This week is very light on meetings. Outside of the Police Advisory Board meeting on Monday and the Climate Change Task Force meeting on Wednesday, there is only the Common Council meeting on 05/05/2021 at 7pm.
I use the word “only” but that meeting promises to provide more than enough drama for the week.
The Council will be taking up two resolutions. The first one is Resolution 6-R-21 a Resolution Condemning Xenophobia, Racism, and Violence Against The Asian Pacific Islander Desiamerican (APIDA) Community.
This passed out of committee on 04/14/2021 with only one minor change; however, Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) had expressed reservations about passing a resolution that told other government agencies how to do their jobs. He liked the idea of showing support for the local Asian American and Pacific Islander community, but he thought the focus should be on Appleton and what we could do here rather than what people and government officials outside of Appleton could do.
At the 04/21/2021 Common Council meeting he referred the resolution back to committee to give it a second look and see if it could be amended in such a way that it would pass unanimously and thereby show strong and unified support of the local AAPI community. Although 9 Common Council members opposed the refer back, 6 Council members voted to support sending it back for a second look which meant that those who wanted to vote on it that evening did not have the 2/3rds majority they needed to keep it from being sent back to committee.
For some reason, multiple supporters of the resolution took the vote to refer it back to committee and see if it could be improved as being akin to voting against it. At the 04/28/2021 Safety and Licensing Committee meeting, members of the public spent an hour and a half making public comments many of which argued that Appleton is a racist city and that it was racist for the alderpersons to have (a) referred the resolution back to committee and (b) considered amending the resolution (this in spite of the fact that it was acknowledged that there was always room for improvement).
Alderperson Siebers mentioned that the alderpersons who voted for the refer back had been called bigots, racists, and skinheads. Apparently, open records requests were made for Alderperson Joe Martin’s (District 4) emails even though he didn’t even vote to uphold the refer back.
The one person who spoke against the resolution was a Hmong man who found it demeaning to him as an Asian American. He did not feel unsafe in Appleton and found it offensive as an Appletonian to hear our city described as a racist city. That was not his experience. He said he was opposed to racism and thought it would be better if the Council passed a more general resolution condemning all racism instead of just racism against Asian Americans. Somewhat surreally, two white supporters of the resolution condemning racism went out of their way to demean and dismiss this Hmong man. One labelled him a sexist before he had even spoken and the other told him to stop discriminating after he had given his speech and was walking away from the podium.
After a few halfhearted attempts to make amendments to the resolution, the committee eventually voted to just send it back unchanged to the Common Council.
[Through all of this I saw no evidence that any of the alderpersons were motivated by racism or sexism. Nor did I see any evidence that the Hmong man who opposed the resolution was a sexist or engaged in discrimination. I am curious now if passing the resolution will even accomplish what its cosponsors wanted it to–i.e. alleviate fear amongst the AAPI members of the Appleton community and show them that they are a valued part of Appleton–if so many people have incorrectly taken a vote for the refer back to be a vote against the resolution and a sign of racism.]
The other resolution the Council will be taking up is Resolution #4-R-21 in which the Common Council would, if they pass it, “encourage city staff and elected officials to become familiar with the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and advise the Council of any changes in policy or practices they feel would help the City of Appleton align with the tenets of this convention.” It also calls that “a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Wisconsin’s U.S. Congressional Delegation expressing our support of the United States’ ratification of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).”
Although there is broad support for making sure women are treated well within Appleton and even support for much of what makes up CEDAW, as with the resolution condemning anti-Asian hate, there are some concerns about the appropriateness of Appleton telling federal delegates what they should do or weighing in on international law.
Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) has stated on his website, “Beyond the fact that I don’t believe the Appleton City Council’s role is to weigh in on matters of international law, those international laws are not always consistent with our own. Our Constitution provides a number of protections for women. Parts of CEDAW run counter to our own laws and while this resolution may actually improve women’s rights in other countries, there is debate by scholars over whether it will have a positive effect in the United States. “ [links from original quote.]
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) has posted on her website, “There are very questionable international enforcement issues with the ratification of this treaty that would go against many social mores closely held by much of our nation and which could potentially usurp the US Constitution. I took an oath to support the US Constitution only a couple weeks ago and I will not renege on that oath. As such, I will ask that the final clause in this resolution be stricken and, if not, I will not vote to support this resolution even though the bulk of it, I believe, could benefit our city.”
Those are the two big ticket items on the agenda for the 05/06/2021 Common Council meeting, and the two I would expect to garner the most public comment, but there are other items.
- Five proclamations from Mayor Woodford (Nurses Month”, “Asian Heritage Month”, “Municipal Clerks Week”, “Police Week”, and “Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Day of Remembrance”)
- A Covid-19 update
- An electric scooter ordinance amendment
- A resolution that would temporarily allow for expanded outdoor seating and alcohol service by restaurants through October 30, 2021.
- Multiple other things that have worked their way through committees over the last two weeks.
View full meeting details and agenda here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=853492&GUID=148AA3A4-D401-4581-9AE3-C7EF734F39B0&Options=info|&Search=
Be the first to reply