[RTC List] Local Broadband Stimulus Money

Wed May 6 17:18:11 PDT 2009

Thank you, William.  While you and I may disagree on various political  
issues, you are correct in that I have been advocating a different  
path for some time - longer than I've been working at Carlson  
Wireless.  To make it clear to all, I am not representing Carlson  
Wireless Technologies (CWT) in any of my comments and while CWT may or  
may not participate in a stimulus funding proposal which may result  
from this effort, their role will be extremely small as a local  
equipment provider serving wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs).

Of more importance to me, however, is that we maximize the local  
content of any proposal which includes labor, materials and technology  
provided by local companies.  While I support the idea of fiber  
everywhere (I want to see fiber to the home, if possible) I don't feel  
that this will employ many people locally nor provide the benefits  
compared to the costs to local communities that supporting local WISPs  
will provide.  Having been a resident of this area for over 30 years  
now, I have been through most of the technology battles and believe  
that a viable cost-effective alternative exists to what is currently  
being proposed that strictly benefits an out-of-our area contractor.   
I don't stand to gain financially from this proposal, but I think it  
will benefit our larger community.

As far as my work at Carlson goes, you are right - my largest  
customers are in India, Mexico, Afghanistan, Philippines, and other  
developing countries.  I also work with domestic WISPs nationwide and  
believe that they should be the backbone of our nation's competitive  
broadband infrastructure.  If we're going to achieve competitive  
services, we need to get beyond the status quo of a single telephone  
company (you know who) and a single cable company (you know that one  
too).  Independent ISPs, of which I was the first in the region in  
'94, are one of the logical answers.  They are locally owned, employ  
local people, spend their money in local stores and give a damn about  
our communities.

The question to ask is who are the consultant's working for that are  
developing the fiber proposal?

