Mandatory minimum schedule
Effective October 9, 2025: a mandatory minimum of $100 and a maximum of up to $2,000, per unit or per tenant, per day, for qualifying violations.
Portside Towers East and West Tenant Associations
Today at 4:00 PM, Jersey City Decides Whether to Enforce Its Own Housing Code.
88 pending code violation complaints against Equity Residential. A public hearing anyone can watch.
Jersey City's City Council also meets today. Two branches of city government, one day, one landlord's record.
Click here to join the court hearing on Zoom July 15, 2026 4:00 PM ET Jersey City Municipal Court Zoom VH04 Click to join → Open to the public. No account or registration needed. One click puts you straight into the live courtroom Zoom.Please mute your microphone and turn your camera off when you join. This is a real court proceeding.
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Until the hearing begins
01 / What is at stake
88 Pending Complaints. Two Buildings. 527 Homes.
The 88 pending code violation complaints were organized and independently confirmed against the Jersey City Municipal Court's public case-search portal. They concern 155 Washington Street and 100 Warren Street. The landlord identified in the complaints is Equity Residential.
“If your landlord breaks the law, we will freeze your rent. If your landlord breaks the law, they must pay a fine.”James Solomon, Patch.com, September 8, 2025
These are pending complaints, not findings. Whether any complaint results in a finding, a fine, or dismissal is for the Jersey City Municipal Court and the Office of the Municipal Prosecutor to determine, with full due process.
Read the full 88-complaint record02 / What is paused, what is not
The pending litigation challenges whether these buildings qualify for a state rent-control exemption. Ordinance 25-099 identifies two exemption provisions by name: § 260-3(A), the cost-of-living rent increase cap, and § 260-3(B), the once-per-twelve-months increase rule. Neither is charged anywhere in this record.
If any party suggests at today's hearing that more than the 31 security-guard complaints are paused, this is the public documentary record to check that claim against.
Corporation Counsel said as much herself. At the June 24, 2026 Council meeting, in response to a Council member's question about what is and is not affected by pending litigation, Jersey City Corporation Counsel Sarah Levine stated on the record: “this question about superintendents doesn't have anything to do with any pending litigation.” Hear the clip in the player in the corner of this page, or watch the full exchange: youtu.be/zkALzA-R1rE (June 24, 2026 Council meeting).
The complaint browser describes the tenant associations' reading of the public case record and identified court order. It is informational, not legal advice. The court controls the status and disposition of every complaint.
03 / The tools the City already has
The Enforcement Framework Is Already in Place.
Each day is separate
The Code provides that each day a violation continues constitutes a new, separate offense.
Each affected tenant
A violation affecting more than one tenant is treated as a separate violation as to each tenant.
Mayor Solomon's Executive Order
Directed the municipal prosecutor to pursue maximum penalties on a per-tenant, per-unit, per-day basis for qualifying violations, and directed monthly progress reporting from the Business Administrator to the Mayor's Office.
Read the executed ordinance
“For each violation of this chapter, the violator shall be subject to a mandatory fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) and not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00).” § 260-17(a). “Each day that a violation of this Code or any ordinance continues shall constitute a separate offense.” “Penalties shall be assessed per violation, per day.” § 1-25(B).
Read the executed ordinance
“Exemptions granted thereunder apply only to those provisions of Chapter 260 which directly limit the periodic or regular increases in base rentals, and do not extend to any other administrative, disclosure, or registration requirement of Chapter 260.” “The provisions of Chapter 260 that limit the periodic or regular increases in base rentals are § 260-3(A) and § 260-3(B).” § 260-21(a), (a)(i).
The tools to collect are already in place. Will they be used at today's hearing? The public can watch, hear the positions taken by Municipal Prosecutor Khemraj and every party, and judge for themselves.
Mayor Solomon's July 14, 2026 email to residents
The budget numbers and the enforcement commitment, in the Mayor's own words.
$255Mbudget gap
15.5%proposed municipal tax rate increase
About $51/monthaverage homeowner increase, City portion alone
“we are asking the prosecutor to seek maximum penalties for failure to maintain their properties, fining slumlords per violation, per day.”Mayor James Solomon, July 14, 2026 email to residents
The Mayor has said, in his own words, that landlords who break the law should pay per violation, per day. Today's hearing is the test of whether that happens.
The stated $100 figure is a mandatory minimum and the stated $2,000 figure is the maximum the ordinance allows for qualifying violations, not a debt found owing. Whether any complaint results in a finding, fine, or dismissal, and whether any penalty is pursued or imposed, remain for the prosecutor and court to determine with full due process.
04 / A separate public covenant
The Korean War Veterans Memorial
Washington Street Park, home to the Korean War Veterans Memorial, sits between Portside Towers' two residential towers. Jersey City Ordinance 07-153, adopted September 11, 2007 by an 8-0 Council vote, vacated a public street to create the park. In exchange, the City recorded an easement deed requiring the property owner's security personnel to close and chain the vehicular access lane on the westerly side of former Washington Street between 8:00 PM and 8:00 AM, every night.
The tenant associations' daily reports document the lane as open since April 22, 2025. No court order identified in the public record stays Ordinance 07-153. Whether the documented conduct establishes a violation or warrants a penalty is for the proper legal process to decide with full due process.
