Transcript for Piscataway Council meeting on February 10 2026

Note: Transcripts are generated by rev.ai and may not be fully accurate. Please listen to the recording (below) if you feel any text is inaccurate.

Speaker 1     00:00:23    Good evening everyone and welcome to the Piscataway Town Council meeting for February 10th, 2026. Could everyone please silence their cell phones?  
Speaker 1     00:00:36    Adequate notice of has been provided as required under chapter 2 31 PL 1975. Specify the time, date, location, login or dial in information and to the extent known the agenda by posting a copy of the notice on the municipal building, the municipal court, and the two municipal library bulletin boards, the municipal website providing a copy to the official newspapers of the township and by filing a copy in the office of the township clerk in accordance with a certification by the clerk, which will be entered in the minutes, there will be a public comment period for both remote and in-person attendees. Separately, each member of the public shall have only one opportunity to speak during each public portion. As the technology does not allow us to know if there are multiple callers on an individual phone line or a logged in user account. We ask that if you wish to speak, that you log in or dial in separately so that we can recognize you as a separate individual should you have any further comments or questions. The Town Council is always available by email and phone, and you can always call the mayor's office during normal operating hours.  
Speaker 1     00:01:55    Ms. Cedar, can you please call the role  
Speaker 2     00:01:58    Council Member Cahill Here. Council Member Carmichael.  
Speaker 0     00:02:03    Here. Here.  
Speaker 2     00:02:04    Council Member Espinosa. Here. Council Member Liebowitz. Here. Council Member Rashid.  
Speaker 0     00:02:12    Here. Here.  
Speaker 2     00:02:13    Council Member Ern. Here. Council President Lombardi here  
Speaker 1     00:02:17    And can everyone please join us in the flag  
Speaker 0     00:02:25    Of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands A nation under God In result, the liberty justice.  
Speaker 1     00:02:44    We will now move to number five, which will be a proclamation for Black History Month. Are you gonna be reading that proclamation for us Mayor?  
Speaker 3     00:02:53    Yes, I will. Council president. And whereas Black History Month is observed each February to celebrate the culture and achievements of African Americans who, whose contributions have strengthened and enriched our nation and whereas Black History Month also provides a crucial opportunity for all Americans to learn, understand, and reflect on the enormous burdens and sacrifices placed on African Americans, including the brutality and lasting impacts of transatlantic human trade and Jim Crow laws. And whereas historical sites and narratives related to all aspects of past and present African American life must be preserved to properly guide the shaping of our nation into a truly more perfect union. And whereas New Jersey and Middlesex County in particular have been the home to a full breadth of the African American experience and whereas whereas numerous slave ships brought enslaved African Americans to destinations of subjugation through Perth Amboy and whereas Thomas Muddy Peterson of the same municipality was the first African American man to vote after the passage of the 15th Amendment of the Constitution.  
Speaker 3     00:04:06    And whereas among the collection of historical structures of East Jersey Old Town Village and Piscataway, the Hoagland house was home to the of a free African American who purchased it in 1862 and lived in it until 1899. And whereas African Americans continue to play a vital role in shaping our nation contribute mightily to its economic, cultural, and spiritual and political growth. Now therefore, I Brian Wahler, the mayor of Piscataway Township and the county of Middle six, state of New Jersey Dubai, recognized the month of February as Black History Month and encourage all residents to acknowledge the contributions and end do legacy of African Americans in our community and country. Thank you Council President.  
Speaker 1     00:04:49    Thank you. We'll now move to number six, which are comments from the administration and council regarding adjournment of any matters on this agenda. Do we see any adjournment of any matters on the agenda from council?  
Speaker 2     00:05:10    I have one.  
Speaker 2     00:05:16    I wanna be clear that I support the goal of licensing hotels and motels to ensure appropriate safety, fire and zoning standards are met. However, I remain concerned about unintended consequences embedded in certain provisions of the ordinance. I raised these concerns prior to the first reading and vote and I supported moving the ordinance forward at that stage with the understanding that the language would be further reviewed before final adoption and that the public would have an opportunity to review and provide meaningful feedback. I listened carefully to the testimony from business owners and employees on January 20th. No one should feel unsafe in their place of work and I cannot imagine the fear and uncertainty they described. I'm also deeply concerned that it has taken years for meaningful action to address these longstanding issues. Those who testified deserve better and I'm committed to ensuring their concerns are addressed in a way that is both effective and fair.  
Speaker 2     00:06:18    Many of the issues raised particularly loitering and criminal activity would not be addressed through hotel and motel licensing alone. A letter submitted by A CLU policy counsel, domestic violence survivor advocates, housing professionals, supportive housing practitioners, reentry service providers and others working at this intersection of homelessness and community safety raises serious concerns that the ordinance as currently written could result in significant harm to vulnerable individuals and families without resolving the underlying problems it seeks to address. Therefore, I make a motion that the council remove the ordinance from the agenda. At this time, the township admin and council should consult with experts that have raised concerns to ensure that the provisions do not have unintentional consequences on our taxpayers and those who are housed in our hotels and motels.  
Speaker 1     00:07:15    Thank you Ms. Leitz. I'm gonna call the question, is  
Speaker 2     00:07:18    There a second? You have to ask for a second.  
Speaker 1     00:07:22    Is there a second?  
Speaker 2     00:07:24    I second the motion.  
Speaker 1     00:07:29    I'm gonna call the question.  
Speaker 2     00:07:32    Have  
Speaker 1     00:07:33    A roll call. Vote amongst the council to to keep this on the agenda. Ms. Cedar, can you have a roll to,  
Speaker 2     00:07:42    I would do it to,  
Speaker 4     00:07:44    It's a motion to remove it so you would vote no to.  
Speaker 1     00:07:47    Okay. We'll make a motion to remove the this so we're gonna on the council. Okay. The council will vote  
Speaker 5     00:08:02    So it's number. Alright. Council as what? What is the motion?  
Speaker 2     00:08:04    The motion is whether you are voting to remove, I can remove, restate the motion to  
Speaker 5     00:08:09    Remove, to remove it from the agenda  
Speaker 2     00:08:11    To remove it from today's agenda for further, further over, further revision and further assessment. Council member Cahill. I vote to keep it on tonight's agenda. No. Council member Carmichael? No. No. Council member Espinosa?  
Speaker 5     00:08:43    I vote no.  
Speaker 2     00:08:45    Council member Lebowitz? Yes. Council member Rashid?  
Speaker 6     00:08:55    I vote yes.  
Speaker 2     00:08:58    Council member Rin.  
Speaker 7     00:09:00    I vote to keep it on tonight's agenda.  
Speaker 2     00:09:04    Council President Lombardi,  
Speaker 1     00:09:06    I vote now. Please keep it on the agenda this evening.  
Speaker 5     00:09:12    Thank you.  
Speaker 6     00:09:14    I also have a request to remove item 10 M from the consent agenda and let it be voted on separately.  
Speaker 1     00:09:26    Okay. How we can handle that is you can either abstain from the cons, the complete consent agenda or you can just abstain from that one and you can vote for the rest.  
Speaker 6     00:09:37    Okay? Okay.  
Speaker 1     00:09:38    Okay. We're not gonna remove it from the the agenda. Okay.  
Speaker 2     00:09:43    She's from  
Speaker 6     00:09:44    The  
Speaker 1     00:09:44    Consent she's that's from the consent agenda? Yes, that's correct. She can abstain from the whole thing or if she can just vote yes on the others and abstain from that item. Okay.  
Speaker 1     00:10:02    We're gonna move to number seven. We did number seven for the open to the public. These are for comments regarding the item number 10, which is the consent agenda items. Again, this is for public comment on the consent agenda items only, so we will open this to the public for each public comment portion. For remote attendees, if you wish to speak at this time, please raise your hand either on the Zoom app or if by phone by pressing star nine. When it is your turn to speak, you will receive or hear a request To unmute yourself, please click the prompt or press six on your phone to unmute yourself at that time, please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to make your comments. The counsel or administration will respond if necessary. After you have completed any comments or questions, please be advised this is for the consent agenda items only.  
Speaker 2     00:11:04    Council president, there are no remote attendees with their hand raised regarding this agenda item.  
Speaker 1     00:11:09    So we're closing the portion for the remote attendees and we'll now open it for the public comment. For in-person attendees at this time, if you wish to speak at this time, please come to the podium, state your name and address and know you have three minutes in which to make your comments. You may take your seat after the completion of your comments or questions and the council or administration will respond if necessary. This is for the consent agenda items only. Anyone the public wishing to speak on these, seeing none will close the public portion. Number eight is an ordinance second reading amending chapter seven, TRA traffic section 14, parking prohibited at all times on certain streets and this will be open to the public. It's a resolution adopting ordinance Ms. The can you please read the ordinance  
Speaker 2     00:12:06    Be it resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled Ordinance to amend and supplement the revised general ordinances of the township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey. Amending chapter seven traffic Section 14, parking prohibited at all times on certain streets. Was introduced on the 20th day of January, 2026 and had passed the first reading and was published on the 25th day of January, 2026. Now therefore be it resolved that the offer said ordinance having had a second reading on February 10th, 2026 be adopted past and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passage approval in the official newspaper, be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned number 2026 dash five.  
Speaker 1     00:12:51    Thank you Ms. Cedar. We'll now open this for public comment for remote attendees and again, it's for the ordinance. Second reading number nine, number eight,  
Speaker 2     00:13:12    Council president, there are no remote individuals with their hand raised regarding this agenda item.  
