The short answer is NO. As it was explained to me, the city followed the ‘letter of the law’ just not it’s intent;
1-25-1.1. Notice of meeting of political subdivision–Agenda–Violation as misdemeanor.Each political subdivision shall provide public notice, with proposed agenda, that is visible, readable, and accessible for at least an entire, continuous twenty-four hours immediately preceding any official meeting, by posting a copy of the notice, visible to the public, at the principal office of the political subdivision holding the meeting. The proposed agenda shall include the date, time, and location of the meeting. The notice shall also be posted on the political subdivision’s website upon dissemination of the notice, if a website exists. For any special or rescheduled meeting, the information in the notice shall be delivered in person, by mail, by email, or by telephone, to members of the local news media who have requested notice. For any special or rescheduled meeting, each political subdivision shall also comply with the public notice provisions of this section for a regular meeting to the extent that circumstances permit. A violation of this section is a Class 2 misdemeanor.
The agenda was posted on Friday before the meeting (or so that is what is being said) so they did follow law with the 24 hour notice, and yes it is on the city website . . . buried on a page that is NOT the agenda page.
If you didn’t know the meeting was happening, you have NO intent on looking for the agenda, and even if you were looking for such an agenda, you wouldn’t find it on the agenda page, or board agenda page.
Even the calendar on the new website is inaccurate and doesn’t show ALL city public meetings (before the site changed, the calendar displayed ALL daily meetings.)
At the last meeting, they did schedule a meeting for December, so I guess if you were paying attention, you would have marked the date on the calendar, the problem, the meeting was scheduled for 8 AM, NOT 2 PM, and for TODAY, NOT yesterday;
Next meeting: October 19, 8:00 a.m., City Hall Media Room
So even if you wrote this date down, it would have been incorrect.
I have argued the city needs a Public Information Officer (the SFPD has had one for years) whose only duty is to disseminate public information, but most importantly, public notices and agendas. Those notices should be on ONE calendar, and on ONE agenda page. I don’t take issue with posting it on other pages, like the buried Mayor’s page, but that should NOT be the official spot.
I had a wonderful convo with a city council staffer yesterday about this, and have asked them to do a little digging and to find out WHY the administration is just willy nilly about their agenda posting. I was also not surprised to hear that each department is in charge of posting their agendas, which I told this person is wrong, and that the city clerk’s office should be the ones controlling and posting on the agendas.
We spent almost $500K on the new city website, for something that is worse than before. Let’s just assume that the web developer and the city agreed to have a public notice page that is easily accessible, it’s not a hard lift, other cities do it.
I always like to use Omaha’s website as a decent functioning city website, as you can see you are ONE click away from any public notices or agendas you may need;
As a city official said to me yesterday about this topic ‘I don’t think the mayor’s office is prioritizing transparency.’
Yah think?!
And that’s the other kicker, none of the city councilors knew about the meeting until a couple of hours before the meeting (the media was also unaware), except the two who sit on the board, Merkouris and Jensen. When were they going to tell the public, the media, or at least the other 6 councilors?
While the mayor’s staff followed the letter of the law, they certainly don’t understand the spirit.
I’m not sure I get the Mayor’s war on public information which wreaks of hypocrisy. Open government is NOT a partisan issue, it benefits everyone, the elected officials and the public, and it saves taxpayers money, even when it comes to Lenin’s Tomb and a bunch of dusty monkeys and goats.
The Agenda had been up for nearly a week, I had seen it last Tuesday on the Mayor’s page. They have not been posting the Task Force Meetings on the meeting page. The Mayor’s Office has created a link to the Brockhouse Animals Taskforce. I think legally, that it meets the minimum requirement defined by the law. It is not abnormal for the City Government to do, as the Planning Department often listss their Task Force Meetings on the Department page also. So I believe it would be hard to get the Mayor for a open meeting violation…
Mike, did you read my post or just the headline? I said they followed the law, they posted it on the city website, not all of us hang out on the mayor’s page waiting for something to happen. Citizens should have easy access to public information, they shouldn’t have to go to multiple pages looking for meeting information.
