They Hear It Through the Gripevine in San Marcos

Complaining to the San Marcos City Council has become easier than ever, thanks to a computer link between City Hall and residents.

The link, which was established in December but is not yet fully operational, allows people with a computer and modem to connect with the city’s computer bulletin board.

The board gives access to City Council agendas and minutes, and allows people to send messages to individual City Council members and express their views by writing articles that appear on the board.

The link is the brainchild of Chris Preston, 17, the son of San Marcos Councilman Mike Preston, who modeled the computer bulletin board after a much larger operation in Santa Monica.

“The idea is to open up government to more people,” the senior Preston said. “For instance, our bulletin board will be open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m., so people who would like to but are not able to attend City Council meetings can call in when they get off work.”

Private messages may be sent to City Council members or anyone with a “mailbox” in the system, to be read when that person links up to the system later on.

Public messages may also be written on the computerized bulletin board for anyone with a computer and a modem to read.

Computer bulletin boards are information exchange networks designed to connect people with similar interests, using computer links. Bulletin boards have long been used in educational and corporate settings.

The San Marcos service is still too new to have a list of users, Preston said, because the city has yet to be listed in the computer bulletin-board publications.

Only about 10 users--who have heard about the city’s bulletin board through the grapevine--have connected with it so far, according to Chris Preston. The younger Preston hopes that about 50 people will be regular users of the bulletin board when it becomes fully operational Tuesday.

Preston said the total cost of the project, which began in September, came to just under $200, which includes bulletin board software and software to convert city hall programs to the bulletin board. The bulletin board uses existing city hardware.

The service is free to any resident with a computer and a modem. The bulletin board’s modem number is 744-0511.