What will you do to increase opportunities for public participation at city council meetings? Unfortunately, the council appears to be going in the opposite direction by shutting down public input, especially at the start of city council meetings. (One council member even wanted to discontinue Zoom calls.) They’ve shaved the time allowed to a meager 15 minutes for people to speak for two minutes during early oral communication. It used to be that anyone who wanted to speak early could come up to the podium. Now you have to take a number and if you’re not lucky enough to snag one early, you have to wait until the end of the meeting. This is hard on folks who don’t own a car, people with children, students, and seniors who can’t see to drive at night. To make matters worse, the buses have stopped running late at night and some of us live too far from city hall. (I live in North Arcata.) What are you willing to do to increase public engagement so that everyone who wants to has a chance to be heard, and to participate in the governance of our community?

— Lisa

Response

Dan Shahin

I agree with you, but with one minor exception.  Nothing can be put on the Arcata City Council Agenda without being put there by TWO Council Members.

In this case, Alex Stillman and Meredith Matthews, under advice from City Manager Merrit Perry and the City Attorney were responsible for this being on the agenda.  Even worse, the name of the resolution was misleading and didn’t even mention Zoom, which is a clear violation of the Brown Act against misleading agenda titles.

When I wrote to them, I was told in no uncertain terms that Zoom was being removed because :

Every single person who wrote in, regardless of their reason for needing Zoom, (Most of them wrote in about disability or accesibility issues requiring them to participate online) received the following response.  :

“Covid broughtzoominto our lives. Before that it was a call to an elected or all of them, a letter which is now in the form of email or a in person meeting. 

Using your power to attempt to remove all democratic participation electronically because of one particular issue you do not agree with is not acceptable to members of this community.

Furthermore, this council HAS the right to respond to public comment, if they wish, but has decided that no engagement is the best policy.   I ask you, when has silence been the way to combat racism in the halls of government?

Even when blatantly racist racial supremacists call the term “Palestinian” a “blanket term for terrorists” and accuse local activists, including many Jewish people of also being terrorists because they care about their fellow human beings.

When you say that, you are calling my children who were both born in Arcata “terrorists”,  for being proud of their heritage and daring to identify as Palestinian-American.  When I asked the council if anyone would defend them besides me, I was told by Council Member Atkins-Salazar that they would never do so, and that I should probably not let my kids attend a Council Meeting.

This is that “systemic racism” we hear about, right in front of us for all to see.   

I understand that much time has been consumed arguing about these issues in front of a City Council that clearly doesn’t want to hear about it.  

I propose forming a Peace and Justice Committee, similar to the Economic Development Committee.  This group could take the time to hash out these sensitive issues, and make recommendations to the City Council so they can QUICKLY make informed decisions that includes input from citizens who want to participate.

Furthermore, I promise if elected that I will NEVER allow racist bigots to denigrate ANY group of people without a response to let them know that while they have a right to an opinion, they are clearly out of step with the values of our community.

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