Pinole Council Meeting Summary

Pinole City Council Meeting May 18, 2021
Summary: Notes and Observations
By Ivette Ricco

Agenda here
https://www.ci.pinole.ca.us/Us...

Full Agenda Packet here
https://www.ci.pinole.ca.us/Us...

Among the interesting discussions/decisions that took place at this meeting:

Consent Calendar Item:
D. Resolution Condemning Donald Trump – Approved 3-0
Yes Votes, Norma Martinez-Rubin, Anthony Tave, Devin Murphy
Abstaining:
Mayor Pro-Tem Vincent Salimi
Councilor Maureen Toms:

Questions have been raised as to why Councilors Salimi and Toms abstained from this vote:
They have issued the following statement:

While we, are personally outraged by the events of January 6, 2021, we abstained from the vote on the resolution Condemning Donald Trump for the following reasons:

1. The action is not in the purview of the City Council.

2. The City Council in a non-partisan body. Council members represent ALL residents of Pinole.

3. Voting yes or no on the resolution would unnecessarily divide the constituent of Pinole, 20 percent of whom voted for Donald Trump.

4. City staff should not be spending their very limited time on resolutions such as this.

5. The premise to the 6th Amendment of the Constitution, which council members have sworn to uphold, states the individuals are innocent until proven guilty.

Maureen Toms
Vincent Salimi

I. Covid-19 Small Business Assistance Program
The Council once again stated its commitment to assist the Small Business Community.
There are funds available but at this juncture no new program or policy has been implemented.
City Manager Murray states that staff will work on reviewing the criteria used for the last small business assistance program and consider possible changes. It is still unknown what, if any, impact the American Rescue Plan might have on assistance for the Small Business Community.

10. New Business
A. History of the Pledge of Allegiance
There have been comments from members of the public critical of Councilor Murphy’s personal decision to not recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the Council Meetings.
City Attorney Casher has stated that there are no rules or laws that require Councilor Murphy to take part in this part of the meeting rituals.
Attorney Casher provided the History of the Pledge of Allegiance.
There were four Public Comments on this issue.
There was no action taken, the report was simply received.
Listen to this discussion::

Meeting video here:
http://pinole.granicus.com/Med...

B. Final proposed Long-Term Financial plan Fiscal Year 2021/22 FY 2025/26
An interesting and detailed discussion of the Proposed Long Term Financial plan for Fiscal Year 2021/22 FY 2025/26 took place.
Councilor Murphy asked detailed questions about the proposed plan.
Council approved the proposal by a vote of 5-0.

Next Meeting is on June 1.
Submit your comments to:
comment@ci.pinole.us

Follow Pinole 4 Fair Government:
www.pinoleforfairgovernment.or...

May 18, 2021 Pinole City Council
Redacted Public Comments

https://documentcloud.adobe.co...

To: Comment
Subject: City Council Meeting 5/18/2021 Agenda Section 5 Citizens to be Heard Andrea Brown
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 5:10:00 PM

Greetings Mayor, Mayor pro tem, and Councilmembers,

I am a resident of Pinole and I am tired of my tax dollars padding the bottom line of big box corporations. Specifically, the majority of police calls in our city go to property crimes in the Fitzgerald corridor. These big box corporations should be putting money into their own loss prevention programs and their own parking lot security. Instead, these corporations have transferred that expense onto the residents of Pinole and you, our elected leaders, have paid this bill.

Thus, I ask you direct our Police chief and all Pinole police officers to stop responding to theft and all other property crimes in the Fitzgerald corridor. This should be the responsibility of the big box stores. I ask that you communicate to residents and visitors that if they experience a property crime, they need to go to the police station to file a report. Please consult city lawyers about the best method to inform these corporations.

Transferring property crime response off the Pinole city books and back where it belongs, to these big box corporations, would have several positive effects. First, we could significantly cut our police budget, specifically the number of officers we need and overtime costs. This increases public safety because we now have funds to reopen the Pinole Valley fire station. Second, with a reduced police budget, we would have more money to make our city pedestrian and bike-friendly, plant more trees, and other green projects. This will make our city more attractive to visitors and residents, thus growing our tax base and creating a positive upward cycle.

Thank you for your work and dedication to our Pinole community. I look forward to seeing this issue as an agenda item in the future.

