Village Council - Page 298 of 308

Posted on March 27, 2015January 20, 2019 by James — 16 Comments

Aronsohn pokes fun at Mahwah Town Council Re: recent meeting fiasco

file photo Boyd Loving

Aronsohn pokes fun at Mahwah Town Council Re: recent meeting fiasco
March 26,2015
Boyd Loving

Civility For Thee…

…but not for me. As if his verbal thrashings of former village council members were not enough, a certain someone is at it again. While pontificating on the importance of “civility,” he performs the nearly impossible feat of serving up a heaping helping of boorish incivility to yet another colleague. The next nonsensical forum Mr. Mayor convenes should be an in-depth analysis of why the fellow to his left can’t seem to mind his manners. The unintended consequence of those “transparent” public meetings is a never-ending video stream of reference for anyone who may have forgotten just how uncivilized Frick and Frack can be. Aahhh, Mahwah..such a lofty goal.

Ridgewood NJ, Just moments after Ridgewood Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli and Councilwoman Susan Knudsen got into a rather heated verbal exchange on the dais (over a report Knudsen had requested from the Village’s new Building Department Director Thomas Yotka), Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn publicly poked fun at Mahwah’s Town Council in connection with a recent meeting in Mahwah, captured on video, at which the tempers of several Town Council members flared up.

This longtime Blog reader and contributor now wonders if Mr. Aronsohn actually listens to or looks at anyone but himself during meetings of the Ridgewood Village Council.

Because if he did, he would certainly recognize that the behaviors of many people sitting on the dais along side of him (both elected and appointed representatives of the Village) are far from being what I would classify as respectful of others. Phrases such as “. . . don’t flatter yourself” and body language like a deliberately exaggerated rolling of the eyes (in response to an impassioned speech by a member of the audience or Councilperson) have no place on the dais.

People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. An old, but appropriate, proverb with respect to Village Council actions of late.

https://politickernj.com/2015/03/council-members-criticize-mayor-after-mahwah-meeting-meltdown/

Posted on March 24, 2015March 24, 2015 by James — 5 Comments

Village Council, and Board Meetings

file photo by Boyd Loving

Village Council, and Board Meetings

03/24/157:30PMBoard of Adjustment Work SessionAvailable
03/25/157:30PMVillage Council Public Work SessionAvailable
03/25/157:30PMVillage Council Special Public MeetingAvailable
03/31/157:30PMBoard of Adjustment Public Meeting
04/01/157:30PMVillage Council Public Work Session
04/07/157:30PMPlanning Board Public Meeting – Village Hall Court Room
04/08/158:00PMVillage Council Public Meeting
04/14/157:30PMBoard of Adjustment Public Meeting

Meet the Manager – Tuesday, March 24th 4:30pm to 7:30pm

Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld will hold office hours for Ridgewood residents and business owners on Tuesday, February 24th between the hours of 4:30pm to 7:30pm. This is an opportunity to share your thoughts and provide input to Roberta. These sessions will be scheduled at 15 minute intervals and will be held in the Council Chambers on the 4th Floor of Ridgewood Village Hall. Please contact Beth Spinato at 201-670-5500, ext. 203 to make an appointment. Walk-ins are welcome but should realize that the schedule may already be booked. We will announce the schedule for these meetings on a monthly basis.

Posted on March 23, 2015March 23, 2015 by James — 21 Comments

Reader , Whats with the Attacks on Bernie Walsh ?

Reader , Whats with the Attacks on Bernie Walsh ?

you sound for all the world like a desperate current officeholder sweating their re-election chances. You uncivilly bad mouth our esteemed former Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh as if she were a current candidate vying to replace you on the Council. (We should be so lucky. You should keep your powder dry if in fact you anticipate facing her as a future electoral opponent!) You further hypocritically introduce party politics into your discussion regarding Ms. Walsh, as if she ever allowed her already well-known political affiliation to affect the way she conducted herself as a (successful) candidate for Ridgewood council, or as a (successful) sitting Councilwoman. (Which, of course, she never did, having full and complete respect for the clear strictures imposed by the Faulkner Act.) Finally, you blithely and coldly use the word ‘failed’ when discussing Ms. Walsh’s bid for a county-wide position. This is a transparently malicious bid to paint her as some kind of sad sack candidate, a characterization no right-thinking Ridgewood resident who knows her at all would ever accept, particularly coming from an individual clearly clutching at so many straws to defend an incumbent who was himself a ‘failed candidate’ for US Congress. Would do us all a favor and slink back into the humble roadside hole you came out of, Mr. Mudslinger?

