conclusions that is that is beneficial to each and every one of us here in our great city of nework reacts you to bless us all bless this Gathering and guide us amen amen amen in accordance with New Jersey Law adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to The Star Ledger the Jersey journal and the public at large establishing the date time and location of this meeting in addition the agenda for this meeting was disseminated on January 5th 2024 at the time of preparation and posted on the website of the city of nework roll call please pres pres here presid here president council president council members before we start with the agenda I just like to apologize for the viewing to the viewing audience our fee to channel 78 is up and operational however our internet connectivity is still down so the Youtube upload will take place after the meeting thank you so much Madam clerk we are on page three of the agenda item five reports and recommendations of City officers boards and commissions roll call Council yes Trum yeses yes ell yes yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes yes president yes ordinances on first reading 6fa is an ordinance dealing with tax exemptions and EV M Council as a whole to defer roll call to defer Council yes yes yes Kelly yes kintana yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes Sila yes president MC Iver yes s defer public hearing second reading and final passage 6 psfa is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to Washington 303 urban renewal LLC it's a motion to defer by council president mcgyver second by Council woman Scott round roll call to defer Council yes yes yes Kelly yes Pana yesos yes Scot yes yes yes 6 psfb is an ordinance amending title 2 Administration chapter 10 Department of Economic and Housing Development section two city of Municipal Employees housing assistance program to increase the grant amount from $10,000 to $20,000 sponsored by councilman Council second by councilman Crump is there anyone present wishing to be heard on this ordinance good afternoon Miss Austin good afternoon and happy New Year um when we talking about housing assistance programs for uh the employees of the city of newk why does a person that's working will actually really need housing assistance what about the lowincome families that you're closing down public housing but want to give benefits to an employee who works that's telling you that if they can't purchase a homeowner salary or they can't pay the rent and need some type of assistance that y'all have allowed the rents to go outrageously where we don't fit in the box at the end of the day when you start thinking about 2024 you need to dig deep inside of yourselves it's time we stop playing games it's time that you start listening to the people that come to this mic and express their dissatisfaction of the services that you're supposed to provide how are you saying that you an employee needs housing assistance let wait let me go back first let me say you should come and explain this how can we actually write or speak on something that hasn't been explained then when you go to look up the ordinance it doesn't say it no more in legister it doesn't give you a full detailed description so now you want us to come up here and make comments about some housing assistant when we don't actually know what it's really doing you have people here to vote 16 17 years old ACC them what is this program about you D not to like I said last year the ball dropped in 2023 and when in Time Square and dropped in 2024 we need to do better and you know housing is my Lane so you'll see me up here all the time we need help low income home residents need help that's what 90% of north but you guys got a part-time six figure salary with groups and boards that you sit on and you think it's not a problem well if we take all of that away I wonder who will be needing housing assistance then thank you thank you Miss Austin before we have the next speaker this particular item is one of three of our programs that we offer to norc residents here this specific one that we're voting on is a housing assistance down payment program a grant program for ners who work here in the city of norc to increase it from $10,000 to $20,000 this is what this item is this kind of basically how it reads but um this is what this item we're voting on we actually have a program as well for norc residents that are not uh employees of the city of norc they have an option for the Liv work program for down sistance program down down payment assistance program as well as one for facade um fixing of their homes program so this is what item we're talking about here when we talk about 6 psf b as in boy next speaker Lisa Parker when we talk about fairness equity and righteousness for the people in this city let's talk about the programs that already exist talk about fairness equity and righteousness for the people in this city let's talk about the programs that already exist that the residents are not benefiting from for an example you have a rad program with the Housing Authority that the people that live in the Housing Authority are not being hired to do the manual labor it's some outside entity so these programs or what I call a scam plan is always gear for people that you Cherry pit to give these resources to and we see it time and time again you want to have affordable housing that's market rate and yet the half of the city workers rely on supplement to pay their rent make that make sense every time you come up with a new idea and a new plan it's not to benefit the people and let me just say this we talk about open forums giving people a voice and thank you young people for coming here today to exercise your civil rights but you got to understand in 2000 this current mayor sued the city for free speech and referendums in public forums and now he's the biggest oppressor and suppressor of public forums Banning people and as a matter of fact co-op in the speakers list to sign all these other people up that when the regular activists come here that come every month twice a month I'd like to know where all these people at for the social justice for the residents that live here you want somebody to vote at 16 how about they can't and drive a car Miss Parker we're not on that item yet excuse me I'm talking my five minutes is for what Miss Parker your time is up your time is up your time is up thank you we're not at that item yet let me just say for the folks that are visiting here for the first time especially the young people it's very important that we understand the rules of the council chambers we have a agenda everybody that came in the chambers they should have had an opportunity to pick up this big packet that out there in the agenda we have different sections of the council meeting this section that we're currently on is the SE section where we're doing final passage of ordinances here in the city we give public folks who come here ners nonners whoever into this Chambers who wants to come and speak on any items that we're passing here on this section of the agenda we give them three minutes each to come and speak to that item and you have to speak to the spefic specific item that is what portion we're in right now we're not in the in a portion where you come and talk about whatever it is or tell us how much you dislike or like us or whatever you may want to talk about the weather whatever we're not at that particular point of the agenda there is a a a a portion where you're able to have public comments to talk about whatever you may want to talk about here with the council but this is not that piece where we're here at just so folks know any other speakers regarding this specific item good afternoon good afternoon hi everybody or city council happy 2024 but I came today to talk about the um students so I'll do that there but this a batement right here that I want to talk about because I am familiar with um subsidized housing I'm familiar with it in all its aspects of um affordable housing subsidized housing and um my biggest issue is the income levels in which they're saying they going from 40 to 60% and the fact that you get these people abatements and this is not abatements miss Cole we're on the ordinance we're on 6 psfb which is the down payment assistance program for the city of workers that's okay I was on the top one that's where I thought you were but that got deferred okay so for the down payment program and I thought that was this one for the down payment program I think that I don't know if you all listen to Ryan ha good um the Social Justice Institute when they did what the income medium for our black community which is $117,000 for the state of New Jersey 177,000 is the medium income for black households for Whit households in New Jersey the medium income is 300 157,000 so when you talk about abatement is the ab batment efficient enough to handle the $117,000 that New Jersey say your black and brown families only have and Hispanics have less than the black community so if we had 17,000 they had 13,000 something that you bring it home so are these abatement programs in the affordable housing efficient because I Liv in an affordable housing and the weekway section I got more people being evicted from there than the law allow and my heart's going out to them because they're being evicted because they can't afford the affordable housing because their income is not enough to afford affordable housing so are we really helping them are we really looking at those abatements and things that we do and I think that you all are elected I think that you want to do the best job you can for us but we need voices our voices to be heard we need you to hear and look at the medium incomes and discuss it and pass policies that really benefit the people in this community so we can stay in our community because we're slowly being pushed out by stuff like this thank you thank you Miss Cole thank you so much I'm saying thank you next speaker seeing up public speaking is now closed roll call Council yes yes Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes Silva yes president maber yes 6 psfc is an ordinance creating title 6 psfc is an ordinance creating title 21 elections chapter 1 Schoolboard elections sponsored by council president mcgyver second by councilman council is there anyone present wishing to be heard on this ordinance good day Lisa Parker we talking about allowing for uh 16 17 years to vote if you need an adult supervision at 17 to drive a car if you can't buy a drink in a bar if you remove Civics out of the schools so their children understand how government is supposed to work versus how they work this should not be voted on if I can't go to another country and vote how is it possible that illegals should have the right to vote how is it that people that are not of the age to make informed decisions and not no disrespect to the young people here because I think it's Valiant that you come here and exercise your civic's rights but some things are out of order and you have to know that the same people that are coming here you got to ask them the question what is it benefiting them because at the end of the day we vote for people on their deeds and how they represent the people and what we have is criminals corruption and lawlessness in this city from this Administration to deny people the right to speak openly and uh forums like this how are we allowing 16 year olds to vote two years in a row you can pass a state exam from third to eighth graders tell me why these same political prostitutes aren't talking about why our children can't pass State exams but you want to give them the autonomy and the right when they don't have full education and orientation about how they're being used they know that the seniors and the Working Class People AR coming out to vote for them so who are they targeting another demographic so who are they working for Baraka Booker and Murphy that's who they work for at the end of the day young people you should be voting for people on their deeds and their record and what we see here in this Administration with no accountability is lawlessness criminality and Corruption and now they going after our babies treat our seniors with disrespect the the people that live here with disrespect they created an environment of dividedness not inclusiveness so I say to all you young people be be weary of who got you sending a message thank you Miss Parker next speaker good afternoon good afternoon my name is Deborah Smith Gregory and I serve as the president of NAACP newk and I come first of all to wholeheartedly endorse and support the ordinance that is being discussed today about lowering the voed age to 16 however I have a caveat that I would like to see the city council um put as a part of this this this ordinance and that is recommendations for the sophomore spring two cycle semester of civics education and naac nework is willing to be a participating organization Community organization that would um find create a speaker Bureau for the um the the speakers who need to come before the the students however I would ask City Council to do this this is was my M I was kind of thrown off by the comments because our young people do deserve a right to have a voice about what happens to them we should not blame young people for what adults do because adults don't go out to vote but I digress um collaborate with the nework Board of Education the county cler and the city clerk's office to ensure that there is a voter education component to this the the previous speaker talked about um people not coming out to vote I think that Civics education will allow our students to be very conscientious very knowledgeable and if we assist them with voter education properly we can't just pass the ordinance and leave it alone the recommendations should be there and the newk public schools will already say because I spoke to them already about this so this is not my first time coming to speak about this it's my first time coming here um but they have they work with I Civics curriculum they have social studies teachers so we have to collaborate we need to round the wagons up the children belong to all of us we need to round the wagons and be Progressive about showing them what leadership looks like and and and with that being them being able to lead themselves to make thank you Miss Gregory I'm sorry your time has expired conscious and educational thank you thank you so much next speaker portion I did come for I agree with everything name for the record sorry Denise Cole 2ir Avenue in New Jersey I'm an education advocate in New York I avidly um engage in education advocat I'm kind of torn with this ordinance because most of the students here that will speak on this ordinance belong to a nonprofit organization that have trained them in Civics and taught them what to say even the other ones who spoke what to say if you go into the nor public school system I need you to ask them do they even know who their counsel where you live who's your counsel person they don't know who you are I ask them who the mayor is they don't even know who the mayor of the city is so I'm trying to understand how you pass a ordinance without passing civic education must go along with it there must be Civics T when children vote I don't hear them saying we're going vote and we're going to research the person we vote for and we're going to look at the agenda and we're going to compare that agenda to our community and what the needs of our community is you can't just wholeheartedly pass an agenda with children who don't even know who you are they don't know the city council and who the city council is it's a fight for this and I agree with if we do this but we need an additional piece that you don't fold on it today you meet with some of us who's been here advocating here and we talk about the additions needed so that we can pass this agenda so when they vote nationally because the governor is talking about having them vote in November when they don't even know who the h president is and what the vote on for congress you can't put children in an adult position and expect them to do an adult thing when all they interested in right now is their fs and what's on the internet they being Guided by and if we don't take a hand in guiding them we're going to lose our generation of children and what's going to happen to you guys it's gonna backfire on you when this city no longer look like black people it's going to backfire on you so you have to think a it again you have to make sure when you pass laws is good laws because there are such thing as passing bad laws that will come back and bite us so I need you to understand that piece of it and yes it's a great thing but we need to tweak it we need to talk to Ryan Hager from the social justice department you need to talk to community people like the ones that came up thank you Miss Cole for recommendation thank you Miss Cole welcome and thank you God thank you next speaker good afternoon afternoon excuse me hold on please do not call out I'm sorry good afternoon good afternoon nework City Council Members my name is Nathaniel esan a 16-year- old resident of Newark and while young I stand here before you as an Engaged member of our nework community currently attending s Science Park High School and a gent project fellow before I start I have to say 3% of Voters voted at the last Schoolboard election we should not allow others to speak for us today we speak for ourselves I'm here to offer my support for this ordinance to lower the voting age to 16 in Newark board Alle elections this initiative holds particular significance for me as it not only aligns with my personal experiences because I'm in the student council in my school but I also represent a huge step towards inclusivity and empowerment within our educational system in my time as a High School junior I witnessed firsthand the direct impact that Schoolboard decisions can have on the daily lives of students our educational experiences are shaped by these policies and those directly affect affected us students deserve a way to ensure Schoolboard candidates who reflect our values and listen to our needs are in office if we 16 year olds get to participate in School Board elections we will gain a sense of civic responsibility and engagement from a younger age I have actively sought opportunities to understand the Democratic process like being a part of the Gen project and collaborating with the youth media Symposium lowering the voting age would provide a real way for young individuals like me to contribute meaningfully to decisions that shape our educational Journey what better way than to vote Yes for this ordinance I want a better future there are policies that impact me and it's time that my voice carries more weight education involves every aspect of Our Lives lowering the voting age will show the importance of Young Voices in matters of Education it will not only Empower young people like me but it will also give us the collective permission to advocate for what is right and also give back like you give back supposedly we can make that change today New York City Council please consider this passage for this historical ordinance not just for my future but the future of newart thank you for your time and consideration I'm eager and hopeful casting my vote this April as a proud 17-year-old New York resident thank you for your time thank you so much for your comments thank you good afternoon good afternoon can we have somebody help her with the mic I mean someone from the clerk's office from the clerk's office good afternoon members of Nork city council I am Brianna Campbell a 16-year-old resident of Nork and a junior at Science Park High School proudly serving as a gem project fellow with much urgency and excitement I endorse the ordinance to lower the voting age to 16 in nor School Board elections as a dedicated member of my nor community and an advocate for Quality education I believe that this move will ensure the voices of my peers nor students are not only acknowledged but also valued in decisions that directly influence the education receive in our future I stand before you to highlight a couple of reasons why the passing of this ordinance is important number one early participation brings future participation last year I was fortunate to co-host with my peer who is here at Nate along with other nor students from apot Leadership Institute YMS program and J Project fellows a School Board of Education candidate Forum while this opportunity personally boosted my Civic engagement due to age alone I had little influence on who I would have wanted to be elected given 16y olds the right to vote cultivates civic responsibility and engagement fostering active participation in the Democratic process number two for representation Schoolboard policies directly impact students lowering the voting age guarantees that the board considers the perspective of those most expected which is Us number three lastly diversity we students bring diverse perspective and ideas to the table given us the right to vote can result in more Creative Solutions and better decision making it's a win-win I am committed to being an informed and responsible voter lower the voting age in School Board elections will Empower young people like me to make meaningful contributions to our educational system I respectfully urge you nor city council to pass this ordinance to lower the voting age 616 and nor School Board elections this change will not only benefit the educational Community but also encourage my peers also my friends to be involved in the electoral process thank you for considering my Liv experience on this important matter we nor youth nor students are counting on you thank you thank you for your comments next speaker good afternoon city council good afternoon Timothy Atkins Jones it's a great honor to be before you today and certainly a great honor to be in this chain of uh Witnesses for these young people and so like every Baptist preacher always says I won't be before you long uh because I really want to hear from the young people as well but I came today because as someone who has the moral and ethical responsibility uh to fight not only for encouraging people to vote but also to fight for the access for people to be able to vote I thought it was important to be able to come and to share a few words I had to be honest that particularly on a national level it becomes increasingly difficult to be able to muster the energy to do that I've been hearing vote vote vote since I was younger than some of the folk being able to testify today but I have to say that as I get older I get a little bit more cynical particularly on the larger national state levels one of the things that continues to be true is that on an exceedingly local level you can see very real and tangible results of your vote so to be able to give these young people the opportunity to vote specifically because I've heard a lot of comments about uh young people voting very broadly I just want to be clear that we're talking about giving uh 16 year olds opportunity to vote on Schoolboard elections be clear about that but to give them the opportunity to be able to vote and to have their voices heard in a way that will have tangible effects on their very real lived realities in their schools uh this is one of the most important elections uh in terms of the day-to-day for these young people and even for as someone uh with children that are getting older and and increasing and getting close to this age I think is so exceedingly important so I wanted to come uh and to offer those words also as someone who has the honor of pastoring our new uh County Commissioner Dorian Murray Thomas and think about the ways that she began on the school board at such a young age I think this very much speaks to the spirit of the energy and the wisdom she was able to be on the board and that some of that same energy come can come from our young people and so last I just want to applaud you uh to being able to take the step that is unprecedented in our state and is my hope and prayer that it'll be a Cascade throughout the rest of New Jersey thank you again and I give the rest of our time to our young people thank you Pastor thank you next speaker good afternoon good afternoon good afternoon uh members of New York City Council my name is Amanda aosa I am founder and CEO of the gem project a nor based nonprofit deeply rooted in norc um for the past two decades centered on youth organizing today I stand before you to advocate for Meaningful change that will shift our voting culture within this city and state and be a leader for this kind of De Democratic change for the rest of the country by deciding to lower the voting age to 16 and enabling 16 and 17 year olds to vote in Schoolboard elections I'm proud to be in this room with some of our gem project fellows Nate and Briana bro 16 who have been actively amplifying youth voices since 2021 from rallies policy briefs and forums raising the interest of their peers but because of their age they're limited to the change they can make today that can all change by voting yes I am proud to share space here today with nor students residents parents several nor organizations the ACLU allies and also our vote 16 NJ Partners which include the New Jersey Institute for social justice and New Jersey NAACP Youth and college as well as New York youth move this city history itself has shown norc's youth dedication to having those who represent them in office through advocacy voice and shared power yet our 16 and 17 year olds around 7,000 Nork residents have been excluded in the fabric that shapes our city our country the Democratic process of voting and an ability to make meaningful impact today that can all change by voting yes including youth in our electoral process is a necessary act to strengthen our democracy and make it whole already impacted by the policies that govern every aspect of their lives from gun safety curriculum and health so much more we cannot not in good conscience stand back any longer restricting the youth voice and impact today that can all change by voting yes youth their voice contributions insights are an asset what we do here today will reflect that truth to of our city their inclusion and ability to vote can only make us stronger as a city and make us whole it's time that we do away with the arbitrary age of 18 and set standards of Other M municipalities to look up to voting yes moving forward is a step in the right direction to ensure access and to improve the state of how civic education expands to just not just School curriculum organizations youth organizations and the dinner table as a result of your deliberation and decision today our City's voting culture will be shaped and a precedent for our youth involvement in Civic engagement will be set to the Next Generation we can create change by voting yet thank you thank you so much thank you good afternoon good morning and good afternoon and happy New Year charity serine 106 s Avenue in primary classrooms Master Teachers know they must arrange their classrooms so that their students can see the information being presented therefore learning posters have been brought down to eye level so that Scholars can see and use these tools I am thrilled that newk is using this same mentality when it comes to Civic educations for our teenagers by lowering the voting age we are taking the concept of voting and bringing it to ey level so they can use this tool as a 26 year veteran of the nework public schools I am highly aware of the brilliant teachers we have and their powerful influence on students I am also inspired by the excellent work of peran Conover New York social studies director New York Board of education's vision States an education in social studies Fosters a population that is civic-minded and socially responsible exemplifies fundamental values of American citizenship through active participation in local communities and makes informed decisions about local events based on in Y and Analysis the truth is that no matter how amazing a curriculum or teacher is unless there are practical applications for students that are both relevant and impactful they'll Simply Be words on a page or a nice concept that they hear preparing and allowing 16 and 17y old students to vote empowers Scholars to apply what they are learning every teacher in the world knows that a student hasn't really internalized a concept until they have the chance to apply it so Bravo to your Genius Newark for being the forerunners mayor Gibson said wherever American cities are going Newark will get their first so young people are powerful we say we want them to have a voice so let's allow them to speak with their vote on that day students will walk down as a class to the polling place that their school has staged for decades the signs outside their schools that say vote here will take on a whole new meaning neighbors won't just trickle in throughout the day to cast their votes students themselves will flood the room to make their indelible Mark Newark will be able to lead our state and nation in saying this is what democracy looks like thank you thank you Miss he good good afternoon council president good afternoon uh my name is Miki Vargas I'm an associate Council on the democracy and Justice program at the New Jersey Institute for social justice I'm submitting this testimony in support of introducing the school board ordinance title 21 which will allow 16 and 17 year olds who reside in the city of Newark to vote in New York school board elections in New Jersey and across America we are witnessing a troubling Trend a deliberate effort to stifle the conversation around race racism and systemic inequality particularly in our educational institutions bills are being passed courses are being cut and found foundational Texs are being removed threatening the very fabric of our understanding of our nation's history in the wake of such challenges we find ourselves at a crucial juncture attacks on truth and history necessitate a powerful response from the people and that response should be at The Ballot Box yet the unfortunate reality is that voter turnout especially in non-federal elections remains alarmingly low consider the recent Schoolboard elections in 2023 where only 3 to 7% of eligible voters participated in municipalities here in nework the New Jersey's largest city the turnout was a disheartening 3% this to address this crisis we must not only protect the Integrity of our educational system but also Revitalize our Democratic process one bold solution lies in the empowerment of our youth the very individuals directly affected by the decisions made by school boards research shows that 16 and 17 year olds are not only neurologically and socially mature enough to vote responsibly but are also well informed and engage in political issues the age of 18 currently the voting threshold is an arbitrary barrier that restricts the political contribution of these young individuals by lowering the voting age for Schoolboard elections in New York we could Empower and enfranchise a notable roughly 7,6 and 17 year olds giving them a direct voice in shaping the future of our community by extending the franchise to our younger citizens we not only Foster a more diverse and representative democracy but also instill a sense of civic responsibility from an early age allowing 16 and 17 year olds to participate in Schoolboard elections strengthens our democracy as they begin to build a habit of voting younger the Young a voter is when they cast a ballot for the first time the more likely it is for them to continue to do so as with any habit Civic engagement takes time to develop the impact of lowering the voting age on our democracy is not theoretical it has been observed in Tacoma Park Maryland for the turnout among 16 and 17 year olds exceeded that of the general population in local elections finally this can be done easily and quickly contrary to Common belief the New Jersey Constitution does not explicitly prohibit voting for those under 18 it merely grants the right to those 18 and older this opportunity is in your hands nework can pass this ordinance now in time for young people to vote in New York Schoolboard elections let us Stand United in defense of Truth history and democracy thank you thank you next speaker enough for the take over mun El buman um I two uh you know um reflect on the comments thato made um Denise sorry it's both of you I know it's to Y right um as a former nework Civic trustee also as a former student government uh representative out of Essex County College and New Jersey City University um we helped fashion we helped propose a new Civic trust in this city a new a new Civic nation in this city and also for the Youth to partake that's why we wanted new Civics in the schools we sat at the table and we developed this I'm not against this but what I am against is that the fact that as a new Civic trustee because they have the no blame approach and some of y'all are the blame of our crisis that we facing in the city that's why I was removed from the nework Civ trustee because that portion of that that no blame because y'all some of y'all folks are the blame of the crisis that we are going on and we keep fighting every day we come every time we come to this council meeting about so I'm I'm personally you know affected about about about what's going on here okay this ain't really about the students this is about y'all being desperate y'all are desperate for V votes that's what you are the sponsor the ones who's pushing this leg legislation y'all are desperate y'all ain't concerned about the voices of the youth y'all concerned about manipulating the the the the voices of the youth because that's what they try to do to me and the nor Civic trust because my way of how I think okay and not blaming yes we do need to propose things that you know uh uh that would actually address our issues but we also need to provoke accountability to fail leadership no other way to describe you that's what you are and calling you to account is not a what they consider not blaming you can't blame because some of you are this is about manipulating the votes y'all do it right now today you steal votes you manipulate and terrorize seniors that's why they don't want to come out to vote that's why the people don't want to come out to vote here you terrorize Advocates you throw us out when we want to speak about the issues that matters the most in our community y'all ain't serious about no uh uh thank you your time is up thank you next speaker hello Council my name is afternoon and I am one of the I've been one of the co-founders and executive directors of V6 New Jersey for the past four years I'm also a freshman at Harvard College but I originally graduated from Somerville High School in Somerville New Jersey last year I'm here today to convey my support for the ordinance that would lower the voting age to 16 and today I wanted to share with you some of the reasons why I personally feel so strongly about lowering the voting age by bringing you back to why I started fting about this for this issue four years ago as a politically engaged student I noticed a sense of maturity and civic responsibility that individuals within my generation needed to assume um in the world that we grew up in I noticed that young people were the ones who uniquely spearheaded long-term goals of unity they brilliantly employed technology in the modern world as a mechanism for political change and they trailblazed amplifying critical conversations despite their controversiality in short the young people of today are strikingly powerful passionate and willing to learn and their voices have so much more potential with the empowerment of representation and access to the ballot the solution so this brings us to why lowering voting age is so specifically important to nework um no democracy is truly representative when individuals do not show up to the pools as New York Schoolboard election voter turnout rates plummet to frightening low rates this is a question of whether or not the democratic system is truly representative for the city this is their educations of the students the Futures the livelihoods and students must watch this from the sidelines that the new work population is being controlled by a 3% minority of votes the solution to this problem is written in the proposed ordinance lower the voting age to 16 Not only would lower the voting age simply Grant young people a voice in a city where little to no voters are stepping in but it would catalyze and embed an invaluable lifelong habit of civic duty as a college student I can personally tell you that the part of the voter turnout problem is caused by the period of transition that the average 18-year-old undergoes I'm involved in a student organization that register students and help uh to vote and helps them um order absentee ballots from their home municipality voting as an 18-year-old is especially difficult as those who are moving out of state do not know the process of ordering an absentee ballot and time becomes more occupied post High School graduation and this is why I recommend the city of New York utilizes the school systems as an Avenue of voter education and encouraging Civic engagement the city should start in school voter registration campaigns facilitate School visits to discuss the voting process and increase the presence of Civic engagement programs within the city this is an opportunity for the city of Newark to unite its promising diverse youth population and use their talents for an Indescribable revitalization of its democracy for the sake of the future of our youth and the health of our democracy I strongly encourage you to lower the voting age 16 and new work School Board elections thank you thank you good afternoon good afternoon everyone my name is Risa and I am the state policy lead for March for our lives New Jersey um and we're here to advocate for this today because we understand the power of Youth to affect change when in 2018 and again in 2022 we marched in Washington DC and held hosted hundreds of sibling marches across the country to call for an end to gun violence while at the time time most of the people involved with that could not themselves vote for the representatives deciding it so I really am so grateful to the council for bringing up this ordinance today and I think it's especially important that this is happening in Newark where residents know what it is like to not have the ability to choose representatives for school board because of the Decades that Newark spent under State takeover it is only more fitting that we pass this ordinance here to increase representation and to speak for civil rights I also want to speak to the importance of lowering the voting age in Schoolboard elections as a way to make sure that students have the ability to affect change on the issues that affect the most whether it be the threat of gun violence in schools whether it be the need for more mental health Investments whether it be the need to be able to have a say over your curriculum whether it be theil ility to vote on referendums that are about investing in the schools and Facilities that students fundamentally use and I understand that there is such a need to invest in civic education I think these struggles are intertwined I think that through investing through lowering the voting age in Schoolboard elections we put pressure on high schools and on government to invest in civic education curriculum I also want to say that I myself was a student in high school who went to every single monthly board meeting I was not the only one and I know what it was like to have people come up to me and ask me who do you recommend that I vote for when I do not myself have the right to vote and is that a standard that every single 16 and 17 year old is going to do that of course not but every voter is not going to do that and why are we being held to that standard why is it that 16 and 17 year olds are expected to you know that is supposed to take away from us having the right to um from having the right to actually have a voice about what happens in schools and the final point I'm going to make is just that I think that voting is not a zero sum game and that by expanding the franchise by expanding the vote we only make our democracy more fair and better for everyone thank you so much thank you next speaker good afternoon honor afternoon I'm yanj who executive director and co-founder of vote 16 New Jersey the youth Leed movement to lower the voting age 16 for local elections here in Newark in the most recent School Board election 3% is the voter turnout that amounts to Just Around 5,000 votes for a school board for a school board that governs over over 40,000 students that just doesn't make sense none of these 40,000 students have a say in their daily lives their daily lives are impacted by the decisions that school boards make and that yet they have no say allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote those who are already transitioning into legal adulthood would hold School boards accountable for their decisions this would ensure that issues that are most important to students like mental health physical conditions and curriculum actually acted upon and acted upon sufficiently and result in tangible benefits for students themselves Beyond giving students a voice into issues that directly affect them you're better preparing youth for a future of specific engagement as well right now youth are frankly not prepared to start voting at the inconvenient age of 18 as students become adults those are moving away from their families their friends their communities that they've lived in for nearly all their lives and now they're going off and starting their own lives going off to college getting an education or starting a career as I see many close family members and friends go through this transition as well I can see how the respons responsibity of voting to take a backseat in the face of all these obligations when my sister went off to college she didn't know what an absente ballot was she didn't know how to obtain a ballot and send it off in the mail and fill out a complicated application hundreds of miles away from home so she just didn't vote combined with her lack of experience this process of moving away at 18 makes it so much harder to vote she was too busy acclimating to a new environment exploring new found Independence and learning other important life skills to tackle the intimidating process and this happens too often often at 16 youth are supported by their teachers their mentors the parents the people around them in school social studies teachers could offer guidance on how to register to vote while mentors and parents can help stud can help students pick who best represents their values with this support voting immediately becomes far more accessible to 16 17 year olds with the way it is here in New Jersey we train youth more to steer a car than we do to steer the future of our nation why is it that youth can practice driving with a probationary license before they turn 18 and get a for one but they can't practice the vital um vital skill of voting just like how youth have driver's education classes Laur Wen law passed recently mandate Civics education for students now this vital step for practicing what youth have learned and seeing its impact is still missing in the voting process council members if you pass this ordinance you will send the message that youth should be engaged with their government that we should have a say in issues that directly affect us allowing youth to vote empowers us to improve the community we currently live in and shows us their voice do matter in shaping the country that we will ultimately inherit thank you next speaker um I'm sorry how many minutes do we have three minutes but someone look I don't know everybody could going to get a chance to speak here I know it's 30 minutes that's what I'm saying how no it's three minutes for you there's no time cap to it but somebody has to speak so thank you no no no no it's okay Maggie Freeman nor New Jersey okay y'all come on confusion we're back on that okay happy 2020 for everybody um I'm concerned about what I'm hearing today um because as an advocate as a person who works with young people as a citizen of norc practically all my life parents rights are under sieged norc's rights are Under Siege when we have to go to our 16 and 17 year olds for solutions that means a bigger issue that means there's a system failure somewhere occurring um we're talking about voting right now for youth that need four years to get a diploma when does it stop do they sign a permission slips do they now request the health records at what point will we be capping this 16y old 17y old's making decisions should they be emancipated first I mean has this even been discussed throughout our communities each school have we visited one where has this conversation been whenever a nonprofit has to be formed to groom our youth that's a problem in voting what where's the educational resources at the school level not just do Public Schools but the charter perio every school that Graces the ground in Nork there are some clear issues I'm not even going to say just the Voting is a problem even quality of service is a problem quality of life has been impacted for far too long and we have local control within the last couple of years that we're failing by not including parents community members Advocates when does it stop if this is passed today I don't know where we go from here because I don't know where the cap stops thank you thank you next speaker shner vote no this is a premature decision nor parents and Guardians wasn't notified about this ordinance it's disappointing irresponsible and unconstitutional not to engage Guardians on voting for the change in age limits for Schoolboard elections at a day meeting where parents and students can't attend some parents work two or three jobs and some are struggling mentally how are we using student votes to power the adult vote but a student representative of the school board cannot vote for a formal School Board business stop using our children for your political power the attorney compared the children of the Vietnam War to our children today Vietnam War was between 1955 to 1975 during this time was the newk riots King and Malcolm assassination as well as the War on Drugs that devastated our community which led to our housing crisis of closing many public housing sites this generation is fighting against poor schools housing homelessness War drugs mind control social manipulation and knowing the real um knowing what is what is a real man or what is a real woman they should they must understand the policies that shape our society this is the reason why Civics is important it must be taught to all citizens and um I would like to ask how many times has the council have intended the SCH board meeting and also what about the educational committee why haven't they met with the parents to be able to discuss this this is serious I took the time out to speak to some of the parents but I couldn't reach everyone we have we are filled with so many different cultures God give us the power to be able to create change that's why we have policies in place yes children yes you do but don't let nobody manipulate you you have a right to think and know and feel that's what you must know thyself know what you are fighting for know how that you are going to how you going to change the world with your brilliant ideas so what I will advise you to do is you go back and get the vote for your um representative to be able to allow your voices to be heard on the school board that's the first fight you must do and then you maybe you can come back and deal it on the on on um on the city level because the state you got to go to them first and then the city so how can the city go against the state we all must work together that's why Civics is important and that's the reason our parents don't come because we're frustrated every time look at this stand Seth Bron was torn down down and that's going to be a movie studio and that was the first remember red lining remember the policies what they put on us thank you your time has now expired next speaker peace and blessings good afternoon good afternoon peace and blessings allow me to introduce myself my name is Kevin Bernard I'm the New Jersey state conference thank you so much peace and blessings me introduce myself my name is Kevin Berard the New Jersey state conference first vice president for the New Jersey youth in college andp and also state conference political action as well I am a proud longterm resident at the city of nework itself but again as I'm am testifying I'm also testifying as an educator in the city of New as an educator I had the privileg to teach in the city I have witnessed our students young students incredible potentials the potential and passion that I have seen a of the privilege of working with these students in the privilege of seeing from diverse backgrounds of different communities thoughts processes ideologies itself but I have also seen the enthusiasm to learn about the word to engage in discussions to talk about issues that have affect them in their lives and have a positive contribution to this city PR passing the V 16 ordinance is something that is essential to empower the youth and fostering active citizenship lowering the voting age to six old but give them an intangible way to participate in our democracy in our democracy education goes beyond classroom in Tech and en Compass ways that in development of critical thinking skill ways of civic participation civic responsibility these all these skill sets itself will take on to the understanding of Rights of what is a true democracy of its true ethics itself again allowing 16 and 17 years old to vote with an enforce an import specific engagement that will students with real world practices but more important in take on those knowledges and St into practice itself again is a potential impact of long index of young voters democracy drives and also takes a lost influence into diverse perspective including younger voters to enrich conversation discussion and other more importantly take onions that were take on to a larger initial place this and Stu has became an itself to step forward to Young engagement more upon these initiative paath ear will allow youth engagement mentorship program initiatives will Taken larger and place in the city of North again this initiative may include young counsels mentorship programs opportunities for young young students to serve on the Advisory Board many countries and municipalities around the world have FL the voting AE cities in the United States have lower the voting age in the United States low lowering the voting age itself to 16 years old has positive outcome but following the s l himself to hold that commitment becoming a Civic City will take on the largest potential to helping our democracy helping our society thank you city council for your time and consideration for this critical matter itself I urge you to load a voting age to 16 17 years old election thank you thank you for your time thank you so much for your time uh next speaker good afternoon good afternoon my name is Alejandra s with the AC of New Jersey thank you council members for the opportunity to testify today in support of this ordinance to lower the voting age lowering the voting age empowers young people to engage with the decision that impact them directly and shaped their education and encourage them to begin a lifelong habit of Civic engagement it marks an investment in Border turnout that would pay dividends for decades to come and it compels politicians to devote greater attention to the Views and needs of younger constituents who will who will face the consequences of policy decision for much longer there are several reasons why lowering the voting age makes sense and we can talk about data all day long here but I'm just going to name a few first setting the voting age was largely a historical accident the decision to allow 18-year-olds to vote was rooted in historical exigency and Notions of fair and not any evidence-based determination that 18-year-olds have achieved a level of maturity or competency that younger people lack second individuals by lowering the voting age are more likely to turn out to vote for the first time when they are 16 or 17 versus when they are 18 because voting is a habit forming and this phenomenon leads to long-term gains which without we could not help shrink the persistent racial disparities in voting third young people for example in New Jersey 16-year-olds can begin Le these burdens and freedoms should be accompanied by the right to vote and lastly on a personal note and as you have seen today I worked for many years with young people doing Civic engagement work they were out in the streets day in and day out registering people to vote getting them out to vote even when they couldn't register or vote themselves they're some of the most passionate and engaged people that I have met that have I've been inspired by for so many years and they should be able to shape the decision that impact them and they will impact them for a much longer time than older voters so we're excited to see this ordinance moving forward we commend the city of New York and the council members for advancing and their leadership on this issue and urge you to to approve it thank you thank you next speaker good afternoon good afternoon my name is Jonathan Alon I am debate coach and teacher for 30 years at Science Park High School and and thank you for allowing me to dress you clearly I think that Kids 4 16 need to have the right to vote I think the rest of our society has already agreed that they have the responsibility because every day in this city every day for about the last 40 years around this country if you're 16 year old and you do something wrong we say you should be punished like an adult we destroy kids' lives every day we destroy kids lives because we say they are accountable we say they are rational but we're not going to give them the right to vote we have already acknowledged that we have a prison Industrial Pipeline that is the schools to prison pipeline we know this in our city but we're not going to give 16 year olds the right to vote now the hypocrisy is glaring now I agree that we should have Civics education I think the board agrees we should have Civics education but let's not hold our 16 year olds to a higher standard than the rest of society right like let's not say they can't vote because they don't know when most of the rest of society don't know but they have access to know more in Nork Board of Education right now I do believe we need to push a Civics education I do believe that we already have something that's already been approved a debate education I know it's a good education because I helped write the curriculum for it that teaches kids how to deal with evidence how to deal with argument I think we need to push that as well and finally just has a little bit of History right the people Civil Rights Movement the kids who were attacked by dogs and hoses a lot of them were from local high schools there were high school students that went there even in nework only a few years ago were fighting for local control those were high school students who organized demonstrations that were so big they shut down the highway to the airport they helped us get local control back if students can help get local control back you have to help them have the vote right now so yes I don't think we really have a question here about whether it's right or wrong I think it's morally necessary I think yes they need a Civics education but we've got curriculum already in ner public schools for a debate education that they need to have as well so thank you for allowing me to address you thank you Mr Austin thank you next speaker good afternoon good afternoon my name is Bel Walker I'm not only a son of the city born and raised in norc but I'm also a dedicated educator that has been supporting nor H for the past nine years I am here today to speak in support of the city of nor Lauren the voting age for local elections specifically School Board elections we all know that all politics is local however the voter turnout in non-federal elections remains consistently and exceedingly low annual School Board elections in 2023 for example saw 3 to S verto turnout and participating municipalities in nor New Jersey's largest city turn turnout was a dismal 3% annual nonpartisan Municipal elections had 4 to 44% voter turnout the primary elections had about 4 to 15% voter turnout to start raising these chronically low participation rates requires deep Community organizing some of which is already occurring to register eligible voters and encourage them to vote however there is more we can do it is time to bring younger voters into the Democratic fold particularly in elections that directly impact them municipalities like our city do not need to wait for the state to act municipalities in New Jersey can't pass laws right now regarding voting rights in elections though the city states excuse me though the states elections law statutes enumerate The Limited circumstances under which certain persons who otherwise meet the requirements are prohibited from voting they do not bar anyone from voting because they are under 18 furthermore the New Jersey Constitution your election law statute state that the New Jersey state legislator gets to determine the age for local races which means that local governments get to make their own decisions younger people are experts in their own Liv experiences younger people are experts in their own Liv experience they know what they need in have the skills and knowledge to communicate those need through the Democratic process research actually indicates that 16y olds are as knowledgeable about Civics and have the same ability to make good voting choices as older voters the impact of this policy change is far-reaching as it can establish not only a vast new generation of Voters where there's a large population of opportunity Youth and also Inspire the family members and adults connected to those youth voters to vote in elections themselves younger people who participate in elections when they reach voting age are likely to develop the habit of voting and those who do not are more likely to remain non voters the involvement of black and brown communities and Civics is especially important given our history experience of voting suppression intimidation our struggle to actually have the right to vote 16 is not too young to change our community our community has a longstanding history of Youth leading organizing efforts that bring about positive change norc can enable young people to participate in Civic starting at age 16 we need to act now thank you balow next speaker good afternoon good afternoon my name is yel Bromberg I'm a civil rights attorney and I'm a nationally leading legal scholar of the 26 Amendment which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 50 years ago I I thinkk you to 18 50 years ago I I thank you today for your leadership mayor Gibson said as Illustrated in the Statue standing before um City Hall wherever American cities are going Newark will get there first wherever American cities are going nework will get there first what we have before us today I want to applaud you and the young people who have joined us to give truth to this issue with regard to lowering the voting age specifically with with regard to the Board of Education races Newark yet again sets out as a national leader on this particular issue with regard to civil rights by lowering the voting age to 16 for the Board of Ed races City Hall joins governments across the world in doing so in the last two decades Austria Estonia and Malta have lowered the voting age to 16 for all elections Scotland and have done so for local and parliamentary