October 20, 2025 • 35 mins
When taxes keep climbing and services keep slipping, everyday life gets harder—broken ankles from potholes, locked parks that sideline kids, and 16-minute waits for 911 during a break-in. We invited Ward D city council candidate Catherine Healy, a lifelong Jersey City resident, attorney, and mom of three, to talk about a path forward that doesn’t start by charging residents more. The through line is execution: build a real grants department, fix what’s visible, and restore trust in public safety.
Catherine breaks down why parks matter to family life and community health, from reopening Leonard Gordon Park with restored bathrooms to installing water refill stations that cut plastic waste. She connects small, practical upgrades to larger systems—funded by state and federal grants that Jersey City simply hasn’t been applying for. We get specific about road paving, potholes, and how missed applications translate into daily frustration, then outline how a centralized team of grant professionals could bring in millions for infrastructure, green space, and public safety without raising the tax burden.
Public safety takes center stage as we unpack a recent 16-minute police response in the Heights and what it reveals about staffing, dispatch, and morale. Catherine makes the case for community policing—officers who know the neighborhood and are known by it—and for leadership that encourages decisive, measured responses. The goal is pragmatic: streets that feel safe to cross, parks that actually work for families and seniors, and a city that runs with Union City’s level of cleanliness, lighting, and responsiveness.
If you want a blueprint built on competence, accountability, and external funding, this conversation delivers specifics you can hold leaders to. Subscribe for more candid, local-first conversations, and share this episode with a neighbor who’s ready for cleaner, safer streets.
Your hosts: @lynnhazan_ and @tonydoesknow
follow us on social @ltkpod!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
Hey, welcome to the Lynn and Tony Know podcast.
I'm your host, Lynn.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
And I'm Tony.
We are both wellness coaches andmarried with kids.
SPEAKER_02 (00:07):
Join us as we talk about all things health,
wellness, relationships, lifehacks, parenting, and everything
in between unfiltered.
Thanks for listening and let'sget into it.
Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
Welcome back.
SPEAKER_02 (00:20):
So we're continuing our conversation with wardy
candidates for the Jersey Cityelections.
SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (00:29):
Go out and vote.
It's really important.
We're having all thesediscussions to help you make an
informed decision.
SPEAKER_00 (00:36):
Yeah.
We are we just simply want toget to know the candidates and
allow other people to do thesame because, especially in
local elections, I was lookingup I was looking up statistics
on vote count for like the pastthree uh last three city council
elections or two city councilelections and mayoral elections,
and the percentage of peoplethat vote is really low.
SPEAKER_02 (00:59):
Um and the percentage of people who go on
the internet and complain isvery high.
SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
Yes.
So there's go on Reddit.
Bit of a disconnect.
SPEAKER_02 (01:06):
Social media, Facebook.
It's wild to me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
It's also wild to me, and and I'll just say this
before we get into our guesthere, uh, and this does not
include her.
Even some of the countcandidates at this point really,
I just want to be like, uh, whatdo you actually like about
Jersey City?
Because every piece of content Isee is a complaint about Jersey
City.
And that that I find a littlebit grating.
SPEAKER_02 (01:31):
And it's the best when it's somebody that's been
in in on city council for likeeight plus years and they're
complaining.
And I'm like, uh excuse me, youhad eight years to do something
about these situations and youhaven't.
Like that could be anybody.
SPEAKER_00 (01:46):
That could be anybody.
SPEAKER_02 (01:47):
Useless.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
That could be anybody.
SPEAKER_02 (01:49):
Uh anyway, I am a huge fan of women running for
office, especially moms, becausewe get shit done.
We're multitaskers.
We don't, you know, the ego islike a dude thing.
Sorry, no offense.
And I always say that women umjust I think if if all our
(02:11):
leaders were women, we'd be in amuch better situation.
We lead with empathy and care.
And yeah, so I'm very excited tomeet Katherine Healy.
She's a lifelong Jersey Cityresident, attorney, and advocate
for working families who'srunning for city council in War
D.
Public service runs in herfamily.
Her father, former mayorJeremiah Healy, inspired her
(02:33):
lifelong commitment to justiceand civic leadership.
With over 15 years of experiencein criminal law, labor
relations, and social services,Catherine has dedicated her
career to making government workfor the people it serves.
She currently serves as DeputyDirector of the Hudson County
Department of Family Services,managing vital programs to
support residents across thecounty, a Jersey City woman of
(02:53):
action, an Irish woman of theyear.
Catherine is also a proud mom ofthree and an active member of
St.
Nicholas Church.
Governor Jim McGreevy calls her,former Governor Jim McGreevy
calls her a critical force forgood, and today we'll hear why.
Catherine Healy, welcome to theshow.
SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
Welcome, welcome.
SPEAKER_02 (03:11):
Thank you.
Thank you, Lynn.
Thank you, Tony.
We're excited to get to knowyou.
So I want to know how was itgrowing up with your dad, who
was a mayor of Jersey City?
SPEAKER_01 (03:22):
Um, it was intense.
We had a we grew up in astandard Jersey City two-family
home.
So we lived on the first floor.
I'm one of four siblings.
So I'm the third of four.
I have an older brother, anolder sister, it's me, and then
a younger brother, Patrick.
We all live here.
We all work here.
(03:43):
My brothers are both Jersey Cityfiremen.
My sister's a Jersey Cityteacher out of class 28.
You're an OG.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
So you've seen Jersey City change so much, I'm
sure.
SPEAKER_01 (03:57):
Wow.
You would see the Mormons in thewhite shirts, and and then it
was us and the Shamley who stoleQueen Latifa's car in the 80s.
Hilarious.
SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
Well, say more about that.
SPEAKER_02 (04:09):
You must have so many stories about the heights.
Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
I wanna I want to hear about the Queen Latifah.
What's the what's the two-minuteversion of that?
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
So one of our neighbors on Ferry Street, when
Clean Queen Latifa was living inJersey City, he stole her car.
He also uh On purpose?
SPEAKER_00 (04:27):
Or he just stole a car and it happened to be Queen
Latifa.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:30):
Well, back when car theft was a thing, we don't have
that issue so much anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (04:34):
Not as much.
Not not as much.
Although if you go on next door,you'll every now and then you'll
see a uh car theft uh post, I'venoticed, but not specific to the
heights, but um and it's notQueen Lativa either.
So I guess I guess my firstquestion would be why do you
want to run?
Or why did you decide to getinto the race?
If I'm not mistaken, you werethe last candidate for this Ward
D race, maybe just the last oneI saw, but you were you were a
(04:57):
little bit later to the partythan some of the other
candidates.
So why did you decide to run andwhy for city council?
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Okay, Tony, I had no intention of ever running for
office.
I'm too busy.
I'm thinking I'm way too busyfor this.
Um I'm a full-time lawyer.
I at family services, as youmentioned.
I also have a side practice thatdoes pro bono work.
I have a pro bono case on Fridayfor a domestic violence victim.
I just am nonstop.
(05:25):
I've been coaching in WashingtonPark Little League for the last
10 years.
I run a 501c3 nonprofit toeducate inner city girls at St.
Dominic Academy, the girls whofall through the cracks, who are
excellent students, um, and theywant a better opportunity for a
high school.
And I also have three children.
(05:45):
As I just mentioned, they're 13,11, and Lewis just turned four.
So I really have my hands full,and it just reached the point
where uh the governor had askedme to join the ticket.
I said, Gov, I don't have time.
I'm way too busy for this.
He said, Well, please go speakto your family, think about it,
(06:06):
and get back to me.
So I did.
My family gave me uh uh anapprehensive yes.
And so I called the Gov back thenext day and said, Okay, Gov,
I'll do it.
My my children consented, myhusband consented, my father
consented, because it is a teameffort.
And essentially, my husband's mypoor husband is a saint.
He uh has been like a singledad, and he feels like I've
(06:29):
divorced him because I'm outevery single night, every single
day.
And he's taking the kids tovolleyball, to softball.
