I guess I’m supposed to be over the moon with the City of Vancouver’s decision to give us media types “easier access to city spokespeople.”
You didn’t hear?
Yep, received an email Friday from the city’s head of communications, Rena Kendall-Craden, saying I can now directly contact 29 city staffers when I have a question about a long list of subjects, including housing, transportation, animal control, development and snow.
So, does that deserve:
a) a woo-hoo!
b) a hmmm…
or,
c) big whoopee thrill.
I’ll get to my reaction in a few paragraphs.
First, let me tell you why you should care about this offering from the city.
Getting direct access to staff should theoretically mean a more comprehensive story that comes with more facts than comment/rhetoric from politicians.
Such access should also theoretically eliminate us from using canned statements from the city’s communications department that don’t always answer our questions or provide context to a story.
Which is all good, no?
For those of you counting, I’ve used the word “theoretically” twice now.
Call me skeptical/cynical/grumpy but I’m still miffed Mayor Gregor Robertson and his ruling Vision council took this access away from us four years ago. It’s been a gong show and you, the reader, have taken the biggest hit.
There was a time I could call up any staffer at the city and ask about a report they authored, or get some understanding of why a left-turn bay cost $1.5 million, or learn what the heck floor space ratio or bonus density means.
All this information, whether I used it or not, was helpful and informative.
So what was wrong with that system?
Here’s what Robertson told me back in April:
“There were concerns that there wasn’t follow-up that was tracked from one central place. There was also concerns around the time required of different staff to respond to many requests — that departments and staff were running their own communications hub rather than having a more efficient system like other cities have.”
Now the mayor seems to want to make city hall friendlier to reporters.
After his inauguration Monday, Robertson told me it was his idea to give us access to the 29 staffers.
“That was a commitment I made during the campaign and I felt that we needed to make that change and spoke with the city manager about that,” he said. “It’s an important step to make sure that concerns raised by media, by the public are addressed.”
Hmmm, must have missed that speech he gave during the campaign about amending the media policy. It was quite clear the NPA wanted to do this, so maybe that’s why Robertson credited the opposition party in his inauguration speech about the need for more transparency.
So who do we get to speak to at city hall?
Some of the spokespeople include city manager Penny Ballem, transportation director Jerry Dobrovolny, general manager of planning and development Brian Jackson and chief housing officer Mukhtar Latif.
But will they actually be available?
Here’s what Kendall-Craden said in her email.
“As I am sure you recognize our senior staff are often busy with their operational responsibilities, but we are working with them and their office staff to assist in making them more available to you with backup from our communications staff. Over the next few months, we will be touching base with you to review how it is working.”
I’ll be sure to let you know.
In the meantime, can someone at city hall please tell us what’s in place when we’re at an open house — and city staff won’t speak to us — or want to clarify a comment or point made by a staffer during a public presentation at city hall — and city staff won’t speak to us — or we want to speak to the author of a report who is not a designated spokesperson.
I’d like to know.
I’m guessing our readers would, too.
Note: I wrote a feature about the city's restrictive media policy during the election campaign. You can read it here.
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