Council - Special Meeting

Good morning. Welcome to the special meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Wednesday, June 3rd. In accordance with New Jersey law, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the Star Ledger, the Jersey Journal, and the public at large, establishing the date, time, and location of this meeting. In addition, the agenda for this meeting was disseminated on May 29th at the time of preparation and posted on the city's website.

Local, council members stay. Present. Council, absent. Gonzalez.

Present.

Kelly. Here. Quintana.

Here.

Scott Roundtree. Here. On the line. Here on the line. Ramos, roll call. Silva, here. President Crump.

Present.

Council President, council members, we are on page four of the agenda, resolutions. 7R8AS is introducing the 2026 annual municipal budget. Council as a whole to adopt?

Before we adopt, I think we'll give a few words from the business administrator.

Good morning, Council President. Good morning. Council Members, Eric Pennington, Business Administrator for the City of Newark. What you have on the agenda today is the introduction of the Newark Municipal Budget, and that is, as you have in the amount of $900,500,264.94, which is actually a relatively conservative budget given where we are. The municipal levy actually has gone down about 1% in this introduced budget. The overall increase is closer to 5%, but that is due to the Board of Education. The Board of Education went down a bit too. and the county, we are still faced with the additional $34 million, which is, I'm sorry, you say you can't hear me? Okay, I'm sorry. Is this better? Okay, sorry about that. I'll go back. The introduction, the budget that we are introducing is in the amount of $900,500,264.94. The municipal levy portion of that budget has decreased about one percent the overall increase is in the range of five percent principally due to again our ratio imbalance which has caused about a 34 million dollar increase that we have to pay to the county the reval is on track to be completed in the fourth quarter and so at least that ratio imbalance will not be present it's not saying that we will you know wipe out Obviously, we have to pay the county. We'll have to pay our fair share, but it will be based on a 100% ratio going forward. But I think the important takeaway is that the municipal levy has been decreased by 1% due to the incredibly hard work that the mayor has made us perform. Our budget director and finance department budget director, Darlene Tatum, Acting Finance Director Ben Guzman and I have worked on this very diligently to make sure that we kept that number as low as possible.

Thank you. Any questions from the Councilman Ramos?

Oh, I'm sorry, Councilman Gonzalez. Turn your mic on.

Councilman, your mic is off.

uh and acknowledge that we are receiving the the budget much uh before they say the previous years that have been here this is the first time that we received uh the well we haven't received it that the budget has been introduced uh before uh October, September, October. So I believe that's a step in the right direction. I would like to see the detail of the budget so that before I depart this body, so that I can contribute with my two cents.

Absolutely. Thank you, Councilman. We anticipate that you'll receive additional information today, as a matter of fact.

Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. And I'm sure we're going to have an opportunity to talk more specifically during the hearing process once we get more details about the department budgets. So you mentioned the additional payment that's due to the county because of our delays in the reval process. Is that included in this year's budget? Is the city looking to borrow money again in order to make that payment, or are we including that as part of the anticipated city budget this year?

It is included in the anticipated budget, and we are not looking to borrow money from the state.

What's that payment amount this year?

It was about $34 million in addition to what we ordinarily would pay the county.

And I see that the public hearing on the budget is scheduled for the 15th, right, of July?

July 15th.

Okay. So the hearing process will, I think because of the complexity, and I agree with Councilman Gonzalez, you know, we appreciate that the budget was introduced a little bit earlier than it has been. previous years, but I think it's important that this council take its time in the hearing process so that we can better understand what's being proposed. I know there's some one-shot revenues that are included in this year's budget, some of which we know are connected to some of these high-value property sales. So I don't want to see us have a situation where we're packing in six or seven department hearings in one day. I think we have time to do this right.

Absolutely, we'll work with the clerk and schedule them as you deem necessary.

and the other factor is that we do have a new council person that's going to be sworn in july 1 so that person will have an opportunity at least to um you know i know councilman gonzalez has been driving conversations on the budget for a long time and you know we appreciate his diligence but you do have a new person that's coming on board and it's important for her to have an opportunity at least as uh initial responsibility to weigh in a little bit on the budget process as well

Certainly with respect to that, through the council president to you, I have offered to meet with the new council member to answer any questions in advance of her voting on the budget. And I presume that she will be here to participate in the hearings as well.

