Thread by @socialistdogmom

i swear whoever is in charge of AV for these city council meetings pans the crowd during the pledge of allegiance just to show how many people aren’t standing

https://twitter.com/cvillecityhall/status/1059587468255608833?s=21

a short agenda doesn’t always mean a short meeting...

which lawsuit was this about? 👀

more lectures about C I V I L I T Y, this time from wes.
heather & kathy are nodding along seriously.

mayor nikuyah walker, whose day job is with the city parks department, reads a required disclaimer that, as a city employee, she is still able to fairly participate in hiring a new city manager.

city communications director brian wheeler is again in the clerk of council seat tonight. wonder how that hiring process is going?

nikuyah has questions about item E — was council notified about the leak & how early was it caught? acting city manager mike murphy says he has an email out to the utilities manager. item has been pulled from the consent agenda & the rest of it passes unanidWA1oVwo

mike murphy’s response to matters by the public from the last meeting:
he asks paul oberdorfer, the public works director, to talk about the study on safety on the downtown mall

paul: homeland security evaluated, the city has engaged the services of a specialized consulting firm in july. the firm did a site survey over the summer. city rec’d a draft threat & risk assessment in mid october. they’re evaluating it now & will bring recs to council later.

nikuyah asks if council will see the document provided to public works. mike murphy says they’ll need permission (from whom?) to release the document, even to council.

“there was a lot of discussion when those vehicular crossings [on the downtown pedestrian mall] were instituted,” says mike murphy, and he anticipates the community will have a lot of input about the prospect of closing them.

wes: “i believe the community would support closing 4th street out of respect for what transpired”
(a nazi murdered someone with a car)

“how do we have a thoughtful conversation if we can’t even have access to all the information?” nikuyah asks.
paul says information about specific security vulnerabilities can’t be disclosed.

kathy says she’d like to see the recommendations from staff (but nothing about wanting to see the actual assessment the city paid for)

paul says at the earliest they could meet about this next year. because of “the holidays”

now on to matters by the public. nikuyah reminds us that she said last time she would be more strictly enforcing the time limits starting tonight.
the first speaker is the grandmother from thursday’s city school board meeting whose granddaughter has experienced serious bullying.

“scared children cannot learn”

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1058105028144181248?s=21

she says she doesn’t think charlottesville city schools are in compliance with state recommendations on dealing with bullying. (her time just ended... nikuyah allowed her to finish her sentence, but cut her off with a cold “thank you” when she tried to continue.)

the next speaker owns a business on the downtown mall. she says the trash situation is “kinda out of control” & is concerned about dog shit (her words not mine) on the bricks. she wants the city to put up dog poop bag dispensers on the mall.

“i actually thought we had dog waste bags on the mall,” says mike murphy. he’s going to check with the parks department.
as for the trash cans overflowing, that too is something he’ll check with parks & rec about.
(wholesome small town government)

next speaker is extremely concerned about the racial disparities in city schools recently highlighted by the new york times/propublica article

propublica.org/article/charlo…

“children who are in the most need” are not being served. “if you always do what you’ve always done, you get what you’ve always had.”

“i don’t like coming up here and being told how i should talk,” says mary carey. 🔥

“you see a lot of watering holes, places to eat, hotels - ms galvin. what do you see for people? nothin’. think about it.” longtime resident mary carey says charlottesville used to be beautiful, “now it’s ugly.”

this boring old white guy who keeps coming up to talk about civility is back. 🙄🙄

he’s recounting a terrible sob story about the time the evil vicious mob was mean to an old lady a few months ago. “no person should be treated like she was,” he says. he compares people mocking her to the nazis who marched in our streets.

“these meetings stopped being democratic months ago & are now just bordering on anarchy.” buddy, i WISH.

nikuyah asks people to look at 256 years of this city’s actions & treatment of its residents 🌶

civility dude says “we all remember what happened on august 17th” when the nazis came.... i guess he doesn’t, actually

two speakers in a row from the board of the new hill development. a $500,000 allocation for the project is on tonight’s agenda.

