Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. Welcome to the regular meeting. Good afternoon. Welcome to the regular meeting of the North.

A meeting to order? Thank you.

Welcome to the regular meeting of the Newark Municipal Council on Wednesday, September 9th. Please stand for the National Anthem Pledge of Allegiance in invocation by Pastor Jeffrey Brown. and you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the Let's fight for the rights we want.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, I want to say thank you, Lord. Thank you for waking us up this morning and bringing us here safely. Let us have one mind to continue to give you the glory, but also have a mind to work together in unity that we may strengthen this city and work together to help the people. In Jesus' name we pray. Let everyone say amen.

In accordance with New Jersey law, adequate notice of this meeting has been provided to the Star-Ledger, the Jersey Journal, and the public at large, establishing the date, time, and location of this meeting. In addition, the agenda for this meeting was disseminated on September 4th at the time of preparation and posted on the city's website. Roll call. Bay. Present.

Council. Absent. Trump. Present. Jackson. Absent. Kelly. Present. Ramos.

Here.

Scott Roundtree.

Present.

Silva. Absent. Present.

Yes, here.

Council President, Council Members, I'd like permission to change the order of business.

Thank you, Council President. I just wanted to acknowledge that we have special guests here. We have students and faculty from Great Oaks Legacy Charter School that are here with us for Council Member for the Day, as we do in our Central Ward Council office. We want to welcome them. I want to thank school founder Jared, thank Lamar Washington and Kyle Brown, and everyone who made it possible for them to spend the day with us today. So welcome.

Welcome.

Welcome, indeed. Thank you. Council President, council members, we are on page three of the agenda. Item five are reports and recommendations of city officers, boards, and commissions. Council as a whole to adopt.

Roll call.

Bay.

Yes. Council. Yes. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Ordinances on public hearing, second reading, and final passage. 6P SFA is an ordinance granting a 25-year tax abatement to 636 MLK Urban Renewal LLC for a project located in the Central Ward. Is there anyone wishing to be heard on this ordinance?

I want to sit there.

Good afternoon. Good. Glad to see the kids are out getting involved in government. My name is Felicia Austin Singleton. It feels good to be back in this council chambers, but we got some issues, some real live issues here. Y'all said that the AMI was going to be marked off at 50%, right? Right? Why we got 40, 60, and 80%? Y'all have the calculations wrong. I don't know how many times I have to explain this. The AMI is supposed to be by the local level. The local level. That was the Mount Laurel Doctrine. Every city must provide their fair share of affordable housing. So you should have put 100% set aside of affordable housing at 20, at 30, at 40% of the AMI. You would have got everybody that was 27 to 33,000, 46,000. No, but y'all just wanted to do the bare minimum of what the court outcome was, which was the 80-20. We know 80-20 rule never works. You giving us 80, we only getting 20. How does that work? Then y'all want to give a tax abatement. Y'all keep giving tax abatements where they're paying a certain amount. That's where your revenue is. That's where your budget is messed up through these tax abatements. This is why we cannot ever get anything done because you know why? Y'all, it falls on deaf ear. But now in PAC, you want them to answer you. They haven't even answered the budget. So I don't know why we're on SPFF 6A, whatever it is. I don't know why we're here. We don't have affordable housing in the city. We don't have a budget that we gave public comment on because from the budget hearing, you guys didn't get all the information. How was we comment? But yet and still, since 2017, and I'm telling y'all, I helped write the inclusionary zoning, so I'm telling you that the calculations is wrong. It always been wrong. I've always said it. It's quoted in the Star-Ledger. It should be 100% set aside at 20 to 40% of the AMI. You will cover all Newark residents. No, you made it the developer's dream. That's why the rent's at $24,000. That's why the rent's at $39,000, because you guys made it. Change it, fix it. Affordable housing will be the bright shining star of the United States. With Newark, New Jersey moving forward, we will be the bright shining star. But yet and still, you don't listen. 20% of 150, 180,000, you do the math. Let's do 18 plus 18, 36,000. 20%. 30%, let's do that again. You're only gonna do 18 plus 18 plus 18. Thank you.

Lisa Parker, this is no more than what you've been doing with Invest Newark and the housing stock here. You're selling the land to your friends, family, and donors for pennies. We're not collecting revenues from anything in Invest Newark. Where's the housing trust fund that we don't have no revenue streams for to supplement these market rate rentals for people that are low to moderate income? No project labor agreements with any of the new development that you're doing. And at the end of the day, you're gonna turn around and give a tax abatement to people that don't even contribute into our school system, our failing school system, that our children can't meet the state requirements in math and science, and yet, Once again, you're making all these perks and provisions for development and not the people in Newark. Let alone, you don't even make the sales available to the people in Newark. You make it to new developers and turn around and saddle me and everybody else here with property taxes that you're about to increase to 40% instead of 24.8%. continue to sell the land off for pennies, not the assessed value. And we got the clear example of Cowahita Towers that was assessed at 2.7 million, you sold for $23,000, went to a lawsuit that we paid over half a million dollars in legal fees, and then resold the same land for 400,000 at the last two meetings ago. How are we collecting revenues from this city and making this an honest situation? Because y'all aren't honest brokers. Because the primary priority is not the residents of Newark, nor the people that you're saddling with the debt, nor giving fairness to Newark residents. to have transparency over all of these land deals that Allison Ladd has yet to come back to the table and make it available for residents. All of these deals are done, land is not available to, but yet every ordinance that you present here is for developers and not everyday people. How you moving the city forward? not collecting taxes, not exercising fairness and equity to the people.

Thank you. Next speaker.

Good afternoon, Alif Mohammed. Oh, Felicia's back. Anyway, I got to give ups to Councilman Bay because, like she said, this was down the road. And she said that we're going to be changing this. She did say that yesterday. I want to give her props for that. Because you can do it. Even when this is difficult, because this is the final reading to go through. Is this a pilot program? Because Joey D sent me down to get the money. Rainboats, is this a pilot? Quintana, is this a pilot? This ain't a pilot program? OK, because Joey D sent me to get the money. It's a long day, guys. I miss y'all. But anyway, this is cold. 42 units. 14 and 13 is what will be affordable. They make almost one out of the 13 where somebody can afford at 40%. Because what 40% is, she didn't want to do the math. $40. would be something like $50,000. So you've got to make $50,000 to live there. But once it starts going up to 60%, you've got to make $70,000, $80,000. And when you make 80%, you've got to make $100,000. You know? See, because gentrification is something there. But that's another step to gentrification. You make it so high like in Harlem, you can't even go to Harlem now. Really, Harlem cost you a million dollars. DC, 1975, I used to sell clothes all around there. Blacks got completely moved out. The only good thing was the ones that had houses, they got the money, and they ended up going to Maryland and getting nice one family homes and stuff. But you know, DC is all gentrification. My son went to Georgetown, I didn't know what it was. Because I'm talking loudly. Sorry. Like I said, it's a real gun deal, but it's cold. This is cold-blooded. If the developer have a heart, Pat, pray for him. Maybe he got a heart, and he'll do something different. But this is hard. Thank you again. Wa alaykum as-salam.

I'm here, Nadir El-Boumani. Long-term tax abatements. We've been coming here since y'all been in office. Isn't that correct? Since all y'all been in office. The question remains is, does these long-time tax abatements benefit the local residents of the city. The other question is, who's administering these tax abatements? Because there's certain criteria, certain things that these individuals are supposed to do. They're supposed to do the pilot, to put in, you know, payment in lieu of taxes nobody's doing oversight on. They supposed to give into local vendors, community development. They supposed to do a whole lot of things to get this tax abatement. And y'all just giving it away like it's this candy coming up out of your pockets. And it's not. None of this stuff that y'all doing benefits the residents of this city, nothing. And that's why when my angry bird behind you can call me whatever you want, come up here and say failed leadership, no other way to describe you, that's what you are, an absolute failure. Because you got put in office to oversee and represent the residents of this city. And we have not got jobs under these tax abatements. We have not got the proper putting in lieu of getting a tax abatement. None of that. Shake your head, bob your head, weave your head, and wait for the rest of the minutes to cut me off, right? But nothing, and you've been here the longest, and you show both like you've done something for the residents of the city, but we know who you're doing stuff for, and it ain't us. It's not us. So, I'm gonna ask you the question. How are these tax abatements benefiting the residents of this city? Where's the enforcement? Who's administering? Show us a breakdown. Show us the money that you got in these pilot programs. How much and where did you take this money and spend it? Because 3.5 million from one incident, you reorganized Invest North when it should have been shut down because it doesn't work for us either. And you put 3.5 million that was put into this fund to help them reorganize, to do what? Nothing.

I don't see any other speakers.

Any other speakers? No.

Roll call. Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson, absent. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva absent. President Quintana.

Yes. B is an ordinance requiring a deed restriction and ensuring that any purchaser of city property sold for the purposes of redevelopment complies with any and all applicable best efforts workforce requirements. Sponsored by Councilman Council. Second by Councilman Kelly. Is there anyone wishing to be heard on this ordinance? Speak.

As a speaker.

Ali Muhammad. This is a good one.

No, seriously. See, you guys be talking, and you think people are not listening.

This one is saying they're going to sell it at a certain price. But when it gets built, am I reading it right, they're going to get what it's worth. And if anybody else try to sell it, no, this is a good one. This is a good one.

Excuse me, you're out of order. There's a speaker speaking, please. If you have to do any remarks, you need to speak. There's a door. You can speak in the hall. Thank you. Sorry for the interruption.

Mr. President, I got to say the good and the bad. I'm sorry. I'm just not all bad, guys. But this is like a good deal right here because you're selling at one price where it is. Then once it's built, you get to where it's worth. And you put it in the deed to say that if anybody else do this, they got to live with this. This is a good deal. But the only problem is there's no address on it. It's no address. It's no address. Yeah, but there's no address here. I don't know what the, but this is, we're moving. We're moving. We're moving. Thank you.

Any other speakers?

Let's see.

Yes. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Bridie Daniel, Legislative Coordinator for Economic and Housing Development. In regards to the ordinance in front of you, as you know, there's an issue within the city of Newark where developers are purchasing land from the city of Newark and then flipping the land before the construction is completed and they have met their due diligence by deed and by redevelopment agreement. What this ordinance does is it makes, if the developer sells the property prior to them completing their project and meeting all of the due diligence in their redevelopment agreement and their legislation, they are required to give the city 80% of market rate of whatever they sold the property for and they can only keep 2%. So what this does is try to discourage redevelopers from flipping the property prior to them meeting their obligations with the city. If they do, we are eligible to receive 80% of whatever they sold the property for. Thank you. There is no addresses for any properties.

Any other speakers? I'm Clark, I haven't seen all the speakers. Mr. President.

Oh, Councilman. Yeah, I just wanna thank the administration for pushing this forward. I had raised the issue at a few meetings specifically about a property located on Verona Avenue that the city has sold to an adjacent property owner. And that property owner is now listing both the site that he purchased from the city and the site that he owned for sale as a vacant lot for a lot more money than what he paid for the property from the city of Newark. And I think we have to stop those practices. It happens more often than we think. And I'm glad to see that through this legislation, that kind of practice will hopefully stop.

Any other speakers?

The question I have for you is all of these properties that are already delinquent, like the Halo building, how is that being enforced when they don't pay any land tax, assessment tax, and sitting over there collecting dust that you gave a 25-year tax abatement. Will this be applied retroactively to address all of these slumlords here and everybody else that you've already given abatement to? Where's the enforcement gonna be on that? If this is what you're doing to strengthen so that when developers do come, that they're in compliance when you have all of these developments going on right here today that hasn't even given us a community benefit agreement, nor have made any concessions in the community to give back to the community. Where? Who's enforcing it? Every time y'all create some legislation, it doesn't mean a hill of beans because you just talking into the air, because it doesn't have any teeth, because you don't do anything. You still have the halo building that we're not collecting revenues from. Who's enforcing that? You still have all of these properties in Invest Newer that you're still selling to your friends, family, and donors that you don't make available to the regular residents here. Where's the enforcement at? You don't have the manpower, you don't have the budget, and you got a bankrupt, broke city. How is the enforcement gonna take place?

do a prime example. Yesterday, there's something on the book that the developer's supposed to be in this meeting, right? And you got a slew of private sales on here that y'all had to all defer yesterday, right? Because they was not in here to do no kind of presentation per your order, per the council order, excluding, uh, Action Jackson up there. Y'all said every developer's supposed to come in here. Did they come in here yesterday? Did they give you this? Did they give you that? What y'all was saying? They never did nothing. So you getting ready to tell us that we gonna go past, you gonna pass an ordinance about this? And they don't even show you no respect coming in behind up in here like they supposed to. Okay, to say, oh, we got this property, we purchased it, we're going to do this, this, and that, we're going to have this, we're going to have a hundred jobs for Newarkers, we're going to have local contractors. They haven't given you nothing. And y'all sat up there and most of y'all what? Deferred, deferred, deferred, deferred. So what is it going to be like today? Cause this should be deferred too. Because you don't have nothing in place, like Lisa said, to do oversight of anything in the city, nothing. You don't have the manpower for code enforcement. You don't have the manpower for nothing. You don't even have investigators to do nothing. That's why we keep losing revenue under code enforcement. You have nothing, so why you keep voting on stuff that you have nothing to do oversight and have transparency over? Explain that. But you gonna bob your head, yes, yes, yes, and then gonna get mad at the person that say no. And then you gonna put a gun to their head and say, oh, pass it because we got a concession here and this and that. That's what you do. and you get a call or text and we gotta get this done, we gotta get this de-restriction done, you have nothing here and you're a bunch of nothingness. And why I'ma come up here angry every day? Because look at our people out there suffering. Because of your, you make decisions in this city that you are part of the destruction. You are a part of all of this that's going on in our city. You are a part of it by your inconsiderate vote for yes because developers pay into your campaign. Yes you, look at me. And you wait for me to go.

Thank you. Thank you. Madam Clerk, I've seen all the speakers.

Roll call. Yes. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

C is an ordinance authorizing the city to accept corrective deeds from the Newark Housing Authority, sponsored by Councilwoman Bay, second by Councilwoman Jackson. Is there anyone wishing to be heard on this ordinance?

I see no one appearing. Okay.

All right, sorry. It's on now.

Oh, that's all right. Good afternoon again. Brandi Daniel, Legislative Coordinator for Economic and Housing Development. With this particular ordinance, all it's doing is correcting the deeds that are on file for this particular ordinance. property. What happened was when it was originally done, it was more than one block and lot, and they were merged together, so all it's doing is correcting the deed that's on file with the county.

Okay. Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Felicia Austin Singleton. Y'all need to correct all the deeds at the housing authority. And when I mean deeds, I mean the deeds of the people, of the Housing Authority. The Newark Housing Authority is gonna bring the city down. Any relationship that this city council or that administration have with the Newark Housing Authority, Housing Authority is gonna bring you down. I said it in 2015 and I'm saying it again today. Correct the deeds. You don't even correct the deeds and make sure that these landlords are registered. You don't correct the deeds or nothing, but since Mr. Spicer's time is up, you guys want to correct some deeds. You don't like him? You don't like his work? So be it. Y'all have more stuff on this housing authority that's corrupt, that's not right, and now y'all want to correct the deeds. Correct the deeds of the people that you put in there that's still there, that have made Newark Housing Authority residents' lives a living . Yet and still, you want to be politically correct now. But we not happy. with your involvement in any part of the housing authority. I feel like the housing authority at this point should be put into receivership like a bunch of some other places. And if you don't, within 120 days of his dismissal, HUD will come take it over. So all the corrected Ds will be put on hold. and they will correct the deeds of the people, the incompetent, low-life people that you put in there. And we can go on about it. It's a 120-day notice. You know where I'm coming from. My email done went out to Scott Turner. I have all the information that leads right back to this building. That's federal. This is local. Local, county, state, federal. You do not supersede the housing authority in anything under HUD but code enforcement. But you ain't do that either. But restrictive deeds. Correct the deeds of your people that you sitting over there to sit on the board who has done nothing for the residents. Not one thing, not fixed the elevator, not done nothing for the residents, and you want to correct some land deeds? That's all y'all worried about. What about our everyday living?

Thank you.

Any other speakers? I'm Clark C. Neal.

It's mighty funny that all this correcting the D's and D's and D's is happening while there's a lot of deed theft going on. It's a coincidence. So you're changing and correcting stuff because you don't stole people's properties here? Say you didn't. Go ahead. I dig. Say there ain't no deed theft going on here. Just say you didn't. Who's correcting it? Because you can't have the criminals taking the criminals to the criminals to correct anything in this city. No, this is serious. So who's doing the correction here? Because it better not be none of y'all and the rest on the second floor. Oh, we on the second. And the county too. Criminals correcting paperwork. And this is saying from Ida B. Wells, the ones who committing the crimes is writing the reports. That's a good saying there. You better listen and stay focused, Norcas. The ones who committing the crime are writing the reports. Same thing that's going on with the crime here.

Can you stick to the ordinance? No, no. Listen, listen.

You're going beyond the ordinance. You're going beyond the ordinance.

Can you stick to the ordinance?

I want you to. It is a part of D-Day.

You're not. You're going back and forth. You don't tell me what to say on my three minutes. We have a public here of young people. You're calling people criminals. I'm talking about all of that. There is no. Whatever the case may be.

What you mad about?

If you have proved that somebody's a criminal, then you will address it. What you mad about? What you mad about? There's young people here. What I'm wrong about? And you're making it based that there are criminals here. There is no criminals here.

What I'm wrong about?

Talk. Stay to the order.

What am I? You tell me what I'm wrong about. Say it in my comments. Not today.

All right.

Not today. Babies can hear.

We have young people here.

I didn't curse. Are you worried about young people?

This is not the way we're going to burn a business.

If you're worried about young people, you're being 24 hours apiece. You're worried about young people? Who said that?

Susan, you're out of order.

Who said that?

You're out of order. You're not talking to the ordinance. You're talking about 24 hours that has nothing to do with this ordinance. But who said that?

Why do you keep saying?

Excuse me, can you speak to the ordinance? Or if not, you have to take a seat.

I didn't curse though, did I curse?

No, I did not say you cursed. I said you are talking about something that has nothing and irrelevant to what we're talking about.

She said it.

Okay.

Well, anyway.

And you know, we have some young people here and we're trying to teach them civics. And what you're doing is not teaching civics to our children.

Can you explain that? Who's doing the correction?

All right. There was an explanation. Because we got an issue with that. There was an explanation from the administration. Come on in. Come on in, Doge. And now stick to the ordinance of what it is on Orchard Street. Attorney General Blanche, come on in.

Who's doing the correction?

All right. You're out of order.

Who's doing the correction?

You're out of order. Stick to the ordinance.

Because we don't want them doing it.

All right. Thank you. I want to apologize to the public, especially to our young folks, because we're about trying to teach our young people about civics, about government, and we're here calling people criminals and the 24 hours, that has nothing to do with none of this. And I'm sorry to be that way, but it's the way that I feel. And I can't speak for all my colleagues, but I think that that's what we feel. Ms. Parker, I'm sorry.

Good afternoon. I want to thank all of you young people that are here today to understand how civics works how your government is supposed to work, and how you have the constitutional right to come here for discourse with your elected officials. This is your God-given right as part of the Constitution. And if they're not teaching it in your schools, that's why I'm happy your teacher brought you here, so you know how to exercise your right before you vote for people that don't represent your interests. Now, back to all of the deeds and the records. You have all of these folks that had their property taken away from them through tax liens and everything else, and this goes right along with that, is given to who you want to have that property with no oversight, no accountability, and no enforcement. So at the end of the day, when you say we're not speaking on topic, we can talk about anything we want to when we get here, whether it's related to this ordinance or not. That's our God-given right as part of the Constitution. Free speech. That's what public hearings are for.

See no other speakers? Roll call. This is Administrator Wood. And that's it. And then no other speakers. And we'll listen to the administration. Thank you.

Thank you, Council President. Eric Pennington, Business Administrator. Just wanted to address the allegation of theft with respect to, I'm not sure whom, whether it's directed to the council members or to the administration, but there is absolutely no evidence presented that anything was stolen. This is a correction for deeds with the Newark Housing Authority. Pardon me. That is it. To the extent that there is any proof, any allegation, any specific evidence that there was a deed theft by either the council or the administration should be brought forward. That's not the case, and it didn't happen. If I could just take 30 seconds to talk about civics since these students are here. The public speaking portion is not governed by the Constitution. It's governed by Robert's Rules of Orders. This council gives the speakers the opportunity to speak, and they set the parameters. Once they give the people the right to speak, they certainly have a First Amendment right to say what they want to say as it relates to the ordinance that is in front of the council, and that is it. So it's great that the students are here, but it's unfortunate when people give the students misinformation. If there's a civics lesson that has to be held, I'm sure that their teachers can give them that. And I hope they go back and ask their teachers and say, is it true that people can say whatever they want to say, irrespective of whether it's a lie? or irrespective of whether it is an accusation of criminality, where there's no basis in fact or evidence for that, they should go back and ask their teacher if that's the case. They can make those allegations, but if there's any specificity as it relates to any individual up there, the individuals have the right to bring claims against the people who make those false allegations. The allegations that were set forth today were so amorphous, were so lacking in any evidential support, and so lacking in any specificity, they probably didn't break the law. All they did was identify their own ignorance with respect to what it is that they were trying to bring forward. But there's no evidence of theft by the administration or the council, and these students should be aware of that as well. Thank you. Madam Clerk?

Roll call, please.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

D is an ordinance amending the LIVNORC loan forgiveness program to increase the amount of closing costs for eligible applicants.

Can we get an explanation prior to the speaker? Can we get an explanation first? Thank you.

Good afternoon again. Brandy Daniel, Legislative Coordinator, Economic and Housing Development Department. So basically, this ordinance is in regards to the Live No Work program. And what that program does is assist our residents with closing costs during a purchase of a home. At this current time, the amount that is offered to our residents is $20,000. What this ordinance would do is raise it to $30,000. In regards to the information that was requested yesterday by Councilman Kelly, I did send that out to the council this morning. It included 2025 and 2026, all applications received, and it was all sorted out by ward as requested.

Councilman Kelly.

A quick question. Just for the record, I know Councilwoman Jackson brought this up yesterday as well, that when the fee is given to a resident, and she said that a resident had to pay $7,000 afterwards. I believe I spoke with Deputy Mayor today. I just want to, for the record, just to clarify, that the resident does need, is that why we're raising it, right? Because the resident does need anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 to add to the Live North program.

At this point in time, to answer that question, Councilwoman Jackson, let me get that information and I will get back to you. But in my recollection, they do not have to pay back any of the money that was given to them for this particular program. but I could verify that and let you know.

Thank you, Councilman Kelly. Yesterday, the point was that I have several residents who have come to me that are purchasing. I'm not sure if this is the program, but we have something in place where after the closing, after all is done, they're asking our residents for a good faith payment between $5,000 and $10,000. I don't know if that applies here. but if we could okay if we could get that specified um okay right i think mr p did say that yesterday but i'm just making sure that since we're increasing the amount which is great but i want to make sure that residents again are not being asked once they get through the process to give um councilman council is telling me no um the corporate council and mr p are nodding no So, OK, but I just wanted to ensure that this is not anything we're doing moving forward. We need to, you know, halt putting residents in that cash 22 situation because once the closing costs, whether the city gives it to me, state or whoever, to come up with another five to seven to ten, whatever, thousand dollars. And I'm getting me to move into my home. is a bit much for us to strain the residents with. So I thank you for the clarification. You're welcome.

So thank you, Council President. So for clarity, we have so many programs that the public is not even aware of for first time home buyers. This program, if I understand correctly, Mr. Pennington, that gave us the information, that did not apply to. But we did ask for information to be sent to the council on the various programs that are available so we can be clear. I mean, I've looked into EHD and spoke to the fourth floor about, but there are more than one program. So just so everyone is clear so these questions won't be coming up before the people, we will know. So when you come to the microphone, we might already have the answer. and just have you answer for the sake of the public. It's not a good thing to have to come and not be sure which program, and the public's listening and you have to get back to us. So we're asking in advance for the various programs so we can be abreast of those programs as well, because there's more than one. And to Councilwoman Jackson's point, she's talking about a program that does not apply, but they do ask, and that's another program. So all of us need that information. So when we're dealing with the public on this meeting, that they're hearing the same thing and not you have to come back to give it to us later. Thank you so much, Council President.

And I just want to clarify what I was saying. This is what I received this morning. that the home buyers often have to contribute an additional down payment when buying a home, right? But based on the metrics that we keep here, the home buyers need to add an additional 10 to 15,000. This is the reason why this order proposes the increase from 20 to 30,000.

That is correct. That's due to increasing closing costs. Yes, council.

The key point is this is a loan for eligible applicants. That's the key. Every time they come and bring an ordinance, they give you a bunch of word salad that nobody comprehends. And so to get to the bottom line, who is eligible for this? Who? Who? And all the time when you have these programs, they're not dedicated to the residents like me and everybody else sitting in here except the developers. It's for them, to help them, to assist them. We've had the Valentine's Day sale, the dollar sale for homes here, and we haven't seen any evidence of how Newarkers benefit from any of that. Lines outside a city hall to get city-owned properties and you have nothing to show for it because the people that it should have went to didn't get the properties. That's the reality. Thank you for being here, student. So you know when you're reading something, don't let anybody tell you anything. And as far as people coming here telling lies, et cetera, as the BA mentioned, look at Moody's report on how they downgraded the budget and our credit rating because we're broke. Google it. Moody's.

Counselor.

Just real quick. I know in yesterday's pre, I asked for a war by war of where this program has been who has been benefiting from this program, Ward by Ward. I haven't received that as of yet. I just received a couple of other things about my questions yesterday, but I haven't received that as of yet. And I'm asking specifically because in the West Ward, there are a lot of people who call my office about this program and wanna be included in this program. And I just wanted to kinda see who is benefiting in our city from the program, like Ms. Parker said, who is it for, who is it benefiting? And I haven't received that information. I definitely support it, but I haven't received the question that I asked, how many people in the West Waters are benefiting, the North Ward and so forth. I haven't received that yet.

Operation Council.

Good morning. Well, good afternoon. Kenyatta Source, City of North Corporation Council. So just to address Councilman Kelly's request, it was sent to you this morning at about 10.51 from Brandy as one of the attachments to the email that was sent to you. And it breaks down all of the folks by ward. who were a part of the program. So just double back, and if you didn't get the email, I'll follow up with Brandy. But she said she sent it 10-51 this morning. As to the program, the reason why the program says that it's a loan forgiveness program is because there's about a five-year deed restriction on the property. So if you sell the property within the five years, you have to pay the loan back. If you don't sell the property throughout the five years, you get to keep the loan in The purpose of this program is to give folks an opportunity to, of course, purchase property within the city of Newark, but more importantly, to keep them there because we don't want those folks to happen upon somebody who's going to try to give them a few dollars to increase money in their pocket and, unfortunately, sell the property. We don't want that to happen. That's all it is.

Thank you, Corporate Counsel. And I have it now. Thank you, Ms. Brandy.

Next speaker.

Ali Muhammad, I'm the only one in here that got a school talking about civics. I don't have 5,000 of these students. Nothing, excuse me, Mr. President, nothing supersedes the Constitution of America. Nothing. Not Robert's rules, anybody rules. I want you all to understand that. And I own a school. Nothing supersedes it. and I appreciate it because I've been closed on a lot of homes in my day, Councilman Kelly, and a lot of times the closing cost is a big thing. You know, you might be right there for somebody to give you some money and long as you live there and you're not trying to play us, how they say, You know, you buy the property, and then you got the loan, and you run away and stuff. So this is excellent. This is excellent. Thank you very much. But my students, nothing suceeds the Constitution. Because it might be unconstitutional what they're doing here in the robbers' rooms, applying it. And she has the right to say what she wants. And if you don't think she wants, then take her to court and sue her for defamation like the mayor just did and lost. Thank you, Mr. President.

Take me to court? Who gonna do that? First of all, I'm one of the individuals who helped devise the civics in schools with the Citizen Action, Citizen Campaign. And you ain't enforced that yet. And you want to get in here and talk about, oh, what you got to say about the children. Won't they get up here and ask you what happened to the civics in schools? Newark a civic nation. For the whole city of Newark. We help devise that.

We help devise that.

I'm a Newark civic trustee. We help devise that. I'm just putting a point on the record. So he could know.

You're going to speak to the ordinance and that's what it's about.

I got an issue, right? And who's administering this? How's the selection process? And some of the criterias that you have, you make it difficult for the men working, whatever, to play in the city. The criterias. Is this another scam, sham, and thank you, ma'am type of thing that's going on here? We had the thousand dollar sweetheart deals. We had the dollar homes. We had all that stuff that we the people, we the one who, we fought for that. And then it landed in your hands and it's a bunch of nothingness. A bunch of act like you're doing something. You wanna help Newarkers? Give them the $132 million that the federal government gave you to help the residents of the city through COVID, during COVID. Who remember that $132 million to help the businesses? Who remember that? I be shaking, you know. Where's that money? Where's the list? How's the selection process?

Can you speak to the ordinance? You're talking about other programs. Let's talk about this program. But we're talking about this program.

We're not talking about another program. Listen, you keep telling me what I can say when I got my three minutes. I just want to know, do you have the right to do that? Do you have the right to do that?

When speakers are called before, their acts speak on the ordinance that's in writing. You have your time to speak, your five minutes to speak, but you don't have to go into an ordinance and talk about something else. Continue and speak on the ordinance, please.

Do you have a right to do that? Because the law, the court said you don't. ACL said you don't. Do you need another warning letter?

All right, thank you. Any other speakers? Your time is over. Okay, because you were going back in. I was trying to correct and set the record. Thank you. You're out of order. Next speaker. You're out of order. Thank you. You're out of order. Thank you. Send the suit. I'm ready. I'm ready, I'll tell the judge too. He'll see your side, he'll see my side too. We're running a government. And whether this is the purpose of running a government. We're running a government, we're not running a shouting because we got business of government to run. Thank you. Next question. I'm sorry.

Hello, Felicia Austin Singleton. Point of information. That's Robert Roosevelt and I wanna take my point and give you my information, correct? My point of information is to speak, thank you Donna Jackson for putting the budget on tour because that wasn't nobody else's idea, that was yours. Thank you for putting it on tour. But I'm so glad that we had our budget hearing because this was brought up in our budget hearing about the Live Love North. Only thing I have to say about this is transparency. A lot of people had questions, did not know where to go, did not see the paperwork when they came down here, don't see it on the website, is not accessible to the people. I don't think this should be passed because if you ask for information and the day they get here, you had to still ask for it, that's not being transparent. When you ask at the pre-meeting, which is a public meeting, we're sitting there on the screen watching too to see what the information is. It just can't go to you and think, oh, we supposed to think of something in our heads. If it's a public meeting, it should be brought back and discussed on the record. During her explanation of this Live North, it should have been brought and talked about. Not that it's gonna be emailed to you, because technically speaking, kids, they are my employees. I exchange my vote for them to sit there and to do what I ask them to do, to make things right for me as the resident that voted for them. So they're our employees. They're supposed to hear our concerns and issues and give us a voice to address the issues. So at the end of the day, what I want to say is, when they get up here and your directors cannot answer a question, what's on this agenda for the day? I'll get back to you on that. We're going to get back to that vote. Defer it. We wasn't explained what was done in the Live North. Y'all were emailed that. Y'all were emailed that, but that was brought out in a public meeting, and it should be answered back into the public meeting. That's democracy. That's transparency. And that we did not get. So when we wanna teach the kids something, the rule is honesty. You be transparent. Every tax, when you go buy something and you pay taxes, you are a taxpayer. They have the right to answer your questions, the right to address you. And the reason why we act this way is because we never get answers. For 10 years, we've never gotten answers. So at the end of the day, let's be clear and transparent.

It's over. Thank you. Next speaker.

Sorry, I'm late. So I guess I got my quick question about this Live North situation. Where is this money coming from? Seems like there's an increase of funding. I'm just trying to figure out where exactly is the funding that's coming from. I didn't hear that part, so maybe somebody could just let me know so I don't have to ask that question again. Look, I'm here to support whatever we're doing in the city. I think part of a lot of the issue is we have to do better at promoting these things, right? So if we can pay for drops here and drops there, let's make sure that we're paying for drops of this information too. Also understand that a lot of these programs you only have certain amount of money, so only certain amount of people will be able to take advantage of it. But, okay, well, it's closed on now. We're running out of money. We're down to $10,000 left. Get here now. You know what I'm saying? Let's make sure people understand that it's urgent that they jump on this, but make sure that we're doing the cross-promoting, the nonprofits know, the radio station know. You know, anybody walking down the street, let's make sure that everybody has access to it. These flyers for these programs should be at our ward rec centers so people can get it. They should be at the schools in case the kids want to take it home to mom. Maybe they know their aunt may be able to take advantage of these programs. We have to do a better job and understand that it's important to make sure the information gets out so there's not necessarily no backlash and people can support it. Again, I heard it was, I wasn't able to take advantage of it, but I was able to inform somebody else about it. And that's what we want to do for our city, okay? So invest in NOAA. Mr.

Chair, I don't want to stay on page four for long, but I think it's important because a lot of information was diluted here and it goes past the real importance of what we're talking about here. We're talking about home ownership here in the city of Newark and why it's important for us to increase home ownership. And so Live Newark encourages individuals to come into the city, and if you live here already, to purchase a home. It gives you up to $30,000 towards closing costs. In 2025, we had 29 applicants that received the application. 13 applications was approved. 13 new homeowners, thank you. In 2026, 21 applications received. Four total applications have closed so far. What we need to do is encourage individuals to become homeowners in this city, to get engaged and get involved, look for the information, also help us to give information out by resource and by way so that folks can know that it is important to become a homeowner. So when we're talking about civics, we talk about generational wealth so that we are encouraging generational wealth and not beating down the importance of becoming a homeowner in a city that you live in. So that's really important. that we go through that. So kudos to all of those individuals that took advantage of the Live Newark application. And we encourage folks to continue to do so. If you need that information, reach out to our economic and housing development unit or reach out to one of your council people so that we can get that information to you and let you know what it means to qualify or how you have to go through the process if you are in search of owning a home here in the city of Newark. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other speakers?

I guess I'm understanding what's going on now. So I was online and I seen a flyer from East Orange, where East Orange is only allowing their people to get $100,000 to own stuff in their particular city. My question to my council is, out of the 13 people, is it people from the city of Newark or are they coming from everywhere? Because we really need to educate our own people on how to get these properties because a lot of people are coming from out of town, out of state, out of country, and they're buying up our city and it's forcing us to not be able to live. How is that making it worse for us? The crime is going up. Whether you say it's going down or not, the crime is going up. There's a thing that's not being reported. So we do want to learn how to own things in our city. We do want to work in our city. We do want to build. And I want to learn more about this. So if there's a way that you guys can set something up other than the council meeting so we can really understand, that would be more appropriate. Thank you.

Any other speakers? Madam Clerk, I see no other speakers.

Mr. President, just real quick that through your chair and the clerk, if the administration could maybe set up ward presentations on this. I looked at the list that Councilman Kelly requested. And we only have one person in the North Ward that has benefited from this program. And I think there are two in the East. So I really feel that with five wards in the city, that we should benefit, not equally, but more residents from our community should take advantage of this.

Madam Clerk, it's noted by Councilor Ramos.

Duly noted. Thank you. Public hearing is now closed. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump?

Yes.

Jackson?

Yes.

Kelly?

Yes.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree?

Yes.

Silva?

Yes.

President Quintana? Yes. E is an ordinance providing for the Wayne Pump Station Upgrade Project. Is there anyone wishing to be heard on this ordinance?

We have some, Director Karim, can you explain this? Thank you. This was explained yesterday at the pre, so we'd like you to explain it again, thank you.

Karim and Dean, good morning, Council President, Council Members. This is a regional project. for the Wayne pump station that produces about 55 million gallons of water. that we take from the North Jersey District Water Supply. The North Jersey District Water Supply is the Wanakee Reservoir that the city owns 50% in. This pump station also, in a time of need, provides water not only to North Jersey District Water Supply, but to several different bulk water customers that purchase water from the city and future bulk water customers. This pump station was built during the 1960s drought. While the governor is in dire need of repair, the state is giving us resiliency money to move forward and upgrade this project, not only for the city of Newark and our residents and our bulk water customers, but also for the region in the time of emergency. If you've seen in the last two years, the northeast region, including the state of New Jersey, has been in a drought. However, in the last two months, we've had a lot of rain, but we're still not completely out of the drought. So this is what this project and this bonding will be doing.

This is drinking water, is that correct?

Yes, this is drinking water. And we're scheduled to get between 50% and 90% principal forgiveness for this project.

Okay. Thank you. Kelly? Kelly?

Yeah, I was going to ask the same question, too, was it was not drinking where I'm, you know, growing up in Newark. We always pride ourselves on having the best drinking water. That's what was said in our city. Just real quick question. Director is. The life of this, the upgrades that we're doing or the new things that we're bringing into the station or if it's a new station, what's the life expectancy of that? Is it 10, 20, 50 years? What's the life expectancy of it before we need another $7.4 million to fix it again?

Between 35 and 50 years.

About 35 years?

Between 35 and 50. But currently, this station was built in 1960. We're still operating it. But however, working with the state, we've seen that they have resiliency money available, about $150 million. And we pitched this project to them two years ago and they finally told us it was okay and we can move forward.

Thank you.

Thank you for that explanation. But I want to ask the question of you. Ever since there was a lead crisis in this water, what year was that? whatever year it was, 2018, 16, whatever it was, we have spent millions of dollars that were supposed to ensure the cleanliness of our water, the filtering of our water. We had Passaic Valley we bonded money with. How much bonding are we gonna do until there is oversight to ensure that everything that you've been coming up here saying for years that you was gonna correct is done? Bonding every month, emergency appropriation, the city is broke and bankrupt. Where are we supposed to get the money to pay back this bond? Where? On the backs of the taxpayer. And thank you, PAC Council, for raising the point, generational wealth, because it shouldn't just be going to the generation that's in the South Ward for those benefits. I wanna know, none of you ask the question every month when they come here asking for millions of dollars for treatment, for purchasing, for filtering our water. Not one person asks. What happened to all the corrective measures to give us clean water? Oh, that's right, it was the pipes that wasn't replaced. the dirty pipes that we still don't have an accounting for. When are y'all gonna ask the critical question, how is our money being spent, and what kind of quality assurance do you have to ensure that the work is being done? Y'all are allowing them to bond this money, borrow this money, and saddle my grandkids with the debt. and you haven't answered the question yet. Nor do you ask the question of the people from all of these ordinances, get your aides to pull it up out of legislature. How many times in the last 10 years and what has been done and what the money was used for and compare it to what he's asking for now? How about that? That's being responsible. That's protecting public safety, that you're not continuing to poison us in dirty water.

I got Kareem. Can I get this up for you? You want to do some clarity after the speaker? Okay, go ahead.

Yes, yeah, yeah. Actually, I would still like an answer for the last topic about what pot of money that's coming from. I think that that's important. But as it comes to this, at the end of the day, when it comes to our water, we want to make sure we want to do everything we're supposed to do, right? So that's a no-brainer. I think that... A lot of the problem comes with why we can't get an itemized statement. If you can tell me that, you know, you need $7.8 million, then you should be telling me exactly what you're spending it on. And I also should see a comparative price. Like, this is what I saved had I paid market rate. You see what I'm saying? I mean, I think a lot of that is important. Also, when it comes to the 50% to 90% principal forgiveness, what items are we talking about? What items do we need to know that, okay, we're getting 50% principal forgiveness on these items. There's 90% principal forgiveness on these items. I don't like the whole vagueness. Let's get an itemized statement of everything that we're going to need down to the bolts. Down to the balls. Why not? If we need to be conservative about how we're spending, and we trust the people that are spending it, but it should be no problem. This is going to cost a hundred million, a million here, 500,000 here. This is what we're proposing that we're going to be paying in overtime to however many people. This should be easy. We should be able to do that and should want to do it. We should be able to want to show our work. That's what I learned in school. Show your work. Thank you.

Thanks, Speaker. Ali Muhammad, this is good. This is a good deal. And when people's not understanding, I think Councilwoman Donna asked the questions about compliancy and everything. We're bonding the money, which means we're taking loan out. Yeah, but we're taking a loan out, and the government is going to give us back the money once it's finished. Councilman Donovan asked that question. So that's why this is a good deal. And then you guys don't know that North Water, we own, 40 miles away, we own a big place where the water comes from. So in other words, it has to come to Wayne, and then it's filtered down to us. And I drink water all the day from the city. I'm not a bottled water guy. So this is great, because we bonded it. And the government is going to pay for it. In order for the government to pay for it, they're going to make sure things is right. So this is a good thing. And that 1960 means that 66 years ago. This thing is old. And Smoove is 66 years old. And he's real old. Thank you very much.

Yeah, the speakers.

Good afternoon, Felicia Austin Singleton. They used to call us the Newark City gin. They said it was just like drinking some sweet gin. The water was so good, it'd make you drunk. But let me just say, what is the interest rate?

You know they used to say that.

What is the interest rate on these bonds? And if so, are we going to still have to pay the interest once they mature? What's going on? It's always a backdoor deal because we always come up when we say, oh, we got to cash these bonds in and these notes in to get back. We got to sell property to pay off these notes and bonds. What are we paying off if it's forgiveness free? What are we paying off? What's the interest rate? I like what Shakira McDougal said. Why don't we get an itemized list to give us a comparison? In agenda, you got 79 pages. You could cut some of these resolutions and put some pie charts in there for us to understand. Why? What's here? Where's the transparency? We have no input on how our money is spent. And then when we come to give you public speaking on a water pump or anything, then you want to act like we're the worst people in the world. All we want is answers. Answers. That's all we want. So when we don't understand or don't explain or we come up here and say things, it's because we don't understand. Half of you don't have the information, so I don't know how y'all understand. You got to keep asking for information. Corrine, could you come tell us what that interest rate is? Because I want to know, do we have to pay an interest rate? You know everything collects interest. It's sitting, somebody's finding the money. Do we have to pay the interest rate? And is that interest rate forgiven? Because that's the big deal. If the interest rate is forgiven, we going to put up the bonds, but what's the interest?

There's another speaker's director.

Oh, there's another speaker, sorry.

I need somebody.

Any translation? Okay.

Su nombre, su nombre. ¿Hablo con usted? Sí, puede hablar su nombre. Your name?

Ada López. Vivo en el 516 de la Bergen Street.

¿Qué dirección?

516 Bergen Street.

516 Bergen Street.

En un building de Citizen. Okay. Mi esposo y su hija, mi hijo y su esposa.

Primeramente, esto es referencia al agua.

No, mi amor, pero yo he caminado. Y le he tocado la puerta al mayor.

No, no, pero esto, sorry, this is not, esto no tiene que ver con esta ordenanza. Estamos hablando de una ordenanza de agua. Esto no puede hablar de otra cosa que no sea de la ordenanza.

¿Y dónde puedo ir, mi niño?

Lo que puede hacer, yo tengo una ayudante aquí, que se va a encontrar con usted y habla con usted ahí, por favor. You know what, she didn't understand the process to the young people. It's about the ordinance, but she was talking about an issue that she's confronting on Bergen Street. So we're going to have some staff take the information, our staff person, and we'll be able to answer it. But she'll be able to sign up at another given time and speak on the item, but not on this ordinance, just to explain. Thank you.

Karima Dean, Director of the Department of Water and Sewer Utilities, Council President, Council Members. I just want to clarify two things. Once again, when this administration came on board in 2014, there was a report out in 2010, four years prior to this administration coming out, and it said that the water and wastewater system at that time in 2010 needed $1.2 billion in water and sewer repairs to maintain this system. In 2012, Governor Christie, to get transitional aid that the city was getting, they tried to put the water department up for sale, right here in this same room that we're in today. And a lot of us here today voted against it. They wanted us to sell Newark's pristine, high-quality water. Since 2014, we've put in over $750 million in the water and wastewater infrastructure. You go online to the water department's page, you can see all the projects. We've listed projects as we get done. The water department doesn't get any money from the taxpayers here in the city of Newark. We get our money from the ratepayers. That's why we try to sell a lot of bulk water. When we sell bulk water to other towns that's buying our water, It was still, it was people in this room today that told towns not to buy our water when we were going through a crisis. Now we have more towns because of the upgrades that we're doing, because we're investing in our most precious resource next to our residence, our water, right? Development is growing, not only in Newark, but in other towns, and they're looking to buy more water. And we're making those, they're looking to buy more water because Newark is returning back to its glory with its water system, pristine, high-quality water. right, preserving our 40,000 acres of watershed land, right, was undeveloped to get this pristine water. Today, we've partnered with the NJDP, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, right, to do bonding to identify projects that we need to get done. What that requires is when we go through the bonding process, we take out a bond, right, we get the project done. When we get the project done, in the meantime, when we're getting the project done, working with the cities, with the I-Bank, they give us a construction loan, right? A zero interest-free construction loan for three years to get the project done. Depending on when the state closes the long-term loan with the city, that's why we don't know the amount of principal forgiveness. But even if we were to have 2% interest on that loan, $7 million or $8 million, if we got 50% principal forgiveness, we're only paying back half of that. And that's the ratepayers that's paying back that loan. So as we continue to invest in our water and wastewater infrastructure, at that time, we've always provided information when a project is done or in the middle of the project of how much money we'll save when this project is completed because we funded this project through the I-Bank. and getting the personal forgiveness. Thank you.

Thank you so much. So I just want to bring up one point of clarification, family, because you know this water has been a thorn in our side for a minute. So yesterday I asked who is monitoring the project. So the reason I asked that It's the same reason why I had to call the engineering director this morning while they're paving on West End, Valley Street, and they're dumping the asphalt into the sewer. Because who's watching? I don't care how much money we spend it. I want it done correctly. My council colleagues want it done correctly. And moreover, the community needs it done correctly. So if we are not doing our due diligence, and this is city administration, if we are not doing our due diligence on street paving, I'm not trusting nothing that's coming on any project because we not watching. So now, Mr. Adeem and the water department going to have to bond again to go to those sewers up in the Upper West Ward, because I have the pictures and the videos. So I ain't just talking. This happened this morning. They're dumping asphalt in the sewer. As they pave in the street, they're out there with the rake, they buy the sewer grid, it's on the sewer grid and in the sewer. So the reason I asked yesterday, and I will continue to be on fire about this, is because we're doing projects and we're not watching. Nobody's checking for north. That's why people come here, that's why they do work here, and that's why they don't care the quality of the work. They don't care that they take the paving down to the level it should be, so I'm not sure That up there in Wayne, where they're doing this work on the pipeline, and they got another, some more miles to go, that the first miles is being done correctly. Because I need to know who's watching. And the person that's watching need to be qualified. I don't need me to sit there and see them bring 15 new pipes in and say, oh, they're doing the right thing. No. Did you put the right glue on it? Is it put together? Because these are the concerns we have. We want this to last another 50 years. But if we're not making sure that the quality of the workmanship and the quality of the product, as is being done today right here in this city, causing us another infrastructure issue, this is why. So I get how much we got to bond. I get how much we got to replace. I get it that the water department and our water system is old as all outdoors. Nobody don't care about that. I care about, and I know these residents care about, and I know my council colleagues care about the quality of the work, the workmanship of the work, because the stuff they do to us here in Newark, they wouldn't dare do in another community. And so today I'm demanding to know And this is nothing personal to Director or Dean. Who's watching this story? Because I don't trust the state of New Jersey, DEP, OEP, and RORP, and OSHA either. because these folks do not have our best interests at heart. So I just need to make sure that we can return one day to the Christine water that we once had, because we don't have it right now. I don't care what nobody said. We do not have it. I know what's coming out of my faucet. I know how my eyes burn when I take a shower. I know 90% of us are smelling bleach and chlorine in our water, and that's not clean in Christine. It's not. Like I said, it ain't personal, it's just the reality of what's going on in this city. I got a lot of people with black water, a lot of people with brown water. Every day. So something is wrong in the pipeline, coming from there, coming down. And we got eight reservoirs, and until we get all of them in order, we need to use the ones that are correct for us to be drinking and bathing in until we get that one in order. Thank you.

Director Karim. Council President, Councilman, just got to get some clarity. Water that comes out of the water treatment plant is restrained, is treated, is clear. If you smell a chlorine, chlorine means that the water is being disinfected. Water that may come out your pipes internally once it gets into your house is not the responsibility of the water department. When we sit here and say that, it could be a lot of different reasons why water may come discolored and coming out your house. Water does not come out black from the treatment plant. It does not come out black from when we treat the water in our pipelines at no time. Just to go back, you know, I did take a ride up to Alexander. When they're doing paving, it's filter fabric that's under the catch basin, not always on top of the catch basin. So filter fabric is a black fabric that they lift the grate up, they put the grate back down, it holds it so nothing can fall all the way down into the sewer. When I got that picture, I rolled up there because I wanted to check, was that actually happening? So the filter fabric, which is in place, it catches the asphalt. It may look to you that it don't, but the filter fabric is a black thing that catches the asphalt. If you see this a lot of times during rain events, sometimes the contractors may or may not come back and get all of them off. We have to come out there and remove it. So it was the back filter mesh piece that they put down there. Every one of the water and wastewater projects that the City of Newark Department of Water and Sewer Utilities do is watched by our staff in conjunction with the DEP and our consultants. We don't get the sign-off or get the money back from the state if the project was not done the right way and met all the standards it needs to meet. That's from the EPA or the DEP.

Thank you. Thank you. There's nothing personal. It's not, it's not. I hear you, but I'm watching it too. And they shouldn't be paving over top of the curb. So it's no disrespect, but I know it's not being done correctly and I'm not an engineer because there should be a curb line when they finish paving and we don't have one. Madam Clerk. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes.

Yes.

President Quintana.

Yes. F is an ordinance amending amusements to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for short-term event spaces and party rental venues, sponsored by Councilman Ramos, second by Councilman Council. Is there anyone wishing to be heard on this ordinance?

And mr. President let me just explain this real quick So I want to thank my colleagues and the clerk's office for working on this We have been getting a lot of complaints about these short-term party rental places that are popping up in almost every ward of the city It's an issue that most municipalities in the state are dealing with a lot of these event spaces are not properly licensed a number of them are popping up in residential neighborhoods They have not been inspected by fire as it relates to safety. They don't necessarily have proper means of egress. They generate a lot of garbage that, unfortunately, Department of Public Works has to be responsible to pick up. So through this ordinance, We are creating very specific licensing requirements. We're gonna prohibit their ability to operate in certain areas within the city that are not zoned properly. And through this ordinance, Mr. B.A., we will be able to address the issue that we've had this summer, even with people renting out their pools and their yards as event spaces. There's a site called Swimly that they're able to advertise and rent out their pools. We've had a lot of complaints in the neighborhood of large parties that are being held in some of these residential properties that have these nice pools. So through this ordinance, we'll be able to address those concerns as well. Councilman Silva.

Yeah, just for the clerk, Councilman Ramos, thank you for this. Whenever somebody applies for a special events permit, I think the councilman of that ward should be notified because then we're getting calls from people, from our constituents, from our residents regarding an event that's going on and we don't even know that it's going on. And so if every time there's a special event, whatever ward it may be in, I believe that the council person at ward should be made, should be notified, so at least if we get a phone call, we can explain to our constituents what exactly is going on. Otherwise, I receive numerous phone calls about things that are going on in the East Ward, and I'm not even aware of them. So if whatever B-16, I believe it is, or whoever, wherever they go for special permits, can include THE COUNCIL PERSON IN THE E-MAIL REGARDING WHERE THIS EVENT IS TAKING PLACE.

MR. PRESIDENT, GOING BACK TO THIS, THIS IS SEPARATE FROM WHAT COUNCIL MISILVA SUGGESTED. THIS IS JUST TO ADDRESS THE SHORT-TERM PARTY RENTAL PLACES AND PEOPLE THAT ARE SUBLEDDING THEIR BACKYARDS OR POOLS FOR SPECIAL EVENTS.

So also, yes, Councilman Cruz is real quick.

I appreciate what Councilman Silva was saying, because sometimes we do even at largest get calls about what is going on here, what is going on there. So if we could just add the at largest to when you notice the ward council members, that would be very helpful to us.

Since everybody's bringing this up, thank you. Councilman silver. I just want to ask the clerk's office to please. From block parties to any special event. And I don't know, I have to probably speak to the corporate counsel or about if we have to make an addendum to the ordinance of permits. But I received a lot of calls about block parties I didn't even know about this year, this summer. And I would love just to get an email from the permit department or whoever is agreeing to the permit. So yeah, I would love that to be added so we can .

So as we know, there's a process for various events, special permits, block parties, and a lot of them go through the VA's office. At one time, B-17 would have a list of all the events, and I know Director, Councilman, Council is aware that they keep a list of everyone that is applying, and so the second floor can get a copy of that list of administration because they have it, but because there's several processes, a couple processes for these events, I think that what you're asking, which is really good, Councilman Silva, but we also can request from permits in May, before May, because we know May starts the season of block parties all the way until September, that we can request they send us a list of all, that would cover the entire council, but knowing what's going on in every ward. But I think that request would be made to the VA's office, for special permits, the police department is notified, they get a list because the application is very extensive. And these people apply on their own. to special permits and they pay a fee to have these block parties unless we waive the fee because we know about it. When they come to us, it's because they don't want to pay the fee. So that's why we know about it. When they don't come to us, it's because they want to do it on their own and not involve us unless they just want us to bring some hot dogs and some bread. But we can't, well, that's the truth. So I think we should just request to the VA to make sure that his department, B-17, send you a list of whatever's going on, because we want to go to them too and support, whether we have to give you a hot dog or not. So if that's okay, Madam Clerk, that the VA submits to to make note of that.

Mr. President, I think we've gone on a crazy tangent here. There's an ordinance before us to regulate dance halls, and now we're talking about special events. So I just want to make sure we're focused on what's before us. If people want to propose legislation to deal with special events, please do so.

Councilman Graham was talking about These people, these places are popping up. People, by the way, and he's correct. Councilor Ramos, there is correction on that because let me explain. There is what dance halls are supposed to have a license to have a dance hall. There's supposed to be all kinds of, not alcohol, all these other items. And also to Councilor Ramos, in some other cities that they do have, the people have to concur the cost of garbage, whether it be recycled, they have to pay, just like someone who has a commercial business. But what he's stating is they're popping up in every different places to two o'clock in the morning, timing up parking, and Councilor Rainbows is just trying to put something in place so that people can rest and get up on a Sunday, they don't have to go to bed at three in the morning while people are partying, okay? Thank you, Councilman. All right. Any citizens on this?

Absolutely. So I appreciate what you're doing. You know, I like this. I like this idea. But I'm also thinking people got to mind their business. If I get me a brand new house in Newark, okay, and I put me a pool in the back, and I invite everybody, if I invite all of y'all, people better mind their business. We having a good time. So I hear you. I hear you. You know, I think that, you know, also what I'm hearing, though, is there's economic activity coming on in the city, right? You see what I'm saying? People are spending money, clearly they buying liquor, they buying food, they buying party plates and stuff. So we also have to be cognizant of how we talk to people who are putting money in this city, because it's all about Invest North. We gotta invest in North, invest in North, invest in North. And we want people to keep spending money here. So, you know, I think that we also need to think about that, you know, how you talk to people. But also, again, if you're going to be throwing these parties, I hope the same, you know, against the after hours, because we need our after hours. It's about to get cold. All right? But, you know, I think that... It is important for people to make sure that they have garbage and stuff like that wrapped up. And if people are gonna be loud up until, call the police. Tell them shut them down. Because there is supposed to be noise ordinances and people supposed to respect that. So if your party get out of control, I understand, expect the police to be called and it's gonna get shut down. Um, as far as some of these spaces, I do see a lot of these spaces. I've seen spaces opening up and, you know, certain people are doing whatever they're doing in there. And, you know, a lot of us are aloof. We don't know what they're doing. You know, we see they having a good time, but we minding our business, because that's something, you know, I don't know, maybe there's these new Norkas coming in here not minding their business. But if you see a problem, if there's drama, call the police. Other than that, let these people enjoy their life. It's a lot going on. And if I want to have my friends over for a pool party, I should be able to do that.

Mr. President, I'm all for a great pool party, but what I'm talking about is people advertising events in private homes, selling liquor, having half-naked people running around the yard, you know, violating local laws and ordinances. You know, if you want to have a good pool party, you know, you can invite the council. We're all for it.

All right. Next speaker.

You know, this is very hilarious because I know exactly what Rainbows is talking about because I used to secure those parties. But I'm going to just say this, and I really ain't want to bring this back up. So we're talking about people that's not, because most of them I did, there wasn't too many fights, right? So we want the people to fight, or we want them to party. Because the 24 Hours of Peace had people selling illegal liquor to kids. It was a lot going on. In the same way that... We or you want us to give you a notification that they're doing these parties? Why won't we notify where the 25 hours is going to be? Why we can't be in those same meetings before they have these parties, the 24 hours of peace, any other block party that's happening? And we do invite the council places. Y'all don't come. No round tree, don't you do that round tree. Cause you know last week you did not come. So we do invite y'all and I ain't ask you for no bread and no hot dog. I said, bring you or bring your aid. You did not come. But you know, cause I do see some other folks. I'm in like all parts of the city. I did see, when we did our book bag giveaway, we didn't invite them neither, but Ramos showed up, Quintana showed up and I thank you guys for appearing here. It was a good event. But I think the city has a disconnection when it comes to certain things that we need to do within our city. And that connection starts with you guys. If they don't see you guys getting along to say and obey things within the city, everybody else is not gonna do it neither, whether we own or we rent. We're not gonna listen if we don't see you guys getting along together. We're not gonna care about your ordinance. We're gonna do whatever it takes for us to live. And most of those parties, people were, it's like a chain reaction. I'm giving one one day. Rainbow's going to give it. We're going to support his. The next person, these people are doing these parties to live. They're doing it so they can maintain their livelihood. So if there's a way that you could probably talk to the promoters, because it's the same promoters, get them in a room and figure out how we can do these things differently. Talk to the community people around them, because you figure if you're partying on Friday to 6 a.m., on Saturday, the next day. That is a lot. But again, these people are trying to build a way of life. Thank you.

I'm glad you're talking about regulation. There was a homeowner that had sent out a flyer to the whole city to let them come to my community to sell alcohol walk across other people's property, she didn't know. And you know what? Y'all don't do a good job of regulation. You want to create these frameworks, but yet you're one of the violators of it when you have things like 24 hours of foolishness and inconvenience, a 20 block radius, of people not being able to get on a bus because they were rerouted, children starting school that you didn't give a damn about. You don't regulate your own rules, so you should be inclusive of the 24 hours of foolishness in this, and you should regulate the unregulated Airbnb's that you don't know exist here, and the people that rent out these Airbnbs for this purpose, nor are you collecting tax revenues from these establishments. And we haven't heard yet where the permit money goes to, because every time I look at the ordinance, y'all are waiving the permit fee for one thing or the next. In order for you to begin to want to create something, you need to be the good stewards of that. And while I'm talking, while y'all are distracted and not paying attention, that's part of the problem. That is the problem. because you're disrespectful and you wanted only to quiet the noise from the constituents that's calling your office, but you're not doing oversight over the whole operation. Get regulated, get enforced, and put the time in to ensure that other people's rights aren't being disrespected. Because y'all aren't respectful to the people in the community and the people that live here. When y'all do things that inconvenience others, like having all that noise till two o'clock in the morning that nobody wants to hear.

Get regulated.

Any other speakers? Madam Clerk, do you see any other speakers?

Roll call. Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly?

Yes.

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

Yes. G is an ordinance amending the housing code by establishing the property compliance cost recovery program. Is there anyone wishing to be heard on this ordinance?

Before the speaker, there's going to be some clarity. Corporation counsel?

So good afternoon, Kenyatta Storrs, City of North Corporation Council 2. So this ordinance is essentially another tool that we're using throughout the process. As you know, we've had issues with slumlords throughout the years. We've tried a number of things, including filing receiverships to force them to do specific acts, right, to actually clean up or move things around, et cetera, at different properties. We filed a number of code enforcement cases, as you know, throughout the Woodworth, you know, We've had success on that, I'll tell you that. In recent weeks, we've been going after people per day. So we have been receiving essentially like, you know, awards or fines of, you know, $20,000, $30,000 on one property because we have been going out per day. As you know, there's been a number of things that's happened in COVID. We have created, of course, the executive order for bad landlords that speaks to the fact that the city is not going to do business with slumlords that are on this list. And this situation here creates a fee to allow the city to go after folks, right? I mean, it creates a fund to go after folks. Essentially what happens is we're going to be filing suits against people to get the court, the judge is going to say, well, what mechanism do you have that says that if you do not do X, Y, Z, there's a fee in place. So that's what this is for. and resources that the city has to put out. So of course, more code, more health, more DPW, et cetera. But the other thing is, the fund is also supposed to help the actual residents in this situation to pay for these issues. So we want to have the fund address the specific issues in the actual properties. Because while we can fine them to death, that doesn't change the fact that the resident still has to live in a space where there is problems.

Any speakers? Mary?

Felicia Austin Singleton, thank you for that explanation. But we all know, y'all said it yesterday, Georgia King Village, right? Mary Rouse don't have no high boy. All weekend long, calls, calls, calls, calls, calls. Ridiculous. Y'all still allowing L&M to build down there by the museum. They're not on the bad landlords list. They trash. They should have been in receivership. I handed the receivership to them on a silver platter. We had the violations. We had the codes. They should have been fined every day. Just say you did not know what to do and we can accept it. But you want to know why they failed to react? Let's be real. You can ask Ms. G and the African lady that comes here to complain. I had them on the call with HUD and D.C. So we got to pick five apartments. And if you know, you don't get to pick apartments. We got Bob Iver. Look him up. Bob Iver. Five apartments failed. I told you I ain't working here no more. I'm federal now. You can say what you want to say. When I tried to come here and ask you, you didn't want it. So yes, I meet with HUD and DC. Want to know why they coming? Because they got it. Let's go to Zion Hill. Zion Hill needs sheriff officers. We got to tell Joey D we can get some sheriff officers over there, because that's like border lines to park, right? You know why they over there. Get some sheriff officers or some police to Zion Hill. They need to go here. Need to put that there and tell the landlord. That's security ordinance, right? That's the part of the security ordinance, the recovery fee, right? For the maintainers and being in compliance. So it is security, it is housing issues, ledger issues. Let's talk about Pilgrim Village got ledger issues, St. Mary's Village got issues, Georgia King Village, 516 Bergen Street. This is what the issues are. You gonna use it? He just said he filed complaints that are not getting the fines. Those laws already been there. Security, $500 a day, you don't have on guard. You don't have heat and hot water, that's an emergency. That's about $150 per apartment. It's been there. Y'all took them to court and y'all let it go. Let it go. Now, Narda Webster came in there with the foxes. I seen it for myself, so I know they still letting it go because they don't know how to deal with housing and housing court. But I'm reporting you. I never throw a rock and hide in my hand. At the end of the day, you could have been doing something.

Speaker.

So I just want to know if any of you have any spare time. Y'all can go down here to the courts. Because I've been going, I went with like three people just to go so they can have support. And listening to how the judges are taking some of the landlords, their sides, and then people are being forced out of their apartments. Like there was one situation where It was a rent control. So I came here because I don't know too much about it, but I came here to get information. And I learned a lot about it. If there's an apartment that's under rent control, they're not allowed to go up on that rent like that. But that's not even the bigger problem. The bigger problem is this. these landlords are buying property right keeping it for a year then they uncle or cousin is coming to get that same property they're not registering their properties so i've already found more than three different properties in three different parts of our city where they're not registered they don't have the cfo and they're not registered to even be able to um raise that rent so what's happening is the people are being forced out even people that spend their rent on time They're being forced out because the landlord wants to charge another $2,000 on top of whatever they was paying. Some of them were paying like $824. That was like $2,800. They can't afford that. So my thing of going with them to support them is not to get the eviction on their names because once you get that eviction on your name, it's hard to go get another apartment. Bad enough with the credit. They might not have good credit, might not have that extra $2,000 to put out there. So it's imperative that you guys, if you have an hour or two, just to go sit in those courts. They start calling names but not seeing the people around like maybe 11, 12 o'clock. Go listen to what they're saying because it's very unfair that a landlord is able to put somebody out like that that fast and then they're left in the world. We have a homeless crisis as it is. We have people sleeping on top of people. So we need to figure out which houses, if you need me to volunteer help, I'll take down the addresses. I'll come find out myself. I'll bring it back to the council so y'all can see that these people are not registered. They're going up on the rents and they're forcing people to move out and also to basically become homeless. So that is a thing. Thank you.

Speaker. Why Word salad, to authorize the recovery of extraordinary municipal compliant course resulting from extraordinary municipal intervention. What does that mean? And let me ask you this, why have a law department that's being outsourced to other law firms if there's no law department to enforce the compliance that we've been having? I ask y'all that. Why have a law department that's not holding these people feet to the fire? Landlords and anybody else. KS Group, LLC, they're in noncompliance for the lot that they don't clean up. They've been issued a warning, but because of who their affiliation is with the administration, they don't have to comply. So let's talk about that. All the compliance that's not being met is because people are given a pass by who they know. That's the reality. And to have somebody that's running the law department that don't have nobody in there that are lawyers that used to be here when Sharp and others was here. Our whole department, everything in this city is being outsourced to a third party. Instead of y'all managing what's going on. And make collections. You got churches that owe money. Slumlords that owe money. Every year them seniors come up in here talking about no heat, no hot water, no elevators. But y'all go around there to get them to vote for you, but you won't hold the slumlords in compliance. And you got the audacity, the word salad to say you gonna do something more spectacular than what you've done the last time, which is nothing. sick of y'all creating all of these things that don't have any teeth. And y'all are complicit in it, because y'all are yes, yes, yes, and don't know half the stuff that's being even written in these things, nor your AIDS. That's how we wound up with assisted city. Nobody vetted that wasn't a city. That's how we wound up with a fake doctor that had no credentials that's getting ready to be sentenced. They got money from OVP grant funds. Nobody is holding nobody accountable.

Speaker.

Hello, everyone. My name is Keisha Baldwin. I'm a resident of Newark. I used to work for the city. Also used to work for the Housing Authority in New York and Delaware. One of the things that I heard today was a lot of complaints in regards to Georgia King Village. I have family that live in Georgia King Village and I have heard those complaints and have gotten some of them solved outside of the council, outside of the city. My main goal is to make sure that when it comes to affordability within the city that I have a plan And I have the research that I've done for that plan. One of the things that I noticed that happened with Georgia King Village is that it has been overturned multiple times through different owners. And no one's really addressing the problem. They hear the problem, but they don't address it. Nobody's taking any inventory in regards to that. As a partisan one who used to work with HUD and the REACT, in New York, you get a chance to actually give you the react. They have the booklet. I used to order the booklets, read the booklets, pass them out to New York. A lot of the residents that's coming over from New York is coming over from New York because a lot of their developments are sold. And I was one of the key people that sold them. 26 developments in New York that sold. One of the things that I noticed here is that Even though they do have the react book, they don't understand it. They don't understand the logistics behind it. HUD will give you 60 to 90 days to go back and perform actions. So when they do come back out, you can correct the score. Everything won't be corrected, but some of the things that need to be corrected. And that's a part of the money that's coming from the federal government. And that money has been cut down due to the new administration within the White House. That's number one. So what they have to do is to

Can you address the council? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, I'm addressing her question.

But I'm telling you also, that's what happens. When they have money that come in, the money is to be dispersed out in regards to that when it comes in from the REACT. They have two chances to get their REACT scores together in order for the REACT scores to be up to a certain number, a percentage. Then they go out and give out more money based upon that But every housing department has money that's allocated to that particular department. Another thing that I heard was that the city of Newark gives some type of leeway towards residents that's not registering their properties. I registered my property.

Thank you. Thank you, Thomas.

Okay, I just want one thing. No, no, no, good time. Okay, I'm sorry. We would have to do it for everyone. I register my population. Appreciate it, thank you. Thank you so much.

Next speaker. And all the speakers, final response from the administration, the City Corporation Council.

So I just want to make sure the council understands what I mean by the difference in, when it comes to the change in enforcement, when it comes to code and of course, handling cases in the prosecutor's office. In the month of July, month of July, 449 Avon Avenue, fined $10,533.00. GKB, fined $34,060.00. FHTDD, fined $20,146.00. RBH, $140,000. 383 Clinton Avenue, $90,000. And oh, by the way, I won't go through all of the details, but in the month of August, there are a few properties that have been fined over $83,000. My point is, yes, there is some changes happening, and the law department, through its connection with Thank you.

Thank you.

Right before roll call, Madam Clerk, through the chair here, I would like to request that the court administrator come before us and give us an overview of the code violations that have been taken care of in whichever fashion in the courts for the last three years. I'd like to see what code violations we had in. I'd also like to see, in reference to the fines that Mr. Stewart just let out, how much of that has been paid. It's one thing to fine. It's another thing to collect. And if they own other buildings, then we need to use what we're doing in this ordinance to force them to pay those dollars. We need to move in a different direction. We need to be a lot more expedient than we are because people literally have water on their heads. People literally have ceilings collapsing. And so I know that we're in budget difficulty right now, but we need to get where we need to get to save these folks coming into this winter season. I will say this to Ms. Singletary in particular. One, thank you for your work, but let me just let you know this. I am on top of most of these buildings. Georgia King Village has put in a permit to put in five brand new ballers. Code enforcement was there today. The state was there yesterday. We're going to monitor that situation, you and I, together. to make sure that they do what they're supposed to do. They broke people's walls. Code enforcement went out again today. Thank you, Code Enforcement Newark, to see what the status of those open walls were. The state is coming in again on Friday because we want to make sure that when folks are doing things in this city that they're being done properly. You cannot open up walls in units in this city and not put in the proper plumbing permits, construction permits, etc. So there are those of us. and my council colleagues who are on top of the things that are going on. And lastly, in reference to Ms. Clyburn, I've been in that landlord tenant court for four years. I've been pushing this issue forever. I have some motions that are going to come at the end of this meeting today to help deal with that. a situation where this ordinance that we're talking about right now needs to be in place immediately and enforced and we're going to have to do that. But today I want to explain to everybody why I've been on this phone because I don't do that. Seven o'clock this morning I had six eviction tenants on my phone and I'm texting because I'm checking COs and I'm doing things to try to help them. Now, if you have an issue with that, that's not before us and I'm not gonna be long, but most folks need to understand, and I'm getting ready to call a tenant meeting in the next two weeks so you guys can sit down and understand what you're supposed to know. Because the majority of us do not understand the recertification process, y'all better start saving your receipts, you better start doing what you need to do, and thank you for allowing me to interject this right now. Mama Donna talking, not Councilwoman Jackson. Let's get our paperwork together because we are not winning in court, but we're not winning because we don't have the documents that we need. So listen, family, let's do what we're supposed to do. When you know you're being dealt with unfairly, when you know your rent isn't right, Section 8 folks, low-income folks, it's 30% of your income. So let me give you one quick example. If you make $2,000 a month, 30% is $600. So if you're paying more than $600, your rent calculation is incorrect. The meeting is coming, but we are trying to move forward, and I thank the administration for bringing this ordinance together, the Property Compliance Recovery Act. I know today we don't understand it because it has been a little lagging, but this needs to happen on top of all the other laws that we have, and we need to do enforcement. And Councilman and I, and Councilwoman Bay, they didn't know this prior to the meeting, amen. We're going to put together a special task force of citizens to assist us with these compliance matters. Amen. And Councilman Ramos and Councilman Kelly as well. Amen. Councilman Silva, I didn't leave you out, sir. We're coming to the east as well. Because they're asking for departments. They're asking for departments. Lord Jesus, help them. I'm praying. But we got some serious issues. with housing in this city that we must address and thank the administration for this, the start of, and then we will have our compliance task force of citizens that's gonna happen. Amen, Mr. P, you'll let me know how far we can go soon, amen.

Madam Clerk, as noted by Councilman Jackson, about invite from the courts to schedule it at a given time that we can receive them here in a special, maybe not next Tuesday, but the following, we can have them with notification requesting their presence here. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson?

Yes.

Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. H is an ordinance to acquire a temporary work area easement for the construction of the Joseph G. Minish Passaic River Waterfront Park. Is there anyone wishing to be heard?

Before someone comes, we all have some clarification. Thank you.

Good afternoon. Again, Brandi Daniel, Legislative Coordinator for Economic and Housing Development. For this particular ordinance, what it's doing is extending the easement agreement that we have between the United States Army and Seaver Brothers for construction that is going on at Joseph Minish Park. It extends the easement in order for them to get onto the property. Half is owned by us, half is owned by the Army until October 24, 2026 in the amount of $148,816 to the city.

You know, the Minish Park, that's been years in operation, almost 30-some years, you know, with the lawsuits that, with Shamrock, those companies that polluted that river and the whole front. To see this happen, it's, you know, because this is about the walkway, right? Is that correct? It's the walkway. So, you know, I have seen this take place, you know, for the last, of that Minish Park has been a game changer for the city.

So I'm very supportive of this ordinance.

Thank you. Any speakers on this?

I could hardly hear you because you was whispering up there. But help me understand what this is. Again, you're trying to... pass an ordinance for privately owned property to do what? Create a walkway? Wait, let me finish talking. So let me just say this about all the new development that's going on here. The one that was around the library that you put a building up there near St. Michael's Hospital. tearing down Kawahita Towers, that you had no walkway for the children that go to charter schools around there, not respecting the homeowners in that area that wasn't allowed to park. and also be inconvenienced by these contractors that come into our neighborhoods. So I wanna make sure that we're protecting the residents that live here. When you do bring in all of these developers with their equipment and everything else, taking over communities, I'm not being respectful to it. So help me understand what this is gonna accomplish.

Any other speakers? Do you have any other speakers from that part of the vote? Roll call. Councilman?

Yeah, if I could just answer that question. So the park starts in the Ironbound section. You will be able to walk eventually from the Ironbound all the way to Bridge Street in the Central Ward along the waterfront there. We haven't been able to acquire all the pieces yet, but this is a piece that will complete that park when it's done. So you'll be able to walk along the waterfront from the eastward, the Ironbound, it's already there, but there are pieces that we haven't acquired yet. And so this is one of the pieces that needs to be acquired in order to create that waterfront esplanade so residents, visitors can walk along the water.

Thank you, council. So roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. I is an ordinance authorizing the mayor and or his designee to authorize the sale and transfer of city-owned property. Sponsored by Councilman Council. Second by Councilman Crump. Is there anyone wishing to be heard?

We have someone from the Department of Economic Development. We'll address it.

Good afternoon again, Brandy Daniel.

I need to speak into the microphones. I'm sorry.

Good afternoon again, Brandy Daniel, Legislative Coordinator for Economic and Housing Development. What this particular ordinance does is approve a resolution that was adopted back on the August 5th meeting for a sale to Virginia by Delco. And the addresses for that are 41-45 McLean Street, 47-63 McLean Street, in 980 to 990 Fulham-Heisen Avenue. This was adopted at the last meeting by the council. As you know, these particular properties were in non-compliance for years. It was involved in litigation. And this is the developer that the court allowed us to sell the property to. The property will be sold for $13,810,000. And they are eligible to receive credits for remediation and demolition upon receipt to the city showing proof of such work. So all this ordinance does is approve the sale that you already approved at the August 5th meeting.

Thank you. You and John, I think there was some questions. They want an explanation. Can you do it again? Okay. Thank you.

At the August 5th Municipal Council meeting, there was an item on the added starter agenda for a private sale to Virginia Street by Delco LLC for $13,810,000 minus remediation and demolition credits only up to a maximum of $3,810,000. So basically the and demolition. What this ordinance does is it approves the sale that was already approved via the resolution at the last August meeting. And this has been done in the past where we have done private sales via resolution and then an ordinance to back it up to approve the actual sale itself.

Thank you. Any speakers? Name is? Keisha Baldwin.

Thank you. Any sales that are in the city of Newark, I'm hoping that they have a prevailing wage or section three in regards to any sales that go on within the city. They must also have the chat money to receive that. A lot of times we have sales in Newark where the developers buy the property and they don't fully develop the property. Most importantly is that we want to make sure that all of our I's are dotted and our T's are crossed, meaning that across the board they have to show that money up front, that they're going to buy that particular piece of property. And then in order for them to receive any credit, which is probably like a chat credit from HUD or any other type of RAD or REM or any type of LMI type of business, they want to make sure that they have Section 3 or Pavilion Wage. When there is prevalent wage, that means they get to hire people within the city of North in order to get them jobs in order to build that particular property. So my question is, is that a part of the ordinance? And do we have that in place? If not, I'll help you guys get that in order. Thank you.

Thank you. Other speakers?

Help me understand why a developer is not paying for his own remediation and demolition We did the same thing, emergency demo at Kawiita Towers. We had a lightning fire over at the Riviera so they don't have to do their own demolition. This is systemic. When you got your fan favorite developer that you want to help out, on the backs of the residents and the taxpayers. The city should not be assuming any liability for demo or anything else. They should be coming to the table with their own money. Period. And that's part of the problem and that's why we're gonna be faced with gentrification and disenfranchisement because you got all of these sweetheart deals for the developers but you have nothing for the preservation of communities and residents that have been established. When are you going to start writing some ordinances to help the residents that have been here? Not all the new jacks that's coming in, they all ain't from New York like me. They're coming from overseas, Lakewood, and everywhere else. Let's be clear about that. And all of this double speak on these ordinances is still trying to mask what you're not doing, collecting revenues. Making people pay their fair share. Because guaranteed, they'll be back again at some other later time to get tax credit that you're gonna give them to, because they're your friends and family or donor. Why are we paying? Why aren't they doing their own remediation and demo? Classic example, Coweta Towers. Riviera. Want me to go on down the list? Because I have it.

Any other speakers? One more speaker.

Ooh, enough that I say my name so many times in a day.

Felicia Austin Singleton.

Is this the same Fidelco that's in Newark at 550, that owns 550 Broad Street? Is this the same Fidelco? Because this ain't Virginia Street, Fidelco LLC. But I know that Fidelco is down on Broad Street, where the housing authority just moved into, right? Didn't I tell y'all? Didn't I say y'all stop? Stop. Stop. Didn't the House of 30 just move to 550? I'm asking you, is this the same Fidelco? I hope y'all wear them Chanel bracelets Real well. I didn't do it now. On your ankles, when you go into that trial and you walking down there handcuffed up. Remember every time we came and asked a question. Remember every time that we wanted an answer. Remember every time that we gave you our opinion. You don't never listen to me. Please listen to me now. Stay out and away from the housing authority. All deals our ownerships, our realty groups, stay away. They coming. Stay away for Delco. What amenities did they give us besides the building that's in 550? What did they give the city? But now we giving them $3 million less. We're going to come back with $3 million less. Wasn't evicting them down there? Getting asbestos? Oops, I forgot they didn't do that, right? I mean, they didn't do that. They didn't get no investors out the building. Y'all better stop playing around. People are watching the contracts. People are watching the names on it. People are watching. No address on here, no nothing. But we supposed to remember the last time it was on the agenda? Pay attention to your people. We got through page five. And it's like 3 o'clock. And we got 74 more pages to go. Pay attention to your people. What they're saying, what they're asking. And then just be respectful and mindful. When you ask for something and they don't answer you, that's how we feel about y'all. That's exactly how. So you can't get on them if you're not answering and getting the answers for us. Thank you.

Can another speaker? Yeah, Mr. Chair. Yes.

Yeah, I do think Ms. Austin-Sigleton said something that was very prudent. She said, pay attention to your people. And that's important because... Down on Freeland-Heisen Avenue, on Ludlow, and Dayton, and Foster, where Virginia Street is, on Pershing, and under the McClellan Street Bridge, lives a large encampment of homeless individuals who have been pushed in here from Union, Elizabeth, and all of these other places that have been causing havoc in that area. and on that property. And every other day when you see a fire come up that put our firemen in great harm and danger that's rushing to Virginia Street to put out fires because of individuals that are living in buildings or running through the buildings that are down there that needs the remediation, that needs the movement, I think it was important that we did pay attention and work to try to clear this matter up expediently and importantly as possible for the residents in that area and to bring something that is livable and vibrant down there so that they don't have to deal with the descent of quality of life in that area and know that people care about them. So as a councilman, I'm glad that I paid attention and I just wanted Ms. Austin Singleton to know that. Thank you.

Paying attention. So I am the speakers of the vote. Roll call. Bay?

Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Sova? Yes. President Quintana? Yes.

Resolutions. 7R1A through E are all temporary emergency appropriations. A is for the recycling grant. B is for the heat island grant. C is for upgrades to the YMCA. D is for the operating expenses. And E is for the UIC grant. Council as a whole to adopt A through E. Roll call.

May? Yes. Council? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva?

Yes.

President Quintana?

