Terman Library in the Terman Community Center, 661 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA
The first item was selection of a chair to replace or work with Imsong since he does not have the time to continue chairing the organization himself. He noted that for the past several months he has been doing the reviewing and editing of the minutes and getting them posted since our previous webmasters have not been able to participate.
Imsong is willing to chair the meetings, and Louis Bookbinder will take care of editing and posting minutes. Agendas will be established by setting items at the end of each meeting with 2 people acting to gather, facilitate and post items for the agendas prior to the next meeting so that new issues also can be addressed. First facilitators will be Margaret Cooley and Mary Jo Levy.
Tonight the UAC will review and consider the ICT study and report on a Telecommunications Facility for Palo Alto. The recommendation is not to use consultants for phases 4 & 5. The network would be leased access that is universally available to all citizens. The advisory panel felt that partnering with service providers was crucial since the city lacks the ability to do it themselves. The major point that PACOMNET can make is that so far all of the study has focussed on financial issues, not social or community benefit issues. Bob read a message he sent to Keith and Jay regarding non-fiscal reasons for having city involvement in telecommunications. He also has a letter for the UAC proposing specific actions to create a communications utility. There are many advantages to having the city build a fiber trunk and provide leased access on a non-discriminatory basis. A copy of the letter is appended to these minutes. The letter was approved for presentation to the UAC tonight by agreement of those present.
The Policy & Services committee will meet Jan. 23 to discuss the 9 pages of the draft report on City of Palo Alto Comprehensive Governance and Community Services which covers communications and data interchange. This will not become part of the Comprehensive Plan but may be incorporated elsewhere in city policies. Improving communications, especially within and between neighborhoods, were included in Mayor Wheeler's statement of priorities at her inauguration Monday on January 8, 1996.
The remaining part of the governance section which also includes a few points on communications will be discussed Wed. Jan. 17. Both meetings will be in the Council chambers at 7 PM.
Looking back at last year, major achievements were:
We thanked Mary Jo for supporting the organization and hosting the meetings.
For future agendas we should look at getting interesting speakers such as Brian Moura. Neighborhood activities and how they are enhanced by telecommunications will be reported by MaryJo and Elliot at the Feb. meeting. Telecommunications and city involvement should be continuing items. We should invite the Mayor to talk about how we can help neighborhood interactions, possibly at the March meeting.
The next meeting will be Wed. Feb. 7, 7:30 AM at Terman Library. The folowing meeting will be Wed. Mar. 6, same place and time. The following meeting will be Wed. April 3, same time and place.
Submitted by Bob Moss Recording Secretary
This was approved by the group at the PACOMNET meeting in January and was read to the Utilities Advisory Committee at the meeting that evening.
Reasons for Palo Alto to invest in telecommunications extend beyond pure financial factors. There are significant community benefits which are difficult to price, but are very significant.
A broadband communication facility will encourage strong community identification and interaction. Studies have shown that people who watch TV are less likely to participate in community organizations or public affairs than those who use computers. The same appears true for those who interact via the World Wide Web and e-mail.
A city-owned facility can provide connections to all types of people and all areas of the community. Alternate service providers such as MFS make it clear that they want to skim the cream and serve major organizations, not residences or small businesses. A city facility can prevent this kind of segregation.
A single high-capacity backbone available for lease to all interested users can prevent repeated disruption of public streets and facilities as various providers all ask for construction permits. In some areas the underground utility structures already are so intensively used that further construction might threaten existing facilities. The city-owned fiber trunk could prevent these disruptions.
Palo ALto and surrounding cities would be able to offer advanced telecommunications capacity to existing and potential organizations, enriching existing corporate values and making it easier to keep or obtain valuable businesses. It also will make telecommuting more practical, reducing traffic growth.