December 4, 2024

council first speaker is Lisa Mitchelson Parker. Criminal cult that's running our government. The ones that bastardize, suppress and militarize our public forms. As we close the year 2024, let us reflect on the callous indifference the administration and this body has had on the lives of the residents. After increasing the property taxes this year, 7%, they have the audacity to send out letters, um, about a revaluation to increase the taxes in 2025, no taxation without representation. Another scam plan to gentrify new workers out of this city. You right now have, um, the halo building that you gave a They cheated the workers, non union, no PLA didn't pay vendors. Halo did not pay an assessment tax and they didn't pay what they Council did not take back their tax abatements even when they defaulted Let's talk about the friends to the barackas and the council. Then in June, 2022, you sold it to them for $169,000. This year, spring view, South view was awarded a tax abatement of 25 years. Why hasn't this entity paid taxes for more than two years due to the transfer of the title to the developer is still under city owned with the exception of South view that was transferred earlier this year. They're not paying their fair share taxes. Friends to the barackas that don't pay property taxes. And yet you have 877 homeowners in society. Hill, some seniors that are on fixed incomes, single families that are struggling to maintain their homes with an HOA fees increase in, Yet this legislative body has not put forth one piece of legislation to preserve our communities and assist the people that have created these communities and allow developers not to pay their fair share in taxes. Let the finance director and the BA justify and explain to the people since 2018, the city's budget has been in a deficit, not including the debt. How do you continue to operate a city with no readables? And we could use the example of the property that just got deferred. City owned property, not selling for its assessment value. You got the Cowie, the towers, $2.7 million a set. And we paid a half a million dollars in legal fees. Instead of the hard working people, you are not doing enough on your part for the readables that come into this city and make people pay their fair share, but you're saddling the debt to the hard working people and families because they're not part of team Baraka and y'all exercise callous indifference Roundtree, you should not be serving on a tax abatement committee Let me just talk about the Bloomfield project that the residents wasn't allowed to have a voice at their last meeting that y'all approved of that project without the resident input at that meeting. Roger Leon and the school board is a disgrace. $1.1 billion budget, 3 million spent on conferences. Kids can't pass the state exam when the state no longer supplement the schools because the residents are paying 78% of the budget in taxes. What are y'all going to do to anchor and help our children learn and get a

Next speaker, Felicia Alston Singleton, not appearing. So one of Baraka's campaign promises, Lisa Parker was a moratorium on city owned properties until we get housing that meet the income of the residents of But last council meeting, like I said, the Baraka administration allowed their office of violence spokesman air time to provoke discredit, intimidate, and infringe upon the free speech because we come here to provoke governmental and fiscal accountability of our tax dollars. Ain't no compromising, nothing to talk about with this corrupt administration. I would never unify with the corrupt elected officials or their political And as I said before, no elected official was exempt when we came to provoke an accountability and you're not exempt either. It is time that this corrupt coat get out of office. They've been cheating the community for far too long and it's definitely That is my message and it will continue to be. Message to the streets, former drug pushers and gang members should be stopping gang violence in our neighborhood. It is our duty to wake up, clean up and stand up and clean up our mess. I did it 30 years and still counting at the call at no cost to the taxpayers. None of you are here and did nothing to help any organization or anything that I ever provided opportunities for this city. All the stuff that I announced yesterday that I did came out of my pocket and So it is the duty of gang initiators, gang members and drug pushers to stop the self-inflicted genocide and the destruction of our own communities. That is our duty, not on a taxpayer expense. And we have a duty and a right to provoke accountability for our budget. So you could come here all you want to threaten and think you're going to intimidate and infringe upon our rights. Now the fight for first source hiring, the people of Newark and labor unions, presidents and members, all should be outraged hearing the outcome of the meeting that took place with the affirmative action committee with Your response is unacceptable and we should not accept it. And the reason for that response should be calling for you to remove for you from office and you should be removed from that committee. You are not outraged like the people of Chicago. You are not outraged like the people in Arizona. They are literally making these individuals run off the podium in You're not outraged enough, but it also goes to show Tillman that Barack hired Newark 2020 plan, shutting down the port and getting Norcos on these $50 construction jobs that he said was nothing but And Wayne, the freeholder, Wayne Richardson, he became local 55 president and local 55 became weak and corrupt. They blacklisted me from the union because I called them all fail union Yet none of y'all did nothing to help me when they blacklisted me. And before Ryan Hager became a member of New Jersey Institute of Social Justice, the Institute Institute used to help get people And all I can say to you, Ryan, hey, good fail leadership.

