Paterno     After days of discussion sometimes heated and dramatic, the leadership of the La Citta civic movement in Paterno had come to the crossroads where they had to make decisions.  The right-leaning party had chosen a candidate for mayor and attracted [...]]]>

Everyone is Happy with the Decision and Crowds around Candidate Vittorio Lo Presti (middle/blue sweater)

Paterno     After days of discussion sometimes heated and dramatic, the leadership of the La Citta civic movement in Paterno had come to the crossroads where they had to make decisions.  The right-leaning party had chosen a candidate for mayor and attracted some support from the center as well.  This meant that if La Citta could come up with a choice that was attractive, then there was a viable coalition that was possible with the left-party.  Other movements were beginning to announce their lists of candidates for councilors.  A newly organized movement like La Citta needed time to work through its program and get its people organized, but time was now the last thing it had.  The right steps might propel the movement from nowhere to the top, if they could figure out a way to reach consensus.

The leadership assembled in the campaign office and for two hours I listened to what I knew was a serious, well reasoned debate even with my marginal understanding of Italian and an occasional word of translation from my friend and comrade, Paolo Guarnicca, who had invited me to Paterno to help on technical questions and organizational development.  The debate involved classic questions.  Is it important to win or to make a point?  Is the process more important for the organization than choosing the right candidate?  How would any choice be received by the movement’s emerging constituency that wanted change and something different, if an existing politician was supported and the endorsement was not transparent?  Order was required and the speakers went around the room, one after another, sometimes at length and sometimes loudly, but always yielding to the next turn.  Some were adamant for someone new.  Others felt that they had someone who could win in the head of the water society, a lawyer who had joined their movement.  Others worried that he had previously been involved in the right party and the message would look expedient, rather than principled and kill the movement.  Paolo was even suggested as a possible candidate.

Team La Citta: President Biaggio Di Caro, Vittorio Lo Prestion, Paolo Guarnaccia

Finally, Paolo offered a compromise.  Vittorio should be supported but the president of La Citta should be the official bridge to the movement and Paolo should be part of the team as a consultant to the future mayor’s government to implement needed reforms, if he was victorious in the election.  Quickly, it was clear that there was now something for everyone.  A candidate would be on top of the ticket that might be able to win and a sense of a team guaranteeing change that would also be a signal to the left.   The men were ecstatic.  Bonds were formed.  Handshakes and hugs were everywhere, and pictures were taken.  It was the right decision for the organization.  Who knows if they can now do the work to win, but finally they are in position to do so.

Making deals is so difficult after long struggles, when even victory can seem bittersweet and not quite enough to settle the stomach.  Certainly this was true here in the small city of Paterno, but I had the same thought reading the story in the Times of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt now preparing to finally call for the military to step out of power on the eve of Mubarak’s resignation as they realize their base is now all of Egypt and not simply their members, long cloistered in secrecy and silence.  If reporter David Kirkpatrick is right, the liberal parties seem to still not be willing to join the Brotherhood on even a call they support, but rather seem to want the Brotherhood to rise and fall on their own steam.  A deal is hard in the middle of a revolution half-won and half-lost.

I looked at a picture sent to me from New Orleans.  Vanessa Gueringer of A Community Voice, formerly New Orleans ACORN, was wearing her ACV button as she put her foot on a shovel along with Mayor Mitch Landrieu and other city dignitaries as they broke ground for a park in the Lower 9^th Ward.  Vanessa has been a constant advocate and thorn in the side of the city officials for years about how little is done to rebuild the Lower 9^th and she is constantly showing them how half-full the glass is from the residents’ perspective.  Nonetheless, as a great leader, she knows when the situation requires grace and it’s time to put the shovel in the dirt and celebrate a true victory no matter how many times she might have wanted to swing that tool at the nearest city official!

ACV Leader Vanessa Gueringer, Councilman Jon Johnson, and Mayor Mitch Landrieu at Ground Breaking of Oliver Bush Park in Lower 9th Ward

We are often so long out of power that when we win, it is hard to make the deal, no matter how badly we want it.  If the process is right, then the hard choices will be right, too.

