Someone's gotta say it. The city of Evanston is a fat, bloated greedy pig. An intervention is needed. Governmentaholics Anonymous for all of you! Stop it already. Cut your damn spending. End of story.
I spent Wednesday afternoon (along with every other middle school math teacher) discussing the teaching of measures of central tendency and how to help student explain their problem-solving process.
It is not clear to me why the content of D65 professional development needs to be reported to every parent. To what end?
Have you asked about the content of the PLCs every Monday at ETHS?
Why can't the school districts share a channel? Because they are different corporations and someone would need to manage the parity.
Can we sell the Municipal channel back to Comcast? They won't buy it back! They'll gladly take it back at the end of the franchise agreement. And, hey, isn't that a one-time collection, or something not to balance the budget with?
Can we share the Municipal Channel with the public? Grumble, grumble, something about Nazis? That's just pathetic...
"Woman (who's name I didn't catch) argues that cutting funding for ECMC could reduce cable franchise fee revenue because program producers may be subscribing only to watch their own shows."
Here's what Naperville did THIS YEAR - laid off 10 percent of its employees, including 17 from the police department and two from the fire department.
But more importantly, it's what Naperville did LAST YEAR that is interesting. The city laid off 23 employees and eliminated 23 vacant positions. And, some city employees voluntarily took unpaid time off.
In other words, Naperville was acting on budget shortfalls last year.
In a span of one year, Naperville laid off and eliminated 92 city jobs.
Evanston has laid off ZERO, NADA, ZILCH employees. And the proposal is to end 47 jobs - only four in the police department and one in the fire department.
In addition, union employees, which is the vast majority of city employees, would still get an annual merit increase - non-union employees have no such luck.
I'm not sure how many of the actual Evanston employees losing their jobs are union members but I suspect very few. It's my understanding that the 17 library employees losing their jobs are not in the union.
This is typical in this town when you have the PRESIDENT of the city union employees sitting on a budget task force, participating in budget recommendations. EVERY Council member and the mayor are Democrats who are clearly in bed with the unions on every government level.
This, I believe, is the primary reason why NO city employees have been laid off during a three-year-long Recession and city budget shortfalls.
No one is willing to bite the hand that feeds them.
Instead, we see the city continue on with its tax increases to feed the machine.
Reply:
Two points ...
At the budget meeting today the AFSCME union leader who spoke said the library workers being laid off are union members.
Also, the city manager is not proposing a property tax increase this year, although he is proposing an increase in fees for trash pickup.
-- Bill
If I recall correctly, there are signs near the Metra stations saying that the stations are for use by Metra passengers and employees, and anyone else is considered a trespasser.
I wonder, then, what if any limits on speech are permitted at Metra stations. I have often been greeted by people at the bottom of the stairway on Church, passing out literature for their candidates or soliciting for a charity. I have received literature from many candidates on the platform.
The people passing out this stuff were clearly not passengers.
My sources tell me that a certain candidate for state representative was spotted at the Davis Metra station on Friday. Witnesses report that the candidate entered the station waiting room and approached people who were peacefully minding their own business and then talked to them about his campaign.
I don't know if this person then boarded a train. I doubt that he would come all the way down to Davis to catch the inbound Metra, since this person lives near Central Street. Perhaps he took the Metra from Central and got off at Davis so he could walk to the Chase Building...but that wouldn't justify his loitering in the station waiting room, unless he was buying more Metra tickets.
So I wonder:
If this person was not a passenger on a Metra train, was he trespassing?
What limits are there to freedom of speech inside the public Metra stations? If someone is not a passenger, does this person have a right to hang out in the station and solicit people? If so, would we permit religious groups to hand out pamphlets in the station waiting room? How about homeless guys? Do they have the right to sell Streetwise and ask for spare change inside the station waiting room if they aren't paying passengers? And if they are paying passengers, do they have this right? Do they have a right to just sit in the Metra waiting room, like they do in the Public Library?
On the subject of the Davis Metra station, why is it that the south exit doors are permanently locked, while only one of the double doors in the main entrance opens and the other is in a locked position? When a train comes, everyone squeezes through one door. It seems that this is a fire hazard too...doors that are marked as emergency exits should be functioning...will the south doors open in an emergency?
Naperville cuts 22 employees, won't fill 27 vacant positions
Tribune staff report January 9, 2010
Naperville cut 49 positions this week to help the city close a budget deficit, officials said Friday.
