Board of Commissioners - Board of Commissioners

1 1 CITY OF UNION CITY HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY 2 BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS 3 : REGULAR MEETING : TRANSCRIPT OF 4 : --------------------: PROCEEDINGS 5 6 WASHINGTON SCHOOL 3905 New York Avenue 7 Union City, New Jersey 8 Tuesday, May 3, 2022 9 Commencing at 7:02 p.m. 10 11 M E M B E R S P R E S E N T: 12 LUCIO P. FERNANDEZ, COMMISSIONER WENDY A. GRULLON, COMMISSIONER 13 MARYURY A. MARTINETTI, COMMISSIONER CELIN J. VALDIVIA, COMMISSIONER 14 BRIAN P. STACK, MAYOR 15 M E M B E R S A B S E N T: 16 17 A L S O P R E S E N T: 18 SCARINCI HOLLENBECK 19 BY: ANGELO AUTERI, ESQ. Corporation Counsel 20 GREGORY T. FARMER, ESQ. 21 Attorney for the Union City Alcohol Beverage Control Commission 22 HILDA ROSARIO, City Clerk 23 24 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR 449 Columbia Blvd., Wood-Ridge, NJ 07075 25 201-933-8220 SBischoffccr@yahoo.com  2 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 ANNA NORIS, ESQUIRE Attorney for Jor Per Corp. T/a Cucalambe 3 4 ANNA NORIS, ESQUIRE Attorney for Manhattan Bar & Grill 5 Restaurant, Inc. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  3 1 I N D E X 2 PAGE 3 CALL TO ORDER 4 SALUTE TO FLAG 4 4 ROLL CALL 4 5 SPECIAL PRESENTATION 5 6 MEETING MINUTES 5 7 CONSENT AGENDA 6 8 REGULAR AGENDA 12 9 CITIZENS ADDRESS THE BOARD 14 10 LIQUOR LICENSE PUBLIC HEARINGS 25 11 Jor Per Corp. t/a Cucalambe 26 Manhattan Bar & Grill 12 Restaurant, Inc. 29 13 ADJOURNMENT 33 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  4 1 MS. ROSARIO: Good evening, everyone. 2 This is a regular public meeting of the Union City 3 Board of Commissioners being held today, Tuesday, 4 May 3, 2022 at 7 p.m., at the Washington School, 5 New York Avenue, Union City. Please stand for the 6 Pledge of Allegiance. 7 (Whereupon, the Pledge of Allegiance was 8 recited.) 9 MS. ROSARIO: This meeting has been 10 called in accordance with the Open Public Meeting 11 Act. Adequate notice of this meeting has been 12 provided, was forwarded to The Jersey Journal, The 13 Record, The Hudson Reporter, has been posted on 14 the bulletin board in the City and has been made 15 available to the public in the office of the 16 Municipal Clerk. 17 18 ROLL CALL: 19 20 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Fernandez. 21 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Here. 22 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 23 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Here. 24 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 25 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Here.  5 1 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 2 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Here. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 4 MAYOR STACK: Here. 5 6 SPECIAL PRESENTATION: 7 1. Proclamation - Zack Tahhan. 8 9 MS. ROSARIO: There is one item of a 10 special presentation, but Mr. Tahhan is running a 11 little late. Can we announce the presentation 12 after? 13 MAYOR STACK: Sure, do it at the end of 14 the agenda before the liquor hearings. 15 MS. ROSARIO: Thank you, Mayor. 16 17 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 18 action on the following item: 19 APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES - REGULAR 20 MEETING - APRIL 19, 2022.) 21 22 MS. ROSARIO: The next item for the 23 meeting minutes. May I have a motion to approve 24 the meeting minutes for the April 19th Board of 25 Commissioners meeting?  6 1 MAYOR STACK: Motion. 2 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Second. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Motion by Mayor Stack, 4 second by Commissioner Martinetti. 5 Commissioner Fernandez. 6 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 7 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 8 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 9 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 10 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 11 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 12 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 13 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 14 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 15 16 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 17 action on the following items in total: 18 CONSENT AGENDA: 19 ( 1) Resolution Approving the Payment of Claims. 