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Native American Wireless ISP Launched
babynerd writes "On Tuesday June 1st the Coeur dAlene tribe unveiled the Turbocharged Broadband Geek Project. The scheme, organized by project head Valerie Fast Horse and funded by a $2.8 million dollar grant from the USDA Rural Utilities Service and a 15% in kind match from the tribe itself, will help build a community technology center (CTC) with 40 computers, and a wireless broadband ISP that will provide high-speed wireless access to anyone living on and near the reservation at a price comparable to that of any other DSL or Cable Internet providers - there's currently no broadband Internet access of any kind available."
...very slow bandwidth . . . .
Oh, gee, you know, trivial things like roads and schools, stuff the Gov't doesn't really fund.
That seems like enough for a *heck* of a buildout and, what? 10 years of expenses? How can I get a piece? :)
Linux IT Consulting and Domino Development in Michigan
I live in Spokane, 15 minute drive from CdA, and hopefully this project, if it succeeds, will bring more wireless into the area.
Right now the greater Spokane area is pretty much monopolized by Qwest's DSL (available some places) and Comcast's cable (available pretty much anywhere else). For a city with 300K plus total population it's a shame.
Too bad they ain't running Apache... maybe they've had bad experiences in the past?
Want to see what you can get from donations and volunteer efforts?
http://www.personaltelco.net
2.8 million would be nice to have, do not get me wrong. Given what we are doing for what we have it would mean a heck of a lot of coverage.
Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap! Poor little clams! Snap! Snap! Snap!
Have you ever driven through a Native American reservation? If we're compensating them, where did we go wrong? Seems like we sent some people into the top 5% tax bracket and left the rest of the tribes in the lowest levels of poverty. Not as nasty as killing their ancestors and forcing them into the worst parts of the country, but it's still pretty bad.
-Aaron
My name is Aaron Landry, and I approve this message.
I'm starting to think my history teacher is psychic. Today, we watched Smoke Signals in class and now there is this in the news. Last week, we finished talking about Ronald Reagan, now he died. A while back, we talked about Elia Kazan in the 50's, within a week, he died. Wierd...
I should get him to talk about Bill Gates...
Intresting the history behind this organization... It started as one of the "alphabet soup" programs under Roosevelt during the Great Depression to help provide both employment and electrify the Nation's rural farms. The program was very successful, and established rural "electric cooperatives" that allowed a number of individuals to form their own electric substation at a fraction of the price of the major electric companies. It recieved a lot of flak along with other New Deal projects because it evoked a socialist-like image, and the "red scare" was part of the period. Later, the Rural Electrification project got squished together into the a small piece of the USDA. I wonder if this is the future of the project - if so, it will play a major part at bringing the nation cheap broadband access.
Maybe the idea here is that by giving them a handout with potentially limitless educational value, we increase the odds that at least a few more of them will be motivated and have the resources to get out there and make it on their own.
I suppose you think fertilizer encourages laziness in plants...
I live within driving distance of about 4 reservations, 3 of which have casinos. 2 of those are less than 10 minutes from me.
By and large, those two casinos send most of their money to out-of-state banks that fronted the money to build the casinos in the first place (and those banks are connected to Vegas). That will taper down once the casinos have paid most of the debt off. Some of the money gets sent to the state in the form of "taxes" (that's right, in order to have a casino the tribes do pay the state money). The rest gets split up amongst the reservation, tribal members, and employees (not all of whom are tribe members).
In my community, the nearby casinos have paid millions of dollars (about 4 million total) to widen roads and improve the traffic situation-things which have been needed for a long time (a decade and a half) but didn't start to happen until casinos were built and the money became available. Both nearby reservations are undergoing environmental cleanup, since years of mis-management have made them polluted, dangerous places to live. Schools desperately needing rebuilding have been rebuilt.
There are a lot of things that are bad about the casinos. I personally don't like to gamble and blame the casinos for the surge in DUI activity that I've seen around here. But at least here, where I am, some of that money is being very well spent and the tribes, who were historically shown the finger by both state and local governments, are worlds removed from the state they were in just a decade ago.
If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
They can leave the reservation,
Many have, my ancestors included. Others are trapped by economic circumstances. Still other don't want their culture to die.
or try to organize a better economic structure for their tribes. No one's forcing them to run things that way.
Ah, another ignorant AC. Actually, the Bureau of Indian Affairs pretty much requires a planned economy for the tribes. A couple of tribes have gotten permission from the BIA to have a freer economy, and they have succeeded. But in general, the vast majority of tribes in this country are forced to have 5 year economic plans by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In Repressive Burma, it's not just your connection that dies. slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=314547&cid=20819199
actually several of us were born here.
"the best safety of the frontier...will be secured by total annihilation of the few remaining indians" L Frank Baum 1890
For the same damn reason we use tax dollors to let every Tom, Dick and Harry surf porn and do email from almost every public library in the U.S.. Fedral grants are handed out $millions at a time to put desktops in public schools or fund a new program at univeristies. Why does a tech grant to a tribe raise your ire any more than them?
Furthermore, how much do you know about tribes' "per-capita" payments, or scholorship programs? They're not simply tax money diverted from your pocket to their account. Many are the result of interest from trust-fund-like accounts, large lawsuit settlements against the gov't and income from tribe run organizations. And before anyone complains about a tribe's right to have those types of funds, realize that they are from treaties that the government signed, or lawsuits where the U.S. justice system found the government in fault.
Anonymous coward, indeed.
A previous attempt by a different group of native Americans failed to crystallize into an actual broadband offering. That group's spokesman, Eddie Slow Turtle, had no explanation.
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
There is a systems integration and networking company here in the American West. I won't name their name, since the I'm going to say some pretty strong things...
The guy who owns gets a deep discount from distrubution partners because his is a "native-american" owned business. The company wraps themselves in the iconography and their logo is an animal synonymous with the American Indian.
This guy is ONE-EIGHTH American Indian. I won't even name the tribe. Doesn't matter. This guy is fat, pale white and bald and looks about as American Indian as Tony Soprano. perfect guy to compare him to, as well. Actually, I think Tony is less corrupt.
Nevertheless, he has a huge advantage over his competition. His discount is about 3 to 4 POINTS below a company without that status. Bidding an integration and database project that includes a $100,000 worth of Sun equipment? Going against these guys? Snap $4k off the top, just throw that money away or you WILL be underbid. Looking for an education contract? Good luck.
Want to know what else you are up against? the Tax benefits to a large corporation when they give business to a "Small Business Administration-certified 8(a)" firm. Want to double up the tax breaks? Do it in a HUBzone - Historically Underutilized Business Zone. Does your company need to be in the HUBZone to qualify for the tax break? Not necessarily. Quite a few legal entanglements there, depends what state your corporation is incorporated in.
Isn't about time we closed bullshit loopholes like these? I'm a Democrat and believe that certain inequalities exist and that in certain instances, Affirmative Action and tax incentives for areas make for good business and re-level a playing field that DOES have systematic racism in it. But laws regarding Indians are just being abused. Badly. I have a friend who is actually HALF Sioux. He moved away, but I wanted to start a business with him as an equal partner. 4 points on Cisco, Sun, and a myriad of other gear is big margin in the VAR world.
I am shocked to read the number of angry responses to this story. I always thought that technology was neutral in the racial game, and was quite surprised at the number of angry, racial geeks out there. I guess I should be glad that your remarks are based on ignorance rather than truth or honesty. The good news: you angry guys are not the majority.
Crap, now I hate myself for having both THEY and WE ancestry. I think I'll go outside and kick my own ass then give my land back to myself.