If you don’t know the name, Brian Platt, well you should.  He makes shit happen in Jersey City, and is a dear old friend of mine. I call him the Clark Kent of Jersey City, and he’s an OG Babe of JC.

Last month, Mayor Fulop announced Brian Platt ranked number 2 for the 2019 Engaging Local Government Leaders (ELGL) Traeger Award! Brian Platt is the Business Administrator in Jersey City, the youngest appointed business admin in Jersey City history, and was nominated by his peers “citing his ability to bring energy, innovation, and direction to Jersey City.” The Traeger award is a competitive list of the top 100 standout influencers in local government in the US and UK, making this award pretty huge, but it comes as no surprise that Brian Platt would receive such recognition – he’s played a large part in sustainability efforts and cleaning up city operations.

We’ve known Brian Platt for a while and wanted to sit down with him to see how he feels about the award and just to catch up on city gov.

Q&A with Brian Platt

We asked you guys to send in questions via Instagram – read on for Brian’s responses!

waiting_on_the_sunflow: do you live in jersey city? 
Yes, for almost 9 years now, many more to come!

theloniousdave: how can we do a better job protecting historic and non historic areas from vultures? 
We have historic districts across the city with very strict requirements for demolition and renovations, with some regulations that go beyond those districts.  I can connect you with our historic preservation office if you have more questions – email me at bplatt@jcnj.org

dianabsilva: hey Brian! (went to hs together)
sup

rodriguez61285: hi brian, are there any plans for the near future to restructure and/or increase funding for the dept.of rec
Yes!  We are in the middle of a full restructuring of the entire department in order to provide a wider range of services to youth in all of our communities.  We have 148 active programs now with more coming soon, and we just recently created an online portal to access information and to register and pay for services.  Check it out here: https://jcrec.recdesk.com/Community/Home

mericakahn: can we clean up the garbage all down summit avenue?  
Of course.  The best way to tell us about issues like this is to submit a request through the Jersey City Connect app available on iOS or Android.

tiffym7: why is getting a CO for a newly renovated house such an arduous process in this city??!!
Working on it.  This has been more complicated to solve than we originally thought because of a variety of state regulations and other rules, but thankfully we are learning a lot from best practices in other cities.

Ryanstagram_10: plzzzz fix the path train!!!
Why do you ever leave Jersey City in the first place???

markometzinger: how do we get speed bumps on our street to stop the speeding cars?
Email me at bplatt@jcnj.org and I will send you a petition your neighbors need to sign so we can move forward with this.  We have over 250 of these across the city and have no problem installing, just want to be absolutely sure everyone on the block is ok with it.

About the Connect App

Jersey City Connect is the best way to report issues or concerns across the city such as potholes, streetlights being out, trash on the ground, and much more.  The city sends messages directly to users to keep you updated on progress so you know exactly when issues are resolved.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.seeclickfix.jerseycityconnect.app&hl=en_US

Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/jersey-city-connect/id1095553458