Posted on March 21, 2015March 21, 2015 by James — 9 Comments

VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC BUDGET MEETING

AGENDA

VILLAGE COUNCIL SPECIAL PUBLIC BUDGET MEETING

MARCH 22, 2015

12:00 NOON

1. Call to Order

2. Statement of Compliance with the Open Public Meeting Act

MAYOR: “Adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by a posting on the bulletin board in Village hall, by mail to the Ridgewood News, The Record, and by submission to all persons entitled to same as provided by law of a schedule including the date and time of this meeting.”

3. Roll Call – Village Clerk

4. Flag Salute and Moment of Silence

5. Public Comments (Not to exceed 5 minutes per person)

6. Discussion Items

a. Review of Departmental/Utility/Other Accounts Budgets

1. Parking Utility

2. Tax Assessor

3. Village Clerk/Elections

4. Planning Board/Historic Preservation Commission

5. Emergency Services

6. Municipal Court

7. Attorney Fees

8. Finance/Tax Collection

9. Debt Service

10. Terminal Leave

11. Trust Funds and Surplus

12. Electric and Gas

13. Library

Review of Departmental Budgets (continued)

14. Village Manager

15. DEP Fines and Fees

16. Village Council

17. Water Department

18. Office of Emergency Management

b. Wrap-up of the Day and Next Steps

7. Public Comments (Not to exceed 5 minutes per person)

8. Adjournment

Posted on March 18, 2015March 18, 2015 by James — 1 Comment

Ridgewood Village Council amends residency rules for hiring

file photo Boyd Loving

Ridgewood Village Council amends residency rules for hiring

MARCH 17, 2015 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2015, 10:42 AM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

After a lengthy discussion during a work session earlier this month, the Village Council introduced an ordinance last Wednesday amending residency requirements to indicate that all civilian classified titles in Civil Service will be opened to the entire state with the exception of police and fire department public safety titles.

A previous ordinance, which gave preference to Bergen County residents, followed by residents from contiguous counties and then state residents, was adopted unanimously on Aug. 13, 2014, according to the minutes of that night’s meeting. However, this was deemed impermissible by the New Jersey Civil Service Commission and was sent back for revisions.

The new ordinance, which was introduced by a 3-2 vote, would open those jobs to residents from anywhere in New Jersey without a tier system.

During discussion on March 4, Councilman Michael Sedon acknowledged that he voted in favor of removing the residency requirement in August, which he said was “a mistake.” He stated his belief that hiring residents from the village puts them ahead of those from outside of Ridgewood.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-council-amends-residency-rules-1.1290553

Posted on March 16, 2015June 27, 2021 by James — 8 Comments

Reader says Councilwoman Knudsen is entitled to exercise her own judgment

Reader says Councilwoman Knudsen is entitled to exercise her own judgment

The decision to “recuse” by an elected official is one that is arrived at: 1) by that elected official (i.e., nobody gives an order that another must follow); 2) on a case-by-case basis (i.e., no categorical prohibitions to participation, or recusal “precedent” based on past practice (read: Killion); 3) as a result of a fact-based analysis (i.e.., the details matter and must be considered); 4) in accordance with a pre-determined standard (no making it up as we go along); 5) considering whether the appearance of a conflict would bring scandal even if no actual conflict exists or is likely to arise; but also 6) being careful not to recuse too readily (i.e., not necessarily at the drop of a hat, or in response to the first ‘hint’ of a conflict) lest the electorate be improperly and improvidently deprived of the thoughtful services of their chosen representative (i.e., this is no mere ‘employee’ of the Village).

Councilwoman Knudsen is entitled to exercise her own judgment on this issue, free from either unsolicited heavy-handed advice (pre-recusal) or uncivil and hypocritical scorn (after declining to recuse, if that’s what she decides) from any of her Village Council colleagues.

Posted on March 14, 2015June 27, 2021 by James — 3 Comments

Reader says Council Women Kundsen is the only one raising the issue that the agenda must be published in advance of the meeting

Reader says Council Women Kundsen is the only one raising the issue that the agenda must be published in advance of the meeting, regardless of whether it is to be an open or closed one

How do you know what was on the agenda unless you are Knudsen or one of the other Council members? Knudsen seems to be the only one raising an issue here, so has Knudsen betrayed the Council’s closed door agenda by disclosing non-public information here on the Ridgewood blog about a closed session?”

11:27am, read the law!

