Rich Cahill is attacking Mayor Sottile in the paper but if you read the article it is clear hizzoner knew nothing about this until today.
The logic just does not make sense, why would Sottile care now about attacks on his administration? After non stop bashing last year by Cahill and others Sottile and almost every candidate he supported on a city level won their respective offices.
KPA is not a threat to Mayor Sottile, he actually supports the station..the few producers that take shots at him are more an annoyance then anything else.
If anything Hein, Bernardo, Auerbach, Quigley, K.Cahill, Yess, and others may take a sigh of relief that they don't have to endure the negative and most of the times untrue commentary on their respective campaigns,
Although it's a double edge sword, it is disappointing the public will not have an opportunity to listen directly to the candidates in this venue. As a former Vice-Chair of the KPA commission and current producer, I know the great asset KPA is and I hope that it will be back up and running soon.
Important notice to all Kingston Area Public Access Producers!
The Kingston Fire Marshal has closed the studio until further notice. Please note that this is a result of building code violations. The cause and the ultimate resolution of this situation is out of the control of the KAPA Commission.
As a result of this closure all producer access codes have been suspended and there can be no access to the studio for live or pre-recorded programming. We will attempt to keep the Community Calendar on the air and we’ll use this as a way to keep you and the community informed of our situation.
Please be assured that we are working with the landlord to have this matter resolved as rapidly as possible.
Regards, KAPA Commission
32 comments:
PURELY Political. To think not is blissful ignorance!!!
Hambone
The long and tedious feud of the city and it's public access station needs to come to an end.
The latest safety concerns are the culmination of a rocky relationship at best and a downright nasty one at worst.
The City spends more on bottled water in a day than it has donated to public access in the last few years.
Public access is never going to be Vanilla TV. We have enough of that with the other 2,472 channels.
It is different and it is vital to a community with seniors and shut-ins that utilize and enjoy it.
I suppose it does require a little more critical thinking than sitting like a zombie and watching FOX or MSNBC. I enjoy my zombie time as well but public access is local, timely, controversial and interactive. If we lose it we will not be better for it...smitty
I suspect politically motivated gremlins were hard at work creating fire hazards.
The City of Kingston is partnering with the Arts Society of Kingston helping them with their projects.
Why can't the City of Kingston and Mayor Sottile partner with the Kingston Public Access and help with our projects? Can anyone answer this question?
I read the news today. Oh boy...
Is that how the song went?
If this communities officials could work up 10% of the energy others like the Town of Ulster can seem to do in a positive way, KAPA would be in fine shape.
It takes more than melodrama to keep a TV station solvent. Funny thing is all but one of them USE the station whenever the opportunity present itself...smitty
PS If they all knew what sad shape the studio was in, please ask them what they did the many times they were asked to give few percent of the 365,000 dollars they recieve as a franchise fee from subscribers to bring the place up to code. They had $10,000 dollars for UPAC, $4950 for a Hodge Center cleaning contract not to mention the zoo, parks and festivals.
All worthy causes but none more worthy or financially lucrative( $365,000) than KAPA. Safety concerns did shut down KPA but there is no doubt in anyone's mind Political deaf ears helped to make it happen and that's no fiction!!!
The building is a joke and anyone who has been down there can see that...it was only a matter of time until tis happened or something worse. Cahill needs to get a life...no one really cares about his conspiracy theories anymore.
You are unbelievable
You cant smell a rat if he was sitting on your face.
Jimmy hates that people actually listen to a bunch of folks complain about the shitty job he is doing.
Thats the fact.
Political.....I don't think so my friend. Please keep in mind that
$365,000 goes to Police, Fire, DPW
and to help keep our taxes as low.
And yes I do not mind that some of my tax money goes for UPAC,Kingston
Zoo, Parks and the Hodge Center. All of the things I just listed are positive things for Kingston and our community. Mr. Smith can you tell me one positive thing that comes out of Monday Night? Just one and if it is reasonable I will cut KPA a check myself. KPA
does or did have good shows on.
Like Shelly Zimbler, Jeremy Blaber Or KHS TV
or the Kingston High School Basketball Games.
To me it is very sad when
some KPA Board Members say
my Fire Dept... Who have saved
the lives of some of my family
members is some 'political arm'
of the Sottile Admin. It is just not true.
To some of the 'Reagan Republicans'
I cannot understand for the life of me when you can ask me to spend
my hard earned tax money on your
political shows. The GOP Minority
along with a few Democrats wanted to put over $5,000 of City Funds into the station. When I asked some of the elected officials why they would spend the money the response is 'well its only 5K'
Try and sell that to some homeowners..
In my view the KPA Board has had a chance to turn things around and it has not happened. Every few months we get the same old story
about Sottile is trying to silence people. It is getting a little old.
Get out there with your fund raising
do not look to the City Taxpayers to bail it out.
