My son is 20 years old. He is in a group home. He is autistic. One of the challenges i have seen is that, as far staffing goes, they have a cap on what they can pay the person, salary wise. My son is severely autistic. He hurts himself. Here is other people. He is 21. Gets cycled over again. They cant bring the proper people in. I was hoping that they can have or anotheressional level based on the intensity. I think i understand. Help me with this. Let me tell you a few things generally. It is the philosophy of this administration that we need to move more people out of institutionalization it into a group home setting. We believe that is where they get the most appropriate care and reach their highest potential. It would shock people i will it would not shock people you, i am sure. But new jersey has more developmentally disabled people next to texas. I dont believe that is right. Were looking at challenges in our model because of the differences that each individual brings. This is something where we need to listen to the parents and the community about how to staff it, and now we decide who goes where and how they are treated. The commissioner of Human Services is here good he can stand up and address that in particular. Sure, governor. Thank you. I should talk to you later to find out who your son is with because that would be helpful. Ratesetting process. There are various cost. I want to make sure that your son has the right budget assigned to him. That dictates how much the groupon manager will have to spend on his care. Weo, the ratesetting thing are going through will assign the appropriate costs three years ago, you got one rate. If you came in recently, you got a different rate. Weve to take a look at a normalized rate. We are committed to closing certain centers and then re investing into the community. It is a good program. Everything is run well. , we areking at it now trying to get another group home built. Seeing with my son, angelo, is his level of care is 24 7. It is an intense. His staffing is the same as somebody who doesnt have any behaviors. Staff comes. They work for a while. I get burned out. And i do not blame them. The staff differential right now on the state institutions versus the community is significant. Rebounds a nap from the more highly paid employees in the institution to address turnover in the community is going to be a result of closing mans tuitions. I cantalked afterwards, make sure he is on track where he needs to be. Hear lots of controversy about this, as we move forward. The closing of the developmental centers. The only way we weakened congress to goals that are important to accomplish is to do this. To get the resources to real to build an open more homes in the community, and the staff report really, is to move some of the population out that does not belong being institutionalize and have the money follow them. That will allow more in a group home setting than we are able to do now. This is something ive had in from the legislator for four years. The plan has been approved. Two of the centers will close in the northern part of the state. We are going to move forward. I am warning you. He youre going to hear controversy from those who dont want us to close developmental centers. The fact is that i do not ieve that, for the most there are some people who need institutionalism. They need to be cared for in an institutional setting. But the majority, probably a super majority, buffett in that category. What happens is that theyre not able to reach their full potential. There are not able to do things that other folks are able to do. There will be some bumps in the road here. There will be some controversy about it. I dont think the new jersey should be the secondlargest institutionalization state in the country for these folks. They deserve better than that. And so do their families. We are thinking about you. It is an important issue to me and my wife. Housing, he came out of the hospital setting, and there was almost a 1. 5 year wait for housing. It is part of what were trying to do. When we take some money out, we will have some more money to invested in homes. Willnstitutionalize care be so extreme they expensive that after we wretched that them, that will free up resources for us to do other things, that will allow them to be more available. The differential will help us do that. If we keep all the institutions , thered try to do this will never be enough money to build student. To do it. Humane tohink it is keep people there who could fly and do better outside an institution. As a parent, all we want for our children, no matter what their challenges are, is for them to reach their full potential, whatever that potential is. That is always hope for is a parent. Want is for them to be alone feel like the state is assisting in being a will to have the child reach the full potential. We are going to try to get there with you. I appreciate it. I appreciate it very much. Thank you very much. [applause] hello. My name is alicia. Im from new jersey. I am nervous here. Dont worry. Were even. I want to address the issue of family law reform. The force is a 50 billion a year business. Billion. I got divorced eight years ago, and i did and all my husband could use the system to bully, harassing, and abuse myself and my children. Over 17,000 to protect my children from their lawyer putuse some the idea in my husbands head that he does not to pay Child Support anymore, and that he should be a will to sorry, this is very important to me. Dont worry. Take your time. Doesnt have to pay Child Support anymore, and that our divorce agreement can be undone. I do 80 of the parenting. They need to update the formulas. A were updated 40 years ago. Apparents house is not parenting. Sleeping at somebodys house is not parenting. The number of women that the claire bankruptcy in new jersey is growing. Divorce affects a lot of people. [applause] i did not get married and have children to get divorced. I did not think i would have to be beat up by a system. I am entitled to counsel. I am not entitled to a fair trial. I have been to court. Ive been to mediation. It impacted my ability to work because ofred losses the hurricane. I am fighting this fight. It is raining. It is exhausting. I started meeting with my legislators to affect change. It would be helpful if it was from a topdown. I know you are a parent. Let me tell you first of all, thank you. That was really great. This is a topfive issue. Ive continued to urge the majority in the legislator to come to a decision on how they want to reform the family law system. How may tell you different bills have been introduced. I am sure you are aware. You semiqueue are aware. There are competing camps. Told them to come to a consensus in the legislature. Lets come to an agreement. Questionhink theres a on either side of the aisle. This is not a policy issue. They need to take some action on this. There are some who dont want any change to happen. Something gets momentum, they put a roadblock in front of it. I will continue to speak out in front of it. I am ready to change the laws and make them fair to the people who participate in them. But we have to get some consensus in the legislator to get it done. There is documentary they court. About divorce the judge said that for every inr it costs people 27,000 legal fees. It is up seen. It really is. The fact is, as you put it, no one goes into a marriage i think, almost no one. Almost no one goes into a marriage planning their divorce. No one has children thinking that someday they will have to parent alone or in an attenuated circumstance where some parents are involved and others are not or where theyre being destructive greed we see it happen all the time. This. E all experienced we need to make an adversarial situation, the breakup of an emotional relationship, we need to take some of the adversarial nature out of it, and some of the economic incentive out of it, which is what you are alluding to, as well. Those are the kinds of changes i like to see made, more mediation, more arbitration, to lower the temperature. Is so cost a lot of money. Mediation is over 5,000 a day. If you are in court, it is more. I dont want to get deep into this. So we can change the rules mediation and arbitration has more teeth. And some of the situation, youre the four things to get done. A lot of people, i dont want to be a pop psychologist, right, but a lot of people use the system to work their anger out. What we have to try to do is come up with reforms. There are good ideas out there grade we have to lessen the incentive for that. We have to deincentivize this kind of activity. Wheres jean . Get her our card. We will talk to about some of the ideas we have. Sign me up. We will get a card good and we will reach out. Let us know when it is appropriate. I appreciate it. Yes maam. My name is jesse. Since you cannot help everybody with the grant money, what are some who haveelp had to retain attorneys to get paid we are owed . Myself and the commissioner of banking insurance are fighting as hard as we can. This is something some people do not understand beforehand because they wrote their checks to a private insurance carrier of Flood Insurance. But now they understand that the entire Flood Insurance business in this country has been taken over by the federal government. It is called the national Flood Insurance plan. Fhould be called the new word. Word. The new f we put together a voluntary Arbitration Program for all the insurers in new jersey. Every homeowners insurer in new jersey entered the program nfip. T for one, the the federal government, the