Category Archives: public comment

NEWS BRIEF: Norwood Withdraws Public Comment Limits Ordinance

norwood COC

(APN) ATLANTA — At the Monday, July 06, 2015, Committee on Council Meeting of the City Council of Atlanta, Councilwoman Mary Norwood (Post 2-at-large) made a motion to file, or terminate, her proposed legislation to set a Multi-Committee public comment limit.   Atlanta Progressive News reported that Norwood introduced the legislation, out of her concern that some citizens were jumping […]

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Atlanta Councilwoman Norwood Seeks New Restrictions on Public Comment

mary norwood 2

(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta City Councilwoman Mary Norwood (Post 2-at-large) has introduced controversial legislation to limit public comment at all of the Council’s seven bi-weekly Committee Meetings.   Currently, each Committee gets to set its own time limits, if any; some committees have limits currently; some do not.  The matter is under the purview of the respective seven Committee Chairpersons, […]

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APN Releases Atlanta Council Scorecard for 2014 Year-End

council scorecard end 2014

(APN) ATLANTA — With the exception of Cleta Winslow (District 4), Howard Shook (District 7), and Yolanda Adrean (District 8), Atlanta’s City Councilmembers saw improvements in their progressivity score during the third and fourth quarters of 2014.   Atlanta Progressive News has updated its Atlanta City Council Scorecard, adding two votes: specifically, the vote on whether to approve a resolution […]

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Atlanta Council Passes Moore, Norwood Plan to Limit Public Comment Delegations

(APN) ATLANTA — At the July 07, 2014 Full Council Meeting, a majority of Members of the City Council of Atlanta continued their collective efforts to silence and oppress members of the public, by setting new restrictions on public comment delegations at future Full Council Meetings.     The Council originally passed a ten minute limit for delegations, but Atlanta […]

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Activists Speak Out against Importing German Nuclear Waste to Savannah River Site, at Hearing

(APN) AUGUSTA — The U.S. Department of Energy held a hearing at the North Augusta Community Center on June 24, 2014, regarding a proposal to import nuclear waste from Germany to be stored at Savannah River Site (SRS). APN previously reported on the proposal in depth: http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/interspire/news/2014/06/09/savannah-river-site-becoming-world%E2%80%99s-nuclear-dumping-ground-despite-safety-risks.html     DOE is soliciting public comments on the prospects through July 21, […]

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Austin, Wan (District 6) Compared on Atlanta Council Issues

(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta City Councilman Alex Wan (District 6)–who has been a staunch enemy of public comment; who demanded that Atlanta taxpayers pay for his legal representation for his perceived right to a secret vote [later losing a Supreme Court of Georgia ruling in a case brought by APN’s News Editor–the present writer]; who oversaw questionable funds accrual and […]

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Citizens Defeat Public Comment Limits at Atlanta Council Committees

(APN) ATLANTA — Citizen activists defeated a proposal to limit public comment time at all Committee Meetings of the Atlanta City Council yesterday, after the Committee on Council voted six to one to file the ordinance, and the Full Council voted twice against approving it. Activists including Ben Howard, Brother Anthony Muhammad, and Ron Shakir, along with APN’s News Editor–the […]

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Some Atlanta Councilmembers Seek Vote to Silence the Public, Again

(APN) ATLANTA — Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd (District 12) and six other Councilmembers have set their sights on new public comment rules that would further limit the time allotted to citizens to speak at Council Committees, and would set other restrictions. Currently, each Committee Chair sets their own rules for public comment at each of the seven Committees of the Atlanta […]

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Victory! Atlanta’s Council Briefings Opened to Public, Moved to Committee Room

(APN) ATLANTA — In another major citizens’ victory for transparency, public participation, accountability, and democracy at the City Council of Atlanta, all seven Council Committees have opened their Committee Briefings to the public for 2013, and have moved the Committee Briefings to Committee Room 1, which is accessible to the public.   The seven Council Committees–City Utilities, Committee on Council, […]

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Atlanta Council Rejects Two Minute Speaking Request after 40 Minute Debate

  (APN) ATLANTA — The City Council of Atlanta took an extraordinary vote Monday, October 17, 2011, on whether to grant an additional two minutes of public speaking time to NAME President, an advocate for People TV, the endangered public access station. Ms. President ran out of time while making her remarks at the Full Council meeting, where two minutes […]

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Wan, Council Sit Silently Through Anti-Gay Rant

(APN) ATLANTA — At the last Full Council meeting of the City Council of Atlanta, on June 06, 2011, citizen activist, Dave Walker, used his two minute public comment portion to make a series of anti-gay remarks. “Mr. President and Council Members, a couple of weeks ago, a State Representative stood up and proclaimed that he was a gay American,” […]

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