Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Fayetteville city governent shares SEVERE WEATHER WARNING

Hazardous Weather Expected in Northwest Arkansas Tonight


The National Weather Service out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has issued a hazardous weather outlook for Northwest and West Central Arkansas, as well as much of Eastern Oklahoma.  The City of Fayetteville asks that you consider these alerts seriously and make needed safety precautions. 

A widespread severe weather episode is expected this afternoon and evening across eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas. The developing weather pattern is highly favorable for long track supercells capable of strong tornadoes, large hail, and winds in excess of 70 mph. These storms will develop across central Oklahoma late this afternoon and spread eastward during the evening. By late this afternoon a strong upper level system will be moving out of the southwest U.S. with an unstable airmass in place over much of Central and Eastern Oklahoma. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to develop along the dry line in Central Oklahoma late this afternoon and become severe very quickly.

Storms will increase in coverage through the evening as they move into Northwest Arkansas with the threat of widespread damaging severe weather continuing late into the evening. In addition, dangerous flooding remains ongoing over parts of Northeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas due to heavy rainfall Monday.  Any additional significant rain will only enhance the flooding issues.  Below are emergency procedures in the event of a tornado:

If you are in a structure:
Go to a pre-designated shelter area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar, or the lowest building level.  If there is no basement, go to the center of an interior room on the lowest level (closet, interior hallway) away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls.  Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside.  Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck.  Do not open windows.

If you are in a vehicle or mobile home:
Get out immediately and go to the lowest floor of a sturdy, nearby building or a storm shelter.  Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes.

If you are outside with no shelter:
Lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands.  Be aware of the potential for flooding.  Do not get under an overpass or bridge.  You are safer in a low, flat location.  Never try to outrun a tornado in urban or congested areas in a car or truck.  Instead, leave the vehicle immediately for safer shelter.  Watch out for flying debris.  Flying debris from tornadoes causes most fatalities and injuries.  For additional information, please see information from the Federal Emergency Management Association on tornadoes at http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tornado/index.shtm.

Fayetteville city governent shares SEVERE WEATHER WARNING

Hazardous Weather Expected in Northwest Arkansas Tonight


The National Weather Service out of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has issued a hazardous weather outlook for Northwest and West Central Arkansas, as well as much of Eastern Oklahoma.  The City of Fayetteville asks that you consider these alerts seriously and make needed safety precautions. 

A widespread severe weather episode is expected this afternoon and evening across eastern Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas. The developing weather pattern is highly favorable for long track supercells capable of strong tornadoes, large hail, and winds in excess of 70 mph. These storms will develop across central Oklahoma late this afternoon and spread eastward during the evening. By late this afternoon a strong upper level system will be moving out of the southwest U.S. with an unstable airmass in place over much of Central and Eastern Oklahoma. Scattered thunderstorms are expected to develop along the dry line in Central Oklahoma late this afternoon and become severe very quickly.

Storms will increase in coverage through the evening as they move into Northwest Arkansas with the threat of widespread damaging severe weather continuing late into the evening. In addition, dangerous flooding remains ongoing over parts of Northeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas due to heavy rainfall Monday.  Any additional significant rain will only enhance the flooding issues.  Below are emergency procedures in the event of a tornado:

If you are in a structure:
Go to a pre-designated shelter area such as a safe room, basement, storm cellar, or the lowest building level.  If there is no basement, go to the center of an interior room on the lowest level (closet, interior hallway) away from corners, windows, doors, and outside walls.  Put as many walls as possible between you and the outside.  Get under a sturdy table and use your arms to protect your head and neck.  Do not open windows.

If you are in a vehicle or mobile home:
Get out immediately and go to the lowest floor of a sturdy, nearby building or a storm shelter.  Mobile homes, even if tied down, offer little protection from tornadoes.

