By Keily Alfonzo, Interning Correspondent for The Apopka Voice
Apopka residents pushed back on Wednesday, August 21st, exercising their First Amendment rights by protesting their discontent with Mayor Bryan Nelson’s decision to move public comments to the end of the August 7th City Council meeting and turn off the live feed so they could not be heard.
Because of this, Megan Garcia took action.
Garcia, an Apopka resident who often speaks during public comments, organized the protest to pressure Nelson to reverse his decision.
“There was no remorse," said Garcia about Nelson's response to his decision. "There was hardly even any acknowledgment of it when it happened, and it wasn't until I spoke out directly to the IT director that he informed everybody that he was working at the direction of the administration,” Garcia said.
This is not the first time the mayor attempted to move public comments to the end, but it is the first time he had enough commissioners to support him in a motion. According to Garcia, Nelson attempted it last year, but the Council voted against it. This time, Nelson moved the comments to the end of the agenda without a vote. However, a motion by Commissioner Nick Nesta to move public comments back to their usual position was defeated in a 3-2 vote, with Nelson and Commissioners Nadia Anderson and Alexander Smith voting against it.
“He doesn't want the public to be educated on what's going on with the City,” Bell said. “At this point, we just want accountability.”
According to Garcia, the mayor decided that developers attending the meeting shouldn’t have to sit through an hour of public comment.
“The developers don't run the city, and according to our city charter, citizens come first, so business doesn't come above the people,” Garcia said.
Garcia also said that Anderson, at the August 7th meeting, commented that she received several responses from people asking to move public comments to the end or remove them altogether; however, Garcia points out that nobody put together a protest or sent out press releases asking for the change.
Despite efforts to convince Nelson to move public comments back to the top of the meeting, they stayed in the last position later that evening. Nelson also turned off the live feed—again.
“People are not going to believe anything you say when they see what you do,” Bell said.
