Big City Broadband: Today's Most Important Utility

Companies today, tech and non-tech alike, would rather have their lights go out than lose their internet connection. And yet, in major cities across the US, companies have to cope with just that – regular service interruptions, slow speeds, internet “rush hour” when download speeds slow to a crawl, and other issues.
Urban environments in the US can be where broadband issues are most pronounced – and hardest to solve. Cities are responding: by developing public-private partnerships (NYC), courting Google (Kansas City), and building their own networks (Santa Monica). New America joins these three cities to discuss their unique approaches to the urban broadband challenge.
Presenters

Gary Carter
Community Broadband Mgr
City of Santa Monica
Gary Carter is the Community Broadband Manager for the City of Santa Monica's 100 Gigabit Broadband Initiative, “Santa Monica City Net”. CityNet has won the InformationWeek 500 award, Public Techn...
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Greta Byrum
Sr Analyst, Resilient Communities Program
New America
Greta Byrum is an urban planner and a Senior Field Analyst at New America, where she designs and implements collaborative neighborhood technology projects. Greta's work focuses on the meeting-place...
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Kate Daly
Sr VP, Center for Economic Transformation
NYCEDC
Kate Daly is Senior Vice President at the NYC Economic Development Corporation's Center for Economic Transformation. In her role, she oversees transformative work in multiple sectors: media & techn...
Show the restTroy Schulte
City Mgr
Kansas City
Schulte, who has been with the City since 1998 and was named budget officer in 2003, was appointed acting city manager by the mayor and City Council Nov. 19, 2009. Schulte was appointed city manage...
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