Santa Cruz rejects partisan ceasefire resolution in 5–2 vote
Santa Cruz City Council shot down a Gaza ceasefire resolution on 1.10, superseding it with a more neutral call to “peace.” To reach their 5–2 vote against the original resolution (and 5–1 for the alternate peace decree), Council endured 10 hours of aggressive public feedback that grew violent at times. Now, many are wondering if approving a resolution on foreign affairs—during a period of heightened antisemitism—is a productive, safe move for city councils and their residents. Lookout Santa Cruz reports.
The Santa Cruz City Council rejected a proposed resolution calling for cease-fire between Israel and Hamas early Wednesday after 10 hours of public comment inside council chambers and demonstrations outside city hall. Instead, the city council voted 5-1 to adopt an alternate resolution, introduced by Councilmember Scott Newsome, that called for peace but dropped all references to a cease-fire.
The discussion began at 5 p.m. Tuesday and lasted until around 3 a.m. Wednesday, when the city council voted 5-2 to turn down the original resolution, written by Councilmembers Sonja Brunner and Sandy Brown (only the authors supported the resolution).
After almost half a full day’s worth of continuous, impassioned testimony from the public, the city council took the vote to turn down the original cease-fire resolution without a word of explanation. This launched a loud and somewhat violent protest from the already rambunctious crowd inside and outside city hall. Many in the audience who supported the original cease-fire language rushed to the front of the room and hurled roaring expletives, signs and placards, and bloody, bandaged effigies at the city councilmembers. Protesters outside shattered a panel of a council chamber window, directly behind City Clerk Bonnie Bush.
Mayor Fred Keeley, who had threatened multiple times throughout the evening to clear the chambers, then ordered police officers to do just that, which he estimated took “about 25 to 30 minutes.”
“When councilmembers are having stuff thrown at them, and a window is shattered directly behind our city clerk, it becomes a public safety issue,” Keeley told Lookout on Wednesday, defending his decision to clear the city council chambers between the two votes. “My sense was that the situation was only going to escalate.”
This article originally appeared in Lookout Santa Cruz. Read the whole thing here.
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