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Mob rule invades Reading
At the Select Board meeting on 3/12, the room was filled with 40+ angry people who interrupted the work of the board dozens of times. There were yells and screams of “DICTATOR,” “FASCIST,” “WORST CHAIR EVER” and “YOU’RE A DISGRACE.” One man yelled, “I OWN THIS WHOLE BUILDING.” Another man yelled from outside the window, “YOU SHOULD RESIGN.” The wife of a sitting Select Board member yelled at me three times, though I never once initiated a conversation with her. One man yelled at me very close to my face and pointed his finger in my face.
The acting chair (Mark Dockser) had to call multiple breaks so the crowd could calm down. He also had to call in the police. Three RPD officers remained outside the room for the rest of the meeting. The hostility in that room was shocking, and being there was frightening. After almost two hours of this behavior, the intimidation tactics, bullying, and hostility prevented the Board from conducting business for the town.
Mr. Dockser repeatedly asked the crowd to let the Board do its work, part of which included signing off on a small business license in order for it to open. That vote did not take place due to Mr. Carlo Bacci and Mr. Chris Haley refusing to take any votes on town business unless Mr. Bacci was voted in as the new chair. This followed both Mr. Dockser and Ms. Karen Herrick proposing compromises so they could reach a vote for chair, which even included Mr. Bacci as Chair with another vote once a fifth member joined the Board this May. Mr. Bacci and Mr. Haley refused. It was Mr. Bacci for chair or bust. And bust they did.
The mob’s harassment of Mr. Dockser and Ms. Herrick did not end in the meeting. Smaller groups of those who had disrupted the meeting screamed at them as they left the parking lot.
If you find this drama distasteful, please know that I share your frustration. I’m truly saddened to see this kind of aggression overtake a local board meeting. Our boards need civility and collaboration to function. A small business owner was the unsuspecting victim of this dysfunction. I hope you never experience what it’s like to be in a room on the brink of violence. Where your neighbors think it’s acceptable to scream at you and call you names.
The inevitable rebuttal to this letter will focus on an insignificant hand motion I made during the meeting. It was just that, insignificant. I did not disrupt the meeting. I simply reacted in a moment of frustration as the room again erupted in angry yelling. Any attempts to frame it otherwise are a distraction from the screaming mob that overtook a town meeting.
The only path forward is for more people to tune in, to attend, to be aware of what’s happening and then help bring down the temperature.
Here’s what you can do:
- Attend the next Select Board meeting (preferably in-person): Tuesday, March 26 @7:30pm at the Library
- Vote: The election to fill the Select Board vacancy is May 14th, mark your calendar now
- Get meeting notifications
- Get the Town Manager Minute
- Sign up for text message town alerts
Your neighbor,
Vanessa Alvarado
Precinct 5
