Jersey City<\/a> already have some similar bird-friendly building laws, joining nearly 30 cities across the country that have taken this step. They control pests, pollinate plants, and disperse seeds,\u201d noted New York City Bird Alliance Senior Manager Catherine Chen.<\/p>\n\u201cCollisions with glass and built structures kill over one billion birds in the us each year. Birds don\u2019t perceive glass as a barrier \u2026 they see a clear path or a reflection of vegetation or sky and try to fly through.\u201d<\/p>\n
JC Birds Co-Leader Lauren Morse, who was involved with getting the legislation passed in Jersey City, also explained why she felt this legislation is needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs someone who has monitored the waterfront, I have watched birds laying in pools of blood. I have held them as they have died with their necks broken, and a lucky few I have transported to rehab,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s terrible \u2026 They have a second collision with that ground. I have heard that clunk, and it\u2019s one of the worst sounds in the world to hear \u2026 You can also reduce the amount of glass overall.\u201d<\/p>\n
After public comment concluded, Council President Ruben Ramos sought to clarify the scenarios where the ordinance applies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt establishes bird-friendly design construction requirements for new construction up to 85 ft. So anything below 85 feet has to comply with the bird design ordinance,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw what New York City has done. We saw what JC has done. We wanted to be consistent with their approach with bird-friendly materials in our buildings. The first 85 feet will have bird-friendly materials and will not be killing our feathered friends,\u201d added 5th Ward Councilman Phil Cohen, one of the co-sponsors.<\/p>\n
The other co-sponsor, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher, said she has been regularly helping injured birds in the city, routinely tagged on social media regarding such incidents, further stating a new law on the books is needed with the Rockefeller project being built.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked a lot about savings bird s\u2026 What if we save too many birds? What if in 20 years, they\u2019re on the attack?\u201d Councilman at-Large Joe Quintero joked before saying he was fully in support.<\/p>\n
Additionally, 1st Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano was curious about the nuances of \u201csubstantial alteration\u201d language that is included.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt says it\u2019s all new construction and substantial alterations \u2026 Substantial alteration is defined as alterations made to a residential structure in order to increase its dwelling units to 10 or more,\u201d Cohen replied, noting they wanted to find middle ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t see any penalties \u2026 I don\u2019t see anything here for enforcement,\u201d Cohen continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you can\u2019t get a permit,\u201d Fisher stated.<\/p>\n
When Presinzano asked how that was possible, Fisher said a certificate of occupancy could be withheld.<\/p>\n
Community Development and Planning Director Christopher Brown clarified that a CO is necessary to allow a building to open.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt happens with every single project before permits are issued,\u201d he pointed out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill we have to train a specialist?\u201d Presinzano asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo everyone is a specialist on bird glass and bird design?\u201d Presinzano pressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a building. fa\u00e7ade. They\u2019re gonna look out for that,\u201d Brown replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand \u2026 We\u2019re spending a lot of time on this, and we don\u2019t spend a lot of time on people,\u201d Presinzano argued, causing some uproar from the audience.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the downtown councilman was unrelenting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to save the birds \u2026\u00a0 But we\u2019re not addressing the issues in town,\u201d he exclaimed to some applause.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t address the big elephants in the room: rent control, affordability, safety on our infrastructure. And continually the same thing happens and we add more red tape,\u201d he said as audience members again yelled out.<\/p>\n
Presinzano noted a similar outcry on rent control and affordability doesn\u2019t produce such quick results.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re doing our job up here,\u201d he said to some applause.<\/p>\n
The Hoboken City Council passed the final reading or the ordinance 9-0 to applause.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hoboken City Council passed a bird-friendly glass design law on second reading after some debate and with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64804,111986,111987,111988,111989,128,130,129,111990,111991],"class_list":["post-265158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-bird-safe-glass","tag-hoboken-city-council","tag-jc-birds","tag-new-york-city-bird-alliance","tag-phil-cohen","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-ruben-ramos","tag-tiffanie-fisher"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/hudsoncountyview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Hoboken-City-Council.png\")
<\/a>Screenshot via YouTube.<\/p>\n