Posts tagged budget
NPR, PBS on chopping block backed by Boulder City Council
Mar 8th
Republican congress is after public broadcasting again. Though you might think the Boulder City Government would want pulic broadcasting, they voted against it repeated over the past 10 years. Your local channel 54 was shut down in 2007 by Shaun McGrath, Macon Cowles, and that bunch.
According to Cowles ” I have no interest in ever having public broadcasting back in Boulder.” That gang at city hall then took all of our dedicated funds to public broadcasting , stole it, miss-used it and put in censorship everywhere.
Tell Congress: Don’t pull the plug on NPR and PBS!
We’re only a few weeks into the 112th Congress, and Republicans are already attempting to pull the plug on public media.
In a budget proposal made public last week, House Republicans announced plans to zero out all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the nonprofit responsible for funding public media including NPR, PBS, Pacifica and more.
If the Republicans are successful, it would be a tremendous blow to the entire public interest media sector.
We cannot allow Republicans to destroy public media.
Tell Congress: Fully fund NPR and defend public service media!
Republicans are disingenuously claiming that they need to cut funding for public media because of budgetary constraints. But what they fail to highlight is that national public broadcasting is remarkably cost effective, providing local news and information, free of charge, for millions of viewers while only receiving about .0001% of the federal budget.1
More to the point, it’s nearly impossible to put a price tag on the actual value of public broadcasting.
Public media is one of the last bulwarks against the corporate media, where the combination of consolidation and profit motive has long since shifted the focus to infotainment rather than substantive news. In many rural and less affluent communities, broadcasters rely on federal funding to provide the only available high-quality news and public affairs programming.
Without public media, corporate media monopolies would increase their already large control of what we see on television, hear on the radio or read in the newspaper.
This outcome should deeply worry all of us. The increased accumulation and consolidation of corporate power is a threat to our democracy. And nowhere is this more evident than in our media.
At a time when media consolidation is shrinking the number of perspectives we have access to over the airwaves and when newsrooms are shrinking, we need more diversity in our media not less. And we simply cannot afford to lose what public media brings to the table.
Tell Congress: Fully fund NPR and defend public service media!
Conservatives have longed for any opportunity to defund NPR, PBS and other public media. And with Speaker Boehner wielding the gavel, it looks like they may finally get their wish.
Don’t let Congress pull the plug on NPR and PBS! Tell them reject cuts to public broadcasting.
City of Boulder Colorado, State of the city 2011 Mayor Susan Osborne & CM Jane Brautigam TV special
Feb 24th
Jan. 27, 2011 – State of the City of Boulder Colorado emphasizes sustainability, economy and opportunities in 2011
City Manager Jane S. Brautigam and Mayor Susan Osborne delivered the State of the City in the Library Theater this morning, outlining the highlights of a year that included two major wildfires, award-winning construction and improvement projects, a commitment by voters to continue funding valued city services and a decision to explore supply-side energy options.
Both Brautigam and Osborne spoke of challenges, difficult decisions and collaborative leadership in the face of recent wildfires and a still uncertain economic future.
Speaking of the devastating Fourmile Canyon Fire, Brautigam said, “Firefighters from around the nation set up operations at the new regional fire training center. More than 1,100 firefighters responded, including 70 city firefighters. A significant amount of city resources were used to protect Boulder County and city residents. During the Fourmile Canyon Fire, city staff supported around-the-clock emergency operations and services to the community. While 169 homes were destroyed, not a single life was lost in any of last year’s fires.”
The mayor emphasized partnerships that formed in 2010 with local government, the business and technology communities and residents. Collaborations, such as the bid to bring Google ultra high speed Internet to the city, and a spirit of shared innovation helped Boulder stand out, both at home and abroad.
“Our international reputation as an innovator continues to make Boulder a destination city and enhance our economic sustainability,” Osborne said.
Standing in front of a backdrop of video and photographs from the year past, the city manager told the audience that Boulder was able to maintain a flat budget for 2011 but must continue to “be prudent in how we manage resources.” The city will continue to look for ways to close a gap between expenditures and revenues to maintain long-term sustainability.
Both speakers looked ahead to 2011 with optimism, particularly about the community’s commitment to charting an energy future that draws more power from renewable sources, promotes local decision-making, stabilizes rates for consumers and puts customer service and reliability in the forefront.
“We heard the community’s desire to lead by example, and to more fully explore Boulder’s energy options before entering into another long-term franchise agreement,” Brautigam said.
The mayor thanked voters for their support.
“We asked voters to approve a replacement tax on Xcel for five years to provide the time needed to analyze, discuss and make decisions as a community about our energy future. This may ultimately mean a renewed partnership with Xcel to meet our community goals, municipalization to provide our community with more direct control over its energy decisions and investments, or possibly a different option that we have yet to develop. . . . It was a tremendous vote of confidence from this community, and we are grateful for the overwhelming support that was shown for the Utility Occupation Tax. Without your support, the city would have eliminated 50 positions this year and significantly reduced city services and programs,” she said.
Boulder Supporters for Clean Energy
Aug 4th
by Donna Marek, Cultural Affairs Reporter
UPDATE: August 4 11:00 am
It Had to Happen
The City of Boulder will not renew the Xcel Energy Franchise Agreement according to a 6-2 vote at the Council meeting last night. City Manager Jane Brautigam’s stand was like a song ” let the contract go.”
Voters will be asked to vote in November for a special tax which, of course, would be passed on to consumers using Xcel energy. Looks like yellow shirt
Boulder Yellow Shirts Took the Street Corners Tonight!
All you have to do is put a piece of coal in your stocking…twirl around three times…and make a wish that Xcel Energy will go away and the City of Boulder will take over the community energy problems! Oh, my goodness! What did I say?
Well, on Tuesday, August 3 at about 5:30pm in front of Boulder’s Municipal Building, a crowd of supporters for the City’s taking on the energy issue, buying Xcel energy and making it environmentally politically correct took place with about 200 people on the corners of Broadway and Canyon.
I talked to two gentlemen who support the City’s stance. Tyler said, “I support the city for not renewing the Xcel franchise.” He said he was supporting renewable energy as an option. While Ken said he saw Boulder aggressively decreasing the carbonizing “but not as much as we’d like for Xcel. This is a “groundswell” with two paths,” he said. One is with Xcel committing to clean energy and the second looks at monopolizing energy! Anyway, there were children, parents, grandparents and they even held a press conference.
When I asked these two supporters about the City’s already stretched budget, Ken said “The City can afford it because citizens are already paying for it!”
So…
Boulder Supporters of City’s Stand on Xcel Energy and clean energy
It was a lovely, peaceful gathering with horns tooting and people waving signs. The weather was phenomenal!
I dare not say more!
