Rita Valentino, who passed away two Mondays ago, leaves many legacies, but the two she likely should be most remembered for were her rise to leadership in the then-fledgling cable industry and her pioneering work (at least for this community) in public affairs broadcasting.

As an industry, cable was quite young when she headed Auburn Cablevision (now Time Warner). She and its owner, Frederik R L Osborne, were not only on the cutting edge of a new technology, but constructing an infrastructure that would change all our daily lives.

Prior to the sale of Auburn Cablevision to Harron Communications, she and the Osbornes installed fiber optic lines throughout their service areas. While many places now have Wi-Fi access, Auburn Cablevision had enough vision to create an infrastructure to hook up this area to the Internet, including city and county governments (which they did for free), in the early 1990s. She was also one of Auburn's early female business leaders, and a model for other women, who saw that they could rise to the top of their professions.

As the host of both “Inside City Hall” and “Conversations” for nearly 24 weeks out of the year (reflecting the schedule of Cayuga County Community College, where the shows were taped) she brought city hall and nonprofits into living rooms across her service area. While public affairs programming now seems to be standard fare in any community, that was not always the case. She and Auburn Cablevision showed leadership and a real sense of community with the creation of both shows, which still exist in slightly different versions today.

Of the two shows, it was “Inside City Hall” that many best remember. It was there that government officials were able, in non-confrontational sessions, to explain their thoughts in a polite give and take. For city hall leaders, especially in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was an outlet to counter what some thought was unfair coverage by the print media about what was going on. Instead of short snippets, Auburnians could hear uncensored thoughts right in their own homes. Her easy-going and informed presence made her a host that guests could relax with, even when it seemed that city hall was under constant fire.

More valuable, though, and perhaps underappreciated, was her second show that was able to promote the community and its nonprofits. In “Conversations” she was able to help local agency after agency talk about the services they provided to the community. It was publicity that many fledging organizations couldn't buy.

Cosentino is a former mayor of Auburn and can be contacted at cozguytho@aol.com