I feel like a bad uh softballcoach now.
I've just like really fallen bythe wayside when it comes to the
family unit, but I like to thinkit's temporary.
This, however, is an assetbecause I don't have time to
(06:51):
waste.
So I have to do things right thefirst time.
And that's a big part of thereason why I'm running is the
city's dysfunction.
You look around, our propertytaxes have tripled, the cost of
sanitation has gone up.
We're now paying extra for waterand sewerage.
So where is our quality of lifehas gone down?
(07:15):
Our roads are a mess.
A mom who I went to high schoolwith, who lives on my block here
on Charles Street, was ninemonths pregnant, walking to go
pick up her three-year-old fromdaycare on the corner of our
block here, and broke her anklein a pothole on the street.
So now she's just delivered hersecond baby and has the
(07:36):
three-year-olds running aroundthe house while she has this
broken ankle and is nursing anewborn because of the pothole
on the street.
Now, this is not the first caseof people breaking their ankles
in potholes, but that's thestate of our city.
Our park, Mosquito Park, alsoknown as Leonard Gordon Park,
(07:56):
was locked up for almost twoyears, so we could not use it.
I have a four-year-old son thatreally debilitated us,
especially as you guys know.
Boys, you have a boy, right?
A girl.
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
All girls.
SPEAKER_01 (08:08):
All girls, all girls.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (08:10):
All girls, but our middle one has some serious boy
energy.
SPEAKER_01 (08:16):
Okay.
So the boys are just sodifferent.
They have to get out, they haveto get that energy out.
And we had no park for almosttwo years.
Finally, when they do open upthe park, we discover that they
remove trees, they remove parkbenches, they removed handrails
(08:36):
to the staircases.
So now it's more difficult forthe seniors.
In addition, um, sure you guyshave seen the generational
sledding hill in Mosquito Park.
Have you guys utilized that?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:51):
What what the I know I know where it is.
I'm not I'm not as uh uh up onon maybe all the Jersey City
stuff as as longtime residents,but I've I've been to the park.
I know the hill.
That's that's uh what whathappened?
SPEAKER_01 (09:05):
What do you so people bring out their sleds?
Well, they used to bring outtheir sleds, their snowboards,
my cousin Joel snowboards on thehill, and the city replaced the
grass that was at the bottom ofthe hill with a layer of
concrete, and then they placethese monstrous light poles at
the bottom of the hill, so youcan't go sledding there anymore.
(09:28):
I mean, this was a generationalactivity for children, adults,
and it's gone.
And this is what happens whenyou have people who don't, I'm
sorry, don't have childrenmaking decisions.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
Interesting.
Interesting.
Now, with with that said, youyou mentioned several several
aspects of the life that thatdrew you into forcing your hand
essentially to run, right?
Um, what if you were able topick one, and of course you can
you can expand on a couple ifyou'd like, what what is the
first thing that you would liketo tackle as the city council
(10:04):
person for Ward D?
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
I'd love to restore the historic bathrooms in
Leonard Gordon Park.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (10:11):
And install clean drinking water, water refill
stations.
We have to get off the plasticbottles.
And the only way to do that isto have clean water refill
stations in every city building.
The public library needs a waterrefill station.
Our schools already have it.
The Jersey City Public Schoolsalready have the refill
stations.
(10:31):
We don't have them in our cityparks, and we don't have them in
most of our other citybuildings.
So if we could install that inour parks, I think that would be
a step in the right direction.
Um, and together with that, ifwe could teach our children in
our public schools reduce,reuse, recycle, stop the drop, I
think that would be very helpfultoo.
They could come home and teachthe parents on what is
(10:53):
recyclable, what isn't.
I mean, these are simple thingswe can do as a society to really
help save the world.
SPEAKER_00 (11:01):
So that one seems to me, as just a regular average
citizen, that seems easy.
Like how, what, what are thehangups?
Why hasn't that been done?
What is what are the obstaclesthat keep us from just going,
oh, we want refillable waterstations?
These cost X dolls we justinstall them and have it done.
Like what keeps us from doingthat right now?
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
I think it's lack of initiative.
There's all kinds of grants outthere, so it's not a cost issue.
This is clean drinking water.
These are some of thesebuildings, uh, get federal
assistance.
So we could get all kinds ofgrants for these public green
spaces, clean drinking wateract.
(11:40):
We can get the grants.
It's not a matter of finances.
It's it's a matter ofinitiative.
Nobody cares.
Nobody cares about the filth onthe street, nobody cares about
the our roads, our schools.
It's like everybody's justchecked out.
SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
So as far as the roads go, obviously that,
especially I think in theheights, is more of an issue
than, let's say, downtown, forexample.
I'm sure there are other wardswhere it's also a large problem.
What does that require?
What can a city council memberdo when it comes to advocating
effectively for getting potholesfilled or getting roads paved?
(12:19):
Like what does that look likefrom a city council level?
SPEAKER_01 (12:22):
Honestly, it's just having a great relationship with
uh your um city public worksdepartment, which I already
have.
So once I get into office, I'mgonna call my friends in public
works and ask them kindly toplease uh pave certain roads,
(12:43):
fill certain potholes.
You know, it's it really isabout playing well in the
sandbox.
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
Got it.
So it's it's more of a this ismore of a relationship-based
problem or relationship-basedfix than than say red tape or or
financial or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01 (13:01):
100%.
I mean, a lot of the paving ofroads is federally and state
funded.
It's just a matter of the cityactually applying for those
grants.
Like last winter, I found outfrom a certain senator that the
city should have applied forlike a few million dollar grant
to pave the roads.
And uh, we were told to justapply for that grant and the
(13:23):
money's ours.
And uh, we never applied for it.
So our team is going to start agrants department, a department
that's totally dedicated toapplying for grants that we have
not applied for in the past.
There's so much money out therethat we have just not asked for.
It's just a matter of submittingthe right paperwork and jumping
(13:47):
through the hoops before we getthat money.
Because frankly, our taxes arethrough the roof, the rent is
through the roof.
We just can't afford to raisetaxes at this point.
So every initiative that we'regonna do from January 1st on is
gonna have to be through grantsor whatever the current tax base
(14:07):
is right now.
We just can't afford it.
I'm sure you guys feel that paintoo.
SPEAKER_00 (14:12):
Yeah, no, our our taxes since we we bought our
home up in the heights to todayhave gone up almost 50%.
So what I what I'm hearing andwhat I'm what I like about what
I'm hearing is that everythingthat you're mentioning right now
does not require me to pay moreto get it done, which is
something that quite frankly, Ithink is how you pay for your
(14:35):
initiatives should be front andcenter for your for your policy,
because there are a lot ofpromises being made from a lot
of candidates that if pressed onhow they were going to pay for
it, I would imagine we get a bitof a shoulder shoulder shrug or
or or we're going to pay morefor it.
And the grant thing I haven'theard anybody talk about.
(14:55):
So that is some messaging that Ithink needs to be a bit wider,
and I'm glad you're on here todo just that, because uh that
wouldn't have been something Iwould have thought about.
So you're saying that there arethere's money on the table, and
you all are, and when I say youall, T McGreevy, I'm imagining,
is saying we are going todedicate a personnel to securing
(15:16):
that money that is just sittingthere waiting for Jersey City to
take it.
SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
Yes.
Governor McGreevy, I believe,has mentioned that before in his
other interviews, but that isthat is one of his first
initiatives is getting thegrants department up and
running, and he's gonna get thebest people possible into that
department.
Right now, Jersey City does nothave a grants department.
I believe they have random laypeople in certain departments
who do the grant writing, but wedo not have any grants experts
(15:45):
in Jersey City right now.
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
Yeah, that that seems like a massive hold that
would pay for itself a thousandtimes over, essentially.
Um that's a very interestingthing.
As somebody that pays very closeattention to everyone that is
running, every article that iswritten.
And I've heard Jim speakprobably four or five times now
(16:09):
at length.
