Walnut Creek Urges Residents to Remain “Civil” During Meetings

Walnut Creek residents have been put on notice to remain civil and respectful during city council meetings.

The latest controversy came during the nearly 6-hour May 22 City Council meeting where the council denied an appeal to the Planning Commission decision that approved a conditional use permit for a Chick-fil-A.

During the meeting, residents kept interjecting themselves into the discussion, attempting to treat the meeting as if it was a town hall, attempting to turn it into a Q&A and interrupted the meeting. Several times, Mayor  Loella Haskew stated that folks needed to quietly watch the meeting or they would be asked to leave.

Note – video is just 8 minutes of a 6-hour meeting of when the public interjected:

In response, City Manager Dan Buckshi placed the following reminder in his June update:

While most City Council and other public meetings have been civil in nature, and issues are discussed with a chance for all sides to participate, we have recently experienced less than civil behavior. As many of you know, we have had instances of hate speech during public comment. While more prevalent when we were using Zoom, there have been several times when hate speech was brought into the Council chamber. The City Council and community members strongly rebuked these types of comments and have also recognized First Amendment rights of those speaking.

However, disruption hasn’t just been limited to hate speech.

During a recent appeal of a land use decision, many residents in the Chamber were disruptive, and dismissive of the process of local government meetings. The City’s meetings are governed by the State mandated Brown Act, which is intended to help ensure all voices can be heard. Our expectation is that everyone attending our meetings will do so respectfully, even on issues in which they might disagree with one another or with City decisions.

We encourage and welcome your presence at City meetings. We just ask that you show respect to everyone in the room.

For the past two years, the Walnut Creek City Council Meetings have been hit by hate speech both in meeting and on Zoom. The city is attempting to encourage folks to remain civil.

Related Stories:

• May 23 – Walnut Creek City Council Approves Chick-fil-A
• April 18 – Walnut Creek Subjected to More Antisemitic Hate Speech
• Feb 21 – Walnut Creek City Council Subjected to Antisemitic Rant
• Oct 4, 2023 – Walnut Creek Opts to End Zoom Public Comments
• June 22, 2023 – Walnut Creek Hate Speech Continues, Budget Passed With More Cops
• June 8, 2023 – Walnut Creek City Council Meeting Targeted by Antisemitic Callers