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An Interview with Ward D Council Candidate Patrick Ambrossi

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JCT: Tell us a little bit about where you’re from and your educational and work background.

Ambrossi:  I’m actually the son of Ecuadorian immigrants. My mother came to this country when she was a young girl and my dad came to this country when he was just a little bit younger than I am, I think he was 24 at the time. And I was born and raised here in Jersey City, actually in the Heights. Then I went to PS-28. I went to County Prep High School, and I went to…I graduated early from there and I went to Hudson County Community College. I was doing some college courses when I was in high school so I was able to graduate early from that. And then I went to Montclair State University where I got a degree in industrial organizational, psychology and economics. And I went to St. Peter’s University where I graduated with my masters in public administration in 2018. I currently work as a fiscal analyst for the County of Hudson’s Division of Housing and Community Development, which is the office that manages the federal grants such as CDBG, Home COC and other homeless shelter related grants.

JCT: So you live in Ward D I assume?

Ambrossi: Yes

JCT:  And how long have you lived in Ward D?

Ambrossi: All my life. I’ve lived in Ward D. I came here at the age of two from Queens…I’ve lived on Franklin, I’ve lived on Sherman Avenue and New York Avenue, which is where I’m currently at.

JCT: What are the top three issues, would you say that you would like to attack if you are elected?

Ambrossi: I don’t think the three issues have really changed overall as time has gone by. I think that quality of life issues are a major issue here. You know, we’re looking at… another issue is Central Avenue for me and the way that that’s developing or the lack of, and then really looking at affordability in the Heights but also overall in Jersey City.

JCT: When you say Central Avenue, give me a little more detail on what you think is going on there.

Ambrossi: Sure. So, I mean, look, when you look at Central Avenue right now, I think everyone who lives in the Heights definitely… I think we’d all agree saying that…it could be kept a little better. You go on in at any given time, you’ll see trash everywhere. You look at the stores… we have had some stores close down and what I really want to see on Central Avenue is a marketing plan put together that will look at how Central Avenue should be developing in the next five to 10 years to make sure that we have a diverse selection of stores within Central Avenue. It should be an area where at the end of the day, if you didn’t want to go out of your Ward you, you wouldn’t have to, you could eat there, you could shop there, you could do everything that you need to do within Central Avenue.

JCT: When you talk about quality of life, which is one of the top three, what specifically concerns you apart from trash?

Ambrossi: So when I go …and I’ve talked to the people of the Western slope, a lot of them are stating that they’re having issues with petty theft, people are trying to get into their cars, going to their backyards…and it’s been an issue now for a couple of years. And so, you know, we want to make sure that when we’re talking about city services, that we’re, that it’s being spread equally. And that means ensuring that our neighborhoods are getting patrolled property and that, you know, that our residents feel safe.

JCT: And on the affordability issue, what do you think is the solution to the affordability problem?

Ambrossi: So look, in the Heights unlike I think, any other ward in Jersey City, Ward D has zero affordable housing. Yeah, there’s zero affordable housing. And one thing we want to make sure is that we create affordable housing throughout Jersey City because I’ve met…and I know of people who are lifelong residents here, who are seniors, people my own age who want to continue living in the Heights, but they’re unable to, because of the cost of everything around them. And one thing that I really want to make sure that we do correctly is the inclusionary zoning… that’s going on. We want to make sure that, you know, we put it in a way so that we make sure that buildings that are being built here in Ward D are eligible for affordable housing. If we create an affordable housing and inclusionary zoning ordinance that just states that, you know, buildings a hundred units and up are required to have affordable housing… that’s very few here in the Heights. So we want to make sure that, you know, the building requirements make it so that we have affordable housing here in the Heights and that we put it at a certain AMI so that we’re reaching the most vulnerable and the lower income residents throughout Jersey City.

JCT: Now, let me go back to your background really quickly. First of all, did you tell me how old you are?

Ambrossi: I don’t think there’s a lot that I already told you, but yeah, so I am 26 years old.

JCT: And that’s young by some people’s measure, I’m not sure too young, but that’s young. So tell us a little bit about your experience working in the community or Jersey City generally beyond your job. Have you been involved in any sort of causes in Jersey City that you want to tell people about?

