December 18, 2024

First speaker is Alif Muhammad. Mr. Muhammad's up here. As-salamu alaikum. Alif Muhammad Court Towers. Alif Muhammad, the president and founder of Alif Muhammad Near School. I want to go back to this Baxter terrorist thing because I really rushed it before. What I'm giving you at first is a, when I reported the, remember the, Eric Pennington, the BA said that I didn't do my positional responsibility. So every time I come up here, I'm going to also give you the complaint that when I gave it to the feds, what I'm giving, showing you is that the complaint that I gave to the feds. Now let's talk about it. Leasing wasn't a problem for me. Matter of fact, I told Victor Cirilla, we should lease some of the property to help earn income money. And this leasing wasn't really a problem with me because the guy from the drive-in was going to take six acres and there was two acres going to be taken by a trucking company. And why I didn't have a problem because I thought the drive-in was a great idea when he had did it during the pandemic. What happened in this meeting, LaMonica had a problem where she didn't want the trucking company on that property. So Norma Gonzalez told me, she told Logan, so we want to hold up and defer that. They didn't want it to defer it. So what they did was she went down, this is what ties the mayor into the corruption. She went down to Mitty in the mayor's office and told them that she didn't want the trucks in that area. And they, Mitty told her, sure that the trucks would be gone in one month. Okay. So we passed it where the truck was coming. Then three minutes, months later, you'll see that they amended the trucking company, gave it to another truck in the company. Now, what I mean by corruption, you'll see that it says two acres for trucking, six acres for entertainment. After a couple of months, I guess the drive-in didn't do well. It became a trucking depot, which was against the violation. Now, I told you before that the BA was riding down from wherever he lived out of South Orange, West Orange, and he was noticing, so he called Victor Cerella and complained. So Victor said, it's not only you complaining, Commissioner, it's the BA. And he's talking about suing us. So I said, what you going to do? He bust out laughing. He said, you ain't got to go sue us, just go tell the administration that you don't want the trucks there. They're the one to put them there. Now, remember, it was only 5,000, 6,000. You see the money. Like I said before, the trucks, the cab, 500, the whole 1100. So you got 40, 50 people. You made a lot of money. So anytime that you rent a place, Cere Marz, which is the mayor's student, you rent a place and it's limited to entertainment, and then you lend it to a trucking company. I don't know if the trucking company gave him hundreds of thousands or if they gave him 6,000. It was corrupt because you can't take money from a federal land and make money off of it. That's the corruption. Now I want to go back and explain to you, and they was like, why? Why you say the mayor wanted the bachelor terrorist to be a box, a big box, like a walling off of, that was his dream. And then across the street, swap the land and make that 75 units. The head of redirection, I mean, not redirection, redevelopment and victim say it's not going to happen. See what people don't understand and what the mayor don't understand, the housing authority is not in the business to bring new jobs. The housing authority is to provide low income property. See, that's what you understand. Forget that affordable stuff. We're talking about low, zero, elders, disabled, people don't have no income. That's the job of the housing authority. Even that's why I voted against the movie thing. Oh, that's a great idea. That's not our job. Our job is to put 800 apartments down at Steph Boyden and 800 apartments over here in the housing authority. Now I said something last time. Spicer said, and I didn't know this, guys, my understanding when they picked the commissioner, the mayor picked six and seven and the governor picked seven, six. Spicer said, don't go like that. The mayor picked three and you guys picked three. So imagine if my Latin brothers picked three people to be on that commission, which you should do. It'd change the whole thing for the housing authority. It won't be a chamber rocker party. So you guys got to look into that to see, because there's one spot open right now, but you guys have to look into that to see. I want to say to my Christmas friends, Merry Christmas, blessed Christmas and the whole world, healthy, happy New Year's. Salam alaikum. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Not appearing. Lisa Mitchelson Parker. Appearing. Lisa Parker. Good day criminal cult that's running our government. I, Lisa Parker, resident of Newark and requesting a forensic audit by the OIG in Washington of all newer grant funding agencies under office of violence prevention invest Newark one stop in the entire municipality departments. I asked the city clerk to formally to respond to me, my request, my fellow Newarkers, the corruption fraud abuse by this administration is real. Here's the proof. Last week, an individual that received 675,000 of federal funding under office of violence prevention was arrested for being unlicensed while practicing medicine in Bessey May women's health clinics and vice president of Newark women's health clinics. Once again, a non qualified person is given favor of federal funding without being vetted for credentials. How dare you put women at risk today on page 39 through 49, the water department over $5 million for professional services as needed. And on the added starter, another $500,000. Why is the city paying for professional services for department heads that don't have credentials? And as an example of that, Phil Scott in the engineering department was replaced by an architect. You're paying the engineer to sign off on what that director can't do. Why are we paying two salaries and an award a department as well, directed at is not an engineer, a licensed one. Why are we spending off of the first quarter of the 2025 budget? How did we go from 915 million in June of this year and then in October, the budget increased to 973 million. Next, we're going to be at 1 billion. Is nobody doing the math but me and my researcher? Because obviously you're not counting what you're voting on. And why are we bonding 11.4 million to buy filters at the Pekwanik? We're already 688 million in debt, deficit, and that's not including the debt which you keep continuing to bond us for. The BA should have prepared a 2025 budget now for 2025. Instead, he is compounding our deficit and our debt and counting. These land deals in Vesnuik is warehousing and stockpiling properties with donors, developers, and friends of the Barakas. You have a property purchased in 2017, it's on your agenda here, never paid property tax, never developed in seven years, and now they're asking for home funds? Don't worry about it, I already sent it to the authorities. Yet, because the city has no rateable income, no one pays their fair share of taxes, and the residents are being saddled with the tax increases and revaluation, gentrifying, and outpricing hardworking families that created these communities. At the NUIC Summit, one of the panelists said, we now have the opportunity to bring outside developers to charge higher and higher rents. And the mayor sat right there as a panelist and co-signed it, no response. And when they asked the question, what about community engagement, crickets? There is no government, we have no accountability, just nothingness. And all the surrogates that want to come down here and talk about all the great work you're doing, excuse me, I do my homework. Here's from the state, Oprah request, everything on OVP, everything on your budget, everything that you submit to DCA. At the end of the day, NUICAs, you got to be participating in your own rescue. But it's apparent the corruption, abuse, misuse of funding is real. Have a blessed and safe holiday. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. I am Alive, remote 369 mindset, authorized user of Elijah Abdul-Samad Morgano. I am a veteran. I represent the houseless community, the mentally able community. I was born here in Newark. And I'm speaking today because I'm a parent of 10 children, one grandchild, and I'm a faith-based leader. I brought this water up here because we got away from our culture. We got away from our roots. And money, power, status, pleasure, corrupts. So as we heard the national anthem from Whitney Houston, ashe. Amiri Barak, ashe. Martin Luther King, ashe. Nina Simone, ashe. Mrs. Crump, ashe. Mrs. Roundtree, ashe. Part of our libations is pouring out the elements. We speak because that gives wind. We drink or we pour it out for the homies because the dead are never gone. And when we drink it, just like Space Jam, it give us the Jesus juice. And Auntie Renee and Dolores Morgano, Dolores Jackson, who was a business owner, who was a house owner, homeowner. I left Newark in 2002. And then I came back in 2018. And everything looks like a dream. The more money that comes in, the more hands that's grabbed in. So I was houseless this past year here. And instead of being treated like a veteran, or being treated like a parent, or being treated like a person, I was called Child Protective Services was called on me twice. But because I'm a being of God and faith, I still have my children. I'm housed now. And we're actively cleaning the community every day. When I go and get groceries, I go to the food pantry. But I'm not going to the food pantry just to go and get and receive. We hold space. Our community is hurting. Our children are overly sexed. And in the Army, right, they say shit rolls downhill. So keep it simple, stupid. If shit rolls downhill, what y'all are doing is going to affect them. And the next people who are fearful about drones, who's getting these opportunities. This is Christmas time for a reason. And Christmas time means that people need to come together and celebrate something on unity. When I first came back to Newark in 2018, it was Harriet Tubman Park. It wasn't Harriet Tubman. It was Washington Square. I mean, so we see the change in the Martin Luther King building wasn't there. All of these buildings, these people, these places, these things are coming together. And I'm sharing with y'all today. I came here for the past year just observing, witnessing. And I'm holding faithfully, I'm holding those that are servant leaders accountable. Because if your word isn't bond, then what you got? If you don't have faith or principles to stand on what you got. And I know everyone has been gifting. It's this thing called corn magic. Corn magic is when people give you something like those guys up there, those guys up there, they came bearing gifts. They came bearing offerings. But that puts us in debt. It's a spiritual debt. And my odd desires the debt for all of the major cities that have high level of melanin content, that have high level of indigenous content, to pay the people. Asha. