by: Diane Benjamin
3 very short clips from last night’s City Council meeting:
1) Renner sets the rules for Public Comment
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2) If Renner doesn’t like the public comment – he breaks the rules
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3) Renner has a woman REMOVED from the Council chamber
Some background:
- If a taxpayer has never attended a Council meeting, they are probably not sure how public comment works. Citizens have to locate the person in the back with comment cards, fill one out, and turn it in.
- Public Comment time was over when this lady came forward. She did not fill out a comment card or speak up when the other 2 citizens spoke.
- If she had asked to speak during the comment period, even without a card Renner could not have legally stopped her.
- Renner did legally ask her to sit down. On the video Renner is heard saying “you are not being arrested”. She was escorted somewhere by 2-3 police officers – according to people present.
- People outside the building did not see her leave.
If anybody knows her name, please let me know. I’d like to hear what she wanted to say. From her tone, Renner couldn’t remove her fast enough.
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I dont agree with Renner on much nor do i like him. He was correct with the lady in this case. you cant just have citizens just interrupting the meeting anytime they want. BUT he should have been nicer to her.
Exactly. There’s a time and place for public comment and this was not it. While I understand the point being made about rules of engagement, I feel the mayor took appropriate action in this case. People have got to learn how to frame their arguments and present their case. We can’t just get up and speak whenever we want.