Next speaker, Linda McDonnell Carter, this McDonnell Carter First, as usual, I greet you with how are all the children council person and crump condolences on the transition of your mother. This evening, I will be returning to one of my main, my major community related concerns, emergency preparedness for the residents of the city of North. Again, as I stated last week, my focus has never been on what happens after a catastrophe, but rather how do we reduce the possibility or prepare to avoid unnecessary fear, panic, confusion, chaos, injury, and perhaps death to provide North residents with a chance and opportunity This particularly around the issue of water. This calls for action at a communal grassroots and village level and approach beyond and before the intergovernmental agencies like OEM or Communal grassroots means the entire city is prepared. Because one person, one family could not necessarily sustain themselves against groups of people who are scared, fearing, and panicking. That could possibly result in unnecessary civil unrest. Their approach is to circle the wagon so that the entire community versus individuals can be sustained in emergency. A best practice communal grassroots village approach is that incorporated To be a good Mormon, each member of the community is required to be prepared for emergencies for one year, no less than one year. As I know the last week, Councilperson Cortana has already suggested a year ago that there'd be funding from Homeland Security to cover the costs of public relations campaign to educate and help the residents in North prepare in the event that folks would not be so prone to panic and fear because they would be Have any of you investigated this opportunity? Again, I ask this council, what are you doing to prepare us for the potential harsh realities we may face in the future to our water supply? For example, water contamination, water shortages, which we've had, or attack on the power grid that permits the water to reach our faucets or another earthquake Again, as I mentioned last week, we're in an unprecedented time on This is the age of threats, threats from nuclear war, famine, job insecurity, family, food insecurity, water scarcity, and potential civil I urge you to take your elected positions as representatives more seriously in the Pick up your mantle, lead your respective communities and the city of North with education, instructions, guidance, and resources necessary to prepare akin to what Franklin Roosevelt did to prepare the entire Are any of you familiar with mutual benefits societies? If you don't know what a mutual benefits society is, it was created and designed by enslaved people moving from chattel slavery to develop systems to take care of themselves since no one else would even care to I encourage you to do the research and begin leading the efforts for your respective constituency to set up mutual benefit groups, assign your What about those of us who can't afford to store a month or two months worth of water and food in our homes to hold them over until governmental organizations or nongovernmental organizations arrive on the Actually, I will be having a free zoom for Newark residents, free, free, I'm just concerned about the people in this community, particularly the work in poor since I come from the work in poor. Scudder homes, housing projects, and very proud of that. And so everything I do is geared to people who don't have the resources, So I didn't go to law school to make money. Former sharecroppers, former people who actually pick cotton, people who That was my whole motivation for going to law school in the first place. So I just wanted to let you know that that's my concern. When I come to this table, it's for people who don't have the resources and they don't have anybody looking out for them. So again, I have flyers for those who might be interested to let you know, There's no way if I have anything to do with it, that we're going to have community that falls apart just because people who are getting paid

Good afternoon to those who are watching at home and those who are in the audience Lamont Vaughn, North New Jersey. As a continuation from the previous two meetings that I've attended, about the onslaught and insult that was cast from this microphone by those certain few members of law enforcement against the office of violence prevention and trauma recovery and brick city peace collective. Khalil Tutte, one of our esteemed partners in this community, who is I'm back today to say that we're still doing the work. And in fact, I'm just leaving a very tedious safe surrender process that we just had to go through with the person who a young lady to 22 years old, wanted by authorities had her door kicked in, mother's door kicked in, aunt's door kicked in guns, put in their kids faces, kids told to get out the bed and all of that other stuff like that. And they're all scared and out of order and don't know what's going on. But here it is the office of violence prevention and trauma recovery. And the people who work in that office stepped in to calm the wave, calm the family, give some guidance and ultimately have the person safely surrender themselves and go before a judge to be heard on the charge. So I say that to say that we're still working even to this very hour right now, we're doing these kinds of things all over the community and we're still supporting other community initiatives that are going on in the No matter the ward, no matter the council person representing that ward or any of that, we're out here for the people in the community and our We're paying attention again to the schools where they're every day safe So having said all of that, I just want the community and the people who represent us in the community, you all to be clear on the fact that the work is being done and please don't again, don't let BS come to this microphone and try to steer the narrative in another direction or Having said that, despite what anybody comes and say after or what anybody has said before, I still push peace in this community for the people in this community and I still believe that the people in this community need to unite, need to come together because we're stronger A two-ply cord is greater than the single cord. And ultimately, for those of us who tend to think that, you know, and this is no slight against law enforcement or any of that, but ultimately, for those of us who think that, you know, law enforcement is the savior of the day, we need to be, you know, meeting with law enforcement and all these other people to try to get people sent to jail and all. Listen, these people have never been our friend, your friend, your family's friend, and in the end, they throw you back to the wolves. If you know the history of how they've used black people in black and And I think ultimately what we should be doing is rather than coming to the microphone and talking about issue, issue, issue. Yes, we should bring, in fact, they don't know if you don't tell them. However, I believe that in making them aware, we should also provide them with some possible pathways to solutions to the very issues that we're bringing to And I would like to hear more of, and I'm sure the people at home would too. So for these last 20 seconds, I want to say to you, Mr. Council President, I send my heartfelt condolences to you. Mildred Crump was like a mother to me and she did some things for me and

