To improve accessibility and transparency, the city of Santa Maria now offers live closed captioning (subtitles) in English or Spanish during its government meeting broadcasts.
The dual language captioning gives viewers, including those who are hard of hearing, a resource to watch and understand what is happening with their local government.
The closed captioning is for live and replays of City Council and Planning Commission meetings on Comcast Cable Channel 23 and streaming online at CityofSantaMaria.org/tv.
Viewers using Channel 23 can use their remote control or TV settings to enable captions. English captions are available on CC 1 and Spanish captions are available on CC 3 in the settings. Videos explaining this are on the City’s YouTube channel.
City Council and Planning Commission meetings broadcast live the first and third Tuesdays and Wednesdays of the month, respectively, with both meetings starting at 5:30 p.m.
The meetings are also rebroadcast the other Tuesday and Wednesday nights in the month along with 9 a.m. replays of the City Council on Thursdays and the Planning Commission on Fridays.
This service is among those the city provides to ensure access to its programs and activities to residents with Limited English Proficiency. According to Census data, about 66 percent of Santa Maria’s population speaks a language other than English at home.