|
|
|
|
When Mayor Street took office, he formed a number of committees to advise him on policy. Three committees directly recommended that the City have Public Access TV. Relevant quotes follow.
"Develop the possible public access cable television system as a way to support, promote and advance community-based arts and cultural activities."
– ARTS AND CULTURE
POLICY AND PLANNING TRANSITION COMMITTEE REPORT,
February 10, 2000
Neighborhood Issues Sub Committee Policy Recommendations
Section 3: Make the Whole City a Destination for Tourists and Residents.
"The Mayor's commitment to leadership for results, and to continual public attention to measures of those results, will be the greatest asset the city has for improving public safety. This can be achieved most visibly by the Mayor fostering monthly public safety reviews, open to the public and the news media, and broadcast on public access TV channels."
– PUBLIC SAFETY TRANSITION COMMITTEE
REPORT, March 7, 2000
Executive Summary: Key Recommendations, p. 1
"3. The City of Philadelphia should begin immediately to fully enact Philadelphia’s standing Public Access Law.
a) The City of Philadelphia should move immediately to establish a nonprofit corporation mandated in the Public Access Law to operate the Public Access System.
b) The Board of the nonprofit corporation should include public Health experts, members of the city Health Department, and members drawn from community-based organizations, particularly those serving peoples of color, cultural and linguistic minorities, and other special needs populations.
Rationale
Public Health: Ethnic communities are the most at-risk for public health problems and have the lowest access to information. Public Access can carry messages that are culturally and linguistically specific and bypass cultural stigmas surrounding discussion of health issues. Public Access can provide alternative programming that would counteract the irresponsible messages about sexual behavior found on commercial television.
Minority Representation: Commercial media continually ignores or misrepresents minority communities. There is very little programming for or about African Americans, Latinos, Asians, sexual minorities, women, or elderly communities. Public Access would allow minority communities to generate positive images of themselves, tell their own stories, and represent themselves in an honest and real manner."
– SOCIAL SERVICES TRANSITION COMMITTEE, HEALTH AND WELLNESS SUBCOMMITTEE
REPORT, Feb 2000
Short Term Recommendations for Minority Health/Cultural Competency:
"2. An up-to-date informative guide to nutrition services offered by PCA and other agencies providing meals and food shopping services could be a very useful source of information for the elderly and referring agencies and institutions. This should be an exhaustive list of programs including those which provide free meals, as well as those which charge for the service. The guide should be accessible in print, on the Internet and featured on television and radio programs.
3. Nutrition assessment, education and outreach programs should be targeted to the homebound elderly who are at the greatest risk of malnutrition. Telephone consultation, home visits to high risk elderly, printed materials, public television, radio and internet programming, and access to nutrition assessment and counseling at district health centers for dietary and nutritional information could be infinitely useful to the elderly."
– SOCIAL SERVICES TRANSITION COMMITTEE, ELDERLY SERVICES SUBCOMMITTEE
REPORT, February 2000
III. Nutrition Recommendations, p. 13