SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After weeks of racist hate speech heard at Sacramento City Council meetings that interrupted proceedings, public comments by phone are over but not without criticism.
"That's just so disenfranchising,” said Bob Erlenbusch, exec. dir. of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness.
Those who want to speak at meetings must now be present in person to comment or submit written comments ahead of time, which get included with the hundreds of pages of meeting materials given to each council member.
"It disenfranchises people who can't make it down to city hall during work hours or people who are seniors who don't want to drive at night or people with disabilities," said Erlenbusch.
Earlier this month, ABC10 showed the disruption and outrage the racial slurs and hateful rhetoric sparked inside the Sacramento City Council chambers. More than a dozen anonymous Zoom callers launched into racist tirades aimed at Black and Jewish members of the community. Also some against Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
Steinberg was seen leaving the chambers after a number of comments at last Tuesday's meeting.
Councilmember Sean Loloee suggested a pause to zoom that was echoed by Councilmembers Karina Talamantes and Lisa Kaplan.
"I'm in favor of walking away from Zoom and really give the platform to individuals that want to come and have real major concerns about our city,” said Loloee. "We can really spend time resolving those instead of spending hours listening to Zoom calls that have no place in our forum."
Some community members have expressed wanting to keep the Zoom comments going due to COVID-19 concerns and the access it provides for people with disabilities to listen in.
