 I'm Jesus Papaleta Melendez, everybody knows me. I'm one of the original founders of the New Rican Poets Movement, and I was born and raised here in East Harlem. We're on 104th Street between Lexington and 3rd in front of the Eminem Studios where the firehouse used to be here when I was a kid. I'm being banned from coming in today, although there is a community meeting here that's open to the public. The politicians are going to be here, all kinds of people from our side are community, but I live in this community and I'm not being allowed here. I know how to use video equipment, I know how to use Final Cut Pro, but yet I'm being locked out of here. So I'm going to release my article called Digital apartheid in El Barrio because I feel that this is just what's going to happen. If you don't cooperate with these people, you can't use the facility in your community. So that means that their tyrants in our community are in control of public access, which means the public has no access. Good morning. Good morning. How are you? Good. So you're letting the press in? Can we come in for democracy now? I defined access as the right to have one's own say on electronic media. We are all dominated by electronic media. For the most part, it's a one-way process, but it shouldn't be a one-way process any more than any means of communication should be one way. So what we're trying to do in access is to give millions of ordinary people the right to use this vehicle to speak with each other and to speak with the public officials who control our lives. Here comes the poet. Hello. Good morning. Would you like to say something about public access? Don't fuck with me. Hey, fuck you. What? Hey, hey, hey. Don't go next. Don't go next. Does this have to work? I said fuck you, because you hit me? No, no. Go inside. I just said fuck you. No. It's okay. You're going to get in with that attitude? I don't have an attitude. You're the one that had the attitude, but you just didn't get in. He was the one who had the attitude, boy. Yeah. Okay, it's our film, the Josie Baby. And why is access important? Access is important because unless we have a way of speaking on this dominant means of communication, we're going to be more and more passive consumers of whatever we're given, we're going to have a culture that's dominated by passivity, and we're also going to see fewer and fewer people taking an active part in their local government. I think that access has already, access and cable at least in the United States has already proven that it can make a very real change in the way local government is conducted. How do you represent us? He took out after you. Well, he almost hit me. Yes. Where's he at? Oh. Okay. How are you? Hi. Long live all of the community. You're welcome to go in there. I am. You live in the community? You can't go in? Hell no. Why? Because this is not for the community. I thought it was different. No, it's not. It's built for the community. It's built for whoever they control in the community. Oh. We're being denied access, and I live in this community. I live like six blocks away from here. Wow. But I'm not being allowed in, and I almost got attacked by this guy just now. We have it on tape. Show it to you. Hi. So the meaning of here is going to be both of us. Hello. This is both of us welcome. Are you an actor? Yes. I want to be. Are you here today? Why am I here? I got invited. Democracy is a very fragile thing. I don't know why we assume that when a dictatorial country turns democratic that it's going to survive easily. It needs nurturing because it's so much easier for a few people to dominate many people than for many people to govern themselves. We're just beginning to learn how this is done. In this country we're finding that it's the constant battle between the few who can control the means of communication and the many who have the votes, but are lulled into passivity by watching television, listening to radio, and being inactive. Access is one way of getting us all to speak about public affairs, to take a part in public affairs. My own view is that we want to use access to get people to watch television less and get involved in their public affairs more. I've been an educator for more than 25 years in the non-profit world and the adult education program served about 1,000 people each year, 18 and older, and it was a beautiful community and it still is a wonderful learning program because the students we had were representing the urban population. Most of them were people that left high school for various reasons, were trying to get their high school equivalency. We had people that were returning from prison. We had students that were immigrants that were learning English as their first language and for me I was very proud because our program was a place for people to reinvent themselves, see themselves in a new way. Hi, Peter, how are you? You know, we would like to come in and I understood this is the official opening and we'd like to... I live in the community. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. I told you, we'll get in. Yeah, but you know... The concept of public access is access to the means of production of imagery, access to equipment, access to training, access to publicity in the newspaper, and this is not. I think there's a reason for it, we're a television listing what's going on on the access channel and that's a non-commercial listing. People do not pay to have CNN listed, CBS, NBC, ABC, they don't want people, regular people to make media because man, to see contradictions, right? Hmm, one person says yes, another person says no, maybe the truth is a bit more complicated. That's what public access is all about, it's about, appreciate that life is a bit more complicated. Children making media, it's about disabled people making media, it's about television in many communities. I mean, this is just, you know what, everything that we fought for fails here. These are tyrants in control of a community facility where they're not going to let the community participate. They're not just blocking me, they're blocking me in preparation of blocking you. You know, how are you going to take someone as renowned as myself who has done video and many community supportive activities and you're going to keep me out of this place? Why do I sit in one place? It's the major, medium and it's really important that