The Jersey City Independent"

Editor’s note: When JCI’s usual City Council correspondent was forced to miss this week’s meeting at the last minute, photographer Steve Gold stepped it up and stayed for nearly all of the marathon meeting (he left City Hall around 12:20 am after a 6:30 pm meeting start) to file this special photographic edition of the JCI Council Report. If you so choose, you can also read about all the second-read ordinances in our previous Council Report and browse our detailed coverage of the PPG settlement here.

Being the last City Council meeting of this term, there were no first-read ordinances introduced Wednesday night. Everything on the table was a second-read ordinance or a resolution. One resolution in particular jumped to the front of the line.

Approving the PPG Settlement

The resolution to approve the city’s settlement with PPG Industries to clean up chromium contamination mainly along Garfield Avenue, the main event as far as most of the 200-plus meeting attendees were concerned, was moved to the beginning of the meeting. Organized labor came out in force to support the settlement, as did a number of community members. A few other residents, including members of the community group GRACO, spoke out against the plan.

In the end, eight of the council members voted to approve the settlement, which will now be presented to a judge for his approval. Ward E councilman Steven Fulop cast the lone “no” vote, questioning the timing of the settlement: “After 20 years of nothing, PPG all of a sudden wants to settle with the DEP?”

In 1990, an Administrative Consent Order dictated PPG clean up the property, but after a little bit of work, the company simply stopped the cleanup, and the Department of Environmental Protection stopped trying to enforce the agreement. A federal citizens’ lawsuit was filed earlier this year to force PPG to clean up the contamination as well, which the company will try to have tossed from court once this settlement is approved.

“I can’t in good conscience vote for this,” Fulop said. “I vote no.”

The rest of the council had rosier views of the settlement, with several arguing that to further delay the clean up makes no sense. Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano pointed out that “some of the best experts in the world” will be in charge of the cleanup, referring to site administrator W. Michael McCabe, formerly of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

“Nobody is perfect, none of the plans are perfect and nobody knows what the end will be like,” At-Large councilwoman Willie Flood said as she cast her vote in favor. Council president Mariano Vega, known to wax a little philosophic during council meetings, said the settlement would “likely be the Healy legacy.”

Sweetening an Abatement

Another ordinance that hit a nerve with the public on Wednesday was the bill to give a better tax abatement deal to Fisher Development Associates for its 36-story Crystal Point luxury condo building on 2nd Street right on the Hudson River. The developer came to Jersey City, hat in hand, asking for some help, since sales have been slow. Proponents of the revision had used scare tactics to hint at the ripple effect that might occur if this project were to fail, despite no proof at all that not revising the abatement would actually lead to the project’s failure.

The ordinance will extend Fisher’s abatement an additional 10 years, and reduce the percentage of revenue paid by almost half (to 10 percent) for the first five years. During the second five years, Fisher will pay 12 percent, and for the remaining 20 years, the developer will pay the full 16 percent.

A steady stream of speakers, including recent candidates for municipal office like Dan Levin, Rolando Lavarro, Andrew Hubsch and Norrice Raymaker, argued that the council should let the free market work and that the city shouldn’t be in the business of bailing out developers who get in over their heads.

“The game of real estate is like a game of poker,” resident Sebastian Bernheim said. “The citizens of Jersey City should not be forced to bail out a gambler.”

Another resident put it more succinctly. “If you vote for this, I’m just flabbergasted,” Meg Cohen told the council.

But vote for it they did, by a 6-3 margin. Fulop, Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson, who both voted against introducing the ordinance two weeks ago, voted no again. They were joined by Ward B councilman Phil Kenny, who said he wasn’t against abatements, but that he was against extending this one for 10 more years. The vote marks the first time Kenny has broken ranks with the other Healy allies on the council in his nascent tenure as councilman.

Animal Control Oversight: Dead On Arrival

When the clocked pushed into Thursday, the council meeting was still going strong and a dozen or so animal advocates remained in the chambers to urge the adoption of the Animal Control Committee ordinance. But the latest revision of the legislation to get more oversight for the city’s Animal Control division, after barely even being introduced two weeks ago, was not voted on Wednesday night. The council instead opted to send a memo to Health & Human Services director Harry Melendez (Animal Control falls under his command) asking him to submit a plan by August 1 to correct the problems in the division. Melendez had been vigorously opposed to the oversight from the get-go.