Last week there was a broadband listening session in Spring Valley. There were more than 50 people there; it was hosted by Representative Davids and Kresha. (I wrote about it, including lots of video.) This week Rep Davids has an editorial in the Tri County Record on his take on the meeting…
Frustration was one thing that united people during a listening session on broadband organized by State Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, Friday afternoon in the Spring Valley Community Center.
The frustration wasn’t just with the slow Internet speeds rural residents in Fillmore and Houston counties experience. The frustration was also with the slow pace of progress in bringing high-speed service to these areas.
He offers three reasons for the roadblock to better broadband…
Private enterprise companies extend service to areas where it can receive the highest rate of return on their investment, which leaves behind sparsely populated rural areas.
Technology progresses so rapidly, standards are constantly changing, as are solutions, making it risky to put large sums of money into infrastructure when there are concerns if it will be adequate for future needs.
Most of all, politics has a tendency to slow progress. Even with a large surplus in Minnesota, there are many interests — education, social services, transportation, building the reserve fund, property tax relief — competing with rural broadband for funding. There are also many rural areas in Minnesota competing for broadband service. For example, in 20 Minnesota counties, less than 50 percent of the population has access to broadband. Also, different branches of government have different views on how much money is needed for broadband, which makes it difficult to find a consensus without political bickering.
Politics came up for attendees too…
Several of the people in attendance questioned if Republicans were slowing the process, citing specific actions during the last legislative session by Kresha and the lack of push for local projects by Davids. The crowd included a potential opponent to Davids in the next election as well as some active DFL supporters.
Kresha and Davids emphasized that this isn’t a partisan issue, that there is widespread support from both parties. They warned that making it partisan would slow the process even more since state government is divided with a DFL governor and Senate and a Republican majority in the House.
Davids said he has voted for every broadband bill that has come to a vote. When asked about pushing to get those bills to the floor, he countered that the four committees he serves on don’t deal with that issue — that he leaves it to the expert, Kresha, to advance those bills.
“He has forgotten more about broadband then I’ll ever know about it,” joked Davids after the meeting. “I’ve been for broadband in the past and I will continue to be for broadband. It’s an easy choice because it’s a rural issue.”
I think Davids’ comment is a good reminder that broadband technology is hard to understand. That was clear in the meeting. People are comparing fiber and wireless without really understanding what either requires or brings. Because it’s difficult I think it requires an even bigger push from constituents for policymakers to get involved.