Speaker 1     00:13:18    We'll close the remote portion and anyone wishing to speak on this ordinance in person, please come up at this time. Seeing none, we'll close the public. The in-person attendees portion. Ms. Cedar, can you please call the rule? I have a motion please.  
Speaker 2     00:13:41    Motion  
Speaker 1     00:13:42    Councilwoman  
Speaker 2     00:13:42    Cahill.  
Speaker 7     00:13:43    Second. Second. Councilman Owen,  
Speaker 1     00:13:46    Could you please call the rule  
Speaker 2     00:13:48    Council member Cahill? Yes. Council member Carmichael. Yes. Council member Espinosa. Yes. Council member Liebowitz. Yes. Council member Rashid?  
Speaker 1     00:14:01    Yes.  
Speaker 2     00:14:01    Yes. Council member Rin. Yes. Council President Lombardi?  
Speaker 1     00:14:06    Yes. And the ordinance passes Second reading. Number nine is an ordinance second reading, adding chapter four, licensing and Business Regulations section 16 Hotels and motels. It's open to the public and it's a resolution adopting ordinance. Ms. Cedar, can you please quote, read the ordinance, be it  
Speaker 2     00:14:26    Resolved by the Township Council of Piscataway Township, New Jersey that an ordinance entitled an ordinance to amend the revised general ordinances of the township of Piscataway, county of Middlesex, state of New Jersey. Adding chapter four, licensing and business regulations. Section 16 Hotels and motels was introduced on the 20th day of January, 2026 and had passed the first reading and was published on the 28th day of January, 2026. Now therefore be it resolved that the offer set ordinance having had a second reading on February 10th, 2026 be adopted past and after passage be published together with a notice of the date of passenger approval in the official newspaper, be it further resolved that this ordinance shall be assigned. Number 2026 dash zero six.  
Speaker 1     00:15:10    Thank you Ms. Cedar. I'd like to make a comment myself on this ordinance. This ordinance was built for the residents and businesses owners of Piscataway, the very people who make our township strong. We have collaborated together and with our colleagues to ensure this ordinance was crafted responsibly and thoroughly. Our township attorney worked tirelessly consulting with colleagues and townships across the state to ensure this ordinance reflects the strongest and most effective practices. Above all, this is about putting the people of Piscataway first, their safety, their wellbeing, and their peace of mind. It is about protecting the quality of life in our community and ensuring that Piscataway remains a place where families and businesses can continue to thrive. We're now gonna open this for public comment for remote attendees. Anyone wishing to for remote attendees?  
Speaker 2     00:16:18    Council president, I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themself.  
Speaker 1     00:16:24    Please be advised you have three minutes in which to speak.  
Speaker 8     00:16:29    Hi, my name is Jessica Kratovil, 1247 Brookside Road. Can you hear me? Hear me?  
Speaker 1     00:16:34    Yes, we can. Welcome.  
Speaker 8     00:16:36    This is a poorly written ordinance that is unlikely to solve the purported issue and will have numerous other detrimental impacts. First of all, as written, this council will be displacing totally innocent people going through hard times, requiring them to appeal to hotel management for an extension of their stay is unreasonable and unlikely to result in many people remaining in their temporary homes. Will they have to take on the administrative burden applying for repeated extensions just to stay housed and if they can't get an extension, where are these people supposed to go? On its own, this should be enough to dissuade caring council members from proceeding. However, since I've come to understand that most of you on this council are unconcerned with such matters, let me proceed to the other reasons to withdraw this from consideration. This ordinance violates the Fourth Amendment by allowing the government warrantless search of private guest information.  
Speaker 8     00:17:27    Again, the relevant precedent is City of Los Angeles versus Patel. I know I've mentioned this before, but since Mr. Gomer said this ordinance was copied from a compliant similar one in East Brunswick, I will quote the differences for him. 65 dash six section A one F says, the officer may request to inspect the record log by asking the operator or operator's designee who is on duty and or working at the time to inspect the record. If inspection is refused, the operator or operator's employee slash designee shall safeguard the record in a manner directed by the officer or authorized representative to ensure that no one can tamper with the record. Section four. If upon refusal to allow the officer to inspect the record, the officer or authorized representative may apply for the administrative subpoena, administrative search warrant or other such court order within 48 hours of said refusal.  
Speaker 8     00:18:28    Moving on, I thought the incidents mentioned by the Gabrielle's ownership and employees at the last meeting were unfortunate, but of all the things they brought up were crimes that the police should have been able to deal with. Why is this ordinance even needed? Ms. Carmichael and Ms. Cahill sent me an email response that indicated this measure is to quote, ensure that hotels do not become defacto long-term housing without appropriate oversight or supportive services. End quote, why do we not offer any supportive services to those experiencing homelessness or other hardships in Piscataway? I guarantee you they'd be more effective and less costly than this trash you've presented today. I strongly encourage you to join councilors, Liebowitz and Rashid in withdrawing this proposal and coming up with something less terrible and illegal before you expose the township to more costly litigation at the taxpayer's expense. Thank you. That will be all  
Speaker 1     00:19:29    Ville.  
Speaker 9     00:19:31    Council president, council president. I'd just like to clarify a couple things. I think there's a misrepresentation of what I've said in the past and Ms. Radwell actually read out the East Brunswick ordinance not what we have written in our ordinance. Yes, that's we do not have that language in here and we have, we have language that only code enforcement can can access those guest logs specifically only for compliance with the ordinance. So this is not a police action, it is not involved with the police department. This is not about warrantless searches, et cetera.  
Speaker 1     00:20:10    Thank you for that clarification. The next caller counsel president, I'm asking the next individual with our hand raised to unmute themselves. Please state your name and be advised you have three minutes in which to speak.  
Speaker 11    00:20:23    Hi, my name is Brian Rack. This ordinance is weird. It's weird that the town is pushing on this so hard and it's weird the amount of misinformation being spread about it. It's weird. I received an identical email from Carmichael and Cahill. It's weird. During the last meeting we heard from the landlord of Motel six about how much of a problem this is. It's weird that the town would get involved in what's pretty clearly a landlord tenant dispute. It's weird that during a time when Trump is kidnapping it and murdering people on the street, but this ordinance is somehow the biggest priority. It's weird that a council full of Democrats does things like parking DPW vehicles in front of town hall during protests and it's weird, the entire parking lot was blocked off during early voting to try and stop anti-Trump protests. That's certainly something I'd expect from Trump and not Democrats.  
Speaker 11    00:21:02    It's weird that the town puts out videos claiming this ordinance is going to do something. It's not as an example, a video was posted on January 18th implying this ordinance would somehow allow the town to know if criminals were staying in the hotel. I certainly can't find that anywhere in the ordinance that's stated. It's weird that the ordinance is compared to the one in East Brunswick when the East Brunswick one does not require giving up guest information without a warrant. It's weird. Our police director claims he'd never heard of a place with this many calls from both the Carlton Club apartments and town hall have had more calls over the last three months than this hotel. It's weird. This ordinance was originally in the same packet with an ordinance that would've criminalized homelessness. It's weird. The council won't acknowledge that anymore and hopes we all forgot.  
Speaker 11    00:21:39    It's weird that the claim is that ordinance would protect residents. I'll quote from the dictionary, reside noun occupy a place as one's legal domicile. It's weird. The only way to protect residents of the hotels is could come out. It's weird. Getting a parking ticket will result in losing your only housing. It's weird. There's nowhere in town for homeless people to shelter from the extreme cold we've been having. It's even more weird when the official response is to shuttle those people to a different town, which is the exact same thing that was being claimed to be happening here. It's weird. I have to say all this knowing that everything I say will be dismissed by the council, this ordinance is a mistake.  
Speaker 1     00:22:11    Thank you for your comments. Mr. Rock  
Speaker 2     00:22:17    Council President, I'm asking you the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themself.  
Speaker 1     00:22:23    Please state your name and address and three minutes in which to speak.  
Speaker 12    00:22:27    Hi, good evening. My name is Rasa Rubin Steinitz and I am the policy associate for the New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness. I just wanted to speak this evening to continue to raise our concerns about this ordinance and just to speak to the fact that we're particularly concerned about this ordinance in the context that Piscataway and Middlesex County finds themselves in. We've seen homelessness rise across the state, a 57% increase. And we've specifically know that in Middlesex County there are very, very, very few shelters. And so I recognize this is not an ordinance directly focused on homelessness. However, in a county and in a municipality where we see, we see very little shelter, we know that a lot of times motels, hotels extended stays ends up becoming shelter by defacto. And so because of that we wanted to continue to raise our concerns about this ordinance, the type of impact it will end up having.  
Speaker 12    00:23:31    And I I just wanna also state that we really would love to work on trying to come with up with a solution that isn't going to have potentially devastating impacts on people's lives in this type of extreme cold weather. You know, this ordinance is being adopted after an incredible cold spell where we saw 74-year-old woman in Tom's River who froze to death in her car because there was no bear else for her to go. And I recognize that this council, you know, is, is trying to address another issue, but I think that there are better ways to go about this and we've worked with other municipalities to try to address some of these issues. I think there's a way we can balance the concerns around safety while making sure that residents who are most vulnerable are also continue to be safe. And we see that the leading causes of homelessness in Middlesex County, the leading cause is loss or reduction of job income followed by being asked to leave a shared residence followed by household breakup or a death in a household, all of which might lead to really precarious situations where someone might end up in a motel or hotel.  
