 Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ernesto Falcone and I'm the senior legislative counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation For those of you who are unaware of what is the EFF, which is our short name We're a San Francisco based public interest law firm that works on a range of digital civil liberty issues that involve speech Privacy and your your general rights be creative and innovative with the technology you use we're funded by More than 35,000 generous individuals many thousands of them in the state of California Today's event titled California's broadband infrastructure law year one has been a long time coming And I'm excited to present to you a handful of folks that are doing some critical work across the state of California When it comes to broadband EFF has approached the issue with the idea that if you don't have robust 21st century affordable access to the internet, but you're being denied full participation in society So our engineers and lawyers have done a lot of research in this space And three years ago, we presented a number of our findings to the newly incoming Newsome administration Namely that 21st century access is premised on fiber optics That past policy efforts subsidizing slow speeds has been an unmitigated failure And that open access infrastructure is going to be key to reaching universal coverage These tenants are reflected in California's new broadband infrastructure law known as SB 156 Which was unanimously passed by the California legislature Thanks to the leadership of Governor Newsome and legislators such as Senator Lena Gonzalez Who introduced the first universal fiber broadband bill in 2020 California's new infrastructure law tackles broadband access with four key programs What brought the broadband infrastructure grant program will invest 3.5 billion dollars in last mile access The second program the loan loss reserve fund the first in the nation will provide long-term financing To non-profits municipalities county governments tribes Elected cooperatives and schools to build their own broadband access solutions This the third program is the state's middle-mile infrastructure program where the Department of Technology Will oversee the construction of a statewide open-access Middle-mile fiber network that will push fiber infrastructure into all communities And the last program is the state will provide technical assistance to any willing local partner To help them devise their own plans to deliver broadband access I've invited a handful of Californians here to walk us through how these new laws and these new programs are Changing things on broadband access in their backyard It's hard for me to express just how exciting this new law is and my hope is after you hear from these individuals You'll share some of that excitement and understanding as to why the potential is great of what has been done last year So the kickoff this conversation I have joining with me now Cala Vettis County Supervisor Jack Garamendi who is the chair of a recently created Entity called Golden State Connect Authority Welcome Supervisor Garamendi, and I'd like to give you a chance to introduce yourself and Equating to the folks that are watching here. What is the Golden State Connect Authority? Well, thank you very much Nesta And it's a privilege to be on on the show and working with EFF and talking about this Vital effort for our community. My name is Jack Garamendi. I'm a County Supervisor in Calaveras County We are a small rural County located just east of San Joaquin County in Stockton I have my family has lived here for many generations and so we're very familiar with the challenges I became a supervisor five years ago and joined a organization called rural County represent as a California And they were we represent over about 60% of the pot of the landmass of the state of California and about 5.5 million people The board is consists of a selected supervisors from every county all 39 39 members counties and About two years ago. We as as a pandemic came forward Everybody realized how vital the internet was many of us had been talking about it for years and had been trying to work with our internet service providers and bringing access but it really came to a head and We're not unique in rural California. The challenges we face are also faced in urban areas. Also, so Following the adoption of AB 156 we formed a joint powers authority of the membership of RC RC We have 38 counties that are currently members and we expect Solano County will pass it in another week. So we'll be at full 39 members and what we wanted to do is Really try to leverage the opportunities that exist under as AB 156 to bring forward Products that hadn't existed before we know that we need to provide the internet service to all Californians because I agree with you It is now a necessary utility For us to move forward and we shouldn't leave anybody behind And so we we look went out and looked at models. We said, okay, how why is this not working? How can we make this happen? So we investigated municipal open-source broadband access and We found several models that worked one of them being utopia fiber in In Utah and has now moved into Montana and we've looked at their model. We said we can do that in California We have the ability. We know how to do this as counties. We know You know, for example, we know we're not internet service providers as counties over infrastructure providers We provide the baseline the base services that allow our communities to thrive. I like to use an example of an airport ISPs can be thought of as airlines. We as county governments most of the time own our county airports We don't operate airplanes, but we provide the platform for others to succeed And so what we wanted to do was make a big investment in our state in our area and reach the people that Needed access. We knew that we know from experience that since 2008 the digital divide has not been closed ISPs Are very interested in making profits? Governments are not we're interested in building roads and infrastructure and water and bringing those services to people So we are an opportunity to take a very long-term approach to the internet We believe that fiber is the way is the way it needs to go Just you had plenty of engineers, and I'm sure you'll have panelists that will tell you why that's essential But we believe that we have we have the opportunity under AB 156 to really make this happen and there's several really key elements to that Which I hope we'll get a chance to go into the loan loss reserve fund the federal funding account and the Lada fund Local area technical assistance funds to make that happen. So we're very excited We have a solid plan and we're ready to go. So we're Really very excited about this We think we could transform things and we know it's important and if you give folks kind of I think context of just how large of an Effort this is if we can bring up a map of the coverage territory of the new Golden State Connect authority Am I correct in understanding that you're you are what you are asserting which is something I think a number of industry players will tell legislators this can never be done Right that the mission here is to deliver 21st century open-access fiber to all of the residents within the within this territory I think yes, we would love to get to all that all the people in our territories now There's always going to be obstacles Topography other things that will keep us but we know that we could get to the vast majority of these people and Provide this internet access Access and it's really important to building our rural economies and when we all know that challenges that students have With access and homework. We understand how it impacts me businesses, but in rural communities often times For example, I'm looking at a map of my office here, you know, you have a community like Mount Ranch a rural community in Calvary Scenic well There might be a machinist there that's employing one or two people those plans that are coming in from Siemens or someone Else are coming over the internet and now if they don't have internet They can't have their business there the world is changing. We have people who need access to build our economy and build our education base And we believe we can do it and I can tell you why I think we can do it and Probably explain why I believe that ISP is traditionally or not Yeah, let's let's dig into that because I think what most people will hear from the large national private ISPs That this just can't be done, you know, they'll argue. Well, like, you know, they should look for something else Maybe they should put them on some satellite connections here some logisons wireless over there and they should be happy with that What do you say to that? Well, the first thing I always say is good enough for a rule and probably less affluent people is not good enough It is it is it is not good enough to say well, you have a cell phone and we get we'll give you 25 by 3 And that's good enough for you people. Well, that's not good enough for we people We need to we need to do this now There's some models that exist where our government has succeeded in building this type of infrastructure before the Rural Electrification Act Is a perfect example in my opinion granted it was 80 years ago, but the principles apply The large electrical companies were not willing to bring rule to bring electricity to rural customers because it wasn't a profitable Exercise for them. They weren't interested in that. So we had the Rural Electrification Act, which allowed Hundreds of small cooperatives Excuse me to grow and and come it become effective throughout the country and electrify our rural rural Communities they did that because the federal government came in and said we will offer you loans long-term loans patient capital To build this you will own it as a community and you will run it as a community now It's not that in 1930s the large electrical companies weren't interested in that money It just didn't make sense for them. They weren't patient They didn't they didn't have the same vision as these communities did and Rural Electrification is a wonderful example in my opinion how the government and Communities can work together to provide a public good So we've done it before and I think we're going to do it again and we've got the political will People like myself and my fellow supervisors who serve on this joint powers authority We know our communities and we know the dirt and we know where people are so we have an advantage we understand how local county governments work and working together we can streamline a process and And make this a reality So what do you envision as some of the biggest challenges to fulfilling the mission of the Golden State Connect Authority? Well, the first thing is we're going to have to remind people that county governments know how to build things That the government knows how to build public goods You know, we've built roads. We know how to blend funds together from federal state and local funds Sorry, someone just walked in and threw me off a little bit. So always happens when you're on a live stream So we we believe that people there will be some opposition to this Mostly encumbered providers who want to tell the government that hey, we got it covered Just keeps sending us I believe since 2008 about 350 million dollars to close the digital divide And we're going to keep the the level of minimum service at 25 three. That's not good enough So they will make an opposite they will oppose this because they're always there's always opposition To someone coming in and trying to do something different We're doing something that hasn't been done recently, but it has been done in the past So they will tell you we can't do it and we will show them an example in Utah that it has been done And we'll look at our history to show that we've done it well before and we could do it well again Yeah, and for for folks who are tuning in or are unfamiliar with what's happening in Utah The the state in the united states that has the most public available infrastructure that's provided on an open basis meaning any number of private players can lease cheap access to fiber and sell lots of cheap fast internet service products off of it Is the state of utah and my my my hope is under Absp 156 california will be the next will be that number one state in a handful of years one of the things that yeah, one of the things that EFS research is found in terms of kind of the large national traditional providers the frontier communications player Who you know is a fairly large employer in in rural areas, though clearly not need you know ubiquitous sense um They focus on what I would call fast rate of returns. They invest fiber optics into areas that will make them money quickly, which Is is their prerogative, you know as as profit maximizing corporations? The golds to connect authorities not that uh, it obviously will approach this differently So how do you envision the method of investment and approach to communities? With with the dollars that are coming from the state's programs Right we we we we have a a huge advantage in that our money is patient We don't have shareholders that are going to man returns If we make a nickel it goes back into the project back into the community We have access as local governments to long term low debt financing And s and sp 156 is really A wonderful tool for us It comes with the with the with the with the with the planning money The the local area technical assistance planning, which allows us to do the engineering and many ISPs have already done It comes with um federal funding account, which gives us the capital to get these projects started But probably most important is the loan loss reserve fund Which allows us as local governments to go out and issue bonds With a loan loss reserve so we can get a low rate And a long term and then we believe that in many of these cases when we go out with the bonding authority The work that we're actually creating will generating enough income to cover that Which case we could continue to use a loan loss reserve to leverage debt financing to continue to build these things out That is a advantage. We've never had before and it really puts us in a very competitive position um, obviously, you know, the ISPs that you've mentioned are going to come in and say you don't know how to do this Well, we're going to do it and we're going to do it because you have not done The government's not stepping in to fill to to take over we're stepping in to fill the gap That that they're refusing to fill and again, we don't have shareholders We are elected by the people if we do it wrong We're we're going to get the people will be mad at us, but we're also open Everything we do is a public. So if you don't like what we're doing, you could come in and tell us Our our materials are up there when we sit down and talk with the ISP Some of them that you've mentioned they say well, we can do that. We said great. Well, let's partner together Show us your maps And that's usually where the conversation ends Whereas in contrast, we're going to do everything open And public and for the public benefit and make this what it really is which is a public good The utility for our people So one of the challenges I think You know if we look at how the private players have have done rule access You know, they'll they'll target kind of the most densely portions of a rural community and then kind of skip the rest One way you call that is cherry picking How do you envision tackling kind of holistically the the challenge So that we don't have a repeat of that of that type of dynamic I mean clearly we'll serve all people in your in your communities From the areas of the more dense populated versus the more Spars, but um, you know, how do you envision kind of that that approach? Absolutely to come in and chair cherry pick and that that's a that's a their private business They're in business to make money For example, you may have a in one of my neighborhoods might have a shopping center. Well, that's a great That's the Nordstroms corner store for your development, right? So, of course, you're going to want any ISP is going to want to plug into that But what they're not going to want to do is go to the 100 residences that are in a mobile home park behind it That's our mission And so, you know, we're we're mission driven in what we want to do So we don't want to leave people behind and we believe that there's enough There's enough demand and enough take amongst all our people to actually make this a viable business You know, when we look at our take rates, we look at we're modeling off of what happened in Utah to figure out what the take rates will be. We think it's a boom for our local ISPs and entrepreneurs You could come in and you could have Ernesto's ISP servicing the town of Arnold and You have your own business and you're renting basically Renting a piece of the bandwidth to start your business and provide service that perhaps your community wants wants to have And since you are the entrepreneur and you're there Maybe you're able to talk to them better and get a better take rate and provide the services that they need I think one thing we've learned is that one size doesn't fit all in the internet But what everybody needs is access to the choices in the marketplace Nobody goes in and wants a single type of ice cream on the grocery shelf People have different flavors and we as a government are going to be agnostic We'll let you come in we will provide the access the same way we provide roads and you run the front office You run the shops off of the roads I think what's been what's very fascinating and really interesting about like the way you Kind of articulate how this will change the local market, right? You're not there to to sell broadband. You're there to make it possible for anyone to sell broadband in a way that they couldn't before and You know for for the folks to and again, I think what's what's fascinating That is a that is a a california story if you go back to the 90s When the access to the infrastructure used to be completely open like like but you're intending to build with with 21st century infrastructure You had you know, one of the largest california private ice peas a company called sonic up in the north california area You know, they started by a kid a college kid in a mom's basement That was how that company started originally and it's because the access to infrastructure was open non discriminatory Very much in the way you are articulating how the golden state connectory wants to provide it for all people so You know, let's fast-forward to like the time the infrastructure is starting to be built. How do you see The effort to recruit like the next, you know, kid kid or the college kid in the basement of the small business entrepreneur What's that effort to get services and uh onto the infrastructure? We we know from utopia that uh, you get the big guys who want to play on the field and you got the little guys Who want to play in the field and we want to be agnostic. We want to give everybody the opportunity to that So, you know, for example, uh If an estus isp came into came into our jpa and said we want we want to we want access to this We'd say great. Here's the deal Uh, do you sign your people up or don't sign your people up? But we're gonna we're gonna say just like we were at the county We'll say okay great. Welcome to our community We're excited that you've got a storefront that you want to run You know, here's a here's a business permit. Maybe it's a dollar. Maybe it's free Uh, go forth and prosper. Uh, I think we need to See the entrepreneurs as much as possible and you'll find that in rural california There are a lot of very creative people We have most of us have to work two or three jobs to make it ends meet up here Anyway, and so you'll find a lot of creativity and I think you'll find a lot of opportunity In it now if the large eyes if somebody wants the large isp, they should have access to that as well Um, if they like and they and the large isp is going to have access to our network also So we're not going to discriminate against anybody We're going to let everybody have a shot at this and um really build our economies And uh, you know, it's like, um A lot of other things that we do in it as a as a community So what you know, how quickly do you think the process of scaling the infrastructure and kind of uh, you know, I assume this will be done in phases not like all 100 once How do you envision? How does the entity envision like how it's going to start and then what are the what are the following stages look like till you Get to that that that near universal deployment Thank you Well, the first step is the is a lot of funding the local area technical assistance funding and that allows us to Do our planning. We're already doing our planning There's been several grants that have come out of out of several National and state organizations that have allowed us to begin the planning So I think we've currently got a very good view at the 20 000 foot level A lot of funding is going to allow us to get down to a very granular level on our engineering And and and and allow us to do our planning That's going to be shortly after that be followed by the ffa funding and the loan loss reserve Obviously, we're going to have to start where there's denser populations of people Small clusters of people in rural communities, which exist So we don't all live geographically five miles apart. Many of us are concentrated for for many reasons And so we're going to hit several first And really start building this we we may be able to start even before the loan loss reserve Is fully in place because counties have also been saving their nickels We know that this is important. We've got our funds that have come in and we could use this So many many thoughtful counties have been setting aside a little kitty of money to build this public infrastructure But once it starts, I believe it's going to go very quickly I believe we can really roll this out. We've got the technology and like I said, we understand the local processes and the Terrain and and we're highly motivated Like I said, 39 counties are part of this. So we're all best in success And we're working together. So we'll we'll pick a couple projects right off the top and get going on them It'd be great if we could get going as early as the end of the year or into next year depending on how the funding comes together Obviously, there's some supply chain issues. So we'd like to probably start placing our orders for fiber sooner than later But um, I think it's going to go fast and the important thing is once we start going With the loan loss reserve and these bonding activities, we will pick up speed And we will we will take the stuff that's not if it was easy, then it would already be done So we'll take the stuff that's kind of hard and work on that and build out towards the really hard stuff And we also acknowledge that there are always going to be people That we're never going to make we're never going to be able to pull fiber to everybody's house For example, my house They're never going to be able to pull fiber out there because it's in the middle of The countryside So there's opportunities for for us to work with vendors on issues like fixed wireless, which isn't great But it it gets us it's not good enough But it might be good for now As we build out and then as we as we as we move forward and we create these revenues and we start rolling them in We'll be able to expand that circle to reach everybody. So I think so to answer your question I actually think we can move pretty quickly so I think what's what's interesting about that I think that often gets uh The way I try to think about conceptually like this network that will start and then it will kind of rapidly grow on its own It's like planting a seed Yes, and then it'll it'll bloom and it'll it'll grow and the demand is there. I mean one Pulled by the consumers union the consumer reports to me Found that a super majority of people somewhere in the range of nearly 80 percent of people view Broadband access to be the same as water and electricity And which means that if you if you know kind of feel the dreams if you build it to them They will come I mean they will they will seek out that use of that infrastructure make use of it The revenues will come in Uh, which then as you are uniquely situated where you can cross subsidize those revenues to the harder to reach areas as the next stage What other kind of synergies are out there in the community and your local economies Beyond broadband access, you know, what what does Your approach give you in terms of an advantage over your your standard, you know cable company or your standard, uh, AT&T or frontier Well, we start with mission We have a mission to provide internet access broadband municipal open access Um, we don't have to answer to a uh to to a group of shareholders that want to um Make money off this So our timeline and our and our mission is going to really be of the differentiation between shunas and others Because we agree it is it is a it is a public need and a necessity Just like water just like electricity and as I mentioned before, you know Those rural co-ops in the 30s that came together to electrify they had a similar mission Um, they wanted to build their economy. They wanted to take care of their people And and it has proven that over 80 years It's been a successful model not used extensively in california But throughout the rest of the united states in particular in the midwest Although we do have several very fine rural electoral co-ops here in california and they're great partners Um, you know, that's an opportunity to synergies that can come together working with our rural Broadbands, I also want to make clear that we're not You know if people share our mission if large-scale isps want to say geez We don't want this going in we're going to provide the service to everybody Okay, that's great. If it meets the needs, for example, we had a recent we were looking at a project in a county and um, this county supervisor called me up and said look hey jack There's a company that's come in and they're going to do exactly what we want to do at the same price points Should we wait for golden state connect authority? I said no go If it's meeting that open access and they're working with you that's great That means we could take those resources and go to places that aren't That aren't on that company's list. So the synergies are are really endless. I spoke about fixed fixed wireless Also, you know those guys are the first ones who called up and said Jesus is going to put us out of business I said no it's going to make your business better We're we're going to we're going to help you have access to places that and that rates that you're not going to get from the large isps And they were talking that's great That's definitely something to kind of like hone in on it as we wrap up here. I think the You know you envision yourself as a catalyst to private industry And primarily probably local local providers because they themselves cannot possibly find you know It would be like counting on your local roll shop to finance the building of the roads and electrical lines to run their Business on top of running their business You know you're basically bringing in the capacity to to Modernize and reach 21st century access with with the various solutions. I mean, I think Something that's often misunderstood Particularly from from a wireless standpoint is that you know fifth generation wireless 5g and everything beyond That's all going to depend on fiber in the ground That can't just happen on its own naturally and you're seeing yourself as Is the the catalyst that would enable that is that is that a fair Um a description Absolutely. I mean, I think the internet's going to enable Everything I mean, we're doing this over the internet from Calveras County right now. I mean, we're all saving fuel and Money so I could go back into our communities Access to education. I mean we our libraries are wonderful. Our schools are wonderful and through the internet We're going to raise all boats. We're going to have better education. People have a stronger window to the world They'll be able to conduct business We don't want to be left behind from the from the from the digital economy and it's far larger than just Making apps. It's manufacturing. It's agriculture. It's education. It's people from uh, you know, Ernesto you're in san francisco people probably work for your company would love to come and live in our communities We would love to have them and if they could do their jobs From here because they have access to internet and our schools are strong because Access to the world through the internet. We will be able to maintain and build our rural economies Um, nobody very few people in rural california want to go move to the city But that doesn't mean we have the same we don't have the same needs as people in the city We've talked a lot about um a redlining Historically in in the cities where people have been excluded because of their financial means or risks We are also redlined. Um, you know, you could go around uh, some of our urban cores and find areas around them That have wonderful internet service and Facilities and then in the core they don't we face many of the same stuff. You could go to um Many suburban communities around our larger towns and they're they're great But it's about everybody else that we need to bring along. So We're this is this is a generational opportunity And if we do this, right, it'll last for a hundred years Oh, well, I'm technology changes pretty quick But I think if you have fiber in the ground that's going to be of great value going forward And we see it because we are sitting with the people that we represent and we know their needs And it's our job as local government to meet those needs And if somebody's not going to do it We're going to do it because we're not it's not our job to leave anybody behind Well, this is this is all uh, super cool and interesting stuff. Uh, you know, I I'll know I have heard from people who who are doing this in other states Building in deep world territory on the ground particularly on fiber optics fiber even laid in the 1980s They are using today. They're still making stuff today. So I don't think your estimate of of a multi generational change in access Is is is overshooting anything? I actually think that's exactly what will happen And uh, you know, maybe maybe I will start the Ernesto ISP I know housing out there is going to be better than what it is, but I pay in where I live. So, you know Uh, I just like people will be very excited about the opportunities to find uh, you know Nice places to live and still have high quality access to the internet The world changed Yeah, so super Thank you for your time. Thank you for coming on Kind of giving folks an understanding of the gold state connect authority and the history and the background there and the mission I think these are all extremely valuable goals. So a lot of californians and EFF is excited to see Where where it goes next? So we'll that we'll go ahead and switch over. I have a panel coming up in a in a minute Uh, uh folks who are you know using the california infrastructure law 156 in in various different ways from, you know, very different walks of life And uh, you know, we'll go ahead and