NYC Broadband Advisory Committee

In 2005, Local Law 126 passed the City Council and was signed by the Mayor. It created a Citywide Broadband Advisory Committee (NYCBAC) to get public input on this issue as well as advise the Mayor and the City Council on how to bring affordable broadband to all New York City residents, nonprofit organizations and businesses.[1]

A series of public hearings in each borough are now underway. A blog has been set up at http://nycbroadband.blogspot.com/

Prior to the first hearing the committee issued a briefing paper.

New York City Broadband Advisory Committee

The committee is comprised of 15 members, seven Council appointees and eight Mayoral appointees.

The Council appointees are:

• David Birdsell, Dean, Baruch College Graduate School of Public Affairs, City University of New York
• Neil Pariser, Senior Vice President, South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBRO)
• Andrew Rasiej, Founder of Personal Democracy Forum and MOUSE
• Jose Rodriguez, President and Founder, Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network (HITN)
• Elisabeth Stock, President and Co-Founder, Computers for Youth (CFY)
• Nicholas Thompson, Senior Editor, WIRED Magazine
• David Wicks, Founding Partner, Alwyn Group, Former Cablevision executive

The Mayoral appointees are:

• Mitchel Ahlbaum, General Counsel and Deputy Commissioner for Telecommunications Services, New York City Department of Information Technologies and Telecommunications (DoITT)
• Shaun M. Belle, President and CEO, Mount Hope Housing Company
• Thomas Dunne, Vice President of Public Affairs, Policy and Communications, Verizon New York
• Avi Duvdevani, Chief Information Officer / Deputy General Manager, New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
• John J. Gilbert III, Executive Vice President / Chief Operating Officer, Rudin Management Company
• Wendy Lader, Vice President Telecommunications Policy, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC)
• Howard Szarfarc, President, Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey
• Anthony Townsend, Research Director, Institute for the Future

Bios are available here.

Meeting Apr 17 2007

• Shaun Belle was voted in as Committee Chairman.

Meeting Aug 6 2007

• Joshua Breitbart's notes on the meeting (archive.org)
• Testimony of Ted Brodheim, Chief Information Officer for the NYC Department of Education.

• Equity of access required for education program implementation.
• This fall, the DOE is giving 6000 teachers (out of 90,000) laptops and broadband access as a pilot project.
• A new system - ARIS - (achievement reporting system) is to make reporting available to teachers and principals this year and parents next year.
• Currently 1500 schools, 400,000 high school students, 100,000 computers - 90% with access.

• Public hearings planned for September & October
• A report due by the end of the year may be delayed, but an overview will be presented to the committee.
• Possible target: 20Mb affordable broadband.

Public Hearings

Bronx Public Hearing - Mar 30 2007

For testimony see NYCBAC Bronx hearing

Brooklyn Public Hearing - May 22 2007

For testimony see NYCBAC Brooklyn hearing

Manhattan Public Hearing - Dec 12 2007

The New York Broadband Advisory Committee held its third Public Hearing on Wednesday Dec 12th in Manhattan. ISOC-NY videotaped the meeting. We have now received the house audio which can be listened to/downloaded below - video/notes will be available here shortly.

• Part 1 mp3

• Part 2 mp3

• Part 3 mp3

Queens Public Hearing - Mar 3 2008

The New York Broadband Advisory Committee held its fourth Public Hearing on Monday Mar 3rd 2008 at LaGuardia Community College in Queens. ISOC-NY videotaped the meeting.

For testimony see NYCBAC Queens hearing

Staten Island Public Hearing - Mar 5 2009

The New York Broadband Advisory Committee will hold its fifth Public Hearing on Monday Mar 5th 2009 at CUNY College of Staten Island.

Comments

• Apr 6 2007: Comments from Older Adults Technology Services (OATS)

More

• Feb 24 2007: Bruce Lai spoke about the NYCBAC at the NYC Grass Roots Media Conference mp3
• Mar 1 2006: Gale Brewer - 'What Price New York City Wireless: The Politics of Technology' ISOC-NY webcast
• Feb 10 2004 Institutional Net, Telecommunications Infrastructure Funds, and the Possibilities for Expanding Broadband Access in New York City NYC Council briefing

Articles

• Jun 6 2006: NY Times Wi-Fi and the Cities
• Apr 18 2007: Huffington Post - Bruce Lai The Future of Digital New York City