e h may we have a quum can everyone please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Mr clerk we have a quorum and call this meeting to order at 8:00 pm please call the role councilman Schwarz here councilman beler here councilman Goldberg here councilman Oregon here Deputy Mayor Catz Deputy Mayor G here mayor ban here adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by resolution number 299 d223 sending a copy to the newspaper official designated for 2024 by way of resolution number 2224 find a copy in the township clerk's office to posting on the municipal building bulletin board and the mayor hereby directs that this statement be included in the minutes thank you Mr clerk good evening and welcome everyone to tonight's council meeting Township Administration present at tonight's meeting are Dean kazinski our Township manager Doug ruson our Township Clerk Christen denor our Deputy Township Clerk Thomas row our Deputy Township manager Scott sammon our Township attorney and Ron Goodman our volunteer cable caster for The public's information we are currently holding a hybrid format meeting we have people in person and on Zoom if our Wi-Fi at the municipal building has an issue where the zoom meeting drops we will aim to retrieve the connection and restart the meeting the next televised regular council meeting is April 2nd and it begins at 6:30 p.m. with the public portion beginning at 8:00 p.m. March 21st and 28th are budget meetings that begin at 700 p.m. there will be an American Legion Drive public update at the Roa community center on March 27th at 7 p.m. it will be broadcasted on Zoom but participation is in person only Town Hall will be closed on Friday March 29th in observance of Good Friday Council met and closed session earlier this evening to discuss the following a DPW update a library update njdot contracts Personnel legal issues and opinions regarding items on the Open Session agenda litigation updates and Oprah our first order of business is presentations and we have teen interns leading together Deputy Mayor G this is you right ma'am sure so we're going to share a brief video about um is it about both programs or just the one it's about both about two very special programs the first is uh TLC which stands for teen Learning Community it was um an intern well not an intern it was a program where high school students from several team te students and some R from tck but high school students both in public schools and in non-public schools working together to tutor middle school students um an amazing amazing program I met with these students they are brilliant they are I sat with them at the last meeting and they did this postmortem analysis I would have sworn I was sitting with McKenzie Consultants as they debriefed the program what went well what could be done better and I'm just so proud of them so you're going to hear a little bit about that program and then the second program is tilt teen interns leading together again a wonderful group of students talking about um opportunities in the community to lead so let's share the video there we [Music] goers sorry guys oh sorry having a little bit of technical difficulties all right so while we figure out some of the technical difficulties I'd be remiss if I didn't share how this all came to be so I want to say it was sometime last year Rabbi fredman who's in the room back there can you raise your hand Rabbi fridman and Adena leitz is in the room back there can you raise your hand Adina okay so Rabbi fridman reach out to both Karen uh organ and I and um had this idea um I believe tilt has been around for a while but teen learning the teen Learning Community is fairly new they had this idea for creating this tutoring program um for students in Teek and so they brought us together we had I think one or two conversations uh the township was so happy to support in any way that we could and so we provided that Spa some space in the uh Roa Center where the students would come um I think it was about it was about five or six o'clock once a week right and so the students would come and the middle school they the they would the the tutors would come the middle school students would come and they would do the tutoring there on site and so um we had no clue how successful it would whether it would be successful or not and it was just wildly successful we had so many students participate and again I wish some of them could be here they were absolutely brilliant I'm so proud of them and the fact that these students most of them didn't know each other right some were I think from the FR school from T neck high from schools all over and so so nice to see them all working together for was really a great cause um Karen I don't know if you want to add anything I think what made it so special was um it gave our young people a chance to get to know each other and work together even if they're not in schools together so it was a wonderful idea um and executed by Adena brought To Us by by Rabbi fredman and um I hope this sets them up for the future for a future of getting along and understanding each other um the tutors were from high school School uh private and public and the two T's were from middle schools um this year from public hopefully next year from both but thank you so much for this and for showing us that there are different ways that we can really get together as a community um and learn from each other dou is the video ready and we apologize for the technical difficulties this happens sometimes sorry thank you for being so patient with us yeah [Music] [Music] even and working together to create these projects they will learn the values of collaboration [Music] ofun e for e apology yeah sorry about that everybody so I just want to take a moment to prevent present the certificate of recognition to teen interns leading together tilts and teen Learning Community the TLC so Aden if you would come up to accept this certificate recognition check check and then since I see one of our students are here so this is one of the tutors that volunteered her time to tutor our middle school students so let's give her a round of applause as well uh thank you I just want to thank the Town Council for making space here tonight to celebrate our young adults I am we are so proud of all of our students students you represent tenek the Teek we know and love you deserve to be celebrated we recognize your maturity your values and the time and energy you volunteer to the community you prioritize Unity collaboration working together meeting new people and celebrating our similarities and our differences you are inspiring and you should know that this recognition is because the town is behind you hilt and TLC programs were launched with the support of the Town Council the Board of Education Rabbi fredman the administration teams in both public and private schools Dr Spencer Heek comes together and you our students with the support of the community it was you our young adults that made it happen students continue to identify the voices that match your values connect continue to pave that path continue leading I will certainly follow this is where we all find fulfillment and happiness for ourselves our community and our town anyone on Council want to say anything no thank you again tilt thank you to our students our tutors and thank you to everyone who helped make this happen we appreciate you so so very much our next order of business is work session items and first up is miscellaneous does anyone have anything under miscellaneous no I have one thing under miscellaneous I make a motion to nominate Joshua Rockland to the hackin sack River Greenway Advisory Board because he has served this board very well over the years and the chairwoman is asking that he be reappointed and the Personnel subcommittee is already interviewed him so I make motion to nominate him very first from our mayor second from Deputy Mayor G councilman Schwarz yes councilman Belcher yes councilman Goldberg yes councilman Oregon Deputy Mayor G yes Mayan yes we'll see a resolution at the next meeting thank you everyone next order of business is old business does anyone have anything under old business no next on the agenda is new business anyone on Council have anything under new business no moving along Communications anybody got anything under Communications All Right Moving On on committee reports by Council leaon first up is the shade tree Advisory board annual report which is in the agenda it's a good report it's detail this is a wonderful group of volunteers I'm the aison to this Advisory board so Doug thank you for putting that in the agenda and next is the zoning subcommittee minutes Mr Schwarz in the minutes um sorry in the packets as well as in the agendas that were sent out you'll find my report just a few quick projects that we're looking at talking about uh are discussed there one is 100 State Street uh which is a former midblock building um or apartment building that was approved that's no longer approved and it looks there's some Storage self- storage buildings are being proposed there those will be self storage building that's MK and look like an apartment building uh beautiful rendering and we're going to continue to talk with them there'll be first floor retail on that site as well if it's approved second site is um 827 tck road that is um the for former Regina Steakhouse Regina Steakhouse has closed down the property to sold there is a steakhouse about to open up there this is more of a long-term plan for a approximately fivestory apartment building with parking on that site uh these are initial presentations which will continue to be reviewed by the sub zoning and then Council over the year and lastly American Legion Drive American Legion Drive plans and the Beverly Road Lot plans have been sent back to us by the developer with a revised lower scale including a farmers market location open space and parking consistent with our agreement um we have a public Mee um zoning the zoning committee is hosting a meeting to the public March 27th 7:30 p.m. in the Roa Center Gym the meeting will be led by our planner and our attorney as well as with comments by the developer um so there is uh we hope to see as many people there as possible lastly and excitingly the Master Plan update uh the master plan will be completed by the planner in mid-march as a matter of fact the draft was just put out this um morning it'll be sent to the committee which we just got then submitted to the m to the planning board for the review and the votes which will be take place between April and June discussion voting uh between either April May and June meetings so a lot going on nothing definitive by any means but we'll continue the conversations and report back accordingly thank you Mr schs Deputy Mayor G um yes the the minutes for the abcr meeting that took place yesterday will be available online shortly I think there's working through the minutes but I'll just give a brief overview of what happened um we had Dean kazinski come and share a little bit about the empathy training um as I think most of you know we are considering empy training for our abcr members um and the Train the trainer course so that they could continue to train others once they've received it so still working out the details there but we talked about that with Dean and we're very grateful to have him give an overview on what that might look like in the timeline um we had uh a lengthy discussion about actually good and Welfare at these meetings and whether or not there should um you know there should be a position on um the the length of good and Welfare at these meetings I think the what was difficult or challenging to sort of um get around is you want to make sure that every resident is is heard at these meetings right but at the same time you don't want to entertain hate speech or anything that makes any community members feel um less than or undervalued and so it's like how do you manage that balance right wanting to hear from but not wanting to hear hurtful comments so it was a very uh a tough discussion and it didn't land but ultimately that the the apcr members are working through how they feel about that um we had the pleasure of hearing from Scott Pleasants um who is our poet laurate um and then we also just want to share a reminder that Rabbi seagull Street renaming is on March 30th and so those who are able I would I think would be a wonderful event to attend um and then finally on Personnel did one of you want to do the minutes for personnel the Personnel subcommittee met we interviewed four candidates for the field Advisory Board three one couldn't make oh sorry three candidates that's right um and so no final uh decisions there um as we're still interviewing additional candidates but we did indeed interview three thank you thank you Deputy Mayor G does anyone else have any committee reports just a a quick one a reminder to the public that the library will be doing construction starting sometime this summer we are looking for alternate location um but just keep that in mind thank you thank you m organ anyone else Miss Belcher uh yeah I just want to mention that the affordable housing subcommittee uh met we're working on uh what the requirements might be for the uh fourth round um the third round we're in now um and apparently uh planet has uh advised us that we have fallen short in terms of the number of affordable housing units so we're working very closely with the planner to ascertain um you know what the plan will look like in light of the uh new affordable housing proposed laws that are coming down the pike so uh we we will have uh more information from our planner um for our next meeting um and I just wanted to give that report thank you Miss beler anyone else I just want to request again for the public can we just make sure that all the subcommittee minutes are in the agenda packet and to the clerk so he can post them on the website so the the town can see the information and thank you thank you Miss Goldberg anyone else now moving on to the next order of Business Council listed items and first up is airs Court parking time limit councilman Schwarz um so this was brought to me by a few merchants in the area and I actually went there and checked it out airs Court East of queenanne road so not down by where the large parking lot is between Palisade and queen but queenan and further east where it's all apartments during the day there are no spots available the first two rows but yet if you go there at 5:00 when the office people have left it's open which means it points to a lot of um retail employees who don't want stickers who don't pay for stickers or in the part there's no parking available so what these Merchants have asked me and the police department has reviewed it so we're looking for four nodding heads is to put a t nine to five two hour time limit on parking in that area so it truly could be for Shoppers and not employees or Merchants who want to stay spend all their time there and not go to more distant lots and give the the retail customers the opportunity to Park so I'm looking for four nodding hands that we could turn over to our attorney for an ordinance for that parking heads heads Heads we're good Mr Mr attorney thank you very much I'll forward you what I have with the police so you can start with that thank you thank you thank you Mr Schwarz next up leadership tin proposed schedule Deputy Mayor G sure so um last we talked about leadership team last September we had uh I had shared a draft schedule with all of um my Council colleagues I had asked for feedback back hearing none I went ahead and worked with Dean to draft um this schedule we initially wanted to start leadership tck in the winter but we thought it would make more sense to wait till this spring better weather easier for people to get out and attend we wanted to make sure that this uh leadership TX series was well attended and so we delayed the start um of of of the the 10-week uh Civics course um until April 1st so again this um schedule with I think my colleagues all of you have it in front of you this is a tentative schedule which is why it was not released sooner um there are names on this schedule that are have not been confirmed um we're still work um the speakers but uh this is a great time if you have any feedback about the content about the speakers um please provide that feedback now um I'm just sorry I'm just confused I'm a member of the subcommittee last time we met was September um we had the meeting in September where we presented a very different schedule than this to the council and we haven't met so did I miss a meeting I I haven't we haven't met I'm not sure how we got here if the subcommittee hasn't met so my understanding when we last presented the schedule in September and I asked for feedback and there was none is that Dean and I were okay to go ahead and work with that draft and come back to council with a a more tentative draft So This Is Us coming back this is me and Dean coming back to you with a a draft schedule to the entire Council because the subcommittee of three cannot make a final decision on the schedule but again the subcommittee hasn't met this is not the same schedule we didn't discuss the the conversation publicly ended here's the the schedule which is on the SE uh September 19th page 16 agenda packet um this is very different um and it's been advertised as if this was done so I'm really confused can we can we have a meeting of the subcommittee to review and bring something back to council that's you know discussed and not one person so the reality is that the the um the reason that we advertised it is because and we didn't share a schedule for because it's not complete it's 10 weeks right we're still filling out the schedule we advertised it because it starts on April 1st and we wanted to make sure it was well attended it is now March 19th so it was just the time issue of why we put out the press release if there are any comments given the time constraints I please would welcome comments right now from all of my Council colleagues rather than wait for another subcommittee meeting and then come back to a council meeting I think time is of the essence so please provide your feedback now my feedback is I'm requesting a meeting of the subcommittee which myself you and Deputy Mayor cats are members of Miss beler okay I I to I don't serve on the subcommittee but um it was my understanding that our um our manager was working with um Deputy Mayor G on this and and they they've really spent a lot of time on this I remember getting updates during uh Clos session on this and um basically it's the the actual schedule that she's provided and Dean's provided is pretty comprehensive of the 10 weeks uh it runs from April 1 all the way to uh the end of June and it was my understanding that if I remember correctly um we were scheduled to start in the spring so I I was certainly I feel that we should move forward with it because I believe it's a value add to our community I have two quick questions so this is not the final schedule but it's close to the final schedule and you're willing to accept edits right in comments absolutely always all right so I mean we are getting close to April um is there anyone else on Council who would like to say anything or ask anything m so the the last time this was done leadership Tink didn't have a public official on it nobody elected to counsel and I think that um seeing that you had included yourself there um hit a bunch of us and especially the fact that this was publicized and then we saw a flyer with your face on it that the town didn't draw up with your name on the list um was off-putting to some of us I think if anybody should speak for the town it should be the mayor but more importantly I think what makes the the the program so special is that it's not political at all and there's no political face to it so all the other people who are here are either Township employees County Employees people who have served before I'd be more comfortable with that um and not having one member of council it it seems um self-promoting almost no be straight with all of you I really just want to see this program succeed and I I know you guys do too uh Miss beler I think you were raising your hand yeah I just wanted to say that I I think if it if if what's really stopping us from moving forward is the removal of a head shot I think that perhaps we may want to just redo the flyer and uh just move forward so that um our Township residents can benefit from uh leadership um Tac so just to clarify for members of the public so I was planning to give an overview on the advisory boards so I um along with my other Personnel committees interview everyone for The Advisory board so I'm very familiar with the role of the advisory boardies advisory boards how often they meet how they're composed and that's why I had signed up I volunteered to just give an overview there's a problem with me giving the overview I am not tied to that anyone can give the overview I just thought it would be easier since I'd be there already um there every week from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. I know there was an email suggestion that Ellie cat do it instead of me um I don't think he would want to come for every week cuz I I know he has a lot of international commitments so that's the only reason I volunteered but if someone else wants to volunteer I'm not tied if you have a problem with my face on the agenda for some reason I can take my face off the flyer I didn't mean to offend and I did invite the mayor to speak and he he said he he was fine with me doing it so if it's just me that you have an issue with fine I don't have to be on it if all seven of you want then I'm fine with the rest of it I I am not fine with any member of the council including Deputy Mayor Catz presenting at all this is supposed to be not political um and I I actually didn't suggest that um and I still think that we should go back to the subcommittee to review this um and make sure that you know this is what this wasn't what was presented to the council so I'm a little concerned and also resolution 17-223 the subcommittee is only Deputy Mayor Katz Deputy Mayor G and Hillary Goldberg um so I I don't understand how we got to a uh schedule that was in September to this so I'm okay with the schedule that was in September with no member of council teaching any of the classes um so just to be clear we have forums all the time the council hosts forums all the time we never micromanage the agenda who's going to host we had a cannabis Forum which a member of this Council hosted there was never an issue with it we had a development Forum where a member of council hosted there was never an issue with it so I think we need to be crystal clear on who we have a problem with it's not about me or one person sub committee that Das was the three members of the subcommittee everybody was a part of it the forums the the everything has been on this isn't a forum and again the subcommittee is three people and two members of the subcommittee had no idea that this was happening so the ask is that the subcommittee that was from 17 2023 like the council voted on the three members of council to be working on this and present it because that's the process be involved in it um so I have no problem I would love for leadership teac to start April 1 but then I'm asking one that the subcommittee actually meet and all members of it be part of it and two that it be the schedule from the September meeting um and no member of council um be presenting um just because we are running out of time I don't think it makes sense when we have all of us here who make the final say on the agenda on the schedule all of one of us is out of the country so I don't know how we're going to get him to do a subcommittee meeting we're all here give your feedback in public where everyone can hear we'll make the quick edits if it's just you want Danielle's name off and there's a majority who want my name off by all means I'll take my name off the agenda proposed solution just interrupt really quickly um I don't think it makes sense sorry I know I know I'm just trying to come up with an idea to help move this along because we all want this program to succeed if you guys want to have a quick meeting tomorrow the two of you and I know that one of our council members is not available I'm willing to jump in so that I can maybe help move this along if Council doesn't want to decide on this tonight no but then the full Council still needs to hear it I'm I'm willing to make the motion to allow the schedule from September um 19 uh 2023 meeting which was in the agenda packet um and no member of council speaking I'm okay with that because that was what was presented to the council and the public and there was no feedback um that's what I'm okay with and proposing if that's where we're at that I'm okay with the program going forward but there's a subcommittee and it's not one person and it's not one person in the manager it's it's three people and two members have no idea what was going on until there was a flyer so if we're GNA discuss it now then that's my solution is what was in the agenda packet in September 2023 and no member of council or do we need a roll call to move this forward what do we need do we need nodding heads that's a great question we I just asked a question I would say in this case this is not really form just nodding heads whether or not you guys want to have a informal subcommittee meeting well I'm happy to move forward as is and I'm happy to remove myself if if if the majority wants me removed but if the majority is okay with me giving an overview on who serves on advisory boards it's not a big deal it's not political at all I'm I'm happy to agree with you if you take if this moves this forward as long as you take yourself off of it then I'm fine with it the way it is so who would you want to do the overview an Advisory board he said it's not it's not a formalized thing yet so let's discuss it okay so you want to but I you just don't want me to do I don't it's not you it's not personal wait don't make it personal against Danielle G I don't want anyone from councel on it I have an email where you say that you want Ellie cats to do no in in that email you said because I've run twice I should be on it and I said well if any no if you're going to bring it up didn't say should if anybody ran a bunch of times it was ell cats that was that conversation it has nothing to do with you it was surprising to see your name and your face there it should not be political and we shouldn't even be talking about it anymore just have the program it it's a great program that was my goal I said let's get feedback so then I agree with you I just would like to make a comment uh you know each one of us has taken a leadership role on different forums uh uh there was a cannabis Forum um M uh councilwoman Goldberg that you spearheaded that you took the lead on that no one no one of us questioned you on that um so I I'm not quite quite finished uh the there has been development forums uh Mark is taking the lead on the Stop and Shop Forum so there all of us have taken um very important roles in leadership here so I don't understand why Deputy Mayor G is being targeted you are all making good points and again I just want to reiterate I want to see this program succeed in now like us to move forward if possible but Karen you were going to say something or I I wish I could make a motion I would love for this to move forward and just not have it be political at all not that's it that's your opinion that it's political because I give an overview it's not political I'm not up for election it was just practical can the manager do that part will if if you need me to do it you I will work something out he doesn't live nearby it's just cruel do I mean we haven't had a vote about if the majority is against Danielle giving an overview on advisory boards can we get clarity on that at least I'm not it's well I'd like I'd like to see a vote on that what I would suggest even I think what's what's what's going on right now is I would suggest that someone make a motion and if someone wants to amend that motion they you know they can try but uh they they they can do that but um that's I think given what's going on I don't think there would be Clarity so then can I make a motion to move forward with the draft agenda as is second if someone wants to make it try to amend it you're welcome so I make a I I amend the motion um to move forward as is with no member of council present presenting as in the past be just to clarify we had past members of council present um specifically uh Jackie Kates the previous mayor she uh presided over every single leadership teen series that she was a part of I'm not sure if she was on T but are you okay with that motion I made a second to Council vote vote on the Amendment first and then on the main motion so this is V this is the roll call on the amendment and that was a first from councilwoman Goldberg second from councilwoman Oregon councilman Schwarz yes councilwoman beler no councilwoman Goldberg yes house Oregon yes Deputy Mayor G no no mayor Pagan no oh St 3 three so now we vote on the original motion that's correct yep that's correct and that was a motion from Deputy Mayor g a second from councilwoman beler is schedule as is uh councilman Schwarz no councilwoman belard yes councilman Goldberg no councilman Oregon no debie May G yes may Pagan yes and we're a state right Doug 33 yeah so we have to make a motion to put this for the next meeting I don't think you you don't need to make at this point you don't need to make a motion for that it would just someone we just bring it up again at the next meeting so does that kill the program because the next meeting it starts before the next meeting I don't understand why it's so important that you're presenting why if we have okay with the schedule just with no member of council presenting I'm not sure I understand what the issue is well before we get into a tit fortat and and I mean that in a respectful way is there any way since we're having a budget meeting on Thursday since we do have a quorum and it's has been advertised for that hopefully we have our seventh member or maybe someone changes their vote after a couple people talk offline and then maybe we can move forward with this can we discuss it on Thursday we will be here again yes to move forward with our night yeah yes yes you can that that meeting the budget meetings would notice for um for Action to be taken that action could be taken on them so you'd be entitled to is everybody okay with us revisiting this on Thursday in two days yeah all right moving forward next order of business is we're still under Council listed items public Gatherings councilwoman Oregon so there have been a lot of questions for us and for the police department in the last couple of months about um legal actions to take with public um Gatherings whether um on foot or in a car and so I'd like to bring our attorney to the next meeting um I've discussed with him either him or or someone he feels can give us some answers of what is in our ordinances now and how we can fix our or change our ordinance to be more inclusive um for things that protect the public and protect the Public's rights um and at the same time adding on to that um what what is actually in the ordinance as far as our Council meetings go as far as ten residents um possibly getting priority um access or speaking first um and so before we start to to rewrite ordinances i' just like to hear where we are from that so if we could do that at the next meeting please not a problem anybody else no next order of business Township manager report Mr kazinski the floor is yours sir thank thank you mayor just a couple quick announcements uh the Bergen County it's called the American dream firsttime home buyer program and they're going to be holding several free online Zoom work shops I placed a flyer on the table uh they're going to take place every Saturday in April from 10:30 in the morning until 12 noon they're going to cover many different uh topics to include understanding the home buying process uh to keeping your credit on track again the Flyers are on the table there this is a great program free of sh free of charge and I hope everyone um that needs that sort of uh training takes advantage of it another program that we're running takes place on th Thursday April 25th in the township this is at the Richard Roa center from 600 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. the flyer is on the table as well it's called disaster shelter training and the Township's looking for volunteers who are interested in learning the basic Shel shelter fundamentals and the guidelines for setting up a uh transitional shelter in the event of an emergency such as a power outage or any other disaster where we have to re relocate residents uh this training is going to be provided by the American Red Cross and the tenek office of emergency management and the volunteers will certainly work with our trained professionals here so anyone interested please sign up uh any information's on the on the table you can also call my office to get the application as well uh some project updates mayor we received the transverse Rumble strip uh striping plan from engineering that's going to cover the full length of Palmer Avenue and we should be able to move forward with that plan in next 30 to 60 days we're also going to place newer LED stop signs at certain locations those stop signs are on order I'm not sure how quick we can get them in uh once we do get them in we'll certainly put them up uh we're going to have a pre pre-construction meeting for the new North V Park preat bathroom