The Jersey City Independent"

All photos: Steve Gold

Despite a relatively light agenda, comments from the public pushed Wednesday’s City Council meeting to just over two hours. The council considered three first read ordinances, six second-reads and 41 resolutions. Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan was absent.

Melissa Surach Gets Her Award

Melissa Surach curtsies as she accepts her award from the council

Jersey city comedienne and JCI contributor Melissa Surach was the welcome highlight of a slow council night as she accepted an award, one she has not been shy about asking for. The council unanimously passed a resolution honoring Surach’s “many contributions to the arts in Jersey City and her dedication to her hometown,” with the crowd getting a good chuckle as Ward E councilman Steven Fulop read the name of her public access show, Melicious Bottomvomit, into the record. Surach, dressed in a diaphanous turquoise gown and a tiara resembling the Statue of Liberty’s crown, was all smiles as she accepted her award, but indicated she was not completely satisfied when she asked the council to consider renaming Jersey Avenue in her honor and erect a large bronze statue that would be visible from New York.

Frequent Flyer Night

Yvonne Balcer gets tough with the council on the subject of taxes

Almost all the community members who addressed the council on Wednesday were familiar to regular attendees of council meetings. Bernice Davis was the notable exception: she called the attention of the council to the block of Pine Street between Communipaw Avenue and the dead end, which she claimed has not been paved in 25 years. Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson agreed with Davis, calling the condition of the street “deplorable.” Richardson stated that she has made Vipul Patel — who heads the Division of Engineering — aware of the issue, but asked Council President Mariano Vega* to follow up.

Others who addressed the council included John Seborowski, who continued his calls for Vega*’s resignation, and gadfly Yvonne Balcer. In stark contrast to the contentious caucus on Monday where the issue of abatements was front-and-center, Balcer was the only person to discuss them at Wednesday’s meeting. Recalling that the city’s waterfront was developed before the widespread use of abatements, she disagreed with the notion that abatements keep municipal taxes low, and handed the council a spreadsheet showing how her local taxes have risen since 2005, the year Mayor Healy took office.

First Reads

All three first read ordinances were passed unanimously with virtually no comment from the council members. The first permits the Ambriola Company to construct a mountable curb on the sidewalk adjacent to their property at 2 Burma Road. The second allows the owner of the office building at the corner of Columbus Drive and Marin Boulevard to install decorative safety bollards along the road around the east side of the building; and the third gives the owners of 782-784 Ocean Avenue to construct two stoops on that property.

Odds and Ends

* Like the public comment portion of the meeting, the public hearings on the six second read ordinances drew comment from familiar faces, including Yvonne Balcer and John Seborowski. Four of the second-reads passed unanimously, one passed with a single abstention and another was tabled. The first, which made its third appearance on the agenda this week, authorizes an $8.7 million bond issuance to guarantee funds for the construction of the Marion Greenway on the PJP site; it was tabled pending approval by the local finance board. Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson abstained from voting on the sixth ordinance, which approved a tax exemption for an affordable housing project, because it hadn’t gone before the Tax Enhancement Committee. Although council president Vega* had requested it go before the committee prior to its second reading, the committee has not convened recently. You can read about the other four ordinances here.

* All 41 resolutions passed the council; only three did not receive a unanimous vote. Ward E councilman Steven Fulop voted against a resolution to approve up to $75,000 for a contract with Domenick Carmagnola to represent former police chief Robert Troy, who is named in several workplace harassment complaints. Fulop claimed that suits and settlements against Troy have cost the city nearly $1 million, a figure he called “excessive, to say the least.” Fulop also lodged the lone nay against the reappointment of Fire Department director Armando Roman, saying he “would like to see a change” there, and he abstained on the vote to reappoint Department of Housing Economic Development and Commerce director Carl Czaplicki, who is named in the federal criminal complaint against political consultant Joe Cardwell. “There is a cloud that still looms,” Fulop said. The directors of five other city departments were reappointed by unanimous vote; Department of Public Works director John Yurchak was not recommended for reappointment by the Mayor, but will serve in an ‘acting’ capacity for the time being.

* Over $271 million in emergency appropriations were approved for the fiscal year 2010 budget to increase or create various line items.

* A total of $65,000 was transferred out of various budget line items into others.

* The council refunded real estate taxes worth nearly $363,000 and discounted an outstanding mortgage debt by nearly $41,000.

* The council passed a resolution supporting an application by the Jersey City Economic Development Corporation (JCEDC) for a Pathway out of Poverty grant from the federal Department of Labor.

* Another grant application was authorized, this one to the federal Department of Transportation for a TIGER grant to be used in support of the Jersey Avenue extension project. A copy of the application is included in the resolutions document starting on page 31; that’s good readin’ for all you wonky folks who want to know what the city’s planning for that project.

* The city was authorized to spend up to $155,000 to support the operation of the Afro-American Historical Society Museum for the current fiscal year, although only $20,000 is currently available for that purpose.

* The Mayor’s appointment of ten municipal prosecutors and three part-time prosecutors was approved.

* Six resolutions were approved that authorize or amend program contracts for affordable housing projects and/or projects funded by federal stimulus dollars and HOME funds.

* The city was authorized to issue letters of insurance indemnifying Liberty State Park and Camp Liberty for the purposes of the Fire Department’s Family Day Picnic, as well as to De Maximis for Fire Department training at their facility.

* A street closing at Exchange Place on September 27 was authorized for a festival to be held by African Americans in Action.

* The council voted to support a pre-application to the state Department of Environmental Protection to approve an easement in the Oak Street Park.

What are we buying?

The council approved the following purchases on Wednesday:

* Nearly $231,000 to Dell Marketing for software licensing and maintenance.

* Up to $75,000 to attorney Thomas Jardim to represent the city in a civil-rights lawsuit against two police officers.

* $30,000 to Mirna Ruiz to settle her trip-and-fall lawsuit against the city.

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