AURORA | Aurora’s City Council is once again leaving the council chambers during its regular meeting to sidestep protesters, this time, for the entire agenda.
A proposal slated for the Monday meeting would in the future curtail remote public comment to the city council, prompted by vulgar and racist phone-in public commentary last week.
Citing “repeated disruptions” of city council meetings in recent months, the 11-person council will meet virtually Sept. 23 rather than in person.
The move will enable the conservative majority council to avoid contact with civil rights activists who throughout the summer have intensely criticized some of its members and city government in general, routinely disrupting the meetings.
Those activists see the decision as a “cowardly attempt to dodge accountability,” and as an effort “to silence the voices of Black leaders and the grieving family of Kilyn E. Lewis, a Black man who was killed by the Aurora Police Department 119 days ago,” the group said in a statement Thursday.
The remote, streamed meeting will not, however, for this week allow the council to avoid remote critics like the white supremacist caller whose remarks — and public outcry against them that triggered council members to walk out of their in-person meeting on Sept. 9.
“Let’s be clear: this decision does not address the hateful, racist commentary heard on the public call-in line during the last meeting. Instead, it silences those of us demanding justice and accountability,” reads a joint statement by MiDian Shofner, CEO of Epitome of Black Excellence and Partnership, and Auon’tai M. Anderson, CEO of the Center for Advancing Black Excellence in Education.
“How can anyone justify responding to a racist attack via the public call-in line by moving all public comments to that same public call-in format?”
A resolution proposed for Monday would change city council meeting rules and require all comments to lawmakers be made in person from the lectern on the council floor. Vulgar, racist and anti-semitic public comment made through remote meeting technology has become a regular occurrence nationwide, dubbed “zoom bombing.” The commenter either overrides control of virtual meeting software, making it impossible to “mute” them, or they take advantage of call-in systems unable to disconnect the caller. Denver, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge city council meetings have had similar episodes to the on in Aurora City Council Sept. 9.
The public comments portion of Aurora City Council meetings began making headlines on June 24 when a group of protesters signed up to renounce the May 23 shooting of Lewis, who was unarmed when shot by Aurora SWAT Officer Michael Dieck during Lewis’ arrest. Lewis, 37, died two days later from his wounds. Several of his family members have been among the speakers deriding the city for its long string of police killings and urging council members to force law enforcement to speed up their investigation, fire Dieck — who is on paid leave during the probe — and criminally charge him for Lewis’ death.
City officials have explained, repeatedly, that’s not how police shootings are handled in Aurora, and that due process, as slow as it may be, must take its course.
At meetings throughout July, some of the protesters exceeded their allotted three minutes of speaking time, and Mayor Mike Coffman reacted to their catcalls and insults by cutting public comments short and moving the proceedings to a secluded room where the council conducted its business via live-streaming rather than in person.
It wasn’t until mid-August that the council agreed to sit in person through comments by all 23 members of the public who signed up to speak. Most voiced their continued frustration for the city’s continued failure to share information about or video footage of Lewis’s shooting.
“You guys should be very nervous, I’m coming for ya’ll,” Lewis’ wife, Anndrec Lewis, told the council on Aug. 12.
“Do your job…” LaRonda Jones, Lewis’ mother, later added.
The next meeting, on Aug. 26, the group broadened its criticisms of the city, slamming not only its handling of the Lewis case, but also its hiring of Todd Chamberlain, Aurora’s seventh police chief in five years, without public participation in the hiring. Despite the group’s taunts, the council also managed to sit, in person, through that whole meeting.
Things got hairier at the next meeting on Sept. 9, when the protesters’ barbs to certain council members became more personal. In addition to the Lewis case and Chamberlain’s hiring, the group took fierce umbrage with a controversy stoked by Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky and, to a lesser degree, Coffman over Venezuelan migrants in Aurora. Both right-wing conservatives were accused of fomenting fear and anger over what they described, often without basis, as lawlessness among Venezuelan migrants locally and rampant violence by members of a Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua, otherwise known as TdA. Their comments to right-wing media put Aurora — along with Springfield, Ohio, which has a sizable population of Haitian immigrants — at the center of an election-season frenzy over U.S. immigrant policy.
Activist Leondard Lorton blamed Coffman for starting a “race war” with “unsubstantiated allegations.”
Denver activist Auon’tai Anderson admonished Jurinsky for spreading misinformation about Venezuelan migrants in what he called an attempt to seek an appointment in a Trump administration.
“How do you sleep at night?” he asked her. “Did you really think your lie was going to stick?”
To Coffman and Jurinsky, Lewis’ brother, Kiowa Lewis, asked God to forgive “y’all who are exhibiting evil” and denounced their “hate and racist agenda.”