Ambrossi: Yeah. So look, I think what’s very different from all of my opponents is that I’ve been involved from a very young age. I’ve been involved with Pershing Fields Garden Friends. I’ve been involved with St. John’s Lutheran. I’ve been involved with… I’m actually the founder and president of the Leonard Gordon Park Conservancy, which many people know as Mosquito Park. You know, we’ve been the group that has advocated for the upkeep, maintenance and renovations of Leonard Gordon Park and have worked to create a master plan for it. And actually in November of 2019, Councilman Yun and I were able to secure $500,000 to go towards the first phase of renovations. So phase one is going to consist of improving the current lighting and adding new lighting fixtures throughout the park. Fixing the walkways. Our park has a very unique landscape. So it’s very hilly. A lot of our … our walkways are corroded. So we’re going to be fixing that. And then we’re going to be improving public safety. We’re going to have a police blue box in there and then we’re going to make the roads and the walkways wide enough so that police vehicles are able to go throughout the park. So that’s one of my bigger, I think, accomplishments. But I’ve also served on the board of the Jersey City Reservoir Preservation Alliance and have been an active volunteer with and I’m very supportive of project reservoir, which actually started in my old school PS-28. I was also the chairman of Keep Jersey City Beautiful for two years, which is a citywide initiative…it’s a citywide cleanup event that was held… I think now it’s on its fourth or fifth year. But I was the chairman for two years and involved for three. I’ve been a trustee at the Jersey City Parks Coalition and have been involved with the coalition since 2011 for their national award winning program that was called the big dig which is a one day beautification effort to go and plant bulbs throughout Jersey City parks and then expand into open spaces. And one year we even did it at some project housing that we have throughout Jersey City.

JCT: Tell me what you think the top three issues for Jersey City generally are.

Ambrossi: Yeah, I mean, look, the three issues right now that I see as the biggest are our education system. It’s affordability. It’s the lack of affordable housing throughout your city. And then when, when we’re looking at it, it’s also just how the city of Jersey City spends our tax dollars, I think overall.

JCT: You mean financial management. So let’s take them each. You’ve already spoken about affordability. Let’s talk about the schools. What specifically… knowing of course that as a council-person, your influence over the schools is limited.  What do you think the problems are?

Ambrossi: So look I think for a long time the city of Jersey City had a different tax base. You know it’s definitely changed within the last 30 or 40 years. And so because of that, we had a lot of state funds going to our school systems. Now it’s a little different. Now our tax base has improved greatly and the city is able to start paying their fair share in terms of contributing to our schools. And so that’s something that I think that the city hasn’t really been willing to do. And as councilman I’m looking forward to really working with the board of education and seeing how we as a city can start paying our fair share to make sure that our kids are educated…properly educated.

JCT: Of course you know that taxes have gone up quite a bit…are going up quite a bit…the school portion. This year, the budget is much larger, a good bit larger. Do you think that Jersey City taxpayers need to be paying actually more than they’re going to be paying?

Ambrossi: No. So I think that’s where the financial management comes into place. I think we’ve seen the city so far reorganize the way that its departments are structured. You know, we’ve seen housing… not housing… we’ve seen the human resource division become its own department. We’ve seen the restructuring of recreation. We’ve seen the creation of, you know, the recycling division within DPW, which have all kind of gone and increased the salary of staffing there. And I’m not sure that that’s necessarily something that we really needed. So I think that in terms of when we’re talking about financial management we want to make sure that we’re making the right moves within city hall so that we don’t have to increase spending just because we want to give someone a salary increase, right? So that’s really my big thing when it comes to City Hall and its reorganization that has been taking…that it’s been going through for the last, I think now two to three years.

JCT: Tell me, how are you going to be funding your campaign.

Ambrossi: So it’s through donations, it’s mostly open through donation. And then of course I, myself, you know, I think every candidate has to put in a little bit, you know, to make sure that … to get that boost going. But yeah, it’s all donations. I’m not accepting, you know, PAC money or developer money, especially with… I’m a big supporter of inclusionary zoning and finding ways to add affordable housing. I want to make sure that I’m fighting for residents and I’m not accepting money from developers. That’s just something that I said to myself early on. And so it’s through donations.

JCT: And how do you see yourself working with the mayor? The mayor obviously has his slate… the people that he would put on his slate when he runs for reelection in 2021. And Councilman Saleh currently looks like the person that would be part of that slate. But let’s say you win. Do you then consider becoming part of the mayor’s slate or do you stay as an independent?

