Saddle Brook Community Television

In order to receive important information, the Saddle Brook Office of Emergency Management advises all users to select the following categories in either the e-mail or text message* selections to insure you receive the important postings concerning public safety within the Township. The advised categories are Police Department, Fire Department, Ambulance Corps, O.E.M. (Office of Emergency Management) and Municipal News. Since Saddle Brook TV is now a government only channel, you can remove checks for all other categories as messages will only be sent out using the previously advised categories.

Well, it's been 3 full months since the Township Council stopped funding SBC-TV and shut it down. What have they done in the last three months to investigate what could be done to give the residents of Saddle Brook some avenue of information using the infrastructure already in place? With $100,000 to $150,000 worth of equipment sitting idle collecting dust, what have they done? NOTHING. NADA. ZERO. ZILCH.

It should be known by EVERY resident that it only costs money to hire someone to run the TV station. It does NOT cost a dime to videotape a council meeting, sporting or township event. It does not cost a dime to broadcast video on Cablevision or Verizon FiOS.

The facts are: the director of SBC-TV meet with both the Superintendent of Schools and the High School principal. Both said they were more then willing to make facilities available and run a curriculum for TV broadcasting. The superintendent was even willing to spend money to allow Saddle Brook kids to run the station. Even without spending a dime the school system is the most logical place to continue SBC-TV. It would be a great way to acclimate the kids to the world of television production and Internet streaming. Is it really better to allow SBC-TV equipment to collect dust?

Why hasn't' the Mayor and Council asked the SBC-TV Director how they can make this work so that the residents get some of what they want and need while benefiting the children of Saddle Brook at the same time? Is it because the Director suggested it?

Enough with being sidetracked. Enough with personal agenda's. Enough with politics!

Mr. Mayor and Council . . . . . . . DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE ALREADY!!

Apparently the above statement has generated some interest by our elected officials to re-visit these issues. A dialogue has been started. I look forward to seeing if it becomes constructive or just the usual mud slinging. Time will tell.