everybody have a voice or that there at least be a place where if you want, you can have a voice and you don't have to pay a lot of money. See, that's what's happening. People are coming into, these are what, interlopers. It doesn't matter if they're black, Latino, they're still interlopers because they do not have the community at heart. In fact, they cock block people in our community who have the community at heart. They just block them, they take up these jobs, they make hundreds of thousands of dollars. They won't let us in, we really just wanted to come in and I heard this was a public event and we're being locked out and it's like they're letting New York one in, like we're covering it for the community. Are you the one who had the big fight with us? She had the big fight with me. He did not. I mean, I witnessed a lot of that. She came after him like a pitfall. And all because I was part of the coalition, the activist coalition. And she kicked him out of the class. Out of the community leaders. One of the most helpful members. I read your email. I cannot be a community leader because I'm too concerned about the community. It's been used to try to describe access to people is to describe the airwaves, the airwaves quite literally, like the waterways and the land, as sort of the public parks. And they have to be tended to, they have to kind of greedy corporate use and they have to be guarded from abuse. And that's what public access is. It's kind of an electronic, just like we try to conserve the national forest lands and the national parks. As one area in the land that is taken care of for the community and to be used by the community. That's what public access channels are to the airwaves. I've been some problems and my own involvement with this happened when I tried to get some grants reinstated. Because many of the alternative media institutions in this city really always need money. Let's put it that way, nonprofits. They're definitely a nonprofit. But there was a program that M&N ran for over ten years, which was a grant giving entity of giving production money to places like downtown community television, to Asian center vision, to the union settlement, for example. And to two organizations that are near and dear to my heart, Paper Tiger and Deep Dish. And they stopped giving those grants and I asked about reinstating them and was told that, well, they're not going to do them in the same way and they're going to do different kinds of grants. I really felt that there should be a way to try to impress upon the board of M&N why those grants were so important. So a group of us who had been former recipients of those grants, we got together and we tried to go to the board meeting and we were told that the board meeting was closed. And in the bylaws that we had, it said, oh, the board meeting has to be open, that that's part of the bylaws of M&N. And so we weren't allowed up into the room where they were meeting at the firehouse. They were meeting at the firehouse. There was one of the people with us was Papaletto, who is a neighbor of the firehouse. He's been living in the barrio. He was born there. And he was so excited about the firehouse opening up and he really wanted to come to the board meeting to learn more about the firehouse and how he could interact with it. And he was shocked that the way we were treated that we weren't allowed to go to the board meeting, well, why were they discussing something secret? This is supposed to be a public entity and we had a paper that said the bylaws that it was open and we weren't really allowed to attend the meeting. So I got in touch with the state, has an office of open meetings. It's actually in Albany and somebody told me that I should maybe ask them what the policy was on public access. And they said, yes, public access meetings have to be open. I was told by one of the board members that, oh, well, we're not really a public entity because it's a private nonprofit that makes a deal with Time Warner. And we said, yeah, but the deal is using public money because it's the public money that's in exchange for the rights of way, of all the hassle that we all have to undergo while the bus waits, while the Verizon trucks gets out of our way or whatever or digs a hole. There is a payback that the city has to give which is why we have public access. So, and that should be open. And when I talked to Mr. Friedman, Bob Friedman who's head of the New York State Office of Open Meetings, he said, of course, public access board meetings have to be open. And he said, and committee meetings too. He said, that's a state law. And I said, well, where's the law? And he said, I'll look it up. And he sent me some statements about it. And it's actually in the cable regulations of New York State that they have to be open. So, we talked and we were told, yes, the meetings will be open. So, I came the next time and I came with a camera. And when I got the camera out, they said, no, you can't use the camera. I won't put your face in it. If you have my image, then I can't. I won't put your image in it. I'm going to jump into the chairperson of Manhattan in the first meeting. I'd like to call this meeting the order of things. Are you videoing me? Yes. This is my understanding of this being reported. Yes, it is. I'm sorry. I'm not allowed to make any recordings of any kind that are meaningful to you. So, I have to ask you to stop the recording. I was in touch this afternoon with the executive director, Robert Freeman, of the Committee for Open Government. And public access, and there are many cases, public access entities, even though they have a 501C3 privately, they are public entities. And he said there's an enormous amount of case law on this. He gave me a copy. I have a copy of the law here. I'm the chairperson of the board in Manhattan, neighborhood, and I am saying now that it is not our policy to allow recordings of any kind at this meeting tonight. So, you need to stop the recording immediately. You do not have our permission. Well, I think you'll have to see if this is... I got a legal opinion. If you have a legal opinion. Excuse me, Ms. Halleck. Are you going to record this meeting tonight? I am recording, yes. Then I call this meeting adjourned immediately. Do you want to please second the adjournment of the meeting? You didn't call the meeting the order. Well, let's have it just