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Editorial
KCAT should expand for community good
After what seems like a long period of confusion and miscommunication, representatives from the town and KCAT, the public-access TV station, are finally sitting down and hammering out details to allow KCAT to begin televising public meetings from the Los Gatos Town Council Chambers.
For years, town officials dismissed suggestions that Los Gatos join other cities in the valley in televising council and planning commission meetings. "We can't afford it," became the official mantra. It never really became an issue until AT&T, the parent company of TCI, moved KCAT from its coveted Channel 6 location.
The town sued AT&T in 1999 on behalf of KCAT and a settlement brought $96,000. Although council representatives on the KCAT board were lukewarm to the idea of using the money to purchase equipment for televising meetings, community pressure resulted in public hearings on the subject.
Residents, citing a busy lifestyle that made it difficult to attend meetings, enthusiastically supported the idea of being able to watch public meetings from the comfort of their homes. Council members continued to fret that TV cameras would prolong meetings and encourage grandstanding, but eventually gave in to community pressure.
So it would seem that all's well that ends well.
Except that there may be a lesson to be learned about having a public access station whose small board of directors is dominated by a town council which is also the station's funding source.
Is it really in the best interest of the community--much less the spirit of community access television--for the town council to have the majority vote on the KCAT board, a board that might have been much more vocal about televising board meetings much earlier had the board been more diverse?
Currently, station bylaws mandate five board members, two of whom are town council members and one of whom is appointed by the town council. The fourth board member represents the high school district, and the fifth is supposed to be a Monte Sereno City Council member, but that city routinely does not fill the position.
We'd argue that more board members representing a broader cross-section of the community would bring vitality to the station, not to mention the potential for a TV station that portrays something other than the official voice of the town of Los Gatos.
A board of directors should have far more than four members, and those members should represent diverse views in the community. If the AT&T money hadn't become available, there's no way a KCAT board dominated by a council opposed to televised meetings would ever have entertained the notion of televising meetings.
Its time for a revision of KCAT's bylaws. It's time to bring diverse voices from the community into the community access process.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