20 ( 2) Resolution Approving the Payment of 21 Concurring Claims. 22 ( 3) Resolution Approving the Escrow Refunds. 23 ( 4) Resolution Approving the City Payroll 24 3/26/2022-04/08/2022. 25 ( 5) Resolution Approving the Library Payroll  7 1 3/26/2022-04/08/2022. 2 ( 6) Resolution Authorizing the Adjustment of 3 Estimated Taxes For the Second Quarter. 4 ( 7) Resolution Authorizing the Refund of Premium 5 Monies Collected At the Tax Sale. 6 ( 8) Resolution Authorizing Refund of Redemption 7 Monies to Outside Lienholders. 8 ( 9) Resolution Authorizing the Placement of a 9 Lien on the Property Known As 1614 Summit Avenue, 10 Unit C1, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 84, Lot 20, 11 Qualifier C0101 in the City of Union City For 12 Emergency Repair Costs. 13 (10) Resolution Authorizing the Placement of a 14 Lien on the Property Known As 1614 Summit Avenue, 15 Unit 2, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 84, Lot 20, 16 Qualifier C0202 in the City of Union City For 17 Emergency Repair Costs. 18 (11) Resolution Authorizing the Placement of a 19 Lien on the Property Known As 1614 Summit Avenue, 20 Unit 5, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 84, Lot 20, 21 Qualifier C0205 in the City of Union City For 22 Emergency Repair Costs. 23 (12) Resolution Authorizing the Placement of a 24 Lien on the Property Known As 1614 Summit Avenue, 25 Unit 7, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 84, Lot 20,  8 1 Qualifier C0207 in the City of Union City For 2 Emergency Repair Costs. 3 (13) Resolution Authorizing the Placement of a 4 Lien on the Property Known As 1614 Summit Avenue, 5 Unit 8, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 84, Lot 20, 6 Qualifier C0208 in the City of Union City For 7 Emergency Repair Costs. 8 (14) Resolution Authorizing the Placement of a 9 Lien on the Property Known As 125 43rd Street, 10 Union City, NJ 07087, Block 248, Lot 25 in the 11 City of Union City For Emergency Repair Costs. 12 (15) Resolution Authorizing the Placement of a 13 Lien on the Property Known As 726 11th Street, 14 Union City, NJ 07087, Block 55, Lot 17, in the 15 City of Union City For Emergency Repair Costs. 16 (16) Resolution Authorizing Receipt of Bids For 17 Television Advertising Services. 18 (17) Resolution Authorizing Receipt of Bids For 19 Bergenline Avenue Streetscape Improvements (Phase 20 I) Project. 21 (18) Resolution Authorizing an Increase in the 22 Contract Amount With Jason Michaels Consultants 23 For Personnel Consulting Services For 2021-2022. 24 25 MS. ROSARIO: There are 18 items on the  9 1 consent agenda. 2 1. Resolution approving the payment of 3 claims. 4 2. Resolution approving the payment of 5 concurring claims. 6 3. Resolution approving the escrow 7 refunds. 8 4. Resolution approving the City 9 payroll 3/26/2022-04/08/2022. 10 5. Resolution approving the library 11 payroll 3/26/2022-04/08/2022. 12 6. Resolution authorizing the 13 adjustment of estimated taxes for the second 14 quarter. 15 7. Resolution authorizing the refund of 16 premium monies collected at the tax sale. 17 8. Resolution authorizing the refund of 18 redemption monies to outside lienholders. 19 9. Resolution Authorizing the Placement 20 of a Lien on the Property Known As 1614 Summit 21 Avenue, Unit C1, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 84, 22 Lot 20, Qualifier C0101 in the City of Union City 23 For Emergency Repair Costs. 24 10. Resolution Authorizing the 25 Placement of a Lien on the Property Known As 1614  10 1 Summit Avenue, Unit 2, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 2 84, Lot 20, Qualifier C0202 in the City of Union 3 City For Emergency Repair Costs. 4 11. Resolution Authorizing the 5 Placement of a Lien on the Property Known As 1614 6 Summit Avenue, Unit 5, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 7 84, Lot 20, Qualifier C0205 in the City of Union 8 City For Emergency Repair Costs. 9 12. Resolution Authorizing the 10 Placement of a Lien on the Property Known As 1614 11 Summit Avenue, Unit 7, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 12 84, Lot 20, Qualifier C0207 in the City of Union 13 City For Emergency Repair Costs. 14 13. Resolution Authorizing the 15 Placement of a Lien on the Property Known As 1614 16 Summit Avenue, Unit 8, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 17 84, Lot 20, Qualifier C0208 in the City of Union 18 City For Emergency Repair Costs. 