Ambrossi: I think that’s I think that’s maybe going…putting the cart before the horse. I am not… you know my campaign isn’t necessarily running an anti-Fulop campaign. I’m running because at the end of the day, I think we need an independent voice who has been active in the community, who has put their blood, sweat and tears into making sure that the Heights is…gets what it deserves in terms of services. Like I said, I am not running this campaign because I want to, you know I want to oust Fulop or anything like that. I’m running this campaign because I think there’s issues in the Heights that we need to address and we need someone that’s going to fight for us…whether Fulop might be on the right side discussion or not, you know, it has to be on the right side for the residents of the city of Jersey City and the Heights specifically. Right?

JCT: But let me maybe make it a little clearer. Is it possible for you to be an independent voice and be on the mayor’s slate?  It sounds like you think it’s possible to be an independent voice and be part of the mayor’s slate?

Ambrossi: No…no it’s not. You know, being an independent voice for our residents comes first. And so, again, I just think it’s putting the cart before the horse. I don’t see myself running under Fulop’s slate. But that’s mainly because I want to make sure that I am representing the people of Jersey City. And so, you know, so far the way that it looks like Saleh is doing it seems like most of his decisions are pretty close to… they’re with the mayor’s slate at all times so far. And so right now I don’t see that as a possibility.

JCT: Anything you want to add to what we’ve already talked about?

Ambrossi: I think one thing and I, and I’ve stated this already, but one thing that is very different from any of my opponents — and that’s every single one of them that are running currently — is the fact that I have been involved within the community. I did this not to get involved in politics. I did this because I saw…one, I really genuinely love, you know, open space and being involved in with the Parks Coalition and doing the events at Leonard Gordon Park. But you know, I’ve been in the community for close to a decade and a half. And, you know, when we’re looking at who we want to represent us I’m not sure it’s someone that just does things because it’s election time. And that’s something that I can showcase very easily that I’ve been in the Heights, have been active in the Heights for a very long time. And when you look at Saleh’s voting record it has been to purchase $200,000 of office furniture for the council offices. It has been against capping interest on property taxes from 18% to 3%, he voted against it. And when you look at what the main critical role of a council person is, I happen to think it’s voting on a budget. Our councilman abstained from that. So I think, you know, being a councilman is about making hard decisions and if Saleh’s unwilling to do that he shouldn’t be on the council.

JCT: Let me ask you about a big issue recently… the issue of police funding, where do you come down on that?

Ambrossi: So, I support our Jersey police officers. I have friends who are new to the force or have been in the force within the last five years and all are amazing people that have grown up in Jersey City and still live here. And so one thing that I always want to make sure when we’re talking…when we’re talking about that issue is that we’re not laying any police officers off. And I think that’s the reason I’m very against layoffs or, you know, cutting police budget. You know in a council meeting someone has said cutting the police budget by 50%. I’m wary of that. And mainly because we think we might be doing good by cutting the police force and putting more into social services but what, what I think sometimes people forget is that, you know, the first cops that would be let go are the ones that just came in who are of a diverse background who are African American and Latinos who are just starting to get their bearings in terms of their career and how their lives are going to look going forward. And I think it would be such a shame to lay off police officers who are so young and who really aren’t getting paid very much. And that’s mainly because the police force has increased so much that now, yes, we’re a diverse police force, but there’s so many police officers that have to now do Uber, you know, just make ends meet. So, I do want to raise funding for social services and make sure that we have a staff that is non-police addressing several issues. But I think there’s…we need to be creative in the way we do it. And I’m not sure that taking… that defunding the police is the right road.

JCT: Let me ask you this though. Last question. Councilman Solomon says we have too big a police force compared to cities of similar size. Do you agree that our police force is too big for the size of our city?

Ambrossi: Yeah, so, I agree with that statement. And I think that the way to go about it is by establishing a hiring freeze. I don’t think that it should be so quick as to say, you know, we have to lay police officers off. We could establish a hiring freeze. And as people retire, we can look at seeing what actually the staff is now and where it should be. But we also need to make sure that we’re properly placing our police officers throughout Jersey City. And I think that that’s one of the issues that has been happening in the Heights… is that most of the police officers who are supposed to be stationed in North District, they’re stationed somewhere else. And an area where the conversation comes into over policing, you know? And so if we have to restructure how that department looks and where our officers are placed, then we need to do that. So yes, I agree that maybe our police force is a little too big. But you know, we have to be smart with how we do that. And I don’t think layoffs are necessarily the correct way to go about it.

