Council - Regular Meeting

use building any questions from the council hearing none next item uh councilman uh i just want to thank the clerk for getting us out of the glass cases and you know able to see from and and really thank you to you and your staff for really taking that initiative getting this class You know, we were, and again, the glass was affecting, because it would hit, the lights would hit, and you couldn't really look at, and sometimes we'd go like this, and it's not because we were tired. And I want to thank you for that, you and your staff.

Yes, definitely thank you, because this is my first meeting without the glass. So it's definitely a different experience. Thank you. Next item.

B is an ordinance to amend and supplement rent control by making various corrections and additions. And C is an ordinance regarding rent control also to revise the definition of income eligible individuals. Both are sponsored by Councilman Council and second by Councilman Kelly.

Any questions from the council? Hearing none, next item.

D is an ordinance amending solid waste management by amending collection and removal of bulk waste items when creating hazardous conditions and associated penalties. Sponsored by Councilman Council. Second by Councilman Ramos.

Questions from the council. Next item.

E is an ordinance authorizing the acquisition of property for a new water and sewer utilities complex sponsored by Councilwoman Bay, second by Councilwoman Scott-Rountree.

Any questions from the council? Next item.

Resolutions, 7R1A through H are all temporary emergency appropriations. A is for the Operating Budget. B is for Federal Highway Safety Grant. C is for the Innovative Community Crisis Response Partnership Grant. D is for the Immunization Program. E is for the Firefighters Memorial Park Climate Resilient Community Space Grant. F is for the distracted driving grant. G is for the youth boxing program grant. And H is for the water monitoring program.

Mr. President, if I may.

Councilman Gonzalez.

Yeah, it seems that I am going to leave this body without taking a look at the budget. We have requested the budget since March. It's already May 20th, tomorrow, and we haven't seen anything. I would love to see that we have movement going on and that the council is advised of any shortfalls in the budget before they have to vote on something that they don't know about.

get a mr ba yeah good morning uh council president council members eric pennington business administrator uh your concerns are valid and well raised my hope as i promised is to get you well promise to get it to you by by this month but uh working on it i'm here until the 30th my plan is to make sure that we get something to you um i actually have a meeting with our budget team today uh to see where we are i mean there are challenges but we're moving through it i'm just noticing that uh we are closer today there's no no no uh You're not guarded from me with your plastic anymore. That's a good thing. All right. Appreciate that. But anyway, working on it. And I'm happy to actually, if you would like, I'd even meet with you separately and have further discussions about exactly where we stand and obviously share with the council as a whole, but give it to you and ask more discussion.

I believe it would be as productive as it could be because I would be leaving the council. but I believe that it's imperative that you meet with the council and discuss any possibilities for a shortfall and how it's going to be remedied.

Certainly. mr president yeah i i agree with my colleague you know every council meeting we're spending you know money against this year's budget which we haven't seen um we don't have an indication of what the state aid number is going to be or what the request from the city is And also, you should have an idea at this point is what kind of tax increase are you looking to include in this year's budget in order for us to have a balanced budget. So those items, even without all the details, I think you should be able to share with us.

Fair comments, fair questions. I do have internally. four or five scenarios right now. And perhaps we should have a budget discussion and I can share that with you, but I have a meeting today and I'll be in a better position to share that with you after that.

And the other thing I mentioned, I had the opportunity to listen into some of the state budget hearings and the DCA commission in particular, Department of Community Affairs, she went over the amounts of aid for different towns and municipalities around the state. And there are some rather small towns that are getting a considerable amount of additional state aid. from the state government that comes with oversight and some restrictions and local spending. I just wonder, I know we had a borrow money, two years in a row in order to offset the additional amount that was owed to the county, if that was a possibility for us to possibly get that aid as a grant as opposed to a loan, would be that as it may if there are um possibilities for or or the requirement for additional state aid have you had conversations with with the dca person to see if that additional aid is available even if maybe there isn't a need for additional aid based on the budget that you're seeing we have ongoing conversations that's part of the

two prior years borrowing, we have to give reports to the state and our finance director talks with the DCA at least monthly about where we stand. We have requested that in various iterations of the borrowing that we've had to turn them into a grant that has been denied. But one of them has been deferred until next year where we have to make the payments. With respect to asking for additional aid at this point, we've had those discussions. We have not settled on where it stands. Essentially, the likelihood that we'll ever get a, not ever, but in this budget get another loan from the state is unlikely.

extraordinarily unlikely and with respect to a grant as you say would require significant oversight and we are balancing whether or not it makes sense to pursue that yeah i mean you you read that jersey city is asking for upwards of 200 million dollars in state aid and i don't know if they're going to get it but um you know as the state's largest city when you see the list of those relatively small towns and the amount of money that they're getting from the state um there definitely needs some balance and fairness in in the state aid numbers and and north deserves consideration even with the oversight on um spending which in this environment i wouldn't have a problem with fair enough thank you Thank you. Anything else for the VA?

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'm sorry, wait, I think. Just a conversation around 7R1G, the temporary emergency preparations to provide the funds for the youth boxing program under the Attorney General's office, if we can get a better explanation on the receivership of the funds from the Attorney General believe into the police department and if there is going to be some kind of pass-through through the recreation centers because they house boxing programs or is this an outreach to get more youth in the city of Newark involved in boxing programs still vis-a-vis if those funds will be some kind of pass-through through our police department to ensure that these funds are getting into the gyms to help to recruit young people into the boxing gyms in the city.

Yeah, I'll defer that to the recreation director and public safety. They're here, I believe. Are they here? I don't see recreation. Oh, there we are. Ms. Raspberry is here, and public safety is here, so they both can come in and address this. Thank you.

Morning, Council President. Good morning. Captain James George on behalf of the Department of Public Safety. It's my understanding that our Youth Aid Bureau that processes offenders and then links them up with the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery for some of the services are contracting with gyms or organizing with gyms in order to make this happen as part of some of their programs. rehabilitation process so they don't get involved in any additional crimes or additional offenses that if they were committed by an adult would be considered a crime.

So would this be a pass-through for outside, even if it's for offenders, outside individuals, even if they're offenders, to go to outside gymnasiums and not to support the gymnasiums that are housed by the Department of Recreation, Cultural Affairs, and Senior Services. I know that there's some separate outside entity boxing gyms that are within the city. Is this going to be grant application or dollars that will go to assist and help them as well?

I'd have to find out the details and then leave it to the Recreation Department to see if those conversations were had with Youth Aid, but I can find out for you and then- Yes, please.

Yeah, that would be greatly helpful.

Good morning. Keisha Razzetti, Assistant Director, Department of Recreation, Cultural Affairs, and Senior Services to the President, Council, the President, Council President, and the Council. I'm not really aware of that, but however, as the gentleman just said we will be in negotiations to see if there is any connection that we can make to get some of those funds funded to the recreation center for the boxing programs that we do host already but we believe we have three ironbound boxing oil and boxing and jfk thank you thank you

thank you next item well i'm sorry let me go back i'd like to sponsor seminar one e e as an edward is there a second yes second second by councilman kelly duly noted i also want to uh sponsor um 7r1g Is there a second for that? Second. Second by Councilman. That was, I heard Councilman. Council first. All right, next item.

i through q are purchasing contracts i is a cooperative agreement to purchase bucket trucks to be used for installing maintaining and calibrating pole cameras and automated license plate meters j is a cooperative agreement for public safety special vehicles K is the extension of emergency contract for repairs needed on the bay floor area of engine 19 firehouse. L is a state contract to purchase OEM and non OEM maintenance and repair services for light medium duty vehicles. M is a state contract to purchase firefighter protective gear, equipment and supplies. N is a state contract for tire removal and disposal services. O is a state contract to purchase and deliver necessary gases, cylinders, and related equipment. P is a bid contract to provide ammunition. And Q is a bid contract to provide locksmith services.

Questions from the Council?

Yes, Council President, I'd like to sponsor 7R1M. M?

M as in Mary.

Mary.

Is there a second? Second. Second by Councilman Quintana.

Next item. Mr. Chair. Councilman. About the tire disposal contract. I know prior we had asked about the amount that we had spent currently up to date as it relates to tire disposals. To get that amount I know is critical so that we can provide some light on how much disposing of all of these tires costs especially when individuals are bringing them into the city illegally dumping them and we're responsible for picking them up finding them and then disposing of them and so for us to be able to have a cost on that so that the council can be able to see what that looks like i think it's important for us to have so thank you thank you councilman through uh madam clerk so we can get that response sure

Thank you.

