Update: City Council work sessions are now live on the Web via streaming audio, per a news release on Friday. Tip to Mac users -- go to the RSS feed to download the full Windows Media file for listening in Flip4Mac or QuickTime if your plugins are right. Kudos to the City for making this happen.
Durham's City government does a pretty good job making its Monday night sessions watchable to those who don't want to schlep down to City Hall for Council meetings. The meetings are broadcast (in now much-improved video quality) on Durham's governmental channel 8 on Time Warner, and available live and via later streaming video through the city web site.
Even Planning Commission meetings have gotten into the act of late, appearing through the same technology that powers Council meetings in that room.
But not every public meeting has gotten into the act. Notably, Thursday afternoon City Council work sessions aren't broadcast online or on public access -- denying those who don't attend an easy chance to see and hear what's happened in the second floor conference room.
That may be changing... well, the hearing part, at least.
The City's third quarter budget report gives an update on a number of governmental priorities, including an initiative from the City Clerk's office to provide at least live audio of the Thursday work sessions via the Internet.
Ann Gray's office reports that it has now begun streaming live meeting audio throughout the City network using the municipality's intranet, and it plans discussions with Durham's IT department to make the same feed available more generally on the Internet -- a move that the Clerk's office reports will cost no additional funds.
It'd be a nice step for transparency and for access, since the meeting these days is realistically attended by only four constituencies: elected officials, administration members called to present, Herald-Sun and N&O pro-jo's looking for stories to fill the next week's news holes, and the very occasional citizen.
No word on timetable for the change or a definitive "go" on the move; here's hoping for a nice surprise on the City web site soon.
Quick update: this is now live and running on the City's web site, and the post has been updated with a link to where you can go to listen.
Posted by: Kevin Davis | June 07, 2009 at 02:55 PM