switch to that panel now and then I'll let them Introduce themselves as they're living up Uh, and uh, you know, look forward to this next next part of our discussion here So I'll go ahead and call on folks and why don't you go ahead and give yourself a introduction for for folks watching And uh, and yeah, we'll kick off the discussion. So, uh, josh, why don't we start with you? Good afternoon. I'm nesto. My name is josh karnke. I'm the director of information systems at the city of chica and uh, we started a fire utility this year to provide Service to uh, residential and business customers in the city of chica Thank you, josh, uh, uh, jason foster, please Hi everyone. My name is jason foster. I'm the president ceo of destination crencha We're a 1.3 mile cultural infrastructure project in south los angeles Um, and we're currently as a non-profit looking to utilize the state program to connect fiber as a non-profit entity to better serve our community Jessica nelson go ahead Hi there. My name is jessica nelson. Uh, really uh, honored to be part of this panel. Thank you Ernesto for the invitation Um, i'm the general manager for golden state power cooperative It uh, golden state is the statewide association for electric cooperatives You've just heard jack talk a little bit about electric cooperatives Uh, there are three electric cooperatives in california that I represent and um, two of those electric cooperatives have now started serving broadband and so We are very excited to expand our services from electric to broadband. Thank you for having me Looking forward to the discussion with you jessica, uh, patrick go ahead and wrap it up wrap it up Yeah, thank you so much for the invitation. My name is patrick messick joining you today from oakland's mayor's office I'm program director for oakland undivided Oakland undivided is an equity-based collective impact initiative that brings together elected officials the city of oakland the school district trust of anchor institutions and community-based organizations Together we have set the ambitious goal of connecting at least 90 percent Of our over 36 000 unconnected households within the next five years Uh, super excited to be here today It's a once in a generation moment to bridge this persistent structural inequity And while we may be a david in this david versus lyah fight We are small but mighty and it's an honor to work alongside folks like you And across the state to make the most of this moment Awesome, they thank you for that. Um, so i'll go in uh and kick us off on to get the discussion to start here So so josh starting with you uh Supervisor gear many mentioned often the the loan loss reserve program the long-term financing program at all for you know In your instance of municipality to access How do you envision that program that the legislature created last year? Uh, it's going to be a piece of achieving your infrastructure goals Sure. I think it's an amazing tool. It'll be transit transformational for us Chico's a mid-sized city of roughly 120 000 that we Unfortunately appear served on a lot of maps So we're we're too big to be eligible for some monies and yet we're too small to be able to fund a lot of stuff internally so But we also have you know We're surrounded by a very rural area and we have a lot of limited service options in our neighborhoods We have a lot of aging communication infrastructure And then even the neighborhoods that do have decent service those services are unaffordable or lower quality So while funding like exploring some funding options a lot of the feedback we received was that we weren't eligible Or we may not be competitive Because our numbers look good um But you know because of our population intensity We may not get grant monies that go to other Areas that look more competitive for that. So the loan loss reserve really I think will be instrumental in allowing us to Take advantage of more affordable funding options. Like if we got to bond You know, I think it'll be Something that'll you know allow us to access much more affordable funding And if I understand right Chico is exploring like open access infrastructure similar to the golden state connect authority for for your community Is that correct? Yes um You know, I think open access is kind of what we landed on I know the EFF has already done the research and Open access has been shown to be the most cost effective way to stretch that capital investment um, I think That focusing on public investment For that open digital infrastructure allows multiple providers to compete and you know when we were first looking at our broadband plan One of the things that kept coming up with the incumbent providers Or other businesses that want to operate in our area was that there's a huge Barrier to entry for those operators Or there's a barrier to entry to enter a new area because it doesn't have the density or because of its You know geographic location So, you know, I personally believe that public money should go to public infrastructure And the city should not be picking one or two businesses to give that money to I believe we should be lowering that barrier to entry for those operators and encouraging competition on a network And I guess a question that you'll probably get asked often is you know, you already have some DSL broadband in the area You already have cable service in the area. Why even why contemplate this? Why why is What is what is driving the desire of the local community in this respect? So one of the things we heard a lot from Our community was that they didn't have affordable options But even if they had options they weren't quality options and I think the pandemic really showed us That we have to invest in our infrastructure Not just to um, you know, stay competitive today, but what does that Infrastructure need what are those needs in that 2030 year? so we defined communications as critical infrastructure and in doing that You know, not just trying to solve our immediate problem today with current definitions, but what is that critical infrastructure for You know children and our children's children So jessica, you're a you're a provider, you know, you deploy this infrastructure in very difficult territories already So you have a lot of knowledge and experience on the ground about that Um, the the california program and and the incoming bind administrations. What's called the notice of funding opportunity This is the federal infrastructure program. Both of them put a lot of emphasis on fiber infrastructure as as The the primary goal with with alternatives explored You know, I had a certain metric and you know, for example, the federal program establishes that as Extremely high cost areas was when you start exploring alternatives to fibers, which is you know, some sort of fixed wireless plan um in your experience When do we cross that threshold? What are what are the things you taking consideration when You look at wire line as your solution versus you have something else in terms of another high speed option That leverages the wires, but may not be able to get the wire all the way to the the last mile Right. Uh, yeah, you know fiber is hands down the best option It's the most future-proof option and if we could get that to everybody it would be a perfect world but um in extremely rural areas, we've seen uh electric cooperatives Really have to bridge that digital divide and in some unique ways. Um electric cooperatives are electric utilities That like I was saying and we're founded around this not-for-profit model Where um and their member-owned businesses, uh that can provide electric service to areas that maybe investor-owned utilities said Those are unprofitable. So our model is really built around consumer need and And quality of life not around profit margins So we know how to take a low density area and provide a service at the lowest possible cost um often to low income income consumers So many electric cooperatives, um Including two of them that I referenced serve rural california That and they've done just that they they've um leaned on some creative solutions to reach that last consumer on the last few miles down a road Um, and so you know, it really is not just last mile. It's those last mile for the one home that you have to Figure out a way to serve them The threshold of when uh fiber to each home or ranch maybe doesn't pencil out It's a pretty delicate balance. Um, it's not just population density. That's obviously the most primary one that we look at But um topography is a big a big concern, you know, um, you know soil type And if you're going to be undergrounding, um, how how are you going to physically build the system? If if you're going overhead on um poles, obviously, you know Electric cooperatives have an advantage because we always already have those right-of-ways We may have poles that we can string wire the fiber on really easily So it's it's not, uh, you know, uh apples to apples Comparison it really is location specific So you have to drill down to the details of um the cost of service for That community that home and and figure out, you know, what is the best solution for them? um another piece that we're starting to have to consider a lot more right now is obviously um construction timeline if there's a grant involved and um materials right materials can be difficult to get right now and and so is labor And so if you have a short construction timeline, we have to figure out How can we serve as many people as possible in that construction timeline? So that's another thing that goes into kind of factoring What's the best way to serve them if we can do fiber? That's what we do if we can't we got to figure out another way to do that um, if there's an anchor institution, um, like a school or a hospital along a route That's that's a slam dunk right then, you know, they need reliable service And you want to bring fiber to them and then it really enables everyone around that school or hospital to really um It builds the capacity to bring it to those communities those areas that you're already bringing to the anchor institution So what you mean is like, uh, if you have an anchor institution like a like a school or a university or or you know You may be even a large business player That's like a way of leveraging an extension of the of the wire because you can you start with them and then go and then spring forward from that location Absolutely, absolutely because you know, they need that reliable service. They don't um, and and you know, especially