Dear Members of Council,
I would like to take this opportunity to clarify the situation with the proposed PublicAccessTV station and offer a bit of a bigger picture vision for you as we move forward with trying to close up this cable franchise agreement.
Some say Boro Council is going to force cable subscribers to pay an additional $6/year for this service and that .50 per month cost will cause economic hardship.
Some don’t want us to broadcast local government meetings.
Sadly, some are speaking ill words driven by ill logic designed to squash your rights and the rights of our citizens.
The fact is we have options at our disposal which can secure this service with no additional monthly fees passed on to subscribers and there is no support by anyone on Council to pass such charges on to the subscribers. The “option” to enter in this opportunity in our contract costs nothing. Should, down the road, the community wish to band together to make this a reality, then, of course, their may well be cost and if a group wants to get it together and cover those costs, then the station can be a reality.
Anything else you have heard to the contrary is coming from those who are misinformed, or, are blatantly trying to derail an opportunity, a possibility, and option, before it even exists through the spread of lies. This is very sad, in my opinion, and such people should be ashamed of their tactics and their attempt to squash the free speech and dreams of others who see this as a good thing.
Here are the facts on this situation…
FACT:
“Our Town; Curwensville” Remember how this PBS special brought the community together? Imagine being able to produce such content on a daily basis, broadcasting it throughout our community and promoting it on the web all while providing our youth a new job skill that’s with the times and that they’ll embrace!
FACT:
We can air:
· Youth Sports and School Events
· Education
· Independent Documentaries
· Governmental Meetings
· Church Services
· YOUR Opinion and/or Talent
· and so much more!
FACT:
Public Access TV is about YOU and was established to help protect your Constitutional Right to Freedom of Speech.
Call me naive, but it seems that officials who swore an oath to “protect and defend the Constitution” should stand in support of public airings of governmental meetings espcially and in support of your right to exercise your Freedom of Speech. Not to mention their obligation to support community development initiatives the promote community, cooperative ventures, technology, art all while providing our youth with a chance to learn a valuable skill, help their town and have fun in the process!
Do the facts matter to you? If so, then please speak up in favor of this wonderful opportunity. We can do this!
I have faith that our community is truly behind this initiative and I look forward to working with you on this ground-breaking project if they would be allowed to see and really investigate the big picture. I urge you to not let the concerted effort of a few negative people cast an independent black-out over our town. It’s time we look to the future and our youth. It’s time we think out of the box and support initiatives like this. There can be nothing but good come from this initiative.
The notion of PublicAccessTV is that it is truly the people’s media and it’s there for all of us to empower individuals and amplify their voice. Don’t resign it to death by denying the people of Curwensville a chance to even try to make it work. Please do your civic duty to support free speech and community engagement as well as showing faith in our citizens by approving the OPTION for a PublicAccessTV and then getting out of the way and leaving it up to the people to try to find a way to make it work should they choose to do so on down the road.
For more on this issue and some wonderful links to other communities who are using PublicAccess TV to great positive affect, please find my Boro Council page on Facebook for videos and more on all local topics, or just look me up in the book and give me a call! I’d love to share possibilities with you.
You can visit me on FB for more here:
You can visit the beginnings of online TV for Curwensville here.
Sam A. Ettaro
Curwensville Boro Council