Thank you, Ms Settanni, for bringing us back to the central issue. You are
right...it is not an 'either/or' discussion.
These 2 venues compliment each other to minimize service gaps; they work
together because each provides different, but overlapping, mechanisms to reach
different target markets...or TM's not limited to one venue. Both aim to
educate and serve our form of government and the needs of its citizens. They
add to engagement and empowerment..terms used a bit loosely these days. I
appreciate Mark's commentssuggesting that when this systemgoes on line, it will
be outdated...all we can do is try to minimize the gaps and increase the
connection points. This is where both the Civic Garden and MTN (& others) can
work together.
But not if MTN ceases to exist.
I read both your report and the one in which Mr. Salo was a task force member.
As I said early on in this discussion, portal plan looks great. Changing the
controversial 'Walled garden' (large media term used when lobbyingFCC, Capitol
and state legislatures)to the 'Civic garden' looks better. Both above-mentioned
reports conducted alot of surveys (+140 in one case) but was the question asked
if Civic garden should replace pubic access or share with public access? Was
this question brought up at the city-wide forums or did participants assume
supporting portals would not impact other venues such as MTN?
The problem is it could become an "EITHER / OR" given the funding source. MTN
cannot take a $100K budget hit without affecting service (and, maybe as City
pages said, its existence). Reading the Mayor's proposed 2008 budget, this
money could easily come from other non-safety/non-basic service areas... Even
from within the communication department's budget which is in pretty good
shape. The budget can be found by going to the city web site, scrolling down to
city depts and linking to city coordinator's office and then to finance
dept.The city's 'search' option brings up alot of old, mixed document
references (by %).
Coming late to this subject, I researched telecommunications and public access
stations. There is a well-funded and intensecampaign by both cable providers
(whose franchise fees pay alot of PA) and large telecommunications co's
(wanting a piece of the internet mkt) to eliminate (or curtail) PA's....
reducing costs and freeing-up the pa's channels for commercial use. Alot of
info on REDLINING (especially in Wisconsin, Florida, Ohio, Ill...and other
states).These firms could not get the US Capitol to loosen public access
requirements so they focused their efforts on a state-by-state basis and within
the FCC.
In another move, they are lobbying to change the per capita fee structure and
allow companies to change established municipal contracts if the agreement
results ina financial hardship. Negotiating these contracts on a state- wide
basis cuts out city input/franchise fees/benefit agreements and allows
redlining of underserved areas.No wonder people may be nervous about
Conglomerates bearing Gifts.
When I mentioned that MTN was part of the early Riverproject, I should have
clarified that, at the time, they demonstrated innovation....it was not meant
to indicate they had done nothing since..sorry.
Some literature uses the term "limited time access". What does this mean?
As you know PA's don't decide content and should (value judgment) offer this
service complementing those portals that may decide content. Examples were
listed as Appendix in previous post. As mentioned in the city's plan, business
will be encouraged to participate and advertise. Coming from the private
sector--Good. But venues such as MTN need to exist to offer content that might
offend an advertiser or impact a carefully crafted PR campaign. How will
political content/ads/campaigns be handled...perhaps that, again, is an area
for MTN.
The number of locations for portals in the plan is ambitious.I may have missed
it in the 2 reports, but is there any provision to wire high-density senior(and
disabled)highrises and provide some level of training?For example,...Horn
towers (31st/blaisdell), Trinity (31st/28th ave), 18th/Central NE, St
Anne's(23rd/26th ave~no),and seniormarket rate Becketwood and Nokomis Coop.,
etc. The large disabled veterans' affordable housing at the VA? This is not
entitlement but compatible with the reports' recommendations and
utilizing'underutilized' seniors as mentioned in the Mayor's budget intro.
I was impressed the commission's recommendations also included providing
computers/laptops for those most disadvantaged in mpls. As a critical part in
fulfilling the commission's recommendations, is the city considering this as
part of the current portal action plan, perhaps through library-style corporate
partnershps?
Finallly, regarding info on impact, gap, cost:benefit analysis within the city
budget (and compatible with city goals) and within Communication's budget...
surveys are not financial analysis. When people are asked what they want, they
also need to consider the opportunityand alternative costs of what they may be
giving up (or what others in our society are giving up).
What other funding sources were considered for the portals and what was the
analysis that determined MTN as the choice? Every city dept must align its
budget request with a specific set of strategic city goals given at the
beginning of the budget. This should not be a hard question to answer unless a
decision wasn't made on a rigorousbasis or other, 'non-financial'
considerations determined this choice.
$100K (plus 40K budget reduction)is so little in the budget but the +20% budget
reduction could result in Mtn's ability to exist.
$100K is so little in the long-termcommunity partnership/corporate agreement.
As technology rapidly changes, there isn't any reason these two systems can't
complement each other to minimize "service gaps"...... unless decision makers
have signed on to the 'eliminate public access' conglomerate philosophy. Follow
the money and follow the Control.
with best wishes,
cheryl luger
nokomis east budget 'geek'
still waiting for city wireless in Nokomis east
ps...just watched a well-done animated, stop action clay figure video on
MTN..it could be run on the internet...but the civic portals would not provide
the equipment and expertise to do this..although decreasing in cost and
increasing in ease of use, not all aspiring film makers have the equipment. MTN
provides the resources and guidance for inner city kids to make these and a
venue to show them...without doing web searches. Y Tube has a ranking system
that sometimes might miss one of these. MySpace can be-at times-a little
confusing. Now for those of us who like some cable(& programing is becoming
less appealing), I'm headed back to TCM's "12 Angry Men". Much better on a TV
screen than on my computer...and I don't have to wait for the shut-offs and
pauses!