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Shakir McDougal. It's McDougal Depearing. Hey, Shakir McDougal. Y'all don't be asking enough questions for me. So I'm gonna give y'all some questions to ask. Ramos, I need you to ask, which AMI percentage would be most affordable for a single parent with two children who makes less than $40,000 a year? Kentana, I need you to ask if a property is rehabbed instead of rebuilt, would it be eligible for rent control? Crump, I need you to ask, can we have a list of properties that are rent controlled? And Roundtree, can you ask, when is the 2025 budget expected to be brought before the council? Silver, welcome. I need you to ask, how much has the city spent this year on lawsuits and where does the money come from? So let me run down. I think Arden Nook is doing a great thing. They got studios of 40% AMI and that means it's at $632. They got studios at 60% AMI and that's $977. A one bedroom equal to or less than 80% AMI is $1186. A two bedroom equal to or less than 80% AMI is $1595. I'm not sure about these developers coming here, but that's the standard here. That's how much we can afford here. So please make sure they understood that. A person making $20 per hour and works 40 hours a week earns $41,000 a year. So hopefully they understand them numbers because I understand it's the Metro dot dot dot, but this is where you at. This is where you at. Ramos, I read somewhere, is it true that you have an access of $300,000 in the car for your mayoral election bid? I need you to get my boy Zucru in the central ward. We need some spunking here. We need some firing here. I think that's going to do good. Can you ask the administration about the Essex Community Land Trust? Are we using funds from that? What about the Essex County ERAP assistance? I know that they say something about 120% AMI. Hopefully we're using that money. We've got two and a half left. Yeah, so 60% AMI. A family would pay no more than 30% of their income on rent. Understood? Okay, so 80% AMI is $78,500 for a family of four and affordable monthly housing cost of $19.62. Okay, those are some numbers. Now, I also did some reading about redevelopment agreements. Have they been contracted and how many developers have failed to follow through on an RDA and how many of those have asked for extensions on Tom lawns? I'm a little all over the place. I got to work tonight. You know, y'all get to go home and sleep. I'm gonna go to the hospital and make sure it's clean for our city. Make sure she won't let hope everybody having a happy holiday. grammatical errors in the paperwork means papers weren't proofread. I grew up in no public schools. First thing I was taught was check your work. smoke shops rainbows. Silva just championed a dispensary in the Eastwood. Already know they have one and I guess they need another one. How shocking. Okay. Yeah, that new pathway program doesn't lend to an attainable goal. So I understand what we're doing with that. We have to have an attainable goal. Differentiality. So council, we're going to close businesses that are currently supporting our city. That don't make sense. Let me see what else I got. Okay. How many properties has the city taken back due to developers not following through in an RDA? So on this last part, I went through the glossary in the city of Newark, and so housing costs burden and rent burden. Households that spend over 30% of their gross income on rent or on costs related to home ownership are considered cost burden. If a household pays more than 50% of its gross income on rent, it is considered extremely cost burden. Now, they also talk about utilities. So PSA and G just want a settlement right with the Newark Board of Public Utilities says something about an increase of 7% or 15 per month. New Jersey transit just went up. Gas prices are creeping up. And remember, utilities are going up. Eggs is up. Can you believe that? Eggs is up. That bacon, egg, and cheese is up. Sausage, egg, and cheese is up. The rent can't be going up. Thank you for your comments.

Next speaker. George Tillman Jr. Tillman appearing. Good evening. It's George Tillman Jr. Just quickly, because we have a lot of tax abatements on the public hearing tonight. And we've been discussing the ordinance and getting the administration into compliance with the ordinance. And I can say that through our last conversation, they're being proactive. So I can say that from our last conversation, one of the things that I was most concerned about was the immediate solution to how do we address Newark residents getting to these construction sites right now, knowing that Newark works is having issues, I'll put it to you that way, with complying to, with supplying Newark residents to these construction developments. I want to thank you, Councilwoman Roundtree, for championing this cause when I first bought it to this microphone a year and a half ago. I know how the government moves slow. I didn't expect this process to move fast. And so now that we're here a year and a half later, we've reached a point where a lot of things are happening. Councilman Gonzalez, he's not here this evening, but one of the things that he's been doing is inviting me into the tax abatement committee meetings and discussing some of these tax abatements that's coming up. And there's some very big projects. There's one project, the Fulton Street project that I sat in on last week. It's a $198 million project. I was able to sit down with the owner and the developer after we met in that tax abatement committee. One of the things that I want to say that doesn't get asked of those developers is that there's a set aside. So I was able in the meeting today to ask for a set aside for that development, which was 25%, which is $49 million that they were willing to set aside for minority contractors. So there's a lot of good things that's happening by us working to try to bring this into compliance. So I just want the people to be aware that there are some good things that's happening in a bad situation. It's very important to me that we stay engaged at this point because there has been some good discussions with the administration and I can say that they've been taking some steps to address some of the concerns. There's a lot of work to do. There's a lot of things that we can do better right now and I'm still going to continue to talk about some of the things we can do right now. Because even though we passed these tax abatements, there's almost 100 projects that you know we discussed that in the meeting. There's 50 projects that we haven't even hit the ground yet. So yeah, we're talking about trying to get Newark residents to work immediately. So when I say to kind of slow up the process, the process needs to be slowed up to the point where we have more discussions now. Knowing that the things that we discuss in those tax abatement committee meetings, they're very important because at that table is where things are negotiated, how we include it. And so those separate conversations that I've been able to have with those developers, they've been good. The problem is that we have some issues that still need to be addressed with our contractors as far as these large projects. Carrying the payroll on some of these projects has been the biggest part in the discussions that has been the barrier for getting these contractors on these construction sites. So I just want to make sure that we're not just talking about the barriers for getting these contractors on these construction sites. So I just wanted to give an update on that. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Mr. Powder. Mr. Powder appearing. Yes. Thank you, Council, for the opportunity to speak to you. Good evening. I'm here as the property owner along with my wife of 694 Clinton Avenue between South 12th and South 13th Street, which is part of the Bergen, Lyons, Clinton Special Improvement District here, unfortunately, because I haven't been able to get answers from the district individual who heads the district. Historically, we pay our property taxes and I get a bill randomly for the Special Improvement District portion. In the last four years, and even currently, my property is going to tax sale again for maybe three, $400. The reason is we never get the bill on time. And the reason we never get the bill is because budgets aren't submitted on time. They're always eight months, six months. By the time it comes to the council, I've been paying interest in before I didn't care for the first six or so years. Why bother? It's a couple of hundred dollars. But what shocked me is the bill that came in now that has me in. We started the district at $145. My Special Improvement District during that time has gone up 165%. How is that possible? 