Thank you.

Thank you. Quick question in terms of anticipation of when we would receive the budget packets.

The initial information, you will get some additional information today. The budget packets will be put together over the next week or so, or less than or so in about a week.

All right. Thank you. Any other, any other questions from the council? All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. VA. You're welcome. Roll call.

Council members Bay. Yes. Council. Absent. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Kelly?

Yes. Buchanan?

Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva? Yes. President Crump?

Yes. 7R8B-S is establishing a sister city's relationship with Arcos de Valdevez, Portugal. Sponsored by Councilman Silva.

Seconded by Councilman Quintana. Madam Clerk, we have reviewed and, you know, we talked about it. The Deputy Mayor, Lisa DeFrida, we spoke about it and it's all clear. So, you know, through your office, I want to thank you for clearing it and making sure that that sister city is in good standards.

Thank you, Councilman. Anything else?

Mr. President, I suppose we Google it.

It can be that simple, right? Roll call.

Council Members Bay? Yes. Council Absent? Gonzalez? Yes. Kelly?

Yes. Quintana?

Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva. Yes. President Klump. Yes.

Council President, council members, we are on the added starters. First one is seminar eight C SAS, which is a whole harmless for the Newark fan village sponsored by Councilman Silva.

Second. Second by Councilman Quintana. Anything you want to say?

Yeah, I just wanted to thank the business administrator, the city of Newark, the mayor. This is something that we're putting on for everybody. It's a family-friendly event. We invite everybody from all parts of the city of Newark, outside the city of Newark. If you're a vendor, get in touch with my office. We'll be happy. We have 39 days. of this going on. It'll be going on from June 11th to July 19th to the finals. Anybody who wants to participate from the City of Newark, priority one is our Newark business owners and vendors to come out and be part of this. We want to make this a great event. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity having the World Cup here in New Jersey. And we want to make sure that we make Newark shine. So anybody that wants to participate from any other parts of the city, please contact my office and we'll get you, we'll make you part of that fan fest.

Thank you, Councilman. Roll call.

Council Members Bay. Yes. Council. Absent. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Kelly? Yes. Quintana? Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva? Yes.

President Crump? Yes. 7R6AAS is a professional service contract to provide legal services concerning litigation defense matters. Council as a whole to adopt.

Mr. President. Councilman Ramos.

Is there any particular reason why this is on today? Was this left off from the bundle of legal contracts that we got to vote on last time?

Corporation counsel. Sure.

Good morning. Kenyatta Storrs, City of North Corporation Council. So that's essentially what happened. During the last meeting, we didn't have the opportunity to get it on. We wanted to make sure we get it through the process. Unfortunately, you know, we were worried about some of the other issues that the other departments had to deal with. During the last council meeting, we didn't make this one.

Thank you. All right. Thank you. Roll call.

Council Members Bay. Yes. Council. Absent. Gonzalez?

Yes.

Kelly?

Yes.

Quintana? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva?

Yes.

President Klump?

Yes.

Council President, I think the administration has another editor.

Court counsel.

Sure. Good morning again. We do have another added starter. It's 260781. That's the letter start number. It's in reference to a economic development matter, which the deputy mayor will address right now.

Good morning, Council President, Council Members, Alison Ladd, Director of Economic and Housing Development. First, I want to sincerely apologize that you do not have the file in front of you. I know that it is out of protocol. So thanks in advance for just listening. Second, this project is... related to 10 Park Place. The developer is the Burger Organization. They own, it's the former fireman's insurance building right next to NJPAC. They are seeking HMFA financing to do 100% affordable housing on the site. In addition, they are also going to do a deep discount on the retail front, which will be, they're going to look at $20 a square foot for the retail space. And then it was about 50% less than what the going rate is now for retail per square foot space. And last, they are also doing additional affordable housing for artists and for seniors. And that will be above and beyond the focus area for 60% of AMI and below. Again, the reason why we're asking you to consider it today is because they're trying to get HMFA financing and that has deadlines associated with it. Unfortunately, it was not approved so that you could see it immediately yesterday. So again, I apologize for that. And I'm happy to arrange a meeting with anyone who'd like to talk with the burger organization about the project and about the benefits that they're bringing to the city with the project. Oh, I'm sorry. One last thing. The Tax Abatement Committee did review this and did agree to allow it to move forward. So that was through the Tax Abatement Committee about 30 to 45 days ago.

