[GreenNotes] GreenNotes - 9/16/2007

Sun Sep 16 17:26:11 PDT 2007

Please circulate widely. Contact us to include your announcement in
GreenNotes.

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PROGRESSIVE EVENT CALENDAR

* Community Forum for Economic Development (CFED) Meeting
  Tuesday, Sept. 18, 7-9 pm
  Office of the Minority Health Coalition, in LaSalle Square

* What Difference Does It Make To Be Green?
  Tuesday, Sept. 25, 7-9 pm
  St. Mary's College, Stapleton Lounge in LeMans Hall

* YPN Mayoral Debate
  Wednesday, Oct. 3
  Young Professionals Network (time and location TBA)

* Indiana Green Party Congress
  Saturday & Sunday, October 6 & 7
  Terre Haute, IN

* SJVGreens Meeting
  Thursday, October 11, 7-9 pm
  GLBT Center in 100 Center, Mishawaka, IN

* Comcast Closes Public Access Studios
  December 15, 2007, at the latest

Recurring events:

* MPJC peace vigil
  every Monday, 5-6 p.m. at Jefferson and Main St. in South Bend, and
  every Saturday, 1-2 p.m. at Grape and 23 (Cleveland), Mishawaka, IN.
  Contact info 574-289-2126 or www.michianapeacejustice.org.

* Progressive discussion group
  every Wednesday evening, 7-9 pm
  611 Portage Ave, South Bend

* Portage Avenue salon
  every Sunday evening, 7-9
  611 Portage Ave, South Bend

* GreenTV
  every Wednesday evening, 10 pm
  Comcast channel 99

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COMMUNITY FORUM FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT MEETING

This November, municipal elections will be held in Mishawaka and South 
Bend. No issue is more central to the decisions facing voters in these 
cities than the issue of economic development.

The Community Forum for Economic Development will not endorse nor 
support candidates for the positions being decided.

However, we want to do all we can to make sure that the candidates 
address economic development issues clearly and concretely. This will be 
the focus of the next meeting of the Community Forum, scheduled for 
Tuesday, Sept. 18, from 7 - 9 PM, at the office of the Minority Health 
Coalition, in LaSalle Square.

At this meeting, we need your participation to decide the most important 
questions to ask candidates about local economic development. There may 
be five "most important questions"; there may be ten. We'll decide that 
evening.

As always, our monthly meetings are open to the public. Hopefully, we 
will reach a consensus at the meeting. If a vote is required, you will 
need to be a member of the Community Forum to decide on the final 
position. You will also need to be a member to participate in electing 
our new Coordinating Committee at the October 15 meeting.

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COMCAST CLOSES PUBLIC ACCESS STUDIOS IN NORTHERN INDIANA

Amy Hansen, Production Manager for Comcast Cable Communications Inc., 
announced on August 28 the giant cable company is closing all its public 
access studios in northern Indiana.
Effective September 28, the following studios will be closed.

    * Hammond Studio
      844 169th Street, Hammond, IN
    * Portage Studio
      2225 Locust Court, Portage, IN
    * Mishawaka Studio
      4045 Edison Lakes Parkway, Mishawaka, IN

Affected are communities, citizens and cable subscribers in a broadcast 
area which includes counties in Indiana and Michigan. Comcast's cable 
broadcast monopoly stretches from the Illinois border on the northwest 
to Elkhart County in north central Indiana.

Comcast claims it will reserve public access channels in northern 
Indiana for an unspecified time in spite of closing the studios. 
However, no shows will be broadcast on the channels unless 
municipalities and non-profits fund public access production studios. 
The channels will "go dark."

Telecommunications giants AT&T and Comcast persuaded the Indiana General 
Assembly to pass legislation, written by the telecom companies (we think 
mostly by AT&T), which allows the companies to centralize all franchise 
agreements in one statewide commission rather than negotiate franchise 
agreements city by city and county by county. Included in the new law is 
a provision for telecom companies to abandon public access requirements 
and contracts if competitors do not also offer public access to its 
network.

Shutting down public access to media further consolidates the power of 
the telecom and media giants and diminishes grassroots access to media.

