It’s not common that citizens communications – the hourlong noontime allotment each City Council meeting available to anyone that signs up in time – makes waves. But with a colorful assortment of characters, maybe it should more often.
I was contacted recently by Isaac Hernandez, a student in Statesman writer Ben Wear‘s journalism class at Austin Community College, for comment on citizens communications regular Carol Anne Rose Kennedy. He profiles Kennedy, along with fellow CC staple Paul Robbins and others in the following article he wrote for Wear’s class. Take a look:
Tell the mayor what you think.
You have three minutes.
Go.The Austin City Council meets every Thursday, for an all-day event in which a good deal of city business is decided, or at least, debated. Prior to every meeting, the ten quickest citizens to sign up get three minutes at the meeting to talk to council members, and their constituents via Channel 6, about anything they want.
The goal is to allow citizens to participate in government at a local level. The outcome is as hodgepodge as the people who make the list.
Take Paul Robbins for example. He stood before the council on Thursday to speak about the city charter and how it is routinely ignored, in regards to voter approval for revenue bonds. A prominent environmental activist in Austin for at least 30 years, Robbins has stood before the Council numerous times. “Often, I bring new and hopefully useful information or perspectives that they might not hear elsewhere,” Robbins says.
A self-proclaimed ‘consumer-advocate’, Robbins knows the importance of citizen participation in local government, especially in front of the Council.
“You have to remember that I am not just talking to the city council,” Robbins says. “Ten thousand people watch these meetings on Channel 6, including city staff, the news media, activists of all stripes, and informed voters. Sometimes an effective strategy is to get issues into the public consciousness.
“Some people would poetically call what we do ‘speaking truth to power’.”
Another issue injected into the public consciousness, brought forward by neighbors Bill Boulton and Billy Clifford on Thursday, is the issue of zoning for single family dwellings and duplexes. Boulton and Clifford informed the council about the misuse of city code by some of their neighbors who profit from renting out space under the radar of city code enforcers, illegally turning their single family dwellings into duplexes. Mayor Will Wynn called Clifford’s comments “eye opening.”
“We have been trying for years to get Code Enforcement to shut down the duplexes, but have had no success,” says Clifford. “The Citizen Communication provides an opportunity to address the entire council. The real test is yet to come – will the mayor and councilperson [Jennifer] Kim actually help get the duplexes shut down?”
“I think politics is a connection process,” says Boulton. “If you’re not connected, it’s hard to get doors to open. The Council gave us a chance to convey our situation and frustrations to see if we couldn’t open a door.”
It worked. Kim’s office contacted Boulton, and scheduled a meeting the following week.
“My neighbor and I are happy with the results,” says Boulton. “I just have to keep chipping away, not to lose the small ground we gained last Thursday.”
A regular in the Citizen Communication session is Carol Anne Rose Kennedy. A colorful character whose presentations to the council are often sung instead of spoken, Kennedy and her satirical poetry are often met with an uncomfortable-looking council and concealed, quiet laughter from those in attendance.
“I doubt anyone on our center-left City Council would disagree with her gripes,” says Wells Dunbar, a writer for the Austin Chronicle who regularly covers Council meetings, “but her passive-aggressive manner of speaking — including long, semi-atonal songs and posing pointed rhetorical questions directly to council members — seems designed to alienate.”
“I enjoy listening to her,” argues Mayor Pro Tem Betty Dunkerly. “I think she’s clever.”
Kennedy often doesn’t have a static topic, but rather uses her three minutes as she pleases.
“Citizens Communication is an opportunity for anyone to say what they have on their mind,” reminds Boulton. “People like [Kennedy] take away a slot that could be used for a more serious and important topic. However, I don’t want some bureaucrat to make an arbitrary decision about whose topic is important enough or not to get on the agenda.
“In a democracy it takes all types of people.”
But if you’re looking to change the Council’s mind, the citizens’ communication isn’t the best place, according to Dunkerly.
“The citizen communication is best suited for personal frustrations, and is not as beneficial on those larger issues,” Dunkerly says. “If a citizen wanted to get involved, they’d have a better chance with catching those issues early, in a stakeholder group, or some other grassroots arena.”
Still, the three minutes allotted seems to be enough for some. It has been proposed by the Council, however, that the three minutes be shortened to two.
“Although it was amusing, having to listen to a children’s song for three minutes isn’t good use of the forum,” says Boulton. “I imagine the Council wants to limit speeches for this reason. Prior to speaking, I thought only allocating one hour per month for citizen input was very minimal. I still think that.”
Robbins agrees. “If they want to shorten Council meetings, they should either hold them more frequently, or hold work sessions of specific topics separately.
“I admit that participatory democracy can sometimes be a messy process. But I don’t know a better way. And that is what these officials signed up for then they ran for office.”
This article appears in Richard Suttle.