A quick question. First, did you say the number of years for the tax abatement? I don't know if I heard that.

Uh, I apologize, council president and then the number of units. Uh, yes, I'm sorry. Uh, so forgive me. Um, the number of units is 196 residential units. Um, and all but one will be affordable. So 195 will be deep restricted and one will be for the management office. Super. The breakdown of the units is 53 studios ranging between 27% of AMI and 57% of AMI. Then there will also be 16 two bedrooms between 30% of AMI and 57% of AMI. And then there'll be 10 three bedrooms from 30% to 57% of AMI. In addition, again, as I was sharing, there'll be a set aside for seniors of 10% and a set aside for artist housing of 10%. The 3,000 square feet or ground floor retail will be deeply discounted at about 50% of the current market. So again, the current market is about $40 a square foot and they're starting at $20 a square foot. uh the total project cost is 130 million dollars and the request is for the long-term uh tax exemption a pilot under the hmfa statute and that allows for the period to be 35 years and it does comply with all the laws and ordinances set forth by the state and the local municipality

Thank you, Council President. I did have preliminary conversations, but we needed to do a follow-up. So if you can set that up, because I need more information on the further breakdown. What's the breakdown of units for seniors? Is it the studio apartments? Is it one bedroom? What does that look like? And also what that cost is, what the price points are for those specific units. And also we talk about community benefit, what that looks like for this project. And so that was the initial conversation, but I never got the follow-up. So if we could have that follow-up conversation, I'd appreciate it.

Sure, I will reach out to the developer. I wasn't aware that they didn't follow up with you.

Thank you. Councilman Ramos. I understand the urgency, but the fact that we don't have any backup documentation to review, we didn't get any paperwork ahead of time, puts us in a pretty significant disadvantage to evaluate. I'm not trying to say that what you're telling us isn't true, but it's important that at least we have some paperwork that we can review on these projects.

Yes, understood.

When are we going to get documents on this? After the vote?

The file is completely in Legistar and it's gone through my approval and the remaining approvers are expected to do that eminently.

Do they still have to come in for an abatement beyond this?

Oh, sir, this is the abatement.

Oh, this is the abatement. So I thought this was the letter giving them the authority to seek state tax credits.

No, sir, you have already done that.

Okay.

So what I will suggest or recommend is at this point, since this is an ordinance and not a resolution, we do have another opportunity to vote on this. And so between now and the next meeting, If the council so chooses to approve today, between now and the next meeting, that questions will be answered, information will be provided, documentation will be provided to the full council for their review.

Absolutely, Council President. Again, I apologize that you do not have it. I'm able to give you what I have, but unfortunately I wasn't able to fully do the process.

Mr. Chair. Thank you, councilman, council. So as the chair of the tax abatement committee, over seeing whatever the information that was not submitted, I know we had a plethora of information that was submitted to us. from the tax abatement committee and in conversation with folks that were there. But I think more importantly here is that there is a deadline that needs to occur and it is critical to our response. I understand the conversation with our colleagues, but in reviewing this and sitting with the tax abatement committee, this is probably one of the rarest kind of developments and not just developments and looking at it, But just in terms of price points, as it relates to the residents of this community, the location that is going to be in. And I know many people always talk about downtown and what is happening downtown and how many people are priced out of downtown and how we continue to struggle in the area of affordability. of what is happening down there. But when we talk about this particular project and the amount of units all being between 20% AMI and 50% AMI from 53 studios to the 16 two-bedrooms and 10 three-bedrooms, I think it's critical that we don't miss this moment to be able to do something that is going to help our residents in this regard. I know we have information from our tax abatement committee. I don't know if it could be sent over from all of the things that we discussed and talked about. that was related to this project, as well as the information that our council colleague is looking for from the Century Ward. But just in terms of financing, the way that the state is moving now and all of the things that are happening in the federal government, I don't know if we want to be, you know, at a disadvantage to not approve a project that is going to help that really help the benefit of our folks in the city to be able to come in and ascertain these apartments at these rates.