Next speaker, Tariq Tucker, not a period. First, I would like to give my prayers condolences to put it down to President Crump and his family, friends during this hour of transition. OK, until slumlord L&M, their cohorts, slum managers do right by Georgia King Village in the city of Newark, extremely low income residents. I will remain constant in calling them out as notorious, greedy, As Georgia King Village alleged new owners join developers, negotiate Residents are demanding the ones who are not afraid to speak truth that all of L&M's ghetto slum managers be transferred to other L&M properties and for join developers hire a new management team. The current ghetto slum managers assigned to Georgia King Village have humiliated, degraded residents to depression, anger, homelessness, The community morale is at an all times low. Will slumlords such as L&M continue doing business as usual in the city of Newark and especially at Georgia King Village? Yes, you came for them on behalf of Georgia King Village and they still want. They played the administration and council members with band aids and lies and kept their tax abatement and never went into receivership. When you lay down with deep pocket dogs, you get fleas. Vice President Kamala Harris's loss to Trump was set off, has set off recrimination among Democrats that the party has lost touch with the poor and the working class voters and instead reinforce an elitist out of touch brand that was so incompatible that voters decided to opt for a twice impeached former president who has been convicted of 34 felonies in Are Newark voters and residents disgruntled and have lost trust in Just who are we really building Newark for? The State Department of Community Affairs is supposed to release details of housing needs that municipalities will have to work into There is a shortage of rental, affordable and available, available to extremely low income houses, households whose incomes are below the poverty guidelines of 30 percent of their area. Many of these households are severely cost burdened, spend more than half Severely cost burdened poor households are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and health care to pay rent and to experience unstable housing situations like eviction. The National Law Income Housing Coalition. There is a deficiency of nearly 16,000 affordable housing units in Newark. But if all the developers in the city contribute, we could close that gap quite quickly, said Richard Dunn, the senior vice president of Paramount Allison Ladd, we must give developers incentive to build more extremely We must replace the infrastructure of complexes such as Georgia King Village, which housing extremely low income families. While there is no shortage of construction for luxury apartments in Newark, not every developer is hyper focused on the physical and mental well-being of our Newark residents, especially the extremely low income. Allison, Eric Pendington, Newark needs 16,000 low income housing units. Are you implementing strategic incentives that will encourage investors and developers and stakeholders to build in Newark? All the city is preparing for a new all of the city is preparing for new People who haven't been here or turned their backs on Newark are missing out on the most amazing transformation, says Vince's backlog, ironbound improvement And this is Bureau be prepared for Newark is going to continue to look a lot

Um, again, I want to send my deepest condolences, uh, council president You lost a great, great person in the city. Um, I want to get to the meeting that, um, with the administration and that council woman round tree and affirmative action committee, um, facilitated, um, for myself with the business, not the business administrative corporation council, the deputy mayor, Newark works, all the people that were involved in this, this legislation. And it's important to understand that this piece of legislation that we're talking about has three parties in this agreement, the city of Newark, the developers and the residents of the city of Newark. What happened was in the first agreement, the citizen as president Newark was So fast forward, we are here today because it was determined in that meeting that the administration was noncompliant with that, that And I, and I said yesterday that my, my, uh, we left that meeting agreeing that, um, the administration was noncompliant. We disagreed on, on the strategies on how do we get Newark, Newarkers to on these construction sites right now. Gaylord came up here yesterday and she said it, she said it's going to take about 10 years in their, their strategies to get that workforce together that they should have had together in 2015 when they wrote this ordinance fast forward 10 years went by from 2015 to 2025 24. And they're saying that for nine years, they did nothing to build a So right now in 2024, they're telling us that now they got strategies So Madam, Madam Councilwoman Rowntree, I didn't ask you to do anything you did in far as going to get this matter before everyone that needed And I never asked you, you did it because you saw a need for Newark I'm going to ask you if you could facilitate and I'll be there with you, a community meeting so the community can come forth and talk about the benefits that we need to get from this agreement, because there's no way that right now in 2024, when this agreement was written 2015, when the administration is supposed to have the workforce in place to give to the supply to the developers for these So they're saying now nine years later, they need five to 10 more And they had 10 years to do it while they was here. Every contractor that you done gave a letter for noncompliance and come back and sue the city right now, because you were non-compliant, So we in a bad place right now, because legally what's happening right now, the developers don't have to comply because Newark is non-compliant. So right now there's a legal battle that can take place right now. So you go ahead and continue to grant tax abatements. It's going to be a legal problem because developers don't So that's why I bought this before this board. So Newark residents will benefit from this ordinance the way it was written. There needs to be a community benefit meeting. This is the benefit that we've been waiting for, for every construction site, We don't need that as a community benefit. We need these $65 an hour jobs that they're paying when they have these prevailing wage jobs, bringing that money back into our communities. So we can't wait five, 10 years, whatever your plan is. Newark works need to come here before this board. Now that we found that they're non-compliant and give a plan, a strategic plan on how they're going to get Newark residents to work right now.

