No sooner had the motion rolled off the lips of Melissa Hernandez-Zamora calling for the reinstitution of the broadcast of public comment, than City Attorney Mark Sossi stood up, asking to be recognized for a strange opposition power point, complete with graphs and illogical commentary. Commissioner Zamora looked shocked and turned toward Mayor Martinez who gave a "go ahead" signal to Sossi. One of Sossi's ludicrous arguments was that during the time that public comment broadcast had been shut down, there was even a greater "diversity" of speakers beyond the normal four or five. Had not Sossi himself even thought through that argument enough to realize that the greater "diversity" was in large part do to those speaking out FOR the broadcast of public comment?
The mayor asked for discussion. Rose Gowen proved that she had not wasted any thoughts on the matter by simply regurgitating Sossi"s "diversity" argument. Estela Chavez-Vasquez started to say something irrelevant about announcements before Tony took her out of her misery by interruption. Mayor Martinez now said something that 91% of the electorate who voted to change mayors hoped they would never hear: "I'd like to continue doing things the way the previous administration did them. It's been working pretty good so far. I don't want to change that."
It's going to be a long four years.
Utterly disappointed. I really don't have words for it...
ReplyDeleteIt was a missed opportunity to demonstrate transparency. It costs nothing to flip a switch.
ReplyDeleteJim