| Author
|
Post |
 
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
Eric Mays files complaint after police escort him out of Flint City Council meeting
By Kristin Longley | Flint Journal
December 15, 2009, 4:14PM
courtesy photoEric MaysFLINT, Michigan — Local activist Eric Mays said he filed a complaint with the city ombudsman's office today after he was ordered out of a Flint City Council meeting.
Mays said he is challenging council President Delrico Loyd's ruling that Mays was out of order as he spoke during a public hearing on a proposed zoning change.
After refusing to take their seats, Mays and speaker Sam Sutton were escorted out of the council chambers by police officers.
Mays said he hopes the ombudsman will issue a report that finds the council members in the wrong.
"We will practice civil disobedience if we believe that one, we were germane, and two, our freedom of speech rights were being violated," he said today. "This is bigger than Eric Mays. This is about the citizens."
The public hearing was about a proposed zoning change on Dort Highway for a salvage yard.
A resident spoke first against the change. Then Mays, who said he was being paid as a consultant for the property owner, spoke in favor of the change, asking that the council postpone making its decision.
Mays spoke for 45 minutes before council members said he was getting off topic. Mays disagreed with the council, as did Sutton.
According to council rules, the council president can order someone out of a meeting for not being germane to the topic of the public hearing.
"I hope she (the ombudsman) makes a finding that I was germane," Mays said. "That they were out of order and not me, and they violated my rights in that public hearing."
After Mays and Sutton were escorted out, at least one person spoke in their defense, saying the council was being disrespectful.
At the end of the meeting, council Vice President Dale Weighill thanked Loyd for his actions.
"Thank you for the leadership you showed tonight," Weighill said to applause from the audience and council members. "Free speech is one thing but chaos is another.
"The rules need to be enforced." |
|
|
Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:26 pm |
|
|
back again
F L I N T O I D
|
honestly how can anyone drone on about one topic 45 minutes.  |
_________________
even a small act of goodness may be a tiny raft of salvation across the treacherous gulf of sin, but one who drinks the wine of selfishness, and dances on the little boat of meaness, sinks in the ocean of ignorance.
P.Y. |
|
|
Tue Dec 15, 2009 7:41 pm |
|
|
1pissedoffguy
F L I N T O I D
|
| Don't know BA, I think if someone kept talking about stopping some of the past actions the city council perhaps they would been prevented some stuff from happening and big money saved. Talk is cheap. Hell I say lets have MORE talk before letting those yutzes vote on something is going to end up costing the taxpayers more cash, cash we don't have. I like some of the stuff Mays talks about,and I am a white guy, why ain't you down with one of your brathers there ol BA? |
|
|
|
Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:24 pm |
|
|
back again
F L I N T O I D
|
ha ha ha pissed.....just because we may share the same "tint" by no means guarantees we feel the same way about issues. our lives may have been totally different. our life experiences may have been totally different.
i am one human who happens to be "tinted". nothing else can be assumed. |
_________________
even a small act of goodness may be a tiny raft of salvation across the treacherous gulf of sin, but one who drinks the wine of selfishness, and dances on the little boat of meaness, sinks in the ocean of ignorance.
P.Y. |
|
|
Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:33 pm |
|
|
Gooch
F L I N T O I D
|
I in no way understand Mays and didn't vote for him or even think about doing it. That said I have my own problem in my neighborhood with people talking down to me. I have people doing things "For me and my neighbors" and yet they don't include us even though they claim to speak for us. And now that I have been more involved in the process I find they either try to stiffle me or make me seem like I choose to not be involved in the planning process. Which is very untrue. If i had been contacted that there were meetings going on I would of had a voice long ago. If I had been made welcome and felt I mattered I would have been in long ago.
Then you have people like Sims, who is a neighbor even though she very rarely stays there, do my biding for me yet never invites me to anything. I watched Lawler do it too. We had a young man who was trying his best to get out and do things getting his hands dirty to get elected in Lawlers spot and yet Lawler with his money for block parties and ballon houses won over cause he had more power.
Well maybe Mays is an example of all this. Maybe he is a crack pot or a cronie but that also might be what people need. An example of some one speaking out and taking action. Even if HE is wrong, who is standing up after him doing right? Who else is standing up and questioning the system that seems to be the same people working for "we the people" with out even contact us. They are spending our money. They are spending our grants. And where do we get to see the results. Where is the reciept.
I don't know the full story but Dort hyway is a mess anyways with all the junkyards, scrap yards, and tity bars. Shouldn't we be more concerned that there is a sweet old lady living among all this. Shouldn't we be contacting the landbank and the junk yards into relocating her into a nice new house in a better arera? Quid pro quo. |
|
|
|
Tue Dec 15, 2009 8:57 pm |
|
|
back again
F L I N T O I D
|
the GOOCH has spoken!! 
i'm with you 100%!!!!! |
_________________
even a small act of goodness may be a tiny raft of salvation across the treacherous gulf of sin, but one who drinks the wine of selfishness, and dances on the little boat of meaness, sinks in the ocean of ignorance.
P.Y. |
|
|
Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:19 am |
|
|
untanglingwebs
El Supremo
|
The lady has lived in her home since 1932 and does not want to move. Her husband was ill and could not come.
This is the second public hearing on the rezoning and both were recommended for denial by the planning commisssion and turned down by council. Eric was being paid to represent Kumar and filibustered the meeting. Freeman appropriately called Mays on a "point of order" for not being germaine to the subject.
Mays was becoming argumentive and tried to goad Nolden into an argument. He badgeed the lady and repeatedly called her a liar. Loyd, assisted by the City Attorney, read the appropriate council rules and advised Mays repeatedly to be germaine to the subject of the public hearing.
Mays threatened Nolden with a vague political retaliation threat. Mays represented himself as having some great political power that would impact members of the council.
Mays also admitted he was aligned with former councilman Ed Taylor in his efforts to push this rezoning through. |
|
|
|
Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:21 am |
|
|
back again
F L I N T O I D
|
so now there are 2 toothless tigers?
why don't they leave that lady alone!! isn't there some kind of nuisance law that could be used to keep mays OUT of the building????? |
_________________
even a small act of goodness may be a tiny raft of salvation across the treacherous gulf of sin, but one who drinks the wine of selfishness, and dances on the little boat of meaness, sinks in the ocean of ignorance.
P.Y. |
|
|
Wed Dec 16, 2009 5:44 pm |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Register
Profile
FlintTalk.com Forum Index
> Political Talk