I said that Malika Aleef Mohammed court towers, Aleef Mohammed, president First, I want to say to Larry Crump and your sister, I want to congratulate you on how you took care of your mother. It's great that you take care of your elders. You know, uh, I think rainbows did the same thing for his dad. When I grew up in the fifties and the sixties, the elders moved in the house with us, the grandparents lived in the house. The first thing I want to talk about is getting back to it is the tragedy. When I first got on the board, the first thing I asked about was backs of terrorists and they told me it was a done deal. Victor told me, then I went to the media. I went to the mayor and says a done deal. The mayor gave the, um, the developer rights to Brandywine, which built Now everybody get on TV and they run it for governor and they What about the 700 houses of people that could have lived on there? If you take all our property and found out who the mayor favored and gave development deals to, it would be about two or 3000 families would be off the list. He killed most of them, but I don't think he could kill this deal. Now, when I met him, his name, Gonzalez changed. It's like the mayor's, uh, a dentist changed his name became Ross student. I met him on another deal that I'm going to talk about next time But on this deal, uh, his name is the mayor's I was brought down to the city because I didn't comply with something that he wanted and young It was a weird situation because the Monica really kind of stayed out of the situation with me in the housing party because I closed. But this time she called me and asked me, could she give my number to him? And he came down and sat two hours in my office. But what he talked about, what I found out he was just a mad student. And many told me, this is the man student. Now what we did was we rented out a property, uh, back to terrorists. We ran after him for the drive in, which he did the And then that was six acres and then two acres was supposed to be trucking. This is a company called community development. Uh, and they were supposed to have six acres. The mayor's students would have six acres. So the drive in didn't work out too good. So all of a sudden in about six months, it didn't become a drive in They said you get $500 for a cab and a thousand dollars for a trail of wheat. And I started complaining about it to Victor. And at the time I was the finance committee of the houses authority and I Now, while I'm complaining, the business administrator, he started complaining because he, I guess where he lived at in South Orange, cause he, you know, all that he, my mayor, he live in South Orange, wherever He was riding by and seeing that, uh, it's to become a truck depot. Now, believe me, the Monica didn't want this. The truck depot made I'm saying close to $3 million. Now I want everybody to understand, cause most people understand when you see housing authority land, it is not our land. It's not, it's not for Ross to come around and say, you could do this. Now I don't know what's the remark Mars got because at the time it was extended for three years, he was part of the deal. I don't know what he got, but even if they paid his rent that he was supposed to pay for three years, it's corruption. If he, if they paid his rent, the trucking company, he might've got a hundred and fifty thousand dollars is corrupt. So getting back to what I'm going to say is that I have to cut back. And I went down and spoke in the house and started real quick. And Spicer said that the council's supposed to pick three people for the job and the mayor's supposed to pick three people.

Next speaker, Debra Salters, not appearing. Deborah Edwards, Deborah Edwards is appearing. Let's have some respect for the speaker, please. And I would like to convey my sincerest condolences and I wanted to speak and I didn't get the chance to finish on the last program to finish talking about this university hospital and in Newark agreement, the protecting UH university hospital, medical and dental school, and in Newark agreements coalition represents a coalition of broad community advocacy and other organizations and growing strictly to educate the community on the 1968 Newark agreements, which has been in place for 56 years. The educational session presentation that's being done was not predicated or developed based on conjecture, assumptions, speculation, interpretations, innuendo or miss or disinformation, but rather was developed as a basis in fact, taken directly from this document, Um, this was necessary to ensure that the community education That was being presented to the community in relation to the items delineated under this very same agreement. With that being said, it should also be noted that although the 1968 Newark agreement was reached 56 years ago, there's been some It should be noted that it is not obsolete and it is just as relevant today in 2024 and prospectively into the future as it was The authors of the document were wise in doing so to protect Newark residents into the future as this document is also in perpetuity, which means infinite them into the future forever. And a day, we should also recognize and honor the sacrifices of the 20,000 residents who gave up their homes in exchange for commit least commitments clearly spelled out and delineated under this very same agreement, as well as to recognize the present elevation of UMDNJ was also realized on the backs and the pain and suffering of people in this community to get it to where it is today. Um, there is also, and this gentleman here, Mr. Tillman spoke about construction is also a section having to do with And it talks about hiring people from the Newark community and our sister cities, East Orange, Orange and Irvington, having to do with people that are already in the construction trades, but also provides, there's a provision for education and training of those who may have an Now we're talking about a $2 billion hospital that's about to be built over eight years, 10 years, depending on which day of the week Um, that's more than enough time for people to get employed, educated, trained, employed, locked into a union membership. So they have a working salary incomes for them and their family In addition to the higher of the residents within the city of North or other pieces of the hospital, so on and so forth and construction. When those people are hired, it's an economic engine for this city and That being said, last but not least, um, we would like to, uh, engage the city council in a meeting for presentation to go over in detail Thank you for your time and, uh, wishing everyone a blessed holiday. Council president council members that concludes the agenda. First, uh, councilman Kelly has something. I want to go back to seven R two, uh, one a to actually change my vote I think it's seven R one a, is that what number? Let's, let's