Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: James Solomon & Frank Gilmore Talk Jersey City Mayoral Race, Housing, Health Care, Agendas + More

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INTERVIEW: James Solomon & Frank Gilmore Talk Jersey City Mayoral Race, Housing, Health Care, Agendas + More · The Breakfast Club

0:01
Speaker 1: Every day a week ago. Click up the Breakfast Club
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Speaker 1: Finish y'all done?
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Speaker 2: Yes, The More Dangerous Morning Show to Breakfast Club, Charlamagne
0:09
Speaker 2: to God, Lauren Larrossa, DJ, Envy, Jess Larius and I
0:13
Speaker 2: don't know what just went. Wow, I know what just went.
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Speaker 2: I don't know where Envy went though the way back. Okay,
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Speaker 2: we have counselman James Solomon. He's running for mayor of
0:21
Speaker 2: Jersey City. Good morning, counselman.
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Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
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Speaker 4: Now.
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Speaker 1: They did not tell us who his brothers.
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Speaker 5: I have no idea.
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Speaker 2: Nobody told us anything. James Solomon was coming. So I'm sorry, sir.
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Speaker 2: I think why Envy walked out because he didn't know you,
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Speaker 2: He didn't know how to introduce you, whatever, whatever.
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Speaker 1: So I don't have a problem looking like I don't
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Speaker 1: know nothing.
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Speaker 4: I have counsel and Frank education Gilmore.
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Speaker 3: Okay, so Frank, Frank's counseling here in ward f Jersey City.
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Speaker 1: That's why you walked out.
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Speaker 5: But keep us the information on the brother But I
0:56
Speaker 5: just thought I.
0:56
Speaker 1: Didn't I didn't.
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Speaker 2: I didn't know anything, and he was ready to get prepared.
1:00
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, no no information, I said, give me a second.
1:03
Speaker 1: Oh we are started. Yes, how are you?
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Speaker 5: I'm doing well, so, Councilman James Salomon, So you're running
1:12
Speaker 5: from maya of Jersey City.
1:14
Speaker 3: That's right. Why that's a great question. So Jersey City
1:16
Speaker 3: has gotten being one of the most unaffordable cities in
1:19
Speaker 3: the entire country. Rents up fifty percent five years.
1:22
Speaker 1: Because it's right next to the bridge, that's right, got the.
1:24
Speaker 3: Holland Tunnel, probably taxed up fifty percent in five years.
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Speaker 3: And we haven't had a leader who's been focused on
1:30
Speaker 3: actually making the city affordable, putting money in people's pockets,
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Speaker 3: making sure the rent doesn't go through the roof. And
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Speaker 3: so I'm running to deliver an affordable Jersey City.
1:37
Speaker 1: Are you from Jersey City?
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Speaker 3: I grew up in Milbourne and I moved to Jersey
1:40
Speaker 3: City fifteen years ago.
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Speaker 5: Okay, yeah, so you're familiar with Jersey City, the traffic,
1:43
Speaker 5: So how do you stop the traffic out in Jersey City?
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Speaker 5: That's one of the first first of traffic is always
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Speaker 5: nuts in Jersey to.
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Speaker 1: Tell people to move. Now, how we're even that?
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Speaker 5: And two is the expenses and how are you going
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Speaker 5: to get this? You know, of course of living so
1:56
Speaker 5: down so much where people can actually live there.
1:58
Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: So first thing on that one is we got to
2:00
Speaker 3: get tougher un development. Right Jersey City developers have taken
2:03
Speaker 3: a lot and it's time for them to start giving
2:04
Speaker 3: back to us. So right now we basically had luxury
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Speaker 3: only development, so no affordable in Jersey City, tens of
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Speaker 3: thousands of units. So I'm the only can I run
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Speaker 3: for mayor as well as the counsel. When we don't
2:13
Speaker 3: take money from developers in our campaign, gives us some
2:15
Speaker 3: real independence. So we're going to demand twenty percent affordable
2:18
Speaker 3: in all new projects with real rents, So rents one
2:20
Speaker 3: thousand a month, rents fifteen hundred a month. Because folks
2:22
Speaker 3: say affordable, but what does that actually mean? So we
2:23
Speaker 3: want to be specific rents one thousand a month, runds
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Speaker 3: fifteen hundred a month. And then on transportation, I think
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Speaker 3: a big thing is just trying to make our mass
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Speaker 3: trains that work better. So I say, for your New
2:32
Speaker 3: York viewers, you know path is actually worse than MTA,
2:34
Speaker 3: It's worse than the subway. We had a train land
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Speaker 3: on fire a couple of weeks ago, a couple months ago.
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Speaker 3: So we're going to push to get our pass service
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Speaker 3: running much more effectively, particularly on the weekends. Improve our
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Speaker 3: light rail, Jersey City's got a great light rail, and
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Speaker 3: then improve the buses. We think we can push and
2:46
Speaker 3: do all those things.
2:47
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about why tell us the
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Speaker 2: importance of the city council for people who don't know.
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Speaker 4: So, the points of the city Council was really the
2:54
Speaker 4: check and balance mechanism for the executive brand. So if
2:58
Speaker 4: you're looking at the president and then you have the
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Speaker 4: House of Representative and you have Congress, they're opposed to
3:04
Speaker 4: be that check and balance mechanism from the executive branch.
