[Peace-discuss] breakthrough on DN!/UPTV

[Randall Cotton]

Well, today there was finally a genuine breakthrough. The process has
finally started in earnest at UPTV to get DN! broadcasts going (apparently,
the nastygram below was the final necessary shove that shook things loose).
Specifically, the mayor signed the Free Speech TV Affiliate Agreement and
Chris Faxed it to Free Speech TV. That should trigger the shipment of the
necessary satellite equipment (and I'll make sure it does). It's not over
yet, but progress is finally materializing. I won't celebrate until I
actually see Amy Goodman coming out of my cable box, but it is a significant
milestone.

One tempering development, though, is that the "Memorandum of Agreement"
they drew up sticks me with every last penny of all costs in perpetuity. In
the past it was always understood the City would pay for the mounting
equipment and installation and that I wasn't obligated to pay for the
programming for future years. But here at the last minute, they've changed
their mind (though in fairness, I've always offered to pay all costs, if
necessary). I just signed it - the whole idea is to get the damn programming
thing on, after all. It's tough to say how much more it's going to cost.
I'll worry about looking for reimbursement from AWARE and others later,
after broadcasts start up.

R

Original Message ----- 
From: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
To: <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 2:56 PM
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Ratcheting up the pressure on DN!/UPTV


: 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 ge
t
: : 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
: :
:
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