At the Police Committee meeting on Monday, Mayor Kamal Johnson declined to comment on the proposed Hudson Breathe Act, saying he would speak at the special Legal Committee meeting scheduled for Thursday. Late this afternoon, however, he spoke about the Hudson Breathe Act on Facebook, reading aloud a prepared statement that critiqued the legislation proposed. That video can be viewed here.
Aside from the question of why the Mayor is making statements on his facebook page, his statement, a repudiation of the Breathe Act, is welcome. And I encourage people to listen to this statement.
ReplyDeleteThe mayor's message notwithstanding, running government via Facebook is an abomination.
ReplyDeleteMr. Mayor, please do not use social platforms for government business.
Look at the Youth Department's web page. There is little information there, and to 'stay up to date" you have to go to their facebook page. How about we just assume the following: not everyone on the planet or in Hudson has FB or is interested in connecting to FB; that FB has no interest in creating or promoting democracy; and that all they are interested in is making money, which is apparent. And our elected and assigned officials stay away from it while acting in their professional capacities. Sounds sensible to me. Screw facebook, Mark Z, and all their nonsense.
ReplyDeleteSee new documenatry 'Social Dilemma'. Scary and true.
ReplyDeleteThanks J, that was totally ominous! I was already following Shoshana Zuboff, and now I know the others interviewed too.
DeleteFacebook should NEVER be the communication organ for any level of government. Those officials who use it are dangerously naive, and we need to tell them.
Bearing that in mind, isn't it just amazing to read other commenters here defending Facebook over the City's publicly owned website which these Facebook-loving neighbors funded with their own taxes! The invasion of the body snatchers is nearly complete.
https://www.thesocialdilemma.com/
Quickest way to get info out it’s clear it reached you all even if you don’t have social media.
ReplyDeleteIn defense of the mayor, it is perfectly appropriate for an elected official to use Facebook as a medium for communication. Mayor Kathy Sheehan of Albany does it all the time. Check out her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AlbanyMayorKathySheehan
ReplyDeleteBecause Sheehan does it that makes it "appropriate"? Great argument.
DeleteIt's pretty telling about our impoverished ideas on governance that the city's website (developed with local taxes!) is always the last venue considered by city officials needing to communicate with their constituents.
ReplyDeleteIn Hudson, far too many government functions are conducted on social media, e.g., the mayor's various statements (still no mention of his most recent at cityofhudson.org), a City department, an advisory council, programs funded through the Common Council, and so on.
Several years ago, having ignored complaints, the Conservation Advisory Council insisted on using Facebook to develop a flawed study whose idiotic and expensive impacts on Hudson await future residents. But when the Chairman stepped down, he closed "his" Facebook account and there went the whole troubled story down the memory hole with him. Good luck FOILing any of it now! (Context is all, students of McLuhan.)
That was a good example of BAD GOVERNMENT, not that anyone involved at the time had any clue about public service.
I'd even say that not using the City website indicates an official's contempt for the public she's meant to serve. That's why outreach through official channels should be a criterion when running for office or requesting appointments.
Does the city of Hudson have a webmaster for its website? If not, how much would it cost to hire one? It would probably be a full-time job to update it every day.
DeleteFacebook is free, and it is user friendly. Uploading a video is easy.
These are important considerations during the current fiscal crisis.
Keeping the city website updated is the job of our excellent City Clerk, who has always expressed her willingness to post whatever our officials have asked of her.
DeleteYou should really learn learn more about our city. Come to think of it, you ought to learn more about government too. After that, you might consider educating some - but not all - of our officials. For a number of them, their grasp of American government is on par with a gradeschool education.
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