Municipal Miasma - The Pain is in the Process

I've been a citizen of Pennsylvania (again) for just 8 months; it's taken me some time to re-acclimate to the way things are done across the myriad layers of government at work here.

Something that is hastening this process is my getting back into the business of public safety communications. I've been in training for the last month. One thing I've been learning is the nuances of dealing with 130 separate municipalities, some who dispatch themselves and others who are a mix of being dispatched by the county 9-1-1 center and other municipalities or public safety agencies.

One quick example; there are five municipalities in Allegheny County where depending on the type of resources you need (Police, Fire, or EMS), three separate dispatch centers will be involved. Four of these five communities are in the Quaker Valley School District. In case you were wondering, Edgeworth is one of them.

More about that later. Today I'm interested in the recent election results, and their potential impact on my own community, Leetsdale. If you need to see a timeline of what has been reported about the recent history of borough government, check out this overview from June by crisis communications expert Dan Hicks. He's got some interesting things to say about the whole Penn State situation as well.

Voters this past Tuesday followed the entreaties of four candidates who banded together under the name Concerned Citizens of Leetsdale, and elected three of them to four-year seats and one to a two-year seat.

This action gives these four citizens (Melanie Dunn, Joe McGurk, Linda Michael, and Jeff Weatherby) a majority on Council come January. According to statements made by the candidates to Sewickley Patch and other local media, they intend to waste little time in undoing some of the current Council's actions over the last couple of years.
This will largely center around the following:

• Eliminating the positions of Borough Manager and Junior Clerk.
• Re-creating the position of Borough Secretary/Treasurer.
• Promoting the current Senior Clerk to the re-created Secretary/Treasurer position. This employee, Elizabeth Petalino, served in this capacity previously until Council eliminated her position in 2010 and created the position of Borough Manager.
  

One question I had for these candidates at one of their get-togethers before the election had to do with Ms. Petalino, whose demotion, along with what could best be described as a unique recruitment process for Borough Manager, seemed to be the primary focus of the Concerned Citizens campaign.

My question related to succession planning; who, if anyone, would be prepared to take over in Ms. Petalino's stead if there were no Junior Clerk or Borough Manager? Mr. McGurk stated that a part-time person would likely be hired to learn the duties of Secretary/Treasurer, with the intent of eventually replacing Ms. Petalino upon her retirement.

I should mention here that the current Junior Clerk is Sandra Bajsec, wife of councilman Mike Bajsec, whose term will be ending in January. Ms. Bajsec's seemingly imminent departure appears driven more by a need to assure that all vestiges of her husband's influence are eradicated from borough operations, than any effort to streamline those operations and/or reduce costs. It sounds as if the councilmembers-elect know they need someone like a Junior Clerk - they just don't want her.

At this point I'm struggling to look at this from the perspective of positions and processes, which is what I'm accustomed to. The bulk of my government work experience, at least in the Human Resources arena, involved a formal recruitment and assessment process, conducted in a way that assured all qualified applicants a fair shot at being hired.

Pre-employment testing, an interview with several stakeholders, and a thorough background investigation (including a home visit) were the norm for positions in public safety. This process was exhaustive and needed to be, considering the significant access and responsibilities being entrusted to the successful candidate.

One could assume the same things would apply to recruiting and hiring someone to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of a municipal government. Then again, I am trying to compare what I knew from Colorado with what exists in Pennsylvania.
I promised I would not dive into those comparisons, so I must turn to what is here and now, and try to understand what may be the short tenure of Leetsdale Borough Manager Paul Scimio.

I've spoken with Mr. Scimio only a few times. In those interactions I found him engaging, articulate, and somewhat excited about his work. How he actually ran the borough's daily operations is something I can't speak to. He did, however, at the October 13 meeting of Leetsdale Council, when he endeavored to highlight some of his accomplishments during his one-year tenure. These include:

• Reviewing and consolidating borough insurance policies, saving money.
  
• Changing borough phone service from Verizon to Comcast, saving money.
• Spearheading the refinancing of the borough's bond indebtedness, resulting in a savings of $108,000 this past year.
• Helping to coordinate the resolution of an addressing conflict on a borough street, shared with Leet Township, that was affecting public safety response.
  
• Securing an insurance settlement for a damaged police vehicle.
• Putting forth an insurance claim for the loss of trees in Henle Park.
• Securing a private donor to help pay water bills at the Henle Park Splash Pad.

It has also been stated by some in the business community that they appreciate the ability to be able to access someone in borough government who can act as a point person for their concerns, direct them in the way of navigating the necessary processes, and basically be the face of government operations on a daily basis.

However, additional questions about the borough's actual needs begin to raise issues that transcend the personalities and politics that seem to have dominated the controversy up to this point, and impacted the processes in ways that citizens last week appeared to have collectively deemed unacceptable.

According to a publication from the Governor's Center for Local Government Services, "More than 80 percent of Pennsylvania’s municipalities have populations
under 5,000, a size generally accepted as the point where full-time municipal management becomes feasible". Leetsdale has a residential population of about 1,100.