R through Z are resolutions from the Office of the Business Administrator. R is a contract with sub-recipient to provide community-based violence intervention and prevention and high-risk intervention, North Community Street Team.

Yeah, Mr. Chair, I'd like to sponsor that item.

Second.

I think I wanted to, but I heard Councilwoman Scott Rountree, so Councilman Council, seconded by Councilman Scott Rountree.

And then also, I just want to talk about, one, the amazing job that the Newark Community Street Team has been doing since its inception. and to ultimately hopefully figure out some more ways that we can extend resources to them as they continue to work to provide safe passage and travel and do other things in the community that is really helping along with the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, Newark Street Academy, Brook City Peace Collective, to really suppress, bring down, encourage and engage not just our youth, but our young adults in this community to be able to find alternative means to not just balance, but character development and all of the things that they're doing that we don't even take note of while they're providing safe passage, right? The friendships that they're making, the families that they're meeting, the connections that they're building. Sometimes we take those things for granted and they become very important in terms of intelligence and solving problems and critically creating relationships with other young people that really have difficult times learning how to network with each other. So I just want to commend them. I see them in the audience today. I just want to commend them for their work and all of their effort and everything they do. And every time you call on them, they're always there. So I pop up in front of the school, they're right there, they're waving, they're friendly. And so I just want to thank them publicly for what they do privately to help our young people. Thank you. Councilwoman Scott-Roundtree.

I too want to ditto my colleague Councilman Council's remarks because when we go by the schools and we see them standing in the street and we see them making sure that our young people are safe passage is a key word. So knowing that they've had challenges and knowing that they They've had to go through some things to get where they are. They have decided to do what they do. And when you say more community street team, community is a key word. You are taking care of the streets in the community as a team. And for that publicly, I too want to thank you for your sacrifice, for your work, for your commitment, for what you do in the streets, for the community as a team. God bless you.

Thank you. Councilman Kelly.

Yes, too. I'm just going to echo my colleagues as well. I really look at you guys as the blueprint to a lot of these high risk intervention organizations that's out here. Before them, I knew of the newer community street team. And when I call on you guys, especially in my first term along south on Java and in that West Ward, you would right on the spot so i just want to thank you for all of the work that you do all of the influence that you have in our community because that's important sometime when you have on these stuffy suits and ties we can't go out and have those conversations that you actually have and um there is somebody to do you know the work that needs to be done and that is you that is sitting in the audience so i just want to say thank you thank you thank you

Councilman Gonzales.

I just want to suggest that perhaps we can complement what they do with cameras so that they say they have witnesses, the camera, they can present as a witness if an event is happening so that in that case, It's not the word of the person. You have a video of what really transpired in addition to have the person that saw what happened. I believe it's important that we install cameras closer to the schools and closer to the areas that they are performing their duties so that we have other eyes, more eyes on the road. And thank you very much for what you do.

Thank you, Councilman. Councilman Quintana.

I just want to say thank you. You know, I've seen your work. Don't stop by, but I've seen what you do. I mean, really, it's a change. It changes the tone of people saying that nothing gets done in the City of Newark. We have the testimony of what you do for the people of the City of Newark. because we all can't do it as councilman kelly said and we cannot do it but you are you're the eyes and ears of the city and and you know that's what's important uh that you're there making sure that young people uh whether they're in trouble whatever it may be that you are counseling them and guiding them into a direction and a great path of success in this city of ours where people may say nothing gets done but things do get done But you are what gets it done. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Councilwoman Bay.

Yes. So their office is actually right down the street from my office at North Emergency. And so I see them every day coming in and out and making sure that they are an active participant in the community. You're part of the extended village of this community of this city and making sure that our people not only feel safe, but seen and heard. and making sure that we have a way to communicate with people who feel unseen. And so I just wanna, again, echo my council colleagues to thank you for the work that you do and know that we support you and we will continue to do so.

Anything else from the council? All right, well, let me be the final one to say something. Obviously, you can see that your work is appreciated by us. And it's good that the council colleagues have said that. And I just want to add to that too. It does not go unnoticed. And so we appreciate what you do. And we will continue to support you as best as we can. Thank you. Next.

S is a competitive contract to provide consulting services and technical assistance for HUD entitlement programs. T is a cooperative agreement to purchase and provide a grants management software subscription.

Any questions? I'm sorry, where are you going? Just keep going.

U is the application acceptance of grant funds for the Newark Safe Gateway Pedestrian and Traffic Calming Project. V is an application acceptance of grant funds for the Firefighters Memorial Park Climate Resilient Community Space. W is application acceptance of grant funds for the water monitoring program. X is a memorandum of understanding to support the development of Lionsgate Studios. Y is a resolution of support for a class five cannabis retail business. And Z is a resolution of support for a class five cannabis retail business.

First, I'd like to sponsor 7R1V. Second. Seconded by Councilman Scott Brown. Yes.

Yeah, Ms. President, I would like to sponsor seminar one X. X as in Xavier.

Second up. Okay. I would like to sponsor a seminar. I'm sorry.

We just did X. One, no, I'm sorry. I'm tripping out.

anything from the council anything else from the council yeah mr president i'm sorry i was on a call did we did we do the uh two cannabis um applications or no those she she mentioned those just now okay questions yeah i know with with um the last time we had our meeting with why there were a few issues facility-wise that they needed to address because i know that one's looking to operate their shop out of the second floor so there was some elevator suggestion that the chair made. And then they also would like to see a revised list of organizations that are part of their community benefit. You know, they mentioned two organizations at the meeting that are no longer in existence. as far as their community benefit is concerned. So if we can circle back with them on those issues. But the more important issue is the egress issue, right? Like they're looking to operate this on a second floor. I know Councilman Council has suggested that they needed to put in an elevator as part of that in order to safely accommodate patrons. So just want to see if they got back to us on that. And then the other issue is the community benefit piece. I mean, they mentioned two organizations at the meeting that they're no longer in existence. Councilman, is this Y or Z?

It's Y. It's Y? Okay. So if we can get a response, Madam Clerk. Thank you, Councilman. Anything else from the council? Next item.

7R2A and B are private sale redevelopment. A is a rehabilitation and conversion to market rate apartments in the central ward.

Questions from the council?

Yes, I have.

Council one day.

I want to know how many apartments what the layout is, how many is it, one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom, and what that market rate actually is.

Somebody from Economic Housing Development?

Yeah, that's what I was asking. That's the question.

Good morning. Randy Daniel, Legislative Coordinator for Economic and Housing Development. Council President, Councilwoman, to your question, I can get that information to you by the end of the day.

Okay, because I haven't met with these people. I don't know anything. So I might be, you know, talking. Yes, ma'am. I can get that to you. I have a request to defer until I meet with them.

I speak, I'll send you that information.

So, I mean, it sounds like it should be a defer.

Yeah, because the information is not readily available, and I haven't met with them yet.

So let's defer as a whole. Is that all right, Councilwoman?

Yes, sir.

All right.

Councilman Gonzalez.

Your mic wasn't on.

It's on now. I know that the item is going to be deferred, but... it has says here rehabilitation and conversion to market rate apartments. I suppose they are going to comply with the ISO regulations because the whole thing cannot be market rate, I suppose. So it's imperative that we have the, or that the council members have the information that is going to allow them to make a decision without having to get any further information from you. They say, we should have the information right in front of us so that would allow us to make a decision.

So there's a number of items and issues that need to be addressed and discussed before we can move on this item. So we're going to defer it at this point.

Good morning, council members. Good morning. Council President Allison Ladd, Director of Economic and Housing Development. I can understand the questions associated with this, but I wanted to give you the background, which may help clarify some of what is occurring. So as you may recall, earlier this year, the city released a high value auction in which this was one of eight sites that was up for sale. Due to a technical error that we had, we had to cancel the auction. However, in coordination with Corporation Council and the BA, we were able to offer the highest bidders, the one who won, the ability to buy the property at appraised value. So that is what they are doing. They're buying the property at appraised value. As you know, whenever we auction property off, the requirements are different than when we sell things through an LOI or another traditional redevelopment agreement process. Last, I'd say regarding this individual agreement in particular, of course, any project that's above 15 units will have to comply with inclusionary zoning, but it was the auction that actually generated the sale and the selection, not a typical redevelopment agreement, which you would usually see. And I'll just close with all of the documents are in the Legistar file. So I'm confident that everything is present.

Councilman Gonzalez.

Go ahead on myself here. And the next item, it says an assessed value. I don't see an appraised value here. So where is the appraised value of that property that we're selling for $4 million?

