Petrelis Files

Fire Commission to Debate Airing Meetings on TV

The secretary for San Francisco's fire commission, Maureen Conefrey, made me aware of the agenda for Dec. 16 because it includes this item about bringing transparency to the body:

"Presentation from SFGOV TV and Support Services pertaining to\logistics and cost associated with televising Fire Commission Meetings."

I've been advocating for years to have this commission be more accountable for the department's $86 million budget, through broadcasting of their meetings on government TV.

In August 2012, I asked then-commission member London Breed, now a member of the Board of Supervisors, if she supported televising the meetings. She merely backed exploring that possibility and promptly did nothing to make the commission fully transparent.

To his credit, openly gay commission member Ken Cleaveland, pictured, has been advocating from the inside for airing the meetings on Channel 26, which would also make videos available on-demand for viewing online.

The full agenda for the Tuesday, Dec. 16 meeting is here.