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.
Happy to recite verbatim every thing that the previous Council(s) and Village Manager(s) did to screw residents before the current Council. Tommy Boy Rica’s relevations should also prove interesting.
please do?
8:26 There you go blaming past Councils and VM. Another page taken from the Democrats play book. Who care what was done in in the past. We are talking NOW. Past Councils might not have done things to your liking but they were no way near as uncivil as these three. As far as the Rica’s investigation your buddy the Mayor was a Councilman for the whole time the thefts were taking place.
Hey 8:26 If there is ever an investigation into the Sedon e-mails that revelation should also prove interesting also. Who are you going to blame for that one? Past Council’s or VM.
OK so ASSUMING you are correct …
are you saying that it is ok for the current council to screw the residents since the past council did?
really?
REALLY ?
if not, then what exactly is your point ?
DEPUTY MAYOR ALBERT PUCCIARELL sarcasm and demeanor towards fellow council members at last Wednesday meeting show the this civility ploy is just that a ploy to keep people from speaking out against their plans. To them civility is a tool they will use to discourage their opponents from speaking out or running for office. They will control Ridgewood with their BLOCK VOTE and propaganda
Ding ding ding ding! 8:58 am hits the nail on the head. The three amigos are bullies bent on antagonizing and intimidating their enemies, and never change their approach regardless of the amount or frequency of public opprobrium cast in their direction. This is the very antithesis of civility. Isn’t it amazing that between and among these porcupines there is never anything but cooperation and warm fuzzy feelings? By contrast, Councilwoman Knudsen is probably still gingerly pulling sharp quills out of the point of attack.
Let’s not even worry about past councils. Let’s just get rid of these three. We can do it. We will.
8:49, please explain how this Council is screwing residents? They voted down Valley’s expansion (they Mayor has no voted “No” twice). They’ve held property taxes flat for three years despite massive contractual wage, pension and health benefit increases, which by the way were taxpayer giveaways by previos Managers and Councils. They’ve hired a professional Village Manager who actually lives in – and cares about – Ridgewood. They Mayor and Village Manager communicate with residents unlike the previous silence during the freak Halloween Snowstorm in 2011. They’ve tried to make Village Hall more accountable to residents and local businesses, which is no easy task. They’ve eliminated the previous conflicts of interest and changed financial disclosure forms to include whether any sources of income are related to contracts with the Village. Roberta got a fair Fire CBA, with Police still to come, and she’s getting free advice on Village finances from a panel of experts who are willing to donate their valuable time. The library budget has been restored. Criem is down after Tommy Boy Rica’s quarter’s theft was exposed to the light of day. How is any of the above “screwing” residents? You must have been part of the previous crew.
8:26 is just a Mayor Paul Aronsohn apologist at work talking about past councils and VM to get the subject off The Three Amigos. Whats done is done. They would want to believe that past Councils and VM were so bad and never did any good compared to them. What egos. To 8:26 I would be happy to recite verbatim every thing This Council ( The Three Amigos) have done wrong and continue to do wrong. They must be ousted in 2016
So 10:19am, the re-elect campaign is off and running now? The consistently underhanded behavior of the three amigos will be a big issue, despite your best efforts.
10:19
Well written, Albert. More of the usual BS.
The thee amigos :
tried to derail councilman Sedon’s candidacy;
Publicly humiliated councilman Riche instead of dealing with a personnel matter in Closed Session, as the Village Attorney suggested they do;
Berated and lambasted Councilwoman Walsh in the most inappropriate, unprofessional, and hostile manner imaginable;
Publicly grilled Chief Ward about his hiring practices, making him look like a common criminal and treating the VC meeting like it was a trial (sure, sure, the next week they made nice after the public went ballistic on them);
Made the Ridgewood News kill a letter from a citizen because the mayor did not like the wording;
They have violated the Sunshine Law, or anyway it has been questioned openly and publicly, numerous times including last week;
They depleted our budget reserve to almost nothing to achieve their so called flat tax. This is reckless management and likely will be a problem with all the money spent on snow removal;
The constant calls from the mayor are a blatant attempt to get his name out there. Do we need to be called to tell us it is snowing?