Bob,
Check out STAY AT HOME MAN. He could teach you how to break a few eggs and make a good omlette. Mon.at 6PM
Please be aware that a franchise fee is paid by subscribers and not all taxpayers. The implied intent of which is to support the station as is done in over 10,000 municipalities nation wide.
Awaiting your generous donation!!!
smitty
8:09. Those gremlins you refer to are to be US citizens soon, and we just extended them rights of habeas corpus.
Mr. Smith
It looks like you have made my
argument. In serious financial times as we are in you want to
have the city spend my money so
someone can cook an egg? The
Council needs to pass legislation
to disband KPA. It is time to stop
all the threats and nonsence from
producers who have way to much time on there hands.
Let's look out for the taxpayers
I have been in the building trades all my life,what i saw in the freeman photo was a couple of extension cords and a bunch of data wire,just like most of us have in our own homes.THE building dept.gives thirty days to correct violations to others,why 2 wks.for k.p.a.They also are to give a detailed report to the landlord
Based on what I saw in that building you are going to need more than two months to correct the hazards that exist. And as a cable subscriber and tax payer. I do not want any of my tax or franchise money going to fund KPA. It is for the most part useless. Everyone does the same show..."lets see who we can bash and then take some phone calls to bash some more." Let them raise their own money.
Bob
Watch what you wish for you may just put a spell on it and get it...smitty
I love how no one wants to address the fact that people living in the upstairs have been shut out of their apartments as of july 4th. they were given less then a week to get there stuff out and move. With no help from the fire department or landlord or kingston to help relocate or find a place to live or put them in a hotel or anything.. what is more important your tv show?
What important things come out of Monday night on Channel 23, you ask??
How about freedom of expression? How about contrary opinions? How about inside governmental information that the average citizen cannot get.
You are an insider, Bob. You've been a proud and good committeeman for the Democrats for many years. You even served proudly as City Chairman. As such, you have become privy to inside information that the average taxpayer almost never hears about.
Though I admit that I use my program to present my political viewpoints and to make certain points, I also use it to help people and to give them the inside scoop. (From my point of view I suppose)
For example, I received calls about various different problems people have had and I instructed them what agency to go to and how to remedy the problem.
I also have used the show to break stories that needed to be told. As a member of the Human Rights Commission, you know about the allegations made against people at DPW. The three women felt helpless and did not think anyone would tell their story. They were worried the Freeman would expose everything so quickly that they could not handle it all. I used my show to help them and get their story out at a pace they could handle and deal with.
I also have allowed my show to be a place for frustrated taxpayers to vent. The reval has hurt a lot of people financially and they need a place to vent their frustration.
Not all programs on Channel 23 are good. There are many I do not watch. If you or anyone does not like the program my father and I produe, you are free to shut me off. You can also do as Jeremy Blaber did and get a show to air an opposite point of view. I know you have the skill, intellect, and political experience to put forth a good liberal -- uh-- I mean progressive show.
I know you do not agree with me politically, but I know we respect one another. I think some good comes out of channel 23 and I like to think my show has redeeeming value and serves a good purpose. I do admit that I get a bit bombastic from time to time, but we all have to have fun.
Cahill - There's lots of fun to be had with your sesame street puppets. Now you'll have a little more time for that.
Your show is an embarassment to the city of Kingston. I'd hate to have people considering a move to the city happen upon a Monday night on KPA.
Public Access is a great thing and maybe this hiatus will help to reorganize. Better leadership and intelligent programming is needed over there in a very big way.
If it were not for the fact that the Mayor has tried various tactics (including the denial of funding at one point) to shut down Public Access TV, no one would think twice about the City shutting down the studio. However, it seems quite apparent that he simply found a viable way of doing so while passing the buck.
They say that where there's smoke, there's fire. The smoke of Mayor Spottile's displeasure with open criticism of his administration has sparked quite a firestorm.
The KPA gets what it deserves. The rat nest wiring in the exposed ceiling shut it down. The Building Department is doing its job. The geniuses that are in charge had someone setup the lights and sound so they would get better picture and sound. I was going to offer to fix the wiring when I was rudely cut off because I was late to the KPA meeting and they had more important business to discussed, like bringing in a pro sound and light man.
Do you really need a license electrician to unplug all the unnecessary extension cords and have only two for the two spot lights?
KPA could be a 501c, it's not. It could have two channels, one just for politics and one for community.
It could have more shows than the 35 to 40 that run half the time, but very few people have the temperament to put up with the nonsense of the KPA. KPA should get a small share of the franchise fee the city receives.
The KPA commission are hypocrites. They have removed board members for holding a political office, but have their own shows on channel 23. Is that not a conflict of interest? You could use your position on the commission to squash other political opinion.