Obama Administration refused to go and arbitration with policyholders in new jersey. It is the only insurer that didnt. We do not regulate the federal government. We are at a loss. We yell and scream a lot. There are a lot of nice letters, but if you look at between lines, theyre not that nice. , eric urge allng know let me ask by answering your question. Theres not much i can do. For the ones we write, we can service forpriate those who paid their premiums. We have gotten that. By most of the damage done sandy was flood damage, not wind damage or other damage. So we are stuck dealing with the federal system that is broken. We need to get congress to change the situation trade the idea that the federal government should be given anything else to do is crazy. Why they think theyre the best pupil did you Flood Insurance in the country, i do not know. We can have use it with the banking insurance folks and give you some suggestions. There who of you out are having Flood Insurance issues, although the governor is correct we dont regulate them, if you sit with us and give us your name and information, we can make a call down there and try to get some attention focused on your particular situation, and hopefully, get somebody to look at it and be responsive on the federal level. It is messy. It is not even half the value of the damage. I agree with you. The best thing we can do is advocate for you. And we will. We have folks who will do that for you and advocate for you and try to become the squeaky wheel that gets the oil. Is they dont have, in my opinion, the first idea of what they are doing. A disaster of this scale is not what they were planning for. The first 10 billion was taken nfiphe top, sent to the because they had a debt and no money to pay the claims. The first 10 billion was taken off the top. If you say, you have 60 billion. It i say, hold on. They sent 10 billion and sent it away. This is a broken system. And they want to charge more. And the interaction between elevation of homes and the rates going forward. We need to get engaged. We are engaged everyday fighting with fema. A cabinet heree afterwards and folks that work at the cabin offices. We will advocate for you. Opinion, is why we should let government run as well as possible. To runfederal government an Insurance Company is just bonkers. Have certainly gotten along well with the Obama Administration during this, and i have worked as well as i can in making sure we have a good relationship, and we do, this is an area where they should have stepped up and gotten into the program. I do not know how the administration justifies not being willing to sit down and talk with their premium payers. , i dont careess if it was allstate, state farm, or any other Insurance Company, if they took the position that they were unwilling to speak to their policyholders to settle in good faith the dispute, you know would come down on them, the federal government. You hear them yelling and the rooftops, Greedy Corporations who take her money. Guess who the Greedy Corporation is now . The federal government. Theyre the people who are doing it. [applause] we just all need to be where when the government says theyre going to fix the problem. Beware. Although in the back. My name is tom. I have elderly parents who were flood victims. You are right that theres not enough money to make everyone whole. When going to get that. I would like to know the reasoning behind privatizing a lot of the Grant Programs. You paid 100 million to contractors to run the programs. [applause] hgi. F them is let me stop you for a second. What is your suggestion on how i should have done it. Should i have hired dozens of new Government Employees to administer the program . 60,000said he of employees, and they are hard to manage. New york did it differently. They did not privatize it. That is not correct. By the way, new york is significantly, i have measure of two or threefold behind us in the distribution of money to victims. Theyre significantly behind us. Say one fact you like that supports your position. You said, new york did not do it that way. Go talk to the victims in new york who have not gotten anywhere near the type of aid yet from the programs in new york that the victims in new jersey have gotten. We are trying to do this in a way to get this out to people as quickly and efficiently as possible. Dont take my word for it. I wont. I know you wont. They said the money got out faster than any disaster in american history. Not for me. Let me get back to the center of my question. Hired . Hgi why did you pay them millions of dollars . Why did you privatize . I just disagree. You said did not have to privatize. He alternative is i am answering the question. Is to have hired thousands of questions to administer the program. Who is going to administer it if, in fact it is a rhetorical question. Someone has to administer the program. We have a new company in place to run the Program Going forward. Pointct is, if we reach a where we believe that theres another company who can do the job better than that company was brought in on the bid, we will make that change. I will not hesitate to make the change if i think there is an option that is better. If what you are hoping for is that every decision that is made regarding billions of dollars is going to be made perfectly the then, here expectations are not where they need to be. The fact is we do not have Government Employees, thankfully, for you and your tax rates, on staff in the State Government that could run an additional 20 billion program. Runningd, we would be your government and efficiently from daytoday. We have the number of employees we need to run the 30 billion. Overnment you need i am not going to bring on people you have to pay benefits for and pensions for, to run a program that by its nature is temporary. That is something you bring in private contractors to run. Something that is going to be a temporary program. That is what this is. That is why we brought in people to do it that way g. It is significantly better here in terms of money going out to folks, then on the other side of the river. [applause] yes . Hi, governor. I am rabbi michelle. Im from the jewish federation. You said that the system is broken, and a lot of people need help. We have been working hard to togethernonprofits they came up after kachina does the difficulty of getting help to people who need it. After the difficulty of helping people who need it. How are you trying to bridge the gap . We have partnered with dozens of nonprofits throughout the state, both through using them as administrators and using them to administer Hurricane Sandy relief funds, as well. We dealt with seabright rising a lot. We will continue to, and every program that is appropriate. We are happy to work with nonprofits. We work with a lot of them that of done a great job with a wide variety of rebuilding issues, psychological issues childcare issues. A variety of issues. 28 Million Dollars have gone mostly to nonprofits to administer those types of programs, on the ground to help people. Two suggestions, come to the Governors Office and tell us what you want to do to help grade we will try to plug you in. We will get you information to in order to get help ending access to some of that money, as well. My mom passed away saturday night in a rental house because we can go home yet. I am sorry. Im going to try to keep this on topic. We tried reaching out to the nonprofits. I thank you so much for having her office call. I had three the book call. Red cross couldnt help because i we had a case manager from a Different Program that has not helped us grad. I have been in touch with the sandy fraud decision ,ivision, and they said that despite violations, and i have of theges printed out unlawful practices that he participated in, they told us it was also able. Ours is the only complaint against him and they cant do anything. We have been out of money just living in this tiny shoebox, which is a great place. The neighbors are great. Here to ask you to talk to them. Fema is not something you can control and the fact that they have not given us anything for our content or the 11,000 of , i justphy equipment momsd to know why my 35,000 that she took out of her reverse mortgage, which now means that we of the figure how to sell a house that isnt finished, when she took out the sorry. From it, im shes not very get. She really liked you read she is not buried yet. And she really liked you. I really want the best for you. [applause] let me try to help. I understand. You should not try to go through this. Will have the Attorney Generals Office look at the contractor. I have filled out the paperwork so many times. That is ok. You asked me to do something, right . You said, you dont control fema, but you didnt finish your sentence, but i know it the rest of the sentence was. Do you control the other program . Yes. We wanted december to get an appointment to find out about it. March 17 as our date for our appointment. We will try to help you get a sooner appointment. We just open a third office because the demand in ocean county was so large that, even with to offices, people or getting delays. We opened a third office. You need to go to the department of Human Services. The people will be old help you. Office will talkth to. I can you beautify pages that have all of the things he did wrong. I will give it to the office of recovery and rebuilding. They will have a better chance of understanding it. Listen, there will be frustrations that happened based off of this. I get that. It is too late. It is never too late. If i understand what youre