October 16, 2025 • 37 mins
What makes a neighborhood truly livable isn’t a slogan—it’s the basics done right. We sit with Ward D council candidate Patrick Ambrosi for a grounded conversation on how to bring Central Avenue back to life, deliver real affordability, and fix everyday problems like trash, park maintenance, and street safety. Patrick grew up in the Heights and has spent years fighting for open spaces; that track record shows in a plan that treats plazas, outdoor dining, and a stronger SID as catalysts for local business and weekend energy.
Housing is the heart of the debate. Patrick makes the case that affordability requires supply: targeted upzoning where it fits, inclusionary rules that actually apply in Ward D, and a community land bank that turns city-owned or foreclosed lots into attainable condos with capped prices. Instead of demonizing developers, he argues for performance-based deals that protect the public while producing the units families need. We also dig into sanitation—a topic most candidates avoid. With contracts in place and budgets tight, the path forward is tighter enforcement now and a phased move toward hybrid city services, not an overnight switch that would blow up the budget.
We talk parks and public space with the same candor: Pershing Field needs steady investment, not posts and promises. A dog run, open fields, and routine maintenance should be basic, not controversial. And when national politics spills into neighborhood spaces, consistent permitting and safety for all communities must guide the response. If you care about clean streets, walkable blocks, small businesses that survive, and a Heights where families actually want to linger on weekends, this conversation lays out a practical roadmap.
If this resonated, follow the show, share with a neighbor, and leave a quick review—it helps more Ward D residents find it and join the conversation.
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_01 (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_01 (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_01 (00:20):
We're back for special interviews for local
elections.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
I think we mentioned last episode that we're nearing
the Jersey City elections and wewanted to interview some of the
candidates whoever reached outand is available.
We're open to everybody to havea chat and see, you know, where
they're at with things.
And as Jersey City residents,we're, you know, we also need to
decide who we want to vote for,right?
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
Yeah.
And honestly, I think if youasked uh the public at large,
like what they know about localelections and candidates, I
think it's a pretty low.
I think the bar of knowledge isvery low.
So we're going to attempt tofill some of that gap in and and
let people make decisions basedon what they hear.
SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
For sure.
So today we have PatrickAmbrosi.
He's a candidate for the Heightsfor Ward D, which is where we
live.
We we met Patrick.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
Probably a year ago or so.
SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
A year ago, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Yeah.
And I don't remember what itwas.
I think it was just a randompost or something that popped up
and I was like, oh, I like thisguy.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
Uh and at that point.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
I think he posted something.
You know, obviously everybodyknows where we stand with the
Israel Gaza war, the former war.
That were uh yes, they thehostages came home yesterday.
We should do a separate episodeabout all that.
We will.
And it's it's clear where westand.
Uh when local official so here'swhere I stand now.
(01:46):
I think uh two or years ago or ayear ago, I wanted all the local
officials to say something aboutthe hostages and say something
about the war.
Now I'm happy when they saynothing sometimes.
You know what I mean?
When they stay out of it andthey stick to local issues.
unknown (02:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
Do you know what I mean?
They do.
Um, but all that being said,Patrick has definitely shown um
support to the Jewish community.
He can't uh there's a pop-up onyour screen.
Uh he came to the heights, uh,Mount Sinai Temple, uh synagogue
when we um were doing what we'redoing, we had like a mitzvah
day.
Oh, he's gone?
(02:22):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (02:22):
Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01 (02:23):
Okay, he's back.
We did a mitzvah day where webasically cleaned up the
synagogue.
It's a hundred and twenty plusold synagogue, and Patrick came
with his girlfriend.
Yeah, so I appreciate whenpeople show up and and all that
stuff.
So let me read his bio before webring him on.
Patrick Ambrosi is a firstgeneration Ecuadorian American
who was born and raised in theheights of Jersey City, where he
(02:43):
still lives today.
The son of a union painter and aparalegal turned entrepreneur,
Patrick learned the value ofhard work and giving back from a
young age.
He spent years fighting forJersey City's open spaces and
stronger communities, serving aspresident of the Leonard Gordon
Park Conservancy, board memberof the Jersey City Parks
Coalition, and former member ofthe Reservoir Alliance.
His advocacy helped transformMosquito Park from decades of
(03:04):
neglect into a vibrant,reimagined public space.
The fact that it's calledMosquito Park is hilarious.
But anyway, with a master's inpublic administration from St.
Peter's University and nearly adecade of public sector
experience, Patrick combinescommunity passion with policy
know-how.
Now he's running for Ward D.
City Council to bringaccountability, accessibility,
and a renewed focus on issueslike affordability, clean
(03:25):
streets, and maintaining theparks and neighborhoods that
define Jersey City.
Welcome to the show, PatrickAmbrosi.
How are you doing today?
SPEAKER_02 (03:31):
Thank you for having me.
I'm I'm excited.
I I don't know where you guysgot that bio.
I think I don't know if it'sfrom us or a mixed mash, but I
it sounded very good, so thankyou.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Oh good.
SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
It's a mixed mixed mash.
SPEAKER_00 (03:42):
It is a mishmash of uh stuff we're gonna do.
From the website and thensomeone cool.
SPEAKER_01 (03:47):
So okay, I want to like do the hard questions
first, like the elephant in theroom.
Can we do that?
Just like throw that out there.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
I'll say this.
Yes, go ahead.
Whatever you guys want to do,I'm here to answer any
questions.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
So I like that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:03):
I like that response because you know uh uh a lot of
people would duck certainissues, questions, whatever.
And over the course of a year, Idon't think you've done any of
that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:12):
So I I do want to Yeah, we respect we respect
where you where you coming fromfor sure.
All that being said, I don'tknow how to phrase this.
SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
Well, listen, I'll phrase it like this.
Obviously, there is no love lossbetween our community, and I'm
not speaking for the entirecommunity, obviously, but
between us and Mousaba Lee,which is the head of your
ticket.
That is the ticket you arerunning on uh is Tima Lee.
And if obviously if you join thecircus, you're gonna get asked
about the clowns, and that'skind of where it is for us.
(04:41):
And and I'm not gonna put anywords into your mouth
whatsoever.
Obviously, you and I have hadthis conversation at great
length.
And yeah, what what is the whatis the idea behind joining what
is the idea behind joining aticket in general when it comes
to local elections and inparticular your choice for
ticket?
SPEAKER_02 (05:00):
Sure.
So so I think there's there'sthere's like two main things
when you're thinking about, youknow, should I join a ticket or
not?
And one of them is in the beliefthat, you know, more people kind
of striving for the same thing,you know, share resources,
share, you know, networks andand all that other things.
And it's definitely helps.
I mean, I think that a lot ofpeople, even you look at the
(05:20):
city council now today, I thinkif a lot of them ran
independently, most of themwould not win, right?
Um, and and and so I think it'sabout that, the shared kind of
like commodity and like network.
And then I think for me, youknow, it was really focused on
two things.
It was focused on, you know,someone who is kind of my peer,
yeah.
He's 28, I'm 31, and reallysaying, you know, this is an
(05:43):
election that's an electionthat's a generational change.
You know, what do we want to seein Jersey City?
And for me, it was mainly theideas that he was running on.
And I know, you know, Tony, youknow, you and I kind of talked
about some of them and abouthousing, about expanding mass
public transportation, which issorely needed in Jersey City.
It's about, you know, endinglike the corruption at City Hall
(06:04):
when it comes to uh vendorpay-to-play.
So, you know, it for me it waskind of that decision making of
like, you know, is this closelyaligned?
Look, do I agree with him oneverything?
No, 100% not.
You know, is he more vocal oncertain things than I am?
Sure.
You know, my focus has alwaysbeen Jersey City and Ward D.
And so that's where I kind oflike to keep, you know, the
(06:24):
conversation.
Um but then again, you know, I'mnot I'm not I'm not shying away
or kind of fearful of of like,you know, the either the
negative comments or you know,that the negativity that comes
with it.
You know, I I say, you know, I'ma person with my own track
record, a proven track record,and you know, that's what we
showcase Jersey City voters.
SPEAKER_01 (06:40):
Okay, that's fair.
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
That's completely fair.
Now, I'm gonna ask you aboutthis because it literally just
came out today.
What do you think about uh whatdo you what do you think about
national political playersendorsing candidates at the
local level?
And how do you feel specificallyabout the endorsement of Rashida
Talib when it comes to thismayoral race?
SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
So, you know, I I think the national endorsements,
you know, if you can make itwork, you make it work.
Um and if you don't, you don't.
And I think that the the test ofthat is gonna be on election
day.
You know, Rashida Talida, I'llbe honest, for me, you know, I I
don't really know too much abouther.
Um and I think it just happened.
I think it just came out on thenews this morning, correct?
Correct, yeah.
Yeah, you know, so so you know,I you know, I haven't even I'm
(07:21):
not even caught up on thataspect of it yet.
Um, you know, because we kind ofdo our own daily morning things,
you know, we're at differentspots and whatnot.
But look, I mean, you know, ifif if he feels that that's the
way that you know he wants togo, that's that's that's that's
his own his own actions.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:39):
All right.
I think we can get into thelocal stuff.
The ins and outs of PatrickAmbrosi now.
And uh before we do, I will saythat I attended the first half
of the Ward D uh, it wasn'tdebate, it was uh I'm blanking
forum, forum, candidate forum,yeah.
And I have to give you a lot ofcredit on on how well prepared
(08:01):
you felt for that in comparisonto some of the other candidates.
Uh you were articulate, you werenot reading every answer.
There was even a funny moment,and I don't remember which
candidate brought up.