If you are outside with no shelter:
Lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression and cover your head with your hands.  Be aware of the potential for flooding.  Do not get under an overpass or bridge.  You are safer in a low, flat location.  Never try to outrun a tornado in urban or congested areas in a car or truck.  Instead, leave the vehicle immediately for safer shelter.  Watch out for flying debris.  Flying debris from tornadoes causes most fatalities and injuries.  For additional information, please see information from the Federal Emergency Management Association on tornadoes at http://www.fema.gov/hazard/tornado/index.shtm.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Richard Drake's memory of the 1993 effort to get planning commission to allow Government Channel to record and broadcast its meetings

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 - 09:23:18

Fayetteville, 1993: Convincing Planning Commission to do the right thing took a form of video guerilla warfare

This is sort of an instructive lesson in why every community needs public access television.
When the Fayetteville Government Channel First came into being in 1992, most of the volunteer committees set up by the city agreed to have their meetings shown on TV, except for the Planning Commission. Long considered to be one of the most important government bodies, their decision seemed unfathomable. And yet they were unapproachable on the subject
Some folks would have gone, “Ah well, maybe they will see the light one day,” but then again, that would have been stupid. A group of us determined to tape their meetings and put them on public access until the Planning Commission agreed to allow FGC cameras to tape them.
The entire process took several months. It needs to be noted for the “Tsk, tsk” crowd that, unlike the pasty-faced little thugs who did the job on ACORN some time back, we presented the commission meetings in their entirety - even when we were having fun editing.
Hell, no, we won't go - on Television
Fayetteville, 1993: Convincing Planning Commission to do the right thing took a form of video guerilla warfare

Many communities across the United States enjoy a form of television known as a PEG system - channels provided by the city, for the benefit of the local citizens. PEG (Public, Education and Government) channels are very popular across the country. Not only do they offer locals the chance to speak out on a wide variety of topics, but the government channels also serve as a local form of C-Span, offering gavel-to-gavel coverage of city/county meetings.
It provides a window into the process of government usually not afforded to those unable to physically attend meetings. As a result, such channels are at once very popular with local citizens, and a little unnerving to elected officials - especially in towns who don't offer these channels, but whose citizens would like them.
There is nothing like a little empowerment to make some elected officials nervous.
In Fayetteville, before 1992, everything was offered on just one public access channel, Fayetteville Open Channel. Because of time constraints, only the meetings of the Fayetteville City Council and the Washington County Quorum Court were aired on FOC.
In 1992, things changed radically, when the city of Fayetteville officially offered three separate PEG channels. It was hardly a seamless operation, though. From the very beginning, some were determined to be dragged kicking and screaming into the age of television - if at all.
It took several months for the new Fayetteville Government Channel to set things up so that they could tape as many meetings as they needed to. Then, as now, much depended upon both time and the availability of personnel.
Nevertheless, the new channel was very popular with the citizens of Fayetteville. For the first time, not just city council or county meetings were shown, but also committee and commission meetings, made up of citizen volunteers.
Fayetteville itself has long had a reputation for being one of the most politically diverse - and divisive - cities in Northwest Arkansas. The home of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville has been known for many years as "The Athens of the Ozarks" - a place not only known for its beauty, but also for the spirited and intelligent debate that often marked public controversies.
In fact, public access television itself had almost been lost due to bitter public debates in the community. But by 1992, all of this was behind Fayetteville; not only was there a new access provider, but a new government channel that everyone was pleased about.
Well, not quite everyone.
The entire subject of having cameras in public meetings was a sore point with some in the business community. In fact, during a public survey (The Fayetteville Vision Project), several in the Chamber of Commerce had felt that cameras should be removed from City Hall entirely.
The chief problem with "empowerment" is that all too often the "wrong" sort of people are empowered. And for several years, activists of all stripes had utilized public access well in Fayetteville. Not only that, but folks were not too shy about expressing themselves at council meetings.
Take the cameras away, some felt, and the activists would melt away into the woodwork.
Though those who would remove cameras altogether failed to make any headway, there was still another way to thwart those activists - or "aginners" as one daily newspaper referred to them, meaning that they were against progress for their community.
Though most committees and volunteer boards at City Hall, had no problem with going on Fayetteville Government Channel, there were a few holdouts - chief among them being the Planning Commission.
Though each and every city board and commission (made up of unpaid citizens who volunteer their time and energy) is important, some deal with issues that can directly affect every man and woman among us, and the Planning Commission is one of those.
One of the commission's jobs is to see that Fayetteville, which is growing by leaps and bounds, has some control over that growth. A city that doesn't endeavor to plan for the future may well find itself turning into an urban nightmare.
Naturally, the workings of such a body will attract a lot of public attention, some of it unwanted. To the consternation of much of the viewing public of Fayetteville, in July of 1993, the Planning Commission voted formally not to allow FGC to videotape and show their meetings.
That should have been the end of it. Nothing to see here, folks. Everybody move along, now.
Some might have whined. Some might have said, "oh, well, you can't have everything." But if you're gonna live in a town known as the Athens of the Ozarks, you gotta earn the right to call yourself that.
The Planning Commission hadn't factored public access television into their calculations.
October: it must have surprised the Planning Commission to see volunteer public access producers come into the city council chambers (where the commission held their meetings) and set up field cameras.
Full Disclosure Time: I was part of that crew.
Though cameras were in operation, no one seemed to be playing to them, even though some in the audience obviously cared very much about the subjects they spoke about, namely their neighborhoods.
The meeting went by without a hitch. Although we didn't use the city cameras that were in place for meetings, the meeting - which aired on Fayetteville's public access station - looked as good as any seen on the FGC.
Through back channels, however, we learned that there were some on the Planning Commission who were very annoyed that the cameras were there, though there was nothing they about do about it.
There were other issues at stake, other than simply having important meetings shown to the public. Several of the members of the commission had uncomfortably close business ties - not only with each other, but with developers coming before the commission.
The situation went on for several months. Public access producers taking time out of their lives to tape and edit a government meeting, because the body in question still refused to allow "official" cameras into their meetings. There didn't seem to be much logic involved.
Looking back, I can only assume that they thought we'd get tired of it after a while, and leave them alone.
In fact, just the opposite happened. While the Government Channel, like the aforementioned C-Span, offers gavel-to-gavel coverage of meetings, there was a distinct advantage independent public access producers had over government employees. Though we had taken pains to make our tapes look as professional as possible, we realized we weren't bound by that.
The Planning Commission was going to tired of us long before we got tired of them.
We started small, with just a few innovations. "NYPD Blue" was still in its infancy, and handheld camera shots were all the rage. Accordingly, while one of our cameras remained on a tripod, one of our camera people would hoist a camera over his shoulder and walk around the room, getting angles that were creative, to say the least.
Then, in the editing room, some parts of the meeting might end up being in black and white. Film noir, anyone?
And for those who liked foreign films - ala Godzilla - some sequences might find a commission member opening their mouth to speak, and their voice catching up with them a few seconds later.
Still, no luck. Though we were having great fun at the commission's expense, they weren't budging. Though we were all adults, we were tolerated as though we were a neighbor's particularly backward children. So, we upped the ante, just a little.
We already knew of the close business ties that at least two members had with each other, and with those who came before the Planning Commission. On-screen, when they would appear, their business connections would be linked via graphics.
That went on for a few meetings, and then the ultimate touch was added. As Gilbert and Sullivan played over the end credits, all of the members' financial ties were listed, along with information as to which business interests had donated money to their various failed political campaigns.
Applause followed at the end of the program.
That seemed to do the trick. We were officially "invited" to a Planning Commission meeting, where not a word was said about the content of the meetings that had been shown on public access television. Instead, those of us who stood up spoke about the First Amendment, the People's right to Know, and I even talked about how much better the meetings would look, using the Government Channel equipment.
With no discussion, they voted to allow their meetings to be shown on FGC.
Life went on. We all went back to our own projects, the Planning Commission was on television on a regular basis, and the citizens at home learned more about their city government.
That's as close to a happy ending as you get in politics, most days.
Richard S. Drake is the author of a science fiction novel, "Freedom Run," and "Ozark Mosaic: Adventures in Arkansas Alternative Journalism, 1990-2002."
Little Rock Free Press - February, 2007
rsdrake@cox.net

