Saturday, February 20, 2010
Would you pay to watch the Peru City Council on TV?
A Comcast representative recently gave a presentation to the Mayor and City Council, in fact she was there at the informal meeting on Feb. 10 and again on Feb. 15 about the need to renew our contract with them.
Evidently our current contract includes what is called the PEG (public education and government) channel option and it is not being used. This idea has been tossed around for years about again televising Council meetings to allow the residents who do not find it convenient to personally come to the meetings to watch the proceedings on a public channel. According to the Comcast rep., the city is allowed to add .35 per subscriber fee to be used for the expense of this venture. This might not be one of the most interesting things to watch on TV for the residents but it could be an eye opener for them and the aldermen could watch themselves in reruns and see how they present themselves to us. We could then eliminate the doubt about what was really said or what was transcribed into the minutes. I think we would have the choice of real time or replay.
Or would this drive them further into hiding after hours for discussions?
I think they are taking way to much time in putting this into practice and I say DO IT! and stop procrastinating.
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3 comments:
I agree - DO IT! I would like more citizens of Peru to see how our aldermen act and react to certain situations presented to them at meetings. I would also hope that more citizens would watch the meetings and learn what is going on behind the scenes. I just wonder how the aldermen would respond to being televised - would they be themselves or would they put on a show for the cameras?
I think it would be fantastic. They would have to be professional and everything would actually be on the record. I wonder how many closed door meetings they would have though.
1. How many voters cannot conveniently come to meetings i.e.: those in nursing home, those who do not drive at night and yet would be interested enough to watch the council meetings on TV?
2. How many more citizens would have an interest created if it were broadcast?
3. How many citizens 18 to 21 yrs old would be exposed to city politics and given a background in local government?
4. Would the high school and grade school students do reports based on what is taking place locally if the meetings were broadcast?
5. How many Comcast subscribers are in the City of Peru?
6. Would there be limitation to 1 night or could the council negotiate for 2 nights at $.35 per month? Would this be real time one evening or replay another? Would the city get to name the nights and the time? Would the $.35 per subscriber provide a camera and operator and all other necessary tools?
7. PEG channel would be very complimentary to our local newspaper and radio station.
8. Could Comcast compensate Peru citizen's the $.35/month PEG charge because it should increase its number of subscribers if done correctly.
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