City Council Discusses Cable Costs

The City Council last night discussed working with the NYNEX corporation and the FCC to bring cable television competition to Cambridge.

Presently, Continental Cablevision of Cambridge is the only cable television company which services the city.

The Council also discussed a resolution which would ask City Manager Robert W. Healy to confer with Continetal Cablevision officials in an effort to develop a online complaint system.

City Councillors hope this system would give residents "better access to their cable provider and most importantly to improve cable television services in Cambridge."

City Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio said that cable competition was "the only hope at reducing rates and giving residents of Cambridge a better deal for their money."

"I would like to see an all-out war for lower rates," Galluccio said.

Galluccio added, "It's nothing personal against Continental....competition is a good thing for everyone."

However, City Councillor Katherine Triantafillou, expressed reservations about Galluccio's proposal, citing the negative effects associated with airline deregulation.

"I don't think we should have competition for competition's sake," Triantafillou said.

Councillors said they also hoped that the cable company would establish a more effective system to deal with consumer complaints Councillors suggested the installation of a computerized on-line system to deal with problems.

"[The on-line system] will open up communications more," Galluccio said. "Some people feel like they don't have any place to turn."

Some members of the council said they were concerned because when their constituents called the cable company to complain about service problems, they must to deal with an impersonal voice-mail system.

City Councillor Timothy J. Toomey said a constituent told him that he had called the cable company to protest a lack of service during the snowstorm February 4, but that no one answered the phone at the company.

Cambridge Mayor Kenneth E. Reeves '72 added, "We want to be able to call Continental and get a person."

An exchange of constituent "war stories" about the voice-mail system, which is used by many municipal offices in the City, prompted City Councillor Michael A. Sullivan to ask Reeves in jest, "Can we ban voice-mail in Cambridge?"

The council sent the resolutions dealing with the city's cable television service to the council's cable Committee for further recommendations.

In other council business, City Councillors expressed their hope that Healy would look into the spraying of chemicals on grass and trees at the Raymond Park playlot and near the Cambridge Common soccer fields.

City Councillor Francis H. Duehay '55 said that he was concerned that "youngsters playing youth soccer were playing near treated grasses."

"The treatment of the ground should take place apart and away from the playgrounds," Duehay said.

Duehay added, "The Recreation Department and the Health Department need to get together and make sure that the [chemical] treatment....has plenty of time to dry, so that there is no health hazard whatsoever."

However, Healy said that the chemicals pose "no serious or long-lasting health risks" to the children playing near the sprayed fields.

The council also recommended that Healy look into establishing an official Cambridge Pedestrian Advisory Committee. "We need a strong voice for people walking," City Councillor Kathleen L. Born said.

And Cambridge Vice-Mayor Sheila T. Russell said the Committee would be especially important to the senior citizens of Cambridge.

"They really have serious problems in getting around the city," Russell said.