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Tentative minues of April 2011 Telecom Board meeting

Telecommunications Board Meeting Minutes
April 21, 2011, 5:30pm Room 219, City Administration
Chairman Aubrey Shepherd welcomed.
Present were Aubrey Shepherd, Blake Pennington, Russ Davis and Michael Spencer. Not present were Brandon Lederl and Fred Cusanelli. Also present were Fritz Gisler, the Government Channel Manager; Anne Shelley, Fayetteville Public Access Television Executive Director: Lindsley Smith, City of Fayetteville Director of Communication
APPROVAL OF MINUTES of February 17 meeting. Pennington motioned and Davis seconded. All approved.
ADOPTION OF AGENDA: Gisler requested that Item 6 be moved to immediately after adoption of the agenda. Pennington motioned and Spencer seconded. All approved the change and adopted the agenda.
REPORT FROM THE MANAGER: FAYETTEVILLE PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION
Anne Shelley, Fayetteville Public Access Television Executive Director, highlighted a few points from the submitted report.
1. Exceeded contractual obligation of new candidate producers by one
2. 67 offered classes first quarter vs. 52 last year
3. 217 new programs. More new shows than repeat
4. Sense of professionalism and team effort
5. All forms updated
6. Tracked users by Wards
7. Outreach- created a Fayetteville Public Access TV brochure and quarterly Highlight Newsletter on website.
8. Your Media- Board Task Force strategy: Outreach, Finance/fundraising, FPATV Operations. Perhaps an insert in the water bill
9. Training- new class schedule
Shelley spoke of the complaint, which is included in the packet, and the satisfactory resolution. Shelley expressed satisfaction with the complaint process. Spencer asked if Mr. Wells was satisfied.Shelley responded that Mr. Wells appeared to be. Pennington asked “ What do you intend to fill with now?” Shelley said there is plenty of programming in the library to use.Davis complimented the numbers and Shelley added she would be watching cancellations and no- shows from the classes. Spencer suggested tracking the cancellations as a good gage of public interest. Spencer complimented the good work and
thanked the staff. Shepherd asked if there had been any complaints about the COX channel move and Shelley answered that there had been none.
REPORT FROM THE MANAGER: FAYETTEVILLE TELEVISION CENTER/GOVERNMENT CHANNEL Gisler remarked on the City's satisfaction and confidence with the operation of Fayetteville Public Access by Your Media and talked about the website revisions of faypublic.tv. Gisler talked about accessfayetteville.org and the link to faypublic.tv. He added that all the information about Fayetteville Government Television has been updated. Gisler told the board that a regular program schedule has been implemented. Davis asked if the content was available on COX's guide. Gisler said that it is a goal to get that done and that he plans to enhance the website so there will be an automatically updated schedule.
Davis asked if the Fayetteville Public Access domain was owned by the City or Your Media. Shelley replied that it is owned by the City. Shepherd asked the cost and Shelley said she believed $120 for two years with Green Geeks and just the name not the hosting service.Flint Woods, staff, builds and maintains the site. Shepherd asked about the bandwidth and Davis asked if any social media was driving traffic to faypublic.tv. Shelley said that was an outreach goal for next quarter. Your Media has a U of A public relations/marketing focused intern.
Gisler complimented the staff for the work day painting. He also talked about the new graphics being created for the Government Channel and signage. He mentioned visits to the Television Center by State Representative Debbie Hobbs and the Spring International students.
Spencer talked about page 13 and obligations of the contract with Your Media and the number of producers. He asked if any other obligations of the contract were being measured. Did any fall short? Spencer asked that a chart of deliverables be sent to him. Spencer also asked that areas that need work be included in the reports.
BOARD DISCUSSION OF COX COMMUNICATIONS ISSUES Gisler talked about the free wifi on the downtown square which COX provided. Shepherd reported that Jim Bemis tested all around and it was easy. Pennington said the Market vendors liked it. Spencer asked for monthly reports of usage if it can be tracked. Spencer also asked what is being done to advertise the free wifi and suggested signage.
Gisler reported that there have been no calls concerning the channel migration. Shepherd said that COX will still provide the converter box.
REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE AGREEMENT WITH FAYETTEVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO OPERATE THE EDUCATION CHANNEL Gisler said the draft of the contract has been sent to the Board members and included in the packets. He reported that ta preliminary agreement was in legal review with the School and the City.The agreement is to go before the School Board and then to City Council at the second meeting in May. Gisler asked for advisory information to be submitted quickly. Davis and Pennington said they did not see any concerns. Spencer asked if staff had any problems or concerns about page 3, sponsor credits. Gisler said it legally bound the channel to be non-commercial. Davis asked how the channel could bridge the gap, how to continue to maintain programs, without the sponsorship to help raise funds. Gisler explained the sponsorship opportunities.
Shepherd called for a motion. Davis moved to approve the contract as it is but if any major changes were made by the lawyers the Telecom Board see them and discuss them at the next meeting. Pennington said he does not want to approve a document that is not finalized but that he supports the meaning of the document. Spencer said he would like to see it when it came back from the attorneys.
Davis mentioned again that they all had read it and were in favor of it. Gisler suggested adding “baring any substantial changes” to the motion. Shepherd asked when the School Board would see it and Gisler responded that the School Board would like to have it effective July 1.
Spencer asked who are the City representatives in the negotiation. Gisler answered Lindsley Smith, City Communications Director; himself; and Susan Norton, Chief Information Officer for the Fayetteville Public Schools. He added that Alan Wilbourn, Public Information Officer, was present. Gisler also added that Peggy James, Video Production Instructor and Cary Pollock, Technical Director for F.P.S.T.V., were at the meeting.
Davis asked the board members if they would want to approve the contract if there were no major changes. Shepherd said that historically contracts go through the Telecommunications Board and asked if the School Board needed the contract approved for budgetary reasons. Gisler said it has no budget impacts. Spencer asked if there was any reason it had to be voted on. Gisler explained the advisory position of the Telecommunications Board for City Council. Spencer asked if the board took the time to review it after the attorneys would there be any impact to business operations. Davis answered that the school year was about up and asked when it was set to go into effect. Gisler said before the end of the fiscal year, the end of June, and reiterated that he and Smith planned for it to go before City Council the second meeting in May. Shepherd asked if the School Board would have seen it and Gisler replied yes and that their attorney would have signed it,
Davis mentioned waiting to review it at the next meeting. Pennington said it would go to Council with or without the Telecommunications Board opinion. Gisler added that if the board had an opinion it would be included in the packet presented to City Council.
Penningotn said to go with Davis's earlier motion. Davis restated the motion and added pending no significant changes and assuming that Mr. Gisler would let them know before the next meeting if there were any significant changes. Davis then said assuming the significant information stays the same he moved to say that the board was in agreement with this document. Pennington seconded. Spencer asked how the board's opinion would be drafted. Shepherd said it would be in the minutes. Pennington asked if Smith and Gisler would present the opinion at the City Council meeting. Gisler told them a statement written by Smith would be included in the supporting documentation for the agenda item. He added that he would be present at the meeting to represent the Telecommunications Board as liaison.
Motion passed with 3 ayes.
REPORT FROM THE INTERNET SUB-COMMITTEE No report but it was confirmed that Spencer is to be a member. It was not decided when they would meet.
REPORT FROM THE COMPLAINT PROCEDURE COMMITTEE Shepherd said that Jim Bemis wished to hear the report. Davis said he believed Bemis had read it and was pleased. Pennington gave a brief report. He said the committee had met with City staff to prepare a proposed document for the Telecom Board to view. Pennington said that he has had it for a few weeks but not had the time to closely look at it or schedule a meeting. Pennington said that he would schedule a meeting in the next two weeks with Leder, Davis and anyone else who wanted to look at it more closely. Shepherd said he had tried to find the document and added that he hoped the board would maintain the policy that any business related to this goes to anyone involved, including Bemis and Marvin Hilton. Pennington clarified that the document had gone to the sub-committee members but in the future he would include the other board members and Bemis and Hilton.