saying about your mom. And my condolences to you on her passing. But we now have to worry about you. Here,suspect if she were she would say, take care of my daughter. That is what we are going to try to do. The lady behind you. Yes. Right there. My name is kathleen. Our home was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Just put the microphone closer to you so everybody can hear you. We have been given choices of houses to build. Control ine put more our hands to hire local contractors . Two things. You can. There is an option to do that. We will have you sit with them to talk about the option of having your own contractors. The original reason for that was the federal requirement about how these things had to be rebuilt. Rebuilt to be be more elaborate or traveling at than they were when they were knocked down. There were lots of requirements on that. Roles required us to use the process you are talking about which is the number of models that were offered. They would pay the contractors directly. We got that changed in the first round. Pay the listen, contractor directly. Let people make some of their own decisions. You cant build back better house than the one you had before, using a that comes from taxpayers. If you are too far down the road on one option, you might appeal to switch. I am not sure. We will be a to answer that for you. That is one of the things we change in the program, once we got into a. We went in and said, you have to give us more options. It was causing delay. That is what i met before. We have never done this before. And we get these rules foisted upon us. We try to participating that they put the federal government. Meetings like this and dozens and dozens of other ones. We started get feedback. We asked for waivers of the rules. That is one thing we were able to accomplish. Seewith them afterwards and if we can get this done the way you want to do it, within the rules. But we do have that option now. The goal is to get to a place where you want to go back to. That. Rstand we have now prevailed upon them to understand that. We do not always felt. Often. But not always. Right through their. Re. Obrien fromharon union beach. Ill understand why secondary homeowners are being treated with such discrimination. Local group, State Government, church groups, everyone turned against us. The president of the United States in congress. I went to the president personally and said, secondary homeowners need to be covered. Were are not talking about wealthy homeowners who have second homes. Were talking about workingclass families in new jersey who had these homes passed down generation to and this is a large part of their income for some folks, in terms of rental income. We need to have them covered. The president refused. Congress refused. The fact is, at the federal law does not permit us to cover secondary homeowners, we have no other money to work out of. You are right. Homeowners have been left the site. The law mandates that only primary residences are covered with any type of aid. What is happening now is that, because of the bills outstanding on that mortgage, it is affecting our primary home, if we walk away, they will put a lien on our primary house which we work to pay for. It is not fair. The president is thinking about the 5 million house on the beach and they had to he xing, i am not going to cover that type. I was saying, i am not asking them to cover that type. I am asking them to cover someone like you. I made that argument in the oval office. , it, not only the president too, theyngress couldve passed the bill. If they would just make the Insurance Company paid out what you were insured for, we couldve had the house rebuilt. Take 20,000 off the top. They do a cash value. Are still paying the insurance and mortgage and all the rest of it. That is why the federal government should not run an insurance business. Left is to suen the federal government. Where it away sign up . , you brought together two of the biggest arguments that ive had with the administration, the Obama Administration. Landlordtenant grant an actual grant . Every time we call, they say, why havent we heard anything . We say, you are the people who can help us. Yes, it is a grant. Both of the process. We determine how much work has to be completed, and it is a grant. What if we start the work now because we cannot afford to let the house going a longer . It is the same problem the governor spoke of before. Regulations limit the work until after an Environmental Review has been completed. Times ine asked three writing to have this waived. This is what theyre concerned about, and why they wont allow you to start working reimburse you. They are afraid youre going to not clean up an environmental hazard that exists could property, so maybe some people could argue that is the right thing to do. They won a historic view to be done. They dont want you to change the character of a historic structure. Those reviews need to be done prior to doing anything else for you. That will not happen until you get approved. We have asked for this to be waived so the people can start rebuilding. They have refused a number of times to waive it. There was a recent story about that again. They refused to do again. In the performance weve been talking, you touched on the three biggest frustrations we had. Nfip. Flood insurance. Secondary homeowners being excluded. And the inability for someone to work, and gete reimbursed afterward with the being inspected. We have asked a number of times. Every time the federal government refused. You touched on the three most frustrating things, in terms of my interaction with the Obama Administration. One of them was right at the beginning. You can sit and eat with us afterwards to talk about the Grant Program and see what we can do. You have toem is, wait, im giving you the answer now. It is the problem for everybody. Right. They wont allow us to waive it. If they did waive it, they wouldnt give you the money. And what is the use . That is where we are. In the front row, blue jacket. Hey, governor. I am lou. This is my second time at a townhall meeting. By the way, your exercise program looked good. Looking good. [applause] we are getting there. As i told a middle School Student that came up to me and said, governor, youre getting her,er, and i said to well, thank you. And she said, when he going to get really small . Said, rome was not unbuilt in a day either. A lot of work to do. Thank you for noticing. What is your question . After he spoke here last time about the brooklyn broken i facedourt system, retaliation by a superior court judge. He took custody of my children away from me. We argued for my First Amendment right in the courtroom. He cited my appearance at a townhall meeting that was inappropriate, and some unopposed to wrist to my children. I have never been arrested. I was never a drug abuser. Never had a Mental Health history. Student. Duate. Had women of the year awards i have a published author. I dont think i would be a risk to my children. There is no regulation in the family court system. There is no accountability. [applause] that is what we need to change. That leaves room for exportation of women. Investment in the marriages from voted because of her ability for reproduction. Our investment is very heavy and frontloaded in the marriage. It does cut a woman short. These are courts of equity, and not of justice. So when you break up issues of ,ustody or abuse allegations they are not handled in criminal courts, there handled in family court. They were not designed to be handled in a family court. That is not what that was for. It was for equitable distribution. The problem is there is no accountability. And as much Government Funds this, they help every single state, because this is every state in the sin in the nation. I brought this to your attention before. Citizens can start forming common law courts, so we can get indictments on illegal activity in the courts. It is a real monopoly. It is a conspiracy. If you want your kids back, and i know you love your kids, and i went 86 days about mountain, those are the worst days of my life. That was anguish that no parent should have to experience. The judge sat there and laughed because the attorneys my question is about the system. It wasnt your appointment. Is theres non accountability. It leads to expectation for women. Children are being abused and being put into homes with abusers. We need regulation and accountability trade accountability. We dont want to be brushed off. My custody was restored. It is fragile. I have no attorney currently. And im not entitled to one. They can retaliate again. Im on the record saying, ill be dont try to retaliate again. This is real. Governor, we really need you. Please take this seriously. Get to kiss my kids can i, and they didnt know with her mommy was. Ay that you are the true governator. I dont know about arnold schwarzenegger. Your style is nononsense. Youve been criticized for it. Youre telling it like it is. Youre not leaving much uncovered. I give you credit for that. I would like to see the department of justice investigation into these crimes. We have the Prosecutors Office stating that their crimes being committed in the court rooms. This . Ch counties heres what i was how you. I will tell you. Afterward to folks give specifics. If in fact, and i have to say if because i wasnt there. If the judge said, somebody coming here and asking question to come to a town hall meeting given by the governor, i will be really concerned. About the fitness of someone who would do that. Secondly, this is part of what ive been complaining