The Jersey City Independent "

All Photos: Steve Gold

Wednesday night’s City Council meeting clocked in at around the 3.5 hour mark, as the council and the public wrestled with animal control and environmental issues, among other items. All nine council members were in attendance. Ward E councilman Steven Fulop left the meeting early.

Animal Control Oversight

The pair of ordinances designed to create additional oversight of the city’s Animal Control division met an unusual fate on Wednesday. The one to create an Animal Control Ombudsman (09-049) was unanimously defeated, while the other, which would create an Animal Control Commission, was tabled by an 8-0 vote. Meanwhile, a “new and improved” ordinance (09-062) calling for the commission’s creation was introduced on first read, also by an 8-0 vote.

The new ordinance will have only nine members on the commission instead of 19, and it also eliminates a provision that called for the commission to directly evaluate the job performance of Animal Control officers.

Ten members of the public took the opportunity to advocate for the commission.

“It’s about time some action has been taken,” Catherine Grimm said. She proposed creating a civilian review board, similar to the one that fields allegations of misconduct by the New York Police Department.

Lifelong resident Nelson Montes said that he’d seen improvements from previous years in the way the city handles animals.

“Animal Control has gotten better, but it’s definitely not where it should be,” he said. The commission was a proactive and positive development, he noted. “It’s not a witch hunt.”

Local photographer Timothy Redel passed out large and gruesome photographs he’d taken of feral cats he said had been killed by a stray dog. Redel said he takes care of feral cats at Liberty Marina, and that several of them had been killed by a stray dog the he had reported days earlier to Animal Control.

“The dog is still loose,” he said. “It’s a serious public health issue.”

Companion Animal Trust president Carol McNichol stressed cooperation between the city and animal advocates. “We want to work together to improve what we have now,” she said.

Council members made sure to let the public know that they were all in the same boat, as it were, emphasizing that the council wasn’t defeating and tabling the ordinances because they didn’t want them to pass.

“We’re not playing games here,” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan said.

Ward C councilman Steve Lipski pointed out that if defeating the ordinance was a political issue emanating from the Healy administration, it could have easily been struck down by the seven council members running for reelection on the mayor’s ticket.

“[The council] wants this commission,” he said. “We want it right.”

As the council voted to table the commission ordinance, a few members couldn’t resist a bit of election-year sniping at one of their colleagues.

“I find it ironic that the [bill's] self-proclaimed author” didn’t stay to hear the residents’ concerns, Gaughan said. Fulop, who introduced these ordinances, left after the council worked out the new agreement. “Is he motivated by his own political nature?”

At-Large council member Peter Brennan also took a shot at the only incumbent council member who is running for reelection off the mayor’s ticket. “When you introduce an ordinance, you should sit around and listen,” he said.

The new animal control ordinance will be up for a second read at the next council meeting on May 20.

Parks & Gardens

Another second-read ordinance that was shunted aside on Wednesday was 09-046, which seeks to add three properties to the city’s Recreational and Open Space Inventory (ROSI) in order to make them eligible for funding under the state’s Green Acres program.

The properties in question include 174 and 176 Brunswick St., which currently houses the Brunswick Community Garden. Members of the garden — and their councilman — expressed fear that the legislation might change the use of the space.

“We think this is a positive move,” garden member Laura Gosa said, adding that she hoped the ordinance would be tabled so garden members can work with the city to make sure the legal language is clear. The garden currently leases the land from the city under the adopt-a-lot program.

Fulop argued that the ordinance should be put off so they could “make sure we have all our ducks in a row” and guarantee that the state government couldn’t interfere in the operation of the garden. He asked corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis and business administrator Brian O’Reilly what the implications of putting the property on the ROSI would be.

O’Reilly said that when the city puts the property on the ROSI, “we lose the ability” to control what it is used for, to an extent. He said the city would most likely no longer be able to lease the property to the garden, but could probably license it.

O’Reilly also noted that once the space is put on the ROSI, it would have to be “open [and] accessible to the public.” Currently the garden is locked when a volunteer is not there.

Fulop motioned to table the ordinance, and all his colleagues, save council president Mariano Vega, voted to do so. Vega said the ordinance’s only intention was “to allow the community to continue to use this space as a garden,” and that it should be moved forward.

More Chromium Concerns

GRACO members and allies once again protested outside of City Hall prior to the council meeting. The say the city’s settlement with PPG Industries to clean up a chromium-contaminated site on Garfield Avenue is not sufficient.

And once again, several spoke before the council. What was noteworthy this time, though, was the level of response given to their concerns by several council members.

“Look at the science,” urged GRACO’s Ed Vergara, as he outlined a number of reasons the council shouldn’t approve the settlement. The settlement is expected sometime in the next several months, according to Matsikoudis. He says the city and the state are currently negotiating with PPG to add several provisions to the initial draft settlement.

Concerned residents also referred to the newly-released Department of Environmental Protection memo that says New Jersey’s current standards for chromium cleanup are woefully insufficient.

Throughout this process, the city and state have touted former DEP commissioner Lisa Jackson’s standards — to excavate hexavalent chromium to the level of 20 parts per million down 20 feet into the ground — as the toughest in the nation.

