Lights, camera, council

Live from downtown Saratoga Springs, it’s the City Council Show! Starring the people’s matronly matriarch, the politician that can make every meeting seem like a special ed class, introducing Mayor Valerie Keehn! Give a round of applause for her co-star, the commissioner so entrenched he predates most photos in the Bolster Collection, Public Works fixture Tom McTygue. Also, a special guest appearance by the hugable blowhard we all love to dodge, ladies and gentlemen give hand for Daaaaaavid Bronner.

And now, without further adieu, heeeeeere’s Valerie.

“Thank you, thank you, you’re too kind,” says Keehn, taking an imaginary swing of a golf club. “But first, I’d like say those of you at home can now watch the city council meetings live.”

The city council took a light years’ leap into the future last month by creating a live Web cast of their meetings. Anyone with a high speed Internet connection and a functional computer can now log onto the city’s Web site and follow a few mind-numbingly simple instructions to watch the commissioners duke it out live from the comfort of their own home.

Having the council meetings simulcast online is a gargantuan improvement for the city and one that will undoubtedly open the doors of government to a new segment of people. Previously, the live audio feed of these meetings was only available on Time Warner’s cable access channel. The service was almost wholly useless to anyone with an untrained ear, as the cacophony of commissioner-bickering usually precluded the ability to discern who was saying what, if anything at all.

The added video-feed –albeit a quality that harkens of a certain shaky filmmakers work –paints a clear picture of the chaotic environment often enveloping the city’s bi-monthly business meetings. Take for example the spirited exchange by McTygue and Bronner from last months’ session. And just think: this service is free.

Or at least mostly free. After the city invested more than $79,000 into their Web site last year, Accounts Commissioner John Franck and outgoing Finance Commissioner Matt McCabe decided the finished product needed a bit more tweaking. They discussed investing up to an additional $9,000 into buying the improvements needed to Webcast the meetings; a suggestion that was initially balked at in the annals of i-Saratoga.

However, now that these often-hollow promises have come to fruition, the city’s investment seems like a very sensible one. Both Franck and McCabe should be commended for their efforts. In today’s go-go society, where many no longer work the typical nine-to-five shift, it’s often difficult to attend city council sessions. Compounding this is the relative small amount of coverage coming from these meetings. This is not to rag on the reporters covering them, but to understand that they sometimes don’t have the time or space to write about all that is newsworthy.

On a side note, Spa City reporters beware. This advancement has thrust your job security toward the precarious side of the employment spectrum. Editors of Pasadena Now, a Metroland-esque online zine, decided in May to hire English-speaking writers from India to cover Pasadena City Council meetings. Because the meetings are broadcast live online, the editor figured he could save the cost of hiring an American reporter. While the move was resoundingly criticized among journalism circles, it’s a philosophy one could easily envision the money misers at the Journal Register Company embracing.