1. Motion on Monteiro.
2. Original Motion on Monteiro.
3. Reality and the motion.
1. Motion on Monteiro.
The Cambridge City Council may or may not be playing games on the Civil Rights Case of Monteiro v. Cambridge. As near as I can figure out, they are split between playing games and pretending nothing happened. And, as far as I am concerned, pretending nothing happened is just another game.
In the last Cambridge City Council meeting, the Council apparently decided in favor of pretending nothing happened.
I have done a number of reports on this case.
To put it succinctly, judge, jury and appeals court panel reviewed this case and issued very clear communications that the Cambridge City Manager committed malfeasance in orrice by destroying the life of Malvina Monteiro, the former head of the Police Review Board.
The entities rather clearly communicated to the Cambridge City Council that retired City Manager Robert Healy could be fired at the will of the Cambridge City Council for his “reprehensible” behavior (Judge) in a matter in which was demonstrated “ample evidence of. . . outrageous misbehavior” by Healy.
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The following comes from the City Clerk’s report on the November 18, 2013, City Council meeting. Thank you to R. Winters for pointing it out. R.Winters communicates what could be a Cambridge Machine position: do not look at highly angered judge, jury and appeals court panel. This is no big thing. That is what former City Councilor Samuel Seidel said before he was fired by the voters.
If you want to skip the complicated technicalities, please jump to section 3, below.
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City Council Calendar, Charter Right, item number 1.
That the City Manager is requested to appoint a special committee, to be comprised of both City Councillors and of Cambridge residents, to take up the work of holding monthly conversations about the lessons learned from the Malvina Montiero lawsuit, and about how the City can improve upon its internal handling of race and class matters as an employer, beginning as of the start of the next calendar year. Charter Right exercised by Vice Mayor Simmons on Order Number Eight of November 4, 2013.
> View Policy Order Resolution from November 4, 2013 POR 2013 #351 View History PLACED ON FILE UNDER RULE 19
2. Original Motion on Monteiro.
This information is provided solely for completeness. If you are not worried about the history of the motion, ignore this paragraph.
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This is an amended version of Order 8 on November 4, which read
VICE MAYOR SIMMONS
1. WHEREAS: Over the course of the past several months, the Civic Unity Committee has been holding regular meetings, at the rate of about once every six weeks, to discuss the lessons that can be learned from the Malvina Monteiro lawsuit, the ways in which the City can improve upon its internal handling of race and class matters, and the ways in which the City can strive to meet the ideals that we expect of all employers in this community; and
WHEREAS: There had long been great demand for these discussions, and the Civic Unity Committee Chair has been receiving a tremendous degree of positive feedback, and encouragement from those who wish to see these discussions continue and for true progress to be achieved; and
WHEREAS: The Chair of the Civic Unity Committee is appointed at the pleasure of the Mayor, as is the case with all committee chairs, and there is no guarantee that the Chair of the Civic Unity Committee for the 2014-2015 City Council term will be the same as the Chair of the 2012-2013 term. It is hoped that the next Civic Unity Committee Chair, whomever it may be, will continue to hold these most important discussions at regular intervals, but in the interest of ensuring that this matter does not rest at the conclusion of this calendar year, it would be wise for the City to place this specific conversation into a more stable forum; now therefore be it
ORDERED: That the City Manager be and hereby is requested to appoint a special committee, to be comprised of both City Councillors and of Cambridge residents, to take up the work of holding monthly conversations about the lessons learned from the Malvina Montiero lawsuit, and about how the City can improve upon its internal handling of race and class matters as an employer, beginning as of the start of the next calendar year.
3. Reality and the motion.
Basically, a black female councilor, Vice Mayor Simmons, went through the motions of concern about the Monteiro case.
Malvina Monteiro is a black Cape Verdean female who filed a complaint alleging mistreatment because she is female. Judge, jury and appeals court panel are strongly in agreement that Malvina Monteiro was fired and her life destroyed because of her filing of this complaint.
This black female city councilor wants the matter put into committee with regular reports on the lessons learned from the case.
As has been the norm in the case, there is exactly zero statement that the Cambridge City Council should have implemented the directions of judge, jury and appeals court which gave the Cambridge City Council clear authorization to fire Healy for malfeasance in office.
It appears to me that the voters have removed two Cambridge City Councilors, Seidel and Reeves, for failure to do their duty in this case, Seidel last election, Reeves this election, but the City Council still does not want to know nothing.
The impact of the action on the amended motion is to put the motion strongly into limbo.
The Cambridge City Council, once again, has affirmed that it does not want to do the most silly, most basic, handling of this outrage. The City Council’s nonfeasance in office puts the lie to claims of civil rights sainthood by the Cambridge Machine and by members of the Cambridge City Council.
The most important thing from the Cambridge City Council is that it wants its voters to know nothing.
This is one con game which is not working, just look at the voters’ firing of Samuel Seidel last time and Kenneth Reeves this time.
But we keep getting the games.
