Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Sam Yoon to file legislation for more transparency

I called Sam Yoon's office today to see how he was going to vote on the Wolkowski proposal to eliminate the City Council from having to obey the Open Meeting Law. His staff person said that Sam was going to vote for more transparency.

She also said that he is going to file an ordinance(her words) for the City Council minutes to be better understood. She said that Sam feels the City Council minutes are very hard for citizens to understand and that he believes that citizens should be more involved. She said that even she can't understand the minutes of the City Council sometimes.

Good for Sam! I asked for them to email me Sam's proposed legislation. If I get that I will post it.

1 comment:

theszak said...

Minutes of our Boston City Council appear in an abbreviated manner at http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil

The Minutes of our Boston City Council have references that aren't explained. Papers are mentioned without even referencing the topic of the papers. Docket numbers aren't cross referenced.

A cross index is needed for the Docket numbers. The City Clerks office is adamant the the legal requirement of the minutes is met but the spirit of the requirement isn't because of the abbreviated content and because of the too obscure content.

The Minutes of our Boston City Council can't be understood by most people.

Explanatory information is needed at http://cityofboston.gov/citycouncil for people attempting to read the Minutes.

Minutes of our Boston City Council also appear attached to the paper edition of the City Record publication available at Boston Public Library branches but not the City Record edition online at http://cityofboston.gov/purchasing

Hardcover bound books of Minutes of our Boston City Council are prepared. Check with the City Council library.

"The Boston City Council, as the legislative branch of city government, is the repository of a number of publications and resources relating to Boston’s history and government. The City Council maintains a reference library which is open to city employees, students and the general public. The library contains City Council Minutes, Municipal Registers and City Documents dating from the early 1800’s to the present. In addition, the library contains current publications relating to municipal law and finance."
http://www.cityofboston.gov/
citycouncil/citycouncilpub.asp