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Indybay Feature
Council Moves to Shut Down "Shame" Protest; Excludes Public; Jettisons Agenda
Every single speaker opposed the acquisition of a new armored police vehicle at the afternoon City Council meeting. When two speakers turned their backs on the Council, outgoing Mayor Robinson made arrest threats, further heightening the tension in the room. At one point the Council left the room, leaving the community to organize its own meeting. They shortly returned, quickly voted in the police vehicle, without giving a clear answers to questions about the deadline requirement, additional costs, and the potential for further militarizing the police force. Speakers began shouting "shame" from the floor. Police "escorted" one out; others raised the cry; police then cleared the chambers and the Council met (illegally) behind locked doors and drawn shades.
At the request of activist Steven Argue and others, Micah Posner pulled item #13 "2015 Homeland Security Grant Funding - Budget Adjustment (PD/FD)" off the agenda for more extensive debate.
At some point I hope to give a more extensive account of the critical testimony as well as the police PR for the "rescue tank". It took the police half an hour or more to come up with a picture of the machine--which activists had found on line hours before.
Deputy-Chief Clark claimed the agenda item was "time sensitive", but declined to specify what the deadline was for applying for the grant. Councilmember Posner--who asked the question--considerately took him off the hook and immediately suggested that Clark's assurance was enough for him. He moved that the $250 grand piece of heavy hardware be accepted with the caveat that it "not be used against peaceful protesters", and that in future such items be placed on the regular agenda and given several weeks notice for the public. Posner's scramble to please all sides while essentially rubberstamping the item was pathetically obvious.
His motion was voted down 5-2, and the item passed 6-1--prompting the cries of shame that led Robinson to order police to force the public to leave the meeting.
Outside, people continued to shout "shame". When the Council resumed deliberations behind locked doors, it refused me and others access without explanation. No one was arrested or cited. Demands that he Council allow the public to reenter the chambers were ignored. The shutters were drawn. At several points police chief Kevin Vogel asked me if we could hear the proceedings through the speakers--which we couldn't. That didn't stop the Council from proceeding as though we weren't there. Well in fact, we weren't. We were all locked out.
One bright note was that any action on the infamous Stay Away Ordinance was postponed until the second Tuesday in January according to Micah Posner. A second was the apparent determination of many ejected from the meeting to hit the streets in protest in the days ahead--specifically Saturday when a day long event with marches, die-in's, and other actions against police violence are planned. Additionally some felt empowered and for once not cowed by the police-backed authority of City Council.
Outside HUFF brownie baker "Push Back" Pat Colby served brownie, coffee, and vegan soup--compliments of Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz.
The evening session, I'm told proceeded with the usual congratulatory blather and a post-coronation chowdown in the Civic.
At some point I hope to give a more extensive account of the critical testimony as well as the police PR for the "rescue tank". It took the police half an hour or more to come up with a picture of the machine--which activists had found on line hours before.
Deputy-Chief Clark claimed the agenda item was "time sensitive", but declined to specify what the deadline was for applying for the grant. Councilmember Posner--who asked the question--considerately took him off the hook and immediately suggested that Clark's assurance was enough for him. He moved that the $250 grand piece of heavy hardware be accepted with the caveat that it "not be used against peaceful protesters", and that in future such items be placed on the regular agenda and given several weeks notice for the public. Posner's scramble to please all sides while essentially rubberstamping the item was pathetically obvious.
His motion was voted down 5-2, and the item passed 6-1--prompting the cries of shame that led Robinson to order police to force the public to leave the meeting.
Outside, people continued to shout "shame". When the Council resumed deliberations behind locked doors, it refused me and others access without explanation. No one was arrested or cited. Demands that he Council allow the public to reenter the chambers were ignored. The shutters were drawn. At several points police chief Kevin Vogel asked me if we could hear the proceedings through the speakers--which we couldn't. That didn't stop the Council from proceeding as though we weren't there. Well in fact, we weren't. We were all locked out.
One bright note was that any action on the infamous Stay Away Ordinance was postponed until the second Tuesday in January according to Micah Posner. A second was the apparent determination of many ejected from the meeting to hit the streets in protest in the days ahead--specifically Saturday when a day long event with marches, die-in's, and other actions against police violence are planned. Additionally some felt empowered and for once not cowed by the police-backed authority of City Council.
Outside HUFF brownie baker "Push Back" Pat Colby served brownie, coffee, and vegan soup--compliments of Jumbogumbo Joe Schultz.
The evening session, I'm told proceeded with the usual congratulatory blather and a post-coronation chowdown in the Civic.
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I appreciate the updates and now regret that I decided to not come. I'll look online for the video. And I also appreciate Micah - he's the best we have for humanizing instead of criminalizing - and has my support.
and hopefully the beginning of a new year of activism.
thank you for those who were able to make it.
thank you for those who were able to make it.
Unfortunately, you might not get to see the whole thing when the video comes out. They replaced the live stream on the city's website with stock footage by the time the council sequestered itself. Clearly they were concerned about word getting out to the general public.
most fun i have ever had at a city council meeting.
The Council left the room in the midst of the APC (Armored Personnel Carrier) public comment because I declined to obey Mayor Robinson's dictate that I turn around and look at her respectfully.
I was, of course, addressing everyone in the room (as well as the tv audience) and could be clearly heard by the Council.
I was indeed deliberately showing my disrespect for the Council for what I foresaw as a preordained result, because of its general disregard of local human rights, and in specific response to something that had happened moments before.
