Public comment fiasco avoided – somewhat

John Burns is a First Amendment champion.
The Bradenton Beach Planning and Zoning Commission member asked the right questions
of the board’s attorney last week when the attorney tried to discourage the board from
taking public comment at the second of two hearings on a controversial hotel/restaurant/
retail project planned at the corner of Gulf Drive and Bridge Street.
As a result of Burns’ intervention, the board reversed its decision to close public comment
at the second hearing, and nine people opposed to the project were able to have their say
as a result.
Under the direction of its attorney, the board had announced at the project’s first hearing on Nov. 1 that public comment would be closed at the end of that hearing and would remain closed at the Nov. 13 hearing because it was a continuation of the Nov. 1 hearing.
The board’s attorney said it would “create an issue” to reopen public comment at the second hearing, explaining that more comments would require rebuttal from city staff and the project owners, one of whom is a city commissioner.
Public comment is designed to let officials know what their constituents think. If that’s
creating an issue, then so be it.
We will never know how many people stayed away from the Nov. 13 meeting, thinking it
would be futile to attend since they were told they would not be allowed to express their
views to the board, which is a recommending body to the city commissioners they elected.
That’s known as a prior restraint. A lot of law has been written about the illegalities of government action prohibiting speech before it is spoken. Books about it would fill all 106 rooms in the new hotel.
We don’t like it, and we’re glad the Planning and Zoning Board doesn’t like it either.