HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-AOC-2023-09-05 1
Access Oversight Committee (AOC) MINUTES (as approved October 3, 2023)
Tuesday, September 5, 2023 at 5 PM
The AOC held its meeting by ZOOM Conferencing.
Present: chair Rich DePaolo, secretary Wayles Browne, vice chair Wies van Leuken,
Common Council liaison Jorge DeFendini, member Paul Smith; Access Coordinator
Alex Wiers; members of the public Jim Garaventa, John Weiss, Tony Ingraham.
01. Call to Order by DePaolo 5:03.
02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions. DePaolo: Robert Henry can't attend. Our
meeting time conflicts with his work schedule. I will set up another time to meet,
perhaps virtually. Remove item 06.
03. Public Comments. Weiss: concerned about health and sustaining the AOC; offers
general support.
04. Comments by AOC members: none.
05. Approval of Minutes of the August 1, 2023 Meeting. Moved by DePaolo, seconded
by van Leuken. DePaolo offers a correction: "video resolution is 1080P" at item 3 and
asks not to include informal e-mail correspondence occurring between meetings.
Approved 5-0-0 with these corrections.
06. Governmental Access Channel - discussion. Removed - see Item 2 above
07a. Access Studio Coordinator Report (attached).
DePaolo asks about the Outreach Committee's initiative to request replacement
equipment (Page 1 & 2 of the Report). Van Leuken: members of the committee are
working on a studio produced program and, in the process, came across missing or
non-functioning equipment. The committee asked the Studio Coordinator for quotes to
bring to the AOC for their review.
Van Leuken asks Smith his opinion. Smith: approves everything that's on Wiers' list.
Smith wants different lavalier mikes. Wiers: the ones Smith wants aren't on the quotes.
Smith would want 8 mikes, total $2000. The present Sony mikes are adequate for use in
the studio for now.
Wiers in response to questions: A "lavalier recorder" is a mike plus a recorder and
monitor, connected via a cable.
The quote being discussed is separate from the report's playback equipment
Recommendation #1-A and #1-B. DePaolo: the iNet is still an issue with the playback
equipment until we receive better information from Charter. He asks if the iNet could
function without the Green Street (PEGASYS) facility. Wiers: would not have an effect.
Smith assumes the iNet is located in the "hub" building. DePaolo asks if someone at
Charter can confirm this split between iNet and playback. Wiers: there should be an
engineer to corroborate this. DePaolo will contact Lauren Kelly.
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b. Discussion. Smith: an issue affecting policy decision. One big problem is that
channel 13 offers only low-resolution video and doesn't switch aspect ratios. Does
Charter owe us a second channel, and if so, could we use it for different specs? Let's
say, all 4x3 for the second channel and all 16x9 programming on channel 13?
DePaolo: We gave up the bandwidth of 3 analog channels when the analog-to-digital
conversion occurred. The best we can do is to ask for an HD (high definition)-
compatible channel. Smith: HD takes about 3 times the bandwidth of SD - standard
definition. DePaolo: so let's try to get an HD channel (but negotiations on a new
franchise are stuck for now).
08. Member Reports
a. Outreach Committee - report.
Van Leuken: the Committee now consists of Tony Ingraham, Tom Stern, Paul Smith,
Jim Blizzard and myself. We continue work on the photograph archive. We are
collecting information on the early years of PEGASYS. Tony Ingraham has drafted
instructions for the Facebook page he administers, that is available for PEG producers
to post their programs. We continue support for "Ithaca Politics", a studio production
that features interviews with candidates for local elections. She further states that while
working on that program she observed that the signboard outside the studio still states
that it is open by appointment only, that there are signs posted in the studio
admonishing social distancing, that the floors look poorly and that one of the three
curtains in the main studio is brittle and needs replacing. Smith: the air conditioning
was broken for 2 weeks, but now works again. Praise for Wiers: he is very helpful with
finding solutions for technical problems.
b. Access to PEGASYS Building - Resolution. People coming to PEGASYS have
to call Wiers to come over and open the gate on State Street to let them in. There is no
remote way for Wiers to do so. Smith: a simple solution suggested by van Leuken
would be to add a new set of stairs from Green St. so that visitors could walk up to the
studio building. There is a door to another part of the building but it doesn't
communicate with the PEG side. Weiss: would like to be able to use the code in order to
be able to park in the Charter lot.
A Resolution to improve access to the PEGASYS Building was moved by Browne and
seconded by van Leuken. DePaolo screenshares the resolution.
