THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 30, 1994 TAG: 9410280279
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
The City Council stuck to its compromise on speaking rules last week, refusing to move all citizen comments to the beginning of its meetings.
As the rules now stand, comments on agenda items are made at the start of the meeting and comments on non-agenda items at the end, before the council adjourns.
Tuesday night, council members John W. Butt and Alan P. Krasnoff suggested moving the comments on non-agenda items to the beginning.
Their motions followed numerous complaints by residents about the speaking rules.
``The question is, what are you afraid of?'' said Carl Burns, a frequent critic of the council. ``One or two citizens have questions you don't want to hear?''
Resident Joseph Johnson said, ``We didn't just roll off the turnip truck. We can sift through and select fact from fiction. Let them speak. Whether you agree with them or not is irrelevant.''
The council first stirred up a controversy over the speaking rules last month when it voted to move the speakers to the end of the meeting, after the formal session had adjourned and the television cameras were turned off.
In the ensuing uproar, the council changed its mind and approved the current rules. On Tuesday, Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer said that was enough.
``I totally disagree with the position that we have imposed some sort of gag order on free speech,'' Dwyer said.
The council voted 6-3 against Krasnoff's suggestion. Butt and Mayor William E. Ward voted with Krasnoff.
In other action, the council approved a new, 633,000-square-foot shopping center in the northwest corner of Volvo Parkway and Greenbrier Parkway. The shopping center, developed by Cousins/New Market Development of Marietta, Ga., will include department stores, restaurants and a movie theater complex.
KEYWORDS: CHESAPEAKE CITY COUNCIL
by CNB