> I can't pretend to speak for Larry, but I am fairly certain that his
> motivations have absolutely nothing to do with his current employer.  
> He
> has been working for several years on trying to get potential wireless
> projects in Humboldt County put together. His interest in wireless and
> WiMax predate his employment at Carlson by a long, long stretch.
>
> To the best of my knowledge, most of Carlson Wireless' customers are  
> in
> Asia, not North America. They sell hardware, and I have seen no  
> evidence
> that they intend on getting involved in local wireless issues. Larry  
> can
> certainly correct me on that if I'm wrong though. If I were in  
> Carlson's
> position, I don't think that I would waste my time or efforts on the
> potential wireless hardware market in Humboldt County.
>
>
> -- 
> William Van Hefner - President
> Vantek Communications, Inc.
> http://www.humboldtonline.com
> e-mail: editor at humboldtonline.com
>
> On Wed, May 6, 2009 7:29 am, CrawfordCA at aol.com wrote:
>>
>
>> Larry, et al ...
>>
>>
>> While I am not a proponent of the various mad dashes for stimulus   
>> money,
>> I
>> see nothing sinister in this ambitious plan to shore up our regional
>> "middle mile" telecommunications infrastructure. Moreover, given our
>> topography and the future-proof nature of fiber versus wireless,  
>> the plan
>> to do so with a  fiber optic makes perfect sense.
>>
>> Let's not look for conspiracies under every rock and at least begin  
>> with
>> the premise that this is a legitimate, forward looking proposal that
>> attempts to  solve very real regional problems in a collaborative way
>> involving several  stakeholder groups. For more information, visit
>> _www.humboldt.edu/~rcc_
>> (http://www.humboldt.edu/~rcc)  or
>> _http://redwoodcoastconnect.humboldt.edu/_
>> (http://redwoodcoastconnect.humboldt.edu/)  or  Google Redwood Coast
>> Connect.
>>
>>
>> If we do as you suggest and turn this into rounds of public  
>> hearings in
>> three counties and several tribal governments in an effort to gain  
>> some
>> sort of  consensus on a plan of action, we'll have to wait for Barack
>> Obama's
>> grandchildren to vote for a new stimulus bill to fund it.
>>
>> I am a huge fan of Carlson Wireless and their terrific connectivity
>> solutions worldwide. Your critical analysis of this development  
>> makes it
>> sound like some sort of special interest advocacy on behalf of your
>> employer,  which I am certain is not the case. However, it looks  
>> just as
>> bad no matter the intent.
>>
>> Why don't we give this prospect the benefit of the doubt and hope it
>> produces its intended outcome? There are plenty of other fights in  
>> our
>> community, let's not add this one to the already enormous pile of  
>> them.
>>
>> Chris Crawford
>>
>>
>>
>> ``````````````````````````
>> In a message dated 5/5/2009 8:39:19 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
>> larry at northcoast.com writes:
>>
>> RTC members and interested  parties:
>>
>>
>> This morning I attended a very  interesting meeting of the Business
>> Partners Roundtable at HSU.  This is  a group of local businesses,
>> non-profit community based organizations and HSU  personnel who meet
>> quarterly to discuss topics related to local economic   
>> development.  Today
>> we heard a summary report from Connie Stewart who is  currently  
>> working
>> with the Redwood Rural Action organization  (with  the blessing of  
>> HSU
>> President, Rollin Richmond) on
>> the development of a  comprehensive broadband plan for application  
>> for
>> stimulus broadband money.  While I don't have all the details, the
>> overall project came as a  complete surprise to me (and I think  
>> will be to
>> many of you). Here's  what I heard:
>>
>>
>> Redwood Rural Action is trying  to organize all the local governments
>> (primarily four counties of the region,  the Yurok tribe and several
>> school districts) into submitting a  "comprehensive" proposal for
>> broadband.  What they've decided on is a  proposal for addressing the
>> "most critical issue" which
>> they've defined as the  middle mile/backhaul problem and they want a
>> middle-mile only proposal to do  five (!!) separate fiber projects  
>> (yes,
>> that's what they're planning!) which  include: - Hwy. 299 (Broadband
>> Associates)
>> -  Hwy. 101 to Crescent  City (to satisfy the Yurok Tribe)
>> - Hwy. 36 (I don't know  who that's for)
>> - Mendocino Coast (which  may make sense given how little  
>> connectivity
>> they currently  have) - Hwy 3 (Trinity  Co.)
>>
>>
>> They will be issuing an RFP  (I'm not sure who's funding this, but  
>> I know
>> they've asked for funding from  several counties to help with the
>> effort) and they plan to hire a high-power  consultant (do you  
>> think they
>> have anyone in particular in mind?) who has an  "inside track" to  
>> stimulus
>> money, is technically savvy and will select the  final projects for
>> submission.  By the way - this all has to be done  within the next  
>> 30 days
>> because RUS and NTIA broadband proposals will be  announced in  
>> early June.
>> Also - a private
>> meeting was held recently with  county, municipal and tribal
>> representatives with no public input and no  private sector invited  
>> to
>> discuss this issue.
>>
>> According to Connie, this project will  most likely be publicly owned
>> (with
>> 80% public money being requested), they  are not open to any other
>> broadband solutions (fiber is the chosen solution)  and she claims  
>> the
>> findings are completely based on the RCC report (please  see
>> _http://redwoodcoastconnect.humboldt.edu/?content=docs_
>> (http://redwoodcoastconnect.humboldt.edu/?content=docs)   for the  
>> final
>> report and "peer review" which I recommend reading).  She further  
>> claims
>> that this will stimulate competition  insofar as their goal is 3  
>> providers
>> per community, thus lowering prices (they  hope).
>>
>> She only entertained a few  questions before she had to leave for  
>> another
>> meeting so we really couldn't  discuss it at length.  I have so many
>> concerns, as you can imagine, so  I'm a little at a loss (imagine  
>> that!)
>> but here are just a *few* of my  concerns: 1)   What was the
>> decision/selection process for determining  the scope & design of  
>> the RFP?
>> 2)   What are the roles of Redwood Rural Action and Redwood  Coast
>> Connect
>> in deciding broadband projects for stimulus  funding? 3)   Why has  
>> the
>> middle mile/backhaul issue become the  primary driver for stimulus  
>> money?
>> What happened to "last mile" delivery  services?
>> 4)   Why is fiber the only technology being considered  for middle- 
>> mile?
>> (and why do we need fiber  EVERYWHERE?)
>> 5)   What is the role of local governments (counties,   
>> municipalities,
>> tribes and community service districts) in this process?  Why are  
>> they
>> proposing a single application for stimulus  money? 6)   Who are the
>> evaluation committee members for the  RFP? 7)   Who is the technical
>> expert reviewing proposals?   Will there be a technical vetting  
>> process
>> for proposals? 8)   What are the criteria for reviewing  projects?
>> 9)   Why wasnâ€™t ANY public input considered for this  process?
>> 10)   What is the vetting process for  projects?  How will they be
>> prioritized?  Is there any cost-benefit  analysis? (This is public  
>> money,
>> remember?) 11)   When, if ever, will there be a  public airing of the
>> projects?  Is there any opportunity for public  input? 12)   If  
>> funding is
>> limited, how will  a project be selected as the top priority for the
>> region? 13)   If a project has over 60%  public money invested,  
>> will it be
>> considered a publicly owned  project? 14)   What considerations are  
>> being
>> made for operations?  Who is going to operate and maintain these
>> projects?
>>
>> I would be interested in your  input.  Are any of you as concerned  
>> as I
>> am about this whole process?  Please let me know how you feel and  
>> we can
>> organize a  response.
>>
>> Thank  you.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> **************Remember Mom this Mother's Day! Find a florist near you
>> now.
>> (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist&ncid=emlcntusyelp0000000
>> 6)
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