uh this month and we should accept delivery of the bathroom uh later this spring that will be at the North End of Vy park across from the tennis courts also the V Park shed and Shelter by the splash pad is ordered and we're waiting for delivery with that that's also expected to arrive this spring again that's just north of the splash pad our engineering department is working on several projects one is the Fike Lane resurfacing plan and that will cover from tinck road to Glenwood Avenue this is a grant project uh and it's it's much needed for for that area the heric park Improvement plans are currently with Green Acres they were submitted by engineering we're awaiting comment from Green Acres before we can move forward and put the work out the bid so as soon as we get those comments back from Green Acres uh we will advertise it get it out the bid as quickly as possible to get the work done the Andreas Park pickle ball facil is going out to bid and the project should be awarded at the next meeting which is uh I'm sorry the April 16th meeting that's the second meeting of the council meeting of the month and we're going to have a resolution listed on April 2nd agenda for the structural engineer and who will be overseeing the improvements this is at The Pedestrian overpass by vot Park uh and that will allow the bridge to reopen so we'll have uh the resolution on April 2nd uh we'll move forward with the contractor it will be considered emergency work and we'll hopefully get that bridge open within a couple months uh the 2023 Road resurfacing project will go out the bid the end of this month um I mentioned this in the past uh Ceda Lane is going to be milled this year thank goodness really by by the county of Bergen um that road really needs some special attention so that will be done in 2024 uh they notified us last week that theur Avenue I'm sorry tinck Road from deur Avenue uh to CED Lan will be resurfaced in 2025 or 2026 uh another big project that we're doing is Palisade Avenue uh that plan is under design and that's between West angood and the North End uh We've submitted the plans to dot New Jersey do for approval we had to do that because this grant uh requires them to to sign off before we can move forward uh we're also going out to bid for repairs to the east Beverly Road parking lot in April and we should be able to award that at the council meeting at uh at Arana April 16th and this is the parking lot that again uh needs a lot of attention we're going to be doing some Milling some Paving and really a skimp coat uh and striping there and this is going to allow the farmers market who wants to move from the West west side to the east side to move their operations there during during the season so that parking lot will look look better and it be a lot safer for everyone uh the environmental resource inventory is completed and now needs the planning board approval uh adoption of it uh the new field maintenance contracts going going to be awarded this evening uh this is what we spoke about for several months to maintain our Fields um that'll be awarded this evening we got an excellent price for that and we're going to have an emergency pre-con meeting with them after tonight uh on weekly maintenance work that can be started on our bull Fields now this will take place from now until November so we're excited about that project uh work at TX Southern little league if anyone's been down there is moving incredibly fast uh they've removed the fences they've skinned the entire field uh they're going to be doing some drainage work uh and putting um uh the foundation in and they told me today that the anti the project completion date is onor about June 1st so they're moving very quickly with that the last council meeting I was asked about uh trying to divert traffic by ways uh along Country Club uh we did reach out to them the deputy manager I reached out to them we have not heard back from them yet I'll keep everyone posted on that uh the fire department put four new service vehicles uh on the road on March 7th one is a fire prevention vehicle another one is a tour Commander truck uh the third one is a utility pick pickup truck and the fourth one is a water ice rescue vehicle uh the blessing of the vehicles took place on March 7th uh some of the grants we're working on and have recently been awarded uh we're applying for 1.3 million Federal infrastructure Grant that's going to allow us to do some drainage improvements in the area of queenan road from velinda to her Larch Avenue and Kip Street and we were just notified by Senator Booker's office uh that our requests for funding to the congressionally directed spending was included in the fiscal year 24 package uh so the town is going to be concentrating on the old Newbridge Road area to better manage storm water and prevent flooding uh so we're going to get about 565,000 and that should significantly help us out with much needed improvements in that area uh this month we were also notified of awards uh for the spotted Lantern fly program and that was any amount to 20,000 New Jersey Division highway traffic safety that was for 25,000 Bergen County open space in the amount of 146,000 and we have a couple other important uh grants that are that are in the hopper right now uh something that just came out today that our Police Department is working on uh the office of Homeland Security New Jersey office of Homeland Security and preparedness launched they call it bleeding control kits they're going to be issuing bleeding control kits to houses of worship that apply and the kits are going to contain basic items to stop extreme hemorrhages and numer thorax injuries and so the I've directed The Police Department to reach out the houses of worship and let them know how they can get these kits and and finally uh I just wanted to let the public know that after 40 years of service uh and years in government I've submitted my notice of retirement to council this evening which it's going to be effective July 1 I'll of course have some additional comments or remarks uh to make as we get a little bit closer to July 1st so I just wanted to let everyone publicly know so that's it you very much I am going to miss you so much and I can't thank you enough for your friendship your leadership and your dedication to Tin and everything that you've done you've helped so many people over the years you've you've taught me so much you've helped me I mean you've helped everybody who lives in EK and I'm happy for you that you're going to be get this next chapter of your life but I'm also going to miss you so much anyone else on Counsel missure oh no I I would just um say did to that we're gonna certainly Miss You Dean you have represented um our community so well uh you have been truly a servant leader and and um we know you're going to return to visit us for sure Mr Schwarz um I'm I'm going to comment over the next few months to make you cry then I'm sure we'll have lots of time I have seven more meetings so time Miss Oran I we'll have lots of time to do this and I'm sure there'll be lots of tears from me um but just so that the public knows Dean will be helping us to find his replacement so um he will leave us in good hands Miss Goldberg I I'm going to have a lot to say when we really get into this and and thanking for everything and you know from from this side from that side I know I'm sure I caused you a lot of service but um you know so we'll we'll have a lot of thank you you say yeah okay Deputy Mayor G I'm still in denial and I think I'm going to use the next seven Ms to try to convince you not to retire I probably won't be successful but you are so loved by T neck and all of us and just so grateful for you we love you Dean we really do next order of business is Township attorneys report Mr salmon how am I supposed to follow that um I now you know I before I I start I just want to say I do a lot of work in a lot of different towns all throughout New Jersey you will not find yourself a better Township manager than Dean um it's really going to be I think a challenge to find someone even you know half as capable as Dean um two things I want to me mention tonight uh I mentioned them at our last meeting but now that you guys can be actually voting to adopt there are two ordinances they you'll be voting on tonight uh the first is the EV ordinance and the second is the escrow ordinance uh the EV ordinance is required by state law uh it was a law that that was passed in 2021 um that requires municipalities out all throughout the state to uh put a certain infrastructure in place essentially to require developers of property of new properties to to dedicate a certain percentage of their parking spots to uh be EV capable to be able to charge electric cars there there the number of spots the number of spots that have to be dedicated depends on the overall size of the lot uh and and how many parking spots are at the development it's only prospective so it doesn't affect any developments that are already in town in town it's just going forward the second ordinance that you'll be voting on tonight is the um the escrow ordinance so we have a a an escro system in place for people for applicants to the uh the planning and the zoning board basically pay for the cost of the professionals Planning and Zoning Board attorney planner engineer and and all those things um this uh ordinance uh adds significantly more detail to that and gives the town a lot more flexibility most importantly for if there is any development you know in the town going forward it also it doesn't just include the applicants to the to the planning and zoning boards it also includes includes the developers that are working with the the township itself um and requires them to pay for our um our costal professionals we do a lot of work for for developers uh you know reviewing Financial agreements and developers agreements and all sorts of things the township incurs a lot of costs for that when we're really doing work for them and so this is a standard kind of ordinance that is i' I seen all my other towns that that I work with there's no reason that we should be paying for these costs for for these developers um and I will say you know most of the developers come into town expecting to pay this I know in one case one of the a developer just sent us a think was a $20,000 check uh because they just assumed that we we had a system like this in place we didn't really know what to do with it because we didn't have an ordinance in place so we just had this check sitting there um this is going to prevent anything like that from happening future so in the end it will save the township a a lot of money over the long term uh and both of those went to the planning board planning board deemed them both consistent with the uh the master plan uh and so now you'll be voting tonight to adopt both of that's it thank you Mr Sam and our next order of business is our public hearing and Adoption of ordinances Mr clerk can you please read the title of the two ordinances into the record yes sir we have first up ordinance number 42024 amending Section 8 of chapter 33 entitled fee schedule and escrow trust deposits of the township code for the Township at teac by detailing the fee schedule and payment Provisions applicable to applications for development ordinance number 5-24 authorizing and encouraging electric vehicle Supply SLS service equipment and make ready parking spaces thank you Mr clerk the public hearing on these two ordinances and these two ordinances alone are now open any member of the public wishing to be heard on any of these two ordinances can please come forward and state their names for the record comments or questions shall be limited to three minutes per person is there anyone in Chambers who want to speak and before before anyone else raises their hands on Zoom again I just want to repeat so eloquently what our mayor said that this public hearing is strictly just for the ordinances that we just read into the record ordinances four and five so again if you want to speak about ordinance four or five please raise your hand on zoom and we will get to you if you do not want to speak on ordinance 405 the general good and Welfare will be up in just a few minutes so please be patient thank you thank you Mr clerk Mr alen s Allen son T resident Mr Mayor I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve in your stad on the planning board uh we had a meeting and we reviewed those two ordinances both ordinances four and five as Mr sammon had indicated we had a remarkably thorough discussion about those two ordinances uh we went through the details virtually every I think every member of the board discussed both of those I think the again escro fees allows as Mr sammon indicated the developers to basically cover the costs of running all these meetings and the uh ordinance on electric vehicles allows us to ensure that buildings have the facilities necessary to be future ready uh so that they will be able to serve the increasing number of electri electric vehicles in the future as I had indicated at that meeting um when this 2007 master plan was was passed um electric vehicles were about 0.001% uh of the number of Vehicles was something that was not anticipated uh but it has been changing it will be increasing and again I think as as a member of the planning board as a member of the public I want to encourage the council to pass both of these ordinances uh and approve them as is and again thank you for providing for a planning board that has really been remarkably effective in in working through these issues thank you again thank you Mr son is there anyone else in Chambers who would like to speak about these two ordinances and these two ordinances only seeing No Hands anybody on Zoom all right this public hearing is closed anyone on Council want to say anything about these two ordinances Bel yeah I just want to say that uh it is good to see with ordinance um for 2024 um really putting uh placing some of the uh the onus on on developers in terms of a lot of the cost that is incurred or has previously been incurred by the township so now we do have that that ability to make sure that um you know as a Township we're not really incurring uh as as much expenses as as we are and I would also um uh agree with Mr song that the planning board is doing an exemplary job in terms of uh moving um forward and um I'm sure they're going to be really looking forward to the um reviewing the um the next steps of of um of what we have you know coming down the pike as it pertains to um to things in development thank you thank you Miss Bel anyone else on com Council have any comments in that case I make a motion to approve both ordinances second councilman Schwarz yes councilman beler yes councilman Goldberg yes councilman Oregon yes de m g yes mayor Pagan yes ordinance is adopt thank you Mr clerk our next order of business is good and Welfare any member of the public wishing to be heard at this time can please come forward and state their names for the record comments shall be limited to three minutes per person if you are on Zoom we ask that you please list your first name and your last name so our clerk can call on you also if you are on Zoom please turn on your camera when you are called on if possible and I think I see some clergy in the room sorry sorry sorry I'm going to call on the clergy first because I know we have some clergy in the room and just in case they have to leave early I'm going to give the clergy an opportunity to speak and you don't have to line up you guys could just raise your hand so this way you you'll be sitting comfortably please feel please take your seats again sorry sorry please take your seats again and and all you guys got to do is raise your hand and and then I'll call you but the the the procedure is we do someone in person someone on Zoom someone in person someone on zoom and what we do is with the inperson we do this side then someone on Zoom then someone on this side then someone on Zoom this side this side this side so there are a couple of members of clergy here do either of you want to speak or say anything before we go sir Elliot shrier tenek resident for two and a half years Rabbi of congregation b shuran as likely everyone in this room knows on last Sunday March 10th there was a protest held outside of congregation keter TOA a local synagogue here in EK and I want to share with you some of the things that I and other members of tenx Jewish Community heard that day I will preface my remarks by saying that I heard there were Jewish individuals holding Israeli Flags who shattered profanities and insults at the protesters let me say publicly and unequivocally those people don't speak for me and I firmly denounce that vulgar Behavior but I also want to share with you some of what we heard last Sunday I had congregants lifelong teen residents were not even attending the event in kror they were going for a Sunday morning stroll on River Road they were identifiably Jewish by rigual Garb and a number of protesters drove by them rolled down their car windows and repeatedly shouted go back to Europe and in one instance even more directly go back to aitz I have a friend who is not a Teck resident he lives in Bergenfield who has a teenaged son I think he's 14 years old who again was not going to the event in KET TOA he was going to play a football game with his friends in a public park he was identifiably Jewish by his kipa there were protesters who accosted him they got in his face they started hurling verbal abuse at him until he called his mother in tears one of the Jewish security volunteers at the event was told we are still raping your hostages I have a congregant who is called a Jewish dog and perhaps most pointedly I have a who was asked by a protester are you afraid yet tonight you are likely going to hear a lot about fair housing civil rights international law legalities illegalities nuances Etc but let us be very clear to all those who taunted go back to Europe or go back to aitz to all those who asked Are You Afraid yet that's not what any of this is about this is about Jew hatred plain and simple and the ability for Jews to live in this town free from fear and Prejudice just like anyone else if I may dare speak on behalf of myself and many of TX Jews I will tell you that we are not afraid we are not intimidated but we are tired we are tired of being regularly vilified and slandered and demonized often from this spot in this room in textbook ethnic stereotyping blanket statements about the Jews or the Jewish Community or the zionists when we're in the mood for a dog whistle we too are part of this town we too are teenic we are tired of being treated like a nefarious other we're tired of others deciding for us and dictating to us which speech about Jews is acceptable or unacceptable as if the metric for unacceptability is when others are sufficiently uncomfortable even after every bright red line of anti-Semitic speech has been firmly crossed and left far behind us here in EK we are tired of others flippantly dismissing our hurt and our pain and we're tired of the whitewashing we're tired of the sanitizing go back to aitz has nothing to do with Palestinian children and Jewish dogs and are you afraid yet has nothing to do with civilians in Gaza it should not be difficult for anyone irrespective of 's views on the Middle East to call out and denounce the hatred that is now regularly being directed towards many of the Jews in this town and I call upon all members of council to exhibit the moral leadership move this town forward thank you thank you R are are there any other religious leaders in the room that would like to speak RBI fredman Daniel fredman uh Teck resident since 1988 Rabbi of the Jewish center of EK I think tonight we can only begin uh by acknowledging our extraordinary Township manager Dean kazin for everything that he's done for EK over 40 years 26 and a half years on the police force I met him when he was the deputy manager the town manager he has poured his heart and soul into this Township and I would like to make a suggestion to the Town Council that when Dean does finish uh his service to the town that ad Deen kiny day be declared to celebrate the 40 years and I hope that you'll take that under consideration there's one thing that I feel a little bit sad about in terms of Dean going not just missing him though I know we'll stay in touch is that I want our Township to be worthy of somebody like Dean kazin Dean is down at a time when perhaps we're not living up to the kind of man of character that has served this Township so well and specific what is going on to the Jewish community in EK repudiates everything that people like Dean have done for this Township to make it the proud town that was the first to integrate in the United States of America and more specifically the targeting of houses of worship a week ago Sunday at the synagogue in which I was raised in which I was married in which my parents still worship is a clear Red Line in our Civic relations we must reject targeting of housing of houses of worship in any scenario whatsoever as we must reject any form of violent confrontation Jewish community of Tink is strong and will never be intimidated intimidated we'll be proud as Americans who will never hide our love of Israel as a fundamental part of our religious identity I've had the opportunity to address the Jewish Community but I'd like to address our neighbors on on this point as well we respectfully ask that our neighbors understand that our attachment to the land of Israel is not a matter of partisan politics it is not intended as a provocation to any individual or Community it is a matter of deep Faith commitment as important in my life and the lives of so many of my congregants as the observance of Sabbath or our commitment to prayer and Torah study we can never accept and we hope that all of our neighbors will never accept that we are legitimate targets for harassment because of our faith and religious commitments we see no reason whatsoever that we should have to choose between being our full selves as proud American Jews attached to land of Israel and our souls and outstanding citizens who wish for nothing else other than to live as we always have in harmony with all of our neighbors even and especially those with different Faith commitments so let us be the town that is worthy of Dean kazin let us be the town that is worthy of AD leitz let us be the town that was the first to integrate our schools let us be the town that we know that we can be thank you RAB thank you Rabbi Ferman are there any other religious leaders in the room sir your religious leader mayor ban council members assistant mayor my name is Imam Muhammad dah I'm also a New York City chap license Champion I first worked as a eam over at Bergen Region Medical Center and as a as a Muslim religious person human being I remember I I've been living in t ever since 1972 52 years and I remember being in this building back in 1972 and the issue of the day was the Vietnam War this building has not changed weed to have pictures on the walls and I'm kind of sad to be here again Islam is a citic faith though it's Judaism no muslim can be called anti-semitic because Islam is a semetic fate but many of my my Muslim brothers and sisters particularly over at D usla we are very disappointed what's been happening not just here at home but in the Middle East as well human rights equal rights Justice due process of law has been neglected we're human beings we all got families I remember back in 1972 73 apartheid I was right here with my father talking about boycott and oppression apartheid I've been to Jerusalem I studied at Mecca University Saudi Arabia Damascus University Syria aquarine University Morocco Akida Arabic language and monotheism we don't like many of our Muslim brothers and sisters we don't like what's going on in the Middle East and anybody that a that affronts houses of worship is wrong but human rights equal rights Justice and due process of law has been neglected not just on people who have been abused but we have not been standing up for human rights equal rights Justice and due process of law genocide yes is a problem over in the Middle East and here no one should hate other people because of their faith at all and we have to change it with our own Hearts thank you very much thank you Imam are there any other religious leaders in the room seeing No Hands Doug someone on Zoom please um faroo bringing um faroo in please state your name for the record feel free to unmute please stay your name for the record mayor faruko have three minutes sir respect the council members and fellow Tiner residents tonight I would like to share with you Chris hedge's letter to the children of Gaza the muffled calls for help from beneath the rubble it does not stop night and day trapped under the piles of Smash concrete your Playmates your schoolmates your neighbors gone in second you see the chalky faces and the limp bodies when they are dug out I am a reporter it is my job to see this you are a child you should never ever see this when your father or mother hunts for food or water you wait that terrible feeling in your stomach will they come back will you see them again will the bombs find you are these your last moments on Earth I try to tell your story I try to tell the world that when you are cruel to people week after week month after month year after year decade after decade when you deny people freedom and dignity when you humiliate and trap them in an open air prison when you kill them as they were beasts they become angry they do to others what was done to them I told it over and over I told it for seven years you listened and now this reporters from all over the world are going to the border crossing at Rafa we are going because we cannot watch this Slaughter and do nothing we are going because hundreds of people are dying we are going because this genocide must stop we are going because we have children like you precious innocent loved we are going because we want you to live we have failed you this is the awful guilt we carry we tried but we did not try hard enough we will go to Rafa many of us reporters we will stand outside the border with Gaza and protest we will write and film this is what we do it is not much but it is something we will tell your story again maybe it will be enough to earn the right to ask for your forgiveness according to Reuters 70 US cities have passed ceasefire resolutions as of March 2024 neighboring cities like Jersey City Union City Patterson North Bergen Ridgefield and Wayne are just some of the cities that have followed suit since this council is so keen on passing resolutions I'm shocked that t is not among those cities wake up T we can do better and we must do better for the sake of humanity thank you someone on this side ma'am Heidi fukes tck resident for 52 years I have served this Township and multiple committees and Leadership roles my husband and I have raised our four Sons here and when has returned and serves this Township is a member of TAC for over 15 years thank you to Tek police department and Dean for efforts in protecting this Township and its citizens as anti-zionist anti-semitic hateful rhetoric continues to uptick especially in our Township I feel left safe for my family myself and my community at the February 27th Town council meeting a known agitators false narrative was allowed his accusing the Jewish community of hosting an event that is against the law stating that it violates civil rights and fair housing laws was false without taking a moment to investigate the facts a council member responded to the state that the Israel real estate event is in quote violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 1968 also violates New Jersey law against discrimination we don't want any event held in our Township that is the markings of any discrimination we don't want to be on the wrong side of History how ironic and how embarrassing for this Council and for our Township that an elected official who was represented all of the people of EK would make such an ignorant and unsubstantiated statement this was purposeful maligning of our community this treatment of the Jewish Community is abhorent the council member could have taken a beat investigated the facts and stopped the person who was proud to Bo post that he planned to organize a protest that protest caused our streets to be unnecessarily shut down our police officers to come out in full force and waste our tax dollars the behavior at the last meeting both by this agitator and some of our leadership of thousands of Teck residents and our religious institutions safety at risk the council member could have taken the wind out of this agitator sales instead it fanned the Flames of hate bigotry divisiveness and anti-Semitism the Jews of tck will not tolerate false accusations and lies the Jews of tck will not allow ourselves to be terrorized and threatened the Jews of tinac will not be intimidated or subjected to blood liels the Jews of tenek will not be deterred the chws of T the Jews of Teck will not run or hide the Jews of tenek will not be violent or agitate the Jews of tenac will not threaten like those who invade our peaceful town thew of tenek will not be baited the Jews of tenek will not drive through red lights on our Township roads and throw red paint on cars and citizens the Jews of tinck are productive and contributing citizens of our Township the Jews of Tink are brave and will not stoop to the level of the agitators the Jews of EK proudly stand with our brothers and sisters thank you man I Hollander please state your name for the record I Hollander please unmute state your name for the record yeah hi this is Isaac Hollander 18year tenek resident um before getting into uh the topic dour I first want to thank the town for starting uh yearly pothole remediation work it seems like the potholes get bigger and deeper every year at the corner of West llon and Forest there's a dangerous dip in the pavement to my knowledge fixes were attempted at least twice since I moved in including during the last repaving but the problem keeps getting worse the problem is deep beneath the road surface and patching doesn't do anything anymore the town should consider fixes other than the bad dates that never actually address the problem someone is going to break a wheel or an axle now regarding recent events our community has experienced protesters nearly every week these protests are not aimed at changing us or Israeli government policy or plans they are purely hate driven using offensive lies intended to make the local Jewish Community uncomfortable in other words to terrorize and the terror escalates each week with more cars more people more hate speech more small crimes we all appreciate the long overtime and weekend hours local law enforcement and public officials have put in over the last few months but Bottom Line This is an untenable situation and cannot be allowed to continue a solution must restore Public Safety and protect people while respecting both the letter and the spirit of the first amend my parents toured Europe after their retirement in several cities they had to pre-register in order to enter the local synagogue on Shabbat armed security guards bag checks the works now we are moving towards a similar situation in addition to investments in physical security my schol has a paid armed guard and volunteers from CSS it won't be long before we graduate to bag checks and metal detectors churches have their doors open to the public all day unfortunately synagogues yeshivas and other Jewish institutions have to default to a locked door and they have to carefully scream people before allowing them to enter I don't hear of any protests outside the au but somehow it's okay to harass people going into a synagogue this is not okay private institutions now have to spend money on physical security which means less programming for the community an additional assessments to member families mean less money families can spend here in EK at local businesses this problem affects the entire Community everyone in tck must work together to get this situ ituation under control generational PTSD is a real thing my grandparents and great-grandparents all arrived in the United States well before the second world war but my parents had classmates who were refugees from Europe immediately post war I had teachers in elementary school with numbers on their arms I heard first person at camps it is truly hurtful to see the Holocaust trivialized and genericized but that's a topic for another time the PTSD still exists three generations after the Holocaust I am seeing serious people discussing plans for a quick Escape From America should it become needed getting passports and other documents in order this is not okay this is not normal thank you someone on this side ma'am in the back sorry sorry I saw your hand go first I'm sorry my name is nessia I'm a Jewish resident and student in tenek I love our town and I sincerely appreciate our diverse Community this includes my teammates from TX travel soccer team my former crew mates on Tac and other thespians I met in acting camp and of course the teens who sit with me on the Teck youth Advisory board when preparing what I would say tonight I wanted to say that I'm not scared I wanted to say that what people are saying about me my family and my community don't intimidate me I wanted to say that if after people called me murderer and terrorist while driving down RoR Avenue last week I was able to fall asleep not scared for my safety in my home but the truth is I am terrified I am scared that anti-Semitism is becoming normalized here in tenek I am scared that someone thought that their First Amendment right included hurling red paint at my car and shouting Nazi slurs and saluting the Nazi to me while driving past them I am scared that words lead to actions that cannot be undone as a teen who lives in tenek I'm asking the adults in this room to stand up to the community and say that this is not okay this is not how neighbors treat each other if you believe a law was broken with the Israel real estate event go and file a lawsuit against the organizers if you believe American dollars shouldn't be supporting the Israeli military take it up with your congressmen if you are upset with the Declarations that this tenet Council has made take it up at the next election cycle thank God we live in a free country with courts and Democratic elections use the outlets available to you but please do not take it out on me keep me and my friends out of it keep our neighbors both Jewish and not Jewish out of it don't project how you feel about a conflict in the Middle East on us don't pretend you know me or you know any of us and that we all fit into some evil stereotype which gives you the right to bully us personally I grie for all of the lives lost in this conflict both Israeli and Palestinian it deeply saddens me to think about the suffering that this war has caused and every day I pray for it to end but there is an ocean of difference between empathizing with Palestinian suffering and targeting an entire community Through weekly harassment and intimidation I am asking the council the mayor and every single influential person in this room to come up with a plan that ends the hateful language and actions that occur in this town every single weekend before it is too late thank you Miss thank you youf aala youf please un mute hang on for second for you youf please state your name for the record Yousef a t president thank you three minutes I come to these meetings not to change your minds I come to these meetings every month to hold you accountable hold you accountable not only for your actions as a council but also your inactions listening to five months of this Council promoting lies and islamophobic rhetoric takes a toll on a person I was very hopeful when one member on his Council suggested that tenk New Jersey abide by federal and international law only to see her name being dragged through the mud by her own colleagues and members of the town for standing on the side of justice and equality watching Council women be praised as Heroes for every lie that spews out of their mouth makes me embarrassed to be a teic resident the attempted shaming of community members for exercising the First Amendment right is Despicable I say attempted shaming because my community would never feel shame for standing up for Humanity watching this Council prioritize foreign interest over the safety well-being and happiness of its own residence is appalling we can NE we cannot ignore the cries of marginalized voices silenced by resolutions to perpetuate inequality and discrimination yet our Council seems content to stand idly by indifferent to the suffering and struggles of those who they were elected to serve just because a li is repeated again and again does not make it the truth for those of you who are just tuning in to the circus that we call EK let me summarize that what this Council has done in the last five months one council member thought it would be a great idea to draft a resolution that in no way shape or form benefited the township of Tink or its residents that resolution was voted on and passed by the entire Council the same council member lied about what she heard being chanted in a parking lot back in October the same woman was confronted about her lie but decided to double down on her falsehood because why admit you were wrong when you're a government official another council member falsely attributed a quote to a town resident the council member quoted that Muslim res resident as saying that she was going to quote blow up the town yes I do mention this at every meeting and I will keep doing so until we get an apology and to councilwoman belgum I would like to remind you of a quote speak the truth even if your voice shakes we stand with you thank thank you gentleman in the Hat name is Martin Stein I have been in tenek a resident for 43 years first just because someone whether it's Rich seagull or a council person says that the event that K Torah was illegal does not make it correct that's what we have Courts for last week a group of agitators consisting mostly of non-ic residents stage a disgusting jew-hating demonstration which has been described by Rabbi shrier and others I would just like to add that the two people who were arrested um live far from Ek one of them was even from Massachusetts in this Township we are blessed and thankful to have a town manager a deputy Town manager and a police department who are diligent and sympathetic and who look for ways to protect our rights however the current situation in tenek and especially recent events require and demand that we do more and also frankly that we ask our public officials to do more and therefore with the deepest respect for Dean kazinski Tom row and the police department I would like to make a few proposals first if I run a red light I get a ticket if I drive with an expired registration or I block traffic I run the risk of getting my car impounded protesters and cars should be treated the same way next and very few people I assume know this chapter 31b of the tneck Township Code requires that anyone organizing an event of protest similar to what happened at KET Torah must apply for a permit which requires an application the application includes detailed information about the organizers as well as an agreement by the organizer to indemnify the town in the event of any claims or damages resulting from the event no ter no permit no application was filed or received for this event I ask that in the future any organizer of a similar protest be required to comply with the application process the decision as to whether or not to Grant the permit is up to the town manager it's very difficult to deny a permit legally however both the code and the federal courts allow the permit to be given with conditions as to where this event can be held there's no excuse for having such an event at a synagogue thank you sir thank you Doug someone on Zoom Allison G please unmute state your name for the record Allison G I'm sorry I can't get I don't see your full last name please unmute say your name for the record yes thank you my name is Alison gor arier I've lived in tenek since 2006 at 17 and a half years I knew very little about EK or the demographic when I first moved in and I was delighted to realize to realize how diverse our town is as a religious Jew I embrace the diversity my husband and I want our kidss to be surrounded by people who are different from us as well as share our culture we want our kids to interact with other kids at the pool at voi park at martial arts everywhere they go we may have differences of opinion on some topics particularly since October 7th nonetheless we want to stay in this community as do the diverse neighbors that also share the community with us we all want to stay here we all want to be here we'd like to find Harmony again what's not helpful is strangers coming from out of town into tenek to spread hate and try to make the locals hate the other locals it's coming from out of town mostly I feel it would be helpful and healing to see that stop this is America we're all permitted to have differences of opinion but we don't need the aggression from out of town ERS we should be left to fix our problems by ourselves with each other not without a Towners interfering thank you thank you man sir my name is Frank and I've lived in tenet for 48 years my daughter and her family also live here my parents were Holocaust Survivors and were very happy that I served in the US Army for 3 years years including a year in Vietnam during the Ted offensive while they were familiar with fear in Nazi Germany the last thing they imagined Was Fear while living in the US when my wife and I moved to tenek we were thrilled that we were able to afford a modest home and raise our children in the safety and comfort of a nice town which over the years saw Many religious schools synagogues and kosher establishments open up in tenek in the neighboring towns this has probably led the anti-em right to Target T I would be remiss in not mentioning a big contribution that the Jewish Community has made to tck their active membership in a disproportionate number to the Tek volunteer Ambulance Corp donating to the mugan doid Ado the Israeli ambulance first aid organization in Israel that serves all Jews Muslims and Christians alike was an Endeavor that the Jewish Community took upon itself to do good at a time when protests against against people entering a synagogue here in tin EK were subjected to harassment name calling paint thrwing and people taunting them with cries Hitler was right and are you afraid yet the last thing I ever imagined was that when we contributed to m and d doome my wife would caution me against listing our name for fear of some kind of Retribution my thanks to Mayor Pagan Township manager Mr kazinski the police and their Chief and their Chief and the various other officials who have kept the Jewish Community safe despite some people including a member of the Town Council making groundless accusations against us it also boggles my mind that while Christian C clergy have supported us and the Jewish clergy constantly reiterates that under no circumstances could we engage any of our attackers or do anything illegal the Muslim clergy has been throughout while the AUC Muslim Community Center here in tenek is being used as a staging area for Out of Towners together for their marches against Jewish institutions and Facilities I'd like to see the council ensure that no marches of any kind can take place without a parade permit if people want to walk with banners and flags on our sidewalks that's their right to do so but a pray permit should be issued with a $1,500 bond that would be forfeited if any Marchers throw things yell discriminatory phrases or do anything illegal or unlawful that would help def Fray the cost born by tneck taxpayers for police overtime and other unnecessary expenses the council must send an unmistakable message that any religious harassment in this town will not be tolerated thank you sir Bridget and and Sir Bridget please unmute state your name for the record and sir thank you for your service to our country as well Bridget Bridget give us one minute here give us more minute Bridget Bridget please state your name for the record you have three minutes Bridget please stay your name for the record briette Jones we're having a hard time hearing you Bridget Bridget did you say Bridget Jones ma'am hear me sorry for the te I'm sorry we're having a hard time hearing you can you get a little closer to the microphone if possible Bridget sorry Bridget yeah sorry Bridget we'll try to come back to you someone else on Zoom Doug yes one a second I have sharuk aala sorry all kinds of popups here sharuk aala please unmute state your name for the record good evening my name is shuk yes you have three minutes sharuk we lost sh we lost you sharuk all right we'll we'll do one more person yeah in the chamber ma'am hello my name is Jasmine I have lived in Tac for my entire life and I here to demand the IM immediate dismissal of council members Goldberg Oregon and Schwarz how dare you claim to represent this constituency while showcasing your thinly veiled racism at every opportunity you all Fain care and concern for every splitting divide in this town while actively Fanning the Flames to burn any semblance of unity to the ground councilwoman Oregon thank you for affirming my last statement Mr Mayor we we don't allow we don't allow people to call out individual Council M you can address me or the council as a whole I can address the council as a whole and I hope that my time yeah we won't we won't take any of your time away from you please continue okay thank you council members for affirming my last statement to the council board with your back the blue sentiments you willingly shared in Te today since 2020 obviously meant nothing to you I will reiterate that using a blue lives matter flag is a dog whistle is a racist paraphernalia item akin to the Confederate flag just a few days ago a 15-year-old boy named Ryan Gainer was lynched by San Bernardino Police in 2024 my people are being systematically slaughtered in these American streets this is why I constantly come here and call out the microaggressions you and all your fellow white council members throw at councilwoman Bel and WG not to mention I have not forgotten how you purposely misquoted a Muslim Community member to instate that she was going to blow up the Town Council Members also consistently make it a point to say that you do not care about any of our voices four weeks in a row you have mentioned to end good in welfare with a handful of people waiting to finally get a turn to make themselves clearly heard not only this you have also chosen to accompany your fellow Council people to commit domestic and international felonies by attending the illegal real estate cell of occupied Palestine this past Sunday and thank you mayor for ignoring people on tx's call to shut down the event by the way and violating our first amendment constitutional rights by blocking those who choose to engage with you on your public social media platforms a strategy I'm sure you both have taken from your friend Keith Kaplan we will be campaigned to ensure that you never hold such a position again and we will see how you enjoy being censored councilwoman you are particularly calculated with your chilling racism not only did you escalate the horrifying hate towards our high school students in the wake of the first walk out you managed to show your face to coign fascist behavior in this town you claim to have not heard any council member or neighbor supporting genocide which is a serious accusation and that genocides going on around the world are painful to watch never again means never again and that you pray for those who are atrocities to end today as well as hoping that Gaza and Israel will soon be free but until you stop playing the victim and take accountability you are destined to be everything you claim to stand against a beacon for violence in Gaza and the West Bank over 31,000 people have been murdered by the hands of the I American Socialist and rightwing colonizer pause it so that she wouldn't L 314 people in Le and Syria three minutes are up ma'am there's another event going to be happening on up Miss Miss I'm sorry make sure happen again sorry everybody only gets three minutes and I will be emailing you all of my sorry everybody gets three minutes Pat please unmute state your name for the record hi uh can you hear me yes loud and clear please state your name for the record hi uh this is Patrick Doma uh I am actually a res resident of Woodridge um I emailed the count my colleague um Christopher no emailed the council about our uh attempts to get a complete streets policy in Bergen County um we were hoping to get a sign on for the letter that we sent um just a little bit about what we're pushing for um we believe that uh we we started um complete streets Bergen uh to get uh safer County Roads within Bergen we basically believe that Mobility is a right and not a privilege for only those who can afford a car uh and so we are looking for towns to sign on in order to try and uh Provide support for a countywide policy uh Bergen has State we've been going to County meetings and Bergen County Commissioners have stated that they're really looking for Town Buy in uh for for towns to buy in before they move forward with any kind of redesigns of streets or uh new policies around that and we noticed that t uh has moved forward uh them on their own with various uh bike lane resurfacing as was mentioned earlier in this meeting um we believe that uh car dependency is a public health issue from pollution to crashes to mental health to uh the physical health of of residents and so um we are just urging the the Council to sign on to the letter in an effort to try and uh push the county forward in in helping to make streets safer for pedestrians and for cyclists and not only those in cars um and that's all P thank you for calling in please please uh send me I'm the town clerk Doug clerk at tenek nj.gov if you could send a little snippet about that uh so we could start evaluating sure um can you just repeat uh that l c r k tck nj.gov thank you thank you Pat thank you Pat someone on this side ma'am oh sorry second row yes you ma'am yes name is Miriam Burman I've lived in t for 29 years um well first I want to thank law enforcement the council the town microphone oh here we go I want to TK thank the law enforcement the council and our Township manager and staff for all their efforts we live we feel like we are living in a Bad episode of The Twilight Zone but I can't imagine anyone being able to conjure up the story of what has been going on in our town in the United States of America I raised my children here in EK and now my children are attempting to do the same I can't imagine how a young mother I know felt on March 10th stuck on the north side of rbridge road with a preschooler and infant not being able to cross the street to go home because a thousand people were marching and screaming for her and her children's demise I think about this when I go to sleep at night and when I wake up every morning and I am sure that the perpetrators are thrilled to hear that they are affecting me in that way I appreciate immensely how wonderful law enforcement has been in their actions to keep us all physically safe as seen on March 10th unfortunately this is necessary we are very lucky and we don't take it for granted for a second but at this point we also need deterrence I requested every act of violence large or small Every Act of breaking the law be dealt with by law enforcement and the perpetrators held accountable I so appreciate that you our council members regular citizens have decided to give of your time and energy to take responsibility for our town I know that a number of you sitting before me must be feeling affected the same way as I am and I assume that all of you care very much the vitriol might be directed at the Jewish Community but it affects the lives of everyone in the town we have to figure out together what can be done because something must be done I am not a lawyer and I don't know what action can be legally proposed but our elected representatives have the responsibility to find out an act and I am glad that we have just heard that it's on the agenda it would be preferable if something could be done before the next planned protest that has been um scheduled to take place outside a synagogue in a residential area in less than two weeks one of our founding fathers John Adams said and I'm quoting the relevant parts of his words should the people of America once become capable of that deep simulation meaning fakery toward one another which assumes the language of Justice while it's practicing iniquity and displays Charming pictures of cander frankness and sincerity while it is rioting and insolence this country will be the most miserable habitation in the world because we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by IM morality well it seems here we are we need to stem the growth of the power of those who traffic in iniquity and in this case outright insolence or our constitution will no longer function we cannot let them cynically use the constitution in order to destroy it and the American way of life as much as our Town's experience is one manifestation of what is happening in many places in the United States I implore our Council to serve as an example to the rest of the country and find a way to prevent this constant escalating attack on the people of tinic thank you very much thank you Miss Jesse Leon please unmute state your name for the record good evening Jesse Leon can you hear me loud and clear three minutes okay I'm a tneck resident I live on war place um my camera is on because I am me and I'm not ashamed of that and I'm not ashamed you see my face first and foremost um I'm disappointed to see that there is not another uh chicken ordinance up for Up For Debate you know I suggested that maybe we can get one before hatching season comes hatching season is fast approaching uh and I would love to have some chickens in my backyard this summer I know a few other people who would also love to have some chickens in their backyards this summer maybe you guys can make that happen on Thursday when you're meeting again uh feel free to reach out to me for any possible plausible language I've written four different ordinances about this and I'd be happy to put something together for you I want to address I hate I hate that we're still talking about all of this because like I've said before we should be talking about boring Municipal stuff like Safe Streets um and I fully endorse Pat's suggestion that we that we uh that we sign on to to a broader Bergen initiative but um all of this everything going on is it's it's too much and we need to take it down and and there's no way to take it down but just to stop we all have to stop every single one of us should stop we should stop talking about all of these different things that don't relate to the normal functioning of the town that we live in all of that is way above the town's pay grade it's all nothing that has to do with what the SE the the seven council members who are sitting there have to do with our lives I you know there is one thing that I just want to address that being said and and and sure it's hypocritical of me but I can't help but contrast in my experience um the two different types of approaches that have developed here you know the the the the the community that has been protesting the um the the land sale last week week it was aggressive it was angry there was um violent rhetoric if no actual violence thank God compare that to this past Sunday when uh the Jewish Community stood up and said we don't really want to be bullied in this town and they gathered in the park for about an hour and they danced and they sang and they said nice things to each other and then everyone went home you know I I a few weeks ago or two two or three months ago daros La invited a speaker who had actually denied the atrocities that happened on October 7th now I don't know if he did it again while he was speaking at Dar but there's video of him denying what happened on October 7th which is something that is so reprehensible to the Jewish community and there wasn't a peep there wasn't a rally in front of darl laah there wasn't a rally anywhere in town nobody said anything we all complained to each other and that was it I just think that we can be a little bit more respectful of each other's faces even if we disagree or find what other people are doing are reprehensible thank you very much thank you Mr Leon someone on this side the gentleman in the back row thank you mayor Pagan thank you council members um I want to take a moment to say thank you again um for your openness to your constituents of this town um we stand by you as you try to SE peace and progress through your efforts as you continue I've been a resident of this town for now two and a half years as a resident I am excited about some things I'm excited for my kids to age into the educational programs that have been discussed tonight the educational programs that currently exist and those are some things that excite me and not just in education but there's a lot more that we've done as a town and I want to thank you all for that for the athletic systems that my kids are already enjoying will continue to go on from the travel teams that we've heard so much about I have faith in this Council by faith in our town that we will continue to progress in more than these justce areas in technology um education which been mentioned environmental health which has been spoken about as well um in Gatherings and events as a community as together we are diverse has been mentioned multiple times and just seeing that really exemplifies for me why for the past two years I have loved to live in this town so I wanted to thank you all again council members the officers that are here tonight the officers that serve within um our Police Department all of our um emergency folk as well um and I want to just see that we continue to go forward with progress as T neck hopefully not just for the next few months but for years to come so again I just want to take this opportunity to thank you all for the work that you do for our children um for our people and I did not say my name if that's who you're gonna say so sorry thank you David msky um and live close by in TX so thank you all very much thank you sir Isaiah Brown please unmute Isaiah Brown please unmute you say your name for the record Isaiah brown thank you three minutes thank you um I have been a res a resident of tck for uh four years now and um I was a transplant over from Co the co era from New York City and as the gentleman just previously stated one of the many things that I found uh just enticing and attractive about t was the level of support unity and that residents shown each other and the activities and just the nature of which the community has Co coalesence around each other so um I um just previously uh lost my wife in a car accident uh near to our house in t neck and um I've actually felt everything that I just stated the love the unity the support from everyone probably folks who are in that in the room right now and folks who are sitting on those seats on the board right now so for me to hear the level of just divisiveness that is going on in our town right now it's just disheartening uh as an educator I'm a principal over in New York City at a charter school what I like to tell our young people is regardless of what faith Creed or religion or color that you come from that we need to as a community just be able to love each other and work with each other in in order for our society to move forward in the way in which we want it to to to to be to look and that that responsibility and that oness is on us especially the adults in our community so to hear that there are just dissension and because of the dissension this disrespect that we're showing each other this te teen neck folks uh again I hate to use the word again but it is very disheartening and I hope that the board and I hope that um folks in the room and just anyone who who who who is of influence and just anyone who who loves what we do here in Te neck I hope that we get to a point where we can work together and we can understand that even through our disagreements that there is something that we all do understand and that is that our community is a great community that is why we're here so that's all that I have to say and I again I thank everyone for the support that they've shown my family during our trying time s um it's been it's been a horrible time but um we feel the support and the love that you guys have shown us um thank you guys I'm complete thank you thank you Mr Bron we were so so terribly sorry for your loss and we are always keeping your family in our prayers ma'am you had your hand up can you hear me esteemed mayor and members of council thank you for the opportunity to speak here tonight my name is Hana Shields and this is the first time I'm in this chamber except when I got a ticket um all week I've seen posting from various block organizations and other others alleging that a certain Council moment was going to be attacked by the Jewish Community for simply asking a question it is ironic that people would say that as the fact of the matter is that many Jewish Community many of the Jewish Comm help get that Council woman elected what we have seen actually occur in the effort to is an effort to shut down Jewish voices by referring to us as white supremacists and oppressors with people who appear just as white as I do using buzzword like privilege and racist to describe the entire group of people to bully and push their warped agenda both online and in this chamber that is the fact in fact the essence of bigotry no one seeks to attack anyone but when we when one engages in public service and holds office and one does something questionable one sometimes has to answer for their behavior to their constituents when a Teck resident made blatantly false allegations and defamatory comments about the Jewish community at the last council meeting they were repeated Amplified and legitimized by a council member who raised her concerns and asked the township lawyer to look into it at face value one might think that the council member was surprised by these comments had just found out about the event and was genuinely concerned and asked the legitimate question however an accidental Oprah request for the email communication showed that the ten res president who made the defamatory speech had emailed the council with the same sentiments two weeks prior to the date of the meeting and was responded to by the member of council asking for more information about the event this resident in his various emails to the council person identifies himself as a self-hating Jew a godamn Jew a hater of the Jewish Community specifically a hater of the Orthodox community and someone who not only doesn't believe Israel a US un recognized country a close Ally of the United States should exist but seemingly condones the horrific Terror attacks of October 7th and refers to the attack as people taking some action on their behalf to quote one of the emails full disclosure I am against any Israeli real estate sale here or anywhere and I am absolutely and unapologetically against the state of Israel period another gem from the email is maybe you will care that having the sale at this time is an invitation to violence the agenda of the resident who sent the emails was clear there was two weeks in which to do the research there is a Township attorney at your disposal the opportunity was there to dispel the false allegations and set the record straight the opportunity was there to stop this in its track but instead the choice was made to respond to the same person's further inquiries about how to ensure the opportunity to speak with instructions to make sure he arrives early to then to amplify his voice and give legitimate to legitimacy to his false allegations from the position of cancel and then to add insult to injury by praising the very person who has been targeting the the Jewish Community with riots and protests for months a person who continually posts thas edicts on Instagram and Praises violence the result of Blood liel on the Jewish Community thank you Miss Goan elos please unmute state your name for the record Golan elos can you hear me loud and clear sir good evening council members my name is Golan Elias and I've been a resident of Teek for 14 years during that time my family and I have lived a relatively peaceful life that isn't until October 7th 2023 since October 7th my family and other members of the Jewish Community have been impacted by hateful protests and rallies right outside the chambers that you're sitting in in front of the synagogues that we attend and in front of our homes people are no longer focusing on the events abroad they're focused on the destruction of the Jewish people and terrorizing the Jewish community of UK I was walking by one such rally when I saw a single Jewish al man standing alone holding the posters of some of the hostages being held by the terrorist organization Hamas he was being yelled at cursed at and water bottles were being thrown at him by participants of the rally when I walked by and tapped him on the shoulder I startled him but told him it's okay I'm Jewish too I stood with him for some time speaking and holding one of the signs as we spoke I asked him why are you doing this all alone his response brought chivers down my spine I am 70 72 years old and if I don't stand up for my people who else is here to do it when I think about those of you who have stood up for the Jewish community over the past five months and 12 days I would be Remis not to thank the township manager and five of the council members who have fought not only for the Jewish community's right to live here safely but for all residents to live here in peace I come tonight to ask the other council members to stand up with your other members of council against all hate and make non-controversial statements during your speeches after good and Welfare firstly that you stand with and support the Jewish Community who exper experiencing hate both within te and from our surrounding communities after all both of you did push for the peace and unity resolution for all tck residents and secondly that you condemn the driveby rallies that flow through this town on a weekly basis that cause fear in our residents and unnecessary work for Our Town police fire and Emergency Services um finally I just wanted to mention that you know tonight's announcement about the town chip manager um was a shock but obviously you know I want to thank him for all of his years of service um I don't know where we'll be without you but hopefully we will be okay and I ask those council members I know that sometimes these conversations become heated but please watch your language as there are children um and youth watching and in the room with you thank you very much and may we all stay safe you sir Mr Berliner has over eight decades uh of service to uh ten so thank you remember yes if I can uh reclaim my time please from the Clapping remember March 10th 2024 where you were