Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Comcast agreement approved. Broadcasting of council meetings yet to be determined.
The new agreement between Comcast Cable and the city of Peru was approved by the city council last night. According to Joan Sage of Comcast the agreement provides for the future possibility of broadcasting city council meetings on a designated channel on the Comcast system. Ms. Sage indicated that the city must determine what specific equipment they would need Comcast to supply to facilitate broadcasting meetings. The city could purchase equipment or hire a third party to provide the service also. If the city decides to add terms to the agreement and have Comcast provide the service there would need to be a charge added to the billing of each Peru Comcast customer. I believe Ms. Sage indicated the charge would be a small charge per customer per billing. As far as I'm concerned the broadcasting of council meetings is way overdue and is something that must be implemented asap. There should be no excuses from any elected official about not wanting to place a "burden" on the citizens of Peru for this service. The video feed should also be made available on the city website in addition to the cable system so that it can be accessed on-line anytime by anyone. So enough talk. Get it done!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
30 comments:
I agree with you totally Steve. The Mayor also brought up the possibility of limiting the number of meetings per month to possibly 2. No discussion followed at this time. This would be a way for the city to save money and quite frequently many of the committee chairmen have no business to discuss. Look at the agendas before some of the meetings. At times they are virtually almost entirely blank. Just my opinion.
Or how many chairmen do you hear say
"no report at this time,Your Honor"
at each council meeting. And those that do report usually do not have something to report that will not wait one more week.
Just for the readers information, most city councils in this state meet once every 2 weeks. If you wonder about any particular city, look up their web site and find out for yourself.
In case of an emergency, a special sessions can be called.
And by the way....Before the ADL (Aldermen Defense League) weighs in to point out that nobody "raised their hand and spoke up" on this issue during public comment last night. Eeeeeasy boys! We will give them a chance to do the right thing without any input from the "radicals". If they drag feet, you can count on some citizen participation on this issue. Bring your recording devices.
To Steve 11:00 AM . Your suggestion SURE WILL HELP THE SITUATION.
I am all in favor of broadcasting the city council meetings. A lot can be learned about the leadership of our vote or previous election.
Recorders won't be necessary anymore, seeing will be believing and justice will prevail. GREAT!
However I do question the payment of ONLY those who subscribe to Comcast to pay for the transmission? That does not address the others in town receiving TV by other means and would also probably be able to receive the city council broadcast or may limit only to comcast.
Again , lets have a open & transparent discussion of payment for such broadcasts and NO RUSH TO JUDGEMENT LIKE OTHER THINGS HAPPENING IN THIS CITY.
The whole city needs to view the meetings.
Suggestion:
Lets not hire a plumber or add to employee salary increases(Full time /Part time) but pay for the broadcast of the city council meeting. Challenge IT ! Steve.
Can we just record and put online for free?
11:21 - You're going to wear out that "Caps Lock" on your keyboard. There is absolutely no need for this council to sit on this issue any longer and we should not allow them to bore us with the usual bad jokes and "hypothetical" scenarios they will contrive to convince themselves not to move forward with this. You make a valid point about DISH or Direct TV subscribers. So noted. Now, let's move forward. If it's not fair to charge only the Comcast customer then maybe the city should hire a third party that performs videotaping of special events like weddings etc. Whatever it takes to spread the load, o.k. great! Let's not let them beat this issue to death just because they may not necessarily want their meeting performances exposed to the masses. Just get it done!
I'm not even going to attempt to understand why you would try to squirt the "plumber/new hire" issue into this topic so I'll just say thanks, but no thanks.
To 11:52 - Yes, I would think it would be pretty basic technology these days to record and up-load to the city website for public access. But it also should be available on local cable TV for those who do not or cannot access it on-line. It must be available to all.
Steve,
Online is available to all via the internet. The internet is free at the library. Cable TV is not free and many homes have dish.
My question would be who needs to initiate the process and I would also think the sooner the better so the details can be ironed out quickly.
Just a thought – IVCC has a degree program in Graphic Design Technology. Part of the program is an internship. One of the required classes is Multimedia. The city could hire a student at a low wage to record the meetings and edit them for the Internet and channel 13. This job would also qualify for the internship. I also think it would be a better use for some of the “summer help” money as this would last all year and give the student actual work experience in a field they are interested in.
