The Jersey City Independent "

Photos: Steve Gold

Turnout was relatively light at Wednesday’s meeting of the City Council, the first regular meeting since late April. About 25 people were in the audience for the meeting, which lasted a little less than two hours. Among them was newly elected Ward C councilwoman Nidia Rivera Lopez. Council president Mariano Vega kicked off the meeting by acknowledging her presence and congratulating her on her victory. She will replace incumbent Steve Lipski, who chose not to run.

“You’ll have to wait five weeks to take a seat,” city clerk Robert Byrne told Lopez as he congratulated her. The new council, of which Lopez could be the only new member, takes over July 1. (The Ward A and F seats will be decided by a June 9 runoff election.)

Animal Control Commission Tabled

As we reported prior to Wednesday night’s meeting, an ordinance creating an Animal Control Commission to provide what critics say is much-needed oversight of the Animal Control division was tabled. The city’s law department has issued a memo saying that the ordinance cannot be legally implemented, as it conflicts with New Jersey’s Faulkner Act, which dictates how municipalities are governed.

But the animal welfare community and Ward E councilman Steven Fulop, who introduced the ordinance, say the city is misreading the act. Corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis says his office will review everything and, if necessary, he will revisit their legal opinion.

As he pointed out on Wednesday, though, those are just the legal questions surrounding the ordinance. “The policy of it is a whole different issue,” he said, noting that Health & Human Services director Harry Melendez expressed some of those policy concerns to the council at their caucus meeting this week.

The council tabled the ordinance before taking any public comment on it, to the disappointment of several residents who spoke later in the meeting.

Council gadfly Yvonne Balcer said the commission should make sure that Animal Control isn’t concentrating only on dogs and cats. She said that wild animals often show up in her Downtown backyard and that Animal Control doesn’t offer much help when she calls about these appearances.

“I am not qualified to catch a possum,” she said.

Resident Catherine Grimm asked the council why the terms of the first commissioners began with different lengths. The ordinance calls for five of them to serve two-year terms, and four to serve three-year terms to start out. After that, all will serve three-year terms. Byrne explained that this was standard operating procedure, designed to avoid a full slate of vacancies all at one time on any given commission or board.

Grimm also wondered if any of the commissioners would receive compensation or benefits, a question Fulop was quick to answer.

“The answer is no,” he told her, stressing that it is a volunteer board.

If no further delays are encountered, this ordinance will once again be up for a vote — and a public hearing — at the June 3 council meeting.

Friends of the Loew’s

The lease of the Loew’s Jersey Theatre between the Friends of the Loew’s and the city was amended on Wednesday, via a memorandum of understanding between the two parties. The lease, which was signed in 2004, had been contested by the city in the past, and the memorandum seeks to formally resolve the “differences [that] have arisen” between the city and the nonprofit group.

The agreement slightly tweaks the lease agreement, upping the number of appointments to the board made by the mayor, and implementing more oversight of the nonprofit’s finances. The lease expires this October, but can be renewed for another five-year term. Friends of the Loew’s president Pattie Giordan urged the council to vote yes to the amended lease, which they unanimously did.

“[The Loew's will] become the centerpiece for the arts in Journal Square,” Vega proclaimed. “The best is yet to come.”

Steve Hyman Makes His Case

Developer Steve Hyman once again stopped by the council meeting this week. He was there, he said, because he’d been “maligned” by Mayor Healy and he needed to defend himself.

In the weeks before the municipal election, as JCI readers know, Hyman launched an aggressive campaign to force Healy into a runoff by courting Jersey City’s black residents.

“I tried hard, but not soon enough,” Hyman said, noting that Healy avoided a runoff by a few percentage points.

Vega, however, had a different perception of the election results.

“You can say it: land … slide,” the council president said, hammering home his point by enunciating as if talking to a child learning to read.

Hyman said that, sure, he’d made the anti-Healy fliers, but claimed he had no part in a “newspaper” called the Jersey City Informer that popped up in the weeks before the election in the city’s black communities. Hyman said Healy accused him of being behind the publication.

“I want you all to know that I had no part in this,” Hyman said, adding that he didn’t have any idea who was behind it and that he’d take a lie detector test to prove it. “If I did do it, I’d tell you I did it.”

Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson was incensed.

“Are you actually telling us that you’re innocent in all this?” she angrily asked Hyman. The two then jawed at — and over — each other, with Hyman saying “I didn’t do it and I don’t have to listen to you.” Richardson then got up and left the chambers while Hyman continued to speak.

Richardson, who is facing a runoff for her seat, has reason to be upset with Hyman. He helped out the campaign of one of her opponents, LaVern Webb-Washington, who narrowly missed a runoff with Richardson.