A Post-Gazette story after the May primary elections took this a step further:

Issues beyond population have to be weighed, as well. For example, Leetsdale has about triple the number of people working within its boundaries as residents, due to a pair of industrial parks, a copper mill, Quaker Valley High School and a shopping center.

As I've written previously, Leetsdale is perhaps the most dynamic of the 11 boroughs and townships that make up the Quaker Valley School District. The influx of workers, students, and material goods in and out of the borough, and the various layers of government that provide essential services to them, is of sufficient complexity that it requires someone of authority to be readily accessible, research and respond appropriately, and report comprehensively to the citizens and their elected officials.

How the new council addresses those needs will say a lot about exactly how much Leetsdale is poised to make changes in its operating philosophy.

In a Sewickley Herald article from August 2010, Councilman Bajsec was quoted during a council meeting as saying that the process of advertising for the Borough Manager position for one day in the Beaver County/Allegheny Times was due to a desire "to allow people 'familiar' with the borough to apply". Perhaps the true intent was to exclude anyone not possessing that 'familiarity', which appears to be centered on having grown up in Leetsdale, or lived there for a lengthy period of time.

Regardless of Mr. Scimio's experience, competence, or performance over the last year, the circumstances surrounding the creation of his position and his ascendancy into it has tainted those accomplishments, and created sufficient cause for concern among citizens as to precipitate the results of last week's election.

Nonetheless I believe that Leetsdale, like its nearby counterparts, needs a competent and experienced Borough Manager. This needs to be someone with sufficient educational and professional credentials, who can look at the borough's operations from a fresh perspective, not necessarily one steeped in the strong tea of the status quo.

Positions and processes need to be more important than personalities and politics.

That being said, all we as citizens can do is hope for the best from our newly elected officials. For me that includes thinking outside the traditional boxes, among those being the man-made lines that serve not only as municipal boundaries, but also at times barriers to more effective and responsive governance for all of us.

Best wishes to our new soon-to-be council members, and for those already on council that will also be charged to effectively represent the citizens of Leetsdale.

Have a great week ahead.

Green Spaces -Praise and Remembrance

I know we've come a long way
We're changing day to day
But tell me, where do the children play?

- Cat Stevens

When the Sewickley Herald reported at the end of June that greater-than-expected use of Leetsdale's Henle Park Splash Pad was causing some to question the free use of the facility by non-residents, it started me thinking about the nature of the land our area has preserved for the common good as community park space.

Last week's reporting on Sewickley Patch, which detailed an imminent imposition of a non-resident fee and the subsequent intervention of a private citizen to keep the pad free for all, brought the point home even further. Even after speaking with Borough Manager Paul Scimio about the specific problems that were reported with the pad's popularity, I wasn't convinced that the fee proposal was anything other than a hastily conceived band-aid that didn't address many logistical concerns, and would probably have created more problems than solutions.

The largesse of Donald Mappin Jr. of Atlantic Precious Metal Resources is certainly appreciated in the short term, but doesn't address other issues related to the increased use of the splash pad, such as upkeep of facilities, impact on traffic and parking in the area, and so on. I hope that his commitment is one that will be sustained for a good while. Hopefully this will give the borough breathing room and time to plan.

I do find it ironic that the splash pad's future as a free community resource is now hinged not only to the cost of water, but the price of gold as well.

********

I grew up frequenting many of the area parks; it didn't seem to matter to anyone where I lived. I thought about the expense in equipment, materials, and man-hours necessary to assure that these parks and their associated facilities don't fall into disrepair, and how important something as deceptively complex, taken for granted, yet tranquil and uplifting, is to our well-being as a community. This has been embellished even further considering some of the storm damage that occurred this week.

Most of my favorite park spaces have this feature in common - water running through it. Henle Park has a small stream running beneath it, but the splash pad was what truly linked water with what has been a staple of the Leetsdale community for as long as I've known it. This is equally true of other parks in the Sewickley area:

War Memorial Park, Sewickley

"Memorial" lost the fountain that was a feature when I was growing up, but in its place has added Hoey's Hideaway, a large playground area with a cushy rubber walking surface. This is apparently named after Hoey's Run, the stream that runs through the park. This area and the surrounding park area were enjoying heavy use on the day I visited. The park shelter is still there, as is the green area that runs up to the beginning of a hiking trail.




Walker Park, Edgeworth

With four shelters and lots of green space that borders Little Sewickley Creek, Walker is one of three Edgeworth parks worth mention here. Growing up, the park was a perfect place for a Sunday picnic, family gathering, or quiet time with your sweetie. The park is owned by Edgeworth, but sits partially in Leet Township.


Way Park, Edgeworth

When I was young, my father was a small business owner in the area of the Edgeworth School. In the summers I would sometimes spend the day with him, and this invariably took me to this little gem of a park in the center of everything that is Edgeworth and Sewickley. My peers that lived in the area would hit golf balls in this park. I love the stream flowing through the stone-lined channel, around the island, and under the bridge.