The capitalized passage below shows that the agenda must be published in advance of the meeting, regardless of whether it is to be an open or closed one.
——-
OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT
(current through May 31, 2011)
N.J.S.A. 10:4-6. Short title
This act shall be known and may be cited as the “Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act.”
—-
N.J.S.A. 10:4-7. Legislative findings and declaration
The Legislature finds and declares that the right of the public to be present at all meetings of public bodies, and to witness in full detail all phases of the deliberation, policy formulation, and decision making of public bodies, is vital to the enhancement and proper functioning of the democratic process; that secrecy in public affairs undermines the faith of the public in government and the public’s effectiveness in fulfilling its role in a democratic society, and hereby declares it to be the public policy of this State to insure the right of its citizens to have adequate advance notice of and the right to attend all meetings of public bodies at which any business affecting the public is discussed or acted upon in any way except only in those circumstances where otherwise the public interest would be clearly endangered or the personal privacy or guaranteed rights of individuals would be clearly in danger of unwarranted invasion.
—-
The Legislature further declares it to be the public policy of this State to insure that the aforesaid rights are implemented pursuant to the provisions of this act so that no confusion, misconstructions or misinterpretations may thwart the purposes hereof.

The Legislature, therefore, declares that it is the understanding and the intention of the Legislature that in order to be covered by the provisions of this act a public body must be organized by law and be collectively empowered as a multi-member voting body to spend public funds or affect persons’ rights; that, therefore, informal or purely advisory bodies with no effective authority are not covered, nor are groupings composed of a public official with subordinates or advisors, who are not empowered to act by vote such as a mayor or the Governor meeting with department heads or cabinet members, that specific exemptions are provided for the Judiciary, parole bodies, the State Commission of Investigation, the Apportionment Commission and political party organization; that to be covered by the provisions of this act a meeting must be open to all the public body’s members, and the members present must intend to discuss or act on the public body’s business; and therefore, typical partisan caucus meetings and chance encounters of members of public bodies are neither covered by the provisions of this act, nor are they intended to be so covered.
—-
N.J.S.A. 10:4-8. Definitions
As used in this act:
—-
…
—-
b. “Meeting” means and includes any gathering whether corporeal or by means of communication equipment, which is attended by, or open to, all of the members of a public body, held with the intent, on the part of the members of the body present, to discuss or act as a unit upon the specific public business of that body. Meeting does not mean or include any such gathering (1) attended by less than an effective majority of the members of a public body, or (2) attended by or open to all the members of three or more similar public bodies at a convention or similar gathering.
—
c. “Public business” means and includes all matters which relate in any way, directly or indirectly, to the performance of the public body’s functions or the conduct of its business.
—
d. “Adequate notice” means written advance notice of at least 48 hours, giving the time, date, location AND, TO THE EXTENT KNOWN, THE AGENDA OF ANY REGULAR, SPECIAL OR RESCHEDULED MEETING, which notice shall accurately state whether formal action may or may not be taken and which shall be (1) prominently posted in at least one public place reserved for such or similar announcements, (2) mailed, telephoned, telegrammed, or hand delivered to at least two newspapers which newspapers shall be designated by the public body to receive such notices because they have the greatest likelihood of informing the public within the area of jurisdiction of the public body of such meetings, one of which shall be the official newspaper, where any such has been designated by the public body or if the public body has failed to so designate, where any has been designated by the governing body of the political subdivision whose geographic boundaries are coextensive with that of the public body and (3) filed with the clerk of the municipality when the public body’s geographic boundaries are coextensive with that of a single municipality, with the clerk of the county when the public body’s geographic boundaries are coextensive with that of a single county, and with the Secretary of State if the public body has Statewide jurisdiction. For any other public body the filing shall be with the clerk or chief administrative officer of such other public body and each municipal or county clerk of each municipality or county encompassed within the jurisdiction of such public body. Where annual notice or revisions thereof in compliance with section 13 of this act [FN1] set forth the location of any meeting, no further notice shall be required for such meeting.

Posted on March 13, 2015June 27, 2021 by James — 14 Comments

Reader says legally-imposed hiring preference for qualified local residents was NEVER ON THE AGENDA.

Ridgewood_-Village_Hall_theridgewoodblog

Reader says legally-imposed hiring preference for qualified local residents was NEVER ON THE AGENDA.

Unfortunately for you, you’ve just highlighted perhaps the best reason why Councilwoman Knudsen need never have concerned herself with any potential conflict-of-interest: Potentially eliminating the RPD’s and the RFD’s legally-imposed hiring preference for qualified local residents was NEVER ON THE AGENDA.