The city eliminated 22 positions and 27 vacant positions to save $3.6 million a year, officials said. Combined with 43 positions eliminated last January, the cuts amount to 10 percent of the work force and will save the city about $7 million a year.
Officials are trying to close an $11 million deficit this year.
The city manager's budget was crafted very thoughtfully with input from concerned and knowledgeable citizens. How about this year we do what the professionals we pay for have vetted? Otherwise, we risk government by shouting!
Please cut the pension costs by amending the plan for new hires or amending the plan for all employees. Don't just past on the cost to taxpayers and be guilty of not fixing the problem long term.
I was not trying to critique the programming on Channel 6, just provide an illustrated description of it. I believe many Evanstonians are not familiar with what programing is on the channel because they never watch it.
Do you feel criticized by the story? How so?
I didn't think the programming on the government and educational access channels needed to be described. What more can you say about live and taped gavel-to-gavel coverage of public meetings except that it's there?
Here's an idea... the Alderman accept in full all of the City Manager's thoughtful and reasoned recommendations to close the budget gap. The fact is we can all argue and push our elected officials to re-arrange this one hundred different ways but in the end, people aren't going to be happy. Our expenses significantly exceed our revenue. We have a serious problem. By accepting in full the City Manager's recommendations, the Council can focus its attention on long-term solutions to our budget problems, a more productive use of their time, in my opinion. This Council spent months vetting and selecting a highly trained professional to run this City. As painful as it is for everyone, let's take his recommendations and move on.
A three-year-old show about a book on drumming? Lots of interview/talking head programs? A continuing series on "misfit children" in a group home? (Great message there.) Lots of religious programming offered free of charge?
I've seen goofballs talking about their cars or sports. What a waste of public funds.
Only one day's worth of programming produced a month...for almost $440,000 year? That's a very high price per hour.
Sorry to disagree but I do not see that Channel 6 provides programs with "good content." From this article and my own observations for more than 10 years, the programming is paltry and weak. Assertions that good content "will increase when..." do not justify further funding at this level.
I support cutting all funding to ECMC except what is necessary to provide government meetings. There is no need to spend public funds for any other programs. Run the Community Calendar and community information at all other times. If anyone wants to put content on the channel, use a handheld video camera and pay for the air time to show it.
If the public channels have value, sell the air time and put all of the money toward the pension debt. We can't joke any more about spending this kind of money for what we get.
so what's your point? i see good content that is both informing us and is developing us and our community as content creators. you will see this increase as we move to live internet streams and as fewer people are afraid of technology in general. we could never dream of this without a media center.
in your article you're only talking about channel 6, public access. there are 3 other channels, government, school district 65, and evanston township high school. perhaps you can critique the content on those channels for us?
Teacher training should take place in August, before the school year begins, so that the teachers can integrate the training into their lesson plans. The District should pay for the teachers to come in a week before the students start, not two days. Too many things are done "on the fly" in this District. New online grade books, but no training, being this year's example. How about some planning ahead. Everyone else is required to do it, how about the administrators in District 65.
Gotta say - I've seen plenty of plows - but doing little good. Most I've seen had blades up, none I've seen were doing any salting and the phalanx I saw coming down Chicago Ave last night seems to be only moving around the 1/4 of slush that remained. Come on Evanston - these are the storms that we buy the salt for!
I was surprised to find out there is such a thing. Many people barely have enough time to watch the few news/education programs on broadcast TV let alone stay glued to Evanston cable and take 'advantage' of this spending.
Perhaps this is where all the news on public events is distributed. I know when stores use to post flyers about events like Pancake Breakfasts, I at least knew about them. Now I have to find out by traveling past spots and seeing a banner or knowing about when they should be and asking around.
For me at least, Evanston does not do a very good job of letting people know what events are coming up---including the emails the city sends out. Seeing a notice at the EPL-Main is about the only source and those are rare and spotty.
Evanston could probably find much better uses of the money to communicate.
Are there any stats. on how many visitors to the branches are black and Hispanic ? From what I know the areas with these populations are generally [for south branch] in a strip from Chicago Ave. to Elmwood and Howard to Main or perhaps Dempster; and for north branch south of McCormick---a pretty good walk to the North Branch.
I excluded Asians from my question since the stereotype--right or wrong--at least is that they are heavily into education and thus should make up a reasonable proportion of the visitors at all library branches [I certainly see this at Wilmette library]. However that is a mute issue since the demographic reports are that they make up a small portion of the population and Asian children in the schools [less than 5%] is so small that test stats. for them are not broken out.
