The Jersey City Council unanimously approved (9-0) the first reading of an ordinance to change the ward map redistricting process at last night’s meeting.
By Daniel Ulloa/Hudson County View
Ward C Councilman Tom Zuppa said he was looking for a memo on the ward map.
“I’ll speak to Council people Gilmore and Griffin on that in the next two weeks,” he said of the two ordinance sponsors who publicized the measure earlier this week, as HCV first reported.
The ordinance cleared first reading unanimously before it drew some attention during public comment.
“ … I remember the fight … when they tried to have a meeting where people weren’t even allowed to participate and ultimately down here,” Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea (D-2) said.
“I was the attorney who represented 18 neighborhood Association groups that challenged the redistricting map. I thank you very much,” Appleseed Center Executive Director Renee Steinhagen said.
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) activist Isaac Jimenez also spoke in favor of making the process more transparent.
“This is an ordinance we need to support … I was here in this room when in 2022 the ward map was being shown to the public for the first time, and I thought then, as I think now, that that entire process lacked the real accountability. That we could have gotten from that Commission. Thank you, John Minella,” he said.
Minella was chair of the Jersey City Board of Ward Commissioners while serving as then-Mayor Steven Fulop’s chief of staff.
“We can keep neighborhoods together. We cannot look at election data when we’re making these maps. That’s really weird. It’s almost like you’re trying to pick your voters.”
Back in January 2022, the Board of Ward Commissioners ignored three hours of unanimous testimony opposing the new ward map and approved it, leading to community organizations and Gilmore to file a lawsuit two months later, both as HCV first reported.
A Hudson County Superior Court judge dismissed the case with prejudice in August 2022, but the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division revived one count in the suit in March 2024.
In September of that year, the New Jersey Supreme Court granted a motion to expedite the appeal before finally dismissing the case in June 2025 in a close 4-3 decision.