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DAILY REPORTS and Documents | iPNB Houston meeting info A few public comment transcripts 9-20-02 |
Posted on the KPFK goodlight board From the iPNB meeting in Houston September 20 - 22, 2002
From: myla reson
Dear All, Transcripts from the "Community Comments" portion of today's interim Pacifica National Board meeting are posted on the online kpfK listener forum at: http://www.kpfklisteners.net myla
[transcript]
Hi, my name is Rhonda Garner, and I'm a native Houstonian, a KPFT listener for probably 28 years. I want to start on a positive note and say that despite all the turmoil and dissension in Houston, the radio is better. What we're hearing on the air is better but there is still a big problem. And that problem is that we do not have dissident representation on this PNB. I would also like everyone to notice that George Barnstone is not sitting hear listening to the listener comments, nor does he in our local LAB meetings. I would have called for, and petitioned, and worked hard for his removal, but I knew elections were around the corner and I didn't want to do that, so I sought my own resolution the second time I saw Janice Blue shut down. And so I sent a message to all LAB members, asking them to answer some questions so I could understand their motivation, and get a better idea of who they are because there is now in Houston-- there's no process. This is an elitist group. Teresa Allen did not answer me. George Barnstone did not answer me. I would also like to say that if indeed Charles Smith is the person you have in mind to put in here, there is a far better selection of people-- such as Marianne Martinez who has worked hard in every governance committee meeting-- elections-- Ted Weisgal, would be a choice, okay? Rick Pothoff could be a choice. We need some dissident representation on this board. And I know this to be true, because I've gone to every LAB meeting. I've only missed one. And I've watched the way they vote. And I want to tell you that George Barnstone is one of the most disrespectful men I know. And I know that there's some people out here who don't know me, that might like to say the same thing, but I have the reputation that I have because I have to speak in this way to be heard. Dan Jones, where have you been? I asked you to baby-sit my kids while I did all the committee work. Only place I ever see you is on the chat room. Leslie Cagan: Time. Rhonda Rhonda, Thank you RG: Okay. So-- You put Charles Smith up here. LC: Again-- Let me-- The time is up-- RG: So just so you know. Deb Shafto agrees with ever word I've said I consulted with her beforehand. Deb-- LC: [laughs] Rhonda Rhonda Rhonda RG: Just one more great comment. Deb voted not to grandfather, and set a great example, for our community yeah, with our leadership. LC: Thank you very much.
[transcript]
Maria Gilardin, local advisory board member at KPFA, and producer of TUC Radio. I want to take the opportunity to recognize Jane Jackson, here. Jane was one of three women arrested in front of Pacifica's doors when she tried to prevent the move of Pacifica to Washington D.C. As it happened, Cheryl Gardner Shaw took a big file box and climbed over her, and escaped with records we still haven't seen, and Jane was arrested, but also as a sign of the enormous support that KPFA has and had in the city of Berkeley the police took the three women around the corner and let them go. The other issue is my very very old hat, it's finances of Pacifica. As you know I was banned from all Pacifica stations for asking about finances. The local advisory board of KPFA just passed a motion out of a sense of deep frustration of not having had any accounting. The KPFA LAB recommends that KPFA management suspend all future transfers of shortfall funds to the Pacifica National Office until KPFA and its listener community receives a full accounting of all moneys spent by the Pacifica National Office between February 1st, 2002 and August 31st, 2002. Yeah. [applause] I just ran into Dan at the elevator and he said he had some kind of record so, we will all go to his room after the end of this [laughs] of this meeting and get to see what he has. What's your room number again? ... Am I out of time? Well, I would have said something about Democracy Now! to make myself really unpopular, but Patty is taking that on...
[transcript]
I'm Patty Haffley from the New York area. I first want to say the motion that was made by the KPFA LAB demands that the iPNB after its special meeting of September 8th, which didn't happen, make public any new draft contract between Pacifica and Democracy Now! and open it for comments from the listeners before any vote to approve it. The complete draft should also be made available to all LABs for review at the same time when it is presented to the iPNB and should not be signed until three of the five LABs approve it. What I want to say is, in case people here, if they're not on the internet they may not know what this contract entails, so I will quickly reiterate. Basically it's a five year contract, no renewal. Four hundred and forty thousand dollars, four-to-ten percent increase a year, to Democracy Now! Productions, Incorporated. We are asked for the archives of Democracy Now! to become Democracy Now!'s The name, two times a year the subscriber list of Pacifica, the uh- pay music rights, the uh- phone bill, up to four thousand dollars a month, and the insurance for journalists. Basically what we are paying for, in this case-- to me it's a disposal of assets which I don't think the iPBN has any right to do. Over time as production values change, we will be paying for the audio track of a tv program, and I 'm not sure what that's going to sound like in, say for two years. This was signed without full board participation by people that had two, two people --to me, conflicts of interest. One just quick thing, Peter Franck, who is a former president of Pacifica and a lawyer stated that "the possible deleterious effects and ramifications of such a contract are manifold. And we must pay attention to what that is." And so I'd just like people to really think about this-- the National Board to really think about this contract, and what it means for Pacifica, because there really was nobody watching the hen house.
[transcript]
Margalo Ashley-Ferrand - Community Comment
"All of us, I'm sure, who are longtime listeners and supporters are really thrilled that Pacifica is going to become a membership organization. Now, in order to properly put this into effect, we believe that this board must put into our by-laws that members can vote directly, not only for station board members but also for national board directors. [scattered applause] We also believe that members must be permitted to propose by-law changes, and that critically only members be able to vote on the by-laws changes, and not just the PNB board, as in several by-laws drafts. Thank you." --Margalo Ashley-Ferrand from Los Angeles, active on the KPFK By-Laws Subcomittee.
[transcript]
Thank you. I'm Carolyn Birden from the WBAI area, and I'd like to make a few remarks about accountability and elections. I'm speaking especially against what has been called, I think falsely, the inclusion model. And-- pardon? yes I'm calling it the appointed seats model. Leslie Cagan: I'm sorry folks, could people not interrupt each other. Carolyn's at the mike. Let her speak. CB: I think that under this model anyone wanting to vote would have to choose an identity, and would be restricted to voting for, if I understand properly, two candidates in only two groups. They would have to choose a group-- female, Latino, African-American, and so on. One of the questions I have of course is who decides who these groups are. And the other question I have is that to choose an identity, to force people to choose an identity is to ignore the fact that under single tranferable voting they would be able to vote for as many candidates as there are seats. They would be diluted terribly otherwise. [scattered applause] Thank you, yes. Your vote is going to be diluted. It's a trojan horse. And it is an attempt essentially to take over the governing boards of the local stations by the same people who would be choosing these so-called constituents.
If the stations and the people involved in the unity caucus, who have done wonderful outreach,
would simply direct that to what we're about, which is the air, and do programming to attract
listeners, I think we would solve the problem. We would have the Pacifica that we really need.
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