19 14. Resolution Authorizing the 20 Placement of a Lien on the Property Known As 125 21 43rd Street, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 248, Lot 22 25 in the City of Union City For Emergency Repair 23 Costs. 24 15. Resolution Authorizing the 25 Placement of a Lien on the Property Known As 726  11 1 11th Street, Union City, NJ 07087, Block 55, Lot 2 17, in the City of Union City For Emergency Repair 3 Costs. 4 16. Resolution Authorizing Receipt of 5 Bids For Television Advertising Services. 6 17. Resolution Authorizing Receipt of 7 Bids For Bergenline Avenue Streetscape 8 Improvements (Phase I) Project. 9 18. Resolution Authorizing an Increase 10 in the Contract Amount With Jason Michaels 11 Consultants For Personnel Consulting Services For 12 2021-2022. 13 The mayor is abstaining on payment to 14 the law firm of Chasan Lamporello. 15 Mayor, would you like to take public 16 comment? 17 MAYOR STACK: Anyone wishing to comment 18 on the consent agenda, please step forward, state 19 your name and address for record. On the consent 20 agenda. Seeing none, I'll make a motion. 21 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Second. 22 MAYOR STACK: With recusal on Chasan 23 Lamporello bills. 24 MS. ROSARIO: Motion by Mayor Stack, 25 second by Commissioner Martinetti. Commissioner  12 1 Fernandez. 2 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 4 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 5 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 6 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 7 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 8 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 9 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 10 MAYOR STACK: Yes, except on the 11 recusal. 12 13 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 14 action on the following: 15 REGULAR AGENDA: 16 1. Resolution Approving Payment of HCIA Claims.) 17 18 MS. ROSARIO: There are two items on the 19 regular agenda. One, resolution approving payment 20 of the Hudson County Improvement Authority claims. 21 Commissioner Martinetti will recuse. Motion to 22 approve Item 1 on the regular agenda? 23 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Motion. 24 MS. ROSARIO: Motion by Commissioner 25 Valdivia. Second?  13 1 MAYOR STACK: Second. 2 MS. ROSARIO: Second by Mayor Stack. 3 Commissioner Fernandez. 4 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 5 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 6 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 7 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 8 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 9 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 10 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 11 12 (Whereupon, the Board discussed and took 13 action on the following: 14 REGULAR AGENDA: 15 2. Resolution Approving Payment of Claims to the 16 Union City Board of Education.) 17 18 MS. ROSARIO: Resolution approving 19 payment of claims to the Union City Board of 20 Education. 21 MR. AUTERI: Ordinarily, Commissioners 22 Valdivia and Grullon would not vote on Board of 23 Education matters. Tonight, the Board is adopting 24 the doctrine of necessity. 25 MS. ROSARIO: Motion to approve Item  14 1 Number 2? 2 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Motion. 3 MAYOR STACK: Second. 4 MS. ROSARIO: Motion by Commissioner 5 Valdivia, second by Mayor Stack. Commissioner 6 Grullon. 7 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 8 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 9 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 10 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 11 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 12 13 OPPORTUNITY FOR CITIZENS TO ADDRESS THE BOARD: 14 15 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor, at this time would 16 you like to take public comment? 17 MAYOR STACK: Any member of the public 18 would like to comment on any matter concerning 19 municipal government in the City of Union City, 20 please step forward to the podium, state your name 21 and address for record. 22 MR. VARICELLY: Hello, my name is Terry 23 Varicelly, 4308 New York Avenue. I'd like to 24 thank you, Commissioners, for the time, Mayor 25 Stack. Today, I'm in front of you as a graduate  15 1 of the class of 2017 of Union City High School, 2 currently enrolled in college, and in a pipeline 3 for New York Law School. I'm also a first time 4 business owner who currently has an office in 5 Union City that is a storefront that has housed 6 many events, about nine different events, and over 7 90 events in general. It's taken me four years to 8 achieve that and I am very proud of that. 9 I believe Union City, thanks to 10 Commissioner Lucio and his movie about Union City 11 at the Musso Center has educated me on the 12 historical background of Union City and its 13 entertainment industry. I believe it's one that 14 is going to reoccur soon. 15 Today, I'm here right now, sooner than 16 later, there will be more of me trying to push an 17 entertainment industry. I believe Union City 18 could house many wonderful things from art 19 galleries to fashion shows and is already 20 currently doing it. 21 My company is called The Miracle Mile 22 Venues, it's named after Bergenline Avenue, which 23 is called the miracle mile. I mean in California 24 there's one, but we do it best here. And we have 25 been working with local bars. As a resident here,  16 1 I see that bars are trying their best to work 2 along side the City and I see the City trying 3 their best to work along side the bars. And I'd 4 like to applaud both. 5 But the ultimate problem here is my 6 generation. You see, when a bar shuts down, not 7 only does the bar suffer, but our events, ones 8 that we curate also shut down. And I mean it is 9 what it is. That's why I'm here. And for the 10 past four years, I've created good relationships 11 with all business owners across different markets. 12 But the bar owners, you know, specifically need a 13 lot of help. And certain ordinances, I believe, 14 are right. But, again, I think that there is a 15 miscommunication on certain things and 16 misinformation on certain things, too. 17 I just would like to, you know, offer 18 myself for the City and the bars as I have, to 19 help out in anything. Certain bars have been 20 getting shut down and a lot of my events that I 21 have worked tirelessly 24/7 to create have been 22 cancelled. And it's part of the business, I mean 23 no one to blame. But also, again, it's not fair 24 to the artists involved and to the vendors who are 25 really coming from all across New York and  17 1 Connecticut, all tristate area to come here and 2 get surprised, wow, Union City, they're doing 3 this. I just don't want to miss out on that, to 4 offer that to, you know, individuals from other 5 places. 6 So again, I'd like to thank you, 7 Commissioners, for your time, Mayor Stack, and 8 yeah. 9 MAYOR STACK: Terry, there's an easy way 10 to resolve that, that's by the establishment owner 11 complying with the local ABC laws. I understand 12 what you're saying about events being booked at 13 these places, but the bar owner has to make sure 14 that he has his paperwork up to snuff, that he 15 abides by all the ordinances in the City. The 16 camera ordinance and other ordinances have been on 17 the books for quite some time now. It's pretty 18 simple to comply. 19 We running a training every year. 20 Lieutenant Dunlay can go into more detail on the 21 training that we run. It's just a matter of 22 complying. There's a lot of establishments in the 23 City that really never come in here, never really 24 have a violation. 25 We try to even work with those that have  18 1 violations on the camera ordinance, we try to work 2 with them. Greg Farmer, our ABC prosecutor, along 3 with our Lieutenant, we treat it very serious. 4 But going back over the years, we made a 5 lot of progress in cleaning up the quality of 6 life. And a lot of the people that are now coming 7 for your events wouldn't be coming to Union City 8 had it not been for what we did over the years in 9 Union City to clean up a lot of these 10 establishments that have many issues. I'm not 11 saying any of these were dealing drugs or 12 prostitution or major crime scenes where we had 13 stabbings going on in these establishments. But 14 those days are not too far in the past. We don't 15 want to drop back to them. 16 We adopted the ordinance for cameras 17 that protects the people that you're bringing into 18 these establishment. So if something does happen, 19 the camera protects the liquor owner, the license 20 owner as much as it protects the people going 21 there. But they just need to comply with these 22 local ordinances. It's not a gotcha-type 23 situation. It's basically that we want them to 24 comply with the ordinance for their safety, for 25 the City's safety, for the residents who live in  19 1 those neighborhoods and for the police department, 2 for all of us together to work together. But they 3 need to comply. 