Lack of accessibility

Hello Council,

I have to chime in on the lack of accessibility of these ongoing online Council meetings. I’ve lost count of how many of these e-mails we’ve received at Protect Culver City complaining about inability to join the Council meeting to speak. And that’s among people with enough computer access to send an e-mail. I also get calls from people who don’t have computers.

Furthermore, these Council meetings get harder and harder to join. We used to be able to send people a link to register, and a few steps beyond that. Now it’s a complicated mess of drill downs. Even I couldn’t join properly last night, nearly losing my chance to speak. And when I did join, my chat was disabled.

“We’re working through the tech” is not a valid excuse at this point. We’ve been at this format for two years. Meanwhile, Mayor Lee proudly posts pictures on his Twitter account about attending crowded events.

If Council wants any consistency here, at minimum meetings should return to outdoor format so people can arrive in person. If that isn’t possible, the housing element needs to be delayed until such time as Council and residents can meet in person again. It’s pretty clear that at this point only the professional activists are able to join these meetings, while the residents are being deliberately left in the dark.

Ron Bassilian,

Culver City

Ron is President of a local citizen’s community group Protect Culver City