Much has been said lately about televising council meetings and I am just wondering how will televising these meetings change community involvement. We, as a society, seem much more comfortable interacting through a screen, regardless of what kind of screen.
How will it be possible to raise questions on those last minute added items?
How will you be able to express your opinion on some of the agenda items if you are not there? Will someone be assigned to read viewers' comments sent through an e-mail system, if there is one? And how could TV ever replace face-to-face interactions with the council body, the Mayor, and appointed officials?
I will be going to Scotch Plains, as someone suggested in a comment, to see how does Scotch Plains fare with their live sessions. And for a while I have been wanting to go to surrounding communities to see how attended their council meetings are. The next couple of months that's exactly what I will be doing. I'll keep you posted, but on the meantime, could you please, if you feel like it, answer the questions above?
Thanks!
MP
Monday, April 14, 2008
Televised vs. Not
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5 comments:
Televised meetings have value because they would allow citizens to see their City Council in action. They may not be able to have real time interaction with the Council members, but we must ask ourselves if those last minute questions have much of an impact on the outcome of any piece of legislation moving through the Council.
In the long term, citizens can form opinions of their elected representatives partially based on what they see them doing on their television screens. With the new (old) meeting schedule, citizens can write or call their representatives before a vote is made on any given subject.
Citizen involvement cannot be measured solely on how many people show up to a meeting in person. What really matters is how many people take the time to find out what is going on (by going to a meeting, reading the local blogs, or watching a meeting on TV) and then take action when they think it is needed.
Our local elected officials need to be courageous and make every effort to make it possible for everyone (regardless of their circumstances) to be able to see them do the publics work.
As a relative newcomer to Plainfield, I'd like to suggest that televising municipal meetings of all kinds presents a fantastic opportunity for all residents to gain familiarity with our officials and the way that meetings are run. This can increase our comfort level to the point that we take the next step and actually attend and participate in these meetings. Our limited free time and natural hesitancy to get involved with meetings and people who are new to us prevents many of us from taking that step... TV can be one solution.
I cannot make it to meetings many times because of work. Televising the meetings would endable me to keep aprised of what is going on. As far as comments, once I know what is going on, I can email or call my councilman to let them know of my position. I am also curious about how Scotch Plains handles the interaction, but in my opinion, you need to first know what is going on. Then you can take action.
And, the more people who know what is going on, perhaps the more people will get involved if they don't like what they see.
Hello, Maria,
I am glad that you are advocating for this. I have been lobbying for quite a while and cannot understand how the Corporation Counsel continues to allow this abuse of power by the city council. The city is obligated to use the money provided by Comcast to the benefit of the public. The Corporation Counsel has a legal duty to uphold the law and yet they refuse to do so. What is being advocated is that the council adhere to the spirit of transparency in local government. Instead the council and administration are in cahoots to prevent public scrutiny of the workings of Plainfield government. The reasons given thus far for not airing the public meetings are indefensible and ridiculous. It's embarrassing that you should have to go to another town to see government at work. Those members of this council who want to keep the public (who include in their number seniors, the disabled, nightshift workers) from watching meetings public meetings should be DUMPED from public office, as they are not interested in serving the public interest.
or they can record the meetings put them up on the website so anyone can watch them on their time. that way we can use that channel 74 for spiketv.
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