Attorney Frank Angel knows first-hand how frustrating the time
limitations on public speaking at UC Board of Regents meetings can
be.
Angel said the governing body of the UC system did not receive
proper public input at their meeting last Thursday and subsequently
made a decision that could have major consequences for UCLA’s
campus.
“This was not a fair trial ““ there was no debate
whatsoever among the regents,” Angel said.
The board approved a broad, long-range development plan for
construction at UCLA over the next 10 years but did not get proper
recommendations from the public before submitting their votes,
Angel said.
“They’re making a long-range decision for 10 years
and aren’t even discussing it for two minutes. It’s
kind of strange they wouldn’t want to have more input,”
he said.
His group, the Urban Wildlands Group, is concerned that a
four-acre preserve near Lot 10 in the northwestern part of campus
is not specifically protected under the plan and could turn into a
construction site.
As frustrated as Angel might be, the regents’ practices
are completely legal under California state law.
The Bagley-Keene Act dictates that the “proceedings of
public agencies be conducted openly so that the public may remain
informed.”
The act also said the state body must “allow opportunity
for members of the public to directly address the state
body,” but it specifically notes that the body may adopt
“reasonable regulations” regarding time allocated for
each speaker.
Currently, the regents offer 20 minutes of total time during
which the public is allowed to speak.
Claudia Horning, statewide president of the Coalition of
University Employees, is also dissatisfied with the current state
of the public speaking period.
She said the miniscule amount of time hardly offers an
opportunity for real concerns to be heard.
“Pretty much every time I’ve spoken, I’ve been
cut off. It makes it impossible to have a reasonable conversation
with the regents,” Horning said.
She suggested that the regents adopt a “real comment
period that actually allows people to make thoughtful
comments” by perhaps extending the time allotted for public
speaking.
“No one understands better than us the realities of time
constraints, but the public should get to speak,” she
said.
But Trey Davis, UC press aide, said it is an issue of supply and
demand, and time is not an unlimited resource.
“It’s physically impossible to let everyone talk for
as long as they want ““ you’d have a 24-hour
meeting,” Davis said.
Davis contends there are other ways for the public to make its
voice heard. People can attend smaller committee meetings that also
have comment periods or submit comments in writing. Documents, he
said, are always read by the regents.
As far as Angel is concerned, though, the problem is a simple
concept that the regents need to recognize.
“It’s a basic, fundamental principle of (having) a
meaningful opportunity to be heard,” he said.
With reports from Andrew Edwards, Daily Bruin Staff.