This park is popular with newlyweds for photos, and we were no exception. The park is meticulously maintained and clean. In winter, the solitary pine near the Meadow Lane / Beaver Road intersection, fully lit with small lights, is a poignant and beautiful symbol of the holiday season.



Morrow Pontefract Park, Edgeworth

This is my favorite green space, period. That's saying a lot for someone who has been out west a long time, but there is something about this place that feels very special.

I mention the park by name to people and sometimes get a blank stare. There are no signs for the park, even at the entrance from Beaver Road - do you really need one with this inviting view? I usually need to follow up with "the park by Quaker Village".

If you enter the park from the shopping center, you'll see these majestic old trees. The park from this side feels like what it actually represents - the boundary between the pastoral, rarefied setting of Edgeworth and the busy commercial and industrial center that is Leetsdale.

When I was a teenager, I would enter the park via a dirt trail at the end of Maple Lane, which puts you on the south side of Little Sewickley Creek. The creek bisects the park, but is shallow enough here to wade across in most areas if it suits you. There is a footbridge and a couple of memorial benches alongside the creek, including one in memory of Edgeworth Police Chief James Creese, who I was privileged to work for in the 90's.

Despite its proximity to Route 65, the railroad, and the shopping center, "Morrow Park" offers a place for quiet reflection and to enjoy a beautifully balanced natural setting.

********

At the same time I am waxing nostalgically about green spaces, our family is remembering someone who loved parks, especially the splash pad. We said goodbye to Michaela a year ago this week; she now rests in another beautiful green space, and we know that she is smiling from Heaven at all who loved and cared for her.

The photo below, and the video at the top, were taken at ACORD Park about a month before she died. It was a nice diversion from what was the routine at the time, back and forth to Children's for radiation treatments. We took lunch there, and spent a little time in the large playground and alongside Lowries Run, throwing stones into the creek. Simple yet profound activities, especially now that she is gone. Michaela, we miss you.


Michaela's determination to ride a pony at the 4th of July celebration in Henle Park last year, less than 2 weeks before she passed away, is something that Leslie told me she will always carry with her as an example of strength and bravery in the face of tremendous hardship. At times like these, we all need a little space to breathe, to reflect, to play, to pray.

Thank God for the beauty present on this Earth, and for those of His children who put forth their labor to see it preserved for the rest of us.

Have a good weekend.


Photo Credit: McMillen Photography - Ed Hughes (wedding party)

Tone Deaf Public Radio

I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, and had a radio on a lot of the time. From early childhood through adolescence and into young adulthood (when the police scanner got a hold of me), my memories seem filled with what was on the radio. This included a LOT of time spent listening to the public and community radio stations at the lower end of the FM dial.

When I wrote in February about the impending merger of WDUQ with the parent of WYEP, I expressed relief that the license and ownership of the station would remain in the hands a community non-profit, already well-established and conducting themselves in a very competent manner. I also said at the time, "WDUQ's popular jazz music programming will likely remain one of the benchmarks of the station's presence in the area".

Essential Public Media, the folks behind the operation of the "new" WDUQ, would probably say that this promise has been fulfilled. Unfortunately, following what appears to be the trend elsewhere, a lot of the programming that made WDUQ and other stations a special place is being relegated to HD radio and Internet streaming. The prime spectrum - the analog FM signal on 90.5 - is being turned into essentially a full-time network affiliate of National Public Radio, save for Saturday nights.

The management of WYEP made a very comprehensive and eloquent case for the transition, going so far as to have a PR firm write the announcement to make sure their message was articulated properly. How corporate of them.

While WYEP's management is correct in their claim that Pittsburgh is one of the last major media markets without a full-time NPR news and information outlet, how they're going about accomplishing the feat of putting one in place feels awkward. It's almost as if they are Clarice Starling and their audience is Hannibal Lecter; the 'ham-handed segue' won't do.

As was expected, those who love jazz on the radio are not pleased, and I don't blame them. For me, the best place to listen to jazz is in the car on a late night drive from one place or another, holding the hand of your loved one as you cruise down the road. Unless you want to retrofit your vehicle with an HD set or stream it through your smartphone, that quiet joy is lost, especially when the music is part of a local music scene that you can plug yourself into as well.

HD Radio and Internet streaming does not equate to universal access. Until it does, jazz in Pittsburgh should remain free and widely accessible over the analog public airwaves.

If the online outcry is any indication, there will be a lengthy period of discord over the manner in which the removal of jazz from these free public airwaves is being accomplished. Those who have been most vocal have said that a healthy compromise somewhere between the 100 hours of jazz being aired on 90.5 now, and the 6 that is currently planned for, would be fine with them. Their plea does not appear to be intractable, even in spite of an effort to boycott membership in both stations. Why does WYEP's silence in response seem that way?

