Friends,
We just concluded a big week for Bloomington’s future.
On Tuesday, we hosted the first ever Regional Climate Convening, a joint effort with Mayor Lienhoop of Columbus that included leaders from our communities as well as Brown County. About 100 people gathered to discuss and plan how we might work together to address climate change in coming months and years. This bipartisan project, I hope, will lead to real progress among business, academia, government, and grassroots organizations. I’m excited to continue the efforts together and encourage you to check out the event here.
On Thursday, three CEOs came to Bloomington from New York, Atlanta, and Seattle, to break ground on our $50 million city-wide, gigabit-speed fiber network. Some of you may remember I’ve been working toward this since 2016. It’s a game-changer for our future. Meridiam, from New York, is providing the financing and will own the open-access network, as infrastructure. AEG from Atlanta is building the network within two years, ready to connect the first customers by January, and the entire city by 2024. GigabitNow from Seattle will be the founding Internet Service Provider, providing great speeds with net neutrality and a commitment to digital equity. More details here.
The most exciting part of the fiber program is that it is for everyone. Thousands of low-income Bloomington households will get 250Mbs internet (up and down) FREE--changing lives for kids in schools, parents working from home, elderly needing health care, and more. In terms of digital equity, it is the best such program in the country. We are committing $1 million in city funds (including federal APRA money) to join with Meridiam/GigabitNow in assuring any qualifying Bloomington low-income family essentially free great service. Here’s how it will work:
Bloomington households that qualify for the Biden/Harris (thank you!) Affordable Connectivity Program’s (ACP) $30 monthly subsidy will pay just that amount for GigabitNow service (thus a net $0 monthly cost).
Households qualify for ACP in many ways: if they receive Food Stamps (SNAP), Free or Reduced school lunch program, welfare (TANF), Medicaid, SSI, public housing, Women Infant & Children benefits (WIC), and more.
Meridiam and the City will cover the “drop” charges to connect from the household to the fiber in the street, saving each household hundreds of dollars.
The digital equity program also includes an annual $85,000 payment to the city to support local grant programs and a new digital equity position.
Addressing climate change together, as a region. Launching into the 21st century with state-of-the-art digital infrastructure and a groundbreaking equity approach. That’s what we do as Democrats in Bloomington.
And that’s why we need to elect more Democrats, from local to national spots. Elections are one month away. Get involved! Knock doors, make calls, tell your friends, donate money!! And be sure to vote! Our progress depends on it.
Democratically yours,
John Hamilton
P.S. Thanks for all who made the Hamilton Family Picnic last month – we had a blast and helped lift our candidates up! Now let’s get them into office!! Early voting starts this Wednesday, October 12th – more details here.