going to be based on the first Tower and so that's why we're rushing into this that's why we're doing this so quickly right and that's why we are ultimately purely on the abatement alone spending over a hundred million doar of City money on this one thing that none of us can even say what it's going to be if it's just a white box that's a mistake that's not how we should be governing if that's what we're doing we should be thoughtful due diligent and take our time second piece is the Pompa right I very much respect again the comments made here about uh uh so many wonderful things that could bring and I feel very simply in an Ideal World we would have the public and philanthropic funds to deliver a worldclass museum accessible to all right I respect that I respect why people are up here asking for that but simply put you spend a little bit of time in these numbers and we do not have the public and philanthropic funds to pay for the papao we don't have it it's smoking mirrors they don't exist right we have an Eda tax credit that's 67 million which we may or may not get the state fund was pulled because of political retaliation are you telling me they're not going to retaliate now on this tax credit right we literally are saying the governor retaliated and pulled the millions of dollars in funding and he's not going to do that with the next phase I you know like I've seen New Jersey politics work so then you think of that think about all the other assumptions that are going involved into funding the Papu right we have the buildout we don't know how much that's going to cost we don't know how it's going to be funded right we have all of the operating expenses that are projected we don't know what that's going to look like by year 10 even if we do get the state tax credit we have to put in roughly $20 million annually to fund the museum to a combination of philanthropic sources grant funding and city funding right none of that have we figured out and I respect those with the optimism to think about well maybe we can do it and maybe we can figure it out but let me just say this this project was first proposed three years ago we're in a worst place three years later right like if we're taking this optimate div division that we're going to find a way well think about all the things that have gone wrong in the last three years think about the millions we spent on Consultants think about what happened to the pide building think about what just happened with the governor and pulling the funds so after all of those experiences we're going to say okay now it's just going to work out and there's too much at stake right it's not just the white box we continue mov forward we continue spending millions of taxpayers money on a and a possibility that is less and less likely every single day and there are extraordinary pressing needs that the city faces externally pressing needs that yes an investment in the Arts could deliver but an investment in our youth could deliver such a similar result to the long-term benefits of the city right if we were to put these hundreds of millions of dollars into our youth think about the ultimate long-term benefits to our city from that right so ultimately again I respected why the proposal came back in 2021 I respect so many who are fighting for it today but simply put it as the wrong thing for a city to do and I vote no before we move any further I see that we had presence of quite a few officers but we didn't call for these officers I I I didn't what I did not call for these officers do you under let would you let me do my job please okay I did not call for these officers all right that's one thing I don't believe in is just trying to have officers around because even though people get passionate but we were always able to respect one one another and calm down all right so I just want that on the record because they'll go out here and say she called no I did not I don't know who called for them okay I don't know who but it was not me and it was no one up in this Council because we believe that we can handle it we believe the residents of the city of Jersey City are respect ful we get passionate at times but we do respect one another all right Sean okay need him okay council person Gilmore um yeah first I I just want to apologize for my Outburst I know my mentees my kids is watching I just got a text I can't carry on like that um so John I apologize John um youf my Council colleague I apologize I love you bro it's all good um so for me um I'm looking at the the totality of this I'm looking at upwards of 70% of the people not for it have a community meeting I'm looking online they're not for it I'm looking in the council chambers today again the majority of the people are not for it and it's because of sever veral different reasons um I do want to commend everybody that came out and spoke I wholeheartedly believe that you know it's the Cornerstone of our democracy for everyone to articulate their views whether they differ from popular opinion or not um now down to the business um how do we get here K said that they were going to put chevels in a ground in September because they finances dictated that that's what should transpire however we have seen no documents that speak to them having a fund in secured and the chevels need to go on the ground in September two is it worth having a 100,000 square feet in general square at the price in which we're going to pay this is the same general square that sold the municipal parking to the um from the municipal court so if we're talking about 100,000 feet being so expensive and lucrative and general Square we've had the opportunity to obtain over 100,000 square feet and assets we've already had that we've sold off two I have no faith in the city managing any property why do you say that councilman Gilmore they have properties down in w f that they don't even cut the grass they don't clean it it's not secure it's a health hazard so I have zero faith in the city being a landlord of a house let alone 100,000 square foot empty space third someone made the reference to them doing this before and they cited the example of the boys club I love the Boys and Girls Club but I'll remind you this is the same Boys and Girls Club that kids from the southide can no longer go to this is the same Boys and Girls Club that send their staff to the schools because they don't want you people down here my next point is and I know Camala Harris said that she want to expand affordable housing but I would imagine that I'll soon to be Madam president was talking about an inclusive affordable housing not affordable housing built other places if they were really invested in the building affordable units for Jersey City and in Jersey City they will put said affordable housing inside those two towers that they're putting up there we can't allow them to constantly segregate the have from the Have Nots why can't I occupy a a a one bet room or Studio because I don't have that much in this area in general Square no we'll donate 1.9 to the affordable housing trust fund I don't know when that might be built I might be long G before it's built so for me it's just so much uncertainty with this project I can't get any funding from any financial institutions with no numers let along no estimates so you're asking me as a council person to vote in good faith and I have to be completely honest this is Administration that I don't trust sitting on a council and being a community active I just have zero trust in this Administration doing the right thing and history have shown me that that's a good assessment and a good point for me to stand on so I only have one no vote but if I had two or three I would cast all of them on this project right here because it just doesn't bit I mean it just doesn't benefit the totality of Jersey City and again I'm not against Art I'm not even against the Padu Center I would really love to see if krg and the Padu Center can work out a deal when they own and the taxpayers don't have to pay for it right so again this it's just so much uncertainty man and I just hope like when when when people when you're passionate about this stuff you just let your voice be heard via voting because this is the only way you can really effectively make change is you get in that booth and you cash your vote so with that I vote no two times council person the thank you for everyone who came out to speak tonight and thank you for those who came out on Saturday to speak um and have been a part of this for a while I am going to be voting yes on this project during my time here we have worked with developers on things for the Youth seniors uh people with different uh abilities we're always asking for community givebacks recreational space and this is what we're getting we may not always like every aspect of the deal but this is what we have done and we are getting community space in the heart of Jersey City property that we were never going to be able to be able to afford or look at again and I believe that it really will transform that area