Long Beach live-streams council meeting

The city's financial crisis has loomed large for Long Beach's new administration, but the city council and city manager also have made strides toward achieving one of their other goals: more transparency.

The council meeting Tuesday night before a full house was live-streamed for the first time. By Wednesday morning, a video and podcast of the meeting were prominently displayed on the city's website.

At the meeting, City Manager Jack Schnirman and the council distributed a fact sheet about the city's financial situation.

"It's definitely one of the easiest things to tackle in that it's something that should have always been implemented," new Councilman Scott Mandel said. "It's really not splitting the atom to let the public in to what's going on in city government."

The live stream drew 209 unique viewers and more than 400 had watched the archived webcast by Friday morning, said city spokesman Gordon Tepper.

The equipment needed to live-stream cost $630, said council president Fran Adelson. "The cost was so minimal compared to the gain of that many people watching," she said.

Adelson, one of two new council members elected in November, has initiated many of the transparency reforms, including Long Beach Listens, a program in which Schnirman and council members will meet residents in their communities to listen to their concerns.

The challenge, Mandel said, is getting city employees on board with the reforms.

"I don't think people are really used to the transparency that we're trying to implement -- they're really not used to inclusive government," he said.

At Tuesday's meeting, Adelson publicly acknowledged a conflict of interest and opted to abstain from a vote regarding the gym she attends. "We are elected officials, we have to disclose any and all relationships we might have," she said.

The council passed a resolution Tuesday that adds a "Good and Welfare" session to the end of every council meeting, where residents can address the administration on issues for up to three minutes each.

Virginia Lee Ross welcomed the council's attentiveness as she described her ongoing battle with a contractor and the city. Ross, who grew up in Long Beach, said the previous city manager and council "had no empathy for the citizens."

"Long Beach has a reputation for bad government," said Ross, who voted for the two new council members.

"They have taken an interest in the people. It's so different from before."