Were Ly's lousy meeting wounds largely self-inflicted? Judge for yourself






To say that Elk Grove Mayor Steve Ly had a rough going at the Wednesday, April 24 meeting of the Elk Grove City Council would be charitable, but you can judge for yourself.

Along with several speakers who took exception to comments from former Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis calling a neighborhood group, among other things childish, Ly seemingly set the tenor of the meeting.

The acrimonious events unfolded as follows:

The first salvo fired came during a presentation by the executive director of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Barry Broome. Toward the end of Broome's presentation, a light chuckle from the audience was audible following one of his statements.

Moments later Ly apologized to Broome, and he angrily admonished the audience. While Ly was delivering his admonishment, one member of the audience said, "you don't apologize for us."

When he started the public comment section of the meeting, Ly offered sternly toned instructions on how the public comments were to be conducted. It should be mentioned in the past Ly has been criticized for how he conducts meetings for among other things allowing unlimited time to real estate developers and men and bias against women.

Not long after that Ly called on Barbara Patterson for her comments, according to people seated near Patterson, she was attempting to yield her three minutes to Mark Graham who was discussing his concerns on the placement of cellular and 5G antennas in residential areas.

At that point a member of the audience, Steve Lee, loudly said "point of order" to assist Patterson who wanted to yield her time. It was at that point the Mayor called Lee a bully and said he "comes to interrupt" meetings.

According to Lee, as well as many people who regularly attend meetings, this is the first time in about 16 months he has participated in a city council meeting. An examination of city council meeting minutes over the last 15 months has no mention of Lee.

Following Lee, Kathy Engle scolded Ly noting Broome's comments were indeed laughable.

Then it was Lee who addressed Ly questioning his commitment to democracy and representative government noting there is a disconnect between the city council and the people they are elected to represent.

Following Lee's turn at the lectern, Ly engaged in a conversation with city clerk Jason Lindgren who said there was no rule, per se, permitting speakers to yield time.

Another person, Matthew Weaver, who said he came to meet with no intention to speak but said he felt compelled after watching Ly's actions. Weaver told Ly he has attended many municipal meetings in his former profession and never saw a constituent yelled at from the dais.

The last speaker was Connie Conley who reminded Ly and city clerk Jason Lindgren that in the past, yes, speakers were allowed to yield time to others. Conley then pointed at council member Steve Detrick and reminded him that before he was elected, he had been part of a group who did that same practice.

Watch the video posted below and judge for yourself.  





 






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4 comments

Renegade said...

For quite sometime this mayor has shown his bias, his sexism and his uncontrolled super-ego at the dais. To all watching and especially to the high school students in attendance who were there as part of their civics assignment, it was a total embarrassment. One can only wonder what their reports said after Wednesday night.

It has become obvious that Ly is truly on his ship alone, none of the other council members, came to his aid in attempt to quell the fiasco. They left him in the eye of the hurricane alone, to let him deal with the mess he alone had created. Our city government is seemingly out of order.

It's time for a new set of leaders to come forward and run, and for us as citizens to make the appropriate changes. Let's take our city back.

D.J. Blutarsky said...

I for one, look forward to the Mayor's campaign plane flyovers every election and hope he runs again in 2020! Hmm, maybe it was the West Nile virus plane I was thinking about, it gets confusing sometimes....

Connie said...

Goodness, it is hard watching oneself after the fact. But got to love Lynn Wheat. Her public comment was priceless.

As far as my public comment, the finger pointing was part of supporting Steve Lee in that we citizens have been allowed to yield our time in the past.

The part about power was in reaction to another emotional public comment regarding CNU and a Stonelake resident now deciding whether to move her family out of Elk Grove.

Truth is, part of my response was also a delayed reaction to a CNU supporter, who at a previous council meeting’s public comment, told those who oppose the hospital, in a rather harsh tone, to “move out of Elk Grove!”

Josie said...

It would appear to me that Mayor Steve Ly had no idea what 'point of order' even meant and did not follow the rules regarding that.

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