Open, accessible

From David Albery, executive director, Greater West Bloomfield Cable Communications Commission:

The Greater West Bloomfield Cable Communications Commission applauds the Spinal Column Newsweekly’s support for the live streaming of meetings of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners and its committees. We agree with County Commissioner Gary McGillivray that fair and open government is “absolutely essential.”

The Cable Commission is proud of its advocacy for the cablecasting of county meetings starting in 2005, resulting in the presentation of four meetings in 2007. We have provided coverage of the County Executive’s “State of the County” address every February for the past several years, and we were happy to take a leadership role in forming a consortium of Oakland County communities which provided high-quality coverage of five County Commission meetings in 2010 and three in 2011, at no cost to taxpayers. That coverage provided clear views and identification of all speakers, including commissioners, presenters, and the public, and was provided to county residents through local cable channels and on-line.

In the spirit of Sunshine Week 2012 (March 11–17), and in the belief that open and accessible government is vital to establishing and maintaining the people’s trust and confidence in their government, we look forward to that same high-quality coverage provided by the County Commission starting in April and believe that the result will be greater transparency and greater public access to government information.