HOWELL — Mayor Bill Gotto has taken aim at individuals who recently posted what he called “disgusting” comments on some social media websites.
The mayor addressed the issue at a recent meeting of the Howell Township Council and said that in some cases, the situation has gotten out of hand.
“This has been a tough couple of weeks in Howell. I think that as elected officials it is our responsibility every day to handle tough issues. I’m not afraid of doing that, but some of the stuff I see, that has been going on in this town over the past two weeks, I wish I didn’t have to bring it up, but it has been disgusting to me.
“It has to do with some current topics that are going on with affordable housing issues … I get that, but what I don’t get is as a community, the level of discourse that has arisen in a very short period of time with some absolutely disgusting, anti-Semitic, racial, class-separating comments that I have seen by so many residents in this town, predominantly on social media,” Gotto said.
He said some website administrators have no interest in doing good things for Howell.
“People can say whatever they want on social media. Well, you know what? You should not be allowed to … It’s not just a small group of people that are doing it anymore, it’s a growing number of people,” the mayor said.
He asked residents to contact him if they have questions about an issue in the community.
“Call me. We are probably the most accessible people you are ever going to see in public office. I think that is part of my job. … If there is something you think is going on that you don’t like, pick up the phone and call me,” Gotto said.
“Don’t just post something on social media and think that 20 of your friends are going to hit the ‘like’ button and all of a sudden you think you know more than anybody else does because you are not correct. That is very damaging to our town. It is damaging to us. We are not the enemies here.
“So from now until the last day I am serving as an elected official, when I see things that are being posted on social media that are factually incorrect, we are going to sit here for 10 minutes and I am going to go through every one of them and tell you what is going on in this town,” the mayor said.
Gotto addressed the claim made by some people that Howell “is for sale.”
“Everybody thinks there are thousands of projects going on out there and it is simply not true,” he said.
The mayor said there two projects in town that are participating in a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program: the Howell Family Apartments on West Farms Road and Akabe Village on Wykoff Mills Road.
A PILOT program allows the property owner to pay a set amount to the township each year in lieu of paying property taxes that would be based on the assessed value of the property in a given year.
Gotto said the council is considering putting out a request for proposals for the possible development of affordable housing (about 60 apartments) on land owned by the township at Estelle Lane and Route 9.
“Those are the only three projects that are geared specifically toward (affordable housing),” Gotto said. “So all of these fears everybody has, that everybody thinks we are selling out the town or that we are allowing in all these groups of undesirable people, well, I don’t know how we are going to let all these undesirable people in when we are only talking about 160 units of housing. Those are the facts.
“I really hope the people who want to post on social media, I hope tomorrow morning when I check that page, I hope you post this, too, and really start to educate people instead of scaring people, because the garbage that has been coming off that website for the past two weeks has been disgusting for this municipality and I am embarrassed for it,” the mayor said.
Gotto and the council released a letter to the public in which the issues the mayor touched on during the Nov. 9 meeting were reiterated.
“In order to set the record straight and build a culture where our residents, business owners and constituents feel they have the ability to make a difference, we encourage everyone to attend local council, planning board and zoning board meetings, to write or call your state and local elected officials and administration with questions you have before you make a decision to say something that is incorrect or reach a conclusion not based in fact. As a society, we should settle for nothing less than the truth,” the letter stated.