regional consortia

Effort builds to revive California broadband subsidy legislation

3 July 2013 by Steve Blum
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I’m not dead yet. I’m getting better.

A proposal to extend funding and eligibility for broadband infrastructure subsidies might get a second chance in the California assembly. Senate bill 740 failed to get enough “yes” votes in the assembly utilities and commerce committee on Monday. Contrary to what was thought at time, there is enough slack in the legislative schedule to take another try at getting the committee’s approval.

The actual deadline for the utilities and commerce committee to send SB 740 on its way to be considered by the full assembly is 16 August 2013.… More

Santa Cruz's innovative Open Counter platform going national with Knight grant


Cowell’s Beach is a great place to start.

Santa Cruz is proving itself to be a leading center for twenty-first century e-government. The latest endorsement came from the Knight Foundation today, which announced it was giving a $450,000 award to the Open Counter project. It was one of only eight winners, out of 860 applicants, of the Knight News Challenge on Open Gov.

Led by Peter Koht, an economic development staffer with the City of Santa Cruz, the Open Counter initiative was originally backed by Code for America, a private foundation that bills itself as a Peace Corps for geeks.… More

Santa Cruz supervisors move forward with broadband policy initiative


Pioneering surfing of all sorts.

Model broadband development policies are on a fast track in Santa Cruz County. On a unanimous vote yesterday, county supervisors gave staff three months to evaluate four specific recommendations and come back with an action plan.

“This is a far-reaching agenda for increasing the region’s access to broadband by lowering the administrative barriers to entry for, and increasing coordination between, private telecommunications providers,” wrote Zach Friend, the county supervisor behind the effort.… More

Fiber cuts not as disruptive on California's central coast

19 April 2013 by Steve Blum
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Lightning fast and always lands on its feet. The cat too.

Four years ago, someone chopped into an AT&T fiber optic cable south of San Jose in California. Big chunks of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Santa Clara Counties fell off the Internet for the better part of a day. Mobile and landline phone service was disrupted.

Earlier this week, a similar cut was made in more or less the same place. The same thing happened to a lot of people.… More

Urban issues take the lead at Sacramento broadband meetings

15 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Not this meeting. Ours took longer and no decision was made. But at least we were co-ed.

Digital literacy and broadband adoption – the wired kind anyway – were high on most priority lists in Sacramento this week. Broadband infrastructure, well, not so much. For four days, various (directly and indirectly) state-funded broadband groups met with agency and legislative staff, policy makers and telecoms companies. Much of the talk was about social service and educational programs, and how to fund them.… More

A lifeline for broadband

14 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Telephone and electrical service have long been considered a basic necessity for day to day living. “Lifeline” programs provide discounted service to those who need it and universal service programs subsidize infrastructure in areas where costs are high and population densities low. That same thinking is now being applied to broadband service.

“California was ahead of the curve and actually reformed the program before the FCC did,” said Kim Scardino, who helps to run a broadband lifeline pilot program for the Federal Communications Commission.… More

L.A. WiFi project connects businesses and community

12 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Eric Sloan talks about lighting up Los Angeles communities.

A community-based WiFi project in the Manchester area of Los Angeles was one of the highlights of the first day of regional broadband consortia meetings organized in Sacramento by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Eric Sloan, director of technology for Manchester Community Technologies, described how his organization created free, community WiFi access by working with local businesses.

“It is a business initiative to get people to adopt and use broadband,” Sloan said.… More

It's Broadband Week in Sacramento

10 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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It’s a doin’s.

Four days of broadband related meetings are set to begin on Monday in Sacramento.

First up, on Monday afternoon, the assembly utilities and commerce committee plans a hearing on “bridging the digital divide in California: a foundation for a better way of life”. The immediate topic is assembly bill 1299, which would direct California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) money generally toward public housing programs. The draft language is very broad, but there’s been discussion that it’ll be tightened up to focus specifically on smart housing initiatives.… More

Creativity and technology meet in Salinas

2 March 2013 by Steve Blum
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Robotics from the Naval Postgraduate School, rocketry with NASA’s Science, Engineering, Math and Aerospace Academy, hacking at Coder Dojo Salinas. Plus video production, acting, web design, a planetarium show and more. Those were the afternoon attractions today at the Creative Tech Expo at Hartnell College in Salinas.

A few hundred kids, mostly digital technology and business students from Monterey County high schools, spent their Saturday working their way through a couple dozen exhibits set up by local companies, clubs, schools and non-profits.… More

CASF consortia producing broadband projects


ESCRBC meeting in June Lake last November brought broadband supply and demand together.

Race Telecommunication’s proposal to build fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems in four Mono County communities shows how middle mile fiber can make last mile service possible and how the regional broadband consortia funded by the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) can bring together the right people at the right time.

Those four small systems would be built along the Digital 395 route between Reno and Barstow.… More