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Speaker 4: And I would make the argument that the council races
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Speaker 4: are more important than the actual mayor or races because
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Speaker 4: the mayor may want to introduce something, but ultimately the
3:18
Speaker 4: council was tasked well either approve in or voting that initiative. Now,
3:23
Speaker 4: so the city council level is so important, especially to
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Speaker 4: every day residents.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and I fact is that one thing. So Frank
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Speaker 3: and I are the only two members currently on the
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Speaker 3: council that got our seats independently. You know, New Jersey,
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Speaker 3: Jersey City got a really strong political machine, really powerful forces,
3:38
Speaker 3: and each of us got to our seats by starting
3:40
Speaker 3: on the grassroots, knocking on doors, being connected to the people,
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Speaker 3: and that's partly why we've always been aligned politically. And
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Speaker 3: you need independent voices on the council because if you
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Speaker 3: don't have them, you just get the rubber stamp over
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Speaker 3: and over again. Whatever the machine wants, whatever the money wants,
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Speaker 3: that's what they get. And so you really need to
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Speaker 3: have independent voices on your city council pushing the city forward.
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Speaker 5: One thing Jersey City is also for is bad flooding.
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Speaker 5: Right at a call wash in Jersey City, maybe about
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Speaker 5: fifteen years ago, right, and what street don't even remember
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Speaker 5: the street, Main street coming up as soon as you
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Speaker 5: come out the Hoiland Tunnel right on the right hand side.
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Speaker 5: Bought the wash exactly and then it closed it.
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Speaker 1: You know why, because it flooded.
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Speaker 5: It flooded, right, So it flood is so bad that
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Speaker 5: for like two weeks at a time, nobody could actually
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Speaker 5: get to my call wash because there was so much
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Speaker 5: water there. And then when they got a car, wise
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Speaker 5: they'd have to drive through the water, which missed the car.
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Speaker 5: Didn't make any sense. So why is Jersey City always flooded?
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Speaker 5: And what could be done to make sure that that
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Speaker 5: doesn't happen as much.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great question.
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Speaker 3: So if you look at like the old maps, like
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Speaker 3: where your car wash was, like it used to be water,
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Speaker 3: I mean the Hudson River used to be there, and
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Speaker 3: then they filled it in over the years. And so
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Speaker 3: what we can do is a couple of different things.
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Speaker 3: One is like you're kind of getting like walky, but
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Speaker 3: like you kind of want to treat your city like
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Speaker 3: a sponge.
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Speaker 1: You want more trees because they suck.
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Speaker 3: Up the water. You want more poor poor surfaces, your
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Speaker 3: pavement to be able to soak up the water. And
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Speaker 3: then you get more pumps to basically push the water out.
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Speaker 3: So it's just like investments and it's thinking for the
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Speaker 3: future because it's like getting better right. Climate change is
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Speaker 3: getting work right. We had Hurricane I I mean I
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Speaker 3: was in people's basements seeing the flooding devastation. I mean
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Speaker 3: people's livelihoods. I mean people live in the city, their
5:07
Speaker 3: whole lives, all their stuff gone. And so we have
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Speaker 3: to be committed to basically making sure that Jersey City
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Speaker 3: has the best stormwater resiliency programs, expand your soores, create
5:15
Speaker 3: that sort of porous sponge like services wherever you can,
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Speaker 3: and then you help with a flooding.
5:20
Speaker 1: And you're a cancer.
5:22
Speaker 2: I am, yes, How does your own medical history drive
5:25
Speaker 2: your agenda for healthcare?
5:27
Speaker 3: I mean it's the core I think of who I
5:29
Speaker 3: am and why I got into public service. I mean,
5:31
Speaker 3: so just this to the quick story.
5:32
Speaker 5: Right.
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Speaker 3: So I was thirty, had gotten married in a month
5:35
Speaker 3: after the wedding, got the diagnosis. So you just think,
5:39
Speaker 3: you know, you're thirty, you think you're invincible the life
5:40
Speaker 3: in front of you, and all of a sudden, you
5:41
Speaker 3: have cancer. And it made me think deeply about what
5:45
Speaker 3: it is that I wanted in life, and for me,
5:46
Speaker 3: it was just two things. It was family in public service.
5:49
Speaker 3: So it's like, if I get better, if I get
5:50
Speaker 3: that second chance, that's what I want. And I got lucky, right,
5:53
Speaker 3: treatment worked. Six months later I was in remission. So
5:56
Speaker 3: actually this is the ten year anniversary of the diagnosis
5:58
Speaker 3: and so nine years back in health and so I
6:01
Speaker 3: was like, you know, family, public service. So my wife
6:03
Speaker 3: and I have three beautiful daughters, Camilla, Curna and Noel.
6:05
Speaker 3: They're seven, five and three. And then it was give
6:08
Speaker 3: back to Jersey City because like Jersey City had my
6:10
Speaker 3: back during my toughest time, so it's like I have
6:11
Speaker 3: to have their back and I got to do it
6:13
Speaker 3: the right way. And so that's what led me to
6:15
Speaker 3: run for office and in council. I know that I
6:18
Speaker 3: have to pay a forward. I know that I got
6:20
Speaker 3: to make sure that people have access to healthcare. So
6:22
Speaker 3: as a city, we've expanded our health care options, We've
6:24
Speaker 3: opened up clinics, We're making sure more people can get healthcare.
6:27
Speaker 3: And an at the national level, you know, it made
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Speaker 3: me a supporter of universal health care. It made me say,
6:31
Speaker 3: look like, when you're going through that tough treatment, you
6:34
Speaker 3: need to be focused on yourself and your family. Then
6:36
Speaker 3: I have to be worried about insurance and bills on
6:38
Speaker 3: top of that. To add that extra stress, like your
6:41
Speaker 3: illness might bring bankruptcy to your family, Like that is
6:44
Speaker 3: awful to force somebody through. So for me, it made
6:46
Speaker 3: me a support of universal health care. And I think, look,
6:48
Speaker 3: other countries, they don't have medical bankruptcies, but we do.