I don't recall hearing aboutthis.
So this is something that Iwould, if I was everybody wants
everybody wants to know howpeople are gonna pay for their
stuff, right?
And everybody's concerned thatwe're gonna that the taxpayers
are gonna end up footing thebill for a lot of what's being
uh positioned.
So the fact that you have a youhave a mechanism that we aren't
seeing to pay for all of this, Ithink is very valuable for
(16:32):
people to hear.
Do you have anything you wantedto do?
SPEAKER_02 (16:34):
Yeah, I mean, as a uh, you know, I love that you're
a mom, like I mentioned, I lovethat you're a mom and you get
it, you know, uh raising afamily in Jersey City.
What are you what is the the thethe biggest in terms of fa you
know raising families, thebiggest issues in your in your
uh eyes right now?
SPEAKER_01 (16:53):
Aaron Powell I am a little uncomfortable with my
kids walking the streets.
I'm nervous about them crossingthe streets.
The lack of police enforcementis terrifying.
We had uh an attempted burglaryon Palisadea, not this past
Monday, but the Monday before,of what is the name of the hair
salon that was?
Oh, the hair room.
(17:15):
Thank you, the hair room.
Yeah.
And um the owner happened to bepresent at that time, and she
had, I believe, two stylistswith her.
And some man was trying to breakin through their front door.
So she called 911.
Wow.
One of her stylists called 911and it took JCPD 16 minutes to
(17:38):
arrive to um the scene.
And they didn't even arrive atthe scene.
They they drove by.
And now I know this because Iwent to these victims and needed
to get more information fromthem because we are the public
safety ticket.
So we have to find out wherethese problems are to be able to
(18:00):
fix them.
And um, so it in fact it tookmore than 16 minutes for JCPD to
respond to a female victimcalling of a breaking and
entering in progress.
You can hear her screaming andbanging.
You can hear the banging on thedoor from from her hair salon's
(18:21):
video cameras, but I would liketo Oprah those 911 calls to find
out where we went wrong.
How are we failing?
Why are we failing our citizens?
Like to me, this the number onemost vital, essential service
that the city needs to provideto its citizens.
(18:42):
When we have a victim calling911 of a of a breaking an entry
in progress, we should be therewithin a minute and 30 seconds,
not 16 minutes later.
Then I come to find out um thatJCPD took this long to arrive at
(19:02):
the scene because all units inthe heights in the North
District had been sent toJournal Square for a call, a pr
a more priority call for anemotionally disturbed person or
something to that effect.
So we had no cars in the NorthDistrict to respond to Palisade
(19:22):
Ev.
I mean, something is isseriously wrong with the system.
And this was just last Monday,not this past Monday.
Yeah, a week from uh yesterday.
SPEAKER_00 (19:33):
Yeah.
So okay, so that that policedepartment is literally like two
blocks away from us, right?
And you say they got they gotsent for a call in Journal
Square.
Is there no other policedepartment closer to Journal
Square?
Or is this their that's theirterritory also?
SPEAKER_01 (19:50):
Yes.
The North District, they alsocover Journal Square.
And let me just say this wereally used to have the best
police force in the country.
We we've been doing communitypolicing here forever.
So it's your neighbor who's thepolice officer.
It's your teammate from softballor baseball or soccer who is the
(20:11):
police officer.
It's the kid who went to PS 8,PS28.
Like we have real communitypolicing here.
SPEAKER_00 (20:20):
Let me just expand on that for people that might
not understand communitypolicing because until I heard
Jim talk about it, I did notknow what that meant.
And and correct any part of thisif I'm if I'm not relaying it
right, but it's when you haveofficers that have the same
beat, they walk the samestreets, you recognize them
because it's the same men orwomen that are always in front
(20:40):
of you and they don't rotate outof your area, essentially.
So you you become familiar with,you know, officer Officer
Smith's always the one that's inPershing field, and we know him,
we feel good, like he's our guy.
Like that's essentially what I Igot from what community policing
is.
Is that is that more or lesswhat we're talking about?
SPEAKER_01 (20:58):
Yes, yes.
100% Jersey City, you have toactually live here to get the
job.
SPEAKER_00 (21:05):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (21:06):
In addition.
Um, so so we never had thoseissues of police brutality.
I mean, Jersey City policeshowed tremendous restraint.
Um, and I think there is a aripple effect of what was
happening out in the Midwest,all the way here in Jersey City,
New Jersey, where we never hadthat police brutality problem.
(21:28):
But now they're just sitting onthe sidelines, they're not
responding to the scenes.
And this past Monday showed ushow severe the problem is.
This isn't just not enforcingTitle 39 traffic violations.
This is this is very serious.
SPEAKER_00 (21:48):
This is next level.
So when when you talk about whenyou talk about police officers
sitting on the sidelines as as areaction to what?
As a reaction to the theblowback that they could get for
handling a call wrong?
Like what what is because I'mnot sitting here going, I think
police officers aren't doingtheir jobs because they don't
(22:09):
want to.
What why I do you why do youthink that the the policing is
not up to where it needs to be?
SPEAKER_01 (22:15):
I think JCPD was, as I said, top level, top in the
country, very professional.
But I think with the wholedefund the police movement and I
saw a pattern of Jersey Citypolice all of a sudden started
getting indicted for accidents,for mistakes.
(22:36):
And you know, that's what civillaw is for.
That's what the civil courts arefor.
Um when there's an accident onthe job, you don't indict the
police officer um when they'resimply responding to a scene.
So I think that has had achilling effect on how they
(22:57):
police.
And we need to stop doing that.
We need to um, you know, bringbring lift the morale of the
Jersey City police so that theycan go back to doing their jobs
like they did uh 10, 15 yearsago.
But we're only gonna have moreand more families leaving Jersey
City if we have incidents likelast Monday night.
(23:19):
I mean, the number one complaintfrom everybody in Ward D is safe
streets, safe streets, policeresponse, police response.
We call they don't show up, wecall they take too long.
And then this past Monday justreally exposed the problem for
how bad it really is.
SPEAKER_00 (23:39):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking about like being
at work and my wife's at homeand you know that she gets a
16-minute wait time for a B andE.
I am I am probably beside myselfwith with anger over that type
of response time.
And and like I said, I I wouldbe hard pressed to just outright
blame the police for that, whichit doesn't sound like you're
(24:00):
doing.
It sounds like you're you'retalking about a more systemic
issue here, and probably what Iwould describe as an
overcorrection to thedemonization of police during
2020 time period that we aren'tback from yet.
And like you said, this is not,I don't think this is Jersey
City specific.
I don't think it's unique to ourour city.
I think there's a lot of citiesthat are are feeling that still.
(24:24):
I'll be straight up, like, youknow, back in 2020, I was
probably I probably have somedef on the police posts, and I
probably contributed to thatnarrative, and I've and I've
grown up a lot since then.
Um and and Lynn and I have had alot of conversations around, you
know, like like what were weeven talking about?
Like we just broadstroked anentire group of people over this
(24:46):
this moment in history that wasreally bad, but not not
indicative of an entireprofession.
So, you know, as as as membersof the Jewish community, we know
now very well what it like whatit feels like to be broadstroked
as a community, and and we'vesince you know, we've since come
to appreciate law enforcement ina different way.
And I guess we really would liketo understand how we get it, how
(25:10):
we get how we get the publicopinion on law enforcement to
turn in a way that allows themto feel comfortable to do the
job that they were hired to do.
Because I I feel like that is abig hurdle for them when they
when they look at a public thatfeels very adversarial to them
in a lot of ways.
How do we regain the trust ofthe public and how do we fix the
(25:31):
systemic issues that areplaguing our police department
right now?
SPEAKER_01 (25:34):
Um and I'm not minimizing at all what happened
in the Midwest.
George Floyd, that was clearly amurder.
That was a first-degree murder.
That police officer was bad andthat he deserved to go to jail
and be convicted of that.
But what happens in the Midwestdoesn't happen here.