I think it was Leonard GordonPark, and you had a a pretty
funny little eye roll moment asbeing that's your baby, and then
they were trying, it felt likethey were trying to wedge in on
(08:22):
some claiming or or anyway, itfelt like your territory that
they were they were stepping ona little bit, and you gave like
you had a funny little smirk.
I I thought you performed verywell for what I saw, even though
the second question in thatcandidate forum was crazy.
I couldn't even make heads ortails of what they were asking.
But regardless, I thought youshowed very well.
You were very well put togetherand your ideas were cohesive and
(08:44):
well put without sounding like arobot.
So that was uh cool to seebecause it it you sounded good.
And with that, let's get intosome of your some of your ideas
that you have for the heightsand and what that might look
like over the next four years.
SPEAKER_02 (08:57):
So first, yeah, that forum.
I'm happy to participate inanything that we can participate
in to talk about the issues andthe ideas.
Yeah, I think by and large,everyone was a little kind of
they were like, you know, thesequestions are are super long and
like they changed the formattingin them.
You know, but it is what it is.
You know, I think we did what weset out to do, which is, you
know, talk about the issues,talk about the issues that we
(09:19):
could talk about, you know,considering the questions that
they gave.
And look, I think all thecandidates, um, you know, I
think, you know, some of us likeeach other more than what, you
know, uh I think maybe sometimeswe give off.
But you know, I think I thinkit's a good group of people, and
I I respect all of them.
This is is this the most crowdedward race?
It will be one of the mostcrowded in the I would say the
last 20 years for sure.
(09:40):
Yeah.
Um there's five of us.
I think originally I just meantlike now.
No, actually it's ward ward B.
So originally there was gonna beseven.
So no, I think ward B is thecrowded with now seven.
There's only five in Ward B, butwe're still I mean Ward D's, so
we're still one of the mostcrowded, but not the most
crowded.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (09:56):
And when it comes to obviously, I guess people may or
may not know.
We're we're residents of the ofthe heights, and obviously Ward
D encompasses more than just theheights, but you know, largely
the heights is very central tothe Ward D race, which is where
we live.
So we would potentially be yourconstituents and we have our own
ideas of what could be improved,as we've discussed offline.
What are the what are the whatare the most cr give me the most
(10:18):
critical thing that you wouldwant to to do in in the office?
And you can expand on a few moreif you'd like.
But what what is like the numberone thing you're hearing, the
number one thing you'vepinpointed that if Patrick
Ambrosi wins this race, this iswhat I want to get done without
question.
SPEAKER_02 (10:34):
So I think um, you know, uh a lot of people don't
necessarily bring this up.
They bring it up in differentlike topics, but I think
revitalizing Central Avenue is abig one for me.
And the reason why is becauseit's it's gonna take a couple of
steps to do that, right?
We need to pick up garbagecorrectly, right?
We need to support smallbusinesses and we need to bring
in small businesses into theavenue.
(10:56):
Right now, you go on CentralAvenue, there's a lot of
businesses that are closingdown, 99 Cent stores and
cannabis shops, right?
And so, you know, we want tomake sure that we have the foot
traffic.
So we want to make sure thatwe're building housing in order
to make sure that we're able tobring in, you know, the
restaurants, the one or twobars, you know, we want to make
sure that we're uh establishingoutdoor dining options.
You know, the Burger Kingparking lot for me is a center
(11:19):
point to the idea ofrevitalizing Central Avenue
because I really think thatwe're gonna be able to build a
pedestrian plaza in that spaceto increase our tree canopy, to
increase outdoor dining, to dofamily-friendly events.
You know, I know you guys talk alot about downtown Jersey City,
about the good job that Rachel'sdoing at the historic downtown
as idea.
We want some of that energy tooin in Central Avenue.
(11:41):
You know, when I knock on doorsand I ask people, you know, when
your family comes, where do youguys go to eat?
They say New York City, which,you know, we'll never beat that,
right?
But you know, that's an option,right?
They say Hoboken and they saydowntown Jersey City.
And I want them to start saying,I go with Central Avenue.
I go, you know when my familycomes, that's where we're going
to eat, right?
Because if you're living here,you're spending your money here,
(12:01):
everything kind of goes back tothe ward.
And I think we make it a moreinviting place.
So for me, it would berevitalizing Central Avenue.
SPEAKER_00 (12:08):
So you obviously mentioned the downtown SID, um,
SID and and Rachel's job thatshe's done with it.
As a city council person, how doyou identify the people to do
that sort of thing?
And I don't want to step on theside.
SPEAKER_01 (12:22):
Yeah, there is a there's a central SID.
Definitely.
SPEAKER_00 (12:24):
And I don't obviously I don't wanna I don't
wanna insult anybody that worksfor the SID here, but how do you
get it to a place where itmirrors that?
And when I say mirrors, you'reobviously not going to have the
same funding necessarily or thesame budget or the same the same
resources that the downtown SIDdoes, but at some level you can
mirror what they're doing insome ways to get to get it up to
(12:48):
a place that feels good for whatwe are.
SPEAKER_02 (12:50):
Yeah.
So, you know, I think, you know,so the way that the Central
Avenue SID gets funded isthrough the fees of our small
businesses on Central Avenue.
So the more small businesseswe're adding, the more revenue
we're getting.
And look, as a city councilperson, if we have to put money
in, uh, I think it's 100%doable.
As for the board itself, youknow, I I have no issues with
(13:11):
the board members.
I have no issues with, you know,the executive director.
I do think that they needsomeone that is, you know, more
full-time.
I know, you know, at the timethe salary for the the SID
director was about$30,000, maybea year or two ago.
No, and and part-time.
I think we need a full-timedirector.
I think we need a uh competitivesalary uh to make sure that
(13:31):
we're able to do, you know, thefamily-friendly events, look for
sponsorship, bring people in,right?
Um and so, yeah, I mean, I Ithink, you know, we first have
to start with kind of like amarketing plan of what do we
want Central Avenue to looklike, right?
What kind of small businesses dowe need?
What businesses do we need,right?
Um, because you look, there's mif I say, you know what, we're
(13:52):
gonna bring in 10 new pizzashops, we have pizza shops,
right?
Like we have that thing.
We need more diversity.
Um so I think we need amarketing plan, and then we need
to actually put the money in tohiring a full-time executive
director.
SPEAKER_00 (14:03):
So when you say put the money in, where does it come
from and how do we pay for thatposition?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:10):
So again, it comes from the fees through the small
businesses and then the UEZ.
So it's advocating on the statelevel to make sure that we're
getting UEC funds.
But sometimes UEC funds aren'tthey're not reliable.
You know, one year we'll havethem, one year we won't.
If we have to put them inthrough the city budget, I will
absolutely be advocating forthat.
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
What about a park in Pershing Fi a dog park in
Pershing Field?
Yeah, I think.
I know it's like a it's a funnyjoke because I've been I've been
I've been talking about thisfucking dog park since I moved
to the heights and I've beencomplaining to our local
officials about this dog parkand even saying, like, oh,
you're talking about Israel,Gaza.
I want my dog park.
(14:48):
Like, why is that not happening?
Why are we focused ongeopolitical issues when you
know this simple thing that canyou just have to put like a
fence.
SPEAKER_00 (14:57):
Turf and a fence.
SPEAKER_01 (14:58):
A turf and a fence, and so my dogs can run around
and you know, do their thing.
SPEAKER_00 (15:02):
So you know just promise us a dog park and it's a
done deal.
SPEAKER_02 (15:05):
Let's go.
What's funny about that is like,yes, yes, we need a dog park in
Pershing.
I think Pershing Field needs alot more work than what people
may realize, right?
Like the playground needs work.
You know, you have two uhbaseball fields that are are
closed for most of the time.
And I think that that's such ashame and a waste of space, so
we have to open that up to thecommunity.
But dog park should be easy todo.
I mean, you know, at MosquitoPark, we did what now it's been
(15:28):
a while, but you know, it wassupposed to be a temporary dog
run.
You know, we're looking to add abig dog run and a small dog run.
Um, but in person field itshould absolutely happen.
And I thought it was happening.
I mean, I remember seeing a postsaying that we have the money,
we're going to do it.
And I I don't I don't think thatever happened.
And I think that that's the Ithink that that's my problem is
(15:48):
that a lot of people like tolegislate through like social
media instead of like actuallygetting the work done, right?
It's like saying, like, yes,we're gonna get it done.
And the critics kind of calmdown for like a a couple of
months, you know, and it's like,no, you get the dog run, you
know, it's it's pretty simple,it's not that hard.
So yes, we will get a dog run.
I have no issues getting it.
SPEAKER_00 (16:05):
Fortunately, it's on tape, we got it, we're getting a
dog park if Patrick Ambrosi iselected and we have a long
memory.
Uh it worked four years later,and we're still talking about
this dog park.
So we will not, we will notforget.
Right and never forget.
SPEAKER_02 (16:19):
And I think like, look, I mean, I think when you
look most at most of our openspaces, the problem is that even
on a maintenance standpoint, isthat like we have really only
about 15 full-time employeeswithin the city of Jersey City,
and everything else is kind ofcontracted out.
And so, you know, our ability toaddress situations as they
occur, it's it's really we'rewe're we're we're tied with
(16:40):
that.
And so I think that's somethingthat we have to kind of fix and
we have to make sure that we'reinvesting in our city.
Because at the end of the day,you guys are paying taxes,
right?
Taxes have gone up 40% in thelast five years, and to say that
we can't get trash picked upfrom our streets and to say that
we can't get a dog run in ourpark or we can't get regular
maintenance in our in our parks,that's a shame.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
So you mentioned this was the next thing I was
gonna ask you about, and youbrought up the trash thing now
twice.
Uh talked, we're gonna talktrash.
Let's talk some trash.
