Greece Tries to Do Away With the Public in Cable Access

This last week both the towns of Gates and Chili voted to turn control of public access over to Time Warner. Greece, although they do not post their agenda before the time of the town board meetings, is expected to follow suit this Tuesday, June 16th.

For over two and a half years, citizens of Greece have been fighting to save their public cable access channel from government control. Despite continuous requests by citizens for a public hearing, Supervisor Auberger has refused to have one. At one point, Kathryn Firkins, Director of Constituent Services, stated that there had been a public hearing, but when this reporter FOIAed the town records, there was no record of a public hearing. When this reporter inquired about this lack of records, she was told that they do not take minutes at this type of meeting and when she asked who had run the meeting, that information was unknown. . At one point in fact, when this reporter attempted to ask Supervisor Auberger about why he will not have a public hearing, he moved quickly away from this reporter into an office, closing the door in this reporter’s face.

Public Cable Access Channels are required by law to be furnished by the cable company, in this case Time Warner, as basically payment for use of public land for their cables and wires. Under the PEG law, Time Warner furnishes public access, government access and education channels. Throughout the country, local governments and the cable companies have been trying to get rid of cable access channels. The cable companies do not want to have to furnish the stations, especially when they are lower numbered stations because those are highly desirable for corporate stations, which generates revenue for the cable companies.

The Greece government’s sneaky attempts to take over the public access channel started as far back as 2000, with a school bond initiative. Media equipment had been listed as a item on the initiative, however media equipment turned out to be a $750,000 television studio. The studio however did not become public until 2007, when it was announced that the town wanted Greece Olympia High School to run the station. After an outpouring of outrage from citizens of Gates, Greece, Hilton and Chili, the Greece School Board decided that it would not be in their best interest to take on running the public access channel. The Greece government then attempted to recruit another provider. They advertised in the Rochester Business Journal and informed other organizations and people of the bidding process. Edu Cable provided a bid, which was lower than any other, so why is the town not honoring the process. When this reporter inquired about why they were seeking another provider, Ms. Firkins stated, “This is how they have always done it”. The problem with this answer was that the Caterino family, who currently runs Edu Cable, started the Public Access Station almost 3 decades ago and when this reporter asked Brian Caterino, the current provider, he stated that there had never been a previous bidding process. This reporter asked Ms. Firkins about why they wanted to get a new provider and why the supervisor was refusing to have a public hearing, she stated that “This is how we handle all our contracts.” This reporter followed up by asking isn't there a difference between a public access contract and a garbage contract. Ms Firkins stated that “the people elected Supervisor Auberger, so he represents the people.” I'm sure some Greece residents would disagree with that statement.

Governments, like Greece, Gates, and Chili, all one party controlled, want to control the dissemination information and quash dissenting views and opinions. An example of this was when Supervisor Auberger canceled his Saturday morning call in show. Was this done to avoid having to answer tough questions from the public on issues coming to light in Greece? There was also an episode with the Greece School Board, when a tape was provided to air of a school board meeting, but it was discovered that it had been altered. There was a part showing the current school Board President, Julia VanOrman, telling people at the school board meeting how to vote on the budget, which against the law. A complete tape was provided by another source and aired.

There are many scandals and investigations going on in many of the West side towns. In town of Gates there are questions about financial mismanagement and its leaders are embroiled in the ROBUTRAD scandal. In the town of Greece there is an ongoing investigation and questions regarding the integrity of its police force, not to mention serious questions about a lack of open government. The town of Chili faces difficult and contentious development issues .In the town of Parma Rick Lemcke has been tossed out. These are just a few of the current issues. With the changes in enrollment and all the scandals in the towns, the upcoming elections could result in some highly contested elections. NO wonder the big push to get rid of an outlet for free speech, dissent and a possibly source for real information.

At the June Town board meetings in Gates and Chili, the town boards voted to let Time Warner provide their Public Cable Access. In Gates, the vote on public cable access was not even listed on the agenda. In a memo obtained from Time Warner, it stated that it will provide only the bare minimum of service– and does so in a way that will actively discourage much of the publics participation.

Here is what the citizens will not longer get if Time Warner becomes the provider.
1) There will be no local facility for originating of public and governmental access programs, no studio and no studio equipment. Residents will effectively be disenfranchised.
2) There is no equipment such as video cameras available for loan to residents to tape programs and no editing equipment for residents to produce their own programs and shows.
3)There will be no full time staff to assist and advise residents. No one to answer calls and questions and to help facilitate local public programming. The question of scheduling programs on the people's channel is unclear. There will also be no staff to provide community service and outreach or to do video recording of local community events.

In the past Educable worked along with the initiatives of Chili residents to bring video recording of the Chili Town Board to the public for the first time. It has taped candidates nights in many towns and villages, political debates, community meetings, school programs and public forums, chamber of commerce events and even festivals just to name a few. All these will be discontinued.

Many of you readers might not live in the Edu Cable service area and might think that this does not affect you. As you know so often, that something happens in one area, like a virus it will infect other areas. On Tuesday June 16, 2009 at 6:00pm, come out to the Greece Town board meeting and defend the people’s station. If we do not speak up now, it might be your town or city next.