and what you were doing the day that friends neighbors and elected officials welcomed hate and ignorance and toic where were you where were our community leaders protecting Community institution where were the clergy standing strong to gather up the hate protecting our spirit spiritual home where were the organizations who represent the pillars of our community the best that we have to offer do they not care should we not care where were we the mob that gathered in team across from a Jewish institution was not there to stop a real estate event demand a cease fire call for humanitarian release of women and children being held as hostages protest to resolution or promote peace unity and understanding they were there because I was there you are here Israel exists in a synagogue provided the thin veil of an excuse I was there to witness them calling me call you calling all of us murderers Nazis fascists rapists pedophiles baby killers genocidal maniacs and effing pigs I saw the M grab a man holding the flag of the state of Israel he was carrying as he was walking on the sidewalk while they stood in the street entitled to the same public space for freedom of expression I saw the police have to pull him out I saw an Israeli flag ripped in half thrown in the street and driven over I also saw when the police refused to pick it up at the repeated request of citizens and a council member I saw a friend while standing on private property with permission told by police to quiet down move away while responding to vile comments because it would make his job more difficult I heard the chance of say it loud and say it clear we don't want no zionists here go back home we are coming for you in the dog whistle from the river to the sea that hopes for an Israel devoid of Jews and has turned into the anti-semitic slogan of our day I saw the signs calling for a return to the 1947 borders I saw the water bottle throw at cars had spit hurled at me in an unidentified red liquid sprayed at citizens I'm aware of the reports of damage to homes displaying Israeli Flags balls of red paint thrown and weapons displayed by passing cars at peaceful lawful protesters I saw the picture of an individual giving a Nazi salute with a broad smile on his face in our town I experienced the waving of hands painted blood red mocking me and the hostages those aren't the hands of resistance those hands represent the 2,000 lynching of two Jews in rala by a crazed mob while being protected in a police station after murdering and mutilating the bodies the mob threw them out of a window and held a Victory celebration say those names Vadim noric and yose fahami and show me that Jewish blood isn't just a prop everyone's First Amendment right to say venomous and hard things in the public sphere should be protected and defended that also means that I we have a duty to listen when you let people say the quiet part out loud many unfortunately will but let me share what else I saw I saw people continue to come to KRA to and not be afraid I saw a groups Shadow the Caravan and MOB as they blocked traffic and prayed through our town carrying American and Israeli Flags I have hope from the young people who came out to protest and demonstrate against the hate and assault they witnessed thank they saw and understood that this is their Town their represent thank thank you Mr B Ari Jacobson please unmute Ari Jacobson please unmute Ari Jacobson please unmute yes I'm unmuted can you can you hear me loud and clear Ari three minutes okay can you see me on the video yes see me on the video yes you look great so we'll go ahead my name is Ari Jacobs I lived in EK for 21 years I admire the counselors for enduring the slings and arrows of outrage at these long meetings tck The Eyes Of The Nation are watching you that's what black mother in this article told her daughter the day EK voluntarily integrated its schools 60 years ago the nation is watching to see whether this experiment of diverse living can succeed Jews were blamed by many for integration now we are blamed for supposed separatism to those many Muslims and Jews who peacefully wish to share Tac we have much in common just today I read how Muslims scann the Sky last week seeking the new Moon of the holy month and I studied in our Jewish books how Jews do the same but the visitors who harass us weakly are showing false courage they are driving to the Communist Chinese Consulate to protest a million enslaved Muslims or the Russian one over the half million Syrian dead theirs is the false courage of of men in white robes with pointy hoods those who embrace the false charges of self-hating of a self-hating Jew consider tooma the leader of the Inquisition terrified about reports of his own Jewish Heritage he ethnically cleansed the Jews and in doing so forever he based the name of Christianity The Eyes Of The Nation are watching you counsil and the town can we will we show the courage to protect the harassed Jews of GAC that on this Sunday we had to tell our children you can't go outside by yourself people from Patterson are coming they know how to get here we have the right under the Constitution to Bar these harassing unprotected unconstitutional illegal rallies disguised this first amendment if we do so our grand experiment of te will succeed The Eyes Of The Nation are watching you thank you Miss good evening my name is Paula Isel I'm a tinic resident the grandchild of Holocaust Survivors and a filmmaker who has used my art to fight for social racial and reproductive Justice and Equity like the many Jews now and historically who built Justice movements in this country including tenek New Jersey my personal commitment to Justice and diversity is why my husband and I chose to raise our family in EK New Jersey a town with a rich history of civil rights activism where icons like Theodore Lacy call home so given my background in TX ethos of diversity and inclusion I was shocked to my core when on March 10th I experienced firsthand a hate March which intentionally intimidated and psychologically terrorized the Jews in this town in a way that rivaled Charlottesville even worse this March was inspired by inflammatory lies and misconceptions about TX Jewish community that were spread at this last council meeting by a self-proclaimed exjw and known agitator to the Jewish community and he was then given a platform and Credence by councilwoman bletcher I want to remind the councilwoman and everyone in this room that tokenism please if instead of addressing or calling out individual council members if you could address me or the council sorry um and this agitator was given platform by the council I want to remind the council and everyone in this room that tokenism is a form of racism let me now describe what I saw heard and experienced personally at the Teck hate March whose Target destination was a synagogue my first interaction was with someone who tried to force me to say liberate Palestine and wanted me to agree to say free Palestine I said I was for peace I want everyone to be free and they told me to get the F out of there because that was not their goal here are some other things I heard and I have video evidence for every single one of these instances I heard baby killers how many babies have I killed today not Joe Biden But Me From The River To The Sea Palestine will be an Arab State resistance is Justified there is only one solution at antifa Revolution when a man asked for peace he was called a Nazi um a woman said at the head of the rally this neighborhood is Gaza now I saw upside down triangles like this flashed at me if everyone knows what this is this is a Hamas sign you can Google it it's a Hamas Target sign and it's a sign of violence that's what was being flashed nothing of the of this had anything to do with the false claim of real estate it was simply to intimidate and spread hate and Target American Jews there was a phrase when people tell you who they are believe them these protesters were very clear about who they are and their views they view Tink as a battlefield for the Israel Hamas war and they hold the Jews and Tink responsible for the actions of a foreign government and their Declaration of we don't want zionists here is the mirror of their desire to remove Jews in Israel from The River To The Sea I would like to close by quoting the Jewish American Zionist Emma Lazarus whose words are often appropriated and weaponized against her and her people until we are all free we are none of us free I implore this Council to officially condemn this hate March hold a day of learning on anti-Semitism and Empower this town to return to being our neighbors Keepers thank you Miss Keith Kaplan please unmute Keith Kaplan tck resident I didn't plan on going to the protest last week but a friend called me her husband was out of town and despite the fact that protesters from other communities came in and there were uh barricades on the residential blocks they had moved them and started driving down her block scaring her family who does that Polie put up barricades what I heard at the rallies that they were screaming the taunting to visibly Jewish residents someone screamed at us your hostages are dead over and over it was reprehensible it's not how I imagined life in t should be we are better than that when people asked about the event I told them it was an informational session there were tax implications how you buy land as a resident or a non-resident Etc most of the people I spoke with said of course that's a necessary thing anyone who's bought a house in the Dominican or Europe or anywhere outside this country knows you need to understand tax implications legal issues before you go and move but to see a council member someone who professes to have real estate experience raise absurd claims of violations of law about an private event in a house of worship I couldn't believe what I was hearing let's be clear about what we heard there were calls by elected officials at government to shut down a private event in a house of worship it's so far out of bounds we know that if any Council if any local government could take that kind of action the same government could take a similar action against any event in any church any mosque any synagogue the First Amendment which we all hold dear would be a dead letter protest an event if that's what you want but don't call for government censorship we know what that comes with and speaking of that council member that did this when the 61 Church Street application was taking place a member of the council Denise beler showed up saying she represented others in a groups before the board of adjustment a member of council I'm speaking to council about a member of council thank you sir a this council member showed up at meetings saying that she represented others and she made comments to board of adjustment members who that council member would then replace if she did not like how they voted and did vote to replace them a complaint has been submitted under five section 35- 1.1 alleging allegations that uh require compliance by local government officers and employees under Section 48 9-22 five also section 48 9-22 for annual Financial disclosures and the local Finance board says officials are prohibited by law from using their positions to secure your unwarranted advantages thank you Mr Kaplan $2.4 million Hartz good evening my name is Emma and I'm a tenk resident on March 10th 2024 I went to an event at congregation keter Torah here in Tink I went with a couple of friends one Jewish one not Jewish and I enjoyed the event which was a marketing event at which I can confirm I witnessed zero transactions and there wasn't even the possibility of one occurring there on the way out my friends and I watched the protesters for a few minutes members of that group had a lot to say all of it hateful and disgusting but one phrase in particular will stay with me for the rest of my life they yelled go back to Germany I never thought I would hear that in my lifetime because you see once upon a time my family actually was from Germany my great-grandparents lived in Berlin in the early 20th century they had a nice life with two sons and they took advantage of everything Berlin had to offer in the early 1930s my great uncle had to leave Germany because he couldn't get a job as a professor due to Nazi race laws he immigrated to America but my great-grandparents and my grandfather stayed as the 1930s wore on it became clear that that staying was no longer a safe option my grandfather and great-grandmother left as refugees with just what they could fit in a suitcase my great-grandfather refused to leave because he was a war veteran he had fought for Germany in World War I and he liked living in Berlin and he thought it would all blow over he would later be shot on a death march between concentration camps my grandfather spent the rest of his life nostalgic for the life he had had to abandon in Germany before things got bad but he was always grateful for the freedom and safety America provided and I have always been grateful to have been born here and to have settled down here too but fast forward to 2024 in TK that sense of security has been shattered it is clear that the Safety and Security of Jewish life in America is in serious Jeopardy the targeting of our community is appalling even hate speech covered is covered by the First Amendment but just because some things can be said legally in public does not mean that they should this is not the Middle East and we have to share the space we are all entitled to live here safely and in peace that is what our country was built upon and that's what I'm asking for today telling me to go back to the country that committed an actual genocide against my family and against my people does not free Palestine cursing at grandmothers walking in the park will not free Palestine giving H Hitler salutes outside a synagogue will not free Palestine and neither will calling for the eradication of the Jewish state by any means necessary driving down queenanne Road honking and cursing a Jewish people as they mind their own business will certainly not free Palestine I hope our entire Council will condemn these protests and their organ organizers in the strongest possible terms I want to know that the endorsement of the lies heard around the world during the last meeting was a mistake and is now regretted I want to Hope hear from every single member of this Council that the type of harassment hate and intimidation being perpetrated on this community is unacceptable and that each of you finds it morally reprehensible this is not a difference of opinion about world politics it's anti-Semitism and where your constituents too thank you to the ten police department and of course Township manager kazinski whom we will miss so dearly thank you Miss cage cage Kesha please state your name for the record yes uh good evening my name is T and my last name is chasia can you hear me yes yes ma'am clear um I was at the protest on March 10th 2024 uh I am an Albanian American and America is my land and Albania is my own land we have not expelled not a Jew on Nazi we all protected them and um Nazi couldn't catch anyone now I'm proud of my origin but I'm also proud to be an American right now my country most of us are standing by Palestine it's showing us apart it's breaking our heart to see the massive genocide that's going on so even we have a government that's so corrupted back there we still are protecting Palestine please I make a a call to Mr Michael Pagan to uh to sign the ceasefire resolution it wouldn't matter but it it would tell the world that as as a mayor you stand up against the genocide in our movement here in America I can move in every inch of this land because I'm American and I'm also moving with other uh Muslim and Jewish brothers and sisters who are standing against against genocide on that day I noticed that the police was only on the synagogue side I called them and I said why are you protecting the Palestinians and asked too um they said most of those rules are coming from the mayor please mayor do not discriminate us we're all standing on the right side of the history also I noticed that a lot of Jewish trucks um with loud music violating local um codes with the music hurting our hearing um were blowing off the FN words and sticking the middle fingers on us I again called the police and I said this is disgusting I've never been in a protest where the Jewish people could come and stick the middle finger um they said that uh they would do something but they did nothing please make sure that you end this you stand on the right side of the history and you honor yourself and the others God Bless America and I hope that the Palestinian and the Jews will find some peace in the future please um stand up and say no to the genocide I thank you very much have a good night someone on the side ma'am my name is Rachel cck I've been a tck resident for the past 14 years first I want to thank the township employees and members of council who work so tirelessly to ensure our safety and Township Services over the past several months the Jewish community in tenac has been targeted extremists from other cities have come to places where children play ride their bikes and buy a slice of pizza to intimidate and spew reprehensible tropes the last Sunday should be seen by all as a red line all the alarm should be ringing after the abhorent and hateful protest at a synagogue which had all the characteristics of a preh holocaust harbinger of hate danger and violence why should I have to avoid dropping my 8-year-old son at a play date for fear that driving through Tac will be traumatizing and scary for him how should I answer my children when they ask why was I hardly functioning last Sunday why should my 11-year-old son who's the best spotter in our family always finding Cardinals in bushes and missing items in our house have to notify his parents that he spotted anti-jewish graffiti this morning onto a stop sign on our block why should I wake up worrying at night because I fear that our safety may be in Jeopardy in this country as it has been for Generations that came before us in other places imagine groups marching through TX calling for another race or ethnicity to leave saying rape of their sect is a form of resistance saying their kids can't live here happily if they have to share the streets with these other people we don't have to imagine such a scenario because it has happened in another dark time in American history our country must now reckon with how it condoned and enabled hate now is the time to stand strong and say we will not tolerate again instead of Fanning the Flames of hate that led to this Darkest Day yet in tinac our Town's elected official should be condemning hateful intimidating and anti-semitic behaviors in the strongest terms our detractors claim that their issue is with Zionism not Judaism yet there lies Jews are stealing are selling stolen land and their slogans from the march from this March from The River To The Sea globalize the inata and go back to ashz yes let that one sink in for a moment underly the clear reality that anti-zionism is anti-Semitism if it weren't the case then why would these extremists have returned back to keter Torah this past Sunday when nothing was happening there except regular prayers Jews need Israel as a safety net to prevent the atrocities of the past from repeating they have the right to live in their indigenous land and that is really the rub at the heart of the informational real estate Expo our detractors do not believe that Jews have a right to live in their ancestral Homeland and Jews in the and EK have the right to support that it is a key component of our religious values and our First Amendment right it is time for uh to to P that protects that it is time for peaceful residents of this town to take Teek back crack down on hateful rallies say no to events targeting the Jewish Community hold our Township leaders accountable to create a safe tolerant diverse and vibrant te that we've known before thank you Miss hello Kaplan please unmute hello please unmute hey there can you hear me loud and clear clear three minutes thank you hi my name is Hell Klan I've lived in EK for 26 years uh before I proceed first I just want to offer my condolences to Mr Brown I thought his comments were very moving and very sorry for his loss um I also want to thank our Township mayor Dean kazinsky I'm very sorry to hear about his retirement all I'm happy for him I appreciate his efforts and a belated public thank you to him for his help in 2020 uh when my home was severely damaged by a Township tree I'd also like to thank Chief mcgar and all the officers of tpd for their professionalism and keeping everyone safe and what are clearly very trying times um I I'm going to go a little bit off my script because um I don't want to double up too much on what people have said but on the car rallies they're they're aggressive they're dangerous to pedestrians the dangerous to other cars whatever we can do to to curtail them and deal with them I would just ask the town to to do their very best to do that um at a minimum honking when there's no d dous situation that you need to alert someone to is against New Jersey Law so please do something about that secondly on protest locations has been said the Jewish Community has very consciously not protested in front of the ACCC um I've watched videos online of people staging from the ACC and then driving to to the you know protest it's it's really just it's a red line that that I wish um I wish they would consider their their approach to and then the the other thing I want to talk about is and I wasn't at the last meeting but I listened to it afterwards names there was uh including from the de there was a lot of emphasis on saying names so I wanted to say some names today including the women that are behind me in the zoom uh background hopefully that you can see um there are 14 Israeli women remaining in Hamas custody as hostages along with many other men uh and and of course um you know the beus family including one-year-old so I want to say some names around that but I want to read something first from the un's report on the sexual violence by Hamas on October 7th two quick paragraphs from that report you can Google the report it's available online paragraph 12 based on the information gathered by the mission team from multiple and independent sources there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict related sexual violence occurred during the seven October taxs in multiple occasions across the Gaza periphery including rape and gang rape gang rape in at least three locations paragraph 71 the mission team reviewed incidents of alleged sexual violence related to hostages in Gaza based on the firsthand accounts of released hostages the mission team received clear and convincing information that sexual violence including rape sexualized torture and cruel inhuman and degrading treatment have occurred so with that I'll just read a few names I know I'm running short namoli 19 no aramani 26 rigonan 23 RB who 28 and many many more we want them back it's got to stop thank you sir thank you sir someone on this side Mr G good evening Kanan GT neck resident in times of division and tension it's imperative to seek understanding empathy and Common Ground here in tenek where many ethnic communities coexist Rec strains have left many feeling uneasy however it's precisely during these moments that we must come together as neighbors friends and fellow human beings not push away into our various silos our shared Humanity transcends religious and cultural differences I truly believe that at our core we all desire peace security and harmony for ourselves and for our loved ones it's crucial to remember that while our background May differ our aspirations to make te a special place to live should unite us communication is key let's engage in open respectful dialogue listening to each other's perspectives with genuine interest and empathy by fostering understanding we can break down barriers and rebuild bridges of trust and cooperation acts of kindness and solidarity speak volumes whether it's organizing Interfaith events like Cheryl Hall volunteering together for community causes like the youth Advisory board or simply reaching out to offer support to one another let's demonstrate that we are stronger together than we are aart education is a powerful tool for dis dispelling misconceptions and fostering appreciation for diversity let's commit to learning about each other's Traditions histories values recognizing the beauty of our differences and the strength in our diversity of All Above All let's lead by example attacking our elected officials on social media hurling insults during protests fueling the Flames during good and Welfare and singing singling out council members as a result of petty beefs as I saw here tonight is conduct Unbecoming of Deceit and is not productive let's demonstrate that compassion tolerance and acceptance are not just ideals but guiding principles that shape our interactions and relationships as we navigate these challenging times let's remember that love and understanding will always Prevail over hate and division together let's work towards a where mutual respect cooperation and Harmony reign supreme and it starts up there on the de join T United Safe Streets tck on Facebook if you want to help make Community our community a better place and also we still want some chickens thank you thank you Mr G Doug someone on Zoom Rachel Kaplan please unmute please unmute Rachel Kaplan hello three minutes yeah hi so my name is Rachel kin so obviously as many residents of EG I was concerned about the illegal estate cell taking place uh at the synagogue so I wanted to document it and observe it on the day of um so upon research indeed that event was breach in international and domestic law and was also discriminatory because um only Jewish people were allowed to attend so selling occupied land in the West Bank is illegal um not to mention that is during a genocide on March 10th people gathered at the Armory and marched down to the location at the estate cell that happened at the synagogue Pro Israeli count protesters walked down as well on the other side of the sidewalk there were screaming hate speech and bias insults the real estate was hosted at the synagogue and that is why people protested there and it's the first time a protest place at a synagogue and that is the reason why it is not to go against Jews but Zionist racist colonizers who think it is okay to advertise and sell Palestinian land during a genocide this is not against Jews but against zionists and the genocide taking place in Palestine people are entitled to their first amendments right and to protest now people are making it seem it is a conf between Jews and Muslims it is not it is not a hate March how could it have been the only hate us saw was from pro-israeli people screaming and insulting things that I can't even repeat right now but it is very much documented and everybody can go on social media and see what I'm referring to um the worst is that the clergy and the people tonight have come on here and made lies about what was said of what the pro Palestinians were saying that day just like the government of Israel has lied over and over again about their role in the genocide and the rapes for example I want to debunk what the person before me has said uh because it has been proved and debunking that those women were not raped and they were not definitely not getting raped however many Palestinian women are being raped as we speak there are video evidences of the violence and islamophobia statements that have been portrayed that day even one of the council women was there standing on the side of the counter protesters by the side of the synagogue yelling and screaming at the cops and at the prop Palestinian uh protesters that same Council woman has been using her social media to divide the community further she's supposed to represent all residents yet she's clearly motivating hatred towards Arab Muslims and Christians I urge that the council look at her social media and to end this propaganda aimed at uling the hate towards Arabs and people of color before Israel was born Muslim Jews and Christian lived peacefully in Palestine tinet can also be that only if the Zionist propaganda comes to an end I also want to say that the car Ries how can they make you feel unsafe when people are just flying the Palestinian flag how is that scary clearly you're trying to make that Palestine for your comments thank you Miss Mr Yuck it's three minutes I usually stop people at three minutes because everybody gets three minutes thank you maam Mr Yuck the floor is yours thank you for not interrupting we didn't interrupt you so please don't interrupt anyone else no I didn't when you went beyond three minutes Mr Yuck the floor is yours sir this is a council meeting and I'm going to talk to the council about something else I'm Dr Philip yuck I'm a ten resident for 45 years in August 2023 the Coalition of neighborhood associations for a better Teck was formed it is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all ten residents we are the easto neighborhood association the Northeast Teck block presidents Association Sou West Teek neighborhood association and Northwest of Cedar Lane neighborhood association which I represent but tonight I am speaking on behalf of the Coalition we are proud to live in our diverse Tina Community where so many different religious racial and ethnic groups live and work together we are deeply concerned about the future of our town and the effect that overdevelopment may have on our quality of life in particular tonight we want to address concerns about the ainr designation of Stop and Shop and the two municipal parking lots on both American Legion Drive and Beverly Road all of which have been declared to be areas in need of Redevelopment and slated for significant development with the loss of our Municipal lots to apartment buildings and a massive multi-level parking garage you the council now know that there is a public meeting scheduled for March 27th at the Rota Center at 7:30 p.m. in which a revision of the original development Redevelopment plan is to be presented to the public our understanding from communication received from a member of the zoning subcommittee is and I quote along with our planner clerk Rec Department attorneys and developers set Wednesday March 27th at 7:30 p.m. for the next public meeting on American Legion Drive we are under the impression that the zoning subcommittee does not possess the power to call a public meeting but only serves to report back to the council we also know that not all council members were informed of this planned meeting and that they only learned of it after it had been scheduled shouldn't the council have been the entity to schedule the meeting or are we mistaken that said if this meeting is to proceed as plann we ask that the town publicize it heavily and repeatedly U utilizing all Methods at its disposal past meetings have been poorly and sparsely publicized leaving the impression that the council doesn't really want the public to be fully informed we have complained to council members and to the township manager in the past and have encouraged greater publicity for these events this meeting is but eight days away and today those signed up have received only two accurate Nixels we believe that this project should should in fact proceed will have a major impact on all residents in town in the interest of openness and transparency we believe and request that each and every home should receive written notices of this meeting along with a detailed explanation of what this project is all about and the same for any future meetings in order for you to truly hear what the residents want additionally there should be multiple rooc calls and nixel sent finally we encourage the council to adhere to the promise to make no decisions on future development until after the new master plan is approved thank you Dr Y and let them thank you Dr yach Michael Katy please unmute hello good evening can you hear me three minutes thank you okay good good evening everyone in the council good evening Township T and everyone else who's watching so tonight I heard a lot of voices from a lot of different people but I want to direct to comment to the council um I sometimes see council members at briyan public Bryant elementary school when I see them at Briant Elementary School I'm reminded at the times when they speak to the council to everyone in town and talk about how they haven't heard about any incidents anything that makes Jewish people uncomfortable in this town there is nothing that makes me so more insense and angry in hearing that when my daughter tells me that she's afraid to go past Teck Armory because she's taught in school that the soldiers at the Armory are Israeli soldiers who are out to kill the mothers and babies that's what they tell the kids in this town I'm so upset I'm so insense to be told that this is not happening in this town shame on you shame on you Tina Council people who say this to us all now I want to talk about other topics as well because in in addition to being in addition to this horrible feeling that you bring to us our town our town needs safer streets and you know it you've done nothing you've talked about a master plan you've talked about different things it's time to take action when I walk across the street with a four-year-old on Cedar Lane on T Neck Road on queenanne road it's taking our lives in our hands and all you talk about is nonsense it's time to pass the resolution in support of the Bergen County complete streets Ordinance do it you know you know that this will actually