By Gregory Tejeda
Post-Tribune
The Gary Common Council approved a measure permitting public comments made at the end of council meetings to be included as part of the WJPN cable access channel’s broadcast of those meetings.
In recent years, the channel would broadcast council meetings, but would abruptly cut off at the point when public comment came up before the meetings’ end.
That led at-large Councilwoman Ragen Hatcher to propose a measure on Tuesday asking that the public comments be included in the broadcasts.
“The reason I ask this is because the things we discuss often are not what the public wants to bring up,” she said.
The council ultimately voted 7-2 to restore the public comments to the broadcasts on Cable Channel 4 in Gary and also are available on the city’s website at http://www.garycommoncouncil.org/wjpn.
Third Ward Councilwoman Mary Brown and 5th Ward Councilwoman Linda Barnes-Caldwell voted against the measure, while at-large councilman Kyle Allen said the original decision to exclude public comments from broadcasts was due to some people who often were more interested in having their insults and criticisms heard on television than adhering to rules regarding public comments..
“Some of the speakers here would not go to the capital in Indianapolis or to Congress and behave the way they were doing when they come here,” Allen said.
“I’m not opposed to people speaking their mind, but I believe in respect and civility,” he said.
Hatcher said she believes all Gary residents have a right to be heard on the city-owned public access channel, while Sixth Ward Councilwoman LaVetta Sparks-Wade was skeptical of the idea of civility.
“This is a public meeting,” she said. “Have you ever heard the House of Commons or House of Lords (in Great Britain)? They go ballistic.”
Council President Ronald Brewer, who supported the measure, said the change would take place immediately. But he also said that people who refused to comply with rules and time limits would be removed by police and would be refused admittance to the following meeting.
The change impacts the public comment at the end of the meeting when people can bring up any issue they wish, as Gary’s Common Council also allows people to comment during the meeting as issues are debated, which were always included in the broadcasts.
Such restrictions on public comment are not unheard of. In Calumet City, Ill., the City Council’s public access broadcasts delete public comments during the six months leading up to any Election Day.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