about for four years now is we have a judicial system here where they govern themselves. Who is watching the store . Undert i would say to you the Current System is the only recourse you have against this judge is to file a complaint with the chief justice of the supreme court. He and the other members of the court are the sole determiners of judicial conduct in this state. We are going to give you the chief justices phone number or you to call him. Third, this is why in response to the womans question earlier i said the legislature had to get in here and provide greater oversight. Lastl remember that the fight i had with the judges was because they do not want to pay a fair share for their pensions. Passed the law and i signed it requiring it to. Reversed it and said the law as applied to them only, not the teachers, not to other Public Workers, was unconstitutional. A show of startling unity between myself and the legislature, got a constitutional amendment put on the ballot to require them to pay it and the voters overwhelmingly approved it and now they are paying at least close to their fair share. [applause] it is just an example of what you are talking about which is there are elements of the toicial system which we need have more fair policing over. I have heard enough of this over the course that theears to know majority of judges we have are good people who try to do a good job. I am sure like in every other profession there are some who are not. I only ask of them the same measure of responsibility that i take on myself, that i asked the teachers to take on, but i asked Public Workers to do in other areas which is if we have people that are not competent, they need to be removed. I agree. Just because you put a black robe on does not mean that you become immune to judgment. Let you call the chief justice and tell him specifically about this incident because of somebody can i come to these meetings listen, i dont remember you from that town hall meeting and i would tell you this i remember the people who are really out of control at these town hall meetings. I remember those faces. I dont remember saying you saying anything that was so crazy that i wouldve remembered you after 110 town hall meetings. Legislators to get this done. Reasonableto sign family reform that deals with these issues but they have to get something to my desk. I am just the governor. I need them to help me so we are ready to help you meet with us afterwards and we will try to get you some answers. We want to come up with ideas and solutions. There is system no regulation. That is your lingo. Regulate andan thats what we need but we also need accountability. If there are dirty people, you have to give it of them. Your words, not mine. I get enough trouble with the words i use. Yes, sir. Thank you, governor. My name is joe williams. It is an honor to be under the same roof with you and with my fellow comrades. [applause] we gotghter note together before you came and wanted to ask you a very important question and request. There are many of them. We decided on this one. Iyou go home tonight want to look around and make sure he is not in the room when you go home tonight, would you please destroy all your Bruce Springsteen cds . He is not a friend of yours, governor. [applause] well the cds could be destroyed. I have it all on my iphone now. How about this . Thank you for the kind words. Secondly, i dont think i have ever been under the illusion that as a bruce fan that that meant that he and i were necessarily friendly on other issues. There are lots of people in new jersey who do things to make us proud. They may do things in certain aspects and others that we disagree with. I have had this conversation about a lot of different people, especially people in the arts. What i can tell you is that despite the fact that you might be right. As a guide that has been too many bruce brings in concerts, i dont do drugs. This is it for me. Hope thats and hope that someday he will wake up and say i am a good guy. We could be friends. He told me we could be friends. She is telling me dont believe him. I live in hope of that because when we get attached to certain people as youngsters which i did, it is hard to let that go. You are probably giving me wise counsel that i should accept, but my heart keeps telling me not to so you can go. Thank you. [applause] there is a man showing me pictures. Me that i was supposed to take one more question. Hold on. What they note that means is that i never ever follow direction. I would take two more questions. Whove all these folks here know a lot more than i do who would probably do better at answering your questions and i will stay here as long as we need to stay here to be able to answer those questions for you. You wont be leaving here without ansys today. You i recognize because you have been at a town hall meeting and you asked me questions before. Yeah, yeah. I understand. I doyoung lady knows recognize some people and not because she was crazy. I called you after. Even sometimes when i tell people that i will call them, i actually do. She is proof of that. But the two more questions. Lets do two more questions. She has a shirt on that says communications. Heather. Am im here to advocate for my whole town. We need to see walls in our downtown area where we dont have ac wall a sea wall. I see you have transit sitting in the front row. There is no seawall. We appreciate that despite the fact that i am important monuments fort monmouth. I hear you. I will let commissioner martin speak to this. We have a plan to deal with the entire coastline of the state with the protective system to be able to deal with not having this type of damage again as we go forward. That is one of the things that has been funded and we are in the process of getting that done. I am going to give the microphone to him to let him go through that with you. If there is a followup question for either one of us, i will give it a shot. Thank you for your question. We are working through a design with the town with the mayor for the downtown section for additional seawall. The second part of that is finding the money. Some of the money we are going to have is potentially going to fund that project but that is what we are looking at. We have to run that through hud and the governor. We have a design already. We would like to see that happen. We have to get the money to do it at the end of the day. For the entire coast, we are in the midst of starting now the building of a dune system from the end of the state all the way up to the bayshore. [applause] areave a few towns left who some residents some residents, not the town, who were refusing to get how many . 2200. We started with 2200 people and with the gentle persuasion of the Governors Office, we are down from 2200 to 600 people who refuse to do it. We are going to go to court and get these. If you look at the towns where there was protection, doing systems, thoser towns suffered significantly less damage. We are working on the seawall issue. We will try to identify the funding to be able to do it and to do it in a way that is acceptable to the people who live there. That is why we are working with them on the design part. This is something i have been focused on from the beginning. We saw the damage that was done at seabright because of it. Becausevulnerable spot of the bodies of water that surrounded so we will work really hard to get that done. You will see us get into some fights now across the state with some homeowners that dont want it. Let me be clear about this. The argument that they make is that they dont want it but they dont know whether it will be a cabana or public bathrooms. In buildingterest bathrooms, cabanas, or hotdog stands. To protects there the homeowners that live near the water and the businesses and residents. It is a priority of ours that was able to get most of it funded by the federal government and states stepped up to funded as well. Noin seabright, there is problem. We are ready to go. Our residents are ready to help in any way that we can. Buildingleading dune but we need to get the seawall and because that is the primary protection. The mayor and your governing body have been asked outstanding to deal with. They have been advocating for your interests and working with us in a very good way to be able to do this. Im a big admirer of the mayor. We are working through the process. Getave to make sure that we the funding identified and approved so that we can go forward with the building of it. Becausepriority of ours that is what is going to protect us from the nextdoor that comes. Those type of systems will lessen the damage from 37 million to less than that. You see how much less damage there was at the places that have it already set up. We want that to cover the entire state from the bayshore all the way down to cape may. Before i take the last question, i want to note that we continue to work with all the mayors in a way that is extraordinarily cooperative and nonpartisan. Well. E worked incredibly at ly we saw each other he said something to me about last year. Order forhe executive the extension and of temporary liquor licenses to start in march rather than when they normally start because these businesses have suffered. Allowing them to have more time to do that would help keep these businesses afloat. He said he didnt know if i could do that again but it really mean a lot to the businesses in his down. Told this, last week, i signed the executive order extending that so we will start to see the licenses again early. Ofis an example communication. I am a republican. The mayor is a democrat. That hasnt mattered one wit since october 20 9, 2012. 