DSNC Board Civility Resolution | March 10th Meeting
Davis Square Neighborhood Council
Mr. Flynn, Mr. Byrnes, Mr. Mels, Mr. Nadeau, DSNC Members,
At Tuesday, March 10th’s public meeting hosted by Copper Mill, a large number of people in the audience acted in a manner that we believe had the effect of silencing other speakers. Community members shouted at, booed, and heckled not only the developer, but also other community members while they provided public comment. This toxic tenor of discourse contributes to echo chambering, deepens resentments and divisions between our neighbors, and threatens to misrepresent the true level of public support for neighborhood projects. DSNC currently has no official position on the Copper Mill project, but is writing out of concern over the quality of public discourse.
According to our bylaws, DSNC has three main methods for implementing its objective of supporting “Davis Square as an increasingly inclusive, vibrant, and accessible neighborhood”—negotiating community benefits, representing the community in discussions with other bodies, and empowering community members to work together. Each of these goals are harmed by vitriolic interactions between neighbors. DSNC cannot effectively support or oppose development projects, identify potential community benefits, or accurately negotiate on behalf of the community if a subset of its members are not comfortable expressing themselves publicly. The Neighborhood Council cannot be taken seriously in our advocacy with the city if we are not adhering to our statutory requirement of inclusivity. Finally, and most importantly, we cannot work together if our members resent each other.
While Tuesday’s meeting was not hosted by DSNC, the behavior that took place within the meeting deeply affects our organization. Members with opposing positions on topics must feel comfortable speaking to each other. Additionally, the neighborhood council counts on public meetings to gauge public opinion and collect potential ideas for community benefits. DSNC members cannot trust conversations that are not inclusive or productive.
DSNC calls on our members to:
Adhere to reasonable community standards when attending public meetings, even if hosted by external organizations
Proactively encourage our non-member friends and neighbors to act civilly
DSNC calls on Copper Mill to adopt the following public meeting policy items when holding public meetings:
Ask meeting attendees to agree to standards of decorum before starting the meeting
Take actions to prevent the comments of speakers (not the developer) from being interrupted
Structure meetings by topic to allow constructive conversations
Provide a time limit for each speaker to allow more people an opportunity to talk
Use Zoom's Q&A webinar feature to structure questions and allow appropriate community statements to be read out in full
Host digital-only meetings which allow attendees on Zoom to make statements verbally
DSNC calls on our fellow neighborhood groups to
Create and enforce community standards for their members
Correct inaccuracies by removing erroneous information from public forums and publishing corrections widely when applicable
Join at a DSNC in a summit to discuss civility at public meetings
Sincerely,
The Board of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council
CC:
Jake Wilson, Mayor
Lance Davis, City Councillor
Tom Galligani, Director of OSPCD
City of Somerville
93 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02143
David Booth
conform to the DSNC's recently enacted Code of Conduct:
https://tinyurl.com/dsnc-code
Thanks,
David Booth
> Adhere to reasonable community standards when attending public
> meetings, even if hosted by external organizations
>
> Proactively encourage our non-member friends and neighbors to act
> civilly
>
> DSNC calls on Copper Mill to adopt the following public meeting policy
> items when holding public meetings:
>
> Ask meeting attendees to agree to standards of decorum before
> starting the meeting
>
> Take actions to prevent the comments of speakers (not the developer)
> from being interrupted
>
> Structure meetings by topic to allow constructive conversations
>
> Provide a time limit for each speaker to allow more people an
> opportunity to talk
>
> Use Zoom's Q&A webinar feature to structure questions and allow
> appropriate community statements to be read out in full
>
> Host digital-only meetings which allow attendees on Zoom to make
> statements verbally
>
> DSNC calls on our fellow neighborhood groups to
>
> Create and enforce community standards for their members
>
> Correct inaccuracies by removing erroneous information from public
> forums and publishing corrections widely when applicable
>
> Join at a DSNC in a summit to discuss civility at public meetings
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> The Board of the Davis Square Neighborhood Council
>
>
> CC:
>
>
> Jake Wilson, Mayor
>
> Lance Davis, City Councillor
>
> Tom Galligani, Director of OSPCD
>
> City of Somerville
>
> 93 Highland Avenue
>
> Somerville, MA 02143
>
> Davis Square Neighborhood Council · https://DavisSquareNC.org <https://
> DavisSquareNC.org> · https://linktr.ee/DavisSquareNC <https://linktr.ee/
> DavisSquareNC>
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