CITY OF SEBASTOPOL
CITY COUNCIL
AGENDA ITEM
Meeting Date: March 7, 2023
To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Councilmember McLewis
Subject: Resolution Declaring the City’s Commitment to Building an Anti-hate Community Recommendation: It is recommended that the Council adopt the Resolution Funding: Currently Budgeted: ______ Yes _________ No __XX___ N/A Net General Fund Cost: None
Account Code/Costs authorized in City Approved Budget (if applicable) AK (verified by Administrative Services Department)
INTRODUCTION:
This item is to request that the City Council Approve and Adopt the Resolution Declaring the City’s Commitment to Building an Anti-hate Community.
BACKGROUND
Recent events have prompted a need to articulate and establish Sebastopol’s commitment to zero tolerance in relationship to vandalism, specifically vandalism that targets specific groups and displays a high degree of animus.
On Friday, February 17, 2023, the Bank of America building was peppered with graffiti, specifically related to the construction and funding of a regional training center to be built for the Atlanta region to provide modernized facilities to provide state of the art training to law enforcement. On January 18th, 2023 multi-jurisdictional law enforcement was tasked with clearing the site as construction was due to begin. While clearing the site, an individual occupying the site shot a Georgia State Trooper. Other law enforcement officers returned fire subsequently killing that individual. The entire incident and shooting have been very controversial and is under investigation. Protestors call the facility “Cop City.” As a result of the shooting incident, protestors have targeted Bank of America branches nationwide with vandalism. Locally as depicted in the attached photos, the graffiti targeted police personnel with the use of “ACAB” (all cops are bastards).
DISCUSSION:
It has become apparent in recent months that our community, our nation, and our world are experiencing a troubling increase in violence and bigotry motivated by a hatred of specific groups. This behavior comes in many forms, all equally disturbing and unacceptable. While anti-Semitism, anti-Asian, and anti-Black hate have been the most recently noticeable incidents, no form of prejudicial hate is tolerable in our society.
WHEREAS, hate crimes in general have risen for two straight years, according to FBI statistics, and although Sebastopol does not have a lot of reported hate crimes, it is evidenced that graffiti targeting specific groups has increased and is on the verge of what can be considered hate.
A review of the past two years indicates the City has had eight (8) incidents reported where people were either concerned that hate related activity may have been observed or occurring. Two (2) were graffiti vandalisms with Agenda Item Number: 8 Agenda Item Number: 8
City Council Meeting Packet of: March 7, 2023
anti-police writings. One in a city bathroom and the other at the bank. Another incident involved a woman placing a sticker that said “HATE” on a stop sign that was witnessed by a citizen and called in.
We as a City, as a community, should be a model for a just and equitable society. We should recognize and value our diverse community, foster understanding and acceptance of all its citizens, and promote civil discourse and conduct, regardless of a person’s occupation, racial identification, gender identification or economic status.
We need to stand firmly against bigotry in any form and urge our community to unite and speak out against bigotry that targets specific groups and stand up for all members in our community. Sebastopol should strive to create an environment where civility, respect and responsible actions prevail.
This resolution is to declare our commitment against hate speech, bigotry against any group and urge everyone who resides and visits our city to conduct themselves with the utmost civility, compassion, and respect. If you experience or witness an act of vandalism or other destructive acts that target a specific community, please report it to local law enforcement and to Council. The police department is here to serve this entire community and we in turn should strive to help our community be safe and report these acts of hate speech and antidemocratic impulses. The Council is here to support our citizens and to support our community strive to be a place where all members are safe and not targets of discrimination.
We as a community need to make a commitment to condemn all incidents of disruptive hate graffiti and vandalism and show Sebastopol as a welcoming community; hate has no home here.
In addition to being socially destructive, graffiti and other destruction of public and private property has a high financial cost. Currently, the Public Works Department spends at minimum 5 hours per week cleaning up graffiti and repairing vandalism. That translates to over $40,000 per year costs to taxpayers and out City budget.
Therefore community cooperation to help curtail vandalism, graffiti and other destructive acts on public and private space will help conserve our community resources so they can be directed toward the public good.
CITY COUNCIL AND/OR GENERAL PLAN GOALS:
Goal 5: Provide Open and Responsive Municipal Government Leadership Encourage and increase public awareness of City Policies, decisions, programs and all public processes and meetings, by investigating effective methods of communication and obtaining feedback from the community.
Goal 6: Maintain a highly qualified Staff that works to provide services to serve and protect the residents, visitors and business of this community.
Action CHW 5c: Practice an open-door policy in City programs, and actively engage and encourage participation from all individuals regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, class, disability, sexual orientation, and gender.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
As of the writing of this staff report, the City has not received any public comment. However, if staff receives public comment from interested parties following the publication and distribution of this staff report such comments will be provided to the City Council as supplemental materials before or at the meeting. In addition, public comments may be offered during the public comment portion of the consent calendar.
PUBLIC NOTICE:
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This item was noticed in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act and was available for public viewing and review at least 72 hours prior to the scheduled meeting date.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact with adoption of the Resolution tonight; however, the City has spent approximately a rough estimate of 5 hours of staff time and $40 of materials per week for the last two years on City owned facilities as listed below.
$150 X 5 hours X 52 Weeks=$39,000 Labor
$40 X 52 Weeks=$2,080 Materials
$39,000 + $2080= $41,080 X 2 years=$82,160
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council Approve and Adopt the Resolution
ATTACHMENTS:
Resolution
Photos of Graffiti
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RESOLUTION NO. _________
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF SEBASTOPOL
Declaring the City’s Commitment to Building an Anti-Hate Community WHEREAS, It has become apparent in recent months that our community, our nation, and our world are experiencing a troubling increase in violence and bigotry motivated by hate; and WHEREAS, We as a City, as a Community, should be a model for a just and equitable society; and WHEREAS, We should recognize and value the a diverse community, foster understanding and acceptance of all its citizens, and promotes civil discourse and conduct, and WHEREAS, We need to stand firmly against hate and bigotry in any form and urge our community to unite and speak out against hate and stand up for Sebastopol and our community values, and WHEREAS, Sebastopol should strive to create an environment where civility, respect and responsible actions prevail.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Sebastopol does hereby Declare the City’s Commitment to Building an Anti-Hate Community; and declare our commitment against hate and urge everyone who resides and visits our city to conduct themselves with the utmost civility, compassion, and respect; and BE IT FURTHER RESOVLED, that everyone is urged to speak out against hate, and if you experience or witness an act of hate, please report it to local law enforcement. We as a community need to make a commitment to condemn all incidents of hate and show Sebastopol as a welcoming community and Hate has no home here.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 7th day of March, 2023.
I, the undersigned, hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted by City of Sebastopol City Council following a roll call vote:
VOTE:
Ayes:
Noes:
Absent:
Abstain:
APPROVED:
Mayor Neysa Hinton
ATTEST:
Mary Gourley, Assistant City Manager/City Clerk, MMC
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Larry McLaughlin, City Attorney
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From: Mary Gourley
To: Mary Gourley
Subject: Graffiti
Date: Thursday, February 23, 2023 11:55:41 AM
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Thank you
Mary Gourley
Assistant City Manager/City Clerk
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