Re: [WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10

2009-03-04 Thread Tom DeReggi
Marlon,

I feel for the point, that you are trying to make. Nobody wants to sit 
idle.
But the reality is that we don;t control the shots, nor do we authorize the 
appointments. We can just request them.

Secondly, If we had 5-10 people sitting around a desk in one place, for a 
day, I agree we'd effectively and quickly get alot written as a group.
But we do not have the luxur to work in that environment, and still include 
our diverse national membership's interests.
That challenges group writting. But we do have what I feel is a good first 
step with a group position, and its what we submitted to legislators last 
month, and included consensus from all members of the committee.

I can assure you two things

1. Our face-to-face meeting requests are submitted, and we should get our 
meeting request granted shortly after the public meeting on the 10th.

2. WISPA legislative committee and/or council will submit questions to 
agencies prior to the public meeting on the 10th, if there are questions to 
be asked.

Policy makers will not accept being dictated to, how to run their programs. 
Thats already been discussed here as a committee. The ideal situation is to 
be asked for our opinion.
That happened by GAO :-)  The reality is that we've requested our meeting, 
and we'll get our chance to suggest recommendation, soon.

Steve Smith hit on a core point, that as individuals, we DO want to use 
our personal contacts and avenues to get input to the policy makers. It 
opimizes the chance that we'll get input heard. What we also want, are clear 
messages that support each other, instead of contradict each other.

Committee,

I have a plan. The plan is we follow the proceedure asked by policy 
makers. We show up for the group public meeting the 10th and learn. We 
should have 4 WISPA members going, that I know of. Ready to ask question or 
make statements, IF the policy makers allows time for it.  And immediately 
after I will work with Steve Coran, to formulate our strategy for moving 
forward, and discuss the core items that we'll want to focus on in our new 
position papers, and share that proposed agenda with committee members, for 
their input and consensus. That is what I believe is required to effectively 
make headway with policy makers.

Marlon, I agree that that plan, leaves members somewhat idle, in the week 
interim.  There is no reason for you or anyone to sit idle, that wants to 
contribute time today.
I have the following suggestions for ANYONE that wants to get to work 
today.

1) Take WISPA's existing position paper sent to legislators, and expand on 
it.  Write down anything new that you feel should be added to that paper, 
that is not included, and needs to.  (I already have a few items in mind, 
based on committee's past input, but do not have it on paper).

2) Make an outline of what you feel are topics/possitions that we should 
submit to RUS versus NTIA. We will likely have different goals for each 
target Grantor.

3) Submit any questions that you may have to ask policy makers, based on 
what we currently know, and submit them to Steve Coran for review. (I 
recommend CCing the legislative list, when sending to Steve). This will 
prevent duplications, and allow us to include all questions, that are not in 
conflict, with WISPA's submitted questions.  However, we need questions, if 
we are going to submit them.

Policy makers asked for questions in advance.  If you have questions, I 
highly recommend that you write them ASAP, so there is time for Steve to 
review and send to NTIA/RUS prior to the public meeting. It will be 
pointless to send them, if they are not asked soon.  I'd recommend that we 
should send these questions no later than Friday, to give policy makers time 
to review before public meeting. And I'd recommend they get sent to Steve 
today and tommorrow, to give him chance to review them.

Tom DeReggi
RapidDSL  Wireless, Inc
IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband


- Original Message - 
From: Steve Smith st...@chase3000.com
To: 'WISPA General List' wireless@wispa.org
Cc: grantscommit...@wispa.org
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 12:53 AM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10


I suspect that Tom is correct in that very few questions will get to be
 asked at the March 10 meeting.  Looking at the agenda it will be mostly
 speeches by representatives from the various agencies.

 Since they have the money, I also suspect that they will be the ones 
 telling
 us how it works rather than asking us for suggestions.  I think we are
 mostly past the input stage.  Instead I think they are scrambling to put
 together the procedures they will use to evaluate any proposals they get.