Good Evening Council

At each and every Council meeting I have asked the question of Councilman Murphy why he won’t stand for the pledge and as of today, I have not received an answer. It has been implied that Councilman Murphy is being bullied. Really? First, to be bullied one would have to be harmed or perceived as vulnerable, neither of which is occurring. Secondly, under Citizens to be Heard, I am allowed as afforded by free speech to ask or comment on anything that I feel is important. And lastly, Councilman Murphy is a grown man, and should be able to speak for himself, and not rely upon others to talk for him. I would conclude that when the Councilman will not speak for himself and has others do so, he doesn’t look vulnerable, he appears weak.

As for this being politically motivated, nothing could be further from the truth. I am not seeking any future in politics. I am a citizen that believes that those that serve us should not only believe in the oath of the office, but they should love their country enough to respect its’ history. That history includes the Pledge of Allegiance. We cannot judge history on today’s values. In the event that historical incidents have resulted in bad policy and culture, then we use that history to build a better future for everyone.
We don’t simply erase it or redefine it, which I believe is exactly what is being done as justification not to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

As an elected official, Councilman Murphy has a higher degree of accountability than the average citizen. The question I ask is not demanding that he stand for the pledge, but rather why he will not do so? Councilman Murphy had the luxury of being elected during a time when he did not have to answer questions about his qualifications, debate issues on his positions on local government, nor the fact that he won’t honor the flag and stand for the pledge.

Councilman, if you have a personal conviction as to why you do not honor our flag and you are secure in that conviction as well as yourself, then I challenge you to craft a statement that explains why. I realize that by law, you are not required to do so, but as a man you should be able to stand up for yourself and explain why you have chosen to ignore the history of honoring our country and its’ flag.

Respectfully, Debbie Long

Citizens to be heard
May 18, 2021
Good evening Mayor and City Council,
At the last City Council meeting a citizen made a statement apparently directed to myself and another former city council member.
He has stated that: “2 former “termed out” city council members used this forum as their personal “bully pulpit” to attack current council member Devin Murphy”. In my opinion “freedom of speech” has just been redefined as “bully pulpit”
With all due respect, this citizen has constantly berated past city councils and city staff during the past 12 years during the period that I was a member of the Pinole City Council. So apparently by definition he has also consistently been a “bully” at the “pulpit” for a long time.
I am not sure what the words “ignored” needed changes are since most of our time for 10 years was spent saving the City from bankruptcy, redesigning our budget to survive the loss of Redevelopment money, creating a 115 trust fund to protect city employee pensions, rebuilding the sewer treatment plant, creating a reserve fund to continue to provide City services in the event of another crisis, and the many other community service needs that the former city council addressed during those years. Personal political issues were definitely not something we addressed, preferring to use our time to address and improve the Pinole community homeowner and small business needs that we were elected to address.

Help me understand how believing in the words of the pledge of allegiance that state “liberty and justice for all” can be anything but respect for the rights of Americans guaranteed by the constitution?
Enlighten me on how standing for the flag of the United States during the pledge of allegiance at city council meetings and public events be wrong? I and my colleague have been called “bully” for exercising our right to freedom of speech and freedom of the right to express an opinion.
Is that the depths of moral standards that our country has fallen?
I have stated the many reasons to honor the flag of the United States in past comments in an attempt to enlighten those who seem to miss the concept of the Pledge of Allegiance. Apparently I have not been successful in educating those who refuse to listen to the community and are apparently using the City to promote their own personal agenda.

Respectively submitted, Roy Swearingen

From: JOEL GANNOTTI <joelgannotti@att.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 16, 2021 8:29 AM
To: Comment <comment@ci.pinole.ca.us>
Subject: City Council Membership

I read the foolish interpretation about Mr. Murphy's purported Pinole City Council membership.

Mr. Murphy is not a Pinole City Council Member. He is unfit and unworthy of public office for reasons outline previously. No amount of obfuscation of facts, twisted logic or quotes from wandering supporters of political misfits changes that simple truth.

Mr. Murphy pledged under oath to take and uphold an office "Freely and without Reservation".

If not demonstrating allegiance to the flag of the United States and the Republic for which it stands, is not reservation and lacking even the semblance of adherence to the spirit of service in the United States, nothing is sacred in our laws. The only thing which can be demonstrated is: He was not aware that lying was required to accept holding office when the pledge was recited and some citizens would finally notice.

It's not up for debate, false logic, personal preference or interpretation.

