The Jersey City Council pulled a resolution for a pilot contract for camera-assisted parking due to campaign contribution disclosure issues at last night’s meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
“While preparing for tonight’s council meeting, the Mayor’s Office identified a donation to the mayor, and the majority of the council members, from an Automotus executive that was not appropriately disclosed by the vendor during the city’s pay-to-play vetting process,” Business Administrator Ruby Choi said.
“Tonight, we are pulling the current resolution authorizing the camera-assisted parking enforcement program and submitting one for a Request for Proposal (RFP) to ensure a fair and open bidding process. We are committed to rebuilding trust with the public through transparency and honesty, even if it means taking more time on important initiatives.”
As a result, City Council pulled the awarding resolution for Automotus and placed a similar resolution on the agenda as a late item for a new RFP as a resolution.
A simple search on the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission (NJ ELEC) website shows that Automotus CEO Jordan Justus donated $1,000 to then-Ward E Councilman/mayoral candidate James Solomon’s City Council slate on September 29th.
“ … I want cars to get ticketed for parking in bike lanes because I’m on a bike in the bike lane and I don’t like when a car is in it,” stated Kevin Davis, a Heights resident and avid bicyclist.
“These fines are $175 for parking in the bike lane … We need to look at who it really hurts. Whether you’re driving a Bentley or a Honda Civic that’s from 1996, you’re paying the same amount in parking tickets.”
Davis also said he had reached out to Ward F Councilman Frank “Educational” Gilmore’s office about Automotus, further expressing concern that Justus had donated to Hoboken Mayor Emily Jabbour and Assemblyman Ravi Bhalla, with the company itself also donating $750 to the Safe Streets Political Action Committee (PAC).
“I looked at the quote of Automotus: How much would it cost to just put a meter maid on each block?” Stephanie Startz questioned.
“We’re often told technology is the ultimate solution … The trade-off of privacy and security is worth it, That doesn’t seem to be the case here.”
She also stated that she didn’t buy the claimed that the police department would utilize the data.
“They’re going to keep using this data to conduct police work. I don’t buy any of their pictures get deleted. That doesn’t square with any compliance standard in any state or any kind of certificate. At the very least, it’s going to be 12 months,” Startz declared.
“What do you have in place to prevent said cop from stalking me with this service? I don’t think the government should be reliant on private companies for digital services. These people want to charge us $6 million… They got a nice racket going … You can use taxpayer money to fund the wealth of the most evil people in the world!”
Ward E Councilwoman Eleana Little said Automotus did a good job of running the Camera-based License Plate Enforcement for Access & Response (CLEAR) program in Hoboken, but added she agreed there should be more safeguard in place.
“I’m happy the city is using a new RFP to avoid possible conflicts. However, I would like to strongly urge the Administration to add the condition in the RFP that no personally identifiable info is retained,” Ward E Councilperson Elena Little explained.
She added that identifiable information, such as driver’s license plates and faces, should not be identifiable and not be retained by the system, though she looked forward to a program that could reduce car parking in bike lanes.
“I think this has the potential to be a really good thing. But I want to make sure we are taking privacy concerns very seriously, and I hope we can include that in the RFP,” Little concluded.