 There are a lot of people wanting information and I kind of visualize it 
 as
 feeding time at the fish farm.  They are going to throw some money in the
 pond and there will be a feeding frenzy.

 I will send my questions to them via multiple channels and hope some of 
 them
 get asked

[WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10

2009-03-03 Thread Steve Smith
AGENDA FOR MARCH 10 PUBLIC MEETING ON BROADBAND INITIATIVES

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the
Department of Agriculture's Rural Development, and the Federal
Communications Commission will hold a joint meeting Tuesday March 10 to
discuss the broadband initiatives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act. The meeting will take place in the Department of Commerce Auditorium
and the agenda includes remarks from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack;
FCC Chairman Michael Copps; the NTIA's Anna Gomez, Bernadette
McGuire-Rivera, and Mark Seifert; David Villano, Assistant Administrator for
Telecommunication Programs, USDA Rural Development; and Scott M. Deutchman,
Acting Senior Legal Advisor to Acting FCC Chairman Copps. The Public Meeting
will be streamed over the Web with captions and made available on NTIA's
website www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants. Interested parties wishing to
submit questions in advance of the meeting may do so by emailing them to
Barbara Brown (NTIA) at bbr...@ntia.doc.gov; Christi Shewman (FCC) at
christi.shew...@fcc.gov; or Mary Campanola (USDA) at
mary.campan...@usda.gov.





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[WISPA] Agenda for March 10

2009-03-03 Thread Steve Smith
AGENDA FOR MARCH 10 PUBLIC MEETING ON BROADBAND INITIATIVES
The
National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the
Department of Agriculture's Rural Development, and the Federal
Communications Commission will hold a joint meeting Tuesday March 10 to
discuss the broadband initiatives of the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act. The meeting will take place in the Department of
Commerce Auditorium and the agenda includes remarks from Secretary of
Agriculture Tom Vilsack; FCC Chairman Michael Copps; the NTIA's Anna
Gomez, Bernadette McGuire-Rivera, and Mark Seifert; David Villano,
Assistant Administrator for Telecommunication Programs, USDA Rural
Development; and Scott M. Deutchman, Acting Senior Legal Advisor to
Acting FCC Chairman Copps. The Public Meeting will be streamed over the
Web with captions and made available on NTIA's website 
www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants [http://www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants].
Interested parties wishing to submit questions in advance of the
meeting may do so by emailing them to Barbara Brown (NTIA) at
bbr...@ntia.doc.gov; Christi Shewman (FCC) at christi.shew...@fcc.gov;
or Mary Campanola (USDA) at mary.campan...@usda.gov 
[mailto:mary.campan...@usda.gov].



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Re: [WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10

2009-03-03 Thread Marlon K. Schafer
What questions should be asked?

I think we should ask if they are going to allow input as to what we (as the 
operators) think would be the most efficient use of funds.  In other words, 
are we, as a trade group AND individuals, going to have ANY time to give 
them our ideas?  After all, our ideas will be based on experience.

thanks,
marlon

- Original Message - 
From: Steve Smith st...@chase3000.com
To: 'WISPA General List' wireless@wispa.org
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 12:06 AM
Subject: [WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10


 AGENDA FOR MARCH 10 PUBLIC MEETING ON BROADBAND INITIATIVES

 The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the
 Department of Agriculture's Rural Development, and the Federal
 Communications Commission will hold a joint meeting Tuesday March 10 to
 discuss the broadband initiatives of the American Recovery and 
 Reinvestment
 Act. The meeting will take place in the Department of Commerce Auditorium
 and the agenda includes remarks from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack;
 FCC Chairman Michael Copps; the NTIA's Anna Gomez, Bernadette
 McGuire-Rivera, and Mark Seifert; David Villano, Assistant Administrator 
 for
 Telecommunication Programs, USDA Rural Development; and Scott M. 
 Deutchman,
 Acting Senior Legal Advisor to Acting FCC Chairman Copps. The Public 
 Meeting
 will be streamed over the Web with captions and made available on NTIA's
 website www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants. Interested parties wishing to
 submit questions in advance of the meeting may do so by emailing them to
 Barbara Brown (NTIA) at bbr...@ntia.doc.gov; Christi Shewman (FCC) at
 christi.shew...@fcc.gov; or Mary Campanola (USDA) at
 mary.campan...@usda.gov.




