http://news.yahoo.com/michigans-witness-gay-marriage-trial-barred-171156615.html
"The fact is you're still a student. Someone else is still grading your papers," said attorney Ken Mogill, co-counsel for two Detroit-area nurses challenging the gay-marriage ban.
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When consumers pay a high premium for a service, and one elected official, in this case Michael J. McGlynn, has to sole authority to oversee that entity, shouldn't the customers get their money's worth? Why should cable TV subscribers paying a high price get someone wet behind the ears (in both schooling and manners) forced into a position where that individual was drowning so badly that the citizens got nothing, yet still have to fork over monies for on a monthly basis.
Michael J. McGlynn has been in power almost as long as we've had a cable TV contract in this city.
Just as I have urged - and continue to urge - citizens to look at other cable access stations as a model - something anathema to the previous regime as it showed exactly how bad they were, despite their posturing of ludicrous Alliance for Community Media awards which demand an admission fee.
So too we need to look outside of the Medford city borders to understand how Mayor's function in other municipalities. Let's look at Canton Ohio
http://cantonohio.gov/mayor/?pg=344The Mayor serves as the top conservator of peace in the City. The Mayor maintains safe streets by appointing and supervising the city's Director of Public Safety, who works closely with the Police and Fire chiefs to control crime and establish programs that preserve the health and welfare of Canton residents.
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The City Council has become a more peaceful place when the Mayor's friends at the dissolving non-profit have stopped the buffoonery up at the Council which led to the removal of the self-appointed president and the former president and then legal counsel for the station. Two for two, as they say. Two now-former presidents of your cable TV station that couldn't behave in public. Then, on April 27, 2010, three additional members of the station, invaded City Hall to harass, bully and intimidate a citizen exercising his First Amendment right to speak at the podium.
Because they had failed so miserably up at the podium (before and after that reprehensible event) they had, according to a signed affidavit, decided to engage in criminal conduct to harass a citizen. Think about it. They didn't have the intelligence to speak articulately at the council (one of the harassers being caught on camera flipping the bird in council chambers, right at the doorway. For shame,) so they thought by engaging in ugly conduct prohibited by law that they would scare people away from the discussion.
The fault lies with Mayor Michael J. McGlynn, taking all his sweet time to institute a new access TV station.
On or about October 3, 2013, when the old regime was finally booted out, the Mayor said he would appoint three individuals to create a new access station. The Mayor chose three wonderful people that are easy to get along with and are smart. However, and this is McGlynn at fault again, not the consumer, not the appointees, and not the city council, the Mayor did not choose people experienced in cable TV - his good friend Joe Fortunato (who took photos at the Mayor's party at Carroll's,) anyone from Gravity - a professional video company operating in Medford, none of the former members (and to be objective in writing this, I am not including myself only because I am the author of this essay,) former board members of MCC on the right side of the argument, and many, many others from surrounding communities who - read this very carefully - already offered their services to State Rep Paul Donato and to others.
My reading of the Open Meeting Law is that the citizens should be apprised of the next cable TV hearing, and it should be sooner than later.
http://www.medfordma.org/community-access-tv-committee/
Meetings
The Committee held two public meetings in February. The next meeting will be posted here, date and time TBD.
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The Mayor, I believe, is intentionally attempting to move the goal posts back to April of 2015 when the Comcast contract is up for renewal. That would be bad for the city of Medford. While other cities and towns are grandfathering themselves in, this city, under the direction of a Mayor taking your money but giving you color bars, did not have the wisdom to demand excellence from a board of directors a retired judge found - just as Joe Fortunato did - to be engaging in "private MCC access" (Fortunato's term was similar - "Private Public Access".)
Mayor McGlynn failed to act as a Mayor should. He, McGlynn, has an obligation to this community, not to his buddy buddy pals/friends at Comcast. Comcast appears to be running the show, not Michael J. McGlynn.
McGlynn has a responsibility to:
1)Install an emergency access TV station to benefit the citizens
2)Ensure that there are sufficient postings of the next series of cable TV hearings... a series of them
3)Look into an emergency situation and place the new station (temporarily as a "test site") at the Chevalier Theater.
It's very simple. The Mayor is intentionally dodging this issue. It took a Freedom Of Information Act promise from the City Council before the Mayor responded. Where is the bank book from the former TV station? Where are the meeting minutes? Where is the dissolution? Do they plan on an "involuntary dissolution" to allegedly hide something?
Clearly the board members of Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. have contacted an attorney or two to discuss their options, especially in the light of the arrests of Stanley and Stephen Komins of the West Medford Hillside Little League and the webmaster / former board member of TV3 who behaved badly on April 27, 2010, and again in 2013. No one listened when the community had complained for decades about that individual, including complaints from the Budget Director, city councilors and many, many local residents harassed on TV by a member of the station's board of directors. That individual will face a judge on August 15, 2014 or make a plea deal, but the point is, a grand jury made a decision and validated the many complainants who went to the Mayor with demands for help.
What did YOUR Mayor do? He congratulated the individual accused of a false bomb threat. The Mayor used School Committee time in an inappropriate fashion to have a college student fumble at the podium, then - adding insult to injury - McGlynn himself warmly praised the person McGlynn had received a stack of complaints on.
McGlynn has shirked his responsibilities and OWES it to us to clean up his act. Holding the media hostage and failing to have an access tv station benefits the Mayor. He loves not having any criticism, even if it means CENSORSHIP: blocking the sports, the plays, any kind of social activities being cablecast to the consumers paying for the service.
McGlynn has to be held accountable. He is the reason we have paid huge amounts of money for services we have never, ever received in a free and open format.
The former individuals who intentionally wrecked the access TV station want to be able to join the new station. Aaron Hernandez wants to re-join the New England Patriots too. The community wanted access tv we didn't receive. Banning the culprits is as logical as keeping Aaron Hernandez away from the public he allegedly hurt. Perhaps this August Medford will finally get some justice when one of the TV3 crowd allegedly faces judge and jury - the individual who had the audacity to tell Judge Elizabeth Cremens, while under oath, that he was NOT one of the TV3 crowd. Your honor, there's a police report dated April 27, 2010 which is in direct conflict with that individual's dishonest testimony!
Fine. Maybe we won't have to ban them. Maybe the whole lot of them will be put on trial. Then we won't have to ban them. Then the citizens of Medford can go to the city council or to access TV and not have to face cowardly, bullying individuals who hurt this city in a deep and despicable way.
Mayor McGlynn, that is all your fault and on your watch. You owe this city, Mike McGlynn. You owe this city. We demand an immediate, emergency tv station. Failing to install one in the next month will only show the community how insincere you have been in regards to opening a new access TV station.