4 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: When you look 5 at the history, you can't look at one side, how it 6 hurts the one industry. You have to look at how 7 it hurts the community as a whole. If you look 8 back, we had bars that had cameras in the women's 9 bathrooms. There were times of people getting hit 10 over the head with bottles, there was shootings, 11 there were stabbings, all kinds of stuff. You 12 can't look at whose trying to abide by the law. 13 You know, if you're driving 70 miles an hour, you 14 can't blame the cop when you get pulled over for 15 driving recklessly, you know what I mean, the 16 driver's at fault. 17 So in this case, you have to look at the 18 entire history. The bars have come a long way 19 thanks to the Mayor's initiative in establishing 20 good relationship and good businesses. But if you 21 look back at the history, multiple stabbings and 22 gun shots and fights, and like I said, cameras in 23 the women's bathroom. There was a bar that -- 24 MR. VARICELLY: That was 45th. 25 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Studio 45.  20 1 There are events there, great, but you're 2 violating the women's rights for privacy. So you 3 have look at every side of the coin, you know, to 4 see how things are progressing. 5 Listen, for bars to do right by the 6 City, the first thing they have do, like the Mayor 7 said -- I don't want to beat a dead horse -- but 8 abide by the rules and regulations set forth by 9 the ABC Board and the police department. You work 10 from there on in and then the relationship can 11 work great because we want the businesses to 12 succeed. We want Union City to flourish. We want 13 our residents to have employment, but within the 14 law, within the law. 15 MR. VARICELLY: I mean I'm a supporter 16 of the quality of life, I've well versed on it. I 17 just believe -- so for example, just to share 18 something, my company creates profiles on the 19 business owners, right. And these business 20 owners, you know, for example, they're either run 21 family -- you know, within family or it's -- like, 22 for example, we have two businesses that are owned 23 by two women, right, and they're trying their 24 best. They have no exterior support to try to 25 make ends meet. You know, a lot of things happen  21 1 in these bars that we, as a company, really try to 2 support them. We provide security services 3 through a third party, if they need logisticals. 4 I'm learning how to run a kitchen, I've never 5 cooked in my life until now. Now, I am learning 6 how to work and help them out. 7 There's a lot of pressing issues that I 8 know the City also tries their best to help, too. 9 If obviously the bar is called -- you know, Mayor 10 Stack is always on the line when I call him. He 11 answers, he gives me a call back the next day. 12 But the thing is, the issues are very deeply 13 rooted with the bar owners that it's just not 14 getting to the head. A different approach is 15 perhaps the best approach. 16 You know, like I got very close to them, 17 I become family like, you know, that's just who I 18 am. I care a lot. So I'm not saying anything 19 about the quality of life, I believe it's a great 20 policy and it has cleaned up Union City. I mean I 21 feel safe, I love it. I like bringing individuals 22 to the City, I like my town. I love the 23 Commissioners, I love the Mayor as well. But I'm 24 just saying that perhaps I could (speaking 25 Spanish)  22 1 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Little more 2 love. 3 MR. VARICELLY: Just a little bit, I 4 promise you it will go a long way. Thank you so 5 much for your time. 6 MAYOR STACK: Thank you, Terry. 7 Anyone else wishing to comment at this 8 time, step forward, state your name and address 9 for the record. 10 Dave, did you want to comment on that at 11 all? 12 LIEUTENANT DUNLAY: Lieutenant Dunlay, 13 Union City Police. Just to go off on what Mr. 14 Varicelly was saying, I think we have done great 15 strides in the police department from my 19 years 16 of service to where we are today. Where before it 17 was kind of a cowboy, back and forth, you know, 18 with the bars, but we since have developed 19 training for them. We've kind of laid out the 20 entire playbook on what needs to get done with 21 education and it's been done on a yearly basis. 