(25:56):
And um I mean, I think GovernorMcGreevy, we ha actually never
spoke about it, but I feel likehe's uh cognizant of this
because he does have threepolice officers on his ticket.
Um, and I think if we have likewe have Izzy Nieves on on our
ticket, he's a former Marine anda retired Jersey City police
(26:18):
lieutenant.
So if we want to lift lift themorale and make Jersey City
police feel comfortable doingtheir job, you know, having
someone like Izzy Nievesrepresent the city will make our
police force feel morecomfortable.
We also have a detective fromthe Hudson County Sheriff's
(26:38):
Department on our ticket,Hennessy Sarmiento, who
volunteers with the community.
She has her own C3 that worksclosely with the seventh and
eighth grade girls at PS numberseven.
She does like a mentorshipprogram with them.
She's been doing this for years,not just to run for office, but
just because she's a goodperson.
(27:00):
Like these are our communitypolice officers.
Hennessy Sarmiento, Izzy Nieves,who are born and raised right
here in Jersey City.
So to exactly to paint JCPD withuh that brush of pull of police
brutality is totally unfair.
(27:20):
And I think it, yeah, it has thechilling effect that it has
today.
We also have um Rich Boggiano inWard C, who's a retired Jersey
City police officer.
So I think I'm a formerprosecutor.
I was a prosecutor for seven anda half years.
So I think this would make thepolice feel a little more
comfortable to do their job,knowing that we're not gonna
(27:42):
come after them, you know?
SPEAKER_00 (27:43):
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that I I thinkthat that, yes, Izzy, first of
all, I I haven't had a longconversation with him.
I've met him a couple times, buthe seems like a guy that if you
want a public-facing person forlaw enforcement, he would
absolutely be somebody thatcould could really really put a
different kind of shine on whatit means to be a police officer
(28:06):
in this day and age, especially.
So I like that.
I like that a lot.
But what else when you got?
SPEAKER_02 (28:11):
How do you balance it all?
I want to know.
SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
SPEAKER_01 (28:15):
As a mother of three.
I'm just like numb and I just gothrough the day and make
decisions.
SPEAKER_00 (28:21):
Just quick decisions.
SPEAKER_01 (28:22):
And everyone just like I hate to say it.
I know nobody wants to hearthis, but you just have to make
the right decision the firsttime.
You have to do it right thefirst time because you don't
have time to make errors becauseyou're never gonna have time to
go back and correct thoseerrors, if that makes sense.
So, like what happens inMosquito Park over the last
three years, we don't have timefor any more errors.
We got to do it right the firsttime.
(28:43):
We have to get those grants forum historic green space.
As soon as we get that money, wehave to renovate those
bathrooms.
Uh, we have to install thedrinking fountains.
Like we have we're gonna hit theground running.
SPEAKER_00 (28:56):
Um, something that we've been asking all of the
candidates that we have on is wewe'll ask about the top of the
ticket.
We'll ask, obviously, we heardhow you got engaged with Jim.
I would like to know, and weasked Meredith this the other
day, is is how do you how do yourespond to people that are
critical of of his past,critical of what has happened
(29:17):
when he was governor?
And and how do you reconcilethose types of missteps as as
they would present when youchoose to align with him?
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
So Governor McGreevy has been very transparent when
it comes to his past.
I would say you can read hisbook.
He published a book, just lookat his past record to see how
far he's come.
He's now 67 years old.
He's not doing this as astepping stone to run for
Congress, Senate, governor.
(29:48):
He's just doing this because hewants to make his community
better, which is why he startedthe re entry program, which has
been working in conjunction withHudson County.
And we are the The first countyin the entire country to release
or graduate county inmates witha two-year associate's degree.
(30:11):
So not only are these formerinmates, prisoners, getting
released with a degree, we alsoafford them wraparound services.
So they're getting released withMedicaid, Obamacare.
So they have the medicationsthat they need.
We're also releasing them withhousing.
Everyone has housing.
We're not throwing people outonto the street anymore.
(30:32):
So you want to talk aboutreducing recidivism and
essentially ultimatelypreventing homelessness?
McGreevy already has a plan forthat.
I mean, and he doesn't just talkabout it, he's doing it.
He really puts his money wherehis mouth is.
So I would just say look at hisresume, let his statistics speak
for itself.
(30:54):
And this is the clear candidatewho we need for Jersey City.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
Especially we're big fans.
Yeah, we're big fans of him.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
We have so much work to do from the police to the
building department, tax, parks,streets, clean streets.
I mean, every every departmentneeds serious reform.
SPEAKER_00 (31:15):
When you and I I think uh I think this this will
probably be the last question.
When you walk away from fouryears of Ward D City Council,
what does success look like?
What would you be most proud ofaccomplishing in four years from
now?
SPEAKER_01 (31:30):
Okay.
Um I my goal is to make theheights or Ward D, because we
have that now we have a downtownsection of Ward D, is to make
Ward D as clean and efficient asUnion City is.
Union City has very cleanstreets.
Their parks are outstanding.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
Immaculate.
SPEAKER_01 (31:53):
Their lighting, their streets are so well lit.
You call the police, theyrespond.
They have wonderful schools.
I will say in Ward D, we havegreat grammar schools here as
well.
But our children are districtedfor Dickinson High School, which
is not so appealing.
SPEAKER_00 (32:11):
Last place, right?
Last place in Hudson County forfor high schools at the moment.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
Yeah, unfortunately.
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (32:17):
No, it's I mean, it's it's it's you gotta
identify where we're startingfrom to know where we can get
to.
So I mean, that's that's anissue.
That's for sure an issue.
SPEAKER_01 (32:25):
So if we could just be as efficient as Union City,
that's that is my goal.
That is uh that would be a hugewin.
We're gonna line our garbagecans with liners.
We're gonna change them everyday.
The public garbage cans on thestreet, which is what they do in
Union City.
We're gonna hire part-timeretired staff to like
(32:47):
neighborhood improvementdistrict cleaners to clean our
streets daily.
That's what they do in UnionCity.
We have to do that here.
Again, rebuild the morale of ourpolice department the same way
they have in Union City, so thatthey're responding to calls.
They're they're happy to assistthe citizens as opposed to
(33:09):
apprehensive to show up to ascene because who knows what?
SPEAKER_00 (33:15):
So let me ask you, real quick before you wrap it
up, when you reference UnionCity as sort of a blueprint for
how you would like to see ourpart of the city operate, why
are they better at it?
Are they are they paying morefor services?
What is going on in Union Citythat that we're not doing?
SPEAKER_01 (33:30):
So um I think it's the grants issue.
Their property taxes arecomparable to ours now.
I think it's they're applyingfor every grant that's out
there.
We have not been doing that,which is why he'll have Union
City will have a that beautifulnew high school.
That's all grant funding.
But it takes a lot of work toapply for a grant.
(33:52):
You're your heart, head, youhave to be devoted.
SPEAKER_00 (33:55):
You have to be in what it reminds me of, sorry to
interrupt, is it reminds me ofwhen I was in in 11th or 12th
grade, and there's all of these,all of these uh scholarships
that you can apply for.
And I would have to come homeevery day and fill out these
scholarship applications.
And they're they're small,right?
They're for a couple thousanddollars here, a couple thousand
(34:16):
dollars here.
And I hated it.
I didn't I wanted to do anythingbut fill out these applications
for for whatever scholarship wasavailable, but I had to, and it
kind of sounds like you know,you need some you need somebody
with a better attitude towardsit than me for sure, but you
need somebody that's justwilling to roll up their sleeves
and do all the boring, theboring work that that can impact
(34:38):
the most.
SPEAKER_01 (34:38):
100%.
We need a professional,dedicated grants department.
SPEAKER_00 (34:42):
Nice, Catherine.
Thank you so much for your time.
SPEAKER_01 (34:45):
Thank you so much.
So nice meeting you.
SPEAKER_00 (34:47):
It's very nice.
