In a letter to the editor, Jersey City Councilman-at-Large Danny Rivera says that Public Safety Director James Shea is responsible for the city’s recent fire safety issues.
Dear Editor,
I’m relieved to see the proposed relocation of the firehouse to Communipaw Avenue in Ward A—it’s a critical step toward improving fire safety for our residents. However, I must express my frustration with how this issue has been handled up until now.
For months, I have requested meetings to address fire safety concerns, but those requests were ignored. Why did we have to wait for another fire to escalate to a second alarm before finally taking action?
The damage caused could have been significantly lessened if temporary solutions or permanent fixes had been implemented sooner. This delay is unacceptable and demonstrates a troubling lack of urgency.
Director James Shea bears responsibility here. His failure to engage with the City Council and prioritize these discussions left critical issues unresolved, putting our residents and their property at risk.
When we as Council members reach out to address safety concerns, it is not optional for department directors to respond—it is their duty. By disregarding these requests, the Director has not only failed the Council but also the residents we are sworn to represent.
This situation also underscores a broader issue: the administration must ensure that all department directors understand they are accountable to the residents of Jersey City.
As elected officials, it is our sworn responsibility to seek answers and demand action when our constituents’ safety is at stake. The continued lack of communication and inaction shows a level of disregard for this process that is simply unacceptable.
Moving forward, the Council will demand answers from Director Shea and ensure accountability for the delays and missteps that have occurred.
We will also push the administration to take proactive steps to ensure that this kind of negligence does not happen again.
Our residents deserve transparency, urgency, and a city government that prioritizes their safety above all else.
Danny Rivera
Jersey City Councilman-at-Large
Lol Danny has had tons of friends and relatives hired and fired from the City and MUA.
Let’s also thank him for the Parks director he single handedly had a role in hiring.
Our parks have never been cleaner!
Yeah, we trust you lol.
Does Shea even show up for work? Serious question. Hundreds of basements and attics crammed with poor people, mostly illegal aliens, who are easy to abuse. Why should a single HC firefighter die, while Shea plays dummy?
No actually Councilman Rivera, as per the letter I wrote city council – the responsibility primarily lies with you, city council, mayor fulop, and jake hudnut.
The lack of fire code enforcement is 100% jake hudnut ticket fixing 26 million dollars of fire code and bldg code summons at municipal court which has gone on more than 5 years. When the landlord does not have to pay the fine, they do not make the repair and a fire code violation festers to the point of fire.
City council and the mayor have budgetary oversight so how do you and the auditors not notice that blatant missing 26 million dollars, especially since I have been loudly at every city housing office and city hall and the courts for the past 10 months?
How is it now January 2025 and City council made no effort to recover the money, to clean up the summons, to fire and indict jake hudnut karen desoto and ramy eid?
What are you blaming James Shea for Mayor Fulop and Jake Hudnut’s ticket fixing? James Shea has nothing to do with the municipal court. The fire safety inspectors send $2 million of summons to the court a year and Hudnut throws them out and refuses to provide reports.
Stop covering up for Steven Fulop. He has caused this issue. He is getting campaign donations from the landlords who arent paying fines.
You know there is housing corruption because Portside Towers tells you every two weeks.
When Jake Hudnut does not collect the fine revenue then there is no money for James Shea to hire fire inspectors.
Who is paying for this? Me. Tenants. With our money and our health and our lives.
Steven Fulop needs to stop taking money from big developers, stop leaving to governor campaign, stop ignoring the ticket fixing, fire the persons ticket fixing at municipal court, go deal with the fire victims, and stop stalking Mikie Sherrill on facebook.
The mayor has re engineered housing policy to hoover money from land occupants via rent price gouging and or property tax gouging and then the big developers and REITs take it and Fulop gets a cut in his campaign account. And they will freeze us burn us and rob us to get it.
It is time for YOU and city council to denounce the failed corrupt team Fulop logo, boot him out of city hall, get new auditors and start actually overseeing the budget because you are not collecting enough fines revenues or landlord registration fees which means you are not financially enforcing rent control, building code, fire code or property registrations.
These matters have been sent to the new Trump DOJ and the state comptroller and the IRS