Frustrated Montgomery residents pack City Council Meeting; Mayor Reed absent again
For the third city council meeting in a row, hundreds of concerned residents packed City Hall Tuesday night. Frustrated citizens wanted to talk to the mayor and city council members about their experiences with crime and daily shootings in the Capitol City. All nine city council members were present to hear concerns, but for the second meeting in a row, Mayor Steven Reed was absent. A spokesman for the Mayor said he was on an economic development trip.
Accusations that City Council President C.C. Calhoun was trying to keep Montgomery residents from speaking at future meetings flew back and forth as the meeting began. “I feel that it is very unpatriotic that the leader of this council sent y’all some text messages saying, ‘Hey team, what do you think about getting rid of the non-agenda items?’ That is the bedrock of our constitution to come down here and talk about stuff that is not on the (city council) agenda, ” said Montgomery resident Ja’mel Brown. In response, District 6 City Council Member Oronde Mitchell said, “It was just an ask. He just took a poll of the council, and the council said that was not the direction (to go), so I hate that the president wasn’t up here to defend himself.”
Carron Morrow, whose dear friend Gloria Crews was shot and killed on Mother’s Day, challenged the mayor’s claim that crime is down in the Capitol City. “He said crime is down 30% and murders are down 10%. Well, I can tell you Mr. Mayor, people don’t believe you! There were 16 shootings this past weekend when you said crime was down. Gloria Crews’ family didn’t believe it. This wasn’t a tv show or video game they were watching. It was their mother and grandmother laying there on the ground bleeding to death,” said Morrow. Mrs. Crews’ other friend Sedaya White also pleaded with council members saying, “I spent several hours with the family yesterday and they’re just holding on. I’m asking that you all not forget about them. The funeral is this Saturday. One of my workers gave me some disturbing news this morning…some people are talking about shooting up the funeral. So we’re going to need some extra law enforcement watching over this family this weekend.”
Acting Police Chief John Hall talked about three main issues: gun violence, dealing with machine gun diversion devices, and officer shortages. He says these are problems police departments around the country are facing. “That’s got to be a joint effort from everybody. When I say city leaders, I’m talking about the city as well as the community, church leaders; every leader that is out there we have to come together, but we have to do it in a fashion where we’re explaining what we are doing and not leaving people to interpret what we’re doing, but explain what we’re doing,” said Hall.
Montgomery resident Shannon Ensley cited statistics saying, “Last Sunday there was a mid-day shooting at a busy shopping center less than a mile from my house. Among the people present there ducking for cover at the Subway restaurant was a trauma surgeon who comes to Montgomery from Huntsville to assist our exhausted trauma surgical team. As highlighted by The New York Times last week, this is from an article last week, Montgomery’s gun violence is escalating, surpassing the per capita rates of cities like Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. The statistics are chilling.”
One of the councilmembers said tonight that part of the problem is that criminals who have been arrested are getting out because the court systems are still backlogged. He says the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office told him today they are working on 300 murder cases. The problem of bail bondsmen who lower the amount of bail money that defendants have to post to get out of jail was also discussed tonight.