New Orleans  The combined meetings and negotiations with Comcast representatives about their “internet essentials” program to provide low cost access and computers to lower income families seems to have finally provoked the company into putting out some numbers on their performance.  That’s the good news.   Reading the numbers is the bad news.

No wonder our ally, ACTION United in Pennsylvania, when surveying lower income families couldn’t find any who knew about Comcast program or had gotten Internet through the program.  It turns out only about 450 families (according to Comcast figures) were enrolled in the entire city of Philadelphia.

In Harris County where Houston is located, Local 100’s survey of Head Start workers and parents who were eligible even under the restrictive guidelines Comcast had established had also produced a big fat zero.  It goes without saying that Houston is among the largest cities in the country and there are a lot of lower income families, but there the program claims to have only been able to muster a bit over 2000 enrollees.

Our experience with our members in Houston trying to enroll this week not only puts a lie to some of the public relations claims to the Comcast “launch report,” but also proves why it may be easier for a rich man to get to heaven than for a poor family to access the Comcast program that is supposedly designed to lower the digital divide.

We monitored some of these calls and helped the families file complaints to the FCC on what happened, but here are some of the highlights.  One woman was told that they did not have a $9.95 program but she could sign up for $29.99 basic.   When she kept pressing they referred her to an 855 number which is the national Internet Essentials number.   At that number they also claimed ignorance when it got to the computer issue and gave her the Dell computer number in Austin, Texas.  Dell said they didn’t know anything about a $150 computer but they had a $450 job, but it would take a credit or debit card to acquire.

You think that’s wild.  Listen to this one.  Another fellow from Houston called to Comcast Internet Essentials at its 713 Houston area code and was answered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  They asked him for his name, address, zip, and phone.  Then they told him that there was no program for $9.95, the lowest was for $29.99.  Sound familiar?  Stay with me!  Pushing for Internet Essentials they then produced an 800#.  Five minutes later they offered an Internet Essentials 855#.   They said they had a $149.99 computer.  When he asked about taxes or shipping, he then heard about debit and credit cards, like all food stamp eligible families have VISA cards or American Express!  They then gave him an 800# which turned out to be to Dell Computer in Austin.  When he asked Dell for the Internet Essentials computer deal with Comcast, he was informed in no uncertain terms that there was no longer an Internet Essentials program, and that program had been stopped two months ago because Comcast didn’t renew the contract with Dell.  Needless to say the end of this conversation involved a $400+ computer!

David Cohen, the Comcast VP, identified with the “launch report” and much of this dissembling seems not to have a clue about what is happening on city streets or on the phone lines within Comcast or at the computer sources.  All of this seems to be shaping up as a crude hoax being perpetrated on the poor!  Is this a shell game or what?

Meanwhile reading Cohen’s overview on their website and his remarks to the press, he seems to believe that “outreach” to the poor is hundreds of meetings and lunches with politicians and public officials around the country.  Back slapping is not the same as lowering the digital divide and Cohen, once a much touted Philly city official, actually should know that better than most.  The outreach from their report seems to be to get schools to shill for the program, which they are ill equipped to do or in one very intriguing “reform” in the report they want “community partners” to somehow buy the Internet Essentials program in bulk.  I’m not sure to do what?  Re-sell?  Preposterous!

Equally rich to read is the fact that Cohen and Comcast are pretending that this is all just so much do-good work by the company and therefore they should not be judged by results, metrics, or whether or not the much promoted program actually lowers the digital divide. They want applause, but not accountability.

Maybe Cohen didn’t get the memo from his bosses at Comcast on this, but it’s a matter of public record with the FCC.  The Internet Essentials program was required by the 2011 Memorandum Opinion and Order from the FCC regarding the merger of Comcast and NBC Universal. In the agreement, FCC requires that Comcast “substantially increase broadband adoption in low income homes throughout Comcast’s service area” (pg. 143).

I’m not sure why city officials, federal bureaucrats and the entire tech savvy community is not up in arms about the Comcast shell game around the digital divide.  Maybe it’s a Mitt Romney “don’t worry about the poor” kinda deal, where Comcast just assumes that no one cares if they deliver on this or not.

Yo, Comcast, our coalition of groups cares.  Come on, man!

]]> http://chieforganizer.org/2012/02/02/comcast-cya-doesn%e2%80%99t-mask-contradictions-and-poor-outreach/feed/ 0 http://chieforganizer.org/2012/01/26/more-heat-on-comcast-without-much-light-from-fcc/ http://chieforganizer.org/2012/01/26/more-heat-on-comcast-without-much-light-from-fcc/#comments Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:47:35 +0000 Mariehurt http://chieforganizer.org/?p=6096 New Orleans    When a delegation of members from ACTION United showed up with baloney sandwiches at the Pittsburgh City Council meeting, the Council asked them to address the body and expressed concern with them about the difficulty that low income families are having making Comcast’s promises of greater access to the Internet a reality.  The [...]]]> New Orleans    When a delegation of members from ACTION United showed up with baloney sandwiches at the Pittsburgh City Council meeting, the Council asked them to address the body and expressed concern with them about the difficulty that low income families are having making Comcast’s promises of greater access to the Internet a reality.  The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette was clear that actions demanding accountability and access were now occurring in Houston, Little Rock, Shreveport, and Philadelphia (“Comcast’s Low-cost Internet Program Criticized”).

In Philadelphia members of ACTION United passed out 75 baloney sandwiches at the Comcast headquarters demanding the promised response from earlier meetings that indicated the company was considering improving its weak performance to date (“Activists Tangle Over Accessibility of Low-Income Program”).   Ironically, Comcast seems to have convinced some school principals to apologize in their behalf and accept responsibility for the limited outreach that should have been the company’s responsibility, not the public school that hoped to partner with them and benefit.  What a shell game?

There is no date for a reply in Houston yet?  The meeting in Little Rock is still “sometime” in the first two weeks of February.

The FCC had called Houston, Little Rock, and Philadelphia to ask for our permission to share the letters with Comcast and send our complaints to the company.  The Comcast lobbyist in Philly undoubtedly watched on his television as they read his email denying there were any complaints and begging the City Council to ignore our pleas.

Is the FCC trying to simply sweep this all under the rug and abandon their commitment to greater Internet access for lower income families by in effect pretending this is just Comcast’s “problem?”

Seems like we have no choice but to start having families file deceptive advertising complaints against Comcast with the FCC.  The FCC will have a harder time passing that buck back to Comcast.

This shell game has to stop.

In Shreveport as [...]]]> New Orleans    Another day, another dollar in Comcast land where it turns out in their view of the world, no promises need be kept, customers should pay and not be heard, government is only for them, not for the people, and if they say it’s good, then, damn, it must be good:  Comcast-in-wonderland!

In Shreveport as Local 100 United Labor Union members pushed Comcast for action and access to the Internet for our Head Start parents, TV cameras were rolling and they were “not happy” as one of our members reported.

In Philadelphia where they had promised that there would be a detailed response to demands that our partner, ACTION United had brought forward in behalf of our coalition two weeks previously, yesterday came and went with no response from the company.   Houston Local 100 members got the same response from two Comcast governmental relations guys in their meeting on Friday.  Little Rock is waiting for its meeting soon.  We are on a “need to know” basis!

In Philly and Pittsburgh, members of ACTION United are taking the Comcast issue forward with a “baloney” sandwich picnic in their honor today.

City staffers in Pittsburgh sympathetic to our demands that Comcast lower the digital divide forwarded us an email from the local Comcast executive which is priceless in its arrogance and, frankly, lack of good sense about the basics involved in a democracy including the freedom of speech for folks like us who want to really see their Internet program work.  Somehow, Pittsburgh Comcast’s “Frank” seems to believe that if Comcast says “internet essentials” is a “great program,” then that ought to be enough said without worrying about the fact that no one is getting the Internet and virtually no one knows about the program.  Ol’ Frank wants to pretend that’s all on the shoulders of the Pittsburgh School System, because they haven’t “reported any complaints.”