That may be so, but the risk assessment report from the DEP concludes that the proper soil cleanup level is to excavate to 1 part per million.

The report was “not a shock to anyone,” Matsikoudis said. He said that was why the settlement doesn’t specify a particular level of cleanup, since they expected the standards to become more stringent.

Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson pointed to the change in standards as good reason for full excavation.

“I want to see total removal,” she said, adding that she also wanted PPG to be financially responsible for long-term chromium-related health problems incurred by residents. She said she wanted it in writing in the settlement, in order to assuage her constituents’ concerns.

Vega also expressed sympathy with residents, saying he has “some serious concerns about this document.” Pointing to the full excavation that was occuring at the Honeywell site on the Hackensack River, he expressed concern about environmental justice issues.

GRACO member Joyce Willis made sure both council members understood her appreciation.

“That’s why you’re going to get reelected, Viola,” she said as she got up to speak, adding that Vega’s ear and his sympathy were “awesome.”

Honoring ‘Ms. Public Housing’

Prior to the council’s usual business last night, a resolution was passed eulogizing former Jersey City Housing Authority (JCHA) board member Irene Carson, who died on April 10. Carson, who had resided in city public housing since 1965, served on the JCHA board as the governor’s appointee from 1992 until July 2008, when she stepped down for health reasons.

Carson was fondly remembered by several council members, as well as by city clerk Robert Byrne, who called her “an icon in the city of Jersey City.”

Richardson, who sponsored the resolution, read it into the record. “She was a short little lady, but a giant of a woman,” Richardson said. Gaughan called her “irreplaceable;” Flood told everyone there to “tell the little ones who [Carson] is, and who she was;” and Vega said she would always be remembered for her contribution to the city.

Carson’s daughter Stephanie spoke before the council, thanking them for the resolution and pointing out that her mother was more than just a housing leader. “Just as great as she was as a community leader,” Carson said, “she was even greater as a mother.”

JCHA executive director Maria Maio, who worked closely with Carson, also praised her efforts. Maio recalled that as Carson struggled with illness, she’d always come to JCHA meetings, even though she was exhausted from dialysis treatments in later years.

“She always thought first of the residents,” Maio said.

The Embankment Battle

Steve Hyman, the developer who is currently negotiating with the Embankment Preservation Coalition and the city over the future of the 6th Street Embankment, made a surprise appearance in council chambers on Wednesday. Hyman wants to build housing on the site, while the coalition wants to preserve it for a park. The city wants to be able to preserve it for future light rail use.

Hyman accused the Embankment Coalition of “using the city to their own ends,” and the council and the administration of “pandering” to the coalition so embankment supporters vote for Healy and his team this May.

Briefly walking the council through his long and winding battle over the embankment site, which he purchased from Conrail in 2005, Hyman sounded exasperated but determined.

“It’s a shame I have to go through all this stuff just to do something good for Jersey City,” he said.

Budget Revision

The council also passed a resolution to amend the Fiscal Year 2009 budget, which was initially approved on February 9. The newly-revised budget will have a public hearing on Thursday, May 7, at 6 pm, in the council chambers. It’s worth noting that by then the budget will be a full 10 months late. Check out the budget revisions here.

Other First Reads

Other than the new animal control commission ordinance, ten ordinances were introduced on Wednesday.

* 09-052 makes two minor changes to the city’s stormwater control ordinance. It expands the definition of “person” to include the City of Jersey City, and it includes a table from a model Department of Environmental Protection ordinance.

* 09-053 slightly changes the Jersey Avenue Park Redevelopment Plan, which calls for a median along Jersey Avenue north of 14th Street and a park to be located between 16th and 18th Streets along Coles Street. The plan originally gave a bonus to developers that donated land to widen Jersey Avenue or to create the park. The ordinance is being amended to allow developers who don’t control an entire city block to take advantage of the bonus, which is itself being bumped up from $5,500 per bonus unit to $7,000.

* 09-054 modifies the Hackensack River Edge Redevelopment Plan to allow some additional industrial use within the plan. The revision will allow industrial uses on the north side of Duncan Avenue, west of Route 440, since the industrial companies currently at the location have expressed a desire to invest in fixing up their blighted condition and continue to operate in the location.

* 09-055 conveys the city-owned property at 520 Bergen Ave. to the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency (JCRA) for $150,000. The JCRA will then be in charge of designating and overseeing the redevelopment of the site, which falls within the Monicello Avenue Redevelopment Plan.

* 09-056 approves a five-year lease between the city and Roxy Urban Renewal Company, LLC — a subsidiary of Metrovest — at 201 Cornelison Ave. The city will continue to house the Department of Health and Human Services on five floors of the building, which is owned by Roxy. The yearly rent for the 38,891 square foot space will be $554,474 for the first year, with 3 percent increases in each successive year.

* 09-057 creates a “parking prohibited at all times” zone at a 35-foot section in front of Trump Plaza (88 Morgan St.) to provide an area for pick-ups and drop-offs.

* 09-058 repeals one, and creates six, reserved parking spaces for the disabled around the city.