Speaker 12    00:24:43    So I wanted to raise all of those points. I also, I may not have seen the most, I don't know if there was a more recent version and I apologize if this has already been included, but I would like to know more about the reasonable documentation for victims of domestic violence, what that specifically requires and would love to continue the conversation. Thank you for listening.  
Speaker 1     00:25:09    Thank you Isha. We're clearly trying to solve a local problem, not solve or criminalize homelessness. Thank you  
Speaker 2     00:25:22    Council president. I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themself.  
Speaker 13    00:25:31    Hello,  
Speaker 1     00:25:32    Please, please state your name and address and know that you have three minutes in which to state your comments.  
Speaker 13    00:25:38    Hi my name. I'm the director assistant programs at Coming home. We are in charge of the homeless system for Middlesex County and it's really actually disturbing for us in the system to see that's so close to home. The people that we work with, the vulnerable population of people that don't have home are being targeted in such a way as a previous caller was talking about. There's a lot going on with the current administration and we're doing everything in our power to help the, the homeless try and get into a home. It's 7:27 PM and I'm actually just leaving work right now. I work tire tirelessly to advocate for the rights of the homeless to try and work on the system to work with my team to actually get people into housing.  
Speaker 13    00:26:48    I I think it's so, so careless and so cruel that you would actually consider that it makes sense to evict people from a hotel when they clearly have nowhere else to go. We've had endless days of snow and ice and code blue. It's so cold outside, people will literally die in the cold. Now I understand exactly what it is that you're trying to do and you know it, it's terrible. There are people in the motels right now that are victims of domestic violence. They are asked to leave a shared residence. They, they're victims of natural disaster, right? So like hurricanes, a house fire, there was a gentleman that I spoke with last year and he was living in the streets with no coat and he had nowhere to go because his house burned down. The majority of people that I know, and you can even take a a quick look on Google, majority of Americans don't have savings, okay?  
Speaker 13    00:28:02    They don't have money for security deposit. And then if something happens to them and you know, they get sick, someone in their, their household dies, the breadwinner, whatever. If someone dies or if they get sick, they're not able to pay the rent and then if they get behind on their mortgage, they get foreclosed upon. We've got seniors that are in a fixed budget and if they're living in an apartment and the rent continues to go up, they have nowhere to go but outside. And so unfortunately we're in a situation where landlords continuously raise the rent and people cannot afford the apartments that are in Middlesex County. Any county in New Jersey and any state in the United States, it's unbelievable. Okay, so housing is not affordable. The people who live in hotels and motels don't wanna live there. Okay? No one can wait.  
Speaker 1     00:29:04    Thank you. Wanna live in a motel? You, you've exceeded the three minutes, but thank you so much for the work that you do.  
Speaker 2     00:29:15    Counsel president, I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themself.  
Speaker 1     00:29:21    Please state your name and address and be advised you have three minutes in which to speak.  
Speaker 14    00:29:32    Hi, my name is Kaisha 4 23 Avenue. I'm supporting this audience. This is not for against any homeless people, but this is for safety for the Pisca Bear resident who work there nearby. The businesses we hear hear the last meeting, a lot of business people and the employees unsafe. Even anybody work there nearby. You never know what happened, something and we are not sorry for anything happened. And then after we change the ordinance, this is precaution for the change, the this ordinance and I'm pulling supporting this ordinance for the township. Thank you.  
Speaker 1     00:30:21    Thank you Mr. Shah.  
Speaker 2     00:30:33    Council president, there are no other individuals with their hand raised regarding this agenda item.  
Speaker 1     00:30:41    Thank you Mrs. Cedar. We'll now open it up to the public portion. Anyone wishing to speak, please come up to the podium. State, state your name and address and be advised you got three minutes in which to speak.  
Speaker 15    00:31:01    Hello. Good evening, mayor and council members. Good  
Speaker 1     00:31:03    Evening.  
Speaker 15    00:31:04    My name is Sierra Hart. I'm the Director of Housing and Economic Justice with the New Jersey Coalition to End Domestic Violence. I'm also a survivor and we are here to urge you with the deepest concern to please remove this proposed ordinance from consideration. During the opening, I heard a council member state that this ordinance is for the residents and business owners of Piscataway. Those residents and business owners and community members are also victims of and survivors of domestic violence. Statistically, everyone knows someone impacted by domestic violence, including all of you. This ordinance may sound administratively on paper proper, but in real life it is dangerous. It will cause significant harm, especially to survivors of domestic violence, their children, their families, and their pets. Domestic violence is one of the leading causes of homelessness today in this country, in this state, survivors often flee with only the clothes on their back.  
Speaker 15    00:32:02    Many cannot re return to their homes. The safe houses are full. There are no code. Blue centers in Piscataway and hotels and motels have been proven to be a safe line for many survivors. And we know that hotels and motels have saved lives. They're not convenience, they are a lifeline. Placing an arbitrary 89 day limit on hotel stays, forces survivors into impossible choices. It tells someone who is actively escaping abuse that their safety has an expiration date. It tells a parent protecting their children that they must choose between stability and survival. And in many cases that choice is quite literally life or death. Survivors should never be forced to choose where they live based on fear of government punishment or displacement. Safety planning is deeply personal and survivor driven best practices and domestic violence response says confidentiality, survivor choice and stability, not rigid deadlines and not police driven housing determinations.  
Speaker 15    00:33:05    This ordinance would also put survivors at greater risk by requiring hotels to share a guest information with the township without a warrant. Privacy is not a luxury for survivors. It is a core safety need. Policies that erode privacy can expose survivors and their children and cause retaliation, stalking, and continued violence. Both Federal and New Jersey Supreme courts have already found such warrantless access, unconstitutional and for a good reason, the ordinance also allows housing decisions to be based on arrest or charge alone, not conviction. This is deeply troubling. Survivors, particularly survivors of color, are disproportionately arrested during domestic violence incidents sometimes for defending themselves and keeping themselves alive, penalizing people without a conviction, not only violates due process, it retraumatizes victims and discourages them from calling for help. It also gives abusers another tool to harass and displace survivors by calling in false charges, children among those who will suffer the most are forced. They will be forced into displacement, disrupt their lives, their schooling disrupt, being able to heal from the trauma that they've already experienced. And we know that repeated moves compound trauma instability for children.  
Speaker 1     00:34:20    Are you almost done?  
Speaker 15    00:34:21    Yes I am. Okay, so survivors of domestic violence deserve dignity. People experiencing homelessness deserve dignity. Dignity and their children deserve stability. Their families, their pets, and their and themselves deserve safety. No one should be punished for choosing survival. Please listen. Please leave with compassion and please do not move forward with an ordinance that would endanger thank you and possibly harm people. Thank you. Thank  
Speaker 1     00:34:44    You. Unfortunately Sierra, many of the calls at that hotel are domestic violence calls. That's part of what's going on over there. Welcome. Please state your name and address and be advised you have three minutes,  
Speaker 16    00:35:03    Mayor and council members. My name is Mil de Torres. I'm the director of the Middlesex County Family Justice Center with its women aware, the Lead Domestic Violence Agency of Middlesex County. I'm here to express serious concerns about the proposed ordinance. Limiting hotel and motel stays for victims and survivors of domestic violence and their children and sharing identifying information with the township. Code enforcement victims flee abuse because they're in danger often with little notice, often late at night and often with children. Safety in those moments depend on speed, privacy, and discretion. This ordinance removes all three requiring a victim to prove abuse to hotel staff who are not trained in domestic violence assessment and then requiring hotels to share personal identifying information, including names and addresses. With township, code enforcement places victims at immediate risk. Any delay or disclosure increases the likelihood that an abuser can locate and harm them. Faced with these barriers, many victims will choose the only options they feel is possible. And what is that returning to the abuser? This will result in continual abuse or homicide confide. Confidentiality is not optional in domestic violence. Responds. It is the cornerstone of safety under the Federal Violence Against Women Act and the New Jersey Prevention of Domestic Violence Act. And under longstanding best practices, victim survivors are encouraged to seek safety without fear of retaliation. Public exposure or punishment. Creating a municipal reporting requirement for survivor's identities runs directly counter to those principles and raises serious privacy and liability concerns.  
Speaker 16    00:37:04    This ordinance also harms children. Many of the families impacted will have no immediate safe shelter alternatives. Emergency shelters, as Sierra said, are often full or unable to accommodate all families. Hotels are frequently the only safe immediate options to keep children out of cause unsafe spaces or violent homes. This ordinance risks further criminalizing homelessness and poverty. Survivors must not be treated as code violations for trying to survive a crisis. Public safety should not come at the expense of human safety. We have used hotels and motels for victims since 2020 with positive results. It has been lifesaving for many victims. I respectfully ask you to remove the proposal ordinance from consideration and ensure that the township policy protects victim survivors and children rather than placing them in further harms way. Thank you.  
Speaker 0     00:38:07    Thank you. Please state your name and address.  
Speaker 17    00:38:21    Good evening, members of the council. My name is Dewan Norwood and I serve as policy at the A CLU of New Jersey. A CU and J strongly urges you to reject the ordinance and consideration, which would limit the of stays at hotels and motel. Last week, a CLU and J joined in a letter to this council expressing concerns that this ordinance as written will lead to further harm against vulnerable communities and potentially violate protections provided by the New Jersey Constitution and the law against discrimination. Tonight we echo those concerns and the request to convene a meeting of advocates and practitioners to develop a comprehensive approach to best serve members of this community. Several provisions in this ordinance raise significant flags on both their legality and efficacy. First, the primary enforcement mechanisms of this ordinance rely on the intrusion of privacy of hotel and motel guests in violation of the constitutions of the United States and New Jersey requiring hotels and motels to provide lists of guests and granting the Business Administrator the sole discretion to grant an extension of stay likely violates the right to privacy extended to guests.  
