No, the new and much more damaging development is the trend of non-amigo dissenters being so blatantly and systematically personally misused and marginalized. More and more often, we find, that when an important issue or potential policy or statutory change is beginning to be considered by the Village Council, non-Amigo VC members are being intentionally kept out of the loop during substantive face-to-face meetings, telephone calls and email exchanges during which important village business is being discussed. Many of these events involve one or two Amigos, thereby representing a violation of the spirit, if not also the letter, of the Sunshine Law but some represent clear violations because they involve all three Amigos.
For example, former Councilwoman Walsh was CONSTANTLY being kept completely in the dark by all three Amigos during the run up to contemplated policy or statutory changes (as was Councilman Riche, BTW). In fact, this is the very issue she was complaining about, on the record at a public VC meeting, when the current Mayor, apparently feeling the heat and wishing to lash out and intimidate his recalcitrant colleague, accused her, without any basis in the facts or the law, of using the influence of her position on the VC to try to fix her own parking ticket. This is classic uncivil mud slinging.
Another example of this corrosive and damaging behavior is when the two Amigos were enthusiastically participating in their official capacity in the first ‘civility forum’, thinking they were in the clear, and the third Amigo unexpectedly showed up and used the public microphone to officiously advance the Amigo agenda, thereby pushing the meeting, already arguably covered by the Public Meetings Act (Sunshine Law), very clearly into that category. This shows contempt for the law. More distinctly uncivil behavior.
A third example, very recent, is when a typical up-to-no-good Amigo seemingly intentionally and deviously misled Councilwoman Knudsen into believing she needed to recuse herself from a VC work session relating to proposed changes to a law relating to village hiring practices because of her relationship to two pending local job applicants when the law required no such thing. Only after the meeting took place and Ms. Knudsen read the transcript did she determine the very wrong turn done to her by her VC colleague. Where does this behavior fall on the civility scale?
of course, the practice of figuratively knee-capping non-Amigos is not necessarily restricted to attacks on current VC colleages. This is a reality to which current Councilman Sedon can attest, having been forced to choose between his job as a reporter at a Staten Island newspaper and his continued candidacy for a seat on the Village council after an as-yet-unnamed individual apparently maliciously reached out to the editor and suggested that an unavoidable conflict of interest existed (hmm…seems like a pattern…). Can anyone think of something more uncivil than this, short of unjustified physical violence?
These developments constitute real damage because they suggest that anyone who, for whatever reason, opposes or threatens to oppose any current or future Three Amigos policy position or priority, will pay a heavy and a very personal price for their unauthorized dissent. Good potential VC candidates are presumably also intelligent and reasonably savvy and could very well be intimidated into refraining for throwing their hat into the ring in the first place. Moreover, effective, honest, well-meaning and therefore objectivey valuable current VC members are understandably caused by such behavior to re-think their continued participation in local government, meaning that they might not seek re-election when their term as Council member expires.
Surely this qualifies as “real damage.”
So I ask you, What’s in your conscience?
Everything is fine we have a flat property tax for the last two years. I don’t care about any thing else.
Ha! Good one, 8:09. Don’t forget to /s!
Are there any facts in this post? Any proof to these slanderous claims? These are explosive accusations made behind anonymous postings, without any fact, proof or substance. It’s all just conjecture, and frankly looks like somneone is posting information from “closed door” sessions, which suggest the poster is a former Council member. How do you know Walsh was kept in the dark? Are you Walsh ? If you care to make accusations like these, name names, Otherwise stop slandering people without any evidence to back your claims.
Hey 8:09, average annual Village Municipal % tax increases of 4.3% per year from 2005 to 2011 created REAL damage. That compared with inflation under 2% a year over that period and coincided with one of the worst recessions in history. Given the base effect, we now have amongst the highest property taxes in the entire United States. For what? To protect us from gang violence and violent crime perpetrated by Verizon and PSE&G workers? The theft of $850,000 in parking meter quarters over that period? All of that annual increase in taxes went to pay for higher and higher public safety wages, pension and healthcare benefits that are unsustainable, and debt servicing. Those items have all grown so fast as of percentage of the total budget, that we actually had to fire 10% of the Village workforce in 2010 just to keep up with the growth in those contractual fixed costs. That means we fired Sanitation, DPW and Parks & Rec employees, the people who plow the snow, clean up the leaves and Christmas trees, remove the garbage and maintain Graydon, Village parks and shade trees. Understand the facts before showing your ignorance please.
9:58 you seem to very knowledgeable in Village finances you must be one of the Mayors hand picked financial advisory committee or a former member . The elite of Ridgewood who make million on Wall St.then complain about taxes.
If you make a million on Wall Street why would you live in Ridgewood ?
You’re only embarrassing yourself now, 9:38am. You should take your own advice and refrain from casting aspersions, grasping at straws, and engaging in such fruitless bluster.
Hey 10:42, you seem to be complaining about flat tax growth and slandering anyone who would dare to “complain about taxes”, taxes which we know are amongst the highest in the entire US. Why is that? You must one of those municipal pensioners who draws a +$100K pension with free healthcare after your “special retirement” at age 52. The elite 1% among state & local pensioners who complains about those of us who want to reduce our tax bills which fund your free health care and benefits, then goes and votes Democrat to keep your gravy train rolling.
9:38-
Clearly this job is getting to be too much for you. We all love that .you read the blog and post on it. Your pompous self-righteous tone identifies you 100%. We look forward to watching you blow up on the dais, it is only a matter of time now. Must-see TV.
Probable the former member of the team that complain about Ridgewood Police and Fire but in the mean time he is an investor for Police,Fire and Teachers union pension somewhere in thew midwest and collect is commission.
The Mayor and his team have a major credibility problem. Regardless of whatever accomplishments they tout from now until the next election, they cannot escape their past and ongoing mishandling of Village matters. They are arrogant and vindictive and even when they try to hold laughable forums on civility, they inadvertently violate the Sunshine Laws. They’ve been caught in secret meetings developers, they have been caught accepting free tickets to fundraisers, they have publicly humiliated both their political adversaries and any resident that has dared to voice a contrary opinion. None of them has the guts to address any of these particular issues publicly yet they all seem to post here anonymously to advance their personal agendas to try to defend the indefensible.
It’s unfortunate that our town’s elected leadership acts the way these 3 have. At this point, anything that any of them proposes should rightfully be looked at skeptically as none them can be taken at their word. Both individually and as a trio, this group bas failed miserably at gaining the public trust.
this is some crew. one big bull shit story. it’s time to out source them now. al love’s saying out source , well he will be living it.
Outsource and drill down. I think we can all agree on that