I haven't been living here full-time for that long, but in WYEP's actions I see similarities in how public and community radio has evolved in Colorado, where I came from. Colorado Public Radio maintains a statewide network, broadcasting two stations across most of the state; one with classical music, the other with NPR news and information, much like WDUQ is slated to become. This constitutes a sort of "top layer" of public radio coverage. The secondary layer is made up of smaller, community-based stations with a lot of volunteers helping to run things. Stations such as KAFM and KVNF keep the "Community" in Community Radio.

That was the idea behind WYEP back in the early 70's. The spartan confines of 4 Cable Place in Oakland were alive with off-the-wall music and ideas. I also spent some time as a volunteer at WDUQ in my late teens. I remember the sense of professionalism and pride, especially on the part of other volunteers.

Nearly 40 years after its inception, the evolved form of those early years in Oakland is now poised to assume control of the region's pioneer in public radio. Many critics have pointed out WYEP's tagline, "Where the Music Matters", and have tried to level accusations that the station is behaving to the contrary in its dealings with WDUQ.

From the sound of the rhetoric, the management of WYEP has made up its mind, and is not inclined to listen to the pleas of jazz fans around the area to keep more of this music on analog FM. The deaf ear they appear to have turned to the complaints is not in keeping with a community media resource, and has fueled too much speculation along with the bad feelings.

Perhaps they just think that the spectrum is too valuable to continue to commit so much airtime to what they may perceive as a "niche" audience. If that's the case, their approach is antithetical to their origins. Perhaps they have truly forgotten from whence they came. Too bad.

In an attempt to gain additional perspective on this, I tried to contact Larry Berger of the Saturday Light Brigade, which began on WYEP in 1978 and left the station in 2003. The program is now broadcast on a network of college radio stations anchored by Carnegie-Mellon's WRCT, as well as online. Larry did not reply to my request for comment about his program's departure from WYEP, and I don't blame him. He and his staff are moving forward very well.

Aside from the loss of jazz programming on WDUQ, it's also unclear whether the new ownership will continue to operate the Radio Information Service for the visually impaired, which transmits on the subcarrier of 90.5. Those answering the phone at both WDUQ and WYEP today seemed unable to commit to the future of this service, which for those using it is much more essential than other forms of public media. Let's hope for a smooth transition and seamless continuation of this vital resource.

My experience in Colorado showed me that the business model for non-profit media is changing. Survival in this climate of economic and technological change has required some fundamental altering of the way these organizations think and operate, and that did not sit well with some that had been involved at KAFM for many years.

So now with WYEP, WDUQ, and WQED forming the 'top layer' of public radio in the Pittsburgh region, one wonders where the smaller innovators in public radio are, to continue to make radio accessible to the varied communities and neighborhoods that make this area what it is. The presence of robust college stations such as WRCT and WPTS will certainly help, as may the recent enactment of the Local Community Radio Act and the potential for Low Power FM station development in places like the Pittsburgh radio market.

Let's hope for more understanding and compromise as the transition approaches, and for new opportunities to innovate and serve to become available.

Have a good rest of the week.

Waxing about 'Words'

Yesterday I finished up my final production and post-production work for the "Words" program at KAFM Community Radio. My co-producer, Linda Skinner, will be continuing to work with the program for a while until new producers are trained and ready, but with my imminent departure from the area she felt it was also time to move on.

For those unfamiliar, "Words" involves school-age children learning a word in the dictionary - it's spelling, definition, and usage - and recording a segment about that word, including using it in a sentence. Linda and I would then edit this recording with a musical selection appropriate to the word's definition or usage, into a short audio clip (usually around 2 minutes in length) that is aired three times each weekday on KAFM.

The logistics of the program can be daunting. After the recording, editing, and post-production are complete, we compile a CD of all of the children from a particular school, class, or group and provide copies to each participant. We encouraged the participation of home-schooled children, and even had an 'open mic' night last year.

Linda, as a professional educator, handles the recruitment of classes, doing an introduction to the concept in conjunction with the teachers involved, and working closely with students to choose a word or craft a sentence. Both of us handled recording and editing, and I specialized in post-production, programming the segments, generating a calendar, and completing the CDs for the month and for the participants.

Since taking over production duties in November of 2006, Linda and I have produced nearly 1,000 segments. I tried to calculate the amount of time required for everything, and came up with an average of something like 8 hours a week, every week.

I took on this project in the midst of my late wife's illness to give me something else to think about besides work, parenting, and making sure she was receiving proper care. Technology afforded me the ability to edit and do post-production on a laptop at home, which was absolutely essential then.

We're grateful for the support of KAFM station management, and for those local organizations who supported and continue to support "Words" as underwriters, especially in a tough economy. Enstrom Candies has been there throughout. We greatly appreciate their commitment.

I attached some examples of "Words" segments to illustrate what we tried to accomplish. The first is the most straightforward example - a word that may not lend itself to an immediate match in a database of song titles (thank God for Amazon and ITunes), but with a little imagination a pleasant, meaningful match is found. You'll hear what I mean.