The new website is a mess. Yes, I’m that neighbor, I recently contacted Zoning about a neighbor who parks their car on their front lawn. It took forever for me to find the page to submit a complaint, while under the old website it was much easier and upfront.
( and Woodstock adds: “So, let me get this right”…. “The car was out front and the website used to be more upfront, is that right?”…. 🙂 )
“… a bunch of dusty monkeys and goats”….
That was my favorite punk rock group back in the day. Their albums never came with dust covers, however, and then my goat ate my collection.
‘ a neighbor who parks their car on their front lawn’
Did you turn in the entire neighborhood? I know in the Northern part of Cathedral this is common practice. No drive way? No Garage? No problem. There is nothing more comical then driving past these places. On a bike ride on Sunday, I drove past a house with $80K monster truck on the lawn and would guess the house was worth about $81K.
Scott,
Yes, I read your post, I apologize if I misread your post, we all make mistakes. I would not say i hang out on the mayors page, however, I did make mention, that I already knew that they have posted the schedule of meetings and agenda on the Mayor’s page, and further, mentioned that I just happened to check the mayors page last Wednesday and saw the agenda posted. I went on to state, that I do not believe the office did anything wrong since they simply have to make mention to the Date, Time, Place, and Agenda giving to the public the ability to call forward, or to submit a request to attend the meeting. I was not trying to sound rude, but perhaps my original comments came across as such. I am deeply sorry.
p.s I do not agree with the Mayor on the public matter related to the Brockhouse Animals, however, I make attempt to be respectful in my comments directed to the mayor, as well as to the public cause I feel for every 10 ideas I present to the Mayor, I am hoping that he will support or like at least 1 of my ideas for future use.
Just two neighbors, although, one of them is not chronic. I think the real problem is that we have more than four non relatives living at the same residence or residences, which is a zoning violation, and thus not enough parking for them all.
Just another example of how the affordable housing crisis in this town impacts not only struggling individuals, but also neighborhoods, their values, and future marketability.
Mike, no problem, my point is while they are following the law, they are doing it in a very non-transparent way. The good part is I think the council has been discussing having ONE calendar they can all use (and the public) instead of multiple. Probably have to put in ordinance or council cannons.
VSG, when I lived in Seattle I had a good Vietamese friend. His whole family lived in one house, 10 of them. And it was very nice, clean, and pretty large (4 Bedroom?) They loved it. His grandma would always make me food when I went there. I think that people in SF have too large of houses.
Definitely south of 57th street they do. But a family of 10 would and should be legal in Sioux Falls. Personally, I don’t have a problem with a ton of people living at one house as long as they don’t park on the lawn, or take all of the parking places out in the street where it’s a tight fit for cars passing through, especially when they all drive these big trucks, which my “neighbors” do.
( and Woodstock adds: “Did you see that recent story that suggests that if you are a morning person then you more likely have more Neanderthal DNA in you than others…. Because I think VSG has proven to us that he has some uptight GOP blood in him, however”…. ( …. “Although, the ‘monster truck’ owners might have even more Neanderthal blood in them”…. 🙂 ) ) ….:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/12/14/neanderthal-genes-sleep-morning-people/
I agree, don’t park on your lawn.
The best part about Dien was he would invite me to their Sunday BBQs with his brothers displaying their wall of Bud Light cases along the garage wall (they would buy a pickup load of the beer when it was on sale).
Perhaps our thread here has all the makings of a sequel depicting the earlier years of ‘Gran Torino’, except the movie, with a monster truck theme, would be called ‘Grave Digger’, ‘Avenger’, or ‘Bad Company’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZDpKskGoWs
“Clint Eastwood”?…. “Do you guys remember when he spoke to a chair at the 2012
Republican National Convention?”…. “Man, that was before Trump, when such an act was seen as troubling…. Wow! If only we could return to those days once again”….