Politics & Government

Keeping Tabs on City Government From Your Couch

The City of San Leandro will begin live streaming of City Council meetings starting tonight with the mayor's State of the City Address.

You're a concerned, involved citizen of the City of San Leandro. If you didn't have three, hungry kids with homework to be monitored on a Monday evening, you'd be at every City Council meeting.

Well as of tonight, City Council is coming to you, sort of. 

The city will begin live streaming of City Council meetings starting Monday night, just in time for the mayor's annual State of the City address. Listeners can tune in at 7 p.m. on the city's website. You'll need Windows Media Player on your PC or Microsoft Silverlight on your Mac. 

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Live audio streaming of City Council meetings is another milestone on the path to using technology to enhance the transparency, accessibility, and ultimately accountability of City Hall,” Mayor Stephen Cassidy said in a press release.

Of course, if you want to speak up about topics discussed and decision made at the meeting, you'll still need to find a sitter for the kids. 

Find out what's happening in San Leandrowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The city began recording regular council meetings in January and posting the audio files on its website.

Cassidy has said he hopes one day to have live video of the meetings, as Oakland and San Francisco do. In fact, San Francisco even has live video of its commission meetings.

Don't expect that yet in San Leandro. Tonight, City Council is holding a work session at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the Marina Harbor Basin, which will not be broadcast. If you want to get it on that discussion, you'll need to show up at City Hall. 

The agenda of the main City Council meeting, which starts at 7:00 p.m., includes increased sewer rates, a $1 hike in green fees at Monarch Bay Golf Club, more parking time for RV owners, and the extension of a favorite program among drivers — red light photo enforcement cameras. 

The agenda and related documents can be accessed here.


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