- S20 -

Protecting Our Right to Civic Expression Dear Cambridge City Councilors We are writing with regard to the proposal by the Chair of the Government Operations Committee to introduce a new rule restricting public comment. There is currently no rule regarding the length of public comment at council meetings only a general practice. The proposed rule as we understand it would reduce the length of public comment from three minutes to two when there are fewer than fifty Cambridge residents who wish to speak and would limit public comment to one minute when more than 50 residents wish to speak. We believe this proposal violates basic norms of democratic governance and the city charter and that it should be withdrawn.