Uh, what is explain to us whatthe current arrangement is with
our trash vendor.
It's not a municipal service,which seems to be one of the
biggest issues.
If you could help us understandmaybe who who's doing our trash,
(17:20):
why is it not a municipalservice, and what would you like
to see when it comes to trashcollection?
As unsexy as this topic may be,I think it's kind of a big deal
up here in the heights.
Yes, it's a big deal.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
And I think so.
That's been happening since Ibelieve 2014.
So when Steve came in, he uh itoriginally was city run, right?
So in 2014, it's became avendor.
And the problem with that isthat, you know, as much as you
(17:51):
want to hold the vendoraccountable, you know, you
really can't I mean, you reallycan't.
That's the problem.
Unless you're really gonna putthe the clauses into terms and
you're gonna find people.
But in Jersey City, we haven'treally been doing that.
And so, yeah, I mean, you go onmy street, I live on New York
Avenue.
I don't like hide where I live.
I live between Barrows and Southand New York Avenue.
And sometimes you go out andtrash is all over the spot.
(18:12):
And I know we didn't put it inthere because we put it in the
bins, we put it in the bags,right?
And so, yeah, it's been a majorissue.
The question comes into what dowe do?
How do we fix it?
And so here's the reality.
Because I know there's a coupleof there's a Ward D candidate
who talks about bringing trashin, and it sounds great, and I
myself would support the generalidea, but here's the reality is
(18:34):
that Jersey City is$1.5 billionin debt.
We're facing a$20 to$25 million,if not more, of a deficit coming
up, right?
Our our credit scores, ourcredit rating was rated down
twice, right?
And one of the main reasons isbecause of health premiums,
right?
So it's the amount of employeesthat we have.
(18:54):
And so contracting it kind ofhelps kind of uh defer that
cost.
But look, I think we need to getI think if we were to bring it
in-house, it couldn't be done inthe first four years.
It would have to be done withpart-time employment, and it has
to it would have to be done kindof in a in a shared way where we
bring it half back and then halfbidding out.
(19:15):
Now that's not a sexy answer.
It's not.
It's it's it's really kind ofall over the spot.
And the reason why is because ifwe were to bring it all in next
year, we would go bankrupt.
We couldn't do it.
So that's the reality of thefinances of Jersey City.
SPEAKER_00 (19:28):
Yeah, which which yeah, is not not fun to talk
about necessarily, but that I'mreally glad you brought that up
because there are and and andlet me preface this by saying I
I haven't felt this from youonce.
There are a lot of things thatare said on on can on the
campaign trail that just make nosense dollars and cents wise.
And that's without me evenunderstanding necessarily the
(19:49):
the fiscal position of the city,but just on paper, I'm like how
the how in the hell would thatwork?
Because obviously it came up atthe at the forum, you know,
this, you know, this privatizedgarbage situation and it's not
working and this and that.
And obviously we should bringit, we should bring it on the
municipal level, but at the sametime, like this contract's going
out for this private trashcompany at$70 million, I think,
(20:11):
or something.
It's close to only$80 million.
Yeah.
Okay.
So so some astronomical number,and then it's like, well, okay,
we're paying somebody a verylarge amount of money to do it,
probably because they have theinfrastructure to do it that we
don't have.
So there's got to be a goodreason because it's really easy
to point at all the issues thatare out there and go, well, this
is dumb, this is dumb, this isdumb.
(20:32):
And I don't think dumb peoplemade all the decisions on these
things.
So there's there's a disconnectsometimes versus the the the
bullet point headline, catchyclickbait thing and the reality
of what is actually happening orwhat could even be possible,
which is what I think you'redoing a good job of alluding to.
SPEAKER_02 (20:49):
Yeah.
I mean, look, I mean, you know,the other thing where I think
the catchiness kind of catcheson with some campaigns is really
when you talk about affordablehousing and affordability,
right?
And the need to kind of buildhousing.
And and the and the and thereality is this whether you're
talking about including moreaffordable housing in Jersey
City, whether you're talkingabout, you know, uh, you know,
(21:10):
uh, what is it, a thousanddollars a month rent, right?
Either way, you're going to haveto build those units.
And so there's a lot of peoplethat are saying, no, no, no,
we're not gonna build, we'rejust gonna have affordable
housing.
We're gonna have, we're gonnahave, you know, we're gonna,
we're gonna make dessert and nothave the ingredients, right?
And so, you know, one thing thatwe want to do and something that
I'm proactively really talkingabout, I'm the only one really
(21:32):
in Ward D talking about, isthat, you know, we need to build
more housing, especially in WardD, right?
I think the times of saying noto like, you know, four or five
story units, it's kind of, it'skind of it's kind of gone,
right?
I mean, if we really want to bea diverse community, if we
really want to bring in peopleof all different backgrounds and
whatnot, we have to build thehousing uh because we're not
doing it.
And that's not to say that, youknow, some areas can't have, you
(21:54):
know, historic designation.
I know Sherman Place, forexample, you know, the neighbors
there have been fighting for ahistoric designation.
I have no issue giving it tothem, right?
I have no issue workingalongside them and saying, okay,
this is what you guys want.
However, you go on Palais StateAvenue, and the fact that like
there is, you know, a two-familyhouse on what is supposed to be
a commercial district, right?
(22:15):
It it kind of defeats thepurpose of having that
commercial district.
Um so that's why we're reallypushing the community land bank,
which will allow us to kind ofbuild on a city-owned property,
vacant property, foreclosedproperty, and allow us to build,
right?
And allow us to have theaffordable housing we need.
But that's kind of land thatthen the city would acquire.
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
So when we're talking about affordable
housing, uh affordable housinghas a specific definition,
correct?
SPEAKER_02 (22:39):
Uh yeah.
So if you follow I guess thehighest uh level of government
with federal government, right,you would follow the HUD uh
guidelines, there aredesignations onto what is
affordable housing, 30% AMI,50%, you know, and up to like
you know 180%.
Yeah.
So so there are there are rulesand regulations above it on it.
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
Yeah, I I guess I guess my point being that when
we have the affordable housingconversation, which is the most
hot button topic in this entireelection across the board,
whatever you're running for,that the term affordable
housing, while vaguely is on ascale depending on who you are,
right?
I my affordable is differentthan the next person's
affordable, different than thenext person.
(23:18):
But when it comes to actuallylegislating affordable housing,
that has a specific definitionthat that transcends our idea of
what affordable might be.
And I I don't know what it is,but I it's something that gets
left out of the conversation, Ifeel like, because there is an
actual definition for what thatmeans.
And it may not fit everybody'sidea because affordable housing
(23:39):
comes with also incomerestriction in terms of who's
allowed to access affordablehousing, which in in my
experience, seeing it onlyimpacts it impacts a very small
portion of the population whenthe idea of affordability
impacts the entire city.
So it gets granular and it andpeople start to glaze over, but
(24:00):
I I think it's important tounderstand that affordable
housing on paper when it comesto actually building means
something different than makingthings affordable for everybody.
Percent.
SPEAKER_02 (24:10):
I mean, look, you know, Tony, you attended the
forum, right?
I could tell you that, you know,when we're talking about
affordable housing, I would saythat, you know, about 90 to 95%
of the people attending thatforum probably do not qualify
for affordable housing.
But they're probably stillstruggling, right?
I mean, there's still probablypaycheck to paycheck, right?
They're probably still saying,hey, you know what, this city's
unaffordable, right?
So, you know, that's where thecommunity land bank, I think,
(24:32):
allows us to have more controlover what is affordability,
because now we set the standardsper the city.
Because we're never able to gohigher than the federal
government, but we're alwaysable to go lower.
And so, you know, when we'retalking about the community land
bank, and I I could I'll explainit real quick.
What it is, it's basically it'llbe city run, right?
Um, so if there's vacant land uhthat the city owns, or whether
(24:52):
that's foreclosed land, maybeeven donated land, it could
happen, right?
Uh what we would what we wouldbe allowed to do is don't um
sell it to a developer for adollar, right?
Um and we tell the developerthis is what we want built.
Build a four-story, 20-unitcondominium building, right?
Uh and we'll say you can onlysell it at I'm throwing a number
(25:16):
out there, three hundredthousand dollars each unit.
The developer's still makingtheir money because they only
paid a dollar for it.
SPEAKER_00 (25:22):
Yeah, you've already cut out six to probably low
seven figures off of their offof their right.
SPEAKER_02 (25:28):
And then um, you know, if we have to throw in
additional incentives, whetherthat's C D BG funds, home funds,
will absolutely uh do that.
But we really realisticallywon't have to do that.
Uh so at$300,000, you get two,three-bedroom condominium, uh,
that's more affordable for uh aresident that's talking about
like affordable housing thansaying, hey, you know what,
here's an affordable rental unitwhere you're paying$17,000 a
(25:52):
month.
And what we're doing is we'recreating long-term
sustainability and also likejust keeping people, you know,
secure and in in, I guess, in away, feeling secure about where
they live, right?
Because when you have a roofover your head, the decisions
you make are completelydifferent.
So, you know, again, I think theaffordability conversation in
more D, we've built zeroaffordable housing, right?
And we have the ICO, but wedon't build high enough for the
(26:14):
ICO to actually have an impactin the heights.
What's the ICO?
Uh it's an inclusionary zoningordinance.
So it's something that the citycouncil passed now a couple of
years ago.
Uh and you see it in uh journalsquare where if they build to a
certain height, they have torestrict some of their units to
affordable housing.
In Ward D, we we don't do that,right?
Just because we don't build highenough?
You don't build high enough,right?
(26:35):
So it's a middle ground.
So it's do we have to bring downthe ICO requirements and then
also up zone?
Yes, that that's the answer,right?
But what I'll tell you too is ona community standpoint, there's
you know, you have some youknow, I'm I'll tell you like we
have some neighborhoodassociations that look at a
five-story building and theysay, it's too much we don't want
(26:56):
in our community, right?
And it's right next to anotherfive-story building.
And that five-story building onPalisade, so I'll tell you the
the issue.
So on Palisade Avenue, uh therewas a proposed five-story or
four-story building with fourunits of affordable housing.
And the community came outagainst it.
Why?
Because it's too much, too muchhousing.
And I think that that kind ofconversation has to kind of
stop.
(27:16):
I think the conversation we needis how do we build, how do we
build housing?
How do we make it so that it'seconomically feasible to lower
the rents?
And we've seen it in cities likeAustin, in cities like Chicago,
in cities like Charlotte, NorthCarolina, where there's there's
homeowners who will say, hey,I'll give you a month or two for
free.
Just don't move, right?
Because there's enough supply.
Here the problem is we havegreat demand, very little
(27:39):
supply.
SPEAKER_00 (27:39):
Yeah, I think that's where a lot of the conversation
gets lost because there are alot of candidates that simply
spend most of their timedemonizing developers, which is
actually the people that we needto get us out of some of this
rut.
Because you can't go, we need tomake everything affordable, we
need more supply, we need morehousing, but we as a community
reject all the people that aredoing it.
(28:00):
So I think that there is a lotof bridge burning when there
could be bridge building interms of um, you know, making it
attractive to the people that dothis for a living to do it in a
way that serves the community,which is what it sounds like
you're advocating for.
So could you repeat the lastpart again?
It's just it just kind of brokeout.
Yeah, I uh what I what I thinkis that as a an entire community
(28:20):
as all across all candidates,there could be a lot more bridge
building and a lot less bridgeburning when it comes to talking
about developers because they'reultimately the people that need
to create the supply that'sneeded to remedy the
affordability issue if weincentivize them in a way that
serves the community.
SPEAKER_02 (28:35):
Right.
And look, we have to hold themaccountable.
Sure, absolutely, a hundredpercent.
If if we're giving them pilotagreements, if we're giving them
funding, they should absolutelydo what they're we're told to
do, right?
If they're if they're illegallyum, you know, raising uh
people's rents, they shouldabsolutely be held held
accountable.
(28:56):
I think the conversation reallyis has to one, yes, we have to
stop demonizing it, but we haveto be realistic.
How are we going to solve thehousing affordability issue
without the housing, right?
I mean, it's just as simple asthat.
So I mean, look, I think thatthat's kind of my standpoint on
on uh on housing when it comesto Ward D is that you know we do
need to build more.
I think we do need to up zone toR2 soning so that that way we
(29:20):
can get more units.
Now, how do you sell that as acampaign in like 30 seconds?
In 30 seconds it's tough.
But what I'll say is that, youknow, if you want to talk about
affordable housing, we have totalk about housing uh, period,
right?
And if we want more people, ifwe want Jersey City to continue
being diverse, if we want peopleto continue to live in Jersey
City, we have to lower the costof housing, right?
(29:41):
Whether that's home ownership orrentals.
And what I would tell you isthat the more homeownership that
we have, the more that the citycan pull, right?
The more money we can pull toimproving our services.
So housing has to be a fixturein what we're talking about in
the political realm.
And what I would say is that alot of the candidates are
talking about degrowth policiesthat are only going to make it
expensive for actual people whostruggle day in and day out to
(30:04):
live in our city.
They might not look honestly,they might not hurt me.
They might not hurt you, right?
But they're gonna hurt thepeople who really do not have,
like who are really strugglingpaycheck to paycheck.
So that's something that we haveto remember when we talk about
that.
SPEAKER_00 (30:17):
Yeah, I I find that a lot of the policy I hear
floated around actually hurtsthe people that it is is being
sold as helping in a lot ofways.
And I think your your clarityaround that makes some of your
policy more attractive than someother candidates.
I have a I have a question foryou guys actually.
SPEAKER_01 (30:33):
You're you're doing your thing.
SPEAKER_02 (30:35):
What is it?
I have a question for you guys.
You know you guys have been WardD residents now for a couple of
years.
What do you guys think is likethe most important issue, like
the most important local issuefor you guys?
I mean you guys what now youguys have on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01 (30:50):
I'll mouth off a few.
Yeah I think um stay uh roadsafety multiple times I've
almost been run over from peopleuh blowing stop signs people
drive like absolute maniacs andit's really scary.
Uh I mentioned the dog park forthe dogs hush you know on
central walking on like I'llI'll admit walking downtown it
sometimes is a lot nicer thanwalking in the heights you know
(31:13):
what I mean like it's just interms of like trash and
cleanliness and you know sothat's another thing.
What else?
SPEAKER_00 (31:20):
Yeah I think you hit the main ones I also I I really
do believe in your SID projectbecause we are one of the people
that if you ask us where we go,we go to Manhattan and the thing
is like you don't have to be asgood as Manhattan to to attract
people to the heights and tostay in the heights it just has
to be good enough that we don'twant to drive into Manhattan.
SPEAKER_01 (31:39):
There are a few good spots in the heights and there
was a few that I'm sad to hearthat like closed like Fox and
Crow I thought it was like acool like hip spot right yeah so
like and they're also likethey're not like all c close
together too there's another newplace that opened the Alps I
think I think if we were youknow more open to going out in
(32:00):
the heights there are some coolspots.
SPEAKER_00 (32:02):
Maybe not enough like there is downtown like
saturated downtown and also wedon't go we don't go out
downtown either to be to beclear our our reservations for
going out in Jersey City aredifferent than just we don't
have enough choices.
It's just different for us goingout a little bit and we prefer
manhattan just just to go wherewe blend in very easily and it's
nice.
(32:23):
But but I I like your vision forit.
I like I like the way that youtalk about the issues that make
it sound like you're talking toan adult about adult issues.
SPEAKER_01 (32:32):
You don't have to dumb it down you don't have to
placate and you don't have tosell us an idea that isn't
backed by any of thefundamentals that that local
governance requires and I Ithink that's why um I think
that's why we like you as acandidate and I I do want to ask
though because you know and Iknow it's again talking about
the Israel Gaza thing but morespecifically on a local
(32:54):
perspective because we have youknow encountered some issues
like locally like listen I wantto go buy my coffee and not be
faced with anti-Israel stickerseverywhere I go.
And that's been a huge issue inthe heights and we've raised it
a couple of times many times andnothing has been done about it.
And it's not fair.
You know we're we were Jews welive we were Israeli like it's
(33:17):
not fair that I have to be facedand of course you know freedom
of speech I I'm all pro freedomof speech but this is on another
level of blood libel you knowand there's like a boycott
Israel like it you know you'reyou're it's it's it's it's
xenophobic, you know, and it'slike it makes me feel like as an
Israeli that I'm not welcome inthis community because it's
constant.
So there was that so there'sthat aspect and like you know we
(33:39):
we talked about this thing Idon't know if we talked to you
about this but uh a couple ofweeks uh a couple of months ago
I went to the farmers market ona Sunday it's a beautiful Sunday
I'm you know preg I was pregnantat the time I was like nine
months pregnant I'm with mytoddler and there was a you know
anti-Israel protest and it wasat the farmers market which I
don't think is appropriate on aSunday like it's one thing sorry
(34:02):
in August I think that was rightlike in the summer yeah it was
in August yeah and and you knowit's a beautiful Sunday and and
of course I'm all for freedomagain freedom of speech protests
at City Hall protests thatoutside of government buildings
like but you know you're at afarmers market with small
children r running around andthere's fake dead body bags on
(34:23):
on the sidewalk and it was justabsolutely horrifying and I'm
there with my toddler and I waslike I felt like now every time
I go there I'm like lookingaround over my shoulder because
I don't want to be I don't wantto see see that.
You know what I mean?
Like I'm I'm I'm faced with itsix you know seven days a week
every single day I want to beable to go to the farmer's
market and buy fruits andvegetables and take my kid to
the playground without beingfaced with it.
(34:45):
And the candidate that's you onyou know your Musaba Lee was
there talking to the protestersand that and that upset me.
You know again I live in theheights and I don't want to you
know I don't want to face this.
SPEAKER_02 (34:58):
So yeah no I I'll and I'll say you know I was at
the farmers market right um Ithink a little earlier than you
guys um and and I could I couldtell you that even the or the
organizers for the farmersmarket were not happy about it,
right?
So it's something that I thinkby and large all of us kind of
agreed with it probably wasn'tthe appropriate time.
You know like there should thereshould have been some kind of
consequences for that 100%.
(35:20):
Because at the end of the dayalso like what they're what
they're worried about is likethis is a nonprofit
organization.
They don't want to be seen aslike political in this kind of
realm and whatnot.
You know, I mean I think thatthere's like I don't know what
happened.
I don't even know who theorganizers were you know I think
uh you know they they obviouslyshould not have done that.
And I'll tell you like even withMoosab like I I I talked to him
(35:40):
about it right like I believe itor not we we have these kind of
discussions more often than not.
And like where I draw the lineand kind of anything is like for
City Hall for example like theflag raisings.
You know, I think whether youagree or disagree with a
country's actions or not theyshould absolutely not be
canceled.
They should absolutely not feelendangered you know if we can
(36:03):
work with you know our policedepartment to make sure that you
know everyone's able to kind ofraise their flag and be proud of
their culture we shouldabsolutely do that.
I think the park spaces you knowif they didn't have a permit
whether it was look I would saythis whether it was a pro-Israel
a pro-Palestine if they didn'thave permits they should not
have been there right um and solike that's something that we
(36:23):
really need to kind of talk toour police department about
because it's about fairness forall at that point.
