Thread by @socialistdogmom

a bit behind on my city council agenda background reading...
of note tonight: petition to rename emancipation & justice parks and changes to the special event permitting procescharlottesville.org/home/showdocum…6vxc

looking forward to a re-enactment of an episode of park & rec, minus leslie knope and with the baggage of white supremacist violenjtPj

dear followers, if you do not want to spend the next six hours seeing this thread reappear at the top of your feed, go ahead and mute it now.
it’s city council time.

did our councilors forget about the change in meeting time? we start at 6:30 now, not 7. it’s 6:37 and there’s not a single councilor in chambers.

off to a great start 13 minutes late. more of the crowd than usual stood for the pledge... feels like a bad sign.

two fashy looking fellows sat stony-faced, not clapping during a standing ovation for two women being honored for black history month. they aren’t even TRYING to blend in. wonder which agenda item they’re here for.

time for matters by the public! up first: mr. civility! fuck this guy. he is scolding the mayor. goddamn roberts rules pedant.

council is exercising their brand new right to an optional 2 minute response after a public comment. nikuyah opened with “thank you for your input,” but handled it very civilly.

mary carey opens her comment by making a dig at mr. civility 😂
“he’s not that bad” - mary carey on mike signer.
this is so spicy. 🔥🌶

missed who she was talking about, but mary carey is praising her mentor. “she dated my brother, but she was my mentor.”
re: charlottesville — “we didn’t ask to come here, but we built it.”

mary is the one who brought the petition to re-rename the parks. she’s right. “emancipation” is a ludicrous name for a park with a confederate general in it. the statues must go.

COMRADE DAVE 🔥🔥
cops police council chambers more closely than they do neofascists.
“unlike you, i admit i’m fighting a class war.”
“i don’t believe we can have private solutions to public problems.”
called kathy the queen of gentrification 👑

kathy is eager to respond to dave... she is FUCKING FURIOUS. literally yelling at us about how she grew up poor. so what? you’re a class traitor. doesn’t change anything. in fact, this might be worse.

that was off the fucking rails. and all on tape. can’t wait to clip that meltdown for public enjoyment.

lena asking important questions about the missing public engagement chapter in the housing plan. they’re being very opaque about the plan to be less opaque...
“we don’t hear about anything until and hour before you vote on it!”

it’s a spicy night for public comment. jeff fogel at the mic. apparently mr. civility is also a lawyer... jeff addressed “my colleague at the bar,” scolding him for insulting the mayor. “if you want to run the meeting, run for council.”

apparently the cops have STOPPED KEEPING records on stop and frisk.
108 of 155 recorded cases were african american. that’s... not representative of the city’s demographics.

city manager jones says they no longer collect the arrest numbers for stop & frisks. unclear why... he says it’s being looked into. just vague enough to be comforting to neoliberals and utterly meaningless.

wes asked jones if it would be possible to update the public on the search for a police chief. sounds like they are “reviewing applications.”
nikuyah is concerned about the numbers jeff presented. she’s pinning it on “increased activism” and “the events of the summer” ????

jeff and maurice are arguing now.
jeff is standing, yelling from the gallery: “you know what, the nazis kept good statistics, too. that doesn’t prove anything”

comrade michael talking about the closure of escafe, a gay bar downtown. a developer bought the location & will demolish several local businesses to create an “innovation hub for tech startups.” 🤮

michael hopes the city won’t roll over for this developer (like they always do).
it wasn’t republicans or the alt right that closed our gay bar, it was hedge fund managers and developers.

reverend don gathers “do you need to be reminded of the last time we tried to tell you something and you didn’t listen?” (a nazi killed someone)
why don’t we wait to see some effort from dewberry to finish this project before we give him anything else.

“ms galvin, you’re halfway through your second term, so probably on your way out. mr signer, we all realize in all likelihood you could not possibly be re-elected.” DON THIS IS TOO SPICY 🌶

this speaker is talking about the lack of services for folks released from jail. “some of us want to do the right thing.”
he’s asked several orgs for help with a program to assist ex-offenders.
“there has to be more.”
“when i came home, i had nothing.”

kathy is asking maurice if staff can provide a report on the work being done by OAR (offender aid & restoration, i THINK??)
nikuyah speaking with compassion on the issue.

wes, who was missing during the last speaker, returned only to officially excuse himself temporarily. i hope everything’s ok.

paul long took the mic to talk about public transit. professor jalane schmidt now up — the city is on occupied monacan land. development disproportionately displaces people of color.

forcing african american families out of their homes & businesses to develop the vinegar hill area robbed families of generational wealth. homeowners became renters. we still feel those effects. and for what? vinegar hill is a staples and a mcdonald’s.

