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. > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > WISPA Wants You! Join today! > http://signup.wispa.org/ > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- > > WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org > > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: > http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless > > Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
