Missing Middle missing free speech

I attended the Sept 11 Olympia City Council meeting. There was a large turnout.

No matter what your personal opinion is on this topic, you should be appalled by the behavior of Mayor Selby and Nathaniel Jones. Their actions circumvented free speech and fair government.

Mayor Selby prefaced the public comment period with the statement that she would select people to address the council based on topic, and speakers would be balanced. In addition, speakers who never addressed city council would be given preference. Speakers were selected with help from Jones. There were 10 speakers who addressed the Missing Middle. Eight selected speakers favored the proposal with only two speakers in opposition. Two speakers thanked the mayor for selecting them “again” to speak on MM with one a self-described developer.

The mayor and Jones circumvented the First Amendment to the Constitution by suppressing opinions contrary to their dictatorial decision. Eighty percent of attendees were against the Missing Middle, yet they were in the minority of speakers. Further the mayor did not abide by the criteria she set forth to ensure proper representation. The rest of the City Council was complicit in ignoring the voice of the people. Clark Gilman did address the problem, but after the decision was concluded.

Mayor Selby and Nathaniel Jones should be reprimanded.