On Wednesday, May 24, the Sun filed the following Public Record Act requests with the city of Seal Beach:
• I request an electronic copy of the special event application for the June 10, 2023, pride festival/event at Eisenhower Park.
• I request an electronic copy of the application to reserve the park on First Street, adjacent to Ocean Place, for July 3, 2023.
• I request an electronic copy of the special event application for Band on the Sand, July 3, 2023.
We’ll let you know when we receive the requested documents.
Other cities: Can you prove you own that catalytic converter?
The Mercury News reports that Torrance has outlawed the possession of catalytic converters without proof of ownership.
Why should Seal Beach residents care?
I learned about the Torrance catalytic converter law from Public CEO.
I know that some Seal Beach officials who read Public CEO. (I highly recommend it to everyone.)
Should Seal Beach consider this approach to fighting catalytic converter theft?
However you feel about the idea, share your opinions with your City Council representatives. If you don’t know who your representative is, email the mayor. That’s District Two Councilman Tom Moore.
Opinion: I hate audio recordings of government meetings
Seal Beach records some meetings on video and some on audio.
Frankly, I think videos are better. Even when you know the participants in the meeting—and know them well—it is often quite difficult to distinguish between one speaker and another when you are only hearing their voices.
In fact, when I want to cover a meeting and I know there will be an audio recording, I try to attend the meeting in person to help me match the voices to the names when I listen to the recording.
In other words, I have to “attend” the same meeting at least twice to write a story based on a recording.
Please note that I am a lot more familiar with the voices of city officials than many Seal Beach residents.
While it’s perfectly legal for the city to post audio recordings, I respectfully suggest that all Seal Beach meetings should be recorded on video.
I think recording video is more transparent than recording faceless voices.
