Concerned about meeting coverage

Dear Editor:

I am writing to reiterate my request made repeatedly over the last year that City Council approve GrassRoots TV recording and broadcast of council work sessions at city expense.

I have written to you, and spoken at council sessions in the past concerning the excellent capabilities of GrassRoots, the interest of the public in council activities, and the enhanced public information which GrassRoots coverage provides. Our City Council members are putting in many long, hard hours in public work sessions, multiple times a week. GrassRoots coverage would give a broader group of citizens the ability to stay informed and engaged in the public process during your deliberations.

As you know, private citizens currently have to fund the taping and broadcast of important work sessions to meet the above goals. Until the city is willing to fund this effort, I encourage interested members of the public to contact GrassRoots to underwrite this public service activity. It is surprisingly inexpensive and the contribution has broad reach and benefit. (For example, taping of Tuesday’s council session on Burlingame issues and “scrape and replace” lottery issues, both of which certainly have broad-based public interest, will require private funding by civic-minded individuals.)

If the request is again denied, I respectfully request that the council explain the rationale of the decision. It would be helpful to the public to know the obstacle to this request for more transparency, which supports good governance.

Thank you for your consideration.

Marilyn Marks

Aspen