Hyman went on to tell the council that corporation counsel Bill Matsikoudis had been aggressively trying to reach a settlement with him on the 6th Street Embankment but that he had no interest in settling.

“I’m not going to roll over for anybody,” he said.

He then said he was going to get into “the real stuff” that he wanted to talk about, but he was informed that he’d already gone over the 5 minutes allotted to public speakers. He then returned to his seat, only to stand up and have what can only be called an animated conversation with Matsikoudis as the council meeting continued.

A Question of Chromium Standards

Felicia Collis, the president of the Jersey City community group GRACO, once again spoke before the council about the ongoing concerns over chromium cleanup in Ward F. She asked the council to consider signing petitions for rulemaking that GRACO and other advocates have sent to the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) that urge the DEP to adopt more stringent hexavalent chromium cleanup standards.

As we reported earlier this month, the groups are calling on the DEP to adopt the cleanup standard 1 of parts per million (ppm) recently recommended by the department’s own Division of Science, Research and Technology (DSRT).

Vega appeared hesitant to sign on to this kind of petition, saying that the council’s “capacity to understand the standards” is lacking, since they aren’t scientists.

Fulop, however, told Collis he would certainly sign such a petition.

He said that the standard he’d use in regards to any environmental cleanup is whether or not he’d live there in the face of any potential health hazards, and as such was happy to advocate for the strictest possible remediation standards.

“You can count on my support,” he said.

Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano snapped at Fulop after his pledge of support with implications that Fulop was grandstanding and that the entire council felt the same way. However, Fulop was the only member to say in no uncertain terms that he would sign on to the groups’ petition.

Deputy mayor Kabili Tayari said the city was also pressing the DEP.

“They need to go ahead and, as soon as possible, decide what the standards should be,” Tayari said.

“We’re in unity with the community,” he said, noting that the city was sending a letter to the agency urging action.

The letter, which is signed by Mayor Healy, says the “lack of a formal position” from the DEP in the wake of the DSRT report “has led to uncertainty and concern.”

It continues: “I strongly urge you to complete your review of this recommendation” and “issue a formal position on whether or not [the DEP] will promulgate regulations to modify the chromium soil remediation standard.”

Other Second Reads

In addition to the ordinance concerning the Loew’s, the council unanimously passed ten ordinances. You can read about them here or see them in their full-text glory here.

First Reads

All five first read ordinances were introduced unanimously. You can read the full text of them here, but as always we’ve got the skinny for you.

* Ordinance 09-064 turns Clendenny Avenue between Route 440 and Mallory Avenue into a residential-parking zoned area. The residents of Clendenny Avenue are apparently upset that visitors to the car dealerships in the area have been parking on their street, thereby reducing the amount of parking available for residents and resulting in various types of illegal parking. The Ward B residents collected nearly 40 signatures for the change and sent a letter to Mary Spinello in December, who was their council member. Spinello stepped down in March, and Phil Kenny was appointed to replace her. This marks one of the first ordinances he’s brought before the council since he took over.

* Ordinance 09-065 officially vacates Ludlow Street between New Street and Cator Avenue. The land on that block, which is all owned by the city and the New Jersey School Development Authority, is needed for the expansion of PS #20 and improvement of Ralph Taylor Park.

* Ordinance 09-066 alters a deal made between the city and Stegman Realty in 2005. Both parties owned 10 units in a building at 228-230 Stegman Street near Audubon Park. Four years ago the city conveyed its units to Stegman, requiring the company to renovate the building and sell the units as owner-occupied residences. Stegman, however, has apparently had a hard time with the selling, so this ordinance would negate the owner-occupied provision and allow the company to rent the ten units to senior citizens (62 and up) whose incomes don’t exceed 60 percent of Hudson County’s median income.

* Ordinance 09-067 authorizes the imposition of a conservation easement and deed restriction for the so-called “Gateway Sites” at the former Honeywell site on the city’s west side. As part of the settlement with Honeywell to clean up chromium contaminated land, the city agreed to keep these “Gateway Sites” as recreational sites in order to preserve the remediation being done there.

* Ordinance 09-068 allows the city to issue $24 million in bonds or notes in order to purchase land that will house the new Jersey City Incinerator Authority and Department of Public Works buildings. The property, at 15 Linden Ave. East, is currently owned by Liberty Self Storage.

Odds & Ends

* William Dorrity, who battled his building’s management company over a bedbug infestation last year, told the council that the company is skirting the law again. Dorrity said Norman Ostrow Inc., which manages the Grandview Terrace Apartments on Kennedy Boulevard, is not paying taxes and is also not abiding by rent control laws. Grandview Terrace is a building for seniors, one of many that the company manages in Hudson County. City business administrator Brian O’Reilly said he’d pull the company’s file and get to the bottom of it. If they are raising rents on seniors and making money, O’Reilly said, “quite frankly, they should be paying more in taxes.”

