Public entities in Skagit County, Washington, are joining forces to improve connectivity in rural areas while developing infrastructure to connect the entire county. Earlier this month the Port of Skagit and the Skagit Public Utility District (PUD) entered into an agreement to form an entity to develop an open access network in keeping with the county’s strategic fiber plan.… Read More
The report, Yes! In My Backyard: A Home Composting Guide for Local Governments, profiles 11 home composting programs (10 in the United States, 1 in Canada) and is a guide for local governments starting their own programs. It makes the case that home composting should be a central component of every community’s residential food waste reduction strategy. The guide is not intended as a manual on how to compost at home.… Read More
This is episode 303(!) of our Community Broadband Bits podcast! Community Broadband Bits is a short weekly podcast featuring interviews with people building community networks or otherwise involved with Internet policy. We’re a little off kilter these days when it comes to state legislation. Typically, we spend our efforts helping local communities stave off bills to steal, … Read More
In March, Washington state legislators passed HB 2664 and sent it on to Governor Jay Inslee, who signed the bill on March 22nd. In the Port of Ridgefield, where the community has been developing plans for a dark fiber network, the community had advocated for the change. Now that the law will be changing for the better, they’re ready to pursue the partnerships they need to spur economic development and improve connectivity for residents and businesses.… Read More
In Andalusia, Alabama & Coulee Dam, Washington members of the each city council were interested in learning more about municipal broadband and how it could work for their communities. That’s where the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s resources came in in a great example of our resources reaching far and wide.… Read More
Last week we reported about the uncertain position that faced Washington ports might find themselves in, should they decide to bring better connectivity to the areas within and around their service areas. We are pleased to learn that the state legislature saw the light and chose to pass the bill without the proposed harmful Senate amendments. It’s good news, but the final bill isn’t ideal.… Read More
Community-members in Kitsap County are moving inexorably toward neighborhood level broadband availability! The Lookout Lane community formed their LUD and worked with the Kitsap Public Utility District (KPUD) to expand its open access network to their neighborhood because they were stuck with slow CenturyLink DSL. Residents didn’t feel that they were getting what they were paying for at $60 per month and 1 Megabit per second (Mbps) on average download speed. Now they have options up to 1 gigabit symmetrical via the publicly owned open access network.… Read More
In coastal Washington port authorities are a crucial piece of the broadband Internet landscape, this new bill could help remove limits on their size, however, some amendments could limit their efficacy.… Read More
If you haven’t noticed, the U.S. recycling movement has become a Zero Waste movement, and the Zero Waste movement is spreading rapidly worldwide. Most recently, Vietnam’s Zero Waste Alliance joins scores of Zero Waste NGOs now on each continent. In the U.S., Dan Knapp of Urban Ore, Berkeley introduced the “Zero Waste concept and corollaries” from … Read More
