To the editor:

At the city council meeting earlier this month, I made comments to council about community television. The Review quoted me.

I want to clarify that I was trying to convey two messages — not just the second one, below:

1. The city has a PEG Capital Fund with about $250,000 in the bank — contributed over several years by cable TV subscribers at the rate of $1 per month. By agreement, those funds can only be used for equipment for public, educational and governmental (PEG) television. Not for any other city function. It is timely and worthwhile to invest current and future earmarked PEG funds into equipment for community video.

2. The city can do an excellent, appropriate and sustainable job equipping the city for community TV without needing to invest anywhere near the $930,000 that a study has recently outlined as a hypothetical equipment scenario over a period of 10 years.

As became clear at the meeting that night, neither the council nor the city manager are recommending the amount of equipment outlined in that study. The study, as the city manager explained, was intended to provide a reference point to aid COBI’s current negotiations with Comcast for franchise fees to compensate the city for public rights of way that Comcast cables rely on.

We’re very fortunate to have PEG capital funds, and our community would be well served by using those earmarked funds — along with any PEG funds to be received in future years — to acquire and maintain a prudent level of equipment.

I’m glad that the city council and staff are now turning to that desirable task. For a community with such vibrant arts and educational activities as Bainbridge, local TV is a desirable community asset. And, like the BITV nonprofit vision in its earliest frugal years, much local programming can be created by volunteers.

And the $30,000 per year that COBI now sends out of the community for video tech support can, after acquiring some digital TV equipment, be redirected back into the community.

My compliments to the city manager for taking steps to convene, later this month, a local citizens committee of media experts to advise on reviving community video, which is missed since the demise of BITV. I’m confident that community TV can be implemented in a cost-effective sustainable way and help sustain our vibrant and creative community.

BARRY PETERS

Bainbridge Island