The mayor was to keep his hour time slot and all others to have only 28 minutes. I care very little for any of the political opinion expressed on KPA but it's very clear that commission leadership can not run KPA. Which is destroying any chance of channel 23 becoming something watchable. The mayor could change it, but choses not to.
Dale Morgan 'Duey's Off The Wall'
I have one question for Cahill. Why should my money be used for you to have free expression. It would seem that there are numerous other outlets for you to express your views without burning my tax dollars. You certainly have a right to express yourself any way you want regardless of how ridiculous your views are. However, you do not have a right for a forum or for funding in order to express those views. This building has huge issues and you know it. From what I can tell there are least 15 major violations in the building found during a normal inspection. This building is a rat trap that needs to be fixed. You want to express yourself write a blog...oh you already do that and it costs me nothing...knock yourself out.
Go uptown and take a look at the pike plan, you will see wire;s hanging down., along with garbage and unsightly store fronts. to me it looks like a ghetto up there.
to 10;45 am, you 100 percent right. those store fronts need to clean up and really need to take down the wood in front of the stores so we could see what is there and not see all the rotton wood.
The money is for everyone, not just me. Anyone can have a show if they want. You just contact the commission and you get training and a time slot.
If you want to get a show to make fun of me for 30 minutes, you can. You can have shows on politics or any subject you want. There are exercise shows, historical shows, political shows, and religious shows, to name a few.
Stop making the debate on public accesss a debate about me. It's a debate about free speech, not me.
No KPA, No Richard Cahill!!! Thank God! Who wants to watch a guy with such negative energy. His show isn't the Kingston Chronicles it's the Bash Jimmy Sottile Show! He's still bitter because he lost! Get over it, move on. Lets start working together in a positive manner that will benefit our city!
Smitty (4:18 PM) - you are correct that only cable subscribers pay the franchise fee - but the franchise fee they pay is a general fund revenue to the city that is for the benefit of all taxpayers.
If his show is so pointless, then why does it bother you so? If he has no political juice as you claim, then neither you nor Sottile would give a rat's behind. Since you obviously do, I can only surmise that Cahill is on to something.
Why should my tax dollars go to pay for YOUR health care? That is, if you want to argue why your tax dollars should go towards KPA
Lets just remember If this is a real violation then its a good thing, but if it is not then GOD WAS JUST MOCKED AND HE WILL NOT BE MOCKED! All the shows about JESUS CHRIST was just turned off, I pray that it is going to be fix and I pray that we can watch our churches on 23. Does anyone really care but me? Please fix the problem.
10;01am and others.
Thank you for the info but again my point is, where does this money come from and what is the implied intent (as it is in 10,000 communities nationwide) but to support the station.
If taxpayers are the sole criteria, why can't those of us who don't visit or utilize city parks or the zoo get to pro-rate our taxes down-ward?
11;17 You make a GRRRReat point. If it didn't bother them the propaganda hounds would not be watching or barking.
As for 7:14pm Please let's not get HIM involved. I don't know if this community can handle any more authority figures, real or imagined who have a great deal to say and nothing to do???smitty
1:46 AM
The intent (purpose) of the cable television franchise fee is not to fund public access television or to pay for health care for municipal employees or to fill potholes in the streets, but rather to compensate the people for the use of the public right-of-way. It is a general fund revenue that benefits all city taxpayers by reducing the general tax levy. It is not not has it ever been a funding stream that is dedicated to pay for public access television. To the extent that city parks or the zoo is supported by the general fund, all of these programs and services are supported by the franchise fee.
7:14 - I contemplated this issue with Jesus as I meditated on the question this sunday, and let me assure you Jesus is completely indifferent to public access television. Jesus was merely concerned about the public safety.
Regardless of how serious the alleged hazards are at the KPA studio, why does this require that all programming be stopped until the problems are corrected? Public access does not require a studio to thrive -- just look at New Paltz, which has no studio available whatsoever and has a live broadcast modulator available at Village Hall if a number of criteria are met. If, for some reason, the modulators for live broadcast were inaccessible, New Paltz producers can, and do, submit tapes and DVDs to both the municipality and Time Warner Cable for broadcast. Why isn't this option available to KPA producers?! Close the studio, but don't eliminate KPA altogether. Outrageous.
Cahill why do you keep commenting that this is a free speech argument. You are a lawyer and no one is hindering your speech and you know it. You have no RIGHT to a forum for that speech that is funded by tax payer dollars. You have no right to skirt the building codes in order to express that free speech. How are you hindered? In fact, as pointed out, you can actually still do a show on public access you just have to either tape it somewhere else, or find another studio. Another option is to get the violations in the building fixed. For all the people that seem to be fans of KPA I do not see a lot of them going out of their way to raise money to keep it on the air. But please stop the whining that the mayor or the dem "establishment" is hindering your free speech it is old and tired.
Post a Comment