I would have no objection as long as there is no cost to the city. I know this has been the practice of many cities and serves as one more vehicle to bring local government proceedings to the people.
|
I do think it would be beneficial for the city to live stream City Council meetings to ensure there is an inclusion of as many residents as possible. With there being one meeting a month in the middle of the workday, it is hard for working residents to physically come to city hall.
In today’s environment, people have many different channels in which to consume news and data, I think having webcasting or live streaming of the City Council meetings would be a great service to our residents, and those with an interest in Apopka.
Though this sounds like it might be an expensive endeavor, there are solutions out there with relatively low entry and annual operating costs. The return on the investment is a more informed population of residents, and even further transparency into the administration of our city.
I firmly support the importance technology will play in the improvement of services to our residents. |
I firmly support live video streaming of all city council meetings and other city meetings. When C-SPAN was first created in 1979, it changed the face of American Democracy. By televising U.S. House and the Senate, it provided the general American public with an increased level of transparency, accountability, and citizen participation. Like televising the U.S House and Senate, Apopka should also take these step in making the city more transparent, accountable and participatory by placing cameras within the city’s chambers.
On Apopka’s city agenda’s page, one should be able to simply click on a link to download a mpeg file or mov file and watch the city’s council meetings on one’s computer. Lastly and most importantly, not only should the council meetings be streamed live and be readily downloadable, video coverage should not only be limited to the city council meetings, but should also cover committee meetings and city planning meetings. If an Apopka citizen wants to obtain background information on how policies have been developed before they were punted over to the Mayor and councilmen and women, they can watch these deliberations on their own computer.
We live in the 21st century and C-Span has covered the U.S. House and Senate for more than three decades now, with the low cost of technology today, we should also be able to cover policy deliberations of our own city government. |