Pueblo City Council says 'accountability for thee but not for me'
I’ve never been embarrassed to be a Puebloan. I love this city in my bones. It never made much sense to me to feel ashamed of being hard-working, or a little rough around the edges. In fact, the closest I’ve felt to being ashamed of us was during the May 13th city council meeting. Despite only six people testifying in favor of banning syringe service providers (SSPs), and dozens and dozens testifying against, Pueblo City Council voted 5-2 in favor of the ban.
Some on the city council seem to think they know better. Better than whom? Just about everyone. They know better than scientists, doctors, lawyers, front line staff, volunteers, or indeed anyone with a sense of human compassion.
Councilwoman Regina Maestri stated that she had “many” constituents contact her to support the ban, but that they didn’t show up to city council because they were worried about being ridiculed. She did not provide any numbers or proof to back up her claim, unlike Councilwoman Sarah Martinez, who brought printouts of every email she received on the subject, and shared the number of voicemails she received both for and against the ban.
We know Councilwoman Maestri can get a crowd to council meetings. Remember when she failed to get abortion banned and got all those folks from Texas to show up? That was a HUGE crowd. Does she really expect us to believe that there are vast numbers of Pueblo residents who are vehemently against SSPs, but wouldn’t say so in a public meeting because they were afraid of getting ridiculed? …PUEBLOANS. Seriously. I saw three memes making fun of us just this week, and two of them were made by locals! Any person from Pueblo who can’t put up with getting mocked for having an opinion should sit down and shut up.
Pardon my naivety, but I didn’t know we were allowed to just make things up at council meetings. In a world where a sitting member of city council is allowed to say on the record that she’s ignoring the overwhelming presence of her constituents in chambers in favor of definitely-not-made-up ACTUAL constituents, and nobody on city council (including the president) challenges her on that, are we ALL allowed to just make up nonsense? In such a world, am I permitted to state that Regina Maestri eats seven crayons before every council meeting? Of course not! Such a statement would be both silly and untrue.
There are laws that prevent me from saying untrue things about Pueblo City Councilwoman Regina Maestri (one example of an untrue thing I could not state as fact is that Pueblo City Councilwoman Regina Maestri has sartorial plans involving 101 Dalmatian puppies). So why are our elected officials allowed to blatantly spout mistruths from the dais?
Councilman Joe Latino asserted several times that a little girl at Bradford Elementary was stuck with a needle, that staff have to conduct daily sweeps of the school grounds, and that they regularly find dozens of needles. This was news to Mrs. Padilla, the principal of Bradford Elementary, who informed multiple concerned callers that staff are not finding dozens of needles, and that no student has received a needlestick at Bradford Elementary.
Why are members of city council permitted to make false and misleading statements? If they are using those statements to back up their votes, shouldn’t they have to share evidence, as Councilwoman Martinez did with her constituent emails?
Decisions are meant to be made by the people who show up. President Mark Aliff made a point in thanking everyone who came to the council meeting to testify. Then he allowed Councilwoman Maestri to make statements about constituents who weren’t in the room and likely don’t exist, he allowed her to sneer at and mock hard-working Puebloans, and then he voted against all the people who DID turn up. So much for democracy.
Councilman Roger Gomez, who introduced the ordinance, did not speak during council’s discussion and debate time after the public’s allotted time. He barely deigned to look at any of the people giving testimony. Many people who spoke against the ordinance, myself included, asked specific questions about it, and none of the councilors who voted in favor even attempted to answer.
Some of the questions that went unanswered:
People who call 911 about dirty needles are directed to Access Point, who come and pick them up. Who in the city will be responsible for this now?
What is council’s solution to the gap in healthcare this ban will cause?
There will still be needles on the streets. What is city council going to do about it?
Some city councilors would do well to remember that they are public servants. They SERVE the community. And the community deserves answers. If a city councilor can’t find the words to justify their vote to a room of their constituents, then maybe they shouldn’t vote that way.
During the meeting, Councilman Latino repeatedly said that Pueblo is the Home of Heroes, not the home of addicts. He’s right; we are the Home of Heroes. Many of those heroes are also addicts, because they are not mutually exclusive terms. And as one Marine veteran testified, people like Councilman Latino who never served do not get to use our city’s heroic status as a cudgel to beat on our fellow Puebloans.
People wishing to make ethics complaints against city council members can do so by contacting the city clerk. These complaints won’t get far, as the code of ethics in the city charter pretty much just deals with financial malfeasance. Why isn’t there a code of conduct for city council? President Aliff shushed the crowd multiple times during the meeting, even threatening to clear the chambers at one point. During the work session, Councilwoman Maestri chastised people for applauding speakers. Members of the public are forced to abide by rules of decorum, but public servants are allowed to say hateful things with no evidence? They’re allowed to lie, and base their vote on a lie, with no repercussions? That doesn’t seem right to me. If it doesn’t seem right to you, you should call President Aliff and Mayor Heather Graham and ask why there isn’t a code of conduct or rigorous code of ethics for our elected officials.
I am not ashamed to be a Puebloan. The council meeting on May 13th, despite a few unethical and amoral actions, was a shining example of Pueblo’s best qualities -- good-hearted, hard-working, and uppity folks saw their neighbors getting attacked, and stepped up to do something about it. We didn’t win, but since when is getting knocked down an excuse for Puebloans to give up? I love this city. I just wish all of our leaders could (truthfully) say the same.
Dr. Emily Gradisar is a co-owner of The Ethos
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo City Council says 'accountability for thee but not for me'
