Tonight there were two significant items on the agenda.
The first was considering adding "inclusion" to the "Do the Right Thing" program. This program is primarily administered by our schools as aspirational goals for students. This idea was brought by Councilmember Wolfe and I think it is a great idea. Based on how resolutions and motions are brought, we didn't approve this during this meeting, but instead we directed that a resolution be brought forward at a future time. All were supportive of this. Related to this, the Council also spoke favorably about adopting "Do the Right Thing, Because It's the Right Thing To Do" as the city's motto. We haven't previously had a motto before so this would be new.
The second item was related to the upcoming League of CA Cities annual meeting, whether we should send a delegate, and what position we should take regarding the one resolution that is on their agenda. Councilmember Jim Diaz is the our designated League representative and we agreed that the small fee was worthwhile for him and any Councilmember who wished to attend. The cost to the city this year is nominal as there is no associated travel due to the conference being online.
The resolution on the agenda is related to civil liability for content hosters (youtube, Amazon, Etsy, etc.) for content that users may post relating to illegal activity. Currently content hosts are not responsible and immune from lawsuit for content that users may post, though there are requirements for taking down certain material if they are notified. Because I felt this could be a slippery slope relating to restricting speech, as well as the scope of what is considered can be overly broad, I recommended that our delegate should vote no. This resolution specifically addresses section 230 of the Communication Decency Act of 1996. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the leading advocacy groups for free speech on the internet, has taken a position that I agree with here.
I requested a future agenda item to discuss adopting a resolution in support of CA Citizens for Local Control. This was a resolution that was sent to us from the City of Torrance CA. They are soliciting support to resist and oppose legislation in Sacramento that would usurp local control.
We also had a closed session to discuss ongoing litigation relating to the Olivia project. There was no reportable action from that closed session.