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Speaker 3: And so that's what led me to decide that that
6:53
Speaker 3: was the right approach for us. On the national level,
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Speaker 3: I always support candidates that are pushing for universal health care.
6:57
Speaker 6: During the times right now though, where like Meta and
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Speaker 6: medicare like there's so much conversations about things being cut
7:03
Speaker 6: and something will happen. We don't know everything, right, but
7:05
Speaker 6: something will. How do you, you know, personally, as a
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Speaker 6: cancer survivor, deal with the residents that you're fighting for
7:12
Speaker 6: when you have to possibly prepare to tell them I
7:15
Speaker 6: might not be able to help you. As a politician,
7:18
Speaker 6: how do you maneuver that?
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Speaker 3: I mean, those are the most brutal conversations because you
7:22
Speaker 3: get into politics because you want to help people, but
7:24
Speaker 3: you also can't lie to them. And you know, on healthcare,
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Speaker 3: you know, we know the Medicaid cuts are coming. I
7:29
Speaker 3: mean part of what I kind of hated about what
7:31
Speaker 3: Trump did was he cut it, but he put it
7:33
Speaker 3: after the election, right, so you're going to feel those
7:35
Speaker 3: cuts in twenty twenty seven, not this year, so he
7:37
Speaker 3: can get through the election before people feel it. But
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Speaker 3: I just tell people that I fight, right. I think
7:42
Speaker 3: that's the thing is you can't promise things you can't deliver,
7:45
Speaker 3: but you can promise that you're going to fight. And
7:47
Speaker 3: so when these elections come in twenty swix, I'm gonna
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Speaker 3: fight for candidates that want healthcare and get them into office.
7:52
Speaker 5: You know, I've been living in Jersey for about I
7:54
Speaker 5: would say twenty plus years, twenty five years something like that,
7:57
Speaker 5: and our stay she was back now Street, so familiar
8:00
Speaker 5: with going through Jersey City. What how come nothing ever changes? Right,
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Speaker 5: There's been so many different mays in the last twenty
8:06
Speaker 5: years that I've been living in in Jersey City. Right,
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Speaker 5: it's still the same. It's still traffic is crazy, it's
8:11
Speaker 5: still you know, floods all the time. It's still expensive,
8:15
Speaker 5: it's still very very costly even everything. But it seems
8:18
Speaker 5: like nothing ever changes. So what will be different with you?
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Speaker 3: It's I think starts with accountsment. We're connected to the people,
8:26
Speaker 3: like we start there. Neither of us got to where
8:28
Speaker 3: we got because the machine put us there. And you've
8:31
Speaker 3: seen that over the years, Right, the machine picks their
8:33
Speaker 3: person and then you don't serve the people. You serve
8:35
Speaker 3: the bosses. And I think what we're going to be
8:37
Speaker 3: able to do is actually get into office and fight
8:39
Speaker 3: for folks. So again, not taking that developer money. That's huge.
8:42
Speaker 3: Jersey City has had so much growth and development, which
8:44
Speaker 3: isn't a bad thing, but it hasn't been for the
8:46
Speaker 3: whole community. So making sure we actually get affordable units,
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Speaker 3: in getting those one thousand dollars a month rents in
8:51
Speaker 3: those large new luxury towers, that's doable. It's a thing
8:54
Speaker 3: we can deliver. And I think people will see that,
8:56
Speaker 3: you know, if you're actually a mayor whose job, who's dreaming?
8:59
Speaker 3: Is this to be too often people if you said
9:01
Speaker 3: as a stepping stone for the next thing. And I
9:03
Speaker 3: respect politicians with ambition obviously wouldn't be here if I
9:05
Speaker 3: didn't have some, But I do think mayor's the dream
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Speaker 3: job that you actually get to serve your community every day,
9:10
Speaker 3: go home at night and put your kids to bed,
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Speaker 3: Like I couldn't imagine a better job. And I think
9:14
Speaker 3: people will see that they have a mayor who's actually,
9:15
Speaker 3: you know, gives a shit about them.
9:17
Speaker 1: What do you think counseling can give them?
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Speaker 4: I think I think also when you're talking about the
9:22
Speaker 4: municipal government and you're talking about the budget and you're
9:25
Speaker 4: talking about ways to find money, we looked and we
9:29
Speaker 4: seen that it was several individuals not paying the payroll
9:33
Speaker 4: teams right, and these institutions historically get away from get
9:38
Speaker 4: away with not paying because of their ties to elected leadership.
9:43
Speaker 4: You know, they give these guys hundreds of thousands of
9:46
Speaker 4: dollars in their campaigns to turn their back when they
9:49
Speaker 4: see unethical things taking place. So when you have a
9:53
Speaker 4: government that's grounded and working for the people, you can
9:57
Speaker 4: ensure that the people that's making the most money is
10:00
Speaker 4: paying their fair share.
10:02
Speaker 1: With that, do with it.