That incident involved Robinson's interrupting another speaker and instructing him to face the Council. He had turned briefly to refer to or address the audience. Robinson spoke as though he were a child in her home or a kid in a classroom or a prisoner in custody, in a commanding tone that implied she required immediate obedience. And he did obey.
I had previously advised Robinson that attempting to intimidate members of the public by falsely claiming that decorum rule "violations" were "disruptions" was explicitly ruled out by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in my case. She (and Don Lane before her) have refused to respect this ruling. And they've continued to demand false tokens of respect.
My own decade-long struggle to hold the Council accountable for using "decorum rules" to censor public comment made me particularly sensitive to this kind of bullying. If anything is to come out of that fight, it must be the public understanding that they have rights which the Council is required to respect even if they make blustery show of not doing so.
Hence Robinson and the Council improperly recessed to illegally confer in private in the backroom instead of simply asking the City Attorney publicly whether she had the right and the power to have me legally prohibited from speaking with my back to her.
Shortly thereafter, she and her Council showed continuing disrespect for the Open Meetings law & the public's right to hear any discussion between members of the Council by clearing the room, locking the doors of the Council chambers, and excluding the public. Now it eppears that video of this whole disgraceful affair is being withheld "for technical reasons".
I felt nervous as it was happening, but the activist who banged on the windows shouting "let us in" was quite correct in doing so. Police officers colluded in this action by forcibly (and reportedly violently) excluding the public as the City illegally deliberated behind locked doors. "Disrupting" an illegal process in order to demand that the public's rights be respected is loyalty to basic Constitutional and human rights.
I was, of course, addressing everyone in the room (as well as the tv audience) and could be clearly heard by the Council.
I was indeed deliberately showing my disrespect for the Council for what I foresaw as a preordained result, because of its general disregard of local human rights, and in specific response to something that had happened moments before.
That incident involved Robinson's interrupting another speaker and instructing him to face the Council. He had turned briefly to refer to or address the audience. Robinson spoke as though he were a child in her home or a kid in a classroom or a prisoner in custody, in a commanding tone that implied she required immediate obedience. And he did obey.
I had previously advised Robinson that attempting to intimidate members of the public by falsely claiming that decorum rule "violations" were "disruptions" was explicitly ruled out by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in my case. She (and Don Lane before her) have refused to respect this ruling. And they've continued to demand false tokens of respect.
My own decade-long struggle to hold the Council accountable for using "decorum rules" to censor public comment made me particularly sensitive to this kind of bullying. If anything is to come out of that fight, it must be the public understanding that they have rights which the Council is required to respect even if they make blustery show of not doing so.
Hence Robinson and the Council improperly recessed to illegally confer in private in the backroom instead of simply asking the City Attorney publicly whether she had the right and the power to have me legally prohibited from speaking with my back to her.
Shortly thereafter, she and her Council showed continuing disrespect for the Open Meetings law & the public's right to hear any discussion between members of the Council by clearing the room, locking the doors of the Council chambers, and excluding the public. Now it eppears that video of this whole disgraceful affair is being withheld "for technical reasons".
I felt nervous as it was happening, but the activist who banged on the windows shouting "let us in" was quite correct in doing so. Police officers colluded in this action by forcibly (and reportedly violently) excluding the public as the City illegally deliberated behind locked doors. "Disrupting" an illegal process in order to demand that the public's rights be respected is loyalty to basic Constitutional and human rights.
fuck them and their chamber of legislative horrors. we can take protest to the streets where they live.
Thanks for you report Robert. One minor correction, it was Don Lane who pulled the item from the consent agenda, not Micah Posner. In addition, I was going to ask them to pull it from the consent agenda, but Don Lane did that before I spoke.
For some additional coverage and analysis of what happened, I encourage people to check out the following article.
Santa Cruz City Council Approves New Armored Personnel Carrier
Protest Shuts Down City Council in Response
Shut Down Delays Passage of Worsened Anti-Homeless Law
By Steven Argue
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/10/18765377.php
For some additional coverage and analysis of what happened, I encourage people to check out the following article.
Santa Cruz City Council Approves New Armored Personnel Carrier
Protest Shuts Down City Council in Response
Shut Down Delays Passage of Worsened Anti-Homeless Law
By Steven Argue
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/10/18765377.php
PROTEST NEW ANTI-HOMELESS LAW AND URBAN ASSAULT VEHICLE
PROTEST CITY HALL TO DEMAND:
No Worsened Banishment Law for the Homeless in Santa Cruz!
Repeal Approval of the Cop’s New Urban Assault Vehicle!
Repeal All Anti-Homeless Laws!
January 13th, 2015
Protest Starts at 3:00 PM
Meet at the Santa Cruz City Council
809 Center Street, Santa Cruz CA
Indybay Event Announcement
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/13/18765514.php
Facebook Event Page
http://www.facebook.com/events/377910239000830/?source=1
PROTEST CITY HALL TO DEMAND:
No Worsened Banishment Law for the Homeless in Santa Cruz!
Repeal Approval of the Cop’s New Urban Assault Vehicle!
Repeal All Anti-Homeless Laws!
January 13th, 2015
Protest Starts at 3:00 PM
Meet at the Santa Cruz City Council
809 Center Street, Santa Cruz CA
Indybay Event Announcement
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/13/18765514.php
Facebook Event Page
http://www.facebook.com/events/377910239000830/?source=1
See "Mayor Responds to Indybay Story on Council Lock-Out" at https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2014/12/15/18765642.php .
This is a investigative video report and journal of what happened at the last city council meeting. Be sure to know your history or be doomed to repeat it.
For more information:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIp-1FuG7oA
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