SPEAKER_01 (34:47):
Thank you so much, Tony.
Thank you so much, Lynn.
What is your baby's name?
Arielle.
Arielle.
SPEAKER_00 (34:54):
Yeah.
She was a big part of theinterview.
She behaved very nicely.
Thank you so much.
Again, we're we're wishing youthe best of luck and look
forward to uh seeing whathappens over the next month or
so.
SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
Thank you so much, guys.
Take care.
See you soon.
Hey, welcome to the Lynn and Tony Know podcast.
I'm your host, Lynn.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
And I'm Tony.
We are both wellness coaches andmarried with kids.
SPEAKER_02 (00:07):
Join us as we talk about all things health,
wellness, relationships, lifehacks, parenting, and everything
in between unfiltered.
Thanks for listening and let'sget into it.
Welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
Welcome back.
SPEAKER_02 (00:20):
So we're continuing our conversation with wardy
candidates for the Jersey Cityelections.
SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
Correct.
SPEAKER_02 (00:29):
Go out and vote.
It's really important.
We're having all thesediscussions to help you make an
informed decision.
SPEAKER_00 (00:36):
Yeah.
We are we just simply want toget to know the candidates and
allow other people to do thesame because, especially in
local elections, I was lookingup I was looking up statistics
on vote count for like the pastthree uh last three city council
elections or two city councilelections and mayoral elections,
and the percentage of peoplethat vote is really low.
SPEAKER_02 (00:59):
Um and the percentage of people who go on
the internet and complain isvery high.
SPEAKER_00 (01:03):
Yes.
So there's go on Reddit.
Bit of a disconnect.
SPEAKER_02 (01:06):
Social media, Facebook.
It's wild to me.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
It's also wild to me, and and I'll just say this
before we get into our guesthere, uh, and this does not
include her.
Even some of the countcandidates at this point really,
I just want to be like, uh, whatdo you actually like about
Jersey City?
Because every piece of content Isee is a complaint about Jersey
City.
And that that I find a littlebit grating.
SPEAKER_02 (01:31):
And it's the best when it's somebody that's been
in in on city council for likeeight plus years and they're
complaining.
And I'm like, uh excuse me, youhad eight years to do something
about these situations and youhaven't.
Like that could be anybody.
SPEAKER_00 (01:46):
That could be anybody.
SPEAKER_02 (01:47):
Useless.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
That could be anybody.
SPEAKER_02 (01:49):
Uh anyway, I am a huge fan of women running for
office, especially moms, becausewe get shit done.
We're multitaskers.
We don't, you know, the ego islike a dude thing.
Sorry, no offense.
And I always say that women umjust I think if if all our
(02:11):
leaders were women, we'd be in amuch better situation.
We lead with empathy and care.
And yeah, so I'm very excited tomeet Katherine Healy.
She's a lifelong Jersey Cityresident, attorney, and advocate
for working families who'srunning for city council in War
D.
Public service runs in herfamily.
Her father, former mayorJeremiah Healy, inspired her
(02:33):
lifelong commitment to justiceand civic leadership.
With over 15 years of experiencein criminal law, labor
relations, and social services,Catherine has dedicated her
career to making government workfor the people it serves.
She currently serves as DeputyDirector of the Hudson County
Department of Family Services,managing vital programs to
support residents across thecounty, a Jersey City woman of
(02:53):
action, an Irish woman of theyear.
Catherine is also a proud mom ofthree and an active member of
St.
Nicholas Church.
Governor Jim McGreevy calls her,former Governor Jim McGreevy
calls her a critical force forgood, and today we'll hear why.
Catherine Healy, welcome to theshow.
SPEAKER_00 (03:09):
Welcome, welcome.
SPEAKER_02 (03:11):
Thank you.
Thank you, Lynn.
Thank you, Tony.
We're excited to get to knowyou.
So I want to know how was itgrowing up with your dad, who
was a mayor of Jersey City?
SPEAKER_01 (03:22):
Um, it was intense.
We had a we grew up in astandard Jersey City two-family
home.
So we lived on the first floor.
I'm one of four siblings.
So I'm the third of four.
I have an older brother, anolder sister, it's me, and then
a younger brother, Patrick.
We all live here.
We all work here.
(03:43):
My brothers are both Jersey Cityfiremen.
My sister's a Jersey Cityteacher out of class 28.
You're an OG.
Yes.
SPEAKER_02 (03:53):
So you've seen Jersey City change so much, I'm
sure.
SPEAKER_01 (03:57):
Wow.
You would see the Mormons in thewhite shirts, and and then it
was us and the Shamley who stoleQueen Latifa's car in the 80s.
Hilarious.
SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
Well, say more about that.
SPEAKER_02 (04:09):
You must have so many stories about the heights.
Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
I wanna I want to hear about the Queen Latifah.
What's the what's the two-minuteversion of that?
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
So one of our neighbors on Ferry Street, when
Clean Queen Latifa was living inJersey City, he stole her car.
He also uh On purpose?
SPEAKER_00 (04:27):
Or he just stole a car and it happened to be Queen
Latifa.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:30):
Well, back when car theft was a thing, we don't have
that issue so much anymore.
SPEAKER_00 (04:34):
Not as much.
Not not as much.
Although if you go on next door,you'll every now and then you'll
see a uh car theft uh post, I'venoticed, but not specific to the
heights, but um and it's notQueen Lativa either.
So I guess I guess my firstquestion would be why do you
want to run?
Or why did you decide to getinto the race?
If I'm not mistaken, you werethe last candidate for this Ward
D race, maybe just the last oneI saw, but you were you were a
(04:57):
little bit later to the partythan some of the other
candidates.
So why did you decide to run andwhy for city council?
SPEAKER_01 (05:04):
Okay, Tony, I had no intention of ever running for
office.
I'm too busy.
I'm thinking I'm way too busyfor this.
Um I'm a full-time lawyer.
I at family services, as youmentioned.
I also have a side practice thatdoes pro bono work.
I have a pro bono case on Fridayfor a domestic violence victim.
I just am nonstop.
(05:25):
I've been coaching in WashingtonPark Little League for the last
10 years.
I run a 501c3 nonprofit toeducate inner city girls at St.
Dominic Academy, the girls whofall through the cracks, who are
excellent students, um, and theywant a better opportunity for a
high school.
And I also have three children.
(05:45):
As I just mentioned, they're 13,11, and Lewis just turned four.
So I really have my hands full,and it just reached the point
where uh the governor had askedme to join the ticket.
I said, Gov, I don't have time.
I'm way too busy for this.
He said, Well, please go speakto your family, think about it,
(06:06):
and get back to me.
So I did.
My family gave me uh uh anapprehensive yes.
And so I called the Gov back thenext day and said, Okay, Gov,
I'll do it.
My my children consented, myhusband consented, my father
consented, because it is a teameffort.
And essentially, my husband's mypoor husband is a saint.
He uh has been like a singledad, and he feels like I've
(06:29):
divorced him because I'm outevery single night, every single
day.
And he's taking the kids tovolleyball, to softball.
I feel like a bad uh softballcoach now.
I've just like really fallen bythe wayside when it comes to the
family unit, but I like to thinkit's temporary.
This, however, is an assetbecause I don't have time to
(06:51):
waste.
So I have to do things right thefirst time.
And that's a big part of thereason why I'm running is the
city's dysfunction.
You look around, our propertytaxes have tripled, the cost of
sanitation has gone up.
We're now paying extra for waterand sewerage.
So where is our quality of lifehas gone down?
(07:15):
Our roads are a mess.
A mom who I went to high schoolwith, who lives on my block here
on Charles Street, was ninemonths pregnant, walking to go
pick up her three-year-old fromdaycare on the corner of our
block here, and broke her anklein a pothole on the street.
So now she's just delivered hersecond baby and has the
(07:36):
three-year-olds running aroundthe house while she has this
broken ankle and is nursing anewborn because of the pothole
on the street.