and drive economic growth and the whole landscape will be different I was very much touched by a lot of you who talked about the local Arts because that is an an something that's very sensitive to me and the students that I'm with I'd like to continue working with the city and the Law Department to guarantee board representation in this future Center so our local artists are on the board and can work on collaborative services and to ensure that Jersey City and our culture and history are excuse me fully ingrained and if you do look at their other worldwide sites they are reflective of the communities that they are in and you have the Pablo picassos next to the Pablos of their neighborhoods and I think that that is what we need and we haven't envisioned it yet same the way that people didn't Envision what Liberty Science Center was going to be we are not just bringing worldwide art here but we're connecting our local artists to the world and I don't think that we quite understand what that can transcend into yet um I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything here again just specifying that we need board representation from our local artist I will work to ensure that and make sure it's reflective of our community thank you okay council person Rivera I vote I and council president Waterman well first of all I would like to thank everyone for coming I know sometime we get passionate about certain subjects and I get it and I do understand it um what we're voting on is a tax abatement for a box really we hope that it will be the Pompa do but right now we really don't know there's discussions we don't know um and to me that is important because when you understand real estate real estate has great value and for us to have value on Journal Square it's really important now if the Poma do don't materialize because we don't know because it's really still talk going on um I put in there a wear ass clause that it could be a recreation center because for me that that's important because a city that size we don't have a rec center for these kids now hopefully the papao will come I hope so for the Arts because I know um they put a lot in this city but for me the space is what's important you can't you can't buy real estate on Journal Square if we can get that now could you imagine what it the value will be inless three years from now to me that's very important I know people got you know they had the pros and cons I I listened and one thing I I listened to that no one really talked about the tax abatement it was about two or three people that came up and really talked about the tax abatement but a lot of people really is against the papao they don't want them coming here but when you look at NJ PAC you look at the credential Center what that has done that had brought tourism into Nork and Jersey City need tourism we concerned about taxes we're trying to figure out other ways that tourism can come into help taxes you talked about the schools the schools didn't get any money from the tax abatement um councilwoman Prince she wrote that Resident that the schools would at least get 30% plus um from the tax abatements people said we in a shape the schools in the shape they're in because there was no tax abatement before when I took office I I did research and found out the reason why is because at the time the states have control over the school and so the state was supposed to fund the schools 100% but that did not happen and they gave it back so when we heard the people talking about that what we did we wrote an ordinance so the school can get what it needs so every time we try to do what people want us to do and when we don't do what you think we should do you say we're not good we don't know what we doing but I can tell you one thing being in this city you have to try to compromise and try to get the people the amenities that they need and we have to partner with developers to get it done you know governor government don't have all the money we must partner with them I'll be glad when they come a day when we can sit down and stop bashing one another whether it's developer or whether it's government or whether it's the residents because we really all do live here live here and so we have to figure out a way how we can all get along and start giving Georgia city exactly what it needs so you know how I'm going to vote just by my opening statement you do know that because I am really for the open space because I think it's really valuable so with that I vote I okay city ordinance 24- 086 as amended is adopted 63 with council members bajano Solomon and Gilmore voting no okay before we get on to our public speaking portion we do have a public hearing on the 20242 2 Westside Avenue special improvement district assessment role and budget this is a public hearing on that budget and assessment role any member of the public wishing to be heard please come up to the podium and state your name for the record motion second motion to close the public hearing on the 2024 2025 Westside Avenue special Improvement assessment role and budget was made by council person Riva seconded by council person CLE on the motion to close the public hearing council person Ridley she stepped away okay council person priner Hi council person Bano council person Cai I council person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person Dees you stepped away too yes council person Rivera hi and council president wman Hi motion carries 70 to close the public hearing with council members Ridley and the g absent okay members of the public and everybody watching at home we're going now to our public hearing I will be calling the number in the first name of the individual so please pay close attention to your agenda so let me get the camera prepared and if we can just exit quietly I greatly appreciate it with that being said our first Speaker 5.1 lever nothing else and what I go through in this city with young people and we need more space for them I remember as a young girl living in lafette section of Jersey City on Maple and howay we had the girls and boys people don't know that's where it started on as and Pacific Avenue and was beautiful when I came up in that area and once we got sold out and went downtown it went backwards as far as I'm concerned we didn't have to pay for nothing I run a nonprofit with summer camp and after school stuff I try to do my camp this year had about 75 people I mentioned before cuz people come to me and say they can't afford the girls and boys for their $250 $300 and things like that they sold the building and if da da but I'm saying tonight is a good example of what we need to do in our community all right this man want to do this tax abatement but make it work for the community on both sides that people got enough money what I do my programs and November I be getting I don't get no grant money from this city I've been doing what I've been doing for 30 years I get developers like him to help me out get back to the city get back to these kids get back to these families we got so much homeless going on this Jersey City it's a disgrace that op would be beautiful and and I'm not against it but what I am against if we don't make this man do affordable hous we got two big buildings over there in mgy Gard if he do nothing but renovate them they got enough money do you want that you want to do this and you going to make all this money off us for 30 years you ain't paying taxes make sure some people got somewhere to live that's what we need we got kids not getting educated in this city with that curs of writing and all that we going backwards not forward and then and then that's like the councilman had the thing about the no hmde we got to do that with no crime too I would love for him to do another with no crime in our city y little kids getting beat up and busted up in the head this and that please let's think about working together keep up the good with all y God bless you you our next speaker 5.2 Tina well you can go you did a good job for 72 hours go yeah guys um yeah I'm just going to keep being in the community just voting and voting and letting people know who we need to vote for because some of Y is not right for our community Jersey City is looking good that's all yall worri about because you know what y'all don't live in war F education of Gore live in war F Mr n I'm so surprised because we don't have none of that good stuff in our community that art stuff we do it we have art um um a art gallery just open up next door to you right in the community but they wouldn't know that because they not in the community they only go with the may say so hey I guess yall GNA do everything with the mayor say I just want to say justice for Drew Justice for Drew I want to say thank um God for the 72h hour with no guns and no shooting none of y'all did it it was um Jerry Walker Sean Bruce Pastor education of Gore I just want to thank God for them being in the community because that's what it's about it's about being in the community and changing ain't about the money it's