29, 2012. He has reached out to me. Given the gentle criticism but we continue to talk all the way through it and i think it has helped to make things better and this is an example of it. It was one of the hundreds of things i did an immediate in the immediate aftermath of the storm. Andame to one of my events raise the issue with me. We have done it. That is the type of cooperation that you should expect and demand from elected officials. [applause] thank you. Question. Is the last he is showing me the pictures and i am so tempted. I have been burned by pictures before. When i call on the last question, there is enormous pressure on you, not just me. If you stand up and ask a stupid question, i am telling you this crowd will turn on you. There is enormous pressure here so i want all of you to understand. The guy in the camouflage extreme intrigues me. I am going to the guy in the camouflage. You. Just wanted to thank i am a school bus driver. On columbus day, i went walking and my dog only likes a certain dog of fog a certain dog food. You hear them murmuring . As a guy who is done many of these i will try to be quick. My father fought in world war ii. He was shot in the shoulder and i when i was three years old. The muscle for a bank a Collection Agency has been after my moms house for years and years. I went to news media. They say they can get involved. As soon as i walked in here, i asked the cop if i could talk to you. He said, yes. I handed you the paperwork. The next day, youre the state Banking Commission call my mother and savor house. I just wanted to let you know. [applause] the last thing you said to me was, no bullshit. That you would call the next day. Here is the guy who called your mother. Smart move picking the guy in the camo. One more thing for my mother because she always bitches. She gets mad that people dont have an American Flag out because we are still at war. My father is buried in middletown. He lied about his age to fight for his country. What you did for my mother was unbelievable. Thank you. [applause] thank you. I will take another question because that was not a question. Remain calm. I have to respond to this guy. Dont leave yet. A reporter is getting to him. He is an example of what makes i speak tood because i meet with somebody people and no matter where i am they come up to me and say, can you help me with a particular problem. The greatest thing about this job is that every once in a while you can. He never came back to me and told me that they fixed that problem for his mother. I just called him and told him to call the guy and to help him. My cabinet is not like the dogs that runs for the bone and brings it back. They just understand that is their job. Until today, i did not know. That we were able to help save his mothers home because he came up to me one day and asked me to help. It is not about me. Is the folks that you see sitting here that actually do the work. It is also why i love this job so much because every once in a while in 86yearold woman who couldnt find anybody to help them has her son, and you get the chance to actually help. Wife looks at me and asking why im doing this job, i tell her i am going home tonight and tell her that story. That is what makes this job great. You get a chance every day at that. Sometimes you swing and miss. Sometimes you do something that is really good. Thanks for bringing that up because i was out me go home to my wife and justify why i do this. [applause] ok. I got to go with the guy with with the pictures. You are going to kill me. Stand up. Dont bother. Good afternoon. I just retired from the army after 40 years. [applause] i have too much time on my hands. Housesd at all these with one Charlie Brown tree. I see in florida and california. I go to d. O. T. And start responding with them back in february of last year. February. Saying what we can do about these drug handles. Drop your plans, get it ok with hazlitt. Get it all done. Correspond with the d. O. T. The seasons have passed and i am still in emailing back and forth. It is not over. The fall season august, september. They say for next spring now. Saying wemail back cannot clutter up the drug handles because it will obstruct the view. Here is the book. I will keep it and talk to the team. You will get much better than that, master sergeant. [applause] goi found that wherever you , you find curb appeal. If you have curb appeal and you were near the beach, you will draw people to come to the restaurants and buy houses and bring the money and that is what we need. That goes for the whole state, especially here. Thank you. Hold on now. Hold on. Where are you . Here is what we are going to do. The cabinet, i want you to watch the cabinet. Dont look at me, look at them. You are going to have a meeting with the dot commissioner. Commissioner simpson is going to come to you because if you havent walked around the block by d. O. T. For that long, i cannot wait to get back to trenton to call the commissioner and tell him about his latest assignment from the governor that he love so much. We are going to get the commissioner here in view of your plans and if appropriate, they will get approved. It is years now yours now. Gene, you give your card and correspond with the sky and we will set up a meeting with commissioner simpson to come down here and make sure it gets done. Commissioner mark would love to call commissioner simpson and give them the assignment himself. There is a young lady up here. Come on under. Come here. What is your name . Nicole. How old are you . 3. And you have a question for me . My house is still broken. Come here. What town you live in . New jersey. [laughter] is this your mom over here . Right there. Ok. This is what we are going to do. We are going to try to help you get your home fixed. We will get somebody to talk to your mom after it is over. Keep an i on me for me. We will get somebody to talk to you and see if we can get your house fixed. Thank you. [applause] all right. Let me end with this because unfortunately i have to go back to trenton. All, these folks are here to deal with the other questions i did not get to. They will be here all day today. Get to your questions and try to help you with your individual issues. You can see that the questions get long and that is why i cannot get to as many, but i appreciate you all coming. This isou to know that simply the most important thing that i have to do with the rest of the governorship. There is nothing more important than this. I heard about other issues and they are important too. This is the biggest reason why i ran for reelection was to finish this job. I want all of you to understand, who live here and are affected by this, i understand your frustration. I feel it myself. We are not going to stop until we help as many people as we can possibly help them get to where they want to get to. ,ets all try to Work Together try to show as much patience as we have left inside of us with each other, and just understand that from my perspective this is my mission and i will do everything i can to finish this mission as quickly and as efficiently as we possibly can. Thank you for putting up with the delays and we will see you on the next washington journal, james sherk and david matlin discussed president obamas proposal to raise the minimum wage. To 10. 10 an hour. Emily miller of the Washington Times on gun ownership in america. David baron talks about the u. S. Strategy to combat trafficking and how it impacts ivory sales. Plus your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. Washington journal live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. This weekend on cspan, the National Governors association kicks off their meeting live at 10 eastern this morning. Throughout the weekend with panels on homeland security, Early Education and Prescription Drug abuse. Talk to the Monuments Men author. This morning at 11 00 on cspan 2. On cspan 3, real america. Films produced from the 1930s to the 1970s. Atch sunday at 4 00 p. M. The mayor of jersey city, new jersey delivered the annual ethics lecture at Rutgers University earlier this month. He talked about the history of corruption in new jersey in the ongoing controversy regarding Chris Christies closing of lanes on the George Washington bridge last year. This is held at the Eagleton Institute of politics in new brunswick. It is about an hour and 15 minutes. My name is john weingar. I have the honor of welcoming you here this evening. People that are here in the room and watching us on cspan. The eagleton institution of politics is delighted to bring you to this talk by steven fulop who was elected as the 49th mayor of jersey city and is this years featured speaker for our program. I want to tell you a little bit about the man for whom this event is named. Arthur holland was elected mayor of the city of trenton and served in that post for almost 30 years. This is a very old campaign button. He was known for his openness to the public and ethical standards of his administration. His reputation was such that colleagues around the country chose him as president of the u. S. Conference of mayors. Rutgers rockers and graduate. Shortly after his death in 1989, rockers establish this program to remember mayor holland and to help build from his legacy. Consistent with his life in the mission of the eagleton institution of politics, the Holland Program on ethics in government seeks to promote integrity in Public Affairs and to improve Public Policy and government practices by seeking ways to replace cynicism and apathy with awareness, understanding, and action. For the institute overseeing the Holland Program has special resonance because two members of the family are graduates of the program. Betty holland was in the firstclass in 1958 and their son matt was a fellow as well in. We are pleased they are here with us this evening. [applause] there are stories to tell about mayor holland and his approach to ethics and how he was offered a season tickets to the phillies when he was mayor and his sons were very disappointed that he did not accept them. His response was, what they offered me these tickets if i was not mayor . On that basis, he turned them down. The same kind of transaction and discussion went around wedding gifts around his household because he was already mayor when he was married. Like art holland, our guest has been elected to lead one of new jerseys major cities. Studied up in edison, abroad at oxford. He began his career working for goldman sachs. Soon after 9 11, he enlisted in the marines and was deployed to iraq in 2003 were he receive multiple commendations. He went back to school and earned an mba from nyu and a masters from columbia. He became president of the stork historicor association. He was elected to the city council where he became known for championing measures aimed at improving ethics. Inn he was elected mayor 2013, he defeated a twoterm incumbent by 14 points in a race that was dominated by a debate about at the ethics. Is already widely viewed as a Major Political power in new jersey and is a voice for effective and ethical municipal government. I want to close with a quote from him from a book review he wrote recently. Just having ridden a brute a book review, may distinguish them from many other mayors. The book was by former rutgers professor. He wrote him a without good ideas, there is no leadership. Without leadership, there are no good ideas. Cities are where both occur. It is my pleasure to introduce the mayor of jersey city, steven fulop. [applause] thank you. I have some prepared remarks but i figured i would go less from this and talk about the Different Things that are happening in jersey city. I know we have students in the front row so i will start by i guess American Government is the class. How many of you all have interests and potentially running for office . Two . A Bright Future we have for the country. Interested in being a part of government . Ok. The rest of you are just curious or it is an easy class . Youll say for those of that are thinking of running, i couldnt encourage you more. It is one of the most rewarding fields and an opportunity to really do Something Special and make a meaningful difference in the world and your community and the state of new jersey. For me, it was an accidental place that i ended up in. I am passionate about it and that became very infectious and we are able to organize a tremendous number of volunteers to do something meaningful. I would say that if you are motivated by this and passionate about it and stay true to it and be aggressive about it because unfortunately new jersey politics more too often, you wont get the invitation to have a seat at the table. If you are passionate about it, people were gravitate towards you and you will be successful. We ran a campaign and it was the only campaign in the entire country that president obama endorsed. There were two democrats running and it was the only election that president obama made an endorsement. As did mayor bloomberg and senator booker. I think that because we were really effective in organizing, we were able to make a difference and overcome. If youre in this class, i am not much older than you. I was in the same situation and it is a noble calling in life. Thank you. Time slot here of an hour and 15 minutes. I see some of you rolling your eyes are ready and i have not started. I will say that a quick lesson for everybody in this room about brevity before i talk about ethics in government. When i was at auction University Oxford university, it is about 30 different colleges and they get everybody together into what is called the oxford union. They will bring in famous actors and athletes and politicians. That amal format is speaker speaks for about 15 or 20 minutes and then engages in a questionandanswer session. When i was there, one of the speakers was james baker. I dont know anybody had had a chance to hear him speak. This is true. A quick lesson in brevity. About 40 minutes into it, a startt in the front row to walk around and put his hat on. He stopped the lecture and told the man he was being extremely disruptive. It was in a room like this. The student said he had to get a haircut. [laughter] look, i am said, older than you and i dont mean to embarrass you but the right thing to do from a manner you scheduled a haircut before or after so you are not disruptive. Students that the students said, with all due respect, when this started, i did not need a haircut. [applause] that is a true story. Ruth mandel for inviting me here. They have distinguished themselves as the premier thought leader in the state of new jersey, redefining government and politics. I just want to say thank you for having me. You cannot clap. Can all clap. [laughter] [applause] you for allowing us to be part of something mayor holland created a legacy for and was touched on, he redefined how affix is in government et hics is in government and setting the high the bar high. He set the stage for what we try to achieve as elected leaders around the state of new jersey. Reallyor of trenton distinguished himself because he can show government could be effective and at the same time do it in a responsible manner. I know his wife is here today and his family is here so i want to say thank you. Let me start by saying i wanted to recognize that there are couple people here. I know we have some of our staff year and whenever deputy mayors. Some of the staff that worked in the Mayors Office with me. Some of the things we do would be possible without a Terrific Team around. Thank you for them. I see a younger couple. Firstre the parents of my friend in life. You towant to say thank them. I want to say a little bit about my view. I have been an ethics for 10 years now. In the mayor. I do myself as a pragmatic Problem Solver as my response ability. When you think about ideology and ethics, it does not really factor much into my daytoday thought of thinking of how we move the city forward. That does not mean i dont think about ethics but it is more how we implement responsible ethics. To behinking about ways socially responsible, to improve human wellbeing, to improve the city going forward, but i dont define it from an ideological standpoint. Many of us could so you look at something and say, is that ethical . From there think about how when a practical way we could implement that. Because asy special it was touched on by dr. Barber or mayor laguardia, there is no way to cling garbage. Governmentew the from an ideological standpoint, you do it on how to implement responsible government. The lesson on ideology i will share with you on how that came from. Iran for counsel nine years ago. I ran for counsel nine years ago. It was a tough race. We started with three volunteers going doortodoor. At that point, my phone rang very little with groups that wanted to meet with me. The first group that reached out to me in late january was the pakistanimuslim community. I share that with you because i didnt really know what to expect. One thing that was not outlined in my bio, i am a firstgeneration american. My parents were holocaust survivors. For the First Community to be reaching out to me being the pakistanimuslim today, i didnt know what to think. I went to the Community Meeting there and we ate and talked about things like traffic lights and speed bumps and bullying in schools and education opportunities. I thought it was a tour of the meeting. Men i left, the imam says to in front of everybody, what kind of name . Is that . What are you . I was so selfconscious. I said i was Eastern European and i left. I really felt bad about myself as a person that i shouldve answered with who i am. I walked in thinking they would define me as a certain way. If my grandmother heard me, she wouldve rolled over in her grave. Two app weeks after that, there was a jewish holiday. Is similar to people dressing up it is like a jewish version of following hollow alloween. I didnt think much of it. I get a phone call from the imam who wished me a holiday a happy holiday. He was a better man than me and recognize the fact when you think about municipal government and you think about moving things forward, there is not religious differences. We have a responsibility to move things forward. Mayor bloomberg would always talk about the fact that in government, we dont have the luxury of not performing. What you see in the State Government or federal level is something we cannot afford to do at them universal at the municipal level. For thell neighbors, snow is not plowed, it is not an acceptable excuse overall. Best ideas on implementing government really comes alternately from our residents alternately from our residents. We implement something in jersey city called see and fix. Delivering Effective Services with something that technologically jersey city was not at the forefront of. Buthave all this technology the reality is most people do not walk around with a desktop computer. They walk around with her handheld phones. It is not a difficult thing to build a nap and allow people to communicate and be more effective. We built it. Ideas like that are actually generated by residents and we implement them. I am proud of things like that. Lets talk a little bit about defining ethical government and how one would relate to ethical government. I dont know if any of the students want to take a shot of what their version of ethical government is before i give mine. Nobody. Not one. Anyone else in the room . We are very shy i guess. Ok. Government that operates without quid pro quos. I would define it as the government that is for the people and by the people. That would lead you to the inverse of what is unethical government. It would be a government that is not for the people and not by the people. That would bet the simple question of who was that for and how does it operate . When our Founding Fathers structured the government we have today, they were very aware of the risks of having a government that does not operate for the people and by the people and that is why they put in place the many checks and balances you see on the federal level. You see the judiciary has responsibility of the laws. That operates at a federal level. At the municipal level, our states are very simple process. Is that bests forms possible to limit conflicts of interest. You see conflict of interest everywhere and is something very hard to root out. It is something we struggle with every single day when we try to implement ethical government in jersey city. One thing that was implanted was redefining something as simple as we use our offduty Police Officers. A 10 million business as it relates to a signing Police Officers throughout the city whether it is on construction jobs, sewer projects, infrastructure projects. You think about conflicts of interest, you would have a Police Officer who was assigned his friend those jobs. What you would see as Construction Costs rising. Rise. Sidences would it is something we have worked to correct and with the help of some of the people in this room earlier this year, we restructured and entire process and a limited and eliminated those conflict of interests. It is not having those sorts of conflicts of interest. I would say that finding the balance and not usurping the Public Interest overall is not always easy. Another way of doing it and something that i am very proud of in jersey city is really focus on the transparency component. It is something that we have tried to do above and beyond any municipality in the state of new jersey. What we have done is really getting as granular as possible when it comes to data. We want residents to be able to see who was checking out or how many books are being checked policea library, locations. We want people to understand were government is being effective and not being effective and how we intend to improve overall. We do the same thing with our budget process. You will see it is more granular today than any budget in the state of new jersey. We have a system that is going to be online this week that is really going to get into as much detail as humanly possible in order for residents to really have the ability to understand what we are doing. You talk about sports. Residents could really see every function of government. Really an opportunity to really dig in on transparency. It operates as another cleanser on the ethical government front. I would say a third component is really creating a culture in our implementt tries to ethical government. You can implement all the laws of the worldm, but there was decision absolute solution because there are people that will circumvent those laws. People tried to find that are the best and brightest and understand where those complex may exist. Is myst example experience in the marine corps. If there was ever an organization in the United States that embodies a culture it is the marine corps. It is a culture of discipline, ethics, and on her. Honor. We try to implement that every day. Finally, i want to talk a little bit about fundraising. I will talk about the complex that exist to run fundraising inflicts that exist fundraising. Was one of the first in the state to implement the laws in today, we have the strictest laws of new jersey. Pay to play refers to rooting out that special interest money which can be a conflict between those that donate to politicians and those that receive public contracts. The city council and the mayor at the time which rejected it. We did the first petition referendum in the history of jersey city to get that on the ballot. Of newwhen the state jersey, when governor christie sends out to any municipality an application for state aid, it says very clearly that that melissa pahlavi is required to adopt a pay to play law. It is a major, but it is a major, ms. For us it is a major accomplishment for us. [applause] without talking too long, i do want to turn and open it up to questions and dialogue a little more. I am sure you have questions and thoughts regarding the state of ethics in new jersey today. I am happy to discuss it with you but i think whether it is from a culture standpoint or whether it is a transparency standpoint, we are creating checks and balances. The opportunity exist today is at the municipal level. Dr. Ben barber who is here and said if mayors will the world it is a terrific book, not because of the title. He speaks to some of the things that are happening that are really special throughout this country where federal and State Governments are being ineffective. If you think about immigration policies and faces like chicago or houston. If you think about id cards in places like new haven or new york state. There is a possibility to change at the local level and have an impact far beyond what one would think. Jersey city is doing sums the defensive is doing some substantial Different Things on gun control on how we procure our Police Department what kind of socially conscious and corporate response we have regarding our ammunition and guns. Our Police Departments across the country are the biggest purchasers of weapons outside of the military. There is an opportunity to really reshape the conversation. With that, i will open it up to questions and say thank you. Thank you. [applause] we will pass microphones around the room. Thank you for coming. How would you say the freeholder board has been corporate of the cooperative with you in achieving ethics . Tax have much power over invasions and giving corporations. How corporative have they been . Are they willing to move into ethical procedure . Cultureve a different let me talk about the political structure there. Each county has a different process on how the elect their freeholders, the state senate, and the representatives. Some have open conventions. Some have an executive director that has the opportunity to self elect those representatives. Others have processes with the mayor actually implements a vote to select who are the freeholders and senators. What we have found is that they do for lots of the mayors. We are doing our best to put a team in place that will be as cooperative as possible with some of the things were looking to implement which are similar reforms on the local level. After this year when some of that changes and limited, i after the election in june, we will partner there in be more willing to work. I would like to thank you fi rst. Think that the Transit System in new jersey, and the porttrak authority, will come to light and have some decent discussion and how we can change how commuters are being treated . We will talk a little bit about Mass Transportation. We are fortunate to have one of the best systems within jersey city. Infrastructure. The gentleman referenced our difficulties with the Port Authority. We have a 400 million lawsuit pending over the Port Authority over unpaid taxes and unpaid bills. Outside of that minor hic cup, we are optimistic about some of the things were discussing. We are in discussions with them as it relates to additional paths. Recognizing that you can energize the entire other side of the city with a simple platform. We are in conversations with new Jersey Transit about extending the light rail into bergen county. You can encourage Mass Transportation beyond what we see in the hudson waterfront. What weve seen since the hudson light rail started was a steady increase in ridership. We have seen a steady increase in development along the rail lines. You really see investment around there. We are working on it from our side. Some of the stuff is beyond local control. We are as strong advocates as possible. Yes . I would like to welcome you as an alumni in resident and resident. I would like to pivot my message a little bit towards the inequality message that is currently out there. Ofhear a lot about the mayor new york city addressing it. In jersey city, you have addressed paid sick leave for Small Companies i believe it is over five employees. Youve also supported the minimum wage and been involved another progressive issues like gun control and things that affect urban areas. What motivated you to do so . What are some other policy issues addressing inequality that may surface . Jersey city was the first in the state in new jersey to implement paid sick leave. [applause] thank you. It was prompted by my belief motherfamily member or should not have to choose between the wellbeing of her child or somebody in your immediate family and her employment. Ishink many people think it fairly reasonable. We went through conversations with the Business Community trying to find their balance. When you see the other cities that have paid sick leave, the Business Community has some of the same concerns. Later on, you found that that was not the case. Same with minimum wage. It is an accelerator for the economy