Can you block residents from commenting?

When Sunny Isles city bureaucrats have a proposal a South Florida man likes to comment on their social media account The trouble is he is blocked What about freedom of speech Which is why he turned to Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser When Patrick moved to Sunny Isles Beach a multitude of years ago it was quiet No towering condos And in the present day Patrick Dunn And since then as you notice along the coast it s become a developer s dream not necessarily mine Lots of luxurious high rises lining the beach where condo residents vastly outnumber the homeowners on Patrick s side of the street Patrick Dunn Oh we re treated like the redheaded stepchild I kid you not These little homes But Patrick says all the condo and homeowners have one thing in common they are not heard Patrick Dunn Well unfortunately my city has taken it upon themselves to censor all masses opinion good or bad on their social media accounts Patrick reads Facebook and X sees other cities social media accounts where they allow residents to comment Thousands do but not in Sunny Isles Patrick Dunn They only give you the ability to share the post that they make or to like it Patrick says if you want to comment on the city s no comment decision you can only speak at the end of long council meetings or use emails Patrick sent this one back in September to every council member asking questions about city proposals The response Patrick Dunn I have emails that have gone unanswered I have phone calls that have gone unanswered Not for weeks maybe even months From Miami Beach to Bal Harbour to Hallandale residents can give their opinion on city proposals say great or big L for the country Patrick says he remembers when Sunny Isles Beach allowed comments but not anymore Patrick Dunn But honestly I believe that it s more like they re trying to stifle someone s opinion or point of view The First Amendment of the constitution blocks the leadership from restricting free speech and Patrick says you don t need a long speech to point out the resolution in his city Patrick Dunn I just want to see them open up to allow the residents to be able to voice an opinion and unfortunately that s being censored Well Howard is stopping residents from commenting on a establishment account blocking free speech Howard Finkelstein In this affair no A establishment agency cannot block viewpoints or comments that they do not like In other words allow positive comments but delete negative ones However if the city doesn t allow any comments at all that s legal because they are using their webpage for informational purposes and not as a community forum I contacted Sunny Isles Beach The city manager Stan Morris wrote to us The purpose of the city s social media is to provide our residents with up-to-date information regarding city programs and relative urgency updates Should residents or others wish to comment on city matters they are welcome to provide that directly to me or our elected leaders They are also welcome to share their opinions on their own social media platforms Patrick Dunn I am extremely surprised Patrick is disappointed the city won t allow comments but he is hopeful they will change to give the residents a voice Patrick Dunn Create an open forum for the residents to give them feedback their insight on certain of the decisions that our commission is making on our behalf Freedom of speech If a authorities agency won t allow comments on their social media website and your council members won t respond to emails or calls go to their social media sites and comment there Battling a concern that s left you speechless Tired of being at a loss for words Speak up and voice your opinion with us cause we will never have no comment With this Help Me Howard I m Patrick Fraser News