COMPLIMENTS/COMPLAINTS AND COVERAGE-AREA RESIDENTS' COMMENTS
Gisler added information about Windstream/KDL, an internet service provider, and their request to use the City of Fayetteville's rights of way to install fiber optic to provide wholesale internet connectivity services. He stressed that this issue is within the purview of the Telecom Board. Gisler said that the City wants to have more meetings with Windstream before agreeing to anything. Shepherd asked about digging in the rights-of-way and Gisler said he would keep the question of their construction process on a list. Davis said he was curious about specifically where the lines would be run.
Davis asked if Gisler personally anticipate this to be fast tracked and moved quickly or drawn out over several months. Gisler responded that the City Administration had very specific questions for Windstream and would hold special meetings. Davis asked if the meetings would be public or private and Gisler answered that they would initially be private but if it goes forward there would be public input meetings and that representatives of the company should address the Telecom Board. Davis said that Windstream could be good a good thing but would appreciate that Gisler let the board know when it is on the horizon.
Gisler then said there was a telecommunication issue for consideration very shortly which was facing the entire country concerning the use of City rights-of-way for telecommunication infrastructure. Telecommunication service providers are going to State Legislature to ask for State wide franchising. The question of what governmental organization will control the franchising with the various telecommunications service providers is something directly within the pervue of this Telecom Board. Gisler mentioned three specific concerns. 1. The City may lose some of it's ability to negotiate and control some of it rights-of-way for Telecommunication Infrastructure. 2. As this has happened through out the country many of the protections and provisions for public and government television have been eliminated. Public Access channels are going dark because of state wide franchising. Federal legislation, Community Access Preservation Act (CAP Act), will be brought before Congress. Gisler recommended that the board members research this and suggested Alliance for Community Media and NATOA .
Gisler said this Board is the point for the City to be looking at these types of issues because they have direct impact on the telecommunication infrastructure of our City. He added that the City needs to be well represented at the State Legislature and that the City of Fayetteville needs to be a leader. Shepherd asked that Gisler provide the Board with documents as they come available and Gisler responded that he absolutely would.
AGENDA SUGGESTIONS FOR MAY 19, 2011 MEETING Pennington proposed that the next three meetings be held in room 326. Davis mentioned that if the Board hates room 326 they could move back after one meeting. Shepherd asked that the Board members watch meeting the meetings recorded in each room and see if they come up to standards. Spencer asked for staff's opinion and Gisler said that what Pennington had said about room 326 being a more conversational,more intimate, more comfortable environment was most important. Davis asked what constituents were saying about meetings in room 326 versus room 219. Gisler answered that he had gotten no specific complaints. Shepherd mentioned not seeing the speakers and Gisler added that he has had more negative comments about meetings in 219 not being conducive to discussion with the public.
Motion to move to room 326 for a three month trial was made by Pennington and seconded by Davis. The motion was approved.
Davis added that it was important to invite public feedback.
Shepherd complained about the scheduling and about there being no schedule in the newspapers. Gisler mentioned it was voted by the City Council not to run agendas and schedules in the papers as a cost saving.
Pennington announced that Mike Russell has resigned and thanked him for his two years of service on the Board and as vice-chairman. It was decided to open nominations for vice-chairman and put that on the agenda for next month. Shepherd appealed to the public that new board members are needed.
ADJOURNMENT Motioned by Pennington and seconded by Davis.