Now, this is not the first caseof people breaking their ankles
in potholes, but that's thestate of our city.
Our park, Mosquito Park, alsoknown as Leonard Gordon Park,
(07:56):
was locked up for almost twoyears, so we could not use it.
I have a four-year-old son thatreally debilitated us,
especially as you guys know.
Boys, you have a boy, right?
A girl.
SPEAKER_00 (08:07):
All girls.
SPEAKER_01 (08:08):
All girls, all girls.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (08:10):
All girls, but our middle one has some serious boy
energy.
SPEAKER_01 (08:16):
Okay.
So the boys are just sodifferent.
They have to get out, they haveto get that energy out.
And we had no park for almosttwo years.
Finally, when they do open upthe park, we discover that they
remove trees, they remove parkbenches, they removed handrails
(08:36):
to the staircases.
So now it's more difficult forthe seniors.
In addition, um, sure you guyshave seen the generational
sledding hill in Mosquito Park.
Have you guys utilized that?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (08:51):
What what the I know I know where it is.
I'm not I'm not as uh uh up onon maybe all the Jersey City
stuff as as longtime residents,but I've I've been to the park.
I know the hill.
That's that's uh what whathappened?
SPEAKER_01 (09:05):
What do you so people bring out their sleds?
Well, they used to bring outtheir sleds, their snowboards,
my cousin Joel snowboards on thehill, and the city replaced the
grass that was at the bottom ofthe hill with a layer of
concrete, and then they placethese monstrous light poles at
the bottom of the hill, so youcan't go sledding there anymore.
(09:28):
I mean, this was a generationalactivity for children, adults,
and it's gone.
And this is what happens whenyou have people who don't, I'm
sorry, don't have childrenmaking decisions.
SPEAKER_00 (09:42):
Interesting.
Interesting.
Now, with with that said, youyou mentioned several several
aspects of the life that thatdrew you into forcing your hand
essentially to run, right?
Um, what if you were able topick one, and of course you can
you can expand on a couple ifyou'd like, what what is the
first thing that you would liketo tackle as the city council
(10:04):
person for Ward D?
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
I'd love to restore the historic bathrooms in
Leonard Gordon Park.
SPEAKER_00 (10:09):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (10:11):
And install clean drinking water, water refill
stations.
We have to get off the plasticbottles.
And the only way to do that isto have clean water refill
stations in every city building.
The public library needs a waterrefill station.
Our schools already have it.
The Jersey City Public Schoolsalready have the refill
stations.
(10:31):
We don't have them in our cityparks, and we don't have them in
most of our other citybuildings.
So if we could install that inour parks, I think that would be
a step in the right direction.
Um, and together with that, ifwe could teach our children in
our public schools reduce,reuse, recycle, stop the drop, I
think that would be very helpfultoo.
They could come home and teachthe parents on what is
(10:53):
recyclable, what isn't.
I mean, these are simple thingswe can do as a society to really
help save the world.
SPEAKER_00 (11:01):
So that one seems to me, as just a regular average
citizen, that seems easy.
Like how, what, what are thehangups?
Why hasn't that been done?
What is what are the obstaclesthat keep us from just going,
oh, we want refillable waterstations?
These cost X dolls we justinstall them and have it done.
Like what keeps us from doingthat right now?
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
I think it's lack of initiative.
There's all kinds of grants outthere, so it's not a cost issue.
This is clean drinking water.
These are some of thesebuildings, uh, get federal
assistance.
So we could get all kinds ofgrants for these public green
spaces, clean drinking wateract.
(11:40):
We can get the grants.
It's not a matter of finances.
It's it's a matter ofinitiative.
Nobody cares.
Nobody cares about the filth onthe street, nobody cares about
the our roads, our schools.
It's like everybody's justchecked out.
SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
So as far as the roads go, obviously that,
especially I think in theheights, is more of an issue
than, let's say, downtown, forexample.
I'm sure there are other wardswhere it's also a large problem.
What does that require?
What can a city council memberdo when it comes to advocating
effectively for getting potholesfilled or getting roads paved?
(12:19):
Like what does that look likefrom a city council level?
SPEAKER_01 (12:22):
Honestly, it's just having a great relationship with
uh your um city public worksdepartment, which I already
have.
So once I get into office, I'mgonna call my friends in public
works and ask them kindly toplease uh pave certain roads,
(12:43):
fill certain potholes.
You know, it's it really isabout playing well in the
sandbox.
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
Got it.
So it's it's more of a this ismore of a relationship-based
problem or relationship-basedfix than than say red tape or or
financial or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01 (13:01):
100%.
I mean, a lot of the paving ofroads is federally and state
funded.
It's just a matter of the cityactually applying for those
grants.
Like last winter, I found outfrom a certain senator that the
city should have applied forlike a few million dollar grant
to pave the roads.
And uh, we were told to justapply for that grant and the
(13:23):
money's ours.
And uh, we never applied for it.
So our team is going to start agrants department, a department
that's totally dedicated toapplying for grants that we have
not applied for in the past.
There's so much money out therethat we have just not asked for.
It's just a matter of submittingthe right paperwork and jumping
(13:47):
through the hoops before we getthat money.
Because frankly, our taxes arethrough the roof, the rent is
through the roof.
We just can't afford to raisetaxes at this point.
So every initiative that we'regonna do from January 1st on is
gonna have to be through grantsor whatever the current tax base
(14:07):
is right now.
We just can't afford it.
I'm sure you guys feel that paintoo.
SPEAKER_00 (14:12):
Yeah, no, our our taxes since we we bought our
home up in the heights to todayhave gone up almost 50%.
So what I what I'm hearing andwhat I'm what I like about what
I'm hearing is that everythingthat you're mentioning right now
does not require me to pay moreto get it done, which is
something that quite frankly, Ithink is how you pay for your
(14:35):
initiatives should be front andcenter for your for your policy,
because there are a lot ofpromises being made from a lot
of candidates that if pressed onhow they were going to pay for
it, I would imagine we get a bitof a shoulder shoulder shrug or
or or we're going to pay morefor it.
And the grant thing I haven'theard anybody talk about.
(14:55):
So that is some messaging that Ithink needs to be a bit wider,
and I'm glad you're on here todo just that, because uh that
wouldn't have been something Iwould have thought about.
So you're saying that there arethere's money on the table, and
you all are, and when I say youall, T McGreevy, I'm imagining,
is saying we are going todedicate a personnel to securing
(15:16):
that money that is just sittingthere waiting for Jersey City to
take it.
SPEAKER_01 (15:21):
Yes.
Governor McGreevy, I believe,has mentioned that before in his
other interviews, but that isthat is one of his first
initiatives is getting thegrants department up and
running, and he's gonna get thebest people possible into that
department.
Right now, Jersey City does nothave a grants department.
I believe they have random laypeople in certain departments
who do the grant writing, but wedo not have any grants experts
(15:45):
in Jersey City right now.
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
Yeah, that that seems like a massive hold that
would pay for itself a thousandtimes over, essentially.
Um that's a very interestingthing.
As somebody that pays very closeattention to everyone that is
running, every article that iswritten.
And I've heard Jim speakprobably four or five times now
(16:09):
at length.
I don't recall hearing aboutthis.
So this is something that Iwould, if I was everybody wants
everybody wants to know howpeople are gonna pay for their
stuff, right?
And everybody's concerned thatwe're gonna that the taxpayers
are gonna end up footing thebill for a lot of what's being
uh positioned.
So the fact that you have a youhave a mechanism that we aren't
seeing to pay for all of this, Ithink is very valuable for
(16:32):
people to hear.
Do you have anything you wantedto do?
SPEAKER_02 (16:34):
Yeah, I mean, as a uh, you know, I love that you're
a mom, like I mentioned, I lovethat you're a mom and you get
it, you know, uh raising afamily in Jersey City.
What are you what is the the thethe biggest in terms of fa you
know raising families, thebiggest issues in your in your
uh eyes right now?
