AN EDITED VERSION OF THIS STORY APPEARS IN THE MARCH 22nd MEDFORD DAILY MERCURY!
STORY IS ALSO ONLINE ON THE BOSTON GLOBE'S MEDFORD PAGE BOSTON.COM/MEDFORD
Tiny URL
http://tinyurl.com/chevalierchannel3
Chevalier Theater and Cable Television will get new commissioners
By Joe Viglione
Last year Medford residents were talking to the City Council about The Chevalier Theater and public access television. From out of the blue Mayor Michael J. McGlynn has announced that he is looking for one addition to the Chevalier Civic Auditorium Commission, for a total of 5 representatives, and he seeks three new people for the seven person Cable Advisory Commission.
The Chevalier has been a hot topic of late with the magnificent room on Forest Street not having as many high-profile shows as the Lynn Auditorium, Regent Theater in Arlington or Stoneham Theater in Stoneham. This writer suggested to the City Council - and anyone listening to the broadcast - that there is a natural synergy between the Chevalier Theater and a new public access television station that could benefit this city in a variety of ways.
I have told the City Council of Medford that making room for a TV station at the Chevalier would save Medford residents money and benefit both entities. The current non-profit pays tens of thousands of dollars in rent while a neighboring town pays $1.00 a year for space in a public building while Winthrop and Stoneham both own their own buildings.
Which brings us to the issue of Public, Educational and Governmental access tv. In 2005 the Mayor signed a ten year agreement with Comcast and an additional ten year agreement with a non-profit to operate a studio for broadcasts on channel 3. In 2006 I wrote a report for the Mayor after meeting with him at City Hall - and at his request - which was followed by a report by Mark E. Rumley - Report On Present State of Public Access Television in the City of Medford. Mr. Rumley has stated publicly that I was never authorized to write a report, which is absurd - any Medford resident can write a report at any time, however Mr. Rumley was not in the meeting I had with Mayor Michael J. McGlynn and the late Richard Lee and we weren't having tea or discussing the Field of Dreams...or the painting of the crosswalks. Anyone who has followed this story knows that the main issue I've been discussing with City Hall since my initial meeting with the Human Rights Commissioner, Diane McLeod, and City Solicitor Rumley as far back as early 2003 - eight long years ago - is the situation with channel 3.
My twenty-seven page report in 2006 (whether the Mayor wants to acknowledge that he requested it or not, it still exists) was clearly the driving force that led to the Rumley Report which led to the Evaluation on October 29, 2008 by Judge Marie O. Jackson-Thompson, her second evaluation hearing of November 15, 2008, the audit of Medford Community Cablevision, Inc. by Melanson Heath & Co, PC and the eventual release of Judge Jackson-Thompson's "Hearing Results, Findings and Recommendations."
In the opinion of this write, who first broadcast on local origination "public access" in Somerville in 1979, this amount of activity is unprecedented when it comes to an access television station. And something that I've asked the City Council is very simple: where is the Cable Advisory Commission with so much time, money and effort being spent on an evaluation and an audit?
In June of 2008 I noted on the MedfordMass groups Yahoo site that the Mayor's Cable T.V. Commission link was missing from the city of Medford's website.
The Cable The 7 members of the Cable T.V. Commission at that time were former City Councilor Robert E. Skerry, Richard Giovino, Michael Wyche, Michele Bordieri, Donald McCarthy, Raymond McDonald. and Richard R Trotta who taught - and who may still teach - audio/visual at the high school.
In August of 2006, before I wrote my initial report to City Hall, information on Merrimack's Cable Television Advisory Commission was sent to the City Solicitor of Medford. That group's mission was very clear - and missing in the city of Medford:
The Merrimack Cable Television Advisory Committee works to provide and promote a medium, a method, and a facility for the greater Merrimack Community to
communicate a diversity of non-commercial messages. AND THAT BODY'S PURPOSE:
Purpose
The purposes of this Committee shall be:
1. To recommend policies and procedures to the Franchising Authority (in Medford the Mayor's title along these lines is "Issuing Authority" ) for the use of the public access channel;
2. To monitor the use of the public access channel and the public access center, and to make recommendations to the Franchising Authority regarding the non-appropriate use and/or non-compliance for such use by any individual or group;
3. To promote the use of the public access channel and the public access center;
In March of 2011 Mayor McGlynn states that "Cable Advisory Commission acts in a supervisory role to the local cable channels, by recommending policy changes, meeting with cable company representatives to discuss issues of mutual interest, report to the mayor on company compliance with the license, respond to citizen questions regarding the cable television system and keep the community informed about community programming."
Why it has taken so long to put this entity back in action after years and years of complaints is a big mystery...however, it seems like things are moving in a positive direction. Medford needs a fully functional Public, Educational and Governmental TV situation. Other cities and towns enjoy this...Medford deserves no less.