in the entire area. When you look at the current minimum wage and if you look at what president obama is advocating for, you see the wage of the last time it was changed, you would see change in new jersey you would see that relative to inflation, the minimum wage has actually decreased. When you think about some of the employers and where these people are working, they are not High Schoolers are teenagers. These are parents and grandparents that are actually struggling. One campaign that is they struggle every tay and you can imagine how those struggles work to move families forward. We had secretary of labor come last week and he did a round table discussion and when you hear the stories about people telling their children 16yearold birthday ill get you a birthday present when i have some money and things pick up, it is hart breaking and you start to understand what is happening in this country when it comes to income and equality. I realize we have a lot of advantages because of our location and size. I can ever i can tell you we will lead the state of new jersey in job creation and construction permits and new development and at the same time, we can do all that stuff and encourage that stuff by being responsible and trying not to leave anybody behind. We talked about in the marine corps never leave a person behind n. Government there is a responsibility for to us make sure everybody has the opportunity to succeed and we are implementing those things in jersey city and we are doing it n a responsible way. Following up. We have high ethical standards and folks who have read the newspapers over the last week know we have fallen considerably in terms of integrity in local government and it reflects the 50year change in demographics and impoverishment in our town. Jersey was one of the first cities to experience what became over five years annual summarize. Because of location, it has become an outpost of the west village or upwardly mobile population, newport city and elsewhere. Cities. Wonderful what is the impact in your School System of the new groups have you . Do they even use the Public Schools and how will jersey city be a beacon for our other poor towns that dont have the new york city advantages of proximity that jersey city has looking to the future where you see jersey city leading the rest of urban and increasingly impoverished new jersey. Let me start by saying jersey city will be the largest city in the state of new jersey. We estimate in late 2015, early 2016 based on our growth rates. One of the most diverse in our area. We are the home of ellis island. And that golden door to america name is the name for a golden opportunity. That doorway represents an opportunity which is the immigrant experience which in many ways is the belief in this country and the democrat experience as well. When you think about jersey city and the things we have done, we have structured our incentives programs and everything we use to move development into the iper portion of the city. You are moving Market Rate Development into the inner portion of the city and weve incentivized Affordable Housing to the water front area. Its something im very conscious of and its something weve tried to implement policies that are going to move the city in that direction. We broke ground on a tower in ournal square. We are very conscious of the disparities from a development standpoint. We are putting tools in place. The jersey journal, we had an Editorial Board with them and had an opportunity to go through what we are doing on the policing front. One of the first hires i made as mayor, we did a National Search for a Public Safety director aggregating the Fire Department and Police Department under one umbrella because i thought there was an opportunity for shared services between the two of them to save some dollars from a grant standpoint and we sought the best and brightest possible. We settled on one of ray kellys senior people in the n. Y. P. D. Hes done tremendous work on digging into data. And we are starting to deploy our resources into those areas. Recently people have asked if you are e deploying the resources based on that area does that mean im going to have less resources in the downtown area. Some of that is true, you will. But i view it at the end of the day as one city. And a mugging or a break in or shooting on the south side of the city has an impact downtown. And how people perceive jersey city, what they think of jersey city so its one problem and we are using data to solve those in some of the challenging areas. We have modeled after what chicago and new york did and we have an office of diversity and inclusion that is as pro active as possible with our Egyptian Community and Pakistani Community who are close to my heart and Hispanic Community and providing them all the tools to know what resources we have as government to help them move forward. Its something we talk about all he time. Im a graduate fellow here. Live in newark now. Im a little surprised its take thn long to ask a question about governor Chris Christie but thats what mine is about. Im surprised too. A lot of the heat he is getting now has to do with during his campaign, not related to his actual policies in office. Im wondering if there is a behavior on aical campaign versus ethical behavior when you are governing. I think thats a good question. I think there is 100 overlap and it becomes more difficult higher the position you are in because have you more influence evident by the governors situation to impact. We are conscious of trying to separate our politics from government when we have our political meetings, when they are with, where they are located. Doing our best to separate there should never be that conflict. I make it a policy to never have a meeting without one of our lawyers or somebody there fronet make sure that somebody doesnt Say Something that is relatively inappropriate recognizing in todays world you have to be very clear in saying no, that is not acceptable. Many people have been dieted and convicted for just sitting there and not saying no, that is not acceptable. There is overlap. We are conscious of the overlap. We do everything we can to create safeguards but its not perfect. People had is it in my office and Say Something that is fairly inappropriate and we do our best to correct them. But it is tough. It became harder for me as a mayor versus city council because i have more influence over different components that mpact people directly. 40 years ago well let him go first and then you. First of all, id like to thank you for coming. Im a native new yorker. Since you are talking about ethics i would like to know your opinion as a fellow mayor. Do you think it was ethical how mayor bloomberg extended his term limits so he could remain mayor . I think the answer is no. And i think mayor bloomberg did a lot of terrific things for new york. I think many people in this room would acknowledge that. I think that was a mistake and i think floible hindsight he was acknowledge it was a mistake. Unethical, ethical is a very hard thing to define. I would say that the process that that undertook where the people clearly stated that this is something that they wanted, term limits and it was something that was changed just for that situation would proinl raise a flag. But just one persons opinion. I hope its appropriate for me to ask a question. You are a very appealing mayor and gentleman. Thanks. Very art lat and educated and have a strong ethical base. But you come from a city with a long history of corruption and there have been marries before who have risen and left office. It is said you are being considered for a higher office. If you only complete one term, can the standard have you set in that one term survive into another . Can you really undo . It just seems to be under water in jersey city as they say. Id like to know if you think that the influence you have will have a long jevty tony . I wake up every day excited to do my job. And it is flattering that people talk about me and our administration about the potential of moving forward especially in light of some of the things that are happening on the state level. I tell you as sure as i am standing here, our team, me personally wakes up very enthusiastic. Every day is something different. Thats what i love about the job. That passion is the reason ive been able to attract some great people to work alongside of me. If my political career was to end being the mayor of jersey ty, i would be perfectly satisfied. So your point on its in the water. I will tell you that jersey city does have a very colorful history. The Mayors Office if you put anytime storage. Mayors hagues desk informs jersey city until four months ago and the interesting thing about mayor hagues desk, he was known as the founder in this country of political bossism. While he had an 8,000 salary he died with millions and millions in the bank. His desk which stayed in jersey city has a button on the mayors side that opens a drawer on the other side where you can drop the money in and hit the button in and it comes back in. Its an amazing invention. We put anytime storage. There is a cultural thing. Why that exist in jersey city if you think about it is jersey city is a very large city or a medium size city but it decrunt its own media market. Were in the shadow of new york and philadelphia. And without that transparency and without that huge media market focus on new jersey you have a lot of things happen that wouldnt happen elsewhere. So do i think we could change the culture . I 100 do
vimarsana.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.