We used varieties of music in keeping not only with the mission of KAFM, but also to reach out across generations and perhaps expose kids to musical styles they might otherwise miss. It doesn't matter what decade you're living in - one of the most incredible singing voices ever recorded belonged to Sarah Vaughan:

We often use instrumental selections in "Words" segments. Often, a student would select a word in another language, or representative of a particular region or culture. We would usually accompany these with music from that region, often with what is known as "world music", popularized in places such as the Putamayo record label.

This next word, while seemingly easy to program (just find some violin music, right?), called for some additional attention to detail. I was drawn to one of my favorite films, The Red Violin, and selected a snippet from it's Oscar-winning original score. Combined with the voice of the student, which has an eerily calm, almost soothing quality to it, this remains my favorite segment:

It's no coincidence that I programmed this to air on Valentine's Day. In fact, there were a few opportunities to engage in some recognition of holidays with an appropriate word awaiting editing and production. I always tried to program a word with a raucous theme and music for New Year's Eve; this past Valentine's Day the word aired was "Pheromone", with appropriate music and lyrics.

Some words have offered the opportunity for some impromptu and subtle social commentary.

One year during the second Bush administration I took a student's recording of the word "Anarchy", mixed it with The Clash's "Clampdown", and programmed it to air on President's Day. More recently, Linda and I were presented with a word selected by a middle school student in 2009 - "Dispensary" - and saw an opportunity to make it topical and current with the choice of music.

I saw the below clip as an opportunity to take a word that has applications across human history and personalize it for today, and even perhaps for the member of the generation that recorded it.

The music and lyric perhaps laments that very thing that we as volunteers in community media are trying to prevent from happening, by working with dedicated teachers who sense the value of such an activity to expand the horizons of students beyond the textbook or the classroom, and especially beyond the lure of what corporate media sees fit to provide them with:



"Any escape might help to smooth
the unattractive truth
But the suburbs have no charms to soothe
the restless dreams of youth..."

I would have preferred to do more with the program, such as using the Internet to make current and previous recordings available, and draw interest to participation in the program, which had waxed and waned over the years as schedules, class sizes, and limited budgets for field trips to the station became factors for many educators.

We eventually leveraged technology to take the studio to some schools, with interesting results; the raw audio contained things like class bells, slamming locker doors, and giggles from other classmates that were at times difficult to deal with in editing. It was also interesting to note how the person being recorded would speed up their reading after the class bell rang. While this was easily handled in most cases with editing software, it was a potent illustration of how conditioned we all are to certain things.

My experience with "Words" as someone outside the educational community showed me one big thing as well; that the quality of education is truly a partnership between parent, student, and teacher, but the quality of leadership and dedication established by our teachers sets the foundation for the quality of our educational system.

That's one reason I'm sympathetic to the teachers and other public sector union members in Wisconsin and elsewhere, many of whom likely know that if government, like a corporation, can afford to cut corners somewhere, they will do it. Education is no place to be cutting corners. At the same time, people working in these professions should recognize their importance, strive to excel, and utilize what they do have in a manner that will benefit students and their community the most.

Take care.

The Power of Teamwork

A multiple-choice question has been going through my head:

What were factors in the Steelers' loss to the Packers in the Super Bowl?

A. Me putting my Steeler jersey on backwards by accident (I did)
B. Pittsburgh native Christina Aguilera mangling the national anthem
C. Too many mistakes on both sides of the ball
D. Utter confusion during the last 4th quarter drive
E. All of the above.

The answer doesn't really matter. Perhaps the best answer is the simplest one - the best team that showed up was the one that won.

This may be a ham-handed segué to another story about teamwork in Pennsylvania, but it has implications for Coloradans as well, and it's worth the lead-up.

A story in Sunday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette detailed the activities and effectiveness of groups of landowners who have been negotiating collectively with energy "landmen" seeking leases for drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation. Some key points and quotes:

• "We have to stick together. It's the strength-in-numbers strategy," the Loretto (Pa.) group's lead organizer, Lee Wyland, told his members at the beginning of the two-hour-long meeting. "If we don't, they will pick us apart one-by-one -- there's no doubt about it."

• These landowner groups "have become a major force in the industry, educating their members, usually resulting in higher payments and more environmental controls for landowners than they would have gotten as individuals".

• When interest in the Marcellus Shale started to ramp up a few years ago, many landowners confused by the offers they were receiving reached out to the cooperative extension service at Penn State for information and assistance. Numerous community meetings later, these self-described "farm families" have learned the power of effective organizing and negotiation.

• The story quotes the director of a royalty managers' trade group about efforts at organizing for the purpose of negotiating leases in other areas of the country:

"There is a cultural difference particular to Pennsylvania and New York," (Jerry Simmons) said. "In the Rocky Mountain west, in particular, everyone is kind of on their own, an individual attitude."

To be sure, there is lots of grassroots community organizing going on in Colorado and elsewhere. Groups such as Battlement Concerned Citizens and the Western Colorado Congress have worked hard to educate and advocate for more intensive study of drilling and fracking. This includes outright opposition to these activities without additional government scrutiny and regulatory oversight.