10:03
Speaker 4: Release the burdens on every day homeowners that own one
10:06
Speaker 4: and two family homes. Right, their taxes are not so
10:09
Speaker 4: high because we're collecting the share that we're supposed to
10:12
Speaker 4: be collecting. With the amount of development that transpired in
10:15
Speaker 4: Jersey City within the last seven to ten years, there's
10:19
Speaker 4: no way you can have more development and the course
10:21
Speaker 4: of living going up, you have more ratables, you have
10:24
Speaker 4: more money coming in. Something isn't right here, right, and
10:27
Speaker 4: there's a there's a system that say, you know, put
10:30
Speaker 4: the oners on them and you know they'll do what's right. Right,
10:34
Speaker 4: you need a government that's going to be transparent and
10:37
Speaker 4: that's going to hold those developers accountable. You know, I
10:40
Speaker 4: get the I get the the kickback. Oh he's anti development,
10:45
Speaker 4: No I'm not. I'm just pro responsible development.
10:48
Speaker 5: Right.
10:48
Speaker 4: We want to make sure the development that's taking place.
10:50
Speaker 4: One benefits the community, and two the developers are paying
10:54
Speaker 4: their fair share.
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Speaker 2: I call it or kill a Mike always called the
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Speaker 2: compassionate capitalism. That's right, Yeah, that's what I agree. Yeah,
11:01
Speaker 2: I agree should be compassionate capitalism. Like I look at
11:03
Speaker 2: somebody like going around on Donnie's campaign, right, and all
11:05
Speaker 2: he's talking about is people having more money in they
11:07
Speaker 2: pocket and people being safe. I don't know why politicians
11:11
Speaker 2: complicate any of this, That's all any America wants.
11:14
Speaker 4: Well, when people giving you money, you gotta you kind
11:17
Speaker 4: of gotta do your job, you know.
11:20
Speaker 1: For your job is a complicated things.
11:21
Speaker 4: No, what I'm saying is when when you have people
11:24
Speaker 4: who have invested interests in you and they're giving you
11:28
Speaker 4: these monies and they're you know, taking care of your
11:30
Speaker 4: family members, and you know, you're giving out these contracts
11:34
Speaker 4: to all these people who super pack and supporting you.
11:37
Speaker 4: And that's the messiness in politics, right, so you kind
11:40
Speaker 4: of lose yourself. They offered me to give me x
11:44
Speaker 4: amount of money to run on a certain slate, and
11:47
Speaker 4: I was like, well, I can't be counselmen again, Well,
11:49
Speaker 4: the people like the counselmen that represent the interests of
11:52
Speaker 4: the people. That's what makes me unique. That's the only
11:54
Speaker 4: way I can win a race with fifty thousand going
11:57
Speaker 4: against two point five million, Right, because the people like representation,
12:03
Speaker 4: one that understand the problems, one that look like them,
12:06
Speaker 4: and two that come from where they come from. Right,
12:08
Speaker 4: That's what makes me unique. So is a disservice to
12:12
Speaker 4: all of the people who supported me for me to say, Hey,
12:15
Speaker 4: now I'm in a position to do what I fought
12:18
Speaker 4: against my whole career.
12:19
Speaker 1: I agree, and I.
12:20
Speaker 5: Want to talk about I'm sorry one other thing, crime
12:22
Speaker 5: because you mentioned crime with Manana. You know, they're saying
12:26
Speaker 5: that homicides is down, which is a great thing, but
12:28
Speaker 5: everything else is up when they're talking stolen vehicles is up,
12:30
Speaker 5: assaults is up, thefts is up, criminal mischief is up.
12:34
Speaker 5: How do we cut back on some of the crime
12:35
Speaker 5: that's happened in New Jersey City because a lot of
12:36
Speaker 5: people where Jersey City was the place where a lot
12:38
Speaker 5: of people woul go to restaurants, they would go to
12:40
Speaker 5: the night life was big at one time, but it
12:41
Speaker 5: slowed down a lot, which is hurting businesses because crime
12:44
Speaker 5: is up. So how do you combat that?
12:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question.
12:47
Speaker 3: So I think it's a give you and all the
12:49
Speaker 3: above approach. So first is, we do need some more officers.
12:52
Speaker 3: We've lost one hundred and fifty over the last five years.
12:54
Speaker 3: We get some more officers, get them on the street.
12:56
Speaker 3: Our current police chief keeps them literally in these fixed posts.
12:59
Speaker 1: We are not allowed to move.
13:00
Speaker 3: So if their crime that happens a block away, you say, hey, officers,
13:02
Speaker 3: is a crime, they'll literally tell you I can't move.
13:05
Speaker 3: Call it in a block away.
13:07
Speaker 1: That's nuts.
13:08
Speaker 3: So we're going to change that approach, actually get folks
13:10
Speaker 3: on the beaten moving. But then you gotta invest in
13:12
Speaker 3: the community.
13:13
Speaker 1: Right.
13:13
Speaker 3: Ultimately, part of the reason that those petty crimes have
13:16
Speaker 3: gone up is we're not offering opportunities for young people
13:18
Speaker 3: in Jersey City. So we're gonna change that. We're gonna
13:20
Speaker 3: have a plan for a thousand summer jobs, get folks
13:22
Speaker 3: off the street, give them use opportunities, income to to
13:26
Speaker 3: be able to find what gives them validation, find what
13:29
Speaker 3: gives them hope. And then we've got a plan to
13:31
Speaker 3: basically make sure we have violence interrupters everywhere in the city.
13:34
Speaker 5: Now they're saying that a lot of the officers are
13:35
Speaker 5: leaving because they feel like the city is not behind them,
13:39
Speaker 5: meaning people are getting arrested, and they're re arresting the
13:42
Speaker 5: same people over and over and over again. They're getting
13:45
Speaker 5: non cash bails and they're coming out and doing these
13:47
Speaker 5: same crimes. And a lot of officers are saying that,
13:50
Speaker 5: you know, why risk my life in Jersey City when
13:52
Speaker 5: I can go down south where they feel like they
13:54
Speaker 5: respect the law a lot better in the Florida Florida.