Anticipating the reactionary complaint that a city council should only concern itself with city business, I would like to respond by saying – do you think it was wise for cities in Germany and Japan in the thirties and forties to stick to local matters and not publicly respond to the direction their country was headed? In a less dramatic mode – do you really think that the wars in Vietnam and Iraq and the draconian cuts to social services starting in the Reagan era did not affect the citizens of Pinole? Or that the many foreclosures and business bankruptcies which were the result of decisions made or actions not taken by the federal government during the great recession magically skipped our smallish bedroom community?
For a city to not speak out against illegal, immoral, and/or anti-democratic actions by the federal government means that the city and their citizens acquiesce to or do not care about these developments.
We have an ex-president who is still exerting his power to delegitimize the last election and a Republican party who is willing to delegitimize elections in the future. This is a clear and present danger to democracy and every informed citizen, state and city should raise their voices in protest - before it is too late to do so.

George Pursley
Pinole Progressive Alliance

From: Rafael Menis
To: Comment
Subject: Item 7D, city council meeting 5/18/2021
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 6:18:41 PM

Greetings Mayor, Council, Staff and members of the public.

I support this resolution. The peaceful transition of power is key to
our system of government, and Donald Trump by his words on January 6th clearly incited a riot to retain power, as the resolution notes. By
inciting a mob to disrupt the peaceful transition of power as laid out
in the constitution, Donald Trump betrayed his oath of office and marked himself as an enemy to the Constitution. Therefore, this resolution of condemnation clearly falls within the Council's duty as officeholders sworn to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies,
foreign and domestic.

This should not be a partisan matter. Republicans and Democrats alike condemned Trump's actions at the time of the riot. To quote Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, "There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President. And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth."
(https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/13/politics/mcconnell-remarks-trump-acquitta...).

The fact that some individuals now wish to paint the riot as nothing more than a tourist event (see
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republican-loyal-trump-claims-... n1267163)
makes it even more urgent that the facts be stated and those responsible condemned.

Finally, I would suggest an amendment to the resolution. Under now, therefore be it resolved change item 2 to read "2. We condemn former President Trump for inciting a riot in order to disrupt the peaceful transition of power". This makes the resolution clearer, and links it to the whereas clauses.

Thank you.

Subject: Public Comment re: Approve Letter of Support -Miles Hall Lifeline Act AB988
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 9:43:03 AM

Dear Mayor, City Council and Staff,

My name is Daniel Roemer. I am writing to urge you, in the strongest terms, to approve the Letter of Support for The Miles Hall Lifeline Act, AB988. I have been an attorney in Walnut Creek for over twenty-five years, serving many families and businesses in Contra Costa county. I have also been very involved in my community as a volunteer in my children’s schools and in various community volunteer and sports activities.

This two decades of experience working with our community has shown me that there is a gaping hole in our mental health response system, especially at the point of crisis intervention. Many individuals—including our local beloved resident Miles Hall of Walnut Creek—have been lost in the system at the crisis intervention point because we do not have an adequate and professionally trained response system when individuals experience mental health crisis. Given the pattern of unnecessary deaths at the hands of sheriff’s deputies and police officers in our county, it is negligent not to have a non-police response system in place. It is negligent from a legal and fiscal perspective, given the cascade of events, jury verdicts and settlements which demonstrate the abject failure of police and sherriffs’ responses to mental health crises calls. But more importantly it is negligent from a social and humanitarian point of view, as neighbors, family members, friends and strangers— largely those of color and with treatable mental health challenges—continue to die at the hands of a mismatched response system. If, as Mahatma Ghandi said, a society is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, we fail as a society if we continue to respond to mental health crises with the weapons and tactics of law enforcement.

The Miles Hall Lifeline Act will help fill in this gap so that community members who suffer from mental health challenges are met by mental health professionals and are directed to appropriate resources for care. Thank you for your work and your consideration and support of this important bill.

Daniel J. Roemer

To: Comment
Subject: Public comment item 7.E
Date: Monday, May 17, 2021 10:09:49 PM

My name is Elsie Mills. I represent SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) Contra Costa County. We strongly encourage the city council to approve the Letter of Support for AB 988, The Miles Hall Lifeline Act. AB 988 takes a monumental step forward in addressing systemic inequities in our mental health system by creating a crisis response system that provides support to help individuals and communities thrive.