Sure. So Council Member, Council President to Council Member Gonzalez's question. This is three different sites also sold by the auction in which all three of the sites have three different appraisals. I believe they are also attached to the Legistar file and that is the amount of $4 million. yes did you did you receive an email that wasn't yesterday offering 5.5 million dollars for this lot um a fair uh council president that was a different site that was what it was a different site councilmember gonzalez they're asking about a different site these are on daremus they're on riverside and also on meeker avenue And then the one on the front is on commerce. So I know that there's some questions, but I would hope that we could advance the sales between these two and at least a few more. This is about $5 million of revenue. And it's very important for us to be able to close on these sites as we're looking to be able to address the budget issue as spoken to by the VA earlier this morning.

Mr. President.

Councilman Ramos.

Deputy Mayor, would it be possible to discuss these, not even the projects, but before the RFQs or whatever go out, these are properties and respective boards. I think it'd be good practice for your office to have a conversation. I mean, the ones that are listed here as it relates to the northward are industrial properties. But we hear rumors that the city is looking to sell the sea and leather site, which is on Broadway in an area that is. very quickly becoming a really nice residential community. And one of the rumors that we hear is that you guys are looking to sell it to an industrial user, which would take us back like 25 years in that neighborhood. So I would strongly suggest that your office, and I know the city's looking for resources in order to balance this budget, but we shouldn't do it at the expense of the quality of life of certain neighborhoods. So, you know, these are industrial properties that are listed here. But once you're ready to sell like the sea and leather site, I would very much be concerned if on the Broadway side, you guys were looking to sell that to an industrial user, especially when that neighborhood is becoming a really nice residential neighborhood.

Sure, Council President, to Council Member Ramos' point, we have not released the site out for public information. There are people who are interested in the site because they know that we own it. We have been traditionally looking at the current zoning as the method for sale. It does not mean a zoning change cannot occur, but that is how we've been typically reviewing the sales.

And that site right now has like, I guess, temporary users or use and occupancy. Can you look into those agreements to see if they're even valid, you know, because they're parking, you know, all kinds of. commercial vehicles on some of the city-owned property. I don't even know if they have an agreement with the city. I know the city did evict a user that was parking cars on the city-owned site, but there are other users along the sea and leather site that are private that may be infringing on city-owned property.

Yes, we've already given them a notice to quit and we have lawyers available to actually remove those that are on the site. Their use and occupancy agreement has expired.

Thank you. Councilman Gonzalez.

Director, who are the members of the Ramos Avenue LLC?

Sure, no problem. Again, I know it's listed within the- Weren't they supposed to be here? I believe we did notify them, but as I said previously, again, it was an auction. So it wasn't a typical redevelopment agreement. It was not a typical process whereby we went through any negotiations. It was merely they accepted an offer price and we accepted their price.

Normally we ask that anyone that is purchasing land from the city of Newark be here so that we can ask them questions. And in this case, they are not.

Yes, I do understand your point and Council President, it is not the case though, when it comes to auctions, but I do understand the point as it was, it looks and the perception could be different.

Thank you. Any other questions, Council?

Yeah, I understand the importance when it comes to the RFP sale that was purported, but even in the document where it talks about the construction of 80 to 100 units on Meeker Avenue, which is right across the street from 440 just that kind of thing in and of itself. I think we should at least had to kind of respect to have a conversation about that. Um, I know is going to, you know, awesomely increased a high level of density in that area, but it is also a congested area as it is now going under that little bridge towards weekway park right in the area. Folks are struggling to get around that corner on meager. and get around the other corner and a proposed an additional 80 to 100 units comprised of the 250 units that's already across the street will add a lot. At least part of a conversation would have been helpful. and so you know hopefully that we can have that conversation um before tomorrow about how this initial plan is i don't know and then i'm still always confused i know we like to package all of this stuff together but to me it becomes problematic because if i have an issue with something and then there's something on there from the north or the east and they're fine with it but i have an issue and i want to defer or if you know i'm fine with mine and they want to defer this it makes it kind of difficult to move along with it. And I definitely have some concerns and would love to have some kind of conversation with someone, even from your office or from, you know, 847 Doremus Ave, LLC, whoever the individuals are before I move on it.

Council President, I will say respectfully, this was publicly released. It was publicly identified. It was on all of social media. There were pre-bid conferences. It was widely advertised. And so while I understand there may be individual positions on the sites, it is not as if it was done behind closed doors. This was absolutely a public process. And I apologize for you, those not being aware of it, but it was very well publicized for over a month.

So let me say this. You do understand what the council members are saying, because I think it's being missed. It's not about the public being aware of it. It's about the council members respecting them and letting them know what's going on in their wards. Because I think that's being missed in this right here. And, you know, I'm just saying this because I feel that the actual response to them is not being given back to the question or to their concerns. So, and I don't know if Councilman Silver had anything to say. I'm going to let him speak first.

I just want to say, Deputy Mayor, I don't think it's the process, but as related to what Councilman Council was saying, if someone buys a piece of property in my ward and they're going to put truck parking, I'm just using that as an example, or surface parking, maybe I don't, I'm not in agreement with that. That's my opinion. So, you know, if we're going to sell something to somebody, a developer, the process is fine. I'm not criticizing the process, but we should be aware of what their intentions are as well when they're buying the property. That's my only concern.

Let me say real quick, respect might not have been the right choice of words. I think courtesy is a better choice of words for the ward council members to be aware of what's going on.

Understood.

Go ahead, I'm sorry, if you wanted to say something else.

No, sir.

All right, anything else?

I would say I would encourage us to move forward because the funding is very important to our city to be able to advance the services and for you to have a balanced budget.

Thank you. Anything else from the council? Thank you. Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

You're welcome.

Next item.

C is the application acceptance of grant funds from the American Planning Association of New Jersey.

Any questions from the council? Next item.

D is a redevelopment agreement to authorize execution of an agreement for the sale and redevelopment of land between the city and the Essex Reservoir Urban Renewal LLC.

Any questions from the council regarding? Councilman Kelly.

Yes. I believe I see Ms. Frazier in here. I just wanted to say that to the colleagues, I know we all remember what we went through with Reservoir. Yes. receivership and and all of those things and i i just really want to thank urban league for coming in i think the city was you know we were in a place that um i feel like they actually saved us from a lot of different things um so i just want to thank urbanly for coming in and and doing what they did with replacing the, you know, getting the people placed in different living situations and making sure that we were okay with the things moving forward with reservoir. I see Ms. Frazier is here. I don't know if you want to come up or Deputy Mayor want to explain just to the public what's going on with the project.

Good morning, Council President, Council Members, Alison Ladd, Director and Deputy Mayor for Economic and Housing Development. Regarding this item on the agenda, there is the resolution here noticed, and also there is also an ordinance that accompanies it at the end under communications. As the Council Member Kelly mentioned, about two years ago, there was a major concern associated with the reservoir And at that time, not only was the site in disarray and also had many code enforcement violations, which led the city through Corporation Council to seek receivership for the site, in which we were able to identify Urban League of Essex County. Second, the land that was on the site had a HAP contract and vouchers from both the HUD and also the state. Due to the issues associated with repairs and really disrepair of the site, both of those contracts were abated immediately. Therefore, there was no more subsidy on the site and we had to relocate all of the residents in which we did with the help of the Urban League of Essex County. And so at that point, we were able to talk with them as they were interested in purchasing the property. And I will allow Vivian Cox Frazier to come up and explain the project to you, but I will tell you they're doing 100% affordable home ownership which is really exciting considering it used to be 100% rental. So we're really excited about that. And I think many of you know that the Urban League has been one of the leaders in our city, but also in the region for doing home ownership efforts. So I'll leave it to Vivian. Thank you.

Good morning.

Good morning. Just state your name for the record, please.

Vivian Cox-Fraser, President and CEO of the Urban League of Essex County. So thank you, Council, for this opportunity to speak. Thank you for those who came to our ribbon cutting yesterday. That project, we sold those two family homes for under $200,000. That's an example of the type of model the Urban League is promoting. And so Reservoir, we know it was... a project that had a lot of issues. It was 100% affordable rental. Our goal is to turn it into condos for ownership. So we do projects where we have LIHTC. If you have a... project of over a certain number of units is gonna be LIHTC, because that's the only way you can make the numbers work in terms of a capital stack. So what I wanna prove is that we can create places here in Newark for families that are here in Newark. So when we were relocating the folks out of reservoir, like the folks from DPW will come up and say, ain't you gonna do something for us? You're doing everything for low income people. What about us? We're working in the city. The school right behind it is Michelle Obama's school. Principal calls me, the teaching assistant getting evicted, you got anything for her? They have teachers that are driving to Pennsylvania to live. I think it's criminal. And I think there has to be a way that we preserve ownership for folks who were in Newark before everybody became interested in Newark, before it became like revitalized. So now the houses we built right in the neighborhood in the West ward and you know a councilman, those houses going for $800,000, who can afford that? So my goal is to show and to do with this project and to do, I wanna solve all the problems with the project, but I mean, even I talk about people not having an opportunity to learn the trades. I say, if we have somebody that learns how to put in 10 floors in reservoir, you know how to put in a floor. You know how to put in 10 kitchens, you're gonna be able to put into a kitchen. So, you know, the goal is to really deepen our impact around creating economic opportunity. for the residents in Newark. And that's really what we're going to do with this project. And I'm excited about it. And I hope I can, you're excited about it. And I hope you have confidence like I do that we're going to get it done.

