The Long Beach City Council wants to limit how many times members of the public can speak at their meetings despite unanimous opposition from dozens of constituents who wrote in and showed up in person to voice their disapproval.
In a 7-to-2 vote, with Councilmembers Kristina Duggan and Cindy Allen dissenting, the council is advancing plans to consolidate its public comment periods, currently spread throughout each meeting, into one block at the beginning. The measure still requires final approval from the City Council before it can take effect.
Under the current rules, people have multiple opportunities to give public comment. The first is after the roll call, ceremonies and presentations, where people can speak about anything they want. Other periods to speak on specific agenda topics are parsed out throughout the meeting during the consent agenda, regular agenda and public hearings. A second general public comment period is held near the meeting’s end. Rules allot speakers time limits depending on the number of those signed up for each period: three minutes for 10 or fewer, 90 seconds for 11 to 20 people, and 60 seconds each if there are 21 or more people signed up.
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The exception would be public hearing items, which are things like zoning and land use, ordinances, certain budget or tax items, and appeals of planning commission or other body decisions. Those would still have their own dedicated public comment periods, ranging from 60 to 90 seconds depending on if there are more or fewer than 10 speakers…