The City Council was set tonight to abolish the 61-year-old city agency to save costs. The measure, spearhead by Ward E Councilman Steve Fulop, would have handed the agency?s duties to the city Department of Public Works.
A parade of JCIA workers and supporters spent nearly two hours pleading with the council to drop the issue, with many of the comments focusing on the JCIA?s Second Chance Program. The program, funded by the state, allows the city agency to provide jobs to ex-convicts who were convicted of non-violent offenses.
JCIA street sweeper Matthis Sharpless, who addressed the council tonight pushing a stroller carrying his 16-month-old twins, said his criminal history caused ?pitfalls? when he tried to obtain employment.
Through the Second Change Program, Sharpless said, he was able to get his JCIA job and turn his life around, and he argued for the council to retain the JCIA.
?It?s going to demolish families trying to rebuild,? said Sharpless, 55. ?The people getting out of jail, they?ve got to come back to something.?
Fulop was on the ropes for much of the meeting, with angry JCIA workers and their supporters occasionally yelling at him from the audience. The Ward E councilman said the workers were victims of ?fear mongering.?
The intent of the JCIA/DPW merger is to eliminate high-paying jobs at the top of the ladder, not low-level workers, he said.
?My goal in this ? is not to hurt you, but to protect the rank-and-file for once,? Fulop said. ?I am not the bullyman.?
The ordinance abolishing the JCIA, which was approved 7-2 in an initial vote two weeks ago, is likely to be tabled.
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