It's also true that there are significant differences in the circumstances. I don't think there are that many split estate situations in the Eastern U.S., and there's significantly less public lands.

Still, imagine a group of private landowners, let's say in Garfield County, collectively negotiating a drilling lease for all involved lands. Through cooperative pooling of resources and procurement of expertise, they are able to agree to a fair price. Included in the agreement are certain environmental clauses that whoever drills those leases must adhere to, on pain of withdrawal of permission and possible dissolution of the agreement for all drilling locations. A portion of the agreement proceeds would be set aside to assist with the necessary compliance monitoring processes.

How would something like this look politically? Would it dovetail with Governor Hickenlooper's stated desire for responsible energy development? How would such news be received by those on the GOP and/or Tea Party (are they interchangeable?) forefront, who disdain what they see as government running amuck where it should not?

This sounds like win-win to me:

• Our country needs the energy that sits beneath us, but it must be extracted with respect for the surface and those who live on and/or farm that earth.

• The energy companies and lease landmen are not going away; they see profits from the energy beneath the ground, and have the resources to expend on leases that will likely yield considerable earnings. They would prefer to pay a fair price to a large organized group, saving them time and expense from having to deal with individual landowners.
  

• Given the aforementioned profit potential when faced with an organized, informed group of landowners backed by an effective regulatory structure, respecting the environment becomes just the cost of doing business.

• The community at large benefits from the infusion of lease proceeds and employment into the engine of the local and regional economy. The organized groups find that their collective political and economic strength allows them to advocate and become a partner for positive change in the communities where they reside.
  

• Government intervention is balanced with respect for both private property and human rights, with effective strategies in place to avoid repeating the tragic historical lessons of communism and feudalism, not to mention socialism or the environmental scars of unbridled capitalism.
  

A Utopian pipe dream? Perhaps. I look at it this way - anything that educates and mobilizes the people to help them achieve a greater quality of life together than separately cannot be a bad thing. Greed and other misunderstandings will always be there - but the message will continue to be firmly reinforced in our collective psyche that we are better off together than we are apart.

Our current political climate and economic systems, reinforced by commercial media, seem designed with the express purpose of dividing us into segments of a society, too addled with individual concerns and mistrust to work together. The promise of the Internet and social media to mobilize for change - particularly in places like Egypt - must be balanced with a strong desire to work together and avoid the paradoxical, destructive, collective narcissism that comes along with the world of the electronic screen.

Teamwork - strength in numbers - collectivism - any label you place on what's happening in Pennsylvania and New York with respect to drilling can translate to the potential for improving the American condition. I think this is one big reason that the competitive nature of humanity, combined with the freedoms that Americans have been blessed with and have a responsibility to uphold, is one of the greatest forces for positive change that history has ever seen.

Have a good week ahead.

Lots About Watts

Happy February.

Because I've had an affinity for radio nearly all of my life, I pay attention to those things that keep broadcast radio headed in what I consider the correct direction - connected and responsive to the listener, accountable to the public interest, a beacon for connecting a community together instead of creating divisiveness.

There are a few things happening in the arena of non-commercial radio - mostly the left side of the FM dial - that may stand to enhance the diversity and viability of this resource in Grand Junction and across the country.

Watts Low

The most significant development for the majority of the country's population was the passage of the Local Community Radio Act, signed into law by President Obama last month. The real impact of this law is on the 50 largest media markets, where the expansion of low power FM stations has been hampered by regulations that prevent the use of adjacent frequencies at closer channel spacing.

Spearheaded largely through the efforts of the Prometheus Radio Project and others, this loosening of channel spacing will facilitate the establishment of community radio stations that serve more specific geographical areas and populations.

You'd be surprised with how many FM radio stations are licensed in the Grand Junction area. There are a lot of low power stations here - many are broadcasting Christian programming - but only one station is licensed as a Low Power FM station. This has a lot to do with the mountains that surround us, and the coverage that a station can get with a lower power transmitter placed at a higher altitude.

For example, the aforementioned "Low Power" station, located at the Colorado State Building downtown, has a licensed output of 100 watts, but their transmitter is actually below the average terrain of the area. This station, at 106.7 FM, transmits highway information and local National Weather Service broadcasts.

Contrast this with KAFM Community Radio, licensed at only 16 watts, but with their transmitter located at the radio and TV "antenna farm" on Black Ridge, west of town above the Colorado National Monument and about 2,000 feet above the valley floor. KAFM's signal actually has a much greater coverage footprint than the much more powerful signal coming from the state building. Unfortunately, this signal does not penetrate structures or terrain features well, resulting in "dead spots" caused by both terrain and the density of many buildings in the valley.

Watts Up

As a volunteer at KAFM since it's beginnings, I'm aware of and have been supportive of their ongoing efforts to improve signal strength and in-building coverage. The FCC recently approved a power increase for KAFM from 16 to 300 watts. This will help fill the existing coverage gaps, and allow listeners to tune in without significant issues across the valley, and as far south as Delta.

