It has been 18 years and 36 days since the city’s pledge to build the West Branch Library.
February 11, 2016 will be the third anniversary of my blog. In these three years I have published 528 posts, received 2,261 comments and have had over 315,000 readers. It is linked with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Path and Google+. These numbers are probably modest in the world of blogging but lately daily views are consistently in the 600 range and there are occasional days of 2,000+ reads.
I am proud of what I have accomplished. Having been a councilmember in Glendale for 16 years I have special insights into the goings-on at city hall coupled with many sources of fact as well as those offering pure speculation. There is no doubt, after 3 years, my position on a wide variety of Glendale issues is well known. I make no apologies for my positions on the issues important to you, residents of Glendale. I, as happens to anyone advancing an opinion, have developed a cadre of, shall we call them disenchanted… but you know what? That’s OK. At least they are reading my blog.
On January 21, 2016 I was surprised to read a Glendale Star editorial by Carolyn Dryer commenting on my blog. Here is the link: http://www.glendalestar.com/opinion/article_bb8b7eb2-c049-11e5-828c-5faf9edb2a8f.html . Ms. Dryer is correct in her assertion that I have blasted her, for I most certainly have. However, she said the following, “There’s a former councilmember who has her own blog. I’ll say her name: Joyce Clark. While I do not always agree with her, I have to give her credit for at least putting her name on her blog. You know who is writing the opinions. She is not afraid to put her name on it. And she has blasted me for articles I have written. But the difference between her and others who spew their opinions across the web is she is upfront, honest, and puts her name to whatever she writes.”
Ms. Dryer also made reference to a site that has concerned me for quite some time. It’s called the Glendale Guardian. It says it is, “Citizens oriented, fact-based, and community driven awareness network that works to ensure that our Citizens priorities our put first.” Sounds great, doesn’t it? The English used isn’t the best but the objective is to make you think it’s a well meaning, benevolent site. That is far from the fact. Its articles are selective and extremely biased. There is an agenda and it’s not hard to figure it out.
That would be perfectly OK if we knew who was behind the site but we don’t. It isn’t Sam Smith or John Jones because no one has the guts to acknowledge that he or she runs the site. Or as Ms. Dryer stated in reference to this very same site, “To those other anonymous “guardians” of the City of Glendale, you could take some honest lessons from people like Joyce Clark. If you want people to respect you, own up to your words. Do not hide behind the curtain of the Internet. Try putting your honesty to the real test. Let people know who you really are.”
Glendale Guardian administrator(s) have you no pride or respect for yourself or your site? What are you afraid of…the truth?
© Joyce Clark, 2016
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After reading Ms. Dryer’s and Joyce’s comments on Glendale Guardian, I was expecting to see a firing breathing, anti everything blog written anonymously by a radical kook. It is anonymously written but it isn’t bad at all. It does appear to favor the casino (sorry Joyce) and Sherwood (are they nuts?) but overall it isn’t that bad. Anonymous writings don’t matter to me as long as the writings get you thinking and responding.
PJ, I still believe it is important to know who is doing the writing. For instance, what if it is the Glendale fire union? They have an agenda. If you know that, you know how much credence to give to the writing.
Could it be Aldama’s dear union friend that helped him get elected?
I am reminded of the anonymous writing of “The Federalist” in the late 1780’s. The authors Hamilton, Madison and Jay wrote under the pen name “Publius”. It was controversial indeed. President Washington kept the secret until Henry Know spilled the beans. The fire unions will get there propaganda out one way or another. They are a clever and biased bunch.
Knox not Know. Darned spell corrector!
I read Carolyn Dryer’s editorial and I agree completely with the position that people should have the fortitude to put their name on their opinions. It is very similar to the current debate over “dark money’ in election campaigns, which should be exposed to the sunlight also,