Thank you.

And I have some pictures of, you know, people say, kept saying, tear it down, tear it down.

I'm like, no, no, don't tear it down. That reservoir is brick and concrete. It don't need to be turned down. It's like that. I don't believe in throwaway people. I don't feel like throwaway property. I believe a reservoir can be beautiful again. Thank you. Beautiful.

Thank you very much. Councilman Gonzalez. Your mic's off.

When we speak about affordable, what are we talking about in terms of price?

Yeah, I'm going to make it affordable for like teaching assistants, nursing assistants, all the essential workers that were here for the pandemic. I think we ought to be here for them now.

$300,000, $400,000, $200,000. Mm-hmm.

No, no, no, no, no. Reservoirs actually has 26 two-bedroom duplexes in there, six three-bedroom duplexes in there. So, you know, we're going to be creative about it. I mean, I can't say for right now.

Are you renting or selling? You're selling.

I'm going to sell them. I'm going to sell them for ownership. Yep. And hopefully, yeah, I mean. for them to be affordable they have to be under 200 so i know that for a fact they're going to have to be under 200 and that means i'm going to have to work to get the subsidy and the grants and funding to make that happen but i will and who who is your partner in the construction of the of the units

Let's see, who financed?

Well, you know I got Julio Colon with me, right? So you know we're going to get this done. But I don't have the financing yet because what I have to do is I have to get site control. Once I get site control, then I can line up the financing. Okay. But I have been floating ideas around. We did new markets tax credits. Those are tax credits that could come in and that can bring equity right into the project. We have been talking to some banks around just giving us construction financing. Because I think it's criminal that for a LIHTC deal, they said the average cost is $400,000 a unit. Why? I think I can do it cheaper than that.

I agree with you.

I think I can do it cheaper than that.

That is criminal that we are not providing housing for the people that live in the city. I believe that's a project we should all support and applaud because... We need units that can be acquired by people that work in the city of Newark and around the city of Newark.

Absolutely.

Absolutely. Thank you. And similar to what the groundbreaking yesterday, if you can create that kind of housing, that affordability or affordable home ownership with this project, that would be fantastic. Anything else from the council? Thank you.

Just one last thing. Okay. Councilman Kelly. I know a lot of people saying tear it down, tear it down. I think you guys do a great work with all of the projects that I've seen on Fairmount. One thing, one question though that I've been getting from people, how is the infrastructure of the facility? Will the infrastructure be done totally over or will you try to renovate the infrastructure that's currently there?

So the units are pretty solid inside, but it had a heating system that was underground and like an octopus up to the unit. So we'll have all new infrastructure, all new. We're going to do maybe net zero. I don't know. We're going to do everything. I'm going to have some solar panels. I'm going to have a garden. I'm going to have a lot of things in there, right? So everything, all the amenities that are downtown, I want amenities in this project for the residents here.

Thank you. Sponsored by Councilman Kelly. Is there a second? Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. Thank you. Thank you. Next item.

E is a site access agreement right of entry for the flood relief for the Ironbound area.

Questions from the council. Next item.

F is a support nation agreement in order to permit the redeveloper to obtain the financing necessary for the development of a new five-story mixed-use building in the South Ward.

Questions from the council. Next item.

7R3A through C are engineering resolutions. A is a change order for the installation of pavement markings on various streets. Next. B is a professional service contract for the licensed site remediation professional for the Ironbound Little League turf field. Questions?

Councilman Kelly.

Yeah, I'd like to sponsor this.

I'd like to be a sponsor. All right. Sponsored by Councilman Silva, seconded by Councilman Quintana. Got it first.

Duly noted. And C is a bid contract to award Newark-Morris Canal Bikeway Project.

Any questions?

Next item. 7R4A is an application to the Department of Community Affairs for funding for the Newark UEZ Citywide Beautification Project.

Questions from the Council? Next item.

B is an application to the Department of Community Affairs for the use of UEZ funds.

Any questions from the Council? Next item.

C is a request by the finance department to defer this item.

Any questions from the council?

Next item. 7R5A is accepting grant amending for the immunization grant.

Questions from the council. Next item.

B through L are contracts with subrecipients to provide HIV AIDS related health, and support services. B is for Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. C is for Morristown Medical Center. D is Rutgers Infectious Disease Program. E is Rutgers Clinical Quality Management Program. F and G are Apostle House. H is irish house i is edge new jersey j is zoo fall health center k is positive health care and l is high synth aids foundation any questions from the council next item M through R are contracts with subrecipients for emergency housing programs. M is Isaiah House. N is Real House. O is United Communities Corporation. P is the YMCA. Q is Catholic Charities. And R is Fairmount Health Services.

Questions from the council. Yeah, Mr. Chair. Councilman, council. At some point, can we have a special with all of these providers that provide emergency housing just to discuss their programmatic approach? What do they do in terms of programming and the individuals that are in these facilities that we're utilizing at some point? All right, thank you, Councilman.

Councilman Kelly. I would like to sponsor 7R50.

And- Sorry, second on that real quick. I'll second it. I'll second it. I'll give it to Scott Brown. And 7R5R. And R. I'll second this one.

Thank you. Council President, you're sponsoring R?

I'll second that, yeah. Next item.

S is acceptance of grant funds for the Innovative Community Crisis Response Partnership Grant.

Questions from the council. Next item.

7R6A through I are settlement agreements for executive session. J through M are professional service contracts for the law department. I is for labor and employment matters. And K through M are litigation defense matters.

Any questions from the council on any of these? Next item.

7R8A is an attestation of review of the city audit.

Any questions from the council? Next item.

B is accepting a gift and license agreement for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

Any questions from the council? Next item.

C is recognizing and commending resolutions and D is expressing profound sorrow and regret.

Any questions, comments from the council?

Yes.

Councilwoman Bay.

I would like to offer sorrow and regret for the passing of Sharon Wells, the sister of Dr. Laura Wells, who was a former chief of education here at the City of Newark and also a board member of the Newark Public Library. And also want to offer recognition and commend the Central High girls flag football team on their 10 and 0 season.

Madam Clerk, did you get those two?

Yes, sir.

It was a flag football. You said flag football? Councilwoman flag football. Okay. It's sour and regrettable. Next item.

Seminar 9A through C are public safety resolutions. A is the acceptance of grant funds for the youth boxing program. B is a professional service contract for psychological service. And C is a network system software to provide support and maintenance of proprietary software and hardware.

All right. I know Councilman Kelly just whispered to me. He wants to sponsor 7R9A. Is there a second for that? Second by Councilman Quintana. Any other questions or concerns? Next item.

Communications. Item 8A is an ordinance ratifying and authorizing a 10 year extension to the tax abatement granted to Claremont Newark Urban Renewal LLC for a project to undertake improvements to the existing FBI building.

Questions from the council. Next item.

B is an ordinance authorizing the mayor and or his designee to authorize the sale and transfer of property to Essex Reservoir Urban Renewal LLC.

Questions? Councilman, advance and adopt. So I'm going to have you sponsor that, okay? Yes. Sponsored by Councilman Kelly. Is there a second? Second. Second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. Mm-hmm. Next item.

C is an ordinance amending special improvement districts to amend various sections increasing the administrative fee retained by the city tax collector from 1% to 2%.

Any questions from the council? Next item.

D is an ordinance authorizing the mayor and or his designee to enter into and execute an amended lease agreement amending the name of the landlord from Urban Renewal LLC to Catholic Charities, Archdiocese of Newark for the lease of a homeless shelter and associated office space.

Can we get a quick explanation of this matter? Director Osberg, and I guess Director Lara.

Good morning. Ketlin Osbrook, Director of Health for the City of Newark. This is to amend the ordinance that was adopted and executed in 2021. The property is where the Miller Street shelter is located. Originally, the property was owned by Urban Renewal, who sold it to Catholic Charities, and we want the ordinance to reflect that.

