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SCHENECTADY
Debate, criticism mark year-end meeting
Council recesses meeting as speaker tosses insults
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter

    A city resident took over the City Council meeting for 10 minutes Monday night, refusing to give up the podium while he repeatedly insulted another speaker.
    In an effort to silence him, the council recessed its meeting, turned off the cameras, left the room and called police.
    By the time an officer arrived, he had finished his speech. He left peaceably and was not arrested.
    That wasn’t the only intense moment during what is usually a sedate end-of-year meeting.
    A resolution extending the contract for Affirmative Action Manager Miriam Cajuste led to a full debate during the council session — a rare event.
    Councilman Joseph Allen began by accusing Cajuste, who has been on the job for 17 months, of accomplishing nothing this year.
    “I’ve got the quarterly reports,” he said. “Apparently our affirmative action officer has been very busy having meetings, but there’s no indication if any jobs have been produced, discovered, implemented.”
    He cited unemployment statistics indicating that nearly one in every five non-white workers can’t find a job.
    “What is the plan for next year?” he demanded. “I have some real concerns about whether we’re getting our money’s worth.”
    Councilman Gary McCarthy said he too has some reservations about the city’s progress.
    “Clearly the record of this community [in minority hiring] has been less than impressive, but I for one feel more comfortable now, even though it’s clearly not what we want to be or where we want to be,” McCarthy said. “We are moving in the right direction. People will see substantive change.”
    The city Fire Department has hired just three blacks in its 109-year history, and white men make up 93 percent of the police force.
    Council President Margaret King offered the strongest defense of Cajuste, who was not present.
    King praised Cajuste’s law enforcement career program held last week, at which she began to prepare 45 community college students for next year’s civil service tests.
    King said the recruitment session was “very successful.”
    Cajuste also had some success this year with forcing city contractors to meet their minority participation requirements. She threatened to blacklist contractors who would not comply and within days, heard from delighted local workers who had been offered jobs with the contractors.
    Allen was the only council member to vote against continuing Cajuste’s contract.
    Then, during privilege of the floor, the meeting spiraled out of control.
    Resident Diablo Montelongo derided another resident’s recent complaints about pedestrian safety while crossing Erie Boulevard.
    “She can dance from morning to 3 p.m. on Sunday at the farmers market but when she tries to cross Erie Boulevard, she just can’t make it,” Montelongo said, calling her a fraud who acts “pathetic.”
    As he went on, council members objected and called for him to be silenced. The woman being derided, who is elderly and disabled, slunk out of the room.
    King ordered Montelongo to leave the podium, but he refused. She tried to turn off his microphone, but the sound didn’t cut out.
    Finally, Councilman Mark Blanchfield called for a recess and the meeting came to an abrupt halt. The public access cameras went black. Montelongo kept talking.
    Council members left the chambers and Public Safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett tried to talk Montelongo into sitting down, but Montelongo said he was being discriminated against because he speaks with an accent.
    “I want to go to jail,” he said, and continued his speech about the other resident. His comments eventually appeared to support her — he complained that the council did not seem to take her seriously and warned that she could sue them if she is hit by a car.