[RTC List] Fwd: local hosts - Why are we held hostage?

[Debets, Jacqueline]

A couple of things are useful perspective on the RCC project...
 
1) None of us has read the report, because it has not been published yet, so it seems a tad early to be judging its contents.
 
2) The report is being produced for the STATE to tell the state what the barriers are to ubiquitous broadband deployment in RURAL areas. We should expect that there will be both things that we already know, because we live in a particularly remote rural region, and things that may be a surprise to us. Just remember, the primary audience is the state, not locals, so that we can get the state to make changes and funding available to overcome the barriers on a local level.
 
3) While we may not like how the $500k was spent or would have spent it differently if it were in our own personal broadband checkbook, there isn't such a thing. The purpose of grant funding is determined by the funder, and I've never seen a case where they would move funding designated for "planning" to "implementation". It just doesn't work that way.
 
4) Regarding local elected officials, every one of them either understands or is eager to understand our broadband barriers and find a solution(s). Every one would do everything in their power to aid a solution. The thing about elected officials that we easily seem to forget is "in their power"...they typically do not have the power to affect solutions to complex problems like this. They do a bit here and there to push it along, and look for places to make a difference. I see them doing that. 
 
Overall, I see quite a few people doing valuable work to build solutions to overcome a complex array of barriers that are not all intuitive or obvious to understand. Some of them are in the media talking about their efforts, others are not. I don't see anyone who can do something waiting around. There is no single person or effort that will be responsible for the solution. It's going to take all of us working for solutions to get them.
 
The only thing I would caution against, which really does slow down the process, is criticizing community partners...we need to cooperate and support the various efforts, and to keep our eyes on the prize...not a circular firing squad. That will be the first thing to turn the state/feds away from investing in our solutions.
 
j
 

Jacqueline R. Debets 
Economic Development Coordinator 
HC-WIB Executive Director
County of Humboldt, CA
Prosperity Center
520 E Street, Eureka, CA 95501
707-445-7747 (Direct)  
707-445-7745 (Main Office);  707-445-7219 (Fax) 
Email:   <mailto:jdebets at co.humboldt.ca.us> jdebets at co.humboldt.ca.us www.NorthCoastProsperity.com <http://www.northcoastprosperity.com/> 
Humboldt County is a partner in the Prosperity! Network. 


-----Original Message-----
From: list-bounces at redwoodtech.org [mailto:list-bounces at redwoodtech.org]On Behalf Of Dwight Winegar
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 1:57 PM
To: list at redwoodtech.org
Subject: [RTC List] Fwd: local hosts - Why are we held hostage?




Begin forwarded message:


Subject: Re: [RTC List] local hosts - Why are we held hostage?

I second that!   Thanks again Larry for your observations and sharing - it's this sort of writing and discussion that makes RTC, the list and the Broadband conference come together and worth participating in.  As for the $500K - this is totally outrageous!   What other non-profit or any other person or entity among us here in this region would get paid this much for such a project - especially with how it has gone.  It seems there needs to be accountability for how that money was spent, and if there might actually be some sizable portion of it still existing for deployment [of infrastructure].    BTW - how reliable (or perhaps I should use the word "consistent") is Microwave over water?  Certainly it can cause amplification has allowed low powered local stations to broadcast with a far more ERP across a bay (e.g. Monterey Bay from Carmel to Santa Cruz) but question has come up about the consistency, especially with weather conditions.     

- Dwight   

On 28 Dec 2008, at 10:41 AM, Keri Raphael wrote:


Thanks Larry, for this writing.  I agree that the $500K study money should have been used to actually do something about the issues.  Most of already knew what the study 'discovered' and would have been glad to offer that info for free to any PTB wanting to know.
Keri






-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://redwoodtech.org/pipermail/list_redwoodtech.org/attachments/20081229/2ac9c7d8/attachment.html>