As the citizens group Save Bristol’s 4th continues to fight against what they see as an unjust change of venue for the July 4th concert series, they are using the tool of the citizen’s ballot initiative to take the fight directly to the Town Council.

Good — that’s where it belongs.

For the past several weeks, the Council (as well as the Administrator and the Police Chief) have let the all-volunteer Fourth of July Committee handle the fallout from this decision on their own. Was it their decision? Yes — but it was made based on the wisdom and judgement of the people who have been elected and hired to provide leadership and ensure public safety.

To date, the Council has remained silent on the issue while the Town Administrator and Police Chief have framed the narrative that it was a decision that was out of their hands, leaving the Committee to either go against the advice of public safety or open themselves up to what has become a shocking amount of venom and vitriol from a few vocal members of the community.

Our Town Council approves the members of the Committee, a public body subject to the same open meeting laws as the Council and all other Town Committees. As General Chairman Camille Teixeira noted at last Thursday’s meeting, the law prevents the Committee from taking funds intended for public safety expenditures — funds that were raised based on remarks from the Chief that unintentionally but erroneously suggested that if only the Committee had a little more money, the Independence Park crowd could get their venue back.

In addition, as Mr. Proto has pointed out in his letter this week, event licensing is entirely the purview of the Town Council. This issue has never been out of their hands.

At any time, leadership could have spoken up to clarify the situation instead of standing back and letting the 4th volunteers take the heat.
With the Save Bristol’s 4th ballot initiatives, the Council will have to finally go on record taking a stand on this issue one way or the other.

It’s unfortunate it took this long.