WiringPublicHousing2010
Introduction/Definition/etc
Suggesting government and private partnerships
consider wiring internet into public housing
like little college campuses and considering
it as a utility, since most applications and communications
with Human Services, Social Services, etc require
online skills and access. Head Start school
age learning, and making ends meet for people,
disabled, poor, disenfranchised, might be a helping
hand, similar to OneLaptopPerChild (laptop.org)
we help fund overseas.
Body
Having recently dealt with applying for benefits,
I know that they do not count anything besides
basic telephone services in the calculation of utilities.
Maybe wiring the public housing,
beyond the SafeLinkWireless.com
(see http://novapeers.pbworks.com/w/page/10219133/FrontPage#SafeLinkWirelesscom )
cell phone benefit of 68 minutes per month
(note they seem to have added two other phone plans to it,
increasing minutes but losing some other features,
see the website for more details)
Anyway, someone on SSI would probably
not have much left over to have internet
connectivity, and given that lots of benefits
applications and social interaction including support
is now on the internet, the digital divide gets wider and wider,
even public libraries are difficult places to check
email, think, write, (consider the analogy of having your
refridgerator in a building across town and trying to cook)
or do anything besides check out books (boy are they nosey...),
DVDs (if they carry them, one library stopped
emailing if they had gotten something
you requested, the cutbacks would not be favorable,
you requested something be added to the library,
but come back 4+ weeks later and find it's not even considered?),
like Temple Grandin's award winning HBO movie on DVD,
the wait list is so long 16 holds and 4 copies in one
system, other systems don't even have it.
Clearly everyone must have Netflix and a DVD player,
just as everyone has cars, data plans and smart phones)
Anyway^2, wiring public housing like small state
or federal educational campuses would make a lot of sense,
at least to me. The digital divide, Head Start,
and the people who can't afford it, maybe
the priorities are different, Recovery Funds,
Stimulus Money, is probably low, but
we could do worse, than investing in people
who have traditionally been left out of the equation.
Social justice, in a way, if internet is required
to apply for benefits, then why is it not in the
federal utilities calculations? Heat, Gas, Lights, A/C,
maybe cable (most public services and public
access plus local government information
like Board of Supervisors, City Councils, etc
are sent to people that way, On Demand to catch
up and participate in government, and
another $70 / month for cable and high speed
internet... Sure you would need a computer
too, but the prices on those are coming down,
NetBooks, OneLaptopPerChild (laptop.org)
is done overseas and some pilots in the USA...
It's probably a bad time with budget deficits,
etc to mention it, but it's a part of the economy,
maybe FiOS and other surcharges would help
fund it? They are government controlled monopolies,
require some public good?
Some progressive localities are having wifi
areas, even at large bus station stops
and public areas...
Anyway, thought people might be interested
in the idea. Certainly some cable companies
and maybe telephone monopolies would profit,
somehow and donate some connectivity.
Managing the connections, administration, etc
to be determined.
Conclusion
Summary of experience or similar
Discussion
A place for feedback on the page presented
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20101222 Jerry
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