Public Hearing on 7/8! Community Media Allies Call for Public involvement on Future of Burlington Telecom

July 07, 2014

Call to Attend Public Hearing on Tuesday, July 8th at 7 p.m. at Burlington City Hall

Dear Friends:

The City of Burlington is requesting permission from the Vermont Public Service Board to transfer ownership of Burlington Telecom (BT) to private hands and relief on key conditions of its Certificate of Public Good. The VTPBS is collecting testimony from the public at an open hearing slated for Tuesday, July 8 at 7 p.m. in City Hall's Contois Auditorium in Burlington.

We urge you to attend this Public Hearing!

This hearing is an opportunity for community members to express their views on the City’s plans to:

  • Settle its debts with Citibank over BT,

  • Be released from the Certificate of Public Good mandated city-wide build out of BT infrastructure, and,

  • Get permission from the VTPBS to transfer ownership of BT through a lease with Trey Pecor and the Merchants Bank, which would allow for “an arms length sale” of BT “to a private entity” within the next 36 months.

Your local community media organizations - VCAM, RETN, and Channel 17 and CCTV, are working hard on this issue and are aiming to represent the broad interests of community media makers and consumers in the PSB process.  But, we need your help!

VCAM, RETN, Channel 17 and CCTV have requested a public process be put in place to ensure that decisions concerning Burlington Telecom be made with maximum transparency and public involvement. CCTV's Lauren-Glenn Davitian stated:

We believe that Burlington Telecom is a strong community partner, providing exceptional service, affordable pricing, gigabit speeds, and innovative public access. The City’s decision to sell BT to a private entity has been made without adequate public involvement. Clear criteria for continued local control going are necessary to ensure that BT will continue to serve as a vital public asset able to realize our City’s community and economic development goals.

Can’t attend but want to be involved? The public hearing will also be streamed live on Tuesday, July 8 at 7 p.m. at http://www.cctv.org/live_events.

You can follow up with written comments to the Vermont Public Service Board via psb [dot] clerk [at] state [dot] vt [dot] us. (Reference Docket 7044). More information may be found at http://psb.vermont.gov/docketsand%20projects/cable/7044.

We hope to see you on Tuesday night at Burlington City Hall!

Lauren-Glenn Davitian | CCTV
davitian [at] cctv [dot] org

P.S. - Want to get more background to prepare talking points? Check out these additional resources: