Rude council members walk out on speaker
On Sept. 24, I attended a Fresno City Council meeting.
Prior to the meeting, I spent several hours preparing my statement, took time off work to go to the meeting and waited patiently for close to an hour for a turn to speak.
Seconds before I approached the podium to speak, Councilmen Clint Olivier, Lee Brand and Paul Caprioglio walked out. Essentially they abandoned their legal duties for which they were duly elected.
I addressed their brazen act of discourtesy toward a community member to the remaining council members.
For future reference, I suggest council members attempt to listen to all speakers and not just those representing special interests with deep pockets, such as developers, who had already spoken. City council members need to remember who put them in office.
The city councilmen who walked out sent a powerful message to our community and I’m sorry to say, it was not a positive message.
Rebeca Rangel, Fresno
This story was originally published October 7, 2015 at 2:18 PM with the headline "Rude council members walk out on speaker."