make sure we're clear on it. It's actually E as an Edward seven R one E as an Edward on page 16 Uh, first council members council woman, Scott, Scott, Scott roundtree. Edwards, uh, we've been meeting with you H foot and I've had a community meeting between, uh, the hospital and the school. I will set up another meeting for the community and the hospital. Um, we're planning to do it in all five wards. So I'm going to speak to the ward council people just in regards to, um, agreement that was put together in 1968. So whatever amendments or whatever, um, changes or whatever we need to add or the other community wants to provide regarding information. Um, we'll try to set that up after I speak with the ward council people and set up locations along with the president of the hospital and the administration there in reference to Mr. Tillman, I want to meet with our deputy mayor and see what we can do. I'm going to talk with him and see how we can move forward What's difficult, um, is that, well, it's not difficult when the people ask for something, if it's legal and ethical, I don't think I just want to make sure I do it decent and in order and involve the parties that have been designated to be in charge of those areas. So I will not act outside of those who are positioned to hold those assignments, but I will speak to them and see how we can possibly make it happen and what will come out of that and follow their lead. Um, I just want to, um, I actually want to say thank you, um, to, um, G. Curator, I want to say thank you for continuing to be vigorous on getting the quality of life in Georgia King village up to where it should be. I want to say thank you because, um, we have to hold people accountable. And, um, you know, I reached out while you were going, Ms. Curtin, I reached out to, you know, there was all type of rumors going around in the community that GKV was bought already and that the management has taken over the new management has taken over and, you know, through my investigation and just reaching out and finding out this week that So when, when people say that, um, they even almost had me believing that because certain people were let go that the new management where tick was, has, um, already started and it hasn't, um, it will be starting in a new year. They have, they do the new management does have people, uh, figuring out things from L and M, um, I guess logistics, not, not finding out their And, uh, I also see that they've done, um, they did their own inspections. Uh, the new manager, the management company that is coming in, they did their own inspections, even though, uh, we had, um, code enforcement do all of those inspections last year, they did their own inspections and, you know, from them themselves, they said a lot of the So the thing that you've been yelling in here all year about So, um, there will be, they will be coming in and, um, looking to fix. A lot of those situations that you talked about. So I just want to say thank you for, for continuing to be an advocate for getting the living capabilities and quality of life correct in Georgia Any other comments or questions from the council? At this point, councilman Gonzalez, we'll not, we'll go back and Uh, rock, Ron, my heart, uh, deputy man workforce. First of all, let me give my condolence to from our President Crump, uh, your mother was very special to me in my career. I started young and, uh, wasn't it when I started in my career, wasn't a lot of support from individuals and the older generation that, uh, and, um, but she was one of my biggest supporters, um, me coming through labor So I just want to give my condolences to you and your family. Um, I, you know, I, you know, man, no matter what I say here is just going to be, if you got an agenda, you just gonna push an agenda. And I, I can't like, cause I've been up here and it seems like we Like I haven't been coming up here saying the same thing over and over again for And I don't know how we sit at counter cause what are you saying that happened at that meeting just did not happen, but yet we sit up here and No one admitted that the city of North is in non-compliance. As a matter of fact, it is that city of Newark is not the one that's supposed to be the combined developers are it is our job to make sure Brother Tillman has been up here speaking about an ordinance prior to this one where I kept saying you're wrong. What you're saying that committee is the font, right? And then he comes down and talk about a different ordinance that we put in Now he says that we should the city of Newark, by the way, should have had 51% of skilled tradesmen ready to go into these jobs. The 51% and I've said this at the meeting is a goal that we put forward. And over the years, we hope that we can achieve this goal. I've said this a million times that 10 years, maybe in my lifetime, you can't deal with the inequities when it comes to skilled trades and But we have a gentleman that's coming up here saying that in 2015, that Newark should have corrected that problem when we are less than two and 10% of skilled trades across this country. I gave you a paper that I just gave to the clerk that in 2021, I commissioned with the fines that we get from developers, by the way, that never happened prior to this administration that I commissioned a paper to do on studying the problem and giving solutions. I gave people on this council when I completed this paper, a copy, I gave it to the board of education and anybody that will listen to say, this is my suggestion, not the complaint, not pointing the finger and blame to say that this is my suggestion as to what we should do. Because if we don't enact the, if the board education, the educational system does not play a role into ensuring that we have skilled tradesmen ready for the future in this country, not the city of Newark, then we are just blowing spit in the wind. And no matter what you come up here and say that this is not going to be We did not say we are not in compliance folks. I want to be clear and please stop allowing that and don't challenge it. It is developers who aren't in compliance. But one of the reasons why they can't be in compliance is because No one ever said to him, cause I heard him speak last, the other meeting and he said, I said, no skilled tradesmen. And somebody should have corrected on when he said that, but we didn't. We are not the only ones that asked for minority participation in building. Every minority community asked for minority participation in skilled trades. We are fighting for the same small pool. I mean that we can't set a goal so that we can achieve that. We only penalize developers when they dismiss the goal. Not when they do the best that they can, then we don't penalize them. We only penalize developers as they say the heck with you. There's only two ways that you could become skilled. Either you go into a tech