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The Abington Citizens Network
where Abington, PA residents can share ideas and join forces to build a better community


Government  and Educational Access Channels
Township Channels : on Comcast : Channel 43 -  on  Verizon :Channel 24 
This is a Government  Access Channel  -Township meetings are aired at 9 AM- 2 PM-and 7 PM
view the meetings online http://www.abingtonpa.gov/channel43.htm 
( there is a link there to you tube )
Abington School Meetings play at different times weekly : ie Friday 6am to 9 am -the full schedule can be seen at http://www.abington.k12.pa.us/about-asd/amp-tv/  They are on on Verizon 34 and Comcast  968

PLEASE HELP US KEEP COMMERCIALS OFF THE CHANNEL !!!!!!!
       
      
As of March  2013, just 3 months into President Peggy Myers' already controversial start as head of the Board, a segment promoting her favorite charity , PAL ( of which she is also a Board member and Director of Donner Development)  was put on the channel..... IN the government meeting slot. 
 The problem with that :
1) No viewer would know if the government meeting was even going to air, as the lengthy segment  preempted the start time of the meeting . 
2) Anyone who did wait patiently had to watch the segment for this non-profit, that solicits donations, in order to view the meeting .

       This is inexcuseable --- and it would also be egregious for commercials to be aired anywhere.
There are plenty of community slots that make us aware of the many events and activities in the township - and each should be given equal opportunity to notify the public - but not be able to use our government access for the aquiring of donations and .  Peggy Myers is the one who in 2006 suggested that we put "entertainment " on our Channel ( despite our current 900 channels of entertainment - which would remove one of the most powerful tools that we have for government information to reach residents in a clear and meaningful way. 

      Please help us keep the clannel clear of Commercials - and to work toward full coverage of government issues.   Write your Commissioner and tell them
no commercials  and then let me know that you did ! ( lest they claim no one has spoken up ...) 

In order to  build community, all in the community need the free ability to thrive, not a small handful who are given preferential treatment at the expense of the other 50,000 or so . 

In 2006 there was virtually no news . We have changed that landscape dramatically.  Now I think many know that we need to get to get real GOVERNMENT information to the residents as succinctly as possible .   We still do not have our finance meetings, our economic development meetings, zoning meetings and other important GOVERNMENT information & meetings on the channel  and we have been refused many special meetings, too, like the Wawa  Ordinance that revised so much in our Township and showed a frightening new method that allows developers to dominate zoning rights. 

  The meeting  black outs, sound games and drop outs  that , as of this writing, are even described on a TV announcement slide,  are designed to try to force the meetings off TV . Having them on TV is where many residents  actually “bump into them “ and learn of the things happening in their township.  It is a place where parents can see them easily , even if the computer is in use by children for homework or by a spouse, as is still the case in many homes .  It is designed to reduce the numbers watching. Period . Few will make the “trek” to you tube – while thousands upon thousands will  see them on the TV .  
    In the early days of the TV, Commissioner Wacther was trying to make a case to get it dismissed as too costly. "O
nly 3 in a hundred” had seen the TV meetings , he said after querying people at the polls.  Wow -   in a township of 56,000  that’s the equivalent of 1400 people at a meeting !      Wow –really -  you've never gotten a meeting to so many people before .

Viewership has grown substantially since then --- but please know - it is a treasure that is to be guarded  from those who would remove your ability to have any oversight in the use of your property and your money - and your government process as a  whole . 

 

 

 9-12  NEW SCHEDULE for  TV MEETINGS  :
    9 am  2 pm and 7 pm  are the new times
to view meetings on   Comcast Channel 43 and Verizon Channel 24 .  This is a change from the 9-3-9.   Only the Board of Commissioners and 4 of the Committee meetings are currently aired. ( public works , code enforcement, public affairs, and public safety ) The other meetings that are important to residents, including zoning and finance among others, are still denied.

       These meetings are invaluable to those who are keeping an eye on your dollars or  working on issues in their neighborhoods.    Once you need it, it's too late to start asking . So please call or write your Commissioner or Township manager and ask for zoning and finance & other meetings and ­ALL  special meetings to be included  in the airings. 

     We have room and there are so many things happening in Abington Township -like Township wide rezoning- that make this valuable asset so necessary. 

    No,  we do not want to sell our channel to time and weather business concerns - we have a zillion other channels for the weather available right on our TV screen.

   No, we do not want to sell our channel to advertisers for "commercials" on the guys that this will bring funds for us to use.  in fact, what it will bring is difficulty for you finding out how your funds are actually being used.  So without the channel you might not know about the $72,000 bus that ran for 20 people.  How many ads would it take to cover up that information? 

   Yes, we need transparency and yes the channel is one of the best tools that we have for that.  Please call or write your Commissioner and ask for the rest of the meetings to be taped and made available.


Here is some more of the history of struggle to use the channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 9-12 MEETINGS USED TO PLAY AT    9 am  2 pm and 7 pm prior to summer 2012
we started our quest in 2006 when we heard that the commissioners were thinking of putting entertainment on our channel.  We already had hundreds of channels worth of entertainment - but what was missing was the tool needed for transparency in our Township and the airing of our Township meetings and business so that residents could understand what was happening in their local government.  It was not an easy quest - it took nearly 2 years for us to actually get the meetings on TV.  We learned that we had to film our own actions so that our words were not twisted- and that there were no minutes available that properly reflected what happened.

It has been a great coup for transparency to have the meetings aired that we have been able to get aired so far-

Here are some links from the old days back at the original scene of the effort.

 

Citizens want Governmental  Meetings, Community, School, School Board  and other programs aired on Comast Channel 43/Verizon Channel 24 . It is time to end the scrolling - and it is important not to let non-profit businesses use our channel as a free resource while we are unable to see all of our government & school meetings .

 A  brief overview  of this topic and what we still would like to see  
Contact us about this issue

What  Abington residents said about what they'd like the Commissioners to do  
Contact your Commissioners

Residents please note : To find out how you will be affected by the  changeover to digital which will be effective as of June 12  '09  click here  or go to  : http://dtvanswers.com
 



 

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|Channel 43 Overview  |  What  Abington residents are saying  |   Contact someone about this issue  |   Your Commissioners |

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Abington Township, with John Spiegelman in charge, revamped the entire Township website at the end of 2015 and broke all the links to the information we had archived on this site for you.   In 2017, Manager Richard Manfredi arrived and assigned someone not qualified to redo the entire website again. They not only broke all archived links we had reinstated, but made everything as impossible to find as they could. Nearly all of our comments and recommedations to fix the Township website have been wholly ignored.

So we do need volunteers to work together helping the Township create a site that is functional and accessible.  We will be reinstating links as we find them....if the data is still available. So... please let us know if you find a broken link. Send us the URL of the link  and the name of the page it is on, and if we can, we'll reinstate it.
Thanks for the help.

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