[Ww-snww-regional-list] WiredWest-MBI Situation

Robbie Leppzer robbie at turningtide.com
Thu Mar 12 12:06:37 EDT 2015


Hi All,
 
            As one who is not an official WiredWest delegate, and since I will not be able to attend Friday’s meeting due to another commitment, I offer the following perspectives to those that will be attending Friday’s meeting as a founding member of WiredWest and as the chair of Wendell’s Broadband Committee:
 
            It seems that David Greenberg’s proposed solution to have WiredWest contract out for a limited time to a network operator/ISP/CLEC is a reasonable one.  (See below).
 
            Maybe this could be offered as a “compromise” to the MBI in return for MBI to recognize WiredWest under the old MOU.
 
            It’s seems that we, as WiredWest, have some leverage here, as we are the voice of the towns, and we are getting actual customers to sign up, and we will be the ones to get the towns to put up real money.
 
            Unless, the towns through WiredWest, has a major seat at the table - and not being sidelined by MBI, which appears to be what is happening, the future of the whole project is in jeopardy.
 
            I think WiredWest needs to take a strong stand about this.
 
            I think getting Stan Rosenberg to help will be crucial. 
 
            Given Gov. Baker’s stated public support for bringing fiber optic broadband to unserved towns in Western Mass, his administration doesn’t want to see this project go down, so we do have leverage here!
 
Robbie Leppzer

Chair, Wendell Broadband Committee
(978) 544-8313
robbie at turningtide.com

---------

From: "Tom Wyatt" <tom at tomwyattphoto.com>
Date: March 12, 2015 9:30:09 AM EDT
To: <ww-snww-regional-list at deepsoft.com>
Subject: Re: [Ww-snww-regional-list] WW Executive Meeting Friday 11:30 in Noho - one view

Below is an email sent by David Greenberg, the WiredWest (WW) delegate from Colrain, to the Northern Tier WW cluster. This is one delegate’s view and NOT posted here to start discussion, that would be an open meeting law violation. But it gives more perspective the issues facing the WW Executive Committee and Board of Directors…. Tom Wyatt
 
As many of you who were at the Board of Directors (BoD) meeting last Saturday know, the MBI has said that it no longer wants to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with us. Instead, they will be encouraging all towns to submit grant applications in order to get the money that was promised to us. The grants can be submitted from an individual town or from a consortium of towns, such as WW, but in either case, I think we will probably be asked how we are going to provide services if MBI builds the network for us.
 
I would like to suggest that we strongly urge our towns to stick with WW, BUT, I also strongly think that we need to convince WW that it is in everyone's best interest to hire a third party, with substantial experience as a network operator (NO) and/or as an ISP/CLEC, to run our network and supply services on it. If WW really wants to be the NO and the ISP/CLEC, then why not sign a three year contract with someone like Crocker, as Leverett has, learn how it's done and then take it over later.
 
The next few months are going to be a crucial time for this entire project. I'd like to suggest two things: that we fill the vacant seats on the EC (Executive Committee) and that as many of us as possible attend the EC meetings so we can help support their work and gain a better understanding of the complicated issues involved. I would support anyone who wants to be on the EC. I would also be willing to represent our interests on the EC if that makes sense to people. In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I was the Chair of the EC during the early period of WW's existence.
 
WW has accomplished an amazing amount given that we are an all-volunteer organization. We sought attention to our plight from our legislators and Boston and we've certainly achieved that fundamental goal. In my opinion, I never saw WW as becoming a network operator or an ISP; in fact, at the beginning, we talked about having an open network where all sorts of providers could provide all sorts of services. I believe that the MBI is quite impressed with WW as a political organization that has organized 44 towns to pursue a common goal. However, I think they are less than thrilled with the prospect of us being an NO or an ISP/CLEC for the simple reason that we have no experience running such a vast operation and the MBI certainly does not want to see this experiment fail any more than we do. As we have to answer to our townspeople, they also have people to whom they have to answer.

Sorry for such a long post, but this stuff has been weighing on me. I welcome your comments. If any of you can make it, the next EC meeting is this Friday, 11:30 am at 99 Main St., Northampton.

David G.
From: ww-snww-regional-list [mailto:ww-snww-regional-list-bounces at deepsoft.com] On Behalf Of Tom Wyatt
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2015 10:01 PM
To: ww-snww-regional-list at deepsoft.com
Subject: [Ww-snww-regional-list] WW Executive Meeting Friday 11:30 in Noho
 
Just a note to delegates & alternates that the WiredWest Executive Committee will be meeting this Friday at 11:30am at 99 Main St. in Northampton. My understanding is that WW Exec. Board members met with MBI today, following up on the potential changes to the MOU and grant process, as was discussed at Saturday’s Board of Director’s meeting in Shutesbury. These are critical issues at a critical time that affect the whole regional network and its success. I encourage those that are available to come on Friday to support the Executive Committee as it sorts through our options to help carry out our goals. Details of the open meeting are at: http://wiredwest.net/value-mission-and-values/wired-west-meeting-calendar/
 
Tom Wyatt
Alternate Delegate, Warwick
413-768-8641(c)   978-544-3911 (h)
http://tomwyattphoto.com/
 
 
 
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