www.montereycountyweekly.com september 28-october 4, 2023 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 When members of Monterey City Council and the public gathered in the council chambers in Colton Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 19 for a meeting, everything seemed normal. The night’s business included a discussion on the city’s housing element—a plan for how to incorporate 3,654 new residential units by 2031—which drew plenty of public interest. People standing in the chamber spoke at the podium. Others called in remotely. Then things went off the rails as comment after comment—13 in total—veered away from the housing element and into blatant racism and anti-Semitism. The callers, unnamed and anonymous, lobbed slurs that have no place in civil society. Mayor Tyller Williamson stopped public comment amid the onslaught and apologized to the listening public for the hate they’d just heard. The City Council tabled the important business before them. One of the great things about our democratic system of governance is that the public gets to participate. One of the awful things is that sometimes members of the public—including those who run for office, and sometimes win—believe and say awful things. The hate speech that bombarded Monterey’s meeting appears to be part of a systemic attack on local government agencies. Similar calls have disrupted meetings in San Diego, Walnut Creek, Larkspur, South San Francisco, Livermore and more in recent weeks. “These aren’t random acts,” says Marc Levine, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League’s Central-Pacific region. “Perpetrators are engaging in organized, orchestrated attacks on public meetings across the state and even nationally. These are white supremacists who are trying to take over these public spaces that are supposed to be there for serving the public.” The City of Monterey led the way early in the Covid-19 pandemic to offer virtual public comment. While there is no requirement to keep offering it now that public spaces have reopened, the city has continued to do so, in an effort to make it easier for people to participate. “We have residents with child care challenges, mobility issues, work commitments or other obligations that don’t allow them to participate in person,” notes Assistant City Manager Nat Rojanasathira. “Residents have expressed their appreciation for having this type of public engagement.” White supremacists are now exploiting Monterey’s effort to increase public access to meetings. They’re using it to spew hate and anger, and they’re ruining it for the rest of us. Starting Tuesday, Sept. 26, Monterey implemented a new policy, something pulled straight out of ADL’s toolkit on how to handle this type of hate speech. People now must sign up to speak at the beginning of a discussion—no late arrivals to Zoom or in person—and the duration of public comment will be limited based on the number of speakers who join the queue. And on Wednesday, Sept. 27 (after the Weekly’s deadline), Monterey City Council was scheduled to discuss whether to suspend its virtual public participation option entirely. “On one hand, providing online comments provides greater access for residents,” Rojanasathira says. “On the other hand, it is now becoming a platform for hate that can cause meetings to become disruptive and, in some cases, residents may be less willing to attend meetings if hate speech, bigotry and anti-Semitic language is a norm.” Of course, virtual participation enables more hate like this—the cloak of anonymity gives people a way to hide. “There’s a reason why the KKK wears masks,” Levine notes. The First Amendment protects speech, even hate speech, unless it rises to the level of a specific criminal threat. (The Monterey Police Department is not investigating any of the commenters for that reason.) The real shame is that racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic slurs are still used in our society at all. “Hateful language can lead to hateful violence,” Levine says. “We need to call that out and denounce it.” Thank you to Monterey’s leaders who did. “We hope you will join us in unequivocally condemning these malicious statements,” city officials wrote in a statement. “The City will continue to conduct the people’s business and serve all who live, visit and work here.” Sara Rubin is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@mcweekly.com. Haters Gonna Hate A hate speech campaign comes to Monterey City Hall. By Sara Rubin On the Road Again…Squid’s travels in the old jalopy often take Squid over Highway 68 between Pacific Grove and Highway 1, aka Holman Highway. It’s an easy way to get over to Carmel or avoid Monterey traffic on Lighthouse Avenue—that is, if there is no construction with one-way controls that bring traffic to a halt, and that’s been happening a lot lately. Squid was tooling over the hill recently only to be stopped again, prompting Squid to throw Squid’s tentacles up, writhing in despair. Even more maddening, it appeared workers were tearing up new pavement laid just last year. So Squid’s colleague reached out to a Caltrans spokesperson, and discovered there are two forces in conflict: planned maintenance vs. “reactive safety.” The paving that took place from 2022-23, at $6.38 million, was planned in 2021. But then it was determined that highway curves were banked too high and could lead to collisions. Reactive safety projects happen outside of the planned schedule. Thus, there went millions of new paving work for a $2.3 million safety project. Squid’s spitballing here, but maybe Caltrans could check for safety issues before scheduled paving? By the way, don’t get too comfortable once the safety project is complete. In 2025, a year-long culvert repair project begins along Highway 68 from Salinas to Pacific Grove. Faces of History…Squid is never sure what to do with all the photos on Squid’s phone. Just text them to Flapjack the Octopus years later for a nostalgic moment? Print one as a fridge magnet? The same problem seems to apply for old-fashioned, printed photos: Specifically, for the Monterey County Historical Society, what to do with thousands of archival images collected by the late Pat Hathaway? At least some of the effort includes digitizing the collection—and some of that includes commercializing it. Fine Art America is a third-party company that enables you to order whatever you want—a greeting card or a coffee mug with an image printed on it. Options from the collection include old photos of downtown Monterey and Carmel, and also a portrait of John Steinbeck. You can get the author’s face, circa 1938, emblazoned on…a yoga mat for $61. It takes up the full 24-by-72-inch mat, so you might end up with a knee to Steinbeck’s eyebrow while doing cat-cow, or a foot on his mustache while in downward dog. It’s all quite awkward, in Squid’s opinion. Historical Society Executive Director James Perry says the platform generates about $300 a month in royalties from its deal with Fine Art America. “It’s modest,” he says—but it’s something for the enterprising nonprofit. Perry didn’t know about the Steinbeck yoga mat until Squid’s colleague asked. “I am taken aback, I must say,” Perry says. No word if he’s going to begin a yoga routine. the local spin SQUID FRY THE MISSION OF MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY IS TO INSPIRE INDEPENDENT THINKING AND CONSCIOUS ACTION, ETC. “These aren’t random acts.” Send Squid a tip: squid@mcweekly.com
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