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This is total bullshit and that mayor should be removed from office by force. Fucking cocksuckers.
Dozens of people showed up to the Springfield City Council Meeting on September 22 with plans to let city leaders know how they felt about the city’s use of automated license plate readers. There was a resolution before the council that would trigger a review of the controversial camera systems, but Schrag moved to send the resolution to committee and prevent public comment on the issue.
The move passed 5 - 3, the crowd shouted at city leaders, and Schrag ordered citizens to clear the room and shut off cameras recording the event. As people left, police detained and ticketed Noah Powell. Later in the evening Mia Hyder tried to speak out about Flock during public comments about a housing issue. Police arrested her while Schrag looked on. “Sorry ma’m,” the mayor said as police led Hyder away in handcuffs.
Springfield has 41 Flock cameras, according to the Flock Transparency Portal. City councilor Brandon Jenson had proposed a resolution to “conduct a comprehensive review of all relevant contracts” related to the ALPR cameras. The council was set to vote on Jensons’ proposed review on Monday and hear comments from the community. But when the resolution came up during the meeting, Mayor Schrag immediately pushed to send it to a committee and avoid public comment.
Jenson spoke before the vote to push the resolution to a committee. “All I’m trying to do is get people answers to some real questions that they’ve brought to us for months. And it’s a shame that it comes to this sort of, I guess, theater that I’m a part of to try to get those answers,” he said. “This isn’t how government is supposed to run. It’s just disappointing. And we’re not even allowing folks to speak who clearly came out to share their voices tonight.”
Shame on Schrag. Shame on the council members that moved to silence these residents.
Does it even hurt them that much to allow public comment? They can just ignore the comments. But they'd rather arrest people than even do that.
To me this is naked fascism, as obscenely bold as Priapus. This is not merely "disappointing", this is the moment you would use in a children's film to make sure even a four year old gets that the mayor is evil. When people do this, you're supposed to fight them as a matter of course. It's like taking a shit, either you do it or you explode.
City council has acted like this everywhere I’ve lived (and I’ve moved around quite a bit). Main reason I have no faith in reforming from within. Even when there’s barely anything on the line in terms of power or bribes politicians will throw their constituents under the bus 8/10 times. I don’t think we can outsource the stewardship of our communities to politicians even on the local level. People need to be directly involved in the projects that pertain to them.
Take the guy who owns five gas stations and cross him with a reddit mod/HOA president. Clone him five times. That's the town council.
I don’t think we can outsource the stewardship of our communities to politicians even on the local level. People need to be directly involved in the projects that pertain to them.
You know, you can make stewarding your community as a politician a project that pertains to you. City council is a pretty achievable goal if you set your mind to it, especially in cities where the constituents are dissatisfied with the decisions of the existing council. I'm considering it myself. Run for office yourself, or help someone local who represents your interests.
They’ll sell people out for a free lunch, they are absolute bottom feeding scum
The cop guaranteed this gets thrown out by putting that they flipped off the mayor on the ticket. Clear 1st Amendment issue that's been settled by the USSC