not sure we’ve ever had a meeting where all the speaking slots weren’t full up, plus a waiting list. we had empty spots tonight! maybe the new meeting time has folks mixed up?

kathy can’t let it go. she’s forcibly engaging dave in conversation during the recess.

board appointments & consent agenda done without issue. now onto the public hearing on re-renaming emancipation (formerly lee) park and justice (formerly jackson) park.
maurice jones reading the names submitted in the “naming contest,” generated by parks & rec, and the petition.

lawrence gaughan up first. this guy is... i mean google him. he’s running for congress. i had to block him on facebook for saying some truly rude shit to & about me.

this speaker says it’s unclear how and why the city renamed emancipation park.
“it was clearly named by a well-intended white person and well-intended white people have caused a lot of harm in this city.”

“they’re coming back. unless you remove that symbol that gives them some kind of power...” tanesha’s right. those statues are a lightning rod. they have to go.
“let those people know they are not welcome here. make it clear.”

“i would like to speak for the statues.”
nah dude, sit down. this is about the name of the park.
“i’m asking us not to be ruled by ‘us against them.’”
he’s... not making a lot of sense.
“we don’t need to be ruled by the statues.”

walt: it’s clear there’s a problem with process. “it’s about listening to the public, it’s about figuring out how to engage with the public in more authentic ways.”
it’s obvious “emancipation park” wasn’t what people wanted.
take some time to rethink process, engage community

walt: how are you going to be more racially and economically sensitive? how are you going to consider how it feels for folks oppressed for centuries?
focus on the process of culturally sensitive public engagement.

mary carey, the petition originator, at the mic. another dig at mr. civility 🌶
says she was told “emancipation park” wasn’t even on the list of possible names.
“emancipation means people are supposed to be free, but it’s been centuries” and black people still aren’t free.

mary carey: “you took vinegar hill down and you got a plaque for it 18 inches from the ground.”
“you got a 100 foot man on a horse who never did anything for anybody”
we can’t memorialize the black families displaced by development but we honor a man who fought for slavery.

nikuyah: “names are important. i hope people will participate.” holes we can include some of the historical context, talks about “who used to hold this land” without specifically mentioning the monacan people.

signer suggesting community forums to gather suggestions for council to choose from.
there’s a lot of anxiety about “losing all the work that was done before” re: the names generated by parks & rec and the “naming contest.” who cares, though?

“there was a strong feeling for it” galvin on why she voted for emancipation park, despite its suggestion coming at the last minute, outside the defined process.

talking about putting an insert in mailed utility bills to allow folks to give input on the names.

i know i’ve said this before but... charlottesville is just pawnee, indiana if it were positioned over a hellmouth.

lots of talk about being able to leave comments online (signer), using social media (heather), putting up poster boards for people to put their opinions on (signer again)
jones says response rate to mailers won’t be very high

what if we just don’t give the park a name. it’s just “the park by the library” or “the park by the courthouse.” let that be enough.

i think kathy just suggested “combining all the names.”
perfect. done. all the names. every single fucking one. we can melt down the statue to make the world’s largest plaque.

“so... this is just phase one?” yeah nikuyah, this is literally forever. we are in name purgatory. we’re gonna be in an infinite feedback loop of voting with write in options then voting again on what got written in.

“what if after this meeting we say, ‘hey, public, we have a new communications director.” hey, mike: public here. don’t bother.

i’m sorry we are still talking about how people might submit new names or vote on names already submitted. i stopped listening for a few minutes out of self preservation.

apparently it’s about a 45 day cycle for utility bills to all get sent out, so they’ll send out the survey then reconvene and vote on what we voted on? i think?

city attorney now giving a presentation on the special event permit regulation updates. lots of folks have gotten up to leave.

wes sort of sounded like he intended to be back when he excused himself earlier. still no sign of him though. he seemed pretty upset when he left. hope all is well.

public hearing on the permit ordinance starting now. i didn’t read the 200 page agenda background this time, but city atty says the ordinance has NOT been changed since it was last discussed in december - so small group is <10 and “spontaneous” is w/in 48hrs of an inciting event

former city council candidate paul long says he’s held many small public events in the last now that he’d now have to get a permit well in advance for. he urges them to reconsider.

nancy: the ordinance doesn’t allow for “gun free zones.” (unfortunately this may not be within the city’s scope)
“if your guidelines don’t allow for permitted punching of nazis, it needs to be thrown out”

jeff fogel: these guidelines wouldn’t change what happened on august 12.
why reduce the # of participants that requires a permit from 50 to 10? no reason given.