mr president councilman raymond yeah i don't think anybody here is trying not to support the project you know we we all want access to the same information that you have access to so you know i like the council president's suggestion i know this is on um a cycle as far as how we're going to review it so if we move it forward i don't think It hurts the legislation's opportunity to get adopted later on. And by that point, we will all have privilege to the same information that Councilman Council and the others have had. Thank you, Councilwoman Day.

Yes. And I understand what Councilman Council is saying. And by Councilman Mamos, I agree that, you know, we all want to see affordable housing. We all want to see this project move forward. But again, as a body and specifically for me as the councilwoman for the central ward and as being in my board, we have a certain due diligence that we have to do and to make sure that we review the information in its entirety at the time that we are asked for our vote. So that's the only thing that's why I'm just asking for the additional meeting, because again, I did have the opportunity to review documents beforehand and to have the conversation, but there was some followup that needed to be done. And so, because. had no idea that this was happening you know taking a little bit back so um i i appreciate deputy mayor's um presentation but if we could just make sure that we get that information because again we do not want to hold up progress none of us do yes understood um and again this is not the way i like to do business either and i apologize for the request um at such a late moment but this is not my preference either

Councilman Gonzalez.

My objection would be that we are creating precedent if we do that. And then later on, they say in other meetings, some other stuff may come at the last minute and we will be in a position not to say no because we already did for this one. So I believe it's important that that we take the time to review the information and make sure that that's that's what we want to do that they say that information that is provided is something that satisfy our our our needs and something that we are comfortable with voting understood and i'm here to encourage you to support it but at the same time i understand the council will have to vote their conscience

Thank you. Anything else from the council? All right, roll call. So, again, here's my suggestion, and I will say this, that we vote today to advance and adopt. And I understand what Councilman Gonzalez is saying. And at the end of the day, we have a vote here today, and we vote our conscience. If you want to vote it down today, you can vote it down. If you want to move this forward, we move this forward.

Is that acceptable to... We're talking about moving it forward with having the information before...

Before the next vote, yes. That will definitely be.

We don't have the information before the next vote.

Is this a resolution or is this a? It's an ordinance.

It's an ordinance. This is an introduction, a communication.

Yeah, so. Yes, that's right. Okay, all right. I think we're all on the same page now. All right. That's what the president suggested. Yeah, so we'll vote on this matter to advance and adopt.

You want to advance it or advance and adopt?

I think in order for it to meet the deadline, it needs to be advanced and adopt and voted on second reading at the June 17th meeting. Is that correct?

Yes, Council President. One of the scheduling challenges is that we have one council meeting a month. And so in order for it to take three readings, it would not be approved until July. And so that would be past their deadline. So July 15th would be the third reading. And that was the reason for asking for it to be advanced and adopted.

So we'll vote today, but with the understanding, and I just really want to make it clear because I think the council feels this way is that there's a lot of information that needs to be provided. Meetings need to be had. Information needs to be shared prior to the June 17th vote.

Understood.

All right. Thank you. So we'll vote today to advance and adopt first reading.

Thank you.

Roll call.

Council members, Bay? Yes. Council?

Yes.

Gonzalez?

Yes.

Kelly?

Yes, to advance and adopt.

Quintana?

Yes.

Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Council members, we are in the 30-minute public comment portion.

I'm sorry, before we start.

Yeah, I wanted to record my votes for 7R, 8A, B, and C as yeses. All right. So noted. Thank you, Councilman.

Mr. President, before we go to the public hearing, I just wanted to ask the Deputy Mayor, where are we with the change that I had requested of having more units at 60% and less units at 80%?

Yes, Council President Allison Ladd, Director of Economic and Housing Development. Yes, we have received the information from the Clerk's Office regarding the change to IZO as recommended by Council Member Gonzales. We are now preparing it to go to the Central Planning Board for them to refer it back to Council.

It's taking apparently a winding road because that was at the beginning of the year, I believe, or even last year that I suggested that. And it has taken six months to go from the clerks to... to economic development. I understand that government moves slowly, but I believe we have some times to do something, let's say a little bit more expeditiously. And this time I am going to be missing the opportunity of voting on that item because it took so long.

I will do all that I can to bring it back to you before the July 15th meeting, which I know will be your final meeting. And we will at least be able to have you be able to look at that. June 17th meeting, sorry. July 15th, June 17th. Sorry, in my head, wrong.

I'll pass it on to the council lady elected. so that she can vote for that and increase the number of units at 60% and reduce the units at 80%.

And we can call it the Carlos Gonzalez ordinance.

Yes, you know, not that you're asking me, but I will tell you part of the reason was is that we were looking at other changes to inclusionary zoning and we were trying to decide if we should do just one change or do multiple changes. And so that was what the delay was. But I am willing to have us go in two steps and we'll be able to do the first. Thank you. You're welcome.

Thank you. I'm sorry, Councilman Ramos.

Yeah, it's not for you, Deputy Mayor. Just a few things I want to see if I can just highlight. One is I spoke to the BA yesterday about these issues we're having with PSE&G. If we can send like a strongly worded letter on behalf of the council, they're doing a lot of these gas line replacements in various parts of the city. Originally, it was supposed to be done by a private contractor, Apparently PSE&G decided to split the work between the private contractor and PSE&G employees. Those areas that are being handled by PSE&G directly are a huge mess. I mean, there's dust everywhere. They have signage authorizing the streets to be blocked off for at least six weeks. They've been on Lake Street for about two months. And you have to guess what day they're actually going to show up. in front of your house to do the work and it's a huge inconvenience for our residents in the neighborhood um they're not doing a good job cleaning up after they do the the gas light replacement you know i'm not i'm not sure um if there's any kind of leverage that the city has with this utility but but they have to be you know better actors when they do work in the city of newark and they have to clean up after themselves if it was any other contractor that we hired to do that kind of work and they left the kind of mess that P&C&G leaves behind, they would be fined. So I would ask through your chair and the clerk and through the B.A. 's interference that we send something out to P.S.C. and G. Maybe have them appear before us like we've had so many times in the past. I know Councilman Quintana's brought him in about lighting. We brought him in in the past when they installed these ridiculously large utility poles in our residential areas. You know, they have to they have to respect the city a little bit more than what they do.

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, that's a continuation of a special meeting we were supposed to have with PSE&G, Optimum, and Verizon around the hanging of these wires all on these poles, the looseness, the wires that are falling down, causing problems all over the place. I'm not sure who the contact individuals should be, and maybe we need to begin to reach out to corporate to find a connection. But those individuals need to be in here, you know, concurring to what council colleagues have said. They have to be responsible and accountable for the things that they're doing in the city and not just pass off responsibility. You know, public services. Oh, we rent. We rent the polls out. The other folks, they come in and say the polls don't belong to us. And there is really no real initial response. kind of directive of what is happening. But what is happening is a lot of sloppy work around the city, falling wires all over the place. And we need to really begin to come to head with the execution of this stuff.

Thank you. We really need to try to schedule that as soon as possible.

Please. Sure.

Anything else from the council? All right. Open it up.

Council President, council members, before we go to the public comment, I just want to state for the record that the ordinance adopted as 6FA today will be advertised in accordance with law and a public hearing will be held at the next council meeting on June 17th. We are in the 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 members?

