Having lived through the COVID era and high profile zoom bombings, describing this change to be "as easy as flipping a switch" far undersells the complexity of administering these meetings with a virtual component. Someone needs to run the actual meeting in accordance with Robert's Rules, take notes for minutes and now monitor the online portion, which adds another responsibility for the Chair. During COVID many people struggled with the technology, for example people did not know how to mute themselves, and it caused a lot of disruptions, both intentional, where members of the public would speak during the deliberations, and unintentional where someone would not know they were unmuted and had another conversation being picked up by everyone. Not every meeting space has the tech infrastructure for virtual meetings. On most boards the members are volunteers who may not be the most tech savvy themselves, and their first focus is on their duties rather than hosting virtual meetings.
It can be done, but it is not a trivial exercise and puts a lot more on the members of the boards and commissions which already struggle to find people willing to serve.
If you can’t follow “don’t stand in the crosswalk,” I’m not sure “save democracy” is going to be your strongest lane.
Get out of the road — or at least don’t pose next to the sign that literally says you’re standing in the crosswalk.
I’d love to see this finally enforced like it would be for anyone else, but based on what happened last time, I’m not holding my breath. Apparently it’s just their “right” to stand in the road and block traffic — and how dare anyone point it out.
Just a thought:
"peacefully gather against the undemocratic abuses of our current government" "There's no real alternative. The alternative is to not speak out and give in to tyranny."
These are pretty serious claims. Was there any follow up questioning if Mr Villamil could name one instance of "abuses of our current government or tyranny"?
If these people are so serious about their cause you would think they would be able to name very specific examples.
Well said, Anne. Thank you. Michelle Embree Ku is about as stand-up a person, let alone a state house rep, as one could possibly hope for. I definitely will be supporting her -- as an Independent! Who (sadly) must register as a Dem in order to vote in primaries. Ah... so many other things to fix about our system! :)