not about all these big um developments coming in our community it's about changing on my block we did about 450 guys of them doing different applications about partments they come inside of Jerry Walker 150 Pacific I work there every day to help out the community I don't help out myself and my organization but I help out others that's what y'all supposed to be doing to help out others another thing y'all give other people's spaces and all this other stuff it's organizations that still I'm still doing it out my car and my house I am still doing my organization out my car and my house I'm running back and forth to the hospital bringing I'm just so upset with y'all I'm really am because I know all of y'all I know all of y'all Salomon I'm I got you for calling me thank you education Gilmore all the time he's still looking y'all like I'm disappoint in y'all like for real because like they said we come together we supposed to be friends and helping each other that's not true y'all help who y'all want to help and that's what we need to see who y'all do help and who yall don't help I'm in war F it's no way I still should be going in my car and in my house none of y'all call me only a couple people called me to have an idea to see what they can do because they see what I'm doing but nobody else what y'all do y'all go back in your fancy house and y Fancy cars and do whatever y'all have to do y'all come back in these Mee and hold your heads down and don't even pay us no attention and here exactly what we got to say anyway so I don't even know why we keep coming to these meeting I'll be glad when next year come so we can get these new people in here so they can do new things in our community bye Dina Tina Tina Tina make sure you see Sierra okay okay cause I did had appointment with you our next speaker 5.3 Edward just remember tonight was very invigorating like I am more than displeased with more than one member of the council and how you vote in the end but it was just so invigorating because you know like I said I'm more than just displeased and like I really need to do something about changing like the makeup of this body like that's my only way out because I was born here in 84 and I'm still here I'll be 40 in November and um you know like the city is change for the worst to me you forgotten about most people who are black and brown the city's only built up on one side jail the rest of us the schools are failing there's less and less housing and it's less and it's harder for me to come before you in a consolatory tone because you have so much power just with this one vote tonight so much power with the Bayfront vote 35% affordability but many of us will not be able to afford it it's like I have to do more to get you out of here cuz what you do in the end is is it's more harmful than what I do here by being what you might call disorderly it's more harmful in the end your impact it is way more harmful so I'm way more displeased I'm more than just displeased with the leader of the city council with w a because I live in w a I've lived in Ward F I am so pleased with Frank I feel seen I have to say I don't feel seen by a by the atlarge People by the rest of you I don't feel seen that's important we don't feel seen we feel forgotten I have to find a way to show you how that feels right like your like your life doesn't matter unseen and unheard just continuously l so [Music] um our next speaker 5.4 Gina good evening at this point I don't even almost know what to say I'm so disappointed councilman boano councilman Solomon councilman Gilmore thank you so much for hearing us and representing your constituents which is what everybody is supposed to be doing originally I was going to come up here tonight and talk about uh items 10.10 and items 10.5 through 10.7 these are more resolutions adding armed security in places like City Hall um and adding more cameras all over the city for surveillance from a company that does AI surveillance which we know is a racist police practice the director was here on Monday and maybe one of you asked questions I've been coming to you guys for weeks now telling you about Millennium Communications and the fact that our police who are over policing already are now putting in these systems that we don't know how much AI surveillance is being used yet we don't know what the plan is and you have not asked them a single question this is how we end up with situations like marel Williams and if you don't know about it look it up I'm going to remind you again that Andrew Washington was murdered by Jersey City police over a year ago Justice for Drew and we still don't have we're we're wasting our time talking about how we can give tax abatements to the cushioners we still don't have Justice for an innocent man who when calling for help got shot dead in his own kitchen we still have from this mayor nothing but a oh it was a Justified shooting but he manages to show up here to ask you to give a a tax abatement for his friends and buddies who are going to bring him into the governor's house so you those of you who voted yes just helped make the kushers Richer so thank you so much for that our next speaker 5.5 Danielle I think she left 5.6 slow esca 5.7 Samuel 5.8 I think Tom left too thank you 5.9 Raymond left I I appreciate the help gu 5.10 Isaac hi there Isaac jenez word b resident I am a little surprised but obvious honestly not so much um that we would make a decision on behalf of the voters for something that's largely going to outlive anyone here's tenure um I know public private Partnerships are the uh tool of use my institution I work at Rucker University we do a lot of this and again it sounds like the council just doesn't um understand or maybe has bought in given many of us have sat on this body for 10 years um but many of us don't really understand what um sustainable communities what they need um tax abatements are not them and You' think that tax abatements and pilot payments have political weight to them given they're responsible for why the schools are so far behind on infrastructure and investment but um but this is a real teachable moment for the workingclass residents in Jersey City who now have a vote to point to when elections roll around next fall and it's it's really um easy for me as an organizer and as someone who had talks to hundreds of residents in the city about what workingclass people want and need and it's very clear um but it's clear some of us have been working on this Administration and and have been have been taking this ideology um to mean that they prioritize profits over people and influence over people and many of the people in the administration in fips administration went to a trip to France last year and we still don't know if the taxpayers footed the bill or not um but it seems like that investment paid off and the folks that don't even live here they just cleared out and they just took their hundreds of millions and went meanwhile we we have a council that seems to have no political Independence except for the few people that voted against this and I thank you for that because you do have political Independence and it's clear that that's what you need on this body and it's clear that we need to elect City Council Members with political Independence and so I'm I'm glad that in w b Joel Brooks is running again for w b and I'm glad in w d my comrade and friend Jake efro is running because we need real Working Class People people who organize with nurses especially when CarePoint is being is losing millions of dollars every day people who who listen to tenants and who fought for the right to counsel and put it up to this body that passed it unanimously we need Fighters we need people who do the work not people who are rubber stamps thank you thank you our next speaker 5.11 Olga she left 5.12 and 5.13 Charlene he's here good evening again well now that you approve the white acts maybe we can make if the pomad falls through we can perhaps partner with the zimmerly and get the Jersey City Art back that they took right all right so here's my concern now you have pathside building that sits there deteriorating and I would like to recommend the thought of something similar to the torpedo Factory that is in Arlington Virginia that was developed as an art center for local artists to have workspace and retail space for their art and on the ground floor it has a variety of eateries and food locations which I think would be an ideal situation for Journal Square giving the local population the opportunity to mingle with all the newcomers and that this would be a win-win for the city in a beautiful historic building I wouldn't like to see us sell it off as an asset and I know that there was discussion about okay now we can sell the pathside building well we know that if pathside gets sold it will most likely get knocked down because the land is much more valuable than the building is so I would really like to see or the council or the administration to put their thinking caps on and look very closely at at the torpedo Factory