Author Archives: webadmin

Non-Agenda Speakers Blackout

Posted on by
1

Image: Citizens Showing Disapproval of Council Policy holding Winnie-the-Pooh characters with mouths taped shut (photo at Pilotonline.com).

Just wanted to let you know, [last night’s] public work session (PWS) was ended (for the public) with a discussion about how the non-agenda speakers will not be aired at city council meetings from tonight on.

The mayor opened the discussion and read a draft of a statement to be made to the public at the council meeting about this, then he opened the floor for comments from other council members. Mr. Moody made a strong argument for continuing to air non-agenda speakers. Ms. Psimas stated that, although she had stated on many occasions her concerns about what was aired, she considered the needs of people who could not attend meetings to be important, too. She also said that the mayor had the gavel and could control speakers who were making personal attacks, etc., to a degree, but that other council members had to back him when he did so (which is undeniably true). She further recommended that the decision to stop airing the public’s comments should be delayed until after tonight’s meeting and the community meeting next week. Mr. Moody agreed that waiting until after the community meeting to make the decision was a good idea and asked for consensus. Unfortunately, other council members–Mr. Cherry, Mr. Edmonds, Mr. Meeks, and Ms. Randall–supported the black-out, so we would have been left in the dark this Tuesday and would be at the community meeting on January 15…
Continue reading →

Video “Shoot out at the Not-O. K.” Council

Posted on by
9

PortsmouthCityWatch.org issues an invitation to all residents to bring your video-capable devices to the Portsmouth City Council meeting on Tuesday, January 8. Since, as noted here and elsewhere, council has ordered the taxpayer purchased and maintained cameras in the council chamber turned off when the non-agenda portion of the proceedings commence, they do not have the final word on the matter. The Honorables may think they can act like the rulers of the People’s Republic of China, but though they can “pull the plug” on a few cameras, they can’t turn off the internet search engines, video streaming, or the creative impulses of our citizenry. Let’s let 100 electronic eyes scan the chamber Tuesday night. Charge up those I-phones, Androids, tablets, cameras, and camcorders; take a few sound checks before the gavel goes down; and prepare to show the “deciders” the power of techno-democracy.

Food for thought, Mayor and Council Members: unlike the “house” videographers who don’t pan the council dais during citizen presentations, we will. Your texting, smirking, sidebar conversations, dozing, and other forms of inattention will be on the record for a change. Enjoy the show!

YouTube, here we come!

More Going around in the Dark

Posted on by
4

An Open Letter to the Mayor and Council

Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of Council:

The late champion of the people, the Honorable Henry Howell, often said that there was “more going around in the dark than Santa Claus”. I am sad to say that your recent action, evidently behind closed doors, reaffirms the truth of what he proclaimed. Although I had heard some murmurings that council had adopted Ms. Psimas suggestions with regard to turning off the cameras during the non-agenda speaker portion of council meetings, I discounted it as rumor. Apparently, I was the one out of the loop. Today a friend provided tangible proof — an official communication from LaVoris Pace, Director of Marketing and Communications for the city, which states: “Portsmouth City Council Public Notice: Beginning Tuesday, January 8, 2013, Non-Agenda Speakers will NOT be aired on PCTV nor video streamed on the City’s website or YouTube Channel. Questions. . . Please call 393-8639.”

What I find particularly egregious is that you are stewards, not owners, of the broadcast spectrum through which these programs travel. It is the public who owns them. In fact, in many other communities, independent boards of citizens manage the public access channels. These essential communication links exist not for promotion of your own personal or political interests but rather to serve the best interests of the citizenry. I consider your recent action a violation of the public trust.

Since council has had no public discussion nor public vote on this new policy, I am wondering how it can legally be in effect. As I explore that aspect of the matter, I am urging everyone with an interest in this issue to contact you, as I am, to express their disapproval of the policy change itself. I also wish to inform you that until this decision is reversed, PortsmouthCityWatch.org stands ready to make video recordings of non-agenda speakers at council meetings and post those on YouTube under our own banner. As some of you may recall, I have prior experience as a videographer from the days when the city declined to record its work sessions. I have updated my equipment since then; it’s now lighter, more reliable, and capable of producing higher resolution video.

For the benefit of the public at large, I have simultaneously posted this communication on PortsmouthCityWatch.org.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky, PO Box 50141, Portsmouth, VA 23703, 757 967-7298

Note: view the first public intimation that a policy change might be on the way at Gary Harki’s column on non-agenda speakers.

Construction Ahead

Posted on by
Reply

If the published schedule holds, work on improvements addressed in the Downtown Master Utility Plan will begin this month on the stretch of County Street that begins just west of the Effingham Street intersection and runs east through the intersection at Washington. The project phases in question, designated 1 and 10, involve involving water and sewer line replacements, storm drain repair or replacement, and new curbs, gutters, and street paving. The projected time frame for this work is a month and a half, assuming cooperation from Mother Nature and an absence of gross human error.

Like most construction projects, this one will produce its share of inconveniences before anything actually improves. Mayor Holley often said that the road to success is always under construction, which sounds positive until you consider that during the time the work is proceeding, the highway is largely unusable. Such will be the case in and around the downtown area for the duration of this project, estimated to proceed in phases through August 2014. For detailed information, visit Downtown Utility Master Plan Newsletter.

A Gift that Will Keep on Giving

Posted on by
Reply

With two days remaining in the 2012 end-of-year holiday gift purchasing season — unless retailers push the post-season sales to encroach, as some did with Thanksgiving, on Christmas Day itself — I want to suggest a less obvious present but one with the potential to benefit many more people, including the giver, than most others you could buy. Intrigued, or at this late date, desperate, to know more? Since time is short, I’ll not go down the network television path with a “cliffhanger” episode. No, let me lay it out succinctly. Go to the Citizens for Accountability in Politics website and click on the “Donate now” bubble.

If you’re scratching your head in bewilderment or shaking your fist in anger because you don’t see how this will solve your last-minute gift-giving problem, you must have been “out of the room” this past year. Just about twelve months ago, the Grinch-in-Chief, Governor McDonnell, approved a deal with Elizabeth River Crossings that for 58 years will consume an ever increasing share of household income for people in our region who rely on the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels for passage to work, recreation, cultural events, religious activities, schools, and anything else that takes us across the Elizabeth River by car or truck. The only way out of this ill-advised contract is through the courts.
Continue reading →

Re-opening Our Doors

Posted on by
1

Fellow Citizens of Portsmouth:

Welcome to the relaunch of PortsmouthCityWatch.org. Intended as a public forum on  issues, occurrences, and ideas in our hometown — Portsmouth, VA, USA — back in 2004, the website is emerging from a long period hibernation to resume its role in civic life. Over the final weeks of 2012, we will be getting ready for full engagement with the dawn of the new year, but, in the meantime, we will post some odds and ends of city news, opinions, and, hopefully, thoughtful responses from interested readers. Mayor Holley used to say that the road to success is always under construction; this site will share that attribute.

Please keep your eyes on us as we keep ours on city government.

With best wishes for the holiday season,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky