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Hudson County View By John Heinis/Hudson County View “This resolution supports two bills that are pending in the legislature which would make police disciplinary records public, police internal affairs records subject to the Open Records Act … These investigations have no oversight whatsoever,” said CJ Griffin, an attorney who said she was speaking as a Ward E resident during last night’s public portion. She continued that between 2015 and 2019, the Jersey City Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit sustained one out of 30 excessive force complaints, zero out of eight discrimination complaints, with only 21 of 597 excessive force complaints sustained across Hudson County over the past decade. ....
Hudson Reporter × With a 2-0-4 vote the Jersey City Council adopted a resolution in support of eliminating rows, lines and columns on primary ballots. The Jersey City Council has passed a resolution endorsing the abolition of party lines on primary ballots in the interests of fair elections. According to the resolution, sponsored by Ward E Councilman James Solomon, New Jersey primary election ballots are configured to “stack the deck” for certain candidates at the expense of others, “thereby undermining the integrity of elections and hindering our democracy.” New Jersey is the only state in the nation that organizes its primary election ballots by bracketing groups of candidates in a column or row, rather than by listing the office sought followed immediately by the names of all candidates running for that office. ....
In rarely seen vote, Jersey City Council OKs resolution to abolish HCDO line with only 2 yeses By Daniel Ulloa/ Hudson County View Ward E Councilman James Solomon, the sponsor of the measure, was joined by Councilman-at-Large Rolando Lavarro in voting yes. The remaining electeds in attendance, Councilman-at-Large Daniel Rivera, Ward B Councilwoman Mira Prinz-Arey, Ward C Councilman Rich Boggiano, and Ward D Councilman Yousef Saleh all abstained, with Council President Joyce Watterman, Ward A Councilwoman Denise Ridley, and Ward F Councilman Jermaine Robinson absent. “It is a big conversation. It is an extraordinarily important conversation as a state we simply have not had until the last year,” Solomon said prior to the vote. ....
Despite Jersey City CCRB measure being withdrawn, several speak in favor of its implementation By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View “We would like to make sure we have proper input from our colleagues and groups that have vested interests,” Ward A Councilwoman Denise Ridley, a co-sponsor along with Ward E Councilman James Solomon said. She also assured the public it would be on the agenda at the next council meeting in March. Gary Spingarn spoke in favor of bringing a CCRB to Jersey City, which can’t occur until after statewide legislation has enacted, but questioned how effective in would actually be. ....
Hudson Reporter × The Hudson County Sheriff Department placed several people under arrest last week after a judge approved a restraining order effectively preventing ICE protests near Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise s home. Residents region-wide continued to speak out against Hudson County’s decision to renew its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week. This comes after the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders voted 6-3 on Nov. 24 to renew their contract with ICE to house their detainees at Hudson County Correctional Facility for $120 per person per day despite nearly nine hours of public comment in opposition. ....