JERSEY CITY — Mayor Steve Fulop pledged to commit more police resources and affordable housing to some of Jersey City’s toughest neighborhoods during tonight’s state of the city address, the first of six speeches the mayor plans to give citywide in the next five weeks.
Fulop delivered the annual address on the second floor of the Mary McLeod Bethune Life Center, a community hall in a Ward F neighborhood where daily struggles with crime and poverty paint a starkly different picture than the rosy one Fulop described tonight of the city at large.
The mayor addressed that contrast in his 35-minute speech, given to a crowd of about 600 gathered inside the Martin Luther King Drive center. At one point he acknowledged “a feeling of hopelessness” in parts of Ward F.
“Crime is still something we struggle with in this particular neighborhood. We are aware of this, and we understand the toll it takes on you and your family,” Fulop said. “Yes, development in Journal Square or new businesses in the Heights are great for our city, but if I can find ways to make residents of this specific community feel more comfortable walking home at night, or to feel a greater sense of pride in this neighborhood, then I know we’re doing our job effectively.”
Fulop, who is seeking a second four-year term in November, plans to give one state of the city address in each of the city’s six wards, with each tailored somewhat to each ward. Tonight’s speech, the usual mix of boasts about the prior year and promises for the future, was the first.
The mayor touted everything from the city’s unemployment rate dipping to 4 percent, a 25-year low; the building boom that has spread to parts of the city outside of the trendy Downtown; his recent executive order that officially designates Jersey City as a sanctuary city for immigrants who entered the country illegally; and more. He announced that this year’s budget would come with no municipal tax hike, for the fourth year in a row.
“Few cities in New Jersey can make that claim,” Fulop said.
The mayor said he wants to hire 50 new police officers this year and bring the force to 950 cops, a size not seen for decades. He added that his administration would add dozens of new security cameras to the south side of the city, where a large portion of the city’s violence occurs.
The city’s landlord-tenant office will be expanded to protect tenant rights, a “no knock” registry will discourage aggressive real-estate solicitation and the city will “scale back” its tax abatement policy, the mayor said.
Fulop also touted the City Hall annex, a project underway at the Hub shopping center on MLK Drive that the mayor has said will be a transformative project for a business district that the city has tried for more than 20 years to revitalize.
“This is a pivotal undertaking, and one that will bring new activity to a commercial center that has enormous potential,” he said. “This $20 million project will be a state-of-the-art facility and will be the single largest development investment made in Bergen-Lafayette history, and will be the center of the area’s economic revitalization.”
Ward D Councilman Michael Yun, a Fulop critic who may challenge the mayor in November, said tonight’s speech was Fulop’s attempt to make up for the three years he was considering a run for governor.
“He’s now going to provide full-time mayor services,” said Yun, adding about the mayor’s description of his administration, “He paints well.”
Council President Rolando Lavarro, a Fulop ally, said Yun was “playing politics.”
The crowd, which included dozens of local elected officials and members of the Fulop administration, provided moments of applause throughout the mayor’s speech. One of the loudest ovations came at the mention of the mayor’s “sanctuary city” executive order.
One of those in attendance, Bernice Hazel, 78, of Wegman Parkway, said she remembers Fulop attending a breakfast at her church before he became mayor in 2013.
“He did a beautiful job then and he’s still doing a wonderful job,” Hazel said.
Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
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