(APN) ATLANTA — The Georgia Attorney General’s office has opined that the officers of Atlanta Neighborhood Planning Unit R violated a city ordinance when they banned two outspoken members from participating in public meetings. In May 2015, Ben Howard, 82, a well-known senior advocate, and Ron Shakir, an activist who has run for City Council, were expelled from the […]
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(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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(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, […]
Read more(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 […]
Read more(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 […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta Progressive News has issued an updated Atlanta City Council Scorecard for Summer 2013, which may be the last updated scorecard before Municipal Elections this November. The Scorecard–which APN believes is the most comprehensive, voting record-based Scorecard for this Council that is available to Atlanta voters–now includes a total of 43 items, dating from 2003 […]
Read more(APN) ATLANTA — Atlanta Progressive News has updated its Atlanta City Council Scorecard for 2013, adding recent as well as past votes, including: – Two votes taken last week, in March 2013, on whether to set a limit to restrict public comment time at all Atlanta City Council Committees. Only Keisha Lance Bottoms (District 11), Joyce Sheperd (District 12), Howard […]
Read more(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 […]
Read more(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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