for education and hospitals, you know, you know that um, that's they need the fiber service So you you're going to bring it there. What and then you can kind of look at your map of what which way can we bring the fiber that's going to Build pass the most consumers to ensure that it benefits the most people So Jessica and uh, and another panelist, uh, you know after Jessica, I have a kind of a key question here. Um Much of our policy is designed around served or un-served like this kind of dichotomy that's drawn on you're primarily Uh, a very old definition of robin access namely 25 megabits down and three megabits up I Are we missing something when we do this? Is there something that's that's that's the policymakers need to start thinking about uh, as we Maybe move away from that as a metric. Jessica. Why don't you kick us off on that? Yeah, you know 25 three is not adequate anymore and um, you know served and un-served is something that Can be easily defined and then but then uh, how how they're measuring uh, the speeds can be a little bit misleading. Um, But but really, uh, you know, we know that we need more than 25 three now and electric cooperative is one of the cooperatives that uh, I work with uh, that they're providing fiber to the home in a very rural area And they're doing 100 megabyte megabyte per second service. Um symmetrical and um, and that's their basic residential service And um, you know that there is no excuse for providing, um, you know 25 three at this point. We have to we we know that in the future There's going to be a greater demand and and may I uh interject also the ans is doing that for 49 dollars per month And so it's it's um affordable and a fantastic service. Um But you know, you you have to also make sure that the speeds that are being reported when When they're claiming served areas are are real and often Unfortunately, you have to ground truth these because the data is outdated or overstated or just plain incorrect So just to make sure I heard that correctly So around 50 bucks for 100 symmetrical is what is what's being offered out there in a very rural part of california. It's all right Uh, you know, I think what's funny and I want to I want to uh go to jason and patrick particularly on this because of the You know worthy work in los angeles and oakland. Um, I really recall a a In individual I knew that got their broadband service in a in deep rural area before moving to his city Through their cooperative and they told me I can't I don't understand why My internet got worse and more expensive when I left the rural rural america to go to a city Jason, why why you kind of kick us off just on this this dichotomy of served on serve particularly for major cities people I think assume. Oh like in los angeles. They're they're fine. I get the big place Um, you know, I love to hear your commentary on that and then and then patrick as well Yeah, you know, I think it's I think it's two things, you know, um, really not understanding The actual residents day to day Um, and kind of trusting too much marketing Uh, which we do a very good job at of showing the glamorous side of our city But for the vast majority of people in los angeles Um, this fundamental service, uh that they could be provided. Um is is really expensive Um, and it's almost a loss for families. Uh, and they have to choose Uh between, you know broadband for school As we saw during coveted or food And and making that real life decision, uh in my neighborhood where I live, right? Um, and and so it is an everyday conversation around the expenses Uh, but also understanding that when we think about digital redlining and this is the second point Um, it actually never stopped So i'm very happy that these reports are coming out now because redlining is essentially starving communities, right? Um, so we have all these equity initiatives But that's also marketing if there's no compensation for the starving out Right. Um, so you have to actually acknowledge it, which is just the first step Right. Um, and then actually moving it forward to a point where we can actually systemically include people Instead of exclude them And you know being from a rural place, uh strawberry plant in tennessee You know, I understand, you know, that there are challenges But I think if you put those people together in their day-to-day life, there's way more similarities Uh than there are uh differences. Um, and and that's why you know, I'm here to kind of advocate On behalf of los angeles south los angeles east l. A. Pacoima Uh in other places that are not connected And and are really starved uh for this service Patrick, how about yourself? What are your thoughts in terms of your experience in oakland in this respect? Yes, I mean, I think with the 25 three argument I would I would just ask if any state policymakers have 25 three at their homes Um, if they would if they think that's an acceptable speed for their children to access their education Their parents to access their telehealth appointments For them to access their middle-class jobs and if 25 three isn't good enough for you today Then why would it be okay for this generational investment? Uh for residents for decades to come And in regards to these service maps, uh, you know, it kind of taps into this overbuild argument and you know I'm really thrilled to hear that incumbents is p's incumbent is p's are concerned about state finances And I hope they bring that same energy when tax season rolls around Uh, but I'm wondering if is p's could have another motive behind the their extensive lobbying at the state and federal level To divert public investment from communities where they benefit from market dominance This overbuild argument these service maps are codified in nearly every funding statute from the 42 billion dollar bidak the state's 2 billion last mile And this argument suggests that proximity to privately owned fiber infrastructure predicts connectivity But we all know this isn't the case Oakland stands alongside our rural brothers and sisters and we recognize the unique challenges of bringing connections to areas that isps refuse to connect Special consideration and infrastructure spending should absolutely be part of the statute But to exhaust this generational investment building infrastructure to the farthest reaches of the state When the vast majority of those experiencing the digital divide reside in areas somehow served yet unconnected Threatens to perpetuate the government's long documented history of divestment in the predominantly bIPOC urban core Now you might be thinking Patrick it's just an affordability issue like public infrastructure is not going to solve that You know we at the acp. It's going to solve everything and you're right on the first point it is an affordability issue, but You can look at the state's own network exam the cpu sees findings that incumbent isps concentrate investment in higher income areas And the introduction of competition actually increases isp investment in competitive offerings Here in oakland We are working along the caper center delacha community owned lte network with an innovative innovative tech startup called block power In new york city, they built a community owned mesh network and we wanted them to come out to oakland Hey, listen, we got 37 000 folks the households that are unconnected Let's build a community owned lte network They hit the ground running and they were ready to go First step let's find out, uh, you know, you have a duopoly here Let's talk to the two fiber backhaul providers and let's get this thing up and running They scoped out the price they thought we'd be able to connect a household for three to ten dollars per month That was in new york city using their quotes for pricing for a fiber backhaul in a more competitive market When they talked to the two providers here in oakland They found that the cost of data backhaul was five to ten times what it wasn't a more competitive fiber market So while these incumbent isps are saying, you know, don't invest here. That's a waste of money. Let us, you know Protect you protect the state dollars Meanwhile, they're charging five to ten times with these same companies charged in markets that are more competitive And so I think what we see here is a real opportunity to say, you know, it's not just enough to have a couple providers that have market dominance Gatekeeping control they get to control which innovative providers enter a market They get to control the prices at which they enter the market But it's a real opportunity of the state to come in and say, you know, if this is a 21st century civil, right? Then we're going to ensure that uh, we can let the market thrive, right? We're I'm guessing a lot of people are capitalists. Let's let the market thrive. Let's let it be truly competitive And if we're not going to regulate it like utility, at least, you know, prevent duopolys from from controlling the market So Patrick, you raise a really, uh interesting point here in that, uh The prices that people don't see right like the price that acts as the infrastructure in order to deliver a solution locally Particularly if you're trying to deliver a low cost solution to, uh, low income communities in particular, um It's just priced out of range. It's price. It's kind of priced irrationally uh, one of the Question I have them for you is the state there are two programs out of the four I mentioned or two programs Out of the four I mentioned earlier that, um, don't have they served un-served economy as as as where it targets Uh, the middle-mile program and the low-moss reserve fund and we've heard a lot about the low-moss reserve fund About how much that's going to be able to do and so I hope folks are listening realize Just why that's first in the nation where the first states that actually say we want to upgrade a whole community It's not just you know bits and pieces here and there The middle-mile program is a little different. It's it's basically the state is building, uh open access middle-mile infrastructure Wherever there is not a open affordable, uh high capacity access point For a place like Oakland and Jason I'd love to hear your thoughts about in Los Angeles as well Uh, how much would that change the the picture on the ground if the state were to build A the the backhaul piece of the internet the internet department delivers the internet to others to figure out the solution on the ground Yeah, Ernesto the 3.25 billion dollar investment in middle-mile infrastructure is perhaps the most