The Watts Up capital campaign is an effort to put the new FCC authorization to work, with not only a new transmitter and tower, but also improvements to the station's studios and physical plant in Downtown GJ. The challenges of fundraising in the current economic climate have been compounded by a recent change in administration at the station, with some accompanying discontent that has caused departures of both paid and volunteer staff.

Things feel like they're beginning to stabilize a bit, but it's still awfully quiet there some days. Perhaps down the road some of these creative folk may decide that their passion for community-based media trumps the personalities involved. Some that have moved on will stay moved on - like me in about a month.

In any event, KAFM needs community support, in both dollars and sweat equity, to keep the mission and the beauty of community media alive in Grand Junction. Please consider supporting the capital campaign, or during the upcoming Spring Fund Drive in mid-March. Better yet, contribute your time and expertise to the station as a volunteer.

Watts Preserved

A broadcast radio license is a valuable commodity, even in the non-commercial, not-for-profit arena. Back in Pittsburgh, the pending sale of a popular non-commercial radio station operated by Duquesne University prompted concerns from the staff and community media advocates that the frequency might end up in commercial hands.

Luckily, a partnership between community station WYEP and a Boulder-based non-profit has been named the successful bidder for the license of WDUQ. This new partnership is now in the process of polling the community for input about how programming should change..or not.

WDUQ's popular jazz music programming will likely remain one of the benchmarks of the station's presence in the area.

I mention Pittsburgh because of two trends that are applicable to that area that aren't in Grand Junction. One is the impact of the Local Community Radio Act on Pittsburgh as a major media market. It will be interesting to see what grassroots efforts pop up. Another factor is the presence of HD Radio, where many stations, commercial and non-profit, transmit a digital signal with multiple channels of programming. WDUQ, for example, dedicates one digital channel to the BBC World Service, 24 hours a day. Once I get settled there, I hope to be able to get involved with community radio at some level.

There are many HD-equipped stations on the Front Range, along with a few public stations in southwest Colorado, but not a single broadcast outlet in Grand Junction offers HD Radio. Someone who's sticking around ought to ask why.

Watts Crazy

Low Power stations can and should be representative of a local community or segment of a community, and I would hope that those who obtain licenses through the new law will use it to enhance the experience of living in a society where free expression and discourse is respected and embraced.

Such was not the case last month in Greeley. A local school board member who also owns a low power FM station and a daily newspaper in that area came under fire for airing editorials critical of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and was the subject of a restraining order for leaving threats on the voice mail of the manager of a competing radio station.

This kind of discourse and disagreement, aside from the threats, is what makes America a great place. It's not really surprising that stations with a more conservative approach to things will pop up with low-power FM licenses, especially those who wish to emulate what they hear on AM talk radio. Hey, free speech is for extremists, too.

Watts Real and Relevant

Regardless of the types of discourse, entertainment and diversion, the option is ours as a people to listen or watch what we choose, and turn off that which we don't care much for. In this context, I am very thankful for the Internet, which allows me and thousands of others around the U.S. to enjoy the coverage of the uprising in Egypt from Al Jazeera English. Most American cable companies and satellite providers do not carry this English-language channel of the venerable, Qatar-based news service, and according to at least one blog that's more than just a little hypocritical. Quoting a new anchor on the network:

We're not entirely blocked, but we're a "taboo" to some crucial decision-makers in the TV business, that's the problem...Given the poisonous smear against us over the years, are cable providers hesitant to carry us? Yes. That's where we hope that US citizens like yourself can lobby hard to give us the choice. I'm sure amid thousands of channels that include those dedicated to Kim Kardashian, shopping addictions, evangelism, hardcore porn, NFL and local news channels where the top story is always the traffic congestion, that the land of the free can find a spot for us!

For me as a little boy growing up, radio was a comforting voice late at night in the dark. As I grew, I realized the continued power of this now seemingly simple and antiquated medium to inform, enlighten, and entertain. Even in the wee hours, slowly manipulating the tuning dial on a shortwave to try to pull in the weakest vestige of Radio Prague, or today listening to the folksy ruminations of Garrison Keillor, there's fascination, escapism, and life and death before your very ears. Think this stuff isn't important? Ask the folks in Egypt or Tunisia.

Have a great day.

Backpacks for the Coach

This afternoon I attended John Fullmer's memorial service at Canyon View Vineyard Church. Aside from the church staff, John's wife Jennifer, and those from the small group I attended along with them, I really didn't know most of the literally hundreds of people who turned out. It was nonetheless a poignant and uplifting experience to see so many come to pay their respects to a man who impacted numerous lives in the Fruita area as a coach, parent, husband, Christian mentor, and friend.

Donations in John's memory have been suggested to the Kids Aid Backpack Program, a non-profit making a difference in the health of children in need in the Grand Junction area. I've known about the program through attending Canyon View, and knew that they were helping kids be able to eat something nutritious on the weekends by collecting food donations and sending them home in backpacks with the kids after school.

There are several pages on their website that detail the nature and scope of their distribution program, as well as the story of how they came to be. It's worth the time to read, not only because of what inspired Mr. Berry to do it, but also because he tried to emulate a very successful program in Metro Denver, the Totes of Hope program of Food Bank of the Rockies.
Message to those attempting to craft a plan to address our community's homeless problem; re-inventing the wheel is not always necessary.

It was coincidental and equally gratifying to see in today's Sentinel that Mike Berry, the founder of the Kids Aid program, is a finalist for national recognition by the charitable arm of a trade association for financial professionals. Congratulations are in order to Mr. Berry not only for the award, but for adapting a proven method of addressing a need to effective use locally.

There are several ways to help Kids Aid. I was tempted to pull out the checkbook, but I think I will try to donate some of whatever free time I have to help prepare and distribute, or whatever they need. I hope I can be consistent with this.

You can help too. If for no other reason, do it to honor the memory of a man who touched many local lives. Do it for Coach Fullmer.

Good night.

Homelessness - The View From Fort Collins

I know this is a well-used illustration and metaphor for lots of things, but it definitely fits.

This week, the Fort Collins Coloradoan published an extraordinary series of stories concerning the problem of homelessness in their area, as well as the remainder of Larimer County.

This comprehensive group of articles was written to coincide with the launch of the Homeward 2020 initiative in the Fort Collins metro area. Quoting from this group's robust and highly informative website:

Homeward 2020 is:

• A ten year plan to end homelessness in Fort Collins
• An initiative of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado
• A collaborative project that will draw from leadership and wisdom all across the community
• A very metric-driven, evidence-based, strategic approach
• A community awareness piece for the face of homelessness as well as the educational, economic and legal cost housing instability has on the community
• A foundational mind-set shift from supporting the homeless on an agency level to ending homelessness on a jurisdictional level
• Ultimately about Fort Collins having a rapid, easily accessible network of prevention assistance, affordable housing, and wrap- around support services that will make homelessness rare, short-lived, and non-recurring.

The Coloradoan's series includes some forays outside their local area as well. One story is an assessment of Denver's Road Home, the 10-year plan to end homelessness in Metro Denver that's about 4 years old now.

Of significant local interest is a detailed and comprehensive overview of the current state of affairs regarding homelessness in Grand Junction. Reporter Bobby Magill (formerly of the Daily Sentinel) interviewed several of the key players on both sides of the debate, providing a view of the situation in GJ with the eyes and ears of someone familiar, while making it accessible to the front range reader uninitiated in the ways of "River City".

The story also reported on the local efforts to develop a 10-year plan to end homelessness, and what's being talked about so far. It looks to me like there is not just one example, but two now on how to organize an effort such as this.

This is showing me more and more that here in GJ we don't have to re-invent the wheel, but that any substantive movement will require something on the level of a "foundational mind-set shift".

The series also provides a look at both the highly visible facets of homelessness and the familiar battle lines that are drawn in urban centers (there are striking similarities to GJ), as well as the hidden faces of poverty that escape perception by the bulk of us every day.

The staff of the Coloradoan deserves a lot of credit for investigating this community problem from multiple viewpoints and locations, and putting together a series that covers most of the bases rather well.

One question raised in my mind after reading these stories regarded the involvement of Colorado State University. While CSU and the City of Fort Collins share a joint interest in the redevelopment of the Poudre River area that connects the downtown area with the college, I'm wondering how much of CSU's brain trust is involved in the Homeward 2020 initiative.

The list of stakeholders there also includes the major health care player in the area, Poudre Valley Health System, and the local United Way. Should a similar effort be undertaken in the Grand Valley, the presence of St. Mary's would seem almost essential, along with a commitment of resources of some kind from Mesa State.

The Homeward 2020 website, along with the Coloradoan series, should be required reading for anyone here in Grand Junction who has the slightest level of interest in addressing these issues successfully. I am heartened that groups such as Beyond Charity and the Grand Valley Coalition for the Homeless are still active and meeting on a regular basis. Yesterday's meeting was expecting Mayor Coons, GJPD Chief Camper, and a representative from Governor Ritter's office.

Mayor Coons was quoted in the Coloradoan's Grand Junction story as saying, "If we're going to make any strides in solving the problem, we need political clout, a high-profile champion...A Mayor Hickenlooper." That may very well come to pass come November, but some type of institutional will among the local stakeholders to compromise for the sake of true collaboration and success is also going to be required.

I believe that this begins with making initiatives such as Beyond Charity dovetail with the efforts of our front range neighbors in terms of organization, financial commitment, and community involvement. This includes showcasing the issues in the local media. The Sentinel has done some competent reporting on some of the issues and contributing causes, and I'm hopeful that they will continue to do much, much more of this. Someone in the local broadcast media needs to step up as well.

I'm also hopeful that the key players in GJ will see fit to partner with their fellow stakeholders in Fort Collins and Denver to help see our community through what is a true challenge to both our physical and intangible selves.

Enjoy the rain, if you can.