school or you're going into a union apprenticeship program, which takes five years. I never told them that this problem will be solved in five years. I said that it takes five years to create a skill certified trades person. And listen, I wish that we could just get the facts straight so we can debate that and deal with the problem that we keep on just throwing out these bombs and getting people all riled up and say, Oh, this ain't happening. And at the port, by the way, the Indian administration that ever did. Heck, people fought us at the port to not bring folks down to job there. And we put people down at that port that wasn't related to people Folks that look like us fought us against that. They have to turn around here and fight for the things that we've done good in here and get credit for what we've done good in the city. But to sit up here and pretend we've done nothing. And I'm not going to keep sitting here and allowing it to be said and not challenging. But the city of North can't correct that problem. Unions only open their books up once a year. They only let about 10, 15 people in the union for apprenticeships. You think you want to solve that problem in a year or two years? No, I'm not talking about labor jobs, folks. I'm talking about carbon, this plumber's electric. You have to be certified and licensed to do these jobs. We've got a bunch of laborers out there. And it's going to take more than the city of North or workforce program. It's going to take the educational system and the will of a bunch of other folks to say, we need to put the funding to get it done. So we don't have to say 10 years no more or five years or now. It's going to take decades to get that done. Please, folks, let's talk about the facts. And I hope that you read what I just put because I said this prior. I hope that you read so you can know what we're talking about so that you can help me advocate. I submitted this to the board of education in 2021. These are solution driven, not just complaints. Now, I hope I don't have to come back up here, but I know it's probably wishful thinking. But listen, at the end of the day, can we please start debating the facts? The facts. That's what I want to debate. Thank you. Now, you know, Mr. Tillman, you know, you can't do that. It's a little difficult to follow our deputy mayor, Eric Pennington, his administrator. On two other issues that were raised, there was one speaker who indicated that the city imposed a 7% tax increase last year, which is I don't know where that came from. That was after much work on the part of Mayor Baraka with the assistance of the council and making sure that we kept the tax increase to some of the lowest it has been in recent history over the last several years. So having a clue as to where that information comes from. The appropriate tax rate was reported on by various outlets and has been continued to be reported on, tested, vetted and challenged. The reason I'm bringing it up is because when speakers make a new record, when there are people out there listening on TV or here in the audience, they take it as true when it's not challenged. And that's the only reason I'm challenging. It doesn't really warrant this much time other than the fact that the people It did raise the opportunity to talk again about the revaluation, which we're going to have to continue to talk about regularly to make sure people Revaluation is not retaxation or an increase in taxation. Revaluation is an opportunity to have a decennial 10-year process where we equalize the tax rate that is paid throughout the city to make sure that the value of the homes, the value of businesses, the values of properties are equitably assessed so that everybody pays their fair share. For every one dollar increase in somebody's taxes is a one dollar So the objective and the goal is to make sure that the fair shares are being paid throughout the city, the North Ward, the East Ward, the South Ward, Central Ward, and the West Ward. And the company has been retained to do just that. Part of that discussion by the speaker was that we don't have any rateables. I don't know quite where that came from at all. There are 53,000 lines or there about of rateables throughout the city. And because of the efforts of this administration with the support of the council, we have increased the rateables at a substantial level with respect to new development. All of that new development is going to increase the amount of money that comes into the cities. or there had been discussions about the fact that a lot of these new development, particularly larger properties, are tax abated and people say that since there are tax abatements, That is patently, I don't want to say false. I think that it is just a misunderstanding of the process. I'm not saying in that case somebody is intentionally coming up here And so people need to be educated that these tax abatements provide an opportunity for developers who might not otherwise come into the city to come in here, make a reasonable profit, have a vigorous negotiation with our economic and housing development. All of those redevelopment agreements are brought to the council with lots of documentation that back it up before it is voted on. And in most instances, just because it is a tax abatement, the city does not lose one penny in the tax revenue that comes to the city. So the residents are not subsidizing that development. But over the course of the term of the tax abatement, it is our learned opinion that the city is benefiting greatly from having that development in and what the revenue There's also a comment that the city has been operating in a deficit for some eight years, and that's just statutorily incorrect. When the mayor came in, this mayor came in in 2014, there was a $93 million structural deficit that he was able to correct through fiscal prudence, through bonding, and making sure that we addressed the deficiencies in certain areas. There has been no deficit budgeting since then. So I'm not clear what that information is, but we have had a balanced budget every year since then, and we are fiscally prudent and work really hard to keep the tax rate low, or whatever increases there are low for the residents while still providing quality services to those residents. And that's what, pursuant to Mayor Baraka's directive, The speaker talked about the police and the Office of Violence Prevention, and I want to focus on the good parts of that relationship. It is an extraordinary relationship between our police department and the Office of Violence Prevention and Trauma Recovery, The vast majority of police officers and superior officers work well with those organizations and rely upon them. I am told that at least one of the speakers that was referenced from several meetings ago has relied upon those officers themselves to address issues that happen in the city. Those officers supplement and support the police department's efforts to reduce violence and to make sure that students get home from school safely and to encourage students who might otherwise become involved in violent activity to take a different path. and we are supportive of the collaborative efforts of those police officers and superior officers who are working diligently with the Office of Violence Prevention and Brick City Peace Collective to achieve an overall goal that we all have and that's to reduce violent crime, to reduce all crime, and to make the city safe for our residents, and we'll continue to highlight that great collaboration. And as always, I'll answer any questions the council may have. Thank you. Any questions from the council? Councilman, council has a question for the B.A. Specifically around this and with, you know, frankenplace, that we put information out here about this reevaluation process as there has been a large attempt around the city as I've received calls about this being some type of situation, which we've already talked about over the last three years because reevaluation technically should have taken place, And so a large attempt to mask this thing as an attempt for this city, this administration, and ultimately this council who has the, you know, to raise the taxes of residents in this city, you know, specifically the homeowners in this city. And so I think we have to do, if ever before, a yeoman's job at trying to really break this down. And so I just wanted to make that point. through the chair, the council, and council. I've already spoken with Frank DeLessio, about the need to get out and to have community meetings. I received my notice of reevaluation in the mail yesterday, There were two brochures included in there, that talks about the reevaluation process. just because you get something in the mail, You need to have somebody explain it to you. I am told that we will work with the council, the council aides, and the meetings that you have It is not a tax increase process at all. And again, it's an equalization process. So the city is not going to gain one extra dollar as a result of the reevaluation process. Somebody will gain a dollar, somebody will lose a dollar. And that's what this process is all about, to make it fair and equitable for every resident. Just because we have brochures in Spanish and English, I think somebody raised the issue yesterday There are Haitian Creole speakers throughout the city. So we have to make sure we get this information out to all homeowners in languages that they can understand. So they're not afraid when they see somebody with the proper identification come to their home It is our preference that they allow people in, but people have a right to do what they think Your home may be assessed at a higher rate than it otherwise would be if the assessors don't get a chance to come in and take a look at it. So they have to take that into consideration. We want to make sure we get as much of that information I may be able to defer to the Council President, that the parking authority is going to implement So you're saying from December 15th to the 31st? but again, I can defer to the Council President. Someone just shared something else with me I will make sure from the parking authority the information that's supposed to be going out. and many people are sitting in many seats because of her traveling throughout this state, and many people all over the world are blessed. she is who she is to the Latino community. She is who she is to just the world at large. and I am proud to be a daughter of her expertise, It's not easy being the child of such children, of such great leaders that belong to the world, I understand that we look and we see all of these things, and we get to grow up and appreciate the fact but I think you and I have more brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and cousins and uncles that we didn't even know that she touched their lives. People walk up and tell you they're her daughter were the only two that she biologically gave birth to, but she actually gave birth to all of us that caused us to not just be carried by her biologically, but to be carried by her through many changes, that he allowed her to come from Detroit, and make an impact on all of the lives that she touched. So expressing profound sorrow and regret of Good Neighbor Baptist Church into her front door. She could roll out of Good Neighbor Baptist Church thank you God for Council President Mildred Crump. There's also someone else on the Hansberry block So I would like to express profound sorrow and regret and she will be funeralized on next Tuesday. Then there is another woman who made an impact, and gave birth to someone who grew up on Bach Avenue, one who's been called from labor to reward, and then expressing profound sorrow and regret for another soldier who politically was very, and I believe her services are on the 11th. and these family members shared greatness with us, there is on next Tuesday, December 10th, the mayor, along with the North Municipal Council, will host their 39th annual holiday tree lighting. We're asking you to bring your children, We're gonna start at actually 4, 4 30 p.m. We pray that the lighting will take place There will be hot chocolate and candy canes, is going to make an appearance on that day. That is Tuesday, December 10th, 2024 here at City Hall. In the rotunda, the program will take place, and of course, words of hope from our mayor. Some of us have received a whole lot of chances but don't want to give somebody else another chance. So we thank God for putting in the spirit of all of us that are working with those mothers for supporting those chances that are given. and you have a mother that has come home So I just ask you to watch our social media pages for the City of Newark or call our offices what activities we have, what services we have. if you want to know what's going on in the city. That's what we've been appointed and elected for. I've been working with residents of Newark of a phenomenal original holiday musical stage play Just to let you know, there is hope in our city. And as we move into this holiday season, I'm asking you to please check out the City of Hope. December 15th, which is Sunday at 5 p.m. Once again, council president, we love you. And I thank you for allowing me to be of service to you. I want to first of all, I want to say happy holidays to the everybody, the entire city of Newark, the administration and our great North Police Department We have an event tonight that I'm doing. This is my second annual copulamentary breakfast for dinner that I'm doing at IHOP tonight from 4 p.m. if you're available to come, you are welcome. and if they're riding through Bergen to come through, it will be at 109 Bergen Street, Newark, New Jersey, which is technically central, but it's on the border.