Elsie Mills
Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Contra Costa County

Subject: Public Comment for City Council Meeting 5/18/21 (Agenda Item 7.E)
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 5:24:20 PM

Good evening Council, staff and greater Pinole community.

My name is Katherine Walley, and I am a resident of Walnut Creek. I would like to express my strong support for Assembly Bill 988, the Miles Hall Lifeline Act. This bill would enact a national 988 mental health emergency response system providing all Californians access to life-saving care when experiencing a mental health crisis.

Utilizing the easy-to-remember number of “988” when seeking suicide prevention and mental health crisis services will help ensure that Californians in crisis are met with compassionate and effective care.
988 will connect callers with around-the-clock intervention, including mobile crisis support teams staffed by mental health professionals and trained peers instead of police officers.

The current mental health crisis response system relies heavily on law enforcement, putting people living with a mental illness through an expensive and traumatizing revolving-door as they shuttle between jails, emergency rooms, and the street. Many individuals are currently faced with the impossible choice of deciding whether or not to reach out for mental health crisis care for themselves, their loved ones and
others in the community when they know law enforcement will likely be involved in the response. When law enforcement is involved in behavioral health crises, members of marginalized groups are at increased risk of violence and violations of their civil liberties at
the hands of the criminal legal system. This status quo should be unacceptable to all of us.

A comprehensive crisis response system can prevent these tragedies, use our resources more effectively, and increase access to appropriate care. The Miles Hall Lifeline Act will create a pathway by which people who are experiencing behavioral health crises are more likely to be met with appropriate care while simultaneously addressing systemic inequities in our mental health system. It is for these reasons that I ask that the Pinole City Council join cities throughout our state by approving an official letter of support for AB 988, The Miles Hall Lifeline Act.

Thank you.

Subject: Please approve the Letter of Support for AB 988, The Miles Hall Lifeline Act
Date: Monday, May 17, 2021 7:24:22 PM

Dear Pinole City Council,

I am writing to request your unanimous approval of the Letter of Support for The Miles Hall Lifeline Act, AB 988, to implement the national 988, around-the-clock, mental health emergency response system in California, so that all Californians experiencing a mental health crisis can access life-saving care.

I am your neighbor. I live in Walnut Creek, where Miles Hall’s senseless death took place. The only support available to the Hall family in the midst of Miles’s mental health crisis was through calling 911, and the Walnut Creek Police Department responded with lethal force. The current mental health crisis response system relies on law enforcement and puts people suffering from mental illness through an expensive and traumatizing revolving-door as they shuttle between jails, emergency rooms, and the street. A comprehensive crisis response system can prevent these tragedies, save money, and increase access to appropriate care.

This bill gives us the opportunity to stand together and lend our collective voices to strengthen the delivery of crucial mental health crisis support.

Please approve AB 988, The Miles Hall Lifeline Act. Respectfully,
Ogie (“O.G.”) Strogatz Walnut Creek, CA


To: Comment
Subject: Public Comment - Pinole City Council Meeting, May 18, 2021 - Cameron N. Sasai
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 6:30:36 PM

Good evening, Mayor Martinez-Rubin and Councilmembers. My name is Cameron N. Sasai, a Pinole resident of 22 years, here to comment on agenda item 7.i.

Based on my extensive conversations with small business owners in the City of Pinole, I urge the council to initiate a re-opening of the city’s COVID-19 Small Business Assistance Program in order to allow all eligible Pinole businesses to receive their funding. Many small businesses in Pinole have not received any state funding, despite applying for California’s Small Business COVID-19 Relief Program at the beginning of 2021. Some business owners have gone as far as reaching out to their state representatives, but were told to patiently remain on the waiting list, which they have been on for upwards of five months. Because of this, businesses have been placed into financial predicaments in which they are considering letting go essential staff and even closing their businesses permanently.

Furthermore, as I reached out to local small business owners, many were not aware that the City of Pinole had a Small Business Assistance program that could provide financial relief during their difficulties navigating through the pandemic. With this in mind, it is in the city’s best interest to re-open the COVID-19 Small Business Assistance Program with a reasonable deadline that allows adequate time for communication, awareness, and application; doing so will ensure that the City of Pinole plays an active role in continuing to support all of our small businesses, which is vital to ensure a healthy, local economy as we move forward and recover from the economic outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you for your consideration.

