Weekend Voices 6/13/09

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Audio recorded by Willie Marquart and Sylvia Smith, edited for length by Amy Browne

Today we continue our coverage of the rally for Single Payer Universal Health Care that was held in Augusta on May 30th, with this audio recorded at the event by Willie Marquart and Sylvia Smith. It has been edited slightly for length.

Feature the Raging Grannies; activist Nancy Galland; Representative Ed Mazurek, the sponsor of a Maine resolution supporting single payer; Green Party Gubernatorial Candidiate Lynne Williams; John Newton of the Maine Chapter of the Maine Chapter of the AFL-CIO; and activists Marybeth Sullivan & Dexter Kamilewicz.

Join us for the weekday edition of Voices, Tuesday afternoon at 4, to hear the final segment of speakers at the rally. The first set of speakers aired on Weekend Voices last Saturday. If you missed it then, you can listen at our archives at www.weru.org

WERU is holding a Public Forum called “Single Payer: Fact vs. Fiction” at the Alamo Theater on Tuesday evening June 23rd from 6-8p.m. A panel of invited speakers will include those for and those against the Single Payer option. Audience members will be encouraged to comment and ask questions, and the event will be broadcast live. That’s 6-8p.m., June 23rd, at the Alamo in Bucksport. Admission is free.

**CORRECTION— It was incorrectly stated in today’s program that Rep. Ed Mazurek is the sponsor of HR 676.

RadioActive 6/11/09

Producers/Hosts: Meredith DeFrancesco, Meg DeFrancesco, Amy Browne

Today we revisit a proposed project in Milbridge, which would offer 6 units of affordable year round housing for farm workers in that community. On Tuesday, community members will vote on a moratorium which could stop the project.
For over two years, the community organization Mano en Mano has been working on the proposed project. Mano en Mano works with the Latino immigrant community in Milbridge, where there are now reportedly 100 to 150 Latino year round residents, 22 of whom are children. The proposed housing, however, is open to any farm worker in the area.
In the past years, two other housing complexes have been built in the town, and none have received the kind of opposition this one has, which appears to be focused more on the fact that many of those who would be served are immigrant workers.
Mano en Mano and supporters of the project say the central issue is adequate and affordable housing for people who are living, working and going to school in the town, a town which has a 77 applicant waiting list for affordable housing opportunities.
Interviews with:
Anais Tomesko, director of Mano en Mano www.manoenmanocenter.org
Jose Ocampo, Marina (last name not used) and Sylvia (last name not used)
All three are immigrants from Mexico who have been working for a variety of farm and fishing industries in the greater Milbridge area, have children and are looking for affordable housing.

Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/11/09

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

When you hear that a particular radio station is “Number 1 in listeners”
just what that claim is based upon? The answer is Arbitron ratings, and had been for years. But there are some real problems with the way Arbitron has determined listenership in the past and so the company has rolled out a new mechanized device called the Portable People Meter. Alas, the way this new technology has been deployed seems to have problems of its own…