Editor:

In my opinion, the Mayor of Oakley demonstrated unprofessional and rude behavior toward the audience and certain individuals at the Council meeting of Oct. 13. While I recognize that order must be maintained at these meetings, her way of handling things only serves to aggravate people and earns disrespect.

Examples include (1) allowing people with “warm and fuzzy” things to say to go over the three-minute time limit, while cutting off others at three minutes; (2) a dismissive attitude toward anti-development comments submitted by people who were not allowed to speak; (3) outright rudeness toward a lady with a heart-breaking story of her son being beaten up by thugs in Oakley; (4) public criticism of Mr. Nix, which was totally not called-for; (5) a patronizing attitude toward the audience while explaining that “they are only rezoning,” when in fact everyone knows that once land is rezoned, the developer will always go for the maximum density allowed. The whole scene is reminiscent of an angry schoolteacher lecturing badly behaving little kids in class.

Our citizens are hard-working adults who deserve respect and a city government that not only listens, but responds to their concerns.

Donald E. Scheer, Oakley