 

An Interview with Ward D Council Candidate Cynthia Hadjiyannis

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On November 3rd, Ward D/Heights residents will cast votes for a person to fill the remaining year on late councilman Michael Yun’s term, which expires on December 31, 2021. The seat is temporarily being held by Yousef Saleh, who was appointed by mayor Fulop. Saleh, along with four other people, have declared their intentions to run.   Local attorney and activist Cynthia Hadjiyannis was the first to accept Jersey City Times’ request for an interview.

JCT: Good morning, Cynthia, and thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. Can you give us a short summary of where you grew up and your educational background, your work history?

Hadjiyannis: So, I am originally from Massachusetts, and my family moved to South Jersey when I was about 12, and I went to high school in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and then I went back to Massachusetts for college. I went to Wellesley College. I actually was a science double major—biology and Soviet studies. I wasn’t really planning on becoming a lawyer when I first went to college, and I had a lot of years where I couldn’t quite find my niche. I was trying different things all the time. So, I worked in a laboratory, I worked at the Kennedy School of Government and International Relations, I started graduate school—a graduate program at Michigan for political science—and then I eventually went to law school. I went to Rutgers for law school and I finished in ’98, and I passed the New York and the New Jersey Bars, and I’ve been a lawyer for about 20 years or actually 22 years.

And let’s see, my first job was a clerk. I came to Jersey City fresh out of law school in ’98, and my first job was at the William Brennan Courthouse here in Jersey City, and I worked for this wonderful judge. His name is Carmen Maisano, and then I went into private practice after I finished my clerkship, and I worked in commercial arbitration and litigation, and I kind of enjoyed that. I started off at the New Jersey firm, but then I went with the New York firm and it was an international firm. So, I was trying to kind of make my interest in international relations integrate with my law practice, and I did that for about five or six years, and then I went on my own, and I’m a small town lawyer now.

JCT: Your practice has revolved around what kind of work?

Hadjiyannis: Well, now it’s a mix. I started off in litigation, but now it’s a mix of certain types of litigation, real estate, and then things that are the nexus between real estate and litigation. I do some land use, I do tax appeals, I do construction and building violations, and zoning, and I have a niche, which is challenging development approvals on behalf of community groups and neighbors.

JCT: And give us some examples of some of the cases you’ve worked on.

Hadjiyannis: Well, I had one in West New York. Some of them, it’s hard because it’s an uphill battle with these things, but I had one in West New York, it goes back a while, it might have been 2008, where they were planning to build a giant tower on Boulevard East. It was zoned mid-rise, but it was basically a regular residential neighborhood where people had row houses and they wanted to do, I think it was a 12- or 13-story building, and a group of neighbors banded together. They were wonderful clients, and we didn’t succeed at the trial level, but we went up on appeal, and we got the development approval voided for the project. I think to this day there is no tower on the lot.

JCT: You considered that a win?

Hadjiyannis: Yeah, yeah. It was really egregious. You know, some things are kind of marginal but, this was really just a pretty bad—it was, I think, triple what you were supposed to be allowed to do.

JCT: Sure. And you live in Ward D (obviously), and how long have you been in Ward D?

Hadjiyannis: Since 2003.

JCT: What would you say are the top three issues in Ward D?

Hadjiyannis: I think housing is a big one, zoning and development, and the local economy.

JCT: Do you want to expand on those, specifically the housing, for instance?

Hadjiyannis: When I first moved here I was able to buy a house for about a third of what it would cost now for the same house. I have a small row house. I lived Downtown, and once I got in a position where I had gotten started on my career and I’d gotten a handle on my student loans, I wanted to buy something, and I got priced out of the market Downtown, so I had this great option of looking in other neighborhoods in Jersey City, and I came to the Heights. I think now that is less and less of an option for people. A little two-bedroom condo is $700,000, and stuff is just really unaffordable, and it’s not like there is another neighborhood close by where people aren’t priced out of the market. I’m seeing people who can’t— young people who want to buy homes are priced out of the market. People who want to get an apartment can’t find an apartment.

