U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announces broadband access expansion funding for NYS (March 29, 2023)

New York State is receiving $100 million for broadband access expansion.

The new federal investment comes from the $10 billion in the American Rescue Plan’s Capital Projects Fund.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said getting the American Rescue Plan act passed was one of his first acts as majority leader and that the fruits of that labor are being realized, “New York will receive $100 million in federal funding to help expand broadband and close the digital divide for communities across our great Empire State. It’ll connect over 100,000 families, homes, and businesses to affordable, high-speed internet.”

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said investing in the internet can create enormous economic opportunity, “It has lifelong impacts, especially for kids. Research suggests that it leads to business creation, lowers unemployment rates, creates jobs, raises property values, and improves life and health outcomes in our communities. One study found that every dollar invested in rural broadband could generate $3 to $4 of local economic impact.”

New York’s Affordable Housing Connectivity Program is a competitive grant program designed to fund high-speed, reliable broadband infrastructure to and within low-income housing buildings.

CPF funds will be used to upgrade internet access in affordable housing units. New York has submitted its plan to the U.S. Department of Treasury for review.

Last year, New York enrolled a record one million qualifying households in the federal Affordable Connectivity Program, a nationwide subsidy to expand broadband access to low-income households. The federal program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, provides discounts of up to $30 a month toward internet service for eligible low-income households.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration via the Infrastructure Act passed in 2021. It can be used to develop a Road Safety Plan that includes engineering and design work.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the plan will help form the blueprint to projects increasing pedestrian, bicyclist, and driver safety, with a focus on improving safe routes to school. He said the City intends to apply for a multi-million dollar implementation grant during the next round of “Safe Streets For All” funding to carry out the plan.

Sundquist added that the city was one of only 500 communities nationwide selected to receive Safe Streets funding in the initial round of awards.

Members of Jamestown Broadband Commission, the public, watch presentation on City’s Broadband Master Plan (November 3, 2022)

The City of Jamestown‘s new Broadband Commission has begun discussions on whether to bring municipal broadband to the city.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said many in the city can’t afford the cost of Internet, “The average cost of internet in the city is about $75 a month. And for the average family that has kids in the school district, they can’t afford it. That’s the last bill that they have to pay once you talk about food, transportation, daycare, and any other things that might have to come out of your monthly paycheck.”

Sundquist said when it comes to options for how to bring another broadband option to Jamestown, he prefers the open access network, “Where the city does what it does best, which is making infrastructure, running wires, making sure that the service is there, and then allowing ISPs, those Internet Service Providers, to be able to compete on a marketplace and provide that end service as well as customer service to each of our households. We could take that over. We could be the main ISP but the reality is that there are a lot of great companies out here that would do that.”

He said a new municipal broadband network is estimated to cost $25 million to build and operate, but would come with a fixed cost for users. He said that cost could be offset with Federal Infrastructure monies and possibly American Rescue Plan funds the city has already received.

Sundquist said creating municipal broadband is a bit of a “gray area” in New York State, “We would be the first city in New York to do this. So, we’re still trying to understand the legal ramifications of it. We know we can do it, there’s nothing that prevents us. In some communities and, more importantly, in some states it’s actually illegal for a municipality to run a fiber network.”

Sundquist added that his hope is that there can be a public referendum on whether the community is in support of a municipal broadband plan.

While a date has not been set for the next meeting of the Broadband Commission, members did request additional data on computer and internet access in the city, with Sundquist also offering to set up video meetings with municipalities in the United States who already operate municipal broadband.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist and Entry Point Networks’ Jeff Christensen discuss municipal broadband (April 21, 2022)

Just over a dozen people came out Thursday night to hear about the City of Jamestown’s ability to create municipal broadband.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said that municipal broadband was something he had been looking at before even elected and with the Pandemic found out from families how important access to the internet was, “In many cases, they had a lot of trouble accessing it. There were issues with providers. And in some cases, families were just sharing cell phones to get onto Zoom. So there were a lot of challenges that we saw along the way. But we saw this as an opportunity to say, ‘How could we as the utility, either the Board of Public Utilities or the city itself, potentially provide an internet service?'”

Consultant Entry Point Networks‘ Jeff Christensen said the company had been working with the city for almost a year. Entry Point Networks is currently working with 35 other cities around the nation on municipal broadband.

Christensen said there are six priorities to solve, “Improve affordability, you know, that’s commonly going to be in the top three. Second, foster competition and choice. Three, improve speed and reliability. Four, local resilience and control, and I’ll talk a little about what that means. I know you know what it means but what does it mean in a network sense. Five, foster economic development and then six, digital divide.”

Christensen said Jamestown is unique in that there are two competing companies for broadband right now with Spectrum and Windstream, whereas cable has 95% of the market share in the rest of the country.