I find this very odd given the number of NU students, faculty, staff and what you would consider a proportional level of the workforce [and children] that should select Evanston. Are the statistics bad ? Do they answer polls and census as being white ? mixed ? not want to live in Evanston for some reason [want to live in Wilmette or others] or does Evanston really have a problem attracting Asians---a "discrimination" problem ? Or are they invisible to the library staff since they stay away from the library for some reason ? provide books at home ? or go to the Wilmette library ?
It seems in a time when we are cutting programs and positions across the city this is a huge waste of money that should have been further up the chopping block. I think the city should keep all of the cable franchise fees for the general revenue fund. It seems silly to essentially subsidize this type of operation with public money, especially under the current economic pressure.
Also, it is ridiculous to claim that quality, informative programming can't be done with current technology. There are multitudes of examples from journalists, other municipalities, and entertainers across the internet that would refute that point. Cable tv is an diminishing technology and using a studio and all that equipment to produce hyper local programming is going extinct.
I don't think ECMC can be replaced with flip cams and internet connections because I think ECMC can't complete with this new technology paradigm. The reality is that informative and quality programming is being done with this technology all over the country/world and I think ECMC has missed a chance to remain relevant by not embracing this.
Unfortunately I had to be at work well before 2p. These guys would have been a welcome addition to the morning commute. Evanston's claims to great city services, paid by some of the highest property taxes in the state, are becoming laughable.
The majority of ECMC public access programming consists of a host interviewing a guest on a studio set for a half hour.
If the interview were moved out of the studio onto location, conducted in a single-camera format and then edited on computer, the vast majority of the capital cost associated with the production would be eliminated.
Getting out of the studio might also inspire the producers to shoot supporting video to illustrate the interview while they were out in the field, which would greatly enhance the visual appeal of the programs.
The time required of the producer would be somewhat greater than that needed now to just plop people onto a studio set and roll tape, but the result would be better television.
I might be able to be convinced the branch libraries have had their day - though I'd like to see a bookmobile replace them, maybe going to Dempster and Dodge one day a week, Ridgeville Community House building another...places that are truly far from the library...but cut back on programming at the main library too? NO WAY. That place, in addition to the high school and Levy Center, is the very soul of Evanston. That's where people can come for great free programs, movies, children's music, information about taxes, the flu, you name it. Nobody would gain a thing from any cutback whatsoever.
On this I think we can all agree - if it's to be the only library, long hours, lots of programs!!
well said (both the interview and the comment). i'll add that people in the technology and TV space already know this, that consumer level video is not the same as professional production and it never will be. even if consumer cameras get good enough, to achieve quality optics then will never have the consumer device form factor (size limitations). and even if you don't care about the camera quality you still need to deal with lighting (needs to be 20' up to not have shadows), a stage, props, green screen, camera switching (especially for live programming), audio source switching. the only thing that really is just as good on cheap home gear is the editing because it's all in software so anyone with a decent computer and $500 or more for final cut pro (there is ok low-end software too) can do a great job. storage is cheap so they can transport to/from the studio. but the studio itself is the big deal.
as far as internet streaming or on demand goes, yes, these are great but i would say it increases the need for the ECMC even more because now our citizens have a way to reach an even bigger audience. i anticipate much more demand of the ECMC to produce content especially as we establish our own streaming channels.
do NOT discount the 4 TV channels we have. surveys show that people want to watch most types of content on their big screen at a distance with a remote. as internet devices hooked to the tv access more content that will include more internet content. fully moving TV channels to the internet so there's no TV (like we know today) left is coming but it's many years away and the ECMC will be ready for it many years in advance.
we need our city channel, our 2 school channels, and our public access channel on TV and on the internet more than ever as both offering creation and delivery of citizen expression AND continuously developing each new generation of media producers is a requirement for a democracy.
It's very unfortunate to hear that you would have to travel a little further to get your books every week. That would require you to get on a bus or train or even drive... a hardship no one should have to bear (other than all the areas of Evanston that don't have branches but they don't count).
Down with shared sacrifice! Branch libraries forever!
Patrick Keenan-Devlin is making a fool of himself by essentially endorsing his own candidacy. Not to mention the fact that most of his yard signs can be seen lining Sheridan Road where the most colossal houses can be found. If I remember correctly, those people vote Republican, but hey that's just generalizing right? I think I'll be voting Gabel.
Someone's gotta say it. The city of Evanston is a fat, bloated greedy pig. An intervention is needed. Governmentaholics Anonymous for all of you! Stop it already. Cut your damn spending. End of story.
