‘We don’t have a voice inside City Hall’ : Mayor Chris Clark clears council chambers — again

Harvey residents were, once again, ordered to exit City Council chambers early into last Monday’s meeting after they applauded during public comment.

“You know what? Go ahead. Clear the room,” Mayor Chris Clark signaled to Harvey police, enforcing his strict rules on decorum that prohibit clapping, laughing, and other forms of non-verbal expression during meetings. 

Tensions were high from the start as Ald. Colby Chapman (2nd) held a press conference an hour before the May 12 meeting to address her arrest the month prior. On April 28, Chapman was removed from the chambers for speaking out of order after the council voted to sell a vacant home to a private developer for $2,000. She was then arrested and charged with several misdemeanors. Her mother was also arrested. 

Public commenters condemned Chapman’s arrest and the Clark administration’s suppression of free speech. When audience members clapped in agreement, Clark called for a 10-minute recess.

Attendees protested as Harvey police escorted them out of the chambers. Library treasurer Chapelle Hooks faced news cameras to voice her disdain for the mayor’s room-clearing tactic. 

“Whenever people show emotion…[Clark] clears the room,” Hooks said. “He don’t care how cold it is, how hot it is, if it’s raining, snowing…We have to stand outside until he feels that we can come back in.” 

Ald. Tyrone Rogers (6th) expressed his frustration towards the interference of city proceedings and backed Clark’s handling of the behavior. “… It’s total nonsense, and it’s childish.”

Attendees were allowed back in after the recess, and public comment resumed.

Last year, the mayor and police began silencing residents last fall as many began to ramp up criticism of his administration. Clark has ordered police to ticket his critics’ properties. Residents are removed from public meetings for whispering.

Official business

All City Council members were present, including City Clerk Rosa Arambula and Treasurer Aisha Pickett. About 60 members of the public filled nearly every seat in the gallery.

Ald. Tracy Key (4th) used his aldermanic update to address Clark’s quip that he does not know the Pledge of Allegiance, saying he felt “belittled and disrespected” by the mayor’s comment. 

Chapman similarly used her ward update to address her City Hall arrest: “I take full accountability for speaking when asked to come to order. My passion for the issues facing our residents sometimes pushes me beyond the procedural boundaries, but my intent has always been to speak for those who feel voiceless.”  

Police Chief Cameron Biddings was the only city official to provide a departmental update. According to Biddings, the department saw 3,274 calls for service resulting in 37 misdemeanor and five felony arrests in April.

A homicide occurred on April 29 near 147th St. and Perry Ave. where 17-year-old Amari Binion was fatally shot. Harvey police reported the apprehension of Dearaze Blissett-Walters, 19, in connection with the homicide.

Though Chapman, Key, and many attendees walked out of City Hall during his mayoral address, Clark had a message for them: “If you come in here disrupting our meetings again, we will put you out again. And if you decide that you want to resist arrest, then we will charge you with such. It’s just that simple.”

Press conference

Harvey residents and city officials spilled into Broadway Avenue and rallied support for Chapman ahead of the May 12 council meeting, calling for greater transparency and accountability in City Hall. 

“It’s time to take the fight to the street, because we don’t have a voice inside the City Hall,” Pastor Johnathan Johnson said. He and his church recently filed a lawsuit against the city for allegedly overcharging water utility services.

Suzan Allen Yamini joined Chapman at the press conference on behalf of her 87-year-old mother, Betty Allen. The city approved the sale of a vacant home connected to Allen’s for $2,000 to Blue Crest Estates, LLC, despite her still owning the original deed to the sold property. 

“[Allen] needs to go take up the argument with Freddie Mac, not the city of Harvey, because that’s who owned the house,” Clark said during his mayoral comment. But as of 2024, public records also show Harvey as the owner of the property in question at 60 E. 155th St. after the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, also known as Freddie Mac, released the property back to the city last summer. 

Last year, city officials demanded Allen to separate her home’s water lines from the adjacent property. The city shut off her water — despite the fact she was up-to-date on all of her utility payments — until she agreed to the separation.

Ryan Sinwelski, an openly gay man and frequent critic of the Clark administration, joined the press conference, addressing the mayor’s homophobic tirade towards him during the April 28 meeting. “So whether [Clark] wants to call me a molester because I’m gay, or he wants to have [Chapman] arrested any number of times, he will not answer, ‘Where is the money going?,’” Sinwelski said.