BOONTON — Drawn in brightly-colored chalk, and words of support lined the sidewalks along Main Street this week. The displays were a rebuke to the town’s council after it amended an existing ordinance in order to restrict the types of flags that can fly above Town Hall, a move that some saw as an affront to the town’s growing and active .
Multicolored signs have also sprouted on lawns and other spots around town since the amended ordinance was approved April 15 by a new Republican mayor and GOP majority. The council banned the flying of any flags on municipal land other than those representing the U.S., New Jersey, Morris County, the town or the military. That reversed a policy adopted by a previous council last year.
“We are saddened and disappointed that certain members of the town council have turned this into a point of contention − a false narrative of conflict − within the town,” the organization posted online after the vote. “It feels like they placated the concerned citizens who showed up last year and now that people aren’t paying as much attention, they’re changing the rules.”
The council’s 6-3 vote authorized revisions to the ordinance passed by outgoing Democratic mayor Richard Corcoran and a bipartisan council last year. That measure allowed groups to apply for permission to fly their banners on town flagpoles.
Republican Mayor James Lynch, who succeeded Corcoran, declined to comment for this story, instead urging people to read the ordinance. Lynch and the five GOP council members who voted for the amendment did not speak to the topic prior to the April 15 vote.
Some residents did speak in favor of it, however, at meetings leading up the decision. Supporters said allowing private groups to raise their own flags would lead to more division in town.
Boonton flag policy ‘a Pandora’s box’
“Some people put up Irish flags, Italian, the Jets, the Giants,” said 87-year-old resident and military veteran Anthony Scozzafava. “But you’re going to open a Pandora’s box. People are going to come in and want to put up a flag up there and a lot of people in town won’t like that flag there. So I think the best thing is the American flag only, and what you do on your property is your business. It’s not meant to be a Hatfield and McCoy thing.”
The flag ordinance adopted by the town last year specified town flagpoles would be open only to causes recognized by presidential proclamation or “observation,” as has been under the last White Houses. Boonton’s 14-page ordinance also directed that any such flags would fly below the authorized U.S. and POW/MIA flags.
Rainbow Pride symbols on display in downtown Boonton. The signs have proliferated since a town council vote that critics saw as targeting the Pride flag.
The rule was adopted after years of debate over allowing the Pride flag on town property. Last year’s council also cleared Boonton Rainbow Pride to fly the banner at Grace Lord Park for the organization’s annual Pride festival. The all-day event will be held again this June 15.
This year, Boonton Rainbow Pride has been the only flag applicant to date. It appears to be the target of the new council’s amendment, group members said.
“The original flag ordinance’s process called for a conversation and questions, but when the people in power won’t have a conversation, this is where we end up,” Boonton Rainbow Pride co-presidents Linda Hogoboom and Lindsey Weisman said in a statement.
Town flagpoles not ‘a forum for free expression’
The revisions to the flag ordinance list the allowable government and military flags. “Town-owned flag poles are not intended to serve as a forum for free expression by the public and are for official purposes set forth herein,” the amendment states.
The council, however, also voted to create a temporary display ordinance committee to address related community concerns and instructed it to formulate policies to accommodate groups wishing to fly a flag at the park. Two Democratic members of the council who have previously supported pro-LGBTQ initiatives, Marie DeVenezia and Jacob Hettrich, were appointed to that three-person committee.
Earlier:
At the April 15 meeting, DeVenezia said her own child had been bullied in school by other students who merely thought that child was gay. The bullying led to a suicide attempt, she said.
“Visibility matters,” she said. “I’m not the only one who has experienced this and I think we need to recognize it, see it, for the toxic behavior it is.”
Council member Ben Weisman also noted that at the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian flags were quickly flown over neighboring town halls as well as at Morris County government buildings, with approval from the all-Republican county commissioner board.
“I heard no arguments, quite the opposite,” Weisman said at the meeting. “So let’s not pretend what this flag ordinance is about.”
Supporters back flag limits
But several residents spoke in favor of the amended flag policy during public meetings, including an April 1 council session where the ordinance was first introduced. It passed that first reading by a 6-3 vote along party lines.
“It just seems like me you’re getting into the weeds of who you chose,” said resident Richard Bubnick. “Would it be a popular group, a negative group, the Confederate flag? Mickey Mouse? It just gets very difficult.”
“It’s only the American flag, Nothing else is needed to show unity here in Boonton,” added another backer, Maria Zeidel.
Jose and Jackie Martinez, owners of Chilli Willie’s Mexican Restaurant on Main Street, expressed their support for the LGBTQ+ community after the vote.
Debate continues on Main Street
On Tuesday, residents and business owners on Main Street Boonton were still discussing the issue.
Longtime resident Laurie Harden spoke out while taking an art class at the Speakeasy Art Gallery.
“People should be able to express themselves,” she said, “We have a wonderful gay community in this town and they’ve done a lot to beautify the town and homes in the area. Why can’t we all support them and say ‘Yes, we’re behind you?'”
Government leaders, she said, “could be a little more open to the wants and needs of the community.”
“But they make the rules, I guess,” Harden said. “They are going backwards. In so many issues, we are going backwards.
Jackie Martinez, who has owned the popular Chili Willie’s restaurant with her husband, Jose, for 35 years, said she welcomes an LGTBQ+ community that she estimates makes up 75% of her clientele.
“A lot of those people have supported us for a long time,” Jackie said. “No matter who, we are all equal. I believe in treating everyone like you want to be treated. That’s my rule.”
Her husband said he tries to make everyone feel welcome in an increasingly “broken” world. “We’re pretty broken in many ways − races, religions,” he said. “I don’t want to break it anymore.”
Mildred Concha of Heavenly Juicin’ looks at a chalk drawing that she said was partially washed away by someone attempting to erase it. It was redrawn with a defiant
One of Boonton’s newest business owners, Mildred Concha, said rainbow chalk on the sidewalk outside her Heavenly Juicin’ establishment on Cornelia Street was smeared with water in an attempt to erase it. On Tuesday, the restored markings there included a defiant message: “Still here!”
“People should be allowed to be who they are,” Concha said “We have to support everyone.”
Cornelia Street resident Colleen Cooke agreed while sipping her regular order at Heavenly Juicin’, a “Starlight” blend of fresh apple, pineapple and orange juice with extra ginger.
“It’s not an LGBTQ issue, it’s a neighbor issue,” Cooke said. “We should be supporting our neighbors in every nonviolent, friendly, loving act that they do. I think that’s part of the reason why people come to Boonton. So to make anyone feel unsafe, unwelcome or uncomfortable is the opposite of all of Boonton.”
