BY KYLE MARITN
Daily Post Staff Writer
On the agenda for Tuesday’s Los Altos City Council meeting is a resolution concerning Councilwoman Lynette Lee Eng’s reaction to text messages sent to her by activist Kenan Moos during a council meeting six months ago.
Moos, who founded a racial justice organization called the Justice Vanguard, texted Lee Eng during a Nov. 24 meeting while council was voting on a proposal to have a third-party collect any complaints about the police. Lee Eng abstained, saying she wanted to know what the proposal’s financial impact would be on the city.
In a text, Moos warned her that her name “will be all over the papers.” She told the council minutes later that she felt concerned for her safety and that of her family.
Both want an apology from the other one. Moos has been calling for Lee Eng’s resignation, along with dozens of his supporters who have been speaking during the public comment portion of council meetings.
The story, which has been covered by the Post since it happened last November, appeared on Friday in the London Daily Mail.
Lee Eng, who has refused to speak to Post reporters since December, granted the London paper an interview. Lee Eng told Daily Mail that she was publicly labeled a racist because of her comments about Moos’ text.
Moos also didn’t respond to an invitation by the Post to speak about the council resolution.
Council members suggested the two resolve the dispute through mediation, but it appears the process was terminated before it went anywhere.
The resolution, if approved, would be a statement by the majority of council about the dispute. It says that council believes Moos didn’t threaten Lee Eng or her family, and that he didn’t call her a racist.
The resolution also says, “As of the date of this resolution, Council Member Lee Eng still had not responded to these specific issues raised by her constituents, and this situation continues to consume a significant portion of council time and staff time.”
“Whereas, the City Council believes leadership is necessary to directly address this situation and the impact on the community …”
The resolution was written by Mayor Neysa Fligor and Councilman Jonathan Weinberg.
The council needs to back Eng instead of caving to this grandstanding activist.
Caving like this will tell other activists that the council will cave to a small group making a lot of noise.
Eng says she felt threatened. You have to believe that, given this ongoing harassment that’s gone on for six months.
You can’t reward such tactics.
They were heard. Now do your job.
Stay strong. We need to stand up to bullies.
This is the cancel culture taking place right before our eyes here in Los Altos. She won’t apologize and neither will he. Ok, move on. It’s their dispute, not the rest of councils. If they don’t want to resolve it, then leave it alone. It’s between them.
Since when do two White council members – one a male, and one Black council member get to tell an Asian female council member how she should react to a series of hostile text messages? That’s quite presumptuous and exactly the kind of disrespect for the differing views of those of other races and cultures that BIPOC representatives complain about. She has her own “lived experiences” and, at the time, was suffering through the hate directed at Asians after the onset of Covid-19. In addition, her campaign yard signs had been defaced with RACIST stickers one month before the incident, and local politicians, Sam Liccardo, the mayor of San Jose, and Libby Schaaf, the mayor of Oakland, had recently had protests held in front of their homes and their homes vandalized by BLM protesters. She explained a couple of days after the incident in an interview with a Daily Post reporter published December 8, 2020 that Moos’ text messages made her fear that she would be doxxed and that her home would be vandalized. Not an unreasonable fear considering what was going on at the time.
Moos had no right to text her to try to influence her vote in the middle of the council’s consideration of the agenda items. He violated procedure by sending her those texts. She only saw them because a relative was on their deathbed in Hawaii and Ms. Lee Eng was awaiting an emergency update. Kenan Moos, his family, and his supporters have insulted her, slandered her, called for her to apologize and for her to resign at every council meeting since the incident. The mayor and two council members have laid all the responsibility for resolving this matter at CM Lee Eng’s feet. She has been willing to enter into mediation and continues to be open to this avenue of dispute resolution. However, at the April 27, 2021 Council Meeting, Moos’ remarks indicated that he wasn’t serious about trying to mediate in good faith. He said “What’s the point of having mediation with someone who comes and makes a statement now five months later like this – disgusting and absolutely appalling and the same goes for the people calling in to support you.” Moos stated in the 4-29-2021 issue of the Daily Post “In the end they (the mediator) felt that mediation was not going to be beneficial and actually may cause more harm than anything else because of the parties’ unwillingness to have conversations about it. The only thing I was going to ask for was a resignation, which, come on, we all knew that wasn’t going to happen.” Mediation requires the willingness to compromise. These remarks are proof positive that Moos never had any intention of attempting to settle this dispute in mediation. Why won’t he take this offline and try to settle it in private? Is Moos concerned about the loss of press coverage – especially the fawning coverage he has received in most media outlets. Does he aspire to be a professional community “activist” after graduation? Is he hoping to garner the attention of the national BLM organization and get a job with them? If he continues to foment disruption of the council meetings after the resolution is passed on Tuesday, then I might very well be correct.
There’s good money to be made in community organizing. Look at that BLM founder who was able to buy five luxury homes. Big corporations will throw money at your feet if you promise to keep the protesters away! Ask Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson!
This is a terrific way to celebrate AAPI Anti-Hate Month! Pass a resolution attacking a Chinese-American woman because she was frightened by the statements of a black man. Oh, and the blacks are America’s only oppressed minority, and they deserve special treatment. The council members ought to read up on what the Exclusion Act was all about before they start picking sides.
