This Is our Village

Tuesday, June 28, 2016

WHY A 10-YEAR BROADBAND CONTRACT?

A question I had hoped to address as a "P.S." in my "Why Broadband?" article in the July Reporter was why it may be difficult to negotiate a contract for less than ten years. Unfortunately, my "P.S." didn't quite make the publication deadline.

People point to the fact that ten years is a long time to be locked into an expensive telecommunications contract in this fast-moving communications age, and it is. But here's the difficulty, which those on the Broadband Committee understand: A large part of the reason the communications vendors want a long-term commitment is that they invest a lot of their resources (read: money) into the set-up of a system. In other words, their expenses are front-end loaded.

Take, for example, Atlantic Broadband's recent preliminary proposal. On the "front end" they would be paying to dig a trench to carry their fiber-optic cable in the ground a distance of about 60 miles—all the way from North Miami to here. Can you imagine what that will cost them for permits, engineering studies, negotiations, labor and materials? It's not exactly as though the construction would be taking place out in the hinterlands. To recoup their expenses and make a reasonable profit over, say, only three years would necessitate charging us an astronomical per-year amount. For OUR sake it pays to spread the initial cost out over several years.


Thursday, June 23, 2016

THE VALUE OF CV BROADBAND

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Image result for Broadband icon

Benefits of Municipal Broadband Service

Andy Berke, the Mayor of Chattanooga (Tennessee) recently shared the benefits his city enjoys from municipal broadband services. The Tennessean reported:
"A pioneer in municipal broadband, Chattanooga developed its fiber network in 2010 with a combination of Federal funds and bond issues. The high-speed access led to direct and indirect economic gains and has been profitable."
Municipal broadband, a/k/a community broadband, is an affordable high-speed Internet Service Provider (ISP) built by the city, town, or municipality. It paid the cost to install fiber-optic cables to every home, not only to luxury buildings or select high-rise offices. A public-private partnership or third party may operate the network. Every resident and business that wants municipal broadband can sign up and easily get it; just like water, electricity, and gas services. Residents use municipal broadband for entertainment, education and online classes, remote work and tele-commuting, video conferencing, home-based businesses, new business startups, and more.
Mayor Berke listed the benefits Chattanooga enjoys:
"In the past three years, the city’s unemployment rate has dropped to 4.1 percent from 7.8 percent and the wage rate has also been climbing. Volkswagen’s presence has boosted the manufacturing sector and 10-gigabit speed internet has fueled wage growth, Berke said, speaking at Fiber to the Home Council Americas conference at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center... “It changed our conceptions of who we are and what is possible,” Berke said... Downtown has doubled its residents and landlords often advertise gigabit speeds that are included in monthly rents... "
Other towns in Tennessee have installed municipal broadband services, including Tullahoma and Clarksville. How fast is 10 gigabits? It is the fastest service currently available.
The bottom line: 10-gigabits is a far, far faster than the 25-, 50-, or 100 MB broadband speed you're probably getting from your current Internet Service provider (ISP). Electric Power Board (EPB) provides the municipal broadband service in Chattanooga. Besides the blazing 10 gigabit speed, it also offers slower speeds.
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If this can be done in Tennessee, why not here in Century Village. Improved property value, improved communication, putting Century Village on track to a new and improved future!

Thanks to Les Rivkin for reference to the article.
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Dave Israel
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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

joining the 21st Century @WPBCV

This is the only conclusion I could come up with that anyone in Century village would not want to join the 21st century... I imagine this is their thinking:


"Yep, it's time to start x-ploring outside the cave. Why, They's a whole new world out there!
They invented these little call boxes, kinda like our telephone but they ain't got no wires and there ain't no crank to get the operator to make your calls. They's call 'em cell phones,, and you can call anyone you want without yelling' too loud. Why they can hear ya clear across the county and you don't hafta even get yer voice all horse!
Why they even have these things that make noise kinda like the old victrola, but instead of the ol' 78's, they's are small silver disks and ain't got no grooves and make some really beautiful music and sometimes some awful noise they call rap or something. They got some of the same kinds disks that you put inside a box next to some new fangled TeeVee thing and they come out with them moving pictures. In color even! And them new fangled TeeVee's sure don't look like the TeeVee we had. Why they's more like going to the picture show at the old Bijou Theatre and almost as big!
They have a box on the desk with a TeeVee like thing and what looks like a typewriter but lays kinda flat and there ain't no place to roll up the paper into. They calls it a KEYboard. Tho' I ain't seen no keys, just a bunch of numbers and letters and some funny symbols and squiggly lines.
They even have that's smaller and fold in half and even one that you touch it with your finger and it does all kinds of things... They called that on a tablet... but I ain't seen no ten commandments on it so I ain't for sure how it could be's a tablet.
They said it work on something they's called a Why Fie. I don't know what a Why Fie is, but it must be something really small, cause I ain't never seen it. They's touch a bunch of letters on this here tablet and it come out with all sorts of information and stories and even some of them picture shows we saw on them new fangled TeeVees.
But I just don't know... All this new stuff out there and I ain't got no clue how to use them, so maybe I'll just go back in my cave and maybe they's just go away. "

NOTICE OF CENTURY VILLAGE MISSING PERSON

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JEANETTE HAS BEEN FOUND AND IS SAFE!
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June 21, 2016

For Immediate Release
Contact:      PBSO Dispatch 688-3400

Media Advisory

PBSO is Seeking the Public’s Assistance with Locating a
Missing/Endangered Adult
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is looking for Jeanette Gennino.  Jeanette, DOB: 5/25/1925, walked away from her residence of 287 Chatham N, WPB, yesterday (6/20/16) at 4:00 pm, and has not been seen or heard from since.

Jeanette is 5’01”, 110 lbs., has brown hair and brown eyes.  Her clothing description is unknown.

Jeanette suffers from dementia.  She requires oxygen and uses a walker to get around.  She DOES NOT have her oxygen with her.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office detectives consider Jeanette Gennino to be a Missing Endangered Adult.

If anyone should come into contact with Jeanette Gennino they are urged to contact PBSO Dispatch at 688-3400 or the nearest law enforcement agency.

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Dave Israel
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Sunday, June 19, 2016

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OF MEETINGS

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Barbara Cornish
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Tuesday, June 7, 2016