165% is the increase for the assessment. Now, this is not city money. This is business owner's money. This is my money. This is not government money or a grant. We pay an assessment to receive service. How has my service gone up 165%? I have no service. I have no email, no call, nothing. So I had a little free time last week when I came down to the tax office to pay the bill and pay my interest. And I realized that we have a Special Improvement District where between 18 to 32% of the budget pays one person's salary. Between 18 to 32%, it averages out at 22% every year. So since this district has been in existence, we're talking about, you're going to raise about $5 million. A million plus of that, it would go into one person's salary. What's going on on Bergen? What's going on on Lyons? Nothing goes on on Clinton Avenue, where my property is. I can assure you that. Because three years ago, someone stole a Hummer, drove up the block, flipped over by Ports, knocked over both columns, knocked over a streetlight. The light's still gone. I've been asking, no one's come, people come and dump in the backyard. I have to dump it. The city even finds me for it. You know, I don't want to come here and talk like this, but I've been trying to text and call an email. I get a text or email 10 minutes before a board meeting is going to happen. I don't even know who's on the board of VLC. And something has to change because that's not city money. The city gets 1% of it as an administrative fee from what you collect based on statute. The rest of it's supposed to market businesses. I went to the website today. So I went to South Ward CID.com. It went to at players in Indonesia. There's no website. When I click the link on the Facebook site, that can't be. It just can't. So all I'm asking for is we got to decide if we're going to keep the special improvement. Just because listen, I sat on boards with special districts. So I think they have a good use, but it's got to be run properly. 22% can't go to salary. In a 501C3 non-profit organization, that's supposed to be marketing businesses, advertising vacant land in the city of New York and it's Clitburg and Lafayette and Clinton Avenue. That can't be. So I'm asking the council to do a couple things. One, consider an independent audit of what's going on at VLC. Two, explain why it's gone up 165%. How? It can't be. So I'm not going to take much of your time. I know you have a lot of issues to resolve, but I'm disappointed because when it first started, I was a big supporter because I believe in special district districts and what they can provide in specialized areas for economic development. I absolutely was in support of it, but when I see what's going on, I don't see anything going on. I see nothing going on. I see things on the website. Not the website. I see things on Facebook. I see a couple pictures here and there, but when I drive Bergen, I lived on Hansberry Avenue for 20 years. So I worked, my office was in B-28 downstairs under Sharps administration. So I know the city, but something's not going on there and I think something has to take, somebody has to take a serious look at it. Thank you for

anyone that didn't get to sign up tonight because the next speaker would have been my daughter, but we home trying to get stuff out because tomorrow's that day. Don't need that pity, but I need you to understand what's going on in this city. I did all the right stuff and almost went home. I sat outside. I've been everywhere, did every motion now. They even count the weekends for those who got the seven day extensions. The courts count the weekend now. So don't have much time. I saw something on Facebook that says I'm homeless. I've done everything the right way. Still. I was told I couldn't be helped. We have some visitors today in the room and I think the speaker before me. Thank you very well said. We have some visitors today and I know they're like, Oh, what's going on here? I'm going to be polite with it, but a lot of people come here all the time and they're not getting any answers. Do you even have a quorum tonight? Cause we have some empty seats. And the reason I learned that, you know, I've been fighting my own battles, whether it's work, home, school, but I'm proudly can say I'm part of CWA 1081. Many know that president, but I was told you would never win an appeal against me. I took it all the way to DC. One person got it done. Run off election. I lost by 32 votes, but I'm doing another appeal. But at the same time, I gotta make sure it's a roof over my head. No one cares that I have a child and I don't know where I'm going to be living that tomorrow. Don't call and say I'm a call, but I want to say a couple of people did reach out. Councilwoman round tree councilman Quintana. Thank you. It's just that you guys are everywhere. You can't be everywhere. Sometimes you got to get somebody to follow up. I'll be honest. There's some people that have reached out that are trying can't name everyone. Cause you know, we only get the five minutes on South for is some love there, but everybody not in love with me, but it's okay. That judgment day, you got to bring it up to that person. Then I, I hear that there's a rent control board. Is it? I don't know. Can I get appointed? I mean, where are they? So a lot of landlords are not registered and you're not forcing these ordinances. So when they get to court, some of these judges, allegedly I want to say the right words are doing their own thing. So when you come in here, quote in law to them, they look at you like, you're not my status. I'm gonna show you, but God got me even through the midst of everything I'm going through. I'm in the courthouse still trying to help other people. People still call. We're going to help. We the eggs without pay out here, but what I need you to understand is it's 2025 coming up. You've been in office since 2022, some longer, but we just talking this last term. I want you to be honest with yourselves. Why are you here? And it's not just this level. It's many agencies like that big agency that want to snatch your kids. If you'd have gave me a letter to show, cause some of these landslides want to refuse rent and they not allowed to, but they let them. Then they want to turn around and say, Oh, she didn't pay me. And again, I apologize. The

next speaker is not here. I got to be a strong mother. I want to thank everyone that came out today. Don't need any pity, but I need you to understand I know people to talk to, and I couldn't get help. Imagine who's not getting help. We keep helping the same category, but it's a lot of us that don't fit in those category to get help. But I want to say thank you. My condolences. Mr. Crump, everyone have a great holiday and thank you for the visitors in the room today. Have a good one. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Marina Motley, not appearing. The McDonald Carter. Good evening. As I know, we say how are all the children in the city of Newark. Today, I continue to reiterate my concerns noted from some time that I see today. I continue to reiterate my concerns noted for some time that I see if engaged in by the Newark city council or demonstrations of valuing and respecting all the citizens of Newark. I'm not going to talk about that redevelopment session that took place last Monday where the language that was used about legacy people in the city of Newark was the same language people use when they were talking about chattel slaves. They called them commodities, items, and products. So I won't spend time on that right now. First, I continue to encourage the Newark city council to move on the creation, development, and implementation of checkbook Newark, particularly to demonstrate transparency regarding the city's budget allocations. Additionally, is a show of particular respect to the 23% according to the most recent census of citizens and residents of Newark carrying in the tax burden for the entire city. Second, I call for the creation as usual development and implementation of a natural and social disaster campaign to educate and prepare the citizens and residents of Newark in the events of a catastrophe. We've already had the water, we had an earthquake, and so those things should be readily on your mind. To reduce any panic and to avoid any unnecessary injuries or loss of life, but also to ensure that if anything happens, the Newark city council members will not have blood on their hands by not acting in advance. I'm sure local grassroot organizations and grassroot news media could serve to be essential in getting the word out to the public, providing information to the public about preventative measures they can take to prepare if they must await the arrival of OEM, Office of Emergency Personnel. Let me be clear. This will not intrude on the goal of the Office of Emergency Management is to assist those, their goal is to assist those affected by emergencies, but not to prevent anything in advance. The Office of Emergency Management responds to catastrophes, crisis, and calamities, disasters, or emergency afterwards. Its role is not about engaging in preventative measures to reduce the impact of potential emergencies. Note, public emergency preparedness can only enhance their effectiveness after the emergency has occurred when personnel, when its personnel is in the assist mode for the people in the city of Newark. My plea is only to ensure that the citizens and residents of the city are aware of what they should be prepared to avoid, to avoid surprise and panic. My recommendation is that the public emergency preparedness campaign address the following, making sure people know what to do with regard to food, water, know how long to store food, and what kind of containers to put the water in. What if the water is shut off? What if food stores close down? What if there's a lockdown or martial law imposed? Communications, every community should have a satellite phones in the event of electrical grid is attacked or becomes inoperable. A satellite phone will provide grid independent communication. Defense, women, children, elders, if you remember Hurricane Katrina, women had to actually trade their bodies for sex to get water for their children because there was none. And they had to do it asking people who had uniforms on for water. Medical and meds, hygiene supplies, odor enzymes to clean the body or for disposing human waste, blood and urine. Shelter, sleeping bags and blankets, liquid assets, dollars. What if the banks closed due to economic crisis similar to the Great Depression or the collapse into the, I'm sorry, the corporate adjustment, capitalist adjustment in 2008, you know, too big to fail. Books and edutainment for adolescents and children, ways to keep children occupied if there are no cell phones, computers, no television. What else are you going to use to keep them occupied? And a transportation plan. I said this before, Mormons state that to be a good Mormon, every individual family in the community should be prepared for at least a year to weather catastrophes, disasters and crisis. I only want the same for this community and for

