Kathy if you are labelled a "domestic terrorist" for submitting this letter, then I am happy to be labelled the same right besides you. And that's coming from someone who has literally fought terrorists abroad. You are on the right side of the Constitution and the right side of history! Thank you for standing up unapologetically against violence by ICE!
I'm thrilled to see that young people are getting more civically engaged!! This is so critical if we are going to overcome the political divisiveness in our country. Thank you so much, Aidan!!
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.
