We brought 2,000 signatures (that number is 2,100 today) to the city council meeting last week along with a sizeable crowd that was too large for city council chambers. After a move to the opera house, we submitted our petition followed by 51 public comments that were again pleading with the city to rid us of our new mass surveillance infrastructure.
Rather than recognize the fact that we collected a number of signatures well above the number of votes that any of them received in the last election, the mayor and opposition councilors dug in, proclaiming that the three city council members (McMahon, Flynn and Ziemba) who asked that the topic be added to a future agenda for reconsideration we're not a majority and that the idea would not even be considered, on the spot and just like that. No self-reflection, no empathy, no compassion, no discussion.
This is simply unacceptable.
In order to make good on the promise that we will not go away until Flock Safety and systems like this are removed from our community, we are jumping right back into action with our next protest.
Please join us again at the Saturday, August 29th Woodstock Farmer’s Market. At 9:00AM we will deploy our umbrellas as we shop, play and go about our day as a visual demonstration that protests the city’s complete unwillingness to listen to the people that are speaking up about the Flock Safety surveillance infrastructure foisted on us without our permission and against our will.
Bring your own umbrella or we will have a limited amount of rainbow umbrellas provided by Woodstock Pride available to share beginning at 8:30AM at The Records Department, 315 E South St. We will also have Stop Flock In Woodstock representatives in our usual spot in front of the BMO ATM machine at 101 S Benton St. on the square with more information and a limited number of umbrellas to share. We ask that you please return the umbrellas to either location after use. Stay for 20 minutes or stay for the day. The point is to make a visual statement that we see the cameras, we know what they can do, we don’t want them in our community, and we are not backing down.