PEEKSKILL, N.Y. Democrats may have swept last weeks election to maintain total control of the citys common council, but activist groups that have been protesting at the councils meetings for over a year said the election results wont change their tune.
If you have an overwhelming victory, does that make all our issues go away? asked Darrell Davis, a Mount Vernon resident who heads up the Peekskill Committee For Justice, one of two groups that alleges unfair treatment by the city towards minorities.
Davis and Democratic Mayor Mary Foster, who was reelected to a third two-year term last Tuesday, got into a heated argument over Davis allegations. Davis accused Foster of not being responsive to the request of both his group and the Cortlandt-Peekskill Anti-Racism Coalition (CPARC).
The groups have accused the city of being slow to respond to their allegations of racial discrimination in the city workforce, notably in the department of public works. The city hired a human resources consultant last year to help train city staff and also passed a zero tolerance policy against racial or sexual discrimination last December, but the groups said those are just empty gestures and that the city is bullying and intimidating them by changing meeting rules.
The city moved its public comment session to the end of its meetings in Jan. 2011 and posted city police in the room after meetings were shut down due to protesters who refused to stop speaking after their allotted five minutes was up. Monday was the first time public comment was held at the beginning of the meeting since then.
Jim Edler, one of CPARCs leaders, compared the city's response to their demands to the Pnnsylvania State University sexual abuse scandal, a comparison some Democrats in the room said they were offended by.
Bullying is not just about the kid who slaps somebody on the playground, its really about people who stand around and allow and tolerate the bullying,Edler said.
Foster said it was Davis and his fellow protesters who did not work with the city in good faith. We did have discussions in the beginning and this council has been looking into the issues, but whenever we comment on what we have done its poo-pooed that its not enough or its not quick enough, Foster said, adding that everyone is allowed to speak at the meetings but some refuse to abide by the allotted five minutes.
Davis was escorted out of Mondays meeting by police during the public comment session when he got into an argument with resident Carol Gursten. Davis said that Gursten made a comment to him and said the mayor did not silence her like she did to him. Foster said she could not hear what was said to Davis from the council seats.
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