Ever since rowdy reservoir-loving activists helped turn city council chambers into a bizarro barnyard last week, there's been speculation on how officials will curb future outbursts. After all, the council's preliminary May 13 vote to demolish Washington Park's two drinking water reservoirs was merely one in a series of similar decisions on the horizon.
Would city council hold its meetings in a remote location, with testimony also carried out remotely—the public process version of those bulletproof food hatchways you see at some Taco Bells? Or would Mayor Charlie Hales, like his predecessor Sam Adams, eject boisterous people from chambers?
Looks like the latter. The city says its going to enforce its own rules.
"If protesters are disruptive in future meetings, the City will enforce its conduct rules," reads a fresh release from the city's Office of Management and Finance. "People will be warned to stop engaging in disruptive conduct or face expulsion. If they do not stop, they may be subject to future exclusions."
According to the rules OMF attached, disrupting "the normal operation or administration of City business" will earn you a warning from a "Person in Charge" (Hales in this case). Keep acting up, and you'll be excluded from City Hall for a day, or months, or potentially permanently. And Hales' people aren't shy about calling the cops on people with exclusions.
This move, of course, doesn't preclude ugliness. Hales spokesman has said the mayor is reticent to have protestors "dragged off in leg irons so they could have all the video in the world." Is that better or worse than what happened last Wednesday? (Click here and select item 486 for the most absurd council hearing you've ever seen.) Guess we'll find out next week.
Next on the docket? A hearing on Mount Tabor's soon-to-be disconnected reservoirs, scheduled May 28.