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To the Editor: 

In the July 29 article addressing the City Council’s vote to “deny consent” to AT&T Broadband to transfer control of its cable operation to AT&T Comcast, there is no mention that the citizen group that gathered the information in support of the denial has been disbanded upon the recommendation of the city manager’s office. The task force will be replaced by the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) which will not be open to the public. 

The council-appointed task force on telecommunications was established in 1999 as a way to provide community input on a telecommunications master plan for the city of Berkeley. A central point in the master plan is the city’s relationship with AT&T. The task force has worked for more than a year conducting community ascertainment and workshops as well as evaluating the existing franchise and preparing the list of non-compliance issues in preparation for the eventual negotiations with AT&T. The Telecom report prepared by the task force is available on the city of Berkeley web site.  

Since denial of the transfer, the city has opened negotiations with AT&T based on task force findings that were supported by the City Council. However, these negotiations will no longer benefit from citizen input because the dissolution of the task force has extinguished the only voice that Berkeley citizens have in negotiating an agreement that will impact telecommunications in our city for years to come. 

It is vital that the city as stewards of a public service, for which subscribers pay dearly through franchise fees, should be encouraging the continued input of its citizenry. The task force feels that it is critical that citizens participate in negotiation preparations. The task force urges citizens to contact their council members regarding their needs, problems, and interest in cable service and programming. 

Paul Blake 

Chair of the task force on telecommunications