In "Web Site Seeks Community Involvement," (March 24), City Manager Jeff Kobrock doesn't seem to grasp the basics of Public Access TV.

For one thing, he says public access would not be cost-effective for Gardiner. Let's examine that.

More than 10 years ago, Gardiner received a $30,000 grant from the then-cable operator to set up a Public Access TV studio in Gardiner. The city gave the funds to School Administrative District 11 for its media program.

Later, the city mandated a 5 percent cable franchise fee that collects about $57,000 per year from cable subscribers who have never benefited from this fee in any way related to Public Access TV.

If the cable franchise fees were used as proposed by the Federal Cable Act, the cost of public access could, if well managed, be a wash for the city. You can't get more cost-effective than that. Of course, it would be awkward to have to move the franchise fee revenue from the general fund to a public access channel fund where it should have gone in the first place. Maybe that's what Kobrock had in mind as "not being cost-effective."

Finally, Kobrock says the area already has an Augusta-based channel that serves the area.

Technically true. Functionally, not so. Augusta Channel 9 is a local origination operation, completely commercial, operated by Time Warner solely for profit with no access by the public in any way equivalent to public access.

Bob Demers

Gardiner