Speaker 17    00:39:25    This is the right to privacy in public accommodations that has been upheld by both the Supreme Court of the United States and the New Jersey Supreme Court. Second is the barring of licensure for persons with prior convictions of crimes of moral turpitude. There are substantial case law in New Jersey that municipalities cannot legislate in an area where the state legislature has comprehensively preempted that field penalties for convictions of state crimes would be such an area of preemption as to as to prevent a municipality from placing an additional penalty on individuals with prior convictions. Lastly, it's the guidance on extensions provided by the ordinance. These guide, these guidelines raise serious concerns of due process, which is guaranteed by both the US and New Jersey Constitution. The section prohibits the ascension of safer guests who are arrested for or formally charged with a felony offense during their stay at a hotel or motel.  
Speaker 17    00:40:19    And expressly states that such a determination shall be based exclusively on police records and shall not require a criminal conviction. In doing so, the ordinance inflicts punishment on individuals absent a conviction and on the whim of law enforcement and other government officials. As written, the ordinance under consideration by the Municipal Council is discriminatory in various instances, treating various groups of people differently. Piscataway cannot discriminate against the residents and guests, their residents and guests based on their type of dwelling economic status or their interactions with the criminal legal system. The construction of the ordinance, along with its enforcement mechanisms, opens the door to prejudicial abuses, criminalization, and dehumanization of vulnerable communities. By passing this ordinance, the Municipal Council will only be furthering the harm it claims to be addressing. We ask that you pursue policies that prioritize wellbeing and engage with stakeholders who can provide expertise and proven practices. Thank you for your time and consideration.  
Speaker 0     00:41:19    Thank you  
Speaker 9     00:41:25    Council President. I just wanna say that you know, there has been and and we iterate it before, there's been thorough review of this ordinance by multiple counsel, even for constitutional issues, et cetera. And you know, we've made a representation to the council that we feel it's enforceable.  
Speaker 1     00:41:44    Thank you. State your name and address.  
Speaker 18    00:41:49    Thank you. Heather Sims. I'm the Deputy Director of Advocacy and Peer Services at Collaborative support programs of New Jersey 55 Morris Street, new Brunswick, New Jersey. We serve many residents of Middlesex County and many families and individuals living in Piscataway. I am here also as someone who has once lived in a motel with my two children while waiting for a housing voucher after fleeing an abusive relationship. Without that temporary motel placement, I would not be standing here today. I would not have built a 24 year career. I would not be a homeowner. That short term stability was not a threat to public safety. It was a bridge to it. Limiting hotel and motel stays does not own end homelessness. It only displaces it when individuals and families are forced out without alternatives. They do not disappear. They become unsheltered, enter crisis systems or rely more heavily on emergency services at a far greater public PO cost.  
Speaker 18    00:42:54    We see this every day in Middlesex County through our outreach and peer support services families. As mentioned before, use motels for many reasons. Domestic violence, sudden evictions, house fires, medical emergencies, job loss, waiting for a voucher, transitions after incarceration, or institu institutionalization. And these are arbitrary deadlines that do not create housing. They create instability. There are already laws in place to address unsafe or criminal behavior. We do not need to criminalize poverty or displacement. Piscataway has an opportunity to lead with evidence-based, cost-effective approaches rooted in housing stability, community partnership. I respectfully urge you to remove this ordinance and instead work collaborative collaboratively with housing providers, service systems, and impacted residents to strengthen real resolutions. Temporary stability saved my family. Please do not take that bridge away from others. Thank you. Thank  
Speaker 1     00:43:58    You.  
Speaker 19    00:44:05    Good evening. My name is Eileen O'Donnell. I'm the executive director of coming home of Middlesex County and our address is 75 Bayard Street in New Brunswick. I apologize that I do not have prepared remarks, you know, but I just feel compelled to say a few things. I'm a, I'm a lawyer by training. I don't practice low right now. As I said, I'm the executive director of coming home and this ordinance and discussion about it has been milling about in our community of homeless service providers for like the last couple weeks. And these are a couple of things that I can't wrap my head around. Okay. So I mean, I have one homeless person who came up to me and you know, wants to join our people with lived experience council and she told me about her experience staying at Motel six and I said to her, so how did you find that?  
Speaker 19    00:44:49    And she said, well, and her only comment was it wasn't posh, but I was so happy to be able to be, you know, off the streets for a while until I found affordable housing. The other thing, so these, as I said, I'm sort of disjointed, so I apologize for that. The other thing is I don't get the 89 day rule. Right? That's why I think that people are asking you to remove this from consideration until there's an examination and a study and a conferring with people who are, who are working in the field. If you are an I absolutely a laudable goal to protect the citizens of Piscataway and, and safety and, and and, and their wellbeing, of course, right? But how does this 89 day rule do that? I mean, I understand that the marketing of this ordinance is way different than what the ordinance says.  
Speaker 19    00:45:32    And so maybe the public is aware of the marketing and not so much the ordinance, but the what does the ordinance do? The ordinance does not stop somebody who's had a criminal conviction from, and I'm glad it doesn't, from staying in a hotel. It says if you want an extension and you've committed a crime while there, you may not get that, you won't get that extension. That's very different. So, so what's the 89 day rule? You know, maybe the 89 day rule is you think that that will stop them from establishing residency and then eviction rules would have to take place as, as with landlord intended. But that's not true. There's no statute in place in New Jersey that that sets a limit of duration in a hotel that will make you turn you into a tenant. They, it's on a case by case basis. There is only case law, the only code is in the tax law and maybe that's where you got the 89 day rule because after 90 days the motel owner can't charge the room tax to the guest.  
Speaker 19    00:46:30    So maybe that's where the 89 day rule is, but I don't, I don't know, it doesn't seem to solve the issue. I mean, maybe on a case by case basis, if somebody is committing lots of crime and disruptions and disorderly conduct and there'd be a way to remove that person from the hotel, you know, and as my colleagues say, with a conviction, not just an arrest or not just allegations, but this 89 day rule is arbitrary because it doesn't do anything. I mean, you could leave the hotel for a day and come back for 89 more consecutive days. This 89 day rule makes no sense. And you know, my colleagues here also at the, at the network have looked at the CAD, the computer assisted dispatch, and the calls are sick to the police department, are sick person welfare check. There are some disorderly conducts and there are nine one.  
Speaker 19    00:47:20    Are you almost done? Yeah, I'm almost done. And drop 9 1 1 calls. So, you know, let's look into that. Let's look into that. Maybe the hotel proprietor doesn't know what to do if somebody is sick in the hotel. You don't, I don't know if your solution, one last thing. Thank you. Because you say you give an appeal to somebody who asked for an extension and didn't get it, but I'm sorry, counsel. The, the, the, the ordinance as written refers you to the appeal section for the, for the licensure denial of the hotel owner, not of the guest. So there is, there is no appeal for the guest. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Hello.  
Speaker 20    00:48:02    Hi, my name is THI and I serve as the Chief Operating Officer at Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey CSP and J, an agency that serves Piscataway residents in our community wellness center, our peer wellness respite house, and via our supported services. We're an agency with over 40 years experience in supported housing. So I wanna speak briefly from an operational and data perspective about the proposed 89 day hotel and motel stay cap. In our state fiscal year 2025 CSP and J served 1,744 unique individuals across the state seeking supportive housing services across our programming. The average length of stay needed to stabilize and transition to permanent housing was 128 days. Some individuals required up to 364 days of support before achieving housing stability. An 89 day cab would end support well before the average individual in our system is able to secure stable housing. The primary drivers of housing instability are not criminal behavior.  
Speaker 20    00:48:58    They're experiencing economic hardship. 42% of the individuals we serve lost income or experienced a reduction in income. 13% were asked to leave a shared residence, 12% experienced rent increases or had insufficient income to sustain housing. These are financial crises, not public safety threats. Housing stabilization is not a 30 day process, 60 day process, or 90 day process. It requires time to secure documentation, connect to income, supports, locate units in an extremely tight rental market, and complete voucher or tenancy processes. When housing is cut off prematurely, individuals do not suddenly become housed. They become unsheltered or cycle into emergency systems like ER departments, crisis services and law enforcement, which are far more costly to the community. The data nationally and locally is clear housing stability reduces emergency service utilization and improves public safety outcomes. If the goal is safety, we support targeted property level enforcement and licensing compliance. But a broad 89 day limit would disproportionately impact individuals already working towards stability and would likely increase not decrease system strain. We respectfully urge consideration of our alternatives that preserve stability while addressing legitimate safety concerns. Thank you for your time.  
Speaker 19    00:50:16    Thank you.  
Speaker 21    00:50:24    Good evening, Mayor Wahler and members of the Town Council. My name is Sheila Mazar. I live at 46th Ley Avenue in Piscataway. And besides speaking for myself this evening, I'm here as a representative of the League of Women Voters of the Greater New Brunswick area. We do not agree with this ordinance. It is too broad and will harm many of lawfully abiding motel and hotel guests who are trying to get back on their feet. Besides those facing domestic violence, the leading cause of homelessness in Middlesex County is due to the loss of a job or a large cut in salary. In addition, Middlesex County is woefully short of shelters and resources for those facing homelessness. I'm asking you as caring people to find solutions to help people facing a terrible period in their lives to remain housed instead of forcing them back onto the streets or having them shuffled between motels every 89 days.  
Speaker 21    00:51:25    As others have suggested, I ask you to seriously consider forming a task force which will work with housing experts, state and county officials, and those who provide direct services to the homeless so that more stable housing can be provided. We understand your need to address the criminal activity occurring in these facilities and your responsibility to protect the safety of all the guests residing there. However, this ordinance as written will not protect the safety of those who are forced to leave due to a limited stay policy. Therefore, we are asking that you take the time and make the effort to rewrite this ordinance so that you're able to remove those who are committing criminal acts or harming others, but still allow those who are trying to better their situations to remain. Housing the homeless is not a problem that will magically get better, unfortunately, is a complex problem that has many components, two of which will require increasing the availability of low income housing and providing healthcare for those who have little or no coverage.  
Speaker 21    00:52:37    Lastly, I ask you to use your political influence to encourage Senator Bob Smith, an assemblyman Kevin Egan and Joe Danielson to work on and pass legislation which will provide more rental assistance and more lower income housing for our entire state. Instead of writing ordinances that will force the homeless who live in Piscataway into other nearby towns, or to move from motel to motel, please step up and be the leaders in our state who show other town administrations the way to find real solutions to the problem and that we'll treat the homeless with respect and the human dignity they deserve. Thank you for your time. Thank you.  
Speaker 20    00:53:27    Good evening. I'm Stacy Berger, Piscataway resident at 2 33 Ellis Parkway and I'm privileged to serve in my professional capacity as the president and CEO of the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey. We're the statewide association of 250 non-profit community developers, private sector partners and housing champions working together to make sure that New Jersey is a place everyone can afford to call home. I wanna thank our members and our partners for being here tonight to say that our community wants housing, not handcuffs. I've been here a few times to raise significant questions about the legality and efficacy of this ordinance, and I still don't understand why you would choose to undermine best practices laid out by some of the smartest people I know for improving public safety and housing stability. Instead, your scapegoating people and misleading our neighbors about what is actually in this ordinance when you have much better choices you could make.  
Speaker 20    00:54:18    The crime update sent by the township on January 30th stated that agencies from other towns and other counties have been placing people at these hotels, including and I quote those being released from incarceration. Is there anything in this ordinance at all that addresses people being released from incarceration? No. No, there is not. I'm curious though why you would mention that specific constituency without addressing any of their needs or their concerns. It certainly is open to speculation. I'm also wondering about the mayor's interview and video message with Officer Kasic in which he says, we should know whether people convicted of domestic abuse are moving here. Does this ordinance do that? Nope. No, it does not. So why do you imply that Ms. Carmichael and Ms. Cahill's response to my email regarding this proposal raised even more questions? They both stated that this ordinance is very similar to those in other towns.  
Speaker 20    00:55:14    And I'm curious if they looked at East Brunswick, south Brunswick and Woodbridge in case you didn't have a chance. Let me clarify. East Brunswick is somewhat similar, but I think we all know. Our mom said, just 'cause your friends are jumping off a bridge doesn't mean you should do that too. So just 'cause someone else is doing something doesn't make it a good idea. South Brunswick doesn't seem to have any ordinance that anyone could find at all. So I'm not sure what you read. I'm extremely curious about Woodbridge though, because their ordinance is not a thing like what you all have proposed. In fact, it's the exact opposite and it's terrific. Kudos to Woodbridge Mayor John McCormick and the council there for adopting an ordinance that puts responsibility for community safety on hotels and motels through their licensing process. Woodbridge doesn't limit length of stay because it's ineffective and harmful as you've heard.  
Speaker 20    00:56:02    While guests are given notice that their registration information might be shared with the police, those interactions are much less significant the way they are described in their ordinance than what you are all proposing. Most importantly, Woodbridge requires hotels, motels, and others to become certified in crime prevention through environmental design sted, and to take additional sted training when there's a problem at their location. Woodbridge has taken a comprehensive cutting edge approach to this situation. Sted and programs like IT center proven strategies and collaborative efforts to improve the built environment to strengthen business and resident connections. And I completely and totally understand that businesses in town need a solution to this, but this ordinance is not it. It will not solve your problem. Our network has been a certified subed trainer since 2017 and we continue to do that around. Thank you Ms. Berg. Can you please, I'm gonna wrap up. Wrap it up. I'm going to, I'm curious whether any of you considered the Woodbridge model as an alternative. Woodbridge has demonstrated that Middlesex County towns can put people first without regard for how they arrived at their current housing situation. It also shows that good public policy can be developed when the government and its residents work collaboratively together to address the solution. Everyone here tonight stands ready to work together to do just that because we believe that people need housing and not handcuffs. We hope that you do too.  
Speaker 1     00:57:23    Thank you. Anyone else?  
Speaker 22    00:57:45    Hi, my name's Dana Gabriel. I am the business owner of Gabriel's Barn Grill and my employees were here at the lot. First reading, they shared their experiences with you and I just wanna make sure you guys all understand that nothing was exaggerated. Those are personal experiences. I've been Gabriel's for 29 years in the past five years. It's changed a lot. Those are the facts. With all due respect to domestic violence and the housing issue, I'm very compassionate to it, but I can't imagine that housing experts would wanna police somebody that has something trauma like that in that hotel. It's not safe there. And it goes into our businesses and we're not safe. So we were not weird by coming to the council and asking for help. We've been asking for help for two years. I'm grateful that you guys came up with the first reading of the ordinance. At first I was like, wow, 89 days. That's still a long time for somebody with misbehavior to keep acting up. But then I understood it. You guys are trying to like work together. I, I appreciate everything you guys are doing. I appreciate what you guys are saying, but I haven't seen you guys at Gabriel's. I haven't seen you guys when the ambulance are there. I wanna know. I'm and  
Speaker 0     00:59:03    I'm sorry,  
Speaker 22    00:59:10    I don't want anybody to think that it's an exaggeration. They're not calling the ambulance for high blood pressure. They're calling for fentanyl overdose. We know that the people that are staying there, they're lovely people. I've met some people that have actually helped me and my husband. People are trying to break into on our ceiling and the people are like, we've seen the guy and we can go look at the camera or we're waiting to a gentleman that's handicapped, that's staying in the ho in the hotel. And we are shocked that he had a fentanyl overdose. We wave to him every day. This is a gentleman with housing that's being placed there. It's not a safe hotel. We've asked for the owner of the hotel to meet publicly with the police department and with the mayor. He has not showed up. We are the property owners. I'm embarrassed. We're a nuisance to the town. We've gone to court, we're gonna do whatever we can, but we're here asking for help. And you've come together and you've come up with an ordinance. Maybe it's not perfect, maybe they could work on it a little more. But we appreciate what you guys are doing and we, I I respect what you guys are saying, but please stop placing people there. They're not safe there. They're not,  
Speaker 23    01:00:18    Instead of doing this, this what we just did with her is so much better than what  
Speaker 1     01:00:23    We're doing. Can, can we please have public order? Public order please? People here on a regular basis, public order.  
Speaker 24    01:00:37    Danielle, thank you very much. Most of you know me. My name is Ralph Johnson. I'm a resident. Excuse me, sir, would you like to address me?  
Speaker 1     01:00:49    You're addressing the council, sir. Okay. Please,  
Speaker 24    01:00:52    Thank you. No, I I don't tolerate disrespect. Please handle it. Okay, thank you. As I stated, I'm a former commands law enforcement officer, a longtime resident who cares deeply about safety and stability. Piscataway, I'm here tonight to offer perspective that I believe can strengthen the response to the ongoing issue at the Motel six in the surrounding corridor. I want to be clear, I under understand the desire to take action, but the ordinance as written so far does not even address the underlying issues that were just brought up. So across New Jersey municipalities, they've used evidence-based data strategies, not relying solely on punitive measures. So the most effective approaches from a police perspective is one, data-driven policies and policing. Identify the hotspots, repeat locations, offender patterns, two focus deterrents that target the small number of individuals that are really driving those incidences. Community partnerships and rapid communication.  
Speaker 24    01:01:56    Build trust around reporting. I hate the fact that you had to wait two years Oh yeah. To, to even get addressed environmental design and improvement lighting surveillance in those areas. All right. Vegetation movement code enforcement that doesn't actually violate civil rights or any type of statutory cross agency collaboration. Working with the Connie Prosecutor, state police, social services and the local businesses. That's how this drives it. Transparency through reporting and crime trends. Long-term preventions with our youth programs and social services partnerships would address these issues. So I'm actually glad that this is here and it's kind of confrontational because we're really trying to say the same thing. Mayor, I'm a local business owner, address my issues, right? I've waited two years for this and now we have this social services programs. What are your expertise to help us drive these things and really address the problem?  
Speaker 1     01:02:56    Can you speak with us instead of the whole audience too?  
Speaker 24    01:02:59    Well, the reason I'm doing this, because it's funny to me, I'm listening to local business establishment. I love, and I love being a patron to ask for years for help. Then all these media social services. But I've yet to actually see a discussion amongst council that actually says, how do we address this? Let's talk about that. I've never seen discussion about it other than just, let's read the ordinance. Table it, not table it. Yes or no? I've never had a real discussion until I actually heard these concerns. Citizens here today mention it. So if this is the start of it, and this is the reason, the ask is, could we at least look at it again, address it, and address the needs from the concerned citizens. So I hope I can bring you all together and not that we're divisive. So again,  
Speaker 1     01:03:46    Thank you Mr. Johnson. You're  
Speaker 24    01:03:48    Quite welcome. Thank you very much.  
