The battles and crises over all the complex housing issues of San Francisco are of deep concern to many, yet a City agency with tremendous power and a lot of real estate, the Housing Authority, is not fully transparent. This must change.
Today's SFHA meeting is at 4:00 pm in Room 408 at City Hall and the agenda for it is posted here. Unfortunately, it won't be televised on SFGovTV and part of the reason for this lack of transparency is the meeting room is not wired for TV.
As I know from my successful campaign persuading the SF Fire Commission to move to City Hall and hold their meetings in a room properly wired, this commission and the SFHA may desire airing, streaming and archiving for vid-on-demand viewing via SFGovTV but not enough rooms at City Hall are wired.
Stop and let this sink in. In the midst of a tech boom, with dozens of super-wealthy tech titans pushing their agendas with pals at City Hall, and TV wiring costs amounting to mere peanuts to the City budget and billionaires, The City That Knows How doesn't know how to camera-equip every hearing room at the People's Building and have _every_ commission and agency holding meetings there and on TV and the web.
How can San Francisco have a robust and fully effective public discussion about housing matters, especially for the poor and low income populations, if the public Housing Authority isn't broadcasting their hearings where they set public policy?
I plan to attend today's hearing and raise these issues, and will report back possibly with video footage.
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