City Council web cast

[Mark]

City Council started at 7:30. It's 8:49, only one item down and there is a break. Luckly today I don't have any presentations so I can sit in my office and watch the web cast. If I'm needed, with a 20 second delay, I'll have to run upstairs to the chambers. It's 9 ish, but we'll go to mid-night or 1 AM.

Anyone out there use web casts for staff.

How about City Council meetings that run to 1 AM or later?

 

[Cardinal]

The city council is broadcast live over our public access channel. They can often go very late. Weare not yet at the point of live streaming over the web.

 

[Chet]

We're not there yet, but its a relatively cheap thing (compared to equiping all our offices with cable)

 

[LouisvilleSlugger]

Portland, OR does live/archived webcasts over the net and public access TV. Louisville, KY just does public access tv.

 

[SkeLeton]

I bet that having City Council meetings over Public Access TV also has a benefit for all citizens that suffer from insomina I guess the meetings are as entertainig as C-SPAN

 

[The Irish One]

I guess the meetings are as entertainig as C-SPAN

Those are fighting words.

 

[Zoning Goddess]

We have webcast for our Commission meetings, but it's blocked on employees' computers! Dumb, dumb, dumb. Department directors have t.v.'s in their office, but we can't exactly stroll in there, plop down, and watch. This is a real pain now, since I'm no longer in the main building where the commission meets.

I worked for a much smaller county before coming here, and all the employees who regularly attended public hearings were given speaker phones which broadcast the meetings. That worked very well.

 

[SW MI Planner]

Oh no - we have to sit there throughout the *entire* meeting and see if anything comes up that warrants us being there. Our meetings start at 7:30 and usually go until 8:30 or 9. The latest I have been to a Council meeting was like 10, so it's not too bad.

 

[Big Easy King]

The City Council in the Big Easy recently changed its meeting time from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in an effort to allow more of the general public to attend. Meetings typically last 4 to 5 hours. Live web casts are not available, but the meetings are televised live on public access cable television.

 

[Jeff]

Watching town meetings on TV is bad ... watching them on a webcast is like the pinnacle of dorkiness.

Most of the people who watch these on TV are the old ladies, do they know howto use these computer things of which we speak?

 

[nerudite]

I don't know of any cities around here that have webcasts, but Edmonton has a cool thing. All of the staff tables in the chambers have computers so staff can PM each other answers to questions (thus looking less dorky when they don't know the answer off-hand and needing to ask a buddy). I wish we had that!

 

[donk]

No webcast. Our meetings are tape delayed. as soon as they finish they are broadcast.

The meetings start at 7:00Pm and need a special motion to continue past 10:00PM.

Fortunately, I never have to go to formal council meetings, only hearings and committee meetings.