Letter from Saul Tannenbaum, 16 Cottage Street, in support of Policy Order #7 requesting the City Manager to report on the progress and efforts to date to provide greater access to internet services citywide for low income residents

Crane, Paula From: Saul Tannenbaum < [email removed]> Sent: Monday, February 12, 2018 4:47 PM To: City Council Cc: Clerk Subject: Public comment for February 12: Policy Order 7, Digital Equity and Access Attachments: City Council Broadband.pages.pdf To the Honorable, The City Council: Attached, please find the remarks I will offer during public comment this evening, along with an accompanying chart. cc: City Clerk, for inclusion in the Council record Saul Tannenbaum [email removed] @stannenb Read CambridgeHappenings.org, a daily Cambridge news summary, curated from fresh, local sources.

To the Honorable, The City Council: L am a member of the Manager's Broadband Task but am speaking only for myself, not the Task Force, i speak in favor of Policy Order 7, requesting the City Manager "to report on progress and efforts made to date to provide greater access to internet services citywide for low income residents." I want to thank Councillor Zondervan, Mayor McGovern, Vice Mayor Devereux and Councilior Simmons for sponsoring this order. I speak with a sense of déjà vu because the City Council has been here before. Ол August 1, 2005, The Council asked the manager to devise a plan to close the digital divide by making wireless internet access (wi fi) available throughout the city, for example, in schools, public housing, public libraries, public squares and parks. Much of that has been accomplished. There is wifi in schools, libraries, and some of the City's public spaces. That's true of every modern prosperous city and, as history has shown, not an effective method for providing access for all. in 2006, Henrietta Davis convened a Digital Divide committee. There are three legs to digital equity. access, equipment and training, and the City provided all three. There was a dedicated effort to get computers into the hands of low income individuals and provide them with technical support. A partnership with MIT brought WiFi service to Newtowne Court. We were leading the nation with our work. I go to broadband conterences and when attendees hear I'm from Cambridge, I still get asked about it. The City replaced the Wifi hardware a few years later but left its ongoing maintenance to self-organized volunteers. But since that effort of a decade ago, the City has done next to nothing to achieve digital equity. Census data bears this out, Virtually every high income household has broadband. Only 50-60% of low income households have broadband. We can, and must, do better than this. Among its recommendations made 18 months ago, the Task Force said: Phase II of planning must directly address digital equity and inclusiveness, seeking the advice of residents who have not adopted broadband in the home or who have, but find the expense burdensome. The next phase should also incorporate targeted outreach to, for example, low income communities, the school system, and Cambridge social service agencies. Cambridge, with its wealth of resources, can provide a model for how cities should deal with digital inclusiveness. The framing of this recommendation is no accident. Digital equity experts will tell you that one thing that separates successful programs from failures is including those you seek to help in thighlaning. That way you solve their real problems, not what you imagine their problems While there are excellent models to serve as a starting point, digital equity is hard. But Cambridge excels when it faces hard problems straight on. It has the wealth - much of it generated by internet enabled innovation - and the expertise to solve this. The city that invented the internet should lead the way to its equitable future. Page 1 of 2 Saul Tannenbaum, February 12, 2018

Percent of Cambridge Households With Broadband Subscription By Household Income 2013-2016 Source: US Census American Community Survey 100% 75% 50% 25% 0% Less than $10,000 $20,000 to $34,999 $50,000 to $74,999 2013 2014 2015 2016 Saul Tannenbaum 16 Cottage St. Page 2 of 2 Saul Tannenbaum, February 12, 2018