They sent the idiotic Garber Square project through with its ridiculous plan and wound up costing us a huge bundle whenthe public objected and some of the work could not be undone without cost;
They sent two rookie cops home without letting them start at the academy the very night before they were to begin their training;
This is just a sampling from the menu of Hauck-Pucciarelli-Aronsohn. More to follow.
Add to the list: Authorized the repaving of Clinton Avenue without the installation of sidewalks and claimed (falsely) that their decision was approved by the HSA and BOE.
The three amigos improperly advised Councilwoman Knudsen about both the letter and spirit of a state ethics law they knew did not apply, leading her to make a snap good faith decision to recuse herself from a work session that she was well within her legal rights to attend.
More screw jobs: 1) No discount planned for Ridgewood residents who use ParkMobile – pay your taxes and pay your fee – squeeze blood from a stone. 2) Use of tax dollars to fund Chamber of Commerce wayfinding sign project despite the fact that the Chamber is collecting fees for same – signs erected without review by Historic Preservation Commission or Planning Board – one set of rules for Council, another for the rest of us.
Let not forget the promises he made during re election to the residents across the highway and the property and house still sits. Big Al The Developers Friend talks about blight on Chestnut Street and the Village Garage but nothing about the Schedler property. He must have one of his developer friend interested in the village Garage Property. Lets also talk about getting free tickets to the Gov. party from Mr. Sarscno who is infront of the planning board.
How about the African Queen Skype call to insure the Paul and Albert remain Mayor and Deputy Mayor and seal the deal on the BLOCK VOTE
Thats it 0% tav increases for two years meantime village services are going down, Equipment well beyond the life expectancy it all going to catch up to us someday. But hey go ahead and vote you pocketbook because as soon as you kids graduate you will be out of here and stick the rest of us with these three and the bills.
The Mayor voted no twice on the Valley Hospital. Don’t you think he knew how the rest of the planning board were going to vote. He just voted on their coat tails.
Thank you White Horse Strategist or 10:19 am
“communicate with residents unlike the previous silence during the freak Halloween Snowstorm in 2011.” What do you need someone to hold you hand and tell you there is a storm. How do you make it out in the real world. Does someone tell you its raining or when to eat. Here something you can try 10:19 am its call COMMON SENSE.
As far a the VM living in Ridgewood our Deputy Mayor said at the last meeting that there should not be preference for Ridgewood residents when hiring because it doesn’t mean anything. tou can’t have it both ways.
did anyone mention the Garber Square bike lane debacle ?
“The library budget has been restored”. Thats a highlight of this administration !0:19. That was promised to the Library Broad and all the library supporters in exchange for voting for The Three Amigos. Is that they way you want businesses conduct in the Village? Not that it is right or wrong to fund the library but rather vote for me and we will fund it. Hudson County Politicos. this is what the Three Amigos have brought to Ridgewood but then again you can’t see it because you are of like mind.
Here’s another criteria on which to consider the record of each member of the three amigos. How did they react at the time when another amigo behaved badly? Did they express sympathy for or empathize with the non-amigo victim? Did they criticize the fallen amigo, did they support, defend, or praise same, or did they stay silent/keep mum (following the eleventh commandment: thou shalt not speak ill of another amigo)? If not a candidate or officeholder at the time, are they on record with a private opinion, or can they be prevailed upon to express one now? If not, why not?
“They’ve held property taxes flat for three years despite massive contractual wage, pension and health benefit increases, which by the way were taxpayer giveaways by previous Managers and Councils.”
Unless I’m mistaken, the Amigos have only been in office long enough to have done this for two years. Does this poster have inside knowledge on something about to happen this year?
Add 1 more to the ever increasing list of misdeeds (and how could we forget this one): A sleazy attempt to shut down The Ridgewood Blog by claiming that “Anonymous Bloggers” are the primary source of uncivil behavior in our community.
