Brenda Konkel discusses on her blog the various problems with controversial government meetings with many people wishing to speak. She manages to touch on most things I’ve noticed, but she missed one important thing. Space at many meetings is often inadequate. More and more people are deciding to attend the various committee and council meetings. This often means people have to stand. This is especially true with committee meetings which are typically held in the smaller rooms at the City-County building. I hate GR27.
Another problem with committee meetings is it’s often difficult to hear. Much of the time there aren’t microphones set up, so when a speaker is facing away from you, it’s often difficult to hear. That’s not a good thing when these type of meetings are supposed to be encouraging public participation.
Here’s the question I have, can committee meetings be held in larger rooms with microphones set up? Or perhaps they could just rearrange GR27 so more seating is available? Or if that’s not possible, is there a rule against holding the committee meeting at a different location? Can they grab the keys for the Monona Terrace and hold the controversial meetings there? After all, shouldn’t we be getting more use out of that building?