[sllug-members]: Re: sllug-members Digest, Vol 41, Issue 5

[u235sentinel]

Steve Hildebrand wrote:
> Now that I have a working hard drive again, I should be able to GIMP up 
> a few flyers and such, as a fall-back.
> 
> "Plus I'm a pain in the ass when it comes to contacting Politicians.
> There are a few out there who hear from me about Utopia and Comcast's
> marketing fraud frequently.  Hell, now I'm working with a couple of
> Politicians in D.C. to push through a bill which would prohibit State
> Lawmakers from messing with Utopia... Again (note S.B. 66)."
> 
> Drop the list on us, we can start getting petitions and names out to the 
> public.  Voters calling in to the reps about UTOPIA should catch their 
> attention.
> 

Somehow I missed this email.  Here are the politicians I've been 
conversing with about Utopia and pushing it from the perspective of a 
home business.

***  Note  ***
My wife has a home business where she creates DVD videos.  We are hoping 
in two years to move to the Internet and take orders that way.  I'm 
writing the software in java (Yes, I'm still a noob and learning the 
language).  So there is a business need for expanding in the future but 
I hope it gives our Politicians a little perspective of how bad our 
Infrastructure is and what is needed to encourage companies (such as my 
wife's) to grow and produce more product (translation... more taxes are 
generated).
***       ***


Anyway, many of the politicians I've contacted are part of the 
"Government Competition and Privatization Subcommittee" including the 
following

Rep. Craig A. Frank, Co Chair
Sen. Howard A. Stephenson, Co Chair
Rep. Tim M. Cosgrove
Rep. Carl W. Duckworth
Rep. Kevin S. Garn
Sen. Brent H. Goodfellow
Rep. Michael T. Morley
Sen. Wayne L. Niederhauser
Rep. Mark W. Walker

Here is their web site from last year's meetings

http://www.le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?Year=2007&Com=SUBPRI

BTW, Senator Stephenson wasn't a very nice man to speak with.  Rep. 
Craig Frank was thoughtful  (translation... not as difficult to speak 
with).  We had a great conversation for over an hour after the October 
25th meeting.

As a side note. I find it interesting he's talking about moving to Cedar 
Hills (a non pledging Utopia City).  So he might get Utopia even though 
he's fighting against it (he said Comcast and Qwest DSL is not available 
in Cedar Hills and might need to get a dish for Internet).  What a twist.


Here is the web page with the address information for our Representatives.

http://www.le.state.ut.us/house/members2005/membertable1add.asp


Here it is for the Senators.

http://se16.utahsenate.org/perl/spage/roster2007.pl

I've written letters too all the committee members several times and 
spoken with them directly as well about my interest in Utopia.  I 
encourage everywhere to also write them letters and let them know if 
there are concerns they can be address and problems resolved.  Ignoring 
our Infrastructure is plain stupid.  Most of the world isn't ignoring it 
and many countries are rolling out fiber to the home.  What do they know 
that we don't?

I've also written to my Representative in my District (Jim Bird).  He's 
called me a few times about this.  I explained to him I'm against any 
bill that would restrict Utopia from moving forwad... That is unless the 
restrictions are also enforced against other companies (such as Comcast 
or Qwest).  If it's not fair against them, then obviously there is a 
problem enforcing restrictions against Utopia.

The Representatives web site has all that information.  If you know your 
district it's easy to find your Rep's information.

Chris Cannon has received a few letters from me pushing for Utopia

http://chriscannon.house.gov/Contact/

Senators Bennett and Hatch as well.

http://bennett.senate.gov/contact/contact.html
http://hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Offices.Home

I've received responses from everyone.  Chris Cannon and Senator Bennett 
didn't sound all that informed about Utopia.  The letters I received 
were disappointing.  I've sent additional letters clarifying and 
correcting some statements.

Senator Hatch OTOH sent me a two page letter I'm thinking of posting on 
the blog at least in part.  He had some glowing comments about Utopia 
which encourages me.  I've asked for them to support legislation which 
prohibits states from making laws restricting municipal fiber.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070803-community-broadband-act-would-overturn-bans-on-municipal-broadband.html?rel

I've sent letters to the sponsors including Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) and 
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI).

http://www.boucher.house.gov/images/stories/Boucher/community%20broadband%20act%20of%202007%207-30-07.pdf

::whew::

Sorry for this lengthy letter guys.  I've been busy talking to everyone 
I can get a hold of and doing some intense research into this.  I've 
learned a lot on the subject and find I have even more to learn (story 
of my life).

Hope this helps.  Even though the bills were killed after leaving 
committee, I'm still concerned with the negative attitude I'm seeing in 
the Utah Legislature.  Utopia will not succeed unless more people get 
involved and demand our Politicians stop screwing with it (remember S.B. 
66???)

Thanks for your patience :-)


P.S.  Did anyone notice the article in the West Jordan city paper about 
Utopia?  What on earth are they talking about "we missed the window to 
join Utopia"???

It sounds like they are saying we missed our chance to join... we can't 
even if we wanted to.  At least that's how I read it.  I'm sending a 
letter to them asking for clarification.  I've also emailed Roger Black 
to help clarify this (Retired COO of Utopia but still semi active in it).

Sry again for the long post.