O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s Your Turn.
Attached please find a letter that many towns in NH, including my small town of Hancock in the Monadnock Region, have signed in anticipation of a vote this Friday Dec. 2 as to whether to release $40M in federal money targeted for broadband infrastructure buildout across the state. The towns included in this letter have joined together to implore the members of the Fiscal Committee to vote to release this much-needed $40M so the many unserved rural residences in the state can at long last get high-speed, reliable internet.
A little context: the State issued an RFP for broadband grant funding but at the last minute the Fiscal Committee tabled the funding for the program, jeopardizing access to much-needed broadband for rural residents across the state. The Fiscal Committee is meeting this Friday to decide whether or not to fund the program.
Imagine it’s 1936 and all the towns around you have electricity except yours. Your neighbors are using power saws to cut their cords of wood, electric washing machines to wash their clothes, getting their news and entertainment at night from radio. You are living down the road a few miles away reading your newspaper by kerosene lamp and hand sawing your dozens of cords of wood.
This is what it feels like in 2022 to be one of the thousands of residences in rural NH without access to high-speed, reliable internet. To be “unserved” in 2022 is to live a life without a fundamental utility. Forget about starting a business from home, wait an extra two months to get an in-person doctors appointment, lose young vital families to nearby towns with better internet, wave goodbye to your adult children three days early because there isn’t enough internet speed for them to work remotely while they visit you. The list goes on and on.
Every month we fall further behind our neighbors who already have access to the tools needed to fully engage in modern life. We need high-speed internet now, not years from now.
Below is an open letter to the New Hampshire Legislative Fiscal Committee:
We representatives of the undersigned towns were very troubled to see you tabled an item to accept $40 million in federal funding to build broadband to unserved and underserved areas in our State during your meeting on November 18, 2022.
The unserved residents and businesses in our communities have been waiting decades for high-speed internet.
The recent pandemic demonstrated the absolute necessity of high-quality affordable broadband to EVERY resident and business in the community. Without reliable internet access, children in our community are unable to participate in virtual learning; home-based businesses are unable to participate fully in the digital economy; and residents are unable to perform core functions from home, such as applying for a job online, managing bank accounts and accessing telehealth services.
We understand the issue from the committee’s perspective is a technical question regarding the appropriate funding mechanism. From the towns’ perspective, the mechanism for funding broadband expansion is far less important than getting the money out quickly. If the Committee does not approve the funding at the December 2, 2022 meeting, our state will be left without important broadband funding for an indeterminate amount of time.
This CANNOT wait.
A delay means the residents of our towns without reliable internet will miss yet one more build season that could provide us connectivity. The issue is quite simple: the Federal government has given the State of New Hampshire money to provide reliable affordable internet to those that are unserved. It is the duty of the New Hampshire Fiscal Committee to accept the money now, as a Christmas present to those of us who have been left out all these decades. The work needs to get going.
Signed:
Town: Alstead
Name: Gordon Kemp
Role: Chair of the Broadband Committee
Town: Alstead
Name: Matt Saxton
Role: Selectboard Member
Town: Chatham
Name: Susan Laskin
Role: Broadband Representative
Town: Chatham
Name: Ron Briggs
Role: Resident
Town: Alstead
Name: Joel McCarty
Role: Selectboard Member
Town: Chatham
Name: Bert Weiss
Role: Broadband Representative
Town: Chatham
Name: Patricia Pitman
Role: Town Clerk
Town: Chatham
Name: Riley Pitman
Role: Selectman
Town: Croydon
Name: Dale Cunningham
Role: Co-Chair of the Broadband Committee
Town: Freedom
Name: Melissa Florio
Role: Selectman and Broadband Representative
Town: Hancock
Name: Mollie Miller
Role: Chair of the Broadband Committee
Town: Ossipee
Name: Matt Sawyer Jr
Role: Town Administrator
Town: Shelburne
Name: Michael Prange
Role: Energy and Technology Committee
Town: Shelburne
Name: Don Kernan
Role: Energy and Technology Committee
Town: Shelburne
Name: Lucy Evans
Role: Selectman
Town: Easton
Name: Zak Mei
Role: Chair of the Selectboard
Town: Freedom
Name: Linda Mailhot
Role: Carroll County Communications District Planning Committee
Town: Newbury
Name: Graham Hoffman
Role: Chair of the Broadband Committee
Town: Randolph
Name: Kathleen Kelley
Role: Chair of the Broadband Committee
Town: Shelburne
Name: Ray Danforth
Role: Energy and Technology Committee
Town: Shelburne
Name: Stanley Judge
Role: Chair of the Selectboard
Town: Tamworth
Name: Pat Farley
Role: Chair of the Economic Development Commission and Broadband Committee
Town: Winchester
Name: Natalie Quevedo
Role: Chair of the Broadband Committee
Town: Dalton
Name: Jo Beth Dudley
Role: Selectboard Chair
Town: Dalton
Name: Carol Sheltry
Role: Selectboard
Town: Berlin
Name: Pamela E Laflamme
Role: Director of Strategic Initiatives
Assistant City Manager
Town: Dalton
Name: Tamela Swan
Role: Selectboard
Town: Franconia
Name: Eric Meth
Role: Selectboard Member
Broadband Committee Representative
