Thread by @socialistdogmom

i'm trying to get hyped for tonight's city council meeting, but the first speaker on the list for matters by the public is "mr civility" and i'm already groaning.

settling in for another thrilling evening!
charlottesville.org/home/showdocum…

does anyone know why there are so many small children here? is this some kind of protest about the lack of provided childcare during city meetings because if it is, it’s working. someone fix this.

kathy is late and mike is in jerusalem... we have yet to start on time since switching to the 6:30 start time

wes opens by passing a proclamation to heather, nikuyah, and kathy & reads a prepared statement about women in office for women’s history month. 🙄

why are there twenty children under the age of five in this room right now? this has never happened before. they are making so much noise.

mr civility up first at public comment. he wants to rename emancipation park gregory swanson park in honor of the first african american man admitted to UVA law.
i’m sure he’ll find a way to work his usual angle in somehow.
newsplex.com/content/news/P…

if you’ll recall, the method for renaming the park has already been decided. we’re getting surveys in our utility bills. the time for boring speeches is over, bud.

the next speaker takes a quick moment to say the name for the park should come from underrepresented communities, those most affected by injustices in this community... subtext being: not this shitty white dude.

look, i don’t hate kids. i nannied professionally for years. taught preschool! kids are human beings & are allowed in public. parents should be allowed to access public events like council meetings. the city should provide childcare! but the kid noise is out of control right now.

walt is up next... but ronna gary approaches the dais and asks that he cede his time to her. he does.

ronna’s rapist, former CPD officer, was acquitted recently. she’s facing the audience, not council. she’s sobbing. a woman in the audience approached her to provide emotional support. we stand with ronna. ✊

“the transcripts read the way the transcripts read. he admitted to it.”
“i didn’t ask for any of this. my life was torn apart.”
a child shouts from the audience, “what happened?”

she’s calling for the resignation of brian o’donnell of the CPD.
she doesn’t blame CA platania - “joe did what he could in 70 days” - the defense, the CPD had a year and a half to prepare.

“am i sassy? yes. full-bosomed? yes. i didn’t ask for this.”
god bless her. this is breaking my heart all over again. that trial was brutal even for me as a spectator.

she shows the audience a huge bruise on her face. she says she got “beat down” for being an informant. a child in the audience yells “uh oh!”
they call a recess. nikuyah walks out with her.

she’s still crying and shouts “i am not a whore!” as she exits chambers with nikuyah and wes.
the unusual number of children in chambers is very uncomfortable right now.

ronna re-entered chambers & tried to finish her statement. nikuyah put a hand on her shoulder. “thank you for the opportunity to say what i needed to say. because you don’t get to stand up for yourself at trial.”
she leaves, still crying. i hope she’s not alone tonight.

someone from the YMCA at the mic now. this explains all the children. i couldn’t actually hear what the point was... the kids were making too much noise.

jojo now taking council to task for some accessibility issues here in chambers. the back row is for folks with disabilities! and the way things are set up is not safe for wheelchair & walker users.

YES now she’s bringing the fire re: that nasty flier handed out ahead of deandre’s trial asking protesters to be quiet.
“SHAME ON YOU!” - she is shouting now.

“THAT’S YOUR CHARLOTTESVILLE!”
“this is not ok. what is wrong with us?”
the human rights commission is useless. the city gives DBAC $75k.
cheers for Jojo as she leaves. still shouting. ✊🔥

nancy at the mic about the civilian review board. she’s reminding them of the history of their own votes on the matter.
the applicant forum will be april 24, but the community is still in the dark about how CRB members will be selected.

7 of the 24 civilian review board applications were thrown out because they were county residents. the residency requirement was NOT on the application & this decision was made behind closed doors.

“we wanna start healing. this is part of the process of healing.” — nancy demands the city be more transparent & accountable in the process to select the members of the board... which will work toward transparency & accountability.

nikuyah says they want to hold the applicant forum in a venue larger than city council chambers. no venue has been selected yet. (events outside of council chambers are typically not televised, which is a transparency issue)

her argument that it was clear all along that city residents will be given preference in the selection process is not a valid response to concerns that those applications were THROWN OUT.

mary carey up next. calling out kathy & heather, signer in his absence — says she’s been coming to meetings since ‘78 and she’s never seen anything like the DBAC giveaway last meeting.

“y’all should have gave him a PARADE!” talking about deandre’s acquittal on friday. downtown businesses want us to be quiet, on the heels of that huge giveaway!

luis reminding folks that there are survivors of the A12 attack still struggling to pay their bills.
the police with their assault rifles at the school walkout last week were inappropriate.
“they are showing up against gun violence & they were met with guns.”

don gathers opens by saying he rises in support of both luis & mary carey’s statements. “the only thing missing was the gas,” he says of how police handled the school walkout. “it led credence to the idea of why that action was even necessary”

“there was no reason why the vote had to happen in the absence of one of our council members” — the DBAC vote was taken in wes’ absence last week
“this does nothing for black businesses, for minority owned businesses” - don

don on the DBAC giveaway “there was no reason that $75,000 had to go running out that door two weeks ago”
“developers are not so important that they can’t wait two weeks for the money” cheers from the crowd on this!

comrade michael up next - opens by praising the housing & gentrification conference on saturday. (i’ll try to find a link to the video — it was great!)
michael says it left him feeling inspired & helps get to the root of the problem — limited land.

michael: skyrocketing property values are driving out residents, the problem is limited land not limited revenue. “we cannot grow ourselves out of this problem”
the only way out is community land trusts — have it in public control, for people to live

kathy is VERY defensive. she says she wasn’t made aware of the conference until the tuesday before and already had other plans, or else she would’ve been there. sorry it’s no one’s job to make you aware of events in the community kathy. do you have the internet?

kathy says there’s talk of forming a regional housing alliance with the county... no kathy! no we don’t want to push affordable housing out into the county. that’s not the point!

nikuyah adds that it’s important to keep people in the community. kathy cuts in & starts to agree that this is important... but then launches into a lecture that it’s just not feasible. that land trusts require a willing seller. she wants the poor out of sight, out of mind.

ms katrina up next. she asks where mike is... “is he still accepting awards for defending democracy? 🔥🌶
“i am ashamed of whoever had the audacity to even type that up” re: the businesses’ letter asking us to keep it down after deandre’s trial
“i’m gonna continue to get louder!”

based on the looks at their faces, several folks on the dais don’t know about the letter... they have their damn heads in the sand

https://twitter.com/socialistdogmom/status/974703412767019008?s=21