Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Community Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges council to act after alleged social‑media threats; attorney says council cannot 'police' social platforms
Summary
At the Oct. 16 meeting a resident said social‑media posts threatened Councilwoman Pellegreen and others; the borough attorney told the council policing social media is not the council’s role and recommended legal and police remedies instead.
During the public‑comment period at the Oct. 16 Elmwood Park Mayor and Council meeting, resident Gladys Kriskowitz asked why prior council resolutions addressing offensive social‑media posts were not enforced and said recent online posts included threats against Councilwoman Pellegreni and other residents.
"I wanna touch on resolution R29123... I'm bringing it up because it was brought up 2 weeks ago in the work session... there was a threat on social media that they were gonna throw poison on her shrubs," Gladys Kriskowitz said, identifying herself by name and a local address and urging the council to take action.
Borough counsel responded that the role of the mayor and council is not to police social media and that First Amendment protections limit direct council intervention. "My advice to the mayor and council is that it's not your role to police social media," the borough attorney said, noting that alleged criminal threats should be addressed through police and other legal avenues and that prior resolutions were acts of a prior governing body.
Council members acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations and described steps available to affected residents. Councilwoman (speaker 10) said she took the threat seriously, had photographs of the offending posts and had reported the matter; she said she was "digesting" next steps and was "still on high alert." Other councilmembers urged residents to use existing police and legal channels and to submit formal documentation if they wanted an official resolution from the current governing body.
The exchange did not result in a new formal resolution at the meeting. The attorney advised individual legal remedies and suggested the police had been made aware. The remarks highlight community concern about threatening online behavior, the limits of municipal authority on social platforms and the gap between earlier resolutions and current council practice.
