GILROY
– Tired of ongoing delays and broken promises in Charter
Communications’ rebuild of the city’s cable system, the City
Council will hold a public workshop in May to discuss the company’s
performance.
GILROY – Tired of ongoing delays and broken promises in Charter Communications’ rebuild of the city’s cable system, the City Council will hold a public workshop in May to discuss the company’s performance.
“I think the power of persuasion with the community has something going for it … at a time with not a lot of other options,” said Mayor Tom Springer, who suggested the meeting Monday. “I would like to persuade them.”
Charter has apparently missed another deadline on its rebuild project, which is meant to offer Gilroyans options for expanded service such as 78 digital-quality channels, broadband Internet and premium movie packages.
While the work was supposed to be complete by Dec. 31, 2002, Charter Area Vice President John Adams estimated in January that about 55 percent was done. At the time, he promised Council that the rebuild would be done in eight weeks’ time, save “minor cleanup” or “a home here or there.”
But in a report to Council Monday, he said the project is 87 percent complete with 27 of 31 “nodes” or service areas operational in Gilroy.
“We anticipated we’d be completed by now, as you know,” he said. “Unfortunately, we ran into some problems.”
Nodes off Mantelli Drive and around the area of First Street and Kern Avenue are still pending, as are several connections to a public “Inet” information system.
Adams cited financial constraints, a scope of work that was more than officials anticipated and complications over working with multiple residences for the delay. He said he hopes to have the work complete by the end of the month – but made no promises.
“I can’t forecast the exact date when we’ll be done with the rebuild,” he said. “There are too many factors that make it difficult to predict.”
Councilmembers had taken turns blasting company officials from the dais in January, but were relatively subdued Monday, accepting the report with little comment until they discussed Springer’s idea for a public review later in the meeting.
“It seems to me like it’s our last option if we as a Council are going to have any effectiveness in moving Charter along,” Springer said. Under a compromise agreement with Charter, the city can’t collect monetary damages based on missed deadlines until June 30.
Councilmen Charlie Morales and Craig Gartman joined Springer in supporting the public review. Others expressed doubts that the move would do much good. Councilman Bob Dillon called it a “waste of time.”
“They don’t care,” he said. “Get used to it.”
The city and Charter are also in disagreement over some proposed channel lineup changes, which will likely be delayed as well.
Charter plans to press ahead and replace two Monterey County-based stations in its local basic channel lineup with two Spanish-language stations, although city officials have asked the company to refrain from doing so.
Adams said Monday that the company had no choice about adding one of the new Spanish channels because it had requested to be added to the lineup under a federal provision.
“We’re (in between) a rock and a hard place,” he said.
However, Adams said the switch – scheduled for April 1 – has been delayed until at least June because the two existing Monterey County stations, KCBA and KION, have appealed.
In the meantime, Charter is willing to conduct a survey to learn what the community wants, he said.
The meeting is slated for May 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, Gilroy City Hall, 7351 Rosanna St. Specific factual questions for Charter to answer at the workshop meeting can be e-mailed to City Clerk Rhonda Pellin at rp*****@ci.us.
