Inglewood Mayor and City Clerk suppress public comment during Special Council Meeting

The Inglewood City Council convened for a special council meeting on Friday, March 27th.  The purpose of the meeting was to waive fees related to certain street sweeping citations and address water and trash fees.

Council moved forward with voiding over 1,000 parking citations, and suspending trash collection fees for both residential and commercial customers.  Residents will also be allowed to park in city parking lots, for free, in street sweeping days until the local emergency is terminated.

Due to the coronavirus, city residents have been urged to not attend council meetings in person, and instead submit public comments to the City Clerk’s office.

Estefany Castaneda, who is a Board member for the Centinela Valley Union High School District, submitted public comment to Mayor James Butts, each member of the city council and City Clerk Yvonne Horton, to be read during the council meeting.

2UrbanGirls confirmed Horton was in her office, during this mornings meeting, but didn’t attend.  She sent Deputy City Clerk Aisha Thompson in her place.

After the meeting opened, and Mayor Butts called for public comment, Councilman Ralph Franklin attempted to read a public comment submitted by the Healthy Inglewood Coalition and was denied by Mayor Butts.  When Thompson was asked if she received the comment, she replied no and Mayor Butts refused to allow it to be read.

2UrbanGirls has been provided with the outgoing email address to the mayor, council and city clerk, where only Councilman Franklin acknowledged receiving it.

Related: Are Inglewood officials skirting state law by using personal email, cellphones and deleting communications?

Mayor Butts is the same mayor who has been found to use several personal email addresses to conduct city business with billionaires, but can’t respond on his official city email to Inglewood residents and taxpayers.

Horton has opened her office, during city closures to the same billionaires, but will will suppress Inglewood residents public comments by not providing them to her deputy.

This entire council, minus Mayor Butts, are up for re-election this November, including Horton, and Inglewood voters need to make their voices heard at the ballot box that their failure to address residents concerns will no longer be tolerated.