On Tuesday, the Brentwood City Council opted not to bring back virtual public comments but left the door open for another discussion down the road.
The item was requested by Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer at the January 23 meeting where she stated:
“I think its time to talk about it again, even if it means we consider and have public comments on Zoom at the end of a meeting as opposed to the beginning so that there is still some level of protection. Given the response we have been getting just from one person, we get it from multiple… I just think its time to have this discussion again,” stated Meyer.
Back in October, the Brentwood City Council tweaked its policy on virtual comments after Brentwood was forced to take up the issue of virtual public comments as they were the target of vile, racist, and offensive hate speech at its Sept. 26 meeting—much like many other cities have experienced in over the past year. Brentwood came out and condemned the attack.
At the October meeting, the council agreed to the new policy:
- General Public Comments – in person will be allowed at the beginning of the meeting. No Zoom.
- Agenda Items – will continue with both in person and virtual comments— comments will be limited to the agenda item, or be cut off—off topic and hate speech cut off.
- End of Meeting General Public Comments – reserved to in-person or virtual comments.
On Tuesday, Vice Mayor Susannah Meyer shared she brought the item forward citing “accessibility” for the commuters, home bound, people with children, elderly or those who are fearful to speak on contentious issues and felt more comfortable online.
“I don’t consider to be anything other than accessibility,” stated Meyer. “This is just to revisit the idea of public comments via zoom. It’s a discussion, I think we should have it.”
She suggested that they offer the public comments at the end of the meeting noting not everyone can come downtown or were willing.
Councilwoman Pa’tanisha Pierson advocated that the request was “premature” and wanted to make the public aware there was some attempts at hate speech Tuesday night.
“Tonight, we did have people come on Zoom and have hate speech, it didn’t make it to you but it did happen and I have only learned about it after the break,” stated Pierson. “I would love for that to be made public, not kept private.”
Pierson shared hate speech is protected while citing the First Amendment—sharing examples of case law where hate speech was protected. She also said under General Public Comment, they cannot just cut people off.
“They start, they have to finish, or we violate their free speech rights under the First Amendment of the US Constitution,” stated Pierson. “I took an oath to uphold the Constitution even when those disgusting, sick people come with their hate, we have to let them finish all the way to the end.”
She said there were only three instances when they can stop it.
- Incitement to imminent lawless action
- Speech that threatens bodily harm
- Speech that causes an immediate breach of the peace
“These people are career and driven to do this,” stated Pierson adding that many elected officials got a postcard from the Nazi’s at their home addresses. “It was the most disgusting postcard. I don’t even want to talk about it. It happened last night so it just hasn’t stopped. They have not gone away, they tried to come tonight, they sent us a postcard.”
She also shared she was not against accessibility and was not against the 5-minutes while not being a fan of reducing time to 1-minute. Adding that so many people at the California League of Cities have said “you are crazy if you bring it back, its harming so many people.” She was in favor of their hybrid they are currently doing it. She also didn’t want to close the door on it, but wanted to look at it in a few months.
Meyer said it was worth continuing the discussion in the future.
“I do think having this conversation is important and if it doesn’t move forward I am not considering it a waste of time,” said Meyer.
Councilmember Jovita Mendoza called it difficult to listen to comments and called the postcard “crazy’. She said she would consider placing the zoom comments at the end of a meeting because she didn’t believe the commenters would hang out until the end of a meeting.
“I don’t think those people stay on until the end of the meeting, its just a thought,” said Mendoza noting opening it up at the beginning of a meeting allows too many people to just hop on with many people not living in Brentwood or even the time zone.
Councilmember Tony Oerlemans urged an effort to better inform the public of when public comment periods would be reduced due to number of speakers while noting the council is there to do what the citizens want.
“I went back and haven’t received any requests, comments from citizens, any asks that public comments be brought back other than what I have gotten at the dais. I am just curious to know what everyone else has gotten because I haven’t gotten a single one about bringing back (zoom) public comments,” said Oerlemans.
Mendoza said she was called a “coward” for removing them by several people.
Pierson said she had two instances outside the dais where both were happy the comments were off for “zoom bullies”. She admitted it’s been mixed that in public people didn’t want them back, but in the chambers people complain about wanting them back.
“In public, I have had people saying its about time, thank you, because there has been a lot of bullying on zoom,” said Pierson. “I’ve had mixed reviews.”
Mayor Joel Bryant called it “essential” to have residents call in on an item saying he has spoken to many mayors in Contra Costa County noting all but 1 said they were working to get rid of Zoom.
“I am not in support of that on the structure we have now. Our residents are the reason we are here and we have to hear them… I want to hear from every single one of the residents, said Bryant.
He agreed with Pierson that this request from virtual general public comments was “premature” and if they voted tonight he would not be in support.
Bryant also said the process they have now is as good as they can have to protect the community and staff from the intention and efforts of those who are determined to spread hate and poison.
“Given the people in the waiting room and the postcard that we all received, there is clearly not an interest in moving this forward for now, I will not ever vote in favor of closing out zoom entirely. I think the cities doing that are not giving their residents the rights they deserve to speak,” said Meyer. “If we can bring it back in a few months again just to have this discussion, we can do that. In the meantime, I will withdrawal the making a motion.”
The council took no action and its unclear what timeline the item could return.
On Wednesday morning, City Manager Tim Ogden confirmed they had two “controversial names” who raised their hands to speak but once called upon one didn’t speak and the other dropped off.