Photo by Adrienne J. Romero / SOC Images.
Standing behind the backdrop of an American flag, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop delivered his last State of the City address after serving 12 years as the city’s mayor. Scores of residents gathered in city hall to hear the city’s accomplishments, and what’s to come.
“In many ways, I feel I’ve grown up in front of you, starting as a councilman at 26 years old,” said Fulop, addressing members at city hall.
“Over the past 12 years, we have faced tremendous challenges together. We navigated a global pandemic. We endured the largest cut ever imposed by Trenton to any municipality with regards to aid. We weathered hurricanes like Irene in 2021. We experienced a mass shooting. We confronted transit reductions,” added the mayor, recalling the timeline of his administration.
He touted his efforts under an “administration in Washington that was not always friendly to cities like Jersey City.” On display behind him, he showed his first speech given as mayor on July 1, 2013–with promises to “help realize the potential in forgotten neighborhoods and to be a leader in both policy and action.”
But just 12 hours prior, the sentiment and tone in the city council chambers were different.
Not many cameras or videos were rolling, instead, a group of residents held up different signs: “Enforce Chapter 260” and “Enforce Rent Control,” which has been going on for years and was initially covered by former Hudson County newspaper, the Hudson Reporter. And this time around, Slice of Culture was there for it all.
In a regularly scheduled city council meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 29, over 50 people spoke as part of “The People State of the City Address,” which was a movement corralled by tenants, residents and even city mayoral candidates who all demanded the city be held accountable for areas they felt the city has fallen short in.
“Don’t forget these parts of the city and don’t forget these tenants,” said one speaker during the public comment portion on Wednesday. Another speaker concerned with the bike lanes at Manhattan and Franklin Street, asked in front of council members “How long must we wait?”
“Tonight was supposed to be politically neutral. Yet after reflection, I realized neutrality is a luxury we cannot afford. A side must be chosen, and I hope that by the time I finish speaking, everyone, including the candidates, will agree with my choice. …I choose to side with the people,” said Kevin Weller, president of the Portside Towers East Tenant Association and organizer of “The People State of the City Address.”
Siding with the tenants and other Jersey City residents were former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevy, former president of the Jersey City Board of Education Mussab Ali and Bill O’Dea, the Hudson County Commissioner–all of whom are running to be the city’s next mayor.
For nearly three years, Portside Towers tenants have repeatedly testified about housing violations and continued illegal rent spikes, so much as to deal with 30-40 % rental increases, which had been previously reported based on the lack of unenforced rent control ordinances in the city.
The Portside Towers, located at 155 Washington Street and 100 Warren Street, has had its rent control status contested among landlords, residents and city officials alike.
A recent ruling by the city’s Rent Leveling Board unanimously voted that Portside Towers was subject to rent control, according to The Jersey Journal. This means that the city recognized the 19-story building on the western towers would adhere to rent control, while the 26-story eastern tower, would not be subject to rent control until 2027.
Rent control is defined as a price cap placed under a municipality to limit the amount a landlord can place for leasing a home or the renewal of a lease.
Tenants of the 527-unit building claim they’ve been overcharged a total of $140 million in over two decades of illegal rent increases. They’re now seeking over $700 million in punitive damages. The lawsuit filed by the tenants against Equity Residential is allegedly the largest rent control class action lawsuit in the country, according to TapInto.
“We need real enforcement of fire and building codes, and we need real rent stabilization laws that are more than just words on paper,” said Ali. “When we allow neglect and corruption to take hold in our housing system, we are talking about real human suffering, not just policy failures.”
“I urge you, immediately, to hire an attorney to represent the City Council’s position on Portside and help get this resolved on behalf of the tenants who live there,” said mayoral candidate O’Dea. “You need to do an audit of each and every property, check the registration forms, take action against those who haven’t filed and verify those who have. You’re not only failing to create more affordable housing; you’re failing to preserve the affordable housing that already exists.”
Last year, in a vote held by the city council, an ordinance that would enshrine tenants’ right to an attorney was passed unanimously–protecting those tenants who might face retaliation from their landlords.
But Thursday’s State of the City Address brought issues on affordable housing to a whole different spotlight.
Fulop, who is a Democratic candidate running for governor in this year’s state elections, made his final remarks, discussing topics like affordable housing, city progression and more.
“Some of you grew up here and can remember when people would choose to leave the city as a sign of their success. They made it when they left. Who would have imagined a day like today exists when people clamor and aspire to claim Jersey City as their home as a definition of their success?” said Fulop.
On the topic of the city’s affordability and housing crisis he said, “Last year alone, nearly 9,000 affordable and market-rate units were approved by planning. Since 2015, we’ve approved 68,000 resident units.”
A recent study conducted by StorageCafe, a real-estate site, assessed the housing inventory or the total number of units available for sale or rent and found that Jersey City alone increased 43% since 2005, in terms of housing development. There are also over 69,000 housing units, with an average mortgage value of $557,000, according to the data.
The mayor said the city has “built 275 percent more housing per capita than New York City last year.” He additionally claimed, “While New York City falls short of housing, Jersey City here is punching far beyond its weight.”
