At the October 5th, 2020 Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, Mayor Diane Marlin put forward a second iteration of an ordinance that would restrict public comment during meetings. Marlin’s proposed ordinance came following her new rules for public input during the September 14th, 2020 Urbana City Council…
At the September 21st, 2020 Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole meeting, Mayor Diane Marlin put forward an ordinance amending Urbana City Code, Chapter 2, Section 2-4 (Public Comment During Public Meetings). Marlin’s proposed ordinance came following her new rules for public input during the September 14th, 2020 Urbana…
Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin has initiated a new solution to problems emerging within the City government: simply prohibit the public from making critical comments. Marlin performed a test-run of her new rules for public input at the September 14th, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting. Marlin chaired the meeting with an…
There has been a wave of resignations by Mayor Diane Marlin’s appointees to the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) in the past few months. During the CPRB meeting on September 3rd, 2020, Chair Ricardo Diaz announced that board member Megan McGinty had resigned from the board. McGinty’s resignation came…
At the Urbana City Council meeting on September 8th, 2020 (video here), Chicago firm Hillard Heintze presented their report of Aleyah Lewis arrest. Following the violent arrest of Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis, Urbana Police Department (UPD) performed an internal review of the incident and concluded that the actions of the…
Nearly five months after the violent arrest of Urbana resident Aleyah Lewis, Chicago firm Hillard Heintze has cleared the officers involved of all misconduct. On April 10, 2020, Urbana Police officers arrested Lewis (video and original article here). Following the incident, Urbana Police Department (UPD) performed an internal review of…
On Tuesday September 3rd, 2020 the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) held another special meeting for training purposes. Dr. Michael Schlosser of the University of Illinois Police Training Institute returned to give a presentation on de-escalation. Schlosser was previously criticized by CPRB members and members of the public after…
After the removal of Grace Mitchell from the Chair position of the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB), Urbana residents had high hopes that the new leader of the board, Professor Mikhail Lyubansky would be able to turn things around. The CPRB had fallen into a decade-long state of dysfunction and…
On Monday August 3rd, 2020, Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin put forth an appointment for the City Council seat left vacant by Eric Jakobsson’s early resignation. According to Marlin, four residents applied for the Ward 2 seat, but only two of those applicants qualified based on the residency requirements: trivia host…
On July 29th, 2020 the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) held a special meeting to undergo “use of force training”. The training was administered by Dr. Michael Schlosser from the University of Illinois Police Training Institute in the form of a slideshow presentation. CPRB members, as well as members…
