We don't live in a world where words literally mean what they say without nuance or context. We live in a world where "public discussion" does not mean "all the people who want to talk about a topic of interest can disrupt a city business meeting". We also live in a world where the city council can table (US meaning) a discussion by sending it to committee.

Have you been to city council meetings, especially in places like Berkeley? They often go well past midnight and are filled with people just endlessly postponing important votes. These are business meetings that follow an agenda and the leaders have a significant amount of power to move the process along.

You can't just walk up and start promoting your coffee bar, or complain about how loud the neighbor’s dog are.

You can speak out about all those things -- the First Amendment protects that -- but not at whatever public city council meeting you want.