CVAAS members have been asking me when can we have a cable show like the “Atheist Experience” hosted by the Atheist Community of Austin.
I assure our members that it’s not due to a lack of programming or talking heads. We have plenty of subject matter to work with, and we have groups like the Center for Inquiry – West and Atheists United out of Los Angeles who are willing to donate pre-recorded materials.
The problem is that Fresno doesn’t have community access cable, also known as “Public, educational cable and governmental programming”, or PEG for short.
Several groups have been asking Fresno for PEG for years now. I’m not familiar with the history or the issues involved, so if someone wants to write a synopsis in the comments to this post, please go ahead.
However, from the Fresno.gov website, it looks like things are starting to move – but in a slightly suspicious manner!
On August 29th, Mayor Autry put out a call for applicants interested in being on the “Joint Powers Authority (JPA) board. According to the Fresno.gov website, this board,
will be responsible for overseeing the distribution of funding and use of public, education cable and governmental programming.
The JPA Board will initially consist of five members. Three members will be appointed by the Mayor of Fresno and confirmed by the Fresno City Council. The remaining two members will be appointed by the Clovis City Council. Members may not be Council members of the City of Fresno or the City of Clovis.
The purpose of the board is to basically set up and maintain the media center, and manage, produce and distribute the programs involved.
But here’s what I find interesting…
Interested citizens may complete an application available from the Office of the Fresno City Clerk and return it to the City Clerk no later than Friday, September 5, 2008.
I hope you didn’t want to be on this board, because applications are already closed – after one week! For years Fresno has dragged its feet over public access cable, and now as suddenly as a mousetrap applications open and close for the group that will run it.
Am I being overly suspicious in thinking that JPA board members were already lined up? I dunno. I hope it’s just a generic example of city bumbling.
Putting my suspicions aside, PEG cable is still not available in the Fresno / Clovis area. I’ll keep checking back every so often, but if a CVAAS member has his or her finger on this issue, I’d appreciate a quick email if anything changes.