important component For Oakland because simply put the status quo has not is not And will not connect households in our historically redline communities of west oakland fruit veiling dp. Stokeland Sections of the city where 25 percent of homes do not offer a high enough for turn on investment for private industry alone to serve Now to be clear I'm not insinuating uh that there's some malevolence on behalf of incumbent isps You know back through machinations to leave tens of thousands of folks across our city unconnected But these decisions that they make are based on a fiduciary responsibility as shareholders Which they oftentimes interpret as needing to yield a short-term return on really high margins I love that term earlier that was used. It's it's not patient money. It's incredibly impatient And so these two companies that have a duopoly on our fiber backhaul have a vested interest in protecting their market dominance And oakland and the state recognize that utility markets like broadband require public investment and public private partnerships to bring universal coverage It's with this backdrop that you'll understand how shocked we were when we saw the first version of the map Produced by the cpuc It had oakland's only segment running along highway highway i5 80 Which runs adjacent to our wealthier predominantly white oakland hills communities Leaving all the state rights of way in our flatlands communities without any investment Coincidentally or not the i5 80 is the only interstate highway In all of california one of only in the country that bans diesel burning trucks and the toxic pollution that comes with it Which sends all the diesel burning toxic pollution through oakland's flatlands communities these red line communities i mentioned earlier with Over 25 unconnected And so we showed up at the state and we were like, yo listen oakland endable ecp showed up and said You're telling me that our highways are good enough for the toxic pollution But not for the middle mile infrastructure and a testament to the state they were really receptive to our coalition and Or maybe they just wanted us to stop showing up at all the hearings and they are now including A much more robust investment in the flatland communities and on june 30th We're really hoping that they come through and follow through on that commitment But we see this as absolutely vital once we announce to our coalition the states plans to increase investment in Open access middle mile infrastructure The city has already started drafting plans to tap into this middle mile infrastructure to connect our anchor institutions And expand our municipal fiber footprint Non-profits are writing last mile grants to build apartment apartment free wi-fi in our low-income apartments We're 25 of our unconnected residents live A service that is only free if it can tap into this open access low-cost infrastructure Um and oakland is already hearing from innovative last mile providers monkey brain geolink That they're excited to explore the opportunity to enter this market that perhaps previously they were Priced out of so we view this as a vital investment We are so thrilled that the state was really receptive to the to our coalition and community advocates coming forth and saying You need to do what's right And I would argue that it's time to overbuild for the underserved And I'm really hoping that the state follows through there Jason, how about yourself and in the picture in southern california in this respect? Yeah, you know, I think specifically the middle mile program You know is kind of what got destination crunch all started in the beginning Because we are a cultural infrastructure project that's additive to existing rail line That was built along crunch all boulevard So in the largest black community in los angeles In the largest black business community west wet on the west coast They actually did an at grade portion of rail And really devastated community but also ripped up the street and sidewalk and everything else In destination crunch all this whole job is how do we bring this community whole again? Like how do we actually repair the community from you know the kind of unfortunate consequences of public investment and Black and brown community. All right So, you know, I think what what the middle mile program showed us is that okay There's an opportunity for us to actually be connected to actually have updated access But you know everything kind of goes in one ear and out the other if you're not actually dealing with the problem right And I think that you know We are Punching out of our weight class Right, we're talking about digital infrastructure. We're talking about broadband fiber. We have a lot of great partners we have a lot of people that Want to see this connection happen, but Ultimately for us to really live in equitable communities It's going to have to be people outside of our community that also want us to live that way Right, and they're going to also, you know, not feel like they have to sacrifice their own circumstances because of Right because it is some sort of redistributive Metric that we're going to have to take right so this middle mile program is really about How we maximize the 40 billion dollar infrastructure pipeline that la county has over the next 30 years That will all have dark fiber laid in that rail and it will all be unconnected All right, um, so we are the first but hopefully we can be a use case for public municipalities non-profits and other community groups to actually connect as the rail is being constructed or metro themselves Right because it doesn't necessarily have to be an organization If the the people that are building the rail actually take it on to create that public The next level of public utility Jason one thing that I think has been well studied. Uh, you know the university of south of california Uh A led by a professor gal perin at usc has has done a pretty extensive study about wall sanchez county And this this dynamic where fiber is not going to low income neighborhoods predominantly black neighborhoods Uh, which is kind of an indication of the major private. I like is I like is the you know for folks who don't know the incumbent local exchange care It's the technical term for basically the 18 t or the front here Um, but they're choosing they're picking and choosing and in many ways redlining communities yet again Along the same patterns as we've seen in other instances in housing and banking and and whatnot Do you The way I hear you talk about the middle mile program and other efforts. Do you see This is being a a necessary component the public investment is a way to rectify this problem and then begin the process of of of was Bring bringing you know equity and balance back into access again or Give me your thoughts on that Yeah, you know, I think so one thing is is that we know in black and brown communities in los angeles If you leave it up to the companies we will end up paying more than we have Right. Um, the second thing is is that you know, I really care about and maybe I'm a hopeless romantic for democracy But I really care about the relationship that people have with their public representatives and the people that provide them public basic service Right. Um, and I think we just had an election Uh in in los angeles I think everyone would agree that maybe if it would have rained the turnout would have been better, right And you're in a pretty sad state When you're thinking like that and I think it's because of issues like this It's because people know that it can happen We have to stop thinking about Black and brown communities Disinvested communities as people that don't know it can get better Right. They just understand that it's not better right now And to get better they have to pay more Right and that paying more is something that we are not providing that career access We're not providing the opportunities to them on a macro level because that's really hard to do So if we can't do that We have to then take away these monthly costs and just chip away at them, right? And I think it's just a really simple conversation that we have with people on a day-to-day basis at that station Crenshaw What is your week look like, right? Because ultimately we are about infrastructure and that means the ecosystem that there's our foundation, right? And if we're actually going to restore that foundation for our community We have to address the basic needs So a lot of times, you know, I love us all but we are way too smart for our own good We're in the third and fourth level of mazlows hierarchy and we're really really philosophical about this stuff But ultimately we can't get anything done because it's overthought Right. Um, and I think a lot of times if we just bring it down to the basic level, what do we need? Let's think about it like a another public utility that's free Water is in the faucet Water is also in the grocery store and there's a lot of waters, right? You have a lot of different choices But the public representation actually makes sure that the cheapest free option Actually isn't bad or isn't supposed to be, right? So what we want to do is try to actually make sure that there's a model where that can actually take place In our communities and then let people decide Because ultimately as an organization And I love the first speaker speaking about just being neutral and agnostic, right? Because really Our community we have a multitude of blackness We don't just have one black person in Crenshaw, right? There's a lot of people with a lot of different personalities and a lot of points of view, right? And ultimately what I want to do is create solutions and doors that each one of them can walk in Not one that everybody gets stuck at right and I think that that's what we have right now So it's really about how we actually Think about things like redlining But in a solving manner You know, so less planning studies and more actionable plans, right? And because ultimately we can plan ourselves to death But my mom's a planner and I tell her all the time go build some right because ultimately that is the argument You know, we need to actually get out of planning and think about what is the tangible solution in the short term? And then what is the ultimate goal that we're looking for and let's do both? I love the kind of Connect some of the themes here primarily on the um You know, many people consider access as a right, uh, and and what does that mean in terms of of how it's delivered From my perspective