Yes. F through P are purchasing contracts. F is for heavy duty vehicles, G is for police vehicles, H is for safety surfaces, I is for steel water transmission, J is for artificial turf, K is for blinds, L is for salt, M is for dental supplies, N is for paint supplies, O is for fire equipment, and P is for water meters. Councils will hold to adopt F through P.

Okay. Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson?

Yes on everything except aye. No. My vote on aye is no.

Kelly?

Yes.

Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva?

Yes.

President Quintana? Yes.

Q through S are resolutions from the Office of the Business Administrator. Q is for the Residential Energy Efficiency Grant, R is for the Data Development Services Grant, and S is accepting a donation for grant processing. Council as a whole to adopt Q through S. Rocco.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes.

Yes. 7R2A through S are all private sales or redevelopment agreements. A and B is regarding property in the South Ward that are sponsored by Councilman Council and second by Councilman Scott Roundtree.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump.

Yes.

Jackson. Yes. Kelly.

Yes.

Ramos.

Abstain on A and yes on B. Scott Roundtree.

Yes. Silva. Yes.

Council as a whole, C and D are being deferred and is sponsored by Councilwoman Bay and second by Councilwoman Jackson. Roll call to defer.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. E is property in the south board, sponsored by Councilman Council, second by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Abstain. Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva? Yes. President Quintana?

Yes.

If there's a motion to defer by Councilman Silva, second by Councilman Crump. Roll call to defer.

Bay. Yes. Council.

Yes.

Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva. Yes. President.

Yes. G is property in the East Ward. Council is a hold to adopt. Roll call.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Abstain. Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Abstain.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva. Yes. President Quintana.

Yes.

H is property in the South Ward, sponsored by Councilman Council, second by Councilman Kelly.

Roll call. Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump?

Abstain.

Jackson? Abstain. Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Rountree? Yes. Silva? Yes. President Quintana? Yes.

I through K are all being deferred. I is deferred by Councilman Council. Second by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. Mr.

Chair. Yes. I would like to change that deferral and ask that this be moved with the same sponsor and co-sponsor.

Just I or J as well?

I as well as J and K. You want to move all three with the same sponsor? Yes.

Okay. I through K are all Okay, let me take a step back. Council President, Council Members, I, J, and K are all being sponsored by Councilman Council, and I is second by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree, J is second by Councilman Kelly, and K is co-sponsored or seconded by Councilman Crump. Roll call.

Oh, I'm sorry. I said not J. Not J? Not J. Not J. Okay. J to be deferred.

So let's go back. Let's go back.

Do I, then J, then K. We have to do them individually.

So I is property in the South Ward that's sponsored by Councilman Council, second by Councilwoman Scott Rountree. Roll call.

Bay.

Yes.

Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree. Yes. Sova.

Yes.

President Quintana.

Yes. J is to defer by Councilman Council, second by Councilman Kelly. Roll call to defer.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly.

Yes to defer.

Ramos.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva. Yes. President Quintana. Yes.

K is sponsored by Councilman Council and second by Councilman Crump.

Roll call. Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump.

Yes.

Jackson.

Yes.

Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Abstain.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva? Yes. President Quintana?

Yes. L is property in the South Ward sponsored by Councilman Council, second by Councilman Crump. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council?

Yes.

Crump? Yes. Jackson?

No.

Kelly?

Yes.

Ramos? Yes. Yes. Silva. Yes. President Quintana. Yes.

M is property in the South Ward sponsored by Councilman Council, second by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree. Roll call.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva. Yes. President Quintana. Yes.

N is a motion to defer by Councilman Council. Second by Councilman Bay. Roll call to defer.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Reynolds.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva.

Yes.

President Quintana.

Yes. O is a motion to defer by Councilwoman Bay, second by Councilwoman Jackson. Roll call to defer.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva. Yes. President Quintana.

Yes. P is property in the West Ward, sponsored by Councilman Kelly, second by Councilwoman Jackson. Roll call.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Yes. Silva. Yes. President Quintana. Yes.

Q and R are both to defer by Councilman Kelly, second by Councilman Jackson.

Madam Clerk, I would like to, through the Chair, Council President, I would like to move those now. Move. Move, right? Yeah, I would like to move and sponsor. Chair, second.

Jackson.

Jackson.

OK. Council. Okay, Q&R is a motion to adopt sponsored by Councilman Kelly and second by Councilwoman Jackson. Roll call to adopt Q&R with sponsors.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree? Yes. Sova? Yes. absent, President Quintana.

Yes. S is sponsored by Councilman Kelly, second by Councilman Jackson. Roll call.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Same.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva absent, President Quintana.

Yes. T is to execute an affordable housing agreement for property in the South Ford. Council as a whole to adopt.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva.

Yes.

President Quintana. Yes. U is the sale of land to NJPAC. Council as a whole to adopt. Bay? Yes. Council?

Yes. Trump?

Abstain.

Jackson?

Abstain.

Kelly?

Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Rountree?

Yes.

Yes. Mr. President. Yes. I know we didn't have an opportunity to discuss this in much detail yesterday, so can we put it on the agenda, perhaps on one of the specials, just to see what NJPAC plans to do with the garage there, the military park?

Asked only by Councillor Randall.

Yes, sir. Council President, Council Members, item V is a bid contract for improvements to the local roadways to increase pedestrian safety. There's a motion to correct on the floor the contract amount. So there's a motion to amend to change 1,808,441.88 cents to the correct dollar amount, which is $2,051,184.77. Council to amend. BEA? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Yes.

Yes.

Now, council to adopt as amended, please.

Bay?

Yes.

Council?

Yes.

Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Got Roundtree?

Yes.

Silva? Yes. President Quintana? Yes.

Mr. President, I'm trying to figure out what areas are they going to focus on? Is it a particular street, or is it citywide? I don't know if the department can send us some details. It doesn't seem like a lot of money to get much done. I know Councilman Council asked as part of the budget hearings for us to commit to a pedestrian safety project per ward. I submitted a list of questions as it relates to the budget hearings. I haven't heard any responses back. And I know that's one of the questions that the council did bring up.

We'll follow up with the administration. 7R4A through E are finance resolutions. A is for the bond anticipation notes. B is for the urban enterprise zone. C is confirming bond sale. D and E are for tax appeals. Council as a whole to adopt A through E please. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva? Yes. President Quintana?

Yes. 7R5A through O are health department resolutions. A and B are both contracts with grant recipients for homeless residents. A is sponsored by Councilman Bay and second by Councilman Kelly. And B is sponsored by Councilman Bay and second by Councilman Kelly. Roll call to adopt A and B with sponsors.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump.

Yes.

Jackson. Yes. Kelly.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Sofa. Yes.

President Buchanan. Yes. C through G are contracts with subrecipients for HIV services. C is sponsored by Councilman Bay and second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. D and E are council as a whole. F is sponsored by Councilman Kelly and second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. And G is sponsored by Councilman Crump and second by Councilman Kelly. Council as a whole to adopt C through G with sponsors please. Roll call.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree. Yes.

H, council as a whole to return this item to the administration. Roll call to return to the administration.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree.

Yes. Silva. Yes. President Quintana. Yes. I through O are amending, accepting, or applying for grant funds. I is for the WIC program sponsored by Councilman Kelly. second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. J is for DCA, K is for Immunization, L is for the Emergency Preparedness, sponsored by Councilman Kelly, second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. M is for the Childhood Lead Program, sponsored by Councilman Kelly, second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. N is for dental care. Sponsored by Councilman Kelly. Second by Councilwoman Scott-Roundtree. And O is for Code Red. Sponsored by Councilman Kelly. Second by Councilwoman Scott-Roundtree. Council as a whole to adopt I through O with sponsors please. Roll call.

May. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump.

Yes. Jackson.

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

Yes.

President Quintana? Yes.

I have one question on M. I would like for the health department to come before us and give us a full presentation on the status of the lead safe houses, the status of the construction that the city has put forth to help homeowners remediate the lead, how many families have we serviced, as I asked yesterday, how many families are on the waiting list, et cetera, et cetera. If they could come before us, if not at the special, but definitely by the end of the month to let us know what the status of the lead program are, because we do have many issues, and I'd just like to see how fast we're moving that.

Noted by Councilwoman Jackson. Noted to invite.

Yes, sir. Thank you. 7R6A through D are settlements from the law department. Council as a whole to adopt A through D, please.

Roll call. Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump.

Yes.

Jackson.

Yes.

Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva. Yes. President Keaton.

Yes. 7R7A is a professional service contract to provide forensic accounting. Council as a whole to adopt. Roll call. May. Yes.

Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson.

Yes.

Kelly.

Yes.

Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree. Yes. Sova. Yes. President Quintana.

Yes. 7R8A through R are council resolutions. A is motion to defer by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree, second by Councilman Kelly. Roll call to defer.

Bay?

Yes.

Council?

Yes.

Crump? Yes. Jackson?

Yes.

Kelly?

Yes, to defer.

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

Yes. B, council as a whole to return to the administration. Roll call to return to the administration.

Say. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree.

Yes.

Yes.

President.

Yes. C is a whole harmless for the senior lunch sponsor. by Council President Quintana.

Before we vote on it, this money for this luncheon was raised at no taxpayer's expense. So I just want to put that on record. So that later on, we have been doing these for years with focus, and it has been at no taxpayer's money. Just want to put that on record.

whether this was taxpayer money.

No, we haven't. This event has always been sponsored by Focus and we have raised the money. Just wanted to put that out there.

Thank you. This is also a second by Council Member Ramos. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Yes. Scott Roundtree. Yes. Yes. President Quintana.

Yes. D is an appointment of Ms. Carter to the Board of Adjustment sponsored by Councilwoman Bay, second by Councilman Scott Roundtree. Roll call.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly. Yes. Ramos.

Yes.

Scott Roundtree. Yes. Silva. Yes.

E and F are both street dedications. E is for Mr. Hagan, sponsored by Council President Quintana, second by Councilman Council, and F is for Ms. Jones, sponsored by Councilman Kelly, second by Councilwoman Scott-Roundtree. Roll call for E and F with sponsors.

Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Trump. Yes. Jackson. Yes. Kelly.

Yes, with Jackson.

Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Scott Roundtree.

Yes.

Yes.

President Quintana. Yes.

G through K are all authorizing and ratifying and waiving fees for block parties in the South Ward, sponsored by Councilman Council, Second by Councilman Crump. Roll call for G through K. Okay, my apologies. G through J are authorizing and ratifying block parties in the South Ward.

Sponsored by Councilman Carl.

Sponsored by Councilman Council. Second by Councilman Carl.

Excuse me.

My apologies. It's a long afternoon. So, it is, we are at G. So, I'm going to go individually. G is waiving event fees sponsored by Councilman Council and Crump. H is waiving fees sponsored by Councilman, Council and Crump. I is waiving fees sponsored by Councilman, Council and Crump. J is waiving fees sponsored by Councilman, Council and Crump. Council to adopt G through J.

Roll call. Bay. Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos?

Yes.

Scott Roundtree? Yes. Silva? Yes. President Quintana?

Yes. K is a block party sponsored by Councilman Crump, second by Councilman Kelly. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Crump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Yes. Yes.

Yes.

President Quintana.

Yes. L and M are waiving event fees for activities in the North Ward sponsored by Councilman Ramos, second by Council President Quintana. Roll call for L and M. Bay.

Yes. Council. Yes. Crump. Yes. Jackson. Yes.

Yes.

Kelly. Yes. Ramos. Yes. Yes. President Quintana?

Yes. N is a resolution of support for Polluters Pay Act, sponsored by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree, second by Councilman Kelly. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council? Yes. Trump? Yes. Jackson? Yes. Kelly? Yes. Ramos? Yes. Scott Roundtree? Yes.

Yes. O is a resolution of support for the black agenda, sponsored by Councilwoman Scott Roundtree, second by council as a whole. Roll call.

Bay? Yes. Council?

Yes.