In a moment, we’re going to take a quick listen to a report delivered by Jason Cox, former president of the Community Development Corporation (CDC) at the Town Council-Board of County Commissioners joint meeting on Tuesday, March 26. This particular oral report concerned the quest for better and faster Internet service in Archuleta County. We want to keep up with the rest of America — technologically speaking — even though we probably never will, for so many reasons.
But first, let’s talk about coffee.
This morning, I hope to post my editorial early, and head over to Pagosa Baking Company at 7am. Pagosa’s Town Council has planned four “Coffee with Council” events — coming on the last Thursday of March, April, May and June — with each event being an opportunity to meet with two Town Council members, and share your thoughts about local government and related topics.
This morning, Council members Tracy Bunning and Maddie Bergon will be pouring the coffee.
I wrote to Ms. Bergon last week, to see if she would provide a paragraph explaining the ideas behind this new community event. She wrote:
My hope for ‘Coffee with Council’ is that we will see improved engagement between community members and Council. I think this is a great opportunity to ask questions and have an open dialogue without the pressure of public comment at a scheduled meeting.
I feel that sometimes the formality of a Council meeting can be intimidating and that questions often go unasked by the attending audience. I am excited to hear about what concerns, questions, and comments my fellow community members have, and to share with them a little bit more of what being Council member entails. Learning more about each other and having increased communication are valuable to me as I continue to grow into my roll as a public representative.
Ms. Bergon was appointed to the Council last September, to replace Council member Clint Alley, who had resigned for personal reasons. During her appointment interview before the Council, Ms. Bergon was asked how she would be most effective serving on Town Council.
Ms. Bergon cited “enthusiasm” as her primary quality.
“I talk to a wide array of people — I’m a bartender at a bar here in town — so not only do I talk to a lot of locals who come in to hydrate…”
The word “hydrate” generated some polite laughter.
“… I also talk to a lot of visitors. So I feel like I bring a pretty broad understanding of what people are looking for in our community. What their experiences are, whether it’s short-term or long-term.”
Communication is a tricky thing. In our American culture, getting people to openly talk about what’s on their minds, often involves dosing them with a certain quantity of alcohol. But there are other techniques available as well. A few casual meetings over coffee, for example, might help a person loosen up and share what they truly think. Humor can help, in the right situation.
The involvement of at least one good listener is always a big help. Better, if everyone is a good listener. But sometimes, no matter how we try, a conversation devolves into a one-sided lecture, or maybe two people lecturing each other without really listening.
As I mentioned in Part Two, the sparsely-attended March 26 joint meeting had generated some interesting oral reports, but very little in the way of heart-to-heart conversation. The issues were real enough — economic development in a rural community, affordable housing, affordable broadband — but not much real conversation took place.
One of those interesting reports was delivered, as mentioned, by local business owner Jason Cox, outlining “four or five major projects going on right now.” Broadband projects, coordinated by the CDC. The Town Council and the BOCC had each donated $100,000 to the CDC to facilitate these “four or five major projects.” A grant application to bring in some Colorado state funding was in a holding pattern, Mr. Cox explained, but would likely be submitted in July. The Colorado High Cost Fund (HCF) grants are administered by the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA).
“The grant is designed as a public-private partnership, so you need a local ISP [Internet Service Provider] to get those dollars. And Skywerx was our choice there.”
The Pagosa area is served by three ground-based ISPs: CenturyLink, USA Communications, and Skywerx. (A fourth provider, Fast Track Communications, serves Durango and communities to the west, but has not yet developed a presence in Archuleta County.) The CDC apparently found Skywerx easiest to cooperate with. We might note, however, that Skywerx is now “formerly Skywerx.” According to a display ad in this morning’s Pagosa Springs SUN, the company has officially changed its name to Visionary Broadband.
“The grant is set up, through the state, to serve unserved and underserved areas. So we can’t come into the downtown core and increase our fiber network, because it’s already served at the 25/3 standard set by the FCC.”
25 Mbps download speed, and 3 Mbps upload speed; that’s the speed recommended by the Federal Communications Commission. We already have that speed available downtown, if you can afford the price. So a project aimed at creating a downtown fiber network capable of higher speeds — say, 1 Gbps — would not qualify for a HCF grant, according to Mr. Cox. Local ISPs would have to fund that kind of project out of their own pockets, or get their subsidies from local governments.
So then, the question would be: do enough people in downtown Pagosa want to pay for 1 Gbps? If not, then we probably won’t see that speed available in the near future.
Mr. Cox: “We’re actually adding a few projects. You guys have seen the six projects. Right off the top of my head, Upper Piedra, Arboles, Chromo, Aspen Springs. We’re going to look at an Upper Blanco project, and also looking at something with Hinsdale County. And there might be another project or two that slide in.”
The Internet speed here at my home office this morning (via Skywerx) is about 3.6 Mbps down and 1.5 Mbps up. With that speed, my family is able to watch a Netflix movie while a couple of other computers continue doing less data-intensive work.
I seriously doubt there’s more than a handful of residents living in Arboles who actually need 25/3 broadband, or who would be willing to pay for that kind of speed if it were available in their little community. On the other hand, many people in the outskirts of Arboles, and elsewhere in Archuleta County, currently have no reliable Internet at all, unless they can afford satellite Internet service.
And that means… well… it means they can’t read the Daily Post.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.