photo credit: Courtesy of GoogleMaps 
Sebastopol's town square

In Sebastopol....you'll still be able to 'zoom" into a council meeting and air your views.

A proposal that would have stopped the public's ability to sound off during council meetings from home, or essentially anywhere via the web-app Zoom, failed on a 3-2 vote Tuesday.

The measure was proposed by Sebastopol Mayor Diana Rich after an apparently organized effort by neo-Nazis to share anti-Jewish conspiracies via Zoom during public comment periods of recent city meetings.

City officials say they have consulted with the company and instituted every available strategy to sideline disruptive callers, to little avail.

Local resident Linda, who did not share her last name, lamented the interruptions - expressing revulsion, but also said remote participation has a value outweighing the disruptions. 

"I still oppose taking away Zoom, and the reason is, I don't drive at night. Look what time it is, dark as heck. So, I cannot attend meetings in person," she said.

The argument resonated with the council majority.

Councilmember Jill McLewis succinctly summed up a difficult choice. "I find it appalling what people are saying, but I am still not willing to take away the ability for our community to participate."

Rich's proposal would have suspended the ability to make public comments by zoom for six

months, though meetings would still be livestreamed.