14:02
Speaker 5: I'm talking in Houston. I'm talking in places like that
14:04
Speaker 5: where they feel.
14:04
Speaker 4: Like, well, I mean, I'm I'm on a record. I'm
14:07
Speaker 4: a huge fan of cash list bells. Being in that
14:11
Speaker 4: situation and seeing several individuals sitting in county jail for
14:14
Speaker 4: two and three years for petty crimes because they don't
14:17
Speaker 4: have the financial stability to get out. But there is
14:22
Speaker 4: there needs to be a conversation for repeat offenders. I'm
14:25
Speaker 4: na at one point when it like this first uh
14:28
Speaker 4: no cash bell came into play and we've seen a
14:31
Speaker 4: lot of people who was arrested of firearms being able
14:33
Speaker 4: to come home and subsequently some of those individuals end
14:37
Speaker 4: up dead or killing other people. So I think that
14:41
Speaker 4: you know, while there's some benefits, there's some setbacks that
14:44
Speaker 4: we need to be able to tweak out. And ultimately
14:46
Speaker 4: I think the state have done a better job with that,
14:49
Speaker 4: keeping violent offenders in there longer until they either I
14:53
Speaker 4: guess sentence or zonerator or however that go. But when
14:56
Speaker 4: you're talking about crime, right, in order to really address crime,
14:59
Speaker 4: you have have to first understand crime right. So we've
15:03
Speaker 4: done a fairly decent job as it relates to homicide
15:06
Speaker 4: and violence crimes being down across the city. And that's
15:09
Speaker 4: because we have organizations like using Partnership CMO, Credible Messengers,
15:14
Speaker 4: you know, a bunch of groups that I work with.
15:16
Speaker 4: We do what we call high level intervention with individuals
15:20
Speaker 4: who may particulate, participate in gain violence and things like that.
15:26
Speaker 4: So it's about funding those institutions. They're doing this stuff
15:29
Speaker 4: with no money, with no money on a shoe screen budget,
15:33
Speaker 4: so we invest in them they can do more. Now,
15:36
Speaker 4: when you're talking about petty crime, what are some of
15:39
Speaker 4: the motivations of individuals committing petty crime? A lot of
15:42
Speaker 4: these crimes are people breaking in cars still a laptops
15:45
Speaker 4: because it's visible, taking change and things like that. These
15:48
Speaker 4: are people with drug addiction. These are people that have problems. Right,
15:52
Speaker 4: you treat the You treat the problem and not the symtom.
15:56
Speaker 3: Right.
15:56
Speaker 4: You get these people in rehabs, you have opportunities for
15:59
Speaker 4: them to rehability, excuse me, rehabilitate themselves. Right, And that's
16:04
Speaker 4: how you have a holistic approach to crime.
16:07
Speaker 2: Do you think the gentrification, the gentrification in Jersey City
16:10
Speaker 2: will be beneficial or it will be too many residents
16:13
Speaker 2: being displaced?
16:14
Speaker 4: Well, it's a gentrification is already there, right, So it
16:18
Speaker 4: always tells people. I always tell people it's at the
16:23
Speaker 4: end of the day already. Now, I'm a black man
16:24
Speaker 4: in America, right, I'm of the opinion. Right, if gentrification
16:30
Speaker 4: is here, you have to be a part of the system.
16:32
Speaker 4: It's coming. In fact, it's already here. Right, I'm encouraging people.
16:36
Speaker 4: And this is outside of politics. Right, Buy up whatever
16:40
Speaker 4: you can buy up, get together with two or three people,
16:43
Speaker 4: buy it up. Buy your grandmother house, get your family house,
16:46
Speaker 4: don't sell the house. Right, because gentrification is here. And
16:51
Speaker 4: to really have stake in the game, you have to
16:53
Speaker 4: own property. You have to have ownership. I don't care
16:57
Speaker 4: who's in charge. You have to have ownership. So you
17:00
Speaker 4: have to be proactive. Man, it's already here, and you
17:04
Speaker 4: have to become a willing participant inside of this cycle. Right.
17:09
Speaker 4: And I tell people all the time, right, crime is
17:12
Speaker 4: going to is gonna move. Because that's the good thing
17:16
Speaker 4: about gentrification, right. It eradicates a certain element of a community, right,
17:22
Speaker 4: because it's an influx of not just black or white,
17:25
Speaker 4: it's just individuals on a high end of the socioeconomical ladder, right,
17:29
Speaker 4: people that make more money. So with that group of people,
17:32
Speaker 4: it's certain certain stuff that's just not going to be around.
17:36
Speaker 1: Right.
17:36
Speaker 4: So the gentrification is there, there's also an opportunity for
17:40
Speaker 4: people to benefit from it. Right. I ain't sitting around
17:43
Speaker 4: complaining about, Oh this person is buying up no participate.
17:47
Speaker 4: Get with a brother or sister.
17:49
Speaker 1: I got two.
17:49
Speaker 4: Friends they living, they paying three thousand dollars on each
17:53
Speaker 4: floor in the house.
17:54
Speaker 1: Get a mortgage.
17:56
Speaker 4: Right, don't get in the business of complaining it like
17:59
Speaker 4: let's boost.
18:00
Speaker 5: Something about no, no, no, no, they can't put down money.
