Home |  Maillist 

Zane's Email from January 25, 2006

Last week, Zane Blaney had Arnel send this email out to Access SF Producers and Volunteers. It is so rare for Zane to reach out (unless funding is at risk), that I (Michael Faklis) thought his email deserves a translation.

From: AccessSF Main Desk [arnel@accessf.org]
Sent: Wednesday, 2006 January 25 18:25
Subject: Terminated Employee

Zane terminated me (Michael Faklis) two weeks earlier (Notice of Termination from Access SF) on January 10th, because I followed the rules and appealed to the SFCTC Board of Directors to address some employment grievances that Zane would not address. Zane wrote this email, but he had Arnel send it. If you reply, you will want to send your reply to Zane@Accessf.org, instead of to Arnel.

Dear Access SF Producers and Volunteers:

Zane has complete access to everyone's contact information in Facil. As a producer, you can send email to the Access SF discussion list, that most producers don't subscribe to, and all of that email is subject to censorship by SFCTC management. I created my email list by painstakingly constructing it from publicly available information, and from business cards I've exchanged with people during my time at Access SF as a volunteer and staff member. I'd like to migrate from using my handmade email list to using the Reform Access SF subscription email list. Please subscribe.

I am sorry to have to trouble you with this email, but unfortunately I need to make a brief statement regarding a recent development at the station.

What Zane really means is that he's sorry to be troubled communicating with producers and volunteers about what he's doing at the station.

As many of you are aware (because many of you have been receiving emails about it), one of our staff was recently terminated. We would not ordinarily comment publicly on such personnel matters out of respect of privacy for the individual involved. Per standard business practices, personnel matters are always a confidential matter.

What B.S.. Zane set me up to be discredited by threatening me to enforce policies and procedures to a degree they've never been enforced before, under threat of being terminated for insubordination. When people complained, I told them I was only doing what I was told and they should direct their complaints to Zane. Zane would tell people I didn't need to enforce this and that, and Zane would grant waivers. He set me up to be a bad person, and set himself up to smell like a rose. Afterwards, when some producers and volunteers wrote Zane in my support, Zane would respond by forwarding them a letter from one uniformed and unstable producer making slanderous false allegations against me.

In this case, however, the individual has chosen to be very public about his termination though his sending of unsolicited emails, public websites, etc. And in this process, he has made many unfounded and untrue accusations regarding his termination, and other matters. We are not going to respond directly point-by-point to his many issues. We will, however, be sending out information that helps clarify a number of issues about our general operating policies and procedures, separately.

After I was terminated, I sent a unsolicited email to the mail list I handmade in an attempt to clear my name. Afterwards I was flooded with requests for more information. About six people asked to be removed from future mailings, and one producer sent me a note telling me what an awful person I was and how wonderful Zane was. The Reform Access SF web site is very public, and less obtrusive than sending email for each of the articles and exposés I've writing. It is beginning to be indexed by search engines. I ask everyone to link to this site, even if the link is not visible. The more sites that link to it, the more visable it is to search engines. In addition to the web site, I've created a subscription email list, and given Public Testimony on 2006 January 24 to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. I am being as open and up front as I can be about my concerns about Zane's mismanagement of Access SF and the need for oversight.

I urge you all to call his bluff. Zane will not respond to point-to-point issues. There are too many to list again here, so please read the other articles on the Reform Access SF web site, and check back because I add more every day. There's a lot to discuss. If Zane would speak out to clarify, explain, and/or justify issues, we might be able to put some of them to rest. I had been urging Zane to communicate with the Access SF community since I started working there, but Zane doesn't want to subject himself or the SFCTC board to the scrutany of the producers and voluteers. He said he and the SFCTC Board of Directors had a public meeting with producers a few years ago and the audience was so hostile he did not want to repeat the experience. To date, the only speaking out Zane has engaged in is his ongoing efforts to discredit me and alienate me from Access SF.

We regret this former employee has tried to drag everyone into this with or without their permission. We share the concern numerous individuals have made to us about his use of annoying emails, and we simply wanted to make a brief statement on record that what he is claiming about his termination and other operational issues are simply untrue.

Of course he regrets my speaking out. While I was an SFCTC employee, I was not allowed to speak out. As I stated above, the response has been overwhelmingly supportive. If anyone doesn't want to hear from me, simply let me know. Zane would like nothing more than to shut me up, or discredit me. If you can support Zane's initiatives like keeping the Non-Linear Editing - Avid Workstation inaccessible to producers, even though it was purchased with a grant to make it available to producers, then you have a friend running Access SF. If you can support Zane's initative of spending considerable public funds for a Mobile Access Studio and not allowing producers to use it or any of its components, then you have a friend running Access SF. If you support Zane's desire to keep the facilities open a few hours a day five days a week, even when no-cost alternatives are presented, then you have a friend running Access SF. If you would rather not know what's going on, then ask me to remove you from my interim mail list, don't subscribe to the Reform Access SF mail list, and don't visit the Reform Access SF web site.

Thank you,

Zane Blaney,
Executive Director

If Zane and the SFCTC Board would read the Access SF Policies and Procedures, the SFCTC Bylaws, SFCTC Grant Agreement with the City and Country of San Francisco, and San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance, they would understand that the Executive Director does not have the right to run Access SF as if it was his personal property. Zane doesn't have the right to recklessly exercise his authority in a tyrannical manner. Zane is subject to oversight from the SFCTC Board of Directors and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and ultimately from the producers, volunteers, and residents of San Francisco.

Zane Blaney, Executive Director
San Francisco Community Television Corporation (CTC)
Access San Francisco, Cable Channel 29
415-575-4943 - Direct
415-575-4945 - FAX
zane@accessf.org

Please continue to demand answers from Zane and the SFCTC Board of Directors, and use the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance to gain access to the documents that will show you where the truth lies. Let their own documents speak for themselves.

Questions/Comments?