races 11 of Germany's 16 states do so as well for state and local races in the last decade five cities in Maryland have lowered the voting age to 16 for local races and so have Oakland and Berkeley in California with regard to school board races as we see before us today New Jersey recognizes the right for 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote and recently I think it was last week week New Jersey expanded the vote for 17y olds to participate in the primary system as recognized in this ordinance now before us for a final vote 16 and 17 year olds are already entrusted with significant responsibilities many of these Echo the reasons advancing the ratification of the 26 Amendment 50 years ago and even more so the themes echoed 50 years ago when the nation came together and cross partisan lines to ratify the quickest amendment to be ratified in the United States Constitution to lower the voting age to 18 recognized five things one the value of the idealism courage and moral purpose that young people provide and re-energizing the practice of democracy I think that's evident by these beautiful young voices that have joined us that we've heard today two The increased political competency of young people compared to Prior gener Generations that was recognized in 1971 including greater access to television now we have the smartphones and standardized education three increased responsibility of the groups four the nation's General recogniz uh General recognition of the nation's expansive expansion to towards a more inclusive suffrage thank you I'm sorry but your time has expired thank you for your comments one final note is that young people have written the story of America from the revolution thank you I'm so sorry we we your time has expired thank you next speaker good afternoon council members um and fellow citizens that are here today my name is ran Davis and I stand here today as a member of the North Community and also as the exe executive director of the Andrew Goodman Foundation 60 years ago this year our organizational namesake Andrew Goodman at just 20 years of age journeyed to Mississippi from New York City to register black voters and take a stand for more representative democracy the day he arrived in Mississippi he would be murdered by the K clux clan for his efforts today the Andrew Gman Foundation supports trains and prepares the next generation of young Civic leaders like Andrew Goodman across the country we work with students on 60 plus campuses across 26 States including here in New Jersey today I urge this body to support this grp groundbreaking ordinance it not only aligns with the principles of our democracy that every voice should be heard but also Echoes the historical significance of Youth participation in the most important social movements over the history of this country as we reflect on History we are reminded of the Brave Young individuals who play pivotal roles in many of us sitting here today including many members that sit on our city council folks like John Lewis who began his journey as an activist at 17 I remember years ago as a senior at University High School thousands of young people walking out of their schools across the city to converge right here at City Hall to demand a stop to school funding Cuts simply put our democracy is at its best when young people are active with this spirit in mind I'm an advocate for extending voting rights to 16 and 17 year olds in local Schoolboard elections these young individuals are not merely the leaders of tomorrow but active participants in the challenges and opportunities that have a direct impact on our lives today enabling them to cast their ballots will further instill a sense of responsibility as folks have said civic duty and ownership in the Democratic processes that govern their education we're talking about enfranchising thousands of new voters with a pen stroke it's a powerful step that this body should be proud of if fundamentally changes the nature and scope of these elections which have no doubt suffered from abysmal participation in the past just as young activists took past ownership of their Destinies today's youth must also have a voice in shaping the future that they will inevitably inherit allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote in Schoolboard elections empowers them to directly impact the policies and decisions that shape their lives it Fosters a sense of investment in their future teaching them that their opinions matter and they have power to influence the trajectory of their education in their city thank you thank you next speaker good afternoon good afternoon my name is Crystal king um I first would like to say that I'm extremely impressed by the Vigor and tenacity of the youth who showed up today to have their voices heard I commend you all and I would also like to note that these youth only represent a very small percentage of the Youth of Newark however as a parent of New York City youth I disagree with the decision to allow the impressionable Youth of the city to vote I believe this Vigor and tenacity that these youth have exhibited today should be geared more towards voting on The detrimental conditions within the school system such as poor test scores and ability of children to read at their grade level or officials within the school board who discourage and railroad students and parents of the less fortunate and less politically Savvy this tenacity that these youth have should be focused on educating their peers to encourage change at an educational level and not at this level thank you thank you for your comments next speaker hi I'm Sam mman I Am from a senior in Westfield High School and so um when I came to this New York town council meeting um I expected a majority if not unanimous support and I'm a little surprised that uh there has been some opposition and for that I'm sorry about that I'm sorry that we couldn't gain everyone's support but I promise you that there's a lot gonna there's a lot of good that's going to come out of this us students we're not going to stop fighting for our seniors for our working class for our blue color workers that do the tough work that keep our society running every day we're not going to stop we're g to keep fighting I promise you that and 30 60 years ago uh 35,000 African-American boys were disport were disproportionately sent to Vietnam then a man named Nixon came and started a war on drugs that devastated African-American communities all right pardon my language but we screwed up all right America screwed up and I promise you one thing right I promise you one thing all right that ain't happening again we educate our kids that ain't happening again we're gonna all right first thing I'm going to do if we could get this ordinance past is to keep on pushing to educate our kids we not only have the law wooden law pass we're going to keep pushing for more Civics education for more different types of Education to make sure our kids are on the right path to make sure our kids are educated and once that's achieve we're gonna keep once we gain that information we're gonna keep fighting for uh the seniors like uh Mrs Parker said we're gonna keep fighting for them to make sure that they're taking care of we're going to fight for our blue color workers all right these people took care of us when we were young and it's our time to give back all right get us in get us into the door early and we're g to keep on fighting I promise you that I promise you that so um I hope that um we could uh gain these people's support and I hope that uh the city council passes this off thank you thank you next speaker good afternoon and thank you for your public service to Newark uh my name is Niko I am a college freshman but I'm originally from Livingston New Jersey uh and I was a founding member of vote 16 New Jersey I came here today to speak in favor of the proposal to lower the voting age for School Board elections to 16 as a recent high school graduate myself I have seen how high school students themselves have an informed perspective of their schools many of which have great ideas and proposals to improve their school districts granting them the right to vote can increase their participation in politics and make our school boards more responsive to those who are being impacted the most from what I've seen in my community 16-year-olds would be genuinely interested in turning out for Schoolboard elections because of the impact that it has on them as a result they will be more likely to continue voting in future elections and bolstering youth participation in New Jersey elections this will generate a healthy and more active democracy throughout the state I thank the New York City Council for considering the proposal and I urge that the council votes yes thank you thank you next speaker good afternoon good afternoon council president honorable members of the New York City Council uh my name is Wolford Chinos and today I am speaking on behalf of vote 16 USA um a national initiative to lower the voting age to 16 incubated by generation citizen where I serve in the capacity of a a policy and advocacy associate um in my role I've observed and helped support the tremendous strides that the state of New Jersey has made in youth Civic engagement uh passing the ordinance under consideration represent the latest example of Newark and the state of New Jersey more widely leading the way in youth civic particip participation at the start of 2024 um as an initiative committed to generational racial Equity co6 USA strives to ensure that all young people of color all young particularly but not limited to people of color have a say in the policies that directly impact their lives School Board decisions help shape the educational experience Uprising students and leaders in newwork yet they do not currently have a rust voice and selecting who serves on that policymaking body leaving them as an under heard and underrepresent constituency passing this measure will not only Rectify this representational inequity but it will also teach young people in Newark and across the country that their voices can and should be heard through their vote allowing them to exercise their civic duty early at the local level will Foster the habit of voting amongst the next generation of eligible voters as the governor mentioned in the State of the State addressed yesterday evening and as the research from Civic now as par ofon Civics education Coalition in partnership with test University and Columbia University indicates voting is is Habitual those who vote once are more likely to vote again lowering the V age to 16 is gaining momentum across the country lowering the voting age to 16 in School Board elections was passed in Berkeley California in 2016 and in Oakland in 2020 Oakland is now poised to implement the measure fully this year this past summer in Brattleboro Vermont a veto was overridden to allow 16 to 17y year olds to V to vote in all Municipal elections um and finally as of January 24 Seven municipalities in the state of Maryland lowered the voting age beginning in 2013 with Tacoma Park Maryland uh compared to the previously mentioned cities nework is distinguished by its larger population and its geographic location in the Mid-Atlantic additionally as the New Jersey Institute of social justice notes of the 7,257 16 and 17 year olds that would be in franchise with passage 90% are black and brown this data point further underscores the moral and Civic significant of adopting a measure that would constitute material and nationally significant progress in elevating the Civic voice of young people of color have traditionally faced unique barriers to the participation recent polling from Circle uh at tus University and the Harvard Institute of politics have shown steep aggressions nationally in young people's propensity to vote particularly amongst black and young black Hispanic people given this data on youth political participation now was an opportune moment to expand the you apologies thank you for your time much for your comments next speaker good afterno afterno afternoon council president my name is maab Ali I'm director of vote 16 USA it's a national initiative to lower the voting age to 16 uh in local elections across the country but I want to tell you a little bit about myself prior to this role I first ran for office when I was 19 years old in Jersey City New Jersey I was elected onto the school board when I was 20 and when I was 20 I was the president of the school board in Jersey City and in my time I want to tell you a story we passed a bill to get students onto our Board of Education just like the student representative you have here in newer we did something else we started a participatory budgeting program where we gave every single high school $10,000 and we gave our student up $20,000 and we asked the students what would you do with this money now Newark Schoolboard budget is about a billion dollars so this would be less than 1% of the budget that the to this program and what we realized is when we gave students the voice and the opportunity to speak up on What mattered they were able to speak in a way that was more candid than any of the teachers or principles the parents they talked about facilities that needed upgrades they talked about the different things on the playgrounds that were broken students have the ability to make these rational decisions this idea may seem bold but it is an idea that is necessary some argue that year olds aren't mature enough to make these decisions but in the state of New Jersey at 16 you have the right to drive you have the ability to pay taxes and you have the ability to work by lowering the voting age not only are we empowering our youth or we're reinvigorating our democracy Studies have shown that voting habits when they're formed early tend to stick this means that vote 16 is not just an investment in our youth it is an investment in the health and vitality of our democracy you know my friend joked with me and they asked me why I was wearing a summer suit in the middle of winter but I told them that the son of democracy was shining bright in New York today the Warm Glow making a new dawn of Civic engagement Illuminating this city with light and hope and progress Newark has always been a city of Trailblazers a city unafraid to lead by example let's continue this tradition let's give our young people the voice that they deserve let's pass good 16 a new it thank you thank you next speaker good afternoon good afternoon council president mcgyver ladies and gentlemen of New York City Council my name is Misha aiz and I am the state advisor of the New Jersey state conference youth in college and the advisor of the award-winning camon County East youth Council here in New Jersey I am here today because as an adult advisor I meet with young people under the age of 18 weekly over the entire state of New Jersey we have been meeting for over a year with members of vote 16 New Jersey to come to this day to this point to make history MLK Day is next week he graduated high school when he was 15 he started at morouse the alma mater of my son at 15 and ordan minister at 19 what if he had the right to vote at 16 what would if been the difference that he could have made as Mr Austin stated earlier here in New Jersey young people as young as 14 can be tried as an adult why don't we try them as an adult with the right to vote newk according to the last census makes up of 82% of people of color African-American and Latino while we are here discussing this there there are hundreds and thousands of young people who are being tried as an adult between the ages of 14 and 17 let us again try them as an adult with the right to vote some people here have said this is about the Newark residents you heard from Kevin Bernard a Newark resident an alma moer of East Side High School a mon Clair graduate he has been civically engaged since known him because of the work that he's done with the NAACP and his passion to be civically engaged as a teenager he has testified in front of the State Assembly we train young people under 18 every day in the student New Jersey to register people to vote the president of the camon County East youth Council the NAACP turns 18 next month she's ready to vote are you ready to let young like to vot in the city of Newark be the Forefront be the change makers and allow young people as age 16 to vote in the next election on behalf of the NAACP youth in College of the New Jersey state conference where our youth president is Ryan Bates we encourage you to pass this ordinance to vote people have said that the young people are impressionable they are let's impress them with this right to vote let's impress them with the encouragement to be civically engaged let's impress them with the forth thought of allowing young people to vot at six thank you next speaker good afternoon Felicia Austin singon I think we need to get to the real meet of the problem and why some people people are against you voting for um children to come and vote in elections children listen to me and I'mma tell you the honest to God truth you don't want it I think it's good that you want to vote but at the end of the day these are the very people that will stop you from getting a job block your housing and if you're not on their team or doing what they say you will be black balled from anything in the C at the end of the day they want your vote because people have been tired of voting for them the school board election is the lowest turnout so now we got to go to the kids we've had people jobs taken for them because they decided to choose to go on another side positions taken from them black ball it's not that we don't want our kids to vote or be respons responsible adults you don't even have Civics how many times have I asked y'all we as the Civics in education the third and eth greaters can't read can't write in person you can't even let's go to the elementary schools and ask them who you are mayor baraca Su the city of norc in in 2000 for suppression of but yet in 2014 2018 and 2022 y'all went in Bully seniors out of their Apartments y'all bulli people and gave them nips of liquor to vote for you lottery tickets Fried Chicken Dinners let's tell the truth you want the truth I'mma give it to you if you're not voting for them or they you didn't have or they didn't think you would vote for them this wouldn't even be discussion right now at the end of the day don't vote line a all the way don't vote lme be for you and me let's teach Y how to vote vote for the qualified person vote for the person who want to hear us and listen to us because it ain't them it's not them or what about the keys you took the weekway high school or down to weekway high school students down to the County Board and and had them go vote they didn't even know what they was voting for and didn't even tell the parents that you did that y'all take away people right and saying like oh we want to give you rights you don't want to give us nothing you want to take everything we have but you can't have our babies ask them these legislator what piece of legislation they created they legislator thank you Miss atin okay what piece of legislation have they thank you Miss Austin your time has now expired next speaker Douglas fre good afternoon how you doing I'm not against it but I just have some concerns um when we look at the elections in nor to say it's a democracy that's a misstatement because it's not um are you g to do away with the slates that you have where children not actually going to vote for independent people they're going to vote for a group that's been designated by different organizations because the average parent that has been running in advocates for the last 10 years have been outspent by $126,000 every year or a position that is not paid so yes so there's some concerns that are you have um also who is voting because when you look at the school boards we only hear about one but for some strange reason when you go to the other ones they adjourn