the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, Daniel’s Law (P.L. 2021, c. 371) protects the personal information of active or retired judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and their immediate family members. Government agencies, individuals, and businesses are prohibited from publishing the home address and/or telephone number of individuals who request protection under Daniel’s Law. Daniel’s Law was enacted in response to the tragic death of Daniel Anderl, the son of Judge Esther Salas and Mark Anderl.
It is the current practice of the Ridgewood Village Council and the Ridgewood Board of Education to request that any individual who makes a public comment during an open meeting identify himself/herself/themselves openly by stating his/her/their name and residential street address. The Board of Education mandates use of a physical sign-in sheet for speakers as well.
It is also the current practice of the Ridgewood Village Council and the Ridgewood Board of Education to post on their respective websites minutes of all open public meetings. The posted minutes contain the full names and residential addresses of all individuals who made public comments during the meeting of record.
As noted above, government agencies (i.e., the Ridgewood Village Council and the Ridgewood Board of Education) are prohibited by law from publishing the home addresses of individuals who have requested protection under Daniel’s Law. Since posted meeting minutes may contain this information, an effort must be made to remove such information from previously posted meeting minutes, and stop posting the information in any new meeting minutes.
In response to Daniel’s Lawn, the Township of Verona has requested that individuals no longer provide their home addresses when making public comments during open meetings. The Township of Teaneck adopted a similar policy years ago following the as yet unsolved murder of a taxpayer who frequently spoke during open meetings of the Teaneck Township Council.
The Ridgewood Blog firmly believes that both the Ridgewood Village Council and the Ridgewood Board of Education should stop all individuals from providing their home addresses during open public meetings. It’s the right thing to do and would assist in complying with Daniel’s Law.
The bottom line is that there is absolutely no need for everyone in the meeting room, or all of those watching the televised broadcast, to know the home addresses of individuals who have chosen to offer their respective opinions in public.
FOOTNOTE:
There is no ordinance/requirement contained within the Ridgewood Village Code regarding the identification by name and address of individuals who wish to speak during open public meetings of the Ridgewood Village Council.
However, Ridgewood Board of Education Bylaw #0167 does specify the following: “Persons wishing to speak must, upon being recognized, rise, sign in, and state their names and addresses.”
Tell your story #TheRidgewoodblog , #Indpendentnews, #information, #advertise, #guestpost, #affiliatemarketing,#NorthJersey, #NJ , #News, #localnews, #bergencounty, #sponsoredpost, #SponsoredContent, #contentplacement , #linkplacement, Email: Onlyonesmallvoice@gmail.com
Just say “NO WAY” when Paulie Boy asks for your address.
The ridiculous practice also lets burglars know whose house is unoccupied during the meeting.
100% agree. It’s ridiculous. Half the attendees of VC meetings these days are actually burglars waiting to text their other burglar buddy the name and address of who is not at home. You can tell who is a burglar and who is a resident because all the burglars are in black and white striped tops and carrying swag bags.
It wouldn’t surprise me if all the burglar gangs using this trick are in league with the Mayor, because as we know from all the totally not-weird people that post constantly about it here, Vagianos is involved in a massive town-wide conspiracy with fingers in various pies on any and every matter you can imagine (and ones you can’t).
This doesn’t seem to be an important issue.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much effort to determine the address of anyone via simple internet search
Unless you never had a listed phone number and your home is registered as LLC…its impossible to be anonymous
just give a fake address
Or the address of that annoying neighbor. You know which one.
It should change. If they want to bully you after your comments your address is easy enough to Google. But personally having been bullied after commenting I think the addresses should not be given. Make them work to bully you
They’re ridiculous requirement would never hold up in court. Refuse to give your address. There is absolutely no reason they need to know where you live.
Right, it’s none of Their business where you live, you’re allowed to give a public comment.
This is nothing more than an intimidation tactic on the part of mayor Vagianos. Stop giving your home address! Every taxpayer is entitled to speak and is equal in the eyes of the public comment section.
Every member of the PUBLIC is allowed to speak, you don’t have to be a taxpayer.
Not at volunteer committee meetings. Don’t want to hear the public speak. They run the show their way.
When a person is testifying at a Zoning Board of Adjustment or Planning Board meeting, and being sworn in, self-identification is probably required for the record.
What about a compromise: state name and town? It should be good enough to know whether the person commenting lives here or not.
While it’s true that finding addresses is easy, it takes a little effort, rather than broadcasting addresses like that.
I think that if commenting at a meeting in the future I would simply give my name and town.
In addition to your address being posted in meeting minutes, it is posted because they post copies of the meeting videos on the Village of Ridgewood website.
And this from the same people who don’t believe in voter ID.
Remember, it’s freedom of speech. Now if heckle and Jekyll get into Office, meaning our vice president the laughter gets in oh boy what a mess we are in. Because they don’t like freedom of speech.
Wait til the genius that wrote this article finds out you can plug in anyone’s name or address into the Village tax records site and use one to find the other.
Does not work for residents who are renting.
Tempest in a teapot.
Of COURSE you’d want people who wish to speak confirm they are, in fact, Ridgewood residents. A simple explanation that makes more sense than the tinfoil hat crowd here with their hot takes.
It makes no difference if they are Ridgewood residence or not, they are allowed to speak.