Portside tenants press council for enforcement after emergency call and ongoing code complaints

Dozens of Portside Towers tenants used Wednesday’s Jersey City Municipal Council public-comment period to demand the city enforce existing codes after repeated safety failures in their building, including the absence of a resident superintendent and uniform security.

Speakers said the building’s emergency systems sometimes activate without an on-site staff response. One tenant played an audio recording of an emergency call in which a customer-service representative said the building has no on-site superintendent and the caller was routed to an overseas call center. “This was not an isolated incident,” a tenant said during public comment, calling the recording “not merely unsettling” but a “blatant violation of the law.”

The speakers tied the operational failures to statutory requirements under state and local law, including a reference to NJSA 46:8-23 and Jersey City code requirements for landlord identity and emergency contacts. Tenants…