the meetings when you get there so when we going to have open dialogue about the school boards of these other schools that you have placed in the city of North the other issue is campaigning for those who plan to run the school board how do we gain access to get past the guards to campaign in the schools that's already led by principles who all dictated by school Bo that you can't come inside that school board and campaign all right so those are other things because you can't even go into the churches I have R office too all right so most of us have and you can't even get into the churches to campaign all right so at the end of the day I want to know exactly how this is going to be done because we plan on running some people so we definitely want to make sure this um the students making sure that they don't be intimidated when they go into the classrooms so that they can vote their way know Democratic or Republic whatever one you want to keep using because you always say Democratic we know exactly what that means all right you never say Republic that the United States a republic of a constitution so let's make sure that we understand that let not just involving the students let inst involves the parents the seniors and everyone else in this community so you're not just voting for students because I deal with a lot of different students but this is the first time I had to get a call from Denise that this meeting was even happening know I did know about 16 but I am believing in the children and stop talking down amongst our American children I feel like I'm back in the 50s with this color talk that's all I keep hearing brown and black brown and black we are American citizens so if you want to sit here and talk about our children you better start talking about them as American citizens not black and brown a back but we gotta go out back that's where you taking us to because outside of here there individuals that want to go back to when you say black and brown they look at you at and that's it thank you next speaker good afternoon Mr ham good afternoon council president and members of the council my name is Lawrence ham chairman of the people's organization for progress and as I said when we were here together uh in November the people's Organization for Progress we support this ordinance we believe that our young people do have the capacity to be informed and involved voters I would urge the council though as soon as possible once this ordinance is passed to pass the resolution urging the State Board of Education to restore Civics as a required part of the curriculum throughout the state of New Jersey this is very important when I was a student at Arts High School in 1967 when I came there Civics one and two were part of the curriculum gradually at the end of the 70s into the 80s Civics was removed and it was during the Reagan Administration 1980 when William Bennett was the Secretary of Education that the decision was made to no longer require stents as a part of secondary school curriculum in the United States of America and we can see today the dire consequence that that has done many people talk today about how unquestionable young people are and how vulnerable they are to misinformation but obviously it's not just young people there were 80 there were 76 million people who became prey to misinformation and tried to return a fascist who says he would be a dictator as president of the United States of America this is very important when I was a student at Arts High School many young people were involved in the Black Power movement remember there was a time when there were no black people on this city council there was the uprising in 1967 and a movement ensued for black political power in this city and many young people campaigned young people were fresh sophomores Juniors and seniors in high school campaigned and helped bring about the victory of Ken Gibson and others in 1970 so I hope you will pass this resolution but please pass pass this ordinance but please pass a resolution urging the State Board of Education to require Civics as part of Secondary School curriculum thank you Mr ham next speaker good afternoon good afternoon hello my name is H Patel and I'm the law and policy director at the New Jersey Institute for social justice the mighty New Jersey Institute for social justice where I get to work with Ryan Hagood Kyrie Vargas and this amazing team I'm not going to belabor the point you've heard today from Advocates you've heard from Educators parents most importantly you heard from young people about the importance of this issue all the arguments for it all of why it's important and necessary and why the moment is now so I just wanted to take a minute and thank you today we were doing something historic we are watching across the country as people as elected officials in every level of government right into the halls of Congress are working to suppress the vote and they're targeting black and brown voters it's important for States like ours for cities like Newark to take a stand and not just reject that but to double down on democracy and that's what you're doing today we've heard you know there's the Governor yesterday announced the for this we're going to see cities around the state moving on this issue we're going to see State efforts to do it but all of that is going to be because nework takes the first step it's because of what you had the courage to do and so I think I just wanted to take a second and say that that thank you for having the courage to have division of why this is important and for taking the action to do this we will discuss we support Civics education everyone here does we support other efforts to expand the vote but this today is important it's historic this is the first city in Newark that'll do this this is the largest city in the state it's a majority black and brown City and this is a statement and it's a vision for our young people and it's one that we are so grateful that you have thank you thank you any other speakers seeing a public speaking is now closed comments from Council Members Council mome thank you council president uh let me first say thank you to uh all who spoke today uh depending whether what side you're on I think it's a uh a testament to democracy and what uh our debate should be about I do want to thank the everyone who spoke the young people in particular uh I I'm in support of this I've said that in the previous meeting I'm not going to say everything I said in the previous meeting but I will say what I heard today reinforces why I'm voting for this I believe what the young people said today um and and all the different arguments I agree with almost every one of them 16 year olds are much more mature are much more advanced when I was 16 I'll even say to the fact that I have kids who are in elementary school who are much more advanced than I was at 16 and I think we see not only here in today but around the city the state the country that young people are much more advanced than able to do a lot that we were not able to do or understood when we were their age and so I don't think we should punish those the children for what we as adults have failed to do and I think if we don't support that that's what we're doing we're punishing them from moving there was some discussion about how this is why we want to get votes and all this the first conversation I ever had about this was brought to my attention was by Ryan ha good it wasn't by any of my Council col colleagues it wasn't by the mayor it wasn't by anybody political it was by Ryan ha good the first meeting I had was with Ryan a Good's uh uh staff Institute of social justice so I can say to me and I'm sure that everybody else will say the same thing this is not about getting votes this is about giving the right to vote and the right to have a say for young folks in their education and in their process what the Board of Ed does the board members do affects them they should have a right to say and say what affects them and it's it's also I think holds them accountable holds the board members accountable because you know we've been to some of these board meetings where the the youth have the Young Folks have have expressed themselves I'll say very voraciously and if you think and I can say this with my kids who who like I said elementary school if you think that remember what you said or what you did that was detrimental to their education you're sadly mistaken so I believe wholeheartedly and support this legislation I want to thank uh I want to thank count Brian he good I want to thank all those at school but I want to thank Institute for social justice I guess the vote 16 uh my council president uh for putting forth this Mo this this legislation because I think it's important I think it's something that is going to change the way that board of vet elections are are have have functioned in the past and I think it's going to be good for our city and for our youth thank you thank you councilman councilman Kelly uh thank you council president I just want to thank everybody uh Ryan hagga too he came to me as well I'm sure he came to all of the council colleagues and uh I just want to thank thank everybody on his staff and you know um everybody all of the young people who came here today so their voices can be heard and that's a start if you don't utilize young people to help you build it they will be the ones to tear it down and I think that yes there's some tweaks and there's some things that we can do with the legislation of course and one thing that I that I want to ask the clerk to put on record right now is to to say that I want to be part of that sponsoring that resolution when it comes to uh talking to NPS and inputting Civics back into our newor Public School Systems because you do need the Civics part the educational part and I spoke about that at the last time that this was brought up but this legislation right now I am in total agreeance with I think that it should be passed I think that the young people deserve a voice in the city and um Why not start with something that directly affects them when it comes to education but let's also input the education of civics moving forward so I I totally agree with my colleagues that I totally support this and I thank everybody for for who supports this and I thank all of the opinions of the people who don't support it as well for giving us different perspectives to look at and I appreciate the ones who who came in here to fight for this thank you Council mcy councilwoman Scott Roundtree thank you council president um there's a quote that says empower the youth uh with what they meet today and they will build a better world tomorrow I truly believe that um a lot of why our youth are doing what they do is because some of us do stand in the way um there is a scripture that says that they call the El the elders are called for their wisdom and the youth are called for their strength we need strength but some of the youth today have a lot of wisdom and I think we downplay their wisdom because we think the elders know it all and I know sometimes I get in trouble um by making this statement because it is scripture that uh the elders are called because they know the way but then there are Elders that are still trying to find their way and I think that with all of those young people that spoke today whatever percentage you want to say they were represented they represented well they did a great job in explaining they weren't fumbling they weren't stumbling they weren't concerned about what the other people were saying around them because this is a true as councilman um Trump said a true Testament of democracy we're in a in a in a municipality or technically supposed to be in a country where we have the right to have to our opinion a right to fight for what we want to fight for a right to say what we want to say and no one should be um challenged or or ridiculed because they feel a different way but there's also also something in our church covenant that says when we cannot unanimously agree that we allow the right of the majority to govern so we're just going to pray as we move forward for those young people that had the courage to come and talk about this particular um ordinance I am also in 100 full support I am the mother of a 28- year old and the grandmother of a niney old and as councilman Trump stated the children today have the world on this little instrument right here which is something we did not have access to and church they should collect these like they collect bubblegum when we was growing up but they don't so now they get everything they need from the AIDS to disease on any level so let's let's encourage them to focus when that Civic spece comes up we need to be encouraging young people to take that instead of just talking about it and we need to fight for that because that should have never come out of the schools and we might have more people coming out to vote because they be educated on why they should vote thank you council president thank you councilwoman Scott Round Tree councilman Council I I'm sorry Council Council before you I'm sorry councilman Gonzalez had thank you Madame President I do support the ordinance as I indicated yesterday I do have some reservations one of the reservations that I had was whether someone that is 16 or 17 now that they have the right to vote could be elected Ed to the board as 16 or 17 yesterday I believe Council maros asked the clerk to find out whether the they say the New Jersey school board supported that or what was their position on that we don't I don't know what the answer is to that but that's a concern because we have a budget of a billion dollars and in two years you can have 316 and 317 years so all making decisions over a billion dollar budget I don't think that they have the financial wisdom to handle that responsibility the other thing is everybody mentioned that 18 years old is arbitrary is in 16 arbitrary is in 16 ER the same as 18 or are we now saying 16 and next year is 14 because they are more sure because they are more educated before because they have access to more information so where do we stop I believe that we have to to be concerned with the let's say the slippery slope of going from 18 to 16 to what and those are my concerns thank you councilman Gonzales councilman Council yeah I want to uh you know thank uh vote 16 the New Jersey Social Justice Institute uh yourself council president for for bringing this uh to fruition you know for so long we've been grounded around this these whole issues of you know structural and systematic racism our people have fought for years for the right to present themselves in a way through Justice and struggle to get to a point uh where we can be able to uh be in this moment uh to to have our young people have the right to finally you know stand up and voice their opinion and issue democracy out uh about all of the other things you know so when we're out here fighting against you know gun control legislations when young people are running around with guns in their hands at 16 17 years old uh when the the drug epidemic in our communities enlarge and we're fighting against all of these kind of injustices uh we need to put some kind of system of justice back into the hands of our young people um and so you know when I hear folks you know tell our young people uh that uh they're not trying to be disrespectful but still be disrespectful um to not consider them to be able to uh have insight and understanding and decisions and processes uh that need to be made I think is is important I don't think anyone disagrees that Civic is not uh uh needed but also Civic started home Civic starts in this process and every single day of what we do and how we begin to move out in this narrative I think we all have a larger role to play uh in all of these nonprofit organizations all these civic-minded groups uh have a role to play in producing uh and and generating information and organizing our young people uh around the Dynamics of voting and getting information out um you know I served on the school board in 2004 2007 when we uh instituted the student representative and and I would love you know if Shan Brown who was a student reper at that time really organized young people and got them engaged and involved I don't see this as a process of of alienating a student rep I do see this as a process of empowering that student representative uh to be able to now go out into these schools and and educate and Galvanize these young people who are SE 16 and 17 years old around issues that are Paramount uh to changing a district that has a billion dollar budget um and and we should be able to do that to to work and and and work on these things you know young people have always LED you know we've heard these speakers talk about young people you know leading and protesting the Civil Rights Movement young people leading uh in protest around the whole argument of Cammy Anderson and State control it was young people that walked out of these schools it was young people that took the decision uh to walk on two seater Street upstairs and close the doors and and although many people may say it was uh you know a delt Le you know uh God God lived the spirit of you know Roberto Cabanas and and those uh young people that Leed in that fight to organize to close streets down uh to have rallies amongst the street there were young people out there um that that was galvanized around and there was some adults who didn't want them to do it right and so we we have to be able to encourage and lift up the voice of our young people and to educate them in a way that they're prudent about their responsibilities and what they have to do they've always LED they've liveed revolts they led the Civil Rights young uh movement and the fact fact is told even some of the speakers here they they want young people to come out and rally with them all the time right they want them to to Rally with them to hold up democracy they want young people to Rally with them to overthrow government they want young people to Rally with them to recall people they want young people to Rally with them to do all of these different things but then they don't want young people to rally for themselves to have a voice of democracy uh to strength in their position as it relates uh to uh voting in a nework board of education you know is young people that walked with many of us that canvas neighborhoods that knock on doors uh that participated uh in all kind of things and and and even for the New York Board of Education who has this Mantra now about a brand new day then it has to be a brand new day for them a day of innovation the day of vision and engagement for young people across the board I know Mr Vernon pullers at at new board education now has registered in the last four years more young people than they've ever done before so to say that these young people are not ready I would say that's kind of contradictory because then they would not be registering to vote at the rapid rate that they are uh and so you know this is why I'm in support of this I'm in support of this because you know uh my son currently serves on the school board and when he was 23 years old when he was in high school he walked out because he believed in local control he believed in the destiny division of young people and so you know because of those beliefs we have to give them the opportunity uh to raise their voice in a respectful way and way that's organized intelligent and we should be pushing thought at all possible times so that's why I'm going to be you know in support of this uh uh resolution and and and I'm excited to co-sponsor it so I just that that's what I wanted to share thank you thank you councilman Council any other comments Council MOS yeah thank you Madame President you know I I too want to thank all the um advocacy groups who've invested a lot of time uh and energy around this issue to all the young people who who testified on behalf of this today I say thank you to to our Advocates it's good to see my friend Miss Cole here uh speaking out uh you know I I've been pretty consistent in my support of this uh but at the same time I I do feel that if we're going to increase opportunities for civic engagement and um involvement in our local democracy this this should be one step in that process uh we will have 16 and 17 year olds within the city of norc because um they are not yet citizens who will not be able to exercise their right to vote students who are at every High School within the city from Eastside uh to technology high school to baringer who will not have the same right as their classmate to participate uh in our local Democratic process and have a powerful voice when it comes to a framing policy around North Public Schools issues and that has to change and there has to be a commitment on our part to address that uh in future legislation uh the the other piece and we heard a lot around it earlier is you know this is a a victory right and increasing who's eligible to vote but if we're not able to effectively engage these young people in in this process the 3% that almost every speaker alluded to as far as the participation in the last Schoolboard election could become 2% could become one and a half% in the future because you're increasing who's eligible to vote and with that there has to be a commitment to increase those residents within our city who participate in the electoral process that constitutes a school board election so I I want to thank all the sponsors of the legislation uh for for your efforts you know I want to thank the institute for social justice all the students but let's look at this as a first step in the process of engaging those individuals who are impacted the most when it comes to our public education system and and I'm hopeful that because of this we're going to be able to elect uh good Advocates and stewards of our education system people who are unafraid to speak up and advocate on behalf of those kids who are impacted the most because of the policies of our district thank you thank you councilman Ros councilman quana yeah uh as a senior councilman in the city you know it's important that Civics are important because I remember in 1990 I lost an election and my children were young and I ran for office to be a councilman young councilman at the time my kids always remind me that hey can we go and vote for you and it was you know I exercised teaching my children to go vote with me you know I would bring them to the polling place I would say I would say to the clerks or the persons uh at the polls or running the polls uh desk I was said look I'm bringing my kid aside and I would have my children feel the power of voting so voting is important uh at 16 is important it is important because it gives you a different day people have say whatever they have to say look we have to agree disagree and it has to come a day we make a decision but for me I believe a 16-year-old is as it was said before the drivers driver's head learning how to drive with with an adult to me I I am in support of this legislation because it it will help us often in Board of educational elections the the adults do not vote on the questioners whether we should put more money into schools should we have more green there is no input B basically I think the young people will be able to answer some of those questions that are you know that're placed on the machine most of the adults don't not vote on some of those questions and if you look at the numbers they're so low out of 3% you may not even get 1% of those questions to be raised and and to be answered um I remember the times as a 17y old a baringer I'm a baringer from baringer high school the city of New York I don't forget the opportunity I was given there was a pilot program called College pilot out with upper bound and I never forget I was 17 so I they said you want to go to seatan Hall and take a course they gave me an opportunity to go and take a course in Psychology at Seaton Hall University at 17 and I was in high school so that gave me an opportunity to understand where I was going and what I was going to be and he got involved in in politics and got involved in elections because of that that scenario today we have years ago we had different groups of leadership of teaching uh uh Civics like the boys and girls Cs and all the other groups but that faded now we need to engage these 16 year olds and get them back into being the leaders that we want them to be they're going to lead the way at 16 17 18 look that's open the door that's give an opportunity and it's an opportunity to give to someone for someone who has sat on this Council I've been in government for 38 years but I've sat 30 years on Council I think it's a great day to give an opportunity and I thank you for the leadership of taking an initiative look somebody got a better initiative but bring it up up but this I believe is a great initiative and whether you agree or disagree I'm sorry but my vote is going to be cast as a yes because I believe in the future and the future of our children uh who are going to lead the way uh and these 16 year olds are going to continue the others to lead to lead the way for the others that are coming so again that is my position I will remain that position because that's an important position for our youth thank you thank you Council mcana any other comments Council M Silva uh yes good afternoon um just a quick story before I get to my point first of all I support this but um my nephew 8th grade calls me last night at 6:30 pm and is doing Civics has 10 questions for me doesn't work lives somewhere else not far from here but a different school system and already in eighth grade um he says Uncle Mike I have 10 questions uh for my civics class and I answered the questions for him so I think that that's something that we definitely need to look into because this was eth grade uh 13year old that was asking me those 10 questions um so I have a situation in on the East W councilman for those that don't know I have the most students of any ward in the entire city uh I have three of the top five grammar school student wise population wise I have the number one high school East Side High School 2100 students um 1100 of those students uh are 16 and 17 year olds um 50% of those Juniors and seniors have been in this country less than 5 years so they're non-citizens so they're their voices aren't going to be heard and this is a problem because that 50% is most certainly going to go up of what's happening in this country in the last several years uh it's happening every day uh I hear back from my principles who I have a very good relationship with uh people are coming into schools uh every day parents who have come into this country recently and registering their kids uh so that number today uh of 50% less than 5 years is going to be much worse when uh the the the students turn 16 and 17 year olds so uh my point is that I think we need to add something to this uh or look into possibly adding something to this um because in my ward I believe it my ward is going to be a reflection of a lot of towards um uh the way the country is moving forward and I think that these 16 and 17 year olds even though they're not American citizens uh need to have their voice heard as well so once again I uh I'm going to vote Yes for this but it's something that as an East War councilman which most of my population is made of the Immigrant Community uh we need to have their voices heard as well thank you councilman Silva um I'm not going to go ahead to repeat everything especially with my voice everyone knows I've been struggling um but I do want to thank my colleagues uh for support um as I mentioned during the last meeting when we first introduced this I am a product of a young person being involved in Civics and democracy at a very young age at age 11 um I was able to have access to um literally be taught Civics in democracy but also actually physically be involved um in Civics and democracy and for that I am grateful I am blessed that is the reason why I decided to run for a council SE is to be a advocate for young people because there was no young people I'm at the time not young as myself then um to sit on the council and so when it comes to young people and advoca for them to be close um to the decision making that directly impacts them I will always be Unapologetic about that um I'm not afraid to be bold and brave when it comes to our young people um me as 16 years old even back then um I was doing much more than I should have been doing at 16 and and and fast forward 10 to 15 years later the 16 year olds now in today's generation are doing way more than many adults are doing making decisions for their lives and being involved in their day-to-day life um there was a lot of things said some of the council members already addressed many of the things said about what our intent is or what my intent might be for putting this forward um it's not to benefit me um it's not to benefit people up here is not to benefit the mayor um as mentioned I Believe by councilman Crump this is simply um to allow young people to be able to make decisions about who represents them who represents the decisions that directly impact them in a time in this country where people are driving democracy out each and every day from different levels that we see when we cut on the news from CNN if you just spend a lot of time watching it like me democracy is being stripped from ways are being inputed to try to do that and here in norc I'm proud to say that we're not doing that um we don't believe in that here in the city of norc and we won't believe in that here in the city of norc and we support expanding our democracy and giving our young people the right to vote so I thank everybody for coming out I I appreciate everybody's always like when we unpacked the chamber I know some people was making comments about others being here but this chamber belongs to everybody whoever comes here wants to come speak sit talk whatever you could come here it doesn't belong to just five select people here in this Chambers so I'm proud to see all of the people who came out here right it's your first time coming welcome it's great to see you and we hope to see you back again but I thank you guys I thank you for your support and your opinions and definitely look forward to the next steps of this because this is not the all in all to this today roll call yes we can't hear you R well the next thing was Crum yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 6p sfd and 6pf are both ordinances regarding multi-way stop sign intersections d is designating Abington Avenue West and north 11 Street as a multi-weight stop sign intersection in the north War sponsored by councilman Ramos and second by councilman kintana 6p SF is by designating Avon Avenue in South 20th Street as a multi-way stop sign intersection in the South board sponsored by councilman Council and second by councilman Crump is there anyone present wishing to be heard on these multi-way stop sign intersection ordinances CNN public speaking is now closed coun council president yes Council M Sila I could just say something regard sure I'm sorry Council so um we just put a stop sign at South and vanan streets there was never a stop sign there I get a call from the commander of the third precinct a large amount of accidents at that location I reach out for engineering and I said temporarily for 90 days can we put a red blinking light there just to keep there for 90 days just to alert people until they get uh make sure they're aware and I was guilty I went through it once um and I was told that those red lights aren't in the budget is it something that maybe we can look into because when there's not a stop sign in an area for 50 years and all of a sudden there's a stop sign there people are going to go through it I'm guilty of it I did it once uh so if we maybe speak to engineering 90 days put that blanket light there move it over to the north where there's a new stop sign move it over wherever it's got to be move over but uh to say that it's not in the budget or we can't add one blinking light there for a few months just to Weare people not sure that uh we're waiting for somebody to get hurt D noted councilman Silva councilman Kelly yeah I just wanna um just address what what councilman Sil was saying I I thought we had we voted on five blinking movable lights those are for Speed radar lights radar that's something different than a blinking um stop sign yeah those speed of the flashing um speed signs we have two on Lake Street um but we we we need a lot more than just two speed signs in the ward because we do have corridors you know Lake Street goes from Bloomfield Avenue all the way down to Elwood before you hit a traffic light and those cars fly through there and you know I'm hopeful that you know we find money for for all kinds of things in the city and sometimes the most important things um you know we're we're a little cheap when it comes to making those Investments so fully noted councilman Ros um councilman Gonzalez yes I just want to thank the engineering director because I requested the one on Lake Street and it was put up fairly quickly but the problem that we have is that it's in the middle of the street so after they see the 25 miles an hour they speed up to 90 miles an hour when they go by my house they're doing 70 miles an hour so the same is is true going the other way when they are going from Second Avenue to to Berkeley or or past they're doing 25 miles an hour after that they do 55 60 miles an hour on the 25 mil I believe we have to couple that with with enforcement there should be a police officer there that is going to take care of giving tickets to these individuals because they respect the light while they are in front of the light after that weget about it m chair yes councilman councel just real quick one I think that is the the reason why we we we put the the speed lights out there to measure the speed in those areas so that ultimately when they receive the data back they can give that to the uh police department and then they can set up speed traps and have enforcement out in that area I do believe what needs to happen speaking to uh councilman Sila's point is we need to have some kind of dialogue or some kind of a meeting uh offhand with uh traffic and signals and with uh our um engineering department about looking at Innovative technology uh that can be used out uh in in these communities now where every other community is upgrading and moving in terms of Technology with apparatuses that they have we're continuing to fall behind the mark and so even in regards to what uh councilman Rayos talked about in terms of budgeting that may be something that that we need to you know really look at as a council and you know putting our hand in the midst uh of the budget to ensure that uh uh traffic and signals as the amount of dollars to be able to bring this city up in terms of innovation with the apparatuses that are needed uh for our visual people right that's important well I will say any other comments before okay I will say that as we prepare for the budget season which counil Gonzales usually says around this you know it takes us a whole couple months to get ready but we prepared this something that directors are bringing us directly in front of us as you are putting your budget to us these things should already be CED in you we hear the council talking about the need to have these things so we should already parents these things in the budget and it's presented to the council so we have these things I mean it's just I mean it's just crazy to believe that we can have this ready in 2024 but that we should already hope hopefully we don't have to wait as long as we have been waiting for the for the sound emitting lights H that we have been talking about for the last 10 years more or less hopefully the light these lights are can be budgeted for next year so that we can have the safety that we need in the city thank you councilman Gonzalez Council k um yeah I know I have requested for for the west ward um the traffic the speeding if if I was confused about what the blinking stop signs were with the radar stop signs I know I have requested over and over again for certain areas in the west W and I still haven't received them so I'm glad to hear you received yours but um if we got to put it in the budget again I mean I thought that we were getting at least five at least one that we can switch throughout the Ws or four so we can switch throughout the Ws I didn't even know that they were here so I would I would love to to find out how are we assessing to put them in the particular areas so there's like a little confusion of what we're talking about okay so the one thing that the councilman um Council back in the last Bud budget season asked for was radar speed lights um which we put that in the budget and the director sent out a email to council members um asking what was the preferred areas for the signs those lights I believe some of them had came in just a few and they're on backlog order for those to come in to complete the installment of those areas that council members already gave the director to input for the speed radar light are we clear on that part yeah right you clear on that part Council Melly the things we do not have are the blinking stop signs which is what specifically what councilman Silva talked about we don't have those in stock like they're just not back in the warehouse somewhere at traffic and signals waiting and and that's what we're seeing like we're asking for more of those stop signs those Flash and stop signs because you know they're helpful they're attractive they're 21st century and they can help us with you know reducing accidents and thus far not as good as enforcement will though but definitely um we need more of those so those are the two things we're talking about so you are you talking about the ones you put in enforcement will okay that catches the data of the cars yes those are the speed ones okay all righty director hopefully you took notes we're not going to have like a presentation right now but um you know we'll look for a followup maybe you can email the counsil if you have some comments okay roll call Council yes yes Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana yes Ramos yes Scott brry absent Sila yes mver yes 6 psf and 6p sfg are both ordinances regarding the uniform construction code both ordinances are sponsored by councilman Council and second by council president mcgyver f is to increase fines and penalties for those in violation of sto work orders and G is to place a liist pendant on those found violating initial stop workor orders is there anyone present wishing to be heard on these ordinances F sh let me just say this I'm I'm I say what I say when I get up here that's my opinion that's my feelings and I'm and I'm gonna put this one on the record now have nothing to do with the ordinance but I'm GNA say it anyway you you are the only one that I see even bring a student in this in this chain ambers so at the end of the day I don't want to hear what you what you want you other Council people because council person for a day I only see one counsel person doing that and her a but nevertheless why are we putting up codes to stop work orders when y'all could just go out there and get C enforcement and the police don't y'all don't y'all do the police aren't y'all over the police you want to my stop work orders you don't even got you don't got a pla what's that Lisa pla for the unions you you you don't even you don't do nothing for code enforcement and stop work orders and doing things nothing in construction do you is it to benefit the people the working people you want to you it's all of a sudden and now it's all of a sudden you knew that them places was over there building them one extra bedrooms in those buildings Pat you've been new you was called enforcement but now sudden we need a new chapter of rule rules of rules it was already in there