which is a huge hugely successful tourist as well as local magnet for that um for that community and it's perfectly centered right there in Journal Square which all of you have said you think tourism is something we need well that's a great idea to give our local artists the opport Unity to be highlighted in their own space and also the eedy as I said Journal Square does not have a lot of food choices and I know that even Emma's went closed their doors well before we can get to having a white tablecloth restaurant open up full-time let's put in other more unique we unique eateries that actually attract a lot of people so though that's a thought I would like you all to think about and I certainly would like you all to speak to the administration about thank you you our next speaker 5.14 Erica see her next 5.15 Esther I live in the West Bergen Lincoln Park District historic district and it's almost we're going on 10 years when the uh historic designation was was voted into and there was a lot of fanfare that went with that and so now almost 10 years later I'm wondering why we don't have any kind of signage or anything that commemorates the historic district other areas do we have nothing so once the Fanfare was over and done with and the uh news bite was finished we were left on our own so since we're in a spending mode I'm asking that the Westside historic district in preparation for its 10th year anniversary at least get that little bit of respect and the people that support the neighborhood and have the proper uh signage and not the cheap signs the nice signs that our neighborhood is deserving of thank you you our next speaker 5.16 Phillip think he left right 5.17 Michael left as well 5.18 Tammy ammy we ammy you can just bring the mic up sure good evening Tammy Weber Henry Chair of the women's Advisory Board uh I am here this evening to ask for support for the from the city council to be the first city in New Jersey to adopt the proposed sedor resolution and eventual ordinance let me start by saying while some in Jersey City have been distracted by the noise of all the resistance to positive change for women the Jersey City Women's Advisory board has been working tirelessly behind the scenes for the past two years by getting to know the women of Jersey City as well as their needs but most importantly listening to the women in this great City and the result the end result is this almost half the women we spoke to reported that they feel unsafe at times because of their gender while 9913 2024 marked A celebratory moment in our nation which was the 30th anniversary of the violence against women Act of 1994 we cannot celebrate just yet the United States confirmed 50% increase in cases of conflict related to sexual violence since 2022 globally I'm watching the clock women still have not achieved the same equality as men one in every eight girls and women aged 15 to 49 was subjected to sexual in or physical violence by an intimate partner in the previous year nationally despite the advantages and advances in women's rights women in the United States must still reckon with the unequal treatment on many fronts according to the Pew research in the United States in 2022 women earned 82 cents for every dollar earned by Men Let me fast forward and bring this home Statewide New Jersey currently ranks 26 out of the US and gender equality based on factors such as workplace environment Education Health and political empowerment locally despite significant progress in Jersey City the women of Jersey City still face the challenges based on gender Equity after listening to the women of Jersey City we have come to a resounded conclusion discrimination against women must be eradicated very recently the Attorney General Matthew plen said that and let me quote him please I don't want to misquote he said discrimination and hate have no place in New Jersey and that he is committed to holding those in violation accountable we the women of Jersey City Women's Advisory Board say that that discrimination hate and bias of any form against any woman has no place anywhere and we are committed to the eradication in Jersey City by being a link in the chain of change for all women thank you thank you our next speaker 5.19 good evening my name is aola boria and I'm the chair of C for Jersey City and I'm here to support the cedor for Jersey City resolution thank you to council president to all the council that co-sponsored this to councilors its Wilson Tom Fus and Kanan Ferguson for their support I spent the past couple days in DC at a think tank with women from across the United States the topic being how do we Usher new err of opportunity for them and no matter if they were from Missouri Iowa California one thing was consistent is that policy is everything C for Jersey City was born after reading about the murder of a woman in Jersey City on a Jersey City street after she defended herself from Street harassment it was also born after witnessing how Council woman Dees had calls for sexual violence and gender based violence against her her sister after her troubles in the past it was hard to get past these two things and not do something systemic discrimination against women is deeply embedded in Jersey City it may not be apparent but it is prevalent this predates this Administration the administration before that and that it's been around for a long time the only difference is that with seedor we have the opportunity to dismantle misogynistic and deeply SE discrimination against women that thrived in Jersey City during the covid-19 pandemic women were both the most affected and the ones that led from Health Care to caregivers and teachers women in Jersey City have earned this resolution and subsequent ordinance when the the FL when the first black woman was elected in as council president in J in the US it was 1982 in Jersey City it was 2020 we are not as advanced and sophisticated as we may think when the first woman elected mayor of a town in the US was in 1887 and Jersey city has never elected a woman to be mayor we are not as advanced and sophisticated as we may think when a woman that has helped women and girls for nearly a decade has to fight to a nail to open her cannabis business but a man that is both openly racist and a homophobe can easily open his we are not as advanced and sophisticated as we may think I encourage you to vote Yes on this resolution and begin Lan the foundation for a cultur and legislative shift in Jersey City I'd like to close with a quote from Michelle Williams which says women 18 to 118 when it is time to vote please do so in your own self-interest it's what men have been doing for years which is why the world looks so much like them thank you you thank you our next Speaker 5.20 John okay appreciate the help 5.21 Chelsea evening Council how we doing tired I am but happy to be here proud of everyone who came out and spoke a lot of wonderful points tonight and thank you all for keeping up the energy um good evening Council my name is Chelsea Duff and I currently serve as the vice chair to the Jersey City Women's Advisory Board before moving forward I'd like to thank and acknowledge mayor FIP council president Joyce Waterman and all members of council for the creation and implementation of the women's board we've been hard at work since 2022 and we're grateful for your continued support in all of our board initiatives and Endeavors in this last year the board has focused specifically excuse me on the convention of elimination of all forms of discrimination against women also known as seedall and tonight I stand before you in solidarity with Jersey City women and support of resolution 24-72 when you explore the JC munity code women are only mentioned twice it's about time we change that with the adoption of resolution 24- 720 Jersey City would be the first in the state to officially recognize and prioritize women's rights by way of the United Nations this UN treaty SE itall focuses on three main things not non-discrimination State obligation and Equity excuse me equality three things women require when it comes to strengthening protections against gender-based violence improving public health and well-being and economic empowerment for women as someone who has personally experienced the negative impact of the gender pay Gap while working for corporate America and felt the extreme trials and tribulations of entreprene Entrepreneurship here in JC I can speak to the issues Women Within the Working World uh speak to the issues women face within the Working World as well as the small business landscape and just how little support is given when striving for goals in a male-dominated space implementing seall principles will help address economic disparities that disproportionately affect women like the gender wage Gap and lack of access to higher paying job sectors by promoting equal pay and fair workplace policies the city will create opportunities for women to thrive economically which in turn supports the growth of Jersey City's socioeconomic status and strengthens