Speaker 1     01:03:57    Anyone else?  
Speaker 22    01:04:07    Hi Counsel. My name's Nancy Corino. 14 Jefferson Drive, former board of education member. Yeah. Hi Ralph. I'm glad you don't tolerate disrespect. You should put that on a T-shirt, but Oh, I wasn't on the board of it at that time. Okay. Okay. But let's, I know you like to control the meeting, but anyway,  
Speaker 1     01:04:30    Let's state, let's  
Speaker 22    01:04:31    State your comment. My point of being a former bed former board of education member and a resident for 30 years as a board of ed member, our primary responsibility was educating our students and keeping our students and staff safe. Your primary responsibility is keeping our community safe. Thank you.  
Speaker 1     01:04:54    Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none? I'll close the public portion. Okay.  
Speaker 25    01:05:12    I would like to speak, sorry. My name is Rena Patel. I'm a social worker and a peer advocate for Middlesex County. So first, there's a reason why town council meetings aren't exclusive just to your town. It impacts everyone around you, which is why it's open to the public. Second, you all keep saying you're not targeting any individuals. And I just wanna start by saying, you are most definitely targeting certain individuals. You're using labels and stigma, stigmatizing terms such as criminals, drug addicts, and homeless. When you should be addressing these individuals as returning citizens or formerly incarcerated individuals who are experiencing a substance use issue or in recovery. And individuals who are unhoused. Because these individuals are people and are more than just a label and their circumstances, they're human and deserve the same dignity and respect as all of us receive. Returning citizens or formerly incarcerated are the one of the most stigmatized and discriminated against individuals.  
Speaker 25    01:06:03    So to automatically assume that those returning from prison are going to re-offend is stigma. I urge you to look up the reasons for recidivism in which you'll find that the ordinances you are proposed are the exact reason why recidivism rates are the way that they are, whether you like it or not. Once an individual has served their time, they have the absolute right to reintegrate back into society and turn their lives around, as I've seen so many do and live happy, healthy lives. And just so you know, you already all live with the formerly incarcerated in your neighborhood. Pay the same taxes as them. You work with them. Your children go to school and college and vocational school with them. Go to church with them, and you hold the door open for them when you pass them and when you walk into grocery stores. And the best part about it, you have no idea.  
Speaker 25    01:06:45    And you have no reason to know. No reason to know person with criminal background or their past for these exact reasons that they're stigmatized and discriminated against. Ban the Box movement existed for a reason. The people that you need to know, there's already a registry out there for the public. It's called a national sex offender registry. Everyone else, it's none of your business. The registry you propose in your ordinance. For the police to have a list of names of the individuals staying at hotel or motels or provide them to the police on demand is an easy way for you to target people and throw them in jail for no reason. Especially people of color as we have historically seen with racial profiling. This is not just out in the streets, but a place of shelter instead. Because you can't tell me that if someone won't look at a name like mine and automatically know where that individual come from because I've had it happen to me multiple times.  
Speaker 25    01:07:30    And stop blaming social services and hindering our ability to fight the crisis we were facing as we work just as hard as our police and face high turnover and burnout rates, and are not nearly as recognized for the hard work. We do work with us, not against us, as I assume your solution when everyone ends up back on the streets again, if you pass this ordinance, was to conveniently reintroduce ordinance three dash 23.1 Unlawful Acts, which would find in jail individuals using public property to sleep on, but you had to take away due to public opposition three months ago. There are more viable solutions to this, as an example is new in township police department, Sussex County, Sussex County, which is working with social service agencies and created a homelessness task force to combat issues like homelessness and substance use to ensure people are getting housed and receiving treatment that they need instead of the inhumane way that you're proposing of shoving everyone in jail and continue to get nowhere as the cycle will just continue. Thank you. But please work with us. So not against us. There's nothing we can't do together. Thank you.  
Speaker 1     01:08:28    Thank you. We closed the public portion. Oh,  
Speaker 15    01:08:38    Didn't she speak in the public portion? This  
Speaker 1     01:08:42    Is it. Go ahead.  
Speaker 15    01:08:43    Oh, okay. Thank you. I'm gonna set my own timer so I know. So my name is Nancy Salgado Kawan. I live at 1 2 4 Stanton Avenue, Piscataway, New Jersey as the current president of the school board. I just wanna mention two things. Number one we do at the school board, think about safety of course, right? And in that it entitles all the whole part of the person, not just policing, leasing, not just the, you know, it entails social services and mental health and every part of the person, the whole, okay, when you talk about safety, it's not just the drug offender, as you say, it's not just the recovering addict, it's not all of these things, it's every part of the person. You have to address the mental health portion. What does this ordinance do for those people who are historically needing help? Right? You're talking about a domestic violence person.  
Speaker 15    01:09:45    You're talking about the person who just came out of jail. What are we doing to help them okay, with their mental health? What are we doing? Are we providing any services for them? Are we providing any institutional help? No. Right? So that's what you need to talk about. That's part of safety, because that will help them to get out of those situations. Okay? No, no ordinance, your ordinance does not address those issues. Okay. Another thing, a task force, a committee. Okay? You have plenty of committees in this town, right? And in the school board, we have committees too. But I see that you don't really allow for community members to just be part of that committee. They can attend, but they can't be part of that committee. Whereas the school board, any person can actually be part of the solution. It would be nice if the community members could be part of and take part and make decisions, help the council with these type of things.  
Speaker 15    01:10:43    Like people have mentioned, a task force would be wonderful so that everyone here who has certain issues could actually work together to come up with great solutions because we have lots of really smart individuals that live in this town who have heart for these children, for all of the people in this town, including you guys in the town council. And I know that you guys have a heart to do this work. So you should also think about making a task force to address these issues before you decide to make some blanket ordinance that's not gonna do much to lead to the wellness and the overall safety of this town. And I leave 26 minutes on the clock. 26 seconds. Thanks.  
Speaker 1     01:11:28    Before  
Speaker 3     01:11:29    Council president, I just, since the board president? No, no. The public portions closed.  
Speaker 1     01:11:34    We we're proposing the public portion.  
Speaker 7     01:11:36    I promise to be very brief.  
Speaker 3     01:11:37    No, I,  
Speaker 1     01:11:40    Let's go. Okay. One, this is it. This will be it. Thank  
Speaker 7     01:11:43    You. Appreciate it. Good evening, Mayor Wahler, members of the Town Council. My name is Richard Nuber and I live at 48 Wagner Avenue in Piscataway. First of all, I wanna sincerely thank the mayor and the council for the steps taken in this proposed amendment or ordinance. And I hope that I will receive approval today as it did in the first reading.  
Speaker 7     01:12:12    The ordinance may not be perfect, but I think it's a great first step to help deter, deter criminal activity that was well documented in the January 20th meeting. And I think that's what all the business owners and the others that spoke at that time are really concerned about. It's not, it's not the people that are homeless, it's not the people that are living in under dire times. It's the criminal activity that they're concerned about. And what I haven't heard from the council or the township is the plans to be taken to increase police surveillance and the presence in Motel six area. In the January council meeting, a former Piscataway police officer spoke and mentioned that Piscataway had a vice narcotics unit at one time, but that was disbanded in 2020. It would seem to me that reconstituting this unit might be a major proactive step as opposed to being reactive to help address the criminal activity at the hotel and elsewhere.  
Speaker 7     01:13:13    What steps, I'd like to know what steps the township or the council can take with regards to policing the problem. Finally, does the town have any financial recourse to the county or the state? This is really a problem because the county and the state are not doing their jobs. Do we have any financial recourse to recoup the cost of the police work and the EMS that we send there so that the burden doesn't be become one just for the Piscataway taxpayer, but something that should be filtered back up to the county and state. Thank you for the time.  
Speaker 1     01:13:50    Thank you. The public portion is now closed.  
Speaker 9     01:13:56    Council president, I'll just in regard to the question on what the police are doing, I've had numerous conversations as well as the mayor has with our director of public safety on, on what we can do. I mean, I think it's been reiterated multiple times that there's been over 700 calls in just in the past year at that location. That's literally twice a day. Twice a day, nearly to the extent that that we've talked to, to director of public safety about increasing just regular patrols in the area. And have, they've continued to do that over the past few months. It hasn't resolved the issues, which is why you know the, we're taking additional steps.  
Speaker 1     01:14:36    Thank you. Can I have an offer?  
Speaker 19    01:14:42    I will offer Councilwoman Cahill.  
Speaker 1     01:14:44    Can I have a second?  
Speaker 7     01:14:45    Second. Councilman Uhrin.  
Speaker 1     01:14:48    Ms. Cedar, can you please call the role  
Speaker 2     01:14:51    Council member Cahill?  
Speaker 19    01:14:52    Yes.  
Speaker 2     01:14:53    Council member Carmichael?  
Speaker 6     01:14:56    Yes.  
Speaker 2     01:14:57    Council member Espinosa? Yes. Council member Lebowitz? No. Council member Rashid?  
Speaker 6     01:15:06    No. No.  
Speaker 2     01:15:07    Council member Ern? Yes. Council President Lombardi? Yes.  
Speaker 1     01:15:12    And the ordinance passes on second reading. We'll move to number 10, which are the consent agenda. Resolutions for efficiency items have been consolidated into a consent agenda to be voted on together. And the materials for these items have been distributed to the council. In advance of the meeting. Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?  