SPEAKER_01 (16:53):
Aaron Powell I am a little uncomfortable with my
kids walking the streets.
I'm nervous about them crossingthe streets.
The lack of police enforcementis terrifying.
We had uh an attempted burglaryon Palisadea, not this past
Monday, but the Monday before,of what is the name of the hair
salon that was?
Oh, the hair room.
(17:15):
Thank you, the hair room.
Yeah.
And um the owner happened to bepresent at that time, and she
had, I believe, two stylistswith her.
And some man was trying to breakin through their front door.
So she called 911.
Wow.
One of her stylists called 911and it took JCPD 16 minutes to
(17:38):
arrive to um the scene.
And they didn't even arrive atthe scene.
They they drove by.
And now I know this because Iwent to these victims and needed
to get more information fromthem because we are the public
safety ticket.
So we have to find out wherethese problems are to be able to
(18:00):
fix them.
And um, so it in fact it tookmore than 16 minutes for JCPD to
respond to a female victimcalling of a breaking and
entering in progress.
You can hear her screaming andbanging.
You can hear the banging on thedoor from from her hair salon's
(18:21):
video cameras, but I would liketo Oprah those 911 calls to find
out where we went wrong.
How are we failing?
Why are we failing our citizens?
Like to me, this the number onemost vital, essential service
that the city needs to provideto its citizens.
(18:42):
When we have a victim calling911 of a of a breaking an entry
in progress, we should be therewithin a minute and 30 seconds,
not 16 minutes later.
Then I come to find out um thatJCPD took this long to arrive at
(19:02):
the scene because all units inthe heights in the North
District had been sent toJournal Square for a call, a pr
a more priority call for anemotionally disturbed person or
something to that effect.
So we had no cars in the NorthDistrict to respond to Palisade
(19:22):
Ev.
I mean, something is isseriously wrong with the system.
And this was just last Monday,not this past Monday.
Yeah, a week from uh yesterday.
SPEAKER_00 (19:33):
Yeah.
So okay, so that that policedepartment is literally like two
blocks away from us, right?
And you say they got they gotsent for a call in Journal
Square.
Is there no other policedepartment closer to Journal
Square?
Or is this their that's theirterritory also?
SPEAKER_01 (19:50):
Yes.
The North District, they alsocover Journal Square.
And let me just say this wereally used to have the best
police force in the country.
We we've been doing communitypolicing here forever.
So it's your neighbor who's thepolice officer.
It's your teammate from softballor baseball or soccer who is the
(20:11):
police officer.
It's the kid who went to PS 8,PS28.
Like we have real communitypolicing here.
SPEAKER_00 (20:20):
Let me just expand on that for people that might
not understand communitypolicing because until I heard
Jim talk about it, I did notknow what that meant.
And and correct any part of thisif I'm if I'm not relaying it
right, but it's when you haveofficers that have the same
beat, they walk the samestreets, you recognize them
because it's the same men orwomen that are always in front
(20:40):
of you and they don't rotate outof your area, essentially.
So you you become familiar with,you know, officer Officer
Smith's always the one that's inPershing field, and we know him,
we feel good, like he's our guy.
Like that's essentially what I Igot from what community policing
is.
Is that is that more or lesswhat we're talking about?
SPEAKER_01 (20:58):
Yes, yes.
100% Jersey City, you have toactually live here to get the
job.
SPEAKER_00 (21:05):
Okay.
SPEAKER_01 (21:06):
In addition.
Um, so so we never had thoseissues of police brutality.
I mean, Jersey City policeshowed tremendous restraint.
Um, and I think there is a aripple effect of what was
happening out in the Midwest,all the way here in Jersey City,
New Jersey, where we never hadthat police brutality problem.
(21:28):
But now they're just sitting onthe sidelines, they're not
responding to the scenes.
And this past Monday showed ushow severe the problem is.
This isn't just not enforcingTitle 39 traffic violations.
This is this is very serious.
SPEAKER_00 (21:48):
This is next level.
So when when you talk about whenyou talk about police officers
sitting on the sidelines as as areaction to what?
As a reaction to the theblowback that they could get for
handling a call wrong?
Like what what is because I'mnot sitting here going, I think
police officers aren't doingtheir jobs because they don't
(22:09):
want to.
What why I do you why do youthink that the the policing is
not up to where it needs to be?
SPEAKER_01 (22:15):
I think JCPD was, as I said, top level, top in the
country, very professional.
But I think with the wholedefund the police movement and I
saw a pattern of Jersey Citypolice all of a sudden started
getting indicted for accidents,for mistakes.
(22:36):
And you know, that's what civillaw is for.
That's what the civil courts arefor.
Um when there's an accident onthe job, you don't indict the
police officer um when they'resimply responding to a scene.
So I think that has had achilling effect on how they
(22:57):
police.
And we need to stop doing that.
We need to um, you know, bringbring lift the morale of the
Jersey City police so that theycan go back to doing their jobs
like they did uh 10, 15 yearsago.
But we're only gonna have moreand more families leaving Jersey
City if we have incidents likelast Monday night.
(23:19):
I mean, the number one complaintfrom everybody in Ward D is safe
streets, safe streets, policeresponse, police response.
We call they don't show up, wecall they take too long.
And then this past Monday justreally exposed the problem for
how bad it really is.
SPEAKER_00 (23:39):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking about like being
at work and my wife's at homeand you know that she gets a
16-minute wait time for a B andE.
I am I am probably beside myselfwith with anger over that type
of response time.
And and like I said, I I wouldbe hard pressed to just outright
blame the police for that, whichit doesn't sound like you're
(24:00):
doing.
It sounds like you're you'retalking about a more systemic
issue here, and probably what Iwould describe as an
overcorrection to thedemonization of police during
2020 time period that we aren'tback from yet.
And like you said, this is not,I don't think this is Jersey
City specific.
I don't think it's unique to ourour city.
I think there's a lot of citiesthat are are feeling that still.
(24:24):
I'll be straight up, like, youknow, back in 2020, I was
probably I probably have somedef on the police posts, and I
probably contributed to thatnarrative, and I've and I've
grown up a lot since then.
Um and and Lynn and I have had alot of conversations around, you
know, like like what were weeven talking about?
Like we just broadstroked anentire group of people over this
(24:46):
this moment in history that wasreally bad, but not not
indicative of an entireprofession.
So, you know, as as as membersof the Jewish community, we know
now very well what it like whatit feels like to be broadstroked
as a community, and and we'vesince you know, we've since come
to appreciate law enforcement ina different way.
And I guess we really would liketo understand how we get it, how
(25:10):
we get how we get the publicopinion on law enforcement to
turn in a way that allows themto feel comfortable to do the
job that they were hired to do.
Because I I feel like that is abig hurdle for them when they
when they look at a public thatfeels very adversarial to them
in a lot of ways.
How do we regain the trust ofthe public and how do we fix the
(25:31):
systemic issues that areplaguing our police department
right now?
SPEAKER_01 (25:34):
Um and I'm not minimizing at all what happened
in the Midwest.
George Floyd, that was clearly amurder.
That was a first-degree murder.
That police officer was bad andthat he deserved to go to jail
and be convicted of that.
But what happens in the Midwestdoesn't happen here.
(25:56):
And um I mean, I think GovernorMcGreevy, we ha actually never
spoke about it, but I feel likehe's uh cognizant of this
because he does have threepolice officers on his ticket.
Um, and I think if we have likewe have Izzy Nieves on on our
ticket, he's a former Marine anda retired Jersey City police
(26:18):
lieutenant.
So if we want to lift lift themorale and make Jersey City
police feel comfortable doingtheir job, you know, having
someone like Izzy Nievesrepresent the city will make our
police force feel morecomfortable.
We also have a detective fromthe Hudson County Sheriff's
(26:38):
Department on our ticket,Hennessy Sarmiento, who
volunteers with the community.
She has her own C3 that worksclosely with the seventh and
eighth grade girls at PS numberseven.
