June 15,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ,a reader challenged us on the recent blog article , “There was much ADO about the Pride Flag in Ridgewood “,https://theridgewoodblog.net/there-was-much-ado-about-the-pride-flag-in-ridgewood/ .
“I’m happy Ridgewood chose to fly the flag, but the basis of your article was not about the flag or why it is so important to so many, and how it might be a teaching opportunity about equality, fairness and just ‘not being an asshole’ tearing down another to raise yourself up. The point of your article appears to be that Ridgewood is great and Glen Rock is not. Kind of an asshole article, tearing down one town that has no dog in the Ridgewood debate, to attempt to elevate Ridgewood.”
Unfortunately there were a lot of ugly politics at play. The pride flag was being used as an attempt to undermine the Village of Ridgewood’s Mayor Susan Knudsen and several sitting council members. A group looking to put the previous council back in place used the pride flag to pressure the Ridgewood Village council by saying, look how great Glen Rock is ,they are wonderful and you are just a bunch of ignorant bigots .
I love Glen Rock, especially the arboretum.
If they mayor looked bad then she did it all herself by being so reluctant to address the issue when Glen Rock did right away. CRAB had no involvement in any of that.
This is what happens when the mayor and council fold like a cheap suit to the bullying Gay Lobby.
Only 15 days left.
Seriously? Jan Philips and Jeff Voigt went out of their way to discredit Mayor Knudsen and misrepresent her as a bigoted b%*ch while comparing her to Glen Rock and holding Glen Rock up as the best place ever. And then it turns out that Mayor Knudsen did a fine job of honoring Pride Month. Go Mayor Knudsen. Jeff Voigt, resign, now.
The outcome was exactly as you intended. We, the residents of this fine and decent borough, forgive you anyway. Do not do it again. ?
This is a non-apology. The only way it would be acceptable is to say the whole article sucked. Yes it’s a blog, which means it’s not news, it’s opinion. But to speak for Jan (who is a woman btw, someone said “he”), and her intentions toward the mayor and council is completely out of line. However the mayor & council looked was of their own making. I believe legalities and opening the door to hate groups and such wanting to fly flags was given as a reason against. Clearly legalities of that nature haven’t been a problem in any other town that’s been flying the flag past or present. Their wishy-washy uneducated response was a problem – not Jan, the guy from the Record, or CRAB. It’s nice that you want to apologize to Glen Rock for writing a genitalia mesuring piece about the towns but your apology falls flat until you take the disdain and disgust out of your writing and your read
This is a non-apology. The only way it would be acceptable is to say the whole article sucked. Yes it’s a blog, which means it’s not news, it’s opinion. But to speak for Jan (who is a woman btw, someone said “he”), and her intentions toward the mayor and council is completely out of line. However the mayor & council looked was of their own making. I believe legalities and opening the door to hate groups and such wanting to fly flags was given as a reason against. Clearly legalities of that nature haven’t been a problem in any other town that’s been flying the flag past or present. Their wishy-washy uneducated response was a problem – not Jan, the guy from the Record, or CRAB. It’s nice that you want to apologize to Glen Rock for writing a genitalia mesuring piece about the towns but your apology falls flat until you take the disdain and disgust for people & groups who are different from what Ridgewood is used to, out of your writing and your readers. In light of the spike in antisemitic acts perpetrated in Ridgewood this year, if you were really on the right side of history, you would be promoting inclusiveness vs divisiveness. So you can take your apology and “sodomize” yourself with it.
9:55 -> You can say whatever makes you feel better, but Jan did nothing to discredit the mayor. Try citing some factual information and then we can talk. Jan made a request and the mayor made herself look bad by ignoring it and hoping it would go away. IS that what Mayors are suppose to do? Ignore the requests of their citizens?
Ally, I 100% agree.
9:55 -> You can say whatever makes you feel better, but Jan did nothing to discredit the mayor. Try citing some factual information and then we can talk. Jan made a request and the mayor made herself look bad by ignoring it and hoping it would go away. IS that what Mayors are suppose to do? Ignore the requests of their citizens?