[ Santa Cruz Week | SantaCruz Home | Archives ]

Nüz Pegged for Cuts Last month it was public radio on the chopping block (Cover Story, "Shock Waves," June 29). Now, thanks to some obtuse and virtually impenetrable legislation in congressional committees, community television might wind up in financial trouble. Asked for the quick and dirty explanation, Community TV executive director MARYANNE REHBERG says, "It's not the easiest thing to put into sound bites, which is part of the problem." Rehberg says SB 1349 and HB 3146 have been introduced at the behest of telephone companies trying to break into the video delivery service. According to Rehberg, the bills are part of an attempt to patch up the "woefully outdated" Telecommunications Act of 1996, and would deregulate the cable company-dominated market. Currently, cable companies are required to negotiate franchise agreements with cities and counties in order to offer service; Rehberg says telephone companies are hoping to negotiate a single franchise agreement on the national level, a move that would impact community media outlets in at least two ways. First, telephone companies would cut into cable market share, which could be detrimental to community television stations' funding since it's based on a percentage of the cable company's income. Secondly, the national franchise agreement would take control out of local hands and put it in the hands of the feds--something Rehberg likens to the tax situation in California, where a lot of money that local governments used to enjoy is now controlled by the state. The big irony, though, is that the proposed legislation has united community media outlets and cable companies--which are traditionally at odds with each other, but which both stand to lose, if this proposed legislation passes. "National cable companies are spending a good amount of their lobbying resources towards trying to defeat this legislation," says Rehberg. "They're crying, �No fair! No fair!" and we're so thankful because of course they have way more money and clout and resources than any of us do." Stuntman By the time you read this, the July 26 deadline for submitting ballots regarding MEASURE W, the Felton water buyout initiative, has come and gone, but not before one final scrap on the home stretch. FRIENDS OF LOCALLY OWNED WATER spokesman JIM GRAHAM filed a request with the assistant district attorney's office to investigate the VALLEY INFORMATION ALLIANCE, a group that opposes Measure W, for failing to properly register themselves with the County Elections Department. State law requires any group providing $1,000 or more in campaign assistance to file said forms, and Graham estimates that VIA's expenditures, which have included at least three mailings and a website, would reach about $2,507. Graham arrives at this figure through a cursory investigation and some simple arithmetic, but assistant DA MORGAN TAYLOR says that, based on the report his investigator produced, Graham's number is wrong. VIA spokeswoman MARY ANDERSON says Graham's accusation is just a "campaign stunt," and claims VIA kept costs low by limiting their mailings to people that might be open to VIA's views. Taylor says the expenses for the website don't count, since it's not entirely devoted to Measure W. "Absent some evidence that [VIA is] lying about it," says Taylor, "I need to take their explanation at the time being at face value. [Anderson] had an explanation of value for postage costs that would put the total around $700." Taylor says the filing of the 410 forms requires some self-policing; that the DA can't go in "busting heads and getting search warrants when the evidence that they've hit the $1,00 mark is debatable--at least given the explanation they gave me." As with most political organizations quibbling over a minor technicality so close to the day of reckoning, VIA is seizing the moment to get in one last jab. "We believe, says Anderson, "that Jim Graham filed a false and malicious complaint against us simply to get some bad press thrown at us by the Sentinel at a crucial point in ballot returns. And it worked." Trans-Triangulation The TRIANGLE SPEAKERS, a locally based nonprofit that works to eliminate fear and prejudice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, has issued a call for help. Program manager MARCIA STEIN explains that they need more speakers for their panels, which are sent to speak at area schools and organizations and include gay men and women, transgendered people and family members. In particular, Stein is emphasizing the need for transgendered speakers, who she says are in short supply. "The complication," says Stein, "is that once people transition, they'd just as soon be the gender they are and not talk about that they used to be different. But we desperately need people to come and speak." For more information and volunteer opportunities, call 831.457.2934 or visit www.trianglespeakers.org. Down on Downing Street Guess who, along with 25 other congressional representatives, is co-sponsoring the resolution of inquiry into the Downing Street Memos? We'll give you a hint: he represents California's 17th district, his name is SAM FARR and he wears glasses. Give up? OK, on July 21, he also released a statement in support of PASTORS FOR PEACE and the Cuba Caravan, the Santa Cruz-based group attempting to bring literally tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba. The U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE allowed the caravan to cross the U.S.-Mexico border on July 22; visit www.ifconews.org to view the weblog. Vietnam Flashback SEBASTION DEFRANCESCO has been paralyzed for 30 years--his neck was broken in a military Jeep accident in Vietnam. Now, partially in response to the war in Iraq, which he says has "too many parallels" with Vietnam, DeFrancesco is producing an evening of performance and poetry he calls VISIONS OF WAR, DREAMS OF PEACE on Saturday, July 30, at the Attic. Dinner (a menu of Vietnamese cuisine) will be served at 5:30pm; the show, which consists of three 10-minute plays interspersed with poetry, starts at 7pm. One play is about World War I and the other two--one of which DeFrancesco wrote--are about Vietnam and its aftermath. "To me, says DeFrancesco, "writing is a good way to have some self-therapy." Asked about his feelings about the Iraq war, DeFrancesco is not conflicted. "I think we're really in a war that has really no meaning whatsoever," says DeFrancesco, "It's more about money than anything else, just like Vietnam was." This time around, though, DeFrancesco hopes to see more protesting of the war, yet more support for soldiers. "They're the ones going in and dying every day for ridiculous reasons," says DeFrancesco, "but there's no reason to blame them for being patriotic." Tickets are $30 for dinner and play, or $12 for the play. Call 831.460.1800 or visit www.theatticsantacruz.com for more info. [ Santa Cruz Week | Metroactive Central | Archives ]