good morning good morning donna jackson council elect at large first let me say it's going to be difficult for me to be a team player if we're going to keep rushing stuff i feel slighted today by the rushing of this budget i have been a critic of the budget for the last three years exclusively We are in some troubling times and I'm not gonna sit back quiet. I'm telling you right now, I'm not. These public hearings that are supposed to occur on July 15th or whatever day it was, they're not going to be rushed either. The public is going to have an opportunity to have input. Last year when we did this, the year before last, a fiasco. We're not going to do a whole budget every department in one day. Some of these budget hearings are going to be in the evening because people and homeowners work. And we cannot continue to do business as usual when we're getting ready to saddle these homeowners with this reval and tax increase at the same time. Now, we can debate the 1%. I'll sit down with Mr. Pennington so he can show me. But to have this introduced today with no paperwork again in front of you, I got a problem with that. And I know it's deliberate. I'm taking it personal. Yes, I am. Now, everybody's going, oh, no, Donald, we're not doing that. I don't believe it. I'm glad that they got it done in time, but you're rushing it because you know what's coming up there. And it's going to be accountability, and we're going to do it right. So please, when you plan the budget hearing, don't do it in one day because I'm going to object. I'll bring the people down here and we're going to have a public hearing for real for the first time in 20 years because we're not going to keep pushing this path and not have people involved. I hope that executive budget for executive protection went from that 20, 30 million dollar range down to five, because if it didn't, that's the first thing I'm pushing for. I don't have personal protection. Nobody needs that much. Delaney Hall, a fiasco. How do we allow that and why are we suing Delaney Hall? Where do we get the money from for that? I hope that's not this contract today. I hope it's not. We shouldn't have allowed it to go that far. We should not have allowed for our police department now to go down there and be in harm's way. I'm not having it. We're not doing that. The governor shouldn't have stepped in, and we shouldn't have made this a political football, and we allowed that. You need to tell the mayor when he's wrong, and he's wrong on this one. He's wrong. The council calendar needs to be restored. June ain't no summer month. School's still in. We still working. Go back to the two meetings. Should have never been changed. You can get the one meeting for July, the one meeting for August, but not for June. There should be a day meeting, which should have been today, and a night meeting on the 17th. We need to really stop disrespecting the process. Gas and electric, PSE&G. Lastly, I'll close with this. The city had an opportunity to file for a waiver with the Board of Public Utilities, and we are one of the only municipalities, let me just finish, that did not do that. Thank you for your comments. You're welcome.

I appreciate it. Next speaker.

Action Jackson. First, let's take a moment of silence for former financial director Danielle Smith. Hope Brownstreet, you're listening. Okay, a couple of things. You know, I was all for, I'm all for keeping Delaney Hall open. But then I went and did my research. You know, why close Delaney Hall? For what? You're not talking about closing all the jails in the state of New Jersey are messed up. All the state, all the jails, all the black people, all the jails are messed up. You know, not just Delaney Hall, you know. And then I got a question for you, Council President. When you're dead broke, right, you got the Newark police going down there. Who paid for all that overtime? Is the governor going to write a check out for you? Because now they're putting the Newark Police Department back down there. Who paying for that? I'd like to ask that to my friend, the B.A., Mr. Pennington. Because the city got to pay for it. Come on. Now, they were in the mighty South Ward on Freeland-Hisen Avenue over there by the projects. And the Newark Police did a good job over there. Councilman, I guess you sent them over there, you know, to get it straightened out. And they're over there. But I don't know if they're still over there. They weren't there yesterday. But you got to put the resources back up there to the mighty South Ward, the Patrick Council, and the projects, and stop all that drug activity over there. Not at Delaney Hall. This ain't about politics. Forget about politics. You got like a Hakeem Jeffries. He come over here, close Delaney Hall, go to Rikers Island. They got plenty of problems over there. All the jails got problems.

That's why I wish a man to come down here, my little brother Vaughn.

Vaughn good on all that prison stuff, prisoner re-entry. He might have to get the young guy involved. because wasting time at Delaney Hall. I mean, it's good if you want politics and be on TV all day. That's slick, but it's costing money. And I like how this council stood up today to the administration, Deputy Mayor Ladd, come down here prepared. Why wouldn't you come down here prepared to this bonafide body? Don't come down here half-stepping, being slick. And as far as my man Miles Berger and the Berger's organization, in the powerhouse Central Ward, that's a great project. That's what I've been talking about every time with the tax abatement coming down here. I know you're gonna have points going back and forth, making your adjustments, but that's a good product. Of course, Donna said the median income is cheaper than 86,000, but you're starting, you got a starting point. Stay in line with the budget, Council President.