The way I'm looking at it isthat you know there's a time and
place for everything.
SPEAKER_00 (36:32):
Patrick thank you so much for your time you're a good
guy grew up here and uh we havea lot of respect for your vision
for what the heights could beand we're very happy you took
the time to take us up on ouroffer to be uh interviewed
today.
SPEAKER_01 (36:45):
Thank you Patrick good luck
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_01 (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_01 (00:20):
We're back for special interviews for local
elections.
SPEAKER_00 (00:25):
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (00:26):
I think we mentioned last episode that we're nearing
the Jersey City elections and wewanted to interview some of the
candidates whoever reached outand is available.
We're open to everybody to havea chat and see, you know, where
they're at with things.
And as Jersey City residents,we're, you know, we also need to
decide who we want to vote for,right?
SPEAKER_00 (00:47):
Yeah.
And honestly, I think if youasked uh the public at large,
like what they know about localelections and candidates, I
think it's a pretty low.
I think the bar of knowledge isvery low.
So we're going to attempt tofill some of that gap in and and
let people make decisions basedon what they hear.
SPEAKER_01 (01:06):
For sure.
So today we have PatrickAmbrosi.
He's a candidate for the Heightsfor Ward D, which is where we
live.
We we met Patrick.
SPEAKER_00 (01:15):
Probably a year ago or so.
SPEAKER_01 (01:17):
A year ago, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:18):
Yeah.
And I don't remember what itwas.
I think it was just a randompost or something that popped up
and I was like, oh, I like thisguy.
SPEAKER_01 (01:24):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:24):
Uh and at that point.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
I think he posted something.
You know, obviously everybodyknows where we stand with the
Israel Gaza war, the former war.
That were uh yes, they thehostages came home yesterday.
We should do a separate episodeabout all that.
We will.
And it's it's clear where westand.
Uh when local official so here'swhere I stand now.
(01:46):
I think uh two or years ago or ayear ago, I wanted all the local
officials to say something aboutthe hostages and say something
about the war.
Now I'm happy when they saynothing sometimes.
You know what I mean?
When they stay out of it andthey stick to local issues.
unknown (02:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (02:01):
Do you know what I mean?
They do.
Um, but all that being said,Patrick has definitely shown um
support to the Jewish community.
He can't uh there's a pop-up onyour screen.
Uh he came to the heights, uh,Mount Sinai Temple, uh synagogue
when we um were doing what we'redoing, we had like a mitzvah
day.
Oh, he's gone?
(02:22):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (02:22):
Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01 (02:23):
Okay, he's back.
We did a mitzvah day where webasically cleaned up the
synagogue.
It's a hundred and twenty plusold synagogue, and Patrick came
with his girlfriend.
Yeah, so I appreciate whenpeople show up and and all that
stuff.
So let me read his bio before webring him on.
Patrick Ambrosi is a firstgeneration Ecuadorian American
who was born and raised in theheights of Jersey City, where he
(02:43):
still lives today.
The son of a union painter and aparalegal turned entrepreneur,
Patrick learned the value ofhard work and giving back from a
young age.
He spent years fighting forJersey City's open spaces and
stronger communities, serving aspresident of the Leonard Gordon
Park Conservancy, board memberof the Jersey City Parks
Coalition, and former member ofthe Reservoir Alliance.
His advocacy helped transformMosquito Park from decades of
(03:04):
neglect into a vibrant,reimagined public space.
The fact that it's calledMosquito Park is hilarious.
But anyway, with a master's inpublic administration from St.
Peter's University and nearly adecade of public sector
experience, Patrick combinescommunity passion with policy
know-how.
Now he's running for Ward D.
City Council to bringaccountability, accessibility,
and a renewed focus on issueslike affordability, clean
(03:25):
streets, and maintaining theparks and neighborhoods that
define Jersey City.
Welcome to the show, PatrickAmbrosi.
How are you doing today?
SPEAKER_02 (03:31):
Thank you for having me.
I'm I'm excited.
I I don't know where you guysgot that bio.
I think I don't know if it'sfrom us or a mixed mash, but I
it sounded very good, so thankyou.
SPEAKER_01 (03:39):
Oh good.
SPEAKER_02 (03:40):
It's a mixed mixed mash.
SPEAKER_00 (03:42):
It is a mishmash of uh stuff we're gonna do.
From the website and thensomeone cool.
SPEAKER_01 (03:47):
So okay, I want to like do the hard questions
first, like the elephant in theroom.
Can we do that?
Just like throw that out there.
SPEAKER_02 (03:56):
I'll say this.
Yes, go ahead.
Whatever you guys want to do,I'm here to answer any
questions.
SPEAKER_01 (04:00):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (04:01):
So I like that.
SPEAKER_00 (04:03):
I like that response because you know uh uh a lot of
people would duck certainissues, questions, whatever.
And over the course of a year, Idon't think you've done any of
that.
SPEAKER_01 (04:12):
So I I do want to Yeah, we respect we respect
where you where you coming fromfor sure.
All that being said, I don'tknow how to phrase this.
SPEAKER_00 (04:20):
Well, listen, I'll phrase it like this.
Obviously, there is no love lossbetween our community, and I'm
not speaking for the entirecommunity, obviously, but
between us and Mousaba Lee,which is the head of your
ticket.
That is the ticket you arerunning on uh is Tima Lee.
And if obviously if you join thecircus, you're gonna get asked
about the clowns, and that'skind of where it is for us.
(04:41):
And and I'm not gonna put anywords into your mouth
whatsoever.
Obviously, you and I have hadthis conversation at great
length.
And yeah, what what is the whatis the idea behind joining what
is the idea behind joining aticket in general when it comes
to local elections and inparticular your choice for
ticket?
SPEAKER_02 (05:00):
Sure.
So so I think there's there'sthere's like two main things
when you're thinking about, youknow, should I join a ticket or
not?
And one of them is in the beliefthat, you know, more people kind
of striving for the same thing,you know, share resources,
share, you know, networks andand all that other things.
And it's definitely helps.
I mean, I think that a lot ofpeople, even you look at the
(05:20):
city council now today, I thinkif a lot of them ran
independently, most of themwould not win, right?
Um, and and and so I think it'sabout that, the shared kind of
like commodity and like network.
And then I think for me, youknow, it was really focused on
two things.
It was focused on, you know,someone who is kind of my peer,
yeah.
He's 28, I'm 31, and reallysaying, you know, this is an
(05:43):
election that's an electionthat's a generational change.
You know, what do we want to seein Jersey City?
And for me, it was mainly theideas that he was running on.
And I know, you know, Tony, youknow, you and I kind of talked
about some of them and abouthousing, about expanding mass
public transportation, which issorely needed in Jersey City.
It's about, you know, endinglike the corruption at City Hall
(06:04):
when it comes to uh vendorpay-to-play.
So, you know, it for me it waskind of that decision making of
like, you know, is this closelyaligned?
Look, do I agree with him oneverything?
No, 100% not.
You know, is he more vocal oncertain things than I am?
Sure.
You know, my focus has alwaysbeen Jersey City and Ward D.
And so that's where I kind oflike to keep, you know, the
(06:24):
conversation.
Um but then again, you know, I'mnot I'm not I'm not shying away
or kind of fearful of of like,you know, the either the
negative comments or you know,that the negativity that comes
with it.
You know, I I say, you know, I'ma person with my own track
record, a proven track record,and you know, that's what we
showcase Jersey City voters.
SPEAKER_01 (06:40):
Okay, that's fair.
SPEAKER_00 (06:41):
That's completely fair.
Now, I'm gonna ask you aboutthis because it literally just
came out today.
What do you think about uh whatdo you what do you think about
national political playersendorsing candidates at the
local level?
And how do you feel specificallyabout the endorsement of Rashida
Talib when it comes to thismayoral race?
SPEAKER_02 (06:59):
So, you know, I I think the national endorsements,
you know, if you can make itwork, you make it work.
Um and if you don't, you don't.
And I think that the the test ofthat is gonna be on election
day.
You know, Rashida Talida, I'llbe honest, for me, you know, I I
don't really know too much abouther.
Um and I think it just happened.
I think it just came out on thenews this morning, correct?
Correct, yeah.
Yeah, you know, so so you know,I you know, I haven't even I'm
(07:21):
not even caught up on thataspect of it yet.
Um, you know, because we kind ofdo our own daily morning things,
you know, we're at differentspots and whatnot.
But look, I mean, you know, ifif if he feels that that's the
way that you know he wants togo, that's that's that's that's
his own his own actions.
SPEAKER_00 (07:38):
Cool.
SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:39):
All right.
I think we can get into thelocal stuff.
The ins and outs of PatrickAmbrosi now.
And uh before we do, I will saythat I attended the first half
of the Ward D uh, it wasn'tdebate, it was uh I'm blanking
forum, forum, candidate forum,yeah.
And I have to give you a lot ofcredit on on how well prepared
(08:01):
you felt for that in comparisonto some of the other candidates.
Uh you were articulate, you werenot reading every answer.
There was even a funny moment,and I don't remember which
candidate brought up.
I think it was Leonard GordonPark, and you had a a pretty
funny little eye roll moment asbeing that's your baby, and then
they were trying, it felt likethey were trying to wedge in on
(08:22):
some claiming or or anyway, itfelt like your territory that
they were they were stepping ona little bit, and you gave like
you had a funny little smirk.
I I thought you performed verywell for what I saw, even though
the second question in thatcandidate forum was crazy.
I couldn't even make heads ortails of what they were asking.
But regardless, I thought youshowed very well.
You were very well put togetherand your ideas were cohesive and
(08:44):
well put without sounding like arobot.
