Public City Council & Commission Meetings Scheduled on Evenings and/or Weekends

#eveningmeetingLA

Los Angeles city, CA > Voting, Elections & Civic Engagement

Jamie Tijerina

Proposed Nov. 8, 2017

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One of the biggest ways to increase community involvement and transparency is to hold public meetings at times when the public is available to attend. This means that meetings should be scheduled and held at various times throughout the day, including times after 5pm. One of the biggest barriers for public attendance at city council meetings and commission meetings, is that they are held during the day, when many people with 9-5 or daytime work schedules cannot attend. This limits participation not only for people who want to attend and give public comment on issues that are up for discussion and votes, but also for people who would like to one day participate by being on a commission but cannot afford to lose time from work. The lack of evening meetings also hinders the effectiveness of our Neighborhood Councils--if a board submits a Community Impact Statement, but no one from the board can attend the meeting to speak on it and give public comment because the meeting is during the day, it holds back the voice of the community. My proposal is that City Council should hold a minimum of one full board meeting per week after 5pm and that commissions and city council committees should hold at least half of their meetings after 5pm. The way that the start times of meetings are scheduled should be equitable to allow for maximum community input, community participation, and overall transparency.

Amendments

I propose an amendment that would require all such public meetings to be simultaneously audio- and/or videocast on the internet and/or radio (like the Santa Monica City Council does) and/or public access TV.

Proposed 12/06/2017 by Deborah Rothman

Discussion

Deborah Rothman (12/06/2017)
I propose an amendment that would require all such public meetings to be simultaneously audio- and/or videocast on the internet and/or radio (like the Santa Monica City Council does) and/or public access TV.