Hopefully rich people and charitable foundations will fund public access TV in Baltimore

Dear Editor,

Here is my personal information, and my "Letter to the Editor".

John DeSantis
1113 Scotts Hill Drive
Baltimore, MD 21208

Please know that my address is in Pikesville.

I'm retired. My home number is:
(410) 484-1987

I'm a volunteer with Baltimore Grassroots Media (BGM).
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Hopefully rich people and charitable foundations will fund public access TV in Baltimore

"O'Malley says Comcast agreement was best deal city could negotiate" (title of Nov. 18 article). It was also spoken of in this way by Council members during the City Council session on the 22nd, where it was approved and moved forward for the final vote on the 29th. Based on all that I have heard at the various Board of Estimates and City Council sessions, it's obvious that Comcast has won the day to inadequately fund public access TV in Baltimore in this new 12-year contract, which activity will probably take a few years to even get started in a small way. Because of this it's time for rich citizens in the city and region to consider saving the day and step up to the plate and donate one, two, or three million dollars a year, to be added to the meager funding otherwise provided by Comcast, and make, once and for all, public access TV a super-duper operation and activity for the citizens of Baltimore to use and express themselves in.

Why? Because well-funded public access TV channels, with a few adequate facilities, staff, training, and equipment, will offer great benefit to our youth by giving them an ongoing and non-stop creative and constructive outlet and will help reduce crime, among many other positive things for our city. It will allow them to showcase their many different talents in sports and entertainment, and allow them to express their views on talk shows that they or others create around every important social, political, educational, and economic subject. If it's legal, adults, businesses, and foundations can sponsor and provide rewards of all types to winners in all kinds of contests within the many arenas of sports, education, entertainment, religion, philosophy, science, debate, new ideas, etc.

And everyone can wisely and creatively come up with more and more types of shows in order to lure our treasured youth off the streets and away from gangs, crime, and drugs to help educate them and to give them hope, opportunity, and creative activity in a great many ways.

And all these other individuals and groups can also produce and air their shows on the many channels of public access TV: schools, small and large non-profit groups and charities, religious organizations, social justice movements, youth and senior citizen organizations, entertainers, artists, scientists, poets, actors, writers, musicians, political candidates, and so on.