From christopher at newrules.org Tue Jul 5 09:02:01 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 11:02:01 -0500 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of 7/5 Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* *Hope you had a Happy and Safe Independence Day!* CityLink Telecommunications in Albuquerque Prefers Open Access - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 208 Tue, June 28, 2016 | Posted by christopher A small telecommunications company in Albuquerque embodies much of the philosophy that has powered the Internet. And CityLink Telecommunications President John Brown credits Vint Cerf for some of that inspiration. John Brown joins us for episode 208 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast, where we talk not just about how enthusiastic he is for open access , but how he writes open access requirements into contracts to ensure CityLink would continue to operate on an open access basis even if he were struck down by an errant backhoe. We also discuss the Internet of Things and security before finishing with a discussion of how he thinks the city of Albuquerque should move forward with his firm to save money and improve Internet access across the community. We also touch on Santa Fe's decision to work with a different company in building their short spur to bypass a CenturyLink bottleneck. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the transcript from this show here ... Colorado Communities Opting Out: The List Grows...and Grows...and Grows Mon, June 27, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Recently, Christopher spoke with Glenwood Springs, Colorado , about their venture into providing high-quality Internet access for the community. They were, to our knowledge, the first Colorado community to pass a referendum reclaiming local telecommunications authority. The voters in Glenwood Springs chose to opt out of SB 152 and reclaim that authority in 2008. Last fall was a banner season for local communities deciding to no longer be limited by the state restrictions borne out of big cable lobbying. More than four dozen municipalities and counties voted on the issue and all of them passed, many with huge margins. In the spring of this year, nine more towns joined the fray , includingMancos , Fruita, and Orchard City. There are also over 20 counties and number of school districts that have taken the issue to voters and voters responded overwhelmingly saying, ?*YES! WE WANT LOCAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS AUTHORITY*!? ... See our List of Opt-Out Counties and More Information About the Colorado Law ... Soon, Faster Internet Service For Santa Cruz's Small Businesses Wed, June 29, 2016 | Posted by hannah As the city of Santa Cruz and local Internet service provider Cruzio bring their negotiations to a close, the parties have been working diligently to dot all the *i's*and cross all the *t's*. Announced in June 2015 , this public private partnership intends to build a multi-million dollar fiber network throughout the city. According to Cruzio's most recent blog update : [W]e?ve been locked away in our Santa Cruz Fiber Project underground bunker with our partners at the City, engaging in high-level cogitation, extreme fine-tuning and the general hashing out of every little detail of the project and the agreement. Local news station KION covered the benefits of faster Internet service , especially for the small business community in Santa Cruz. The news station also includes a clip from a recent ?City Hall to You ? community meeting where people learned more about the network. ... Read the Rest of the Story Here ... The Tacoma Click Saga of 2015: Part 4: Accumulating Spillover Effects Tue, June 28, 2016 | Posted by ternste *This is the last in a four part series about the Click network in Tacoma, Washington, where city leaders spent most of 2015 considering a plan to lease out all operations of this municipal network to a private company. Part 4 highlights Click?s often unseen ?spillover effects? on the City of Tacoma?s economy and telecom marketplace over the network?s nearly 2 decades in operation, contributions that Tacoma should expect to persist and even expand in the future.* *We published Part 3 , an analysis of why the municipal network is positioned to thrive in the years ahead within the modern telecommunications marketplace on June 21st. In Part 2 , published on June 7, we reviewed why Tacoma Public Utilities considered the possibility of leasing out all of the Click operations. On May 31, we published Part 1 , which reviewed the community's plans for the network.* *Part 4: Click?s Accumulating ?Spillover Effects?* Regardless of any impending changes with Tacoma Click?s operations, it?s clear that the network has and will continue to support and enhance the overall economic interests and the public good in the City of Tacoma. ?Spillover effects ? - the benefits to the community that don?t show up clearly in any financial statements - tend to appear after communities developing their own municipal broadband networks. ... Read our Final Installment Here ... Or Start at the Beginning Here ... Liberty and the Farm: Internet Access Sat, July 02, 2016 | Posted by hannah This 4th of July weekend invites us to celebrate the accomplishments of our country. But, 23 million people in rural areas remain without high-speed Internet access. Rural areas cannot stay unconnected. Agriculture has become a high-tech endeavor, and high-speed Internet access is necessary. Cooperatives, those democratic institutions formed by rural farmers years ago, are becoming an answer. The Founding Fathers considered rural communities the life-blood of the country. In 1785, Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Jay , stated that: ?[C]ultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. they are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, & they are tied to their country & wedded to it?s liberty & interests by the most lasting bands.? ... Read More About Rural Connectivity and Independence ... Saratoga Springs Launches Smart City Commission Thu, June 30, 2016 | Posted by Scott Saratoga Springs, New York (pop. 5,600), has launched a Smart City Commission, whose mission is to enhance telecommunications and help the city become a leader in high-speed Internet service. The startup of the Smart City Commission, which held its first meeting in March, comes as Saratoga Springs pursues becoming a model Intelligent Community. City leaders have determined that the best way to acheive Intelligent Community status, is to join Next Century Cities (NCC), and to adopt the organization's six guiding principles : 1. High-speed Internet is necessary infrastructure. 2. The Internet is nonpartisan. 3. Communities must enjoy self-determination. ... Read the Rest of the Principles and More Information Here (borrowed from Next Century Cities) ... Warren County, KY, RFI: Responses Due July 8th Mon, June 27, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Warren County, Kentucky , issued a Request for Information (RFI) in June to find partners in order to improve connectivity for local businesses and residents. County officials want to develop a Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network and are willing to consider both publicly owned and privately owned options. RFI responses are *due July 8th* . The community has prioritized the following in its RFI: 1. A community-wide FTTP work to serve both businesses and homes 2. An open access model to encourage competition 3. A financially sustainable network 4. A network that provides affordable base-level service for everyone ... More Details about the Warren County Here ... Bar Harbor Votes Down Funding For Study...This Time Fri, July 01, 2016 | Posted by alexander On June 7th, Bar Harbor residents voted against funding the first $50,000 of a $100,000 engineering study for a fiber network to connect municipal facilities. A contentious 47-57 vote at the annual town meeting erased the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) from the annual budget, postponing progress on potential publicly owned Internet infrastructure. *Decision Leaves Locals Stranded* The town is still clinging to hopes that it can arrange a new agreement with incumbent provider Charter Communications, who owns the majority of fiber on Mount Desert Island, where the city is located. The franchise agreement, inherited by Charter Communications when it merged with Time Warner Cable, expired in 2014. Negotiations on a new agreement appeared to have stalled when the incumbent wanted to begin charging the town access to its fiber. In the prior agreement, municipal use of fiber o municipal facilities was a service included without an additional fee. ... The Rest of the Story Here ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - July 5 Tue, July 05, 2016 | Posted by Nick *California* Bill to shift how Calif. manages broadaband fund moves ahead by Alex Koma, StateScoop *Connecticut* Utility pole rules could help high-speed Internet access by Stephen Singer, Hartford Courant ... Read the Rest of the Community Network Media Roundup Here ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Wed Jul 13 11:24:55 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2016 13:24:55 -0500 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of 7/13 Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* Glenwood Springs, Colorado: Fiber Frontier Tue, July 05, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Glenwood Springs was the first community in Colorado to invest in publicly owned Internet infrastructure, the Community Broadband Network (CBN), and offer services to local businesses. The community, originally named ?Defiance,? was also one of the first U.S. communities to have electric lights. Their open access municipal network has improved connectivity throughout the community and helped