[Peace-discuss] Ratcheting up the pressure on DN!/UPTV

[Randall Cotton]

I just sent off this nastygram to the mayor, his staff, Urbana City Council
members, UPTV Commission members, and Mike Monson (the city reporter for the
News-Gazette).

R

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
To: "Chris Foster" <clfoster at city.urbana.il.us>
Cc: "Danielle Chynoweth" <chyn at ojctech.com>; "Esther Patt" <epatt at uiuc.edu>;
"Ruth Wyman" <rewyman at hotmail.com>; "Jim Hayes" <jhhayes at city.urbana.il.us>;
"Bill DeJarnette" <bhdejarnette at city.urbana.il.us>; "Ron Eldridge"
<rceldridge at city.urbana.il.us>; "Bruce Walden" <bkwalden at city.urbana.il.us>;
"Tod Satterthwaite" <tfsatterthwaite at city.urbana.il.us>; "Greg Boozell"
<gboozell at juno.com>; "Barb Gladney" <bgladney at parkland.edu>; "Pete Resnick"
<resnick at episteme-software.com>; "Kathy Jessup" <kjessup at usd116.org>; "Dana
Mancuso" <dlmancuso at urbanaparks.org>; "Kevin Maxson" <krm26 at insightbb.com>;
"Steve Holz" <sjholz at city.urbana.il.us>; "Mike Monson"
<mmonson at news-gazette.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 2:51 PM
Subject: No progress on Democracy Now!


: Chris,
:
: Alarm bells are ringing.
:
: I was initially encouraged by your offer (on the morning after the City
: Council vote for DN!/FSTV) to meet with me "as soon as possible, so we can
: get Democracy Now on the air." (e-mail 11/23, 11:41AM) We scheduled a
: meeting for Monday, November 29.
:
: I didn't see why (and you haven't yet explained why) any additional
meeting
: was necessary, since the issues surrounding this have been visited and
: revisited over a period of 8 months. Even if there were a few items of
: information to be clarified, it's unclear to me why any loose ends
couldn't
: just be cleared up by e-mail. This is not a complicated endeavor. But I
was
: heartened by what seemed to be positive momentum, so I gladly agreed.
:
: But then you cancelled that meeting, not explaining why (e-mail 11/24
: 9:51AM). When I spoke to you by phone that morning, you said others now
: wanted to attend (Bruce Walden, Ron Eldridge, Bill DeJarnette). When I
asked
: you (during that call) why this meeting was necessary and why all these
: other folks needed to attend, again you could not explain why.
:
: On Monday, when I asked whether the first step had been taken (signing the
: Free Speech Affiliate Agreement), you said no and that "nothing will be
done
: until we meet this week" (e-mail 11/29 1:04PM). You also said "I will get
: with you tomorrow AM about a meeting time". When Tuesday morning arrived,
: there was no meeting time and you said "I hope to be in touch with you
this
: afternoon about a meeting time." (e-mail 11/30 10:46AM). I have yet to
hear
: from you on scheduling this meeting more than a day later. And now, there
is
: an additional delay - you tell me a "Memorandum of Agreement" must be
drawn
: up for me to sign (without explaining what this agreement is or why it's
: necessary) and that the meeting won't even take place until that is
: completed (e-mail 11/30 10:46AM).
:
: At this point, I am very disappointed - the same pattern of the past 8
: months is now repeating again - strings of broken promises from you as a
: result of administration moves and mounting, inexplicable, unjustified
: delays manufactured by the administration.
:
: Most disturbing is the fact that, a week and a half after the City Council
: vote, the trivial, very first step of signing and FAXing the Free Speech
: Affiliate Agreement has yet to be done. There is no meeting required for
: this. The City Council explicitly directed the administration to execute
: this task, it only requires putting pen to paper and FAXing a one or two
: page document that doesn't even obligate the City to anything, yet the
: administration persists in dragging this out beyond 7 months now.
:
: The mayor has said the city wanted to "get the Democracy Now! TV show on
as
: soon as we can" at the November 22 City Council meeting. Regardless of
what
: anyone in the City administration says, I remain unconvinced. As yet,
there
: hasn't been a single substantial action toward that goal (which begins
with
: signing and FAXing the FSTV Affiliate Agreement).
:
: Be assured that unless substantial progress is made this week, planning
will
: begin for loud public demonstrations at the City Building.
:
: R
: