Fallout from Mayor Shammas Malik’s controversial decision to cancel last weekend’s Juneteenth events, along with other events on city-owned property, continued to land during Akron City Council’s Monday meeting.
Three days after events were canceled, some of the council members who originally signed a letter asking for events to be canceled took issue with how the mayor handled the request.
“This is leadership?” Ward 4 Council Member Jan Davis asked rhetorically at the council meeting, referencing Malik’s decision to hold a press conference without inviting city council members.
Davis signed on to the letter urging that events be canceled on Friday, but by Monday, she said that was “never her intent.”
The eight council members who signed the letter that was sent to Malik on Friday afternoon expressed “grave” concerns about safety for Juneteenth events in the wake of the unsolved June 2 mass shooting in East Akron. It said tensions are high, the shooters are still at large, and there could be retaliation or a copycat shooting during the weekend event.
“We believe to allow city-sanctioned gatherings so soon after this tragedy is irresponsible,” the letter stated. “… We respectfully request that you cancel these events in the interest of public safety!”
On Saturday, a statement attributed to the eight council members who signed the original letter said the decision to cancel events was “Mayor Malik’s decision and his decision alone.”
Communication issues around letter raised
Nanette Pitt, Malik’s chief of strategy, told Signal Akron after Monday night’s meeting that she didn’t believe all eight of the City Council members knew what they were requesting.
“I’m not sure how closely council members read the letter, if at all, before they signed on to it,” she said. “It was a very clear, very strongly worded letter sent at just before 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon, and it didn’t request any continued dialogue, it wasn’t accompanied by a phone call.”
Davis told Signal Akron that she didn’t think the Friday letter was going to be made public and thought it was just going to be filed away “for the record.” Signal Akron asked if Malik’s office should have interpreted the letter’s request to “cancel these events” differently.
“I’m going to fault myself for just accepting that the letter would be written in the way that I’m thinking it would be written, and it wasn’t,” Davis said. “I get how he might have taken it that way. Had I looked at it – because I was so busy doing things – then I would have called that out.”
Davis said the misunderstanding about the letter could have been solved had the mayor’s office called council members or had them participate in the press conference prior to the sweeping announcement.
Council President Margo Sommerville said she learned of the press conference when Signal Akron contacted her shortly after the mayor’s office sent out a press release announcing that Friday night’s Lock 3 concert was canceled.
Sommerville also said Malik had an opportunity to pick up the phone and call each council member ahead of the announcement.
“I’m hoping Mayor Malik will do the right thing and accept some accountability,” she said.
Sommerville also cited her concerns about the number of police officers assigned to Juneteenth locations. “The Juneteenth events could have gone forward” if Malik guaranteed safety, she said.
Four officers were assigned to Joy Park, near the site of the mass shooting, but nine officers were assigned to the event at Stoner Hawkins Park.
“Because of how Mayor Malik distributed the staffing of security, I told my girls they couldn’t go. And they cried.”
Regarding pre-cancellation communication, Pitt put the blame back on City Council: If the letter didn’t fully portray council’s wishes, members had every opportunity to contact the mayor’s office.
“In fact, as council was urging the mayor to be in dialogue, we would welcome that dialogue,” she told Signal Akron after the meeting. “But the letter wasn’t accompanied by any outreach, or request for conversation, or an emergency meeting with safety forces, to evaluate a plan. It didn’t offer any alternatives or solutions or request any communication.”
“So the mayor, in respect to the council people and their role, trusts that they know the area that they serve and stepped into action and took that seriously,” Pitt said.