Other items relating to village hiring practices for other municipal jobs may have been up for discussion, but never the local hiring practices relating to police or firemen. (And certainly nothing on the agenda necessitated closing the session.)

This is also why it is so clearly a red herring for anyone to bring up her relationship to the test-takers. They are not even candidates for any of the positions or categories of positions being looked at by the VC for potential changes in the law relating to hiring practices!

What do we care about what relationship the test-takers have or don’t have with Councilwoman Knudsen? What’s the relevance?

Posted on March 13, 2015June 27, 2021 by James — 5 Comments

Reader says Nobody cares whether RPD or RFD test-takers have any relationship with a current member of the Village Council or not.

Reader says Nobody cares whether RPD or RFD test-takers have any relationship with a current member of the Village Council or not.

Nobody cares whether RPD or RFD test-takers have any relationship with a current member of the Village Council or not. Yet you won’t stop talking about it. It has no relevance to the topic at hand. Your continued harping on it seems to show that you are trying to sow general confusion or to deflect attention from the topic immediately at hand (namely: non-police and non-firefighter municipal hiring practices in Ridgewood). Is this not the textbook definition of a red herring? If so, can we please be forgiven for ignoring it?

A municipality that flouts or ignores the law in question for 25 years MUST BE consistently failing deliberately to give priority to qualified candidates who actually live within its borders. Thus, its hiring practices are literally out of control and must be amended immediately.

Most qualified potential candidates who are also local residents are likely to be unaware of the law operating in their favor because the management of the municipality has itself forgotten about its requirements. That’s a heck of a lot of ignorance, institutional and otherwise. The likelihood of such collective ignorance and lack of management control producing many, many violations of the law in question over a twenty-five year period is objectively high.

More particularly, the municipality in question will be extremely lucky if one or more such violations did not occur within the one, two, three, six-year period (whatever it happens to be) specified by the statute of limitations (i.e., the recent past) such that the hiring decision(s) is either currently subject to being ‘undone’ as a result of a well-pled lawsuit, or will be held to have triggered liability for money damages awardable to the plaintiff behind the suit.

You are asking someone to simply name for you any and all Ridgewood residents in the past twenty-five years who were qualified and applied for a position with the village and were improperly turned down in favor of respective out-of-town applicants.

With all due respect, and at least in this forum, this is a preposterous demand. If you are curious about the potential scope of the village’s liability for current and past violations of the hiring practices law in question, you should conduct your own investigation. Pounding your fists at the insufficiency of a collection of comments on a local blog accomplishes nothing and, frankly, makes you look like a fish out of water (or worse).

OTOH, Nobody here ultimately wishes anyone ill. The issues and good governance are what count, and your time was not wasted if you would just try to broaden your perspective to include more than just the political, or the tactical.

Posted on March 12, 2015March 11, 2015 by James — 34 Comments

Ridgewood under fire for closed session

file photo by Boyd Loving

Ridgewood under fire for closed session

MARCH 11, 2015, 11:59 AM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2015, 12:10 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

RIDGEWOOD – A councilwoman with three sons in line for village police jobs claims several officials broke the law last month by meeting behind closed doors to discuss changes to Ridgewood’s residency requirement.

“This belonged in open session,” Councilwoman Susan Knudsen insisted at a recent council meeting, noting no specific village employee’s position was discussed during the closed-door meeting, but rather a policy relating to Ridgewood’s hiring practices.

“We did not follow the law,” Knudsen said. “That’s not an allegation, it’s a fact.”

But Village Attorney Matthew Rogers maintains officials acted appropriately, saying “the topic under discussion” by the council that evening “fit into the exceptions” outlined in the Open Public Meetings Act.

The village’s labor attorney also concluded the council did not violate the law.

“Generally, at the time the decision was made, it is my understanding there was reason to believe such discussions could impact upon the terms and conditions of employment of specific prospective employees or employee groups,” said Beth Hinsdale-Piller.

Knudsen opposes any change to the requirement.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-under-fire-for-closed-session-1.1286592

Posted on March 9, 2015June 27, 2021 by James — 40 Comments

Reader says Next Election Cycle the three amigos to at least claim the moral high ground and hypocritically accuse their opponents of incivility.

file photo Boyd Loving

Reader says Next Election Cycle the three amigos to at least claim the moral high ground and hypocritically accuse their opponents of incivility.

