Thursday, May 04, 2006

Minutes. Boston City Council.
.
Minutes are too abbreviated for ordinary folks
to comprehend clearly.


.
There's no index for docket items made available.


.
There is relational indexing for the related docket
items but the indices are not made available!
Public records of our Council are not made available !
Indices should be available !


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Arcane elements, arcane wording used in Minutes
need explanatory notes on the Council website at
http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil

.
Bidding should be held for the vendor of Council
stenographic services that assures we have the very
latest technology for these stenographic services.
For example, there is software that takes the
stenographic machine output and makes closed
captioning with the video for people with hearing loss,
for people who are interested in reading the remarks
and debate of the Councilors.


.
The a) stenographic machine output,
the b) stenographers intermediary unedited transcript
of that machine output should be public record
but enquiries for that public record are
deflected, cross referred stenographer to clerk,
cross referred clerk to stenographer back and forth
like catch 22.


.
Notices for public hearings are worded in arcane
off putting language deterring people.


.
Notices for public hearings include wording about
15 copies to be prepared,
an unnecessary burden for ordinary folks


.
The Council Rules Committee needs to
update Council Rules to include
the newest technology for
electronic communications with all interested,
concerned or affected by Council activities,
especially Rule 34 paragraph 2 at
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/councilrules.asp

including...
-
The stenographic machine output
shall be made available.

-
The intermediary unedited stenographic transcript of
the stenographic machine shall be made available.


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Departmental Annual Reports of the City are produced
circumventing the Council. Department heads send their
Departmental Annual Reports to the Mayor
as Memoranda.
The Annual Report Ordinance
requires sending Annual Reports directly
to the Council !

Enquiries to the Mayor's Office
for the Department Heads' Memoranda
containing the Annual Reports are deflected !

I'm expecially disappointed with my councilor, Maureen Feeney, but also with Sam Yoon. He touted being from Fields Corner, and framed himself as a progressive, but I see nothing that he's done to support the neighborhood or lower-income residents of Boston at all in his first few months. And now he votes himself a raise? What's the matter, Sam--four months on a $75K salary was making it hard to pay the bills? Most people in this city, particularly the ones who voted for you, are so far from this kind of income level that they'll be scrathing their heads. Do you care?

(sent today via city council website)

Dear Councilor Yoon,

I am deeply disappointed to learn that you voted for the absurd and wasteful pay raise for City Councilors and the Mayor. Your $12,500 raise is more than a third of what I make in a year, as a college-educated 29-year-old with years of experience as a youth and community worker. And as a fellow resident of Fields Corner, I know that I make far more than most of my neighbors.

I volunteered for your campaign, hoping that you would be the progressive voice on the Council that you promised to be. As I look around the neighborhood and the city, I see increasing violence and a continuing lack of infrastructure, and as a daily newspaper reader, I have seen no evidence of you taking leadership on any of these issues. This is quite disappointing, and it's even moreso to read that you have just decided to spend a few hundred thousand dollars on pay raises--money which could instead have gone to anything from hiring youth workers or teachers to installing public trash cans on Geneva Ave to reduce litter.

I hate to say it, but I am beginning to regret having volunteered for your campaign. I hope that you will change my opinion.

Sincerely,
Mister Goat (I put my real name and address on the letter, obviously.)

Wonder what this guy's real motivation is, bet he didn't do a thing for Sam ...

Actually, "media watch," I did volunteer for Sam, and also donated money. My "real motivation"? Disappointment. What's your "real motivation" for insinuating something else? What's Adam's "real motivation for shedding light on this whole issue?

I was actually logging on here, though, to mention that to his credit, councilor Yoon called me at mid-day today. During an insane day at work (I work with homeless youth, and was dealing with a crisis for sevearl hours), I wasn't able to call him back, but I plan to. We'll see what he says.

I also called Councilor Feeney, my district councilor. I consider her actions more outrageous in cancelling the hearing, but frankly, I expect less of her, and so I elected just to call instead of writing. I haven't heard back, but to be fair, I called at about 2:00 this afternoon. Again, we'll see if I hear more.

Yoon doesn't seem to be what he said he was... what else is new... Mister Goat if you feel comfortable sharing Id love to hear what his explanantion for the pay increase was...

I called him back on Tuesday, rather late in the day, and haven't gotten a reply. That was, admittedly, a few days after I wrote him on Friday, so I'm not giving up hope that he'll reply yet (but I'm also not holding my breath). If I hear, I'll certainly post!