Speaker 7     01:15:42    Motion Councilman Uhrin. Second Espinosa,  
Speaker 1     01:15:46    Could you please call the rule  
Speaker 2     01:15:48    Council member Cahill?  
Speaker 19    01:15:50    Yes.  
Speaker 2     01:15:51    Council member Carmichael?  
Speaker 6     01:15:53    Yes.  
Speaker 2     01:15:55    Council member Espinosa? Yes. Council member Lebowitz? Yes. Council member Rashid?  
Speaker 6     01:16:04    Yes. To all Upstate from M  
Speaker 2     01:16:06    Thank you Council member Rin?  
Speaker 7     01:16:09    Yes.  
Speaker 2     01:16:12    Council President Lombardi.  
Speaker 1     01:16:14    As soon the consent agenda passes, we'll now move to number 11, which are announcements and comments from officials. Ms. Gabrielle Cahill.  
Speaker 19    01:16:25    Thank you Council president. I wanna thank all the residents who came out tonight, those who voiced their concerns. I can tell you that no amendment is perfect and this council will work together to find improvements, ways to work together, but primarily here we are here today to solve the issue of this high activity of crime in our town. The public safety of even unhoused that have been placed there, which they should not be placed in that Motel six as it currently is. That said, as I stated, we will always work together. We do have conversations to the resident who mentioned that that's what the council does. It's conversations that we have with the professionals in town, our lawyers, the mayor, to continue to improve. That said, I'm hoping that everyone will have a happy and safe holiday weekend, a good happy Valentine's Day. But I can rest assured to those people who are here from Piscataway who are looking for this council to respond that we do and we will.  
Speaker 1     01:17:44    Sharon Carmichael.  
Speaker 26    01:17:47    Thank you Madam President. I just want to echo what Councilwoman Cahill said. We are looking at the safety of our residents and our, and our community. And this is not the end all. It's a good step in the right direction, I believe. And, and we are not going to start, stop working and leave people where they should not be. We do care. Thank you. Have a good weekend.  
Speaker 1     01:18:16    Thank you Dennis Espinoza.  
Speaker 5     01:18:19    Thank you Madam and President. I, I'm looking forward to working with everyone as well. I echo Council member Cahill. I mean it's, it's a first step and it's not just selective residents that we take care of. It is all residents that we take care of. So although this may be the first step, it is a step. So I'm looking forward to working with everyone. Thank you  
Speaker 1     01:18:49    Laura Leitz.  
Speaker 2     01:18:51    First I wanna acknowledge the importance of our proclamation and thank the mayor in support of Black History Month. The valuable contributions and struggles of African Americans should never be overlooked. We can certainly be proud of our own neighbors, residents, the veterans, and even some of the Tuskegee airmen that I've met here in Piscataway. Secondly, I'd like to remind everyone that registration for a free table at our first autism resource fair and our sponsorships at 1 25 are still being accepted through Saturday, February 14th. The event will consist of a large variety of resources for people with autism across all ages and support needs. We have 25 table folks at this time and several sponsors. So you have till Saturday to get your name on the t-shirt. There will also be a room of fun engagement with music crafts and giveaways. Finally, I reiterate that the safety of our residents and the success of our local businesses is of great importance to me.  
Speaker 2     01:19:54    I truly believe it is time for us to continue to educate ourselves in the areas of safety, security, and the unhoused for our best outcomes. I also looked at the security and safety training that Woodbridge provides. I think that would be a great step for us. I also feel that our town, of course, is a wonderful place for everyone. From young professionals to families and seniors. I truly appreciate the open communication and engagement with a wide variety of residents of Piscataway, as well as experts in the field of housing advocacy and hotel motel lag legality, including the ACL U. And I would encourage this council to push forward on establishing a task force, educating ourselves and looking for areas of additional support for the unhoused in Piscataway and our county. While this ordinance establishes guidelines for accountability and regulation at our local hotels and motels, its creation certainly brought to light the needs of the unhoused in our own town and region. Monarch housing point in time, homeless counts from January in indicate an increase in homelessness in the state and 48 people in Piscataway. This ordinance has now put us in a position to establish relationships with professionals across a variety of fields to truly make a difference in this arena. Thank you  
Speaker 0     01:21:29    Sarah Rashid.  
Speaker 6     01:21:32    I wanted to thank everyone for coming out and sharing their concerns and their views. Nobody should feel unsafe in their place of work and I, I just, I cannot imagine what they go through. And definitely action has to be taken. I support licensing hotels and motels and holding anybody involved in any criminal activity, fully responsible. But to believe that we can only protect our residents by creating, you know, unsafe and undesirable, unintended consequences for vulnerable populations is not okay. Everybody on this panel is sitting here saying, yes, this is a great first step, but this is a great first step. We could have taken one more meeting and we could have made this even better. We could have taken all the concerns that were raised today and we could have made this ordinance even better. So I hope that we will continue to work together and make sure that we keep all our residents safe. Thank you.  
Speaker 0     01:22:49    Thank you. Uhrin?  
Speaker 7     01:22:51    Yes. I just want echo the words of Councilman Cahill and Councilman Espinoza. Very well said. Also, as a member of our community outreach board, I would publicly like to thank the Piscataway ELs for the generous donation. Again, they gave to our commission,  
Speaker 1     01:23:11    Mayor Wahler.  
Speaker 3     01:23:13    Very, very brief. Just wanna notify the council. We got notification from Senator Booker's office that we received a federal grant for a new senior citizen bus.  
Speaker 1     01:23:24    Great. Hey, Business Administrator Po Paula Kelli.  
Speaker 28    01:23:32    Thank you. Council president. The mayor used one of my announcements. He is the mayor. He could do that. He was the reason why we got that money. In any event, again, thank you. And, and for the support of that was Dana Corman, the mayor's chief of staff as well as Amy Bauman, our Director of Office on Aging was also part of that process. I also would like to say there's a resolution on there for the local recreation improvement grant. We're going to continue in reducing our carbon footprint by replacing our sodium vapor lights with our LEDs at Quibble Town Park. And we'll probably start putting some security cameras as well on those lighting poles. And we're gonna be doing that. I mean this, this application is for 2026, so that won't go into the capital budget until next year. But this year we are working on the LED replacements at Riverside Park. So that is in the budget for this year. And thank you very much.  
Speaker 1     01:24:36    Thank you. Our township attorney Raj Gomar, no comments. Thank you. And that leads me to me, I wanna thank you all for coming out this evening. The dialogue is great and as Councilwoman Cahill said, this was a start and we can continue to amend and work on this as we go. But in honor of public safety and to help our businesses in this town, it was necessary and we couldn't keep pushing it back and pushing it back and making them wait and making them wait. I'd also like to take a moment to personally thank and to commend on behalf of myself and the council, the Piscataway Police Department and our Office of Emergency Management for their remarkable work during this weekend's extremely dangerous temperatures because of their preparation, coordination, dedication, the safety and safety to our residents, we were able to respond swiftly and effectively.  
Speaker 1     01:25:42    I wanna highlight a few key actions that happened this weekend. All three of our warming centers were open to the public Westergard Library, JFK Library and the Piscataway Community Center. In the evening hours, an overnight shelter was established at the community center so that anyone in need had a safe and warm place to go at every police shift change officers proactively rode through the township knocking on car doors and personally offering transportation to the com community center for warmth and shelter. The community center was staffed around the clock by three OEM personnel for the entire weekend, ensuring continuous support and supervision. Police officers were also present and involved throughout the weekend, further reinforcing our commitment to resident safety, only one individual accepted shelter and he was provided with a warm blanket and food with assistance from A-Y-M-C-A personnel and the mayor's wife and myself. This weekend we truly took care of our own. Our community came together and every department involved showed professionalism, compassion, and dedication. I am extremely proud of the work everyone did and I wanna extend my deepest gratitude to all who stepped up during this weather emergency this weekend. We'll now move, which is the agenda session for the upcoming March 12th, 2026. Meeting. On that agenda session will be an ordinance second reading, vacating all of the rights title and interest of the Township of Piscataway in the entirety of Roth Place Open. It will be open to the public and it will be a resolution adopting. Do we have any questions or concern from council members?  
Speaker 1     01:28:00    Also on that meeting will be a resolution authorizing award of professional services for tax appeal attorney Esia and Nolan PC not to exceed 35,000. Do we have any questions or concerns at this point? We'll be open to the public for any matters for our remote attendees. Are there any remote attendees on the queue?  
Speaker 2     01:28:28    Council president, I'm asking the first individual with their hand raised to unmute themself.  
Speaker 1     01:28:32    Please state your name and address and be advised you have three minutes in which to speak.  
Speaker 11    01:28:37    Brian Rack. 1247 Brookside Road. Again, this is the first, I'm hearing that the YMCA was open all night. I just checked on the town Facebook page. I don't see it posted. I just went on the town website and searched for code blue. I don't see it posted there either. So I don't know how you expected people to show up to a thing. You didn't announce anywhere that was it.  
Speaker 1     01:28:59    Well, I don't think that any of our local homeless have social media nor a television in their car.  
Speaker 11    01:29:06    What tele what what a television in their car.  
Speaker 2     01:29:15    I'm sure they have cell phones.  
Speaker 11    01:29:17    Yeah, everybody has a cell phone. Okay.  
Speaker 19    01:29:25    I would just like to Anyone else that, that, that I, council president if I could, you know, that might have been taken in a certain way. But our police department has patrolled correct.  
