The Jersey City Independent "

Our full and comprehensive Council Report will still come out on Friday, but we wanted to sum up the meeting for you in short bursts of 140 characters or less, as captured by our live Twitter coverage. Here goes.

10:07 AM: at council mtg. was just called Shelley Skinner by someone, despite the fact that we aren’t of the same sex. strange.

10:10 AM: council chambers needs bigger press table when multiple metro area news outlets come to town.

10:13 AM: council chambers are full; 35 people are slated to speak

10:27 AM: LaVern Webb-Washington, charged last week w/ taking bribes, scheduled to speak but not yet present

10:30 AM: crowd claps hands and calls for mtg. to start. don’t they know we’re in the city council time zone; ie perpetually late?

10:33 AM: Vega rereads statement on not resigning to jeers from the crowd

10:40 AM: Vega condemns those who “manhandled” Willie Flood on her way into mtg.

10:49 AM: Yvonne Balcer asks how President Pro Tem, who would run mtgs instead of Vega, will be appointed.

10:55 AM: loud cheers from audience as Steven Fulop calls other council members “hypocritical”

10:57 AM: dancing tony addresses the council on Pro Tem issue

11:01 AM: Pro Tem position created by 8-0 vote.

11:07 AM: Telissa Dowling on tax abatements: “we give out too many”

11:08 AM: raucous applause as Dowling reads recommendations from NJPP abatement report into the council record

11:12 AM: biz admin o’reilly sez they’d be happy to have NJPP in after the summer to “exchange ideas” on tax abatement policy

11:17 AM: John Sebrowski: the FBI “didn’t make 44 mistakes” — asks why Healy hasn’t called for Vega’s resignation

11:20 AM: Sebrowski: Tax abatement cmte. mtgs should be open to the public

11:21 AM: Sebrowski: as soon as pols “were offered anything illegal, they should have reported it.”

11:24 AM: Shelley Skinner to council: “the public was right” not to trust gov’t – pushing for pay-to-play reform

11:25 AM: Shelley Skinner: who will want to raise children in “epicenter of corruption”? urges Vega to step down

11:27 AM: rep. from Liberty Humane brings “good news of the day” & thanks council for its support

11:29 AM: Andrew Hubsch asks council to take up Civic JC’s pay-to-play legislation; would be “strongest in the state”

11:30 AM: Civic JC’s Valerio Luccio: Current pay-to-play ord. does not apply to developers, only contractors

11:33 AM: Erik-Anders Nilsson: jersey city residents paying higher taxes; “not for special favors” to developers

11:38 AM: Yvonne Balcer: the “time has come” for stronger pay-to-play ord. Part of why Levin couldn’t compete in election

11:55 AM: Joe Harkins is “concerned about the atmosphere of lynch-mob justice” urges public to wait for trials

11:56 AM: Harkins: “it is entirely fair & reasonable” that Vega “step aside” for the time being

12:00 PM: Dan Levin: “we need our gov’t firing on all cylinders” to deal w/ ongoing issues

12:00 PM: Levin: however, the “public trust has been broken”

12:02 PM: Levin lays out One Jersey City ‘s 5-point plan, calls on Vega, Healy and Lopez to resign

12:11 PM: Kyle Jenkins: pols are “jockeying for position” but “no shovels going in the ground”

12:13 PM: Phil Rivo gives the crowd and the council “a history lesson” on Watergate

12:13 PM: Rivo: Nixon claimed innocence for 26 months

12:16 PM: Rivo: Fulop is called a “gadfly” but he “votes with majority 97% of the time” but: “what’s important is where he votes no.”

12:18 PM: Rivo recalls Torricelli, Janiszewski, Lipski, McGreevey as he calls for Vega to resign

12:19 PM: Rivo calls for Fulop to be voted Council president; Fulop beams

12:20 PM: Daniel Gurry presents a pile of letters asking for resignations of Healy, Vega, Lopez

12:23 PM: Gurry: “from children playing on danforth ave. to seniors on Paterson Plank Rd. … we are all decisionmakers…”

12:23 PM: Gurry accidentally (?) calls Jersey City “Jersey Shitty”

12:25 PM: Gurry: Nearly 1,000 voices in letters collected by One Jersey City in just 24 hours “One Jersey City is here to stay”

12:29 PM: John Theiroff: “what happened last week calls everything into question”

12:30 PM: Theiroff calls on Vega to resign, urges him to continue serving community by volunteering at a soup kitchen

12:32 PM: David Norman: “I am a Democrat … yet I feel no connection to the HCDO”

12:33 PM: Norman: electorate holds officials “to different standards than the court” — we can no longer trust Vega

12:37 PM: Bruce Alston to Brennan and Gaughan: “I consider you to be honorable men”

12:38 PM: Alston to Vega: “I know people who have been wrongfully accused” but “appropriate thing would be for you to step down”

12:39 PM: Alston to Vega: “I hope & pray that these charges against you are false” but you should step down

12:52 PM: Sara Flounders demands a reversal of “tax abatements that were won through graft & payoffs”

12:54 PM: Flounders asks for council’s response, gets none. “Your silence speaks a lot”

1:01 PM: Carol Lester: Developers think bribes are just part of the cost of doing business in Jersey City

1:01 PM: Fulop says “it’s not fair” to demand Healy’s resignation given the facts currently available

1:02 PM: Fulop: “There’s a process to follow and I respect the process”

1:05 PM: Fulop reads statement describing feelings about the various officials accused – “none of these people” are “terrible at their core”

1:06 PM: 5-minute “comfort break” before heading to resolutions at mtg. bathroom time!

1:10 PM: media swarms Fulop as council prepares to vote on his resolutions

1:22 PM: Robert Byrne calls council back to order … not an easy task right now

1:29 PM: tension is high in council chambers as Fulop ‘s resolutions approach a vote

1:35 PM: Fulop is lone vote in favor on no confidence in Vega resolution …

1:35 PM: Brennan says he changed his vote to nay due to crowd heckling

1:43 PM: Brennan appointed Council president Pro Tem; will run meetings instead of Vega

1:43 PM: Vega on Brennan’s appointment: “It’s the right thing to do”

1:45 PM: marathon council mtg. adjourns; Healy now set to address media

1:48 PM: rumors fly in press room that Healy will resign

1:56 PM: in positive news, Fulop resolution to open up tax abatement cmte. passes w/o comment

1:59 PM: Healy arrives at press conference; greets his “Good buddy” Augie Torres and outside the thunder begins

2:01 PM: Healy: arrest was “shocking and disturbing” … “we condemn all forms of corruption”

2:02 PM: Healy: “I want to assure the public” that jersey city “continues to move forward”

2:02 PM: Healy on Vega: He is “presumed innocent until proven guilty”

2:03 PM: … “these charges will work their way through the system … then we’ll have an answer.”

2:04 PM: Healy on Jack Shaw: “Very sad for his family and friends”

2:05 PM: and that’s it folks. Healy press conference over; absolutely nothing new said or done

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