Lots of Local Leaders Live - Tonight!

Tonight half of our channels are devoted to the democratic process by cablecasting LIVE meetings from the seats of local government.  Usually we reserve channels 26 and 29 for government programming, but tonight we are spilling over onto Channel 30 so that we can bring you 3 LIVE MEETINGS.  We apologize in advance to Channel 30 producers whom we have pre-empted for this night only.

We think it's important to bring these meetings to you.  You can't always get down to City Hall but you can watch right in your own home and stay on top of what your elected leaders are talking:

Menlo Park City Council Special Meeting Live on Channel 29 at 5:30 pm
Palo Alto City Council Live on Channel 26 at 7:00 pm
and
East Palo Alto City Council Special Meeting Live on Channel 30 at 8:00 pm.

Click here to watch any of these meetings streaming from our website.

Click here to see the government meeting broadcast calendar.

JEAN RAMACCIOTTI WINS AWARD - RECEIVES LETTER FROM OBAMA!

Jean Ramacciotti

The producer of Spirit Talk has won the prestigious "2012 Martin Luther King Jr. Drum Major for Service Award."  Jean Ramacciotti received a letter from President Obama, thanking and congratulating her.  The award is presented "in recognition and appreciation of your commitment to strengthening our Nation and for making a difference through volunteer service, addressing the most pressing needs in your community and in our country."

Jean was nominated by the Islamic Networks Group (ING) for her interfaith work.  Jean has been a regular speaker at the Interfaith Speakers Bureau (IFSB), speaking at schools, colleges, companies and service clubs about promoting understanding and cooperation amongst all religions, particularly Hindu, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism.  She is passionate about justice, tolerance and the individuality of faith.

We congratulate you, Jean.  What an accomplishment!  We are so proud of you and glad you produce your TV show with us!

A recurring theme of Jean's long-running show, Spirit Talk, is  finding points of intersection, compassion and empathy among faith communities.  To watch Jean's Show, click here for the schedule.

Learn more about what this significant award means.  Check out the website

MC Staff Pay Tribute to Mayor Sid Espinosa at Council Meeting

Last night at the first City Council Meeting of the year, Yiaway Yeh was elected mayor of Palo Alto for 2012.  Greg Scharff was elected Vice Mayor.  Meeting over?   Not by a long shot!

The tradition of thanking the outgoing mayor after the election of a new mayor took an interesting turn as hundreds turned out to fill the City Hall chambers and dozens spoke in praise of Sidney A. Espinosa's unparalleled contributions to civic life during his one year tenure as mayor.    Among the "polliterati" speaking during the public comment of the meeting were were  Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss, former Palo Alto Mayor Gary Fazzino, California State Assembly  Rich Gordon and California State Senator Joe Simitian.

Media Center Executive Director Annie Folger and this writer Programming Manager Becky Sanders had their turn at the podium.   They thanked Mayor Espinosa for raising the visibility of the Media Center in the community.  By partnering to produce videos for use in his official e-newsletters and social networking outreach and by attending events sponsored by the Media Center, Mayor Sid made our volunteers know how much he appreciated their efforts and was their champion.  Annie Folger summed up the comment with naming Sid "the poster child for community media."

The Media Center was hardly the only non-profit, business, civic organization, cause et cetera and so forth to benefit from Sid's amazing embrace of community.  It was unanimous:  Sid was "everywhere" in 2011.   He did everything from cutting ribbons to making speeches to touring constructions sites to digging holes to pulling weeds, to reading to children, to camping out at Quakeville, to biking everywhere -- oh we could go on and on!

But you can watch the entire program!    It is available Video on Demand.

Herein we include a few links to just a few select video clips:  Councilmember Larry Klein and then Mayor Yeh's summing up and Sid's gracious acknowledgement of the evening's festivities.