Speaker 1     01:29:35    They know where they were. If, if  
Speaker 19    01:29:37    The caller had listened to what you had said, it was at every shift that the police were around town.  
Speaker 1     01:29:44    And unfortunately many of them do not wanna leave where they are. They don't wanna leave their car, they don't wanna leave their worldly possessions. And one man was brought there and said, I'm not staying here. It's, it's very sad, trust me. It's very sad. Okay. But they do not wanna leave at times and we cannot physically pull them out of their cars. Right. But they did. They know where they are.  
Speaker 2     01:30:12    Council president, I'm asking the next individual with their hand raised to unmute themself.  
Speaker 8     01:30:20    Good evening. This is Jessica Kratovil, 1247 Brookside Road. I think what my husband was trying to indicate is that there's more ways you can do outreach and you might have greater success if you use someone other than police officers whose most people interact with. Only on very unfortunate occasions. If you had maybe homeless services or some kind of social worker do that kind of outreach, you would have perhaps greater acceptance because people wouldn't be afraid of being arrested. Or there are items discarded in like a homeless camp clearing, which is what I think a lot of people fear when they have that kind of interaction. So that's just something to think about. And, and I'm sure that people experiencing homelessness can use the internet to find out what services are available. So if you made them more publicly available, like this is the only time I heard about it and I'm very fortunate to not be experiencing homelessness.  
Speaker 8     01:31:24    But if people don't know about it, maybe I could have told somebody if I saw them over the weekend, if I knew that the warming centers were open. So I think it's just about trying to get the word out and, and maybe use the least confrontational way to do that would be a, a more effective method. And I wanted to thank Mr. Goer. If, if he listened to my comments, I was highlighting the differences between the ordinance that we were discussing and the East Brunswick ordinance, which I believe does not violate the Fourth Amendment. So thank you so much. I hope you have a great evening.  
Speaker 1     01:31:59    Thank you.  
Speaker 2     01:32:06    Council president. There are no other remote individuals with their hand  
Speaker 1     01:32:10    Raised regard. Thank you Ms. Cedar. We'll close the remote attendees. And now for anyone from the public wishing to speak.  
Speaker 0     01:32:19    Thank you.  
Speaker 1     01:32:20    Please state your name and address.  
Speaker 29    01:32:22    Good evening everyone. My name's Carlos Alida. I'm the president of PBA local 93 here in Piscataway. I represent 84 sworn officers who work with Integrity, honor, and respect. I was there this weekend when I spoke to our homeless population. They're over by, I'm not gonna say where they're at. I I offered them help. I have great relationship with them. They call me Carlos. I am on a first name basis with many of them. I offered them help. Some of them said that they would come, many did not. It could be out of pride, it could be out of many things. They didn't wanna leave their belongings maybe. I'm not sure the offer was made. Mayor Wahler, I wanna thank you for opening the YMCA, the town Council. Thank you for everything that you do to improve the quality of life in town. Business Administrator Paula as well.  
Speaker 29    01:33:16    Thank you guys for, for taking the steps to improve the quality of life in town. I've been a law enforcement officer here now for 21 years and during the last couple of years I've watched the quality of life kind of go down. I don't know what the cause is. We are lacking proactive unit. I have spoken with director stiff. We have quarterly meetings and he did state that that will be coming back. Yeah. So that we'll be coming back. It's just the, the the staffing resources need to, we're working on it. We're working on it. I listen to everybody here tonight. I appreciate the dialogue. I appreciate the comments that everyone made. We are listening. We, we, we even we're on the Piscataway page. You know, a lot of our residents live in town. A lot of our police officers live in town. Sorry. We care. We wanna make the, the, the best possible decisions for the township residents and for the homeless population. I do wanna say homeless people are not criminals. We have a criminal problem in town and I appreciate everything that you guys are doing to try to, to solve that. So thank you guys for your time. Thank you.  
Speaker 1     01:34:22    Thank you.  
Speaker 30    01:34:32    My name is Gusta SI live at 58 Curtis. A hundred meters of our street is half frozen from seventh and Curtis to seventh and Mansfield. I made complaints about this before. My complaint is nonexistent. A lot of ordinance violations concerning residents in the township are not taking care of. I'm a resident in Piscataway since 1971 before our mayor was in grammar school. Hi mayor. I suffered. I struggle to get this complaint resolved all these years. Property maintenance and you, Ms. Berger, have my complaint. Yes you do. In your hand. I gave it to you myself six years ago. Nothing happened. My complaint is nonexistent. There's a lot of ordinance violations in my from seventh and Curtis to seventh and Mansfield. None of it is being taken care of for six years now. I've been coming here. This is an old veteran with a Purple Heart that finally established. They have my DD two 14. They knew what I'd been through. Not one of them cares. Just take a look around this lot. What do you see?  
Speaker 0     01:36:44    Thank you.  
Speaker 15    01:36:52    Hello, Nancy Salgado. Cowan 1, 2 4 Stanton Avenue, Piscataway, New Jersey. I'm speaking today in my personal capacity as a resident, not in my capacity as a school board member. I wanted to bring two facts up. Number one, I was perusing the township council page. I did notice that there are bios up for all of the council members except for council member Laura Liebowitz and Sarah Rashid. They've been on the council for over a year. It did take over six months for their pictures to get up. So thankfully their pictures are up. And I know that our council members have provided those bios over a year ago. And it was interesting that every other council person has a beautiful bio. And it's unfortunate that although as a taxpayer, you know, I pay for, you know, all of the PR for all of the town council and the two of those town council persons do not enjoy the same PR that everyone else enjoys.  
Speaker 15    01:38:04    I would like some equity in reference to that pr like when there's photographs of the town council that all town council persons should be included in those photographs. Would you let, I think I would be nice for it to be equitable. I would like that when events are created for all of the town council people like the autism event that the said town council person who is hosting it, her name should be associated with it. Just like when, you know, other town council persons have their events, their names are associated with it and even their picture. That would be nice that it would be all equitable for all Town council. Peoples seeing as you know, our funds are all being used. I don't think that certain Town Council persons should be treated differently than other town council persons. I think that it's just a good idea that since they were all equally elected and that they all should be afforded the same privileges. 'cause they were all elected. And I give my taxes for all of them. And I just think it's unfortunate that they're being treated differently and I just don't like it. I like when people are all treated equally. Thank you.  
Speaker 3     01:39:20    Thank you Ca Council per kenza. If I may, if Ms. Salgado, can you please come back up to the mic? Can you come back to the mic? She was here in December. She said that she would take a look into Right now, I don't know if folks know this or not because the board of ed is gonna be doing some construction or displacing three election districts. And right now we do not have three election districts are gonna have a place to vote because they're gonna shut down. Fellowship Farm. Please put a task force together with the county board election. You guys figured that out?  
Speaker 15    01:39:53    We are already working on it. Okay.  
Speaker 3     01:39:55    It it has to happen. It has to happen over at Fellowship school 'cause there's no other area right now where that can be accommodated. Okay, thank you.  
Speaker 15    01:40:03    We're working on it.  
Speaker 3     01:40:04    Clock is ticking.  
Speaker 31    01:40:11    Hello, my name is Ryan Espinosa. I live one high point way. I honestly don't know where to start, but since the Board of education is here, I just want you to let to you guys to know I'm not scared of you anymore. I've been in high school for four years. I just graduated this year. I've heard of this most recent protest for ICE that got shut down by the school. I do acknowledge and see the, you know, liability to the issue. However, you gave no second plan to the students and you just shut them down and basically shut them up. You have, excuse me, you have scared people in the high school for four years. I want to let the board of Ed know nobody likes you. Nobody likes you guys. All the students despise you and they know that you guys are evil trying to shut them up. And what else? I don't know. I'm, I'm the youngest person here in probably this entire room. I see all of you guys look so good for your age, by the way. Thank you. I see a couple of 90 year olds in the front, you know, younger in the back. But you know, it's important to keep everybody's ver voice heard, I feel. And shutting them up won't really do anything. So please stop shutting your students up. They're better than that. And I do want to thank you on one thing though, thank you for making your students resilient because without you, you know, patronizing them and shutting them up and silencing them, they wouldn't be as resilient, resilient, and determined as they are today. So thank you.  
Speaker 0     01:41:59    Bye. Thursday, Thursday night.  
Speaker 1     01:42:02    You, you, you should save that for a Board of Ed meeting.  
Speaker 32    01:42:15    Good evening, Curtis Grubb. 1750 West third, thank the council on passing that ordinance. First of all, thank you. Second of all, I just want to commend the township and the mayor and you guys on the salt and everything you did last meeting when I was here, the mayor said he had a problem about getting salt. Sometimes it's not, you know, doing the right thing. It is who you know and I was gonna offer that help. But I call my Councilman Cahn Frank and I found out he got salt on that Saturday. 'cause I know construction, I could have got him some salt, but it would've  
Speaker 1     01:42:51    Cost. Oh, now we know. Oh yeah, you Curtis, we'll be calling you next time.  
Speaker 32    01:42:58    It's not free though. Thank you.  
Speaker 1     01:43:02    Thank you Curtis. I'm now gonna close the public portion. This time I will adjourn the meeting and I will end with a quote. Can I have a motion to motion? Second. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. The meeting is now closed. Thank you again everybody for coming. And the only thing more powerful than hate is, love. Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you Mr. Council President. Have a good evening.  
Speaker 0     01:43:44    Debbie, how are you?