[1st-mile-nm] "Wired to fail"

[Roger Snodgrass]

Thanks for the feedback on this. Re-reading with the additional context, I
can see why  Richard and Steve think the author was too hard on RUS. My
thinking was that providing the additional access was so important,
something is wrong with a program that gives out such a small fraction of
its money, and certainly the agency running the program must be
accountable, even if some or many of the problems lie elsewhere. Maybe some
part of the money needs to help the applicant develop a workable plan, for
example. Also, I didn't like the sound of the agency's persistent refusal
to provide information, which is in my book is a flashing neon admission of
failure. What good will it do in the future to offer local subsidies if
they are doomed to fail, regardless of whether it's the granting
institution or the grantee and local governmen and regulatory pitfalls or
the monopolizing corporate utilities, causing the problems? The result
compared to money available is pathetic. Also, there is mention of
additional work going on in New Mexico. Does anybody know what that refers
to?

Thanks,
Roger

On Tue, Jul 28, 2015 at 5:34 PM, Roger Snodgrass <roger.sno at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I assume this group knows all about this, but just in case:
>
>
> *"Wired to fail: * How a little known agency mishandled several billion
> dollars of stimulus money trying to expand broadband coverage to rural
> communities," by Tony Romm: "A POLITICO investigation has found that
> roughly half of the nearly 300 projects that [the Rural Utilities Service]
> approved as part of the 2009 Recovery Act have not yet drawn down the full
> amounts they were awarded. ... If these networks do not draw all their cash
> by the end of September, they will have to forfeit what remains. In other
> words, they altogether may squander as much as $277 million in
> still-untapped federal funds, which can't be spent elsewhere in other
> neglected rural communities. ...
>
> *"[S]cores of rural residents *who should have benefited from better
> Internet access ... might continue to lack access to the sort of reliable,
> high-speed service that is common in America's cities. Even RUS admits it's
> not going to provide better service to the 7 million residents it once
> touted; instead, the number in the hundreds of thousands."
> http://politi.co/1SKKGjg
> <http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=6899ff94fe0d350b4d966e6a6eef991e804ac2e62a5593e34907f6223d7a0b62>
>
>
> --
>
> Roger Snodgrass
> Twitter @pomotor
> https://twitter.com/Pomotor
> home 505-424-8366
> cell 505-920-3677
> l\lllllllll/llllll/\llllll\ll
>
>


-- 

Roger Snodgrass
Twitter @pomotor
https://twitter.com/Pomotor
home 505-424-8366
cell 505-920-3677
l\lllllllll/llllll/\llllll\ll
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/1st-mile-nm/attachments/20150730/81127bfb/attachment.html>