She does like a mentorshipprogram with them.
She's been doing this for years,not just to run for office, but
just because she's a goodperson.
(27:00):
Like these are our communitypolice officers.
Hennessy Sarmiento, Izzy Nieves,who are born and raised right
here in Jersey City.
So to exactly to paint JCPD withuh that brush of pull of police
brutality is totally unfair.
(27:20):
And I think it, yeah, it has thechilling effect that it has
today.
We also have um Rich Boggiano inWard C, who's a retired Jersey
City police officer.
So I think I'm a formerprosecutor.
I was a prosecutor for seven anda half years.
So I think this would make thepolice feel a little more
comfortable to do their job,knowing that we're not gonna
(27:42):
come after them, you know?
SPEAKER_00 (27:43):
Yeah.
Yeah, I think that I I thinkthat that, yes, Izzy, first of
all, I I haven't had a longconversation with him.
I've met him a couple times, buthe seems like a guy that if you
want a public-facing person forlaw enforcement, he would
absolutely be somebody thatcould could really really put a
different kind of shine on whatit means to be a police officer
(28:06):
in this day and age, especially.
So I like that.
I like that a lot.
But what else when you got?
SPEAKER_02 (28:11):
How do you balance it all?
I want to know.
SPEAKER_00 (28:13):
Yeah, no, that's a great question.
SPEAKER_01 (28:15):
As a mother of three.
I'm just like numb and I just gothrough the day and make
decisions.
SPEAKER_00 (28:21):
Just quick decisions.
SPEAKER_01 (28:22):
And everyone just like I hate to say it.
I know nobody wants to hearthis, but you just have to make
the right decision the firsttime.
You have to do it right thefirst time because you don't
have time to make errors becauseyou're never gonna have time to
go back and correct thoseerrors, if that makes sense.
So, like what happens inMosquito Park over the last
three years, we don't have timefor any more errors.
We got to do it right the firsttime.
(28:43):
We have to get those grants forum historic green space.
As soon as we get that money, wehave to renovate those
bathrooms.
Uh, we have to install thedrinking fountains.
Like we have we're gonna hit theground running.
SPEAKER_00 (28:56):
Um, something that we've been asking all of the
candidates that we have on is wewe'll ask about the top of the
ticket.
We'll ask, obviously, we heardhow you got engaged with Jim.
I would like to know, and weasked Meredith this the other
day, is is how do you how do yourespond to people that are
critical of of his past,critical of what has happened
(29:17):
when he was governor?
And and how do you reconcilethose types of missteps as as
they would present when youchoose to align with him?
SPEAKER_01 (29:26):
So Governor McGreevy has been very transparent when
it comes to his past.
I would say you can read hisbook.
He published a book, just lookat his past record to see how
far he's come.
He's now 67 years old.
He's not doing this as astepping stone to run for
Congress, Senate, governor.
(29:48):
He's just doing this because hewants to make his community
better, which is why he startedthe re entry program, which has
been working in conjunction withHudson County.
And we are the The first countyin the entire country to release
or graduate county inmates witha two-year associate's degree.
(30:11):
So not only are these formerinmates, prisoners, getting
released with a degree, we alsoafford them wraparound services.
So they're getting released withMedicaid, Obamacare.
So they have the medicationsthat they need.
We're also releasing them withhousing.
Everyone has housing.
We're not throwing people outonto the street anymore.
(30:32):
So you want to talk aboutreducing recidivism and
essentially ultimatelypreventing homelessness?
McGreevy already has a plan forthat.
I mean, and he doesn't just talkabout it, he's doing it.
He really puts his money wherehis mouth is.
So I would just say look at hisresume, let his statistics speak
for itself.
(30:54):
And this is the clear candidatewho we need for Jersey City.
SPEAKER_02 (30:59):
Especially we're big fans.
Yeah, we're big fans of him.
SPEAKER_01 (31:02):
We have so much work to do from the police to the
building department, tax, parks,streets, clean streets.
I mean, every every departmentneeds serious reform.
SPEAKER_00 (31:15):
When you and I I think uh I think this this will
probably be the last question.
When you walk away from fouryears of Ward D City Council,
what does success look like?
What would you be most proud ofaccomplishing in four years from
now?
SPEAKER_01 (31:30):
Okay.
Um I my goal is to make theheights or Ward D, because we
have that now we have a downtownsection of Ward D, is to make
Ward D as clean and efficient asUnion City is.
Union City has very cleanstreets.
Their parks are outstanding.
SPEAKER_00 (31:52):
Immaculate.
SPEAKER_01 (31:53):
Their lighting, their streets are so well lit.
You call the police, theyrespond.
They have wonderful schools.
I will say in Ward D, we havegreat grammar schools here as
well.
But our children are districtedfor Dickinson High School, which
is not so appealing.
SPEAKER_00 (32:11):
Last place, right?
Last place in Hudson County forfor high schools at the moment.
SPEAKER_01 (32:15):
Yeah, unfortunately.
Yep.
SPEAKER_00 (32:17):
No, it's I mean, it's it's it's you gotta
identify where we're startingfrom to know where we can get
to.
So I mean, that's that's anissue.
That's for sure an issue.
SPEAKER_01 (32:25):
So if we could just be as efficient as Union City,
that's that is my goal.
That is uh that would be a hugewin.
We're gonna line our garbagecans with liners.
We're gonna change them everyday.
The public garbage cans on thestreet, which is what they do in
Union City.
We're gonna hire part-timeretired staff to like
(32:47):
neighborhood improvementdistrict cleaners to clean our
streets daily.
That's what they do in UnionCity.
We have to do that here.
Again, rebuild the morale of ourpolice department the same way
they have in Union City, so thatthey're responding to calls.
They're they're happy to assistthe citizens as opposed to
(33:09):
apprehensive to show up to ascene because who knows what?
SPEAKER_00 (33:15):
So let me ask you, real quick before you wrap it
up, when you reference UnionCity as sort of a blueprint for
how you would like to see ourpart of the city operate, why
are they better at it?
Are they are they paying morefor services?
What is going on in Union Citythat that we're not doing?
SPEAKER_01 (33:30):
So um I think it's the grants issue.
Their property taxes arecomparable to ours now.
I think it's they're applyingfor every grant that's out
there.
We have not been doing that,which is why he'll have Union
City will have a that beautifulnew high school.
That's all grant funding.
But it takes a lot of work toapply for a grant.
(33:52):
You're your heart, head, youhave to be devoted.
SPEAKER_00 (33:55):
You have to be in what it reminds me of, sorry to
interrupt, is it reminds me ofwhen I was in in 11th or 12th
grade, and there's all of these,all of these uh scholarships
that you can apply for.
And I would have to come homeevery day and fill out these
scholarship applications.
And they're they're small,right?
They're for a couple thousanddollars here, a couple thousand
(34:16):
dollars here.
And I hated it.
I didn't I wanted to do anythingbut fill out these applications
for for whatever scholarship wasavailable, but I had to, and it
kind of sounds like you know,you need some you need somebody
with a better attitude towardsit than me for sure, but you
need somebody that's justwilling to roll up their sleeves
and do all the boring, theboring work that that can impact
(34:38):
the most.
SPEAKER_01 (34:38):
100%.
We need a professional,dedicated grants department.
SPEAKER_00 (34:42):
Nice, Catherine.
Thank you so much for your time.
SPEAKER_01 (34:45):
Thank you so much.
So nice meeting you.
SPEAKER_00 (34:47):
It's very nice.
SPEAKER_01 (34:47):
Thank you so much, Tony.
Thank you so much, Lynn.
What is your baby's name?
Arielle.
Arielle.
SPEAKER_00 (34:54):
Yeah.
She was a big part of theinterview.
She behaved very nicely.
Thank you so much.
Again, we're we're wishing youthe best of luck and look
forward to uh seeing whathappens over the next month or
so.
SPEAKER_01 (35:07):
Thank you so much, guys.
Take care.
See you soon.
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