So that was uh cool to seebecause it it you sounded good.
And with that, let's get intosome of your some of your ideas
that you have for the heightsand and what that might look
like over the next four years.
SPEAKER_02 (08:57):
So first, yeah, that forum.
I'm happy to participate inanything that we can participate
in to talk about the issues andthe ideas.
Yeah, I think by and large,everyone was a little kind of
they were like, you know, thesequestions are are super long and
like they changed the formattingin them.
You know, but it is what it is.
You know, I think we did what weset out to do, which is, you
know, talk about the issues,talk about the issues that we
(09:19):
could talk about, you know,considering the questions that
they gave.
And look, I think all thecandidates, um, you know, I
think, you know, some of us likeeach other more than what, you
know, uh I think maybe sometimeswe give off.
But you know, I think I thinkit's a good group of people, and
I I respect all of them.
This is is this the most crowdedward race?
It will be one of the mostcrowded in the I would say the
last 20 years for sure.
(09:40):
Yeah.
Um there's five of us.
I think originally I just meantlike now.
No, actually it's ward ward B.
So originally there was gonna beseven.
So no, I think ward B is thecrowded with now seven.
There's only five in Ward B, butwe're still I mean Ward D's, so
we're still one of the mostcrowded, but not the most
crowded.
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (09:56):
And when it comes to obviously, I guess people may or
may not know.
We're we're residents of the ofthe heights, and obviously Ward
D encompasses more than just theheights, but you know, largely
the heights is very central tothe Ward D race, which is where
we live.
So we would potentially be yourconstituents and we have our own
ideas of what could be improved,as we've discussed offline.
What are the what are the whatare the most cr give me the most
(10:18):
critical thing that you wouldwant to to do in in the office?
And you can expand on a few moreif you'd like.
But what what is like the numberone thing you're hearing, the
number one thing you'vepinpointed that if Patrick
Ambrosi wins this race, this iswhat I want to get done without
question.
SPEAKER_02 (10:34):
So I think um, you know, uh a lot of people don't
necessarily bring this up.
They bring it up in differentlike topics, but I think
revitalizing Central Avenue is abig one for me.
And the reason why is becauseit's it's gonna take a couple of
steps to do that, right?
We need to pick up garbagecorrectly, right?
We need to support smallbusinesses and we need to bring
in small businesses into theavenue.
(10:56):
Right now, you go on CentralAvenue, there's a lot of
businesses that are closingdown, 99 Cent stores and
cannabis shops, right?
And so, you know, we want tomake sure that we have the foot
traffic.
So we want to make sure thatwe're building housing in order
to make sure that we're able tobring in, you know, the
restaurants, the one or twobars, you know, we want to make
sure that we're uh establishingoutdoor dining options.
You know, the Burger Kingparking lot for me is a center
(11:19):
point to the idea ofrevitalizing Central Avenue
because I really think thatwe're gonna be able to build a
pedestrian plaza in that spaceto increase our tree canopy, to
increase outdoor dining, to dofamily-friendly events.
You know, I know you guys talk alot about downtown Jersey City,
about the good job that Rachel'sdoing at the historic downtown
as idea.
We want some of that energy tooin in Central Avenue.
(11:41):
You know, when I knock on doorsand I ask people, you know, when
your family comes, where do youguys go to eat?
They say New York City, which,you know, we'll never beat that,
right?
But you know, that's an option,right?
They say Hoboken and they saydowntown Jersey City.
And I want them to start saying,I go with Central Avenue.
I go, you know when my familycomes, that's where we're going
to eat, right?
Because if you're living here,you're spending your money here,
(12:01):
everything kind of goes back tothe ward.
And I think we make it a moreinviting place.
So for me, it would berevitalizing Central Avenue.
SPEAKER_00 (12:08):
So you obviously mentioned the downtown SID, um,
SID and and Rachel's job thatshe's done with it.
As a city council person, how doyou identify the people to do
that sort of thing?
And I don't want to step on theside.
SPEAKER_01 (12:22):
Yeah, there is a there's a central SID.
Definitely.
SPEAKER_00 (12:24):
And I don't obviously I don't wanna I don't
wanna insult anybody that worksfor the SID here, but how do you
get it to a place where itmirrors that?
And when I say mirrors, you'reobviously not going to have the
same funding necessarily or thesame budget or the same the same
resources that the downtown SIDdoes, but at some level you can
mirror what they're doing insome ways to get to get it up to
(12:48):
a place that feels good for whatwe are.
SPEAKER_02 (12:50):
Yeah.
So, you know, I think, you know,so the way that the Central
Avenue SID gets funded isthrough the fees of our small
businesses on Central Avenue.
So the more small businesseswe're adding, the more revenue
we're getting.
And look, as a city councilperson, if we have to put money
in, uh, I think it's 100%doable.
As for the board itself, youknow, I I have no issues with
(13:11):
the board members.
I have no issues with, you know,the executive director.
I do think that they needsomeone that is, you know, more
full-time.
I know, you know, at the timethe salary for the the SID
director was about$30,000, maybea year or two ago.
No, and and part-time.
I think we need a full-timedirector.
I think we need a uh competitivesalary uh to make sure that
(13:31):
we're able to do, you know, thefamily-friendly events, look for
sponsorship, bring people in,right?
Um and so, yeah, I mean, I Ithink, you know, we first have
to start with kind of like amarketing plan of what do we
want Central Avenue to looklike, right?
What kind of small businesses dowe need?
What businesses do we need,right?
Um, because you look, there's mif I say, you know what, we're
(13:52):
gonna bring in 10 new pizzashops, we have pizza shops,
right?
Like we have that thing.
We need more diversity.
Um so I think we need amarketing plan, and then we need
to actually put the money in tohiring a full-time executive
director.
SPEAKER_00 (14:03):
So when you say put the money in, where does it come
from and how do we pay for thatposition?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:10):
So again, it comes from the fees through the small
businesses and then the UEZ.
So it's advocating on the statelevel to make sure that we're
getting UEC funds.
But sometimes UEC funds aren'tthey're not reliable.
You know, one year we'll havethem, one year we won't.
If we have to put them inthrough the city budget, I will
absolutely be advocating forthat.
Nice.
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
What about a park in Pershing Fi a dog park in
Pershing Field?
Yeah, I think.
I know it's like a it's a funnyjoke because I've been I've been
I've been talking about thisfucking dog park since I moved
to the heights and I've beencomplaining to our local
officials about this dog parkand even saying, like, oh,
you're talking about Israel,Gaza.
I want my dog park.
(14:48):
Like, why is that not happening?
Why are we focused ongeopolitical issues when you
know this simple thing that canyou just have to put like a
fence.
SPEAKER_00 (14:57):
Turf and a fence.
SPEAKER_01 (14:58):
A turf and a fence, and so my dogs can run around
and you know, do their thing.
SPEAKER_00 (15:02):
So you know just promise us a dog park and it's a
done deal.
SPEAKER_02 (15:05):
Let's go.
What's funny about that is like,yes, yes, we need a dog park in
Pershing.
I think Pershing Field needs alot more work than what people
may realize, right?
Like the playground needs work.
You know, you have two uhbaseball fields that are are
closed for most of the time.
And I think that that's such ashame and a waste of space, so
we have to open that up to thecommunity.
But dog park should be easy todo.
I mean, you know, at MosquitoPark, we did what now it's been
(15:28):
a while, but you know, it wassupposed to be a temporary dog
run.
You know, we're looking to add abig dog run and a small dog run.
Um, but in person field itshould absolutely happen.
And I thought it was happening.
I mean, I remember seeing a postsaying that we have the money,
we're going to do it.
And I I don't I don't think thatever happened.
And I think that that's the Ithink that that's my problem is
(15:48):
that a lot of people like tolegislate through like social
media instead of like actuallygetting the work done, right?
It's like saying, like, yes,we're gonna get it done.
And the critics kind of calmdown for like a a couple of
months, you know, and it's like,no, you get the dog run, you
know, it's it's pretty simple,it's not that hard.
So yes, we will get a dog run.
I have no issues getting it.
SPEAKER_00 (16:05):
Fortunately, it's on tape, we got it, we're getting a
dog park if Patrick Ambrosi iselected and we have a long
memory.
Uh it worked four years later,and we're still talking about
this dog park.
So we will not, we will notforget.
Right and never forget.
SPEAKER_02 (16:19):
And I think like, look, I mean, I think when you
look most at most of our openspaces, the problem is that even
on a maintenance standpoint, isthat like we have really only
about 15 full-time employeeswithin the city of Jersey City,
and everything else is kind ofcontracted out.
And so, you know, our ability toaddress situations as they
occur, it's it's really we'rewe're we're we're tied with
(16:40):
that.
And so I think that's somethingthat we have to kind of fix and
we have to make sure that we'reinvesting in our city.
Because at the end of the day,you guys are paying taxes,
right?
Taxes have gone up 40% in thelast five years, and to say that
we can't get trash picked upfrom our streets and to say that
we can't get a dog run in ourpark or we can't get regular
maintenance in our in our parks,that's a shame.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
So you mentioned this was the next thing I was
gonna ask you about, and youbrought up the trash thing now
twice.
Uh talked, we're gonna talktrash.
Let's talk some trash.
Uh, what is explain to us whatthe current arrangement is with
our trash vendor.
It's not a municipal service,which seems to be one of the
biggest issues.
If you could help us understandmaybe who who's doing our trash,
(17:20):
why is it not a municipalservice, and what would you like
to see when it comes to trashcollection?
As unsexy as this topic may be,I think it's kind of a big deal
up here in the heights.
Yes, it's a big deal.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
And I think so.
That's been happening since Ibelieve 2014.
So when Steve came in, he uh itoriginally was city run, right?