Brown's appearing. Good evening, council. Good evening. My name is Barry Brown. I've got a three-year-old son here that I've been trying to raise by myself now. And I'm quite sure the council, the mayor and a lot of other people in the city of Newark know by now, but I've been fighting the situation, dealing with the owners and the landlords of the city of Newark. They're doing a bad job. I work for them. I got tired of working for them, doing stuff that I didn't like, so I got away from that. And right now I've got a situation that I paid my rent. For the last 10 years, I paid my rent. But when the EPP kicked in and the government paid our rent, because I walked off the job for two years, they paid my rent. The landlord said he never got the rent. He was using my name to make other budgets that he was getting paid by the state for my rent in 19 Fulton Street, where I was fighting for mold, unillegal, documentation that he showed up in court, that the city gave me documents that said that his apartment was not illegal. I took this to court. The judge told me, this don't work in this court. This court, right here, documents. His name is Judge Gardner. So I went to his chambers. I knocked on his chamber's doors with all the state receipts that I had that they paid him. My rent was overpaid. And he threw me out with a $7,000 balance. And I couldn't believe that he was saying this when I know we don't owe you no money. We didn't owe him no money. He knew it. So he had told me before we went to court, I'm going to sign you a document for $500. You don't have to pay. Your rent is going to be $500. I got the document signed, notarized, put in my file. He signed it. I signed it. The notary signed it. I ain't once paid him $500, and the state ain't once paid him $500. The state was paying him overpaid at $850. They threw me out with an apartment that wasn't illegal. And now they got somebody else in that apartment. In the same apartment that they threw me out after I had surgery, I had surgery and I had to move all my stuff out of that apartment. And I just had surgery. And me and my son, we've been battling this mold situation. Because mold, you can taste it and eat it. It's like in your mouth. So I moved to another place because I had nowhere to go. So I went to 500 Broad Street. They sent me to Stephen Crane. That's the worst place I ever lived. The compactor room garbage is this high. My son hold the door open for me. He said, Dad, look at this. And I take a picture. I sent it to a few of the councils. And I've been sick. So I go to the hospital. I got all legal documents. I go to the hospital. The doctor gives me a note. He gives my son a note. And we still there eating mold. The walls are buckling. Documents from the doctor. From the doctor. From the doctor. From me and him. I'm laid up in the hospital. Me and him. I'm not used to living their way. I like living my way. I paid to live my way. And they put me in something that I don't like living. Like that. You know, I help the people. My son, he very respectful. He hold the doors for all the old people. They love him and everything. But we not happy there. Because they got us in the studio. And I came out of one bedroom to go to a studio with him. And he don't need to be in the room with me. He need his own room. I mean, it's just terrible. You know, I fight the system as much as I can. But I can't do it by myself. God bless everyone. Have a nice day. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Opal R. Wright. That's right. I know I start to appearing. Good evening. My name is Opal R. Wright. I reside in Vanderpool Street, Newark, New Jersey. And here my concern is with the law. I cited Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to promote the financial stability of the United States in improving accountability and transparency in the financial system. To end too big to fail. To protect the American taxpayer by ending bailouts to protect consumers from abusive financial services, practices, and for other purposes. Title 11 Federal Reserve System provisions. It's financial reserve act. Amendments on emergency lending authority. And I did begin this section 1101. And I'd like to read the first clause. As soon as it's practicable after the date of enactment of the subparagraph, the board shall establish by regulation in consultation with the Secretary of Treasury the policy and procedures governing emergency lending under the paragraph. Such policies and procedures shall be designed to ensure that the emergency lending program or facility is for the purpose of providing liquidity to the financial system and not to aid a failing financial company. And that the security for emergency loans is sufficient to protect taxpayers from losses. And that any such program is terminated in a timely and orderly fashion. The policy and procedure established by the board shall require the a Federal Reserve Bank assign consistent with sound risk management practices and to ensure protection for the taxpayer. The lendable value of all collateral for a loan executed by a Federal Reserve Bank under the paragraph is determining whether the loan is secured satisfactorily for purposes of this paragraph. And the board shall establish procedures to prohibit borrowing from programs and facilities by borrowers that are insolvent. Such procedures may include a certification from the Chief Executive Officer or other authorities authorized officers of the borrower. At the time the borrower initially borrows under the program or facility with a duty by the borrower to update the certificate. And I believe it would be to take some time on 6 which is the title 6 which is improvements to regulations of bank and savings associations holding companies and depository institutions. There's just that the there is in section 608, enhancing existing restrictions on bank transactions with affiliates. So here there's just there's just the necessary presentation to your whoever when you walk into the bank on your your like a credit letter. So I would like to have that read next time. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Donna Jackson. Ms. Jackson's appearing. Good evening. Good evening. Let the games continue. If you only understood half of what Ms. Opa was talking about just half you would just be you hire her you would hire you have no clue. Silence gives consent council. I've been coming to this council meeting for the last year and a half telling you about the evictions. You got this fake phony legal office down in the basement that's supposed to be helping people in court. Not one lazy attorney that you have in that office has assisted anybody inside the court. Or we could tell you what to do. We could tell you how to smile. We could tell you to tell the judge you're going to take them to lunch but they can't solve the problem. They're not helping people file habitability complaints. They're not helping people fight back against their attorneys. You guys have done absolutely nothing to ensure that there's rental assistance money because right now there's not a dime. The water assistance low income program opened on November 1st by November 20 if they was out of money. So everybody in North that has applied is now waiting. OK. That need help. That is low income and majority seniors or elder. Nothing. You haven't sent a letter. You haven't called nobody. You state officials. I don't know what they do but they ain't doing nothing. You're not doing anything. You have any little Christmas party on Friday and in honor of the traffic officer that was killed by a drunk sergeant on our police department and you sit here and allow this man to continue to work with no recourse. At least suspend the man pending investigation. Do something. We've done nothing. Not nothing. And I know the sergeant. Don't get me wrong. But right is right. You know why our police department is the laughing stock. And thank you Fergie for leaving. Thank you. Because I fired you for the last year and a half. So glad you left. Incompetent. Didn't know what you were doing. And I want you to answer this. How many suits Fergie got pending on the city right now. Because I know he's had his hands in the cookie jar. So all I'm gonna say and I ain't said a leg of the damn thing. Sick of y'all. You're gonna let people Razz Maraca sit at that education summit and at that economic falsity of a summit. You didn't want nobody to come. That's why I was $400. And you're gonna let this man say he could charge whatever rent he want. Well he can in my town Razz. You keep cosigning and let me tell y'all something. Y'all sit there and just nothing. Nothing. If y'all fighting in the back room you better bring it out to the front so the people know y'all don't agree because we can't tell. Parking authority is the slush front. That's why y'all raised the tickets to $95. When the last time we ordered it the parking authority. When the last time they gave a financial report. When the last time they told how much money mayor Maraca and crew have withdrawn from there. And I know they're gonna get ready to come up and say that's not true. Prove it. I can prove we $700 million in debt with the local finance board. I can prove that. Just as soon as Razz gets out the way because he ain't gonna be nobody governor. Just as soon as a few more y'all move out the way. State of New Jersey gonna come in here and we're gonna be under financial monitoring. And Joe D is gonna step in. Not that he's doing nothing good up at the county because the sheriff officers don't have a contract. The people that work in the youth house no contract. Prosecutors office no contract. Nine years. He's just as bad as y'all. Because you give these employees nothing. Zero zero zero. You expect the police officer to keep working with a zero increase zero increase one percent two percent. You wouldn't do it. And you didn't do it. You didn't do it. Razz didn't do it. He did a 32 percent increase and retro packed back to 2014. We allowed it. We allowed it. These fires are out of control. He just had an elder burned from his knees down on North Forth Street. I hear the same fire official the idiot from the boat was the idiot on Seymour Avenue where Chief Bradley got hurt. What are we doing here? What are we gonna do about the water pressure? I want a two drink minimum at your little Christmas soiree down at Symphony Hall. And I want the police department to do the same because you can sit there and act like we weren't at the Christmas party for the FOP drinking. Everybody has already told the story and we are very hurt in this community because we lost our officer and we're gonna act like we didn't. We ran the man over. Get some pull your girl drawers up and do an investigation. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Wendy Shelton. Ms. Shelton is appearing. My husband is Dr. William Shelton. He founded Fairmont Health Services, an adult homeless facility serving Newark's residents without addresses for 30 years. In 2019 my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer and in 22 he was hospitalized for over three months with sepsis and had six operations. I stepped away from my career and began the role of caregiving but also without any experience started running a homeless shelter. I was taken back at the state of Fairmont. The staff was wanting, there was no structure and the condition of the building left much to be desired. My husband 14 years older than me and sadly it's clear that due to his age and illnesses he wasn't staying on top of things as he should. Since I put everything I could into helping Fairmont to become a model shelter. With my new staff and the help of my director Ms. Smith we've developed a program that's had considerable success. We provide what all shelters should, a safe, clean, comfortable environment. We keep a well-stocked food pantry. Our staff helps clients obtain vital ID documents, government assistance with programs like SNAP and free cell phones. Our employment navigator works closely with clients creating resumes, finding jobs and completing applications. And once clients is employed our caseworkers provide ongoing support with money management. We continually search to find affordable housing for them and we all know there's such a lack of. We have multiple immigrant seniors. It's extremely difficult to access government assistance because of their status. Our oldest is 89 from the Ukraine. We were endlessly trying to find solutions. We are a low barrier shelter. We have placed into housing some very difficult clients that other shelters have given up on. Our case managers are passionate about making a difference and they help clients who struggle with addictions and mental health to navigate care services they need. Last year we transitioned 26 clients into housing. The city of Newark no longer pays for them to be sheltered. I am asking the city of Newark to be more on top of what's happening to the individuals they place. To support shelters especially with the more difficult cases. The state stepped it up. I'm sure you're familiar with Ms. Blue who had a high standard as she should. And in spring of 23 she closed the shelter. On inspecting Fairmont and after her inspection she emailed commending us on a job well done. I do have to say that the city of Newark came up with funds to help us at that point. When I came to Fairmont the monitor from the office of homeless services was outstanding. She came to our shelter weekly. She knew each client and spoke with them. Sadly she resigned in December of 22. Her replacement came to Fairmont perhaps three times. Since his departure we've had two visits from the office of homeless services. In two years we've had five visits. Doesn't the city want to know what they're paying for? Shelters need to do more than put a roof over clients heads. These are people's lives they're not just numbers. We need to address the issue of delayed payments from the office of homeless services. These reoccurring delays often reaching five to six months has pushed us to the brink of collapse. What usually happens is we get a payment or two and then we're left facing the same situation of non-payment for months. In September a client caused a flood damaging three bathrooms and in October our accounts were so depleted we were forced to use the insurance funds to cover payroll and operating expenses. In December we could no longer sustain operations because six months of payments were outstanding. We had no other option but to let go of staff and discharge clients by the 13th. Imagine the weight of that how incredibly upsetting after how far we had come. It wasn't until word got out that we were shutting down we received payment to avoid closure. There are still outstanding payments. We've been operating under extensions from a 2018 contract. In 2020 and again September 23 shelters were asked to submit RFPs to OSH. Both went unanswered until recently. We happily heard that Fairman is in the running but we have yet to see the contract. Thank you for your comments. I'm sorry your time

is up. Next speaker. Keisha Smith. Ms. Smith I do not see not appearing. Jay Coulter. Mr. Coulter is appearing. Thank you. Good evening Mr. President and council members. Good evening. And to the 350,000 honorable residents of the city of Newark as I did yesterday in customary fashion I would do the same today and surrender 10 seconds of my time to pass councilman council president Nodric Crump will surrender 10 seconds at this time. All right Mr. President and municipal council, mayor, administration, and honorable residents. First I'd like to first and foremost step outside of this political realm and introduce you to Che. I like to give highlights and I like to give shout outs. So we appreciate the men and women who serve this city of Newark and its various departments. All of you men and women who help the city of Newark to function the best that they can be whether perfect or indifferent. We'd like to give a couple of special shout outs to director Wooten on her new administrative role. Oh no not director Wooten. We want to shout out director Wooten for responding to the south ward fire on Seymour Avenue. We want to shout out Miss Sharonda Morris on her new leadership role in law enforcement and we want to shout out two other distinguished ladies deputy mayor Kishiuri and director Winfield who works with the violence prevention. So each time I come up here I will be highlighting Norcers. It will be a new tradition that I'm putting on my shoulders to highlight people who I genuinely think try to make this city good irregardless of our imperfections. Labor 2025 we were supposed to have 5,000 jobs new jobs by 2025. Booker and Barack are both committed to it. We want to get some analysis on it in 2025. Labor board of education in the New Jersey business and industry association is supposed to be working on a comprehensive 21st century vocational program. No more plans no more strategic plans no more coming after activists or concerned citizens who are here to amend the record and amend your concentration to go back on the residence. The emergency management systems where are we as a city? Drones in the air Joe Biden is asleep. Y'all and the rest of the Democrats in New Jersey have destroyed our economy. Are the city workers ever going to get full state benefits? That should be something across the board measured at 100 days of being in the system. We need to scale our city up to being a city that folks who are working for our city can obtain benefits and eventually retire off. Norc's first resident first agenda must launch in 2025 on January 20th because we are switching presidents and the residents must take the power back from the government. The UMDMJ agreement Mr. President we're asking you and the education committee with the help of Anibal Ramos to to implore not only university hospital but our office of education to expand a magnet school curriculum from university hospital to one of our profile magnet schools. Norc housing authority are directly complicit and conspiratorial in driving nor into more of a homeless city. They have undermined it not only the residents the administration and some of the work that director O'Lario has done. We have several units Mr. President and I spoke informally yesterday but I'm speaking formally today. We have several housing authority units in the central ward that need to come back on board and be a part of the numerator of the fraction of their units. We're 30,000 behind 2025 is days away and we are not going to surrender our power. When we look at the safety of our senior buildings and we look at the nature of the proliferation of cannabis licenses we're wondering if you all are using prudence or if you're falling asleep at the switch. We can't make it up. I see two past presidents one sitting president and one past president of the school board in this current meeting. One allowed the housing authority to manipulate the school board and sell schools. The other person that calls themselves a president in this current forum has spent three times the amount. The average going rate for school is 30 million. We're paying 150 million. Mr. President we got to wake up. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Miriam Bay. Miss Bay is appearing. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Miriam Bay and I am an investor in Newark. I live in Newark. I work in Newark and the reason why I continue to come here is because the brothers and sisters that I work with are living in these shelters that are not doing the type of jobs that they should be doing for them. And let me just say this because I made a mistake last time. I'm not going to put all the shelters in the same category okay because there are some good shelters that are doing their work. But however my concern is if we're paying these these shelters money why aren't they being monitored? Why don't why aren't they providing different programs to prevent them from being homeless? Many of them have mental health issues caused by some of the staff members you know. And the other thing is that my concern is as you know I work primarily with brothers and sisters who have been incarcerated and they're staying in these shelters. But the thing that's happening in these shelters, some of the shelters again, is that if these brothers and I refer to I call everybody brothers and sisters okay. If they complain about the condition they're forced to either get put out, that's right, forced to get put out or go back to prison. I received a letter from one of my clients who went back to prison recently because of an issue at a shelter. And I'm waiting for him to come home so he can tell me exactly what happened because he wrote a letter to me at at the job. So we need to start being more how would I say involved with these shelters particularly if we have senior citizens and thank you Councilman Rowntree because last week I reported an issue with a senior citizens home. They got the heat back on thank you very much. But we have to prevent brothers and sisters from being homeless because it could be our family members, it could be us. You know I'm concerned about us paying these people and not holding them accountable for what they're doing. I would not be coming here if the clients were not telling me what's going on. We just had an incident at Hotel Riviera where they were told that they were going to be put out about December the 30th but now I was informed that that's not going to happen that there is going to be some transitioning going on and hopefully they'll be able to get some housing. The other place is Urban Renewal and I know that we're funding them. You need to look into this place because Urban Renewal is one of the places that told some of these brothers there that when they complained about the conditions they called their parole officer. Okay and the other one is 224 and I was told that Councilman Rowntree you had something to do with helping the residents over at 224. Thank you for that and again let's become more proactive about giving our money away because I call these some of these shelters slumlords. Okay by the way that they're treating our residents okay so having said all of that I just wanted to make sure that you in the new year coming up that we start treating these brothers and sisters that are inside these shelters much better and having people who are qualified let's stop putting people that are not that they're not qualified in these shelters you know because we put our friends in there and they're not qualified okay so yeah we yeah we have to stop that we got to stop that because you're you're working with people that have some serious issues and they need to have qualified counselors qualified counselors not someone who just came off the street because they are friends of somebody but qualify qualify counselors okay so having said that I hope everyone have a happy new year a prosperous new year and a healthy new

year thank you very much. Thank you for your comments. Next speaker. Robert Lyon. Robert Lyon I think he's coming is that Mr. Lyon? Yeah appearing. Hi I'm Robert Lyon. Thank yous for having me and thank yous. Yeah could you turn can you pull the mic up a little bit Mr. Lyon? Thank you. Sorry I'm going to sound a little funny today because I started with a cold so forgive me if I don't sound quite right I can't understand me but I'm all stuffed up. I would first like to thank yous all for listening to my petition and accepting it and giving us more time for the shelter thing that I hope you all remember I had passed it out and I'm thankful for the fact that you passed it along to have it resolved and we've been granted more time however that's just a little bit more time we're still with no answers that's what we're going to do beforehand I came here with a speech and everything and I have troubles with that I'd rather speak from my heart you've probably heard a lot of speeches in the past about homelessness and I don't want to be one of them it's simple we're not asking for money we're not asking for anything other than what are we going to do can we have a simple dignity given to us instead of being placed down onto the street we went to a shelter for a reason we were to get help the help is falling short excuses given and we're not still sure why in the world they were exiting the whole building all the residents so I'm not here to finger point blame what I want and the rest of us do want is help simple help instead of being tossed out on a specific day sit down with us figure it out have somebody there that's supposed to be doing that already it's not doing that we're told to go to these other shelters here's a list but you have to go with a referral how is that being paid for they don't accept it or this or that rule so we got a lot of troubles over 300 beds was suddenly closed up for re-renovation and they had a huge trouble finding placements for those who were there as we were told horrible news of being put out you're exiting date as they put it we're all left baffled and saddened some people are there for specific reasons whether it was mental drugs or just simply they had bad luck we're not being given any tools any help in that we're told here go here go there but those people that we go to like I was told to go back to 110 they don't know what to tell us they don't have any beds so what are you doing telling me come back later on maybe you might have a bet then but they doubt it so we got a problem is it resolved to just immediately throw us out especially during a cold season it's holidays here no less isn't our humanity worth looking at your actions speak volumes to simply blow it off it's just inhuman we're not trying to be bad people we have people that were in there who had drug problems or alcohol problems they were getting help they were doing better and after the letter they slumped retreated back to drinking drugging as they feel like they're forgotten loss helpless it's rather sad to look over at a man who is this fully grown older man looking at me and thanking me with tears in his eyes that I bought more time I really do sympathize with them because I was in the same position I live at that same shelter and I really had my anxieties running amok I did everything that they said to do with nothing on the other side of that coin

thank you for your comments next speaker will near a elbow money appearing doing good uh it's my money can you pull the microphone down thank you how did you listen you know what mr money I'm trying to be helpful do you know what I'm trying to be helpful I want you to be nothing you know what just go on speak please thank you so good riddance good good riddance corrupt cult that's running our government that's what you are your leadership is an absolute void you have done nothing but made my life and the citizens of this city miserable failed leadership no other way to describe you now if you want to do something fix new because like trump said all y'all done was run dog into the ground and I could give a two snaps up for him for that one to the people of noah god will not change the conditions of a people until we change what conditions for ourselves some will say that god saves us but we must take action to improve our own situation I just want to plead to baraka stop speaking and forked tongue this would you please you make my stomach cringe norcas I want to say to you don't watch what he say watch what he do because he because he is the biggest gentrifier political con man and one of the worst administrations in the history of nor senator crook a booker on steroids no other way to describe gatekeepers are the ones who are fueling newark's housing jobs homeless eviction and poverty crisis to help displace lifelong norcas of this city keep on voting for them these failed pala traders because that's exactly what you are pala traders no other way to describe you they don't care about us all they care about is getting rich while in political office stealing our public dollars living in lavish homes mansions driving luxury cars while we are living in poverty no other way to describe what you're doing here the higher north 2020 plan came into existence 2017 all these people ryan hager with new jersey institute njit all these people came to the table talking about what they was going to do nothing but an absolute scam housing plan a one dollar homes a scam new of last service line replacement a scam and corruption no other way to describe what is going on here political scams government fraud wasteful spending and corruption no other way to describe what is going on there what's your lion lawyer over there standing looking at what you gonna think of something come behind norcas i'm gonna continue to tell you don't let them fool you you know what bob molly said right homeless is on the rise you hear them right with a man that just came up newark remains the highest in the state of new jersey and the highest in the county of essence and like i said yesterday over a billion dollars was allocated to address new occultist prices and out of the crisis and all we've seen was wasteful spending and mismanagement but i'm gonna tell you as soon as the republicans take office as soon as they take over government i'm requesting that they do a forensic audit on our budget from every department in the city the home funds the housing dollars the new tax abatement program and the low income tax credits it was trump the republicans that they're trying to get out there bond them that's sent in 100 million dollars to repair our service lines it was trump the republican who sent in 500 million dollars of covert money it was trump hard regional director lind patten who came in here with help renovate the garden spires thank you for your comment don't let them fool y'all call on trump salters salters appearing deborah salters city of newark you know i'm gonna start here first of all there is no excuse for y'all to make us wait for a meeting it's on the calendar we all had to get here in the rain just like you did be on time you get paid for this just like when you come we come here and you go into executive session for an hour get here earlier if you need to do executive session start an hour earlier if it's going to be two hours earlier start two hours earlier you get paid to be here we do not we have lives we have jobs we have children all of these things so please respect our time because you clearly do not you do the same thing with the tax abatement meeting everybody comes oh can you go out after you made us wait a whole hour what is wrong with you people can we