4:30
Or how about this (on the same line) – maligning The Blog at Roger Wiegand’s memorial service? Even Albert’s best buddy was groaning when this happened.
How much integrity or civility did it take to show up ostensibly as a member of the public at the first “civility forum”, grab the public microphone, p**s all over the sunshine law by blatantly involving himself as the third of three Village Council members (a quorum of the Three Amigos) needed to trigger its provisions, and then later, generously forgive himself for helping to violate both the letter and the spirit of that critical state law?
Actual flat taxes, “No” votes against Valley expansion, cleaned up conflicts of interest that WERE occurring, presided over the discovery of the quarters theft being exposed, and so on. Communicating with Villager’s through open office hours and trying to be more accountable to local residents and businesses are also more transparent than the previous Mayor and VM. These are real things. Maybe the Council members should ask the Village attorney to investigate the retired cop at 11:07 who claims the previous Council tried to derail councilman Sedon’s candidacy? Further, only a member of the previous Council could say conflicts of interest that violated both the State Law and Village Code are “a personnel matter”. And asking Chief Ward about why he made job offers he was not allowed to make in public when its taxpayers who pay the salaries is completely for. Why sent two rookie “legacy” cops home without letting them start at the academy the very night before they were to begin their training? Because they shouldn’t have been made job offers without the RPD first discussing the offers with the Village and Council, who represent the taxpayers who pay the bills.
When you say retired cop 8:48 do you mean the one that retired form the police dept. and now works at the Village recycling center and happens to be a close personal friend of your buddy Big Al the Developers Friend.
I thought that the hiring of the two officers was investigated and it was found that there was no wrong doing by any of the parties involved. I guess you missed the memo or the meeting when they announced it 8:48. Oh and lets not forget how TRANSPARENT your friends are.
29 comments 8:48 and 8:26 you are the only one defending the 3 amigos. Speaks volumes on your mindset .
Employing a scorched earth strategy, are we, 8:48? Not terribly civil…
Does anyone remember the issue or issues former Councilwoman Walsh was raising that caused the Three Amigos, each in his or her own way, to attack her during one public meeting (during which she admirably held her own and did not even come close to losing her temper, despite deliberate attempts to bate her)? One ludicrously irrelevant side issue or stinkbomb the current Mayor bloodlessly set off as a diversionary tactic during that episode involved a direct accusation that Mrs. Walsh used her elected position on the VC to fix her own parking ticket, when in reality she had already paid the fine, and it was painfully clear to anyone paying the least bit of attention that she was only trying to follow up with the parking staff to assist them in removing their heads from their own posteriors and stop ticketing residents like her who had already purchased an annual parking permit.
Crikey–looking back, it is only too clear that life for any non-Amigo on the council in recent years was intentionally designed to be nasty, brutish, and as short as their mendacious oppressors could make it. What a motley crew.
If a broken (analog) clock is right twice a day, the Three Amigos can do the right thing, on occasion, and if it serves their collective interests.
Notice how none of the three ever bothers to deny that they are operating in league with each other? This is just another telltale sign of the kind of politically partisan behavior–including specific actions taken in concert in accordance with previously agreed-upon plans–that are not supposed to occur in non-partisan villages like Ridgewood that are organized under the Faulkner Act.
Is it that the Three Amigos despise our form of government, and wish nothing less that to bring about some kind of fundamental transformation? If so, this seems vaguely familiar, like some sort of deja vu…
33 comments from the same anti-Village Council person or person(s), incredible ! Clearly you have an axe to grind, which can only mean you are both former Council members, retired Village employees living on +$100K pensions, members of the discredited status quo, or all of the above. Nothing about the old status quo is admirable, that’s why you’re all gone.
Touche 8:45, you should know as current council member/current village employee/earning over $100k and soon you will be gone.
S.Frapz- Nice to see that other views are welcome- didnt know the blog was owned by people with a single viewpoint-
it’s time for the three of the council members and the manager to be ( OUT SORCE ) .
wow 100 grand that’s not big money into day’s pay. soon to be gone. the police and fire make more then that. so what you are saying they will be gone. yeah right.