thank you comments next speaker mic check donald jackson north resident and uh chief of staff to out being acting council at large donna jackson so we can get those rumors out the way Last time I came before this body, I talked about good governance. And it appears that we are lacking good governance. And I think it shows throughout the voting process, the low turnout, people are tired. People are tired of the rhetoric. People are tired of the talking. And in my conversations with some of you in passing, I've said, you know, you get to the council meeting, you get before these agenda items, you make very good points, and then we hear yes, yes, yes, yes. And for... This lad to come up and say, oh, I'm sorry, I don't have this prepared or I'm not ready. It's just not showing good governance on the executive side or the legislative side. Now, the building in particular I'm familiar with because I worked there back in the day. What senior is going downtown to Rector Street? What about the parking? What about the access? What about the ADA accommodations? Those were problems when we worked in that building. Now, again, some of you may be privy to information that I'm not because I'm on this side. But has that come back to the full body? Was that discussed amongst you all? Clearly it wasn't because there was a lot of questions. It's not your problem that these folks aren't prepared. If you ain't prepared, that's too bad. It's not our problem. And what it seems to me, correct me if I'm wrong, but it always seems like you all have to be stepped on and take the brunt of folks, for lack of a better word, preparedness or incompetence. And residents are tired. I know I am. I'm tired of hearing the same story. Throughout my whole adult activism life, it's always the same story, the same result. I know y'all got to be tired because I definitely am. So I'll say that to say this, the handwriting is on the wall.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker.

Good morning, Council.

My name is Andre Santana. This is for Mr. Pennington. Mr. Pennington, I put an open request for a data dump of your GL for 24 and 25, along with the chart of accounts and account codes, and I haven't received that yet. I mean, something relatively simple. You know, if your staff doesn't have the skill set, that's a problem, but you passed due. So I just want to know what's the status on that.

Thank you. So that was you were directing a question to the Council? Okay, the hearing is for directing conversations to the council. Questions to the council. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, council members.

Good afternoon. Good morning.

Oh, good morning. Good morning, everybody.

I'm sorry. We know you, Ms. Bradley, but can you state your name for the record, please?

Oh, my name is Fakira Bradley, a resident of Newark, a resident of the South Ward, but I don't want to give my address. Good morning. Good morning. Council members, I stand before you today not only as the founder of Restoring Hope Newark, Inc., but as a resident and advocate who believes in the power of the community. I'm asking you to help us restore hope, restore unity, and restore love and show me love for my block party. I'm asking you... For nearly 30 years, our block has not had a community block party. We have a generation of children who have never experienced what it feels like to see neighbors come together in peace, laughter, and fellowship on the very street that they call home. Today, as a resident of Schuyler Avenue, ready for families, already seniors, already, most importantly, our children are waiting. This event will bring together all the people of different ethnicities, backgrounds, and walks of life. It will remind us despite our differences, we are all one community. At the time, so many neighborhoods are struggling with division, we are choosing unity. At this time, when many people feel disconnected, we are choosing connection. At this time when people feel like they don't have hope, I'm restoring the hope. I respectfully ask this council to support me and the request is going through now as you allow me the opportunity to show you what I can do. And I want to cordially invite you all to my block party, my first ever big event in the South Ward. So I know right now we all in the pivotal time of life, you know, we all got our flaws. We all got our good. We all got our bad. We all do some stuff. Ain't nobody perfect. But I stand in solidarity with my people, just to let you know. And thank you for your support. I ain't always been a spring chicken, but I'm honest, and I'm youthful, and I'm loyal. And thank you for your service. Everybody got flaws. I definitely appreciate you. And I want to give a shout out to Roz. I don't care how nobody feel. Every certification I got, everything I got through the nonprofit programs that he funded. I took it to the top and I'm definitely grateful and appreciate it. And I don't look boots. I'm not getting paid for it. I'm just speaking my honest opinion. Thank you for your service. Louise got trial tree. I love you.

All right. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. No other, there are no other speakers. Public comments now closed. Get a motion to, anything from the council? Anything from the administration? Okay.

