To the Honorable Members of the Palo Alto City Council:
In this letter we, members of the Palo Alto Community Network (PA-Comnet), would like to introduce ourselves and begin the process of working together to foster the growth of an electronic communication and information infrastructure in our city.
The Palo Alto Community Network is a grassroots community organization. We are citizens from all walks of life, from high school students to retired professionals, who share an interest in making information and verbal interchange available electronically to everyone in the Palo Alto community. Currently we have a Home Page on the City's Home Page for people on the Internet. We strongly support the City in continuing its Home Page on the World Wide Web. We also have a PA-Comnet Listserver for our members, and a PA-Comnet Electronic Bulletin Board for anyone with a modem.
Each of us has a slightly different idea about what information we would like to give or receive and about the nature of the conversations in which we would like to participate. We are, however, united in a number of beliefs:
1. That computer controlled transmission of large quantities of information, via telephone lines today and fiber optics very soon, is a cost-effective way for Palo Altans to contact each other, to conduct business of interest to groups and to share mutual interest and ideas and opinions, consistent with our democratic process;
2. That this information be made available at no cost (e.g. is in the public domain), accessible for free in certain municipal facilities (e.g. such as our City libraries or City Hall lobby), and available through low cost means from our homes and work places.
We understand that many citizen requests are expensive and that city government cannot respond favorably to all of them. This one does not have to be expensive because we have volunteers with know-how to offer. We need two things from you as City Council members. First, we want the City to continue to support the growth of information infrastructures as publicly available resources for this community.
Secondly, we need you to direct the staff to coordinate their activities on behalf of the information infrastructure with us and with any other citizen groups working toward this end. This coordination includes using the electronic media, such as the City of Palo Alto World Wide Web page, the PA-Comnet Listserver and the PA-Comnet Electronic Bulletin Board to inform Palo Alto tax payers about activities staff intends to undertake to build the information infrastructure. Further, we ask that you and the City staff respond to citizen feedback through this medium as you would to testimony given at a public hearing.
We urge you to join forces with nearby municipalities and explore on a regional level the ability of communities to collect a portion of the revenue from all telecommunications providers doing business in our City to sell commercial services. This would include regional telephone companies who may not be required to pay franchise fees but may be assessed fees in other ways. Such funds would provide the necessary infrastructure for public interest usage of these vital communications links.
The key point is: Palo Alto Community Network wants to help ensure the continuation and growth of the excellent first steps already taken in our City. We are proud of Palo Alto's progress in information technology and we want to insure that it is a resource accessible to everyone, not just the technically sophisticated or financially elite. We believe this will strengthen the democratic process and will contribute greatly to a stronger, happier, better-educated, and economically sound community.
Please contact all of us by e-mail sent to PA-Comnet@svi.org, or
contact any one of the individual signers of this letter.
Thank you.
Concerned members of PA-Comnet,
Margaret Cooley
Kendric Smith
Bob Moss
Kathryn Johnston
Marilyn Davis
Paul Pease
Imsong Lee
Keith Cooley
Alan Hamel
Harry Saal
Louis Bookbinder
Liza Loop
Roger Hu
Scott Spencer
Rilke Reynolds
Les Laky
Judy Faltz
Russel Mar
Ken Poulton
Jay Glicksman
Elliot Margolies
Sabrina Lin
Stephen Rosenblum
April 5, 1995