Originally Published: November 14, 2013
Measure an important milestone for greater transparency in City Government
Citizens Union Statement, By Executive Director Dick Dadey
Citizens Union applauds the passage of legislation by the City Council, Intro 132-A, that ensures city government meetings are recorded and webcast, and that archival footage is provided online for the public. The City Council has led by example in webcasting its own meetings. By passing landmark legislation to extend this important transparency to meetings of all city government agencies, it brings more of city government action closer to New Yorkers.
Citizens Union has supported the passage of this legislation since its introduction, and provided important research and analysis of this issue to the City Council, having testified in April this year in favor of the legislation, as well as in 2008. It also provided recommendations to further improve the efforts of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment in facilitating the webcasting of city government proceedings.
Requiring city agencies, commissions, and task forces and the council to webcast their public meetings and hearings increases their accessibility, allowing the public to easily view meetings from any location with internet access. Webcasting also importantly allows stakeholders and members of the press to more easily monitor government proceedings. Media and advocacy organizations in turn relay information obtained to the public, which expands the reach of webcasted meetings. Further, given that government proceedings often occur during the daytime when most New Yorkers are unable to attend, archiving video footage of meetings will allow New Yorkers to see government in action at any time, and provide an additional public record of the meetings. We believe that this in turn will allow for greater knowledge of government deliberations and increase accountability of government.