By Jennifer L. Williams, Daily Press

March 10, 2010

Williamsburg, James City County and York County are making a joint application to be a test community for Google’s new ultra high-speed broadband Internet service, according to a press release from Williamsburg spokeswoman Kate Hoving.

She encouraged locals to support the application online.

Google plans to test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country and is taking suggestions on where until March 26, according to its Web site.

“Our networks will deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections,” Google’s Web site states. “We’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.”

Google has set up a Web site with information and a video on the planned test run, as well as “Request for Information” categories to collect input online from local governments, residents and community groups. The Historic Triangle group appeared to be joining forces in hopes of making a strong case for its selection.

“Williamsburg led the American Revolution in the 18th century and is the perfect community to lead the Information Revolution in the 21st,” according to Hoving’s press release.

“This kind of connectivity would transform the way information is broadcast, and Williamsburg offers outstanding educational, cultural and high-tech infrastructure in addition to a citizenry who have expressed through citizen surveys their interest in expanding the use and availability of broadband.”

Hampton Roads continues to rank among the 20 strongest-performing metropolitan areas, according to the latest Brookings Institution report.

The institution’s fourth quarter Metro Monitor showed that Hampton Roads ranked third-highest in the nation for its change in gross metropolitan product from its peak by growing 2.9 percent, while the nation showed no growth.

It ranked sixth for its one-quarter change in employment by growing 0.4 percent and ranked seventh for change in employment from its peak for falling 1.8 percent. The U.S. average for change in employment from peak was a 4.9 percent decline.

Hampton Roads ranked in the middle, at 50th, for the rate of real-estate-owned properties, which was 2.6 per 1,000 mortgageable properties. It ranked 62nd for its one-year change in housing prices, down 7.4 percent, while the U.S. average was down only 6.5 percent.

Posted by Veronica Chufo on Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Good information about “The Future of Broadband in America.”

Bert Schmidt
President and CEO
WHRO

By Michael Schwartz; michael.schwartz@insidebiz.com

Fawning slightly less than teenyboppers at a Miley Cyrus concert, local IT and economic development departments are fast at work to outdo one another with the hopes of convincing Google to choose their municipality as a future test site for the Internet giant’s proposed ultra-high-speed broadband network.

Google announced back in February its intentions to test, in select communities, a broadband network that would deliver data at speeds of more than 1 gigabit per second, more than 100 times faster than the typical fiber-to-the home connections most Americans use today.

Upon announcing its plan, Google said it was looking for a few good municipalities to prove their case as the best place for the company to test its experimental network.

With a deadline of March 26, cities were asked to provide a pitch through a request for information that Google will use to decide where best to lay its fiber.

Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Hampton, James City County, Williamsburg and York County now find themselves not only in a regional competition, but competing with an unknown number of localities, some zealous, nationwide that want Google to notice them.

Those receiving the most attention have been Topeka, Kan., which renamed itself Google, Kan., for the month of March. And a lightly clothed mayor of Duluth, Minn., jumped into a near-freezing Lake Superior to show his city deserved Google’s fiber more than its neighbors.

Erin Fors, a Google spokesperson, said the company is not commenting on specific cities or an exact number of RFI submissions.

“We’ve already received a good number of submissions from communities across the country, and thousands of submissions from people who are excited about ultra-high-speed Internet access,” said Fors.

The Hampton Roads localities that are looking to jump into the fray each have their own strategies of how best to sell it.

“Google being what they are – they are a very creative, eclectic, disruptive organization,” said John Eagle, assistant city manager for of Hampton. “They disrupt markets and I think everybody is excited about the possibility. We thought it was important to put together a campaign.”

Hampton plans to launch its campaign playing on its claims of being the first city to do certain things throughout history and its slogan, “First from the sea – first to the stars.”

Eagle said the city plans to have a production company in Hampton help it shoot a video that it hopes will go viral. It’s putting up a Facebook page with the slogan “First to fast,” related to fast Internet, not intentional starvation.

The city of Chesapeake has its IT and economic development departments working together on the RFI.

Because of their size and limited resources, James City County, the city of Williamsburg and York County are banding together in their pitch to Google. It’s a fractional, semi-regional approach that may comfort the pro-regionalism crowd who might be despairing that regionalism went out the door as soon as Google came calling.

