It is MY OPINION that this sets a bad precedent for taxpayers/citizens. Meetings are open - the public is welcome to attend any meeting and receive transcripts of meetings/legislation/etc (there may be a small charge) - but the point is, residents should not have to pay to record these meetings out of their pocket. If a resident (Pat) want's to record the meeting, that's fine - but I believe it's the City Council's obligation to allow/have SACCTV recording privledges to ALL open meetings, without taxpayers paying for it out of their pocket. I know, I know - we pay for it one way or another, but why should Pat have to incur this expense for everyone's benefit? What's to say the council/Allen won't stop having SACCTV to their regular meetings - unless a resident wants to pay for that too?
Taxpayers should not have to directly pay for this. The City should be bending over BACKWARDS to make sure everyone has access to these meetings - especially when they've scheduled them at the most inconvenient times for MOST people.
Gotcha.....dont you think this is a good start to wake up the populace of sheeple???? It's their turn to push the pendulum.....although if the sheeple are being 'fed' via the low trough(legal/illegal) and if they are satiated they wont care either way......9/11 effects have left a 'nothing to go for' attitude on top of the 'they will take care of it' attitude.....that is a bad recipe....frost that with the politicos personal interests and welcome to NYS.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
TAPING COMMITTEES The City Council’s committee meetings will once again be taped and shown on public access television. The council on Monday moved ahead with a plan to take $4,200 from another line item in the budget for council salaries and use it to record the meetings. C o u n c i l w o m a n B a r b a r a Blanchard said the meetings had been taped by city resident Pat Zollinger for SACC-TV. However, she stopped doing it. Zollinger had started taping the meetings with her own equipment last year, but then arranged with SACC-TV to do the taping so it could produce a product with better sound quality. SACC-TV charges $50 per hour for its service, which the city now will pay for. Last July, Councilman Joseph Allen angrily questioned whether meetings should be recorded after a videographer taped a meeting. The council hears from the various committees such as public safety, city development and planning, finance and government operations at these 5:30 p.m. meetings on the first and third Mondays of the month. Issues are often discussed here first before they are voted on during the televised regular meetings. “It’s really not very much money and I believe that what we do at these meetings is important enough,” Blanchard said. Others, including Allen, disagreed.
Schenectady as many know, made history with the first TV broadcast in North America. We also made strides in Radio. This taping is also historic. We are behind the times technology wise. Many communities across the country have their proceedings either taped for playback or even televised live.
Joe Allen and those against the televising of the Committees meetings should be ashamed of themselves. We are so far behind the times in "open government" and utilizing the technologies today it is embarrassing considering our rich technology background.
Pat Zollinger proved that the taping did not effect the focus of these meetings. I would like to know more about why those against this taping are so dead set against it. IMHO, it is because they will look less the most knowledgeable on matters but that is what these meetings are about. Learning more about an issue from discussion and presentation.
Congrats to all involved in making this a reality. Special thank you goes to Pat a pioneer in strides for open government.
I don't think that the people in control of this county want us to know what's really going on in those meetings and would prefer to keep treating us all like mushrooms, in the dark and fed the BS.
Joe Allen is upset that people will see him sleeping or what really goes on behind the scenes in Schenectady government. This is the natural outcome of years of one party rule. Everything is orchestrated and rehearsed for public consumption. Had enough-YET?
Pat Z should win a Patroon Award for all her efforts to insure public participation and stop outrageous spending. Patroon Awards are reserved for Dems only. Inds, Cons and Reps need not apply. The last two went to a Nisky resident and Krat council person who fled town without telling anyone.
Most of the decisions and discussions in our local government occur in the caucus meetings that are not open to the public. The public only observes the roll call votes during which the politicians posture.
Open government would provide transparency to the working discussions and debate amongst the representatives. Constructive conflict in an open environment would enhance accountability and promote more responsible decision making.
broadcast meetings from Schenectady----THE CITY THAT LIGHTS AND MOVES THE WORLD(at one time).....SHOULD be happening....we are idiots if we think not......whether or not they are hiding stuff by not taping them is irrelevent at this time......let's use our elected officials for what it's worth......maybe Bollywood Hollywood will pick it up as a reality show????? what fun.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
These particular meetings are open to the public, there are a regular group that are able to make the 5:30PM meetings. The transcripts to these meetings many times are not available a week or more after the meeting so if one can't make the 5:30 meeting there is no way to find out what was presented or discussed. This is where taping and televising the meetings for all the other taxpayers to become informed on just what our tax dollars are going for is a solution.
When PatZ had them aired I learned more about what Walgreens actually was asking for since they did a presentation that explained their ideas. Another time it was a presentation on the new maintenence garage which was interesting to see exactly what this complex will contain and hear the presenters reasons why. I am not saying I agree or disagree with the issues I am just saying that I became informed about the issues. I can't make the meetings so this taping is the next best thing.
The other thing is using either my DVR or recording it I can playback segments to reconfirm what I thought I heard. There still was some issues with the audio but those will be fine tuned the more they work with the technology.
The next meetings I would love to see televised is the Zoning Board.
Logged
Joe Allen is upset that people will see him sleeping or what really goes on behind the scenes in Schenectady government. This is the natural outcome of years of one party rule. Everything is orchestrated and rehearsed for public consumption. Had enough-YET?
