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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/01/97AGENDA ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING HERMOSA BEACH CITY COUNCIL Tuesday, July 1, 1997 - Council Chambers, City Hall Adjourned Regular Session - 7:00 p.m. CALL TO ORDER 1 % PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE f2,ctc ROLL CALL $e)g-71-7j ANNOUNCEMENTS' - • PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: Although the City Council values your comments, the Brown Act generally prohibits the Council from taking action on any matter not listed on the posted agenda. Members of the public wishing to address the City Council on any items within the Council's jurisdiction may do so at this time. Please limit comments to one minute. 1. CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF DESIGN ALTERNATIVES FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTI-LEVEL PARKING STRUCTURE TO BE DEVELOPED ON PUBLIC PARKING LOT "C". CITIZEN COMMENTS Citizens wishing to address the Council on items within the Councils jurisdiction may do so at this time. Please limit comments to three minutes. ADJOURNMENT 1 JUL-01-97 TUE 14:22 J.H.LISSNER 310 376 2287 P.01 FACSIMILE COVER SHEET Total number of pages including this cover sheet 2 Date TU 7-1-97 Time 3;15 p.m. To/Recipient Hermosa Beach City Council at fax number auto voice phone number 318-0216 From/ Ja.ites Lissner, 2715 El Oeste, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 Sender: Fax number: (310) 376-2287 Voice number; (310) 376--4626 There is an answering machine on this line and it picks up after 5 rings. Message/subject: Special council meeting set for tonight The avowed purpose of tonight's meeting about the parking structure design is to receive the public's input, yet the existence of the meeting is the best kept secret in town. This important meeting has been set on a night that is not a normal council meeting night. We (residents, businessmen, staff, reporters) are accustomed t� council meetings that are on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays, so do not look for a meeting on the 1st Tuesday. In fact, as of late yesterday afternoon, even most city staff members did not know about the meeting - including the staff members whose job it is to "book" the room! Hermosa has. tried to be a leader in public access to meetings. For a number of years we've been able to brag that all of our' meetings (not just council) are televised, and "live", too So it is unusual, and an important omission ("Most Americans get their news from___ television") that the agenda for this meeting was not -posted on local, cable. And, it is unusual that it will not be televised live (the meeting is not listed on the cable station's on -air program schedule for this evening - according to City Manager Burrell with whom I talked at 1,p.m. today, there is a technical problem that prevents live broadcast)_ "Live" is very important for two reasons - first, it gets people to watch. Why do you think the Los Angeles TV news shows have a reporter "live at the scene" to report a fire that was put out four hours before? And, second, "live" gets people at home to drop what they are doing, put on their shoes (or take them off), and race down to the meeting, thus providing more input_ JUL-01-97 TUE 14:22 J.H.LISSNER 310 376 2287 P.02 I am on the mailing list for council agendas, yet I did not receive a mailed agenda. Nor was the agenda posted on the city's Web page. Yet, merchants downtown received two notices. One of the aforementioned notices to downtown merchants mentioned that design materials or a model would be placed at the council chambers for review prior to the tonight's meeting, but as of 2 p.m. today, no materials of any kind were available for review by the public. Councilmembers, do you expect to get a balanced idea of the public's opinion if only one small sector of the public knows about the meeting? And do you expect to receive thoughtful, thoroughly considered comments if only a select few (councilmembers, commissioners, senior staff) have had a chance to see the materials prior to the meeting? This so-called "public input session" doesn't begin to meet this city's usual standards of "public," so should be rescheduled. It should occur on a 2nd or 4th Tuesday during a regular council meeting, with agendas mailed, posted on the Web, and posted on the cable bulletin board - all the usual places_ It should be televised live, with several day's advance notice of same placed on the cable company's on -air program schedule - as is usual for all our meetings. And the session should wait until the public has had at least a few days to inspect the models or other design materials - again, as is usual. As usual, L." cc: Media Important: The pages comprising this facsimile transmission contain confidential information from James Lissner. 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