Although Durango City Council has not acquiesced to demands from Durango residents to formally pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, members of the Durango Palestinian Solidarity Coalition have certainly made their voices heard.
The city issued a news release this past Friday announcing it has reached out to its congressional delegation – the offices of U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert – “to improve communication between local residents and federal officials” about the conflict.
Mayor Melissa Youssef said in the release that the action is to put concerned residents in touch “with the people who are in the best position to address their international concerns.”
“The focus of the city has always been how we can provide local services and promote opportunities for meaningful public discourse on local issues. Discussions on Mideast politics are best handled by our federal officials, who are actually in a position to take action or make policy,” she said.
Coalition member Gina Jannone said in an email to The Durango Herald on Saturday it appears the city is trying to take action in response to residents’ requests for a ceasefire. However, coalition members have been trying to get the federal government’s attention for months.
Jannone fears that without the city’s voice backing the coalition’s, this too will be an unfruitful endeavor.
“We have been contacting our federal representatives for months on this, and we worry that without the city council's backing of our resolution, we'll just get the same runaround and shallow platitudes without meaningful action,” she said.
City Manager José Madrigal spoke with federal representatives about possibly holding a public forum between residents and a delegation.
“If they really do organize ‘a potential forum where federal staff can hear directly from their constituents’ then we would obviously take advantage of that platform, as calls and emails seem to be going nowhere,” Jannone said. “ But this does feel like a bit of a punt and an attempt to absolve the council of any responsibility to respond to our resolution.”
Jannone said City Council members’ stance that they have no influence or say on federal policies and international issues is contradicted by the city’s latest move to connect residents with a federal delegation, adding that “they do have some power to leverage our demands to federal representatives when pressured.”
“Given this, their formal backing of our resolution would make this effort much more meaningful. We will continue to pressure council regardless, both in support of our resolution and for them to follow through with organizing this forum with federal staff – they will have to do much more than a press release about reaching out to federal representatives,” she said.
Youssef said the city has always supported free speech and it does listen to residents’ concerns.
“We are just trying to remain focused on ways that best serve the residents of Durango,” she said.
City Council was scheduled to discuss a resolution on Tuesday to prohibit matters of “international political controversy, ideological or religious beliefs, or individual conviction” from public comments at council meetings.
The topic was going to be discussed at a previous City Council meeting last week, but it was tabled because Councilor Jessika Buell did not attend the meeting because her son was playing in a state hockey tournament.
Dozens of coalition members attended that meeting to push back against the resolution under consideration and to continue calls for the city to formally pass a ceasefire resolution.
The news release says the city already has policies prohibiting proclamations related to international conflicts, religious and ideological issues and matters of personal conviction.
The city also has an ordinance (Article XII, Section 2 of the city charter) that “prohibits councilors from considering legislation regarding political party, or regional or ideological partisanship.”
If passed, the proposed resolution would bring public comment segments of meetings in line with existing policies, the release says.
cburney@durangoherald.com
