Well now, your attitude while speaking at the lectern in front of the city commission must be more reserved and respectful. You will be able to say essentially the same things if you speak softly. I have never heard anyone use profanity while addressing the Dais unless it was James Addison when he said "shit" when referring to the finished CRA product on 6th Avenue South for $5.8 million. I am surprised that he didn't expand the expletive.
The other two occasions were when a former city commissioner, Bo Allen, spoke when Mark Drautz was Mayor. He was just plain UGLY as well as very threatening and the other was when socialist Ana Rodriguez stormed the lectern calling Commissioner Maxwell a racist and every ugly threatening word in the book. Those two were the scariest and the most repulsive in my memory. These situations are extremely rare.
So, I don't really understand why this was passed last night on a 4/0 vote (Commissioner Maxwell was in Washington, DC spending taxpayer money at The League of Cities Conference, the group that shows cities how to sue its citizens) unless it is the fact that the commission just plain does not want to hear ANYTHING that conflicts with their thinking or they just do what they are told to do by the city manager. They don't want any negative remarks directed to them personally. It is difficult to take sometimes when people don't see or understand your point. That happens to all of us at times. It can be frustrating and not all of us can sound off and write blogs. Speaking at the dais is sometimes the only way to get a face-to-face meeting.
We now have to be careful in the way in which we speak; our comments are NOT even in the Minutes because the City Clerk just does not have the time anymore; and, are you ready for this?????????... A good source told me that the city now has installed security cameras filming us as we enter the building and while we are speaking in front of the Commission. The City didn't get its way on red-light cameras at intersections so I guess this is the next best thing without the revenue, only an expense.
BIG SISTER is not only limiting our free speech but watching our every move.
So, we will now be more "civil" and that, of course, will still be subjective. No one really knows what "fighting" words mean. One example is the following court case--
Chaplinsky, a Jehovah's Witness, had purportedly told a New Hampshire town marshal who was attempting to prevent him from preaching "You are a God-damned racketeer" and "a damned fascist and was arrested. The court upheld the arrest. Now I am not sure if it was the use of the word "damn" or calling someone a racketeer or a Fascist. (Source--Wikipedia)
You can still burn the U.S. Flag, however. Which is more offensive? The public stating its beliefs and being animated from time to time or burning the U.S. flag? I think we know the answer.
12 comments:
Does the use of security cameras really deter certain people from getting boisterous at meetings? Should the people be told that they are on a camera? Why was this not told to us and who authorized it? Once again, this is something that did not come before the commission and Staff did it anyway. This is becoming very common.
I seem to remember about 8-10 months ago that a group of citizens were very vocal about getting rid of the city manager because it was apparent she was in over her head.
There was also a group of citizens that felt she was the "best city manager ever" and should not be fired.
It now appears the group that wanted her fired is right.
I forget which side were you and your friends on?
Because not only is Stanton grossly incompetent she's giving the finger to all the tax payers in the city.
I can well understand the value of security cameras particularly if your life has been threatened and/or we have residents hanging around our parking lot at city hall late at night.
As we do not know the circumstances as to the whys of installing these cameras, it is impossible to agree or disagree with this decision.
I would have liked to have heard all the rationale for it--and the expense for it.
We do have security cameras. They might be in different location given the office reconfiguration but, no, there is no camera in the Chambers. No truth to the rumor…
SUSAN STANTON
Hey! Lets invite Channel 20 to come and record a Council Meeting! Then we can really be on camera :-)
The Susan Stanton comment above was received by me in an e-mail. I just heard from Commissioner Mulvehill--She says that apparently during the Mojitos law suit, the bar that wanted to be a nightclub and not just a bar, Dennis Koehler, their attorney, demanded that the City provide tapes at City Hall. Why I don't know. So security cameras were installed and have been there for awhile.
The four TV screens, approx 13" in the reception area, had a camera picture of the Chamber, the conference room, the entry way to the City Hall and the entry way to the city mgr's and attorney's offices. That's what we thought we saw. We also saw a camera on the north side of the building in the parking lot. We can't prove what we thought that we saw. We did see 4 monitors to view something. Perhaps we were delusional.
Another thing to remember, image locations can be changed to focus on other areas.
To the commenter above, "the best city manager ever" and "the best city commission ever" has all been taken out of context to suit your agenda and your on-going bull shit here. And frankly, I am sick of you coming over here posting.
Susan Stanton has tackled, head-on, one of the most difficult jobs in the city. Trying to turn around this mess has not been easy and it is on-going 15 hours a day. Her devotion to the city and to her job is commendable. Her plan for reducing the Union pension benefits is admirable. She has taken on a tough group with deep pockets. She is very knowledgeable and certainly knows how to get her way.
So, no, I don't know that you are right at all. You want her fired because Jennings and now McVoy, Golden and Mulvehill like her. Give me examples of her incompetence. She is doing her job plus some.
Anyone burning the flag should be in jail. I have no use for these people. As far as speaking to the commission, there is a respectful way to say something. Instead of saying, you are an idiot you say, I really don't agree with you and give them the reason why. Not much fun that way.
Stanton is lying.Views of the main meeting Chamber proceedings are live, on the monitors.People can sit at what used to be the info desk and watch what is going on in the camber ,live.Stanton can now spy on whoever she wants to . Are these cameras in the Commissioners offices? Would they even know about it if they were? Who authorized this? How much did and does this system cost us? Are there tapes? Any notice to the public that surveillance cameras are in use?I'm sure our bubble brained Commissioners don't know about this system and/or have been lied to about what it actually does.How paranoid is Big Sis Stanton?Is she in the process of digging herself a bunker under city hall? Who in the hell would know or question her about it if she really were ?!?
Where is uncivil Scott to set this commission straight?
From reading all of this it sounds almost like maybe someone has threatened her life and they feel they need to do it for safety reasons. Cameras are everywhere now, I saw a show about how in London they have thousands of cameras throughout the city that can actually follow anyones moves all throughout the city, whether on the metro or walking down a street. They are coming I am sure, they do have benefits, but can also make one feel uncomfortable, maybe some might not want to go to CH any more. The way Stanton treats a lot of the public, I wouldn't be surprised if maybe someone has threatened her. She has turned a lot of people off with her bizarre ways. It all makes you wonder.
I think I can finally say that no matter what side of the political arena you may be on we can agree that most of us feel that the commission has allowed Stanton to take control of the the ship and they are all out to lunch while big decisions are made out of the sunshine. The city is in a financial crisis and the commissioners are taking a back seat to what's going on. This is a time when each of them should be demanding a full accounting of every dollar that is coming in and every dollar that is going out. Instead they spend their time working on rules of conduct, dog laws and more junk like that. I can honestly say that Scott is the only one demanding answers and he is getting nothing from Stanton. All we can do is vote out Golden in November and elect a mayor with balls.
Scott should take an even stronger approach but not be a bully about it. He should also follow by example and refuse to take taxpayer money on a trip to Washington DC. This was certainly unimportant in the scheme of things, budgeted or not. We either have a $4.5 mil shortfall coming up or we are sitting pretty. Which is it? Let's not have hypocrisy here.
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