the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, as an observer of council meetings for well over 25 years, talk of transparency is missing the point. The problem is we don’t have transparency and that is why in this time of many issues( Valley, CBD Development, Habernickle, Schedler, Parking Garage, Garber Square, Coin Gate ,recent hirings and council majority treatment of the minority in the past several years) the public is frustrated and is demanding to be heard.While public comment is allowed , answers are not always forth coming and sometimes not at all. It is clear that separate meetings should be held when the topic of interest is so controversial. To try to hold a regular business meeting at the same time is really not possible. Everyone is short changed.
Certain council members have stated that the meetings do not begin until after the public comments have concluded . This suggests that public comments are not a valuable part of the meeting. This is extraordinarily disrespectful to those who come to speak.
At each of the recent very long meetings, both Council women Gwen Hauk and Council member Albert Puccarelli have made derogatory comments about the length of time that the public comments consumed. It is very clear to all of the residents that although you claim to love public input, in fact you find it to be a time-consuming annoyance that delays the start of the “real meeting.”The Fact that so many people are upset and speaking out should be an indicator that something is wrong with the process. Many residents have been trying to say this for months but to no avail.
And we all know village employees are not always in a position to speak freely to the public. They have concerns about their jobs. That is the case every where. I am deeply concerned about our village committees and feel they may be compromised because of the active participation of some of our professionals. It is beginning to feel like that some of the committees are extensions of the Village Council snd not necessarily representing public opinion.
