Philadelphia Community Access Coalition
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MS. RIPLEY: My name is Denise Ripley, and I'm a block captain, and I'm also on the Democratic State Committee. And I actually just came for the hearings, didn't know that I was going to speak.

But I'm very concerned about public access being for the community as far as educating people on issues that's very concerning for, as the welfare reform bill. If people get a chance to know, like if they're educated on the different things as far as women in transaction and off of welfare, mothers and men also with children, they will be able to, you know, speak up for theyself more better if they be able to get the information on public access TV and they'll be able to help their communities more because we're moving into a new millennium, and people need to be -- to have access to public TV so they could know that they can do something about their condition.

And, you know, 'cause our communities are like going down because the poor people are left in the communities because they're not educated, that they can't something about the condition they in because they not getting enough access to -- like the lady was saying earlier, to the programs that's there to help them, that not being educated, that they are there.

'Cause we need like -- I'm sorry that I'm kind of like -- I'm not really nervous, but I can't put it all in terminology the way that legally but I'm just saying the things people need in the community is not there, and it should be. Like City Council should have areas where people could go, like senior citizens shouldn't have to come all the way downtown to complain about things that's happening in the community if they had a area where they could go at, like a resource center. If people need information about heating information, all kind of different things that, you know, you're not aware of, you know.

And this is the kind of -- and public access TV will be beneficial for people knowing that they could go back to school and get their education they need. And then people won't be leaving the City, so ready to just leave that community. It could still -- it's still a vital community, everybody is not leaving out of the community. Like myself, I could have been left North Philadelphia, but I choose to stay there to try to do something about the environment that I live in.

And I think public access TV would be a great benefit to a lot of people as far as diversity, you know, bringing communities together, because we need to build on it, like bringing people together. And public access TV, you could get a lot of different information, spread it, you know, to keep people together and build in our City. You know what I'm saying?

So thank you.

COUNCILMAN ORTIZ: Thank you, thank you.

(Applause.)

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