establish robust competition in this western frontier town. *Dial-Up Just Didn?t Do It; City Steps In* Bob Farmer, Information Systems Director at Glenwood Springs, spoke with Christopher Mitchell forepisode #206 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast and he shared some of the network?s history. Before community leaders chose to take matters into their own hands, Qwest (now CentuyLink) and AT&T were offering dial-up services to residents and businesses. The city approached the incumbents and asked them to make upgrades to improve local connectivity but were told by both companies that they had no plans to make improvements. ... Read the Rest of this In-Depth Coverage of Glenwood Springs Here ... Discussing (Ranting) Consolidation - Community Broadband Bits Episode 209 Tue, July 05, 2016 | Posted by christopher In celebration of Independence Day, we are focused this week on consolidation and dependence. At the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, we are very focused on independence and believe that the consolidation in the telecommunications industry threatens the independence of communities. We doubt that Comcast or AT&T executives could locate most of the communities they serve on a blank map - and that impacts their investment decisions that threaten the future of communities. So Lisa Gonzalez and I talk about consolidation in the wake of Google buying Webpass and UC2B's partner iTV-3 selling out to Countrywide Broadband. And we talk about why Westminster's model of public-private partnership is preferable to that of UC2B. We also discuss where consolidation may not be harmful and how the FCC's order approving the Charter takeover of Time Warner Cable will actually result in much more consolidation rather than new competition. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the transcript from this show here . .. Fiber in Lenox, Iowa Mon, July 11, 2016 | Posted by hannah When community leaders in Lenox, Iowa , gathered together to examine the community's cable TV options in the 1980s, they probably didn't expect their decision to impact local Internet access. Fast-forward 30 years, and this town of 1,400 people now has one of the most sought after forms of Internet access infrastructure: Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ). Lenox Municipal Utilities owns and operates a FTTH network that offers symmetrical speeds to hundreds of customers in town. It?s just one of many communities around the nation that have invested in this rugged, future-proof technology. *Same Utility, Changing Technology* We spoke with the Lenox Municipal Utilities General Manager John Borland who graciously provided some of the history of the network. ... More on Lenox and Its Services Here ... Community Connections - Jason Hardebeck, Baltimore Mon, July 11, 2016 | Posted by rebecca Residents and businesses in Baltimore have been dealing with poor access for years. In 2015 the city's mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake named a 27-member task force to address the problem and has spoken out about the need for more investment. In this episode of Community Connections, Christopher Mitchell caught up with Broadband Coordinator Jason Hardebeck to talk about about his city's challenges and opportunities. Hardebeck is tasked with developing a strategy that puts his city's residents and businesses first. These challenges are familiar to many cities across the United States and this interview serves as a good illustration of why owning some conduit and dark fiber can be a big benefit to cities as they try to solve the problem of the digital divide. ... Watch the Video Here ... For Block Island, RI, a Better Network Could Be Blowin? in the Wind Thu, July 07, 2016 | Posted by alexander Eight strands of publicly available fiber optic cable made landfall on Block Island, Rhode Island this month, opening the door to Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) for local businesses and residents. Local officials are moving forward with a once in a multi-generational opportunity to share an underwater cable with Deepwater Wind and National Grid . The energy companies are laying lines to the nearbyBlock Island Wind Farm . *A Brief History of Eight Strands of Fiber* The island is home to only one municipality, New Shoreham , which covers the entire land mass. Block Island residents have struggled with poor utilities for more than a century. Located about 12 miles off the Rhode Island coast, the island has never been connected to the mainland electrical grid or Internet backhaul network. As a result, the town of about 1,000 year-round residents has reported the highest energy costs outside of Alaska and dismal Internet speeds of 2 Megabits per second (Mbps ) or slower download and upload speeds that are even more lethargic. ... Get the Rest of the Story Here ... Broadband Communities Regional Conference This Fall In Minneapolis Sat, July 09, 2016 | Posted by Scott "*Fiber For The New Economy*" will be the theme of Broadband Communities' annual regional conference which is scheduled from Oct. 18th to 20th in Minneapolis. The conference will explore the hottest developments in fiber and economic development with panel discussions and workshop sessions on such topics as Google Fiber, incumbent and other provider deployments, and public-private projects, according to Jim Baller, the conference?s economic development chairman. There will also be sessions about developments in ?major verticals,? including health care, education and energy, adds Baller, who is also co-founder and president of the Coalition for Local Internet Choice . ... We'll Be There (Here)!! ... Grover Beach Conduit: California's New "Silicon Dunes" Wed, July 06, 2016 | Posted by alexander The city of Grover Beach, California , recently finalized a 10-year agreement withDigital West, Inc. , to bring gigabit speed fiber to local businesses. The coastal town in San Luis Obispo (SLO) County wants to attract tech companies like those making waves in Silicon Valley and the "Silicon Beach" in Los Angeles. *Terms of Agreement* The agreement specifies that Grover Beach will maintain ownership of theconduit system and lease Digital West conduit access at an annual rate of 5.1 percent of total fiber revenue. Digital West will build, own, and maintain the fiber-optic network, several lines of which will be leased to the city for public administrative use. Upon approval from both parties, the 10-year agreement can be renewed in 5-year increments. ... More on Grover Beach's Approach Here ... Leverett Releases RFP For ISP: Responses Due August 15th Fri, July 08, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Leverett, Massachusetts, has operated its Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) network since August 2015, working with Crocker Communications to bring Gigabit per second (Gbps ) connectivity to residents and businesses in the Massachusetts town. The contract with Crocker is not indefinite, however, and the city has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for other Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to offer services on the network. Responses are due *August 15, 2016*. ... More Details Here ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - July 11 Mon, July 11, 2016 | Posted by Nick *Maryland* Town receives grant and funding for fiber optic cable by Joseph Norris, The Bay Net *Minnesota* Kandiyohi County signs letter of intent with broadband partner by Anne Polta, West Central Tribune *General* Untangling Google Fiber's twist on America's unending digital divide by Lauren Walker, Daily Dot ... Read the Full Community Networks Media Roundup Here ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Tue Jul 19 12:29:10 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2016 14:29:10 -0500 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of 7/19 Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* The Secrets Behind Partnerships to Improve Internet Access Author(s): Patrick Lucey & Christopher Mitchell *[image: placeholder] *A growing number of U.S. cities have broken up monopoly control of the Internet marketplace locally. They're promoting entrepreneurship while giving residents and businesses real choice in how they connect and reach new audiences. They've put a new wrinkle in an old model: the public-private partnership. "Communities desperately need better Internet access, but not all local governments are bold enough to 'go it alone'", says Christopher Mitchell with Community Broadband Networks at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. "Here, we've outlined a few remarkable cities who have demonstrated how smart strategies are helping them help themselves." A city that builds its own fiber and leases it to a trusted partner can negotiate for activities that benefit the public good, like universal access. It may even require (as Westminster, Maryland did) that the partner ISP have real human beings answer the phone to solve a customer's problems. ... More Information on OUR NEW REPORT Here ... PDF Here ... Community Connections - Westminster & Ting: The How and the Why Thu, July 14, 2016 | Posted by rebecca More and more cities are turning to public-private partnerships (PPP's) in building Internet networks that meet the needs of 21st century homes and businesses. If a city builds its own fiber and leases it to a trusted partner, they can negotiate for activities that benefit the public good, like universal access. In this video Christopher Mitchell interviews Dr. Robert Wack with Westminster, Maryland and Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows , the parent of Ting. The two talk about their revolutionary public-private fiber partnership. The video outlines a basic economic principle: *"Ownership equals control, and control means leverage."