HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-AOC-2025-03-11 1
MINUTES (as approved April 7, 2025)
Access Oversight Committee (AOC)
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 5 PM
Town of Ithaca Hall (Aurora Conference Room), 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY
Present: chair Rich DePaolo, secretary Wayles Browne, vice chair Wies van
Leuken, City of Ithaca Common Council liaison Margherita Fabrizio, member
Paul Smith. Members of the public (producers) Tom Stern, Will Metro. On
Zoom: Sean Ryan (Supervisor of Public Access, Charter Communications),
Glenn Foster (studio manager), Lauren Kelly (Director of Government Affairs –
Fingerlakes Region, Charter Communications).
01. Call to Order by DePaolo 5:06.
02. Agenda Additions and/or Deletions: none.
03. Public Comments. Tom Stern discussed his written comments (see attached) on the
proposed age limit of teenage studio users by Charter. His grandson told him that
assisting him with video production at PEGASYS added a lot to his life, other youth said
the same. Young people have the best skills. We should encourage them. Metro: also
favors young generation participating.
Metro: is adjusting to the limited storage space on the computer in the Mini Studio and
uses a flash drive now. He used to do shows live from there, but had to make changes
when hours of operation changed.
Producer John Weiss had also expressed his concerns about the proposed age limit in
a letter to the AOC dated March 3, 2025 - see attached.
04. Comments by AOC members. Van Leuken: also concerned about Charter wishing
to limit age of users to 18+. In answer to questions, she said that PEGASYS has a long
history of having young people train and work on productions under the supervision of
producers. Whole school classes were trained in the studio without trouble. (Section 1.5
e of the Manual: Minors between the ages of 14 and 18 are permitted to assist with
video productions when an adult takes legal responsibility for the minor's use of
PEGASYS’ equipment and facilities.)
DePaolo to Fabrizio: Charter wants to insist on limiting users to age 18+. AOC is against
this. Fabrizio: agrees we need young people's involvement. There must be a simple way
to accommodate young people working under supervision. Fabrizio specially
recommends Youth Ambassadors from the Ithaca Youth Bureau. DePaolo: I will follow-
up on this. Kelly: Charter's rule against under-18s is in effect all through the state.
DePaolo: not sure that Charter can impose this, but will consult with City Attorney.
Browne: thanks Foster for help transferring video from VHS to an electronic file; the file
on the studio computer can now be deleted.
Van Leuken: asks Charter staff if we could list PEG holidays on the website.
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Smith: is working on updating PEG website; will show new site at a future meeting that
will include the observed holidays.
05. Approval of Minutes of the February 4, 2025 Meeting: moved by van Leuken,
seconded by Fabrizio, approved 5-0 without change. [Fabrizio leaves for another
meeting.]
06. Access Studio Coordinator Report (attached). DePaolo screenshares report.
Ryan: the outage March 3 was 9 AM to 1:04 PM. Van Leuken: did you contact affected
producers to offer an additional play of their show? It concerned "Over the Shoulder"
and "Cornell Forum'. Ryan: will contact producers in such cases. Kelly: it sounds like
Ryan did let everyone know whose program might have been affected.
a. Charter’s report on Monthly Subscriber Fees in 2024 (attached under the
name "Ithaca Total Construction Fund Balance"). The equipment fund balance as of
December 31, 2024 was $16,666.20.
b. Equipment Purchase Report for 2024 (attached): "the Final Report for 2024".
Van Leuken: the numbers are correct except that $2,000.00 of it was expended in the
2023 budget year, so the total expenditure in 2024 is $18,565.42.
$20,565.42
–$2,000.00
$18.565.42. This constitutes the yearly expenditure report to the City of Ithaca.
RE 2025 Equipment Recommendations: in line 2, two new computers are proposed
to replace two old computers. DePaolo: is there any value in the old ones? Ryan:
the monitors are OK, the computers themselves are older. Smith: I use the existing
editing computers, which have a good version of Premiere. He wonders about the
need for new ones and new MAGIX editing software (line 1) since all producers are
trained on Premiere. He understands that Premiere is still being made. Ryan: New
versions of Premiere are in the Cloud and on a yearly license; Magix is bought.
Smith: expects that older versions of Premiere (not using the Cloud) will become
ever cheaper to buy.
DePaolo: can we install more than one editing software? Foster: we can but we
don't have the licenses. Ryan will have to check if the old version can be installed
on new machines. Thinks the same file was used on all computers and laptops.
Smith feels strongly: keep Premiere, buy the last version that does not need the
Cloud.
Ryan: proposing a hardware upgrade and avoiding switch to new subscription
software.
Smith: What we have now is good for a few more years, we shouldn't force
producers to learn 2 different systems.
DePaolo wants to know more about the need for new computers. Smith: will get info
about software on present machines. Metro: in favor of continuing Premiere if
possible.
Ryan confirms: Lights in lines 3 and 4 are necessary replacements; line 5 and 6
items are new equipment.
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Van Leuken: We have a contingency budget of about $11K for 2025, so we can
purchase equipment we need now with those funds, such as the lights; other
equipment can be listed in the budget recommendations for 2026. I will draft
resolutions for the next meeting.
c. Closure of PEGASYS Tuesday, February 25: only producers with an appointment
had been notified. AOC asked that in the future all producers be notified, including
those who might not have had an appointment. Ryan confirmed that all producers
will be notified from now on.
d. Mini-studio conditions- update. No bed bugs found.
07. Member Reports
a. Budget process: AOC will adopt recommendations at the April meeting for 2026
and forward them to the City, Town of Ithaca, and Village of Cayuga Heights for their
vote. Municipal approval must be forwarded to Charter by June 30.
b. Funding for Educational and Governmental Institutions: no requests made to
AOC or studio staff.
c. AOC's 2024 Equipment Purchase Report to City: we will present it to the City by
way of the minutes once the corrected report has been received from Charter. See 6b
above.
d. Non-profit status, AOC Archive and Letterhead. Van Leuken: when the Outreach
Committee was buying trophies I was asked "Are you a non-profit?" DePaolo will ask
the town's attorney. Charter itself isn't tax-exempt.
Archive: Van Leuken: computer files were eliminated when Lauren Stefanelli retired.
Individual committee members have records but they are not public or moved to public
records when they resign. Minutes are preserved by the City. But what other records
should we preserve for the future and where should they be kept? DePaolo: my Emails
are preserved by the Town, although e-mails among members are not subject to
Freedom of Information Act requests as are public records.
Van Leuken: could the AOC have its own letterhead? DePaolo suggests asking the City
Attorney or Karasin.
e. Common Council meetings on Government Channel 15 - Report.
This discussion took place under Item # 04 so that Fabrizio could participate before
having to leave the meeting.
Fabrizio: the City of Ithaca displays some pushback against the idea of simulcasting and
lack of understanding the need for Common Council meetings on channel 15. Ryan:
There was a successful test of sending a signal from Council Chambers to PEGASYS;
Charter only needs an e-mail with a week's notice in order to throw the switch on time;
Scott knew how to do it. Fabrizio: Alan Karasin is opposed; Scott reports to Alan. Ryan:
if the signal goes from Common Council chambers to the transmitter, we can broadcast
it. We tried it with cameras, though not with mikes on that day. DePaolo: it shouldn't take
a lot of work to organize this; I'll take it on. Fabrizio gathers that Karasin feels it should
be Charter's responsibility to send someone to Council chambers; Karasin sees telecast
as duplicative of the YouTube channel. DePaolo: but there is a demographic that would
watch it on TV.
f. Communications with City Attorney - Report. See 04.
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Fabrizio: hasn't heard anything new from the City Attorney's office, though they've hired
a new person recently. Underscores the need to drop any paywall on PEG channels
(question now in hands of City Attorney's office).
g. Quality of Channel 15 cablecasts, Van Leuken: the volume level of Channel 15 is
still lower than other channels. Kelly: Ryan and I will look into it.
h. Outreach Committee - Report. Van Leuken: the 2025 PEGGY Awards were held
at Ithaca College on Valentine’s Day. They were a great success. Rhys Finch was the
host; Connor Smith gave a short talk on the history of IC and public access. Short clips
of all 41 submissions were presented and trophies were awarded to 11 winners. Smith:
the PEGGY Awards covered shows from 2020-2021-2022-2023-2024 (not held in those
years due to Covid). Next year's Awards will cover 2025 shows. The Awards were
telecast live on Channel 16 and will be shown on Channel 13 and YouTube once I finish
editing them.
i. Policies and Procedures Manual Amendments - Resolutions.
Resolution on Ministudio computer file storage. Smith moves and Browne seconds a
resolution to amend the PEGASYS Policies & Procedures Manual of November 12, 2024 as
follows:
WHEREAS, the current Policies and Procedures Manual (“the Manual") for the PEGASYS
Community Media Center (“PEGASYS”) was approved by the Access Oversight Committee
(“AOC”) on November 12, 2024 with Resolution #94; and
WHEREAS, file storage by producers on the computer in the mini studio at PEGASYS has
reached near capacity; and
WHEREAS, in response, the AOC wishes to amend Section 4 of the Manual; now therefore be it
RESOLVED, that the following addition will be made to Section 4.2 of the Manual
"Producers are permitted to store files on the computer they are using at PEGASYS, up to a
maximum of 50 gigabytes (GB). When this limit is exceeded, producers are expected to delete
files or transfer them to their own external drive. Staff will issue a friendly warning to producers
when limits are exceeded. Producers are then expected to promptly delete files until the 50 GB
limit is reached. If a producer does not delete files in this manner, their reservation will be
suspended until corrections are made. Meanwhile, if storage capacity of the computer is
imperiled, staff is permitted to delete the producer's files, starting with the oldest, until the 50
GB limit is reached."
