Public hearing about surveillance cameras, Tuesday 3/31

[ron_newman]

I got this e-mail from the ACLU today. One of the surveillance cameras described here is next to the traffic light in Davis Square. Another is on the SCAT building in Union Square. (Anyone know of others?)
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In Somerville on Tuesday, March 31, there will be a hearing before the Committee on Public Health and Public Safety about the issue of Department of Homeland Security-funded surveillance cameras. Somerville is part of a nine-city network that got the cameras through a DHS grant, details of which have been kept secret.

Somerville Meeting on Homeland Security Cameras
Committee on Public Health and Public Safety
Somerville City Hall
Aldermen's Chamber (2nd floor)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - Starts at 7:00 pm

In two other communities in the network, residents have organized against the cameras. In Cambridge, the cameras were unanimously rejected by the City Councilors in early February. In Brookline, after the Selectmen voted 3-2 to give them a year’s trial, residents are organizing to take the issue to the Town Meeting in May.

The Somerville hearing will give you an opportunity to get information about the cameras and give testimony.

To testify, you do NOT have to sign up in advance. If anyone wants talking points for their testimony, please contact nancy@aclum.org. We hope you can be there -- please spread the word!

Comments

[davelew.livejournal.com]

Or a "public art" piece made of coat hangers (to grab the pole) and raised by a group of helium ballons. Not that I'm advocating the construction of such a contraption, I'm just saying all you need is some wire coathangers and helium ballons.