jeff: referencing a similar change to free speech guidelines being discussed at UVA — folks not affiliated with the university can only exercise free speech in specific zones? yikes.

jeff: the “spontaneous event” exception is too limiting. an incident on wednesday should allow a response on saturday.
why make a change? current ordinance is sufficient.

important & obvious point: nazis don’t give a shit about the local ordinance. this isn’t gonna stop violence. people who want to bring terror to our town aren’t gonna be stopped by a little extra red tape. this will affect decent folks who live here, who organize here.

walt: “think about the unintended consequences of what you’re doing.” this overreaction will end up limiting the right to free assembly.
need to draw the line between content-neutral judgement and looking at INTENT to cause harm. you don’t have to look the other way on intent.

comrade dave back at the mic. (wes just walked in - i was worried this vote might be a 2-2 tie!)
who’s actually in charge of executing and being responsible for this? if it’s the city manager, that’s opaque and unaccountable. we don’t need new regulations, we need accountability

dave won’t let council forget about the statement in the heaphy report that some young officers weren’t sent in on J8/A12 because their superiors were worried THEY WOULD KILL SOMEONE.
fire these officers. immediately. fire their superiors for not firing them sooner.

michael: most community rallies are in response to time-sensitive issues. requiring 30-60 day’s notice would render most of these gatherings moot.
city council would be criminalizing folks gathering to speak out on things like... city council votes.

mary carey back at the mic.
“when i was a young lady, back in the day, marching for civil rights... we had to have permits, too. but we weren’t protected.” got water hoses, dogs, beatings...
“we went out there to show this country you could get your rights without violence.

“when you start giving permits out to evil, you have to expect evil to happen.” community warned them, they did it anyway.
“three people died. more than fifty people were injured.” “you talk about money, lawsuits... SO LET ‘EM SUE YOU!”
yes. YES. let ‘em sue. stand up for us.

statues need to come down. they’re drawing white supremacists to this town. “and they’re not coming here to SHOP!” yes mary, bring her fire 🔥

ms joy talking about seeing how florida handled spencer’s talk. “it’s about preparation” and keeping the sides separate.
ehhhh, i dunno about this “free speech cage” model, though.

alright comrade at the mic reading gramsci. “now is the time for monsters.”
nazis know a class war is going on here. “when you’re focusing on permits, you’re not focusing on the right issues.”

“our world is dying. the people at the bottom can’t stand up. because we have folks like you, ms galvin, focusing on investment and development. we don’t need investment, we need food on tables and we need houses.” comrade, join dsa.

oh good. we’re talking about candles again. this is always an endless discussion.
candlelight vigils are not the issues. fascism is the issue. white supremacist violence is the issue.

some kind of motion was made about candles. honestly i missed it. but here was the vote on whatever it was.

mike motions to change the small group exception from 10 to 25. he’s lecturing us pretty aggressively on why it has to be low. like spencer would’ve gotten a fucking permit for his little torch party if the rules were different.

yeah, hi, mike? YELLING AT YOUR CONSTITUENTS IS A PISS POOR STRATEGY FOR GETTING THEIR SUPPORT. seriously what the fuck is up tonight. he and kathy are both out of control. literally screaming at us from the dais.

fighting nazis in the streets is not a birthday party or a picnic. reserving parks a month in advance is not an option.

my dumb loud mouth is gonna get me arrested in a meeting one of these days. this is so frustratingly, mundanely, bureaucratically evil i cannot sit quietly.

city attorney is talking herself in circles about the 48 hour spontaneous event exception. she’s backing herself into a corner though... her response re: vigils clearly shows there is NOT content neutral judgement going on.

wes is in favor of leaving the cap at 50 (vs 10 in the ordinance and mike’s suggested revision of 25). requiring a permit for TEN PEOPLE is truly wild. that’s so absurdly restrictive. leave it be. leave it at 50.

jones saying that 10 person figure is meant to prevent things like spencer’s october torch party in emancipation park. RICHARD SPENCER DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOUR RULES.

“there’s no point doing something for a moral reason and then losing in court.” there you have it folks. mike signer is moral only to the extent that one can successfully litigate that moral position.

