Not sure if anyone watched the City Council meeting Monday night, but now they have a countdown clock that will play on the overhead screen during public testimony.
Silly.
First off, I don’t have a problem with the 5 minute rule, but it should be given some latitude. During the Pawn Shop ordinance testimony, local attorney, Dean Nasser, Â asked for more time since he was representing several clients. Seems reasonable.
But to be quite honest with you, the anti-censorship, 1st Amendment rights freak in me says, to Hell with the time limit. We elect and pay these people to serve us. They must listen, no matter how painful it may be for them. With or without our hats on.
I was at the council meeting Monday when they unveiled the dreaded timer. All I could think was oh boy is this CHEESY. I saw more than one eye roll on and off the council I’m pretty sure. I agree, I think it should be a judgement call. I’m at the meetings all the time and the vast majority of people respect the 5 minute rule and its a non-issue. Only on rare occasion do you have someone who can’t shut up (kind of like me when I’m typing – oops). And for those people a timer isn’t going to stop them, its going to take the Mayor simply stopping them. And then there are times like the lawyer speaking eloquently against the Pawn Ordinance who needs more time because its a serious issue and it requires more time than that, which at that point a councilor can request he have more time (like Councilman Anderson did in that case). Cheesy, kind of like the Mayor and Motorcycle Jim walking out on the ice on the blue carpet to Enter Sandman – just saying.
Oh, speaking of public input. I used to kind of cringe when I saw Tim Stanga walking up to the podium. Now I’m happy any week I see him. He’s been in rare form lately and say what you will, darn if he isn’t entertaining. I was starting to nod off after the parade of BIN supporters, then he came walking up and let loose with some of his greatest hits. I know one of the things about Stanga that drives the Mayor crazy is its always complaints and negativity. I’m a positive guy and am not a big fan of that either, but he sure spices things up! He’s not afraid to walk right up and say what he thinks, and that’s pretty rare. I haven’t had the chance to ask him what he does for a living and what his story is. I believe he lives downtown (Pettigrew Heights maybe). He’s always referring to the people he talks to and that he works for the ‘people’ so I don’t know if he’s mostly just an advocate for his neighborhood or what. Always was interested about that.
Tim said something very telling the other night – MMM called Tim into his office one day and asked who he (Tim) worked for. In other words, who’s putting Tim up to this because there is no way any concerned citizen would be so vigilant unless they’re being paid or encouraged by somebody else.
That’s the big disconnect that the general public isn’t seeing with MMM (at least not yesterday). Behind the hugs and handshakes, along with the “gosh darns” and “good folks”, is a paranoid and narcissistic individual who is developing a reputation for letting loose with personal accusations and f-bombs behind closed doors.
Mark my words, it will catch up with MMM some day – I just hope not before it’s too late. He’s already added another $200m to the city’s debt, and now feels empowered with a mandate to continue abusing that trust as he sees fit.
Tim lives in the Whittier neighborhood. I’m not sure what he does, but I think he is self-employed. Yeah, sometimes he says some pretty off the wall shit, but sometimes he nails it.
Thank you Citizen Stanga…..
I hope that you will continue to stay involved AND to give public input!!
YOU WANNA KNOW WHO I WORK FOR!
He needs to make a T-Shirt out of that.