Remember the mantra of the 3 amigos( Paul, Gwen and Albert) that all the problems in Ridgewood was Mr. Gabberts fault. Now they and their
surrogate are blaming the residents. Who are they going to blame in the future?
For all those that think this is something new, it’s not. It’s not this council, it’s been every council. We saw it with Graydon where plans for improvement were attacked, contributors to that process were demonized personally and professionally. We certainly saw it with the current long, not yet complete, process with Valley (which duplicated the process Valley went through here in the 80’s — I was there for that too), village hall construction, the original parking proposal that the Mayor’s 2008 web page was about, the train station renovation, giant telephone poles, you name it. We’ll see it on whatever comes next. When a small percentage of the population — c’mon people no matter your definition, a few hundred at a council meeting is a small percentage of the population of 25,000 — can block potential solutions to big problems, then you will have zero progress. Zero. You get no change and no change equals no improvement. And in the long run no change equals slow, grinding, decline. You want to know what’s not Ridgewood? Slow, grinding decline, That’s not Ridgewood but that’s exactly what we have at Graydon (in-town membership totals don’t lie), at Valley (Hackensack is cleaning their clock) and in the CBD (we heard it straight from the CBD on Wednesday) and maybe you haven’t noticed but there are two giant dilapidated car dealerships and a run down toxic site in the middle of our quaint picturesque village.
It’s a lot of fun to cheer for your neighbors at council meetings, find that latest gotcha entry in the donor list or some 7 year old web page, and post on Facebook about what a hero of the common people you are but unless you are working for realistic pragmatic answers to real problems that exist in the village you are participating in its inexorable demise. Complaining feels good. Working for solutions takes hard work. From my chair we have far too much of the first and not nearly enough, on any side, of the second. The path forward isn’t cheering at council meetings when saying no to things. It’s figuring our the answer that all sides are a little unhappy with. And before I leave this here: 1] Yes I volunteer in a number of positions to try to help already 2] You couldn’t pay me enough to sit on the dais in that council room on Wednesday nights so this is not some kind of announcement and 3] I have zero relationship with any of the entities mentioned and the only stake I have in the conversation is the value of my home and my sense for what it means to be an active informed citizen. And finally,I didn’t call anyone a complainer here, you did that and they agree with you.
This headline is what you get out of this letter?? …..wow.
Gabbert screwed the town and the town employees over every chance he got. He was out for one thing and one thing ONLY……himself. The town is much better off with out Ken (I am so great just ask me I’ll tell you) Gabbert!
Oh so your saying we are better off as residents now. Bet you one of the town employees who don’t live here
Gwenn does not care about costs, she is uber wealthy and is unsure if she give $25 Kmaway to Valley. Paul does not care about costs, he will be leaving town soon. Albert only cares about whether his toupee is straight and whether anyone has said anything even tangentially negative about him.
Nice letter! Wish both the council and the activist residents were so reasonable.
How do the 3 play into the headline? Sounds like someone that’s frustrated with things that he or she wants to take place in Ridgewood.
What a nice letter Albert,, we can see your pointing finger as you angrily type in bold italics. FYI, it does not feel good to say NO to everything, it feels good to say NO to jackass half baked plans that are ungodly expensive. Sorry you do not like applause – what a weird thing for you to dislike. Applause is a time honored way for humans to express pleasure and agreement. Sorry you think a few hundred people is a small number, it is really a rare event to have so many people come to a council meeting when usually there are a very small handful. Very undiplomatic of you to dismiss such a large group of concerned citizens who leave families and home to come out to wait hours to speak. Didn’t like the verbatim quote from Pauls old web page – well, of course you did not. The truth hurts. Didn’t like that Gwenn is trying to mediate the Valley lawsuit while giving thousands and thousands over many years to the institution that is suing us – of course you did not like this, because she is your third vote in every one of your assholic schemes. Any sensible person would completely be outraged that she is a verified donor to our opponent in this massive lawsuit. Stay home and take care of your seven, is it seven, kids and don’t come back after July 1st. Please. And don’t issue any more threats against soft spoken concerned residents. You look foolish, and quite frankly you seemed threatening (oh, that’s right, because you were making a threat!)
That’s right Anonymous January 11, 2016 at 10:22 am, the Village and the property owners (taxpayers) are way better off without Grabbit…….opps my bad I mean Gabbert!
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And as far as your bet, you lose, send me a check.
I sure will if I knew your address.
Let’s all thank 1:44 for proving the original poster’s point. All invective no solutions. How about a round of applause!