The public-comment portion of the council meeting ended abruptly at 8:30 p.m. after comments by a call-in speaker who described himself as a white supremacist. He referred to Venezuelans and protesters as “shit-skinned” people. And, among other comments, he described Gov. Jared Polis — who has been critical of Jurinsky’s and Coffman’s handling of the Venezuelan controversy — as a “fa**** kike governor.” The caller accused all of the lawmakers of being guilty of taking “Jewish money.”
Councilmember Crystal Murillo, a Latina woman, said later in the meeting she was unnerved by the unapologetic racist and threatening remarks. She said the recent rash of exaggerated allegations against immigrants by her colleagues on the council emboldened such public comment.
The protesters in the audience started chanting for council members to “apologize now” for allowing the caller on the line, and for the Venezuelan controversy in general. All council members present at Monday’s meeting walked out of the chamber but for Murillo and Ruben Medina, both of whom have openly defended Venezuela immigrants in the community.
City spokesman Ryan Luby told the Sentinel Thursday that the council members “have the authority to determine where and how they hold their meetings,” and that council members “will be considering possible rule changes because of the continued disruptions and call-in line concerns.”
It is unclear whether the council will continue meeting remotely after next week.
Jones, Lewis’ mother, said in a statement Thursday that, “The city council has chosen to strip away the opportunity for me, and for others who have been affected by this tragedy, to stand before them and speak our truth.”
Activists supporting the family say they plan to rally outside the Aurora Municipal Center at 6 p.m. before Monday’s council meeting.
“We invite everyone — every person who believes in justice, every person who is tired of the lies, the cover-ups, and the systemic racism that continues to plague our city—to stand with us,” they wrote.
While a final agenda has yet to be posted, the public can watch and interact with meeting this way:
ª The meeting will be live streamed at www.auroraTV.org and Youtube.com/TheAuroraChannel
• The meeting will be broadcast on Cable Channels 8 and 880 in Aurora.
• The public can register to speak during Public Invited to Be Heard for non-agenda items, and for public hearings by calling 885-695-3475
They really want us to go quietly yeah that’s not going to happen we are only going to get louder, this council is not representative of the city it serves, if it was this action of going virtual would be a no go, hide behind all the closed doors you want just make sure there isn’t room to open them, #JusticeforLewis
Shut up, Tay Tay. Crawl back under your rock in Denver.
If you are too thin-skinned to face the public, you should reconsider your job in politics.
If you don’t have enough self-control to not limp out in a public forum in the service of rad-left dialectics, you should reconsider leaving the house at all.
Looks like the City Council, I and most Aurora citizens have heard enough of the outrageous demands and insults to our city leaders from these radicals throughout the summer. I applaud the Council’s decision to stop giving them a sounding board. And shut off the call in line as it appears you are doing. Make public that the SWAT officer Diecks did his job, right away, and let them digest that then consider coming back to City Hall after they scream about that decision.
The child legislature from Ward I, Coombs and these radicals should not have had the power to slow the wheels of running our City to a almost stop. Seems to me this is where DEI and speaking 40 different languages in our City has brought us. It gave the opening for these socialists and outspoken radicals to shout out to maybe 20% of our population. Council, keep this door shut.
Most of Aurora citizens have listened long enough of these radicals saying the same thing over and over. Now they can meet outside City Hall and listen to themselves cry the blues over losing their three minutes each. Thank you Council for making this long awaited decision. Now the radicals will only have the Sentinel Blog to pass their incoherent message to the public.
Well said Mr. Moore.
A democracy is based on the will of the majority of people, not simply those with the loudest mouths.
This is not what Aurora deserves. Constant chaos foments uncertainty and more chaos. Citizens must be heard regardless of the criticism leveled at the city as long as it is not profane or racist. As for the lies and deceit spread by lawmakers, it has no place in civilized society. As we see, it is picked up and magnified by ruthless and unconcerned politicians at the national level strictly for their benefit, no matter the veracity of the claims. I would expect this from someone like Bobert or Marjory Greene, but a local yokel, like Jurinski? What’s her end game? Usually, city council persons join the council to help the city but calling a police chief trash on the radio, airing personal grievances publicly, and denigrating immigrants without proof is not helping anyone!
You are correct on you comments Citizen Kane. Rather then solutions the current city council (with a couple of exceptions) simply run behind closed doors to ensure they can continue their agenda.
I was at one of the meetings where the protesters came it. Yep, they were disruptive. Yep, I left the meeting (mainly cause the powered bull horn was next to my EAR) but, even though I agree with the protestors wanting to be heard, I don’t agree with the constant disruption of city meetings where all of us are there to be heard. Just sayin
So is the council hiding, or are they being disrupted by attention-seeking protestors? Make up your mind.
As a law-abiding tax-paying citizen of Aurora, do I not have a right to see my city council’s business conducted efficiently and timely?
Where is it written that a person that a person has the right to disrupt official business?
Also, the 3-minute allowance granted at council meetings should be treated as a privilege– not a right. Those who abuse it– as is clearly the case here — should be banned from the facility. They can always submit their statements to council via letter, email, voice mail, video– or stand on a street corner and shout them to the sky. They have no right to hijack any council meeting with their theatrics and frankly, they’re driving most away from their cause.
Further, these protests are interfering with official business. How is it that criminal charges haven’t been filed? Why does APD sit by slack-jawed instead of enforcing the law.
1st Amendment would be my guess. But! I agree. Disturbing the peace and obstructing an officical proceeding should be something that could be used to control these protests. I could see where they could become violent confrontations very quickly. Lets figure out ways to have these disagreements without violence.
A severe problem to move forward will continue to exist when these activist continue to be led by people like Denver’s empty-headed activist Auon’tai Anderson. His approach to solve a problem is work the crowd with his counterfeit persona as a social reformer. And he has managed to suck a couple like minded city council members up in his meaningless rhetoric. These three city- expert socialist politicians have shown us very little with any solutions themselves. As simple as take time to explain what due process consist of, so far appears a concept out of reach for these three. Something most everyone else knows about, except at Aurora city hall. We otherwise get the bi-weekly reruns of intimidating slogans, and what now have become council jesters bringing to the meetings in their tool bag, a lame choice of tactics. The city is moving forward, there is other business to tend to.
Public invited to be heard on non-agenda items should occur at the end of the meeting. Most meetings have upwards of 20 city staffers in attendance waiting to provide information to council. Most meetings also have a dozen or so interested applicants and parties with business on the agenda. Those persons should not be required to wait while the public addresses non-agenda items. Those persons have gone through a process to obtain space on the agenda and have earned the right to have their business condeucted in a timely manner. After official business is conducted efficiently the public ought to be allowed time to comment on matters of interest to them and their fellow residents. Council should be required to hear the public on any matter of concern to the poblic at that point. Those wishing to address council should be given their three minutes. The duration of public invited to be heard should be capped at 3 minutes with their microphone and the audio broadcast of their comments silenced oprecisely as their three minutes expire. Any new speakers should then be allowed the same privilege. The total duration of the public invited to be heard should be 90 minutes. If there are more than 30 speakers wishing to address council first time speakers should be given the privilege while repeat speakers are relegated to the back of the line. The event should next be sorted by those who have gone the longest from speaking with council next, and if time allows then repeat speakers from the lasst meeting. all speakers should have to appear in person and should ahve to identify themselves so that they are responsible for their speech. Those denied an opportunity to speak due to time constraints should still be allowed to record their message to council through audio and video means so that interested council members and members of the public may access their messages should they wish to do so. Those doing so should be under the same time constraints and identification requirements as those addressing council at a meeting. Recordings with obscenity or vulgarity or inflamatory language advocating violence should be labeled as such for those wishing to access the recordings but they should not be censored or restricted. all speakers should be admonished that advocating unlawful behavior may have adverse legal consequences. All speakers should be reminded that their speech, once spoken, is in the public domain forever and may be accessible to law enforcement, the courts, and to present and future employers.
Let’s make it a whole lot simpler…..a separate weekly meeting where you can go and rant at the council for 5 minutes and have enforcement there to ensure that happens. Everybody should be happy with that . Official business gets done on Monday and Rants can happen on Wednesdays
I would be O.K. with your plan. If no official business can be transacted at the session and Council does not discuss any matters among themselves the sessions would not have to be broadcast nor recorded, which would solve a world of problems.
I suggest we call it “The Airing of the Grievances.” Just like during Festivus, for the rest of us.
undemocratic, cowardly and possibly illegal by this unqualified majority right-wing (let’s conduct business in secret) council and mayor
yep, yep, yep, but elected by a bunch of disgruntled Aurora Citizens and allowed to be elected by a bunch of apathitic Aurora Citizens who would rather ignore their government then be engaged.
Voter engagement was the same the past two elections as it was when the Emerge/DSA claque were voted into office. Apathy has no applicability here.
Hey Debra. You continue to not have a clue of what is actually going on. How easy it is for you to comment on nothingness. The Council has a city to run and your activist friends are interfering. Put that in capital letters with a period at the end.
Your side doesn’t get to throw tantrums when actual city business needs to be conducted, Debra. Go limp out on the city hall steps since you clearly have nothing else of value to fill your otherwise worthless time.