Written Monday, February 21, 2011
Hold McGlynn Accountable!
In 2005 Councilor Breanna Lungo-Koehn called for a small class action suit.
Around that same time a local Executive Director at a station a few cities away wondered why residents of Medford hadn't filed a class action suit.
On Tuesday evening I spoke at the City Council of Medford and was stalked by 5 members of TV 3 and a sixth individual unknown to me. The police came to Alden Chambers so that this writer could leave without intimidation, bullying and threats. On 2-22-11 I filed a (certified mail) complaint with the Civil Rights Division of Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. They squelch First Amendment rights in Medford via these tactics of threats and harassment.
Some of the material here is from the court evidence against Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. Those materials I've put into elements of this new essay.
Published in the Medford Daily Mercury, Page 4.
It's an election year. With Mark Arena succeeding Stephanie Muccini-Burke on the City Council of Medford we have the first new face on the council in awhile. New faces bring fresh ideas...and an opportunity for changes in how things are done over at 85 George P. Hassett Drive. In order to bring about change the public needs full access without restriction to the public cablespace...space that the public pays for in the form of a franchise fee on every Comcast bill sent out every month.
The residents who fund the Public, Educational and Governmental channels need full access to all three of those media platforms. An interesting comment by City Council president Robert A. Maiocco in another local news outlet was quite telling. Maiocco said: “The City Council is the only public forum that the people of the city have to address their concerns."
This appears to be the Council president being very clear that the Government Channel, 16 on Comcast is the only current outlet for Medford residents to be broadcast on without interference. Channel 15 is the educational channel, channel 3 is the channel designated for public access.
Currently Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. holds the contract with City Hall. That corporation charges approximately $30.00 to join and has a plethora of rules, regulations, policy and procedure (as well as By Laws) which make access to the access channel a daunting enterprise. The rules change often and quietly, no matter what the rhetoric the station issues to defend policies which hinder free expression by every single resident in this city. One example of that is how some board members and staff enjoy free "lifetime memberships" to TV 3, as noted in Mark Rumley's report of February 2008.
Back in 2005 Councilor Breanna Lungo Koehn stated at a council meeting: "The gentleman did speak to the City Solicitor, Mark Rumley, just if he has an opinion on anything the City Council can do because if they are acting illegally there should be some step we could take, or the citizens of Medford could take as a group, as a small class action. If he (the City Solicitor) could just give us some recommendation..." Lungo-Koehn went on to wonder about TV 3 not "having open public meetings" saying further "It is unfortunate TV 3 is run the way it is."
In 2008 Councilor Robert Penta said on the Government Channel "that the Mayor immediately just close down Channel 3." His reason is that he felt it didn't serve anyone in the community.
Shutting down the station isn't the answer. The answer is to have term limits, oversight, transparency and accountability. This writer asked that of the Mayor in a meeting in October of 2006 when I wrote an initial report given to the Mayor and the City Council. This preceded the Rumley Report of February, 2008 by sixteen months.
A component of the agreement the City of Medford signed with Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. calls for "outreach." The station has acted in a manner which makes the term as vague as humanly possible. The problem is that the spirit of the agreement means that TV 3 should go beyond the call of duty to reach out to the community. The current Board of Directors does the opposite of what is called for in the contract they signed with the city. That contract expires sometime in 2015.
TV 3 publicly attacked a group they titled "the great eight" and called me the leader of their list of alleged opponents. The focus they have is to discredit anything anyone says that criticizes the operation of the access channel. My question is - how does this help the community during an election cycle? This is when as many voices as possible are needed to discuss life in Medford. This is the short time before the November elections that we have decide on who will be elected, the individuals residents go to for the potential solving of problems.
On Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 I will be speaking at the City Council of Medford, The petition is #11-066 regarding the Human Rights Commission and how it functions in this city. It was eight years ago that I met with City Solicitor Mark E. Rumley and Human Rights Commissioner Diane McLeod.
On February 18th, 2011 Ms. McLeod wrote this to me: "The Human Rights Commission does not take cases any longer. We stopped doing that years ago when one case took almost a year of our time. As you know I am the only staff and everyone volunteers their time. We felt working on educational issues and prevention was a more productive use of the Commission's time, especially when their are state and federal entities in place to handle such cases."
That's pretty chilling when so many human rights issues have been brought to the attention of City Hall in regards to the non-profit currently handling TV 3. The TV 3 Policies tell complainants to go to the Mass. Commission Against Discrimination but that's disturbing as the M.C.A.D.
only has jurisdiction over companies who employ over 5 or 6 people. The Attorney General's office has a Civil Rights division, but if you've read this far, you get an idea of the complexity of filing a grievance and the limited resources that are available for the Comcast subscribers and residents, businesses and civic groups when it comes to accessing the access channel free from hassle.
Walking down Salem Street last week a fellow stopped to thank me for my efforts in regards to community media. He said he wished he didn't have to pay the franchise fee and he said he wanted a new Mayor. Today (Monday, 2/21/11) at Dunkin Donuts on Salem Street there was a discussion of neighbors about just these issues.
People are talking. But this city has no currently active Cable Advisory Committee or some such body to ensure that local residents can access the airwaves without the threat of harassment, retaliation or the abuse that's been the experience of the majority of short-term members of TV 3.
Two more members have left the station, one a notable sports host. He informed me that another host of another sports show also left (making that three members no longer producing at TV 3). Rather than TV 3 continually blaming the messenger perhaps it is time for the Issuing Authority, Mayor McGlynn, to show he has a heart for his constituents and to either install a new board of directors at MCC or hand the agreement over to a new group who will make the airwaves open to all residents.
The town of Hingham's access TV station discussed Medford's problems at one of their meetings. Rather than having other communities praising us, we have other cities and towns looking at Medford as how NOT to run an access television station.
It's an election year. Turf wars don't help the tens of thousands of residents of this city. An access TV channel with no restrictions, no $30.00 fee, and a cheerful and helpful staff is what many other cities and towns have. Medford deserves no less.
We have to hold Mayor McGlynn personally accountable.
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