salinas

Salinas City Council approves contract to build municipal fiber network

30 October 2019 by Steve Blum
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Salinas fiber

A contract to build the first phase of a municipal dark fiber network was approved by the Salinas City Council earlier this month. This initial leg is a mile and a half long, and will run west along Alisal Street, a main thoroughfare through the downtown business district, beginning at the new Salinas Police station that’s under construction on the east side of downtown and ending at Central Park on the west side. A lateral will also connect City Hall to the network.… More

Salinas, AT&T sign master pole license agreement with small cell design standards and $750 annual rent, sorta

Downtown salinas

AT&T and the City of Salinas hedged their bets and signed a master license agreement for attaching small cell sites to city-owned poles that complies with current Federal Communications Commission guidelines, but snaps back to market-based fees if those rules are changed, or overruled by a federal court.

Last year, the FCC declared that municipal assets installed along roads or otherwise in the public right of way, like street light poles or traffic aren’t really city (or county) property, but instead are part of the right of way itself.… More

Ag department honcho says rural communities need faster broadband

28 June 2018 by Steve Blum
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The Forbes Ag Tech Summit opened in Salinas yesterday, for the fourth year in a row. The headline act was editor-in-chief Steve Forbes’ interview with Stephen Censky, the deputy secretary of the federal agriculture department.

Agricultural technology depends on broadband, Censky said, but access is a serious challenge in the rural areas where it will be deployed. Of the 24 million people in the U.S. who don’t have broadband available to them, 80% live in rural areas.… More

Salinas promotes broadband development with new dig once rule

28 February 2017 by Steve Blum
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Underground utility construction and other projects that involve work on city streets in Salinas will include dig once requirements, thanks to an ordinance approved by the Salinas city council. The new rule requires notification of telephone, cable and other telecoms companies whenever such work is done, and gives them an opportunity to include their own conduit in the project. Once completed, there will be a five year moratorium on any excavations in that particular location.… More

Salinas targets Ag Tech Corridor, downtown with broadband RFP


Click for the RFP.

The City of Salinas has officially released a request for proposal, looking for telecommunications companies that are interested in using its municipal conduit system and other local assets to build out a high speed broadband system in key commercial and industrial areas…

The City of Salinas owns a total of 16,000 feet of telecommunications conduit that is available for use (see above referenced study) by respondents. Approximately 5,400 feet is in the core downtown business district, 1,600 feet in or near the planned Agricultural Technology Corridor and another 9,000 feet in an unincorporated area southwest of the city.

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Salinas pursues fast broadband to build ag tech corridor


Click for the full picture.

With big and small agricultural companies expanding in downtown Salinas and the southeast area of the city earmarked as an Ag Tech Corridor, the need for better broadband infrastructure is becoming critical. Yesterday, the Salinas City Council voted to ask for proposals from potential private sector partners who are interested in using city assets to build out high capacity networks.

Tellus Venture Associates recently completed a study for the City of Salinas that evaluated existing infrastructure and examined options for improving it.… More

CPUC small business expo draws hundreds to Salinas

10 October 2013 by Steve Blum
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Giving small business a lift in Salinas.

Rapidly changing business models and utility needs are providing opportunities for small businesses in the twenty-first century. That was Commissioner Catherine Sandoval’s message to several hundred entrepreneurs in Salinas yesterday, at a small business expo and matchmaking fair sponsored by the California Public Utilities Commission.

Sandoval pointed to new rules that were just adopted that allow online ride sharing companies, such as Lyft and Uber, to provide on demand service, despite vehement objections from entrenched – and protected – taxi companies.… More