22 So, you know, I kind of get a little 23 offended when we're kind of called out on, you 24 know, showing a little more love when I think we 25 have shown a lot of love. And we have been  23 1 compassionate to the establishments, especially 2 during the COVID time, where we've been very 3 lenient with certain penalties and started 4 abeyance where they wouldn't be serving a 30 day 5 suspension, but rather a 10 day suspension and we 6 hold the 20 days, so long as you would have no 7 issues. 8 So like I said, I do think it is a 9 partnership. I do think we are working to make 10 the City better. But I disagree with Mr. 11 Varicelly's statement regarding that we're not 12 showing the love, but I believe we are. Thank 13 you. 14 MAYOR STACK: Thank you very much, Dave. 15 Anyone else wishing to comment at this 16 time, please step forward, state your name and 17 address for the record. Seeing no other. 18 MS. ROSARIO: Motion to close the 19 public? 20 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Motion. 21 MAYOR STACK: Second. 22 MS. ROSARIO: Motion by Commissioner 23 Valdivia, Second by Mayor Stack. Commissioner 24 Fernandez. 25 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes.  24 1 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 2 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 3 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 4 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 5 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 6 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 7 MR. AUTERI: Can we go off the record, 8 it's 7:19 p.m. 9 10 * * * * 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  25 1 LIQUOR LICENSE PUBLIC HEARINGS: 2 1. Jor Per Corp. 3 t/a Cucalambe 4 4418 Bergenline Avenue 5 0910-33-110-010 6 (Anna Noris, Esq.) 7 8 2. Manhattan Bar & Grill Restaurant, Inc. 9 t/a Manhattan Bar & Grill 10 1711 Manhattan Avenue 11 0910-33-188-005 12 (Anna Noris, Esq.) 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  26 1 1. Jor Per Corp. 2 t/a Cucalambe 3 4418 Bergenline Avenue 4 0910-33-110-010 5 6 MR. AUTERI: Back on the record. 7 MAYOR STACK: Mr. Farmer and Lieutenant. 8 MR. FARMER: Good evening, Mr. Mayor, 9 members of the board, we have two items on the 10 agenda. Ms. Noris represents both of the 11 licensees. The first one -- why don't you put 12 your appearance. 13 MS. NORIS: Anna Noris from the law 14 office of Lopez Noris on behalf of the Bar 15 Cucalambe. 16 MR. FARMER: This is a situation where 17 both Detective Dunlay and myself on two occasions 18 reviewed the case. And what it's all about is 19 this, this couple, I guess, are out for the 20 evening, sitting at the bar. A dispute arises 21 because woman says I want a o receipt for the 22 drinks I purchased and something happened there 23 and they start arguing. 24 Police show up and she says her 25 companion hit her, okay. Then the police are  27 1 there for awhile. It doesn't seem anybody is 2 really intoxicated. The police are there for 3 awhile and then the story changes somewhat. Then 4 they look at the video and it turns out she hit 5 him. 6 So nobody was hurt, thing was over, it 7 was spontaneous. There's no way the bar owner 8 could anticipate that. And both Lieutenant Dunlay 9 and myself would recommend to dismiss this case. 10 MAYOR STACK: Ms. Noris, would you like 11 to -- 12 MS. NORIS: That is exactly what 13 transpired. They have tried to be careful with 14 the bar, we are trying to work -- 15 MAYOR STACK: Thank you. As per Mr. 16 Farmer, I'll make a motion to dismiss. 17 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Second. 18 MS. ROSARIO: Motion by Mayor Stack, 19 second by Commissioner Valdivia. Commissioner 20 Martinetti will recuse. Commissioner Fernandez. 