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CITY ACTS TO LIMIT ‘ZOOM BOMB’ COMMENTS IN PUBLIC MEETINGS
Healdsburg, California Healdsburg, California
October 5, 2023 Date, Date, 20202020
ORGANIZED DISRUPTORS USE PUBLIC PLATFORM FOR HATEFUL SPEECH The City of Healdsburg joined other local jurisdictions this week in excluding public comment through Zoom, the online meeting platform, in an effort to avoid the airing of racist and profane comments that have plagued government meetings in recent weeks. “This change is due to recent disruptive and hate-filled comments happening to cities across the region. These attacks have subjected communities to profane content and threaten the City Council’s ability to conduct business,” read a Sept. 28 post on the city’s Facebook page. The first meeting that followed was the City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 2. During his regular report at that meeting, City Manager Jeff Kay repeated the rationale for limiting public comment. “We are taking public comment, of course, in person tonight, as we always do, but will not be taking public comment by Zoom,” he said. “That’s a change that I think some people who have been following agency meetings around the region … have seen happening at a number of different agencies in response to ‘Zoom bombing’ of hate speech.” Kay emphasized that in-person public comment was welcome, and that the city would “continue to receive public comment by email if people wish to do ➝ ‘Zoom Bomb’, 2
Photos by Christian Kallen
By Christian Kallen
BUSKERS The Jon Strider Duo performs on the gazebo stage at Healdsburg Plaza on May 30, during a Farmers’ Market. Future informal performers will need a Special Performance Permit from the city in order to perform.
Performers in Plaza Now Need a Permit HEALDSBURG IMPLEMENTS ONCE-WEEKLY RULE FOR BUSKERS TO QUELL CONFLICT By Christian Kallen
Occasional visitors to the Healdsburg Plaza may have been entertained during recent summer months by a casually dressed latemiddle-aged man with a 12-string guitar, singing loudly from a swiveling office chair with a tip bowl in front of him. He is, by classic definition, a busker—“a person who performs music or other entertainment in the street or another public place for monetary donations.” Donald O. Cummings, known by his initials as “Doc,” has been a fixture at the fountain for the past three years, playing two hours at a time five days a week, so much so that some residents felt his persistent performances had become a problem. Acting upon complaints
from residents, other musicians and plaza visitors, the Community Services Department developed a Special Performance Policy for the Plaza, which was passed last month by the City Council. The belief was that it was the absence of a city performance policy that enabled Cummings to set up and perform with such frequency, leading to what many perceived as an unfair dominance of one person over Healdsburg’s central park. “‘We’d really like our plaza back,” said Bob Lawrence during the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting a month earlier. “We want some quiet around the fountain, so you can hear the birds, you can hear the children play around the fountain without one particular individual coming up and just dominating it for a couple hours, five days a week.” When Cummings appeared before the City Council recently, dressed in a blue suit and carrying a clipboard of endorsements, signatures and messages, he painted a different picture. “The onehour permit is really, it’s
very personal. It has taken me, basically, and put a target on my back.” He went on to say “there’s a couple people who do not like what I do and they have brought this agenda up to you. They have bragged about that … [t]hey will terminate what I do.” The 71-year-old Cummings said he was injured in an automobile accident seven years ago and he has found that musical performance is a kind of physical therapy. “I’ve taken two hours a day to go down there to improve my wrists and elbows so that I can get through this,” he said following the Oct. 2 City Council meeting. “I have three people, plus one musician who I haven’t seen in three years, who has brought this agenda, who threatened to bring this agenda and used the council as a weapon against me.” The city staff, however, does not see this as a vendetta by a small group against one person, but as a recurring problem that might find a solution in limiting the hours and frequency of any one performer, and hopefully
ACTIVE AGING WEEK UNDERWAY INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT TO KEEP MOVING OCT. 2-8 Staff Report
Photo by Christian Kallen
VISION QUEST Rick Tang, left, hangs his large-format photo, ‘3 Bees,’ at Healdsburg Senior Center, where he has a show running for Active Aging Week.
True to Healdburg’s designation as the first Age Friendly City in Sonoma County, the City Council officially recognized International Active Aging Week at its Oct. 2 meeting. The message is that regardless of age or health conditions, adults over 50 can live fully in all areas of life. So the Healdsburg Senior Center lined up a
reducing conflict. “These situations have been observations by staff, verbal reports to staff or emails to staff,” said Community Services Director Mark Themig. “Staff identified the need to develop a program governing performances in the Plaza and worked with the city attorney to develop the policy.” Police Chief Matt Jenkins said, “The Police Department has responded to multiple complaints over the last several years related to these issues,” adding that his staff is “familiar with Mr. Cummings.”
Creating a Policy
In August the Parks and Recreation Commission recommended that the city create a policy requiring an application to perform, to create some order to public performance. The Special Performance Policy for the Plaza was sent to the Healdsburg City Council for approval on Sept. 5. According to the city’s report at the meeting, “The lack of a structured performance schedule has resulted in overlapping events, amplified noise complaints and, at times,
raft of active events for seniors this week, beginning with a “Mystery Tour” on Monday and concluding Friday with an “Engage with Friends” mixer. “Seniors are valued employees and volunteers in our town and are working every day to make Healdsburg a better place for all, and for our actively aging seniors,” said Donna O’Brien, the current chair of the Senior Citizens Advisory Commission. A statement on the Senior Center’s Facebook page read, “Active Aging Week challenges society’s diminished expectations of aging by showing that regardless of age or health conditions adults over 50 can live fully in all areas of life.” That appears to have motivated the planning committee to create a diverse and enjoyable series of events all week.
public disputes.” The policy required that anyone who wanted to perform—music, dance, theater or “oration”—needed to apply for a permit at least a week in advance, could only perform for an hour at a time and could only do so once a week. There would be no charge for the permit, but a permit would be required. The councilmembers— who approved the policy by a 4-0 vote; Evelyn Mitchell was absent—took pains to say it wasn’t about one person. An internal effort was made to assure that it did not interfere with First Amendment rights. The policy took effect on Sept. 18 with the City Council’s second vote. The Special Performance Permit is a simple onepage form, available at city offices or on the city’s website, that requires a name, address and other contact information, a performance description and six requested dates and times—each with an alternate date and time, thereby giving an applicant 12 choices of performance ➝ Plaza Permits, 6
Along with the Oct. 2 Magical Mystery Bus tour, Tuesday saw a morning neighborhood walking tour with the Healdsburg Museum, followed by the evening’s artist’s reception at the Senior Center. Photographer Rick Tang launched a display of his more unusual personal works in a colorful series of large-format images, in a show that lasts through October. Wednesday brought a long walk to the Community Center, followed by a blackjack tourney at the Matheson Street center. Thursday’s big event is taking the SMART train all the way to Larkspur and back, with lunch along the way. The week culminates with Friday’s Engage with Friends event, where raffles and drawings are sure to turn up surprisingly ➝ Active Aging, 6