HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-16-2017 Item 13, SchmidtCOUNCIL MEETING:_ ;� -_ (D - I R Ei E1 VE 0
ITEM NO.: 13
�— - --- MAY 15 2011
SLO CITY CLEPK
From: Richard Schmidt
Sent: Sunday, May 14, 2017 8:11 PM
To: E-mail Council Website <ema0coun61.sIocity.or >
Subject: Item 13, public comment
RE Item 13, public comment.
Dear Mayor and Council members,
I urge you to leave public comment alone.
At three minutes, you're already skimping on the time you should allow — the CA attorney general has said 5 minutes is an
appropriate time to give speakers.
Three minutes is too short for anyone to say anything of substance. One minute is fig -leaf form without purpose or point.
It's disrespectful to the public to inflict that on them. Two minutes is ridiculous, too short to say anything.
Expecting someone who comes to speak at 6 p.m. to remain till 11 to do so is beyond disrespectful. It's a sign of utter
contempt for your constituents. Obviously you believe nobody will do that, so this is simply a way to shut down
communication while pretending something else.
It is your duty, as our representatives, to respectfully listen to us. If you don't have it in you to do that, no matter how
inane, stupid, irrelevant or repetitious you may think the comments, you don't belong on the city council. It's your job to
listen. Thoughtfully.
If you feel a need to compress your meetings, there are obvious ways to do it, like eliminating all the fluff that comes
before public comment. Do you really need to spend so much of your work time glad-handing whomever? Send them a
personal thank you note, and get on with doing your job.
If you do decide to truncate public comment, I respectfully ask that the same rules applying to the public apply also to staff
and applicants: one minute and you're done for the meeting. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. That will really
move your meetings along, and you will not have to listen to inane and repetitious bloviation from certain bossy members
of your staff who regularly mislead you, as has happened, as a matter of fact, on this precise matter.
Do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Richard Schmidt