Financial stability for families you see seall is not just for women yes it's a tool that Sparks female empowerment but we all know that empowering women leads to a stronger bottom line and more cohesive communities stand with us by voting yes to resolution 24- 720 thank you thank you next speaker 5.22 Maria thank you councilman next 5.23 Kevin hello Council tonight's a little bit of an anomaly but I'll attempt my speech anyway we keep trying to cut back on the number of speakers at these meetings but whoever's calling the shots must really prefer we double our efforts on July 27th 2022 I submitted my petition claiming illegal rent that was back when I believed Dina henden when she told me both buildings were subject to rent control because neither original owner filed a claim of exemption and because the original owners were not even building qualifying buildings for rent in that 2022 submission I didn't have much to go on Beyond her words the ordinance my own two eyes I also recall when C councilman Solomon called me after just speaking with Dina henden after she told him the same thing she just told me moments earlier I want to read something for my very first submission I quote section 26-3 J titled allowable increases States the landlord shall be in full compliance with the landlord identity disclosure provision contained within the statement in order to qualify if for any rental increase and then I quoted the landlord identity disclosure provision the registration statement must be given in writing to each tenant and posted in plain sight where it can be easily seen I still don't have one of those then I continued quote I carefully took pictures of all the places in the building that could be easily seen on 727 2022 and the registration statement was nowhere to be seen end quote I sent about 50 of those pictures in with my submission that was July 2022 on September 19 2022 Dina henden abandoned what she told me and what I recall councilman Solomon telling me she told him it was then we believed we were up against something very corrupt fast forward the rent leveling board had no choice but to uphold the ordinance now there was simply too much attention on the law yet the was still following the original Playbook which was evident in the initial recalculation it wasn't until September 19th 2024 exactly two years later to the day after danden ignored the ordinance that the new director of The Bureau director Richardson came to Portside Towers just last week in person to observe from himself not one but two days in a row that this ordinance prerequisite was still not satisfied only this time both Michelle and I were there to witness his inspection we also witnessed our building manager tell director Richardson that she is not putting up the ordinance required information and she even said her lawyers are aware and he can find her if he wants she went on to say that even if she did put up the required info tenants would probably just take it and she is not a Kinkos I think it's time the city get this right before we Face the federal judge together thank you Mark Kevin Kevin sorry next speaker 5.24 best she here 5.25 Jessica if you call a mark can you get another three minutes no sorry that was a mistake I don't know mocks in my head um okay so tonight I'd like to discuss a phenomenon I believe is at the heart of the ongoing rent control issue that we're talking about here uh it's called regulatory capture regulatory capture occurs when a regulatory agency created to act in the public interest instead advances the commercial or political concerns of special interest groups that dominate the industry it is charged with regulating the current situation with the Bureau of rent leveling Bears all the hardworks of this phenomenon the creation of non-statutory terms like permitted base rent that benefit landlords at the expense of tenants the persistent non-enforcement of landlord identity disclosure that Kevin just talked about even after official inspections the bureau's recalculation that ignores critical sections of the very ordinance it's meant to enforce so those are all Hallmarks of regulatory capture and this isn't just bureaucratic incompetence it's a systemic failure that suggests the bureau has been captured by the very interest it's meant to regulate but the Paradox here is striking the more we rely on the bureau to enforcement control the more power we give it yet the more power it has the more attractive a Target it becomes for capture by powerful landlord interests this Paradox presents a significant challenge one that you just faced with examining what to do with a 30-year tax abatement when people acknowledged it was not necessary to get the pompo moving forward you still supported it so paradoxes are tough but simply demanding more enforcement isn't enough if the enforcing body has been compromised so what's the solution transparency clearly I think that we've heard enough tonight to know that transparency be about budgets Finance abatements tax payment and L of tax programs Etc we really demand the immediate release of all inspection reports and the bureau decision-making processes we were there we saw what was said we saw how our landlord ignores your laws she basically said said eh I'm untouchable go ahead and find me okay what's the fine per day per unit for all of the years of non compliance then you start to talk about real money then you start to solve some of the financial problems the city has second accountability establish an independent oversight committee to re review Bureau decisions and ensure compliance with the ordinance not the rent leveling board that's a board that would hear whether or not the decision was is correct a step that is a independent oversight that can actually say hey by the way did you realize in your evaluation of this property that you're not paying attention to the landlord identity disclosure requirements I have more to say but your role in this is crucial please Support Enforcement of our ordinances and laws thank you our next speaker 5.26 Brendan okay hello I'm don't worry I'm going to keep this short and sweet because we've all had a long night now like all of us I I renewed my lease I am me and my roommates are now paying almost $6,000 for our apartment so I thought it'd be nice to go over what we're paying for currently our we have noticed recently a bunch of cracks in our walls coincident L when I hit the wall you could you could hear a solid against the board that feels safe and well that's just what happens in with Equity residential they take they build the building let it run it run it down till it's barely habitable then they're going to sell it because they do not care about the city they just want to extract as much sense from the from the populace and then move on to the next sucker I mean City that's what's going to happen with pomet keeps happening with our tax breaks hopefully in 40 years we may learn a lesson and honestly I'm that's it for sorry thank you our next speaker 5.27 Carol thank you 5.28 Barbara appreciate the help good evening city council my speech tonight is more of a statement it's a brief it's exactly what I've been asking you for two years now please do the job you promised voters you would do when you asked for their vote that is speak the truth and uphold the law by enforcing the rulings of Jersey City that includes a rent control and rulings on Portside Towers please keep your promises to voters do your job thank you you our next speaker 5.29 Alexandra okay 530 thank you how about 5.31 canel 5.32 Mark left Liv 5.33 Liv I know she's here um respectfully why do y'all ask young people to get involved at the local level it's it's so demoralizing to see in person um the the shadiness that you kind of hear about I I really don't know what you're asking them to come and witness but it is motivating so maybe that is a benefit today I am frustrated for not to but three reasons the landlord tenant office has been severely underst staffed since I filed an illegal rent petition in March yet there are no openings on Jersey City's website to correct this if affordable housing is as as much of a concern as everyone on this Council seems to say where is the calvalry where's the where's that concern that office is still processing last year's illegal rent petitions people are searching for work please let's let them work um I don't see my councilwoman uh priner but I asked her here to like on August 14th for her help and scheduling a construction inspection because 429 Bergen Avenue was built only 5 years ago yet somehow water is coming into the building and into unit our landlord Amir Ben johanan refuses to fix it the city's co- compliance officer said they can't assess structural issues so call construction code I go to construction code I asked to speak with Ray Meyer they turned me away I emailed Ray Meyer and I CC councilman councilwoman priner and then the email just went unanswered I who who does the construction Code Department serve do they serve only like the landlords who