18:06
Speaker 6: Know about the But okay, so politicians that come here
18:11
Speaker 6: are just in general, when I talk to them, they
18:13
Speaker 6: will name all these programs on these resources. But when
18:15
Speaker 6: you just talk to the regular person. Grandmam is ten
18:18
Speaker 6: years back taxes. You don't even have the energy to
18:21
Speaker 6: think about that, and you don't know you don't know
18:22
Speaker 6: who to call to find out. Right, what are you
18:24
Speaker 6: doing to bridge that gap of Hey, I'm giving you
18:27
Speaker 6: the resource because I want to make sure y'all can
18:28
Speaker 6: be in an ownership conversation.
18:29
Speaker 3: This is what Frank is great at, right. So you
18:31
Speaker 3: know he calls himself Frank Educational Gilmore. But there's a
18:33
Speaker 3: reason for that, right. Frank is in the community every day.
18:36
Speaker 3: He literally goes door to door to let people know.
18:38
Speaker 3: He held a couple of specific meetings about hey, how
18:40
Speaker 3: do you benefit from home ownership? How do you access
18:42
Speaker 3: the resources that are there? And the community trust Frank
18:45
Speaker 3: And so Frank is out there every day doing that.
18:47
Speaker 3: But I think it gets back to something you were
18:48
Speaker 3: talking about with Mom Donnie. It's just understanding that, like,
18:50
Speaker 3: part of our job is money in people's pockets.
18:52
Speaker 1: Right.
18:53
Speaker 3: Part of the reason you know people didn't care about
18:54
Speaker 3: things Mom Donnie tweeted six years ago, was because he
18:58
Speaker 3: showed that he was actually the one guy who's want
19:00
Speaker 3: to fight some powerful interests to get more money in
19:02
Speaker 3: people's pockets right, freeze rent, right, get more affordable homes built.
19:06
Speaker 3: And that's what we're doing. And that's what I think
19:07
Speaker 3: for unmally like race is about. It's like, look, we
19:09
Speaker 3: got people who should be able to buy their homes,
19:11
Speaker 3: who should be able to stay in Jersey City, but
19:13
Speaker 3: they don't know about it, and we're going to actually
19:15
Speaker 3: be focused on getting them money because we don't have
19:17
Speaker 3: other people telling us what to do. We don't have
19:19
Speaker 3: bosses giving us an order, we don't have developers demanding
19:21
Speaker 3: that we prioritize them over the homeowners. But we're going
19:24
Speaker 3: to be out there every day knocking on doors, hosting
19:26
Speaker 3: community meetings and like getting people education so they can
19:28
Speaker 3: actually benefit from changes that are happening in the community.
19:31
Speaker 4: And also, like something my office did, right, we host
19:35
Speaker 4: these first time home buyers seminar.
19:37
Speaker 1: We just have one.
19:38
Speaker 4: Saturday, right, and we have a newsletter that go out.
19:42
Speaker 4: I'm very involved in the community, and my whole thing
19:47
Speaker 4: is I'm telling people is like, this is what's available.
19:49
Speaker 4: My whole platform is about educating people. It's really the
19:53
Speaker 4: main reason I'm into politics. I'm not really I don't
19:56
Speaker 4: like politics, to be completely honest, right. But I'm in
20:01
Speaker 4: it because I want to hurt I want to help
20:04
Speaker 4: people out right, and I'm encouraging them. It's like it
20:08
Speaker 4: seems hard because in black and brown communities, like we
20:10
Speaker 4: don't have these conversations about homeownership as much as we should. Right,
20:15
Speaker 4: So I'm encouraging them. I remember, I'm a recipient of
20:18
Speaker 4: a first time home buyer house. It took me a
20:21
Speaker 4: year to close on that house. The people I was
20:24
Speaker 4: working with, they said, mister Gilmore, you have encountered every
20:28
Speaker 4: single setback that you can encounter and purchased in the house.
20:31
Speaker 1: Right.
20:31
Speaker 4: So I use that to fuel me to help the
20:35
Speaker 4: next person, to help the next family. I'm teaching them
20:38
Speaker 4: outside of my job that if your house have a
20:41
Speaker 4: lean on it, what you can do to get this
20:44
Speaker 4: lean off, how you can leverage the equity in your house.
20:47
Speaker 4: Because us we're looking at the house, I'm looking at
20:50
Speaker 4: the value in the land. Right. So it's about educating.
20:54
Speaker 4: That's the most important thing that I didn't I think
20:57
Speaker 4: I really was successful at accomplishing this first term is
21:00
Speaker 4: educating the people, and I think that's the most important thing.
21:03
Speaker 1: It's education.
21:04
Speaker 5: Now, you shot up in the polls, right, you a
21:06
Speaker 5: year ago, you were a down low yeah, and you
21:08
Speaker 5: shot back up where it's almost neck and neck. Why
21:10
Speaker 5: do you think that is?
21:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, well it gets back to money and pockets, right,
21:14
Speaker 3: being directly a focus on affordability each and every day.
21:17
Speaker 3: But then also it's the dynamic of the race and
21:18
Speaker 3: it's not too different than which you guys seen in
21:20
Speaker 3: New York. Know you guys are Jersey residents, but what
21:22
Speaker 3: folks in NewYork have seen, right, My main opponent is
21:25
Speaker 3: a disgraced former governor, not Andrew Cuomo, Jim McGreevy who
21:28
Speaker 3: resigned and scandal twenty years ago. And he started with
21:30
Speaker 3: everybody right. The governor endorsed him, all the bosses endorsed him.