One consideration though… I don’t believe the city’s web site could handle the bandwidth required for streaming video. Most businesses use a provider like You Tube (which is free) to host streaming video. Small technicality, as it would be transparent to anybody visiting the web page.
Programs of Study - Graphic Design Technology Associate in Applied Science
GDT 2214 - Multimedia I
Students will explore theories, elements, and hardware/software components of multimedia. Topics include digital image editing, digital sound and video editing, animation, web page development, and interactive presentations. Emphasis is on conceptualizing and producing effective multimedia.
Prerequisite: GDT 1202, GDT 1204
Credit Hours: 3
Brian - An excellent suggestion that sounds very viable. I believe Joan Sage indicated their would still be a charge for Comcast to make a channel available to the city even if a third party does the production work. So be it.
I can already envision a Jack O'Beirne
"melt-down" on You Tube garnering 10 million hits world-wide. This is going to be fun.
to Steve 8:13am
What was this posting ?
so let me get this straight? Not only has my city of Peru bill increased, now I'm going to have to spend my hard earned cash to have city council mtgs aired on tv that I will absolutely NOT be watching?! What has happened to this city? And why are we disrespecting Alderman OBeirn? The man has served this city for years. Seems to me that several of you bloggers only want respect for Mayor Harl because he seems to listen to whatever you blog about. Why is sooo much energy being put into these mtgs being aired when we have a plethora of other issues suffocating this city!
Julie, it is called public education and enables the residents to view the people they have voted into office without actually coming to council meetings. Knowing that you and many other are very busy each and every day, it will enable you to view your government from the comfort of your own home. You might hear a discussion about why your bill is now higher or what they plan on spending money on next. You can then call your alderman and voice your objections and listen to his point of view. Many cities around us are already doing this. Sometimes it is even available on the city web site.
This is not about personalities.
For what it is worth, I'm with Julie. There are a very tiny handful of people who attend these meetings and virtually no one will watch a city council meeting when there's plenty of paint to watch dry. If people want to watch government in action, they can get off their lazy arses and go to a meeting, which are regularly sceduled an dpublicly posted. Seriously, if this is your form of entertainment, you people really need to take up knitting or something.
I'm not a defender or taking sides, which is what always happens here. I'm just fascinated at how freaking obsessed some people are over the City of Peru aldermen. Why don't you just take out a petition and run? Then you will actually make a difference istead of being a bumch of armchair quarterbacks!
8:44PM
You are the typical American, I must say that. Take no interest in your government and then suddenly your taxes are higher, your roads are full of potholes, your city has amassed huge debts, jobs are disappearing and unemployment is through the roof. Are you awake yet?
Watching your city government is not fun and it is certainly more fun to be out with your friends, at a baseball game or concert. But I am sorry to say when you live in a city or country that has democratically elected officials, it is YOUR job to watch them and to be aware of what is going on and remember your have NO right to complain when things go wrong, it you were not on the job watching. For too many long years, participation was not encouraged and now I am saying it is time to wake up
and always be aware and don't think that government is acting in your best interest. Steve and I are are saying WAKE UP this is your town, take an interest and know what is going on. Do you even vote at election time or are you too busy?
Or do you just complain when things suddenly happen and it hits your pocketbook?? And then blame the people down at city hall or in our Congress.
From where I'm sitting this new public participation at the counsil meetings is costing the rest of us a lot of money.
I have been attending these metings for 30 years and things were getting done. You may not always agree with the decisions but generally they were in the best interest of the city. I hope that is still the case and they are not making decisions to appeal to this fringe group.
To 5:55 p.m. - It was my comment which was basically the same as my 8:21 p.m. comment except it had too many typos for my liking. So I removed it and re-typed it.
No conspiracy here. It was my comment to remove.
To Julie @ 7:11 - Yes, you may in the near future see a fee on your Comcast or city utility bill which would be used to produce and air city council meetings and possibly other community related events. As a Comcast customer and Peru resident I will see that increase also. I know there are many residents like yourself who have little or no interest in local government. I also know many who do and are unwilling or unable to attend meetings in person. And I suspect there are equally as many who don't give a shit what our elected officials are doing or not doing on our behalf. I am willing to pay a small fee of my hard earned money to make it possible for anybody at any time to see the process of government. You're not, so we disagree on that. I encourage you to contact your aldermen and tell them how you feel. Then, plan to attend a meeting and watch the process work for you or against you. Before you know it "you're involved". Or you can just stay home.