“we’re creating a web that is gonna be catching some of the bugs” - galvin on the group size & flame regulations.

kathy says we should keep the 50 person limit but strictly enforce it - “when it’s 51, we immediately descend on them”
yikes.

heather raises concerns that they’re alienating the public. i’m unable to not yell “nazis don’t vote for you, we do!”
nikuyah agrees that we shouldn’t focus on isolated incidents - these ordinances will affect people here, every day.

wes: “how do we not make everyone else pay for what these idiots did?”

nikuyah references jason kessler just by his initials. 2018: when your mayor has a nickname for your local nazi.

unanimous vote to leave the small group exception at 50. wes leaves us with a caveat that “we all agreed on this” so we can’t come back to him complaining later they council allowed nazis to come back. THEY 👏 WILL 👏 COME 👏 BACK 👏 REGARDLESS

new regulations: 30 days notice if no street closure, 60 days if the event does require street closure or restriction of street parking. old reg was 30 days for street closure. nikuyah asks jones if that 30 days has been an issue in the past. he’s evasive.

more meaningless posturing. they’re changing that 60 day’s notice for an event with a road closure to 45 days. voted unanimously. no change to the 30 day’s notice for events without road closure, though.

city attorney is conflating militia impersonating police with street medics “impersonating real medics”
no one is confusing a street medic with a paramedic. and they are HELPING PEOPLE.

now someone from the law firm that assisted in writing these ordinances is at the podium. they’re really hung up on people impersonating medics and firefighters. THAT DID NOT HAPPEN. THIS WAS NOT AN ISSUE. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A PROTEST? HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A STREET MEDIC?

now the fire chief is up. heather asks if he feels that they should include the language about impersonating EMS/fire personnel in the ordinance. he says yes.
“there is an opportunity for confusion about what are know as ‘street medics’ or ‘protest medics.’”
NO THERE ISN’T.

nikuyah: “you do not what them to be able to alert people that they could help them?” asking if he thinks street medics should have NO identifying marks.
he agrees that the red tape’s fine. so what are we talking about? we’re talking in circles about something that never happened

3-2 split in favor of approving the section about prohibited items, which included the bits about impersonating a police officer or EMS/fire personnel.

mary carey was just ejected. “you’re killing us! you’re killing us here in charlottesville!” she had some words for council on her way out.

the changes to the permit ordinance (with amendments) passed, with a no vote from mayor walker.

i find that lately i’m unable to sit through an entire city council meeting without needing to go outside to yell with comrades. it’s the only way to avoid being arrested for yelling in here. because it’s not really possible to just hold it in.

i’m back inside now. we’re in recess. not sure what i missed and i can’t really care. here’s what’s left on the agenda. probably gonna be a late night.

huh, sounds like they actually worked through two of those items quickly, without votes, while i was outside pacing and ranting like a totally sane engaged citizen. moving onto the public transit presentation.

this presentation is, so far, about how bus ridership is down. i bet the conclusion will be that we should not address the flaws in our public transit system. any excuse not to serve the public.

i hate the idea that they’d spend money on improving council chambers when the city has so many more pressing concerns, but to be quite honest, these gross old seats are really aggravating my sciatica.
injuries on the front lines in the war of civic engagement.

nikuyah and wes are nowhere to be seen during this exquisitely dull powerpoint about bus ridership.

i deeply regret not putting that tylenol bottle back in my purse. i may be one of the youngest people in this room, but my joints would argue otherwise.

mike is arguing with the bus powerpoint guy about whether or not elon musk is gonna have driverless buses for us in the next few years. he’s being weirdly argumentative about it.

ok, bus guy is done. a guy is giving an update on the charlottesville redevelopment & housing authority fund. again, i didn’t manage to read the 200 page agenda background so i’m not entirely sure what we’re talking about here, but we’re talking about it in a monotone at midnight

there are 23 public housing units “offline” (uninhabitable) and a waiting list of over 1200 families. so... we gotta fix those units, but it seems like we have a bigger problem.

redevelopment of those units will go on the consent agenda for the next meeting.

sneaking this in under the wire... wes wants to put another vote in the west second special use permit on the agenda for the second meeting in march. the woodard development they voted down last time. what the hell, wes? nikuyah is opposed to it, but it’s going on the agenda.

12:15am, seven members of the public in chambers. and they’re re-arguing something they voted down at the last meeting. a huge development deal benefitting one of signer’s big campaign donors. they say democracy dies in darkness... literal nighttime.

back to matters by the public to close things out. walt’s back up. talking about the origin of the office of human rights, which hasn’t lived up to its promise.

comrade michael back at the mic — one of the names suggested for the park is monacan park. the monacan tribe only just recently gained federal recognition. considering the history of the land may be good in renaming the park.

michael really cramming the issues into his few minutes! divestment from fossil fuels, opposition to the city funding for a lobbyist for downtown businesses, why is the city selling land to developers...?

brandon from PHAR up next. kathy & mike aren’t doing well up theFMcC

meeting adjourned