LOS ANGELES, August 3, 2006 – The Los Angeles City Council has ruled to place new restrictions on the public’s ability to address the council during public meetings. The move is seen as a backlash against activists who regularly address the council at council meetings.
The new restrictions will allow the council to remove speakers from the hearing based on subjective “rules of decorum” as determined by the council. The council has also cut the speakers time in half from two minutes to one minute. Members of the public are now forbidden from addressing their councilperson directly and their remarks now must be addressed to the council as a whole.
The restrictions are seen as an effort by the council to limit debate on issues they do not want to address. Free speech and public assembly rights activists from Venice Beach, The South Central Farmers and communities around the city fighting unwanted development in their neighborhood are the presumed targets of these new restrictions.
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City Council Rules To Limit Free Speech