CUB Testifies in Support of Digital Equity in Portland
Posted on October 10, 2018 by Samuel Pastrick
Tags, Telecommunications
Earlier today (October 10, 2018), CUB Outreach Manager Samuel Pastrick testified before Portland City Council in support of the City’s Digital Equity Action Plan (DEAP) two-year report. You can read his testimony below.
As Oregon’s residential utility customer advocate, CUB has always monitored and, on occasion, intervened in various City of Portland policy discussions. Since 2015 however, we have more assertively advocated for strong digital equity and information/communications technology policy development and oversight at the City. To understand the full context of this morning’s testimony, see the following blogs:
- CUB Digs DEAP for Digital Inclusion - December, 2015
- CUB Backs New Digital Inclusion Efforts - April, 2016
- Portland City Council Should Prioritize City’s Information Communications Technology Development - November, 2016
- Digital Inclusion Summit: An Important Conversation Long in the Making - May, 2018
- Portland Balks at FCC Imposed Limits on 5G Negotiations - October, 2018
Samuel Pastrick – Oregon CUB Testimony to Portland City Council, October 10, 2018
Good morning. For the record, my name is Samuel Pastrick, Outreach Manager at Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, or CUB.
I have some brief points to make this morning - all of which relate to the fostering and promotion of City policy to address digital inequity. The first is that CUB is a consistent, outside advocate for both the Digital Equity Action Plan, or DEAP and the Office for Community Technology, or OCT.
Representing CUB, I attended the inaugural Digital Inclusion Summit in 2014, and was an early Digital Inclusion Network (DIN) member. And while not a primary author, I did actively participate in two of three community-led strategic planning workshops to create the DEAP in the fall of 2015.
Since that time, I have testified before Council on several occasions to highlight work in the City, either around digital equity and inclusion, or information and communications technology policy more generally.
Frequently, I have leveraged my time before Council to encourage timely and strategic City action to not only address digital inequity, but also think and plan more holistically about technology policy by emboldening OCT. This message bears repeating.
Last Tuesday, Council wisely rejected wholly inappropriate meddling on the part of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) into local government affairs as they relate to negotiations with wireless carriers in their accessing the public rights-of-way.
The resolution was a savvy and timely action, and CUB is genuinely pleased to see Portland join with cities confronting bad FCC policy. Yet certain other cities - San Jose, in particular - had proactively negotiated robust public benefits packages that include needed funds for digital equity work with the carriers readying for fifth generation wireless technology deployments.
To be blunt: While the City’s action last week is laudable, it also highlights an absence of proactive and coordinated leadership around information and communications technology planning and oversight. This is a symptom of OCT’s, until recent, low level within the City’s governance structure.
Point being: Portland, not San Jose, should lead the nation in funding digital equity work - because it is much easier to defend settled contract than bring suit against a federal agency like the FCC.
If I can leave Council with a key takeaway, it is that advancing digital equity work requires proactive and fast action against both the onslaught of disruptive technology already at our doorstep and that which is surely headed our way in the coming years. To sort through and usher these complex public policy implications, Portland needs an emboldened and proactive OCT.
CUB was, and still very much is, encouraged by OCT’s move last month to a more elevated location within the City’s governance structure. We’re cautiously optimistic that the move reflects a new strategic direction on the part of the City, and that OCT, with Council’s support, continues to bolster Portland’s reputation as a digital equity leader.
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