The Jersey City Council passed an ordinance ending rights turns on red lights in the Heights with great support after introducing a revised e-bike delivery ordinance at last night’s meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
The activist group JC Heights Parents led a protest outside City Hall in favor of the ordinance prior to the start of the meeting.
Chelsea Plesnitzer, of JC Heights Parents, said 1,400-plus residents signed their petition in favor of the ordinance.
“This is a public health crisis … This is a public health hazard,” Plesnitzer declared, noting between last December and January, there were four hit-and-runs.
“I encourage you to implement the same in all Jersey City wards. It’s just a drop in the bucket. Red lights are broken with alarming frequency. Stop and no turn on red signs are treated as a suggestion,” Mandy Spangler, also of JC Heights Parents, argued.
She also expressed that the implementation of the Vision Zero plan to increase pedestrian safety was moving too slowly.
Riverview Neighborhood Association [RNA] President Moriah Kinberg said they were supportive of the ordinance and wanted it adopted citywide, along with more traffic lights, stop signs, slower speed zones, and enforcement.
“My husband Pat was hit by a car. It was a beautiful and sunny day. The roads were clear. My husband is mostly okay. Our family experienced a trauma that day. Make our community safer. I would love to see it expanded throughout the city,” stated Krystle Pickens.
Additionally, Alexa Weibel asserted that Jersey City streets are more dangerous than Brooklyn for traffic.
“I feel like I need to wave and make eye contact. I’ve seen so many drivers drive recklessly. We shouldn’t live with fear in these streets,” she recalled.
Dr. Jennifer Marin said she was hit by a car at 6th Street and Marin Boulevard.
“This is not enough. It’s going to take a lot more,” she argued to applause.
Bike JC Vice President Tony Borelli said they supported the ordinance and the suggestions for more efforts to address it, while Brian Su said his son was hit by a car at Grove and Grand Streets and is recovering after needing a cast on his leg.
“This is a great first step. It’s just not enough to address the driving behavior in the city. “Things are getting worse. We had four deaths and many injuries caused by cars last year,” Safe Streets JC President Talya Schwartz said.
“The vast majority of us are walking the streets, and we are being terrorized by dangerous drivers … Calls for moving violations have gone unanswered from the police, saying they don’t have the manpower.”
Schwartz also noted they made progress on the West Side and Duncan Avenues.
“We need to go much further. This only begins to chip away at the problem. We need accelerated safe street improvements,” Jimmy Lee, of Safe Streets JC, added.
He also called for more traffic enforcement and pairing police with crossing guards to increase respect for them.
“We have over a million cars come on a regular basis,” Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey noted and therefore they’re working on making many streets in her ward safer.
“I agree with everyone who spoke. We don’t have motorcycle cops. We don’t have any walking cops. Now you see a radio car and they don’t do nothing because they’re told not to,” Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano declared.
“This was something that was in the works and being discussed. We do need to see this citywide. People’s lives are at risk,” Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh said, thanking his constituents for their advocacy.
He explained that when he was 5 or 6 year old he was hit by a car with his dad on Congress Street and Central Avenue, leading to a confrontation between his father and the driver.
Saleh said he also wanted to lower the speed limit to 15 miles an hour near school zones to address traffic safety.
“We need better mass transit. We need a bus lane or mass transit on [John F.] Kennedy Boulevard. The less cars, the safer it is for everybody,” he said.
“I think crossing guards should have body cameras and they should be able to write tickets remotely. This is just the beginning of the beginning.”
Ward E Councilman James Solomon said he has been working on the issue diligently as well, indicating he would support the measure, with Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore indicating he would support it as well.
“I proudly vote aye. Going throughout the city is going to take some work. This does need to happen in more neighborhoods. I look forward to continuing to work with those groups and the great departments …. to make sure our streets are safe, ” Councilwoman-at-Large Amy DeGise declared.
“We hear you, 100 percent. We don’t have a large [police] traffic division. Make sure you send emails to the director of the police department. We will do it on our part,” added Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera said.
Council President Joyce Watterman said the Department of Infrastructure, led by Barkha Patel, has made significant progress on traffic safety since its creation.
She noted she and her son were hit by a car when he was three years old and the incident ended up being fatal for him.
“I’m fighting for it all the time. It is an enforcement issue. We’ve been trying to get a traffic division, um ever since about four years ago,” Watterman added.
The Jersey City Council passed the ordinance unanimously (9-0) to applause.
Additionally, Acting Corporation Counsel Brittany Murray gave an update on the Portside Towers rent control issue.
She said their lawyer needed to submit documents that they received in February. They also received 40,000 pages of documents from the landlord, Equity Residential.
Ultimately, the city will have to calculate the rent control rates for 537 units.
“The BA [Business Administrator John Metro], to his credit, has devoted additional personnel to this,” Murray said.
She added they Equity could face fines if the city discovers any sort of irregularities, noting that there are still two pending lawsuits in the matter.
“From a council perspective, we really need to prioritize that,” interjected Solomon
“We have allocated four additional members from our audit team,” Metro replied.
He explained they’re working on figuring on how long it would take to complete.
“At what point does it [rent] freeze?” Gilmore asked.
“That would be something we would have to discuss offline,” Murray replied.
Additionally, a new amended food e-bike delivery app ordinance was added as a late item to the agenda as a first reading ordinance due to substantial changes made, which was discussed as a possibility during caucus.
The new ordinance was approved unanimously (9-0), with the old one up for second reading intentionally defeated unanimously (9-0).
Let’s talk about the bikes and mopeds who keep going at red lights as well drivers are always a target everyone has to follow rules cars…bikes…people…it’s always the cars fault
Their stories are about cars hitting, hurting and killing people. Not bikes.
BFD. lt will never be enforced. Feel good law that won’t accomplish anything but let the council pat each other on the back for their good work. I think we still have those boom box signs up in some neighborhoods.