Good Evening Council

I was dismayed that the Council would pay the City Attorney to write a report on the History of the Pledge of Allegiance, when anyone can do a quick search for themselves. My search found additional information, but I won’t be submitting an invoice for payment. So briefly, I will highlight some of what I took away regarding the pledge.

The original version of the Pledge was penned by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union army officer who later became a teacher of patriotism. Viewing the pledge as patriotic, he taught it to children, especially immigrants, to instill pride in the Country. However, the pledge as we recite it today, (albeit has gone through some changes) was devised by Francis Bellamy, a socialist and Baptist Minister’s son (and who later became a minister himself).

In the original version, he included the line “I give my heart and hand to my country, one country, one language, one flag.”, but later took it out because he thought the statement was too juvenile, and lacked dignity. What he wanted to impart was a vow of loyalty or allegiance (pledge), and preferred “my” flag to “the” flag.

In part, this is what Francis Bellamy meant when writing the words to the Pledge.

“The Republic for which is stands”… stood for the form of government by our founding fathers. “One Nation Indivisible”… stood for the struggles of the Civil War
The words “Liberty and Justice”… were basic and undebatable and adding “For All”, it involved the spirit of equality.

And lastly, the salute is related to the words and not a physical being.

There are those that have made the allegation that the original pledge with the hand outstretched was a symbol of Nazism, however Germany adopted that particular salute at a much later date, and when they did so, Congress stepped in and replaced it with the hand over the heart.

Another allegation is that the pledge represents racism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Abby Schacter from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency states that there is symmetry between the American pledge and the Jewish tradition. She believed the pledge to be “a vehicle for expressing “intelligent patriotism” - meaning not only love of country, but awareness of the nation’s ideals.

So there is much more to the pledge than simple words, and there will always be different interpretations. This has never been more apparent than today.

My questions regarding the reciting of the pledge before each Council meeting have nothing to do with what other agencies do, nor whether one is required to do so. We already know the answer to that question. What question that hasn’t been answered is why Councilman Murphy won’t tell the citizens of Pinole why he refuses to stand or recite the pledge which is most likely related to his interpretation. Yes, legally he isn’t required to do so, but ethically and morally as an elected official, he has a higher degree of accountability to the citizens.

So this exercise, in the history of the pledge as I see it, was a smoke screen so that Councilman Murphy can sidestep the question, and by omission, mislead the citizens of Pinole as to his political motivations. And because this item is on the agenda, Councilman Murphy is allowed to comment. I would hope that he will do so. Respectfully, Debbie Long

I want to thank the council for having this discussion of the Pledge of Allegiance and say, at the top, that I completely support council person Murphy’s honorable decision to abstain from this frankly embarrassing faux patriotic ritual. When I was in grammar school, we would start each day in straight lines outdoors, as in a military parade, say the pledge and, because it was a Catholic grammar school, follow it with a prayer before being told to “fall out” by the head nun and start our day’s training indoors. I actually have fond memories of this ritual and remember that it induced the kind of dopamine rush I would later get by attending antiwar marches against the Vietnam and Iraq wars with tens of thousands of likeminded patriots. The difference of course is that, in the latter case, I was freely choosing to participate and was aware of the issues. There was no peer pressure, in fact, sometimes the opposite.
The first and most important thing to say is that in 1943 the US Supreme court ruled that requiring a person to say the pledge was a violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments This has never been overturned and is the law to this day. For me, the next most important fact is that, although the pledge started in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Columbus ‘s quote discovery unquote of America, the words “under god” were not added to the pledge until the early fifties - the same time that coins were minted to include those words and were the direct result of Eisenhower’s pressuring the congress to make this change to help us distinguish ourselves from Russia during the cold war, even if this meant clearly ignoring the plain words of the establishment clause of the constitution. Republicans seem to have a knack for doing this - see the Heller supreme court decision concerning second amendment gun rights.
This was the era of the McCarthy hearings and the loyalty oaths that college professors had to sign. Many careers and lives were ruined during this period, which most people now see as a stain on our democracy.

Next, is this faux patriot ritual normal? Only in this country. No other Western democracy has this peer pressured, allegiance pledge to god and country before routine civic meetings. Other countries do not play patriotic songs before sporting events. Sports are sports – no displays of peer pressured faux patriotism required. Everywhere else in free democratic countries what we do is considered strange. This kind of pro forma, unthinking peer pressured display is what we would expect in autocracies – not democracies. Freedom of religion, freedom of thought and the freedom to act according to your own beliefs is, or should be, what distinguishes us from other countries. Peer pressured, ritualistic displays of loyalty to god (whether you belief in her or not) is egregiously undemocratic.

