BLOWING A WHISTLE

December 4, 2004

Dear Patrons,

Our primary roll in operating The Senator Theatre and The Rotunda Cinematheque is to entertain and enlighten our patrons by presenting films and producing special events and programs. In this way our role is aligned with the regional cable systems that aspire to serve their subscribers in a similar fashion.

Over the years our audience has grown and our theatres have become regional points of destination, but our primary patron base remains the citizens of Baltimore City.

Although our weekly e-mails now go out to over 10,000 recipients, this specific communication is only relevant to the residents of Baltimore City and we regret that others who do not live in Baltimore will receive it as well. If you are not a Baltimore City resident, please forgive the intrusion.

BLOWING A WHISTLE

An alarming series of events have been taking place in the last few weeks regarding the unusual and inexplicable rush by the Mayor's office and the City Council to ratify the controversial new Comcast Cable contract, which, as proposed, will remain in effect for the next 12 years.

We are taking the unusual action of informing our e-mail listmembers about this issue in an 11th hour effort to inform you and shed much needed light on some very troubling aspects of what is taking place.

On the schedule of this Monday's final meeting of the current Baltimore City Council is the third reader and final vote on Bill # 04-1504, which if passed as expected, will ratify Baltimore's City's extensively flawed Comcast Cable franchise contract.

Ratification of this Comcast Cable contract is predicted to occur this Monday evening despite the fact that the controversial Comcast Cable franchise contract is considered deficient and problematic by many informed groups and individuals with the most auspicious negative assessment coming directly from the Mayor's Baltimore Cable Communications Advisory Commission.

The Mayor's Cable Communications Advisory Commission was appointed by Mayor O'Malley and was mandated to review and evaluate the new contract, and the desirability and fairness of the exclusive deal it represents. When recently announcing the commission's conclusions and recommendations the president of the Cable Communications Advisory Commission, Jonathan Shorr, was highly critical of the contract.

[The eye opening recent Sunpaper article on these matters is included in its entirety below].

Irregardless of the clear negative assessment of the new contract by the Mayor's Cable Communications Advisory Commission, and the alarming testimony before the City Council by the informed citizen action group Baltimore Grassroots Media and others, the outgoing City Council is rushing headlong this Monday night to the 3rd reader to be followed by the final vote. They are doing this over the fervent and rising objections of those who are bewildered and becoming suspicious over this series of events.

In response to this situation, we feel compelled to transmit this atypical communiqué to the public and do what we can at this point in time to inform you of what is taking place. We urge you to expeditiously add your voice to the rising chorus of concerned citizens who want to know what the rush is all about and why the outgoing City Council is being so derelict in not properly representing us by more vigorously scrutinizing this whole matter.

We cannot comprehend why there is such a rush to vote this apparently flawed piece of crucial legislation into law, particularly since the newly elected and revamped Baltimore City Council will very soon begin its new session. All of Baltimore's citizens may soon be subject to the poorly negotiated terms of this new contract for the next 12 years.

Why the rush? Why are the citizen action groups being given no credence? Why are the Mayor and City Council ignoring the unequivocal negative assessment of the Mayor's own appointed Cable Communications Advisory Commission?

If you agree with the assessment that this is all very alarming please try and attend this Monday evening's council session. We also urge you to utilize the convenient method we have provided [at the very bottom of this e-mail] to help you contact your current Baltimore City Council representatives this Monday the 6th by e-mail or fax. Please let them know of your concern over the propriety of what is occurring in regards to the Comcast Cable franchise contract.

The Baltimore Grassroots Media organization has provided us pertinent information also included below. For further information, please visit their website at www.baltimoregrassrootsmedia.org to learn more about these issues.

Hopefully with your input, passage of this important legislation will be postponed from occurring this Monday evening. This will permit the newly elected incoming Council an opportunity to exercise further scrutiny over these matters as they were recently elected to do.

If despite all of our best efforts, Bill # 04-1504 passes this Monday evening, we will continue to advocate for public scrutiny of a cable contract process that seems to have taken on a confounding life of its own. If need be, both The Senator Theatre and The Rotunda Cinematheque will be available to raise public awareness and funds to help evaluate the potential for legal challenges to these egregious violations of procedure and the trust we place in our public officials.

Sincerely,
Tom Kiefaber