21:33
Speaker 3: He raised five million dollars, which is like three times
21:36
Speaker 3: as much as anybody's ever raised in Jersey City before,
21:38
Speaker 3: and so you know he starts at the lead. But
21:40
Speaker 3: just like Cuomo came back down to earth, it's the
21:42
Speaker 3: same thing with McGreevy, because when you knock on someone's door,
21:44
Speaker 3: they don't care about any of that. The only thing
21:46
Speaker 3: they're asking about is how can I make your life better?
21:48
Speaker 1: That's it.
21:49
Speaker 3: And I can show look on the kitty council. We
21:51
Speaker 3: banned the use of illegal algorithms to ban to set
21:54
Speaker 3: rents high. We repealed the fees they put on our
21:56
Speaker 3: pre public pools. We've been about doing work for people
21:59
Speaker 3: in the community, and so when you get to tell
22:01
Speaker 3: that story to people, they're like, I might not have
22:03
Speaker 3: known about you six months ago, but I want you
22:05
Speaker 3: to be the mayor because you seem like you're actually
22:07
Speaker 3: gonna try to make my life better. The guy who
22:09
Speaker 3: reports to Charles Kushner, he's not gonna make my life better.
22:11
Speaker 1: Counsel Gilma, why are you supporting consum asylum?
22:15
Speaker 4: Oh that's a great question. I mean, I've supported Counselman
22:19
Speaker 4: Salomon because he's been like one of my biggest allies
22:22
Speaker 4: on the council and I've witnessed how he worked firsthand.
22:25
Speaker 4: We're the only two independent council people. And just to
22:29
Speaker 4: give you guys of a reality on how that looks,
22:34
Speaker 4: that means we only have two votes. You need five
22:37
Speaker 4: votes to get anything passed. So whenever the administration come
22:41
Speaker 4: in with something that's like the regular person we're looking
22:44
Speaker 4: it's like, this is dumb. Why a is they voting
22:45
Speaker 4: and they get passed? Is because the administration have these
22:49
Speaker 4: these these council people that's a part of the administration,
22:52
Speaker 4: and they just vote for whatever the administration want. I've
22:55
Speaker 4: witnessed Counselman Salomon work with the odds against US seven
23:00
Speaker 4: too and to get meaningful legislation passed. I've witnessed him
23:04
Speaker 4: argue with League and say, listen, I didn't ask you
23:06
Speaker 4: if we can do it or we can't do what
23:08
Speaker 4: I'm saying, find a way in which we can do it,
23:10
Speaker 4: because they know Torrius were saying, oh, we can't do this,
23:13
Speaker 4: we can't do that right Whenever it's me or counsel
23:16
Speaker 4: and Salmon coming to them, but everybody else they go
23:19
Speaker 4: and they try to make a way. So for me,
23:21
Speaker 4: when I'm looking at it, I'm looking at one who
23:24
Speaker 4: is really genuine about doing the job, who have the experience,
23:28
Speaker 4: who can have the financial capacity to get to the
23:31
Speaker 4: finishing line, and who I would be able to work
23:34
Speaker 4: with best to get the most resources for my war,
23:37
Speaker 4: because ultimately I want to make sure my residents and
23:41
Speaker 4: ward f are taken care of, and Counselm and Salomon
23:43
Speaker 4: have proven to be that individual. Fun fact, everybody running
23:48
Speaker 4: for May wanted me before they even made any announcements. Everybody,
23:52
Speaker 4: if we can get gilmore, we're in a good position.
23:55
Speaker 6: Right.
23:55
Speaker 4: So they used to say. I was like the hot
23:58
Speaker 4: my friend saying you the hot chicken eye. Everybody watch
24:01
Speaker 4: you and I and I, you know, I waited patiently
24:05
Speaker 4: and I looked at who was because for me, like
24:08
Speaker 4: who you're connected to is really important.
24:11
Speaker 1: You know.
24:11
Speaker 4: My mentors say, be mind for the company you keep right.
24:15
Speaker 4: So and I see Counselor in Salemon have done a
24:17
Speaker 4: great job by surrounding himself around people who's really into
24:22
Speaker 4: doing the business of the municipal government. For me, I said,
24:26
Speaker 4: you know, I have to get behind that, right, you know,
24:29
Speaker 4: Like I said, people have offered me very lucrative things,
24:33
Speaker 4: and some people is looking at me like, oh, what's
24:35
Speaker 4: wrong with this guy? He don't understand politics. And I'm like, no,
24:38
Speaker 4: I don't understand politics the way you understand it.
24:40
Speaker 1: Right.
24:42
Speaker 4: So that's why I'm supporting Counselor in Solomon, and that's
24:45
Speaker 4: why he's going to be our next mayor.
24:48
Speaker 5: All right, Well, wrapping me closing this out, what do
24:51
Speaker 5: you want to say to your residence in Jersey City.
24:54
Speaker 3: Well, it was a question that ver you asked which
24:56
Speaker 3: was like your things haven't changed. So I get the cynicism,
24:59
Speaker 3: I get why people are frustrated, but I do think
25:02
Speaker 3: we can we can have hope. We can have genuine
25:04
Speaker 3: public servants that each and every day get up and
25:07
Speaker 3: think their job is to serve other people and make
25:08
Speaker 3: their lives better. So I asked for everyone's vote if
25:11
Speaker 3: you live in Jersey City, because genuinely, we can make
25:13
Speaker 3: the city more affordable. We can end the luxury only
25:15
Speaker 3: housing and get housing that actually people can afford. We
25:18
Speaker 3: have a plan to get rent to own for teachers, firefighters, nurses, cops,
25:24
Speaker 3: make sure that they're able to stay in the city
25:25
Speaker 3: that they serve. We're going to cap rent increases and
25:28
Speaker 3: we're going to stabilize property taxes, which had gone up
25:29
Speaker 3: fifty percent in five years. So if you want leadership
25:32
Speaker 3: that's independent, that puts the people first, and the only
25:35
Speaker 3: bosses the residents of Jersey City, then we're asking for
25:37
Speaker 3: your vote.