from from EFS perspective. There means there has to be some avenue of high quality free access Uh, and much in the way. I think you articulate with water in that There are some people who just can't afford to pay anything for it, but still need to be able to access it Um, josh, you're in you're in the you're in the public sector space developing And to find the infrastructure How do you see kind of the the picture of like kind of the affordability piece of this? Uh, as well as this, you know, as we were talking about earlier the state's middle mile piece How does that play a role in in what you're doing in your own backyard? Like is there is there a synergy between the two that you see? Uh, particularly from the perspective as a public provider meeting of public need Well, you know, uh, I kind of mentioned barriers to entry and you know, one of the barriers to making real Change with that connectivity is that it's so expensive for a new provider to come into an area Um, you know, it's interesting to hear uh, Oakland think about middle mile You know my original definition of middle mile is more like regional You know chico is about an hour and a half north of sacramento. We're about three and a half hours from uh, san francisco So one of our problems is getting connectivity to a major area I didn't even consider the possibility of a major area having problems within itself You know, I think I'm one of the people who think in the bay area or la you have many options And I'm not thinking about it in a smaller region Um, but even in chico There's neighborhoods who have options and there's neighborhoods who have quality options that are Affordable or at least they're affordable for that demographic in that area um But I think for us the middle mile connects us and helps connect us to a larger population center And if we can or the state can reduce that barrier to entry That allows us as a public municipality or a operator on our network to maybe provide Something that could even be free with, you know, the acp Or the ebb method, you know, I think it Provides those options and makes things possible that today aren't possible with our current models and our financial You know, you I think someone talked about the the need that inpatient money to make money in three years But if you're spending over 20 or 30, I think there's a lot of options to create change there I want to use the term inpatient money. I think that's a great I I use fast rate of return. I'm like, you know, that's too technical inpatient versus patient capital I like it a lot Jessica you you build in very difficult areas And and so you're going to have a lot of special insights into like What what what is the thing that creates that that that price tag at the end? How much do you have to charge in order for it to make work, you know, again for folks, uh, you know, listening Uh, you know, Jessica noted that there's rural parts of california. They're getting 100 symmetrical of 50 bucks I pay a lot more than that in my city Uh, you know, that's not there's no there's no magic happening there. I don't think you you're bringing a wand um What are the critical pieces that keeps the price affordable? and what are the The things that the state's effort in this space can do to ensure that un-served markets have affordable pricing And from your knowledge here Yeah, when I when I mentioned, uh, the 100 uh megabyte per second, uh, symmetrical service that anza electric cooperative is providing You know, they're uh, they're unique in that they serve a rural area in the desert and so Uh construction costs are are relatively minor Compared to other areas maybe in the mountains So that's you know, that's one advantage they have to being able to keep that cost low but you know, uh to Look at the big picture, you know, the not-for-profit model is really a huge advantage to keeping costs affordable um Partnering with local government and that structure of having it be not-for-profit. It's essential in providing um, you know a low-cost service because there is no investor that you have to pay there is no profit driven, uh, you know solution on on You know, how they operate and so especially when the the cost of service is high And the payback is extended. Um, you know, the not-for-profit model is Is a great fit Because it is more patient like we're saying um, but You know partnerships are also Important like I was mentioning with the anchor institutions and they can help Bring that build out cost the cost of the build out down and ensure Um, you cut some stability in that long-term payback um, and often incumbent ISPs they have contracts with entities that are kind of holding them hostage And providing sub par service and they're locked into these contracts a lot of the times that happens with federal agencies Or state agencies and in our rural areas. We have a lot of those kind of um, uh, you know A ranger station or a or research station or something And those places have federal content tracks or state contracts They have to do business with those incumbent ISPs And so they've taken away and cherry picked all these bigger entities and Refused to serve um adequate service to residential consumers And so, um, you know breaking up those those contracts I think is going to really not only provide more opportunities of residential consumers and small commercial but also better service to The the state and federal government as well. And it's not just them that they have those contracts with but those long-term contracts have really Kept new entrants out And finally, I just wanted to bring up the regulatory cost They regulatory costs can really provide a significant pressure and upward pressure on rates um large large ISPs have Bottomless budgets for legislative work and regulatory work and legal work And they can sue this person and sue that person And if you're a small income or a small new entrant that is that is a very difficult to challenge and so, um You know From the electric side because that's where I I do the majority of my work We see that all the time with investor-owned utilities challenging community choice aggregators and that tension drives up the cost of of of participation and so investor-owned utilities can can push the regulatory envelope and they can rate base it all and Charge it back to the consumer. Well, that really makes the cost higher for everyone to participate and You know, it's it's something worth considering Our mission is different when you're not for profit your drive is different when you're not for profit and the regulatory You know the regulatory atmosphere should also be different because We have to make sure that the consumer service is at this as is at the center of what we do and You know, we have to ensure the long-term cost is Is affordable for consumers and the only way to do that is to make sure that we can keep the service affordable not just the construction I want to dig a little bit into the the contracting denying opportunity dynamic. You you mentioned And see if I understand this, right? So so the issue is um, there is kind of exclusivity, uh, and in this combination of exclusivity through government contracting and picking up kind of anchor institutions Denies the opportunity for people surrounding those areas to get access simply because If you've mentioned this before if you if you're able to bring the expensive part to You know kind of a core center entity in a community that that kind of reduces your cost to get everyone else afterwards But it sounds like low-large players who engage in those contracts They just take the valuable lucrative, you know Contract, but then they don't do anything from there to expand on their network Is that my cap am I understanding that correctly? Yes, and often they can show that the area is served And really they've just served that one anchor institution and made it impossible for others to come in and and provide for the for the other role Other role residents and and um, you know small businesses one and Patrick a question to you on this and and The the I suspect the way they show it's served often is you know They put like a tower a wireless tower there and then everyone can get a cell phone and therefore it's it's considered served And and often this argument of you know wireless connectivity Uh, generally is as good as any wire line connection and people should just be happy. They have a wireless connection there Uh, you Patrick you've done work particularly like on the education sector side of this by recall correctly Um, what's your experience with that with that type of um, you know framing? Yeah, uh real talk Ernesto It's it's these wireless devices, which is why I'm not in the classroom anymore I was the impetus for me taking this role and before I explain why I just want to clarify that I'm really excited about the opportunities with wireless technology at the at the rate of technological advancement I can only imagine where we'll be 10 years from now And it's the fiber that we lay today Which will provide backhaul for those emergent technologies But I do want to offer a cautionary tale to prevent folks from buying too much into the hype of where the technology is today Or at least the technology that we're giving to lower income on connected households In some remote areas of the state, you know devices like this may be part of the solution but I I hope my uh, my experience can can encourage everyone who's currently relying on any of these devices or Who believes that their constituents are being served to interrogate that claim a little bit? Uh two years ago I was in my classroom building potato batteries with my students when an announcement came over the intercom that Because of covet the schools were going to be closing at that point We thought it was two weeks some of the students were all excited and giddy in their chairs Some had already experienced the the trauma of covet because it hit Oakland really hard really early and persisted And teachers there was anxiety there was panic. How are we going to continue to teach our students? What are we going to do the copy machine burned out because of all the teachers frantically trying to make work packets? And in the days and weeks to come we were trying to track down our students And it wasn't until the oakland undivided computers and hotspots arrived that we thought we even had a fighting chance And so like many teachers I threw a bunch in the back of my car drove out to all my students Handed them these devices with the