A taping of the packed-house public input meeting on anti-crime legislation, hosted by Council Members Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen this past Wednesday, is scheduled to run on cable channel PAC14 today at 12:58 p.m. and again tomorrow at 6 a.m. and 5:58 p.m. The session lasted three hours and two minutes.
After the two council members were denied by the council majority of Louise Smith, Gary Comegys and Shanie Shields to use the council chambers’ equipment for live or taped broadcast of the meeting, Mayor Jim Ireton used his latitude as mayor to make the taping possible.
“We deeply appreciate Mayor Ireton making this service available to the public, as well as his time and that of the city staff in attending and listening to the public,” Campbell and Cohen said in a statement. They also thanked the city clerk, who attended and audio-recorded the meeting. Campbell and Cohen said they would soon put the audio recording on the website they share, www.OnYourSideSBY.blogspot.com, but that it is also available on CD from city clerk’s office, 410-548-3140, for $5, which covers the office’s cost of production.
“We especially thank all the members of the public who attended – tenants, homeowners, students, landlords, and other interested parties,” the two council members said in their statement.
“Together, we showed that Salisbury can, indeed, have a civil conversation about hot issues. To those who wished the panel had answered more questions, we would have liked that as well, but given the huge turnout, we did not want to deprive those attending of the time to speak. We answered what we felt we could within that limitation and look forward to providing more for the public’s education and continued feedback,” the statement continued.
“We are compiling the questions and input we received and are planning to have a follow up session to answer more questions, present additional information and obtain more public feedback. As soon as those details are available, we will inform the public,” the statement added.
As reported by the Daily Times, the meeting was dominated by local landlords, who appeared to oppose the entire package. A show of hands indicated that city residents appeared to either support the package entirely or supported it with some changes.
“I saw a number of people standing in the hallway due to the lack of available seats in the chambers and was able to get at least a few of the people requiring chairs seated up by the head table,” Campbell said.
Cohen noted that in planning the next meeting, they would try to give priority to those who came to the first meeting, but could not even get in the door to sign up to speak.
Campbell and Cohen emphasized again the importance of the public seeing the actual text of the legislative pieces, which are available by links on their website, as well as on the home page of the city’s website, www.ci.salisbury.md.us, at left under the “Neighborhood Legislative Pkg.” link.
For additional questions or comments, contact Debbie Campbell, 410-860-0893 and debbiescampbell@comcast.net, or Terry Cohen, 410-845-0296 and Terry@TerryCohen.com.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
7 comments:
Thanks for the heads up! Watching it now.
What did you think of the meeting??
I think the big hairy bearded landlord guy was race-baiting and I'm glad he got called out on it (in a nice way).
Going back to watching. Been mostly landlords so far, same old song from them.
I think we need a meeting of the citizens and renters of Salisbury without the landlords. The landlords waill get what they want BUT the renters need to say what they want and need without having the landlord retaliate aginst them or raise their rent.
2:22, I just watched the whole thing and couldn't agree with you more! The second half (after all the landlord moaning and chest pounding) was way better.
The bald landlord toward the end with the complexes was pretty good. The blonde that leads the landlord pack was an utter disgrace, just up there to pick a fight with the mayor.
Loved the little old lady who talked about dripping sewage and the real thin renter black guy who said everyone was just talking about their wallets.
I have to give Debbie Campbell and Terry Cohen a lot of credit. Even with all the landlord nonsense, they kept their cool, were pleasant to everyone, fair, kept things on track, responded to some concerns, etc.
Louise Smith could learn a lot about running a meeting from those two. Very glad to hear they intend to hold a follow up. If I can, I will try to make that one. Wednesdays aren't really the best for me, but I know lots of people have this on Tuesday, that on Thursday, so I guess you can't make it so everyone can come.
All in all, I'd say the meeting was pretty good. It was nice to watch one without a gavel banging like crazy.
I hope to catch it tomorrow. Was working today, of course. Thanks for posting, Joe.
We need more people like the lady talking about the conditions of the rental homes. The renters need someone on their side. I like how she went about it too. She took matters into her hands and took care of the people. She needs to be somewhere in government, to take care of the people who cant take care of themselves.
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