So, I think there is not much affordable housing. Seniors and other people who could benefit from that, I think they’re having problems. There’s a very long waiting list.

JCT: Then you mentioned development. What are the issues there?

Hadjiyannis: So, I think the Heights is essentially a low-rise community, and we do not want to be like the Downtown, and we don’t want to be like Journal Square. We have something that people like, we have backyards, we have very walkable neighborhoods, we have a lot more greenery than other places in Jersey City, and I think people don’t want to lose that, and little by little backyards are getting filled in, street trees are being lost, every little square, every buildable lot is being upzoned so that where you used to have one house now there will be four condos squeezed into where there was a one-family.

I think that we’re having pressure coming from Hoboken and from Journal Square and along Kennedy to move more toward high-rise development, mid-rise or high-rise development that’s going to increase density a lot. And increases in density without the appropriate infrastructure leads to problems. We’re having those problems now. Parking, traffic, I forget what they call the combined sewer system. So, we’re encountering all those problems that come with high-density development without the right infrastructure.

JCT: And in terms of businesses you mentioned businesses being an issue. What would you identify there as being the problem?

Hadjiyannis: Well, it’s interesting, I have a lot to learn about that, but I have a small business. I actually run my law practice from home. And just with COVID, a lot of businesses have seen they don’t have the same volume that they used to have, and they’re struggling. And then I think on Central, I think there always was a fairly high vacancy rate, but I think it’s gotten higher now during COVID. I know the city is trying to do some things to support small business. I’d probably try to do more things in addition to what the city is doing to support businesses. I know in New York, this is something I have to think more about and learn more about and talk to the Central Avenue SID, but in New York I think they don’t allow landlords to leave commercial—they allow it, but they’re penalized when you leave a commercial storefront vacant for too long. So, I think we could probably use some more regulations to encourage landlords to rent at a market rate.

JCT:  Right. And when it comes to those first couple of issues, I guess you mentioned affordability, do you have any ideas about how to make the neighborhood or Ward D more affordable?

Hadjiyannis: I don’t know. You probably know more about it than I do because there is this inclusionary zoning ordinance that has been languishing in the council committee for more than a year, and there seems to be a lot of discussion that doesn’t really cohere into an ordinance. And it needed to happen like 20 years ago before we had this development boom, and it didn’t, but it’s like we really shouldn’t let more time go by. The council needs to come together to support a version of that ordinance whatever it is so that it starts, so that we don’t have more development without affordability becoming a component of it.

I think they’re working on it, but they need to do it faster, and I think I would try to work with the council to get something we can pass. Then I want to make sure it actually impacts affordability. Like right now, I think the version of the ordinance that has been floated—it’s questionable whether it really does anything to help the people who need it most. They were talking about a range of what would constitute affordable housing, and they were saying people would be eligible, I guess, who were between 80%, or I guess the projects have to market to people with 80% to 120% of adjusted median—I forget the phrase, it’s AMI, it’s like average median income.

And so, I think the version of the ordinance now allows developers to meet the affordable housing requirements by building what is basically market-rate housing. If you’re between 80 to 100% of the average median income, you may not be the person who needs affordable housing the most.

So, I think we have to get that ordinance geared toward helping people who need affordable housing, but then I think we need something else that helps people who have under 80% AMI. So, I’d want to look at those options and maybe that can’t be, maybe those have to be public works projects, maybe there is no incentive for developers to build projects that are for people with less than 80% AMI. That might not work as part of an inclusionary zoning ordinance, but I think we’ll need to investigate other types of housing.

JCT: And what about on the density construction issue? Is this just a zoning question?

Hadjiyannis: A lot of the Heights is zoned R1, which is zoned for one- and two-family dwellings. So, even Kennedy is supposed to be R1, one- and two-family dwellings. Then developers go to the zoning board with projects that are much bigger than what they’re allowed to do, and the zoning board often dispenses variances. They’re supposed to be an independent land use board, so as a councilperson I couldn’t really control what the zoning board does, but I think to maybe get some members of the zoning board, like people appointed to the zoning board that are more sensitive to people in the community and don’t feel like it’s their job to okay everybody’s application.

I think that would be a good start, and I think as a councilperson I would try to empower the neighbors in the community groups to participate more in that process. And then even long before it got to the board, I would want to help facilitate communication between groups of neighbors and developers who want to come in and do something more than what they’re allowed to do.