So in 2014, it's became avendor.
And the problem with that isthat, you know, as much as you
(17:51):
want to hold the vendoraccountable, you know, you
really can't I mean, you reallycan't.
That's the problem.
Unless you're really gonna putthe the clauses into terms and
you're gonna find people.
But in Jersey City, we haven'treally been doing that.
And so, yeah, I mean, you go onmy street, I live on New York
Avenue.
I don't like hide where I live.
I live between Barrows and Southand New York Avenue.
And sometimes you go out andtrash is all over the spot.
(18:12):
And I know we didn't put it inthere because we put it in the
bins, we put it in the bags,right?
And so, yeah, it's been a majorissue.
The question comes into what dowe do?
How do we fix it?
And so here's the reality.
Because I know there's a coupleof there's a Ward D candidate
who talks about bringing trashin, and it sounds great, and I
myself would support the generalidea, but here's the reality is
(18:34):
that Jersey City is$1.5 billionin debt.
We're facing a$20 to$25 million,if not more, of a deficit coming
up, right?
Our our credit scores, ourcredit rating was rated down
twice, right?
And one of the main reasons isbecause of health premiums,
right?
So it's the amount of employeesthat we have.
(18:54):
And so contracting it kind ofhelps kind of uh defer that
cost.
But look, I think we need to getI think if we were to bring it
in-house, it couldn't be done inthe first four years.
It would have to be done withpart-time employment, and it has
to it would have to be done kindof in a in a shared way where we
bring it half back and then halfbidding out.
(19:15):
Now that's not a sexy answer.
It's not.
It's it's it's really kind ofall over the spot.
And the reason why is because ifwe were to bring it all in next
year, we would go bankrupt.
We couldn't do it.
So that's the reality of thefinances of Jersey City.
SPEAKER_00 (19:28):
Yeah, which which yeah, is not not fun to talk
about necessarily, but that I'mreally glad you brought that up
because there are and and andlet me preface this by saying I
I haven't felt this from youonce.
There are a lot of things thatare said on on can on the
campaign trail that just make nosense dollars and cents wise.
And that's without me evenunderstanding necessarily the
(19:49):
the fiscal position of the city,but just on paper, I'm like how
the how in the hell would thatwork?
Because obviously it came up atthe at the forum, you know,
this, you know, this privatizedgarbage situation and it's not
working and this and that.
And obviously we should bringit, we should bring it on the
municipal level, but at the sametime, like this contract's going
out for this private trashcompany at$70 million, I think,
(20:11):
or something.
It's close to only$80 million.
Yeah.
Okay.
So so some astronomical number,and then it's like, well, okay,
we're paying somebody a verylarge amount of money to do it,
probably because they have theinfrastructure to do it that we
don't have.
So there's got to be a goodreason because it's really easy
to point at all the issues thatare out there and go, well, this
is dumb, this is dumb, this isdumb.
(20:32):
And I don't think dumb peoplemade all the decisions on these
things.
So there's there's a disconnectsometimes versus the the the
bullet point headline, catchyclickbait thing and the reality
of what is actually happening orwhat could even be possible,
which is what I think you'redoing a good job of alluding to.
SPEAKER_02 (20:49):
Yeah.
I mean, look, I mean, you know,the other thing where I think
the catchiness kind of catcheson with some campaigns is really
when you talk about affordablehousing and affordability,
right?
And the need to kind of buildhousing.
And and the and the and thereality is this whether you're
talking about including moreaffordable housing in Jersey
City, whether you're talkingabout, you know, uh, you know,
(21:10):
uh, what is it, a thousanddollars a month rent, right?
Either way, you're going to haveto build those units.
And so there's a lot of peoplethat are saying, no, no, no,
we're not gonna build, we'rejust gonna have affordable
housing.
We're gonna have, we're gonnahave, you know, we're gonna,
we're gonna make dessert and nothave the ingredients, right?
And so, you know, one thing thatwe want to do and something that
I'm proactively really talkingabout, I'm the only one really
(21:32):
in Ward D talking about, isthat, you know, we need to build
more housing, especially in WardD, right?
I think the times of saying noto like, you know, four or five
story units, it's kind of, it'skind of it's kind of gone,
right?
I mean, if we really want to bea diverse community, if we
really want to bring in peopleof all different backgrounds and
whatnot, we have to build thehousing uh because we're not
doing it.
And that's not to say that, youknow, some areas can't have, you
(21:54):
know, historic designation.
I know Sherman Place, forexample, you know, the neighbors
there have been fighting for ahistoric designation.
I have no issue giving it tothem, right?
I have no issue workingalongside them and saying, okay,
this is what you guys want.
However, you go on Palais StateAvenue, and the fact that like
there is, you know, a two-familyhouse on what is supposed to be
a commercial district, right?
(22:15):
It it kind of defeats thepurpose of having that
commercial district.
Um so that's why we're reallypushing the community land bank,
which will allow us to kind ofbuild on a city-owned property,
vacant property, foreclosedproperty, and allow us to build,
right?
And allow us to have theaffordable housing we need.
But that's kind of land thatthen the city would acquire.
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
So when we're talking about affordable
housing, uh affordable housinghas a specific definition,
correct?
SPEAKER_02 (22:39):
Uh yeah.
So if you follow I guess thehighest uh level of government
with federal government, right,you would follow the HUD uh
guidelines, there aredesignations onto what is
affordable housing, 30% AMI,50%, you know, and up to like
you know 180%.
Yeah.
So so there are there are rulesand regulations above it on it.
SPEAKER_00 (22:57):
Yeah, I I guess I guess my point being that when
we have the affordable housingconversation, which is the most
hot button topic in this entireelection across the board,
whatever you're running for,that the term affordable
housing, while vaguely is on ascale depending on who you are,
right?
I my affordable is differentthan the next person's
affordable, different than thenext person.
(23:18):
But when it comes to actuallylegislating affordable housing,
that has a specific definitionthat that transcends our idea of
what affordable might be.
And I I don't know what it is,but I it's something that gets
left out of the conversation, Ifeel like, because there is an
actual definition for what thatmeans.
And it may not fit everybody'sidea because affordable housing
(23:39):
comes with also incomerestriction in terms of who's
allowed to access affordablehousing, which in in my
experience, seeing it onlyimpacts it impacts a very small
portion of the population whenthe idea of affordability
impacts the entire city.
So it gets granular and it andpeople start to glaze over, but
(24:00):
I I think it's important tounderstand that affordable
housing on paper when it comesto actually building means
something different than makingthings affordable for everybody.
Percent.
SPEAKER_02 (24:10):
I mean, look, you know, Tony, you attended the
forum, right?
I could tell you that, you know,when we're talking about
affordable housing, I would saythat, you know, about 90 to 95%
of the people attending thatforum probably do not qualify
for affordable housing.
But they're probably stillstruggling, right?
I mean, there's still probablypaycheck to paycheck, right?
They're probably still saying,hey, you know what, this city's
unaffordable, right?
So, you know, that's where thecommunity land bank, I think,
(24:32):
allows us to have more controlover what is affordability,
because now we set the standardsper the city.
Because we're never able to gohigher than the federal
government, but we're alwaysable to go lower.
And so, you know, when we'retalking about the community land
bank, and I I could I'll explainit real quick.
What it is, it's basically it'llbe city run, right?
Um, so if there's vacant land uhthat the city owns, or whether
(24:52):
that's foreclosed land, maybeeven donated land, it could
happen, right?
Uh what we would what we wouldbe allowed to do is don't um
sell it to a developer for adollar, right?
Um and we tell the developerthis is what we want built.
Build a four-story, 20-unitcondominium building, right?
Uh and we'll say you can onlysell it at I'm throwing a number
(25:16):
out there, three hundredthousand dollars each unit.
The developer's still makingtheir money because they only
paid a dollar for it.
SPEAKER_00 (25:22):
Yeah, you've already cut out six to probably low
seven figures off of their offof their right.
SPEAKER_02 (25:28):
And then um, you know, if we have to throw in
additional incentives, whetherthat's C D BG funds, home funds,
will absolutely uh do that.
But we really realisticallywon't have to do that.
Uh so at$300,000, you get two,three-bedroom condominium, uh,
that's more affordable for uh aresident that's talking about
like affordable housing thansaying, hey, you know what,
here's an affordable rental unitwhere you're paying$17,000 a
(25:52):
month.
And what we're doing is we'recreating long-term
sustainability and also likejust keeping people, you know,
secure and in in, I guess, in away, feeling secure about where
they live, right?
Because when you have a roofover your head, the decisions
you make are completelydifferent.
So, you know, again, I think theaffordability conversation in
more D, we've built zeroaffordable housing, right?
And we have the ICO, but wedon't build high enough for the
(26:14):
ICO to actually have an impactin the heights.
What's the ICO?
Uh it's an inclusionary zoningordinance.
So it's something that the citycouncil passed now a couple of
years ago.
Uh and you see it in uh journalsquare where if they build to a
certain height, they have torestrict some of their units to
affordable housing.
In Ward D, we we don't do that,right?
Just because we don't build highenough?
You don't build high enough,right?
(26:35):
So it's a middle ground.
So it's do we have to bring downthe ICO requirements and then
also up zone?
Yes, that that's the answer,right?
But what I'll tell you too is ona community standpoint, there's
you know, you have some youknow, I'm I'll tell you like we
have some neighborhoodassociations that look at a
five-story building and theysay, it's too much we don't want
(26:56):
in our community, right?
And it's right next to anotherfive-story building.
And that five-story building onPalisade, so I'll tell you the
the issue.
So on Palisade Avenue, uh therewas a proposed five-story or
four-story building with fourunits of affordable housing.
