misterpr1981, allow me to try and answer your question (I am assuming you were including me in your "Choir Preachers" group)
I fully admit that I have only had the opportunity to make it to a couple of Town Council meetings in the last year or two. It used to be that my main excuse was because I serve on another elected body in town which used to meet on the same night as the Town Council meetings (which I would hope shows some modicum of interest in our town beyond simple blogs on a website...but I can't decide that for you or anyone else).
Beyond that, I can only attribute my lack of attendance to work...though there was at least one meeting where I showed up only to be locked out of Boro Hall (no, not the meeting mentioned above my fiber, but another meeting where there was not even the courtesy of a sign posted on the door stating that the meeting had been canceled - several of us just stood outside like idiots until no one else showed up and we figured it was canceled)
Missed the meeting this month due to a training seminar (again with that other group that I am involved with here in town) and there is no workshop meeting scheduled. But I certainly plan on being at the meeting on the 5th.
And to answer your post on another thread, where you said
"You are the one that has an obsession with the mayor.", let me just say that if you consider my displeasure with a man who has been the mayor of our town for the last 20 years while the town has continued to slip to the state that it is currently in, if you consider that an obsession...sure, then I am obsessed with him. I am also then, by your definition, obsessed with a great deal of other people and topics in life, good, bad and neutral...but on this board, I choose to talk about the Mayor of Freehold Boro, since this site is supposed to be
about Freehold Boro.
I let my passion get the best of me from time to time...absolutely...but I have never been one who is (as again, you say in another of your posts)
"Pro-Republican, Anti-Democrat/Anti-Liberal/Anti-Gay/Anti-Minority"What I am is anti-ignorant, and that can come whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Liberal, Straight, Gay, White, Black, Brown, Yellow, Green or Purple.
One other note, you said above
"You say that the mayor and council don't respond, however, you don't give him the platform to respond to you." Do you think the mayor does not know the concerns of the legal citizens in this town? Take a look at this article...
newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2003/1029/Front_Page/001.html . That was from October 2003...4 years ago. Take note of the part towards the end where it says
"In a later interview with Wilson, the mayor said he understood the concerns of the community". He "understood" then, he understands now. By the way...you'll also note in the article that Mayor Wilson did not show up at that meeting...communication is a 2-way street.
Is it excusable for the Mayor to ignore us simply because we don't show up to a Town Council Meeting? By that logic, Trenton politicians should not worry about our concerns unless we show up to testify at public hearings, and the Federal Government shouldn't care about us unless we show up down in Washington. And to bring it back closer to home, perhaps the BOE shouldn't address what the parents think since it seems only the same few actually show up to BOE meetings.
And finally, do the illegal immigrants or Spanish speaking population show up at all of the meetings to address their concerns? If not, why does the Mayor feel it's necessary to write to the local Spanish newspaper with regularity? Why does he not simply wait for the readers of that periodical to show up at a meeting and express their concerns?
This website, in my opinion, is set up for an open discussion of ideas...but it is also set up as a place for people to vent about what they see happening to their town. Sometimes, this is the only place where people will listen.
I can tell you with absolute certainty and first hand knowledge that there is nothing more aggravating, and more disheartening than standing up before an elected body, airing your grievances, or asking your questions and having them essentially roll their eyes at you (and then hear backlash from others about how you are trying to damage relationships between the town and whatever group you may be a part of by simply asking those questions). I have seen it happen to others, I have had it happen to me. It is wrong, it is infuriating as a resident of this town, and it is disheartening when you realize that there is little hope of getting those people voted out of their offices.