You're welcome for breakfast, for dinner, For those people who love to put up trees in their homes, I'm always wanting to try to put the tree up after Thanksgiving, but I get defeated in my household. who would like to put a tree up in their home. to Westside High School holiday tree giveaway this Saturday Also, if you're into the digital literacy pieces and preparing a workforce for a citizenry, And they will be teaching basic computer skills, productivity tools, digital citizenship, digital communication and collaboration, and you know, the old funny uncle at the cookout. will be happening at 250 Georgia King Village in a party room on Sunday, December 8th, I got to get out of here after we're done, from Dominique Lee and Cesar A. Vizcaino. it's going to be hosted by our commissioner, And then finally, this is my 14th annual toy drive. well, you've only been counseling for two years, So please make sure that you call my office to register and help bring the joy to the children in need. I don't think there were any motions in that. Councilman Gonzalez, do you have anything? The annual Northward Holiday Parade of Lights the 6th, has been postponed to Friday the 13th, It's going to be 45, supposedly, the Friday after. Also, we're going to have a Christmas Tree Lighting on Tuesday, December 10th, 2024, 530 to 630. And this one is at Elwood and Summer Avenue Lower Broadway Bloomfield Avenue Business District is going to host the annual tree lighting ceremony And there was a concern regarding garbage. It seems that they are picking up all the garbage so that the truck doesn't have to make that many stops. But then they are not putting back the containers in the places that they are supposed to be put back. And it seems also that they are blocking the driveways when they pull together all the garbage. If we can send a letter to the DPW regarding that. So Madam Clerk, anything else, Councilman? Second by Councilwoman Louise Scott Roundtree. I'd like to have a motion to the Corporation Council so that we can get an update on what's going on there. Also a sorrow and regret for the father of Arnita Green who was passed, be frontalized on Friday, In concurrence with my colleague, Ms. Roundtree, we all stand in solidarity and condolences for all of the names that she has called. And definitely to Council President Emeritus, I know a lot of people talk about her political acumen, to young people of the blind who took care of young people and brought them into her space all of the time ensuring that they receive the proper resources and tools but spiritually they felt her presence around them. And one thing that I can always say about for people in any situation or circumstance. or if she loved you, that she was present She loved every seasoned saint in this city. And so to every senior and every seasoned saint in this city, we want to put our arms around you for the relationships that you've created with her and how you have held her up throughout her career. And to all of those who were close to her, one of the finest things that we can always say is that no matter where Council President Emeritus was, you would always hear her say to God be the glory. And that was important because she wanted to ensure that no matter what she did, it wasn't about her, but it was about the glory that God had put on her to allow her to do the work for the people that even despised her and those that even loved her. And I'm always ecstatic to know just to even see you to hear her used to say that she was always peacock proud. And I know that she is definitely peacock proud of you. And the work that you've been doing in this city to try to wrap our arms around some of the most difficult situations or circumstances that we may face, her presence and her spirit will not always be with you, but will be with all of us as we will be challenged to do the work that she has left behind for us to be able to do as we hold her up high. So from my family, from the Council family, to the Crump family, our condolences to you and to every caretaker that sat up under her that had the auspicious task of becoming closer to her And so we send our condolences to the Crump family. And you know, on behalf of the entire Southward Democratic Party, we send our condolences to you and to the family. and Council President will talk about the arrangements, but on next Saturday at 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., we'll still be hosting a Southward Winter Wonderland event because I know that Council President Emeritus And so we will still be hosting that on Bergen Street And we will be making sure that we lift her name up during that day because she was an avid lover Most folks would know if you touched the pound cake or tasted pound cake that came from her, especially even the staff upstairs in the Council Office, to have sweets and cakes upstairs during that time. And so we will be celebrating on Bergen Street And so we're asking all of those that want to come and bring the family toys, music, amusement, refreshment, coat giveaways, tree lighting. And so we're looking for folks to come out as we're looking to give out over a thousand toys Today at 4 p.m., the Malcolm X Shabazz Bulldogs will take on Rumpson Bulldogs at Rutgers University in the Group 2 State Football Championship. And so we are rooting for Malcolm X Shabazz on today representing not just the City of Newark, but the South Ward as they go out to compete And for those that can make it out to the game who has been working hard and diligently all year in representing the South Ward and the City of Newark. Council President, just one thing I just... Let's do what they will call, he'll come back. And then when he comes back, we'll get his vote. I do want to say we are rooting for the Bulldogs, man. We definitely want them to win this State Championship. But I also want to thank a dance team out of the West They do a lot of different functions around the city. They went to Maryland on a bus ride this past weekend. And they came home with maybe about six trophies, one of them being second place trophies for individual competition. And I want to just say thank you to the coaches, and the entire Royal Elite Dance Company and staff and their parents too for winning that championship in Baltimore. Councilman Gonzalez, can we get your vote for? Number one, I did get a note for the parking authority. There'll be two-hour free parking starting December 7th through January 1st, 2025. and that is to the BA and I guess special taxes, is that can we get a list of all delinquent tax abatement owners? Secondly, I want to congratulate and thank my lucky stars to be a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated on today, Somebody was not Alpha out in the audience, but that's all right. Third is our office is also, we all try to support our community. What we are doing right now is collecting toys. So if anybody wants to donate toys to our cause to support our children and the community, they can deliver them to my office from now until December 20th. And somebody is there, 830 to 430, Monday through Friday. If you just want to come by and drop off some toys, we greatly appreciate it. I want to also echo the sentiments that were already mentioned about Mother Oliver. The Sunday was a rough day for a lot of folks. And then, of course, those who have been involved in the political process for a long time know Christy Davis. She worked for Senator Lawton Berg and so many others. And I just want to give my condolences to the family. Bishop, I'm going to try to find my bishop's last name. I can't think of Red Jackson, but Bishop Jackson. Also, I just want to give the information on my mother's services. So the wake is going to be December 13th. The wake is going to be December 13th from 5 to 8 p.m. And her home-going celebration will be Saturday. December 14th at Metropolitan Baptist Church at 10 a.m. And so the family is thankful for all of the calls, the cards, the appreciation for everyone reaching out to them at this time. We ask that you continue to pray for the council president, his sister, and all who have been affected by the loss of a champion of this city. And so, again, they are asking everyone to come out and to support Friday, December 13th from 5 to 8 p.m. at Metropolitan Baptist Church will be the viewing. And on Saturday at 10 a.m. is the home-going celebration for our council president, Emeritus Mildred C. Crump.