The city of Virginia Beach wants in, but first it wants to make sure its citizens think it’s a good idea. The city is putting out an online survey on its Web site to gauge public support.

“We think that could offer some real opportunity in the community and we thought we’d throw our hat in the ring,” said Gwen Cowart, director of Virginia Beach’s Department of Communications and IT.

That brings up the question of why cities are so interested in Google’s experiment and how might citizens benefit other than possibly having stake in a popular YouTube video.

“Digital infrastructure – it’s as important as the streets and roads,” Eagle said.

Google said it hopes the initiative “will make Internet access better and faster for everyone,” and it will offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.

Google also believes a faster network will allow applications that today have too much data to travel at a decent rate of speed.

That’s where the cities get excited.

“What Google is offering to do is to come in and push the limits,” Cowart said, “to be a test bed to see what kind of applications or utilizations” might come out of Internet speeds previously unavailable.

For Hampton, Eagle envisions the likes of Langley Air Force Base, NASA Langley and the Hampton University Proton Therapy Institute being able to beam images, video and data at speeds they previously couldn’t have access to.

“We’re talking enormous speed,” Eagle said.

Peter Wallace, the city of Chesapeake’s chief information officer, has always envisioned a super-fast network around the city that would connect all public safety and administration buildings.

“We can’t force Cox or Verizon to do that,” Wallace said.

That speed would open doors to an infinite number of applications.

“What Google is bringing to the forefront is the future of the use of video and really large files like the medical industry would use,” said Jody Puckett, James City County’s communications director. “Right now there are problems with that because of the speed.”

Speaking of Cox and Verizon, Puckett said JCC has received many inquiries from citizens and the business community asking if the locality is “going for it.”

One caller specifically wanted JCC to make the push in the name of competition. The county’s only fiber broadband provider is Cox. Verizon hasn’t expanded its FiOS network there yet.

“There is a lot of interest in competition,” Puckett said.

And that cues the competitive wrangling.

Nearly every community in the country has its incumbent cable provider and the franchise agreements and right-of-way laws that govern such networks.

Cox was the incumbent in Hampton Roads until Verizon made a big push with fiber the last few years in many parts of the region.

What do those companies think of Google’s interest in entering their market?

“We’ll be monitoring what Google is doing as we do all new developments in our business,” said Cox Hampton Roads spokeswoman Felicia Blow.

Verizon spokesman Harry Mitchell said, “Google’s expansion of its networks to enter the access market is another new paragraph in this exciting story” of what Verizon calls the Internet ecosystem.

The speeds Google proposes on its network surpass what Cox and Verizon currently offer consumers.

Verizon, for example, offers speeds up to 50 megabits per second downstream and up to 35 megabits upstream.

“Believe me, providing more bandwidth on the FiOS network is not an issue for Verizon,” Mitchell said. “There isn’t much mass-market demand for it at this point.”

Some still wonder if Google has ulterior motives.

The company says it will operate an open access network through which it will share its network with other service providers.

Might the campaign be a way of pressuring telecoms to increase speeds while keeping prices competitive?

“Cox and Verizon expand when the need arises,” Eagle said. “Google wants to make a leap-frog improvement.”

Puckett wonders if Google wants to see what kind of incentives localities might throw at it.

“Already they’ve created a demand,” Puckett said.

As the March 26 deadline approaches, don’t be surprised to see videos popping up on the Web depicting a local city’s pitch to Google.

Might we see a Google, Va.?

It doesn’t sound like any of the local municipalities will take that route.

“I’ll leave it up to the marketing guys,” Wallace joked. nib

Project Construction Will Generate Thousands of Jobs for the Commonwealth

RICHMOND – Governor Bob McDonnell today announced that the Virginia Port Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have received permit approval yesterday from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality for the Craney Island Eastward Expansion. The permit represents an important milestone for the Craney Island Eastward Expansion development. The VDEQ Virginia Water Protection permit authorizes construction of the expansion and the mitigation plan components.

Speaking about the permit approval, Governor McDonnell commented, “Today’s announcement is critical to the success and completion of Craney Island and future growth for the Port of Virginia. The economic impact of this permit approval goes beyond Craney Island. This project will generate thousands of jobs and millions more in revenue for the Hampton Roads area and to the state.”