JCT: Now let me ask you about citywide issues. If you were to name the top three citywide issues that you’d like to take on or that you think are burning issues right now, what would they be?

Hadjiyannis: That’s interesting, no one’s asked me that yet. I would say some of these racial equality issues we’ve been dealing with this, now, the whole summer. I think it’s really in the forefront of everybody’s consciousness. I think zoning and development is a citywide issue. I do get calls from all over the city from people who want help with tear downs, with giant projects they feel are inappropriate. So, I would say zoning and development is a citywide issue. I would say the school budget and funding our school system.

JCT: On the racial justice issues, are you in favor of proposals to cut the public safety budget?

Hadjiyannis: That’s such a tough question. I guess we would have to look at that really carefully. The issue with that is that it seems risky. I know people have been participating a lot in the public comments part of the city council meetings, and there was a huge meeting where everybody seemed to be reading from the same script where they were saying they want the budget cut by 50%. I think that seems extremely risky. Nobody really wants to take a risk with public safety, and if you cut the budget by 50%, there’s no guarantee that we all won’t be negatively impacted.

So, I know a lot of people were very vigorously advocating for that. I wouldn’t want to cut the budget like that. I think that is too much of a risk. I would want to just first examine what are we spending our money on? I’ve been hearing a lot; I have been trying to soak a lot of news in, and there are all these statistics being discussed where they say only a small number of calls that the police actually respond to have to do with crime, and there are a lot more calls that have to do almost with social services. Where I’m not even sure what the rest of the calls are.

So I would want to look at what is our money actually being spent on? Where can we find some efficiencies, and how can we work together with the police. This goes for every single part of the city budget, not just the police. How can we save the taxpayers’ money, and how can we make sure the money that is being spent is used in the best possible way? So, I am in favor of trying to economize, trying to find ways that we can reallocate some of the funds in ways that don’t compromise public safety. But I don’t have a perfect answer to the question. It’s something I’m going to have to learn a lot more about.

JCT: Got it.

Hadjiyannis: If it were that easy, I think we would have already done something.

JCT: Are there any areas of the city budget that you think need to be either trimmed or increased apart from public safety?

Hadjiyannis: I think the city made some big cuts to recreation recently. I don’t know if that was really—I think it’s very difficult to figure out what you need to cut. But I wouldn’t have been in favor of that.

JCT: In terms of cutting recreation.

Hadjiyannis: Yeah, yeah. And I think they’ve made a lot of cuts already, and I think that was probably pretty tough to do. I know they laid off all the part-time and seasonal workers. So, I don’t know, they said the budgets are like—I’ve heard different numbers, but supposedly they’re short like $40 million to $60 million, so I don’t know if it would be easy to cut anything else right now. But in the future when things become hopefully normalized we can look at that more.

Hadjiyannis: Also, I was surprised like 20% of our taxes go to serving municipal debt. So, I would probably want to [look at that].

JCT: Got it.

Hadjiyannis: Yeah, I mean it’s like I wouldn’t want 20% of my money going to pay…

JCT: Paying interest, right, right, sure. Let me ask you this: You have worked on the reservoir, you were the what? The president of the…

Hadjiyannis: Yeah, I was the president the past two years and I’m going to be stepping down next week, actually, so that—because I’m running—and I think you shouldn’t really be running a nonprofit while you’re a candidate for office.

JCT: Is there anything on that issue that you want to work on as a councilperson, or is there any intesection between your reservoir work and…

Hadjiyannis: Definitely. The reservoir is one of the things that mobilized me to become active in local politics. I felt like I was begging, back when we started. I felt like I was begging the council to do things that shouldn’t have been difficult decisions. It should have been a no brainer that we would want to preserve this site. So, having to spend so much time and energy to create this grassroots movement to get people to commit to saving the site. I’m grateful that they were persuaded to do it, but I felt like it shouldn’t have been so difficult.

JCT: Right.

Hadjiyannis: And the city wants to enter a new phase where they are investing in the site, which is something I really have been pushing for for like the last 10 years—to put the site in a position that they could get grants, and they could invest in the site. But, I guess it might have been right after labor day, they approved a plan without engaging our group to discuss the plan and with zero public engagement. And I think that is a chronic problem throughout the city, where a few people in a department come up with a plan and try to quickly push it through without really getting any feedback from anybody.

