||| FROM THE OFFICE OF REP. RICK LARSEN |||
| The infrastructure advocacy work my team is doing in Congress is bringing money home for our community, Lin.
Thanks to the recent passage of bipartisan infrastructure legislation, reliable broadband access is coming to Point Roberts and other underserved communities in Northwest Washington. With the newly awarded an $11 million grant to Whidbey Telecom, the company’s Point Roberts Middle Mile Infrastructure Project will now have the funding needed for the construction, improvement, and acquisition of broadband infrastructure for Point Roberts and nearby underserved communities. So, how many people will benefit? With approximately 1 in 10 Washingtonians living without an internet connection in their homes, this is major progress. To be specific: 1,200 unserved residents of Point Roberts, 80,000 residents of Whidbey Island, 5,000 residents of Lummi Nation, 17,000 residents of San Juan County, will have access to affordable, reliable broadband; and the project provides extra support to Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Now these folks can log on to scout for job opportunities, grow their business, access telehealth appointments, do homework, and connect with their loved ones. Thanks to collaborative efforts of local stakeholders, advocacy groups, and bipartisan elected officials have played a pivotal role in securing these vital broadband investments. To me, accomplishments like this highlight the power of grassroots engagement and bipartisan cooperation. Will you make a contribution and help my campaign continue to advocate for initiatives like this one? Together, Washingtonians can embrace the power of connectivity and leverage the new broadband infrastructure to drive innovation, education, and prosperity in Northwest Washington
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Hmmmm…. he makes it sound good…underserved communities getting reliable broadband. What is the technology that makes it “reliable”? How many antennas and towers? What kinds?
AND… The Public did not get a vote on this. There is a national broadband act going through Congress that will take away state and local powers to say NO to what we don’t want. Giant telecom companies will call all the shots for us and we won’t have any recourse to reject what we don’t want – including 5G and higher – known to have grave health consequences for humans and other species. Do we want this “connectivity” 24-7? Why do we need that, at the expense of face to face in person dialogue? Are the monies that Rep. Larsen is touting, we should know if and how this is affiliated with the National act and how beholden we are to the telecom giants.
We may be the last generation who remembers the luxury of silence, of being with Nature without taking photos with our cell phones – of not “carrying” or “wearing” devices; of choosing immediate, tactile, measurable reality over “virtual” reality and life inside a computer game simulation. Call me a dinosaur, but. I miss those days!
5g messes with migration of birds, bees’ ability to make it back to their nests from their foraging. It is killing wildlife and causing cancer in humans and animals. We need to look at what the down sides are.
There are generations growing up and being born who will never know the freedom from all this continual radioactive radiowave frequency assault. Drones. ..surveillance… You may think I am “Debbie Downer” – but read the ever-increasing science on the dangers inherent in this technology. We are rushing headlong over a cliff. Add AI to the mix…
Wait! Wait! Isn’t Opalco’s backbone fiber plus Opalco’s privately owned company, Rock Island, giving the 17,000 people of San Juan County reliable broadband internet already?
How do these new millions fit into our picture?
Maybe a refund to Opalco for the millions spent on the backbone fiber?
Did I read that correctly? Eleven Million Dollars spent, to bring internet service to the 1,200 residents (most of ’em part-time) of Point Roberts? What an astounding waste of our hard-earned tax dollars!
Gosh, thanks, Rick.
I interpret this “Exciting News…” to be a free way for Rick Larson to solicit campaign contributions for this dubious accomplishment.