Terman Library in the Terman Community Center, 661 Arastradero Road, Palo Alto, CA
Someone noted that we formed as an unstructured group, not even following Roberts Rules necessarily. If someone does not like what we do or how we do it they are free to set up their own group, as a few others have tried. There have been many significant achievements, most notably the successful efforts to get Palo Alto involved with the fiber ring. There still is the issue of connecting the last mile. Harry Saal sent e-mail noting that we have accomplished quite a lot while retaining our unstructured charm. Mary Jo is making a list of significant accomplishments, and noted that it is extensive. She will try to post it to the group later.
There have been a number of excellent and interesting speakers, such as the talk last month about wireless data access. It would be useful to have more advance notice and planning of meeting subjects in the future.
We should continue to provide information and support to the City, as we have done in the past. We sent the City a letter regarding the last mile and working with Cable Co-op. The City responded with a letter that did not reply directly but cited the uncertainties created by passage of Prop. 218. A discussion of the convoluted nature of 218 followed. There still is a need to connect the last mile and provide the many benefits to the community and residents of high speed 2-way Internet access. We should present this more widely.
It will be useful to have council candidates speak to PA-COMNET and find out how they feel about issues of interest to us such as the last mile. We might cosponsor a program with League of Women Voters or Palo Alto City Library to both educate the candidates and find out how they feel on the issues. It is important to let people know what the benefits and advantages of high speed 2-way data communications for the entire community will be. City Hall would be a good location because it can be cablecast easily. There may be conflicts with city participation because this involves an election, and city personnel must be careful not to take sides. A number of other organizations may want to cosponsor an informational meeting, for example the Senior Coordinating Council, neighborhood organizations, Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Daily News, PAUSD, etc. Adding cosponsors will not add complexity and will show more general interest.
The date for the meeting should be from mid to late September, after council candidates are known and people return from vacations and before the campaign gets too far along. One meeting with a good, clear presentation is best. We need good speakers, and presentations. The best site is the Council chambers to allow cablecasting. Lucie Stern also is a possible site, but it lacks the camera equipment. The preferred day is a Wednesday Or Thursday evening. It is important to keep the momentum and to be sure that someone is responsible for carrying things on. We will give assignments via these minutes, but invite everyone to help.
The best way to demonstrate the advantages of last mile internet access is to use the technology. We can use the Coolware web site to demonstrate what is possible, mainly by providing links to exemplary sites. The home page should not be too detailed, but it should identify what is available and make it easy to find. Louis Bookbinder would be a good person to work with the Cooleys to create the PA-COMNET web site. There must be a group of people willing to create the site. The Cooleys will manage the site, but others must create the site and get the information to the site. Volunteers are needed for this effort. Please contact the Cooleys to offer your services.
There will be a meeting to present the information on the last mile and advantages of high- speed bi-directional access to the community, and educate both the public and the candidates. We agreed that a single meeting rather than several meetings will keep people's attention. The meeting could begin with a presentation of features and advantages of such a community system, and end with comments and responses from candidates. It would be fine to have Harry Saal speak, to have Apple's Steve Cisler give examples of community networks, Jay Thorwaldson will be expected to moderate, and we want to have several people provide examples of the benefits of connecting the last mile. The video presented by Microsoft given at the ACM conference in San Jose would be excellent. It demonstrated how a high speed network served neighborhood in planning and producing a successful community event. The Barron Park Association could demonstrate a successful neighborhood-based site, and someone from Midtown might discuss the problems in setting up such a site. Anyone who has presentation materials, videos, or can supply background information please contact the Cooleys or Mary Jo Levy.
Paul Pease will review the letter that we sent to Palo Alto February 10, and June Flemming's reply of March 11, and comment before the August meeting. We need to respond to her concerns about Proposition 218 and get a clear reply on city participation in connecting the last mile.
Louis Bookbinder will be asked to contact the expert on Internet II and see if they can speak at the July meeting.
If you were given an assignment and were not at the meeting, consider it an example of why attendance is desirable.
Next month's meeting will be Wed., July 9, 7:30 AM at Terman library meeting room.
Submitted by Bob Moss