get some respect because clearly you think you are the only ones in existence you show it by your actions with our time with our dollars this homeless situation i am sitting here burning up about nadir brown who has come here for over a year two years come here and told you all and then we used to have lamanica magyar said you don't have to come down here there are agencies to do this the agencies don't work and then the ones who are in the position get an attitude well i'm on lunch excuse me ma'am i need somewhere to live why do you see me i have my i don't have my heels on yet wait what who are you talking to you put the wrong people in the wrong places because they friends or somebody or they owe them because they took care of you and like now we got people in positions one of these jokers y'all done had in every position in the city a director here a chief over here why qualified to do what what it makes no sense and then the ones of us who are able to get the job done you don't want us you hate us because we tell you the truth that brother that got up here and said everything we've been telling y'all for years but again we were hated and called the haters and provocateurs but we are the people who are living this you've got the gums envy by gums right you always talk about the ami and this ami that alison is using she does not have to use it our rubric 30 percent or below is low to moderate income the project on orange street that was originally put out would have given us 70 percent low to moderate income and she stands up here and tells us we're going to get a mural and in a garden until we get on her and she comes back with other stuff and you all said no then you came back and changed your vote because you were told to she lied and said there's no community it was two people in the meeting and then right down the street 500 feet away you've got apartment buildings complexes everybody it is clear that you all are not here for us and and so let me go back to you told me uh mr crump to go back to the videotape so we did when that last mayhem happened here and the people that that spoke well of you you all let them keep talking and berating the people in their seats you didn't tell that one woman you didn't call her name until she had berated munirah to the point where it was almost back and forth and she's the only person's name you call the brother over here that was carrying on and you said he apologized to you at the end you know why he apologized to you because he came to me and we had a 30-minute conversation downstairs and he understood what was going on i told him you can represent these people you can champion the mayor because he did something nice for you but everybody doesn't get that love the ones of us who have been out here on these streets for years when the money came in you didn't even look in our direction you don't want to work with us because we're about the people but then you take that handful of folk and say well at least i see look i gave you this so of course they're going to champion you but the ones of us who have been here working in these streets the brother came here about the 440 project that's on this agenda for the tax abatement by the show of hands how many of you went and investigated that situation and then i came yesterday who went and investigated that situation nine and you're going to say yes to this tax abatement they're not paying our workers our strong black men who are working they're not paying them their overtime and firing them because they speak up about it and not one of you went and investigated and this is the problem you don't fight for us you fight for the developers like allison said it's not for

about it so thank you thank you for your comments next speaker douglas freeman mr freeman is appearing uh good evening marquis spoke on that particular issue um one i just want to thank um quintana um pat for looking out for the seniors in weekway park you know they sometimes they forgot you know so this wants you the cynic um thanks for that but most of you know i come from a technology background so i'm still wondering what's going on with nork fiber now i look at the tax abatements so i'm trying to figure out now and i need some answers on this so is nork fiber in any of these buildings that's getting tax abatements because the reason why i'm asking that because we're missing the opportunity for jobs in our city nork fiber actually supposed to be a municipal owned fiber optic system that is not you're back burning off of horizon you're back burning off of the optimums and all of these other companies nork is one of the biggest hubs with fiber optics bamburgers is nothing but a hub with servers all inside of it where we at to this day right moving forward with the renaissance city of technology our children are going back and forth over charter school versus public school which that's just a bunch of nonsense now because you're not teaching them coding you're not teaching them robotics not teaching them how to compete in this world you got everybody thinking that the drones is government and military when it's a delivery service and you're actually doing the geogrid right now to figure out how these these things is going to come right so south jersey it has always been a point that where we always started in utilities so when you go back to 2000 in an agreement with vice president gore and clinton and you know internet was supposed to be free so why are we paying for it now where is the kiosk that's supposed to be on all the blocks we place in the telephone booths so when we ask why these people are not informed they're buying hot dogs and hamburgers off of a scooter when the rest of the country and tennessee are being delivered by drones we're behind so i'm asking for a committee for the utilities and that's another piece of the wires that's hanging we worked with the council officer patrick in the county sheriff and mary what's his name jones because mary jones yeah so we're getting lights fixed by psng but they were supposed to be leds so where's all of this stuff going and why are you allowing the the horizons the other companies psngs and all these companies dictate what's going on in newark when we got our own fiber optics the building is set board the internet's been down for two months i wired up the building with fiber optics why is it down why was the security cameras in set board and down for two months that's not the reason why it's not we're behind we're way behind in this city with the technology is what i'm speaking about because these are the jobs that the children are going to need and they need to start learning more about coding they need to start learning more about technology and it's not girls can code only that's another thing why is that gender-based so you're gonna leave the young man behind i have i want i want a committee before this board so through your office chair i'm asking for a community-based community a committee that's led by the community on the on the average uh we can have a seri type piece it's gonna be average but at the end of the day we want to make sure that these wires are taken care of them old wires come down all the fiber optics is done and we want to make sure now that our children in north public schools which has over a billion dollar budget is starting to teach technology because our iep child actually is better than coded than a regular child that walks every day so we want to make sure iep children are doing coding too thank you for your comments next speaker nisandra cassandra doc condolences to you larry of course thank you and as nadira said we have guests in the house tonight so i want to guess when they go back home i want to make sure if they sit with other people from this city and they say oh those people are out of control you can say well not when i was there so tonight we will be on like the speakers before me professional intelligent and we gave you a layout of what's going on in this city so that when you see commercials with a certain person person mayor rash jay baraka saying he's running for governor you will know to talk with your other friends and tell them why he should not mickey shirle cinterelli you know your last name ends with i you are ae i o u which means you may be connected to allegedly mafiosus so you're not scared to come here nor get here get here uh i don't think clark is here tonight clark is the young lady that spoke uh last council meeting and she's a part of new directions and she's talked about examples maybe girl i'm very proud of you and your two master's degrees but don't ever look at me as an example in this capacity as an advocate may be inspired by some of the things i do but never take me as an example maybe tonight you can maybe if you see it tonight you can say yeah she's an example of what i like to do and i'm gonna tell you why at the next council meeting i'll be myself but let me just let you guys listen to this oh wait for the rash baraka when brass baraka when brass baraka was on a panel discussion i wish i could you know sometime i can't i'm not tech savvy but he talked about transportation being a state problem rash baraka i gotta keep saying his name because i'm not used to saying it i'm used to saying another name but not tonight because we have guests in the house i don't know but poverty does i don't know but poverty does mr baraka oh i forgot we have guests in the house mr baraka you're absolutely right poverty does exist and you had a few people come up here tonight that talked about poverty and guess what where do they live in norc who's in control of north you are sir transportation problem is a state problem really really so you're saying as a municipality as a city leader your concern is not transportation your concern is not infrastructure you're saying that these things are state problem really well what do you mean you so you're saying when the state send the money in here for you to address these things i forgot we have guests in the house calm down cassandra calm down we have guests in the house so perhaps i hope i have a little time so i could tell you when we're talking about transportation we talk about infrastructure when we talk we're talking about water you are always talking about you