There was discussion about the letter to the city regarding the need to have an advocate in city hall working on telecommunications. Keith Cooley said that since Emily Harrison has been assigned to lead the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) and the universal access RFP (Request For Proposal), she asked to attend the next PA-ComNet meeting. A letter may not be needed since Emily will be talking with us anyway. Jay Thorwaldson said a letter is needed which outlines our concerns in very general terms, notes PA-ComNet's interests, and also serves to welcome Emily to the activity.
Warren Kallenbach reported the Community Center Neighborhood Association got a good response from the city on installation of fiber, and have gotten favorable responses from staff and council members. They are meeting with Van Heimke this afternoon to continue the discussions. It was asked if there were any offers from corporations to support the effort or provide equipment? Nothing specific was offered, but they have had lots of calls from people wanting to sell things to them for the project. The number of sign-ups for the fiber was not given, but the goal is being approached. For those local residents now on e-mail the sign-up rate is 95%. The mayor wanted to know if the people would pay their way for the fiber, and the answer was yes, at a cost of about $1200 each. The $1200 figure was reached after discussions with the city, with no assumptions of how many will sign up, no cost reductions for more users. The only refusals among those contacted were by people who get Internet access paid for by their employers.
Margaret Cooley briefly described the way the 4 groups would meet and try to develop the operations of each area of responsibility. People do not have to stay with one group, or work only in one area. We can participate in as many groups as we wish to. The main purpose today is to get a coordinator for each group, and to establish how things are done by that group as well as the relations of the groups to PA-ComNet in general. Guidelines for group functions and draft bylaws were distributed, and we broke into 4 groups at 7:55. The groups were Administration, Advocacy, Sponsorship, and Resources.
At 8:15 we reconvened and had reports from each group. Margaret reported for Administration that the draft bylaws will be modified to have voting on-line with a simple majority of those voting needed to pass issues. No residency requirements will be imposed for PA-ComNet membership, but there has to be a way to identify who is a member of the list serve and thus eligible to vote. David Harris objected that without a residency requirement PA-ComNet could be hijacked by an organization that has it's members sign up on short notice. Individuals each get to vote, not the e-mail addresses, so each resident at the address can vote, but each resident/voter must be verified. Jay Thorwaldson asked should the ballots be secret? We can vote and restrict information about voting by having a limited number of people tabulate the votes, so it is semi-secret. The past vote for the TAC representative was semi-secret because it was a contested vote. Normally voting secrecy is not needed. Major issues should need a greater majority, but what is a major issue? There is no clear agreement on how to define "major". Is there a minimum number of votes needed? Mary Jo said no minimum number of votes is needed. The ballot will be open for voting on-line for a specific time period, probably a week. If there is little participation there will be another appeal for voting, but if there is no response, then we will accept the vote as is.
Participants: Imsong, Mary Jo, Margaret; Bob and Marvin joined the last 8 minutes. Coordinator for Administration is Margaret.Cooley
Joe Villareal reported on the Advocacy group discussion. He is coordinator, and government liaison. Keith Cooley will be participating on the TAG group, and will report on those activities and actions. The subcommittee coordinator for media is Jay & Joe with Keith helping on technology input. Tom Passell will head a subcommittee with Stan Smith which will develop formal PA-ComNet positions on issues, based on existing adopted positions. Warren Kallenbach will serve as the neighborhood networking advocate, working to expand the Community Center Neighborhood Association fiber project and to find out if other areas are interested. .
Participants: Joe Villareal, Keith Cooley, Jay Thorwaldson, Stan Smith, Tom Passell, Chuck Atchinson, Warren Kallenbach.
Liza Loop reported on the Resources group. The participants proposed 7 projects, which later were consolidated to 3. Paul Pease and John Horan will work on creating a data base of all Palo Alto businesses on the Internet. David Harris recommends a data base of all Palo Alto residents with their e-mail and regular addresses - to allow PA-ComNet to organize neighborhood mailing lists and to do marketing surveys and political outreach and to show them how to work for political power + technical power. Michael Silverton suggested that PA-ComNet raise funds for Plugged-In in East Palo Alto. Several members felt the project was worthy, but too far from PA-ComNet's central focus. Plugged-in support and co-operation can be provided in several ways, so there is a deferral to Bart DeCrem to inform us of needs and interests. We need an outreach effort to tell outsiders what we are doing locally, and how we do it. Liza will be coordinator of a subcommittee to work with people and get them involved with activities in the on-line community, how to create solutions to problems using the Internet, outreach and dealing with those who are not on-line, creating new and interesting projects, identifying and working with those who need training; and setting up projects. Elliot Margolis will work with neighborhood networks such as Midtown, and try to get them more active, and to help them in linking with others. Elliot Margolis has obtained "Motet" software that supports on-line discussions. He will offer it for neighborhood focused discussions. Hank Magnewski would like the Community Center Neighborhood project to be expanded to other areas - especially his home which is across the street. Liza Loop emphasized the need for human mediators (information shepherds) to aid people who get stuck using the new technologies. No coordinator was selected by the Resources group.
Participants: Liza Loop, Michael Silverton, Elliot Margolis, Hank Magnuski, David Harris, John Horan, Paul Pease.
Marvin reported on the Sponsorship group. There is a no need for non-profit status or for fund raising unless there is an ongoing need to support some specific activity. It is best not to try to raise funds or collect dues until there is an identified need. The group will serve to publicize PA-ComNet and our willingness to help individuals and groups get connected. Activities would include public meetings such as the Sept. 1997 candidate's night, working with Plugged in on events and fund-raising activities, outreach to schools and neighborhood organizations, etc. We would make it known that PA-ComNet is available to help people and organizations use the Internet effectively. The efforts would not be limited to Palo Alto. We should reach out to other communities such as Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, neighborhood associations, Mountain View, East Palo Alto, etc. and offer support or co-sponsorship of events and activities. If projects are approved which need equipment or other support, we would try to help obtain support from businesses and the community. Liza offered use of her non-profit to receive and disburse gifts, but we would have to provide the accounting and record keeping. Bob Moss will be coordinator the group.
Participants - Marvin Lee, Bob Moss
Bart DeCrem discussed the request for co-sponsorship of Plugged-In's 5th anniversary next month. Jay said they are doing exactly the sort of projects that PA-ComNet wants to support. They are trying to make technology available and understandable to people in EPA and other poor neighborhoods. There are 350 people/week who drop in to use the Plugged-In computer center. They badly need more bandwidth, such as is possible with a cable modem. Plugged-in will have a low-key celebration of what they have been doing, how they do it and future plans for training people to be comfortable with computers, etc. Tom Passell offered to pay for the cable modem in memory of his wife. Bart was appreciative, as were others. Bart said there would be an enlarged Plugged-In event May 7 to publicize what has been done in the past 5 years, and to introduce the PA-ComNet people more widely. The sponsorship group also will work with Plugged-In. Bart asked Pac Bell for contribution of a T-1 line, but got passed from person to person with no one willing to commit to anything. Plugged-In hopes to have a cable modem installed by Cable Coop by May 7. (Note: this afternoon I spoke to Ron Kirkeeng, the Cable Coop GM. He met with Bart today was very impressed with what they are doing and the contributions they make to the community. The basic wiring is in place already. The modem was installed and operating before April 6 .)
Next meeting will be 7:30 AM, Wednesday May 6 at the Terman library. Emily Harrison will be there and can meet the group, and vice versa. Topics for the meeting can include - radio delivery of Internet. Elliot Margolis reporting on the community neighborhood network. Perhaps more information on the Community Center Neighborhood Ave. Group effort for fiber installation.
Both minutes and bylaws revisions will be posted as drafts for the participants to review and revise/correct. There will be a week allowed for responses and comments, then both bylaws and minutes will be finalized.
The draft letter to Emily Harrison was read by Jay. General reaction was positive. He will post the letter for comment no later than Friday evening. The issue of use of Internet vs. Telecommunications was a concern.
Meeting was adjourned at 8:52 AM
Respectfully submitted by Bob Moss
Note: There are concerns about how to define membership, voting rights, and who and how many members can bring issues to votes. Also voting security is a concern - not so much knowing how each person voted, but being sure that casting of votes is done fairly. When the entire group has a chance to read and react to these minutes there should be some brisk interchanges of ideas and suggestions.