[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] UPDATE: URBANA MAYOR TORPEDOES DN!/UPTV DECISION

[Danielle Chynoweth]

I would like to add a few things to to Randall's announcement of the delay 
in the DemocracyNow decision by the UPTV Commission.

- the mayor spoke in to me several weeks ago saying something to the
effect of "i hear your IMC friends are harrassing staff and commissioners
to get Democracy Now on the air."  This was the same meeting where he 
threatened to use his influence with the press to spread lies that i was 
involved with a conflict of interest if i did not reverse my vote on the 
ward map.  i walked out on our meeting in disgust and will no longer meet 
with the mayor unless our meeting is recorded.

- a few days before the UPTV Commission was to meet to discuss the 
DemocracyNow! proposal (and my proposal to hire an outreach coordinator), 
the meeting was suddenly cancelled and rescheduled for a later date.

- the next week, i was informed that i had been kicked off the commission,
where i have been serving for 3 years and have brought in over 40 new
public access members.  the mayor found a legitimate loophole to allow him
to remove me and so i had no contest.  

- the week after, the UPTV Commission met and for the first time in my 3 
years of service, the Mayor was in attendance.  my input was relegated to 
the public participation section at the end of the meeting.

- This past week, the Mayor attended the UPTV Commission for his second 
time in 3 years (or more) to argue against Democracy Now - calling it 
"ideological" and saying that putting it on could open the way for the KKK 
to insist on downlinking it's programs.

- The radio group at the IMC (which by the way is not involved in getting
DN on the air despite what the mayor thinks) is putting together a feature
piece on this topic for this Monday at 5:30 PM on WEFT.  It will also be
posted to the ucimc.org website.  The Mayor was "not available" for a ten
minute interview, but the city attorney was, so you can get a sense of the
different sides of the story.

- Last week, the Programming Committee of WEFT voted to send a letter of 
support for DN on UPTV to the Commission.

This is nasty politics kidz.  Reminder: the Mayor is up for re-election in 
Spring of 2005.

peace. out.
danielle


On Mon, 12 Jul 2004, Randall Cotton wrote:

> I've posted a "first-pass" accounting of how things unfolded at the UPTV
> Commission meeting today, but I posted to the "peace-discuss" list (instead
> of this list, "peace", which is meant strictly for "big" announcements).
> 
> If you'd like to follow along on how this unfolds or would like to help out
> in this campaign, but you're not subscribed to peace-discuss, you can
> subscribe by going to:
> 
> http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
> 
> (under "Subscribing to Peace-Discuss")
> 
> R
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Randall Cotton" <recotton at earthlink.net>
> To: <peace at lists.cu.groogroo.com>
> Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 3:00 PM
> Subject: [Peace] URBANA MAYOR TORPEDOES DN!/UPTV DECISION
> 
> 
> : Well, I guess I found out where the resistance was.
> :
> : I attended the UPTV commission meeting today and presented the petition
> with
> : over 550 signatures on it. The petition helped a lot.
> :
> : However, Urbana mayor Todd Satterthwaite also personally attended and
> voiced
> : opposition to UPTV commission approval for acquiring FSTV and broadcasting
> : Democracy Now!
> :
> : Now he didn't come right out and say "I'm against this" (though he might
> as
> : well have), but he used specious arguments to dissuade the commission from
> : voting on a motion in favor. One commission member, Kevin Maxson, took up
> : the mayor's reasoning and the commission ultimately decided further study
> : was in order and the issue was put off until the next UPTV Commission
> : meeting, which is two months away (September 13th).
> :
> : If the mayor had not voiced opposition, I'm convinced the commission would
> : have voted in favor of DN! and FSTV for UPTV today.
> :
> : A tentative motion to go ahead with DN! on UPTV was put forth (by
> commission
> : member Pete Resnick) and I heard a majority of the commission vote in
> favor,
> : but then the motion fizzled after further arguments by Kevin Maxson and
> the
> : mayor.
> :
> : Most of the meeting was recorded (I'm kicking myself now for not recording
> : the whole thing myself - it got really interesting at the end after the
> : recording stopped).
> :
> : There is a LOT more to tell on this.
> :
> : Fear not, the fight is not over (it has only begun). I'm confident this
> : effort will prevail, but I will need lots of help.
> :
> : Right now, I have to put together today's Courier on WEFT, but you'll hear
> : much more from me on this later.
> :
> : R
> :
> :
> : _______________________________________________
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> 
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-- 
| Danielle Chynoweth
|
| Art Director * OJC Technologies * ojctech.com
| City Council Member * Urbana City Council * city.urbana.il.us