Supervisors’ Meetings to Be Aired : County board: New member Zev Yaroslavsky wins push for televising the weekly sessions. The broadcasts could begin by March.

Powered by its media-savvy newest member, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors entered the television age Tuesday.

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky joined Gloria Molina--herself no stranger to the lure of publicity--and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke in approving a proposal to televise the board’s weekly meetings.

In his inauguration speech Monday, Yaroslavsky had made televised board meetings one of the key components of his bid to open up county government.

“In 1987, Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall and challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to ‘tear down this wall.’ Today, I ask my new colleagues to join me in tearing down the barriers we have erected between the people of Los Angeles County and their government. Let’s televise our meetings,” he said.

Molina, who presided over her first meeting as board chairwoman Tuesday, likewise has long argued that televised meetings would make county officials more accountable.

But she had previously failed to sway her colleagues, who had voiced reluctance to spend the money--officials estimate annual broadcast costs at $300,000--at a time when the cash-strapped county is fighting to preserve basic services.

This time, the third vote was provided by Burke, who despite misgivings about the costs of the plan yielded to the enthusiasm of her two colleagues.

Supervisors Deane Dana and Mike Antonovich opposed the motion.

“Should we be spending money while we are in the most severe budget crisis in county history?” Dana asked. “Are we making sense by using these funds for what some might call self-aggrandizement?”

But Yaroslavsky, joining his first debate as a supervisor, spoke out forcefully in support.

“This isn’t about promoting board members as individuals, it’s about promoting the board to the public,” he said. “Don’t get caught up in this budget stuff. There are 100,000 things we do that the public would put their thumbs down to if they knew we were doing them. But there’s a reason why we do the things we do and a justification; $300,000 to bring the board to the public is not a lot.”

The county will put out bids for production and distribution services. Officials estimate that meetings could be broadcast by the end of March, most likely on KLCS, which is operated by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Molina said the supervisors must be more creative in how they manage resources and govern the county.

“Forging partnerships with other local governments to deliver services is an idea I would like to pursue; what we cannot afford on our own may be possible if these cost-cutting local partnerships are created.”

She urged creation of a body of county, state and federal officials that would work to solve county problems, as well as a new budget committee that would meet monthly to improve the county’s fiscal planning.