RESOLVED that the AOC approves the above listed amendment to the current PEGASYS Policies
and Procedures Manual, to take effect immediately.
Adopted 4-0-0.
A draft resolution on a limit on the number of reservations was discussed next. There is presently
no limit on the number of reservations producers can make in any given calendar year, except for
the mini studio. Studio staff has discussed with producers a desire to put a limit on other
reservations as well. Smith moved and Browne seconds a draft resolution to address this and
amend the PEGASYS Policies & Procedures Manual of November 12, 2024. In the discussion
that follows it is determined that present rules do not create problems for producers in accessing
what they need to produce their shows and the resolution is tabled.
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j. Committee for educational and governmental access: for next meeting.
Van Leuken will Email information on NYS law Section 895.4 (c) to DePaolo and Fabrizio
and put educational and governmental outreach on the next agenda.
k. Communications with Producers. Smith: staff should always share information
with the whole list of producers (including inactive ones).
l. Curtain - Resolution. A draft Resolution to buy hardware for hanging an additional
curtain in the main studio: AOC changes the figure to $200 and then tables it till the April
meeting. Kelly: will send DePaolo a link to a catalog that Charter uses, so that DePaolo
can decide what he needs and Charter can purchase it.
08. Old Business
a. Streaming Channel 13. No report.
09. New Business: none.
10. Next meeting: April 1, 5 PM.
Adjourned 7:03.
-=-=-=-=-
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-OversightCommittee
Contact information for AOC members:
City of Ithaca: Wayles Browne, secretary <ewb2@cornell.edu>.
City of Ithaca: Common Council liaison 2024- Margaret (Margherita) Fabrizio,
mfabrizio@cityofithaca.org. City of Ithaca: Paul Smith <smithcommapaul@hotmail.com>.
Town of Ithaca: Rich DePaolo, chair <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: 612 West Green Street, Ithaca, New York
mailing address: 519 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
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From: John Hubbel Weiss <jhw4@cornell.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 3, 2025 11:59 PM
To: Paul M Van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu>; E Wayles Browne <ewb2@cornell.edu>;
Subject: Age limit on work at Pegasys
Wies and Wayles:
I have learned that there is a possibility that an age limit on work at
the Pegasys studio may be proposed at tomorrow night’s AOC meeting.
(I’d like to attend the meeting but Elaine will be recovering from
dental surgery at that time and things will be a little distracting.)
As a producer of some experience (100+ shows since 2004), I would
like to recommend against adopting a limitation on the age of members of
production teams.
1. The number of available team members has always been limited.
An artificial age limitation runs the risk of excluding some potential
producers because of lack of available team members. I
have experienced crippling recruiting problems for sixteen months
because of this shortage.
2. Video production at Pegasys allows for learning economically
important skills.
3. Work as member of a production team at Pegasys permits
participation in a product the enhances the cultural experience in
Ithaca.
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4. Production that includes members of a team under the age of
eighteen enhances the capabilities of alliances between
performing arts such as are found in the Community Arts
Partnership
5. Connections forged with local schools have elicited exciting and
enriching experiences for young people, some under the age of
eighteen. In our first years at Pegasys between 2004 and 2010
Elaine and I witnessed several such cooperative arrangements
between Boynton Junior High and Pegasys, supervised with
enthusiasm by Lauren Stefanelli.
6. During that same period we witnessed with satisfaction the way life
at Pegasys could introduce a person to some people whom one
might not meet frequently in their own daily routines. Why deprive
a person of a chance to hang with the unboring and unusual just
because they are of a certain age?
John Weiss
Producer, Age 83
From: Tom Stern <tstern952@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2025 6:55 PM
To: Paul M Van Leuken <pmv4@cornell.edu>
Subject: issue re: restricting youth from Public Access facilities
Wies, please pass the following message onto AOC members
Hello AOC,
I recently became informed of a potential change in the guidelines for usage of Pegasys
facilities. The current operations manual states that youth as young as 14 yrs old may use
Pegasys equipment under the guidance of an adult. The change, as I understand it,
precipitated by Charter for concerns of liability, would not allow anyone under 18 yrs old to use
studio facilities or equipment. I encourage you to reject that change.
Some of you know that my grandson has been an integral part of my recent productions
and he would be disqualified from continuing further work because he is 16 yrs. old. I have
worked with other youth as young as 14 yrs old and can say unequivocally that they are very
adept at handling production equipment and actually treat the equipment with more care than
some adults. Youth grow up with technology and have a second sense about its care and
handling. If the liability is concern for equipment, then it is prejudicial to assume youth are more
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reckless than adults. If the liability is a concern for injury, I have gotten waivers from parents to
indemnify myself or Pegasys from any liability.
Pegasys is intended for community use and the youth are as much a part of a community as
anyone else. Let's encourage youth to be part of a Pegasys community rather than set
up roadblocks to discourage them.
Thank you,
Tom Stern
Producer
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