Hadjiyannis: So, now that the nonprofit—I’m still going to be on the board, but I’m just not going to be an officer of the nonprofit. We’re trying to re-engage the city to get a better plan in place because the plan that was approved last week, I guess right after Labor Day, is going to be extremely destructive to the site, and  what was interesting was that they awarded a contract for $2.2 million, but none of the environmental stuff that they’re required to do by the Green Acres program and Trenton, they’re kind of nowhere with that. They’re just figuring that out, so they awarded the contract, but they don’t really have the capacity to go forward with it because the site investigation’s complete, there’s no plan of environmental remediation, and I was trying to get the city to hold off on awarding the contract, but they were just determined to push it through for reasons I really could barely understand.

JCT: Switching gears now, I’d also love to know how you see yourself in relation to the mayor—as an independent councilperson who consults with the mayor from time to time but has no political obligations to him or some…

Hadjiyannis: I think it’s just like being a lawyer. I’m going to be obligated to do what is in the best interest of my constituents. So, if I am privileged enough to be elected, I am committed to working with the administration and working with the rest of the council on everything I can work with them on. Then I think there’s certain noncontroversial things that I would want them to work with me on. Like, everyone loves the reservoir, everyone wants it to be a nice place. There are other things like trash—everybody has mentioned to me that we just have a problem with trash. And we don’t really have clean streets in the Heights. That’s a noncontroversial thing. I want to work on a lot of the quality of life things.

But then if I think they’re making poor decisions, I won’t be shy about standing up for things that are important, trying to keep them from making poor decisions.

JCT: Let me ask you this, how are you funding your campaign?

Hadjiyannis: With contributions.

JCT: Are you getting any money from any political organizations, or are you backed by the county democratic organization? Are there any ties to any larger organizations, or is this purely a grassroots effort?

Hadjiyannis: A lot of my donors have been, or contributors I guess I should say, they’ve been people who know me.

JCT: Sure.

Hadjiyannis: They know me; they feel confident that I’m going to do a good job.

JCT: I’m just wondering if you’re tied to any larger organizations than individual donors you want to disclose in the name of campaign finance disclosure. I assume that some candidates will be receiving some support from deep pockets. Are you a Bernie Sanders type, getting small donations?

Hadjiyannis: That’s funny. I guess I’m more like a Pete Buttigieg or whatever his name is. He said if someone with deep pockets wants to give him a contribution, he is not going to turn his nose up at it.

JCT: Right.

Hadjiyannis: But, yeah, if there’s strings attached, I’m not really in favor of that. I’m not even—most of my things have been from individuals. I did get money from one PAC but, I’m not even sure, it’s sort of a small PAC that a friend runs, so I don’t think it’s any kind of big money.

JCT: Right, but you will have to disclose this…

Hadjiyannis: Yeah.

JCT: It will come out. I’m just curious, I’m really curious about institutional support that you might be receiving.

Hadjiyannis: No, No. Not so far.

JCT: Not so far, got it. All right well that is a lot.

Hadjiyannis: Yeah.

JCT: That’s very elucidating.

 

Yousef Saleh

Jersey City Council Appoints New Member for Ward D

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Voting 6–2, Council Appoints Yousef Saleh to Represent The Heights

On Thursday, the Jersey City Council appointed a new Ward D Councilperson to fill the seat vacated by the death of Councilman Michael Yun. By a vote of 6-2, with Ward E Councilman James Solomon and Council at Large Rolando F. Lavarro, Jr., dissenting, the members appointed Yousef Saleh to finish out Yun’s term. Other contenders were Jocelyn Patrick, Patrick Ambrossi, Cynthia Hadjiyannis, Brian Rans and Rafael Torres.

Before the vote, Councilman Solomon voiced concern about a rush to nominate Yousef Saleh since the deadline to fill Yun’s seat is still a week away on May 6. Along with Councilman Lavarro, he expressed surprise at Mayor Steven Fulop’s endorsement of Saleh, which made Saleh the frontrunner. The two men were also concerned about the seemingly unilateral, undemocratic nature of the decision. Why hurry Saleh’s nomination when earlier in the week  they had held public interviews on Facebook with all six contenders precisely to provide transparency?