have it for a very second. Carolyn Coley, our board secretary, has seconded all in favor. Lane and Terry have voted in favor. The meeting is adjourned unfortunately. Divine. Today, he was horrified at the... I sent him the letter that I received from Eminem. And here's what he said. It's unbelievable that an access facility that doesn't allow access... I guess we are left to conclude that seeking access to an access facility is bad behavior. Seeking transparency is bad behavior. Seeking accountability is bad behavior. Seeking to have a community-based organization be responsive to the community in which it's located is bad behavior. Seeking a metaphor is bad behavior. Expressing opinions that diverge from or challenge those of the access providers is bad behavior. I'm incredibly saddened by this latest episode. The one access organization that had the potential to make a real difference in the lives of the many various communities that has been hijacked and has become just one more petty non-profit fiefdom. Who do you represent? Hi. The Academic Development Corporation. Sir, who are you with? I'm with the Department of Information, Technology and Telecommunications for you. Okay. And you are with? Deep Dish Television. Oh, great. Okay. It's a very exciting morning. Yeah, it's a beautiful firehouse. Fantastic. I just wish it was more open. It's like there's hardly ever anybody here. Wow. We're dreaming up some publicity about it now. People will come. It's wonderful. People will come, but they're not allowed in. Like, we came this morning and then we're not allowed in. Oh, really? Yeah. It should be open to the public, the event, no? I know. I thought it was. We were told it was. Excuse me one second. I'm sorry. Senator? I think this must be Nan coming. That's the ride. That's Senator Serrano. Oh, really? Yeah. His office is right here. That's why I just told him. And those two people that I was talking to, they saw when Joseon had attacked me. So they work here? Yeah, they work here somehow. Hi. Who do you represent? I'm one of Cable. Oh, well. Thank you. It's a great channel. They shouldn't talk to me. Who do you represent? Landmarks Commission. Oh, it's a great building. Yeah, I want to take a look. Hi. Hi. Oh, my God. Nice, isn't it? That's it. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much. Come on in, please. Hi. Hi, Ken. Very proud. How are you doing? Nice to see you. Hi. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. What really got me was the fact that all these people, you could tell people, they're on that street, there are not that many people wearing suits. And you knew when we saw somebody come down the street in a suit, they were going to be ushered in. And we weren't ushered, we weren't allowed in. And it just made us more and more mad. Okay. The issue here is injustice. If they're going to fire their workers for talking to me, and I'm a person in the American community, I mean, really, that's like, you know, disallowing you to talk to the mailman, you know? But if they're going to do that, you know, then what is this, you know, neighborhood network? Where's the democracy and neighborhood network? You know what I mean? You can't talk to people. You can't socialize in your own community. You know, that's tyranny. That's tyranny. I'm very livid, ladies and gentlemen. I don't like this at all. This is not good for the community, you know? What you do to the least, you do to the great. So that's what's happening here. I just think we're talking about an institution that is becoming institutionalized and needs the people to speak up and say how they want it to run and be more involved in the running of it. And it's a wonderful resource. We've got to take care of it. We've got to make sure we find out how it's run and give suggestions about it and get the media activists back there. That's the thing that is the most upsetting. It used to be there were a lot of people who had experience teaching and being involved with media activism. None of those people are there anymore. They've all had their jobs removed or whatever. So you get some people who, you know, the new people who are hired, a lot of people who come from broadcast television who don't have that kind of background of really fighting for alternative media. And that's what we need to do. We can't just sit back and let it happen. We need to help make Manhattan Neighborhood Network as a potential for being and can be and has been. And we need to make sure it's transparent and a place where people feel safe and to express themselves. I mean, Papaletto tried to express himself and now I'm banned from, because I taped him expressing himself, I'm banned from even going in there for three months. They're not allowing us to... Well, I was part of a training program that was here and I was also a member of a community that had issues with the Board of Directors and she told me I can't be on a committee that has issues against the Board of Directors and participate in the programming that's going on here. So I can't be concerned about the community and be involved here. So we tried to get in earlier and they told us with our invitation, blah, blah, blah. You can't come in. Those invites can be an email. The invites can be an email. Well, I didn't get one. I want my boss to give me an email. But this is a community event. I got an email and then I forwarded it to Papo assuming that it was a public event. It's not justified to lock me out of here. You know? Who do you represent? What? Because they're just going to bolster you with false information, so you should know. Who do you represent? Christy. Aha. You want to sit? Yeah, but who's who of the suits? Not to mention the suit. It's going to be all over the damn day. Good morning, Councilman. We've been locked out. We're just going to let you know. I heard it was a community event and they said we had to be on the list. Oh, good morning. Hi. Who do you represent? Thanks for the financial. The one side, please. I know you. The community is being kept out. It's an activity. I live six blocks away, but we're being banned. Okay. Hi. I'm Von Diaz. Hi, Von Diaz. Good to meet you. This is Dee Dee Halley. Are they... You can go where? They're not letting us in. But it's always a struggle. It's to try to keep public access going, but it depends on the active participation of the producers and the community