Thank you for asking about Alderman O'Beirne. My complete lack of respect for Jack O'Beirne is the culmination of years of observing his behavior and the policies he has supported and those he has not supported. O'Beirne is an alderman who brings "nothing" to the table in terms of basic knowledge, common sense, or integrity. You state that "the man has served the city for years". I say he has done nothing more than pick up his pay-check during that time and has in fact done more of a dis-service to this city. Furthermore, I will back that statement with a detailed explanation of the facts about Jack and his role as a long-time Peru insider on this blog. But not yet, not yet!
We complaining about money and what do we want to do, spend more money. Broadcasting the council meeting will not help our city ,does the Mayor not have the last say? If the people of Peru want to be inform they will go to the meeting, there enough of them. Put the money to better use. I'm sure other city are broadcasting but why do we have to do it because other cities are doing...Remember we are not like other cities We don't have a pool.
To anon 6:24PM I agree with your comments .
The people going to the city council meetings today and associated with this blog are causing more harm then good.
In the past, We have not always had individual decisions to benefit all of the city of peru but at least we have gone forward and done I think Really well as a city.
The people today involvement issue is screwing things up for all of the city but trying to satisfy a limited few.
A good example of the waste of money is the following statement about city council meeting schedule.
The Mayor recently this week suggested to the council that maybe they should hold meetings at 7:00 pm instead of 7:30PM and less often per month, i.e. twice instead of 4 times .
The previous Mayor & the council did only hold two monthly "FORMAL" meetings and two "INFORMAL" meetings per month UNTIL the public attending the meetings complained about subjects discussed not on the agenda . Then the council responded by stating , OK all meetings will change and be "Formal". (The Mayor and city Clerk failed to provide the agenda)
Now Guess what, the Mayor is suggesting only two formal meetings per month.
(Change for the sake of change, things will remain the same. I guess two meetings a month were not so bad after all)
Can you figure? What a Joke! Mayoral Wisdom ?
As far as Steve's comments , some are reasonable but Most are just bias against anyone that will push back against his beloved Mayor Harl. Don't be taken in by all of the quote "Facts" or dirty laundry he likes to dig up.
(For me the more he digs up the more I will vote against or speak up for whom ever he supports)
We are intelligent,educated voters of this city of Peru. We can put the "X" where we see fit the next time around. Just remember what we got now!
We need leadership that we do not have today with the same council under the previous Mayor. So I think we know what that means !
9:17AM
I suggest you start coming to city council meetings to stay informed. It was not the Mayor but the council members that initiated the 4 FORMAL and I believe it was Joe Mikyska bringing the topic up for discussion.
Whether the aldermen are going to 2 formal and 2 informal or 4 formal meetings, the dollar amount is the same meaning they still get paid $95.00 per meeting no matter what they call it. And I believe that even if every city in the United States met 2x a month, our city aldermen would not want to give up the four meetings and not because we have so much pressing business to conduct in this city.
Some of the cities in Illinois that are growing and improving the most are cities that meet twice a month. In this case quantity(4x a month) does not quality.
Yes it would be cost efficient to at least try to meet only twice a month.
To Lois from 8:44 p.m.:
Why you cannot let someone like me express an opinion and just drop it is beyond me. Just for your information, I vote in every election, I'm active - PROACTIVE - in government on several levels and I stay very well informed. It has taken an effort on my part to do that. I do not need the government to broadcast their meetings into my living room to actively participate.
That may be what YOU or STEVE wants but I'm willing to bet that strong majority of taxpayers do not want this, ad even fewer wold actually watch. Just because we don't want a local government to braodcast its meetings does not mean you can judge me the way you did.
As for my comments, I stand behind them. It is one thing to be a positive and proactive person who is invovled with government at all three levels. It is another thing to run a damn blog and criticize every freaking thing the council does, with an obvious slant as pro-mayor. You are welcome to your opinion, but this site is about as unbiased as Fox News or MSNBC.