25:38
Speaker 5: Is the last question? O y, I'm I thought that
25:40
Speaker 5: was the last week.
25:41
Speaker 1: Keep going.
25:42
Speaker 5: With so many influences, artists and etc.
25:45
Speaker 1: Etc.
25:46
Speaker 5: In Jersey City, have you guys ever said, you know what,
25:48
Speaker 5: let me work with them to make sure that we
25:51
Speaker 5: can protect our own community because he might somebody might
25:54
Speaker 5: be strong. He I've seen what Ross Brocket day a
25:56
Speaker 5: long time ago. What this guy might be strong in
25:58
Speaker 5: this war. This guy might be strong in this ward.
25:59
Speaker 5: And we work together, we can stop some of the crimes,
26:02
Speaker 5: have you guys?
26:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, so that's that's the pro you know,
26:06
Speaker 4: shout out to my brother Rose Baraka. That's that's my
26:09
Speaker 4: big brother, that's my mentor. And that's something we've done.
26:13
Speaker 4: Like on a micro level, we haven't really got to
26:16
Speaker 4: the place where we need to get to as it
26:19
Speaker 4: relates to that. But to your point, that is so important,
26:23
Speaker 4: as these are the people that's on the ground that
26:25
Speaker 4: actually know the people and they are related to the people.
26:29
Speaker 4: So you have to one fund that initiative and to
26:34
Speaker 4: be serious about it, right, don't fund it one year
26:37
Speaker 4: or halfway and then the next year not funded.
26:40
Speaker 1: Right.
26:40
Speaker 4: I'm looking at naught because nor in Jersey City is
26:43
Speaker 4: similar in a lot of things. And I'm looking across
26:45
Speaker 4: the bridge and I'm saying, Wow, they're doing a great
26:48
Speaker 4: a lot of great things, like the twenty four hours apiece,
26:51
Speaker 4: like that is beautiful.
26:52
Speaker 1: That is beautiful.
26:53
Speaker 4: Now people feel like they're a part, like we belong right,
26:58
Speaker 4: so they're more vested. It's kind of like the homeowner
27:00
Speaker 4: versus the renter.
27:01
Speaker 1: Right.
27:01
Speaker 4: Homeowners take more care of the property because they understand
27:04
Speaker 4: how it affects their property value. Right, And you just
27:07
Speaker 4: make sure everyone's a part of the conversation, everyone is benefiting.
27:12
Speaker 4: And I think ultimately that's they ideal match is a
27:14
Speaker 4: match made in heaven when we do that.
27:16
Speaker 1: You know, Counsel Asylum and they just dropped a hit piece.
27:18
Speaker 2: On you and oh yeah, the city time they said
27:21
Speaker 2: you come from a privileged background.
27:23
Speaker 1: I don't you know.
27:26
Speaker 2: I saw him do that with Mundannie And I'm like,
27:28
Speaker 2: I don't see why that about public service, Like, I don't.
27:33
Speaker 4: You're gonna penalize me from my parents making the right decision.
27:36
Speaker 4: That's kind of how life should work.
27:38
Speaker 3: Your parents should put you in the best position to succeed.
27:41
Speaker 3: And you asked telling me about the cancer diagnosis like that,
27:44
Speaker 3: you know it was this thing that like just all
27:47
Speaker 3: the scales fell away. Now that's what matters is are
27:49
Speaker 3: you dedicating your life to making other people's lives better?
27:52
Speaker 3: And do you fight for what's right? And when I talked,
27:54
Speaker 3: when I got someone's door. The question is how are
27:56
Speaker 3: you going to lower my rent? How you make sure
27:58
Speaker 3: my kids public school is better? How are you going
28:01
Speaker 3: to make sure I can cross the streets safely and
28:02
Speaker 3: not get run over that how are you gonna stop
28:04
Speaker 3: the flooding? That's those the questions they ask. And I
28:06
Speaker 3: think we're gonna win because we don't get distracted by
28:08
Speaker 3: all the you know, the bs. We just talk about
28:10
Speaker 3: how we're gonna make your life better in the city.
28:12
Speaker 5: More Councilman Gilmore, Countman Salomon, good luck.
28:15
Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
28:16
Speaker 5: Damn vote. When can they go out there and vote?
28:17
Speaker 3: So early voting is open now so you can vote
28:20
Speaker 3: ten am to ten am to eight pm at twelve
28:22
Speaker 3: sites across Jersey City and then election day is November fourth.
28:25
Speaker 3: Polls are open six am to eight pm on election
28:27
Speaker 3: day in New Jersey.
28:28
Speaker 5: Now get out there and vote. And we appreciate you
28:29
Speaker 5: bub so joining.
28:30
Speaker 1: We appreciate it. Thank you having it's the breakfast club.
28:32
Speaker 5: Good morning every day a week ago.
28:35
Speaker 1: Pack your ass up the breakfast club. You don't finish
28:38
Speaker 1: for y'all done