No presumptions should ever be made about a given officeholder’s current or future odiousness to the public, or about the notion that “now they’ve really cooked their own goose”, certainly leading to a lack of success at the upcoming polls and a failed re-election bid. Corruption can sway election results, but, and perhaps more importantly, an honest but weak or timid election opponent (read: McCain, Romney) can serve to further embolden an ethically compromised incumbent, giving them the breathing and maneuvering room they need to avoid accountability, right at the time they were expecting their opponent to oratorically “put it to them”, for lack of a better term. One must always have a well-developed plan for preventing one’s opponent from gaining or maintaining electoral momentum.

In the upcoming election, we can expect the three amigos to at least claim the moral high ground and hypocritically accuse their opponents of incivility. No opponent can be expected to survive this type of an attack who does not step toward the punch, immediately painting the ‘amigo’ in question as a brazen hypocrite by immediately reciting, preferably from memory, every act of three amigo incivility that seems to apply, and then refusing to back down in the face of the dishonestly indignant reaction (including by their friends in the media) that will be sure to follow.

Posted on March 6, 2015September 13, 2021 by James — 12 Comments

Reader says Sarcastic Retorts by Deputy Mayor Unwarranted and Unacceptable in the Village of Ridgewood

file photo by Boyd Loving Councilwoman Knudsen

Reader says Sarcastic Retorts by Deputy Mayor Unwarranted and Unacceptable in the Village of Ridgewood

Can we define how civil it was the way they treated Councilwoman Knudsen last night???? PUCCIARELLI was like a thug with his sarcastic retorts in the face of her comments.

I presume Councilwoman K. said something reasonable or supportive of what the average resident would expect the council to do, Councilman P. disagreed with her because of some personal agenda he’s got going, and, because he’s one of the three amigos, he had license to ridicule her in accordance with the “new normal” of civil discourse in Ridgewood. What got him spun up this time?

You have to watch it on the ustream. The meeting was so long that it is in two separate U-streams. Go to this one first: https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/59529870

Susan’s zinger begins at 2:16:20, but back it up a bit and listen to what Mike Sedon says about the fact that the local hiring law has been broken repeatedly in the past 25 years. Now the three amigos want to change the law to reflect the way it has been followed (illegally). In other words, they have been breaking the law all along, so let’s change the law.

Susan claims that the Open Public Meetings Act was broken last week when they made her leave the closed session and go home. At one point Albert actually got sarcastic about it, and Susan came right back at him for his snotty comment.

Susan and Michael were aces, absolutely on point and the other three were a total train wreck.

Ms. Knudsen appears to have been deceptively advised to recuse herself when the statute required no such thing.

This is uncivil in the extreme.

One’s mind further boggles at the inexplicable statement by Atty. Rogers that although for 25 years the town has been acting ‘inconsistent with the ordinance’ in failing to accord Ridgewood residents hiring preferences when the ordinance required such preference, this does not mean that the village has been ‘breaking the law’. What the heck is the difference between acting inconsistent with an ordinance, and breaking the law, other than using about five extra syllables to say the same darn thing? And the cure for this is to change the ordinance, not fix the hiring practice? You’re right, Mr. Sedon and Ms. Knudson, the real news story here is not a defective ordinance, but a systematic flouting of a law leading to a generation’s worth of Ridgewood-based applicants being improperly snubbed in favor of non-residents.

Ignorance of the law is no excuse. The village manager and village attorney sound concerned about improperly snubbed residents potentially seeking to undo some recent hiring decisions.

Posted on March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 by James — 7 Comments

Ridgewood begins municipal budget discussions

file photo Boyd Loving

Ridgewood begins municipal budget discussions

March 5, 2015 Last updated: Thursday, March 5, 2015, 3:01 PM
By Mark Krulish
Staff Writer |
The Ridgewood News

Ridgewood officials gathered at Village Hall last Saturday morning for a discussion between department heads and the governing body about some details of the municipal budget, including the needs of various departments and anticipated spending.

The seven-hour roundtable meeting was a departure in style from previous years and talks centered on the Department of Public Works, the Building Department, Health Department, Parks and Recreation, Fire Department, Police Department, Engineering and Human Resources, along with a closing discussion on the capital budgets.

Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld said one of the goals for the meeting was to present the best numbers possible, but there would not be any indication of the final figures or tax impact to residents until closer to budget introduction.

