Emily Gil was shocked when she received a bill of $2,500 in the mail from the city of Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
The recent high school graduate had just completed a successful peaceful protest supporting affordable housing as part of the Black Lives Matter movement when she received an order from Mayor Mario Kranjac to pay $2,499.26, the amount he claims was used in overtime by the police who supervised the protest.
On July 25, Gil, 18, had organized a group of about 30 to 40 protestors to hold signs facing traffic outside of the Administration Offices of the Borough of Englewood Cliffs. Kranjac noted that Gil’s protest did not give the police an appropriate amount of time to prepare.
His letter to Gil reads, “Your lack of notification left the borough with little time to prepare for your protest so that the police department and department of public works could ensure that everyone would be safe.”
Gil told New Jersey media that she requested a Zoom meeting with officials before the protest per safety guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic, but was denied.
“Englewood Cliffs is trying to intimidate and silence people who are standing up for Black Lives Matter and the implementation of affordable housing,” Gil said.
After receiving what Gil considers a “condescending” letter from the Mayor, she complained about the bill to William Henkelman, Englewood Cliffs Police Chief and to no response, the Mayor.
Kranjac maintained that the reason Gil was billed was because the event was a private one.
“As with any privately-sponsored event that takes place in the borough requiring police safety, an invoice was sent to the organizer for police overtime since it would be unfair to require our residents to financially support a private event,” Kranjac said.
Mayor Kranjac would soon rescind the bill after outrage from Democratic city leaders and civil liberty organizations rebuked the Mayor’s actions.
“Once again, Mayor Kranjac has embarrassed our proud community with his offensive behavior and this time he has attempted to bully and silence a young woman who simply dared to exercise her first amendment rights,” a statement from Democratic Council members Gloria Oh, Deborah Tsabari, Ed Aversa and Jimmy Song said. “Mayor Kranjac should be ashamed of himself, and as members of the Borough Council we will be acting to invalidate this ridiculous bill and make it clear to Emily Gil and her family that they will not be expected to pay anything. Mayor Kranjac owes Emily and every other resident of our community an apology for his divisive actions.”
Kranjac responded, “I was told that all private events requiring police overtime should be paid for by the organizers. It was never intended as a fine, but rather as a fee. I have researched the issue further with my own counsel and I am hereby rescinding the bill, subject to our Council’s ratification of my action,” he continued. “I always want to make certain that everyone’s Constitutional Rights are fully respected. We will have to adjust the Borough’s ordinances accordingly.”
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey is located on the border of New Jersey and New York with just the Hudson River separating the two states. The community consists of nice two-story, million dollar family homes. The median home value in Englewood Cliffs is $1,137,289, according to Zillow.com.
“Englewood Cliffs home values have declined -4.3% over the past year and Zillow predicts they will fall -4.2% within the next year. The median list price per square foot in Englewood Cliffs is $437, which is higher than the New York-Newark-Jersey City Metro average of $294. The median price of homes currently listed in Englewood Cliffs is $1,498,888.”
The city has a 2.19 percent poverty rate. Black residents only represented 1.4 percent of the Englewood Cliffs demographics, according to the U.S. Census. White residents make up 46.8 percent, while Asian residents make up 42 percent. Hispanic and Latino residents represent 7.6 percent of the 5,435 people that make up the population in the shore city. So clearly, there is a problem with diversity in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey and it can definitely be attributed to the accessibility of affordable housing.
At the same time, where are the representatives of the black community who want to live in Englewood Cliffs, but may have been rejected, denied or prohibited in some way? Why are they not in the forefront of this protest or at least a visible ally to Emily Gil?
The fact that there is an 18-year-old Asian American female at the forefront of a Black Lives Matter protest for affordable housing in a wealthy community begs the question on whether the whole BLM movement and the plight of struggling black Americans are being used as a scapegoat for other races to complain? Are people using black people as a guise to disrupt the American system to benefit themselves or their own communities? It’s a valid question.
Beyond the BLM movement that has been stigmatized and capitalized on in a sense, there’s the real movement. The one where black families are being separated as in the days of slavery while there’s an active school-to-prison pipeline mainly affecting young black men and a school-to-welfare pipeline that provides incentives for young, black mothers to remain single. Then, there’s the lack of post secondary educational resources that will set the black community on the path to empowerment and ownership in all facets of life.
The black community have real issues to deal with and very real complaints. If black people are worried about living to see or eat another day, it’s far beyond them to be concerned about moving into a million dollar community. That sounds like rich people problems.
Admittedly, if black people get their just due in America, then will the problems of living in a luxurious community and buying from luxury retailers matter to the majority of us. But, until we can get police to respect the lives of black people and white people to learn how to work together in the pursuit of the American dream, that’s the least of our worries.
