Thread by @shayshinecastle

Now open comment. Here's the list. Should be fun. www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/September…

Shelley Dunbar is here to talk about Our Mayor, Our Choice, which council previously voted 7-2 to put on the ballot. It would implement direct election of Boulder's mayor via ranked choice voting starting in 2023 BUT...

...the county clerk says 2023 is maybe too soon and she doesn't want to commit to that. Council will be revisiting later. Mayor Weaver already indicated he may change his vote. We'll see who else might.

Carse Pustmueller is such a great villain name.

Let the record state that I tweeted that before she started talking, so it's not related to what she's saying. (Which is: Don't kill prairie dogs)

Forgot for a moment that we have p dog discussion tonight. No more public hearing, thank god.

LOL I can't capture what Riley Mancuso is saying in real-time bc he speaks too fast, but he's saying that lots of ppl categorize the unhoused as outsiders, then proceeds to list where all of the council members and city staff moved from.

Such as...
Tom Carr of Seattle
Jane Brautigam of Dublin, Ohio (didn't know that)
Sam Weaver from "wherever he came from; he's hiding it well"

James Duncan is against the Xcel settlement. How nice, he says sarcastically, that they'll allow us a seat at the table in planning our electric grid. "It's our table."

Idk why, but I'm feeling unusually fond of everyone in open comment tonight.

Alana Wilson is our first Bedrooms speaker. I spy a few more on the list.

"You know in your heart of hearts when all the noise subsides, what you have done is wrong."

Asks for a moratorium on enforcing occupancy limits, which can and do lead to eviction. Gov. Polis recommended that.

Council will be considering that Sept. 15, at the request of councilwoman Friend, but they only allowed 10 min to the discussion, so I'mma say it's not looking good.

Bedrooms Speaker No. 2: Theodore Koenig, who asks why we should trust the working group council has promised on occupancy limits? Council members have already revealed their biases, he says.

And look at the outcomes of the election working group, Koenig says: Lots of confusion and conflicting rules that even a judge couldn't sift through. Doesn't inspire confidence.

Eric Budd, Bedrooms speaker No. 3, also asking for an occupancy limits enforcement moratorium.

Repeating some stuff he said about the Supreme Court non-ruling, which you can read here. boulderbeat.news/2020/08/28/col…

Also throwing in some new stuff, like: "We will not stop until we will bring more equitable and fair housing to Boulder."

Vows to retry the petition in 2021. "The people have the power to work for justice."

Bedrooms Speaker No. 4, Lisa White: Tying occupancy limits to the # of bedrooms is a "common-sense approach to an antiquated rule."

Bedrooms Speaker No. 5, Rebecca Davies.

"Every time council shows no interest in fairness, our ranks grow."

That explains why they have so many volunteers.

Misha Toor, reading a statement from Leslie, the leader of Occupy Boulder, asking for an end to the camping ban: We are always being asked to move. To where? ... "We have nowhere to go. We are constant victims of an impossible system."

"The conclusion of this system is our eradication," Leslie says through Toor.

Jan Burton, from Our Mayor, Our Choice: You supported us. We did not intend to cause budgetary or operational surprises, and we support modifications put forward. (Haven't seen what those are yet, but I think it gives flexibility on when ranked choice voting starts)

Boulder has been a leader on many things, Burton says. Ranked choice voting is progressive election reform. Let's show that Boulder is serious about voting reform ... if we wait, we'll be following rather than leading.

Krista Nordback, hopefully back with another song.

Maybe the remix to Bedrooms Are For People?

OMG YES!!! it's an edit

Council looks less amused this time around.

"Council changed the laws
Fair housing gives them pause
This year they took away your voice
Next year they won't have a choice"

(New verse)

There were other new verses but that one was all I could capture.

Actually applauded in my house. Song-based testimony is the only testimony.

Lindsey Sterling-Krank from the human society is here to talk prairie dogs. Asking for changes to the lethal control plan being considered tonight, including a "parcel-by-parcel analysis" and data from each parcel.

Also asking that community members be involved in that. Farmers are nervous about the request bc they think the info will be used for future vandalism. boulderbeat.news/2020/08/29/pra…

Dakota Peck: The ppl you turn your nose up at (unhoused folks) are at least as good as you and probably better, if they had the resources to improve their situation. They would at least house their fellow humans.

Oh, snap.

He may be reading this on behalf of Clancy, a former unhoused resident. I heard him reference Clancy but didn't quite catch what he said.

Blake Huber is someone new to me. He's speaking in favor of Our Mayor, Our Choice.

Jill Lintukorpi comparing agriculture to smoking in restaurants. "Times have changed. Irrigated ag is development."

We're "selling out" our public land for ag interests, she says.

Seems like a good time to remind ppl that the average salary of farmers in BoCo is $29,061.

Almost done with open comment. Our last speaker is Paul Culnan, who is opposed to the Xcel settlement.

He hasn't spoken yet tonight, but he has spoken to this issue before so I'm making an educated guess.

LOL I looked up for a second while Lynn Segal was still talking (my audio was on mute) and the face on Brautigam... oh my.

Ohh, Culnan has a quiz. I'm 0 for 2 right now.

Anyway, that's it for open comment. @threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!