First, I would like to address a statement Councilor Stewart made at a recent meeting. She said that it’s the same people who participate in public comment time after time, but this simply is not true. I collected data from City Council minutes for September 4, 2018 to September 7, 2022 for a total of 64 meetings: 32 meetings before Council began meeting virtually and 32 meetings after. You can see this data displayed in the bar graph. During the virtual meetings, participation in public comments increased 17%, and the number of individuals that spoke only once before council increased 23%.