See the full memorial enforcement record05 / The City's budget
A $255 Million Budget Gap, as Stated by Mayor Solomon.
$255Mbudget gap stated in Mayor Solomon's July 14, 2026 email to residents
Ordinance 25-105 sets a mandatory minimum of $100 and a maximum of up to $2,000 per unit or per tenant, per day, for qualifying violations. The Code also provides for separate offenses by day and, under Chapter 260, by affected tenant.
Before any conversation about new taxes, has the City collected what its own ordinances already allow it to collect?
Five Council Members Demand Transparency
Joint Statement, July 10, 2026
"Five Jersey City Council members are pushing back against the Solomon Administration's handling of the city's budget crisis, accusing officials of misleading union members and calling for greater transparency before any vote on a proposed 15% third-quarter tax increase. In a joint statement, Council President Denise Ridley, Council President Pro Tempore Frank Gilmore, Councilmembers Rolando Lavarro, Michael Griffin, and Tom Zuppa said the Administration has yet to provide the proposed budget, details of a State loan, the results of a PILOT audit, or information on recent city hires requested by the Council. [...] The group said they are willing to consider a tax increase if the Solomon Administration provides the financial information needed to justify it."Public statement via @prevailingsentiment, Instagram, July 10, 2026. See the full statement.
"If a 15% tax increase is necessary, show us the budget that justifies it. All we're asking for is the information needed to make a responsible decision on residents' behalf."From the same joint statement. Source.
Public Comment from a Resident
Same Question the Council Is Asking
"I hope the council also asks this administration how much has actually been collected in housing fines from landlords who have violated our city's ordinances. If the city had collected the maximum fines allowed from just my landlord alone, it could have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue."
Public comment on Instagram, July 10, 2026The stated $100 figure is a mandatory minimum and the stated $2,000 figure is the maximum the ordinance allows for qualifying violations, not a debt or a prediction of collection. Whether any complaint produces a finding, fine, or dismissal, and what amount is appropriate, remain for the prosecutor and court to determine with full due process.
06 / Daily public record
The City's Own 311 Record, Searchable Every Day.
Every violation referenced here has been documented daily in the City's own 311/SeeClickFix system since April 22, 2025. The full public record is searchable at violations.portsidetenants.org.
The dashboard contains residents' public reports and City-system status data. Those reports document alleged conditions; they are not court findings.
Open the live violations dashboardviolations.portsidetenants.org07 / Before the hearing
What to Listen For.
An argument may come up at today's hearing: that pending federal and state litigation means the Municipal Court cannot act on these summonses. When you hear it, listen closely. New Jersey's temporary construction incentive for newly built housing reaches only certain ordinance provisions, narrowly, and Jersey City's own ordinance names exactly which ones. Both are written in specific qualifying words. Watch for whether those words are said in full, or left out.
You may hear, paraphrased
“…No municipality…shall adopt any ordinance…to limit, diminish, alter or impair any exemptionpursuant to…”
The statute says
“No municipality, county or other political subdivision of the State, or agency or instrumentality thereof, shall adopt any ordinance, resolution, or rule or regulation, or take any other action, to limit, diminish, alter or impair any exemption afforded pursuant to P.L.1987, c.153 (C.2A:42-84.1 et seq.).”Read it in the statute, highlighted → N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.5(a)
You may hear, paraphrased
“…the exemptions granted under this act shall not be limited, diminished, altered, or impaired…”
The statute says
“…the Legislature…declares it to be public policy of this State that, within the limitations imposed by this act, the exemptions granted under this act shall not be limited, diminished, altered, or impaired during the period of exemption afforded…”Read it in the statute, highlighted → N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.6
You may hear, paraphrased
“…shall not apply to multiple dwellings constructed after the effective date of this act…”
The statute says
“…those provisions of the ordinance which limit the periodic or regular increases in base rentals of dwelling units shall not apply to multiple dwellings constructed after the effective date of this act…”Read it in the statute, highlighted → N.J.S.A. 2A:42-84.2(a)
In Jersey City, specifically
“…the provisions of Chapter 260 that limit the periodic or regular increases in base rentals are § 260-3(A) and § 260-3(B).”Ordinance 25-099, § 260-21(a)(i), adopted September 24, 2025, Jersey City Municipal Council, 9-0
0
of today's 88 summonses cite § 260-3(A) or § 260-3(B).
Zero. None of them.
Read the full executed ordinance, opens the PDF →
Zero. None of them.
This section presents public statutory and ordinance text only, for reference while listening to today's hearing. It is not legal advice, not a transcript of anything actually said in any proceeding, and not a prediction of what any attorney will argue. Every quotation above links to its full public source. Whether any argument is raised, and how the court rules on it, is for today's proceeding to determine.
08 / Watch and share
Watch the Hearing Live.
The Mayor promised: if a landlord breaks the law, the rent gets frozen and the landlord pays a fine. Watch whether that promise gets tested today.
July 15, 2026 at 4:00 PM ET
Jersey City Municipal Court, Zoom VH04
Please mute your microphone and turn your camera off when you join. This is a real court proceeding.
Open to the public. No account or registration needed to watch.