that watches and loves public access. And I know there's... People say, oh, nobody watches public access. That's not true. I mean, I think a lot of people watch public access. I know Herb Schiller, when we first did Paper Tiger, Herb Schiller said, if he walked five blocks in Manhattan, someone would come up to him and say, oh, I saw you on TV. He loved telling a story and I was walking with him once when that happened. So people do watch public access. They say more people watch public access than watch public television. And when they've done studies, they did a study in Austin and also in Portland, Oregon. And that was the surprising result was that more people watched public access than watched public television. The first question is, why is access a First Amendment issue? Well, access is a First Amendment issue because in order for citizens and groups to reach other citizens and other groups in today's society, it's necessary to have access to the mass media. Now, back in the early days of our country, it was possible because communities were relatively small and there were no electronic mass media that predominated information flows. It was possible for citizens to reach each other via pamphlets and leaflets or simply soapboxes on street corners. Today, however, that's not possible. It's the only way you're going to reach most of your fellow citizens. The only way community groups are going to speak to each other is via the mass media, which has become the major way in which information is received by the public today. And in each community throughout the country, there is usually very limited opportunities to speak over the mass media. Only a few broadcasters could be licensed per community. Broadcasters are subject to a public trustee obligation called the Fairness Doctrine, which requires them to provide reasonable coverage of controversial issues of public importance and to provide reasonable opportunity for contrasting viewpoints, as well as sometimes to allow third parties to come on there. However, cable television is a different matter. Cable is different from over-the-air television because of the vast channel capacity of cable. Many of the newer systems have well over 50 channels, some have over 100 channels. And so it's now possible for citizens to speak to one another via the television. And the way that's done is via access channels. Now, why is it necessary to have a right of access to certain cable channels? Because in each community, there is normally only one cable operator. Economic characteristics of the cable industry usually have dictated that only one cable system can financially survive per community. It's a natural monopoly industry, so to speak. And so there is only one cable system per community. Well, if that one system operator has complete control over all 100 channels, then that information gatekeeper can control the diversity of information that's available in that community. And that information gatekeeper, the cable operator, may for arbitrary reasons absent any kind of access requirements, exclude viewpoints with which the cable operator disagrees, or perhaps exclude programming that may compete with the cable operator's own programming. In the cable industry today, there's a great deal of vertical integration. In addition to the fact that there is only one system per community, most of the systems around the country these days are owned by large multimedia corporate conglomerates. So to get back to the major point, a cable operator is an information gatekeeper and may control access to the electronic public forum in each community unless there are some sort of access requirements imposed that allow individuals and groups and programming services access to certain channels on a first come, first serve basis, content neutral basis beyond the editorial control of the cable operator. And the Supreme Court has said that the First Amendment is founded on the principle that the public is best served by the maximum diversification of information in our society. And the only way that information diversity goal is going to be served in today's society, in my view, is by having some sort of access, right of access to at least a certain number of cable channels in any community because there's only one cable system. The cable system is effectively the electronic public forum. It serves the same purposes as the public streets did before. And access channels provide electronic soapboxes. So that's really why access is the First Amendment issue. Who do you represent? I'm from the Upper Manhattan County Zone. Hi. Thank you. We have it on tape. They retire or someone kills them so that I can come and have access to the facility here because I am being locked out by people of color because I really need for you. What they do to me. They only got a plaque. Let's see the plaque. It's so tight. You can tell they slept too hard. They got to cough themselves to be at the speaker or whatever. What is the strength of that? He's a what? What is he, a representative or what? Are you one of the youth producers? Yes. And what's your name? Patrick Forman. Oh, you're one of the youth channel people, right? Yes. You know, they won't let us in. He's the right, he's the color that you have to sign in with. Man, if you don't have a card, blond skin, you got to sign in. Don't let us in. It's not a public opening. Now this guy's showing you his patch. I mean, did he do that like belligerently or smiling? Look at this. Did you see what was on the under his belt? Done? Yeah. We fought to change the color of the tyrant. Now they are black and brown. Tyrants. You know, we are them. This poster glorifies the things that they say they've been up to. You know, here is these are two classmates of mine when I was taking the community builders training program. Let me read it to you. Watch this. The M&M El Barrio Firehouse launched the community builders training in February 2012 as a pilot program for persons interested in producing community oriented programming. The two month intensive provides basic camera and video editing knowledge. Upon successful completion, participants certifies El Barrio Firehouse field producers. A new cycle begins in late July. Not everyone in the community is allowed in here or welcome. And, you know, as long as we've waited for this building to exist so that we can work here, now we can.