THE JERSEY CITY COMMUNITY
MEDIA ACCESS CENTER PROPOSAL:

Since The Alliance for Community Media ["ACM"] has designated March 19-25, 2000 as Media Democracy Week; and ACM, a national nonprofit organization [ 666 11th St. NW, Suite 740, Washington, D.C. 20001-4542, 202.393.2650 voice, 202.393.2653 fax, email at government@alliancecm.org; website at www.alliancecm.org] believes that community media can change peoples' lives for the better, by allowing "ordinary" citizens to participate in and create television, radio and internet programming that makes a positive impact on their local communities, and because most of the broadcast and other media and institutions have not fulfilled their promises to provide public forums as a service to the public and

Since democracy is the foundation of our society and in order for democracy to flourish, people must be able to communicate ideas, share opinions and get information and

Since a healthy, democratic society is founded on an engaged, informed and included citizenry and

Since the primary means of information delivery and exchange today is through electronic media and

Since Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) cable television "media centers" serve their communities' needs and promote media democracy for all people regardless of their life circumstances, their political or religious beliefs or their ability to pay and

Since the City of Jersey City does not have a dedicated and independent Public, Educational and Governmental (PEG) "media center" unlike other municipalities or counties in the State of New Jersey or other states of the Union or foreign countries;

Since the increasing commercialization of the Internet, the incipient efforts to control content, the full scale arguments over who should have access via cable and telephone company wires to high speed Internet access, and long term strategic positioning by companies to corner as much advertising revenue as possible, all point in the same direction commercialization with little, if any, public service or public space required,

THEREFORE, in addition to its "traditional" functions of local community cable television production and administration, said "JERSEY CITY COMMUNITY MEDIA ACCESS CENTER" will also be charged with the task of researching and ultimately, implementing an "I-Net" system (institutional networks) which are the high speed community networks for efficient and cost effective voice, data and video transmission for the public and community sectors because of the importance of a "wired community" for overall economic development and quality of life and

MOREOVER, the local municipal government institutions, the Office of the Mayor, the City Council and the Department of Administration and any other municipal departments or divisions, along with the Jersey City Public Schools, with the cooperation and involvement of the City's private, parochial and charter schools on the primary and secondary levels, the vocational and technical schools operated by the City and County of Hudson, the colleges and public university, and last but not least access producers, community media activists, community groups and non- profit organizations, all cooperate to implement the JERSEY CITY COMMUNITY MEDIA ACCESS CENTER in the shortest possible time, with the least amount of conflict and turmoil, TO BEST SERVE THE INTERESTS OF ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF JERSEY CITY RATHER THAN THE NARROW INTERESTS WHICH HAVE BEEN SERVED, FOR THE MOST PART, TO DATE SINCE "FEDERAL DEREGULATION".

Please support this proposal.

Respectfully Submitted to the Government, Press and Community;
/s/
Stan Daniels, Editor,
Intercity Sports Review - Online

(local resident, public access producer and
supporter, Alliance for Community Media)

Note:
Mr Daniels edits "Intercity Sports Review - Online" and provides media productions, publications and Web site services for the Interclub Coaches Association (www.icasports.org). He is a state licensed Recreation Administrator who has coached Track & Field and Basketball in Jersey City and other urban areas for more than a quarter century and is a co-founder of the ICA Sports organization. Recently he provided video coverage of events surrounding the Michael Anglin case. Additional information is available on the Web site. -30-

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