Long Beach’s Fifth District City Councilmember Gerrie Schipske announced on her blog today that she will vote ”no” tonight when the City Council considers a proposal by Mayor Bob Foster that would restrict the rights of citizens to participate in council meetings.

Foster wants to eliminate the right of citizens to remove an item from the council’s consent calendar — a list of items which are grouped together for a single vote of approval to save time. Instead, only the mayor, city council or city manager would be able to remove an item from the consent calendar.

“I know it is time consuming to have items, which should just be routine, removed from the Consent Agenda so that one or two citizens can either re-read them publicly or simply express their support for the item,” Schipske wrote in her blog. “But seriously, folks… This is the only time each week that the public gets an opportunity to address us and face it, there have been some very interesting items placed on the consent agenda that do deserve discussion.”

Removing an item from the consent calendar allows it to be considered independently, with dialogue among council members, before it is approved or denied. Currently, any member of the public can do this by submitting a request before the meeting.

Under Foster’s proposal, a citizen would have to track down often hard-to-contact public officials and convince one of them to remove the item. Otherwise, that citizen could only comment on the item in three minutes or less before the council voted on the entire slate, yes or no.

Some citizens abuse the right to remove consent calendar items, delaying council meetings while they yammer on and on. Harvey Cochran, a citizen who speaks at length on a variety of issues at every council meeting, removed several items from the consent calendar at the Nov. 13 meeting–some of them minor procedural items that he clearly did not understand–and drew a rebuke from Foster. That may have been the last straw that prompted the mayor’s restrictive proposal.

However, critics argue that taking away the public’s right to demand discussion on a consent calendar issue would make it easier for city officials to selectively and secretively push through favored projects. A spirited debate among the public and the council is expected at tonight’s 5 p.m. meeting when Foster’s proposal — No. 22 on the agenda — is considered.

Tags: Consent calendar, Fifth District, Gerrie Schipske, Long Beach City Council, Mayor Bob Foster