This fall, the city will offer live streaming of the twice monthly meetings online, so fans can watch on their computers at home or away.
Rancho Cucamonga Live and Indexed Video eGovernment will provide a search option alongside archived video, letting users jump to specific agenda items. The search option will work when users type in a keyword and the video will go directly to that portion of the meeting.
John Lyons, a faithful council meeting attendee, said the service will be helpful, particularly when he is on a trip, but it will not keep him from going to the meetings.
"We still have to exercise our right to speak, or we'd lose it," said Lyons, who keeps a library of the meetings on video and audio cassettes.
Manuel Pilonieta, the city's Information Systems manager, is testing the system and expects it to be available in the next two months.
It is possible that other public meetings may also go online, he said.
The council meetings will still be available on local cable, and residents can request a videotape of the meetings through the city clerk's office.
San Francisco-based Granicus Inc., which is providing the online service to the city, streams public meetings for 200 cities in the United States.
Granicus representative Alvaro Marroquin said the service will make it easier for city employees to research council business.
"But the ultimate goal is for the public to view the meetings 24/7 and 365 days a year," Marroquin said.
Information: (909) 477-2700.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Wendy Leung
Quelle/Source: Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, 19.01.2007
