Numerous El Pasoans were alarmed by the City’s plan to reform Public Comment, which would have been moved from the individual agenda items to a designated period starting at 10:00am, significantly diminishing the impact of citizen input.
Today, City Council was about to vote on this change under agenda item 1, with strong support from Reps. Fierro, Maldonado-Rocha, and Canales.
But then Rep. Acevedo, who was the lone dissenter on April 29 when the issue first came up for a vote, suggested giving the public a choice between speaking at 10:00am or at the moment the agenda item comes up for discussion and action.
His motion was seconded by Rep. Limón and passed on a 5-3 vote, with Reps. Chavez, Maldonado-Rocha and Fierro dissenting.
It is hard to understand why these three oppose such a common-sense solution, which maximizes the opportunity for El Pasoans to address their leaders publicly, but we are pleased with the outcome.
We are also pleased that Canales abandoned his initial position in favor of this logical compromise.
We commend Acevedo and Limón for their principled leadership this morning.