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Resources

Is Cable Access Dead in Indiana? 
<http://www.sjvgreens.org/archive06/current/publicAccess1.shtml>
Tom Brown, St. Joe Valley Greens, April 17, 2006
http://www.sjvgreens.org/archive06/current/publicAccess1.shtml

Bad FCC <http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/badFCC.shtml>
Tom Brown, St. Joe Valley Greens, December 23, 2006
http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/badFCC.shtml

Public Needs YOU to Stop The FCC Now! 
<http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ACM/campaign/?campaign_KEY=6326&t>
Alliance for Community Media, December 18, 2006
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ACM/campaign/?campaign_KEY=6326&t

Challenging corporate control of the public's air waves 
<http://www.gp.org/greenpages/content/volume9/issue4/article2.php>
Joanne Cvar, Green Pages, Vol. 9, Issue 4
http://www.gp.org/greenpages/content/volume9/issue4/article2.php

Digital TV: Leaving viewers in limbo 
<http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/04/technology/pluggedin_digitaltv/index.htm>
Marc Gunther, FORTUNE, January 19, 2006
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/04/technology/pluggedin_digitaltv/index.htm

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PROGRESSIVE DISCUSSION GROUP

Hello all!

Please come join the conversation every Wednesday at 611 Portage Ave. 
from 7-9. This study group has been a constant enlightening, elucidating 
experience!

We will be begin reading a new round of articles Wednesday night, when 
Ed Ruetz will lead the discussion on Sean Carroll's /Endless Forms Most 
Beautiful/.

If you'd like to join this next round of reading & study, please bring 
your article/chapter/essay with enough copies to go around (~6-8).

Come join all the fun!

Best, Lily & Karl

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PORTAGE AVE SALON

Join us for good conversation, good company, and a wonderful sense of 
progressive community.

Bring your own: beverage, a veggie-friendly dish to share (optional), 
and a friend- if you like.

7pm onward-

611 Portage Avenue (near northwest South Bend)

email karl_j_hardy at yahoo.com if you need directions or for more info.

Hope to see you there!
Lily and Karl

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SJVGREENS.ORG - WHAT'S NEW

1. The next attack is coming: Six years after 911
http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/sixYearsLater.shtml

2. Comcast closes public access studios in northern Indiana **
http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/comcastClosesStudios.shtml

3. Huge global warming win
http://www.sjvgreens.org/current/hugeGlobalWin.shtml

4. Provisional minutes of the Sept. 13 SJVGreens meeting
http://www.sjvgreens.org/minutes/20070913.shtml

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GREENTV SHOWS

* Sep 19: //Good Jobs/Fairer Taxes//. Greg LeRoy explains the economic 
gutting of cities due to poor economic planning and undemocratic 
economic development.

* Sep 26: /Competing Visions: Economic Development in St. Joseph County, 
1/2/. Marty Wolfson builds on Greg LeRoy's insights and applies them to 
specific economic development conditions in St. Joseph County, IN.

* Nov 3: /Competing Visions: Economic Development in St. Joseph County, 
2/2/. Marty Wolfson builds on Greg LeRoy's insights and applies them to 
specific economic development conditions in St. Joseph County, IN.

* Nov 10: /Community Benefit Agreements, 1/2/. Madeliene Janis-Apparicio 
tells us how organizers in the one of the poorest and neglected 
communities in Los Angeles force the City of Los Angeles and developers 
to negotiate enforceable agreements that benefit the community directly, 
not just the politicians, the developers and huge corporations.

* Nov 17: /Community Benefit Agreements, 2/2/. Madeliene Janis-Apparicio 
tells us how organizers in the one of the poorest and neglected 
communities in Los Angeles force the City and developers to negotiate 
enforceable agreements that benefit the community directly, not just the 
politicians, the developers and huge corporations.

GreenTV airs Wednesdays, 10:00 p.m. Tune to Comcast cable channel 99.

* Take special note that Comcast is closing all its public access 
studios in northern Indiana. GreenTV will continue to broadcast on 
Comcast cable until November or December. After the closing, GreenTV 
will publish shows on the Internet, possibly in a different format.

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KEY VALUES OF THE GREENS

1. Ecological wisdom
2. Social justice
3. Grassroots democracy
4. Nonviolence
5. Decentralization
6. Community-based economics
7. Feminism
8. Respect for diversity
9. Personal and global responsibility
10. Future focus

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St. Joe Valley Greens, South Bend, IN
http://www.sjvgreens.org/
mailto: tbrown at sjvgreens.org or khardy at sjvgreens.org