With the Panama Canal Expansion set to open in 2014, ports up and down the East Coast are seeking to expand their facilities in order to capitalize on the growing demand for East Coast cargo capacity. Receipt of the VDEQ permit makes The Port of Virginia the only East Coast port with substantial permitted expansion plans. With naturally deep shipping channels and high-quality port infrastructure, The Port of Virginia is uniquely positioned to accommodate the mega-containerships that will use the expanded Panama Canal. The increased cargo volumes will result in job creation and state-wide economic investment.

The Craney Island Eastward Expansion will provide long-term dredged material placement capacity and supports The Port of Virginia’s long-term ability to handle increased cargo. The project is essential to ensure Port growth and the expansion of Virginia’s supply chain industries. Coupled with transportation initiatives like the Heartland Corridor, the Crescent Corridor, and the National Gateway, the project will ensure continued development in intermodal sectors―spurring regional economic growth, creating jobs, and supporting the import and export of goods for the benefit of all Virginians.

Presently, the Port of Virginia generates 343,000 jobs in the Commonwealth, with wages of $13.5 billion, $41.1 billion in revenue, and $1.2 billion in taxes. Construction of the Craney Island Eastward Expansion alone will generate 1,176 jobs with annual wages of $36 million. Over time, the project will generate over 54,000 jobs with wages of $1.7 billion and state and local tax revenues of $155 million. The project will generate $5 billion in economic impacts for the Commonwealth annually.

About the Craney Island Expansion
The Virginia Port Authority (VPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are partnering to construct the Craney Island Eastward Expansion. A project of dual purpose, the Craney Island Eastward Expansion will effectively extend the life of Craney Island as a dredged material placement area, as well as provide land for the construction of a new marine terminal. The Craney Island Eastward Expansion will generate jobs and grow the economic benefits accruing to the Commonwealth from maritime commerce. To learn more visit: http://craneyisland.info.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by Missy_Schmidt: lives in Happy Hampton Roads (all polled were NOT in traffic) http://smartregion.org/2010/02/hampton-roads-is-happy-says-gallup/ #hrva…

“Under the leadership of Secretary Robert Gates, the Department of Defense (DoD) has made a landmark step forward in protecting our nation’s security and preserving our country’s natural resources. The Quadrennial Defense Review, which mirrors what leading military, intelligence, and security experts have told us about the impending threat of climate change and our energy dependence, clearly exhibits that the Department is preparing for the worst of threats,” said former Senator John Warner (R-VA) spokesperson for the Pew Project on National Security, Energy and Climate. “Climate change has the potential to make natural disasters more frequent, adding more missions to the already heavy burdens of our military.”

The QDR, the Pentagon’s primary planning document that assesses the threats and challenges of current and future conflicts says that climate change affects the Department of Defense in two broad ways. First, global warming “will shape the operating environment, roles and missions” that the department undertakes and second “DoD will need to adjust to the impacts of climate change on our facilities and military capabilities.”

“This review of the defense strategy shows that the Pentagon recognizes that global climate change will exacerbate existing threats, worsen conflict in already unstable regions of the world, negatively impact military operations, and result in tremendous costs for our nation,” said American Security Project President, Vice Admiral Lee Gunn, USN (Ret).

In 2007, as members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, then-Senators John Warner (R-VA) and Hilary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) added language to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Department of Defense to consider the effects of climate change on facilities, capabilities and missions. Through the QDR, the DoD is incorporating the threat of global warming into its long-range strategic plans.

“Once again, the Department of Defense has shown real leadership. The Pentagon is the largest user of energy in this country and is aggressively working to reduce their carbon bootprint. Like the DoD, Congress should act now to address the clear threat that climate change and our energy dependence pose to our nation’s security,” said Phyllis Cuttino, director of the Pew Environment Group’s Global Warming Campaign. “The U.S. Senate should pass a national policy that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and protect our national security, create good paying clean energy jobs and protect our environment for future generations. We need bipartisan, comprehensive energy and climate legislation now.”

To read the climate section of Quadrennial Defense Review visit: http://www.pewclimatesecurity.org