I'm sorry, can you speak up a little bit?

Sure. We would like the ordinance to reflect the change of ownership from Urban Renewal to Catholic Charities.

and that's the only change right correct amendment okay any questions from the council all right thank you thank you e is i'm sorry e is an ordinance amending and supplementing the housing code to establish additional requirements for the certificates of habitability and strengthen enforcement through revocation

any questions from the council yeah mr chair councilman council one um i would uh like to sponsor the item uh and secondly um around more punitive actions for those individuals that do not comply with turning over the information or providing the information that there needs to be a connective fine And it should be attached daily and not just an umbrella flat fee. But for the individuals who do not, there should be a thousand dollar a day fine that's attached to every day. They do not turn in the information that is required from the city for the information that we're looking for so that we can have someone specifically on file that is part owner of the facility to make sure that we're getting the information and they should be able to physically feel the pain of what is happening to the residents in the city.

I second that.

Thank you.

So first of all, before you start, Councilwoman, are you seconding the- I'm seconding with the amendment, which is yes.

Council, Scott Roundtree. All right. You're on.

Good morning. Michelle Nelson, First Assistant, Corporation Council Law Department. Thank you, Council President. Council Member, Council, to your question, there is a penalty currently in this particular chapter for if there's someone who is not in compliance with it. However, based off of the suggestions that you said, I will bring it back and we will try to make those penalties as strong as we can for our municipalities.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. And also to 8F as well. I know she is about to read it into discussion, but there needs to be in there an amendment for $1,000 a day for those buildings that do not... currently have security that is over 100 units. And every day there without having security in those buildings, they should be charged $1,000 a day. that language should change not just a generic cost in there that says we can find you up to 500 first offense up to 600 second offense but it should specifically and intentionally say a thousand dollars a day that's right as as long as that building does not have security that is over a hundred units there are many buildings in the city that because the ordinance as opposed to have security and do not have security and put in our residents and harm individuals letting people in back doors and we want to make sure the safety and security of these residents are at forefront so thank you i'm sorry council president for jumping ahead no no that's okay i just know it's all right So that was ADEF, right? And if we can have someone come up and explain ADEF because I jumped ahead of it.

There you go, okay.

I apologize in my reading. So for the general public can understand what ADEF is. It just shows everybody that you read it ahead of time.

Good morning again, Michelle Nelson, First Assistant, Corporation Council. So that particular ordinance we're amending and we're putting an exception to redevelopment projects that are directly connected to a CBA, Community Benefits Agreement. Those community benefit agreements will directly be impacting the external part of the community, including their safety and other things of that nature. So with this is an exception to the actual security to the building. However, that security, it will not be lighter, but it will just be negotiated with the BA, the public safety director and economic housing. And that CBA will be brought before you guys to ultimately be voted on. can i ask a question councilman are you finished yeah so you say it's negotiated what happens if the landlord doesn't agree then that's there's no negotiation so it's an exception but that exception would have to be placed on by the city based off of the cba agreement if there is no cba agreement then there will be no exceptions

I'm sorry, say it one more time. Sure.

So the exception is directly tied to the CBA agreement. If in the negotiations it's not agreed that this is what is a safety issue or this is not what is agreed upon, then the security does not change. The ordinance would not trigger. It's not an elimination. It's an exception.

So if you said it's not a negotiation, it's an exception. Okay.

It's an exception to the ordinance of having the required armed security guards inside of the building.

Yes.

If in the discussions with the CBA agreement, it is not resolved, then we will not be, the city will not be touching the security.

So.

Yes, yes, you have to, you have to.

The exception allows the B.A. to increase or I don't necessarily say decrease, but to, if necessary, increase the amount of security necessary for problematic buildings.

No, no. So it allows the B.A. to put an exception to the security plans. So right now we have a blanket armed security in all buildings that are over 100 units. Those that are tied to a community benefits agreement, those are normally negotiated because the community benefits agreement is directly connected to other things that's outside the community. So it's not just the internal security. It'll also be connected to the external security of the building. The VA will be allowed to negotiate what the security would look like in that particular building in consult with the public safety director and the economic and housing director.

Got it. Which does not supersede the ordinance that is already in place unless it's deemed that this facility, a certain facility, is meeting mandates that it would not need those kind of security measures. Correct. Right. And so hence, if it is deemed that one of the facilities do not need the security measures and then ultimately things begin to you know act up again around those buildings then it gives the authority to the BA to bring the individuals back to the table to say listen we're going to now require that not only do you have this additional guard but two other additional guards or whatever that number may be specifically and if those individuals do disagree to that then by having this thousand dollar day fine which already attaches to the original ordinance would fall into place correct yes and thank you for that clarification

And thank you. Anything else from the council? I'd like to sponsor this. All right. Sponsor by. Second. I heard Councilman Kelly second.

And advance and adopt on first. Advance and adopt, sure.

I'm sorry, Councilman.

With amendments.

Yes. ADF. You want to advance and adopt on first with amendments. ADF. Yeah. Item 10 miscellaneous 10 A is approval of the raffle license.

Any questions from the council? Hearing none. Next item.

Public comment. Oh, I'm sorry. There was talking about added starters, but I don't have anything.

uh councilman councilman uh so yeah uh i want to go back to 7r1e i wasn't here um i want to be known as a sponsor seven seven r1e yes towards the beginning and that memorial park the firefighters memorial park will be built in the east

I hate to tell you this, I sponsored it. Okay.

Very good. It will be built in the East Ward? Yes.

At Liberty Park. I will defer to you, Councilman Silver, and let's have Councilman Silver sponsor that. And if it's all right with Councilman Kelly, can I second this? Yes, sir. All right, thank you. So Silver. Thank you. Duly noted. Thank you, Councilman. Thank you. All right, Corporation Council?

Sure.

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, did Councilwoman? Oh, you had your hand up, all right. Go ahead, go ahead.

There are two potential added starters coming out of economic development. Director has just walked in. I'll just give you the numbers for right now. It's 2606, excuse me, 26-0698. It's in reference to the pedestrian bridge. And also 260696 is in reference to a sale of a property in the Central Ward. I'll let the director come down and- Could you repeat the second one? I didn't hear that. Excuse me, 26-0696. Okay.

9.8 and 9.6. The first one was 9.8? Yes. Okay.

Good afternoon, Council President, Council Members, Alison Ladd, Director of Economic and Housing Development. So I asked Director James Adams to join me from engineering because we will be working together and also transferring the project to engineering. So the item on your agenda is for us to select a new contractor. to help us advance the design for the pedestrian bridge. Unfortunately, with our last contractor, as some of you may recall, we were unable to get the rail agencies to approve our design. That was the time in which we were going to demolish the bridge, we were gonna design a new one and build a large platform that would connect from our bridge to Penn Station. Again, unfortunately, after many, many months and years of work, Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and PATH were unwilling to approve that design. So we started over. Second, we have come to you before and talked about needing to reuse the bridge. In order for us to reuse the bridge, we had to do an investigation. to ensure that the current CNJ bridge also can withstand the load because we did not plan to keep it at first. so with that we did have a study done and then in closing on this section and then i'll let our engineering director talk about the future we had to separate from the previous contractor they did give us a bid but it was expensive and they no longer wanted to be the prime architect on the project So with that, it was a decision that we made as the administration to separate from the previous contractor and start with a new one. And so I've been working with Director Adams. Oh, he's right here. We're working with Director Adams, and we've been working through how we can advance the project quickly, have it open and connected between the Ironbound and downtown. So I'm happy to give you more information, or I'm also happy to let the director speak.

Councilman Gonzalez.

Do you think that we will see this project in this century? Because it has been at least 10 years

Well, to your lips, my friend. I really wanted to as well. I came to the city about seven years ago. I was asked to be part of the project about five years ago. And at that time, we had the authority to generate money, but we didn't have any. So some of you remember that we had issued the bonds, which actually allowed us to have $110 million. So then we thought we were golden because now we had design and we had funding. So I was like, great, right? Because I know sometimes when we're looking at projects, you have a design and you're still trying to figure out the funding. Well, in this case, we had both. And then we ran into rail agencies approval. Their biggest challenge was outages. As you might suspect, because of having to demolish the bridge and rebuild, they were concerned about outages being too long and disrupting their service. As of late, we did nicely explain to them that other projects have received different treatment and have been able to get the outages, whether it's the Portal North Bridge or the Hudson Tunnel, or even things that are coming up that we're excited about around the World Cup. So we're just trying to get the same level of commitment as they do with other projects. However, they weren't willing to budge. So that's why we had to redesign. So in closing, yes, I do believe that it will happen. I feel confident that the work and the team that's coming. But I also think that you would want to hear from our director of engineering because it's more of an engineering project now than it was like an urban planning, urban design project.

