The agenda for town board meetings in Saugerties, New York is typically dominated by local issues, like park clean-up and the highway budget. The turnout for meetings is reliably small. Not this year.
On a recent evening in early April, more than sixty people braved the sleet and rain to demand that the board approve a resolution calling for a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas. It was the third straight meeting they'd shown up for.
Across the country, well over 100 cities and towns have passed resolutions demanding a cease-fire. They include college towns that typically skew progressive, but also some big cities such as Atlanta, Detroit and St. Louis. Officials in Oakland, California unanimously passed a resolution in November calling on Congress to demand a cease-fire and the release of all hostages.
