GARWOOD — During Thursday night’s mayor and council meeting, Mayor Jen Blumenstock took some time within her mayor’s report to address recent discourse among local Garwood Facebook groups — an issue Mayor Blumenstock feels she has been “screaming into the void” about.
“It’s very easy to ruin someone’s livelihood by posting something on Facebook, especially without knowing all of the facts,” said Mayor Blumenstock. “ If there is something going on in the borough that you want to see addressed, or want to know how we’re addressing it, I ask you to come to me or the borough administrator to discuss it rather than going on the attack online.”
Councilman Sean Foley also addressed his concerns with the online groups, stating that these groups are not formed to resolve issues within Garwood but for combat and conflict.
“There’s a big saying I have: empty barrels make the most noise, and I think it’s imperative where we look to not focus on the issues in the digital frame but face to face,” he said. “Nothing gets resolved there, and shaming and having online harassment about people does not resolve it; if anything, it only exacerbates the conflict.”
During his report, Council President Vincent Kearney also expressed concerns about the groups having Garwood in their names. Councilman Kearney stated that although he understands most people will not believe these social-media groups are official borough pages, he still urged residents who partake in the discourse to proceed with caution, as what is said online can reflect poorly on the outlook of the borough of Garwood and any accusations made can easily spill over into the real world and affect the lives of those targeted.
“We absolutely need the ability to come together and discuss, but I do not believe the best way to do that is behind a keyboard,” he said. “Going forward, I urge everyone to engage respectfully and responsibly and, most importantly, with all the facts.”
During public comment, resident Bruce Paterson addressed the governing body, arguing that the mayor and council should welcome the online discussion amongst Garwood residents. Mr. Paterson, who stated that he is an administrator of one of the Facebook groups, feels these discussions online are a necessity as it allows residents to have public scrutiny of what is going on around the borough.
“The odd thing is, none of you really belong to it, but you know all about it. You know you’re welcome to join,” Mr. Paterson added during his defense of the discussions happening on social media.
Although Councilman Marc Lazarow agreed that public scrutiny is essential for the governing body to understand what residents are having issues with, he also stressed that residents need to think of the morale of the employees and volunteers of the borough they are publicly scrutinizing in these online groups.
“If we highlight every single thing that happens, we’re destroying the morale of those individuals, and for what purpose? What are we doing by just doing that?” he questioned.