In terms of the bonds, we keep, I suppose, paying interest on those funds. Or did we take the money out? We sold the bonds.

Yes, great question. So actually what we ended up doing because the financial advisors looked at it is they actually removed about $50 million and invested it so that we're actually generating more money for half of the bond proceeds until we started construction. So we're actually generating more money than we would have if we just left it and just paid out bills.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Quintana.

Well, we're at it, Director of Engineering. If we can have a meeting with Amtrak, you know, for years, that I saw that faded bridge that needs some paint. I mean, around the country, Amtrak takes care of all their the way they look. If you look at this from across the street from, let's say the Robert Treat or from Don Pepe's, you see the bridge, the tower, that tower hasn't been done in years. And Amtrak has not been a good, a neighbor to us or hasn't been a great. And Amtrak has to step up a little bit with their responsibility. I know there were obstacles with Amtrak about this project. But Amtrak and our delegation is another issue. Our delegation needs to step up with these federal issues that occurred with Amtrak. But Amtrak has got to clean up. Matter of fact, their tracks at Penn Station are horrible. If you go on the accelerator to Washington, It is horrible. So in terms, since we're here talking about this new bridge, the design or whatever, we need to talk to our delegation, our congressional delegation of what happens with Amtrak. That bridge that if you come on a plane, you'll see that bridge, it's all faded out. There has to be something done. And that's Antrax's tower, I understand.

So if we can look into that, I would appreciate that. Absolutely, Councilman. James Adams, Acting Director of Engineering, the City of Newark. The first thing I want to do is thank Deputy Mayor Ladd for doing a yeoman's job and bringing this project to where it is now. It is through no fault of her own that this project is not constructed and not built. And I don't want anybody to think she did not do an excellent job. I don't think so. And what's interesting to me is, I remember this project when I was here 25 years ago, and I remember the vision and I remember the plans and I remember everything that needed to be done. So this is a very, very important project to the city of Newark, but she hit on something that's very, very important. The project of this complexity requires partnerships from all the agencies. I understand the World Cup, I understand the Portal North Bridge, I understand the Gateway Tunnel, but we need the cooperation of PATH amtrak and new jersey transit to make this project successful if we need the state of new jersey or the governor's office to come and partner with us if we need our federal delegation to make this a high priority that is the only way this project will be successful So as far as the engineering, it's pretty straightforward. We're gonna use the existing bridge. We had to take samples of the steel to make sure it was structurally sound. We're gonna have to put out a project to remediate the asbestos and the lead from the bridge, because obviously a bridge of that age has lead paint and asbestos everywhere, which we didn't anticipate when we were removing everything. The abutments and the footings and foundations that are supporting the bridge will need to be rehabilitated. But that's simple structural engineering design and construction work. But again, I have to emphasize the critical path through this project runs through half New Jersey Transit and Amtrak, allowing us to have outages on their track while we do our investigation work and while we do our construction work. The firm that we have chosen in order to take over is an excellent firm. They have a great reputation. They have a plan in place that we'll share once this is final with the council to deliver this project. But again, it's a partnership to deliver projects of this complexity.

So Mr. Chair. Councilman, council. So if we can do this as a council as whole and a clerk to draft up a motion requesting partnership of all of those entities that you talked about as a municipal council body to ensure the delivery of services and the importance of allowing this project to come to fruition, and even including our Essex County delegation, our state, I mean, and our federal delegation, our state senators, and end this in whatever collaboration and partnership that they can possibly lend to this, if we can do that as a motion and present tomorrow for approval.

we get at the port authority on that too, because the path I would understand belongs to the port authority. And you know, they're one of our tenants at the airport too.

So they should be at the table. Absolutely. So council president, I forgot to mention this. Um, deputy mayor, um, lad has received a letter or the city of Newark has received a letter from the president of Amtrak, I believe. Um, vowing their commitment to help with this project. But that's still only part of the story. We still need path through the Port Authority and we still need New Jersey Transit.

All right, thank you. Councilman Gonzalez.

Yes, Director, that bridge comes directly to the building that was rehabilitated, doesn't it? Okay, why? The building here, the Mars building, that bridge comes to the Mars building. So do we have permission to use the Mars building to communicate through the bridge? How is it going to work?

Repeat the question, I'm sorry.

The Mars building connects with the bridge. So how are we going to allow or to make sure that the people can cross that bridge if the building is in the middle?

Councilor, I'm not sure about that. I'll have to get back to you on that unless Deputy Mayor-

Council President, Council Members, I'm happy to answer the question. So the City of Newark owns McCarter Highway Bridge, and we own the CNJ Bridge, and we own the abutment on the side near Railroad Avenue. So we own all three parts of the bridge from Ironside space all the way over to Ironbound. It does not connect to the building. It connects to the bridge just south of the building. And also in closing, Edison is very involved.

Okay, thank you. I thought it connected.

It's a fair question. Council President.

Councilwoman Bay.

Okay, so I understand and I'm hearing what everyone is saying. This is something that has been going on for a minute. So because it's been in the mix for years and we talk about all of the people that need to be at the table in order to make this move, why is it that we are talking about this as an added starter without even so much as a slip of paper in front of us?

That I'm not aware of why you don't have documentation in front of you is,

Again, on behalf of the administration, we're happy to provide it to you. We will, as we have in the past with added starters, we typically do not send it out prior to the meeting because the council could decide not to advance it. But we're happy to send it thereafter. We do have all the proposals, all the documentation and materials that you typically receive.

And what about the item? I think it's 2696. Is that what was the one that's the project in the central ward? What is that?

Let's finish the first one. Are we finished with that? Yes, sir. I'm finished. With 98? Council members? Okay. Let's 96. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead, Councilwoman.

Would you like me to explain it? Yes, please. Sure. So this is similar to two other items that were on the agenda under economic development items A and B. It's another property that was sold under the high value auction. The buyer is looking to purchase the site actually in the East Ward on Jersey Street. And they're looking to do one, purchase it at the appraised value. And then two, they will build out the park, the riverfront park that will be immediately in front of it along the Passaic River. As in pausing, I'll just tell you, as you may know, all of the Passaic River Riverfront Park is publicly funded. And so in this case, we are able to get them to privately fund that portion of the park.

Is that the one that before you go?

I just know I thought when it was first brought up, I thought it said Central Ward. So it's the East Ward.

Yes, ma'am.

Is that the one that we received the email on?

Yes, sir.

So my point is, why are we leaving $1.5 million on the table or more?

At the time that group did not submit for the auction.

I understood that there were some kinks in the auction that apparently you mentioned before. There were some things that happened in the auction that apparently the auction did not happen the way that it was supposed to happen. Is that something that would allow us to perhaps invalidate the contract?

So, yes, happy to talk about it. Again, the VA and Kenyatta are here.

That sounds like an executive session question in legal matter, so I don't think you should answer that right now. Maybe we can talk about it upstairs in the second session.

It's all well documented in the file as well.

I would like the item to be deferred because...

Yes.

Not a problem. Why don't we do... Let's have this discussion in executive session, okay?

That's fine.

Let's just have that executive session.

All right, thank you. Yeah, I'd like to advance and adopt the bridge, the 0698.

You said you wanted to?

Advance, yeah.

Sponsored by Councilman Silver. Is there a second on 98? Second. Second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. Anything else from the council? I think that's it. Next.

We're in a 30-minute public comment portion of this meeting where each speaker will have three minutes to speak. Please state your name for the record. Is there anyone wishing to address the council?

Officers, I think you're needed right there. Yeah, please, officers at the door.

That man ain't, he don't need no officer.

Don't worry about what I'm, officers at the door, thank you.

I'm worried about him, I ain't worried about you. Go ahead, go ahead, you can speak now. I'm worried about you sick in the police.

Thank you.