“this would be the first african american orientated development in charlottesville,” he says. it’s an opportunity to show “we can be inclusive in our development” and alludes vaguely to “whatever personal reasons” someone may have for voting against it 🤔

rev don gathers says he is NOT here to speak in opposition to the new hill development, but says he would’ve liked more information ahead of tonight’s appropriation. “i would’ve liked to know what the budget entails,” “how that money will be spent” & a timeline for the project

next commenter opens with a “what’s up bootlickers” & a quote from assata shakur 🖤
“we won’t get free in these chambers because this is the master’s house,” he says

“no slave ever got free by voting.”
there’s no way to vote against the banks, against deportation. “we need to become ungovernable” & build the future we want by any means necessary.

next up, ms rosia addressing wes’ opening remarks about civility - “when you have harmed us in the past & y’all expect us to be business as usual”
“mike [signer], you shouldn’t open your mouth to say anything but ‘i apologize’ to the city of charlottesville.”

she asks mike murphy if police chief brackney can meet with ms cookie, grandmother of sage smith, a black trans teen who disappeared six years ago.

“if you want respect, you have to earn respect,” ms rosia says before sitting down. nikuyah clarifies that ms cookie wants to talk to the police chief, but no promise is made. no response from mike murphy at all.

comrade nancy at the mic. low income tax credit units are going offline, she says. millions of them. they’ll go market rate or even be torn down due to their age.

she’s concerned about the $500,000 set to go to new hill. that money could do a lot of good in the community in terms of emergency rental assistance.

“for some people $2000 is all it takes” to get back on their feet. small amounts of money could keep many people housed.

wes: “it doesn’t have to be either/or, it can be both”
he asks mike murphy to look into how programs like the ones nancy mentioned can be expanded.
nikuyah reminds us that the ABRT process is being overhauled.

i need to do some more reading about this project, but kathy galvin talking about it being an amazing opportunity for development to be lead by an african american development company has a bad neoliberal, tokenism vibe.

the next speaker says he addressed council five years ago about the brutal bullying he experienced in charlottesville city schools. he’s been in contact with the girl whose grandmother we heard from earlier & is infuriated that she is experiencing the same thing he did.

some minor excitement - a man burst in from the hallway asking if there is a doctor in the house. someone in the hall is having a medical emergency. brief recess?

meeting now being called back to order. i’m told rescue workers arrived to assist the person experiencing a medical emergency.

the young man who was speaking about bullying in schools returned to the mic to say the person experiencing the medical emergency was the young woman who is being bullied in school. she was having a severe panic attack.

mike murphy says the grandmother of the student is pleased with buford’s principal’s response (which she did) & tiredly outlines some of the district’s anti bullying intiatives.

mike signer says it “gets very tricky” when city council gets involved in telling the school board what to do.

kathy galvin recalls a federal grant for anti bullying initiatives the schools got during her time on the school board. says if they want to reactivate that program they need to be prepared to pay for it.
mike murphy says he’ll speak to dr atkins about the issue.

now on to a public hearing about the city manager hiring process.

the city’s survey on the city manager search process is open through november 9th and can be completed here:

surveymonkey.com/r/ZMD8XFH

the woman from the outside search firm says “i commend you for using an outside search firm”

nikuyah says the closed sessions on personnel have been interviews for the council clerk position, which she says they hope to have wrapped up soon.
now public comment on the city manager search process...

“the public should be involved before the very first meeting,” says the first speaker.
tanesha up next.

is there anything more satisfying than watching a community elder rip a city councilor a new one? ❤️

mary carey is gonna make heather hill cry one of these days.

“we have a huge trust problem in this community” “how can we trust you” on this process when there is an item on tonight’s agenda that didn’t go through the ABRT process, walt asks.

kathy galvin is trying to summarize all the public comments she just heard. it sounds like she recently attended a seminar on active listening.