save lives in our town instead of talking about nonsense thousands and thousands of miles away and telling people in Tek that oh people who drive pass the town saying that you should go back to the gas Chambers isn't real open your eyes look in reality look do you live in a different Universe than the people who live in the township of tenek shame on you all have a good night Mr [Music] son Alan Stone still a Teck resident uh again I want to say farewell to team again after last just almost almost almost any I Was Here by alleven and that explicitly stated that innocent Building Law I was here on October 30th when a piece ol unanimously that resolve that quote the Town Council of Township of EK supports a humanitarian solution to minimize the loss of innocent lives supports the Teek Jewish Community the Palestinian Arab and Muslim Community and will work to ensure their continued safety in the wake of increased hate crimes and will work towards bringing the entire T Community together in order to reach a place of Peace unity and healing despite those calls over the past five months anti-Semitism has become normalized in Te to AE that I to a degree that I could never have imagined it is impossible to believe that I would hear shouted on March 10th outside the synagogue that I have belonged to for those 30 years Hitler was right go back to awit rape is resistance to see protesters proudly giving a Nazi salute I've heard classic anti-semitic tropes being normalized that Council members are tools of the Israeli government controlled by BB Netanyahu or Stooges of the IDF that Jews are weaponizing anti-Semitism that the Jews or the Orthodox control tech there are lots of slurs that have been directed at me and others but none hits me more than being called a Zionist for that I say thank you on average three times a day for the past 50 plus years I have prayed for a return to Zion the home of my children and grandchildren I am a proud Zionist as are thousands of Teck residents that is my slur of choice here in tenek we need to decry hate speech and choose Dialogue on October 7th before the October 17th before the meeting started I spoke with some of my Muslim friends and said that we need to start talking I've broken bread and had some of those conversations there's lots of work to be done here in tenek but the use of anti antic rhetoric only makes things worse I ask all seven of you to do what you voted for unanimously and work for peace and unity to support the Teck Jewish Community the Palestinian Arab and Muslim Community and work to ensure their continued safety in the wake of increased hate crimes just like the hate crimes that occurred here in Teck on March 10th it needs to end all of you need to put an end to this thank you thank you Mr s someone on Zoom Doug sandre young please unmute hi I'm on mute hi it's shra young tet Irvington Ro yes isra young Irvington Road T I just want to say Dean oh thank you for your exemplary work and I do agree with Rabbi Freeman we need a Dean kazinski day um on January 10th 202 three uh the council you you passed a resolution 17 2023 you established eight Council subcommittees the budget cannabis zoning parking leaf collection Personnel affordable housing and Leadership tet I understand that these subc committies are ad hoc and they do not set dates uh regularly for meetings however it's now March 19th and according to the township website since January 10th 2023 there's been no subcommittee meeting nor meetings nor minutes for six of your subcommittees the budget parking Leaf Personnel affordable housing as well as leadership Teck um it seems like the zoning uh subcommittee meets regularly and the minutes are up cannabis had about two or three meetings and their minutes is up I'm concerned about what teenek work is actually getting done um we're in budget seizing but your budget subcommitte comme hasn't met met as I mentioned at previous Council meetings the Senate has introduced Bill 2347 which is concerning the development of accessory dwelling units as well as bill s50 which reforms Municipal responsible concerning provisions of affordable housing it abolishes COA but yet there are no meetings and minutes on affordable housing subcommittee why as a graduate of tin leadership te uh te leadership approximately 12 years ago I'm happy to see that the program is reestablished thank you to tenac leadership subcommittee however I don't see any meanings I don't see any minutes posted where's the transparency I need to see those minutes as well as other rep residents so that we don't have to open these things also Council you want to state that the responsibility of certain activities is belong to the county when residents complain about County Roads that need to be fixed when is the last time any of you attended the county meetings the commissioner meetings they're listed we need you to advocate for EK residents you need to be there and also as a black christian woman I educated myself on March 10th I attended TI Torah real estate sale I attended it and I was allowed in as a black christian in anyone that is interested in knowing about my experience can contact me I have uh interviewed over 12 developers mortgages and bankers as well as the shipping company that was at that event thank you thank you Miss Young Mr vaty AR V Tet and um I'm going to thank the council for allowing this room to serve as a safety valve for the energy that we have within our Township the frustration that they feel the reasons why uh things won't be solved here but we have to work through the progress process things have haven't been solved seeking peace for thousands of years it's too big an issue to handle but uh there's another issue I want to handle today and it's it's a departure from what people have been talking about I'll reveal it myself here and the council knows it's about trains it's about the trains that go by and te that you've all received the email that I sent this morning do any of you have a copy of it that you could share with me now may I have it for a second please no yes it's on your phones can I have it on a phone I'm just trying to not repeat what's there or maybe some of what's there in that email I sent you a map okay and I sensual warning okay most of the information that I've been able to connect connect collect uh at tck and elsewhere has all been based on a single train accident like that in East Palestine Ohio a single train all right pal Palestine thank you all right what I'm trying to say is I'm collect why show yes she's showing the map okay that's those two outside lines of the evacuation area that thousands of us live in and God forbid derailing place takes place which could happen not one train not two trains but three trains can be involved I haven't seen any record of this we are a bomb within a bomb within a bomb okay these Trends are going by all the time and T neck is unique because we have these three rails three opportunities for derailing or an in involved derailing and uh we need help we need help from CSX we need help from state government from County government and from the federal government thank you Mr VY my time is up and thank you Mr vaty thank you someone on Zoom Doug Lisa Hassan Lisa Hassan please unmute whenever you're ready yes we can hear you good after good evening everyone I want to thank everybody for their time I am just appalled at the propaganda being spewed by even people that are supposed to be our leaders Congressional leaders spewing propaganda it's appalling we need to come together as a community sincerely facing anti-Semitism not just anti-Semitism we are facing islamophobia at its wor and the one person that stood up and tried to call for an investigation everybody seems to be a attacking her councilwoman beler we stand with you do not don't do not um fall into the bullying Stand Tall stand proud represent your whole Community as you took your oath to do as for those who keep saying about their rights and they're living in fear and what about the children of GZA how do you do a synagogue sale and then act like people are attacking Jews they were people from ceasefire now Jewish voices for peace and and hundreds of other Jews standing with the Palestinians this is not a Muslim issue this is a humanitarian crisis that we are in and Oregon forarts and Goldberg are the ones that initiated the divisiveness in this community attacking our children our children from the high school that were protesting exercising their First Amendment right peacefully mayor Pagan you still have not condemned the actions of the councilmen and women that were attacking those children empowering them to be in that synagogue inciting anger and and and hate with the pro peaceful protesters there blowing kisses miss Oregon we saw you we saw you there counil a whole with the flag reflect on what you are doing to this community reflect enough propaganda everything that was said by every single speaker in in this group today was about how they fear how they should they have their rights and they should be protected we should all be protected and we should all feel safe and as for the the gentleman that was naming the the the women being uh held in captivity there are thousands not just in captivity being B armed and under the rubble and they have names they have names and they didn't even make it to their one-year-old birthday and remember Aaron Bushnell and never again should be never again for anyone ton Alam should mean something enough cancel that next sale instead of fewing and and hating and thank you unify this sir hello my name is Spencer I've been living in Tac most of my life I grew up here I went to school here this is what I call home and I just want to point out the inherent irony of a real estate sale selling stolen land on Stolen land and I think there's a lot we can learn because I think the Earth we stand on right now thises not belong to us it belonged to the native and indigenous people of this country and we stole it and we sold and the same thing is happening in palestin with the genocide and I think it's time we actually change history and not repeat it thank you thank you sir Doug someone on Zoom Nuri Khan calling in [Music] nurian noric KH please unmute please unmute ner con with your hand raised going to Chris no Grace please unmute whenever you're ready state your name for the record here we go hello uh yeah Chris Nell n uh Fort Lee I'm a co-founder of Bergen County complete streets along with Pat Uh dma who spoke earlier so yeah I mean I I'm just strongly requesting that you sign the support letter urging Bergen County Commissioners um to adopt a countywide complete Street policy um you know that would increase safety access and Mobility for all Road users especially pedestrians and cyclists and you know some people hear complete streets and think oh you know bike Lanes uh but really there there's so much more there's a huge range of approaches that can be used to calm traffic and increase safety and access on our roads um you know and I I come to te and I pass through T neck often especially on my bike um and you know I learned that there's nine County Roads that pass through T neck um and you know two tck Road and Cedar Lane are by far the most dangerous in te um you know according to NJ do data between 2001 and 2021 um t Road had 179 pedestrians injured by cars and four pedestrians killed and Cedar Lane had 157 pedestrian injuries and and four people killed um and you know as you know yeah towns just don't have jurisdiction over these County Roads you cannot make changes even if you want to so you have to ask the county but because they don't have a complete fre policy they don't have the tools um and if they had a policy they would have to consider the viability of pedestrian and cyclist improvements um and but they can set the the bounds of this right so if if it would cost uh say like more than 10% you know to include pedestrian and cyclist improvements then they can just decide okay we're not going to include those so they decide that um but without the policy they just don't have the tools and so the tendency is still to prioritize the flow of traffic at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists um and Anderson's the Anderson Street bridge is an example of this so their plans don't offer offer an option with bike Lanes um at all and you know the thing is people really want to walk and bike um you know when the weather's nice you see lots of people out in the Parks um but the the roads you know the the conditions are dangerous to begin with but car are getting larger the horsepower is increasing the front ends are like battering rams people are driving more distracted than ever and so we need people to be safe and feel safe and not only that but um you know a complete streets policy getting people out of cars could help reduce air pollution increase Public Health increase a sense of community um studies show that it's it's great for business U because it increases foot traffic so yeah I just strongly urge you to consider signing our letter of Court to go to the County Commissioners and I'm sorry for all the ter turmoil that's happening in thank you anyone else in Chambers Miss Angel hi hi good evening my name is Maxine angel I live in Tac um so I just want to say thank you so much to town manager ER kazink for his outstanding service to T neck he will be missed greatly and will leave an irreparable hole much larger than any pothole on any Street in this town good evening and Happy Spring thank you to the Town Council for its tireless commitment to this community and to the tenk police for putting in so much overtime especially lately especially tonight so that we can have the chance to say what needs to be said and thank you to the many Town Council Members who are so engaged this evening no matter what is said unfortunately not all members feel the need to so much as look up at constituents and it's definitely too bad and it's definitely noticed so this past Sunday was glorious my kids could not wait to get outside and ride bikes with friends but unfortunately they couldn't because there was yet another car rally to disrupt our lovely town it's hard to keep track I've lost count of how many there have been will this be a regular occurrence when kids are playing outside in our beautiful Parks throughout the spring it's long been documented that it is not the severity of punishment that deters Behavior it's the certainty of the consequences the harassment of residents of TAC continues because it's allowed and on many levels because it's welcomed because there have been issues in tinac for a while that we do need to confront that make Tac open to this type of ongoing harassment any Community or elected leader who employs tactics to create chaos SE Discord and promote disruption is unfit and should be called out as such there are countless examples of this type of behavior from members of council for quite some time accusations of racism or bigotry when reasonable questions are raised only promotes further division I'm not here just to criticize I have a suggestion simply say harassment is wrong full stop if you would do this collectively and if you would consistently enforce the reasonable longstanding laws and ordinances already on the books then this would be a step in the right direction thank you thank you Miss Angel Glenn please please unmute Glenn please unmute yes hi can you hear me yes loud and clear okay thank you sir uh my name is Mr Glenn Mr Mayor members of the council my wife and I are residents of tenek for over 33 years we started looking for a home right after the Philip panel incident it was clear that the riots the Tina Community experienced at that time were totally out of character for our diverse beautiful town tck was unfairly accused and singled out back then as it is today and we must defend ourselves just as vigorously as in towns Across America Tin residents have the right to speak and be heard but we also have a responsibility to each other to speak right and to act appropriately I'd like to Spotlight for our mayor and the council as an example the town of Orland Park Illinois and its honorable mayor Keith Pau a decorated veteran a master class on how to run a Township meeting I encourage you to Google Village of Orland Park Board of Trustees look for the 1 hour and 10-minute video dated February 5th you can watch at 48 minutes in so you might learn by example what it means to vigorously represent our country and the appropriate stance on putting forth a Township ceasefire resolution I want to highlight the police and public servants in this town who are in a word amazing I personally thank our officers every time I see them but to anticipate the evolving crisis of Lawless demonstrations on our streets they need training and support and need to embed within the demonstrators to make sure our residents are safe protests within earshot of houses of worship should be blocked residential streets should be protected from protests cars driving below the speed limit in Caravans that block access to Residents and emergency vehicles should be ticketed as should be horn blowing which is only for emergencies I applaud Council council member organ for her stated initiatives better late than never and implore the council to act quickly and creatively to directly counter the abuses we observed at demonstration we have large green Open Spaces where demonstrations can take place peacefully as my neighbors and fellow residents stood up for tenek in V Park this past Sunday March 17th in a model of a demonstration filled with pride for our town Pride for being Jewish Americans waving American flags and filled with Jewish Pride for the nation of Israel and how it is Prosecuting the war against terrorism for its own sake and the sake of the Civilized World further I would ask the mayor to investigate and pursue all remedies as to whether there were was collusion between the cons theorists who spoke during the good and Welfare at the February 27th council meeting regarding the Event open to the public that was held at the local synagogue and the member of council who read prepared marks remarks intent on slandering and smearing the town's Jewish residents and the house of worship and did knowingly abuse her position on the council to incite the kind of violent speech and actions we observed on March 10th prayer services were interrupted members were attacked pursued and were shot at with paintballs today but who knows what tomorrow if our encourages these vile non-permit holding demonstrations to continue with a blank check to flaunt our laws and dirty the rights of free speech in our country finally I implore the township to expeditiously complete the rehabilitation of the Forest Avenue foot bridge to V Park than for the township manager thank you sir thank you the gentleman in the last row oh sorry about that um before you speak I make a motion to extend the meeting to 11: 30 second all those in favor please say I sorry about that because the meetings they they end at 11: but we have to keep extending a three minutes sir uh my name is uh alanan um I'm a tinic resident uh I moved here a couple years ago with my family originally from Brooklyn it was hard to move out in New York but uh ten is a great place um want to say first and foremost thank you mayor foron and the council for being here and uh doing your duty during uh these trying times uh thank you to Dean kazinski I only met you a couple of times in passing and you've always been so kind and so genuine so and uh just wanted to share what everybody else is saying is um SP sweet for us I'm happy for you you are tenac and you will be missed but uh we will uh move forward I wanted to also um share that I live near Fairley Dickinson uh and Phelps and uh Phelps Park and those places saved us during covid um going over the bridge uh walking towards Ali and hackin saac uh Phelps it was just beautiful and I think it's just uh you know concrete examples of what this town is this town is uh has a lot to offer and uh this town really helped my family get through Co I wanted to highlight um some uh interactions that I had with council members um I sometimes go for walks during the day if I can I work from home and uh it's only me so I go for a walk sometimes um and uh two instances recently I saw um street signs knocked down and I immediately reached out to one of the councilmen and uh right away he said uh he was on it and uh the next couple of days both those street signs of different times were put back up um another time same Council then um I was walking by low school on that bridge the B bridge and I slipped on ice and I hurt myself um and I immedi immediately reached out to the councilman and said um there's ice on the bridge I don't want to anybody else getting hurt right away uh was on it um and uh you know that that that means a lot to me um I also wanted to share another instance um where both my sons were attending uh the town karate offer um at the Rota Center which is so amazing it's so amazing to see all the kids there all the families there uh just there to see our arcades learn and hopefully not learn how to beat us up in the future um that one night I was coming downstairs and it was the same uh same night as the get to know your neighbor uh get together and um thank you sir I'm sorry your time is up thank you D someone on Zoom Doug Val please unmute state your name for the record uh hi yes my name is Val Val chova um so yeah just for the sake of clarity uh make no mistake I utterly condemn anti-Semitism in any form no matter the context but I will not accept the redefinition of anti-Semitism as including anti-zionism per se I am attending this meeting to voice my concerns about the ways in which members of this Council have one been enabling and actively contributing to this intimidation of anyone who lawfully peacefully speaks out about the ongoing genocide in Palestine and two who have displayed unchecked in consistent anti-black racism toward their colleagues I uh reiterate the call for the resignations of council members Schwarz Oregon and Goldberg and I stand in support of council member Denise beler uh this Council has been complicit in allowing one of its members to baselessly Samira Muslim Community member with a dangerous islamophobic Trope uh as as a previous uh speaker from the community mentioned um one of the council members uh accused a Muslim Community member of wanting to quote blow up the town uh completely baselessly this is I do not I hope I don't have to explain why this is a an act of verbal violence um furthermore this Council has been complicit in the defamation of teac high school pro pro Palestine protesters uh and in spreading dangerous misinformation about the protest against the sale of stolen pan Palestinian land uh a protest which was organized in part by Jewish activists uh I don't know why I have to emphasize this but here I am activists plural um SE several people have spoken about rich seagull as if he were a man alone alling the many anti-zionist Jewish voices at this protest and in the Pro Palestine movement at large um yeah so every one of you who is silent about the moral unacceptability of selling stolen Palestinian land every one of you who participates in the intimidation and defamation of pro Palestine protesters is passively complicit in genocide uh you are complicit in doing direct harm to your community in making te neck less safe for its Muslims members and it's Jewish members who courageously voice their opposition to Zionism uh I've heard a number of people tonight ask why why we're talking about something happening thousands of miles away uh as if our tax dollars as United States citizens don't directly contribute to the the funding of the bombing of the West Bank um and I not only that like regardless of the the sale of stolen land which should not be disregard guarded but like even bracketing that we are all every one of us complicit as people who are pay our taxes to the United States government um and we have a moral obligation to speak out against ongoing genocide uh I mean that the truth will bear out uh as it has um about you know many of genocides in the past and you will ask yourself what did I do uh to stop this thank you morning Chambers sir my name is Rich seagull a little bit tired um I was watching the meeting mostly on Zoom for a while and I was uh taking a bit of abuse and watching uh council member beler take a lot of abuse too for what for doing her job for looking into something that needed looking into if anybody said go back to awit that's a disgrace I oppose it and everybody at our demonstration would oppose it okay there was bad behavior on both sides I had a lot of heckling delivered at me they know who I am if you don't want a demonstration at a synagogue then don't have an illegal real estate event at a synagogue I'd rather demonstrate at the Marriott anyway it's redlined real estate whether we're talking about West Bank settlements or the the uh real estate that they're pushing inside Israel it's for Jews alone the real estate event is for Jews alone and they're selling real estate and I know because I attended a similar event I went undercover I register I pretended to be a potential customer and I got a real estate pitch they wanted to sell me a condo on the West Bank and when it was time for me to sign on the dotted line I pulled out a Palestinian flag and I got kicked out now on the subject of the real estate being for Jews and for Jews only the first time I organized a demonst rtion against an Israeli real estate event was here in EK in 2007 I've been doing it a long time and I had a conversation with Rabbi Steven pransky and he wanted to make the point that not only do they have the real estate event at the synagogue for religious reasons but he had it in the sanctuary of the synagogue why because the Redemption of the land is a religious Duty what's the Redemption of the land putting Jews on it and getting rid of the Muslims and Christians it's pure racism that's what it is that's why we oppose it and we can look into whether or not it's legal or illegal in terms of anti-discrimination law the federal law New Jersey law international law either way it's redlining real estate your time is up do that here your time is up sir thank you your time is up Sir someone on Zoom Doug Mr arumi you state your name for the record thank you Doug for um pronouncing my name right appreciate that U my name is gon and um so I this is my first meeting and um I sat here and I listened contemplating well I had something to say but then as I sat here and listen um I just want to say this T neck from what I've heard from everyone Prides itself as the first town to integrate willingly and that's because of the people but over the years and I've been here for about 10 years now and I haven't really seen the togetherness that a lot of people have said there's a lot of divisiveness between the residents here at Tac we all condemn hate as a black man in America I condemn hate whether it's Jewish individuals Palestinians Asians doesn't matter hat is hate however I didn't see the unification within our town when it needed to happen in order for us to move together we must all realize one we are different but at the same time we share a common goal we all chose to live here by the way tck didn't recruit me to live here fact I guess my wife did um and I'm happy to be here I did experience something um at V Park in a Sunday where I took my children and they weren't comfortable and they struck a cord in me and they almost both drove me the tears because again tin PRI itself in integration but yet there's a lot of divisiveness so I challenge everyone both Jews non-jews to reach out reach out to each other talk to each other help each other because if you're not doing that then you are the problem you are the individual that does not want unification you're the individual that spews and continues to want divisiveness and I've seen that display today in the panel in front of everyone where people are just going back and forth as my time runs short please unify thank you sir thank you someone in Chambers ma'am hi el Kramer I'm a resident of Teek for 20 years and it's really been great up until recently um but I would like to invite everyone to a ladies night out we're going to have spouses and significant others join as well I started it in recycling Zone 2 four months ago we're Ladies Night Out recycling Zone 2 and we have up to 58 women now Jewish not Jewish uh any color any person of any sexual orientation whatever everyone is welcome in every way to meet each other and to really Bond on the most basic level so I will give you mayor Pagan my email I'll email you if anyone is interested in starting this in other parts of Teck in other recycling zones the best way for us to get together and to know each other is this most basic human you know process of just having some wine having some great food and spending time together so I just want to welcome everyone in tck to do that and uh I'll reach out to you mayor prep thank you someone on Zoom Doug Raa hman M hman can you hear us uh yes thank you can you hear me now yes ma'am loud and clear you have three minutes okay thank you first of all I want to give condolences sincere condolences I don't know if he's still on to Mr Brown um and to thank Dean for the entire Community for everything that you've done for these last 40 years and you continued doing and thank you for the council for extending this so all of our voices can be heard um and I apologize if I um repeat some of the sentiments that other people have said but that's because our feelings are so intense and I'm a 30-year resident of te and we were drawn to EK partly because of the reputation of the diversity and the town's inclusion um and because I value our Town's diversity I personally have volunteered for one town one vote have been involved somewhat in teenic women together advocated for the black lives black lives matter mural and gone to communal Gatherings there um for gun safety Gatherings for vigils for un terrible um anti-muslim massacres that happened for example in New in New Zealand um I've attended the yearly Martin Luther King Gathering um and been involved in get out the vote initiatives and um I personally chair my synagogue social justice committee and um coordinate some um our anti-racist and book group so diversity and inclusion is so important um to me me and also in the the Jewish tradition that values everyone but Salam Elohim in God's image and that's why it was so disheartened when some communal leaders did not recognize the unique pain the Jews in our community felt on October 7th and afterwards um and people like me as we've said have felt abandoned by the anti-jewish hatred and the lies and um I don't just to we've already heard the threats against Jewish Council Representatives the vile marches and the intimidation that's taking place um the chance calling for the elimination and genocide of the Jewish people and the act the use of words like occupation and colonization to describe an indigenous Jewish people defending a Homeland that dates back thousands of years and has been recognized as a state by the UN distorts history and it gives Credence to Modern blood liel and but and I could go on people have talked about it but I'm pleading with with our community to work on creating better understanding and healing um to fight anti-Semitism anti-jewish feelings amb bigotry and for us to heal as a community the tutoring initiative can be an example for other ways for us to get together and let's work on that I know my three minutes are up thank you Miss thank you ma'am hi my name is Stephanie Lightman I'm a Teck resident for over 30s something years I'm just going to let you know I am not a speaker at all I have been here since the beginning of this session I don't want to talk about politics International politics I just want to be able to walk down my street and the town of tenek without having paint thrown at me or water botles I want to be able to service the towns of this I service the town of this I service the early intervention children of this town and I want my friends and I just want to be able to do our errands and go to work without having being told you can't go past V park because you're Jewish that's what I want to be not to be told in this past December I had to reroot my friends and myself who are therapists in this town had to rroo our schedules because we couldn't passay V park because we were told Jewish people should not be going there um just to let you know over 20 years ago I used to go to the library every Friday this is before cell phone I got a call from a friend of mine in tenek saying don't go to the tenek library because there are Muslims demonstrating there and they don't want any Jews just to let you know I look at the sign and it says good and Welfare I haven't heard yet one teen neck person here say they feel safe in this community and that's the word good and Welfare I've been listening the whole time here I know we're done in 10 minutes I also have not heard any tenet Pro Palestinian person that has said that they have had water bottles thrown at them red paint thrown at them I have not heard one person say that not one not one you've had many people here we're all saying the same thing that we feel diff very difficult for us to be in this town when we are being harassed that's number one number two I have many many Christian friends who have told me that I have told them that how I how I've been in this town I happen to also work in New York City in Harlem where I am an orthodox Jew very wearing my Jewish star and I don't feel that I feel safer walking around in Harlem than I do in Tink I have never been harassed in Harlem