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Councilman Dan O'Malley might be dragging Lakewood City Government into the 21st Century.
He's proposed an Ordinance aimed at "Improving Transparency and Accessibility of Public Meeting Minutes"
This would require "Minutes of all regular and special meetings of public bodies...[to be] posted in digital format on the primary website of the City..."
Presumably this would require the powerful Board of Control to post their meeting minutes too.
It is a start...a ray of sunshine on our dark city government.
I was pleased to hear about this, and credit Councilman O'Malley for what appears to be an entirely sound, positive proposal.
In addition to boosting transparency, I hope that this might simplify some of the work involved as well. In recent weeks the Clerk of Council has been assisting me to access various meeting minutes which are not online; so far as I know they are entirely public content, but producing them in an ad-hoc fashion seems like it takes longer, for everyone, than might a uniform approach.
Once up and running, it seems like a consistent "produce minutes of every public meeting and always post them online" routine would end up easier, for both city administration and the public.
mjkuhns wrote:I was pleased to hear about this, and credit Councilman O'Malley for what appears to be an entirely sound, positive proposal.
In addition to boosting transparency, I hope that this might simplify some of the work involved as well. In recent weeks the Clerk of Council has been assisting me to access various meeting minutes which are not online; so far as I know they are entirely public content, but producing them in an ad-hoc fashion seems like it takes longer, for everyone, than might a uniform approach.
Once up and running, it seems like a consistent "produce minutes of every public meeting and always post them online" routine would end up easier, for both city administration and the public.
Mr. Kuhns,
I agree, but only if the powers that be actually want to have these things easily accessed.
It appears they are not very excited about this--if you watch the video of Mr. O'Malley presenting his communication at Monday's Council meeting, several of his colleagues remained expressionless and speechless. Usually there is commentary (sometimes approaching dribbling grandstanding) by Council members applauding their colleagues' communications. Here they just perfunctorily voted 7-0 to send it to committee and moved on---but bravo! to all for at least that support of Mr. O'Malley's proposed Ordinance 17-13.
It has now been seven days since my last public records requests remain unanswered and over 330 days since requests made last March remain unanswered. So Mr. O'Malley has a huge mountain to move to let sunshine into the "valley of death."
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..."
Michael Deneen wrote:Let's hope that local leaders like O'Malley and SKindell are able to persist, a la Senator Warren.
I agree, but there are big differences here.
I can think of no better compliment to a progressive liberal Democrat like Sen. Warren than to be rebuked and silenced by crusty Republican Mitch McConnell on a technical rule violation. McConnell is an entrenched hypocrite, just like Reid was. In the end, what Warren (and Loretta Scott King) were claiming (serious stuff) was 30 years ago. Obama and Clinton opposed gay marriage only 3 election cycles ago. I am no fan of Sessions, but there are a lot of black folks who support him for his record in the past 30 years--perhaps he somehow has them fooled.
The difference locally is there is a group of entrenched Democrats in Lakewood and Cuyahoga County who have wanted to silence and marginalize Senator Skindell for his views. He is now the ranking Democrat in the Ohio Senate. So while statewide Democrats understand the class, integrity and character of Senator Skindell, the majority of our local Democrat clan of "leaders" apparently lack class, integrity and character--they act like petty little people groping for power and position. Example, President O'Leary regularly silences and berates ordinary citizens for expressing opposing views during public comments--he apparently views free speech and the truth as a threat to his grip on power---power he obtained by caving into the corrupt Democrat hierarchy and corporate money interests.
Mr. O'Malley appears to the exception, but the Conformity Police are hard at work to convert him.
Brian Essi wrote:
Mr. O'Malley appears to the exception, but the Conformity Police are hard at work to convert him.
You know it is funny, I know of at least 5 elected people that have asked, posted here, or said, to paraphrase "Small group of people pretending to be a secret government," including Council President O'Leary before he was sitting at the head of the class. Who can forget School Board Member and top School Lawyer in Ohio Matthew Markling mentioning it, and being heckled on TV, by one of them, that dreams and speaks of the the city's need for "Big Boy's Pants." No, not the pants store guy. Video is on file here.
Council David Anderson openly posted about them in his early days. But I will tell you, David changed, and I think some of it is survival. Survival at home, on the streets as Councilman, A lone council person like David let's say on widgets. Can do very little without the support of colleges. Sad state of affairs, and how it is controlled. Look at Bullock, a completely different human before and after the "Pit Bull Law." Now, the independent council person gets nothing done at work, gets calls attacking him for his/her stance pro or against widgets, their friends and family ask why they like or hate widgets. And slowly they turn towards "partners on council" who "understand the pressure" and find common ground, peace, and for "the common long term good of the community" become the very people they disliked that made them go into politics in the first place. Along the way, they forget many of the real reasons they were there, and they eventually take on a stance similar to the soldiers at Iwo Jima.
