In the Aftermath of Damon Murray's Murder, Housing Authority Residents Demand Change

HOBOKEN, NJ - In the wake of Damon Murray’s death, Housing Authority residents have pleaded with City Council members to take action to improve the conditions, safety, and opportunities for their community's youth.

Dozens of Murray’s neighbors packed into City Hall imploring that action be taken in what was an emotionally fraught public hearing session at Wednesday’s Council meeting.

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At 21 years old, Murray was shot and killed outside the Housing Authority, where he lived and grew up, late Sunday evening.

“The overarching issue that is a contributing factor to his murder is his environment,” Vanessa Falco, a former Councilwoman and the first black woman to be elected in Hoboken, told her ex-colleagues. “At what point are we going to prioritize improving this environment?”

Falco, who currently leads the City’s Division of Housing, said she acknowledged and appreciated that the Redevelopment Plan for the Housing Authority was approved , allowing for new buildings to be built to replace the ones that are currently said to be unlivable. But she added it was moving too slow and that action needed to happen sooner.

“I would like for you to turn around to your colleague and ask your colleague: ‘Have you ever heard gunshots from your window? Do you pass drug dealers when you're going into your buildings? Do you have to step over people who are sleeping in the hallways?’” Falco said to the deis.

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“This is what residents of the Housing Authority experience every single day. Every single day. Ask your Council colleague, have they experienced a murder? Has their neighbor been murdered? Ask the people in this audience. Yes. They can say yes. I can say yes. My neighbor, Chris Garcia, was murdered in the Housing Authority,” Falco added.

Falco continued to say that those who grow up in the Housing Authority do not have the option “to go to the mountains in the summer or go to the beach house in the summer,” adding “they want to work.” She implored the Council to coordinate with the Hoboken Business Alliance to help provide summer jobs for young people in the Housing Authority.

Falco concluded her speech by calling for improved safety in the Housing Authority.

“What can the HHA do, what can the police do and what can the residents do to better improve the safety of our environment? And we want accountability for that. We don’t want to hear the same thing over and over again,” she said.

Vanetta Rivera, a mom of three who was born and raised in the HHA, said the lack of funding has meant opportunities available for her when she was growing up there no longer exist for youth. She added: “We’re tired of only being recognized when one of our sons is killed.”

“When I was younger there were booths with security guards who would watch the area and potentially prevent things like this. I’m assuming the lack of funding is why we don’t have this anymore,” she said.

“There’s also a lack of opportunity. Opportunities to do things that other people in this town can do…..There was the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, Big Brother-Sister programs, Girl Scouts, located in the Housing Authority and we had a teenage group,” Rivera added.

Rivera also mentioned how she was brought to Broadway shows, camping trips, and amusement parks as a teenager. She also said she was given a ‘day in the life’ experience of the career she wanted as a teenager.

“What opportunities are offered to low-income families in Hoboken now to show our youth that there are other things out there?” Rivera asked.

Many others echoed similar sentiments, including friends of Murray who let out their emotions at the podium.

Murray’s uncle, who did not provide his name, spoke, saying: “That smile was the brightest thing I know.”

Pointing to Mark Recko, Executive Director of the HHA, in the stands, he said: “I told you. I knew something like this was going to happen. I spoke to you personally. I didn’t think it was going to be my nephew though.”

“Do you know how it feels to hear that my nephew was shot and there was a cop car by the light rail that didn’t move? The cops surrounded me like I was a criminal when I was in a time of need.I’m crying for help. That’s not just words. I’m crying for help.”

“We better do something before people start making changes themselves,” he added.

Marla Decker, whose family lost a child to gun violence, said: “No kid should ever have to see gun violence, no kid should ever have to hear it. No kid should ever have to run from it.”

“We can’t solve the national gun problem. I know that. But we live in a mile square community and we have a problem in an even tinier radius. We can solve that,” she said.

Friends of Murray who played football at Rutgers University came to the podium together, with their arms wrapped around each other. One broke down with emotion. He spoke of how he was meant to attend his firefighter interview with Murray this week, and implored Council members to take action, lamenting that something was not done sooner that could have prevented his death.

Responding to many of his constituents, Councilman Ruben Ramos said he has known many of them their entire lives or he them his entire life. “All I can say is I’m sorry,” said Ramos.

He spoke of the obstacles he has faced in trying to represent the neighborhood as a Council member.

“That doesn’t hurt me when I say we need more policing on Third and Jackson, need more policing on Third and Harrison. It doesn’t hurt me. It hurts our neighborhood. When we can’t get a date, when I sent emails from December, for a festival, that doesn’t hurt me. It hurts the neighborhood we’re trying to bring together.”

“That’s who I’m speaking for. Not for a f***ing $500,000 art project that I don’t give a s**t about. They don’t care about that. Put the $500,000 to a mobile police unit,” he added.

Councilman Michael Russo, who serves as a commissioner of the Housing Authority, implored his colleagues to take action and make significant changes.

He said residents in the Housing Authority constantly feel like they are moved to the back of the line on every issue. “It has to stop now,” he said.

“We need to do better. We need to prioritize our community in the housing authority,” he said.

“Start making significant changes. Don’t touch around the edges. There’s an empty building down by the PSE&G site. Maybe, just maybe, we rebuild the police station there. And then maybe, just maybe, we rebuild the Housing Authority building all the way up where the police station is so that maybe some of our residents have a waterfront view,” Russo added.

“We could do that right now, we just need the will, and I’m begging my Council colleagues let’s make bold changes, bold decisions, let’s make sure our community is remembered every time we make a decision.”

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