Petrelis Files

Sunshine Task Force Needs TV Transparency 

If you've requested public records from a San Francisco agency and been denied access to or copies of the records, you can file a complaint with the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force (SOTF) and have them call officials from the agency for a public hearing.

While there have been serious problems with the SOTF since 2012, when the incumbent District 8 Supervisor and his ally Sup. David Chiu purged it of members who were often critical of City agencies, the SOTF still provides an invaluable forum for open government and taxpayers.

In June, with the support of Sup. David Campos at the Rules Committee, several highly qualified new SOTF members were appointed to serve the public and many sunshine advocates hold great hope for improvements at the SOTF with the new blood. We've spoken at SOTF public comment time for airing the monthly hearings on SF Gov TV and made available as videos-on-demand.

Seems a no-brainer that the sunshine panel should be as transparent as possible and that means aired on City social media platforms. Since the SOTF convenes at City Hall, the cost to televise the meetings should not be that high and whatever the expense is, it is would be public money well spent to expand San Francisco's commitment to governmental transparency.

The Education, Outreach and Training Committee of the SOTF meets the second Monday of the month, and is the ideal venue for beginning a concerted push for televising monthly hearings.

We'll be there on July 14 to push TV transparency.