The San Francisco Board of Supervisors discusses a proposal to eliminate remote public comments during the Oct. 17, 2023, board meeting. The board voted 8-3 in favor of the motion, which arose following a series of disruptive calls received at a prior meeting. Other Bay Area cities have also abandoned remote comments for similar reasons. (SFGovTV via Bay City News)
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, with an 8-3 vote Tuesday, ended remote public comment at meetings of the board and its committees with some exceptions.
The rule change was initiated by board president Aaron Peskin after a stream of racist and antisemitic callers interrupted the supervisors’ meeting Sept. 26. It was part of a wave of hate speech heard in public meetings around the region, as reported by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, which tracks such incidents.
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Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.
SF supervisors abolish remote comments at meetings following wave of extremist calls
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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors, with an 8-3 vote Tuesday, ended remote public comment at meetings of the board and its committees with some exceptions.
The rule change was initiated by board president Aaron Peskin after a stream of racist and antisemitic callers interrupted the supervisors’ meeting Sept. 26. It was part of a wave of hate speech heard in public meetings around the region, as reported by the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, which tracks such incidents.
Continue reading for free
Sign in to read this story and receive the weekly roundup in your inbox.
Success! Your account was created and you’re signed in.
Please visit My Account to manage your account.
Ruth Dusseault, Bay City News
Ruth Dusseault is an investigative reporter and multimedia journalist focused on environment and energy. Her position is supported by the California local news fellowship, a statewide initiative spearheaded by UC Berkeley aimed at supporting local news platforms. While a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism (c’23), Ruth developed stories about the social and environmental circumstances of contaminated watersheds around the Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. Her thesis explored rights of nature laws in small rural communities. She is a former assistant professor and artist in residence at Georgia Tech’s School of Architecture, and uses photography, film and digital storytelling to report on the engineered systems that undergird modern life.
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