Lonely Alderman 15 Starts Tomorrow

By Margaret Lyons in Miscellaneous on Sep 26, 2007 10:55PM

We cannot wait for tomorrow. Not just because it's the season premieres of The Office and Ugly Betty, but also because there's an even more important show debuting. On the internet.

We write, of course, of City Council Meetings, which, starting tomorrow, will be streamed online. Clear your calendars; the meeting starts at 10 a.m.

These meetings were supposed to be broadcast back in 2004, but aldermen are pretty pretty princesses. "Some aldermen complained that cameras free to pan the Council floor could paint an unflattering portrait of inattentive aldermen. They were afraid aldermen who arrive fashionably late, wheel and deal on the Council floor or doze off during long-winded speeches would be forced to clean up their act or risk providing video evidence for aldermanic challengers." And people say our government's priorities are out of whack.

The Sun-Times story says the "cast will be on the City Clerk's website," which we found tough to believe because ... well, click that link. It's like, the hyper color T-shirt of websites. But we called to check and were told the broadcast is a go, and tomorrow we should just "click on the website." Okiedoke. The fancy schmancier Committee On Finance site is supposed to carry it, too, but while that site's more attractive, it hasn't been updated since September 5.

We'll keep you posted on what happens when 50 aldermen stop being nice and start getting real(ly boring). 10 a.m. is too early for a drinking game ... right?