A Sure Fire Way To Bring Google To Greensboro

[Billy Jones]

Or, Build It And They Will Come?

I'm always amazed at how shorted sighted even the most influential
among us become whenever anything shiny passes before their eyes. But
I'm glad to finally see that others in Greensboro are beginning to see
what I've been saying all along, PR and publicity stunts won't bring
Google's fiber optic cable to Greensboro, North Carolina or any other
city in America. So while cities across the nation are busy wasting
taxpayer dollars on making us all look like cheap whores, the folks at
Google are laughing their asses off.

But if any city in America is serious about attracting providers of
fiber optic services then they need to know the way to start
attracting the likes of Google and their competitors you only need say
to them, "If you don't build it, we will."

You see, nothing moves corporations to act faster than the possibility
that a potential market will be gone before they manage to get control
of the market. Don't believe me? Then why is Time Warner trying to get
the State of North Carolina to ban community owned fiber optic
systems.

Take our current system of cable companies for example. When
Cablevision of Greensboro was first brought to life the cable company
wasn't even interested in serving all of Greensboro. My neighborhood
wasn't served at all. It was only when another cable company from who
knows where started building on the fringes along the city limits that
Cablevision of Greensboro took interest and bought out the smaller
company. As one who was working for that other company at the time, we
all knew the only reason we were building the system was to lure
Cablevision of Greensboro's parent company, Time Warner, into buying
the system we built. We built the entire system using the cheapest
products we could find and before we finished building it the earliest
portions were already due to be rebuilt.

And if you think Greensboro was the exception: the company I worked
for at the time built hundreds of cheap cable systems in towns and
cities all over America and sold every one of those cheap systems to
Time Warner, Comcast, Burnip and Sims and the other giants of the day.
We were one of hundreds of such companies who built cable systems for
the sole purpose of selling them to the cable giants who would pay
almost any price to keep their monopolies. We even went so far as to
find cities that already had cable but no franchise agreement with
their cable provider because we could open up a competing company
offering cheaper prices.... Most of those systems got bought up before
we even managed to finish building them and in some cases the cable
giants paid us to tear down our competing systems and go away.

Other cities allowed a sort of cable free for all whereby the first
cable company to get cable into any given neighborhood got the
franchise for that neighborhood. There were even instances where
clandestine cable crews vandalized their competitors' systems by dark
of night in order to slow their growth.

The men I worked for at the time got very rich building where the
cable companies had yet to build and if Greensboro, North Carolina or
any other city in America is serious about fiber optics then you only
need remember, "Build it and they will come."

[jerry.m...@gmail.com]

Billy I too feel the same way and I know we have the talent and the minds her in Greensboro to make this happen..we've just got to come together and have that Nike attitude!
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

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[donnel...@aol.com]

I don't know the details...but aside from the talent and minds...we have the ability to tap into stimulus funds on the second round to do the same thing Google is proposing.  I assume we would still need an ISP provider...but we could build the infrastructure without Google.  I think if we take a pronged approach we will distinguish ourselves fromt the rest of the pack.  As was suggested we should retain a certain posture that assumes we will keep pursuing this path with or without Google and build the organizational capacity that moves us in that direction.  Therefore, I suggest at some point following the 26th that we have a Strategic Planning Group carry us into the new century.

 

 

Regards,

Donnell "DJ" Hardy

[Dan Fischer]

Is there a way I can be placed on this committee....

Dan Fischer dan_f...@hotmail.com

EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Join me

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To: google-fiber-...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: A Sure Fire Way To Bring Google To Greensboro

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:42:53 -0400
From: donnel...@aol.com

[jerry.m...@gmail.com]

Same here Dan...

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

---

From: Dan Fischer <dan_f...@hotmail.com>

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:53:13 -0400

To: <google-fiber-...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: RE: A Sure Fire Way To Bring Google To Greensboro

[Don Moore]

I don't t think "committees" are going to make a difference with Google.  They are interested in Fiber To The Home.  That means that people in the HOME need to be active - getting the word out is what is required.  Google knows what they want out of this project, I doubt they want to waste any effort with committees.  

They want to see what the general public will do with Fiber in the Home.  They probably also want to see how well they can general revenue off of new services being delivered to the home.

One important point, we may already be screwed by the NC legislature passing the out-of-state tax collection law that forced Amazon to withdraw their affiliate program from North Carolina.  Google will certain deal with the tax implications when they are ready; but the selection of a Greensboro may be affected by Raleigh's greed.

[donnel...@aol.com]

Mr. Moore,

Please read the previous discussion. The "committee" wouldn't be to attract Google. It would be to build consensus and organization around the infrastructure development that would have to take place with or without Google.

In order to gain private or second round stimulus funds to build this sort of infrastructure...it may take having some organizational capacity to pull this off and provide a "working group" that can sustain the idea and handle the public or civic relations involved to ensure Greensboro gets the infrastructure it needs but in a way that is rooted in consensus on what we want.

What you cite as the hopes of Greensboro being stifled by the politics of Raleigh is all the more reason we should seize this opportunity that the Google group has presented but carry that energy there ourselves if we are not selected. If we are all sitting around waiting for a decision...we run the risk of being left behind...the opportunity to move forward is present and we must be sensible about building capacity around the idea that can be sustained.

Donnell "DJ" Hardy

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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From: Don Moore <dubb...@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:30:43 -0400

To: <google-fiber-...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: A Sure Fire Way To Bring Google To Greensboro

I don't t think "committees" are going to make a difference with Google.  They are interested in Fiber To The Home.  That means that people in the HOME need to be active - getting the word out is what is required.  Google knows what they want out of this project, I doubt they want to waste any effort with committees.  

They want to see what the general public will do with Fiber in the Home.  They probably also want to see how well they can general revenue off of new services being delivered to the home.

One important point, we may already be screwed by the NC legislature passing the out-of-state tax collection law that forced Amazon to withdraw their affiliate program from North Carolina.  Google will certain deal with the tax implications when they are ready; but the selection of a Greensboro may be affected by Raleigh's greed.

[Billy Jones]

I happen to know there are still private cable construction companies
located in Guilford County-- those guys have the expertise to run
fiber from pole to pole and under ground. I have some of their phone
numbers in the computer at my office if someone wants to contact them
remind me Monday.

On Mar 19, 11:41 am, donnellha...@aol.com wrote:
> Mr. Moore,
>
> Please read the previous discussion. The "committee" wouldn't be to attract Google. It would be to build consensus and organization around the infrastructure development that would have to take place with or without Google.
>
> In order to gain private or second round stimulus funds to build this sort of infrastructure...it may take having some organizational capacity to pull this off and provide a "working group" that can sustain the idea and handle the public or civic relations involved to ensure Greensboro gets the infrastructure it needs but in a way that is rooted in consensus on what we want.
>
> What you cite as the hopes of Greensboro being stifled by the politics of Raleigh is all the more reason we should seize this opportunity that the Google group has presented but carry that energy there ourselves if we are not selected. If we are all sitting around waiting for a decision...we run the risk of being left behind...the opportunity to move forward is present and we must be sensible about building capacity around the idea that can be sustained.
>
> Donnell "DJ" Hardy
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>

[Jerry McClough]

Now ... Greensboro is talking! These are the types of conversations that we should be having...by bringing together the talent, the minds and the funds would be a beautiful undertaking. Together we can do it...

 

Jerry McClough

--
~Jerry L. McClough~