He shared what the average price per subscriber would be if the city created a municipal broadband program without federal or state grants. The breakdown is $18.64 for monthly infrastructure expense, $25.50 for monthly maintenance and operation, and $10.00 for monthly Internet Service Provider (ISP) for a total monthly cost of $54.14.

Sundquist said that total monthly cost could come down if Federal funds like the American Rescue Plan or Federal infrastructure monies were used toward building the project.

Christensen did briefly mention the broadband survey, but only 324 individuals had responded to that, which is not a large enough sample size.

The city is now looking for folks to serve on a Broadband Commission. Sundquist said, “This commission will learn of potential next steps and be the leaders Jamestown needs as we contemplate the next steps towards implementing low cost and high speed broadband in Jamestown.”

More information, including the Broadband Master Plan and the application to be on the commission can be found at www.jamestownfiber.com.

Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, Dunkirk Director of Development Vince DeJoy

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer touted $10 million in funding for waterfront infrastructure projects in Dunkirk Thursday.

Schumer, in a visit to the Dunkirk harbor, said that the funding is part of the Fiscal Year 2022 omnibus, which includes $8 million in funding for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, “There’s $1.1 million for Barcelona Harbor. There’s $1 million for Cattaraugus Creek and $5.9 million for Dunkirk Harbor. Why is Dunkirk Harbor so much more? Cause every body will be dredged. You know the silt has really just gathered up and it hasn’t been cleared for a very long time. So we’re doing that in all three harbors. But in addition, in Dunkirk harbor they’re going to work on the breakwater, which we’ve needed for a long time and it’s so important for keeping this harbor strong and vital.”

Schumer said $2 million also will go to the Village of Mayville to construct a new water well, replacing existing contaminated wells.

He added that former mentor and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan always decried the fact that New York state always sent more tax dollars to Washington D.C. then it received back, “He called us a ‘donor state.’ However, this is the first year that we are getting more dollars back than we sent. For every dollar we sent to Washington, we’re getting $1.59 back. That’s the first time every and that’s why having a Majority Leader from New York State is a darn good thing.”

When asked where things are with the Federal Infrastructure Bill, Schumer said that bill has now been signed with money becoming available in September 2022.

Congressman Tom Reed at podium with County Executive PJ Wendel, CCIDA Director Mark Geise, Falconer Village Clerk Anna Fales, Chautauqua Chamber of Commerce President Dan Heitzenrater, County Legislature Chairman Pierre Chagnon

Congressman Tom Reed said the monies for the $1.2 trillion dollar Infrastructure Bill are now available with $170 billion of those funds scheduled to come to New York State.

Reed made the announcement at the Chautauqua County Department of Public Facilities in Falconer Thursday.

Reed said $13 billion dollars will go toward highway programs in the state, “That will get here into Chautauqua County to take care of, I think you have 552 miles of road here, PJ, under your direction? [County Executive PJ Wendel in background “A little bit more”], 308 bridges, and 258 culverts. And so, those are real needs of Chautauqua County that is going to benefit from this investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”

Reed said he was proud to support the bipartisan bill that was ten years in the making. When it comes to how municipalities and the state will access those funds, Reed said existing distribution models will be used, “So, a lot of the money will be eligible for direct application to the Federal government, to the various agencies that are under that jurisdiction. But it’ll also flow through the states and to the local government.”

County Executive PJ Wendel said the infrastructure work will bring economic growth, “Right now in Stow, we’re looking to bring in water and sewer. And we know that bringing those two infrastructure pieces in will develop in more economy, hotels, conference centers, and the like.”

Wendel said projects that the County plans to apply for funding include sewer projects around Chautauqua and Findley Lakes, broadband expansion, and enhancing municipal water supplies.

Jamestown Airport

The Jamestown and Dunkirk Airports will both receive $790,000 under the recently passed Federal Infrastructure bill.

Congressman Tom Reed announced the allocation that is part of $937-million dollars in funding to airports in New York State.

Reed said in a statement, “One of the many reasons we supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill was to secure much needed funding to improve our airports. We care about our local residents having the opportunity for safe and efficient air travel and thanks to this bill, we see vital investments being made for infrastructure development at our airports.”

A group of senators finalized legislative language Sunday evening for the long-awaited bipartisan physical infrastructure deal, bringing the Senate one step closer to passing a top priority for President Joe Biden.

The finished product comes after Senate negotiators and their staff worked throughout the weekend on text for the bipartisan agreement, which includes $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, highways, broadband and water infrastructure.

Many municipalities, including Jamestown and Chautauqua County, are awaiting the final infrastructure bill in order to determine how to best allocate American Rescue Plan recovery funds.