promise of you're going to be able to connect to the internet You're going to be able to join class. You're going to be able to share screen You're going to be able to use these excited blending learning programs that personalized learning at your level. Let's go uh, and I show it for the first day of class and A bunch of my students are dropping and the skeptic of me is like they just trying to get out of class But as I'm following up with with parents, they're like, you know, we're trying to use these devices But the train passes by and we get kicked off We're trying to use these devices, but you know, you asked me to share screen and it's so laggy I can't even see what's going on in class And it was because of this experience that I wanted to to join oakland undivided to be like, yo on the ground Something's not right and the beautiful thing with these wireless technologies and anyone who's Investing in these as part of their Swedish solutions Please please please grab one of the devices get in your car Drive to one of the communities where you know, there's a lot of reliance on devices like this Google internet speed test you get m lab or ukla and just run a speed test and see what you find And keep in mind. This is a speed test outside and so results will be better outside and they will be inside And what I found was really alarming There was such a vast discrepancy between the promise of the wireless technology And the experience of actual users on this device Um, you know, you learn that many of our families live in stucco homes that have wired kind of mesh on the inside and lte can't really penetrate unless the kids right by the window You learn from looking through the fine print that You know lte gives you a lot of offers to prioritize certain plans and unsurprisingly education-related plans are at the back of the line um This isn't to say that you know wireless technology doesn't play a role in the future But I just really want to caution policymakers about buying into the promise of what these technologies could hypothetically offer These beautiful bright colored maps that you're presented. Look at what these devices can do Until you interrogate that claim. Please do not invest your money in these devices Or at least stolen with the understanding that these are going to be great for foster youth These are going to be great for youth experiencing homelessness These are going to be great in some areas of town, but they are not going to serve all of your students And let's not be looking back 10 years from now just wishing like what if we had just built the fiber because I This is a generational moment. I don't anticipate I don't anticipate this happening again where we're going to make such a robust investment So like let's make it count and let's make it future proof. Yeah, I think that's That's right and uh, you know, it's important for for folks who are tuning in and to recognize, you know, how did california you'll invest a combination of Close to about seven billion dollars in in grand financing and infrastructure spending as well as another seven close to Potentially seven billion dollars in long-term financing That happened because of uh, you know combination of the surplus federal federal rescue dollars around the pandemic Uh, this there will not be multiple chances of this to get it right. Uh, it is it is a good caution Uh, and with that, you know, I'm going we're the last 10 minutes here before we have to wrap up I want to kind of ask the the broad open question for each of our panelists Because each of you are coming from this from a from a different backyard in california in different community What do you see as success? Uh from sb156, you know You can talk about the early term on the long run Um, you're clearly you you all have missions and goals that you're trying to deliver on what you do And uh, I think it's worth to kind of verbalize like what what is what is success then here, uh, josh We'll go ahead and start with you You know, I think for chico um We have a great business community. We have access to great talent and great local opportunities And I want our future to not be limited by poor infrastructure investment And like we've a couple of us have talked about here. I do think this is Hopefully not a once in a lifetime, but I also don't want to wait and miss this opportunity You know, I think success is businesses and residents Realizing chico is great and coming to chico because of the those investments. You know, I I think this can be transformative for a community and I want That to be our community, you know, I want us to be first in that door Uh, jason go for it yeah, I mean, you know, I think success for cringe shaw is Everyone being able to connect however they want to for however much they want to pay Right. Um, and just keeping it very simple because ultimately for us to provide, you know, the equitable infrastructure Or a reparative infrastructure that that's nation cringe shaw is looking to provide. You know, we we want to actually um repair the trauma that this systemic oppression and redlining and other things have caused our community As we kind of process what the future will mean for us, right? This is just one of the myriad of problems that our community has And we are looking for a win Right, and I think our community deserves this as as well as other things, right? And this is an immediate one, right? So we'll we'll line up for this one But that line is continuously going to have other checkpoints, right? So, you know, our main goal is, you know, how do we get this mesh network up? For the community in the next year And then ultimately over the next two to three years, how do we connect the community? and provide a private Solution as a not-for-profit. Thanks jessica That provides workforce development programs for the residents to actually learn this new tech And be able to actually service the career grow And also provides access to the six schools that are along our corridor To to make sure that they're reaching each and every one of us As as we move forward to the future Thank you for that jessica Yeah, you know in in rural california. There are still a lot of people that are resorting to unreliable satellite internet Or dial-up service still Those services are still very much utilized in in rural california And if if the experience of co had taught us nothing else, you know, we learned that that is unacceptable We cannot participate and move forward In our lives With that kind of internet service it is essential for us to have a better quality internet access and so From telehealth to expanded educational opportunities for rural areas. They don't have any other options to just to really um telework I mean there were so many places um that all of these things seemed like decades away and all of a sudden COVID came along and telehealth became a viable thing for us that we all used and uh, you know The educational opportunities were not just limited to last resort, you know scrambled together, uh, you know homework from your teacher But these were I mean high school kids that were able to start taking college classes and and doing all these things that maybe We took, you know, it was a step back But then we took some step big steps forward and we don't want to go back We want we want better access in our areas And I think that you know, this funding is really going to provide that and we're excited to connect as many people as possible Excellent and and patrick go ahead and wrap us up Yeah, uh Man y'all y'all y'all the truth. I really want to echo joss jason jason and jessica's points Uh, I think around the economic vibrancy, you know, we are we are a city that is uh, the vast majority of our businesses are five employees or less Um, and we want robust broadband access so that anyone can access any jobs. So if they want to Uh, you know, live in oakland and and work anywhere in the world. They can do so like like jason spoke about For no child for no elder for no community member to have to decide between You know, uh paying that food bill or paying your internet bill and and like jessica lifts it up that we can never return to normal because Normal should never have been normal The the digital divide has long preceded the pandemic and if anything the pandemic actually exacerbated it by moving even more services banking employment Education all moving online Increasing the distance between our community and opportunity. So not only do I not want to return to normal I want us to reject that that was ever normal in the first place and and this is the moment to do it um, I want sp 156 to change the way we think about success as uh, not your proximity to a hypothetical connection but a broadband connection and I believe that success with sp 156 will be driving through oakland in five years And knowing just like every family has a flushable toilet Uh, every family can turn on the lights Okay, every family can log on to a telehealth appointment Every family can complete a banking transaction all right, so, um I have like so much optimism and uh working alongside folks like y'all. I think I think we can do something pretty special Thank you, uh patrick and thank you everyone for for being here for sharing Your expertise, uh your underground knowledge of what's happening in kind of your part of the state california You know for folks who are watching you I hope you come away of the kind of the two feelings the clue There's a lot of struggle out there, but there's a lot of opportunity and reason to be optimistic From the from what the legislature has created with sp 156 Uh, you know this program is called the california structural law year one That will mean I will do a year or two I'd love to have folks like yourself and you know potentially new partners out there delivering solutions to hear their stories about how You know how we have charted a course that I think will get us You'll get us to the that the end of the brain on this one So, uh, you know, thank you again for everyone for for joining. Thank you again for your time Thank you folks for for tuning in Uh, you know the ef published a lot of of information on this stuff if you want to follow us at ef.org And we will on our event page. I think we can put the Links to everyone's organizations if folks want to follow along with any of the participants here We'll collect those and put it on our events page as well for today June 10th for folks. So, um, thank you again for that and I hope you have a wonderful weekend