Your comments are unsubstantiated and untrue.
I spent Wednesday afternoon (along with every other middle school math teacher) discussing the teaching of measures of central tendency and how to help student explain their problem-solving process.
It is not clear to me why the content of D65 professional development needs to be reported to every parent. To what end?
Have you asked about the content of the PLCs every Monday at ETHS?
Come on, Alderman Rainey!
Why can't the school districts share a channel? Because they are different corporations and someone would need to manage the parity.
Can we sell the Municipal channel back to Comcast? They won't buy it back! They'll gladly take it back at the end of the franchise agreement. And, hey, isn't that a one-time collection, or something not to balance the budget with?
Can we share the Municipal Channel with the public? Grumble, grumble, something about Nazis? That's just pathetic...
"Woman (who's name I didn't catch) argues that cutting funding for ECMC could reduce cable franchise fee revenue because program producers may be subscribing only to watch their own shows."Hi-larious!
Here's what Naperville did THIS YEAR - laid off 10 percent of its employees, including 17 from the police department and two from the fire department.
But more importantly, it's what Naperville did LAST YEAR that is interesting. The city laid off 23 employees and eliminated 23 vacant positions. And, some city employees voluntarily took unpaid time off.
In other words, Naperville was acting on budget shortfalls last year.
In a span of one year, Naperville laid off and eliminated 92 city jobs.
Evanston has laid off ZERO, NADA, ZILCH employees. And the proposal is to end 47 jobs - only four in the police department and one in the fire department.
In addition, union employees, which is the vast majority of city employees, would still get an annual merit increase - non-union employees have no such luck.
I'm not sure how many of the actual Evanston employees losing their jobs are union members but I suspect very few. It's my understanding that the 17 library employees losing their jobs are not in the union.
This is typical in this town when you have the PRESIDENT of the city union employees sitting on a budget task force, participating in budget recommendations. EVERY Council member and the mayor are Democrats who are clearly in bed with the unions on every government level.
This, I believe, is the primary reason why NO city employees have been laid off during a three-year-long Recession and city budget shortfalls.
No one is willing to bite the hand that feeds them.
Instead, we see the city continue on with its tax increases to feed the machine.
Reply:
Two points ...
At the budget meeting today the AFSCME union leader who spoke said the library workers being laid off are union members.
Also, the city manager is not proposing a property tax increase this year, although he is proposing an increase in fees for trash pickup.
-- Bill
If I recall correctly, there are signs near the Metra stations saying that the stations are for use by Metra passengers and employees, and anyone else is considered a trespasser.
I wonder, then, what if any limits on speech are permitted at Metra stations. I have often been greeted by people at the bottom of the stairway on Church, passing out literature for their candidates or soliciting for a charity. I have received literature from many candidates on the platform.
The people passing out this stuff were clearly not passengers.
My sources tell me that a certain candidate for state representative was spotted at the Davis Metra station on Friday. Witnesses report that the candidate entered the station waiting room and approached people who were peacefully minding their own business and then talked to them about his campaign.
I don't know if this person then boarded a train. I doubt that he would come all the way down to Davis to catch the inbound Metra, since this person lives near Central Street. Perhaps he took the Metra from Central and got off at Davis so he could walk to the Chase Building...but that wouldn't justify his loitering in the station waiting room, unless he was buying more Metra tickets.
So I wonder:
If this person was not a passenger on a Metra train, was he trespassing?
What limits are there to freedom of speech inside the public Metra stations? If someone is not a passenger, does this person have a right to hang out in the station and solicit people? If so, would we permit religious groups to hand out pamphlets in the station waiting room? How about homeless guys? Do they have the right to sell Streetwise and ask for spare change inside the station waiting room if they aren't paying passengers? And if they are paying passengers, do they have this right? Do they have a right to just sit in the Metra waiting room, like they do in the Public Library?
On the subject of the Davis Metra station, why is it that the south exit doors are permanently locked, while only one of the double doors in the main entrance opens and the other is in a locked position? When a train comes, everyone squeezes through one door. It seems that this is a fire hazard too...doors that are marked as emergency exits should be functioning...will the south doors open in an emergency?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Naperville cuts 22 employees, won't fill 27 vacant positions
Tribune staff report January 9, 2010
Naperville cut 49 positions this week to help the city close a budget deficit, officials said Friday.
The city eliminated 22 positions and 27 vacant positions to save $3.6 million a year, officials said. Combined with 43 positions eliminated last January, the cuts amount to 10 percent of the work force and will save the city about $7 million a year.
