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North Renton resident Matt Hanby showed a poster at last night’s meeting displaying a timeline related to Council activities on the Logan Six project. In the previous Council Meeting the poster and much of Mr. Hanby’s presentation was mysteriously left out of the video feed.
An apparent censoring of a poster exhibit at last week’s audience comment further illustrated the heightened tension that is preventing residents and council members from freely communicating at council meetings.
In a blog post on March 25th I described how our city leaders should find their way back to the type of council meeting communication we had with residents in past decades. Prior to the pandemic, audience comment was an interactive and solution-oriented portion of each council meeting, in which council members routinely asked questions of presenters, shared their own perspectives on issues raised, engaged in cooperative problem solving, and often referred resident’s concerns to the Administration or a Council Committee for review. But lately it seems the “communication” consists entirely of residents giving three-minute monologues, with no response other than a possible “thank you… Next”
Two weeks after my post, a member of the public brought a poster board exhibit to the audience comment that had a timeline on it, and per an unknown party’s intent, the council chambers video recording system did not capture any images of it. Instead of the usual protocol of recording an image of the speaker, the cameras moved from focussing on the speaker to showing the council for the entire three minutes. This left those of us watching the meeting remotely very confused about what was on the poster that seemed to be so controversial that it was being censored.
This is the view that remote viewers had of Mr. Hanby’s presentation at the April 14 meeting. The poster Mr. Hanby held (which was written, shown to Council, and is therefore probably a public record) was never shared with the remote viewers of the meeting. As a public record, it was even at risk of not being properly retained, except a quick-thinking staff member managed to take a photo of it.
This was a huge departure from past decades, in which residents were welcome and even encouraged to bring written exhibits to audience comment, usually in the form of paper that could be displayed for everyone in the chambers using a special projector next to the audience comment podium. Residents would use the projector to show such things as maps, lists, photos, calendars, timelines, event posters, and any other exhibit that improved communication between the resident and the Renton Council. In the pre-digital age we could see the data projected on a screen (from paper or view foils), and in later years we could see it on our monitors on the council dais. Residents would certainly challenge us back then like they do now. Concerns and complaints have always been a common reason for residents to attend a council meeting. But that did not stop Council from encouraging residents to show written documents with their testimony.
With this display option no longer readily apparent , Matt Hanby brought a poster-board chart instead, and it then seemed to be censored on the video feed.
Thankfully, Mr. Hanby contacted Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Ed VanValey after he realized he and his exhibit were not shown on the meeting video feed, and CAO VanValey agreed to remedy the mistake at the next council meeting. That subsequent meeting occurred last night, and as CAO VanValey said, the timeline poster and Mr. Hanby’s testimony were broadcast. Hence, the confusion has apparently been corrected, but not before at least two speakers mentioned it in last night’s meeting.
Whoever censored this audience comment has apparently been retrained, but the underlying tension that sowed the censorship should still be addressed. Elected Officials must remember that (as the Declaration of Independence says) “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and that the residents that make their way to City Hall to speak with them are collectively their bosses. Council should engage with the public, the way any of us would engage with our employer, when issues are brought up or questions are raised.
Renton’s residents usually hold the answers to Renton’s problems, and it is Council’s job to gather these solutions and help implement them. Interacting during audience comment, including looking at the data the residents bring forth, is an important part of this assignment.
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