21 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 22 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 23 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 24 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 25 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes.  28 1 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 2 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 3 4 * * * * 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  29 1 2. Manhattan Bar & Grill Restaurant, Inc. 2 t/a Manhattan Bar & Grill 3 1711 Manhattan Avenue 4 0910-33-188-005 5 6 MR. FARMER: The next one on the agenda 7 is Manhattan Bar at 1711 Manhattan Avenue. This 8 situation is this is a violation, a first time 9 violation of the camera ordinance. And their 10 violation is different from the ones we've had in 11 the past where they didn't record for 60 days, 12 this, that, and the other thing. But rather it's 13 a corner piece of property, 1711 Manhattan Avenue, 14 and they didn't have cameras going down each side 15 of the block. I guess that's -- is that 18th 16 Street? 17 LIEUTENANT DUNLAY: So it would be 18 Manhattan Avenue which isn't covered. 19 MR. FARMER: Right. So like I said, 20 this is their first offense of the camera 21 ordinance. And as we've done in the past, on the 22 first offense, we impose a ten day suspension, 23 seven in abeyance, three served. And if there's 24 an offense occurring in the year -- because it's 25 held in abeyance for one year -- and not only do  30 1 they get that, but if it's a camera violation, it 2 would be 20 days. So theoretically for a second 3 offense of our camera ordinance, a person would 4 get 27 days. 5 MAYOR STACK: How many days are we 6 giving the suspension now? 7 MR. FARMER: Ten days. 8 MAYOR STACK: Ten? 9 MR. FARMER: Yes. 10 MAYOR STACK: Because this place has a 11 lot of issues. 12 MR. FARMER: Absolutely. I'm not going 13 to dispute that. 14 MAYOR STACK: Where is the owner of this 15 place? 16 MR. VARICELLY: She's currently sick 17 right now. 18 MAYOR STACK: Okay. We're going to 19 postpone this and bring the owner back in. 20 MR. FARMER: Okay. 21 MAYOR STACK: Okay. I think she needs 22 to come back in because there's too many -- it's 23 constant problems at this establishment. 24 Constant. 25 MR. FARMER: Okay. What I'll do is I'll  31 1 send you over the history sheet. 2 MAYOR STACK: Yeah. Greg, on these, the 3 owners have to come in. If they're not coming in, 4 then we're going to hold the hearing without them 5 and we're not going to do a pleading. 6 MR. FARMER: Okay. 7 MAYOR STACK: That's the least that they 8 can do because this has been problem after problem 9 after problem. Here's a good example of residents 10 in the neighborhood constantly complaining. I 11 must have gotten, in the last year, 50 calls about 12 this place, 50, about the lack of management, 13 hanging outside, public drinking, you name it 14 outside. They have to come in. 15 MR. FARMER: Okay. 16 MAYOR STACK: All right. 17 MR. FARMER: And quite frankly, it's the 18 time to renew the licenses and you do have the 19 option of special conditions. 20 MAYOR STACK: Absolutely. 21 MR. FARMER: Okay. 22 MAYOR STACK: And then they're going to 23 call in and tell us she's not coming or anything 24 like that, she has to. The next hearing, they 25 don't come, we proceed without her. Just be  32 1 prepared, Mr. Farmer. 2 MS. NORIS: Absolutely. 3 MAYOR STACK: I appreciate that. 4 MR. FARMER: That's it. 5 6 * * * * 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  33 1 ADJOURNMENT: 2 3 MAYOR STACK: Thank you very much. Any 4 other comments? Anyone? Make a motion to 5 adjourn. 6 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Second. 7 MS. ROSARIO: Motion to adjourn by Mayor 8 Stack, second by Commissioner Fernandez. 9 Commissioner Fernandez. 10 COMMISSIONER FERNANDEZ: Yes. 11 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Grullon. 12 COMMISSIONER GRULLON: Yes. 13 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Valdivia. 14 COMMISSIONER VALDIVIA: Yes. 15 MS. ROSARIO: Commissioner Martinetti. 16 COMMISSIONER MARTINETTI: Yes. 17 MS. ROSARIO: Mayor Stack. 18 MAYOR STACK: Yes. 19 20 (Whereupon the meeting was adjourned at 21 7:26 p.m.) 22 23 24 25  34 1 Brian P. Stack 2 Lucio P. Fernandez 3 Maryury A. Martinetti 4 Celin J. Valdivia 5 Wendy A. Grullon 6 Board of Commissioners 7 8 9 Attest: 10 Angelo Auteri, Esq., 11 Corporation Counsel 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25  35 1 C E R T I F I C A T E 2 3 4 5 6 I HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a 7 true and accurate transcript of the testimony and 8 proceedings as taken stenographically by me at the 9 time, place, and on the date hereinbefore set 10 forth. 11 12 13 14 SUSAN BISCHOFF, CCR, RPR LICENSE NO. 30XI00233700 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25