Anyway, Manera El-Boumani. See, that's why, good riddance. i'm not going anywhere good riddance i know you're not as long as you got sammy in here who been convicted of you know absentee mail-in ballots and signatures and all kind of stuff as long as you got him in here you're going to continue to win that was going to be something i was going to talk about Okay, Theresa got in, LaMonica got in with fraud. So we know, we know, and one of your campaign guys said we already won just before the election didn't even go. So we know you're not going nowhere with stolen ballots. That's why we need to, first let me just say, four more years of slavery. Four more years of corruption. Four more years of mismanagement. Four more years of poor municipal services. And you got something going on about potholes, huh? Where's the money for the potholes? Where's the list of the streets that you're supposed to be paving? Where's that list? Where's the money, Ras, for the potholes, the paving? Where's the money? First, I want to also give a big warrior salute to Donna Jackson. who's coming in and also we definitely need to get behind Asia, Asia Norton to get her in South Ward by any means necessary. We're going to break the glass ceiling some kind of way on this council because we stick in the same old men's club, boys club or whatever you want to call it and then putting the women who's running against the women because that's what y'all do, divide and conquer. New York advocates, we got work to do. We have to also call on the end of mail-in ballots. Because if you had ended those ballots, according to the SAVE Act, you wouldn't have got those votes. You know you're stealing through ballots. I leaped and showed you what they've been doing with the seniors, with the ballots, with the petition. Then we got a petition with all of your names in brackets. I don't understand where's the monitors? where is the investigation where is the you going to like click click with the chanel bracelets up out of here because we we see it term limits is a must fiscal mismanagement of our budget is a must anti-fraud task task force is a must We have to have these things, because I guarantee you, if we bring in, what's his name, Mr. Todd Blanch? Come on, bring him in.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

You ain't going nowhere. We know you're not.

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning.

Council. My name is Leon Coleman, essential resident all my life. I'm here to speak in regards to 48 Garside. Say that again. I couldn't hear you. 48 Garside Street here in the city of Newark. Code enforcement been out there. People from the city been out there. Nothing has been done. For some reason, code enforcement isn't writing down anything or the thing. So what I personally done, I went and I paid for out my pocket. A REPORT FROM QUALITY HOME INSPECTION. I LIKE TO PERSONALLY GIVE IT TO MS. AMENA BAY SO SHE CAN SEE THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF THIS YOUNG LADY, HER APARTMENT. AND I PRAY SINCERELY THAT YOU GUYS GET THIS WOMAN OUT OF HERE. SHE HAS A THREE-YEAR-OLD ARTISTIC DAUGHTER IN THE CITY OF NORTH. AND I HEAR EVERYBODY SAY THEY LOVE NORTH. This young lady is living in horrible condition. This is the report. This is the report from an independent body, not code enforcement, not the city. You know, this is an independent report. Please review it. Please do something with this young lady immediately. Please, I'm begging you. No one should live in the city of Newark, nor should you be developing anything for others when this young lady is living in the most horrible conditions I ever seen. I'm 52 years old. I've been in Newark all my life. The projects wasn't even like this. Please do something with this, and I'd like to submit this, please. Thank you, you guys. Have a great day.

Thank you for your comments. Councilwoman Scott Roundtree.

Mr. Coleman, just for the record, because we normally wait until public speaking is over. I know Councilwoman Bain, Council President Crump, we were all involved up until last week. I've been in communication with the owner of some individuals regarding her relocation. I don't want to put on record what took place because there have been arrangements made for her to move. There were some spaces that were very beautiful. We understand I'm dealing with organizations that deal with autism or children that are on the spectrum. And we're talking about the individual that I believe we're talking about. As we speak, there have been letters prepared on another issue that she was dealing with to get her out. There's a whole lot that's tied into this, but arrangements are being made as we speak. she has to be willing to accept for whatever reason to get out of that particular apartment in that situation so off record i probably would have to have her part of the conversation to tell you what's actually going forward but i want you to know there's not been a blind eye turned her as as late as last thursday i was on the call with someone uh for relocation for her so there's more to it than that and i appreciate your advocate advocacy for her and um off record i I'll get her on the phone and probably give you an update.

I can't do it without her, okay? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Speak highly of you anyway. Thank you. I appreciate you. All right.

Next speaker. which means we are all relations from Lakota. I am Elijah Abdul Samad Morgano, all caps. I go by MAQ for Melanated Anointing and Quantum. I am a Lenape representative, Delaware nation. I'm a parent, I'm a disabled veteran. I've been coming to these council meetings for the past few years, serving notice. because this is a place of business. Few people could remember several months ago where I first saw the Berger group, the Berger group son and father, and we had to stop the council. After that, I received a violence towards me and my family, right? We received DCPP threats and things that was taught to us. And then we also was talking to Ms. Roundtree about getting our vehicle that was unlawfully towed by the city. We don't really need to get the vehicle. I just need to get my stuff out of it because I made a pledge the last month I was here. I pledged to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. I'm from the South Ward. I graduated from Carver. I got kicked out of Westside. So it's just like congratulations to all those who made it through this rough election year. But it's like people matter. And I brought up the Burger Group again because right when I got up to speak, right, they brought me out in the back and my heart was beating. My hands were sweating. But I shouldn't be fearful in a people's palace. All municipal buildings are on Aboriginal land. Y'all don't have our Aboriginal paintings up there for show and prop. We stewarded this land 15,000 years before any colonizer, any Moor, any British, anybody hit this land. And we're in a time now where God's law, how to sign a great law, matters. Our elders matter. Our mentally ill, our veterans, we matter. I'm in a facility right now, right, where they offer food and housing, but they put everybody that come from a mental facility or jail in this one place. And there's no real like help, like mental health counseling. So because of me, right, wherever I'm at, no matter if I come here or if I'm in a shelter or if I'm on the streets, I got a whole sacred space and I got a whole truth to power. I speak to Ms. Roundtree and I speak to Mr. Council because y'all are faith-based leader. And I'm a faith-based leader for my community. And I'm gonna leave it with this. This is hip hop appreciation week, Mr. Kelly, because you came to Jenga group and you spoke to those youth and we still waiting for those computers and then we want those people to come out to hip-hop at the temple of hip-hop this saturday i know that phase i know we asked you to spit as an mc you didn't spit so no more taking advantage of our communities thank you for your comments next speaker

Good morning.

Good morning.

Okay, so I'm going to come in two capacities. One is Weekway Park Sports Authority Conservancy. Maggie Freeman, Weekway Park Sports Authority Conservancy member. So I would like to thank Councilwoman Bay for acknowledging the Central High School girls that participated had a 10-0 season, but we want to also add that there are three additional teams plus the girls teams competing for the NFL regional competition in West Orange on May 31st. We hosted an event on April the 11th Our goal was to meet 32 teams throughout the city of Newark and Essex County. We got close, but those actually is a team from East Orange and the rest are from Newark that are going to be competing on the 31st. We want everybody to show support at the regional competition as this. If they excel, they will travel to another location throughout the U.S., And since we're on Weekway Park and the engineer was speaking about Port Authority and the lack of responsiveness from Amtrak, we also need those same support services in Weekway Park on the Route 22 corridor because the shrubbery around this time of year, of course, it grows in every place in the city. And unfortunately, it causes accidents with visibility barriers. with their property. So we want those things to happen. We've kind of been advocating with the county, but it's just not enough. We just need all hands on deck to get that address. So I'm going to change to a different hat as a concerned citizen. So we have numerous accidents on Chancellor and Lyons Avenue on Parkview Terrace. partly because one, there is a need for the actual traffic light to become an actual service light. Two, in kind of seeing those things transpire, The rest of the streets are kind of inundated with the speeding, the incidents occur. We had an accident last night where we I literally ran to kind of be a first responder to see if somebody was in the car and to see those things happening and hearing the pleas of the neighbors. There's a few things. So one, the trees that are by the curbside of the stop signs, every last intersection needs to be assessed to make sure those stop signs are visible. That's one. Because they're saying they're overgrown. People just don't see them. They're passing through stop signs and causing those accidents. So that's one. Two, another issue that came up was the predatory towing. I know that's something that you kind of heard across this desk plenty of times. But one thing I will say is that the state of New Jersey does have a predatory towing act. And I feel like the city could do a better service by making sure signage is consistent as the state of New Jersey requires for private property owners to make sure that before a car is towed, there is the law mandated so we can follow. And I feel like if that happens, we all can be on one accord.

Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. All right. We got the dynamic duo today, huh?