Frank, ol’ buddy, first it’s not the job of the public schools to shill your so-called “internet essentials” program for you, and, secondly, if virtually no one has heard of your so-called “great” program, how would they complain?  And, who would they complain to?  Well, Frank, they would do exactly what they are doing and complain to people and organizations just like us who are committed to making sure that Comcast delivers on their program to provide low cost internet access.  And, despite your request to the Pittsburgh City Council members that they simply “not listen” to us as you indicated in your email, we’ve got news for you, they actually believe that it’s important to listen and respond to citizens (you might call them customers if you cared to actually really provide lower income families with internet!).

Don’t take my word for it.  Listen to Frank’s own words drawn from his email:

I have communicated with the Pgh Public Schools yesterday and they told me they have not received any complaints about the program.  We [Comcast?] ask that you do not [Frank’s bold!] engage with this group [ACTION United] and if any questions need to be answered please follow up with me.  Internet Essentials is a great program and benefits all families whose children are on the Free lunch program whether they are a Comcast customer or not.

The whole email is a classic, and, personally, I would simply love [my emphasis!] to know how Frank believes that this program currently benefits “all families…whether they are a Comcast customer or not.”

But, answers to those questions are unlikely to be available today in Pittsburgh even to members of ACTION United; since Frank also made it clear he was not going to actually show up at the City Council meeting.  Oh, no, not Frank, he’s a cable guy with Comcast.  He signed off saying, he’ll “watch on TV.”

Hello, Comcast!  Let us introduce you to America.  It’s a different country than you imagined it might be!  Live up to your word.  Provide real access to the internet for the poor, and agree to be accountable to your promises.  Hear our demands and “engage” with us directly!

Having watched several Occupy meetings weather the arduous process of coming to consensus, I had almost concluded that despite the way the process has defined much about the [...]]]> New Orleans    There’s nothing like watching a neighborhood civic association meeting to make one blush at having ever critiqued the sometimes maddening consensus process of the Occupy movement.

Having watched several Occupy meetings weather the arduous process of coming to consensus, I had almost concluded that despite the way the process has defined much about the movement; it would also be their undoing.   At one meeting in the Fair Grinds Coffeehouse it took 45 minutes for our friends with Occupy NOLA to decide where to have the next meeting (at Fair Grinds!).

Watching a neighborhood association for a couple of hours recently is making me reevaluate my frustration with Occupy.  Community meetings definitely need a new “agreement” on how to operate, especially when there is even the hint of controversy, or they seem unable to come to terms with any “rules of the road” that work for everyone, which then exacerbates the least tension into bad feeling and worse contentiousness.

This particular organization had the makings of a good foundation.  They had eschewed Roberts’ Rules of Order, which is always a good democratic sign of organizational health, though they still tried to treat motions and so forth as if they in fact did  buddy up with Robert.  They had wonderfully democratic participation in this civic group.  The board meetings were open though not transparent, since similar to old – and bad – union tradition you had to be on the board to look at the financial statement and the treasurer didn’t reveal the numbers in her report, even though as a 501c3 all of it is public on the 990’s anyway, which was all curious.  Members and others were allowed to speak, though of course they could not vote on a board issue without being a member of the board.  All of that felt right and appropriate.

But when the issue got to a matter of new neighborhood retail business being opened in what one leader called the neighborhood’s “central business district,” then Katie bar the door.  Ironically, I would have expected some fur flying if the issue had been moving from residential to commercial zoning, but that matter was ostensibly not in dispute, since both properties were already zoned commercial not only there but pretty much throughout the block.  The issue was a confusing technicality whereby the Board of Zoning Adjustment (BZA) required a variance for a certain number of parking slots based on the square footage of the property.  Despite the fact that the variance is pretty standard and so uniformly applied that the applicant was not able to get a modification even though volunteering to rewrite her application to have less parking slots in the variance, the discussion was endless and the process was no help.  It turned out that the BZA had already approved the variance for the larger of the two establishments and had delayed the more modest one, yet the speakers rose to the argument as if no action had been taken and pretended that choices were somehow involved by unknown parties, despite all evidence presented to the contrary.