as I have been here in EK thank you thank you ma'am someone on Zoom Doug Ellie Burman please unmute thank you my name is ell Elliot Burman I'm a lawyer I've lived in tenek with my wife for almost 30 years and we have raised our three children here our first would like to thank Township manager Dean kazin whom we were all miss and Deputy Town manager Tom Row for all that they do for the residents of EK I would also like to thank the EK Police Department for protecting this Township and sadly I believe that they have been forced to work more than before to do that and and I would like to thank you the mayor and the entire Council for giving so much of your time to make Teck the best town it could be I think I think you all will agree with me that something has to change tenek should not be exposed to what it was subjected to on Sunday March 10th and the threat that anything like that will continue in our residential neighborhoods and outside houses of worship screaming in our EK residential neighborhoods no zionists here is akin to another chant we heard on March 10 from The River To The Sea while many claim that that chant from The River To The Sea means different things to different people it's difficult to comprehend that at a rally for Hamas apologists or sympathizers one means it any differently than how it has been by Hamas itself which is at the entire state of Israel should be jew free and now on March 10th the demonstrators are extending the designated no Jew zones to include the township of tenek while I believe almost everyone here at least those who live in EK agree that many of the desp Despicable chance on March 10th have no place in civilized society I realize that in America we must make sacrifices for the freedom of speech and that uninformed senseless hurtful and even vile speech is also protected but I respectfully ask the council to call upon the Township's attorney to find a way to return peace to the residential streets and houss the worship of tinet the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that government May impose time place and manner restrictions on speech in a public forum of course that the restrictions need to be content neutral but residential neighborhoods and outside houses of worship are not the places for demonstrations the town green and other public places could be used the US Supreme Court has said that noise traffic control and Public Safety are all content neutral reasons to impose restrictions on where speech may occur as the third circuit the federal apparal court in New Jersey has stated quote the right Free Speech does not Encompass the right to cause disruption close quote this cannot continue thank you very much thank you sir someone in Chambers no more hands in Chambers Doug someone oh I'm sorry ma'am hi my name is Lori fine I've lived in EK 18 years now um I've raised five children here and I wasn't planning on speaking tonight but I'm I I feel the need to speak up uh and reiterate what um my neighbor here has said it has become impossible to Simply live in EK every time I have to take my kids um to run errands to go shopping to take them to a friend's house we have to cross uh people honking and screaming hateful messages and you know I come from a our family is proudly Jewish but also a mixed race family my mother-in-law is me was may she rest in peace what um was Mexican American and we enjoyed each other's Heritage and we uh just had the tamales from the freezer don't recommend that two years later but um uh we uh but we we really um we shared that and it is possible for people to have different points of view different backgrounds different races different Heritage and still love each other very much and get along we do not need to allow T neck to that people desire for this expression to bleed into hatred we don't need to allow this in our town we do not need to make it impossible for all residents it's not just Jewish residents who can't go to the supermarket without having to hear a thousand honking cars of Out of Towners coming in and this isn't something that we should that anyone here wants or that anyone should allow if people have different points of view and I very vehemently disagree with a lot of the statements that were made here tonight about politics in the Middle East but it's irrelevant to what we're really here about which is to create peace in our own town to allow our residents to enjoy our town and to enjoy living here and to stop being constantly bullied and harassed and prevented from using uh the facilities in our own homes where we are raising our children and are just trying to live our Liv lives each according to our own beliefs so um I I really strongly encourage members every single member of this Council to take fa seriously what does it mean to restore peace in our town to prevent out Outsiders people who aren't from here from coming through with their honking and creating a dangerous situation and a harassing situation uh I know that you are all very talented smart people and you are capable of this so please double down on trying to keep the peace in our town is fine yeah Mr clerk I make a motion to extend the meeting another 30 minutes till midnight second all those in favor please say I Naomi noler please unmute hi my name is Naomi noer my husband and I have lived in TX since 1999 for 25 years and have raised our three children here and our married son lives here in EK as well um I'd like again to Echo the sentiments of thanks and with great gratitude uh to our town manager the council members our Police Department um and so many of our Civic leaders for the support and protection that you're trying to uh provide to all the members of the Tina community at this time um I have been shocked pained scared and dismayed by the unrest and hateful environment that has erupted in our town in our really special town of TX since October 7th very surprised and very unsettled I never would have expected this of our neighbors with whom we have shared peaceful coexistence for all these years I'm very grateful to our rabbis um you have heard from many of them tonight um but all of our communal leaders our teachers and schools our principles uh the rabbis of our synagogues um what did I expect what did I expect after the horrors of October 7th I expected the Muslim clergy and Leadership to shout loud and clear within minutes of hearing what happened on October 7th I expected the Muslim leaders to tell their congregants and their neighbors that no one should falsely associate them with what the Hamas terrorists did they missed a huge opportunity the chance to say to their Jewish neighbors we all have different beliefs but none of us believe in this none of us support Terror attacks murder rape kidnapping arson please don't associate us with what they did with what Hamas did just because we're Muslim they are terror group they are not us we align with you our Jewish neighbors we know you have relatives in Israel we know you are in pain with them and we are in pain with you after hearing what happened today we align with you against Hamas so that our Muslim brethren in Gaza and the children of Gaza can finally be free free from Hamas Terror the loss of civilian life in Gaza is on Hamas these terrorists Who hide behind Vilan new shields what a lost opportunity had the religious and educational leadership of the American Muslim Community stood up on day one we would be a more we would be a more united Town and County today we're still waiting to hear these voices voices who call to their members of their mass and schools to treat their neighbors with empathy and respect and to demonstrate peacefully leaders who say that there is no justification for insults or harassment thank you Miss anybody else in Chambers want to speak seeing No Hands Doug someone on [Music] Zoom Steve Fox please unmute Fox resident of ten um I want to First commend um Dean kazinski for all the wonderful work that he's done and we'll continue to do until he gets his well-deserved retirement um I don't want to repeat too much that things that were said but I do want to say that the um the insinuation that a Jewish real estate event an Israeli real estate event was geared towards only whites and Jews is so slanderous and so ridiculous honestly um anybody who wanted to buy real estate or look into real estate in Israel is welcome to do it people in Israel in every city can buy real estate can live in real estate in any real estate the insinuation itself is bad enough and the Credence that it was given that we have to look into it with a town attorney is even more ridiculous because that thing should have been shut down right away I want to tell you that that 1977 roughly 40,000 of the 70,000 residents of skoki were Jewish and that's why that town was targeted by Nazis to demonstrate there and they used their First Amendment right to demonstrate but guess what the Jewish Community survivors all came out in force to counter [Music] them I think the next time that there is a demonstration against Jews against Israel if a th000 people come out we need to send 2,000 to counter them to show that we are not going to be harassed we will not be intimidated that this is our town and that people coming from the outside have no right to do this to us or to try to intimidate or call names or more than that delegitimize the legitimate homeland of the Jewish people in Israel I wonder those people who keep talking about um the lives were killed people were killed in Gaza and we all mourn for civilian deaths but not one person has blamed Hamas not one person has said that Hamas started this war not one person has said that the billions of dollars that was poured into Gaza billions of dollars instead of making the life better for people building a wonderful civilization there was used to build Terror tunnels and millions of dollars of Weaponry so I want to know one more thing from the council members what will you do to protect the Jewish Community from the next demonstration where will you put them what will you say to them how will you contain them we need that much from you and we deserve it thank you for your time thank you Mr Fox someone else on Zoom Doug lilan Lewis please unmute good evening everyone uh I just want to uh say three things first I want to uh say I am lilan LS uh lived here 41 years now had three children all went through the school system and one of my daughters still live here tinic I want to congratulate you manager Dean on uh your decisions to retire you know you're still in able bodied and sound mind and God bless you and I pray that uh your next chap of your life uh be a blessing to you secondly uh I want to uh speak to the council women who have an issue regarding the leadership program and I please uh resolve your issues before Thursday so that on Thursday you can vote Yes for this leadership program to begin on April 1st thank you and lastly I pray for the Peace of tck good night God bless everyone thank you Miss Lewis someone else on Zoom Doug MTS at yu.edu please state your name for the record hey can you hear me yes please state your name for the record sir my name is Michael Talis uh I'm a resident of EK I'm the rabbi of congregation zon Mori in EK my parents moved here in 1960 so I guess you can say I'm pretty much a lifer here in EK uh my message to the council this evening is to urge you in the strongest possible terms to explore every legal means possible to put an end to the incessant rallies car Caravans and so on which have regularly been invading the streets of our town over the last several months it is obvious that there are presently two opposing groups in our town one is outraged over its border community in Israel being attacked abused raped slaughtered and kidnapped on October 7th the other is outrage over what has happened to its broader community in Gaza as a result of is Israel's military response since October 7th which has resulted in whatever the latest casualty numbers are these two groups are not going to agree and they're not going to come to a meeting of the minds about this what everyone should agree upon however is that this conflict is not going to be resolved in the Township of tinck New Jersey or in any other municipality in this country despite decision to pass various ordinances and calls for ceasefires there is no constructive purpose therefore to these ongoing rallies and the organizers know it they know full well that nobody in the Jewish community of EK is capable of orchestrating a ceasefire in the Middle East just as nobody in the Muslim Community of Tink is capable of arranging for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages if the goal of these protesters was simply to voice their support for Hamas and the Palestinians which is absolutely their right one Rally or two at most would suffice and they would then be sharing their views in other area towns such as South hackin saac and Cliffside Park as well but that's not what they's doing instead they keep descending on EK and disrupting life in our town what then is their purpose in coming specifically to Teek time and time again and shouting at our Township residents blocking our streets harassing our neighbors with vile hate speech simple they want to antagonize and intimidate our Jewish community here these are blatant anti-jewish rallies designed to spread hatred and nothing more and that cannot and should not be tolerated will not be tolerated I implore the council to investigate every legal option to Outlaw these rallies perhaps by passing uh laws limiting the number of protests permitted each year or perhaps confining them to specific locations requiring permits arresting those who not comply and so on and if such things are not in fact Allowed by law I would ask the council to at the very least make a strong public statement to the protesters making it clear that while legally we perhaps might not be able to prevent you from marching you protesters are not welcome in our town state that we as the elected leaders of the town do not want you here and we ask you to take your hate out of our streets I have no doubt that if the protesters would come here regularly and similarly provoke members of another ethnic or religious group in our community by rallying outside one of their houses of worship or if certain social or political activists would parade up and down Cedar Lane every other Sunday the town's leadership would leave no stone unturned in correctly in an effort to stop this behavior from continuing the same kind of passionate and definitive response from the council is needed to here before things spiral even further out of control to the detriment of everyone who resides in our community thank you very much thank you RAB someone else on Zoom Doug Bruce please state your name for the record please unmute Bruce please state your name for the record unmute Bruce please unmute Lisa Schwarz please unmute state your name for the record Lisa Schwarz please unmute Doug it's actually me Ron Ron Schwarz Ron Schwarz three minutes thanks Doug thank you ladies and gentlemen in the council um also wanted to express my uh thanks to Dean kazinski and Dean um very sad to hear that you are retiring u in in July I think I speak for my wife Lisa and myself that we think you have been the best manager that we have seen in the 44 years that we have lived in EK you care about EK you care about the people in it and you've been a wonderful wonderful manager so thank you very much for your service and if after you retire you want to play some tennis just give me a call what's been happening in town since October 7th and October 17th when the resolutions were pass uh the divisiveness that has occurred has been breaking my heart as a longtime teenic resident um I've seen many many friendships that have uh been formed in the last bunch of years uh by in within Community groups that people have reached out to different communities and have become friends I've seen those friendships torn apart uh because of what's happened in town since October 7th and it really breaks my heart um for those of you who have not been here as long as I have uh in 1990 we kind of went through a similar thing it's it's it's different but it's there are some similarities to it also when the town was going through a very divisive time when a 14-year-old young man by the name of Phil panel was shot in the back and killed by a white police officer uh and the that incident was followed by rioting on the uh Town green and very very difficult time uh with groups in town uh separating from each other and yelling at each other coming to the council meeting uh insulting council members I think as we did back then the the the rhetoric in town has to come down you have to stop coming to Council meetings and uh insulting council members um it's not helping on either side I was at the February 27th meeting on on Zoom I didn't see any council member uh wanting to shut an an event down or or asking for violence at that event I saw someone ask a question of a lawyer because a constituent raised the question and she wanted to get an answer that's all I saw in 1990 we had Community dialogues after the panel shooting the community dialogue were taking place all over town in synagogues ethnical culture churches we sat down and talked to each other about our differences and about our feelings I would ask that this Council begin that process of having some kind of community dialogues work through the community relations board Cheryl Hall has been requesting you to have empathy training but start some dialogues in the community thanks aot Harry please unmute state your name for the record Carrie with your hand up please unmute state your name for the record yes I'm working on the next one Natalie Addison please unmute state your name for the record Natalie Addison please unmute state your name for the record hello can you hear me yes loud and clear okay it's not Natalie Addison it's Raymond Addison but she's she's pretty close good evening Council uh Doug um thank you for letting me in after these long hours uh Mr manager thank you for being who you are you're a wonderful Township manager we're going to miss you but you said you're retiring and on in July which you didn't say what year so it could be July 2025 so we'll look forward to keeping you on until then M Doan say alol to the Brown family with the loss of their loved one um Isam phobia and anti-Semitism is never it's not condoned it's not good we tend to every word spoken we seem to attribute it to to one of those words it's not always the same it doesn't mean the same so everything cannot be an anti-semite or islamophobia concern October 7th was the travesty but October 17th was divisive words put into resolution when it could have been just um understanding that the author of the res solution writer was uh passionate but had we only softened and realize what we were saying might have made a big difference and not have what we're having today I think that a lot of what's going on in the town I know a lot of what's going on in town is not right there are outside maybe tagonist but we live in tenac and and unfortunately a little bit of Washington DC has crept into Tek in the politics the council Council you have been voted in to represent everyone in Tac we can tell that it is campaigning season from the actions that goes on on the council deas I'm I'm sure that that some of the things that you talk about in close session or in your packets are not discovered when you get on the Das in public that you could talk to each other before then rather than making a spectacle of yourselves when you get there to try to uh shame someone that's not good A House Divided among itself can never stand T neck is divided but tck is still a great place to live we need to stop smell the roses do the right thing have dialogue why can't the Town Council uh as uh someone said have a townwide dialog one more thing person who said Harlem I think that's that's not a good statement Mr Addison you're welcome have a good night Sir Valerie Levan please unmute state your name for the record hi this is Valerie Len can you hear me yes loud and clear okay Valerie Len tck resident for 18 years as always I want to thank the counil for their service uh manager kazinski I am devastated uh to learn you will be retiring when I said you are like the mommy to 50,000 people at the speed friending event I I really meant it we we are a better town because of you next I want to thank the health department for finally addressing ing the empty house on Johnson Avenue uh which I have known to be not lived in for the entire 18 years I have lived here I'm hoping it will not take another 18 years uh for that abandoned or empty house to get resolved uh regarding safe streets and the two speakers who talked about initiatives to make streets safer for cyclists and pedestrians I I am excited about that and fully support it but I think every t- neck resident out there you have got to stop Crossing in the middle of the block on Cedar Lane it it all starts with personal responsibility and while I am at it if you are walking at night you need to wear something reflective so the cars can see you speaking of cars the car rallies I just Echo what everyone else said I I want the Town Council to start doing something about this it has pass the public nuisance in issue and it's affecting our way of lives um uh the last thing is I had emailed uh one of the people on the council for clarification about how the uh Israel home Expo was violating fair housing practice uh n State you know real estate law international law I am still awaiting a reply from the town Council on how the law was actually broken those are my remarks thank you thank you ma'am Mr Mr attorney do we need to vote on the bill list and what before midnight or is that we change that law do we have to finish the business of the Town terms of the voting on the bill agenda in the bill before midnight no there's no there's no time requirement there sorry you who did Robinson please unmute state your name for the record hi my name is yehudit Robinson I live in ten with my husband and four children who are between the ages of two and 10 since the March 10th protest outside of congregation ker Torah I have been feeling increasingly anxious and unsafe in my hometown I am grateful to town manager Dean kazinski Deputy manager Tom row and the entire te Police Department for keeping all tenek residents safe this past Saturday my congregation hosted several of these special Community leaders for a program of gratitude yet I am deeply concerned about the need for their additional assistance so my family and I can go about our daily routines including attending synagogue services and walking around the neighborhood I am also deeply concerned about the overtime fees involved in maintaining order to protect Teek residents the Jewish Jewish Community has been respectful of Muslim places of worship and Gathering despite the targeting of our houses of worship by protesters and car Caravans we have not reciprocated this despicable Behavior we need to commit to maintain a civil society and be able to disagree respectfully when I read about yet another car Caravan heading our way filled with nonresidents coming to harass and provoke residents I feel despair is this how it started in Germany in the late 1930s why do I need to shelter with my husband and kids indoors until the Caravan has passed through our town why can't I go outside on a beautiful spring day how can the Town Council and mayor help stop these outside agitators please acknowledge that the March 10th meeting at congregation ker Torah was an informational fear for anyone considering purchasing a home in Israel at some Future Point not a sale of property please agree to conduct full research of any events under consideration before issuing a moral verdict please understand that the irresponsible statements that issued from the Town Council the previous meeting created a domino effect which led protesters to paint bomb cards spray red liquid on people physically assault tenic residents and desecrate the Israeli flag in Your Capacity as Town Council Members please denounce the horrible comments that have been made to many in this c town while First Amendment laws protect Free Speech not everything that can be said should be said please disavow in the strongest terms the use of the Nazi salute in tinic as was witnessed at the March 10th protest the Nazi salute is a horrifying gesture of antagonism against the Jewish Community finally please please adopt a declaration that all tenek residents are welcome here despite any differences we may have we share that tenek is our home thank you so much thank you Miss anyone else on zoomg sharuk aala hi good evening my name is shuk aala I speak tonight with a heavy heart dismayed by the hate directed at councilwoman Denise beler her stance on legality deserves thoughtful consideration yet the divisive resolution has transformed us into a adversities instead of neighbors let us prioritize fostering Harmony within EK without importing external conflicts the presence of protesters is not to intimidate but to peacefully Express discontent how is a legal safe car rally driving with Palestinian Flags scary and illegal why are community members trying to demonize Palestinian flags and Palestine hking is done by pass Sur buyers who support Palestine and oppose the genocide it's crucial to acknowledge know that videos contradict claims of non-confrontation by the counter protesters community members speak about protests while conveniently admitting their own involvement it is crucial for us to confront the reality of our actions and acknowledge our roles in the events unfolding in our community transparency and accountability are essential if we are to move forward together thank you to one of the first speakers for shouting gout Au speaking of AUC there have been community members showing up to intimidate and harass congregates by driving around displaying Flags putting up middle fingers and shouting obscenities like the genocide continuing to unfold in Gaza this is also documented where is the same outrage my daughter is still scared to go back because she is worried that the deranged men driving a Range Rover will come back to intimidate her let's hold let's hold each other to the same standards and always strive to speak the truth regardless of who it offends I find it very interesting that the good and Welfare isn't limited to an hour tonight it appears that we are selective as to when we want to enforce certain time restrictions thank you for the opportunity to speak and good night Ryan Harland Brooks please unmute state your name for the record hello my name is Brian Harlen Brooks I've been te resident since 1983 I was in high school with Philip panel I find it convenient and unfortunate that a lot of people are using black history and the history of this nation to wax poetic about what's going on now the truth truth of the matter is EK has been a experiment in integration and people have wanted to be in solidarity with one another but the truth is we have fallen short time and time again part of being in a diverse Community is understanding there are going to be diverse ideas and different ideas freedom of speech and freedom of protest is part of that whether you agree with the protest or not agree with the protest as a black American all of these ideas about Nostalgia for the United States being born in peace when I know that it was born on the labor of my ancestors and their enslavements are quite frankly offensive also going back to Philip panel and discussions about anti-racism and talking about outliers as part of the tropes that were used to stop the Abolitionist in this country every time somebody tried to AB abolish slavery we discussed the fact that they were outliers these are people that you live with the people that we live with have difference of opinions the only way through those opinions is to have very deep and robust and difficult conversations and yes protest one of the tenants of white supremacy not mind words these are things you can look up is the right to comfort you are going to be uncomfortable that is part of living in a diverse community and we need to face the fact that those discomforts are only going to be allayed by deeper really sustain sustained conversation and living in an equal Society the truth of the matter about the equity going in t as a black resident is that many of the residents that are white presenting and Arab Arab presenting have not been in solidarity with the black community and so they have a false understanding about what Teck actually is there are problems here and as a black resident I have been the recipient of those when we did the protest back in 1988 for Philip panel I was called the n-word by police officers here in tenek I'm glad to say that the ten police stations have t changed the way that they act today but we need to be in solidarity with one another but we need to be able to have deep conversations and ask specific questions every time I bring up the word racism I am forced to explain myself when we have a conversation about different things going around the world you have to explain your point of view and be willing to have a conversation where somebody differs from you deeply without calling them anti-semitic anti-jewish or anti-black or racist if somebody asks me what racism is I will explain that we have to be able to have conversations to come up with resolutions that make our town better and allow the diversity to be true not just on surface level so we all can be in our comfort no one has a right to comfort we have a right to safety and solidarity thank you going make a motion to extend the meeting another 30 minutes to 12:30 second all those in favor please say I Assan goria please state your name for the record yeah asan goria first of all thanks for giving me the chance to speak um I I can understand uh mayor I have the solution for your problem will give you at end first of all a thousand lies even a thousand lies can never hide one truth and the truth is a genocide is happening in Gaza 30,000 plus uh innocent Palestinians are dead more than 15,000 kids are dead and there are two reasons why people are protesting here and why why they why is happening and why they protesting here so why we need to stand we need to stand because of our ethics morality and Humanity that's why we're going to stand yes we condemn 7th October 7th incident what happened on October 7th because not because we what happened even it's a lie but we still condemn that what Hamas did and why we condemn that not the only reason is that Hamas is a byproduct of Netanyahu Netanyahu created the Hamas with qar money uh to stand against yasat that's what the fact is and there are other things some of the residents are worried about the over time the police has to spend about the protesters so why they are not worried about the B ions of dollars which are going to foreign governments to Aid the genocide why they are not worried about that and other thing anti-m is not anti-semitic that they need to understand as some of the fellows Israeli sorry the Jews brother they were saying that isra is a second place for them but for a minute there was no Israel before 1947 Judaism is the oldest religion even oldest than the Christianity and Islam so where was their second place before that in Europe somewhere in Germany in Poland we don't know so other thing um and for our Muslim Jerusalem is a second place and it has been there for thousands of years and other thing which I want to say there people are worried about the kids going out in the park so why they are not worried about the kids which are dying in Gaza which are under the Rebels the mom go out to get the bread on they when they come back there's no they're no kids they're under the rubble so why they not worried about that so the I also appreciate the council member who spoke for the uh against the genocide we are with you we support you and not only you even with nobody supports you but you still did the right thing and especially when you are sitting next to some cards and eracist it's it's very hard to speak the truth and the other thing one other thing the solution is that we should pass the resolution CI resolution and we should stop the illegal sale of the any illegal property that's the solution there would be no protest anymore and we should also build a Holocaust Memorial but at the same time we should also build a Gaza Memorial in in this town for the genocide in the Gaza as well my time is over but I will have more to speak thank you thank you sir we extends no Marcus Max please unmute hey can you hear me loud and clear Marcus three minutes um uh I didn't unfortunately get to go either to the previous uh meeting or to the sale event on the 10th much as I wanted to go I was actually not back in the country yet I was busy uh liberating Gaza from Hamas as it happens so uh like I said I did not unfortunately get to attend the sales event as much as I would would have wanted to but I would like to address the multiple comments made by people throughout uh tonight that claimed that this was not about anti-Semitism this was only about anti-zionism and federal law and international law so they they were simultaneously and Mr seagull himself who brought it up last time and then brought it up again tonight uh I was able to see a recording of what he said last time and then tonight live he said that federal law says that you can't uh prevent any one group any one demographic from buying land which I have no issue with while at the same time he quoted international law which specifically says Jews and or Israelis should not be buying this land now if the person wants to come come