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Phil Bronstein writes that in lieu of the required end of the year “State of the City” address, the man-child mayor produced a 7½ hour marathon, delivered as a 10-part webisode via YouTube.  No reporters were present, no questions were asked.

Maybe it’s a quaint and outdated view but I always thought public officials were elected by a real people public and answerable to them. Last time I checked, the Mayor was not listed as a virtual official.

Like pushing a button on a drinking fountain and getting a fire hose, viewers who tune in are assaulted for 30-45 minutes at a time with randomly strung-together facts on a particular subject.

Remarkably, after hearing all those statistics, one comes away still not knowing much about where The City is going.

Gavin uses Web 2.0 technology to remove himself further from the actual public square of politics that allows residents to mix it up with their elected officials.  He claims to want a dialogue, a discussion—yet the comments section of the videos was initially turned off until essentially people forgot about Gavin’s 7½ hour monolgue marathon.