The Bay Area Rapid Transit voted to post its board meetings live on the web. The decision was made after criticism that the district was not responsive to the community following a BART policeman’s fatal shooting of an unarmed passenger. -db
More than a year after an uproar over a police officer’s fatal shooting of an unarmed passenger spurred the BART board to call for Webcasts of its meeting, the rapid transit system is poised to begin the live streaming later this month or in April, officials say.
The goal is to make BART more accessible and transparent to the public after a rough year when many critics said the district wasn’t responsive enough, board members say.
“This is about open government,” said Bob Franklin, a BART board member from Oakland who has pushed for Webcasts for more than three years. “For the vast majority of the time, I don’t think many people will be interested in watching a board meeting. But it will be there for people when they want it.”
The transit system’s Web site — www.bart.gov/ — will live stream the meetings held in downtown Oakland at 9 a.m. Thursdays twice a month.
BART also will create a meeting archive for Web visitors to view all or parts of past meetings.
Not all local government boards Webcast meetings, but neither is it unusual to do so. Alameda and Hayward do audiovisual streaming of their city council meetings. AC Transit’s board last month began audio streaming its meetings.
Franklin and fellow BART Director Joel Keller of Brentwood said they believe transit agency staffers were apprehensive at the prospect of extra scrutiny from online meetings.
Franklin said he first asked the board staff about Webcast feasibility in October 2006, back when board meetings were low-key and attracted few outsiders.
“I didn’t get a response,” he said. “I kept asking.”
Franklin got strong support from fellow board members for Webcasts last year after transit board meetings attracted large and angry audiences following the Jan. 1, 2009, police shooting of Oscar Grant III, an unarmed black man, at the Fruitvale station.
The white transit officer who shot Grant in the back, Johannes Mesherle, later resigned and has since been charged with murder.
BART also attracted big and boisterous crowds in meetings last year during tense labor contract negotiations about costly work rules, and again during debate about plans for a BART rail extension to the Oakland International Airport.
BART spokesman Linton Johnson said the agency has tested the Webcasting technology, and is nearly ready to go.
It took time to sort out whether which BART employees were responsible for the Webcasts, Johnson said. Waiting until this year saved money, Johnson said, because it provided time for BART to bring on a new audio visual contractor that charges less than the previous one to store electronic files of board meetings, district news and promotional videos.
Franklin said BART isn’t out to garner high viewer ratings, but to provide a convenient way for the public to stay informed.
“Our agency needs to be more open,” Franklin said. “This will help us achieve that.”
Copyright 2010 San Jose Mercury News