Having to do this before every meeting is very telling. Does this mean that between one meeting and the next maybe one council member might have had a discussion with an atheist and talked them out of their theism or that they overheard a conversation between two Marxists and lost their faith in the capitalist system? As a college instructor, I had to have my fingerprints taken and sign a loyalty oath which asked if I was a member of the communist party or a member of a terrorist group. This I willingly signed. What I did not have to do is keep signing the same paper before each class that I taught for 20 years.

I would ask the council to join many other cities and rotary clubs around the country in dropping this ritual before each meeting. In my opinion, you would do yourselves and our city proud in doing this.
Thank you George Pursley
Pinole Progressive Alliance


To: Comment
Subject: Pledge of Allegiance
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2021 8:08:39 PM

Pinole City Council, 5/18/21,
On the agenda tonight, Pledge of Allegiance

Patriotism is not measured by the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance.
But in today’s America if you are a “True American” you must be super nationalistic. As children we were made to stand, every day, and say the pledge of allegiance.
North Korea makes school children swear allegiance to the dear leader every morning, Iran makes school children swear allegiance to the ayatollah each day. They believe their pledge makes them patriotic and loyal.
As a person with family members that fought and lost their lives fighting three of America’s wars, the American Flag represents a sense of promise and hope that I still strongly believe in. Ironically, those claiming to be the Real Patriots and True Americans also rally behind those that attacked the Capitol, injured people, and tried to overthrow our democracy.
They believe they are more American or Patriotic than our Councilman because he does not recite the Pledge?
America still struggles to live up to its promise of equality, liberty, and justice for all. Our nation is torn apart by hatred. Now It rears its ugly head in Pinole.
Two former councilmembers have made it their mission to attack councilman Murphy on a regular basis and their politics are obvious.
They are judging and attacking the councilman not on his work or his service, but on their idea of what constitutes a loyal American.
Their words are not helpful. We are a divided nation, with hatred and violence everywhere we turn. Pinole has stood tall and proud by electing diverse council members. It’s taken a long time to reach this point, don’t let hatred and political agendas deter us.

Mary Troissi Pinto Pinole, Ca.

Pinole Council item 10A
May 18, 2021
Good evening Mayor and City Council,
I am glad to see that the City Council takes Murphy’s refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance seriously enough to have the City attorney research it’s history and provide an in-depth letter under new business as to it’s origin and reasons for it’s use nation wide.
When a community elected official which, in my opinion, is suppose to be a non- partisan, non political role, brings his personal agenda items, and possibly not a community need, to the City Council, I believe the Council should make these known to the entire community and what the real benefit is to the citizens of Pinole. It is understood that the Pledge is not required. No one has argued that point. The first amendment of freedom of speech gives us the right also to disagree with that decision. Again, it is sad that taxpayers money is being wasted on one council member’s personal agenda items. I agree with Former Mayor Debbie Long who explains the meaning of the words in the pledge very well.

The agenda this evening also contains several other items of a political nature that were put on the consent calendar where the community does not have an opportunity to discuss them due to the nature of the Zoom meeting, only available to Comcast members or streaming that is difficult for many to navigate.

The City of Pinole is now apparently inadvertently giving stamps of approval to political issues that may not be the desire of it’s citizens. This is not transparency. These items should have been discussed by the Council and public in a New business forum and not hidden in a consent list. We pay thousands of dollars a year to the League of California Cities to field these bills that may affect our city. Why doesn’t the City utilize that source rather than taking on the advocate/ non- advocate small city letter that goes in some staffers file never to be seen again.
Respectively, Roy Swearingen

Video of Meeting Here
http://pinole.granicus.com/Med...

Submit your comments to comment@ci.pinole.ca.us
Agenda Here:
https://www.ci.pinole.ca.us/Us...

Complete Agenda packet here:
https://www.ci.pinole.ca.us/Us...

Next Meeting is on June 1.
Submit your comments to:
comment@ci.pinole.us

Follow Pinole 4 Fair Government:
www.pinoleforfairgovernment.or...
https://www.facebook.com/Pinol...