throw cheap buildings up or the people who live in them I am really shocked actually that the city does not have a pathway for normal folks like myself to request a structural issue in their home be investigated the amount of risk to me that the city is taking on to depend on Builders and landlords to self-report and address the same structural issues that could cost some thousands it it doesn't make any sense so I don't know if this is how it works but it's a public hearing I'd like to ask this Council to consider closing this policy Gap by creating an ordinance that allows folks to have their structural concerns investigated whether it's construction code or somebody else um I think it needs to happen thank you our next Speaker 5.34 John okay I just got to say 5.35 is not here 5.36 is not here 5.37 Drew is here good evening council members what defines a successful City Commerce trade business nightlife perhaps a blazing economy led by a state-of-the-art museum on taxpayers dollars I don't know it could be up for debate but how can you have a city be deemed successful when its residents are being priced out of their very homes some of whom have been here for decades how can mayor Philip flaunt a push for housing affordability meanwhile he won't even work to enforce his City's own rent control laws why is he silent on that you cannot have a successful City where it only caters to the wealthy and affluent you cannot have a successful City where families have to continuously move you cannot have a successful City where residents poor every penny they have into their rent which in turn hurts the local economy you cannot have a city that allows corrupt landlords to charge illegal rents while the lack of fines don't go unnoticed you can however have a successful City that reads the laws upholds said laws and punishes those who don't comply with the laws that is what a success F City looks like when that is achieved I will feel confident that our mayor is fighting for us and wants the best for his constituents a few weeks ago I resigned my lease at Portside towers with an illegal 4% increase I thought within my year of living here I'd see my rent go down due to the board's determination before it ever goes up but that's what happens when Mayors like FIP take control of cities and he clearly isn't capable of running them council members please ensure the bureau is adhering to the rent Control Ordinance and the now nearly one-year-old board determination how many other buildings in Jersey City are rent controlled and subject to ordinance 260 out of those how many of them are enforced I guarantee if an audit were conducted Jersey City renters as a whole are overpaying by hundreds of millions of dollars each month think about how if even a portion of those funds could be reinvested into the local econ economy how much better and successful off the city would be as each week passes I have more and more friends who are laid off and struggling to afford rent in the nation's most expensive city New York City their problems won't be alleviated by moving to Jersey City though of course not as long as our mayor doesn't enforce his own City's laws Mega landlords like Equity will continue to take advantage of their tenants let's change that narrative and push for a city that is deemed successful that is Affordable and is a place where people can live council members please see that our continued presence is not because we want to be here but due to unresolved issues against our ultra wealthy corporate landlord voters play a large role in who we want to see represent us and our interests note that rank control or even the idea of affordability in the context of basic necessities like housing shouldn't even be up for debate yet here we are to Mayor FIP do your job and help enforce ordinance 260 we're watching Jersey City is watching and even the nation is watching and following this critical issue that plagues your workingclass constituents thank you you our next speaker five 5.38 Shannon not here thanks Michelle appreciate it 5.39 Daniel I wanted to First Express my disappointment in those of you that voted yes on pompo especially me especially councilmen Cay and Rivera I lost a lot of respect for the both of you tonight people spoke and six of you ignored the vast majority of your constituents we Port Siders have been coming coming to City Council meetings for 2 years because Equity residential is charging us illegal rents and ignoring rent control laws and we're still paying illegal rents with illegal rent increases to this very day the recalculation we were promise took longer than it takes to take a baby to term and it was riddled with flaws doesn't abide by chapter 260 of the Jersey City municipal code and still allows for illegal rents this is partially in my opinion because the rent the landlord tenant office responsible for the recalculation is drastically underfunded yet six of you are okay with allocating millions of taxpayer dollars to an unnecessary Museum the more time passes the more people are forced out of their homes because of equity residentials bully tactics and refusal to follow the law I spoke to a tenant just last week who has to move because of the illegal rent increase he received this month from Portside Towers a lot of Us Port Siders who again have been coming here for about two years have stated at times that it sometimes feels like we're talking to a wall and that we don't always feel heard and I think tonight was very ex um exemplary of that thank you you our next speaker 5.40 Tara hello again good evening coun Tara SM here former resident of equity residential property 70 Green Street now a living breathing cautionary tale of what happens when Justice moves at a glacial Pace I'm no longer no longer I may no longer live under Equity residential's thumb but I'm here because silence is the oxygen that Injustice breathes and tonight as we collectively deliver our 700 speech before this Council the air in this room is thick with unresolved pleas unfulfilled promises 700 speeches we could have written a novel scripted a TV series or penned the Next Great American song book instead we've been composing a symphony of desperation that falls on seemingly deaf ears Equity residential isn't just the landlord they're Alchemists turning the lead of human suffering into the gold of corporate profits their magic trick making laws disappear and tenants rights vanish Into Thin Air to this Council I ask how many more speeches will it take 700 more a thousand are we trapped in an endless loop telling the same story night after night hoping for a different ending mayor fup your silence isn't deafening it's defining your legacy is being written in the pages of progressively higher eviction rates progressively higher homelessness numbers progressively unaffordable property taxes and progressively higher numbers of displaced families May Philip you sure are the progressive politician you claim to be the 700 speeches we given are not just words they're a testament to our resilience our determination and our unwavering belief that justice will prevail but belief alone won't keep roofs over our heads or families in their homes it's time for action it's time for courage it's time for you to be the leaders we elected you to be here's the speech number 701 being the one that finally moves mountains or at least moves Council to action thank you thank you 5.41 Michelle Sean I'm here okay first there are two PS that will be the downfall of whatever Legacy Philip believes he will have as Jersey city mayor one pompy Do's ultimate failure and two his choice to turn his back on Port Siders now mark your calendars Council September 19th seems to be a special date in Jersey City on September 19th 2022 Diana henden sent us her unethical rent control determinations now fast forward exactly two years to the day to September 19th 2024 just last week and what happened director shyron Richardson thankfully showed up at Portside for an inspection a 919 coincidence now I prefer to think of Richardson's visit as Redemption day prophecy as fate would have it I was outside of the West Tower and Kevin joined me shortly thereafter when Richardson came to inspect for the landlord identity statement you know that pesky little document that tells us tenants who to call when their apartments are on fire or flooding spoiler alert it wasn't there instead Equity hoping to dupe the city and tenants alike posted a notice about the truth in renting booklet how thoughtful of them to provide reading material while we're kneep in water choking on smoke or Free Falling in an elevator but wait it gets better when Kevin Richardson and I made it into the often locked management office Richardson was shown a landlord identity statement from 2018 the outdated Relic was posted so high on the wall that I need a telescope to read it and the cherry on top the old certification doesn't name doesn't contain the name phone number or unit of our super as the law requires Richardson expressly pointed this non-compliance out