Councilman O'Malley has spent his entire life fighting legislative conformity.
It would have been great to see the backroom discussion on this idea.
Councilman O'Malley played here by President Mervin Muffley, errrr Peter Sellers...
A little notation here and to bring some things together. Had the last version of City Council had not rejected the Ethics Code in the Charter Review along with the rest of the Review. Had City Hall actually put together their side of a ground breaking program for openness in cities, brought to Mayor FitzGerald that he agreed with and supported. A plan to put everything online instantly. The city would not be in the middle of countless law suits, now most for sunshine laws violations and public record violations. There would have been not have been 2 lawsuits on the Hospital debacle. 3 other lawsuits against residents for speaking out against the mayor, and the City would be over $2 million dollars ahead, just because their would have been no need for Crisis Management, no need for the Brigadoon News, no need for the election law violations.
And all City Hall had to do, was tell the truth. I have always hoped City Hall would realize how easy it is to clear this whole mess up. Like Dorthy in the "Wizard of Oz" realize the simplest of things. Honesty, Transparency, Accountability good for government.
I believe Councilman O'Malley is trying to heal wounds, clear up misconceptions, save us all some money, make us proud of council, and hopefully force me into retirement!
Go get em Dan.
.
.
Jim O'Bryan
Lakewood Resident
"The very act of observing disturbs the system." Werner Heisenberg
"If anything I've said seems useful to you, I'm glad.
If not, don't worry. Just forget about it." His Holiness The Dalai Lama
While this is a good step, it would appear that Mr. O'Malley supported the illegal and immoral take over of Lakewood Hospital. At least one "Issue 64" postcard stated that "all members of Lakewood City Council" endorsed Issue 64. People aren't always who they purport themselves to be.
If this is an honest attempt to "heal wounds", that is fantastic. I would really be impressed if Mr. O'Malley could convince Law Director Kevin M. Butler to let the hostages go, the hostages being the pages of public records that he seems to be hiding in an office on the 2nd floor of City Hall.
While Dan was not on City Conucil for the planning of the demise of Lakewood Hospital, I would assume that he has read much of the paperwork and documentation. Actually, I would expect that if he did indeed endorse Issue 64. I would really be impressed if he could hold a public meeting, telling everyone what the rest of council has been hiding.
Brian Essi wrote:
Mr. O'Malley appears to the exception, but the Conformity Police are hard at work to convert him.
You know it is funny, I know of at least 5 elected people that have asked, posted here, or said, to paraphrase "Small group of people pretending to be a secret government," including Council President O'Leary before he was sitting at the head of the class. Who can forget School Board Member and top School Lawyer in Ohio Matthew Markling mentioning it, and being heckled on TV, by one of them, that dreams and speaks of the the city's need for "Big Boy's Pants." No, not the pants store guy. Video is on file here.
Council David Anderson openly posted about them in his early days. But I will tell you, David changed, and I think some of it is survival. Survival at home, on the streets as Councilman, A lone council person like David let's say on widgets. Can do very little without the support of colleges. Sad state of affairs, and how it is controlled. Look at Bullock, a completely different human before and after the "Pit Bull Law." Now, the independent council person gets nothing done at work, gets calls attacking him for his/her stance pro or against widgets, their friends and family ask why they like or hate widgets. And slowly they turn towards "partners on council" who "understand the pressure" and find common ground, peace, and for "the common long term good of the community" become the very people they disliked that made them go into politics in the first place. Along the way, they forget many of the real reasons they were there, and they eventually take on a stance similar to the soldiers at Iwo Jima.
Councilman O'Malley has spent his entire life fighting legislative conformity.
It would have been great to see the backroom discussion on this idea.
Councilman O'Malley played here by President Mervin Muffley, errrr Peter Sellers...
A little notation here and to bring some things together. Had the last version of City Council had not rejected the Ethics Code in the Charter Review along with the rest of the Review. Had City Hall actually put together their side of a ground breaking program for openness in cities, brought to Mayor FitzGerald that he agreed with and supported. A plan to put everything online instantly. The city would not be in the middle of countless law suits, now most for sunshine laws violations and public record violations. There would have been not have been 2 lawsuits on the Hospital debacle. 3 other lawsuits against residents for speaking out against the mayor, and the City would be over $2 million dollars ahead, just because their would have been no need for Crisis Management, no need for the Brigadoon News, no need for the election law violations.
And all City Hall had to do, was tell the truth. I have always hoped City Hall would realize how easy it is to clear this whole mess up. Like Dorthy in the "Wizard of Oz" realize the simplest of things. Honesty, Transparency, Accountability good for government.
I believe Councilman O'Malley is trying to heal wounds, clear up misconceptions, save us all some money, make us proud of council, and hopefully force me into retirement!
Go get em Dan.
.
.
Not much on the net about Conformity Police...here is something that includes reference to Bantu witch-hunts and "reality as a shared hallucination"
