Holyoke- City Councilor At Large Kevin Jourdain in a brief announcement today stated that he was surprised to hear of Mayor Sullivan's option not to seek election next year. Jourdain also stated that being Mayor is a difficult job and one that can be thankless at times. Councilor Jourdain, who has served with 3 Mayors, thanked Mayor Sullivan for his service to the city and looks forward to working with him for the remainder of his term.
While extensive work faces the city in 2008, 2009 is going to be a critical election to the future of the city. "I want to thank the many people who have already called me to encourage me to run for Mayor. It would indeed be an honor to serve. I will give strong consideration to this exciting opportunity to use my experience to make sure that Holyoke continues to prosper and that our government serves the interests of its citizens."
Re-Elect Holyoke's Fiscal Watchdog!
Friday, July 18, 2008
AP: Comcast Customer Service Ratings at All-Time Low
Comcast Customer Service Ratings at All-Time Low
Associated Press
May 20, 2008
Customer satisfaction ratings for Comcast Corp. fell this year to an all-time low and rank at the bottom of cable and satellite TV providers, according to a survey released on May 20. Comcast lagged behind smaller operators such as Cablevision Systems Corp. and RCN Corp., which as a group topped the customer satisfaction ratings for the first time ever.
Comcast rated 54 out of a perfect 100 for customer satisfaction. Rapid growth for the Philadelphia-based company, which have been buying up smaller cable systems, may have added to its customer service problems, the report said.
Comcast breaks promises with Holyoke subscribers!
Holyoke - Effective July 16, 2008, ComCast has decimated the basic service package that offers local subscribers a low cost alternative to the otherwise extremely high prices they offer for the digital packages. Holyoke is disproportionately lower income versus other communities in Western Massachusetts and is especially sensitive to this change. Allegedly, they are doing this so people can buy more High Definition channels which is great but what about those who cannot afford a $50+ package. ComCast claims to be committed to the community but then does stuff like this that is strictly designed at increasing their bottom line regardless of how many people are harmed!
"God's Word is Eternal, but apparently ComCast's word is only good for 11 Years."
No less disturbing in all of this is ComCast's blatant breach of an agreement they had with the City in 1997 with respect to the broadcasting of EWTN. This widely popular Catholic Channel was promised to the people of Holyoke as far back as the 1980's with Contential Cablevision and MediaOne. Until 1997, it was broadcast 24 hours day. ComCast then made the decision that it was only going to be run it part-time by sharing the same Channel 21 with the Inspiration Network, which is a fine channel in its own right.
Quickly, ComCast put up the same straw man arguments as they are now saying nothing can be done we are just giving you what people want. So to convince them of their misguided ways and to demonstrate that Holyokers and people throughout Western Massachusetts wanted EWTN a massive organizational effort was undertaken. During that process, over 6000 signatures were collected in support of EWTN; including, over 3000 in Holyoke. Large volumes of letters and phone calls were generated, as well as, media attention.
During the process of the 1997 ComCast contract negotiations with the city, then Mayor Danny Szostkiewicz showed real leadership and reached an accord with ComCast that in lieu of a public access channel that ComCast would broadcast EWTN on Channel 23 during the switch over hours when EWTN was not playing on Channel 21. Holyoke gave up its public access channel for this specific purpose. ComCast knows this. Most communities have 3 channels for what is called PEG Access purposes. PEG Access stands for Public Access, Educational Access and Government Access. The Education channel is on Channel 12 and our Government Channel is Channel 15. In the midst of ComCast's haste to remove EWTN, they have also taken without justification our would be Public Access Channel on Channel 23. Public Access channels are required by federal law to be broadcast as part of the basic service package.
In sum, ComCast has broken their promise to broadcast EWTN and has stolen from us our public access channel effectively leaving Holyoke left holding the bag. Under no circumstances, can this be tolerated.
Thousands of our fellow Holyokers and people throughout Western MA are now being deprived of this precious religious programming. Inspiration channel has also been removed and as a result all religious programming has been removed from the more affordable basic tier. This is alarming and is disturbing especially from a company that purports to listen to its customers and is allegedly family friendly.
I encourage all Holyoke residents to call ComCast's Government Affairs Representative Stephen Fitzgibbons at (413) 730-4513 and demand EWTN be restored to the basic tier back on our public access Channel 23!
I also encourage Holyokers to call Mayor Sullivan at (413) 322-5510 and ask that he lend his support to getting ComCast to restore our public access channel so it can be used for EWTN!
If you would like more information on this issue and the on-going fight to preserve EWTN and protect our cable subscribers on fixed income, please call me at (413) 538-5519 or email me or call Paula Brunault at (413) 534-1596. Paula has been the leader on this issue for many years and we are lucky to have her fighting for us again!
"God's Word is Eternal, but apparently ComCast's word is only good for 11 Years."
No less disturbing in all of this is ComCast's blatant breach of an agreement they had with the City in 1997 with respect to the broadcasting of EWTN. This widely popular Catholic Channel was promised to the people of Holyoke as far back as the 1980's with Contential Cablevision and MediaOne. Until 1997, it was broadcast 24 hours day. ComCast then made the decision that it was only going to be run it part-time by sharing the same Channel 21 with the Inspiration Network, which is a fine channel in its own right.
Quickly, ComCast put up the same straw man arguments as they are now saying nothing can be done we are just giving you what people want. So to convince them of their misguided ways and to demonstrate that Holyokers and people throughout Western Massachusetts wanted EWTN a massive organizational effort was undertaken. During that process, over 6000 signatures were collected in support of EWTN; including, over 3000 in Holyoke. Large volumes of letters and phone calls were generated, as well as, media attention.
During the process of the 1997 ComCast contract negotiations with the city, then Mayor Danny Szostkiewicz showed real leadership and reached an accord with ComCast that in lieu of a public access channel that ComCast would broadcast EWTN on Channel 23 during the switch over hours when EWTN was not playing on Channel 21. Holyoke gave up its public access channel for this specific purpose. ComCast knows this. Most communities have 3 channels for what is called PEG Access purposes. PEG Access stands for Public Access, Educational Access and Government Access. The Education channel is on Channel 12 and our Government Channel is Channel 15. In the midst of ComCast's haste to remove EWTN, they have also taken without justification our would be Public Access Channel on Channel 23. Public Access channels are required by federal law to be broadcast as part of the basic service package.
In sum, ComCast has broken their promise to broadcast EWTN and has stolen from us our public access channel effectively leaving Holyoke left holding the bag. Under no circumstances, can this be tolerated.
Thousands of our fellow Holyokers and people throughout Western MA are now being deprived of this precious religious programming. Inspiration channel has also been removed and as a result all religious programming has been removed from the more affordable basic tier. This is alarming and is disturbing especially from a company that purports to listen to its customers and is allegedly family friendly.
I encourage all Holyoke residents to call ComCast's Government Affairs Representative Stephen Fitzgibbons at (413) 730-4513 and demand EWTN be restored to the basic tier back on our public access Channel 23!
I also encourage Holyokers to call Mayor Sullivan at (413) 322-5510 and ask that he lend his support to getting ComCast to restore our public access channel so it can be used for EWTN!
If you would like more information on this issue and the on-going fight to preserve EWTN and protect our cable subscribers on fixed income, please call me at (413) 538-5519 or email me or call Paula Brunault at (413) 534-1596. Paula has been the leader on this issue for many years and we are lucky to have her fighting for us again!
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