Wednesday, November 17, 2004 9:01 PM
BY JILL STEWART
With all the work put in by the Club’s Sunshine Committee to pressure politicians to start abiding by California laws requiring open public meetings and easy access to public documents, the Club has increasingly become a “go-to” source for other media.
In late October, former LA Press Club Boardmember Karen Ocamb, chairwoman of the Sunshine Committee, was once again quoted in a major local news out- let, the Daily News of Los Angeles.
The article, by well-known government reporter Troy Anderson, reported that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors may begin holding one meeting each month in a different community in the huge county, in order to increase public access to their deliberations. The powerful supervisors normally meet downtown in the Civic Center.
Anderson quoted Supervisor Michael Antonovich as saying meetings could be held in such far-flung spots as Wrightwood or Avalon. “When you consider that we make policies that impact everything from life to death — and even probate after death — it’s important that we have a feel and grasp of the entire region,” Antonovich told the newspaper. Karen was then quoted, and she said that while Antonovich’s idea is a good one, the board should also “open up public comment via the Internet.”
Antonovich’s idea was immediately endorsed by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. The Los Angeles City Council already holds several meetings each year away from City Hall. Those off-site City Council meetings tend to attract hundreds of peo- ple, according to Anderson’s article.
County residents have long complained about the difficulty of attending daytime meetings of the Board of Supervisors. Moreover, the hardy souls who do attend say the supervisors often ignore the members of the public who speak during public comment time.
As Karen told the Daily News: “It’s very frustrating speaking before the board because they do seem to have other things that distract them from what you are saying. I think it’s rude.”
