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1st Amendment Television
Topics: Politics, public access television, Clovis
Posted by DoctorMason Wed Nov 7, 2007 09:00:02 PST
Viewed 1334 times
0 responses 0 comments Last night, the Clovis City Council passed their
 Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act
 (DIVCA) ordinance. This action ensures that Clovis
 will be a part of the statewide franchise agreement
 that will bring in about $100,000 a year for Public,
 Education, and Government (PEG) access channels and
 a Community Media Center (CMC). The statewide
 franchise agreement starts on January 2, 2008.
 
John Holt, who is the Clovis City Clerk and is on
 the Community Media Access Collaborative (CMAC)
 board, gave the presentation to the Clovis City
 Council. Randy Reed, CMAC chairperson, also gave a
 strong and persuasive statement in support of the
 DIVCA ordinance. The ordinance was not controversial
 and passed unanimously.
 
The intention of the ordinance was that Clovis would
 join with the City of Fresno in working
 collaboratively on PEG and CMC, using CMAC as the
 entity that would run and operate the project. Since
 the City of Fresno has not passed their DIVCA
 ordinance, Clovis included a provision that directs
 them to revisit the issue in 90 days if a compatible
 ordinance is not passed in Fresno. The Fresno City
 Council is expected to discuss their DIVCA ordinance
 on November 27, 2007. 
 
Holt said that Comcast had contacted his office
 yesterday and said they no longer want to renew the
 exertions to the existing franchise agreement. My
 understanding of the significance of this action is
 that Comcast is waiting for the state franchise
 agreement to be implemented. There was no
 representative from Comcast or AT&T at last night's
 Clovis City Council meeting. AT&T has indicated
 their interest in providing video service within the
 City of Clovis.
 
As supporters of PEG, we need to take the time
 between now and November 27 to lobby the Fresno City
 Council to adopt a DIVCA ordinance that will provide
 funding the full 1% for PEG access and a CMC. We
 also need to make sure each council member is not
 only in agreement with supporting this DIVCA
 ordinance, but also that they support CMAC as the
 entity that will oversee PEG.
 
In addition to contacting all Fresno City Council
 members on this issue, we should do whatever we can
 to get our friends and allies to do the same. The
 fate of PEG in this area will be decided in the next
 couple of weeks. The work we do leading up to the
 November 27 Fresno City Council meeting is essential
 to the success of this project. 
 
To contact any of the Council Members, please call
 (559) 621-8000
 
Blong Xiong
 Acting Council President
 Councilmember District 1
 district1@fresno.gov 
FAX (559) 268-1043 
 
Brian Calhoun
 Council Member District 2
 district2@fresno.gov 
FAX (559) 621-7892 
 
Cynthia Sterling
 Council Member District 3 
district3@fresno.gov 
 
Larry Westerlund
 Council Member District 4
 district4@fresno.gov 
FAX (559) 621-7848 
 
Mike Dages
 Council Member District 5
 district5@fresno.gov 
FAX (559) 490-5395 
 
Jerry Duncan
 Council Member District 6
 jerry.duncan@fresno.gov 
FAX (559) 621-7896
 
Henry T Perea
 Council President
 Council Member District 7
 district7@fresno.gov 
FAX (559) 498-2541 
 
Andy Souza
 City Manager
 Fresno City Hall
 2600 Fresno Street
 Second Floor
 Fresno, CA
 93721-3600
 Phone: 559-621-7770
 Fax: 559-621-7776 
 ---------------------------------------------------------
 
Mike Rhodes
 Editor
 Community Alliance newspaper
 P.O. Box 5077
 Fresno Ca 93755
 (559) 978-4502 (cell)
 (559) 226-3962 (fax)
 AllianceEditor@comcast.net
 http://www.fresnoalliance.com/home/

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