Kevin McCrea & others v. Michael Flaherty and the Boston City Council

Here is a link to the Suffolk Superior Court decision about the closed, private meetings held by the City Council on subjects of urban renewal, zoning, and public health. The Council was found to have created systems to "intentionally avoid complying with the Open Meetings Law."

The public health meeting was with Boston University officials to discuss a tularemia exposure incident on January 20, 2005. Tularemia is bad stuff. Here is what the Centers for Disease Control says about it:

Francisella tularensis is very infectious. A small number (10-50 or so organisms) can cause disease. If F. tularensis were used as a weapon, the bacteria would likely be made airborne for exposure by inhalation. People who inhale an infectious aerosol would generally experience severe respiratory illness, including life-threatening pneumonia and systemic infection, if they are not treated.

Sounds like that if this is getting loose in Boston the public deserves to understand if we are at risk.

The Massachusetts Open Meeting Law "mandates that all meetings of a government body be open to the public and that no quorum of a governmental body meeting in private for the purpose od deciding or deliberating toward a decision on any matter." You can read more about this law at the League of Women Voters website.

Too bad that our City Council conducts its business like Dick Cheney's secret energy task force.