Political Gumbo: About Monday Night …

Last night’s City Council lasted a little more than 90 minutes, with just a five item consent calendar to pass and public comments (more on those later). I thought the meeting would be the shortest of the year.

Nope.

Turns out council came in at one hour and 23 minutes on April 19 – and ironically two big items, police oversight and cannabis, were on that agenda.

The speakers demanded their apology and Mayor Victor Gordo held his ground. Gordo did invite people to accompany him on a tour of the city to check out Pasadena’s diversity. 

It will be interesting to see how many people take him up on the invite. 

One thing we can all agree on is that everybody has a right to their opinion and should be heard, as Gordo and the several speakers said on Monday.

The Mayor also took a stance against racist language. 

“I’m sorry 40 or 50 years ago there was not someone here in this seat that would not say to people ‘you can’t just come in here and throw the N word around’,” Gordo said. “You can’t say based on the color of their skin certain councilmembers view the world one way. I am going to speak out because I am in this seat now.” 

Inflammatory and racist language does not help anything and it does not move anybody to action.

But, where’s the outrage when that happens? 

Several months ago a speaker called a councilmember a coon, and sadly. not one councilmember or any activist that calls for racial justice expressed outrage in the moment.

Since then, City Clerk Mark Jomsky has taken to reading the rules at the beginning of the meetings.

The big one in those rules is that the City Council cannot deliberate on matters not on the agenda. Yes, you can have your say on matters not on the agenda, but the council can’t take action or have lengthy discussion with those callers.

It violates the Brown Act, which governs open meetings in California. 

One of the reasons City Attorney Michele Bagneris is there at the meeting is to stop Brown Act violations. Yes, she has had to do it before.

Other things the council cannot do.   

The City Council cannot not fire city employees, including police officers nor can they discuss firing any other city employee, or interfere in investigations of city employees. 

The council is a legislative body that can hire and can fire three people: the City Manager, the City Clerk and the City Attorney.

All other city hiring and firing falls under the purview of the City Manager.

Giving the City Council the power to hire and fire more people or direct department heads to do so would require a change to the city’s charter.

And … 

If you don’t live in Pasadena, you can’t vote to change the charter. In other words, you’re not a council constituent.

Sorry, but those are the facts.  

That doesn’t mean you don’t have an opinion, and it does not mean the council’s actions don’t impact the region. 

It means you don’t have a vote. 

Yes, you can still organize. 

On to public comment.

Somebody asked who gave the council the authority to limit public comment to two minutes.  

Here’s your answer. 

In 2018, the Second District Court of Appeal upheld a court decision that a transit board’s restriction of public comment to three minutes, per person, per agenda item, did not violate the Brown Act or the First Amendment’s right to free speech. The court also held that the same board acted properly when it allowed staff to exceed the three-minute time limit imposed on the public.

The appellate court also ruled speech at government meetings is not unlimited. The City Council can limit speech at meetings based on time and content — and they can require a speaker to address only the current topic on the agenda.

With all that in mind, the facts are the City Council is going above and beyond on public comment, because the Brown Act does not guarantee everybody speaking time.

In Long Beach they cap items at 20 public speakers per agenda item. 

If less than 10 people sign up to speak, everybody gets three minutes. If 10 or more people sign up, comments are limited to 90 seconds, according to the Long Beach Post.

Only 10 people are allowed to comment on non-agenda items for up to three minutes each. Yes, only 10 people. 

Now, check this out.

Under the Brown Act, the City Council can skip public comments on an agenda item altogether and deliberate if the item goes through a committee where the public has had a chance to comment.  

Use your voice at government meetings, but keep in mind there are limits. If you don’t like the limits, you’re going to have to take it up with the state.