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From the start, hostility was evident. Blacks clashed bitterly and repeatedly with police over alleged discriminatory practices and the use of dogs against people. "If Whitey wants the dogs, let him vote for their use in his community!" one man shouted. "They're not wanted in the black areas." "If we had good policemen, there'd be no need for dogs," said another. For their part, the two attending policemen took the lambasting fairly calmly, admitting that there was a "100 percent breakdown in communications between police and segments of the community"—meaning the blacks. Discrimination was charged in virtually every sector of civic life.
When not engaged in verbal crossfire, the committees settled down to outlining York's problems and devising remedies. At each session, some of the three dozen experts brought in from the outside were available for counsel. The city administration was never represented in any strength, but District Attorney Harold Fitzkee Jr. participated regularly. Mayor Eli Eichelberger apprehensively attended only after he had been assured that he would not be heckled from the floor, and Councilmen David Milne Jr. and Albert L. Hydeman Jr. were present on occasion.
Sensitivity and Jobs. The committees presented their final reports to a group that had grown from 150 to 650 people. The proposals were as wide-ranging as the city's problems: among them a citizens' housing council to bring existing housing groups under one umbrella, a city community health center and mobile clinic for the county, more Neighborhood Youth Corps jobs, the county vocational school to remain open through the summer, and sensitivity training courses for white teachers and students. One of the committees also urged that police dogs not be used against people.
When the charrette ended, there was no way of telling immediately just how much had been accomplished. Indeed, Mayor Eichelberger, though pledging to work with charrette proposals, said that he had no intention of forcing the police to disband the canine corps. In case the point was lost, he said that he would maintain law and order at all costs. But there were slight signs of progress. Within 24 hours, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Charles H. Walters announced the institution of a sensitivity training course in one of York's elementary schools. In response to a complaint from Spanish-speaking citizens, D.A. Fitzkee promised to have the cards advising arrested persons of their constitutional rights printed in Spanish as well as English. Finally, the charrette committees agreed to remain intact. If the new group succeeds, the city will at least be taking a crucial first step toward healing itself; York's citizens will continue to talk and plan together.
The term derives from the days when French architecture students at L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts used a two-wheeled cart, or charrette, to pick up their design drawings. Sometimes, guided by some final inspiration, they worked hastily en charrette during the trip to the school.