addressing the water situation when it's a state problem how how is all these things you listed is a state problem how's it not trickled down to be a city problem housing a city problem and you know what i'll leave you know why the housing authority is not focused on housing anymore that's why they created the redevelopment authority that mr baraka when he came in to be a council person wanted to get rid of but when he saw that he could do the things the corrupt things that he could do through that redevelopment authority because that's how the housing authority could do other things other than housing then he didn't want to get rid of it see that's why we're gonna always talk about razz j baraka and why he should not go no further than here because i better look back and see he wasn't even a good south port councilman pathetic thank you oh i forgot we have guests in the house thank you for your comments have a good night council president council members that concludes the hearing of citizens thank you any comments questions for miss doc miss doc police thank you uh anything from the council anything from the administration at this point let's have some order please good evening council president council members eric pennington business administrator i had a couple of comments one there seemed to be a theme that was running through some of the comments of the speakers that warrants a response with respect to the homeless shelters and the homelessness and first of all i'll say there's a complex issue and mayor baraka mayor razz j baraka has taken that head on to make sure that we have a comprehensive plan to address homelessness in the city and it is a state problem in many many respects one of the issues is that people come from out of nork to utilize the services we have here in the city of nork because of the things that we do need to have wraparound services to help folks and we don't turn people away simply because they're from another location if during a triage process we make a determination that there's a location that they can go and with the help of the county as councilman ramos knows we try to get them to the municipality that should be serving them where there's a different county or it's whether whether it's a different city but we have had a precipitous increase in the number of people who populate our shelters over the last several years particularly since covid largely because of the services that we provide and we have to do a i don't say a better job but we have to make sure that we assess whether or not the people we service really should get the resources from the city of nork but that is one of the elements that dictates that it is a state-wide problem homelessness is not just in nork although nork is the largest city in the state it's also the the city that is most populated with homeless residents in the county so we have to we need help from the county and we need help from the state which makes it a statewide problem we have recognized that although we do really good outreach work and provide wraparound services that there are things that we do there was a speaker that said that they have sheltering and they haven't been paid in a while we recognize that that has been a problem and we are addressing it we are shuffling the administrative leadership and homeless services to make sure that those types of issues do not continue it's not fair that people provide services for city residents and even for people who come from and the city is responsible to pay for them and it'll get paid so we're working on that now and there my understanding is that there's an rfq out at the moment that should address those providers in the next year in 2025 so and that should no longer happen but part of the complexity it was raised briefly is that many of our residents without addresses have either an alcohol problem or a drug problem or some some mental problem that we have to address and it takes a concerted effort to do so so we are working our office of homeless services is working with the department of health and community wellness to address those issues and we recognize them mayor baraka has directed that we look at making sure that we have people in place to to address those concerns so we're not taking it lightly but we do recognize that there are things that we need to do to get that done and and we will work on that that was really the main issue that was raised and i think needed a response i think one speaker talked about making sure that we utilize our fiber we agree with that as well the vast majority of city buildings and all the recreation centers that we have do have city fiber he raised an issue that warrants further consideration and that is when we enter into a tax abatement whether or not we require those developers to utilize something that we can do with respect to the finally there was a discussion about the mayor identifying statewide issues as transportation issues housing and laid in the water as statewide issues and it was scoffed at for some reason which i don't understand and it just may well be that we haven't done a good enough job in making people aware that housing there's a shortage of housing throughout the state the city of newark we have about 16 000 problem about 16 000 shortage of affordable houses in in the city of newark well there are 100 000 in the state and where the more housing that is built affordable housing in the city of north particularly if federal or state dollars are used we have to allow people from outside the city to apply for that housing and they do and so clearly we need to have more housing throughout the state nor under the leadership of mayor barack is tackling that issue and we encourage state leaders and county leaders to do the same thing elsewhere with respect to lead line replacement under the leadership of mayor barack we replaced 23 000 lead service lines in the city of north there are tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of lead service lines throughout the state that need to be replaced as well and around the country there are millions so it's a multi-billion dollar problem that we have been able to address and effectively eliminate here in the city of newark but we are concerned about residents everywhere throughout the state lead is one of the elements that get into your if it gets into your system it affects your ability for your blood to do that for your brain rather to develop at an appropriate rate and that is a concern that mayor brocker has addressed not only in the city of newark but for everywhere so that's why it is a statewide problem and we are hopeful that the state addresses it i don't know and and i would say that finally there was an issue that was raised as to whether or not transportation is not a statewide issue it again it eludes me as to how that is just the city issue it is not there is a need for transportation bus better bus routes more access to trains throughout the state of new jersey and we are hopeful that whoever is in in leadership in the government will make sure that our residents in the city of newark have access to the rest of the state through public transportation which clearly makes it a statewide issue and our mayor is interested in ensuring that that statewide issue is addressed i'm told that i'm monopolizing the mic and that some other administrative people people in the administration have a couple of things to say and if the council president will allow it then they will speak briefly that's a lot thank you come on let's have some order and thank you thank you council president and council members karen gaylord executive director for the newark workforce development board i want to thank um mr freeman i think it was who talked about the importance of bringing young people into tech and i want to say i think the city is doing a good job not great yet in leading the state uh in trying to develop opportunities for young people to learn technology and to move towards careers in technology in particular to date over the last few years we have trained almost 200 young people in our city newarkers to code in virtual reality and to create gaming systems to date we have just graduated 10 individuals the first of i hope many cohorts to pilot drones drones aren't something we should be fearing and we especially won't have to fear them if we train people to master them and we train them faster than everybody else does people will be coming to us to in newark to find people who have mastered those technologies and who can use them for the public good we have to date trained people in fiber optics in particular this year alone we've trained fiber optic installers entry-level positions in fiber we used newark residents small businesses subcontractors who grew up in this city and have created small fiber optic companies to do that training and we have provided on-the-job training funds so that those people who are trained in fiber and in drones can get a start in exposing employers locally to those technologies so that they can begin to embrace them we have in the last year trained a cohort or two of people who know how to take older technology technology that was abandoned and refurbish it and give it new life so that we can rescue technology from landfills and improve our environment i want to invite mr freeman and anybody else who's interested to join the newark workforce development board's task force on technology it's existed for two and a half years and i think all the things i've just listed explain why we are actually having success in newark and the last thing is technology high school this week introduced to several of their students one or two classes of them through the workforce development board skill up newark comtia training specific training that mr freeman talked about free of charge to any resident of newark through skill up newark they can get that technology training and we have delivered it to technology high school so that their kids can compete in national competitions thank you thank you miss gator while miss wingfield is coming up let me just say to particularly to miss uh mcdonald mcdonald carter we are inviting office of emergency management to our next special conference we'll let you know about that come on up council