Editorial

Go to town meetings . . . and stay home

Posted

We congratulate Town of Hempstead Supervisor Anthony Santino on his new transparency initiative: live-streaming town board meetings. Residents who want to know what their elected officials are discussing and deciding but prefer to watch the proceedings from the comfort of home can now tune in at the town’s website (www.toh.li) and observe the meetings while they’re happening.

Most town board meeting are at 10:30 a.m., so many residents will find it easier to watch on a phone or tablet wherever they are than to take off from work to go to Town Hall. The town’s May 4 meeting was live-streamed, and the next one was set for May 24. The complete calendar of meetings is on the website.

Meeting agendas are posted on the site ahead of time, so you can find out what issues will be brought up and see if there’s something pertinent to you. We think this is a giant step forward in providing broader access to public business conducted by public servants. The technology has been around for years, so we could complain about why it’s taken so long, but we’re glad it’s happening now, and we think Santino is worthy of praise for making it happen.

This latest effort by the town to increase transparency follows actions taken earlier this year to post resolutions, meeting minutes, legal notices and bid requests online.

Time and technology move fast. Five years from now we’ll think simple live-streaming is inadequate. People should be able to participate remotely, interactively, not just watch and listen. That’s already being done in presidential campaign town halls we’ve seen this year.

But for now, all these open-government moves show that the new supervisor is listening to the demands of taxpayers and that the town, while watching its budget, is keeping up with technology that most residents use daily in every other aspect of their lives.