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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCablevision Request 021705City Council Cablevis-ion By PAT LESTER Eagle Staff Writer "N e v e r has Midwest Video Corporation performed so dem- ocratically as since the initia- tion of a prospective new cable able i A Requ' company. This has helped the people of College Station and will continue to help them. We should table this action. I don't think we are in a position to pass this on the third reading as t he circumstances stand," Councilman J a m e s H. Dozier said at Monday's College Sta- tion City Council meeting. Following Dozier's m o t i o n, the City Council agreed to table action on a franchise requested by Community Cablevision. Earlier, Don A. Adam, repre- senting Community Cablevision, asked the council to approve the franchise with the following con- ditions: "The franchise will not be used for any purpose other than the installation and opera- tion of a cable system and will never be sold without the con- sent of the City of College Sta- tion upon the issuance of the franchise, Community Cablevis- ion will not begin operation of any type until the financial stat- us has been approved by the council, but that this' does not preclude the sale of stock. According to Adam, `We feel it is a ,good investment and are willing to invest the dollars re- quired. We w o u l d like to give the people of this community a c h o i c e between a 1954 model and a 1969 model." In addressing the council, (See CITY, Page 5) or Midwest Video Corp., asked hat the franchise be denied to ommunity Cablevision. According to Lawrence, "it was my c l e a r understanding that the City Council said that u n l e s s a financial statement showing the wherewithal] to do this be supplied by Community Cablevision that you would not ( t a k e any affirmative action. T h e y have not done the one thing this council asked them to do - show that they have the money in the bank to build a system." Lawrence also said that it is not f e a s ible to have two sys- tems in a community like Bry- an-College Station because "a second system will lower the ef- ficiency of both systems." Lawrence further said that Midwest Video is "giving you !very satisfactory service and they are improving it day to day." In another statement to the council, George Morrell, presi- dent of M i d west Video, said, "No cable system can degrade or improve upon the signal that it receives. We can only trans- mit the signal we receive from the station." Concerning improvements, Morrel said that 600 new custo- mers had been added by Mid- west Video since the installation charge was dropped and all but 86 of these have been connected to the cable system. "I think we have done as good a job of improvement as can be done when we put in the super trunk. Other improvements have been to cut down the cost ',on maintenance," he added. According to Morrell, in 85 to 90 per cent of the service calls in a d e by Midwest Video the problem of picture quality has been caused by "either people not knowing how to tune their set or something being wrong' with the set." Lawrence a Is o emphasized that Midwest Video has unalter- ably committed itself to extend cable service to all the residen- tial areas of Bryan and College station. Speaking on behalf of Mid- west Video, Robert McWhirter, former mayor of Paris and at- torney for Midwest Video, said, "I can't conceive of this coun- cil, or any other council, even entertaining a franchise of a utility where the applicant had 1 not been actively engaged in the business and had some exper- ience in it and didn't prove that l they have the money without subjecting the citizens of that community to a stock promo- tion sale. "They (Community Cablevi- sion) are going to use this fran- chise to raise the money. In ef- fect, they are going to use this council - at any rate, the ac- tions of this council," McWhir- ter argued. Don R. Dale of 1220 Orr St. in College Station expressed the following opinion at the conclu- sion of the discussion concern- ing the franchise: "Our recep- tion has been terrible not some- times but most of the time. The thing here is not the fact that they (Midwest Video] are co~- ty. I think we deserve a good signal. I think these gentlemen (Community Cablevision) are here because of the complaints about the quality." In other action, the College Station City Council approved an amendment to the telephone franchise a d d i n g Tunis and Snook in the dialing scope of Bryan-College Station. According to Mayor D. A. (Andy) Anderson, "This will in no way change the rate sched- ule of Bryan and College Sta- tion." Bill Irwin, division manager of General Telephone Company of the Southwest, said the addi- tion "will not deteriorate the service." According to Irwin, the re- quest was initiated by the Snook Lions Club and the Tunis citi- zens. Speaking on improvements by the telephone company, Irwin said that the company had add- ed 12 additional operators and additional information positions, as well as additional circuits out of Bryan-College Station. Irwin also said that the cut- over date for direct distance dialing will be August 1969. In other business, the council accepted a report from Codie D. Wells, consulting engineer, on the 12-inch sewer line west of the city proposed earlier by Texas A&M University. According to the report, "In summary I must recommend that the City not participate in the cost of the subject line un- der the terms proposed. It will cost the City much less to own land operate a separate sewage treatment plant." In other action, the city coun- cil approved the Culpepper Plaza preliminary plat. The plat for the business property out of the Dominik -tract of land which is being developed by J. C. Culpepper was earlier ap- proved by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Further, the councilmen vot- ed to call a public hearing con- cerning rezoning Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, Block 23, Boy- ett Addition from second swell- ing house district to apartment house district and Lots B and C, Section 11 of the Glade from first dwelling house district to apartment house district. The Planning and Zoning Commis- s i o n has recommended both zoning changes. In other business, Mayor D. A. (Andy) Anderson presented an honorary citizens award to Jack Jones on behalf of the City of Taft. Jones, who recently moved to College Station, was active in civic affairs in Taft and served on the City Commis- sion of that city. Also, the council voted unan- imously to rename County Road Holleman Drive in honor of the late T. R. (Nikkie) Holleman.