* If you don't have that leverage (such as ownership of infrastructure) you won't get a good deal from your private ISP. ... Watch the Video Here ... Westminster Muni Network Expanding Fri, July 15, 2016 | Posted by Scott Marking another big step forward, the mayor and Common Council of Westminster, Maryland (pop. 18,000) have hired a telecommunications, utility and government contracting firm to continue building the first two phases of the Westminster Fiber Network (WFN). *City Hires SMC* Westminster expects to complete this construction in 2017, providing Gigabit per second (Gbps ) connectivity to an additional 2,700 homes and businesses in the western part of the community,according to a city news release. Cost of this phase is undetermined, Westminster marketing consultant Jason Stambaugh told us; the city will issue general obligation bonds to fund the entire cost of the network. One year after Westminster celebrated lighting its municipal fiber network, the city hired SMC, Inc. to construct the expansion. Westminster is partnering with Toronto-based Ting to provide retail services via the Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ) network. ... Get the Latest Update from Westminster Here ... Fiber in Lenox, Iowa Mon, July 11, 2016 | Posted by hannah When community leaders in Lenox, Iowa , gathered together to examine the community's cable TV options in the 1980s, they probably didn't expect their decision to impact local Internet access. Fast-forward 30 years, and this town of 1,400 people now has one of the most sought after forms of Internet access infrastructure: Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ). Lenox Municipal Utilities owns and operates a FTTH network that offerssymmetrical speeds to hundreds of customers in town. It?s just one of many communities around the nation that have invested in this rugged, future-proof technology. *Same Utility, Changing Technology* We spoke with the Lenox Municipal Utilities General Manager John Borland who graciously provided some of the history of the network. ... Lots More of Lenox Here ... In Minnesota, Alexandria Connects Businesses - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 210 Wed, July 13, 2016 | Posted by christopher When the cable and telephone companies refused to offer dial-up Internet service 20 years ago in Alexandria, Minnesota, the municipal utility stepped up and made it available. For years, most everyone in the region used it to get online. Now, the utility has focused its telecommunications attention on makingfiber-optic telecommunications services available to local businesses. Alexandria's ALP Utilities General Manager Al Crowser joins us this week to explain what they have done and why. Like us, Al is a strong believer that local governments can be the best provider of essential services to local businesses and residents. In the show, we talk some history and also about the difference between local customer service and that from a larger, more distant company. He discusses how they have paid for the network and where net income goes. And finally, we talk about their undergrounding project. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the transcript from this show here ... Community Connections - Jason Hardebeck, Baltimore Mon, July 11, 2016 | Posted by rebecca Residents and businesses in Baltimore have been dealing with poor access for years. In 2015 the city's mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake named a 27-member task force to address the problem and has spoken out about the need for more investment. In this episode of Community Connections, Christopher Mitchell caught up with Broadband Coordinator Jason Hardebeck to talk about about his city's challenges and opportunities. Hardebeck is tasked with developing a strategy that puts his city's residents and businesses first. These challenges are familiar to many cities across the United States and this interview serves as a good illustration of why owning some conduit and dark fiber can be a big benefit to cities as they try to solve the problem of the digital divide. ... Watch the Interview Here ... I-Net Beginning to Blossom in Greenfield, WI Thu, July 14, 2016 | Posted by alexander Greenfield city officials and school administrators recently agreed to cooperatively build a fiber-optic institutional network (I-Net). The Milwaukee suburb of about 37,000 expects to trim thousands of dollars from its annual network bill and bring its students, teachers, and local government up to speed. *Dig Now, Save Now* Just like many communities across the U.S., Greenfield realized that it was paying too much to connect its community anchor institutions (CAIs) to the Internet. In April 2015, Greenfield school district approved a bandwidth upgrade with a private provider that would cost the schools $45,588 annually. Within half a year, they had already hit their new bandwidth limit. In November 2015, they needed to upgrade again to the tune of $119,141 per year. ... More Information on Expected Savings and Efficiencies ... Get Your Applications Ready For Minnesota's $35 Million Wed, July 13, 2016 | Posted by hannah The Land of 10,000 Lakes wants to become The Land of 10,000 Lakes With High-Speed Internet Access. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) will begin taking applications for the Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program on *July 22, 2016*. The program offers a total of $35 million in funding for projects in unserved and underserved areas. The application submission period closes on *October 3, 2016*. *The Grant Program* The Border-to-Border program will pay for up to 50 percent of project development costs, awarding a maximum of $5 million per grant. This round of funding sets aside $5 million specifically for underserved areas, and $500,000 will be set aside for areas that contain a significant proportion of low-income households. Officials estimate this year's $35 million in funding will impact an additional 2,000 Minnesotans. ... More Information on Minnesota's State Broadband Grant Program ... Broadband Communities Magazine Spotlights Study on Rural Electric Cooperatives Sat, July 16, 2016 | Posted by hannah In the 1930s, rural communities joined together through electric cooperatives to bring electricity to their homes and businesses. Today, rural electric co-ops may have the power to bring Internet access to these same communities. A recent Broadband Communities Magazine article highlights this potential for rural electric co-ops . In the article, Dr. Robert Yadon and D. Bracken Ross of theDigital Policy Institute at Ball State University explain the results of their recent study. *Electric Co-Ops as Regional Networks* Yadon and Bracken looked into 30 private sector Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ) providers in Indiana and 16 rural electric co-ops providing Internet service around the nation. After predicting engineering costs, the researchers highlighted a dozen Indiana rural electric co-ops that could serve as regional hubs of connectivity. ... Co-ops Are Incredibly Important for Rural Internet Access ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - July 19 Tue, July 19, 2016 | Posted by Nick *California* Refund program to help expand broadband Internet service by Rachelle Chong and Lloyd Levine, Sacramento Bee *Colorado* Big choices ahead as Boulder pursues faster, cheaper broadband by Alex Burness, Boulder Daily Camera Erie, Superior weigh municipal broadband ballot question by Anthony Hahn, Colorado Hometown Weekly ... Read the Full Community Network Media Roundup... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/a/ilsr.org/d/optout. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rob at omsoft.com Tue Jul 19 13:07:32 2016 From: rob at omsoft.com (Robert Nickerson) Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2016 13:07:32 -0700 Subject: [Davisgig] =?utf-8?b?RndkOiDCoEpvaW4gQ0xJQydzIChmcmVlKSBXZWJpbmFy?= =?utf-8?q?_July_20=3A_Federal_Funding_for_Community_Broadband?= In-Reply-To: <09c6fc743c87e862042edd5d5d1bb241e3d.20160718164432@mail228.atl121.mcsv.net> References: <09c6fc743c87e862042edd5d5d1bb241e3d.20160718164432@mail228.atl121.mcsv.net> Message-ID: Hi Anyone interested in this free webinar should register! Thanks RAN -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Join CLIC's (free) Webinar July 20: Federal Funding for Community Broadband Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2016 16:44:40 +0000 From: Coalition for Local Internet Choice Reply-To: Coalition for Local Internet Choice To: Robert Join CLIC's (free) Webinar July 20: Federal Funding for Community Broadband Register for CLIC's Free Webinar this Wednesday, July 20: Federal Funding Options for Community Broadband Deployments View this email in your browser We invite you to register for CLIC's free webinar this Wednesday, July 20, at noon (eastern time): *Federal Funding Options for Community Broadband Deployments. *Although the federal broadband stimulus programs have ended, many other sources of federal funding for broadband projects are available. In this webinar, our speakers will discuss the key federal programs that support broadband projects, from the FCC to the Department of Commerce, HUD, the Department of Agriculture and more. Learn about the variety of creative approaches for tapping into federal grants and loans, from serving your schools to partnering with rural healthcare establishments to uncovering resources in your community that can serve as assets in funding applications. Learn what these programs cover, how to qualify for them, and how to avoid pitfalls that could result in loss of benefits or even refunds. *Moderator: Catharine Rice*, CLIC Project Director, Washington, DC *Speakers: Jim Baller*, President, CLIC & President of Baller Stokes & Lide, PC, Washington, D.C. & *Ashley Stelfox*, CLIC General Counsel & Associate, Baller Stokes & Lide, PC, Washington, D.C. *Register by clicking here * *(*then click the blue "register" link after the words "*Event Status")* The Webinar will start at Noon Eastern Time. An archive recording of the session will be emailed to all registrants. To be a (free) CLIC member, JOIN US or: CLIC HERE Website Website Tweet Forward *Our mailing address is:* info at localnetchoice.org unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences This email was sent to rob at omsoft.com /why did I get this?/ unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Coalition for Local Internet Choice ? 2014 P Street, NW ? Washington, DC 20036 ? USA Email Marketing Powered by MailChimp -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From christopher at newrules.org Tue Jul 26 08:56:33 2016 From: christopher at newrules.org (Christopher Mitchell) Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2016 10:56:33 -0500 Subject: [Davisgig] Recently in Community Networks... Week of 7/26 Message-ID: *Recent Stories from MuniNetworks.org - a project of the **Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Instructions for unsubscribing appear at bottom. Send feedback. Forward Widely.* *Don't miss our brand new short video:* Why a Gig? The Video Response You've Been Waiting For! Thu, July 21, 2016 | Posted by rebecca With the increasing number of gigabit cities, a trend led by local governments, Google, and some cutting edge small ISPs, some are confused why a gigabit is important now when most applications do not need that much bandwidth to operate. We get this question frequently and decided to make a short video explainer for why a making a gigabit available to everyone is a smart goal. Please share widely! ... People are Loving this Video - Watch it Here and then SHARE it! ... Fort Collins Mayor on Fort Collins Fiber Future - Community Broadband Bits Podcast 211 Tue, July 19, 2016 | Posted by christopher Fort Collins is a thriving community of over 150,000 and the home of Colorado State University. Despite gorgeous vistas and many high tech jobs, Fort Collins basically has the same cable and DSL duopoly the majority of communities suffer from. But they are making plans for something better. Mayor Wade Troxell joins us this week for episode 211 of the Community Broadband Bits podcast to talk about their situation and planning process. We talk about their need for better access and how they are committed to taking action even if they are not quite sure yet what it will be. They exempted themselves from the Previously-Qwest-But-Now-CenturyLink-Protection-Act that requires a referendum for the local government to introduce telecommunications competition... with 83 percent support. We end our discussion by talking again about undergrounding utility assets - which took them many decades but is very nearly complete. Watch a video of Mayor Troxell at the Digital Northwest - where I was moderating a panel. ... Listen to the Show Here ... Read the transcript of this episode here ... Problem With Poles In Connecticut: Petitioning PURA For Precision Mon, July 18, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez In Connecticut, local municipalities want to take advantage of the state?s unique ?Municipal Gain Space? but invoking the law has not been hassle-free. As towns try to place fiber-optic cables on this reserved section of utility poles, questions arise that need answering. *Giving Towns Some Room On The Poles* The Connecticut statute grants state departments and municipalities the right to use space on all of the approximately 900,000 utility poles sitting in the municipal Rights-of-Way (ROW), regardless of ownership. One of the state's electric providers and either Verizon or Frontier jointly own most of the poles. The law was created in the early 1900s for telegraph wiring and as new technologies and wire types evolved, a number of law suits ensued. Cities and state entities usually won, preserving the space, but the process of getting attachment agreements approved became more burdensome and expensive. In 2013, the state legislature amended the law so municipalities could access to the space ?for any use.? The change opened the door for hanging fiber for municipal networks and partnering with private providers. ... The Devil is in the Details, Per Usual - More Here ... Whip City Fiber Snaps To It: Yet Another Expansion In Westfield, MA Tue, July 19, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez In the spring, Westfield, Massachusetts began to expand it?s Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ) network, Whip City Fiber with a build-out to three additional neighborhoods. Earlier this month, Westfield Gas + Electric announced that they will soon expand even further to three more areas . According to Dan Howard, General Manager of the utility, the demand for the symmetrical Internet access is strong: "Every day we hear from residents of Westfield who are anxious for high-speed Internet to be available in their neighborhood," he said. "It's a great motivator for our entire team to hear how much customers are looking forward to this new service." ... More Details on the Whip City Expansion and Background Here ... PBS Takes A Look At Internet Cooperatives Wed, July 20, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez We aren?t the only ones noticing. As rural communities take control of their connectivity by banding together to form broadband cooperatives, their efforts are getting attention. Earlier this month, PBS News Hour featured a story on the Wired West and RS Fiber Cooperatives. Ivette Feliciano visits with local residents, business owners, and community leaders in both western Massachusetts and rural Minnesota where both initiatives are rewriting the rules for rural dwellers. She visits with Jake Reike, a farmer from Renville County; he talked with Chris during the Community Broadband Bits podcast episode #198 . He described for us how improving local connectivity was what his family needed to maintain their farming lifestyle. Feliciano also sought out expert Susan Crawford, who explained why people in these sparsely populated communities need high-quality connectivity and why they refuse to wait for big providers who may never come to their rescue. ... Watch the Video Here! ... In Rural Idaho, Co-op Delivers the Fiber Sat, July 23, 2016 | Posted by alexander Co-op subscribers in Challis, Idaho are set to see faster speeds as Custer Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (CTCI) gained permission from city officials to install fiber-optic cable to local homes. With the member-owned telecommunications cooperative expanding its fiber optic network throughout Custer and Lemhi Counties, local residents will benefit from a future-proof network that promises higher speeds and low prices. *How Did We Get Here?* The rural towns on the eastern side of Idaho?s Sawtooth Range are remote, sparsely populated, and mountainous - all factors which scare away investment from large Internet service providers (ISPs). Yet, they will witness construction of a Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH ) network, something that even their urban counterparts rarely see. CTCI, which has been delivering telecommunications services to the community since 1955, will provide 1,253 co-op members in Custer County and Lemhi County with high-quality Internet connectivity at competitive prices. ... Co-ops are Essential for Rural America! More Information Here ... Santa Clarita Leases Dark Fiber For Better Connectivity And Revenue Thu, July 21, 2016 | Posted by alexander Santa Clarita, a community of 220,000 in Los Angeles County, California, recently signed a dark fiber lease agreement with Southern Californian telecommunications provider Wilcon . The city hopes to improve high-speed Internet access for local businesses; this ten-year contract allows Wilcon to provide services via publicly owned fiber-optic cable originally buried for traffic controls. *The New Agreement* >From the City Council?s June 28th agenda , the new agreement includes the following: - Initial anticipated annual revenues of $72,256 based on $840 per year per fiber mile. ... More Bullet Points and Information Here ... Yellow Springs, OH, Releases RFP: Proposals Due August 22 Fri, July 22, 2016 | Posted by lgonzalez Earlier this year, the grassroots group, Springs-Net , presented its white paper on a potential municipal network in their town of 3,700 people. The village, located in central Ohio between Dayton and Columbus, is taking up the suggestion and recently released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a broadband needs assessment and business plan. The village already operates municipal electric, water, sewer, and storm water utilities, however does not own any municipal fiber. According to the RFP, Yellow Springs collaborates with several local schools and an educational computer association for connectivity to the village?s municipal office location. There is also fiber in the community owned by the Ohio Academic Research Network (OARNet) and a non-profit datacenter in the area. ... More Details Here ... Community Broadband Media Roundup - July 25 Mon, July 25, 2016 | Posted by Nick *Massachusetts* Leyden opens broadband discussions with MBI by Shelby Ashline, The Recorder *Tennessee* Tennessee needs more competition between Internet providers, according to state report by Emily Siner, Nashville Public Radio But almost all businesses ? more than 90 percent ? reported that they're not happy with their current options for getting online and aren't finding affordable alternatives. ... Read the Full Community Network Media Roundup Here ... -- You can always find our most recent stories and other resources at http://MuniNetworks.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Community Networks Weekly Updates" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to communitynetworks-weekly+unsubscribe at ilsr.org. 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