Letter: The night your freedom of speech was limited to 3 minutes

Posted 2/13/19

To the editor:

On Feb. 11, four Portsmouth town counsilors approved an agenda item by Mr. Katzman to allow residents, taxpayers, voters only three minutes to talk/comment/debate on an agenda item …

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Letter: The night your freedom of speech was limited to 3 minutes

Posted

To the editor:

On Feb. 11, four Portsmouth town counsilors approved an agenda item by Mr. Katzman to allow residents, taxpayers, voters only three minutes to talk/comment/debate on an agenda item at our Town Council meeting. 

This letter to the editor can be read in under three minutes. Mr. Katzman, in his infinite wisdom, decided that we the citizens of Portsmouth that pay for our town government, can only be allowed three minutes and your time will be monitored by a timing device. Our freedom to speak for or against agenda items in Portsmouth is now limited to three minutes. Would you have voted for Mr. Katzman if you knew he wanted to limit your right to speak? 

Three of his comrades followed suit: Ms. Abbott, Mr. Ryan and Ms. Ujifusa voted to validate this time rule. No citizen taxpayer, aka voter, agreed with this archaic time limit rule. To the contrary, all nine speakers were opposed. 

It is the Town Council president that must maintain the Town Council meeting agenda and allow for free discussion and debate. The new budget will be contested, but you only have three minutes to get your thoughts organized and delivered before you get yanked from the podium. 

I have attended numerous Town Council meetings in my 45 years in Portsmouth. Why have a time limit? I heard one explanation by Ms. Abbott, indicating when she testifies at public hearings she is well prepared and three minutes is sufficient for her presentation. Or Mr. Katzman indicating he does not want to hear the same information/debate over and over for more than three minutes. One of them indicated they do not want to be there until midnight at contentious Town Council meetings.  

Our previous Town Council president, Mr. Hamilton, ran his meetings with the expertise of time management without the need for a time limit, unless Peter Roberts was in his face. Kudos to Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Aguiar for voting against this anti-American right of free speech. I do agree there are those that have the potential to wear us out at the podium, however it is Town Council President Agiuiar’s job to move the meeting. 

Have I reached my three minutes yet? I demand good government, not time-limited government. Show up at Town Council meetings. There are 13,000 voters in our town. Learn how this Town Council wants to limit your right to speak more than three minutes.

John Vitkevich

119 Hummock Ave.

Portsmouth

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