San Francisco is one of the most progressive cities in the country – supposedly open to every opinion, and having a public commission or advisory board for just about every agency – but you wouldn't know it from the way the folks over at the Department of Public Health are shutting out citizens from their community advisory board meetings. The health department's HIV Research Section Community Advisory Board has been up and running for several years, but when local gay activists Hank Wilson and Michael Petrelis starting asking about the body, it was revealed that Dr. Susan Buchbinder, who runs the CAB, doesn't want the general public to attend its meetings. Buchbinder, in an e-mail to Petrelis, said it's the health department's view that the CAB "is a private volunteer group of community members. It is not open to the public." Never mind that the CAB was established as part of a federal National Institutes of Health grant. And never mind that Buchbinder sits on not one but two NIH-related AIDS advisory committees. And never mind that the www.bethegeneration.org Web site has listings by city (under the heading "Get Involved") for those seeking to participate in AIDS vaccine efforts, including joining a CAB in San Francisco.
Buchbinder told us that the CAB needs to be private in part to protect the private health information of its members. But that reasoning doesn't fly with us. We agree with Wilson, a longtime activist with Survive AIDS, who told us that anyone who sits on a CAB should expect to have not only their name but also contact information made available to the public. Wilson also noted correctly that if sensitive information is going to be discussed then the CAB could hold a portion of its meeting in closed session. We suspect that most people would find that a reasonable accommodation.
It hasn't always been like this. Back in 1997, when the health department established a CAB for post-exposure prophylaxis, the Bay Area Reporter attended and articles were written about those meetings. We even publicized upcoming meetings. Nothing was said then about barring the press or forbidding AIDS activists from attending. That particular CAB generated much media attention and also was established as part of an NIH grant; in fact, in that grant application, there is a timeline that specifically states that researchers would "secure CAB concurrence."
Now, Buchbinder maintains that the CAB isn't public. We disagree. And while we haven't heard a definitive answer yet from staff of the city's Sunshine Task Force, it's just good public policy that the CABs should be open to all, whether its required by the city's administrative code or not. By its very name, a CAB implies "community."
This lack of transparency, however, is nothing new at the health department. Back in 1998, the B.A.R. filed a complaint with the city attorney's office about the HIV Prevention Planning Council after the paper alleged that the HPPC violated the state's Brown Act. After two months of legal research and discussion, the council finally voted to abide by the state's open meeting law. The city attorney's office said at the time that because of the unique way the HPPC was established – as part of a grant requirement by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – it did not legally have to follow the Brown Act. So, while there does seem to be murky legal ground with respect to committees run by DPH, we think the input the research section CAB receives from the community would be beneficial. But that's not happening right now.
Meanwhile, in Oakland É
We were not surprised to read in Tuesday's San Francisco Chronicle about Oakland Mayor-elect Ron Dellums's efforts to keep his advisory boards under wraps and away from public scrutiny. During the election earlier this year, Dellums could hardly be bothered with talking to the media, particularly the gay press. But Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson did a little digging and found that while hundreds of Oakland residents may have applied for the more than four-dozen committees or subcommittees that Dellums established after winning the June election, he apparently has reneged on his commitment to open government. Very little information on these meetings has been released to the media, Johnson wrote.
In a twist, Johnson discovered that the committee meetings do not have to be announced under state open meeting laws because Dellums won't take the oath of office until January 8.
One of those committees reportedly addresses LGBT issues, and the out lesbian who heads it, Peggy Moore, declined to be interviewed when Johnson contacted her. We attempted to call Moore Wednesday, but were unable to contact her.
Public bodies should operate in full view of the public they purport to serve. This means letting the sunshine in for San Francisco CABs and Dellums's advisory groups in Oakland.