somewhere now y'all want to lose um fancy words list pendings just say suing somebody a pendant lawsuit y' ain't F see any other time y'all can't even get an ordinance together but now you want to put in there that you want to sue somebody y'all got y'all need to worry about who suing y'all cuz y'all got a lot of that coming up y'all want to make it seem like y'all doing something I guess for 2026 or maybe 2025 your loyalty should be to the residents it should be to the residents not to no not to no developer stop work order stop work order slap the sticker up there Pat you know how to do it chain it up they don't want to stop you what to do now you want to put create chapters and stuff and if I ain't got it right you should have explained it in the beginning how about that y'all need to get it together it's 2024 TVs ain't working y'all having attitudes already 2024 get some good legislation create your own legislation enforce your own legislation that's what your duties are your legisl leaders should have been in there right Pat code enforcement director thank you Miss Austin next speaker Lisa Parker you had an incident where the city allowed somebody to purchase a property that was on a sinkhole you talk about enforcement not only did they have illegal contractors there we had to keep calling code enforcement to come to enforce to shut them down from the work to find people you have the same owner that here today don't maintain his property and yet we can't get code enforcement to come there and issue fines you had a church that was over a year 20 years as a matter of fact it was nothing more than a slum Lord that just recently thank you round tree painted the wall and cleaned up the lot these things are supposed to be a standard of practice including mediation and everything else you had code enforcement when we had rats running all over the place from shot what happened to your mediation plan this is nothing more than tweaking the audiances so that you could go after your choice people who you don't want to have and punish and not do it to the slum Lords that are creating misery in our communities how does that work no Cod enforcement and yet every time we turn around you got to tweak an ordinance for what you got the laws on the books where are the people that's supposed to be out there enforcing you got de filled up all over the place with dirt and debris people living in plorable conditions where's code enforcement on that you're disgraceful and disgusting and you're not representing the interest of the people because they're the ones living in hell not you you up here voting on things and tweaking it before you even have an understanding of it or put a proper plan in place disgraceful every one of you where's code enforcement where's the resource is that we've been talking about increasing the fines to these slum Lords but you don't do it so now when you want to go after certain individuals stealing and else now you coming up with new laws for that you're disgraceful next speaker man bman yep stop work Withers how about a stop work on these slumlords how about an independent investigation into the code enforcement office how about send these tax abatements that you giving out to these slum Lords how about that see you know this this this game y'all playing how about residents at the sound of my voice but petition your government to resend all these contracts of all these slum Lords look at Donna look at the individ talked about the slum conditions go around these communities and see all the garbage PW up where these slum Lords are not uh uh uh cleaning up their uh um properties and every W go out throughout downtown and just see see all this politics from you politics you understand disgusting fail leadership no other way to describe it though I support penalties stop work and all this but guess gu what there needs to be an independent investigation into these judges and Code Enforcement office because why that we do we have to continue with the systemic violations human right violations that has taking place within our community slum Lords all the conditions that residents are coming up here talking about in terms of look at Donna going out in the community covering all the slum conditions at new Housing Authority but y'all want to keep playing politics and and and and and then you see why we want to come up here every every council meeting every time we could get a chance to voice the issues about the conditions that matter the most to us you want to push back on us you want to spread media propaganda and lies about us and lies to the media the media need to get on the ground and do their investigative reporting to see thank you thank you your time has expired next speaker see public speaking is now closed roll call Madam clerk yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes resolutions 7r1 a through 7r1 C are resolutions in support of cannabis businesses a is Legacy Leaf B is station 973 and C is white lily LLC roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7r1 D is the appointment of an interim qualified purchasing agent qpa sponsored by councilman Council and second by councilwoman Scott wry roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7r1 e through 7r1 G are Bid contracts and an amendment to a state contract e is to provide maintenance and repair services for the elevators f is to provide maintenance and repair for the street sweepers and GS to utilize the state contract to purchase ultr low sulfur diesel and biodiesel fuel to include the Department of Water and St utilities and increase the contract amount roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7R 2A through 7r2 H are all private sale and Redevelopment a is to build a two family residential home in the central Ward roll call yes yes yes yes stain yes yes yes B is to provide the development of a five story midrise multif family building motion to defer by council president mcgyver second by councilman canana roll call to defer yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes C is to provide for new construction of a two three family dwelling with a common driveway and to sell at market rate in the South board roll call yes yes yes yes saying yes yes yes D is to provide for new construction of an affordable 24 unit apartment building with 20 parking spaces in the commercial space Council as a whole to defer roll call to defer yes yes yes yes yes yes yes e is to create an urban farm and holistic school with a permanent ADA Compliant bathroom a CH chicken Coupe to enhance production and enrich the soil sponsored by councilman Council second by councilman Crum roll call can we get a second sponsor say since councilman Crump left councilwoman Scott Round Tree will seconded since councilman Crump had to depart roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes f is to construct a new two family home and sell at market rate motion to defer by councilman Council second by councilwoman Scott rry roll call to defer yes yes yes yes yes yes yes G is to provide for a newly constructed vocational training facility with classrooms and new construction of a mixed use dep development consisting 18 affordable housing residential units for on-site parking spaces and Commercial and community space sponsored by councilman Kelly second by councilman Gonzalez counil Gonzalez yes ER Madame President we received some documentation from uh Economic Development and uh when it said propos projects ER it says propos four story 24 square foot facility inclusive of 14,000 square foot vocational training space to ACC odate an average of 100 but then in parenthesis has 300 H students annually so I just want to to know whether is 100 or 300 good afternoon good after is it on good afternoon dra Crowder assistant director of Economic and Housing Development um we'll have to uh uh check that number uh in order to confirm uh obviously discrepancy right there get right back to you move to the Deferred that okay councilman Gonzalez is asking for it to be deferred I'll that okay uh so we will defer until you can get the information to us um Mr Crowder okay all right so let's uh change it to a defer in the same movers Kelly and Gonzalez yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes to defer H is to develop new construction of a 29 unit affordable apartment building for seniors with a parking lot sponsored by councilman Council second by councilman roll call oh I'm sorry can we get another second uh Council okay give councilwoman Quin um roll call Quintana uh Council in Quintana yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7r2 I Professional Services contract to authorize payment of state approved list of eligible training providers to train customers for the workforce via individual training accounts roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7 hour I'm sorry madam clerk councilman Gonzalez can we ask the deputy mayor to make a present to us as to the hiring of the people that we're training let's say every year more or less he comes to us and explain to us the the percentages of the people that are hired after we are we train them I would like to to hear from H the deputy mayor ER to say what has been the what was the experience last year I mean I will give you I I'll get you I don't have those numbers in front of me but I will get you a report um that we will email to all of the council we do give a report to the mayor every week um addressing those that went through training and those that got hired uh in addition uh you know sometimes even when you send people to training these are proposed to spend money to send people to training there are people that also don't complete the training so you know we can give you that full report okay right thank you Deputy Mayor Muhammad roll call we voted oh that's right next item 7r3 a is to authorize the use of competitive Contracting for the procurement of dockless vehicles Council as a whole to defer roll call to defer I mean uh corporate Council you had said to return the administration or defer did you make a decision okay we'll like to move forward with the deferment Council yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes to defer 7 r3b is a bid contract to provide for the local Freight impact fund 2022 McLean Street and Port North connect roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes sar4 A and B are both Professional Services contract to provide Financial advisory Services A is for public resources Advisory Group and B is for NW Financial Group roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7 r4c is to provide for the issuance of redemption of amusement license council's a hold to return to the administration roll call to to return yes yes yes to return yes yes yes yes yes 7 R5 a is an application acceptance of Grant funds to support the training and deployment of community health workers and response to various needs within the community roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7R 6A is a settlement of civil litigation Council as a whole to return to the ad Administration uh we actually have two yes B is being return to the the next one is also uh 7R 6B Professional Services contract to provide real estate appraisal services for litigation Tax Matters Council as a whole to return to the administration as well roll call to return a and b yes yes yes to return a and b yes yes yes yes yes 7R 6 C is pre-litigation settlement of a civil claim council's a hold to adopt roll call yes abstain yes yes yes yes yes yes seminar 8A is declaring intent council president council members there's a motion to amend this on the floor to read as follows resolution in support of naming a terminal at Lewis M Mar International Airport to terminal 21 Roberto Clemente in honor of CL sponsored by councilman canana second by councilman Council uh roll call to amend yes yes yes to amen yes yes yes yes yes now roll call to adopt as amended same Mo yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes 7 r8b through 7 r8h our appointment B is a constable appointment sponsored by councilman Gonzalez second by councilman canana C my apologies C is actually an exception of public bidding to provide supplementation maintenance and Publishing of codification of our ordinances and D is an appointment to the supplemental zoning board sponsored by council president mcgyver second by councilman councel e is an appointment to the supplemental zoning board sponsored by councilman second by councilman Council f is an appointment to the supplemental zoning board sponsored by councilman Ramos second by councilwoman Scott brry G is an appointment to the supplemental zoning board sponsored by councilman Gonzalez second by Council as a whole and H is an appointment to the supplemental zoning board sponsored by councilman Silva second by Council as a whole roll call oh no we have another one right 7 r8e was sponsored by Crum we have a replacement sponsor 7 r8e 7 r8e was sponsored by councilman Crump second by councilwoman I'm sorry second by councilman counc he's not here Crump is not oh yeah that's right crump's not here oh Council Gonzalez will move it thanks R good catch I'm sorry yes Council yes Crump absent Gonzalez yes Kelly yes K yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes Silva yes Macy yes 7 R8 I is recognizing and commending resolutions and 7 R8 Jay is expressing profound sorrow and regret resolutions roll call Council yes Trump absent Gonzalez yes Kelly yes K yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes Silva yes president M Iver yes 7r9 a through 7r9 C are Public Safety resolutions a is to provide a system of emergency preparedness B is to provide Emergency Medical Services and C is to provide turnout gear for firefighters roll call Council yes absent Gonzalez yes Kelly yes Pana yes Ramos yes Scott BR tree yes Silva yes president Macgyver yes 7 r12a is Professional Services contract to amendment number one the agreement to provide professional Engineering Services for the rehabilitation of panic aqueducts and construction inspection roll call Council yes Crump absent Gonzalez yes Kelly yes Pana yes Ramos yes Scott rry Yesa yes president M Iver yes Communications 8A as an appointment to the Municipal Court Council as a whole to defer Council yes Trump absent Gonzalez yes Kelly yes to defer kintana yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes yes President Ma Iver yes to defer 8B is an appointment to the status on women commission sponsored by councilman Crump second by councilman Council councilman Crump isn't I here uh someone like to sponsor Miss White Council KY Wishes the sponsor Kelly Council Council yes Crump absent Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana Ramos yes Scott Yesa yes president mver yes HC is an appointment to North Municipal Court Council as a whole to defer roll call to defer Council yes absent Gonzalez yes K yes to defer kintana yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes yes president M Iver yes n9a is an appointment to the fqhc council is a hold to adopt yes absent Gonzalez yes Kelly yes kintana yes yes Ramos yes Scott rry yes Sila yes president Iver yes council president council members we're at the added starter 7r1 H is a commission member removal a request for a hearing to remove a member roll call Madam president oh yes councilman Ros yeah I I wasn't here yesterday for the discussion on this but you know I remember it came up in EXE cutive few months ago you know I had asked for copies of you know whatever correspondence the administration was um willing to share and what I did receive I think was just two letters um which very bagely glanced over um some of the issues so you know I'm hopeful that you know this hearing were to take place that you know we are provided with more um detailed information as to why we're requesting a removal of a commissioner of um you know I don't think since I've been here we've ever had a hearing related to a removal of a commissioner whether it's a board of adjustment or planning board so an action like this is unprecedented so it's important for the administration if they're requesting this for them to have you know all their information in place and and clear um evidence that there's some kind of wrongdoing because you know definitely set a precedent um for for members who serve on these various boards and commissions dly noted councilman Ros any other comments seeing that roll call Council yes Clump absent Gonzales yes Kelly yes Pana yes Ramos obain Scott rry yes Silva yes president MC Iver yes 7r2 J is to execute affordable housing agreement for home funds to authorize the execution of affordable housing agreement with Southside view LLC in the South Ward roll call Council yes Crump absent Gonzalez abs Kelly yes kintana yes Ramos St Scott brry yes Goa obain president MC Iber yes 7 R8 K is declaring intent a resolution declaring the month of January as Muslim Heritage Month sponsored by councilman councel uh councilwoman Scott R Tre is a second my apologies that's okay second by councilwoman Scott rry roll call Council yes Trump absent Gonzales yes Kelly yes kintana yes Ramos yes Scott rry Yesa yes yes council president council members we are now at the hearing of citizens where each speaker will have five minutes to speak when your name is called please approach the podium and address your issues to the council first speaker is Ryan ha good not present most of our speakers that have signed up they left um but Mr ha good is not present Lawrence ham not present Pastor Tim adakin Jones not present bow Walker not present Amanda evosia not present Nathaniel sa p not present Rihanna Campbell not present Canal Patel not present Cory Vargas not present Risa Ruben stain B not present W FR trinos not present Alejandra sordo not not present Angelie Christian MTI not present Zen J Wu not present charity ha good not present siron Norris not present Trevor Norris not present Jonathan olon not present Deborah Smith Gregory not not present Kina bman not present rhawn Davis he spoke earlier not present Felicia Austin Singleton present present well how does it feel good afternoon Felicia single and how does it feel to be used they jammed the list up went and let regular speakers come and speak they could have did what they did on public read and that's that's why they don't need to vote cuz the organizers didn't even know the state to speak you signed up unbelievable unless y'all had that plan when y'all didn't want the speakers to speak this one for you m mayor Raj J baraca you said when y'all didn't want the speakers to speak this one for you Mama mayor Raj J baraca you said said that people are a thorn in your side well let me tell you that the thorn that's in your side doesn't always mean is there to strengthen you come on reverence help me preach this one the one who receives the seed that fell amongst the thorns and a man who hears the word but the worries of the life and the deceitfulness of wealth chok it and make it unfruitful and make it unfruitful 2024 should be a new year yet we still have a vain insecure mayor that has to stand up and say something about what Advocates do and the throwing in my side and this and that and what The Advocates have to say unbelievable but then you want to use scripture come on reference y'all should have corrected him on that the thorn supposed to make you what strong right the thorn in your side but the seeds that the seeds could fall upon the th the thorn and make it unfruitful and that's what it has done God has sat here and gave y'all everything that y'all need to help the people and yet y'all haven't became fruitful at all unbelievable to your own people and yet in still you want to say we disrespectful we don't do this and we don't do that where is the money that this city has put out in supposed to be in pairs but it went in y' Pockets like that $3 million from the NH right back ask Patrick the treasurer of the NH where's the money like you remember lady you say where's to be just say where's the money pack unnecessary pays