154,740
WE WON!
THE MEDFORD MASS. TV3 BATTLE
Citizens Win! Frank loses!
FRANK PILLERI LOST. PILLERI AND HIS COHORTS, RON DELUCIA, HARVEY ALBERG AND ARTHUR DELUCA GO DOWN IN DISGRACE AS THE CITIZENS GET THEIR ACCESS TV CHANNEL BACK
the upcoming August trial will potentially be filmed for part of that mini series. Permission was refused when asked to film the arraignment in Somerville District Court. But that's ok, Superior Court is a different matter and the public's right to know will prevail, we are quite confident in that.
THE ENTRENCHED CRONIES ARE DISGRACED, AND ONE OF THEM IS ON TRIAL FOR A FALSE BOMB THREAT!
http://medford.patch.com/groups/joe-vigliones-blog/p/whats-good-for-the-community-with-public-access-television
"Public Access television has been for many years the main platform
for the general public to express its views to the widest public
available in an unfettered 1st amendment free speech manner" is the opening statement in a lawsuit that was presented in one of the states fighting to preserve access TV.
The
city of Medford now has a golden opportunity to move forward. The
citizens will have a chance to see what they've been missing out on, as
Medford has never, ever, ever had a real public access TV station.
Access is not about the few controlling the message...it is about the
community having a voice.
Mayor McGlynn says in the article posted on Patch:
“I look at this as an opportunity to search for fresh
approaches to community access television that are based on a foundation of
transparency and inclusiveness and that also allow for the fullness of artistic
and individual expression,” McGlynn said in a statement.
Those
words spoken by Mayor Michael J. McGlynn are now something we can hold
the Mayor to. He got them right from my playbook as T.O.T.A. - this
writer's idea to clarify access tv - was the battle cry in 2005 -
Transparency, Oversight, Term Limits, Accountability. It's what this
citizen was asking of the Mayor when I met with him in 2006. Now we can
dwell on the fact that it took the Mayor eight years to get religion,
but why bother? The committee's chairman is a very nice man, the
Reverend George "Chip" Hines.
What is interesting here
is that Father Chip, according to the Pilot newspaper dated January 17,
2014 in its CLERGY APPOINTMENTS section notes this:
Father George C. Hines from Pastor of St. Joseph Parish, Medford, to
Pastor of Our Lady of Sorrows Parish, Sharon, to Pastor of Blessed
Sacrament Parish, Walpole, and to Pastor of St. Mary Parish, Walpole.
What
the community is not aware of, and what the old Medford Community
Cablevision, Inc. was probably not aware of, was that the Mayor had
decided to appoint Father Chip Hines to the board of MCC TV3. When
things started disintegrating to the point of no return it seems that
appointment was a moot point, redundancy here intended. Thus the cute
little comments you might have seen on my commentaries "TV3 to get
religion" but, as I said earlier, time to move forward, not backward.
* * * * *
Now in a perfect world the Mayor would also call up School Committee
Person Robert E. Skerry and accountant Richard Giovino and add another
five individuals to that oversight board, the Cable TV Commission of
Medford.
With only a 3 person panel, having a 5-7
person cable TV commission would help guide the panel with information
the panel might not be aware of. The more the merrier if we are to bring
about a clean, exciting new opportunity to Medford while keeping the
problems of the past away from this situation for at least the next five
to ten years.
My opinion - as stated at a city
council meeting, was and still is that the Mayor needs at least a five
person panel, not a three person panel. The good news is that Allison
Goldsberry, Fred Laskey and Chip Hines are all good people and easy to
get along with. Gold star for Michael McGlynn there. But their most
obvious asset to the Mayor is their alignment with the McGlynn
Administration and not necessarily their understanding of access
television - Father Hines appearing on the Catholic Channel and Allison
having been a board member of MCC giving them some experience, but
clearly not the experience that some in the community who have spent
decades and decades in access have. Which is easily solved, of course,
by expanding the panel from three to seven.
And without
the panel having more than three people, a cable TV commission could
serve to make the new public access entity more...well, public.
* * * * *
The presence of Goldsberry is good in that the old TV3 Medford can't
complain it is not represented. Fact is, Allison Goldsberry was
appointed or elected to the old MCC Board and actually disagreed with
the former president of the station. That gives her knowledge that can
be of some value to the citizens of Medford. What were her
disagreements and now, with her experience at the high school, what is
her particular vision. That input is good, but is of greater value when
combined with four additional people on this panel which currently only
has three.
That was part of my argument at the city council and I stand by that position.
This is not just about any one producer - be it sports host Johnny
Byers (who is delighted with the news and intends to be at the Monday
night meeting at the Medford High School Library) - or sports enthusiast
Chris Donovan or the video company Gravity or Jimmy Morse dot com or
Kitty Connection or this writer. It is about the community.
A fresh start without the problems of the past is what is needed.
Last night on WinCAM - Winchester Community Access and Media - Barbara
Harris of The Toys talked about her upcoming benefit concert with Leslie
Uggams, Dionne Warwick, The Cookies ("Chains" - a song covered by The
Beatles) and others. It is for the New York City Foodbank which feeds
about 400,000 people a day...a worthy cause (and full disclosure - I
helped bring some of the artists to the benefit concert). Public Access
is great for benefits, for other non-profits to get the word out. We
also had Buzzy Linhart discussing meeting John Lennon as the great
engineer who worked with Lennon, Roy Cicala, passed away this week. And
our film critic, Frank Dello Stritto, spoke about the Hercules movie
airing tonight on our Friday Night 9 PM movie show.
Access is alive and well. This host has brought many, many Medford
residents to access TV in Winchester, Winthrop and other stations, as
well as on MadeInMedford.com
But the internet is still
in its infancy when it comes to being a "public access venue." Those
who have cable TV and no internet, especially our senior citizens, would
rather watch the P/E/G channels.
Now, at long last, we
will have that opportunity. It is something a few of the councilors and
this writer have fought for over the past decade. It's a key moment in
access TV in Medford and we will make the most of this opportunity that
we pay for and that we deserve.
http://medford.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/mayor-announces-members-of-new-cableaccess-committee
McGlynn appointed the following members:
- Father Chip Hines, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Medford,
who also co-hosts Catholic TV’s movie review show “Spotlight,” will serve as
the committee’s chairman.
- Frederick Laskey, executive director of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority,
who formerly co-hosted a show in Medford about energy issues
- Allison Goldsberry, webmaster for the Medford Public Schools
and City of Medford, who also teaches web design at Medford High School and is
in charge of the school’s educational access TV station