* Environmental activist Jayson Burg was on hand to urge the council to activate the city’s Environmental Commission and its Shade Tree Commission. Burg also questioned the city’s green cred that it has been touting. “This city needs to look at how green it is — and isn’t,” he said, suggesting, among other things, that the city implement a composting plan.

* When voting on a renewal of a contract with the United States Postal Service (USPS) to provide postage to the city, several council members couldn’t help but share their true feelings about the USPS.

“It’s a shame how we’re being treated by the USPS,” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan said. He said the postal service had treated the city poorly, and he urged people to use anything but USPS for their postage needs. He wrapped it up succinctly: “The US postal system stinks.”

At-Large councilman Peter Brennan seconded that emotion. “Like Gaughan said, it stinks,” he said. Richardson agreed, and pointed to the closing of the Lafayette branch as an example.

Vega took it one step further, suggesting that the Parking Authority should perhaps begin towing postal service vehicles that are parked overnight in metered spots.

* At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood has a new council aide. Ayesha Johnson will replace Yvette Gore-Bell, who has been terminated. Gore-Bell was appointed Flood’s aide last June. Gore-Bell, a former county corrections officer, was removed from that position in 2005 “on charges of inability to perform duties and other sufficient cause,” though she appealed that ruling and was eventually able to tender a “resignation in good standing.”

* The city designated $500,000 to demolish blighted and abandoned buildings, as part of the $2.15 million in money it received from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for “neighborhood stabilization” in the wake of the foreclosure crisis.

* The city laid out its plan for the $2.7 million in stimulus money it expects to receive as part of the Homelessness Prevention Fund. The money will be allocated mostly to rapid re-housing of homeless individuals and short- and medium-term rental assistance.

* The city received a $274,437.12 Clean Communities Grant from the DEP; the Incinerator Authority will manage the grant funds.

* The license to create the “100 Steps” walkway from Paterson Plank Road up the palisade into the Heights was approved.

* The city settled a handful of property tax appeals, to the tune of $322,018.68.

* The city extended its contract with attorney Charles Montange for legal work related to Conrail’s abandonment of the 6th Street Embankment. Steve Hyman has said at previous meetings that Montange should not be allowed to represent the city.

* The JCPD received a $7,500 grant to help combat underage drinking and a $197,935 grant to pay for a portion of eight officers’ 2009 salaries.

* The city settled a lawsuit brought by Secaucus judge and former Jersey City assistant corporation counsel Kathleen Walrod, who had been accused by first assistant corporation counsel Joanne Monahan of ethics violations. Walrod filed a civil suit against the city in 2007, apparently thinking that she might lose her job over the accusations, although she never did. Under the settlement, Walrod will resign her position in Jersey City on May 31 and defer her pension until age 60. The city, in turn, will provide her with a one year salary increase of $35,000 and health benefits as if she’d retired after 25 years of service. The city will also give her a one time payment of $5,000.

* The city also approved an ordinance urging the state to revise its definition of “hotel” in its law that allows Jersey City to impose a Hotel Occupancy Tax. There was a long-term stay establishment that apparently didn’t want to pay the city’s hotel tax, and they were able to get around it because of language in the state law. The city wants the law to change so it can collect the tax revenue from every hotel. “We want the full loaf, not the half loaf,” business administrator Brian O’Reilly explained.

What are we buying?
The council approved the following purchases on Wednesday:

* $447,195 for 15 new police vehicles.
* Up to $235,720 worth of grant management services.
* An additional $175,000 worth of data circuits from Verizon.
* $155,720 for five 2009 Toyota Highlander hybrid vehicles.
* Up to $125,000 worth of legal services for the city’s activity on the tax-exempt securities market (bonds, notes, etc.).
* Up to $90,000 worth of professional planning services in relation to a Smart Future 2008 grant.
* $89,405 for the replacement of wayfinding signs around the city.
* $83,006 for 11 Dehydrator dryers, which are used to dry firefighters’ gear.
* $79,980 in telecommunications equipment (and its installation) for the city’s IT department.
* $75,000 in legal services relating to the relocation of the Department of Public Works and the Incinerator Authority.
* $42,997 for one Ford F350 XLT Supercab, used for animal transport.
* $39,800 in design and surveying services for the expansion and renovation of Boyd McGuiness Park in Ward B.
* $37,000 in design and surveying services for the renovation of Muhammad Ali Park in Ward A.
* $35,000 in design and surveying services for the new North District police station.
* $21,150 in engineering services for improvements to Greene Street and Washington Boulevard.
* $19,961 for one Pitney Bowes postage machine.

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