In fact most of the consensus somehow revolved around agreement that the group had used a flawed process itself, which was almost as difficult to follow for me as a casual observer.  The actions taken over more than 90 minutes of dispute included a close vote to oppose the already approved project which was then followed by additional votes that would resurvey neighbors around some kind of matrix that most members seemed not to clearly understand on both the deferred project and the one already approved.  In order to get to the heart of the “flawed process” the body urged and the board voted to have special meeting to then rehash the whole matter once again on some kind of grounds, though this was also disputed by both owners and members, some claiming the information was already in hand and others seeking more from some direction.   Add to all of this the occasional threat to sue by some, speeches and tantrums by others, and walkouts by both sides.  Certainly it was a fun evening, though as an organizer, I felt badly for just about all involved.  Virtually everyone wanted to do the right thing and no one seemed to know how.

In good spirits the old jokes were made about democracy and “watching the sausage made,” but these were laughs from the survivors.  By then what had been more than 40 folks were down to the survivors at about half that number, so whatever damage was already done.  The survivors were inured to the process and relived to have gotten to the buoyancy of the meeting’s finish.

Parking disputes will come and go, but how, as organizers, can a better meeting process be crafted for everyone that increases participation, rather than alienating it?

Detroit             The ACORN Canada staff finished an excellent Year End / Year Begin meeting in “southern Canada” across the river from Windsor in Detroit, where 15 of the team discussed campaigns, results of last year’s work, and goals for the coming year.  In order to get a [...]]]>

John and Amy get an ACORN Canada calendar

Detroit             The ACORN Canada staff finished an excellent Year End / Year Begin meeting in “southern Canada” across the river from Windsor in Detroit, where 15 of the team discussed campaigns, results of last year’s work, and goals for the coming year.  In order to get a sense of other organizing while they were in Detroit, they took advantage of the opportunity to meet with some other organizers on the community, political, and labor fronts.

Kim Hodge, executive director of Michigan Time Banking, and a great former ACORN and Local 100 organizer, visited with the crew and detailed how people can do “deep” community organizing by creating time bank exchanges where various skills and tasks are traded with other neighbors in the community.  The sharing involves an array of things from rides to yard work, child care, cooking, gardening, and whatever you might be able to do that someone else might need.  The ACORN Canada organizers were particularly interested in the “political” or “organizational” exchanges for attending meetings and actions or getting involved in voter registration.  One could see the wheels turning, and given Kim’s history with the ACORN model, she knew how to work it!

In a similar fashion John Freeman, who also had worked with both ACORN in Dallas, Sioux Falls, and Albuquerque and Local 100 in Baton Rouge, was able to bridge the very different politics of America with the Canadian experience.  Amy Chapman joined him in discussing the mechanics of US political work now as well as her perspectives having run the Obama campaign in 2008 in Michigan and closely observing what the coming 2012 campaign might portend.  John detailed his work with a new organization, Know Your Care, which is running an educational effort to explain and build support for Obama-care before the 2012 vote.  Questions were flying about databases and voter “modeling.”  Getting a feel for the size and scale of the field operation in 2008 and what already exists in places like Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania for the re-election campaign was interesting and disturbing.   If Michigan is a tossup for Obama, this is going to be a nail biter of an election.

The recent Teamsters election won by Jimmy Hoffa, Jr. over a couple of candidates including Teamsters’ for a Democratic Union (TDU) supported (and old friend) Sandy Pope was the opposite of a nail bitter from the story told the staff by TDU’s long time sparkplug, Ken Paff who has led the oldest labor reform movement in US labor for more than 30 years.  The stories of the convention were harrowing.  The resistance to democratic practice in unions is longstanding and controversial, so that doesn’t separate the Teamsters as much as the extreme and aberrant degree they take intolerance to dissent.  Ken had kept his sense of humor and vision alive and that was invaluable for the ACORN Canada crew.

Add all of this to ambitious membership goals for 2012, excellent planning for the Remittance Justice Campaign embraced by all of ACORN International, and the camaraderie of the staff, and it made for a great meeting.

Jill O'Reilly from Ottawa picking up an award

People Before Profits

Ken Paff of TDU talks to staff