Judge to City Council President McElhaney: You Have Been Enjoined. Open the Balconies!

Categories: Open Mic

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On the evening of June 29th, one day before the June 30th Oakland City Council meeting where the Council is to decide on the budget for the City for the next two years, a judge issued an order to the City and the City Council: Open the balconies!

The International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 21 had asked a judge for a restraining order to prevent the City from continuing to close off the balconies, violations of California’s open meeting law (the Brown Act), the Oakland City Charter and Oakland’s Sunshine Ordinance, not to mention slapping in the face Oakland’s democratic, public participation, and activist traditions.

As reported by Mike Blasky in InsideBayArea News:

City officials said the move was for safety reasons, but apparently couldn’t back up their claim in court.

Seville said the judge asked the city for reports from a fire marshal or building inspectors deeming the area unsafe, but no documents were produced.

Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney declined to comment. City spokeswoman Karen Boyd did not return a late message.

The City shut the balconies and started doing searches of personal belongings after activists shut down a City Council meeting in early May because the Council was about to vote to allow the illegal sale of a piece of City-owned land known as the 12th St. parcel.

Instead of asking themselves “Why were we trying to do something illegal?” and “What missteps got us to the point where activists felt they had no choice but to take dramatic action because we were doing something illegal and unethical?” the Council and the City Administration doubled down on security theater, determined to leave no open meeting law unbroken and no first amendment principle untrammeled.

The injunction is temporary – for just three weeks. Enjoy looking down on your City Council while you can because, as we know, they enjoy looking down on you.

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