Mayor, Davis Argue During Council Meeting

Protesters attended the first Common Council meeting since Mayor Mary Foster and councilman Don Bennett’s last week, to tell them “we are not going away,” their problems still exist and that will continue.

After Cortlandt Peekskill Anti-Racism Collaboration and Committee for Justice members repeated their requests that the Council get human rights training; complaints that the city has been unresponsive to them; and that city residents and employees have suffered retaliation. The evening reached a climax when Darrell Davis, the leader of the Commitee for Justice, took the stand.

Davis complained about the democrats campaign, saying it “went gutter” by claiming he collected signatures for the Republican candidates. He told the council he and his groups’ issues are unresolved and they will continue to attend meetings.

He then said that the council has “bullied and intimidated” them by changing the   and mentioned that at a past meeting a man poked him with a cane and he got yelled at for “saying ouch.”

The Mayor said, “that is not what happened. I did not yell at you for saying ouch.”

Davis continued to say that the city is unresponsive and has not done anything substantial to fix the that he has been raising at council meetings for over a year.

“We did have discussions in the beginning and this council has been looking into the issues…but whenever we comment on what we have done it’s pooh-poohed that it’s not enough or its not quick enough,” Mayor Foster said.

Over the last year, Foster and the council have implemented a zero tolerance policy and have hired human resources consultants to conduct studies and training to answer CPARC and Committee for Justice members' objections. Those efforts have not satisfied the activist groups who say those are empty gestures and that the zero tolerance policy is not well enforced.

Davis again told Foster that she is “not honest or genuine,” and said the council “attacked our free speech,” by changing the rules.

“That is not true,” Foster said.

The Mayor told Davis, “this isn’t a forum for argument and debate, it’s a forum for people to express opinions. When it boils down to an argument, like it is now, that is not constructive, those conversations can happen offline.”

Davis and the mayor then bickered back and forth over whether or not they had had two meetings or one meeting “offline” over a year ago. That escalated to a debate on whether or not the Department of Justice had ever held mediation between Davis and city officials.

Apparently, at some time a year ago, a representative of the Department of Justice was present at a meeting between Davis and city officials. Both sides agreed to that statement during last night’s meeting. However, city officials said it was not a mediation, but Davis told the council that he considered that meeting a mediation. 

Davis then said that during that meeting both sides had agreed to bring in an outside civil rights group that they all agreed upon to interview all city employees; the council shook their heads in agreement that was true. But, it never happened; an outside civil rights group never came to the city to interview employees.

The Mayor said that was because the idea was never brought to the council and Davis left the podium in anger.

Peekskill democrat Carole Gursten then apparently said something to Davis as he approached his seat, as he started yelling out “Don’t talk to me, I don’t even know you.”

At that point Davis and his supporters started telling the Mayor and the police who were present that they “always” let Gursten say things to Davis but yell at Davis when he calls out.

Eventually, the police escorted Davis out of the chambers where a commotion in the hallway could be heard for about five minutes before Davis returned to his seat.

After Davis had left, a CPARC member told the Council that the recent Penn State scandal should be a “teachable moment,” for them, reiterating fellow CPARC member Jim Edler’s comments from earlier in the night. Edler compared the child molestation at Penn State to Peekskill’s situation by saying both involve people with power abusing power and bullying.

Gursten and Reggie Johnson, Foster supporters, congratulated Foster and Don Bennett on their reelections and Darren Rigger and Kathie Talbot on their elections to council.

Gursten asked the council, “Where is HUD?” Gursten explained she wants to see the problems resolved “in a new way.” She added, “These problems need to be resolved with the people of Peekskill, not of Mt. Vernon and Cortlandt.”

Johnson said he was offended at the CPARC members’ invocation of the Penn State scandal.

Johnson said, “how you would invoke that (scandal) in this forum gives you the idea of the kind of people we are dealing with.”

Johnson went on to advise the council:

“Take this as a mandate to move forward…I ask you take these distractions as a grain of salt and move forward.”

The last speaker of the night, a Peekskill resident, expressed disappointment that “problems are still evident, as we saw tonight.”