As the meeting got underway, there was no discussion or consensus among the Council on who was the best choice. Instead, Council President Waterman made the motion to nominate Saleh, and Council at Large Daniel Rivera seconded the motion, thereby putting it to a vote.

“I believe we should wait until May 6,” said Councilman Solomon, who supported Jocelyn Patrick for the seat.

“My complaint with the process is the way that the mayor handled it. This is a Council position by law. Blasting a press release out with a recommendation, if you’re trying to argue that everyone had a fair shot to make their case, that didn’t convey that. A lot of people who reached out to me from the Heights feel the decision was made behind closed doors.”

Councilman Solomon then went on to endorse Saleh despite the fact he didn’t vote for him.

“I know Yousef, and I think the world of him,” Councilman Solomon said. “I’m excited to work with him. He has an extraordinarily progressive agenda.”

New Jersey City Council Member Yousef Saleh

Courtesy of Yousef Saleh’s Facebook page

When it came time for his vote, Councilman Lavarro said he, too, felt the vote was rushed and did not reflect the feelings of the people in the Heights, especially those who submitted a petition to the Council hours before the meeting. Each Council member received the petition with more than 200 signatures demanding they use a thorough and transparent vetting process.

“Sadly, the Mayor’s unilateral action dishonors Councilman Yun’s family‘s wishes and leaves Heights residents stunned and let down,” the petition stated. “Let’s find the best person among the candidates to fill the Ward D Council seat, not rubber stamp the mayor.”

The Public Calls In

In the public comments section of the meeting, Catherine Hecht, one of the petition’s signers, called in to address the Council. She applauded Councilmen Lavarro and Solomon for holding pubic interviews with the candidates on Facebook.

“That’s the type of transparency we need at this time,” she said. “I really urge you to think about all the people who have contacted you and choose what the people want.”

Several candidates called in with one last appeal for the seat. Candidate Jocelyn Patrick was the only one who said she did not want to run in the general election in the fall; her aim was to fill Councilman Yun’s seat as a temporary measure.

“The reason that I am nominating myself for this position is to allow the voters in November to make the decision,” she said. “I do not plan on running in November.”

Jersey City resident Jeanne Daley called in voicing her concern that the rush to vote on Saleh’s  appointment showed disrespect to Councilman Yun.

“I’m disappointed in this rush,” Daley said. “It’s an insult to Councilman Yun’s memory. Why this nomination from our mayor and Miss Waterman? That’s a way to airlift a convenient chess piece to allow them to control more of the board and what goes on in Jersey City. If you take the Fulop nominee, they will do what the mayor wants, what the administration wants.”

Council President Watterman, who cast the final vote in favor of Saleh told the Council her reason for nominating Saleh: “I am not a procrastinator.”

“This is the probation period,” Watterman said. “If Yousef does not meet the needs of the Heights, then in November, the residents can vote against him. He won’t stay in that seat. They say they got 200 signatures. There are over 40,000–50,000 people in the Heights. In November, the people can come out and vote.”

Addressing dissension among the ranks on how the vote was handled, Watterman added, “I hope as we go forward, we learn to work together. We pick up the phone. That’s working together as a team. I hope going forward we can do that.”

Advocate for the Heights

After the Council announced the appointment and adjourned the meeting, the Jersey City Times reached out to Yousef Saleh, who had watched the proceeding on his computer. As Jersey City’s new Ward D Councilman, Saleh says he hopes to advocate for Heights residents especially now as people struggle to make ends meet during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Rent is due today, mortgages are due today, people are struggling, suffering, sick and dying,” he said. “We are going to help them get back on their feet. I will make sure the people of the Heights are taken care of. I’m going to be a tireless advocate for them.”

In attendance: Jersey City Council President Joyce E. Watterman, Council at Large Rolando R. Lavarro, Jr., Council at Large Daniel Rivera, Ward A Councilwoman Denise Ridley, Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey, Ward C Councilman Richard Boggiano, Ward E Councilman James Solomon, Ward F Councilman Jermaine D. Robinson, City Clerk Sean J. Gallagher.

The next virtual City Council meeting will be held Wed., May 6 at 6 p.m.

To view the meetings, go to the Council’s page on the city’s website.

 

Header:  Yousef Saleh being sworn in. Photo by Jennifer Brown/City of Jersey City

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