The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
videos courtesy of Dana Glazer
Ridgewood NJ, Mayor Susan Knudsen and Councilman Voigt speak about the Ridgewood Arts Council’s Emerging Artists Gallery Scavenger Hunt to be held on April 23rd at Van Neste Park from 11am-2pm.
Jeff… In your prepared statement Wednesday you stated the residents had a problem trusting the past council but shouldn’t with you because your motives are to work hard for the village. You state that the residents have a right to know if something doesn’t seem right, in your opinion you felt the Mayor’s insertion in your committee was a violation and worthy of public debate.
Cut the shit! I’m not sure why you don’t like her but I know you don’t. You have to work with her for the sake of THE VILLAGE (remember?) and your angry behavior towards her is not rational and makes you look unstable. Your actions have broken resident’s trust in you because you have demonstrated such a vile response that appears to be very personal and certainly should not be for public display. This FAC episode seemed to be your “gotcha” you were looking for to go after her. You were legally advised there was no merit in your claims. Wednesday’s support, from members of the last council’s entourage, to keep the FAC intact sends nothing but mistrust and red flags. It seems clear to me you orchestrated this pony show – a page from the last council’s playbook – we DON’T trust you or the FAC now.
You have demonstrated nothing to gain resident’s trust by your actions and angry attacks. My advice to you would be to suck it up and offer an apology, publicly, to the mayor and the other council members and redirect your energy to fulfilling your campaign promises of working for the residents for the betterment of the village. Put your personal feelings aside. Stop conspiring, plotting and playing politics, we are all to savvy to put up with this BS. Figure out how to cooperate with your council members, respectfully, and stop the divisive, petulant behavior.
December 15,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Jeff Voigt’s announcement last week about the library turns out to have been premature. Mayor Knudsen had to announce that the library is only in very preliminary discussion and was in no way prepared to publicly announce a 5 million dollar renovation that would involve the library being closed for a year. Good job Councilman Voigt, jumping the gun unprofessionally and getting everyone riled up for no reason. Boyd Loving later suggested that the library should include the Village Council in the process of their plans and pipe dreams, rather than presenting The Nancy Green Palace as a fait accompli.
Mayor Knudsen also announced that subsequent to last week’s meeting, at which Councilman Voigt verbally accosted Mayor Knudsen, she and her council colleagues received numerous emails from residents complaining about the behavior of Mr. Voigt. As she began to explain that the council will aspire toward civility moving forward, Mr. Voigt unbelievably attempted to rudely interrupt her as she spoke. When she politely asked him to wait, he did so. Upon completing her report, she ceded the floor to Councilman Voigt. He then lit into her, referred to her only as Susan, not as the Mayor, and called her comments and actions deceitful, disrespectful, and stated that she disregarded other people who actually care about this town (meaning that Mayor Knudsen does not actually care about this town). Yes, he said those and things, and he went on to say that he cannot and will not and does not intend to apologize for anything he said. This guy is Albert Pucciarelli without the toupee.
Well the meeting is over and Voigt not only didn’t apologize but reiterated his baseless accusations and in the same disrespectful tone and words. The public dosen’t hear the message as loudly as how it is said. He doesn’t understand that people think less of him because of his behavior. I voted for him but would not do it again not to mention his parking flyer with his name printed in large letters across the top. He is one of 5 and it is evident that everyone is working on a parking solution. He is clueless to the fact that he is acting just like our past mayor and cronies and their candidates were rejected in a land slide decision in May.
photo by Boyd Loving
Editor, The Ridgewood Blog:
During a Village Council Work Session held on Wednesday, August 3rd, Councilman Jeffrey Voigt publicly stated that he was approached by two (2) unnamed individuals who are “willing to testify” with respect to possible unethical, unlawful, and/or illegal actions that took place in connection with a previous Village Council’s introduction and subsequent passage of several ordinances related to the construction of high density, multi-family housing in Ridgewood. Councilman Voigt is proposing the formation of an investigative body, fully funded by Ridgewood taxpayers, to issue subpoenas, conduct interviews, hold public hearings, deliberate, and release findings/recommendations relative to this matter.
Although I wholly support finding out if there were any unethical, unlawful, and/or illegal actions that took place in connection with the previous Village Council’s introduction and subsequent approval of several ordinances related to the construction of high density, multi-family housing in Ridgewood, I am NOT supportive of the formation of a investigative body funded by Ridgewood’s taxpayers if Councilman Voigt, or anyone else on the Village Council, is already in possession of information that could be passed to an appropriate governmental investigatory agency, such as the NJ State Attorney General’s Office.
Why spend Ridgewood taxpayers’ money if there is already an agency that could handle this for us? Having an independent agency conduct the investigation would also serve to calm those who are already shouting “this is going to be nothing more than a witch hunt!”
If Councilman Voigt or anyone else on the Council has details of improprieties having taken place, he/they should PICK UP THE PHONE NOW AND CALL THE AG’s OFFICE – DO NOT HESITATE! There is no need to begin the long, drawn out, VERY EXPENSIVE process of forming a committee, issuing subpoenas locally, and conducting public hearings – I would view the initiation of such a process as intended to serve publicity purposes only.
Again, let’s cut right to the chase on this one – If someone is willing to testify that they are aware of things having been done that violated laws, DROP A DIME NOW!
Let’s stop the pussyfooting around and get on this immediately!
Thank you.
Boyd A. Loving
Ridgewood resident/taxpayer
