Occasionally, you’ll see a clip from a city council meeting so ridiculous, it could be a scene from “Parks & Recreation.” But we can assure you, such meetings do get wild sometimes.
Startup Hamlet posts a bevy of odd public comment videos to social media, including:
- A man representing the “Rent is Too Damn High” party
- A Pastafarian — perhaps familiar to anyone who was very online in the early aughts
- This woman with a fair point, actually
It’s funny, sure. But it’s part of Hamlet’s larger mission to get people more involved in local government by making city council meetings more accessible, and to offer valuable data to its enterprise clients.
Sunil Rajaraman is a serial entrepreneur who previously launched media site The Bold Italic and co-founded Scripted, a marketplace connecting businesses with freelance writers.
He told The Hustle that he was inspired to found Hamlet after running for public office in Orinda, California — which he did after walking past a sign that said it was short city council candidates.
He didn’t win, but he did experience first-hand how “opaque” local government can be.
City councils decide on the issues that impact our daily lives, whether that’s where a stop sign goes or if a proposed development project can proceed. Yet while the public is invited to comment, many citizens can’t sit through hours-long meetings.
Rajaraman found himself using AI to parse lengthy meetings, and now, that’s what Hamlet does. It takes online video recordings of city council meetings, summarizes them, and makes them searchable.
- Citizens and journalists can use a free search tool to find various topics from 1.2k+ US cities and jump right to where they’re mentioned.
- As a paid service, Hamlet can track projects or agendas. This is useful for real estate developers, political action groups, nonprofits, or anyone interested in a specific issue — e.g., housing, zoning, data center development, etc.
- Hamlet also publishes The District, a weekly deep dive, like this piece that explores why Ann Arbor, Michigan’s city council has the highest dissent rate in the US.
Even more data-driven products are on the way as Hamlet evolves.
“We view it as we need to become the local government company for citizens, for journalists, for government, and for private companies,” Rajaraman said. “That whole ecosystem has to work for an American city to work. And if we can head in that direction, we're excited about that.”
Oh, before you go: Here’s a man who break dances to, shockingly, no applause