to our property manager who then stated that the super information would not be posted and that Richardson could find her if he wanted as we left the building director director Richardson a pastor and a man of his word told Kevin and me that he submit a report on his findings I'm thankful the city has taken steps to verify what we've been saying with its recently conducted inspections I look forward to seeing the soon Tobe documented ongoing non-compliance reflected in our updated recalculations I understand some of you have already asked for a copy of Richardson's official inspection reports as I'm the last port side speaker I hope at least some of you that have more information can share it with me regarding when we can expect to see the updated recalculations reflecting equities now confirmed ongoing non-compliance thank you I'd love to hear more anybody our next speaker 5.42 Christopher Christopher here no 5.43 Adrian green think they left 5.44 Lisa I know 5.45 Mary left how about 5.46 Gage gotcha I don't St off the clock until you speak you stand here for a long time then no start it uh I'd like to start by thanking uh council person Waterman when the police entered for calling that out uh I would encourage you to look into how that happened it was a crazy escalation and I'm I'm glad you called that out thank you for your leadership on that um secondly I'd like to thank those who voted no on the pompo um I'm in Wy so thank you Solomon um two points here one I think it's clear I think it was a mistake but a relatively small mistake compared to what you guys can do next so right now we paid too much for a property in Journal Square on some level that's an investment in Jersey City okay the part that is going to be completely UNP palal to voters and I would encourage you because it's come out so recently I'm sure most of you haven't read it is the operating expense break down in there it details the payments from the taxpayers of Jersey City to the taxpayers of Paris there are multiple payments and they are not broken out in a way that you can read them it's about four to four and A5 million dollar a year of just licensing fees we are renting the name we keep talking about this as a generational investment it is not we are renting the name the day we stop paying for it we lose it it is not a gener generational investment we are paying for the name so what I would like you to do is go look there and decide does our city budget need to spend four to four and a half million dollar a year paying Paris for its name second point on this and there's literally no way to say this without making myself sound like an absolute jerk so I apologize in advance I spent a bunch of time in Paris I love the L absolutely love it took a vacation there recently my wife was like you do not need to spend a third day in the Lou and I was like yes I do thank you for asking the pompo is not a tier one Museum we took it as as absolute granted in this room that this is a cultural heritage site a world-class Museum no it isn't I have a friend who was in Paris last week and I texted him about this I was like hey you going to the Pompa do he's like oh I forgot that's in Paris this is a guy who has been to every museum in Philadelphia like this is not a worldclass institution we have gotten ins sconed by this idea of it's Paris this is a broke Museum that is more famous for the building than any of the art in it again I can't do this without sounding like a jerk I did art history and architecture in college it is famous for the building the collection is fourth tier look it up it is the fourth most popular Museum in one city thank you 5.47 Pat left 5.48 Robert 5.49 Natalie just a few more comments um there was a mention that you know most people didn't actually talk about the abatement itself that they were talking more about the museum and so I just wanted to put together a couple comments about that um and just some Reflections on how I'm feeling after this whole ordeal tonight I just want to say that I feel that those who voted for the abatement tonight voted with dollar signs in their eyes not for their own Pockets obviously um but for the city uh it has dawned on me that the notion of owning that white box that everyone keeps calling it um but the notion of owning it as real estate for whatever purpose was too attractive for those of you who voted yes to pass up despite what the community overwhelmingly wanted and it finally hit me that you all were so greedy for that piece of real estate that you would have voted yes no matter what was proposed to potentially be there as long as you could call it an economic driver and couch it as some type of community give back um how however dubious or however genuine but with all of the talk of economic drivers and driving tourism none of you made any comments about keeping Jersey City affordable for the residents nobody addressed my comments that the new attractions in Journal Square will be too expensive for long-standing residents and none of you responded to concerns that local residents might not even be able to afford to go to the pomad museum you all voted like economists tonight prioritizing future tourism revenue from a controversial project and or the promise of a blank slate in an empty box of unfathomable value over what the majority of the community called for but nobody voted you into office for you all to serve as economists and Venture capitalists we asked you to be here to vote like human beings and neighbors who prioritize the basic needs of people over acquiring prestigious real estate and maybe it's not a need when the people tell you that on principle they aren't comfortable with a tax abatement for a filthy rich developer perhaps that's not a need it's a principle or value that the community would like to have respected but that's important as well and it's something that you have not respected tonight and I ask you to reflect on this because I feel that some of you should be truly ashamed thank you thank you next speaker 5.5 50 haam I got that right yes you did you always do always do a great job good evening guys how you guys doing um hayan mg I know most of you guys know me born and raised in Jersey City I own an upcoming Dispensary on Montgomery Street uh named Zena it was formerly known as Medusa um I'm here to talk about ordinance 2478 which has a couple of changes since the beginning ordinance uh when we first appli to there's a section in the ordinance that was changed that says there's no consumption uh no cannabis consumption area shall be locally endorsed where the main entry door is located within 200 fet of any school University or Institute of higher education playground or place of worship now that language was recently added to uh include University and Institute of higher education playground or place of worship now most of you guys know my case I've been after this you know this journey for three years one month and two days so far I just passed my building inspections yesterday and I saw this on the ordinance um I I fully built out my consumption area based on my planning board approvals um I know the Cannabis consumption lounge and the city council still didn't give any endorsements out for consumption area but I think it's kind of messed up that uh we would go through this whole journey for three years to have the goalpost kind of moved at the end um now I you know I've added $220,000 in fire sprinkler systems I paid the Cannabis controlled board a $5,000 escro three years ago um and and I did everything the correct way again I just I think today's meeting is all about fairness and all about doing the right thing and like just being included in the community a lot of you guys are great about hearing my problems whenever I reach out so I appreciate that I just don't know how to approach this situation here as it's the first so I just wanted to come up here and express my concerns um maybe it's something as little as changing the language I am 93 ft away from uh St Peters University's dormatory not the actual University that they built two years now I've been in that store for eight years and that's why I kind of born and raised in a neighborhood and something that you said too um council president Waterman is that we need more you know extracurricular activities the Armory saved my life growing up you know I got locked up for marijuana right there on Montgomery and Bergen where my store is and that's why it's a blessing that I can come build something like this give opportunities to other people and create a safe space for people like me to kind of grow and to express ourselves so I appreciate you guys for listening to me I'll reach out during the week to speak to everybody individually and um yes hopefully we could come to a a a certain standstill where it's not hurting anybody either the students or my business again it's a small business I put all my money all my my life my I got white hairs when I'm I'm 36 years old I'm stressed out like I'm just trying to get this going so I appreciate you guys