Letter: Vancouver City Council lowers standards by silencing televised public comment

Vancouver resident Peter Bracchi criticizes the June 2024 decision by the City Council to stop televising the new monthly Community Communication Forums

Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and may not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com

The Vancouver City Council made a troubling decision that the public needs to be reminded about.

For years, citizens could attend City Council meetings, take their three minutes at the microphone, and have their comments televised live on CVTV and streamed online. That practice let the whole community—not just the Council—hear the concerns of their neighbors. It was simple, open, and accessible. If you couldn’t attend in person, you could just turn on the TV or go online and watch. Transparency didn’t require jumping through hoops.

But in June 2024, the Council voted to stop televising the new monthly Community Communication Forums. These forums are the only time residents can speak on any topic, not just items on the agenda. The Council’s excuse was that some people felt “uncomfortable being on camera.”

That reasoning is weak. People who didn’t want to be on camera already had alternatives: submit written comments, ask another person to read their statement, or simply opt out. Instead, the Council silenced everyone on television.

Now, if you want to hear what your neighbors said, you can’t just watch CVTV or click a replay link. You must go through the City Clerk’s office. According to the City of Vancouver’s own website, “The City Clerk is the custodian of the official records of the City, including audio recordings of City Council meetings… retained for a period of six years. To obtain public records, you may make a request online, by mail, fax, in person, or verbally.”

So what used to be as easy as flipping on a channel is now a formal public records request process—waiting up to five business days for a response and potentially paying fees for production or postage. The only people who will reliably hear these comments now are Council members themselves. That is not transparency.

The three-minute limit still stands, but the visibility is gone. This change undermines public trust and lowers our city’s standards of openness. In a city of nearly 200,000, residents deserve more access, not less. Town halls and televised public comment are common practice across America. Vancouver should not be lowering its standards.

It’s time for our Council to restore televised public comment and prove they value the voices of the people they serve.

Peter Bracchi
Vancouver