Once again Lois you missed the point. I said it was the public who were complaining about agenda items discussed in a "informal" meeting that the alderemen responded in Kind and made everything then a "formal" meeting. You got what you asked for and so did the Mayor, now he does not like it or yourself and want to revert back to the original meeting schedule.
That is what I said.. Please read completely before taking some points out of context.
Thanks..
1:22PM
Once again you missed the point. Actually all meetings are now called regular and non are formal and informal.
That was a mistake on my part. I DO NOT want to revert back, to what they were called formal and informal. I DO NOT see the need for 4 meetings per month.
I want to start fresh and have 2 paid for regular meetings per month. Period, do you understand 2 Meetings per month.
I don't know what public you are referring to as it is not anyone that I know that expressed a desire for the change.
It is ridiculous to have a meeting on a Wed and then five days later on a Mon you have another meeting. This city of 9 thousand plus does not have that much important business to conduct.
1:13PM
In your initial posting, you appeared to be making decisions for everyone in town, you are entitled to speak for yourself and no one else. I take citizenship seriously and always have and would like to encourage others to do so.
I hope you realize that there are disabled and old people who also have a right to be informed. There are Moms and Dads who are too busy being parents to come to council meetings.
There are people who work shift work and cannot come to council meetings.
I could continue on, some people are traveling for days at a time at their job. Those who are temporarily ill perhaps in a hospital or care center.
And it has nothing to do with getting off their "lazy arses" as you stated.
And I just bet you are smart enough to add more to that list.
Just perhaps a few of those people might like to watch the meeting at their convenience and find out what is going on in town and with their elected officials and be an informed voter at the next election.
And by the way are you aware that you are judging my intentions also? Don't be so pompous!
Give me a break and if you don't like reading my comments then please don't bother to read the blog as comments like yours need a reply.
Anon 1:13 and 1:22
You are either obviously misinformed by someone or you just do not understand our local government. No matter what we call our council meetings they still cost us the same amount of money (even when Baker was mayor). What our new mayor is trying to do is save you, the taxpayer, some money. By eliminating 2 meetings/month the city would save approximately $1600/month just in salaries. This does not include utilities that would not have to be put into use. The new mayor does not want to revert back to the old schedule as you stated. He wants to eliminate. If you attended or witnessed any of these meetings you would hear many of the committee chairmen voice "nothing to report at this time your honor" meaning, they didn't need a meeting. Are you aware that the full county board only meets once a month? They have way more business to discuss than we do. Are you also aware that your aldermen want their meeting packets mailed to them thus costing us postage? Another way for them to save us money. Maybe you should become more active in your government.
Lois said......
"In your initial posting, you appeared to be making decisions for everyone in town, you are entitled to speak for yourself and no one else. I take citizenship seriously and always have and would like to encourage others to do so."
How is me expressing my opinion any different than you expressing yours? Aren't you then deciding what is best for everyone, as you say I am, by expressing my opinion. You really try hard to comment on everyone who disagrees with you, which is ironic for someobne who runs a blog.
What I AM saying is that I don't think a MAJORITY of people want this. Even then, it is a COUNCIL decision. If you don't like their decisions, then either run yourself or support a candidate who agrees with you.
I also take "citizenship seriously" as you say, and if you really do, then allow people to say what they want and debate it freely, but stop trying to shout people down.
The handful of people who read this hear your opinions, but I don't think you will find a majority who agree with you on too many things. And if you think most council members go to four meetings a month away from their kids and families to collect a tiny paycheck and get bitched at, then you really do miss the point of public service.
So your saying the Mayor wants to save money by going down to two meetings a month but then he wants to charge us for broadcasting 24 meeting a year. Makes no sense, my solution go down to two meeting and don't broadcast the meeting and look how much the tax payers can save...What about the people that don't have comcast they still have to pay, that's not right
"And if you think most council members go to four meetings a month away from their kids and families to collect a tiny paycheck and get bitched at, then you really do miss the point of public service." by 4:27PM
Thanks for your input.
Nobody (as you say) bitches at the aldermen. Once again you appear to have been misinformed by someone. Also, nobody is trying to shout you down. If that were the case Lois would not allow you to post on her blog. And, why don't you people lay off the small group that attends the meetings. They do not disrupt them or even for the most part ask questions. More questions or comments are presented by people who only occassionaly attend than those who regularly attend.
Post a Comment