$3mil for some STREETSCAPES.
also just noticing the last agenda item - regulations for e-scooter sharing systems

“ground will be broken within two years, definitely” on the west main improvements.

a man is giving the slowest public comment i’ve ever experienced. he’s concerned.... about the sharpness of the angle the greyhound buses may have to turn?
he also warns of “political refugees” from northern VA if the amazon HQ is built there.

nikuyah asks about the statue located at the west main intersection by the greyhound station. the staffer says they plan to “scoot it over a little,” nikuyah says we should think seriously about other places that statue could occupy, places other than charlottesville... 🔥

ten minute recess. with our new commitment to sticking to time limits, this may actually BE ten minutes (for once). i’m skeptical.

the statue in question here, by the way, is of lewis & clark with a cowering sacajawea behind them. as it is not a “war memorial” as the lawsuit about the lee & jackson statues alleges, it isn’t protected by the same law preventing us from removing c-ville.com/controversy-re…342c24YE

hey @CvilleCityHall, the doors to city hall should not be locked during a public meeting. i was only able to get back into the building because some people left.

i was right to be skeptical. our ten minute recess was closer to 17. back in session now to hear about the new hill development.

troubling that so many people are hearing about this $500,000 allocation tonight, as the only reading of this item is occurring

https://twitter.com/seantubbs/status/1059639969386504195?s=21

a member of the audience asked if any councilors serve on the board for this project. wes tries to answer (no), but nikuyah tells him not to engage. they won’t be taking questions on this agenda item.

wes calls this project the first step in righting the wrong the city committed when it gutted vinegar hill.
nikuyah says no member of council is on the board but won’t engage with the audience member who says the state corporation commission says otherwise.

the allocation passed 4-1, with nikuyah dissenting.

it’s tree time 🌳

ok i actually really wanna check out this interactive platform they made for the tree data. i hope this is publicly available.

tree commission guys say it’ll be online for anyone to look at hopefully by december! i wish every aspect of our city government were as transparent as the tree planting.

i’m regretting writing off the tree commission all this time. might have to add another meeting to my rotation 🌲🌳

they have a facebook page “to get the word out about trees.” they’ve also knocked doors to talk to people who don’t have any trees in their yards. “we’re always advocating for trees.”

interested to see the studies to support his claim that trees reduce crime?

the tree commission advocates for 50% tree cover, but he says the 45% we have is good.
what a wholesome presentation. i just wish kathy galvin would stop talking.

with several agencies planting trees, heather wants to know what the accountability process is for those trees — who takes care of them? what happens if they don’t make it? apparently there’s a 1yr warranty on new trees.

LAST agenda item - interim regulations for bicycle & e-scooter regulations.

reminiscing about the time i saw a cop trip over a bird scoote

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1033740642059517954?s=21

cAUc

the presenter says they can establish “slow-go” and “no-go” zones for the scooters.
he says they estimate the 200 scooters will bring in half a million dollars in revenue to the area - the city will get $1/day per device.

mike signer asks if there are local laws about bikes on sidewalks in charlottesville. the presenter says the state law allows localities to make these laws, but the locality is required to post signs about it. you can’t ride a bike on the downtown mall, but it’s generally allowed

heather says she’s concerned about “junking up our sidewalks” with these scooters, but appears to be in favor of the pilot.
signer asking now about safety, specifically helmet requirements (wes is shocked to find out signer once owned a motorcycle 😂)

the city can’t require scooter users wear helmets by law, apparently. (they do require them for children under 14 on bikes, though)
the scooter company strongly recommends users wear helmets... but who is just walking around with a helmet?

and it passes unanimously. how soon will we start seeing those scooters?

remember item E from the consent agenda?
mike murphy says the leak was reported within the required 60 days. they’ve voted to pass item e which was pulled earlier tonight.

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/1059592348559163392?s=21

full circle back to matters by the public. rev don gathers back up at the mic. “we’ve been begging for transparency and openness” if the new hill development has been under discussion for 17 months & it’s just being discussed in chambers TONIGHT, that’s a failure of transparency

wes takes this personally - he asks don what council has to do with new hill (again, it looks like wes at least WAS, even if he isn’t now, on the board)

wes & don go back & forth a bit before nikuyah cut them both off. joy johnson up now. she, too, is concerned about having only just heard about this project.

“kathy, you know i love you. but there are times you just make me cringe,” joy johnson says, referencing kathy’s comments earlier about how important it is that this project is led by an african american. ms joy & other black women “never get those kinds of accolades” from her

next public commenter asking in more detail about whether any coucilors are on the board of directors for the new hill corporation. she’s got the state corp commission website pulled up right now which lists him.
wes says he resigned from the board august 21st.

and the meeting is adjourned - before 11!

it’s important to point out that tonight’s meeting ended on the early side NOT because of the strict new timekeeping policy but because we had an unusually short agenda.