Jersey City City Council members may be banned from talking on cell phones, using iPads during meetings

January 06, 2012, 4:38 PM
By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal

JERSEY CITY ? Council members, put down those iPads!

On the agenda for next week?s council meeting is an ordinance that would ban council members from talking on their cell phones or using any other electronic devices during meetings.

Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez requested that the council consider the measure.

Lopez says she believes everyone on the nine-member body has been guilty ?at one time or another? of talking on their phones during the bi-weekly meetings, and constituents have told her the practice must stop.

?We're there to serve them. This is their time,? Lopez said by phone today. ?And here we are not listening to what they're saying.?

Lopez said she didn?t inform her fellow council members about the ordinance, adding that she?s not sure they?ll take it well.

?I have a feeling they're going to lynch me,? she said.

The council meets on Monday at 5:30 p.m. for a caucus at City Hall, 280 Grove St.