Officials are trying to close an $11 million deficit this year.
The city manager's budget was crafted very thoughtfully with input from concerned and knowledgeable citizens. How about this year we do what the professionals we pay for have vetted? Otherwise, we risk government by shouting!
Please cut the pension costs by amending the plan for new hires or amending the plan for all employees. Don't just past on the cost to taxpayers and be guilty of not fixing the problem long term.
Hi Stel,
I was not trying to critique the programming on Channel 6, just provide an illustrated description of it. I believe many Evanstonians are not familiar with what programing is on the channel because they never watch it.
Do you feel criticized by the story? How so?
I didn't think the programming on the government and educational access channels needed to be described. What more can you say about live and taped gavel-to-gavel coverage of public meetings except that it's there?
-- Bill
Here's an idea... the Alderman accept in full all of the City Manager's thoughtful and reasoned recommendations to close the budget gap. The fact is we can all argue and push our elected officials to re-arrange this one hundred different ways but in the end, people aren't going to be happy. Our expenses significantly exceed our revenue. We have a serious problem. By accepting in full the City Manager's recommendations, the Council can focus its attention on long-term solutions to our budget problems, a more productive use of their time, in my opinion. This Council spent months vetting and selecting a highly trained professional to run this City. As painful as it is for everyone, let's take his recommendations and move on.
A three-year-old show about a book on drumming? Lots of interview/talking head programs? A continuing series on "misfit children" in a group home? (Great message there.) Lots of religious programming offered free of charge?
I've seen goofballs talking about their cars or sports. What a waste of public funds.
Only one day's worth of programming produced a month...for almost $440,000 year? That's a very high price per hour.
Sorry to disagree but I do not see that Channel 6 provides programs with "good content." From this article and my own observations for more than 10 years, the programming is paltry and weak. Assertions that good content "will increase when..." do not justify further funding at this level.
I support cutting all funding to ECMC except what is necessary to provide government meetings. There is no need to spend public funds for any other programs. Run the Community Calendar and community information at all other times. If anyone wants to put content on the channel, use a handheld video camera and pay for the air time to show it.
If the public channels have value, sell the air time and put all of the money toward the pension debt. We can't joke any more about spending this kind of money for what we get.
so what's your point? i see good content that is both informing us and is developing us and our community as content creators. you will see this increase as we move to live internet streams and as fewer people are afraid of technology in general. we could never dream of this without a media center.
in your article you're only talking about channel 6, public access. there are 3 other channels, government, school district 65, and evanston township high school. perhaps you can critique the content on those channels for us?
Teacher training should take place in August, before the school year begins, so that the teachers can integrate the training into their lesson plans. The District should pay for the teachers to come in a week before the students start, not two days. Too many things are done "on the fly" in this District. New online grade books, but no training, being this year's example. How about some planning ahead. Everyone else is required to do it, how about the administrators in District 65.
Gotta say - I've seen plenty of plows - but doing little good. Most I've seen had blades up, none I've seen were doing any salting and the phalanx I saw coming down Chicago Ave last night seems to be only moving around the 1/4 of slush that remained. Come on Evanston - these are the storms that we buy the salt for!
I was surprised to find out there is such a thing. Many people barely have enough time to watch the few news/education programs on broadcast TV let alone stay glued to Evanston cable and take 'advantage' of this spending.
Perhaps this is where all the news on public events is distributed. I know when stores use to post flyers about events like Pancake Breakfasts, I at least knew about them. Now I have to find out by traveling past spots and seeing a banner or knowing about when they should be and asking around.
For me at least, Evanston does not do a very good job of letting people know what events are coming up---including the emails the city sends out. Seeing a notice at the EPL-Main is about the only source and those are rare and spotty.
Evanston could probably find much better uses of the money to communicate.
Are there any stats. on how many visitors to the branches are black and Hispanic ? From what I know the areas with these populations are generally [for south branch] in a strip from Chicago Ave. to Elmwood and Howard to Main or perhaps Dempster; and for north branch south of McCormick---a pretty good walk to the North Branch.
I excluded Asians from my question since the stereotype--right or wrong--at least is that they are heavily into education and thus should make up a reasonable proportion of the visitors at all library branches [I certainly see this at Wilmette library]. However that is a mute issue since the demographic reports are that they make up a small portion of the population and Asian children in the schools [less than 5%] is so small that test stats. for them are not broken out.
