CLEVELAND — Cleveland City Council is discussing possible changes to the public comment portion of meetings following what some councilmembers described as a series of heated, disruptive comments about the war in the Middle East.
Ward 8 Councilman Michael Polensek told 3News the talks took place Monday prior to the day's regularly scheduled meeting. However, no final decisions have been made.
"We had a very healthy discussion today," Polensek said. "Council President [Blaine Griffin] is going to decide by the end of the year what action we’re going to take."
The revelation comes two weeks after the normal gathering of legislators saw dozens of protestors vocally criticize city leaders for their support of Israel. Many gave pro-Palestinian speeches and held up signs with names of children killed in Gaza during the war with Hamas, and at one point following public comment, the meeting was halted for 10 minutes as some in the gallery chanted things like, "Mayor Bibb, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide."
Speaking to WKYC after the incident, Griffin supported the protestors' right to give their opinions, but criticized them for not following the "rules of decorum and engagement" for the chamber. He also claimed there were pro-Israeli speakers listed who eventually did not talk due to the atmosphere in the room.
"There are other groups that might have had opposing opinions that felt intimidated and are angry because they felt that they were not safe to come into this environment," Griffin stated back on Oct. 31. "That's unacceptable."
Current Council rules for public comment stipulate that speakers must pre-register online and must stick to their pre-determined topics. Meetings are also limited to no more than 10 speakers, each of whom cannot talk for more than three minutes and cannot yield their time to anyone else. Signs and banners are also strictly prohibited inside the chamber.
While things were less heated on this Monday, citizens in the gallery still showed up holding signs. According to Polensek, many of the recent "disruptive" speakers hail from out-of-town suburbs, and one of the proposed changes would limit public comments to city of Cleveland residents only.
"I am not going to sit there and have people come in here and politically threaten the mayor or the council president or any member of this body. I'm not going to sit for that, and what we've experienced the last three weeks is outrageous, unacceptable," Polensek said. "Public comment is supposed to be just that — to come in and voice your concerns about Cleveland issues, Cleveland concerns. We see the majority of these folks coming in from the suburbs expressing their issues on international issues, concerns."
Those who do not wish to comment publicly at meetings are also free to comment online, with the remarks being posted on City Council's website. Of the 10 comments currently on the front page as of Monday evening, nine involved support for Palestine.