 
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Re: [WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10

2009-03-03 Thread Steve Smith
I suspect that Tom is correct in that very few questions will get to be
asked at the March 10 meeting.  Looking at the agenda it will be mostly
speeches by representatives from the various agencies.  

Since they have the money, I also suspect that they will be the ones telling
us how it works rather than asking us for suggestions.  I think we are
mostly past the input stage.  Instead I think they are scrambling to put
together the procedures they will use to evaluate any proposals they get.  

There are a lot of people wanting information and I kind of visualize it as
feeding time at the fish farm.  They are going to throw some money in the
pond and there will be a feeding frenzy.

I will send my questions to them via multiple channels and hope some of them
get asked and answered.  

One of the primary questions I will have is if they are going to use the
criteria required of them by the Office and Budget Guidance and the FCC?  My
guess is they will ignore some of those requirements unless someone points
them out to them but maybe not.  You might look at this post from the Benton
Foundation for an idea of what they may be looking for.  According to Benton
this is a requirement that NTIA and RUS must work with when granting grants.
http://www.benton.org/node/22559

I personally think it is worth engaging some of the people that have
personal contacts with the decision makers so that we can tailor our grant
requests to what they want.  I think this is one of those rare opportunities
that should be taken advantage of.  I will approach them asking what they
want rather than telling them how to do it.


Steve Smith
Chase 3000
Imperial, NE 69033
st...@chase3000.com
308 882-3000
308 883-3001 cell
 

-Original Message-
From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On
Behalf Of Marlon K. Schafer
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 7:20 PM
To: WISPA General List
Cc: legislat...@wispa.org
Subject: Re: [WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10

What questions should be asked?

I think we should ask if they are going to allow input as to what we (as the

operators) think would be the most efficient use of funds.  In other words, 
are we, as a trade group AND individuals, going to have ANY time to give 
them our ideas?  After all, our ideas will be based on experience.

thanks,
marlon

- Original Message - 
From: Steve Smith st...@chase3000.com
To: 'WISPA General List' wireless@wispa.org
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 12:06 AM
Subject: [WISPA] AGENDA FOR MARCH 10


 AGENDA FOR MARCH 10 PUBLIC MEETING ON BROADBAND INITIATIVES

 The National Telecommunications and Information Administration, the
 Department of Agriculture's Rural Development, and the Federal
 Communications Commission will hold a joint meeting Tuesday March 10 to
 discuss the broadband initiatives of the American Recovery and 
 Reinvestment
 Act. The meeting will take place in the Department of Commerce Auditorium
 and the agenda includes remarks from Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack;
 FCC Chairman Michael Copps; the NTIA's Anna Gomez, Bernadette
 McGuire-Rivera, and Mark Seifert; David Villano, Assistant Administrator 
 for
 Telecommunication Programs, USDA Rural Development; and Scott M. 
 Deutchman,
 Acting Senior Legal Advisor to Acting FCC Chairman Copps. The Public 
 Meeting
 will be streamed over the Web with captions and made available on NTIA's
 website www.ntia.doc.gov/broadbandgrants. Interested parties wishing to
 submit questions in advance of the meeting may do so by emailing them to
 Barbara Brown (NTIA) at bbr...@ntia.doc.gov; Christi Shewman (FCC) at
 christi.shew...@fcc.gov; or Mary Campanola (USDA) at
 mary.campan...@usda.gov.







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