Passionate attendees filled the third floor Chambers at City Hall for the City Council meeting on January 2, with overflow seating in the library. The meeting, which lasted almost six hours, focused on agenda item 10-D: Consider Authorizing the Mayor to Send a Letter on Behalf of Council to Federal Officials regarding Gaza Ceasefire.
At the start of the meeting, Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft called the large turnout “democracy in action.”
Ashcraft said, “This is the Alameda way. Over the years that I’ve been mayor we’ve had lots of contentious issues that we’ve discussed, and we have some tonight. But we’ve always managed to be respectful. And I have every confidence that we will do that again tonight.”
Only a few times throughout the evening did Mayor Ashcraft ask for “silence” from the audience, despite snaps, boos, and gasps following public comments.
Motion to discuss letter first
To ensure that the large number of speakers would be heard, the mayor suggested a motion to address agenda item 10-D first. Councilmember Tracy Jensen made the motion and Vice Mayor Tony Daysog seconded. In a 3-2 vote, with Councilmember Trish Herrera Spencer and Councilmember Malia Vella opposing, the motion passed. Following one public non-agenda comment about safety concerns in relation to a “shelter facility” near the speaker’s house and a unanimous passing of the consent calendar, the members of the council unanimously voted to reduce public comment time from two minutes to 90 seconds in an attempt to accommodate the evening’s many participants, who numbered 150 at that point.
The attendees who filled the Council Chambers held signs that read, “I Stand With Israel,” “Keep Alameda United,” “Ceasefire is a Local Issue,” and “Free Palestine.” Some audience members were outfitted in blue, others wore black and white. Alameda Police officers roamed the room.
Public comments took up the majority of the meeting. There were about twice as many speakers who voiced their support for the mayor’s letter than those who expressed their dissent.
The letter for ceasefire
The mayor’s letter, entitled “Pursuit of immediate ceasefire between Hamas and Israel” and addressed to “Dear Senator _____,” condemned Hamas “for its barbaric attack on October 7” and recognized “Israel’s desire to ensure the safety of its citizens,” but stated that “the ongoing destruction of Gaza and escalating humanitarian crisis does nothing to achieve that objective.”
The letter continued: “The seemingly unrestrained violence in Gaza serves no one’s interests—not the remaining hostages trapped in Gaza who must be released immediately, not the hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians who fear every moment could be their last, and certainly not U.S. national security.”
In response to the argument that a City Council should confine itself to local issues, Mayor Ashcraft wrote: “We are mindful of the increasing polarization around this debate in communities across America and do not intend to take a position that makes any member of our community feel unsafe. Rather, we seek to amplify the voices of our constituents from across the city who have united to hold vigils and repeatedly address us at City Council meetings, raising concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and calling for an immediate end to the violence. We were not elected to simply represent our constituents, but also to set an example of ethical leadership.”
Community comment
Arguments against the letter from speakers who attended the meeting included concerns that the letter would increase antisemitism in Alameda, confusion around why the mayor chose to address this humanitarian issue and not others, and an insistence that the City government stick to local issues.
Speakers who supported the letter echoed the mayor’s written points. They spoke to the number of civilian deaths, the ways in which they believe calling for a ceasefire is a local issue, and the importance of “ethical leadership.”
After 79 participants had spoken, Councilmembers took a brief break. There were over 100 speakers left at that time. When Councilmembers returned, they voted to reduce speaking time to one minute. The motion was opposed only by the Vice Mayor.
Just before 11 p.m., there were still 70 speakers left in the queue. At that time, it was decided to address all other agenda items at the next meeting and keep the focus on 10-D.
Tensions rise
As the night went on, the tension in the room grew. Several commenters, both in favor of and against the mayor’s letter, spoke about feeling unsafe amidst some of the comments that were being made. Public comment was closed at 12:27 a.m.
At that time, Vice Mayor Daysog voiced concerns about the letter. “The one sentence that troubles me greatly reads, ‘We seek to amplify the voices of our constituents from across the city who have united to hold vigils and repeatedly address us at City Council meetings.’ … I don’t agree with the characterization of Israel as an apartheid state, I don’t agree with its characterization as a genocidal state. And so for that to be repeated often from November 21 to today, that is not a voice that I believe this City Council should be amplifying. For this City Council to work, for our Town Hall to endure, this City Council must always strive to be a neutral arbiter of discussion and discourse and we can’t take one side over the other.”
Mayor Ashcraft responded with a request that if the Vice Mayor is going to quote her, he read the full sentence. “So, you want to remain neutral on that,” she said. “That is something that is good for your constituents to know. I take it you oppose the stance that our Congresswoman Barbara Lee has taken also calling for a response. I will say that I also agree that we don’t need to take sides. You don’t see in my letter anything about an apartheid state or genocide, but what I am trying to do is come down on the side of humanity,” the Mayor concluded after briefly being interrupted by Daysog. The Vice Mayor is a candidate running to replace Lee in the House of Representatives.
Councilmember Herrera Spencer said she felt it wasn’t appropriate to “even hear this issue and make a decision on it because I think it’s outside the jurisdiction of our charter.”
A stalemate
Jensen then suggested: “We could send a letter to our congressional representatives asking that they support House Resolution 786, urging the president to immediately call for a de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and Palestine territories. And the resolution also calls on the president to promptly send and facilitate the entry of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.”
The mayor seconded the motion. In a 2-2 vote, with Daysog and Herrera Spencer voting against, the motion failed to pass. (Vella left early to care for her sick child.)
Following the vote, the mayor thanked everyone in attendance for their civility and adjourned the meeting just before 1 a.m.
Kelsey Goeres is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Kelsey-Goeres.
