Monday, October 23, 2006

BLOG ABOUT THE BLOG

Today I received a few e mails from residents who have been critical of me in the past expressing concern about the continued operation of this blog. I have been advised that they are encouraging Town Board members to take action steps to limit my ability to post advisories on the bottom of my e mails about the blog. This is unfortunate. If this blog is going to be successful we need to encourage lots of people to participate -to join the dialogue and discussion of town issues.
This blog represents democracy at its best -- We're encouraging citizen participation. We're encouraging dialogue. We're exchanging ideas. If people give us their name that is great. If they prefer to be anonymous that's fine too. Some comments made on the blog are funny. Other comments are angry. We've received good suggestions from citizen bloggers. My supporters are welcome to use the blog. People who wouldn't vote for me for dog catcher are encouraged to post blog comments on this site.
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THE BLOG POSTS ARE THE PERSONAL VIEWS OF THOSE WHO POST THE BLOGS AND NOT THOSE OF THE TOWN GOVERNMENT, TOWN EMPLOYEES, ELECTED TOWN OFFICIALS (OTHER THAN MYSELF).
It's my hope that the members of the Town Board will welcome the blog and participate in it. We should take every step possible to make Greenburgh the most open government in the nation.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

The blog provides me and my neighbors with a chance to speak out. We don't want to lose this!

Anonymous said...

I like the blog because I get the feeling that elected officials read it. I feel my voice may count.

Anonymous said...

As long as anyone can post and people are free to do so without having to reveal their names, I think this is a productive outlet for allowing residents to discuss what is on their minds.

Anonymous said...

Dear Paul and Mark:

My name is Hal Samis and I am a blogger.
I love this blog (obviously)!!!
However in case making comments really gets out of hand, is there a 12 step program?

Anonymous said...

mr samis
You may need a 13 step program due to the gravity of your condition.

Anonymous said...

ALSO TRY BLOGGERS ANONYMOUS. IT WORKED FOR ME.

Anonymous said...

Dear Cured,

It is 12:25 PM. Do you know where you are?

Anonymous said...

At a meeting. Where were you?

Anonymous said...

Dear Cured:

You are blogging which was the point.

Anonymous said...

Thats why I was in a meeting. When will you be joining us?

Anonymous said...

There's been many posts about the lack of crediblity from ANONYMOUS blogs. While I fully agree that you should not have to reveal your actual name (and we all know that the comments would be very different if people had to identify themselves), bloggers SHOULD have an identity.

Everyone should be required to register and have some sort of id (it could be "Fed Up with Greenburgh" or "I love Paul" , etc.

What's important is that every post have some id attached to it. We need to know if we are repsponding to one post or many.

Kudos to the folks have the courage to use their own names. I appreciate you're willing to stand behind your words. At the same time, nothing against the others that prefer their anonymity....

Anonymous said...

So, Anon at 1:03 - why didn't you sign yours?

You know, I really don't get why it is perceived as courageous to sign your name to a post here. Who and what are people afraid of? I am certain that some of the people posting comments have no problem standing up at a meeting in Town Hall, which is televised by the way, and showing their faces and stating their names. Apparently they are not too afraid to do that.

Having slogged through just about all of the comments on this blogsite, I have to ask: are we witnessing a few people posting a lot of comments anonymously, to make it appear that their opinions have support?

People should sign their posts, either by registering, or by using the "other" feature, or by just typing in their names at the end of a comment. It will make it easier to respond to one another, and more importantly will make people accountable for their words. Can some anonymous poster please explain to me why he won't? Is there some reason I should feel courageous?

Tina Vozick

Anonymous said...

My suggestion is that we vote in a town board that can work together to make our town a better place.

From what I've been hearing and seeing over the past several months, it seems there is a lot of anymosity between the members of the Town Board. It makes me ponder what there true motives are.

It's dissapointing that people express "concern" over this. It's one of the few ways to express your concerns to the town officials, and more specifically, Supervisor. I tried to go to a Town Council meeting once, and it was ridiculous the limitations they put on you there and some of the craziness that goes on. It feels more like a fight-fest then a meeting. I don't have the time to sit through that only to be able to speak for two minutes, so this blog hopefully will allow me to express some of my concerns over the destruction of the community of Greenburgh.

I guess some on the Town Council don't want citizens to be heard, as obvious by many different actions they have taken, and I for one will remember that at election time.