I would think a law suit around harassment would be appropriate. We can’t cede power to cancellers or so called activists. Being an activist doesn’t make one right.
Moos is himself a racist; he should be ignored like the common street beggar he is
The print version of this story describes something different. It seems to be corrected in this online piece. In print the story claims the council is requesting that certain people sign something. Not so. The comments here are really off base, perhaps based on the print version. Lee Eng has already said in several ways that she never said Moos did threaten her and that he did not call her a racist. This is nothing new but a lot of the alleged Lee Eng supporters don’t seem to believe Lee Eng.
This resolution is not a criticism of Lee Eng. Lee Eng ought to vote yes. Specifically the council resolution also has:
WHEREAS, this Resolution does not seek to punish, embarrass, or discipline any City Council Member or member of the community, nor does it question how anyone may have felt when they read the text messages.
David, “this Resolution does not seek to punish, embarrass, or discipline any City Council Member….” Are you kidding me??? Search your conscious; you are part of a group who has wanted Lee Eng off the council from before this incident ever happened. You and your ilk have exploited this from the get go.
It is all about politics at it’s dirtiest!
Neysa Fligor needs to show some leadership. Over the past many months, she should have urged the Council and community to move on but didn’t. And she should have the political savvy to recognize that Council members Weinberg and Meadows are steering her in the wrong direction regarding the resolution for their own political gain. This resolution will set a precedent in Los Altos for years to come and, as mayor, Neysa Fligor’s tenure will always be tarnished.
Lee Eng should be ashamed of herself. She refused to address this issue or grant interviews to local papers but speaks to the Daily Mail UK and Fox News??! That in itself says so much. Read the texts and watch the video of the council meeting. Moos and Lee Eng had been working on this issue before the meeting and she changed her stance. Now if she had followed council rules and not read her email or texts during the meeting, none of this would have happened. Moos is a respected member of the community, a graduate of Los Altos High School and a college student. He has never shown any bias against Asians. Instead, he has spoken out against Lee Eng’s actions and remained civil throughout this whole ordeal. Lee Eng does not belong on the council. She won her seat by only a few votes and likely will not win re-election if she runs again. Her support comes from older Los Altans who don’t want change or any development.
Lee Eng won her seat by more than a few votes. The results were
Meadows 9630
Lee Eng 9042
Weinberg 8139
Top 3 win. Five lost.
The next closest was Kalkat at 7800.
Lee Eng was 903 votes better than Weinberg, who helped write this resolution.
I’d say Lee Eng won by more than a few votes.
@Los Altos Parent is just one of Moos’ liars.
Thousands did not vote for any council candidate. There were 7 people running, and still thousands did not vote at all, let alone for the #2 candidate. The opinion of Lee Eng has to have gone down by now. She ran saying she was concerned about George Floyd but she has let her supporters trample all over that cause without speaking up.
David, how do you know that “the opinion of Lee Eng has to have gone down by now”? If anything, I think the public support for her has increased because she’s standing up to Moos and his out-of-town mob that harangues her at every meeting.
How do you know what Lee Eng and Moos talked about prior to the meeting? In any case, she did not vote one way or the other — she abstained. As for Moos remaining civil, do you consider calling Lee Eng’s supporters “racist” and “disgusting” civil? Is that appropriate behavior for a “respected member of the community”? Sounds as if you don’t think older Los Altans should have any voice.
This is false. The text messages show they had a prior text relationship and both have stated the same. She voted “no” on the first Police Task Force recommendation and then abstained on the second recommendation. So your statement has at least 2 incorrect portions.
Los Altos Parent—thanks for being both clueless and ageist. Seriously you think the only people supporting Lynette Lee Eng are “older Los Altans who don’t want change or any development.” I suggest doing some research before you make ill-informed comments. There are many of us “old” Los Altans who continue to fight for social change (for me, since the 1960s) and have put our lives and reputations on the line for racial equality, climate justice, voting rights, women’s rights and more. You should be thankful that we have the experience, are willing to provide significant donations, and give our time to affect political change. And, like 9,000 plus Los Altos voters—I proudly voted for Lynette Lee Eng.
Asian Americans support Council Lee Eng to stand up to bully. The mayor Fligor and city council’s credibility is being undermined by pushing forward the current biased, one-sided resolution 2021-24. The resolution is not a leadership action …. it is just an easier way out for the mayor by making council member Lee Eng an scapegoat.
At tonight’s meeting, Moos should ask his followers who call into the meeting to state their name and city. How many of them live in Los Altos? If they don’t live in Los Altos, why are they butting into our business?
Funny how Council stuck up for Jeannie Bruins when she made a racist comment to a black person on Council. But when Lee Eng said she felt threatened by a black person’s aggressive texts, Council is demanding that she apologize to him. Lee Eng should ask her council colleagues treat her like Jeannie Bruins.
The council got a 100 or more written comments submitted and they are published. A lot of the people AGAINST the resolution clearly live outside the city. Many don’t even give their last name. The Fox news piece brings out a lot of knee jerk responses against the resolution from all over the world. Kenan Moos is getting death threats. The council can recognize the names of those who live in the city, one hopes. Besides, the resolution is THEIR assessment of the facts not based on public comments.