But “beyond its weight,” how?
The city launched a registry known as Code Compliance under the city’s Quality of Life Division back in 2019–a division started under Fulop’s purview to address residents’ complaints such as absentee landlords, local polluters and other public issues that take advantage of residents, according to the city’s site.
An investigative story by the Hudson Reporter found many of the residents’ complaints when it came to housing or landlord-tenant issues were unaccounted for, with residents waiting up to eight months for their complaints to be reviewed by the city.
Another report showed around 36,000 Jersey City residents earning below the median income are expected to be cost-burdened by 2032–a figure three times higher than the city’s installed housing units, according to the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit organization assessing real-estate markets.
As crowds cheered on Fulop’s line of housing accomplishments on Thursday, Jan. 30, tenants and residents underscored the mayor’s efforts the night before at city hall, juxtaposing the ease of housing brought by the mayor’s speech to the reality of tenants facing illegal rent hikes.
“Time and time again, when we speak the truth, we are silenced or dismissed. Why? Because this city’s mayor has chosen to align himself not with the people but with those who extract wealth from our homes, break our laws and use their profits to protect themselves—not from consequences, but from justice,” said Michele Hirsch, the president of the Portside Towers West Association.
“Let this be a warning: we will never allow leadership in this city to be bought with money stolen from its people again.”
Other council members also chimed in on the issue of affordable housing in the city, “When we see tenants getting rental increases [30-40%] a year or landlords pushing them out, I know we can have the strongest tenants protections in the country,” said Ward E Councilman James Solomon on the day of Mayor Fulop’s speech in a video posted on his Facebook account. He is also running as a mayoral candidate this year for Jersey City.
With over 91,000 residents in Jersey City who rent, tenant-landlord issues remain to be an ongoing trend here in the city. There’s a number of local resources a tenant can look into, the following sites are available with information related to housing concerns:
- Jersey City Office of Landlord/ Tenant Relations https://www.jerseycitynj.gov/cityhall/HousingAndDevelopment/housingpreservation/landlordtenantrelations
- Tenants’ Rights in New Jersey: https://proxy.lsnj.org/rcenter/GetPublicDocument/Sites/LAW/Documents/Publications/Manuals/TenantsRights.pdf
- Additional info on the right to counsel for tenants https://www.righttocounseljc.org/about
The mayor said the city has “built 275 percent more housing per capita than New York City last year.”
What Else Did Fulop List In His Accomplishments?
Back at a packed State of the City Address, the 49th mayor of Jersey City harped on accomplishments made in previous years, addressing topics such as the city’s state of economic prosperity, public safety city efforts and moving development beyond the waterfront area back in 2013. The room was filled with city officials, the municipal court in black robes and members of the public.
The mayor asked for a moment of silence in honoring the death of a mother and her two children who were murdered last week in the Heights. “While even one homicide is too many,” the mayor, referring to the triple homicide incident, he added that there has been a year-over-year crime decrease in the city.
Residents who attended the “People’s State of the City,” the night prior, shouted “Justice for Drew,” a 52-year-old man who died in a police shooting in Englewood back in 2023. Officers are seen busting his door open, shocking him with a taser and shot him, according to body camera footage released by the New Jersey attorney general’s office.
In Jersey City, shootings lowered with seven homicides reported last year, and six that have been resolved. But according to a crime stat database generated by the city on a year-to-year metric, zero homicides were reported last year with nine related shootings.
He added that a new senior center would take on the name of Michael Yun, the first Korean-born person elected to serve in city council, who passed away due to complications related to COVID-19. The former councilman was revered by those who surrounded him, and described to embody the spirit of Jersey City.
“Michael always believed that success is not something achieved through personal wealth alone but through the service to those communities in which we both work and live. We all can continue to honor his legacy by following in his example: do what you can to support and care for your family, your neighbors, and your community,” read one post online in dedication to the councilman.
Fulop continued on with the renovations made to the City Hall Annex in Bergen-Lafayette, along with sought-out developments in Journal Square. Additionally, he pointed to the decrease in the city’s traffic-related incidents through Vision Zero, an initiative in bolstering safety measures in the city’s streets.
He highlighted the efforts of the city’s Health Department distributed 250,000 meals last year, provided 6,000 rides to seniors and assisted over 1,000 people through immigrant services and additional social services.
He also cited the Bayfront project, a $1.6 federal million grant project, described as the largest mixed-income development site that seeks to provide 35% affordable housing finishing up in the spring and providing 8,000 units, according to the mayor. But behind the numbers, some residents are still unsure how they feel about the project.
“It’s been challenging, we have made progress, we have made some enemies but most of all we have made progress,” said Joyce Watterman, prior to the mayor’s speech, who is the current city council president and also a mayoral candidate.
And the mayor’s list of accomplishments only went so far, as residents stood outside city hall with banners reading with blue and red fonts, “No filing, no exemption” and “Enforce 260,” pleading for better rent protections amidst city rent control violations, unlawful rent hikes, security failures and government inaction.
“We are leaving the city stronger than ever before on every single metric,” Fulop said in his closing remarks at the State of the City.
