Petrelis Files

Vid: SFFD Debates Airing Meetings on TV

The question before the San Francisco fire commission is not if but when and from where they will begin broadcasting their meetings on SFGovTV.

At the Feb. 12 meeting, held at the fire department's headquarters at Second and Townsend Streets, where only one bus line stops directly at the building, the commissioners debated the cost of airing the meetings. Two commissioners, whom I laud for their pro-transparency and accessibility views, Ken Cleaveland and Francee Covington, continue to lead the charge to get meetings televised and from City Hall.

Cleaveland, in the video, makes an argument I've also put forward. There are other commissions dealing with less public safety concerns, such as the entertainment and taxi commissions, that meet at City Hall and televise and stream their hearings.

IMHO, City Hall is where the meetings should take place because it would save taxpayers money and is exceedingly easier to access via Muni buses, street cars, light rail vehicles, BART trains, and bicycling, not to mention has a huge underground parking lot at Civic Center, amenities lacking at SFFD headquarters.