NYC Broadband Advisory Committee Meeting on May 22 in Brooklyn

The second NYC Broadband Advisory Committee meeting is being held next week at Brooklyn Borough Hall. NYCwireless was at the first meeting in The Bronx, and while it was mostly attended by the usual suspects, there were a few new people who testified, including both high school and college students from the area.

The Advisory Committee has a blog and email address.

On Tuesday, May 22nd from Noon to 3 pm, in the Courtroom hearing room, on the 2nd floor of Brooklyn Borough Hall, the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee will convene its second public hearing to hear testimony from Brooklyn residents, nonprofit organizations and businesses. The Committtee would like to get feedback on the following questions:

• Why is a fast affordable Internet connection important to you?
• What do you consider an “affordable” fee to pay for an high-speed connection to the Internet?
• If you have a broadband connection, what do you use it for (e.g., help your child do his/her homework)?
• If don’t have broadband or if you had a faster connection to the Internet, what would you use it for (e.g., market your business on-line or look for a job)?

Gale and I would like to thank the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz for their help in securing this beautiful space. Brooklyn Borough Hall is located at 209 Joralemon Street in downtown Brooklyn. Here is a link to a Google map of where the hearing location, including where the closest subway stops are:

WITNESSES: If you or anyone you know would like to testify at this hearing (and put on the official witness list), please contact Jeff Baker (212-788-9193), Counsel to the Committee on Technology in Government. Brooklyn parents of schoolchildren, schoolchildren, nonprofit leaders, small business owners and senior citizens are particularly encouraged to testify. Anyone who attends the hearing is also free and encouraged to testify with no advance notice required.

RATIONALE FOR THE BROADBAND ADVISORY COMMITTEE: I recently published a blog post in the Huffington Post regarding our championing of the New York City Broadband Advisory Committee and the issue of universal, affordable access to broadband in New York City.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Here’s a list of the members of the Advisory Committee along with their bios.

RECAP OF THE MARCH 30TH BRONX BROADBAND HEARING: On Friday, March 30th, more than 200 people joined us on at Bronx Community College for the first-ever public hearing on broadband in New York City. Over 30 members of the public testified, including Bronx residents, public school students, leaders of nonprofit organizations and small business owners.

The following are links to articles about the hearing in the Bronx on March 30th:

• NY Daily News
• Newsday
• Metro
• NY1
• InformationWeek
• Norwood News
• Chelsea Now
• Civil Defense

A really good audio 3 minute recap (or podcast) of the Bronx hearing is available. (Thanks Kat Aaron of WBAI!)

The entire video of the entire Bronx hearing is available. (Thank you BronxNet!)

BROADBAND BRIEFING PAPER: Here’s a briefing paper (by the Committee on Technology in Government, not the NYC Broadband Advisory Committee) on the subject of broadband. (Thank you Colleen Pagter, Policy Analyst of the Committee on Technology in Government!)

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