Thomas MacMillan File Photo
The Board of Zoning Appeals had to decide a controversial public issue. First, it set down the microphone so the public couldn’t hear.
Although 60 people turned out for the BZA’s monthly meeting Tuesday night, Chairwoman Cathy Weber (pictured) decided neighbors just didn’t want to hear the board vote on two items.
The panel voted to deny a controversial proposal for a discount grocery store on Whalley Avenue.
Facing a room full of people, Weber put her microphone down before the voting, effectively turning the meeting into a private session.
Even a member of the City Plan Commission staff, just 20 feet away, said he couldn’t hear what was being said. He asked Weber to use the mic. She refused.
“People don’t have to hear,” Weber explained after the meeting.
She did “allow” two reporters to come close enough to hear the two votes, while taunting one of them for requesting that she use the mic.
The board voted to deny the plan that would have allowed a Save-a-Lot discount grocery store to open on Whalley Avenue. That proposal faced vocal community opposition at the December meeting of the BZA.
The board also voted to approve a parking reduction for a new public school on DeWitt Street.
But you wouldn’t have known that at the meeting — unless you stood right next to the raised platform where the board sits.
Tuesday’s off-mic voting was the latest questionable meeting practice at the BZA, which has a history of avoiding public scrutiny of actions required by law to take place in public.
Mayor John DeStefano cleaned house at the BZA in 2007, after the Independent reported that the board was routinely avoiding votes at public meetings and scheduling deliberations at largely private last-minute sessions. He appointed Cathy Weber as chair, with a promise that the BZA would take public accountability seriously.
The BZA’s approach to public accountability and participation mirrors similar practices by other mayorally appointed boards. The Board of Fire Commissioners agreed to stop conducting public business in closed-door sessions after the Independent filed a state Freedom of Information Act complaint in protest. And this week, just one night before the BZA meeting, the school board sprang a new $324 million budget before the public without any advance distribution or public hearings, then approved it; even the board members had had only the weekend to take a peek at it. City officials have repeatedly said they want to promote “transparency” and public participation in school reform.
Public Came Out
There was a packed house of neighbors at Tuesday’s BZA meeting. The Save-A-Lot and the DeWitt school items were carried over from the previous BZA agenda. Weber decided to vote on them at the beginning of the meeting. Speaking into the microphone — so all could hear — Weber announced her plan and asked for patience while the board voted on the items off-mic.
As the BZA members began to speak amongst themselves, City Plan staffer Stephen Harris interrupted Weber. Cupping his had behind his ear, he said he couldn’t hear.
Harris sits at a table between the board and the public, some 20 feet from the raised platform where board members sit. Weber told Harris she would not be using the microphone.
This reporter spoke up to say that it was a public meeting.
“Can you hear?” asked city Corporation Counsel Felipe Pastore.
Weber said she would not use the microphone. With a smile, she repeatedly invited reporters from the Independent and the Register to come stand in front of her in the middle of the room, directly below her elevated seat. Weber insisted she was not being facetious.
She refused to use the microphone.
With no discussion, the board made two unanimous votes. It voted to deny the application from Save-A-Lot grocery store, which sought to open the store on Whalley Avenue. It voted to approve the DeWitt Street school application.
Weber said after the meeting that it is her custom not to use a mic during voting sessions. Since there is no public comment allowed during voting, it’s not important that the public listen, she said.
“People don’t have to hear,” she said. Voting sessions are “predominantly for the board and staff.”
Weber does often forgo the use of a microphone during voting sessions. Voting usually happens at the end of meetings, when the handful of people in the room can hear without amplification.
Reminded that the BZA meeting is a public session and there was a roomful of people present at Tuesday’s meeting, Weber said, “It wasn’t necessary for them to hear.”
“I didn’t think anyone was there for those two items,” she said. “Not one of them cared what we were voting on.”
However, if people want to hear, they can hear, she said. “That’s why I allowed you to come up.”
Anyone else who wanted to hear would have spoken up, she argued.
Weber then suddenly claimed that all her comments were off the record.
Weber said she would not speak on the record further without an attorney present.
This woman is a disgrace to democracy.