* 09-059 creates a 25-foot no parking zone, Monday-Saturday from 8 am-8 pm, in front of 191 Palisade Ave., the site of a new medical building. The zone will allow ambulances and medical vans to load and unload patients.

* 09-060 approves a franchise agreement between the city and Mohammad Hamani, who owns two currently vacant lots at 210 and 212 4th St., in the Harsimus Cove Historic District. Hamani wants to build two three-family townhouses, and one of the conditions imposed by the Historic Preservation Commission was to construct a fenced front yard and stoop to keep with the neighborhood’s prevailing style. To do so, Hamani needs to extend the stoop and front area into the city-owned property by four feet, and this franchise agreement OKs that deal.

* 09-061 amends the lease of the Loew’s Jersey Theatre between the Friends of the Loew’s and the city with a memorandum of understanding. The memorandum seeks to formally resolve “differences [that] have arisen in the past” between the city and the nonprofit group. “Now that the city and Journal Square are experiencing a renaissance, the parties will work to restore the theatre to its original place [of] importance as a popular and cultural resource consistent with its former ranking among the great theatres of America,” the memo concludes.

Second Reads

After two second-read ordinances were tabled and one was defeated, only four remained to be passed into law. You can read about them here.

Odds & Ends

* The council officially designated April 28 as “Made in Jersey City Day,” which will “acknowledge, showcase and applaud the creativity, innovation, dedication and hard work” of Jersey City companies “that produce and manufacture goods.”

* The city awarded a $4.9 million contract to APS Contractors, Inc. to renovate the Lafayette Pool, but not without a little controversy. A letter sent late Wednesday to the council by a representative of the plumbers’ union objected to the bid submitted. Brennan read the letter out loud, and then the council briefly discussed it. O’Reilly said that “at this point, [the bid] passes the muster” and that the letter was based on “third-hand information.” Brennan and Gaughan abstained from voting on this resolution, so it was passed 6-0-2.

* The developer of the city’s Harriet Tubman Homes on Martin Luther King Drive has apparently had trouble selling a few of the workforce housing development’s units, and asked the city to allocate additional federal grant money so they can convert three “emerging markets” units to “affordable homeownership” units. The council passed a resolution OKing the deal.

* The council approved four applications to the state Urban Enterprise Zone for additional funding: $1.8 million for the Powerhouse Stabilization Project, $1.6 million for marketing and real estate, $1.1 million for maintenance, and $70,000 for Monticello Avenue Main Street.

* The city approved an application for $2.4 million in federal stimulus money under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant, “to assist in implementig strategies to reduce total energy.”

* The city’s police academy has received a $23,365 award from the state Department of Law and Public Safety “to purchase training equipment and provide professional training to new police recruits.”

* The council approved an agreement to take federal funds that have been awarded to the state Department of Transportation in order to award a $782,165.98 contract to study the creation of a multi-use urban boulevard on Route 440.

* The city accepted a $4 million grant from the Port Authority to fund acquisition of land on the PJP landfill site in order to develop open space on the Hackensack River.

* The city formally rejected the lowest bid for school traffic guard uniforms because of “problems with raincoats, baseball hats and pants” supplied by the lowest bidding company, Intapol Uniforms, Inc., in a previous contract. Instead, the city opted to go with the second-lowest bid, which was only about $1,500 higher.

* What else did the city agree to purchase on Wednesday? A lot of things, as a good number of resolutions were late additions to the agenda because the council doesn’t meet again for a month.

- $914,273.65 to improve traffic signals at four intersections in the city: Communipaw and Pacific Avenues; Ocean and Bayview Avenues; Ocean and Bidwell Avenues; Ocean and Van Nostrand Avenues; and Central and Jefferson Avenues.
- $384,100 for pre-development and pre-construction service for the new City Hall Annex and parking garage.
- $299,955 for a server and network center at the JCPD’s new communication center.
- $240,000 for schematic design and surveying related to the new municipal services complex to be located on East Linden Avenue.
- $187,500 for labor and materials to replace sod in the parks.
- $172,967 for JCPD wireless devices and services.
- $107,000 for “furnishing and delivering baseball diamond mix.”
- $60,960 for “dispatch console technology integration” for the JCPD.
- $57,694.84 for JCPD IP voice system.
- $49,197.09 for Adobe software products and information technology maintenance.
- $41,228.80 for “equipment required to support network infrastructure” related to the JCPD’s new communication center.
- $35,000 for additional legal work by former Gov. Jim Florio’s law firm.
- $33,104 for maintenance of telecommunications equipment at the Office of Emergency Management’s emergency center (paid for with a federal grant).
- $29,858 for a surveillance mast camera for a JCPD Bomb Squad truck (paid for with a federal grant).
- $26,325 to repair and maintain garage doors for the Department of Public Works/Division of Building and Street Maintenance.
- $23,652 in network upgrades for the JCPD.
- $23,500 for infrastructure work on the radio room at the JCPD’s new communication center.
- $20,556 for printers and accesories to be used by the fire department.
- $14,574.97 in school crossing safety improvements (paid for with a federal grant).

MORE: Read the first-read and second-read ordinances, as well as the resolutions and the entire meeting agenda.

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