By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black and alternative digital newspaper: CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland City Council is slated to possibly allow public comment at its weekly city council meetings, prospective city legislation that comes during an election year for city council seats and following ongoing pressure from community activists and others who say City Council has been erroneously silencing free speech at its regular council meetings for decades and that it's time for a change.
Previously, people could only speak at committee meetings held typically in the mornings and at the discretion of the chair, and at regular meetings only when called upon to speak by a council member and sanctioned by the county president, a posture contrary to most other area city councils that have no problem permitting public comment by taxpayers and others at their meetings
Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley, a mayoral candidate, said Monday that several of the 17 city council members have said they are on board with allowing public comment and all that is needed is for framework rules to be written up and for city council to vote on the proposed ordinance, which is in the draft stages right now but will be ready to be introduced soon.
Kelley said that members of the Rules Committee and Operations Committee researched the issue and examined how other major cities handled public comment.
If and when an ordinance passes that permits public comment, which sources say is long overdue, citizens could speak for up to two to three minutes on a first come first serve basis after signing up before meetings, and after 30 minutes those who were not allowed to speak due to time constraints can reschedule for the next regularly scheduled council meeting.
Currently regular city council meetings are for the most part held on Monday's at 7 pm and have been held virtually in recent months due to the pandemic.
By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief, associate publisher. Coleman is a Black political. legal and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post in Cleveland, Ohio, and under several different editors
Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, Ohio's most read Black and alternative digital newspaper and Black blog.Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.
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