We Get Letters: Change Translates to Shutting Down Public Comment

Dear Editor:

How many City Council meetings have many of us citizens of Pasadena sat through while Councilmembers droned on into the night when an adept Mayor could keep the meeting moving. That is why people complain about having to wait hours to make comment on agendized items.

Citizen engagement in democracy is mostly at the local level. Shoving a pitiful 20 minutes of no more than 90 seconds per public comment to the end of the meeting translates to shutting down public comment on whatever someone wants to tell the Council.

Remember, this is the Council that, just last fall, wanted no limits on donations to their re-election campaigns, allowing corporate and organizational donors the loudest voices. If only they could remember they were elected by the people of Pasadena, the ones they would rather hear from around midnight…

Kris Ockershauser
Pasadena