Paul Bass Photos
Leslie Radcliffe and Ed Mattison at WNHH FM.
New Haven’s City Plan Commission meetings may never return entirely to their old form, even when (if?) the Covid-19 pandemic passes.
That’s because the advent of remote participation — through Zoom-held session — has shown that at least a hybrid version of public meetings may offer an enhanced version of democracy and participatory decision-making.
At least that’s the view of the commission’s chair, Leslie Radcliffe. She has seen “more participation, more voices” at the land-use agency’s meetings since they went online-only during the pandemic. “That’s good. We’re more exposed to the public. More people can see it. We’re going to do a little more due diligence.” Attendance and public participation have soared since the commission meetings moved online, she reported.
Radcliffe offered that take during an appearance on WNNH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program.
Her colleague Ed Mattison, the previous chair and now the vice-chair of the commission, appeared on the program as well. He offered a different take on how the move to Zoom has affected public meetings like those held by City Plan.
“This is the invention of the devil,” Mattison said about remote-only public meetings.
“There’s no possibility of working things out over Zoom … less speaking to each other in a way that will make something better.”
He spoke of how sometimes an applicant team retreats to a hallway to consider proposed changes and then returns to the formal meeting, or how both sides in a contested issue might do the same.
“On Zoom people get to talk & hear from people they would never talk with,” WNHH Station Manager Harry Droz countered in a real-time comment posted to the Facebook Live version of the program.
“With Zoom,” people just make speeches,” Mattison remarked. “it’s hard to have a back-and-forth conversation.”
City Plan meetings have remained online-only during the pandemic, as some other bodies (like the Board of Alders) have moved at least partly in person, while maintaining an online presence for those not comfortable showing up in person.
Radcliffe said she could envision a hybrid version of City Plan meetings become the norm once it’s deemed safe enough to return in person: Perhaps having applicants and board members in person, while members of the public can choose to sign up to speak in person at City Hall or remotely over Zoom.
Click on the video to watch the full conversation with Leslie Radcliffe and Ed Mattison on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” about online democracy, about the need to avoid “one size fits all” solutions to questions like parking and density, and other land-use issues in town. And click here to read a previous story about how Zoomocracy has been working in local government.
Obviously we need to get rid of Zoom meetings for the reasons Ed gave.
However, we should allow residents to watch over a livestream, and submit their testimony and questions (written or video) via email or phone before or during the meeting, if they can't attend in person.