Yeah, but I had to come in on a different level though. Douglas Freeman, defending the Freeman family and Wheatley Park Sports Authority. On May the 8th, your Newark Environmental Commissioner defamed my family on the record of those meetings. I know it's a volunteer commission, but this is not going to go unchallenged. I sent an email out of courtesy to the BA and to the council having received anything, but to call my family abusers, that's uncalled for. So what I'm asking for also was a quote. Next, I'm going to read the quote. Stop protecting the abusers. The person mentioned the Freeman family, the Great Park Sports Authority. You can go back to the Zoom. I'm not going to make it public because it's not. This is in-house right now. Because I'm the one who all the time they attack. Because of those actual statements, I want the following. I want the minutes. I want to see the evidence. I want to see the dates. I want to see the witnesses that the person said they had also had videotape and all these different things too in the same meeting. I want to see the evidence that my family has attacked your Newark Environmental Commission. And I'm giving a timeline now because I try to do it through courtesy. So if I have to take it further, Because this has been going on for a lot of years, the defamation of my family, who has spent years of our own time into this community. But I do notice one thing about this individual, and it keeps coming up, that I'm Republican. So what? What does that mean? Because I'm Republican. that means that i need to be attacked in my city by somebody who represents the city so i'm asking for answers and through your office chair i want answers to this because this is not going to keep happening to my family in the weekway park sports authority it has damaged our organization tremendously and we basically starting back over again why are we being attacked It's not like y'all don't know about it though, because on December the 18th, 2024, the vice president, Mr. Owens came up here and told you that it was happening. I need answers. Especially from the BA, out of courtesy. I'm not going to sue right now. I wasn't, but do I have to? Do I need to bring the attorney general in? What needs to be coming this?

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Thank you. Good morning. Dolores Black. I just have a few issues. I'm in the South Ward now. Hey, Mr. Counsel. I am going for reelection, though. We need some material. um got issues on brunswick street as far as safety and security we have gang members came home and uh pretty much asking us to there be our security i guess they want to plant themselves back on brunswick because they've been there for years they already tagged us up 252 i cannot fight off these kids i've been asking I went to the precinct. I'm still asking. We're pretty much our own security. There's about five families that were moved in at the same time. And this place has been shut down for 10 years. So they have made it home. Outside of fighting the dealers and the addicts and the trannies and the everyone and feeding them and trying to be safe and wanting to help. It's a thin line when you got gang members coming home wanting to reclaim their territory. My boys are 30 and 20. When they come visit on the weekend, I do not want to be worried about them being approached by these guys. We already had an issue in the parking lot. They come in the parking lot to hang out. It's getting nice. We know what that mean. I'm traumatized by complaining to management. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm done with sending emails, letters. I'm just over it because it's like the more vocal we are, the less help we get. And I ain't trying to find myself killed by a gang member because nobody wants to send protection because now we're on this who sass and who, who don't like who. I don't care about any of that. I am a mother at the end of the day. Yes, I do a lot of volunteer work for the city of Newark. No, I'm not aligned with anyone or any organization. I help out in every ward because the services are needed in every ward. I don't promote my nonprofit as much as I should or my LLC because I do the work that just needs to be done. I have applied for funding from OVP and everybody else. And just like our street team, it's a lot of us parents out there stopping these children from fighting. These kids are getting jumped, they're getting left out, they're getting ran behind. As far as the bus stops, they go, these kids are waiting outside the bus stop. Like they're so strategic. They know that the street team is there by the school. They'll go around the corner or they'll come down the street on side street. I mean, at 120 pounds, even I do have some strength, but I'm just like tired of fighting. We do have police that should be in the area. I know we moved this down here. It's nothing down here. It's completely black. And we need some police presence on Brunswick street. And at behind Asta, the office is coming to give us traffic tickets on Saturday afternoon whenever we call to complain. So is the officer working with the members? We don't get police presence, but we're getting tickets. We're getting tickets and we not we haven't even lived there for six months. So that's it.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Seeing none, public hearing. The speaking is now closed. Any comments from the council?

Yeah, Mr. Chair, real quickly, just two things. One, Ms. Freeman does make a good point around the bushes that are hanging over many of the stop signs noticed on Goldsmith off of Bergen Avenue. Bergen Street is one as well. So if we can draw up a motion for tomorrow's meeting requesting our tree department to do an assessment around areas that have stop signs to make sure that All of those trees are pruned and cut back so individuals are able to see the stop signs. Secondly, we had made a request some time ago to the county because Chancellor Abner is a county road and that intersection between Chancellor and Parkview. If we can do another motion to the county asking them again to do a traffic study about securing a full traffic light at the corner of Chancellor and Parkview Terrace that

we can uh for tomorrow's meeting we could be able to make emotional thank you thank you councilman we have to second that most second that's second by councilwoman uh bay we gotta vote on that roll call do we know how to do that today as far as not officially all right we got it keep it moving i think rin says something i'm just going to do this COUNCIL PRESIDENT. I'M SORRY, COUNCILMEN. OKAY. YES, SIR.

THANK YOU, COUNCIL PRESIDENT. I JUST WANTED TO PUT ON RECORD TO THE REMARK THAT WAS MADE BY THE NAPA GUY. He said that he's still waiting for computers from me. I don't know which computers he's speaking of. Anybody know, before I became councilman, I ran a nonprofit organization called 211 Community Impact. We gave out hundreds and hundreds of computers, partnering with the Loyalty Foundation, who still actually gives out computers. Even my first year as councilman, we gave out hundreds of computers to the West Ward. So maybe he's confused about,

given out computers in the past but i don't know what computers he's speaking of so i just wanted to put that on the record thank you councilman councilwoman uh bae yes um i just wanted to to to comment and i know that mr coleman has left but actually um responded to a couple of things that have been said by him and other people over the past several months knowing and again echoing what uh councilwoman around scott rowntree has said that we have been working with this resident for months on top of months on top of months. And the situation is being addressed as we speak. I'm not sure why this is still coming up as if it has not been, but we know that it has been and it has been addressed in many, many different ways. And I know that our staff has been very diligent in handling the situation. So I just wanted to make sure that that was on record. Also just wanted to comment on what was said by Doug Freeman. I am not sure who the person is or how this all came about. I'm not privy to that information, so I can't speak on what I have no knowledge of, but I do have knowledge of the work of the Weekway Park Sports Authority. I do have firsthand knowledge of the work of Doug Freeman, Maggie Freeman of Joy. You know, we've worked together and partnered together long before I sat on this council, and I am privy to the good work that they do in the community and the work that they've done on behalf of our youth in the city of Newark, not just in the South Ward, but all over. So hopefully we can get to the bottom of this and make sure that we're all able to work together on behalf of the citizens, because that's what really this is all about.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Anything else? Councilwoman Scott-Rountree.

To just conclude on the comments for Brother Coleman, Councilwoman, residents and council colleagues have to be willing once we are able to resolve something to go along with the resolution if it makes sense. And that's where we are in the middle of this. The constituent is actually not been ready to move while we're trying to get her moved. And I just want to put that on record. And there's some people that come to the council meeting that I've been working with that have been advocating for her. So I'm going to give you the update as to today, what the conversation was on Friday. That's number one. And to Douglas Freeman and to his organization and Maggie and to all of those, I ditto what you say because it's really a sad commentary when we're actually fighting with each other when someone is doing the work. So I am truly praying that we can resolve this without you having to take further measure so that you can continue the great work that you're doing, not just with the Weak Lake Park, not just with your organization, but as a human being, the work that you do. And I think I said this last year when you came before the council, that the work that you do is beyond the park. because of the lives that you touch, not just with kites and not just with sports, but just your human side for the community, along with your family and your team. So prayerfully, as Councilwoman Bay has stated, we will be able to get a resolution for you. Thank you.

Thank you. Anything else from the council? Councilman Silver.

Just quite a quick update from the vendors. Mr. B.A., we never got a response. You never got a response from Ms. Jordan regarding the vendors. How many licenses are giving out? If there's a limit, do we have to change the ordinance? Do City of Newark residents get preference? Because from what I'm getting information from is that other towns that surround us are not allowing vendors. And so they're coming here to sell their products on the street, which again, affects our local businesses. And so if we can get an answer from them, because if an ordinance has to be changed to require a limit and how many vendors are allowed, giving Newark residents preference before you give outsiders preference. I never received anything, you never received anything, just to get an update on that. And finally, just one last thing, I hate to mention this, we're 12 days away from the end of May, when are they gonna start paving? Maybe we can get an answer, you know what I mean, of when the paving is actually gonna start here in the city.

That's it. Thank you, Councilman. Anything else from the council? Anything from the administration? Nothing? Okay. Yeah.

Good afternoon. Just to the last, I guess it's still morning, the last comment. Paving has started. We have to get you, I guess, an updated list of where it is, but we've started paving. Sent a list about public service and the city's paving and should have been sent to you. I can follow up on that. Okay, we'll get that to you. And as I'm sure you're aware, there's a pothole blitz going on. That's in coordination with the paving. So we don't do the pothole blitz at the same place we're doing the paving, but I'll get you the information.

Yeah, I think that's it. Thank you, Mr. Baird. Is there nothing else, a motion to go in executive session? Rocha, yeah.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.