06/15/1972 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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" the chance before to participate in City affairs. In answer to Manager, Mrs .'Press- Comm man said ther.e i:s State-wide Ciistribution of knowledge abou,t the e1(e!2ts through 5/24/72 Paul Lansdowne's group, the Chamber of Commerce, 'and the 'AJ;ts Commission. File P. City Council TV Show - Michael Sprague, candidate for Congressman from District IV, - asked the Council to take action to have its meetings taped or broadcast live . on television.. He said the Coqncil then would not have to have 'personal contact ~, wi th the communi ty i'n order for the community to 'become aware of decisions made' in its -behalf~ He said he talked 'to Teleprompter people about the pJ;oposal and that h~ feels they_ should move ahead with encollrage]1len_t _from the Council since ,they were giyen a rate incr_ease_. In reply to Mr. Sprague, Manager said there is no mention_ in Teleprornpter_' s fran-, chise from the City that they broadcast City activities. Councilman Mohr noted that in its presentation to the_Council two years ago for a rate increase'Tele- prompter stated the Cable Company had autpprity_.to proad9d$t a City Co_unci,l s_how and vol unteered one of_ 'their empty channels. / . Mr. Sprarjue asked~the Council to adopti;he p:(oposal and _recqmmend that Council meetings be broadcast over cable televi$ion, and that Teleprompter be requ.ested to make this a reality. He said it would give an opportunity for the community to see what happens before elections this fall. He cited media action in the city of .Coburg and the part it plays in bringing about community involvement wi th the Council in that city. Mayor Anderson said he felt the Council would resppnd affipnatively, to such pro- gramming, but from the standpi!nt of :freedom involved in_ di$s_emination of informa- . tion he does not think the Council would want to place itself in" a position -< politically to force its will on media such as Teleprompter. If it could be done outside official action by the Council, it would be 'good and he 'would encourage it. He suggested that Mr. Sprague propo$e a program 'to Tceleprompter. Mr. Sprague said he feels that i,f Council members do not adopt a program of this nature they are reneging on their responsibility to communicate in as many ways as possible to those who voted them into office. He aSked the Council to request television coverage the same as it asks _ for press coverage. Members of the press present immediately'respDnded that they were not requested ,to be at any of the Council meetings. Pa~l Richards of KEZI'TV sai,p there are very strict FCC regulations ,governing dissemination of puhl_ic information .and that it is not encumbent upon government to undertake a posi ti ve informat.i,on program through thepuhlic airways. -- -. - . - Mayor Anderson again said that if the media asked to televise . Council meetings, he I thinks the Council would be receptive to the idea. Mr. Sprague said he feels it would be a mistake politically not to do it. He said Teleprompter has said they cannot afford to do it. .', - - ,. Councilman, Mohr said there-is no question but that all of t~e media know they are welcome to cover any of the Council meetings, but in view of the results of the -"'.c.' primary election (ballot issues affect.ing City _finances) he doubted' the, effective- ness of such coverage. He said Council will not provide funds to sponsor them- selves on television. Mayor Anderson left ~the committee meeting and Council President Mohr assumed the chair. Mrs. Campbell expressed the opinion that ratings on such a show would be low and asked if it wOilld be the intent to edit lengthy meetings to cut alt much of the routine action. Mr. Sprague said there would be someediting,.but,that would delay broadcast. Councilman Bradshaw said he thinks such a proposal would result in a mass of Comm political speeches and. that the public is subjected to enough pressure now. He 5/24/72 said he opposes the idea. No' action was taken. -, - File Q. Spencer's Butte Improvement Association - Letter received from the Association, copies' of which were distributed previously to Council members, requested recog- nition and, involvement in the planning process of the South Eugene area. Manager .' said there would be concern with rega~d to a.;;surq.nqe that the- people who presume to be representing a neighborhood ~d hav~ng that responsibility do so without being elected. He said there would be no p:(oblem of involviIlg this' group with the planning process in an advisory nature similar to the group in the Laurelhi11 area. _. ...... ~-"-=~ - --: -::-......~ ;; ~~!!: ., .~. .- -P - --.;:'"--".:" --'~ ,.~[::-~. ~ ~~-. " ~ - --- /73 6/15/72 -" 8 -