I find this very odd given the number of NU students, faculty, staff and what you would consider a proportional level of the workforce [and children] that should select Evanston. Are the statistics bad ? Do they answer polls and census as being white ? mixed ? not want to live in Evanston for some reason [want to live in Wilmette or others] or does Evanston really have a problem attracting Asians---a "discrimination" problem ? Or are they invisible to the library staff since they stay away from the library for some reason ? provide books at home ? or go to the Wilmette library ?
It seems in a time when we are cutting programs and positions across the city this is a huge waste of money that should have been further up the chopping block. I think the city should keep all of the cable franchise fees for the general revenue fund. It seems silly to essentially subsidize this type of operation with public money, especially under the current economic pressure.
Also, it is ridiculous to claim that quality, informative programming can't be done with current technology. There are multitudes of examples from journalists, other municipalities, and entertainers across the internet that would refute that point. Cable tv is an diminishing technology and using a studio and all that equipment to produce hyper local programming is going extinct.
I don't think ECMC can be replaced with flip cams and internet connections because I think ECMC can't complete with this new technology paradigm. The reality is that informative and quality programming is being done with this technology all over the country/world and I think ECMC has missed a chance to remain relevant by not embracing this.
Unfortunately I had to be at work well before 2p. These guys would have been a welcome addition to the morning commute. Evanston's claims to great city services, paid by some of the highest property taxes in the state, are becoming laughable.
Hi Stel,
I think you are confusing "need" with "want."
The majority of ECMC public access programming consists of a host interviewing a guest on a studio set for a half hour.
If the interview were moved out of the studio onto location, conducted in a single-camera format and then edited on computer, the vast majority of the capital cost associated with the production would be eliminated.
Getting out of the studio might also inspire the producers to shoot supporting video to illustrate the interview while they were out in the field, which would greatly enhance the visual appeal of the programs.
The time required of the producer would be somewhat greater than that needed now to just plop people onto a studio set and roll tape, but the result would be better television.
Bill
I might be able to be convinced the branch libraries have had their day - though I'd like to see a bookmobile replace them, maybe going to Dempster and Dodge one day a week, Ridgeville Community House building another...places that are truly far from the library...but cut back on programming at the main library too? NO WAY. That place, in addition to the high school and Levy Center, is the very soul of Evanston. That's where people can come for great free programs, movies, children's music, information about taxes, the flu, you name it. Nobody would gain a thing from any cutback whatsoever.
On this I think we can all agree - if it's to be the only library, long hours, lots of programs!!
disclosure - i'm on the board of the ECMC
well said (both the interview and the comment). i'll add that people in the technology and TV space already know this, that consumer level video is not the same as professional production and it never will be. even if consumer cameras get good enough, to achieve quality optics then will never have the consumer device form factor (size limitations). and even if you don't care about the camera quality you still need to deal with lighting (needs to be 20' up to not have shadows), a stage, props, green screen, camera switching (especially for live programming), audio source switching. the only thing that really is just as good on cheap home gear is the editing because it's all in software so anyone with a decent computer and $500 or more for final cut pro (there is ok low-end software too) can do a great job. storage is cheap so they can transport to/from the studio. but the studio itself is the big deal.
as far as internet streaming or on demand goes, yes, these are great but i would say it increases the need for the ECMC even more because now our citizens have a way to reach an even bigger audience. i anticipate much more demand of the ECMC to produce content especially as we establish our own streaming channels.
do NOT discount the 4 TV channels we have. surveys show that people want to watch most types of content on their big screen at a distance with a remote. as internet devices hooked to the tv access more content that will include more internet content. fully moving TV channels to the internet so there's no TV (like we know today) left is coming but it's many years away and the ECMC will be ready for it many years in advance.
we need our city channel, our 2 school channels, and our public access channel on TV and on the internet more than ever as both offering creation and delivery of citizen expression AND continuously developing each new generation of media producers is a requirement for a democracy.
I think they got off with a light sentence. Anyway, good riddance, scumbags.
It's very unfortunate to hear that you would have to travel a little further to get your books every week. That would require you to get on a bus or train or even drive... a hardship no one should have to bear (other than all the areas of Evanston that don't have branches but they don't count).
Down with shared sacrifice! Branch libraries forever!
Patrick Keenan-Devlin is making a fool of himself by essentially endorsing his own candidacy. Not to mention the fact that most of his yard signs can be seen lining Sheridan Road where the most colossal houses can be found. If I remember correctly, those people vote Republican, but hey that's just generalizing right? I think I'll be voting Gabel.