what they call them noow jobs fames getting hired and y'all want to sit up here and say what somebody said at the mic what somebody said we don't do it for that y'all know y'all do it for that now they all going now y'all know y'all do I done sat here and seen that polling site you bullying people the audacity that you would always come back and say what somebody didn't say and what that's not what it's intended for go read them YouTube comments on on a on a council on a council meeting go read the YouTube live chat comments people are tired mayor Raj baraca you said loyalty well there four people up on this day ass is planning to run for mayor the streets tall for streets talk and it ain't the one you think that I put on my Facebook page F right Ramos or is it true Ramos I don't need y'all to come and respond behind me I don't need y'all to come act behind me I'm about to start school my session for political science and then I'm going for off and I'm coming back and I'm going run these books and I don't care how long it take me I'mma get every last one of y'all who stole took robs did whatever you had to do I'm going to school something that some of y'all should have did on tell the kids they could vote I got grandson from 17 to one is four four years old today happy birthday Grandson and I wouldn't trust none of my grandkids to vote for no no school board election no thank you Miss Austin your time has expired next speaker Lisa miton Parker good day criminal cult that's running out government you didn't mind suppressing public forums by filling up the speakers list with your people before we could sign up but that's lawlessness that's who yall are running our government 2024 the people need to demand more accountability from these political prostitutes that are not serving the people but themselves there was a time that faith-based Community organizations and elected represented the people and our interest we see today the folks that come support one another are nothing more than the support a scam plan by this Administration to get votes from our you because y'all know the seniors and the average citizens ain't voting for you I want to say all of those people that came here today those social justice people like ha good like Gregory Like Larry ham in question one thing about the despair the corruption and the criminality that goes on in this city they never said a word about unfair housing they never said a word about how our kids ain't safe to go back and forth to school cuz we don't have no police here they never said a word about the 17y old that was killed the other day all of y'all lie stole and cheated to get your seats they wasn't here to talk about the lead and the water and how we didn't pass state inspection and how y'all contaminating the residents of this city you never talked about the most you never talked about unemployment Larry ham that every every year that Booker was here you was out there asking where the jobs at for the unemployment um for the for the people of the city ain't ask the mayor that because we got 18% unemployment rate our children can't pass a state exam reading third through e8th grade y'all ain't even talk about Civics until I walked up here and used the word you always passing legislation without a plan or we gonna tweak it later tweak what when you don't even let parents engage at a school board meeting let feed our kids garbage let me say the next thing the crime and the climate of this city has allowed an eom to be killed on sacred ground and no outrage from the people in 1973 when a minister was killed the Muslim Community shut this city down made an email rest in peace not one person that spoke to support this bothos came to address any of the concerns conditions suffering of the residents here in this city not one not one Imam not one Faith B no one not even you have addressed the issues and concerns of the residents here the greatest sin in the in the Bible and in the Quran is being unequally yolked serving two masters and you can't serve the people when you're selfs serving and I'm talking to you Iman you faith-based people that all got jobs appointments by this Administration but you ain't following what Islam says what the Quran says what the Bible says you disgraceful people let me go on because I need to address um Eric Pennington how dare you threaten to sue the union when you have not negotiated in good faith Union contracts for 10 years under this Administration when you offer 38 Cent as the course of living increase to sanitation when you gave yourselves a 38% raise why haven't the employer onor longevity pay for the people that have longevity union members why did you promote an Oran ordinance for for longevity for certain elected and appointed and ain't respecting Union contract why has this employer arbitrary suspension of people that for 40 days after 30 days you lose your your health insurance you pigs a lot of you disgusting thank you Miss Parker for your comments next speaker Madam clerk y bronberg not present Antoinette miles not present that concludes the hearing of citizens thank you madam clerk at this point we will have any responses from Council MERS seeing none any responses from Administration okay thank you um we'll go to motions any motions from Council Members councilman Silva uh yes uh before I get to my motion I just want to say on January 17th of this month from the hours of 10:00 a to 3M at 274 Adam Street which is my little city hall United Airlines will be a job fair that's January 17th between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3 p.m. at 274 Adam Street little city hall on January 22nd Choice Aviation a new company coming into the nework airport area will'll be doing a job fair so that's January 22nd 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 P PM same location 274 Adam Street uh in the East Ward and it's my little city hall if any questions or any concerns please uh just call my office and we'll give you all the details there's parking there's Refreshments everything will be uh served um my one motion is I would like to get engineering and traffic and signals my neighborhoods are being overrun with handicap parking and um they're not new handicap pars some are new some are old we're up to over 600 handicap parking spots in the East Ward uh the city is a is a is a problem for parking already as it is uh but the East Ward is definitely probably uh has the worst conditions um so I would like traffic and signals or engineering um to do an audit of my handicap parking spots in the East Ward what the process is uh I'd like to do it uh do it together with them so I can understand better how when somebody goes for a a handicap parking spot or renews it how the process in turn happens uh do they do a background check I have some uh handicap parking spots that are from uh 1970s and 80s that that person today would be over a 100 years old so somebody's using that handicap parking spot uh when I work for New York police I remember that there was only one person on Central Avenue that took care of the entire city regarding handicap parking spots so uh we need this these people vetted uh again I have over 600 handicap parking spots you go down some streets they're taking over the whole the whole block for those that are doing the right thing uh I want to assure you that I'm not a doctor or anything like that I I want you to have your spot but I believe there's a small portion of those 600 plus spots that people are using uh their grandparents or their parents who have passed away or a family member that's maybe moved away and so uh I'd like to know how we can come together and possibly do an audit of the handicap parking spots in the East Ward on that a roll call roll call roll call no yes yes yes yes yes yes yes we might as well continue going this way councilwoman okay I have no motions but I do have three announcements um number one is tonight um at the Robert Treat Hotel at 6 PM while people are all outraged and emotionally uh distraught over what happened to our beloved brother Imam Hassan Sharif um there's no way to weigh pain there's no way to put um in the mindset of individuals um how they should feel and what they should do um this could have went a whole different way and we're just praying for that family right now because while people think certain people should do certain things there's a wife there's children there's a mass jid that this man was the leader of and I just want us to be very careful as a community as a whole how we make comments um towards in Everybody's Free To Say what they want I'm just asking by the grace of God that we be mindful of when we make make statements how it's affecting everyone including a wife and a whole Community uh tonight at 6 M there will be a tribute there more things to come and the wife is putting some things together the mass J are putting some things together but tonight is a call for the Muslim Community to come to join in prayer there will be faith based leaders there we're there to support we're not there to run the program run the prayer this is the Muslim Community coming together not a political platform but coming together to pray May baraca will be there of course with the leaders of all the mass jids and I invite all of you that want to show support and stand in solidarity with the community uh Muslim Community during this uh period to please join us and show your support for the family and the imams across the state truth be told just as I stated the other night it could have been any one of us and and whether you're Faith leader or Community person going to get in your car um we just pray and and ask for God's grace um for all of us continued Grace So tonight at 6 pm at the Robert Treat the doors will open 6:30 we will go forward um or we won't the program will go forward or the prayer it's not a program excuse me I stand corrected uh tomorrow um under the leadership for the women of the city of New York our first lady Linda Baraka council president L Monica AR mcgyver shashana page and myself will be hosting our next women's Citywide women's meeting we have a platform dealing with women's Financial Empowerment it will be held to tomorrow evening at 6: pm at the priori restaurant 2:33 West Market Street we asking women that would like to join most of you most women there's a lot of women that receive received of the flyer and those who we've had the email you've been contacted or called We're inviting you because there will be a 12 week uh program to help some of us I don't know about you but I'm still working on making sure that I align my finances up I don't need anybody tell me how to count but sometimes you just need a little help with order uh so I'm asking women to please join us for that and last but not least uh there's a Citywide choir being formed um we're calling all voices uh to come and join us for the city of newk voices of Excellence you can call my office 973 733 3794 the next rehearsal will be held January 13th this Saturday at 3M at the eonia Baptist Church in North New Jersey I want to thank everyone in any capacity that you're assisting with improving the quality of life for our residents in the city of Nork that means whether you are an employee of the city of nework the faith-based leader every little bit helps and no one person can do all of this together so while we're held accountable for legislation uh communities can sweep in front of their doors they can talk to their neighbors and there's so many other little things that individuals can do if you throw one cup on the ground and 50 people do that you're contributing to the filth in our streets so if there's anything no matter how small it is that you can do to assist not just improving the quality of life of our residents but helping each other loving one another looking out for one another M said the other day that we have a backyard um neighborhood now we don't have the front porch and I'm going to add to that because when we were on the front porch and the neighbors went by and the children went by we were really a neighborhood now we sit on the back porch some have their soders some have their Sanctified punch and uh we don't even know what's going on in front of our houses inited happens everybody in the world gets blamed for what took place in front of your house so we just want you to be more mindful of helping to turn our neighborhood back to a neighborhood once again North my colleagues thank you for all that you do to allow me to be a part of your success and moving this city forward God bless the city of nor happy already blessed 2024 because we're truly looking to soar thank you nor for allowing me to serve thank you council president thank you councilwoman scy Tre councilman Ramos any motions yeah thank you madam president I just have um I have one it's a for code enforcement um the prop pretty located at 255 Grafton Avenue that you been back and forth for about a decade I think they're running some kind of illegal uh construction company out of there recently we've had code enforcement citing property owners for weeds and and this guy has tractor trailers that are parked in his backyard um legal construction equipment on his property and for some reason they've been able to get away with with it for about a decade and and I don't understand why I've been there personally with um Mr McDonald and other inspectors on the city side and I would I would appreciate through your chair and the clerk that um the ba provide us with an update on on what's happened there have been been Court actions taken what have been the outcomes of those Court actions um that's usually where where we get lost in the process you know we we call code enforcement we file complains and then we never get feedback as to how those cases are adjudicated or resolved well are they saying CH Lord if my voice was better I would have hit that note a little better yes I could tell you ain't nothing probably happen but anyway um let's make sure um uh Madam clerk that we follow up and send official notice can I get a second for Council M mes second second BR Council woman Round Tree roll call yeah yes yes yes yes yes yes yes councilman quana yes um I'd like to thank the uh city clerk for having the barbershop beauty salon licenses uh in terms of the ordinance sent to All licenses throughout the city and and and she did a great job in English Spanish and in French which was really impressive thank you so much um thanking the members of council the administration everyone who took place helping us with the three kings event last Friday I want to thank you all because the smiles of our children mean a lot to us and um uh the diversity of our children and the community makes it part it's not just one school it's many schools coming together to learn about each other having the three kings on the epiph was great and another note on December the eth there was a unbailing of a portrait here which I was given a portrait to place and some folks misunderstood sent the wrong messages to uh the former mayor mayor sharp James that he was not included and you know I just want to go back and say look if if there was a mistake I want to correct it but that was not the intention at that time we said that in 1985 mayor sharp chains and I indicated that this was the application uh and I thank mayor sharp James and I will continue to thank him uh but someone started this notion of saying that we were not appreciative uh and really got back and I just wanted to put it on record I don't forget how I got to be where I'm at you see some do forget I don't forget uh it was 1985 that I became an aid to then our councilman sharp James and knowing that uh I was then 1986 the deputy mayor of the city and then for for eight years and then I ran for Council in 1990 but lost an election and I as I indicated by absente ballots and then in 1994 with the help of Mayor sharp James and a coalition of folks and as it indicated then Ramon riveraa vedro who was from lasassa Dr Rosario Hill Dargo and I could have Nam names but I just want to put it there I put it out and mayor James if you're listening to me just wanted to say to you I don't forget uh how I got Grandad and those that are telling you a different story just want to put it on a record that I'm appreciative of what you have done in terms of helping me and how we work together but I don't want people to start sending the wrong message of that we're not appreciative I know how I got where I'm at but I wanted to put this on the record at this beginning of this new year so that there's no misunderstanding of where I'm coming from just wanted to place that because it is important that we correct certain if I was wrong then we'll correct what was wrong but we cannot raise history and history is important May James you and I have made history uh you helped me and I helped you and we have helped each other and I thank you for your leadership your direction and always being a friend my amigo as you always say thank you thank you councilman Quintana councilman Kelly any motions um just one real quick um sorrow and regret regret for uh Pastor poot and his family um lost his nephew good friend of mine Corey poet night before last to an asthma attack so I just want to say peace and blessings to his family totally not that a roll call for that um a second for that condolences Council woman Round Tree which is the second roll call yes yes yes yes yes yes yes councilman Gonzalez any motions motion okay no motions no emotions thank you councilman Gonzalez councilman Council councilman Council yes um Thursday uh in in the South W January 11th at 6 PM uh we'll be having our uh meeting our nuzzler meeting to talk about zoning uh laws and what that looks like in the South W specifically and so we encourage all of our South for residents to come out 6 pm at the Tre Center That's Thursday January 11th at 6 PM uh with uh economic and Housing Development mayor Barack and myself will be hosting uh the small town hall to discuss what the nuzzler looks like as it relates to uh development and movement in the South W also February 10th uh we're going to have our pre Valentine's Day concert um sponsored by uh myself uh mayor baraca at George Washington Carver School uh featuring Howard you uh Ted The Wizard Mills Hunter Hayes and Jay the comedian at George Washington Carver School our pre- love Day event uh doors open at 2 pm the show starts at 3 pm you can go uh to event brigh uh at Patrick Council pre Valentine's Day concert or call of our office 733 3753 uh we'd love to have you come out uh in attendance uh on that day I also want to wish uh all uh of those D9 organizations that celebrate their Founders Day in the month of January uh we want to wish all of them a happy Founders Day the uh members of Kappa Alphas saai who celebrated their Founders Day January 5th uh the members of f Beta Sigma fraternity Incorporated who celebrated their Founders Day January 9th uh the ladies of Delta Sigma Theta who will celebrate their Founders Day January 13th the ladies of Alpac Kappa Alpha who will celebr their Founders Day on January 15th uh and the ladies of Zeta FAA who will celebrate their Founders Day on January 16th and just want to give a shout out to councilman Kelly who will be celebrating the birthday coming up all right happy birthday birthday all right thank you councilman Council um I just want to make one request on behalf of the council Dr yamba um who has served this city in many capacities um different Services throughout the city for many many years is retiring from new community communities board um and we want to send a letter on behalf of the council just congratulating him for his years of service um to new community um and just the city of norc in general uh can I get a second for that than second by Council as a whole um and uh if we can take a roll call for that yes yes yes absent yes yes thank you all for coming out we'll now be adjourning our meeting we'll see you at the next meeting roll call to adjourn yes yes yes yes you something