In a slight to both neighborhood leaders and city council, the administration of Mayor Pam Iorio decided that it had better things to do then to televise the ongoing city budget discussions. The administration, which has restricted citizen access to council and administrative staff by not allowing staff to attend meetings in the Mascotte conference room (a procedure allowed for years) on the pretense of having everything televised and open to the public, balked as soon as the light of day was about to be brought to the city budget discussions.
Despite a motion from City Council to televise the meeting, calls from Council Chairman Thomas Scott and from Councilwoman Mulhern, the city administration denied the request to televise the meetings saying that “we have never televised them in the past.” It is time for the Mayor to lead, apologize to the taxpaying citizens and fix it now.
This article appears in Jun 11-17, 2008.