State appeals court to Boston City Council: Knock it off

By adamg on Thu, 05/01/2008 - 11:22am

Terry Klein has a copy of the decision and some analysis of a case in which the council was accused of illegally barring the public from at least 10 meetings over a two-year period (including one on a tularemia outbreak at a BU lab). Although the court sent some issues back to a lower court for final disposition, the justices are clearly getting a little tired of the Boston City Council, in a decision that starts:

The city council of Boston finds itself, not for the first time, on the losing end of a determination that it has improperly excluded the public from its deliberations. ...

Free tagging:

City Council

Michael Flaherty

Massachusetts Appeals Court

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Comments

Oh WOW

By Brett on Thu, 05/01/2008 - 11:44am.

Wow, the BRA is arrogant:

On several occasions the council allegedly posted a guard from the BRA at the door of a private meeting room to maintain a careful headcount and ensure that only a minority of councillors, albeit a rotating minority, were physically in each others' presence at any one moment, despite the fact that the council had been previously ordered to abandon this practice by a judge of the Superior Court. Shannon vs. Boston City Council, Suffolk Superior Court, No. 87-5397 (Feb. 28, 1989). Moreover, the council agreed to submit to the continuing jurisdiction of the Superior Court with respect to that order.

Freedom of Information. Open government.

By theszak on Thu, 05/01/2008 - 1:35pm.

The city stenographer is budgeted for the public meetings of our Boston City Council. The stenographic machine data should be a public record. Having the stenographic data of the remarks and debate of our City Councilors available would be a more open opportunity for comment, responses and questions with cited Councilors' words.

For people with hearing loss having the stenographic data available of our City Council would be a good idea. That way we could read the words of our Councilors and the words of the people with expertise testifying before our Council.

Small correction-- the

By anon on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 9:17am.

Small correction-- the decision is from the Massachusetts Appeals Court, which the intermediate appellate court, not the SJC.

Fixed

By adamg on Fri, 05/02/2008 - 9:30am.

Actually, that's a fairly significant distinction; I should learn to read better.