from a moral ground which of those two is moral that you can't prevent anyone or that you can prevent Jews and this is the point it is anti-Semitism per se to to make a statement of Peace depends upon the creation of yet another uden rine country in the Middle East and therefore I would call upon the TX Council to call this what it is make a resolution to condemn both these statements as well as the violent protests that are happening and yes they are violent they have been caught on camera as being violent and call them out for what they are Nazism of the 21st century thank you very much Jacob Gerard please unmute hello yes we can hear you Jacob three minutes hello my name is Jacob Alexander Gerard um just want to clarify uh I am not a T-Neck resident um if that is not an issue uh as I was led to believe so if I'm allowed three minutes then that would be great you've used 20 seconds Jacob you have two minutes 35 seconds to go perfect I am here to talk about all of these things that everyone has said so far these such as these real estate cells happening in these synagogues which is illegal may I just say because they selling stolen land that was illegally obtained through violence as is evident land that was under Palestinian sovereignty so under international law and also just morality it was very wrong and these people have no right to sell this land which was never Theirs to take or sell and as so many people here tonight talk about you know diversity here in the Tina Community but they keep saying all these things that really contradict that if I do say so myself and it's very disheartening to hear as for the People speaking up for Gaza and Palestine and all other uh marginalized peoples uh I would like to just give my praise to them but truly the amount of people so many people saying all these horrible things is appalling and truly just pleasing and so I would hope that in good conscious you would stand against allowing these things to happen and calling for ceasefire and to not you know hammer down on people rallying and protesting in the name of Liberation and peace actual peace right it it is truly a horrible and unjust situation happening in Gaza with the genocide the deaths of so many people women children men journalists medical workers truly just so many so many names that I could never possibly memorize in a lifetime but I will certainly try I will it is it it it breaks the heart thank you sir your time is up Michael Rocklin please unmute state your name for the record good evening everybody um and thank you for staying on so late um I'll make it short Mel Rocklin you all know me um you heard from a few of my very new friends uh who are organizing for uh complete streets in Bergen County I want to reiterate what they uh said and we sent it over to the cork Bergen County controls our most dangerous roads ten Road in Sean um as well as a bunch of other roads in town um it is critical to the thriving of tck that the county does its part to make our streets safe for everybody no matter how they get around um and I'd also like to call attention to the few people who are still watching this um as well as anybody who reaches out to any of the council members um or anybody else who's here I along with a few other people have been organizing under uh the temporary name Safe Streets tck um to get a community of people who are looking to figure out ways that we can make our streets safer uh right here in EK the streets that we do control um and so as Council um especially as we head into this budget season especially as we head into this master season that we really spend a lot of time and effort thinking about how we can make it um that our streets are accessible and safe for everybody no matter how you get around whether that's by car walking uh or driving thank you and have a good night thank you Mr BR re mccon please unmute hey Doug good evening can you hear me loud and clear thank you uh good evening everyone or should I say good morning dear Dean kazinski manager our hearts fell when we heard your announcement tonight while that is good news for you we are very much sad and heartbroken to see you go I'm sure this is the right decision for you and you're looking forward to your next best adventure ahead so we wish you the very best wow being here tonight um at our council meeting has been very disheartening for me and I'm sure for several other residents who love their town and really value the diversity here just listening to tonight's intense speeches fellow residents talking in angry tones fearful tones um especially the young lady nasia I really appreciate that you came up and you spoke so eloquently about living here in Tina in fear no one should have to live in fear I cannot imagine how hateful these last few weeks have been and how hateful these protests have become there were apples bad apples on both sides as I gather I wasn't at the protest so I'm not here to testify I don't know who did or what or who said what but what this means is that our town leaders have a responsibility if they not trying to unite the town at least they should not uh uh add more fuel to the burning fire I continue to be upset that our own Teck high school students who organized a peaceful protest have been attacked constantly even getting a congressman involved to take on our high school district I think that's just morally reprehensible it is a shame that this Council fueled all this hate on October 17th by bringing a foreign topic to our town all kindness and unity has been shredded on our governing body as was on display tonight very sad indeed in tenic we should stand against every form of hate whether it's anti-Semitism to fellow Jewish residents hurling in self intimidation this is not peaceful protesting whether it is racism against our black residents including our council members openly on social media and also unfortunately in a newspaper operated by one of our own council members I wonder if that could also be categorized as responsible or irresponsible freedom of speech by the way the question posed by our council member to our town attorney who is yet to weigh in on the topic the same letter communication that came from from our town manager I think should have really come from our town attorney to tell us what the uh facts were and just clarified the situation rather than leaving it open-ended and creating so much Havoc as it did tonight whether it's Islamic islamophobia towards our Muslim residents hateful speech towards clergy and hijabi women I don't understand finally let us all remember that even as we continue to wage this war here innocent lives are lost in Palestine as well as in Israel when we ask for a seized fire thank you Miss Khan we are asking for peace and there is no better time to call for thank you ma'am Sue please unmute please state your name for the record Sue please unmute he's not there I'm going to make motion if we close good W after 3 hours am I going to be admonished for that what made a Motion sounds good actually I've never said I want to hear from everyone I stick to my word Sue please unmute Kate Marsh please unmute Kate Marsh please unmute state your name for the record hello my name is Kate um I want to put on record that as of 3M today the alifa hospital in Palestine um more than 80 people were killed at Point Blank more than 300 people have been detained and are going through investigations all of the medical staff were arrested without cause leaving behind medical patients to rot in their beds the hospital is being completely emptied by occupation forces and refugees are either shot detained or forced to flee South after they're stri naked no one in the hospital has access to food and nobody has had any access to Aid um into Palestine since January 23rd this is part of Israel's plan to intentionally starve the entire population creating a famine where the UN estimates that 1.1 million Palestinians are at immin imminent risk of death due to extreme famine you can't say they're looking for Hamas when it's been every single hospital every single School even un schools if this is how they get land it can't be legal to start selling them to Future colonizers in other countries again Israel has illegally detained more than 300 people within the last two days um Judaism is not the same as Zionism many Rabbi and Jewish teachers spoke at the rally on March 10th to discuss the illegal sale and we all watched a Zionist chase the crowd waving middle fingers at protesters the police had to stop had to physically intervene um Israel is not allowed to sell stolen land and we have to keep bringing this up um because in tck 480,000 of our federal tax dollars go directly to the foreign Israeli military while our mayor is blocking constituents on Instagram who are asking for a ceasefire TK needs to condemn this funding for the foreign military with our tax dollars we need to call for a permanent ceasefire we have to prevent the next illegal sale of land and we have to call for a complete arms embargo against Israel more than 30,000 people are dead um within the last 6 months of continuous bombing and people who focus on October 7th are ignoring the Palestinian massacres of October 8th October 9th October 10th all the way until today March 20th again we need a call for a complete ceasefire um a complete arm embargo and we want to prevent the next illegal sale of land we hope to hear back from this lawyer soon thank you Lisa Hassan please unmute hello can you hear me yes loud and clear three minutes okay I just want to thank the board for finally staying on and not cutting short um I just want to also emphasize the importance of facts over propaganda Lisa I apologize did you already speak this evening it was constantly claimed that from The River To The [Music] Sea one second Lisa I appreciate all of yours inputs I would just like to make sure give us one second Lisa yeah Lisa you did speak I apologize everyone gets one time to speak at good and Welfare especially when we have more than 50 speakers um and for anyone raising their hand if you did already speak this evening it would be most appreciative if you would lower your hand so we have an idea of how many people that we need to get to Javon Romney rice formal councilwoman please unmute to state your name for the record three minutes yes good morning Doug and good morning everyone uh Javon momy rice over 60y year resident and Community servant and thank you for allowing the residents to speak tonight and not limiting good and Welfare Dean and Tom while I knew this date would come I am so sad to see you leave I just want to thank thank you for your service Dean your labor of love for this community that you grew up in and once lived in and called home it's very unfortunate that things have deteriorated so much especially in recent months Mr Brown I wish to con uh convey my condolences to you and your family at your loss your community continues to stand with you and express our condolences as been mentioned um last council meeting a council woman asked a question of the attorney I'm curious as to why the attorney didn't make a statement or answer the question it was known to be incorrect why didn't he address it then why wasn't an answer explanation given couldn't that have eliminated much of this discourse people have suggested that while serving on the DS during a meeting that people want a councilwoman to Google falsehoods read text messages or while looking at the residents in the eyes at a meeting and not ask the tax paying attorney the taxpayer attorney any questions it must be said that black women face in addition to racism sexism and oppression knows oppression so why are we oppressing each other Maya Angelou said that each time a woman stands up for herself without knowing it possibly without even claiming it she stands up for all women I wish to acknowledge and thank the councilwoman who boldly stood up on behalf of all of us and ask the question for those of us you represent your character speaks for you I am sure there was no slander there was no plan of anti-Semitism simply a genuine question that was asked and I wonder if you ever even got an answer thank you councilwoman and deputy mayor for taking a stands and representing all of us here in Tina please do not stop despite the hatred the fear intimidation and racism you face even the plan of that was organized tonight please continue to be Unapologetic in your continued stance and service to all because we stand with you thank you to the councilwoman who revealed your truth on social media shining a spotlight to the community of the many social injustices racism sexism anti-Semitism and islamophobia that are very real and present you wrote on the coales of strong powerful community building women who you now stab in the back and take every opportunity to tear them down many of us have worked tirelessly many years to remove isms condemn hate and Hamas we have worked tirelessly to build relationships we unfortunately still have much more work to do and the words of Dr Martin Luther King hatred patr hatred paralyzes life love releases it thank you Sher an Eid please un mute state your name for the record yes my name is Sheran Eid I'm a lifelong te resident um thanks for staying late I appreciate it um it's important for us to be heard um I want to be sure that it goes on record that I agree with my neighbors um we should all feel safe in our communities and I'm sorry that you do um that you do feel unsafe walking in certain areas I want to share that my daughter myself we have experienced bullying um and Prejudice because of our religion um my daughter was bullied last year in Ramadan by her classmates by one of her classmates by one of her teammates um the way that I chose to deal with it as a parent was to speak with her teachers was to speak with her coaches and figure out a way to get to the bottom of it I don't know how we can move forward as a town if we're not listening to each other um if we're only hurling um insults and um words that are charged with um tropes like RAC racist tropes and things like this so I'm not sure how we can move forward if we're not listening to each other if we are just continuing to say but what about this but what about this so I think we all need to take a beat and listen to each other again if we don't want protests in our town then our town needs to think about the events that they hold here um especially in in during times like this where there is ongoing violence against Innocents um most of whom are children um we need to really reconsider having F more events like this happen in our town especially if we don't want protests like that in our town I think why T neck because we have these events um a lot of the words that people use to describe the protesters was problematic and filled with bias um outliers Outsiders we just want peace um you know well what is peace without justice so if your peace means I my community is not getting their Justice then what is that it's censorship it's inequality and it's not right and that's why we live here because we believe in that right so we need to really check ourselves before we speak before we use our words we need to make sure that we're using using the correct words um not to be overly sensitive but to make sure that we are not censoring each other and that we are hearing each other because without hearing and listening we're not going to move forward thank you so much Zoom user please state your name for the record hi my name is Aviva um I'm a t resident a few speakers this evening mentioned numbers as a justification for their involvement in the hateful protests the Distortion of casualty numbers in the ongoing conflict in Gaza and the implications of relying on information from sources that cannot be trusted needs to be addressed misinformation can dangerously skew our understanding of conflicts leading to misguided responses and policies the recent events and the numbers reported by Hamas controlled health ministries serve as a cautionary tale we have seen claims of over 30,000 casualties such figures have not only captured International attention but have also been used to fuel narratives aimed at turning Global opinion against Israel however we must ask ourselves how reliable are these numbers consider the story of Ali H Hospital in Gaza which was reported to have been attacked resulting in the death of 471 individuals this this incident which was eventually exposed as a misfired missile by the palestin by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad not and is as an Israeli attack and the actual number of casualties was significantly lower yet this did not prevent the rapid spread of inflated casualty numbers which were initially accepted without scrutiny Daniela plea in her in her piece for the National Review underscores the pernicious effect of these numbers she highlights how the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin inadvertently lent credibility to Hamas claims by citing their figures in Congressional testimony figures that the Pentagon leader had to walk back this incident reveals the underlying goal of terrorist groups like Hamas to manipulate public opinion through lies and propaganda the Reliance on figures from the from the Hamas controlled Ministry of Health by International organizations and media Outlets without Critical examination underscores a broader problem when the narrative is controlled by those with a vested interest in the conflict the truth becomes the first casualty the discrepancies and the reported numbers were casualty were children's death tolls exceeded the total death toll for a given day or where men seemingly disappear from casualty reports are not just mathematical errors they are deliberate attempts to manipulate public perception the sad truth is that we do not have reliable data on the number of casualties in Gaza what we do have however are clear indications that the numbers being reported are manipulated to have specific agenda this manipulation is not just a matter of incorrect statistics it has real world consequences as we have experienced in this town we must be vigilant we must question and critical and critically examine the sources of our information especially in matters as serious as life and death accepting figures at face value from entities like Kamas controlled health ministries with their track record of misinformation does a disservice to all of those genuinely affected by the conflict to respond effective effectively and justly we must base our actions on Truth not propaganda as members of global as as members of the global Community it is our responsibility to seek out reli information to question Nars that are neatly packed and to demand transparency and accountability thank you ma'am Zoom user with your hand up please unmute and state your name for the record Cheryl Hall please unmute is that me Doug yes yes it is minutes you just made me a panelist uh Cheryl Hall uh lifelong resident of over 50 years here in Tac thank you so much esteemed members of the council and our public servants and Dean uh and everyone for staying late um and letting everybody speak through good and Welfare I know that last meeting you also did the same so I do appreciate that um as a resident I want to remind people of something that uh mental health professionals uh came forward with during the black lives matter protests or uh situation they said that there is a level of trauma being experienced by being black in the United States tonight I hear Trauma from every resident in this Township in fact I observe trauma and every member of the deas what do you do in traumatic situations firefighters seek help and counseling from maybe uh chaplain or people that are qualified to do that so I encourage everyone right now we are are hurting from world events that we have no control over please seek counseling for yourselves so that you can lead us as the chair of abcr I am asking every member on the day is tonight before you leave to commit to empathy training Dean krinski is leaving us in three months he has brought us this empathy training everyone claims that they love him and they support and he is a wonderful town manager please commit to this every single one of you you have 11 members of abcr very a busy volunteers that are willing to have these conversations and help heal this town but we need the tools to do that we are not trained empathy training will help us with trained professionals teaching us please everyone express your commitment for the record that we will be having empathy training and then on Thursday the 21st I expect that you pass that in the budget meeting Dean I'm available anytime on Thursday before 7 PM Cryer practice thank you everyone good morning har please unmute state your name for the record hi can you hear me yes loud and clear hi Carrie Castillo um give me one second thanks for getting back to me um hi thanks for letting me speak and extending good and Welfare first I'm sorry for your loss Mr Brown I'm hoping that you grieve in your own ways um and happy retirement to Mr Dean I'm a 22y old excuse me I'm a 22 year resident of tck the adults in this town need a new hobby starting group chats to discuss the whereabouts and doxs the private identities of minors who are irrelevant to you who have limited political and financial power who do not have access to the same resources as you do is inappropriate behavior and it is disgusting that you are okay and have been comfortable with publicly displaying this behavior for the past 5 months it's not acceptable to intimidate anyone let alone children it's not acceptable to flip middle fingers at them and display physically aggressive body language towards them it's not acceptable to shout racist and derogatory terms to them simply because they do not buy into the misinformation they along with other Teck residents are brave to take a stance against an ongoing genocide in which UNICEF has said 13,000 children have been murdered by a statehood funded by American taxes many continue to die due to lack of medical help basic human resources and are suffering from a famine and no ceasefire it is also concerning that council members regularly associate themselves with community members and past politicians who display this behavior and have a record of racism islamophobic comments and hate speech it is incredibly disappointing that Tina Council as a collective have not called out this Behavior yet members have time to run a Blog but not do their job in sitting on a sub committee block people on public official profiles and co-publish articles that strengthen white supremacy by advertising best Anglo neighborhoods in il legally occupied territory in efforts to further colonization also there have been four Pro Palestinian um protestan tinic I'm sorry people are not able to count up to four thank you councilwoman beler for encouraging us to humanize those who have been mindlessly murdered thank you and please pass a ceasefire resolution now Rebecca Apple real quick make a motion to extend the meeting till 1: am another 30 minutes Doug second all those in favor please say I Rebecca applebomb please unmute hi oh sorry for the glare my name is Rebecca Apple Bal I live on Sherman in south of Cedar I debated whether I would sign in or not sometimes I I want these meetings to end um in the end I stayed on and I left my hand raised so here it goes um back in October I sent an email to the council asking them to acknowledge the loss of Civilian lives in Gaza along with the accounts of the massacre perpetrated on October 7th against Israelis I told the council that while I was appreciative that they were taking the time to acknowledge the pain of the Jewish community at the Unspeakable atrocities that were committed on October 7th I felt that it was already a week later and civilian deaths and gazda were growing and we should more BN all deaths that had resulted from Kamas breaking the ceasefire that had existed up until October 6th I was angry that night that the council did not add new language to the resolution it would have been the right thing to do and I also knew that it would divide the already fragile town if we kept it as is I speak to as I call them the Bri Bridge builders in this town often and we are so exhausted from what keeps happening here but I'm not angry at the council anymore I'm not angry at any community in EK I'm angry at a few individuals and organizations who consistently amplify Hate by sharing conspiracy theories using crude ahistorical and inflammatory language to talk about our town and specifically the Jewish people that live here the various social media accounts that have said themselves that their goal is to harass and punish Our Town continue to post things that are not true and The Wider scarier worlds of the internet is amplifying these posts I'm also angry at the Au I didn't want to have to say that but they are a community center and I see them amplifying voices of hate and I'm not referring to speakers that they might host within their own walls but their public amplification of Instagram accounts knowing that their goal is harassment this is a community center ironically another email that I sent earlier this fall was was to the AUC because I wanted to find out about their daycare center their after school Center for my son um we ended up going with a babysitter shout out to the tink high school Forum an amazing resource in our town but they're organizing rallies to harass local residents and that is not Community I will continue to use my voice to speak up as I did to this Council and as they do in the various Town Facebook groups to call out people who speak disrespectfully and I ask that others do the same if you go to ACC speak up if you send their child to their daycare speak up but I should say no one should go there to intimidate do not go and drive around you should be emailing and speaking to their leadership we actually looked into the Au because my son who wears a keepa and keeps kosher it would be easier in a Muslim Community Center to follow those rules and I'm sad that that's not how it turned out thank you ma' your time is up thank you Rachel Kaplan please unmute and let us know if you were the I just don't know if it's the same Rachel please stay your name for the record Adam [Music] Weissman Adam Weissman please unmute state your name for the record hello hello yes you're unmuted okay great on March 8th UN Human Rights Chief vulker Turk said reports that this week this week that Israel plans to build a further 3,476 settler homes in M adum eat and Kar fly in the face of international law e and Mal mean are two of the communities that listed in advertisements for the ker Tor event but we keep hearing people insisting that no law was broken at the Kor Tor event that this was just an information event so let's talk for a minute About Puppies a while ago there was a business that wanted to sell puppies on Cedar Lane now that's been a no no in teenx since 2018 so they' devised a scheme to circumvent the law they'd showcase puppies in their storefront bring bring in interested people and then close the sale at their Wayne location where the S of puppies is still illegal now one of our current te council members than a candidate recognized this is a scheme to circumvent the law and started a petition and I quote the premise of this not for sale puppy store is that it's essentially a showroom for dogs and then you are sent to their Wayne store to purchase the dogs where it's illegal to do so where is legal to do so the this unethical Behavior must be stopped and Wayne's puppies is not welcome in Teck Teck is not a place dogs are for sale so why am I talking about puppies well let's take a look at home in israel.com you'll find their special Expo incentive B chamesh priced from $4,100 special Expo incentive Eden Hills pric from $1,300,000 so if I may paraphrase our puppy loving council member the premise of this not for sale real estate sale is is essentially a showroom for stolen Palestinian land in illegal Westbank settlements and in land stolen during the NBA in 1948 and then you were sent to purchase the stolen land from realtors in Israel a country that fragrantly its obligations under international law this unethical Behavior must be stopped and stolen land event stolen land sales events are not welcome in tenek Teck is not a place where stolen Palestinian land is for sale now I don't know about you but this sounds more to me like the sort of scheme I'd expect tonian Sil concocting in the back room of satriales than the kind of behavior I'd expect in a synagogue a place of worship a place where Jews are reminded of Commandments handed down by the almighty you know we keep hearing about The Audacity Of protesting a place of worship so that leaves me wondering what makes a place of worship could a Hindu temple that hosted a steak dinner still call itself a Hindu temple could a mosque that held a pig roast during the day on Ramadan still call itself a mosque and can a synagogue that violates our eighth commandment Thou shalt not steal by facilitating the sale of stolen land still call itself a synagogue can a synagogue that violates our sixth commandment Thou shalt not kill by facilitating the sale of land stolen by murder call it a synagogue 2023 was the deadliest year on record for Palestinians on the West Bank as they face settler pog BS intent to drive them off their land in order to complete Israel's capture of the West Bank and the E and ethnic cleansing of this illegally occupied territory of Palestinians no it wasn't protesters who disrespected ker torra it was its own leadership who desecrated their own Sho cruly mocking their Muslim neighbors by hosting a stolen Palestinian land event on the first night of Ramadan sir thank you Dwayne Harley please unmute state your name to the record good morning Dwayne Harley um can you hear me loud and clear fantastic fantastic um B Teck since 1970 um want to say congratulations to Dean uh hope you enjoy your uh time off maybe be doing some more exciting things getting that golf game going but um I just want to make it quick I wanted to uh state that I was at the meeting um the evening with the gentleman um first discuss the uh real estate event and I want to say that councilwoman did not um project a characterization of that event she just asked the town attorney what exactly it was because the the Community member had stated that it was illegal and I think someone who's um in the the capacity of a town official just did due diligence it was prudent to ask our town attorney um what exactly what this event was so the attacks on his Council women I think is um outrageous and um I do believe that people that were attacking her needs to give an apology because if we're talking about unity and coming together um that that is not the way to get to that finish line I think what she has done is what anybody we would expect to do just ask the simple question you know we do have a lot of work to do we do have a lot of things um to come together on um there was a resident who um early this evening I heard her said she was feel safer in in Harlem than she did in teac and you know she's saying that as a way to be not biased uh but that is a biased statement I felt offended by that statement that she said you know my my father was born in Harlem um I lived in Harlem actually for like 15 years you know I feel you know that was a statement that was a little bit out out of the out of the out of the range and I think we all need to come together and kind of figure it out because even when we're not trying to be biased we tend to be biased in some way um so I just think that we need to kind of really um have empathy for each other um I think what our councilwoman was doing she really was doing what she was elected to do put te at first so hope everybody is uh have a good night and I'll talk to you soon Shaz please unmute say your name for the record hi Shaz can you hear me clear okay great thank you um so first I want to say thank you to Dean and Tom by the way Dean you're too young to retire I know you're graduating class so not sure if this Council trained you out but um thank you for your service I wanted to call in and speak about the traffic patterns I observed on CED Lane during rush hour and request that we have turn signals at um especially at cedan and palid Avenue it is just impossible to make a turn on that street so somebody can please look into that I however I feel it's really important to address the elephant in the room which is racism I would like to read the definition of racism which is Prejudice discrimination or antagonism by an individual Community or institution against a person or people on the basis of racial an ethnic group typically one that is minority or marginalized now let's see if we see racism in action in tck this council meeting continues to be extended while some meetings are cut short when there are black and brown people waiting to speak the recent article in paper owned by a council member attacks the only colored Council women we have these women are smart knowledgeable and are asking the right questions they are being transparent the the council members who are attacking are not going unnoticed the constant interrupting by council members when Denise and Daniel speak also does not get go unnoticed also the hate that is being presented by certain council members really speaks volumes to your character the list of racism in action is too long for a three minute call so I hope as Leaders of a diverse town the council members take the time to self-reflect and lead by example there is a lot more I can say but this Council really needs to get some training on bias and discrimination before you start engaging with public on any kind of empathy training we're not even there yet we just need the council to go for some discrimination and bias training right now so please take that time to do that and take the time to self-reflect it'll help a lot thank you very much Deborah s23 please unmute and state your name for the record good morning it's Deborah bayberg thank you all for staying up late to this wonderful morning uh first of all I want to say um congratulations Dean on your retirement you will be seriously missed and I'm sure you won't miss this um I'd also like to address all everybody that's been calling in in defense of the councilwoman with regards to her comments the other week um what you all seem to have forgotten which was clearly stated earlier on this meeting by another Resident that they oped emails which means this particular councilwoman had two weeks advanced warning about this she had two weeks to speak to the attorney she had two weeks to speak to our other council members she had two weeks to speak to anybody but instead it seems they spoke to each other and arranged to bring this into the meeting so listening to everybody speaking on her behalf is a little disingenuous because she had two weeks so she should have had the answers already and either been able to corroborate what Mr seagull was saying was true or debunk it who knows but she had two weeks let's not forget that um i' also before I get to the next point to remind people that Mama Mia will be being performed by the Teek High School theater Department this weekend from Friday through Sunday uh check out I guess the teen Board of Education website for details or the theater Department Instagram I guess um and the next thing I'd like to discuss is people talking about ceasefires you also seem to have forgotten there was actually a ceasefire on October 6th even though Hamas had been sending Rockets into Israel continuously thankfully there is the Iron Dome because the Israelis choose to build things to protect their citizens all their citizens be they Muslim Jewish Drews Chris Christian whoever they protect all their citizens whilst Hamas decided to build territ tunels and enjoy using civilians as human Shields and maybe you should be pleading with Hamas leadership in Qatar to maybe stop whooping it out on their billions that they have stolen from the Palestinian people they stole water pipes to build Rockets they have tortured these people but all you are doing is blaming Israel maybe you should be look at the Hamas leadership which that were elected that have not allowed elections for how many years so maybe when you're sitting talking of ceasefire you might have forgotten there was one on October 6th and when you were all screaming for ceasefires on October 8th Israel actually hadn't fired a shot they were still dealing with their dead so I find a lot of these PE everyone speaking is a little disingenuous and when you say anti-zionist you mean anti-jewish some of you slip up every so often these people Jews Jewish we hear it and I also want to very quickly thank councilman Goldberg for everything she's done for the community I really appreciate it and you know I was a big critic so thank you in public Thank You Bridget please unmute and state your name for the record Bridgette Jones Bridget I oh I don't think you got through Bridget earlier sorry Bridget three minutes thank you so much um I thank y'all for staying late for our meeting tonight um but I'm here to to say that I'm really I want to Echo the irony of hosting a real estate sale of stolen land on stolen land I want to um honor the indigenous folks who still live on this land with us that we stole here in the US hundreds of years ago um and in doing so to point out the white grievance that is going on amid an ongoing genocide um that folks are are cheerleading I'm sorry that I'm losing my link um there are literal children being massacred 1% of children in Gaza have already been exterminated and annihilated um by the Israeli ethnostate and many of my closest friends are Jews who are risking um their their their health their energy um their livelihoods um to fight this because their own grandparents um and family survived um survived genocide um never again means never again for anyone um and I can't um I want to remind yall that there were literal children being carried in plastic bags in pools of liquid I want to remind y'all when you complain about the lack of peace in your town that you are responsible and that history is watching and that you are complicit I want to remind y'all that that a little girl was lynched with her legs shredded I want to remind y'all that I watched I don't know if y'all watched it but I watched a little girl's head her skull literally be emptied this is a genocide being live broadcast for the world and if folks in tck are content to to be complicit in it and to sell to literally be selling land to expedite the annihilation of these people or the or the opposite to annihilate people to clear land so that folks in tenet can get rich Hell is Hot it's waiting for you was up man shert M please unmute and state your name for the record hi sherwat Muhammad um I'm a bagoda resident but I have worked and I have participated in a lot of uh events I have shopped and have had friends and been a Community member in tenek I've often sat and listened to the town hall meetings since October and even previous and I've debated speaking for a long time because I just I go back and forth um I've typed out a speech that I wanted to say about the things that I've learned and I've educated myself over the last few years about um the history of Gaza and the fertile crust and you know I I've really made myself learn a lot and I've become more in touch with the history of that land and I'm more I'm more focused in my con convictions and where I stand but with some of the things the residents have been saying I'm just appalled by the the vitriol that's um that's been spewed tonight I hope some people can pull back um I hope there's more empathy especially from the uh council members um Deborah specifically um I'm just disgusted by some of the things that you just said Naomi from earlier um I I hope both of you can take a breath um there are children that are dying there are mothers and fathers that are dying um this is above any of you this is above me we're both going home sleeping in our beds um I I honestly think we all could use a little bit more Humanity um mayor Pagan your complete um uh you're you're completely ignoring the Muslim Community in t neck and it's not unnoticed um I hope you can reflect on that as well I hope to attend more meetings and be able to say the things that I wanted to say because it was quite you know thought out and more eloquent than this is I'm just uh kind of of taken back and I'm very mixed with a lot of different emotions I'm angry I'm upset I'm heartbroken there's so much I want to say and I don't want to say the wrong things I marched with a lot of Jewish people throughout the last few months and I've talked to them and a lot of people have empathy and it's not the things that I've heard the last few hours your time has expired thank you Ellie please unmute state your name for the record Ellie with the hand up hi yeah hello this is you had your hand raised to participate in good and Welfare three minutes yes yes hello um I'm going to read a statement that was sent to a comrade of mine on behalf of the descendants of the LPE people who were expelled from the land that we call Tink um his name is Joe Whittle he says hi my name is Joe Whittle and I am a tribal member of the Lenape and cadoo people you are standing together in LPE hooking the homeland of the Lenape people I want you to know that I understand Palestine I stand up for Palestine and I am praying that Creator will stand us up together in a good way the reason I am sending this message to you via email instead of standing there with you today is a big part of the reason why I stand with Palestine I am writing this from my Indian reservation in Oklahoma 1,500 miles away from LPE hulking my homeland because my family was forced here by ethnic cleansing and genocidal tactics like putting bounties on the scalps of even our babies our people know what it's like to have entire families brutally massacred so that settlers could steal our land and homes these things took place on the land you stand on and all around you they are the reasons that cities like tinic exist which was named for our LPE word uten meaning town this is why I'm I am not here with you today the ethnic cleansing of LPE hoking scattered our people into diaspora and open air prisons in Oklahoma Wisconsin and Canada we still reside there today and most lape people have never even seen our beautiful homelands due to the socioeconomic barriers colonizers imposed on us we have had to fight for over 400 years to survive and retain our culture our languages our sovereignty and our identities so even though though I cannot be with you there today in person I stand with you in my heart because I do not want to see what happened to my people continue to happen to the people of Palestine I do not want them to be little more than a bastardizing place like tenek or a land acknowledgement 400 years from now I want them to be thriving and happy and whole and one with the land that made them Palestine just as I seek that from my own people in Lampe hooking from The River To The Sea pal will be free from sea to Sea Turtle Island will be free wanish thank you all for being there today to stand up against in IND indigenous genocide this was written and sent to a conrade of mine who asked me to read it today though it can be on the record in Tina Council that the reason why we were that the reason why we stand with Palestine is the same reason why we with indigenous people from Turtle your time has expired all right good and Welfare is closed and I extend I make a motion to extend the meeting till 1:30 a.m. all those in favor please say I Mr Schwarz would you like to start us off sir yes I I'll try to make it brief um I'm actually not going to address most of what I've been speaking about I'm gonna address the council and I think we need to continue to work on what our rules and our policies are having a 4H hour good and Welfare is not fair to people like Mr yuat Dr yuat wants legitimate tinic items to be discussed instead we get to hear of from comrades from Oklahoma and I think we we have people who aren't on camera people who come on multiple times people who are totally offensive and totally lie because they're not on camera or their names are fake or both I think we need to enforce that as a rule cameras on there's your name or you're off done next no goodbye you're out next um I've always um not always but of recently when these meetings started shpping out I've said we have a one hour rule and I stand by what I think we have a one- hour rule because there's no one right now that can address all the comments we heard and most people we don't even know if these comments are legitimate or not I mean we have we we've learned history about Albania we this is just this is crazy and and we're not going to make that difference but we're going to make a difference here in tinck by talking about things that are of teen Ecentric that we just don't have the time to talk about tonight so with that said um you know we we've had people accuse us of shut I've been accused of shutting down a meeting because I don't like to see the waiting list that I don't know what the waiting list of people are here to speak so I'm gonna hope that we can continue to work on our policies for future meetings with that said thank you everyone for coming out tonight I mean there's no one else left um a lot of new faces a lot of oldtime faces that that were the first time in this in this chamber that I heard there's a lot of VP customers you guys should go home um so uh with that said thank you very much and I look forward to hearing what everyone else has to say Thank you Mr Schwarz Miss beler first off I want to uh say to Mr Brown uh my deepest um condolences to uh to you on your loss of your wife and um uh regarding the uh anything that the council can do and and supporting you and your family um just know that we're here for you uh Dean I I just have to say that seven more weeks that we count um you know all the ways in which we can try and convince you to stay you know we're going to at least try um also I just want to mention someone had asked about the affordable housing subcommittee the affordable housing subcommittee has met uh in last in the last um meetings um there was a a subcommittee report that was placed there so if you check that uh the minutes from there um the documentations you'll see uh the details uh that we have uh uh discuss during that meeting um during good and Welfare I just want to say I listen to all residents um I listen to their concerns and their comments uh asking question regarding things happening in our town is is is a part of my job is what I consider a part of my job and I take it really seriously as elected officials I I believe it's so incumbent of us to uh to be held to a higher standard uh we are responsible to repres represent all of EK uh in the best light we possibly can as Leaders we cannot take off our Council member's hat and put on our social media hat and post and publish divisive comments or articles that in any way promote hateful or racist post In Articles or that any way tarnishes the Teck brand that we have all come to love We As Leaders don't want in any way to contribute to reasons why buyers do not consider te neck a viral place to consider as their home nor do we want residents or employees to want to leave posting one-sided negative propaganda should not happen by any of us on the de if we are going to um ever solve for the divide in this in this community we as leaders have to make a commitment obligation to act as Leaders leadership matters now more than ever yes I wrote the peace and unity resolution with my colleague Deputy Mayor G and it had to be written why because the first resolution didn't reflect all the communities that were hurting within our Township it IGN Ed a hurting Community within our Township the peace and unity resolution was an attempt to heal a hurt I agree that harassment threats intimidation is wrong so is all hatred to include racism and islamophobia ISM such as also targeting fellow council members and calling them anti-Semitic for doing their job I will always advocate for peace and unity um within our Township that I have called home for 40 years um I I will always allow for uh for wanting to make sure that we can all of us can live in peace and Harmony I want to just simply say that when I was sworn in on uh into office on January 3rd of last year I took an on an O oath of office uh to the Constitution of the state of New Jersey and to the United States of America to care for and to advocate for all 40,000 residents of EK and all communities within the township I will work positively to work um toward a wonderful quality of life for all communities within our Township I will always seek the truth I will always seek solutions to problems that is why I'm sitting here I will always ask difficult questions that res residents wants answers to I will always seek to represent all residents and all communities I will ask questions I will always ask questions that is who I am and that is who I will always be thank you Miss Oregon um just to go back to the length of um good and Welfare and the time to shuko and shaan's last meeting Deputy Mayor G asked us not to cut off good and Welfare so we did not last meeting and we didn't do it tonight either uh this had nothing to do with who was speaking or what they were speaking about um but I do think that 1:00 am is too late to get an answer from your council members people who come out and speak to us should want answers from us and you're not getting the right answer at 1:00 in the morning and the people who are up at home watching or the few of you who are still here with us tonight you're not getting your answers either so um I to me 11 o'clock is fair one o'clock in the morning is not okay everybody has a job including the people who are here with us we have a manager a clerk a deputy manager and an attorney and a clerk's office that all have to get up and Ron um I'll have to get up soon and and go to work so this is not okay either and there needs to be um some kind of compromise without accusations about it um but this that one o00 in the morning while an experiment is not okay to me um three years ago almost to the month I was in Florida with my family my husband Eric and my daughter Jamie and we were with um council member schwarz's family and we were walking down the street and a car with four men in it four young adult men pulled up and started harassing two very Jewish men um dressed in in Jewish Garb and my husband Eric and Mark jumped in front of um the two men and and had them move away and then jumped in front of me and my daughter Jamie and the men in the car started screaming the most awful things at us and throwing garbage at us and throwing water bottles at us and this was on Collins Avenue in Bal Harbor um it was a Jewish holiday and that night my husband posted it on social media within hours we had a 100,000 people or more reach out to us the mayor of bal Harbor reached out to us um news agencies that week reached out and Eric and Jamie went to speak on on many news shows I don't remember much of what happened because I scare easily but they um they remembered and they stood in front of us only because a car um with a man carrying a gun uh that drove around and and frightened them did they move away and this street cameras were were able to capture them and their license plates and they were arrested and when I got home I had um people from all over town reach out to me to tell me how horrible it was I had the senior citizen Advisory board members reach out to tell me how horrible it was and I was shaken for a while and um I I do Shake easily um but now an event like that would just be another Sunday in Teck it would be a day of intimidation it would be a day of verbal violence I think that's a newly coined term tonight um this is the reality of what's going on here and people are coming out specifically to do what those men in the car were doing to us they're trying to to scare us and to cause fear and it's scary and it's terrifying but nobody here is going away and I need to say again I said this when there was a day of hate um back a few months ago uh declared against Jewish the Jewish people in general if this was any other group any other race any other religion any sexual orientation any gender this would not be tolerated and it would not be tolerated by people who lived in tenek I know I would not tolerate it and so um I hear what the people who came out before are trying to express this is not what tenek should be um to to council woman rice I I understand that there's definitely sexism with women in general and perhaps with black women but up here as a council we need to speak to each other as we're colleagues as were men and women of races and religions and not take that into account and if we disagree with somebody it can't be with the stigma that we're targeting them because of race that does is not how a council should should run um I wish to say to Lisa Hassan I was not the event um I was at work on Sunday and I do not blow kisses it was not me I'd like to thank the police again for everything that they've done in the past few months but especially on October 10th um they actually formed a Thin Blue Line Between protesters and this is why we celebrate them and this is why we celebrate that flag um and and it is not a racist narrative and I will always back the police department in tenac to Mr Hollander I know you're probably sleeping but AB absolutely um forest and laurelon needs to be fixed I know the manager took notes of that and something that I know will be important to our town that really got passed over tonight because of other things um Pat and Chris and Mike um from Bergen Michael from Bergen complete streets um I know you sent your information to the clerk but we will reach out to you this week because that sounds very intriguing to us we do have a lot of County roads here uh thank you wow I would just like to save for the record that I stood I sat here while she spoke but okay second meeting thank you to everyone who came out tonight in person and on zoom on October 17th 2023 this Council unanimously passed the resolution condemning Hamas after the barbaric terrorist attack on October 7th the resolution stated whereas the collective life experience of Jews shows that each time Israel is forced to defend herself it is universally followed by an increase in anti-semitic attacks worldwide with Jews being attacked simply for being Jewish including inac none of us ever thought that we would be seeing the world that we're living in today I am a third generation lifelong Teck residents my parents my grandparents my uncles and aunts including Senator Matthew Feldman would not be silent at Hitler salutes a hateful protest yes when there a chance of Hitler was right go back to aitz your hostages are dead and calling teenek Jewish residents rapist pedophiles Nazis terrorists just to name a few oras our houses of worship are being worship are being attacked and as our residents are feeling terrorized weakly like my grandfather before me neither will I I will not be silenced in the face of anti-Semitism and I will not be silenced as members of the Jewish Community are afraid and when houses of worship are threatened I was at keter Torah on March 10th and this is the flag that was desecrated that day this Sunday Jews in EK and across the world will observe pum a holiday that marked the defeat of Haman and his effort to destroy the Jewish people some 2500 years ago Queen Esther bravely stood up and defended her people in the face of extreme danger and risk to her life she stood up and spoke and saved them and I still find it completely heartbreaking that it's considered Brave and courageous for me to condemn Hamas and support the Jewish Community after Terror and in the face of the worst anti-Semitism in nearly a century it seems that this is the moment that I was called for and I hope that all of our Jewish residents are safe this perum the Holocaust did not start with the gas Chambers the Holocaust started with blaming Jews for the economy with blaming Jews for the result of a war with blaming Jews for The Misfortune of others the Holocaust started with words words matter and normalizing anti-Semitism puts Jews in danger normalizing anti-Semitism is what has forced us to leave country after country and it has put us in camps and gas Chambers normalizing anti-Semitism is why we have a place to go not if but when our neighbors turn on us and every day it feels like that moment is here in Te let me be blunt for any elephants that left the room or on Zoom Jews are not weaponizing anti-Semitism telling Jews to watch sha King is the equivalent of telling others to learn by watching David Duke refusing to vote for a person based on their religion is anti-Semitism accusing Jews of being agents of the Israeli government is anti-Semitism gaslighting Jews denying war crimes committed by Hamas denying the Holocaust not recognizing the pain and experience of the Jewish Community is anti-Semitism blaming Jews for the policies of Israel is anti-Semitism calling Jews Nazis is anti-Semitism anti-Semitism is not a difference of opinion and I want to say officially that I've waited three years to say this I condemn the attack on councilwoman Oregon and I will always stand against anti-Semitism and with the Jewish community in the face of anti-Semitism councilman Oregon I sorry I was not brave enough to do that 3 years ago not being allowed to condemn anti-Semitism is anti-Semitism on October 7th mayor Pagan reached out to me to ask me how I was and if my family was okay and to remind me that he was there for me my friend Shandra young joined my parents for Shabbat dinner just the night before and she has checked on their well-being and of her friends and family in this community for months and Cheryl Hall has took the time to learn and listen and speak out and speak the truth both privately at this Council and at Community meetings and at abcr meetings thank you and I am proud to call all of them my friends this community is hurt it is scared and it is broken it is not broken because we condemned Hamas it is broken because of anti-Semitism it is broken because of Fear And for those wanting us to get out of our silos for those demanding Unity fear is not a way to bring people out of their silos to those demanding peace and unity and not recognizing accepting or believing the pain that members of this community have accept expressed the fear that has been expressed to those that promised us peace and unity and to those accused of accusing Jews of weaponizing anti-Semitism and to those who denied the sexual violence and murder of Jews you held all the cards on October 31st why did you give them away in the words of historian Ian kersha the road to aitz was built by hate but paved with indifference we cannot stand idly by and allow this to happen here again in TK never again is now bring them home um thank you to all the Teck residents who stayed up with us today um I know it was a very long meeting um I am a proponent of keeping good and Welfare open so that all can speak I don't necessarily think everyone expects to hear an answer tonight I think they do want their three minutes to share their feelings their thoughts on this platform and I think we owe it to them um this isn't a regular occurrence it's I think one off when there are contentious issues going on in town um now I just want to go on record formally I absolutely condemn all hateful acts and any hateful speech that has occurred during protests here in tenek um this includes the protest on March 10th as well as the protest at tenk high school and all the others as Americans we do have First Amendment rights which protect our Free Speech but I strongly believe that these acts of protest should always be non-violent they should always be respectful and they should always be peaceful I also pray that we refrain from labing an entire Community for the bad behaviors of some I'm so incredibly grateful for our police officers and our town manager for taking all the necessary precautions to keep our community safe I want to say that I hear you our community members who spoke out who say they are fearful I am confident in Dean and our police officers that they will take the appropriate measures to continue to keep us safe my heart breaks for the division that I have witnessed in this town for the last few months we have a duty as council members to keep all of our residents safe and ensure that all voices are heard in order to do that I implore my fellow Council colleagues that we lead by example we have to stop the petty squabbles we have to stop inciting Discord on social media instead let's do the work if we disagree let's disagree respectfully but let's remember what we were why we were voted into these roles and what we were supposed to do so I ask you all to please continue to support pro programs like tilt and TLC they're doing the work continue to support the um abcr they want to do the work so badly chery H has called about this empathy training I can't count the number of times continue support the res resuscitation of leadership tck and let's not stop it from happening because of petty issues this is what it's about bringing people together for all the right issues let's stop being divisive let's lead by example thank you thank you Deputy Mayor first and foremost thank you to all of our residents who came out tonight to let us know how you feel about what is happening in Teek I have something that I would like to say to the residents of T over the course of my life and I'm only 47 years old I've always found that one of ek's greatest strengths is our diversity and that no matter what our individual backgrounds might be that we have always put Teck first we have always been a community that has been able to come together more often than not and while it wasn't unanticipated that events around the world could impact us right here in our hometown the degree to which they have has been unprecedented and alarming on October 7th our community and the world changed our hearts broke in real time as members of our community lost family and friends at the hands of Hamas which chose to start this war with their actions on that terrible day amas is a terrorist organization that was founded in hate and Hamas has stated repeatedly that their mission is to make sure that Israel no longer exists by any means necessary and that cannot be allowed to happen in addition there are still more than 100 hostages whose fate is yet to be determined including six Americans who have direct ties to EK and to Bergen County as a whole this terrible War has resulted in thousands of lives lost including innocent men women and children to which there can be no other feeling than that of sadness and empathy I personally look upon my 8-year-old son and see in his eyes an innocence that only a child can possess who has not yet experienced the full dangers of the world that we live in and I cannot begin to Fathom what it would feel like if I were to ever lose him let alone during a war however I do not sit on this deis and represent Israel or Gaza I represent Tina and as I have said before in has always taken great pride in our diversity but lately it doesn't feel like teen I grew up the dialogue the dialogue is shifted to a polarizing alarming State and sadly right now it is hard to Envision a day when we can all come to a together again like it used to be because tck will never be the same we will never be the same and I am appalled by the reactions and comments I have gotten from community members and those outside of Teck boundaries especially through social media because there have been threats of violence made against me there have been threats of violence made against my eight-year-old son there have been threats of violence made against other members of my family there have been threats of violence made against countless members of our community and there have been threats of violence made against the township and this has to stop and just a few weeks ago a counil member's house was broken into and that too has to stop while I understand the passion of those who are protesting I cannot condone violence or threats of violence in any shape or form and when you threaten my 8-year-old son and my family it is nearly impossible for me to hear your message and I denounce and condemn the use of symbols of hate such as the Nazi salute also because people keep asking me personally I believe in a two-state salute solution but that is just my humble opinion I am not an expert in foreign affairs or middle eastern Affairs and I am always quick to admit that but as members of ret Community going forward we need to find common ground and common bonds to talk to each other like neighbors like we used to because we cannot escape the reality that anti-Semitism and islamophobia are at an all-time high and we must do everything in our power that we can do to protect our neighbor protect our hometown and to not add fuel to the Flames of hate and lastly to the folks on social media who have threatened my 8-year-old son because of these protests I have taken steps to protect my son and my family online and in person so I have hidden some messages on social media threatening my family in my hometown but we can see everyone who is making these threats and all of those threats have been reported to the police and to the FBI and are currently being investigated now I know it's really really late so I'll stop there Mr manager is there anything you would like to say about getting welfare tonight uh no I just took some um notes about the problem areas and reported them this evening to a DPW thank you Mr manager our next order of business is the consent agenda and all matters listed on the consent agenda are considered to be routine in nature by Council and will be enacted by one motion there will be no separate discussion of these items if any discussion is desired by Council that particular item will be removed from the consent agenda and will be considered separately Mr clerk can you please read the amount of the bill list to the record yes mayor and like you mentioned we have three sets a minute resolutions 89 through 95224 and the bill list in the amount of 9,265 $257 74 motion approve Schwarz second councilman Schwarz on the bill list on everything on the bill list removal of 24 numbers 869 1098 and 1181 those are some advertisements in the Jewish link uh as well including the abandoned property list which I think town for sending out Jewish link invoices and that was an abstain sir thank you sir councilman beler yes to all councilman Goldberg no on the Clos session minutes from February 27th and uh yes on everything else but a recusal on the bills list for invoice 3934 from Jordan meiser because it's regarding Wayne's puppies Wayne's puppies invoice the whole invoice though yeah it's a own invoice invoice number 3934 so yes on on everything else in the bills list and then just a no on the closed session minutes but yes and everything else okay councilwoman Oregon yes to all Deputy Mayor G yes to all mayor Pagan yes all adopted I think we're good to go make a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn all those in favor please say I thank you to everyone who joined us tonight thank you to everyone who stayed up so late with us tonight