City Council President Robert A. Maiocco had reached his limit, and - to his credit - he showed tremendous patience on August 6, 2013. But after Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. clerk Harvey Alberg harangued one of the councilors, the long-time TV3 president, Francis R. Pilleri, Jr., refused to abide by the council rules. He was so unprofessional and obstinate that Pilleri, a Senior Messaging Manager at Tufts Health HMO, was finally ejected from Alden Chambers by a member of the Medford Police Department.
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This was probably a first in Medford, Massachusetts history. The president of a non-profit being removed by the police from City Hall. In retrospect, it seems even worse than when the shocking event actually took place. We citizens have to abide by the rules and show respect, so why should the only real members of a tiny group of renegades be allowed to be boorish and disruptive? When Councilor Robert M Penta asked Harvey Alberg a simple question: "Who is on the board of directors (of Medford Commnity Cablevision, Inc. - a publicly funded entity dependent upon cable TV subscriber monies to exist) Alberg got defensive, loud, angry and went on the attack.
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Councilor Paul A. Camuso, seeing an opportunity to help his friends at TV3 out, asked for "unlimited speech" about TV3 - and then to invoke "Rule 21" to shut down all talk about TV3 for the next 90 days. Not so coincidentally, this council meeting being discussed (Tuesday, August 6) was exactly 90 days to the election scheduled for Tuesday, November 5th --- exactly three months from the date of this particular council meeting.
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Council candidate James Morse, a frequent blogger on Patch, noted at the last council meeting in July that this is "the people's forum" and, since we don't have an access TV station, shutting down any speech before an election is not right. The City Council is currently our only avenue to discuss issues important to Medford residents.
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Council candidate Jeanne Martin noted to Councilor Camuso that he, Fred Dello Russo Jr. and Michael Marks are not subject to the harassment that Councilor Rick Caraviello, Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Councilor Robert Penta and Councilor Bob Maiocco face from TV3. Candidate Martin - also a frequent Patch blogger - also noted how the Mayoenefits from having TV3 taking less money so that the General Fund can balloon an additional $500,000.00 plus every year from the franchise fee cable subscribers pay being turned into a second tax. Ms. Martin is being paraphrased here, of course, but you get the idea.
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No non-profit operating with public monies should behave the way the three board members of MCC TV3 behaved at the City Council on Tuesday night, August 6th. It was unprofessional. It was offensive to the citizens of Medford, it was patently dishonest.
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Harvey Alberg was befuddled in his attempts to keep changing the subject to the distractions the TV3 board had prepared. Councilor Maiocco called it, rightfully, a "Dog and pony show" and TV3 did itself no favors bullying councilors who only want to know who is on the board of directors, where the meeting minutes are, what the financials are, and why they aren't operating.
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Alberg and Pilleri were outraged that the public funding the entity dare even ask where our money is. But to see a police officer having to remove the self-appointed president of a non-profit public charity, on camera, for all of the residents of Medford to view, backs up what I've been telling this community for the past ten and a half years. The kind of behavior I have witnessed and warned you about you saw on camera tonight.
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Alberg and Delucia - who call themselves "money managers" while also claiming they engage in sloppy bookkeeping (figure that one out if you've ever phoned them looking for advice, which they've asked TV3 viewers to do in the past) brought up a Jeffrey Bradley from Indoor Doctor. Mr. Bradley seemed nice enough, but started using vernacular that went over the heads of anyone listening - a TV3 tactic, for sure, but now they are using someone from out of town to play their game for them.
Check out the Indoor Doctor here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3eFHiGaYnc (Preview) (Preview) (Preview) ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Upset that their "president", Frank Pilleri, was removed, the Vice President, Ron Delucia, approached this writer and displayed pure anger. I was definitely cautious when he came near. Delucia blurted out a vicious expletive aimed at me, so I immediately reported him to the officer who had removed Pilleri.
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That the Indoor Doctor was being paid by TV3 to be there - and had to experience the invective hurled at me by the vice president, while watching the president of the corporation that hired him be removed by the police department, must have been a new experience, and not a good one.
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In 2013 we need an active TV station to have a discussion of the issues. Patch is fantastic for Medford residents to read about potholes and empty storefronts and the Cradock bridge issue and the Medford Housing Authority and the swimming pool at the high school, but the television platform we pay for is as essential - if not more essential - for election 2013.
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But on August 6, 2013, four months after they went off the air on April first, the three-man "board of directors" (is that even a quorum? Of course it's not!) wanted to talk about mold. When a Councilor asked if they were paying the Indoor Doctor to be there TV3 replied "yes."
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We pay a franchise fee to have a station that is fully operational. It is not to use the money to bring in an expert on mold to try to pull the wool over the eyes of Medford residents as to why we don't have the TV station that we pay for. On January 19, 2008 there was supposed to be an election of a new board oF TV3. Frank Pilleri shut down the election, as I told City Hall he would, as I had inside information. Had the election happened, we would have a fully functional TV station today. But the individual removed from City Hall last night by a member of the Medford Police department decided he didn't want to let go of "his" access TV station. News flash to Frank Pilleri...it is not your station. You don't fund it. You yell at Council President Bob Maiocco about "Free Speech" when you have censored many, many, many Medford residents with impunity.
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We need a new access tv station. When the President of a non-profit is removed by the police from the podium of Alden Chambers, when a senior messaging manager at Tufts Health, which is Frank Pilleri's position in life, cannot behave at a public forum like the rest of us, that is when Mayor Michael J. McGlynn has to finally tell Mr. Pilleri that the party for him is over.