And the community came outagainst it.
Why?
Because it's too much, too muchhousing.
And I think that that kind ofconversation has to kind of
stop.
(27:16):
I think the conversation we needis how do we build, how do we
build housing?
How do we make it so that it'seconomically feasible to lower
the rents?
And we've seen it in cities likeAustin, in cities like Chicago,
in cities like Charlotte, NorthCarolina, where there's there's
homeowners who will say, hey,I'll give you a month or two for
free.
Just don't move, right?
Because there's enough supply.
Here the problem is we havegreat demand, very little
(27:39):
supply.
SPEAKER_00 (27:39):
Yeah, I think that's where a lot of the conversation
gets lost because there are alot of candidates that simply
spend most of their timedemonizing developers, which is
actually the people that we needto get us out of some of this
rut.
Because you can't go, we need tomake everything affordable, we
need more supply, we need morehousing, but we as a community
reject all the people that aredoing it.
(28:00):
So I think that there is a lotof bridge burning when there
could be bridge building interms of um, you know, making it
attractive to the people that dothis for a living to do it in a
way that serves the community,which is what it sounds like
you're advocating for.
So could you repeat the lastpart again?
It's just it just kind of brokeout.
Yeah, I uh what I what I thinkis that as a an entire community
(28:20):
as all across all candidates,there could be a lot more bridge
building and a lot less bridgeburning when it comes to talking
about developers because they'reultimately the people that need
to create the supply that'sneeded to remedy the
affordability issue if weincentivize them in a way that
serves the community.
SPEAKER_02 (28:35):
Right.
And look, we have to hold themaccountable.
Sure, absolutely, a hundredpercent.
If if we're giving them pilotagreements, if we're giving them
funding, they should absolutelydo what they're we're told to
do, right?
If they're if they're illegallyum, you know, raising uh
people's rents, they shouldabsolutely be held held
accountable.
(28:56):
I think the conversation reallyis has to one, yes, we have to
stop demonizing it, but we haveto be realistic.
How are we going to solve thehousing affordability issue
without the housing, right?
I mean, it's just as simple asthat.
So I mean, look, I think thatthat's kind of my standpoint on
on uh on housing when it comesto Ward D is that you know we do
need to build more.
I think we do need to up zone toR2 soning so that that way we
(29:20):
can get more units.
Now, how do you sell that as acampaign in like 30 seconds?
In 30 seconds it's tough.
But what I'll say is that, youknow, if you want to talk about
affordable housing, we have totalk about housing uh, period,
right?
And if we want more people, ifwe want Jersey City to continue
being diverse, if we want peopleto continue to live in Jersey
City, we have to lower the costof housing, right?
(29:41):
Whether that's home ownership orrentals.
And what I would tell you isthat the more homeownership that
we have, the more that the citycan pull, right?
The more money we can pull toimproving our services.
So housing has to be a fixturein what we're talking about in
the political realm.
And what I would say is that alot of the candidates are
talking about degrowth policiesthat are only going to make it
expensive for actual people whostruggle day in and day out to
(30:04):
live in our city.
They might not look honestly,they might not hurt me.
They might not hurt you, right?
But they're gonna hurt thepeople who really do not have,
like who are really strugglingpaycheck to paycheck.
So that's something that we haveto remember when we talk about
that.
SPEAKER_00 (30:17):
Yeah, I I find that a lot of the policy I hear
floated around actually hurtsthe people that it is is being
sold as helping in a lot ofways.
And I think your your clarityaround that makes some of your
policy more attractive than someother candidates.
I have a I have a question foryou guys actually.
SPEAKER_01 (30:33):
You're you're doing your thing.
SPEAKER_02 (30:35):
What is it?
I have a question for you guys.
You know you guys have been WardD residents now for a couple of
years.
What do you guys think is likethe most important issue, like
the most important local issuefor you guys?
I mean you guys what now youguys have on YouTube.
SPEAKER_01 (30:50):
I'll mouth off a few.
Yeah I think um stay uh roadsafety multiple times I've
almost been run over from peopleuh blowing stop signs people
drive like absolute maniacs andit's really scary.
Uh I mentioned the dog park forthe dogs hush you know on
central walking on like I'llI'll admit walking downtown it
sometimes is a lot nicer thanwalking in the heights you know
(31:13):
what I mean like it's just interms of like trash and
cleanliness and you know sothat's another thing.
What else?
SPEAKER_00 (31:20):
Yeah I think you hit the main ones I also I I really
do believe in your SID projectbecause we are one of the people
that if you ask us where we go,we go to Manhattan and the thing
is like you don't have to be asgood as Manhattan to to attract
people to the heights and tostay in the heights it just has
to be good enough that we don'twant to drive into Manhattan.
SPEAKER_01 (31:39):
There are a few good spots in the heights and there
was a few that I'm sad to hearthat like closed like Fox and
Crow I thought it was like acool like hip spot right yeah so
like and they're also likethey're not like all c close
together too there's another newplace that opened the Alps I
think I think if we were youknow more open to going out in
(32:00):
the heights there are some coolspots.
SPEAKER_00 (32:02):
Maybe not enough like there is downtown like
saturated downtown and also wedon't go we don't go out
downtown either to be to beclear our our reservations for
going out in Jersey City aredifferent than just we don't
have enough choices.
It's just different for us goingout a little bit and we prefer
manhattan just just to go wherewe blend in very easily and it's
nice.
(32:23):
But but I I like your vision forit.
I like I like the way that youtalk about the issues that make
it sound like you're talking toan adult about adult issues.
SPEAKER_01 (32:32):
You don't have to dumb it down you don't have to
placate and you don't have tosell us an idea that isn't
backed by any of thefundamentals that that local
governance requires and I Ithink that's why um I think
that's why we like you as acandidate and I I do want to ask
though because you know and Iknow it's again talking about
the Israel Gaza thing but morespecifically on a local
(32:54):
perspective because we have youknow encountered some issues
like locally like listen I wantto go buy my coffee and not be
faced with anti-Israel stickerseverywhere I go.
And that's been a huge issue inthe heights and we've raised it
a couple of times many times andnothing has been done about it.
And it's not fair.
You know we're we were Jews welive we were Israeli like it's
(33:17):
not fair that I have to be facedand of course you know freedom
of speech I I'm all pro freedomof speech but this is on another
level of blood libel you knowand there's like a boycott
Israel like it you know you'reyou're it's it's it's it's
xenophobic, you know, and it'slike it makes me feel like as an
Israeli that I'm not welcome inthis community because it's
constant.
So there was that so there'sthat aspect and like you know we
(33:39):
we talked about this thing Idon't know if we talked to you
about this but uh a couple ofweeks uh a couple of months ago
I went to the farmers market ona Sunday it's a beautiful Sunday
I'm you know preg I was pregnantat the time I was like nine
months pregnant I'm with mytoddler and there was a you know
anti-Israel protest and it wasat the farmers market which I
don't think is appropriate on aSunday like it's one thing sorry
(34:02):
in August I think that was rightlike in the summer yeah it was
in August yeah and and you knowit's a beautiful Sunday and and
of course I'm all for freedomagain freedom of speech protests
at City Hall protests thatoutside of government buildings
like but you know you're at afarmers market with small
children r running around andthere's fake dead body bags on
(34:23):
on the sidewalk and it was justabsolutely horrifying and I'm
there with my toddler and I waslike I felt like now every time
I go there I'm like lookingaround over my shoulder because
I don't want to be I don't wantto see see that.
You know what I mean?
Like I'm I'm I'm faced with itsix you know seven days a week
every single day I want to beable to go to the farmer's
market and buy fruits andvegetables and take my kid to
the playground without beingfaced with it.
(34:45):
And the candidate that's you onyou know your Musaba Lee was
there talking to the protestersand that and that upset me.
You know again I live in theheights and I don't want to you
know I don't want to face this.
SPEAKER_02 (34:58):
So yeah no I I'll and I'll say you know I was at
the farmers market right um Ithink a little earlier than you
guys um and and I could I couldtell you that even the or the
organizers for the farmersmarket were not happy about it,
right?
So it's something that I thinkby and large all of us kind of
agreed with it probably wasn'tthe appropriate time.
You know like there should thereshould have been some kind of
consequences for that 100%.
(35:20):
Because at the end of the dayalso like what they're what
they're worried about is likethis is a nonprofit
organization.
They don't want to be seen aslike political in this kind of
realm and whatnot.
You know, I mean I think thatthere's like I don't know what
happened.
I don't even know who theorganizers were you know I think
uh you know they they obviouslyshould not have done that.
And I'll tell you like even withMoosab like I I I talked to him
(35:40):
about it right like I believe itor not we we have these kind of
discussions more often than not.
And like where I draw the lineand kind of anything is like for
City Hall for example like theflag raisings.
You know, I think whether youagree or disagree with a
country's actions or not theyshould absolutely not be
canceled.
They should absolutely not feelendangered you know if we can
(36:03):
work with you know our policedepartment to make sure that you
know everyone's able to kind ofraise their flag and be proud of
their culture we shouldabsolutely do that.
I think the park spaces you knowif they didn't have a permit
whether it was look I would saythis whether it was a pro-Israel
a pro-Palestine if they didn'thave permits they should not
have been there right um and solike that's something that we
(36:23):
really need to kind of talk toour police department about
because it's about fairness forall at that point.
The way I'm looking at it isthat you know there's a time and
place for everything.
SPEAKER_00 (36:32):
Patrick thank you so much for your time you're a good
guy grew up here and uh we havea lot of respect for your vision
for what the heights could beand we're very happy you took
the time to take us up on ouroffer to be uh interviewed
today.
SPEAKER_01 (36:45):
Thank you Patrick good luck
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