thank you for your time thank youan but we tabled it we tabled it because I know we got your call and we know Haan look at the white hair I got yeah 31 years you got it Nathan 5.51 Tammy no 5.52 Dallas I don't know why I'm even saying that name tomorrow um 5.53 Linda no left okay 5.54 I know osber left 5.55 Eliza hey you're a little tall there all right good late evening count um unfortunately I'm not as kind as ha them because I didn't get locked up for cannabis I actually went to war not once not twice but four tours and I've stood in this in this chamber and have been awarded for my service from Miss Barbara Walker herself so I want to say that I am here in reference to this terribly written cannabis ordinance and Licensing process throughout this city first off it is a nightmare and it is ruining lives I want to be very very clear about that it is also widely contradictory and not Equitable to start the ordinance stated that the Jersey City cannabis control Bo board is hereby established and shall consist of five persons three of whom shall be appointed by the mayor with advice and consent at the council however in real life there is now four most times only three and you rarely have a quorum then to top it off you have professional unprofessional board members that do not treat us well I understand that this is tabled but this needs to be a discussion because we need to understand what is not correct in these ordinances ordinance 21 Tac 053 page 8 section e states that the Jersey City encourage that Jersey City encourages and promotes the participation of minorities women and disabled owned veteran businesses in this city for personal use cannabis industry to start businesses of personal use cannabis industry out of the 12 that are open I think five of us fit that bill there are also only eight registered veteran owned businesses in this whole city just general businesses despite the population of thousands and I've personally had to claw my way to the finish line and thank you to those of who have helped me in this situation I owe a Deb of gratitude especially Yousef and Solomon thank you for coming to my Aid I'm actually not even there I'm actually running out of money because of the municipal and the state's joint delay so please understand that I am not putting this only on the city that I love the state's Amendment presented that our consumption areas are to benefit social impact advancing social Equity statutorily designated Target communities specifically social Equity businesses diversely owned businesses and impact zones see I think we have a self-awareness issue here in Jersey City because we are all those things yet we restricted lounges to one per Ward businesses in this city already operate with a minimum square feet so if my capacity is say 30 you're saying that out of 30 people if that's everybody's situation then only 180 people can smoke in a safe indoor consumption time space at a time the math is not mathing please look at this ordinance and make it make sense so that it aligns with the crc's mission stat thank you our next speaker uh 5.56 bashkim out here 5.57 Maryland out here 5.58 anad not here 5.59 Amanda 5.60 via 5.61 Richard not here 5.62 musab I don't see him 5.63 June don't see her and 5.64 who signed up before the meeting Melissa is not here that will conclude our public speakers and we're going to go right to our petitions and Communications any question questions or comments on items 6.1 through 6 point Sorry 44 hearing none any questions or comments on office communication 7.1 through 7.5 hearing none any questions or comments on reported directors 8.1 through 8.2 on to our claims and addendums number one and number two council members I'm going to be taking a vote on claims and addendums number one and number two council person Ridley I council person priner I council person bajano council person CLE I council person Solomon council person Gilmore I council person Dees I council person Rivera I and council president wman claims and addendums number one and number two are approved unanimously 90 and on to our resolutions I'm going to be taking one vote there's only 17 actually 16 because we approved 10.1 earlier so I'll be taking a vote on items 10.2 through 10.17 again 10.2 through 10.7 council person Ridley I council person priner just super quick um for 10.13 to AO Tammy Chelsea who are here tonight representing the women's Advisory board thank you for working on this AO also thank you for the Partnerships that we've been had over the years with regard to women's issues happy to co-sponsor ey forall council person buano council person SLE I for all council person Soloman hi council person Gilmore I council person Dees I but I do have a question at our next caucus can director Shay address some of the camera upgrades I know we were told originally that there was no AI that was being used can we just reiterate that because there was the concern from the public I do know he said it on record before but I think it needs to be stated again yeah absolutely councilwoman uh just for the record these are just to update uh existing cameras but we'll make sure that the new technology of a is not included in the uh process and thank you to the Jersey City Jersey City Women's advisory Council for bringing this to our attention you're absolutely correct that we've come very far but in some ways not far enough so we thank you very much for work and we know you're working hard I know you council person rever I vote I and um moving forward if we can just have a director Shay here at every Caucus meeting and council president Waterman um of all I want to thank the woman Advisory board for putting um this uh legislation together um congratulations I know y do to job y throughout the whole city everyone know you guys so I'm super proud of of all that you have accomplished and I'm looking forward to all that you're going to do um to the ba I'm concerned about the CCB board um that's not the first time I heard how they treat um the residents that come before them now I don't know what we can do based on the council standpoint but I would like to know what we can do all right because I think when anybody comes before a board because a board is intimidating enough when you stand before them you should there should be some level of respect and so um especially for a board like that and for uh minorities that feel like they're not heard that that Troublesome to me because I know they has always been dealt the you know the short hand of the stick so to say and so um that's concerning to me I I think we need to find out exactly what's going on there um and if the Public's not treated fairly then maybe somebody need to step down okay we we Holland say people need to step down for certain things maybe they need to step down on how they treat the public not just the CCB board but every board in the city of Jersey City because these are residents here um so that does concern me yeah go ahead acknowledge that council president um I think the next First Step would be uh for us to meet with mayard who kind of oversees the board and to hear some of these formal uh complaints and uh see how we could address them whether it be removal or ethics uh violations or you know whatever mechanisms we have uh to accomplish that right okay and um Nathan we heard you um I got your you know voicemail um I know how long you've been working to get your store up and running um that's why you know that's part of why we we we pulled it because it's not fair for so many of you who've been you know going through this process three and four years and now we come up with another law and changing it that's not fair to you guys that's what I said so we are looking into that um we should have did it in the very beginning what should have been but we didn't want to do it so this is where we this is where we at and so we want to make sure those who have gone before they are protected that's it they are protected so with that um I I vote I items 10.1 through 10.17 are approved unanimously 90 and if I can ask for the magic motion I just real quick um was getting it if um if we can get a copy of uh the port side uh report or whatever uh they said the director went down there no not the recalculation the director went down there the the report from director Richardson yes the if we can get it all okay do you do you how long it should take D director Richard is out so as soon as he gets back we'll make sure okay yeah thank you the illness that he was deal with wait let's wait till 12:00 no it's oh I'm trying to get it before 12 motion to adjourn at 11:59 p.m motion yeah second oh who made the motion uh Danny thank you and seconded by council person Cay I'll take it on the motion to adjourn at 11:59 p.m all council members present by acclamation please say I we are out of here at 11:59 pm. thank you so much everyone in attendance and everyone who came to speak and everyone watching at home remember Teamwork Makes the DreamWork have a great night stay safe rest and power marcelus Williams