Fighting for broadband

Posted 8/21/12

Last week, I joined NYS Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and Sullivan County Legislators Kitty Vetter and Gene Benson at a Public Service Commission meeting in Poughkeepsie to a deliver a simple …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Fighting for broadband

Posted

Last week, I joined NYS Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and Sullivan County Legislators Kitty Vetter and Gene Benson at a Public Service Commission meeting in Poughkeepsie to a deliver a simple message—all the residents of Sullivan County must have access to broadband. In 2015, broadband can no longer be considered an optional service. It is an essential utility.

Broadband puts our small businesses on an equal footing with big city competitors and plays a vital role in education. It provides students access to online training and to the largest library in the world—the Internet. Broadband can even make the difference between life and death. It gives first responders and doctors instant access to the information they need to respond to emergencies and to make critical medical decisions. As Assemblywoman Gunther says, “It is not a privilege, or a luxury. It is a basic service.”

Gunther is right—but Sullivan County remains on the wrong side of the digital divide. Statewide 5% of New Yorkers lack broadband access, in Sullivan County that figure jumps to 11%. This is unacceptable. If our major Internet service providers are unwilling to voluntarily address this situation, we have to consider another alternative—treat broadband as a public utility that must be delivered to every household and business in the state.

What can you do? Go to the PSC website www.dps.ny.gov, click on “Search” (in the left hand column) and enter 14-C-0370 where it says, “Search by Case Number.” Then go to “Post Comments” and tell the PSC that Sullivan County demands universal broadband access.

Isaac Green Diebboll

Callicoon, NY

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here