I live in a small city in New York State where public meetings at City Hall are not live-streamed. This means that many residents—such as disabled individuals, senior citizens, housebound residents, and those without transportation—have no way to watch meetings or provide input.
According to the mayor’s office, a proposal to fund live streaming was included in this year’s budget discussions but was voted down. Additionally, the mayor has stated that the city lacks IT staff to implement the service. This issue has been raised multiple times over the years but has repeatedly been rejected.
My question is: Are there funding sources available to help bring live streaming to my city? Many residents remain uninformed about important decisions until after they are made, with little opportunity for input. Without live streaming, only those who can physically attend meetings have access to discussions that affect the entire community. Most of us only learn about decisions after they are posted on the city’s website.
Are there grants or other resources that could help ensure greater transparency and public participation?
We fully support live streaming all public meetings, as today’s technology makes it both feasible and affordable.
We have urged the Governor to provide funding to help municipalities implement live streaming for their meetings.
I’m curious—what was the budgeted cost that your city council voted down? Also, what city do you live in? This issue should be a priority for every city council, and voters should take note of who opposed funding it when election day comes.
I encourage you to review a recent report we published on this issue, which you can find here:
Coalition Livestreaming Report
In the report, we highlight two low-cost, creative ways municipalities have successfully live-streamed meetings:
Additionally, in Lewiston, NY, one of our coalition members live-streams meetings independently using a phone on a tripod. Perhaps someone in your community could take the initiative to do the same—demonstrating to city officials that live streaming is neither expensive nor difficult.
I wish I had a more immediate solution for you, but we are actively working to convince state legislators that this is an essential issue. Thank you for raising this important concern—we will continue to advocate for greater government transparency and accessibility.
