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Today City Council was supposed to hear from 30 speakers on @JeanSwanson_ ’s motion on protecting tenants from predatory Real Estate Investment Trusts. But with just 10 mins left to go into a 3hr long break, they voted to cut off the speakers list after having heard from only 4
Speaking to City Council is extremely inaccessible. You sign up for a motion on Tuesday, but you don't speak on Tuesday. They send you an email that day telling you there is a meeting the next day, from 9:30am to 10pm - you could be speaking any time in between.
How to know when to speak? you ask. Follow our livestream, they say. Oh, so working class people should drop their entire lives for a day to listen to your endless yapping just to speak for 5 mins. Is that the cost of democratic participation in this city? No wonder so few do.
Most ppl estimated given the agenda of the day and the length of the list, it won't be their turn until council returns from standard break of 12-3pm. But with only 10 mins left to break, they closed the item, b/c *momentarily* at 11:50am on a working day, no one was on the line.
Cllr Swanson tried to keep the speaking open until after the break with a motion and this was the result.
Who do you represent if you're a councillor and you vote to bar 20+ speakers who may have had lives and were unable to tune in at a moments' notice from speaking?
Who do you represent if you're a councillor and you vote to bar 20+ speakers who may have had lives and were unable to tune in at a moments' notice from speaking?
And the most frustrating part? they kept saying tHe sTaFf hAvE dOnE EVERYTHING tHeY cAn to alert people to their speaking time. Is an email at 11:40am saying you should tune in now, EVERYTHING you could do?
Spare us the bullshit and don't blame people for your own failure.
Spare us the bullshit and don't blame people for your own failure.
Who do you represent? @AdrianeCarr @kennedystewart @PtFry @JeanSwanson_ @CllrHardwick @councillorwiebe @christineeboyle @LisaDominato @rebeccaleebligh @sarahkirby_yung cc @VanCityClerk @YVRTenantsUnion
In a final assault on this motion they voted to gut its critical substance, i.e. opposing Fed tax break and CMHC financing for predatory Real Estate Investment Trusts.
Once again I'm compelled to ask, who do you represent? Esp. disappointed in @PtFry for leading the defeat
Once again I'm compelled to ask, who do you represent? Esp. disappointed in @PtFry for leading the defeat