Sonenfeld noted that some increases in spending were attributed to the need for repairs to an aging infrastructure and upgrading the village’s technology.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-begins-municipal-budget-discussions-1.1283442

Posted on January 21, 2015September 3, 2021 by James — 13 Comments

It all comes down to “Keyboard Bravado”

It all comes down to “Keyboard Bravado”

January 21,2014

PJ Blogger

Ridgewood NJ, Since the Ridgewood blog had come up more than once in the last few civility meetings Mayor Aronsohn and Jan Philips reached out to us for an invite so we updated our Last Will and Testaments and graciously accepted .The meetings of the Civility Round Table are held on Tuesday’s, once a month at 7:30 PM in the Ridgewood Village Hall Senior’s Lounge. Residents are encouraged to attend .

The meeting started promptly at 7:30 and was to my mind well attended given the time of the year . Jan Phelps hosted the meeting , with Mayor Aronsohn and Councilwomen Hauck . Everyone introduced themselves representing various groups and organizations in the Village , from the BOE , the Planing Board , the Ridgewood Library ,several local clergy , the HSA’s , RBSA and may other fine organizations that serve Ridgewood as well as a few residents . The purpose as stated by the Mayor is to create a more civil discourse in the Village .

Civility is about more than just politeness, although politeness is a necessary first step. It is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking common ground as a starting point for dialogue about differences, listening past one’s preconceptions, and teaching others to do the same. Civility is the hard work of staying present even with those with whom we have deep-rooted and fierce disagreements. It is political in the sense that it is a necessary prerequisite for civic action. But it is political, too, in the sense that it is about negotiating interpersonal power such that everyone’s voice is heard, and nobody’s is ignored. https://www.instituteforcivility.org/who-we-are/what-is-civility/

The group seemed to agree that Ridgewood is a town where people like to excel , and that drive and those expectations create a very passionate , as you can see from blog comments and opinionated populace . People care about their community and thats a good thing , but many felt that sometimes we all go a bit to far .

We looked at the causes of incivility , the when and why .Sheila Brogan long time BOE member , felt that todays parents had a lot of additional pressure and worried that in todays world their kids would have a hard time doing as well as they have done . She went on to speak about the changing times and how one could expect to have several careers over a life time ,all this she though made being a parent a lot harder than it was in the past and a lot more pressure .

We managed to go till 8:08 be for someone mentioned the elephant in the room, “I want to talk about the blog”…….

I learned a lot , mostly that I am glad I can sit in my PJ’s drinking coffee writing a blog getting yelled at by anonymous commenters ,and don’t have a tuff job like the RBSA people who are pulled in many directions ,by so many demands all at once .

There were interestingly a surprising large amount of blog enthusiasts there some open and some secret admirers .

While I could see there were some sore spots , like turf fields , PSEG ,sports issues , Valley Hospital , the Village Hall renovation and alas Marty Brooks the daggers were lowered for the night .

While anonymity of blog posters took a hit as expected some pointed out that even on facebook were you know who everyone is the comments can be even nastier . A resident put it down to a type of “keyboard bravado.”

PJ’s Rules

1) Stick to issues don’t make it personal

2) Don’t take anything personal

M. Forni’s 25 Rules:The 25 Rules of Considerate Conduct

1. Pay attention

2. Acknowledge others

3. Think the best

4. Listen

5. Be inclusive

6. Speak kindly

7. Don’t speak ill

8. Accept and give praise

9. Respect even a subtle “no”

10. Respect others’ opinions

11. Mind your body

12. Be agreeable

13. Keep it down (and rediscover silence)

14. Respect other people’s time

15. Respect other people’s space

16. Apologize earnestly and thoughtfully

17. Assert yourself

18. Avoid personal questions

19. Care for your guests

20. Be a considerate guest

21. Think twice before asking for favors

22. Refrain from idle complaints

23. Give constructive criticism

24. Respect the environment and be gentle to animals

25. Don’t shift responsibility and blame

Posted on January 17, 2015January 18, 2015 by James — 4 Comments

Reader says the Council Only Loves Free Speech when you agree with them

file photo Boyd Loving

Reader says the Council Only Loves Free Speech when you agree with them

Oh, this is hilarious. Je suis Paulie, Je suis Pooch, Je suis the Hawk. Yeah, they all advocate free speech unless the person at the microphone is saying something they do not want to hear. Then that person is interrupted or yelled at or given the brush off. Remember the woman who was so determined about Graydon and they started screaming at her? Remember when the hotheaded DM went nuts on Ellie Gruber? You are not allowed to ask any direct questions of any member of the council, yep this is free speech.

Je suis Paulie. Whoever coined that deserves and award.<br

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