Yes, Council President Eric Pennington, Business Minister. Just quickly, if I could, with respect to the budget, as was raised by you, Council President, that there needs to be hearings and that they would not be held in one day. That's the administration's position. We intended for that to be the case. But it's one of the reasons why in response to Councilman Gonzalez's request that we get this budget introduced sooner. It gives us a little more of an opportunity. We have until July 15th. We are prepared and we'll make ourselves available for those hearings. With respect to council elect Donna Jackson, as I indicated, I will meet with her prior to her being sworn in and after. to accommodate her and anyone else to make sure that they have sufficient information with respect to the budget. Regarding Delaney Hall being called a fiasco, the administration and the mayor, has done a yeoman's job to make sure that what has been characterized as a fiasco has been minimized and, quite frankly, is under amazing control. As the mayor indicated yesterday at the press conference, our Newark police are trained to handle these situations, and we deal with protests on a weekly basis and handle them quite well. In the wake of George Floyd, people should be reminded that while cities burned around the United States, the city of Newark not only did not burn, it didn't have one shooting or one stabbing. And quite frankly, even though there were some minor arrests, it was minimal with respect to how things were handled elsewhere. Those same tactics are now being used with respect to the protests at Delaney Hall. They have minimized over the last two days under the direction of the mayor and Director Miranda, It is our intention to allow First Amendment protests to go forward. That's the law. And that is what the city is all about, is inclusiveness and openness and making sure that people have their constitutional rights protected There is an administration in Washington right now that does its best to tamp that down, to step on the necks of individuals, to treat them with disdain and disgust and with violence when they exercise their constitutional rights. We don't do that here. And we have been extraordinarily successful and will continue to do so. uh with our partners working to make sure that people have the right to protest while we still make sure that delaney hall does everything that it's supposed to do and the geo group doesn't use its billions of dollars in profit at the expense of the detainees and will continue to do that regarding again the budget regarding the executive protection unit. Those details will be provided and council members will have an opportunity to vote on it one way or the other, and we will answer the questions. Again, to stand up here and not have, just throw out numbers without having the data is a little bit dangerous, People have the opportunity to say what they want to say, and we will provide the facts and make sure that you have sufficient information to vote your conscience as we work forward. With regard to, there's a request regarding who's paying for our police to be down at Delaney Hall. The city is. And we are using taxpayers' money to do so. But be clear. This administration, the business administrator in particular, has requested from the governor's office that we provided with funds to cover the overtime at Delaney Hall and for FIFA. The state police got $66 million for FIFA coverage, none of which has been given to the city of Newark, none. We have officers who are gonna be in the Ironbound and in the Westward and in the Central Ward to deal with, and everywhere in the city, to deal with FIFA related events. And we're gonna have to cover that cost ourselves. The state has said that they will look into it and I will follow up with them in the next few days to see how much of that $66 million will come to the city of Newark uh we believe that at least uh 10 of that 6.67 million dollars of it should come here so far we've got none of it um so with your help uh perhaps we'll get a dollar or two thank you thank you you're welcome uh with that being said uh the roll call to adjourn or motion to adjourn roll call i did want to make an announcement council president

I'm sorry, before we... Councilwoman Scott-Roundtree?

Yeah, I was trying to say that I wanted to just announce tomorrow. Thank you, Council President. I was trying to say it before the VA came up about tomorrow's motor vehicle inspection at the Temple of Hip Hop, 55 Lowe Street. Tomorrow, that will be occurring. And for those who want to get their cars inspected and vehicles inspected, Please call my office for further information, 973-733-3794. It will be taking place tomorrow from 8.30 a.m. until 2 p.m. Only motor vehicle mobile inspections. Also, there will be a date coming up for individuals to come to the mobile unit that we're currently getting ready to schedule to get their new IDs. Meanwhile, everyone have a great day. Thank you, Council President.

Thank you, Councilwoman. Roll call to adjourn.

Council Members Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Gonzalez? Yes. Kelly? Absent. Quintana? Absent. Ramos? Absent. Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva? Yes. President Crump?

Yes.