As I mentioned in my last post, there are challenges to reporting on the county supervisors. The only place to record what goes on at a county supervisors' meeting is a bank of audio outlets inconveniently close to the dais, from where board members can conveniently keep an eye on the media. The seats near this outlet are often taken, leaving TV and radio journalists to stand awkwardly in the aisle.

At the State of the County address, the audio feed was, again conveniently, made available on a loading dock outside of the Balboa Theatre, where it was impossible to see anything. (The city provided numerous audio outlets inside the theater for Mayor Jerry Sanders' State of the City address.)

The committee rooms, where the county's much vaunted Regional Fire Protection Committee meets, have an audio outlet the likes of which I have not seen in years. I happen to have a dinosaur connector to fit, but it turned out the audio feed only picked up half the mics in the room, not including the podium or the chairman's microphone!

Covering the San Diego County Board of Supervisors is no easy feat. The board meetings often end so rapidly that if you are 20 minutes late they are already over.

If you arrive on time, you are likely to spend 20 minutes sitting through endless proclamations congratulating worthy causes around San Diego.

The business of the day is usually safely decided before the five supervisors take to the dais.

So few members of the public show up to speak on agenda items that decisions often pass on consent...and are never discussed.