WHEREAS, on June 9, 2022, Charter Communications, Inc. d/b/a Spectrum in New
York State (“Charter”) distributed an Email with the notification that three electric gates
had been installed on both sides of the adjoining Charter and PEGASYS parking lots
and the PEGASYS building ("PEGASYS"); and
WHEREAS, this Email further stated that from then on access to PEGASYS would be
through the West State Street gate because the two gates at Green Street were exit
gates only; and
WHEREAS, this Email also informed that the 4-digit code to enter the West State Street
gate would be given out by the Studio Coordinator; and
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WHEREAS, more recently Charter staff no longer makes this code available and
persons wanting to access PEGASYS must, upon arrival, call the Studio Coordinator to
open the gate for them; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the Access Oversight Committee (AOC) requests that the Studio
Coordinator will resume giving out the 4-digit code to allow people to enter PEGASYS;
and be it further
RESOLVED, that the AOC asks Charter to find a long-term solution to the limited
access to PEGASYS by locating an entrance to the building outside the security gates
of its parking lot.
Passed 5-0-0.
DePaolo will forward the text to Charter.
c. 2024 Budget - progress report. DeFendini confirms that the City of Ithaca
unanimously adopted the AOC's budget recommendations on the consent agenda at its
meeting on June 7, 2023.
d. Equipment purchases - 2023 Budget - Resolution. See discussion at Item 7 above.
Browne moved and Smith seconded a resolution to purchase equipment with funds
from the 2023 Budget contingency. DePaolo screenshares the resolution.
WHEREAS, the Access Oversight Committee (AOC)’s 2023 Budget includes a
$50,000.00 contingency to purchase equipment as needed for the functioning of Public,
Educational and Governmental access operations; and
WHEREAS this budget was subsequently approved by the participating municipalities
(City of Ithaca, Town of Ithaca, Village of Cayuga Heights); and
WHEREAS, there is a need to update miscellaneous equipment; and
WHEREAS, there is a need for at least one better performing portable camera; now
therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the AOC approves the use of the 2023 Budget Contingency for the
purchase of equipment specified in the attached equipment recommendation dated
September 5, 2023, in an amount not to exceed $5,000.
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Passed: Unanimously
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e. AOC Member's reappointment - follow-up. Browne will phone the City Clerk to
ask if he's been reappointed. Van Leuken: the Clerk used to write letters informing
about reappointments, but no longer does.
f. Common Council meetings on Government Channel 15. DeFendini: The City
Clerk's office plans (Plan A) to try to simulcast the Zoom feed from meetings on both
YouTube (as at present) and cablecasting; for this it needs only some technical info
from a Syracuse company that provides the service. Otherwise, Plan B is to use PEG
staff at meetings to do cablecasting, i.e. the old way. No clear date for setting up Plan A
yet. Will follow up at City Administration Committee meeting.
g. PEGASYS Website review - Resolution. DePaolo screenshares a proposal by
Smith, showing the PEGASYS page 1 with the same content as present website but
with layout cleaned up. Smith wants to expand descriptions of the studios and cameras
and add other info.
DePaolo asks about webstarts, the present host. Smith: I use Notepad++ text editor and
a hand-composed style sheet. This replaces the original version which had lots of dead
code. I will supply files to Wiers and he can upload them. Updating will be simple. The
"series" page: I'll volunteer to update, or Wiers could. I'd be happy to add pictures of
editors and other equipment; could be on a separate page. By next meeting, I hope to
have my own website and it will contain drafts of proposed pages for the PEG site.
DePaolo: Can Wiers update the series list? Wiers: yes.
h. Showcasing PEGASYS awards and photographs at PEGASYS - Follow-up.
DePaolo has e-mailed Lauren Kelly of Charter; not heard back yet. Wiers: would like a
list of items AOC wants posted on walls. Smith: Van Leuken and I and Stern can lay out
a mockup in Photoshop to show how it would look. I can measure the size of bulletin
boards. Van Leuken requests: put Peggy Awards back on bare walls. There are
presently 2 bulletin boards, a small one that is used and a large one that is empty but
sill has the pin holes from previous uses.
i. PEGASYS Policies and Procedures Manual review - Resolution. We'll continue
the review at the next meeting. The alternate version that we received from Charter =
suggestions only. I will send AOC a version showing where we left off.
09. Old Business
a. Streaming Channel 13. No reports.
10. New Business: No Reports.
11. Next meeting: 3 October, 5 pm.
12. Adjournment 6:57.
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Authority: City of Ithaca code Chapter 18, "Cable Access Oversight Committee". Adopted by the Common
Council of the City of Ithaca 11-5-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-17. Available at https://ecode360.com/8386207.
Page on the City website: https://www.cityofithaca.org/369/Cable-Access-Oversight-Committee
Contact information for AOC members:
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City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>.
City of Ithaca: Common Council liaison 2022- Jorge (George) DeFendini <gdefendini@cityofithaca.org>.
City of Ithaca: Paul Smith <smithcommapaul@hotmail.com>.
Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <rd@richdepaolo.com>, <RDePaolo@town.ithaca.ny.us>.
Village of Cayuga Heights: Wies van Leuken, vice chair <pmv4@cornell.edu>.
Web site for the PEGASYS Community Media Center studio, with program schedules:
https://pegasys.webstarts.com/index.html or https://pegasys.yourwebsitespace.com/
studio location, mailing address: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York 14850
phone (607) 272-7272; fax (607) 277-5404
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