Random stuff from Sheldon

Twin Cities Media Alliance Fall Forum

2009-11-07T10:01:00.007-06:00

Title: Networking And The New Media Landscape: Reporting News, Building Community, Making Money

Sponsor: Twin Cities Media Alliance/ Twin Cities Daily Planet

Location: Minneapolis Central Library

Attendance: about 85--from across the political/ideological landscape

Twitter tag: #TCMA09

Keynote: The Twin Cities Media Ecosystem by Matt Thompson of Knight Foundation:

Three stages of media in the Twin Cities:

The Niche Media phase--lots of publications--from an early 20th century publication on grain milling that had correspondents in London and New York to a lot of papers written in the languages of the many new immigrants.
The Mass Media--the multiple daily newspapers that were in the Twin Cities merge into just two--one on the East side (St. Paul) and one on the West side (Minneapolis). National news is concentrated in a few "voices" (e.g. Walter Cronkite)
The Networked Media--Cross feeds--new curators--individuals select the sources we believe and share them, information is connected to other informations, sources connect to each other, news aggregation sites connect to each other, We have to talk about

Local media has to stop talking about the information we provide and start talking about the value we provide (this was really brought home to be during a site visit to TCMA by a local foundation last week).

First Panel (Reporting the News) Take Away:

Everyone is getting into news aggregation--from hyper local neighborhood sites to Minnesota Public Radio and WCCO TV (Local CBS). TC Daily Planet, while it was an early aggregator of community news (both ethnic and geographic communities), will be competing with more aggregators in the near future.

Keynote 2: Bruce Schneier, "Blogging, New Media and the Generation Gap"

Five key works for new media

Be Interesting--every page, every sentence, every article
Be Entertaining--it is no accident that many young people get their news from John Stewart. Rush Limbaugh knows he is an entertaining.
Be Engaging--(I would say "Be Community") people want to talk to each other. Communities can be geographical, topical. Community can be more important than news
Be available--there has to be an easy way to get to older content.
Be agile--you don't know what the new device or new platform will be tomorrow or next week. You don't know how new generations will use the Internet How the young will use the Internet will not just be different, it will be incomprehensible.

Bruce recommends checking out book "Free" by Kris (Sp???) Anderson (I wonder if I can literally check it out since this is happening in a library.)

In response to a question: "Net Neutrality can not fail. If it fails legally, there will be enough work arounds that it will eventually succeed. It is an important fight. It if fails, we will see a major set-back with a bunch of old media companies using the law to hand on to an old model. People fighting it will have a lot of technical tools--they just won't have the law on their side."

Second Panel (Building Community) Take Aways:

Building community is a lot of work (hey, it was actually acknowledged!)
While a couple years ago, no one site will be the "one site" for any specific community.

Third Panel (the hardest to get speakers to fill) "Making Money" Take Aways

www.bringmethenews.com is a for profit news site. (at least they hope to be profitable). No banner ads--rely on sponsored content. My question--Isn't sponsored content just another way to say "long form ad"
L3C funding model for funding=Low Profit Limited Liability Corporation. Primary aim is to further a social purpose. They are designed to attract capital to benefit the community. Good source for information--Americans for Community Development.
From the Uptake: "If anyone tells you they have funding and business models for media figured out--don't believe them."

Lunch--Nonprofit Mission and Excellence Awards

2009-11-06T14:16:00.002-06:00

Nonprofit Excellence--large organization

Simpson Housing Services

Julie Manworren (ED of Simpson) “No man, woman or child should experience homelessness. We can end homelessness.”

Nonprofit Excellence--small organization

Dakota Woodlands (shelter for homeless families in a Twin Cities suburb).

Reyne Branchaud-Linsk (ED) “It is important to continue to help families after they find housing of their own.”

Responsive Philanthropy Nonprofit Mission Award

Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation

(The foundation actually increased their grants to nonprofits to help in the recession.)

A number of members of the family accepted the award.

Innovation Nonprofit Mission Award

CaringBridge

Advocacy Nonprofit Mission Award

National Alliance on Mental Illness of Minnesota

“Sometimes the best way to serve our clients is to teach them to advocate for themselves.”

Anti-Racism Initiative Nonprofit Mission Award

Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial

Nonprofit Standards

2009-11-06T11:46:00.003-06:00

Charities Review Council’s New Accountability Standards (7:45 AM)

First, a conference session starting at 7:45 AM? I think this only happens at nonprofit conferences.

Minnesota has this unique organization--the Charities Review Council that sets standards for nonprofit organizations. The organization has been around since the 1940s. They have a new set of accountability standards that was presented at this session. Overall headings include: Public Disclosure, Governance, Financial Activity, and Fundraising (a total of 27 separate standards. The most interesting part of the session was the question/discussion section. Being a shameless agitator, I raised my hand first:

The public disclosure section is all about transparency. My major problem with this section (overall it is a great section) is that it doesn’t require nonprofits to be proactive about communication. It is all passive (“Make the information available to the public’). There is no discussion about working to engage the community.

The data privacy standard only addresses donor privacy. It should also address client data privacy.

My major complaints are about the "Use of Funds" section in the standards on Financial Activity. (Really, about the percent of administrative cost that is allowed.):

First, it is better than it was. The text addresses the reality that administrative costs are important and valuable and that not all nonprofits will be the same.
It requires an explanation if the organization claims administrative costs of under 10%. This at least re-inforces the fact that not all administrative cost is bad.
It also allows a three year average of administrative costs. While this helps for major infrastructure projects like implementing a new database, it may not be enough. A three year average doesn't allow much for ongoing investment in non-capital infrastructure. However, it still sets percentage standards.
My major complaint is that the percentages don't work for a lot of organizations. For example, small nonprofits that rely on volunteers to provide services and have limited staff who manage the organization and coordinate the volunteers will have a high percentage of administrative costs--simply because its program costs are low (I actually kind of did a rant on this topic) (go here for a longer rant and a link to a great article from Fast Company about this)

Thoughts from the Minnesota Nonprofit and Foundation Conference

2009-11-06T11:35:00.004-06:00

(This is going to be a series of shorter posts)

This conference is a day and a half--jointly put on by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the Minnesota Council of Foundations.

Title: Transforming our Work: from Challenging Times to Hopeful Futures (The title seems to follow the standard nonprofit conference model” three words, colon, four to six words.) http://www.transformingourwork.org/

Attendance: 1800 nonprofit professionals, foundation staff persons, board members of foundations and nonprofits, and quite a few consultants (like me--looking for projects)

Facility:

St. Paul River Center convention center. Great layout, Great location. I found reasonably priced parking only a block away (RiverCenter municipal ramp across the street is OVER priced). But, no wifi on conference floor. YOu have to go downstairs to coffee shop to get wifi. What is this, 1990???

General Thoughts:

The organizers are allowing a lot of time for networking--that’s what I come to conferences for.
First sessions on Friday are at 7:45. AGGG. No private sector conference would start THAT early!
There is NO resource room where participants can leave literature for other attendees to pick up (this is usually a great source of material to plagiarize from--opps, I mean learn from.
Great networking--meeting a lot of old friends and new people. Ran out of business cards on the Thursday afternoon.
Wish there were more people from local foundations and at least some people from national foundations so they could learn a little about the real world of running a nonprofit and dealing with their requirements.
Really wish some government funders of nonprofits (e.g. counties that provide funding for human service nonprofits) were here to learn.

San Francisco--two short days

2009-09-23T22:55:00.010-05:00

Day one in SF--After getting some

more sleep (after getting the LARGE van exchanged for a car); went to THE tourist destination: Fisherman’s Wharf and Ghirardelli Square. Crowds, shops, street performers, crowds, sea lions, crowds, expensive parking.

Day two in SF--Mass Transit to the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. BART from the end of the line to City Center, transfer to Muni street-car (light rail) N-Judah line. This

Muni line runs under Market Street and then through another tunnel on its way to the south side of Golden Gate Park. Total travel time about 1.5 hours (it would have been faster by car but not as interesting).

California Academy of Science is in a brand new building. Inside is very industrial with a very cold/hard feel. The exhibits were great. Started with the aquarium, went through the Africa hall, the Galapagos and climate change exhibits--all great. The Rainforest was the best. Didn’t have time for the planetarium. Did get up to see the green roof--they had a docent explaining it (That is something the Minneapolis Central Library should do--maybe at least once a week tours of the green roof.) I was kind of expecting fore physics and technology. Except for the planetarium, this science museum clearly focuses on biology and does it extremely well.

On the way back, we went up to the

surface when we got off the Muni at City Center, walked around Civic Center (clearly influenced by the City Beautiful movement), walked along the Tenderloin part of Market street to Powell, had some coffee and people watched (the lines for the Powell Street Cable Car were amazing--looked like all tourists--I wonder if SF natives ever take it as transit). BART back to the hotel.

Traveling is a hassle--SFO Version,

2009-09-23T22:50:00.003-05:00

The flight to San Francisco when fine. In fact, SunCountry seems to have more room between rows than NorthWest and pretty comfortable seats. The flight was about half full so we also had the middle seat free. Landed early--about 11 PM.

The hassle came at the rental car. Took AirTrain from SFO terminal to their rental car facility. We had pre-registered online so we should have been able to walk right up to a car and drive off. Walked into the garage as the online instructions and directed. There were NO cars. NONE. (Remember that ad about just going to the lot and picking the car you want--It doesn't work when there are NO cars.) Went back to the counter. One person was still there.

Now the fun began. The counter person had us go through the registration procedure all over and told us to go out to the National part of the garage and there would be a short wait.

Got out to the garage. the attendant said they were bringing up cars one at a time. after about 45 minutes, they directed the people were were in front of us in the line to take the last VIP car that was in the garage. After another 15 minutes, the attendant said there were no more cars. If we wanted to, we could drive one of the 10 passenger vans to our hotel and return it in the morning for a car. Since we were only about five miles way, we took it.

Got to the hotel and the key cards didn’t work--back down to the desk for new cards.

Went back to Alamo about 6 hours latter (7 AM) and complained to a manager--got about a 25% reduction on our rate (a little over $100). This was also the first time anyone at Alamo or National said “I’m sorry” or explained what happened (a big conference had come in over the weekend and they rented more cars than they should have.)

Travel plusses:

Plane left early and got in early
Plain seats were comfortable
Baggage showed up at baggage claim fast
Hotel was close
Two people at National finally said “I’m sorry” the next morning
Saved over $100 on the car rental

Travel minuses:

Red-eye flight
Trying to sleep on the plane (although this plane was more comfortable than the Egypt Air flight to Cairo)
No car in garage
Had to go through rental car registration twice
No one at Alamo or National were honest when we got there (they clearly knew there were no cars available when we got their--wasted an hour of our time). No one at Alamo or National Car Rental said “I’m sorry.”
Key card (minor)
Had to go back to SFO at 7 AM instead of sleeping after a red-eye flight

Why you should care about broadband and Net Neutrality

2009-08-26T12:08:00.004-05:00

NTEN asked me to write an article on why nonprofit techies and leaders should be interested in the pending decisions and debates at the local, state and federal levels regarding Internet access. The thousand word article is on NTEN's blog. (Note, they came up with the title--"Save the Internet, Save the World."

The "Admin" line item in Nonrprofit budgets

2009-07-31T16:02:00.003-05:00

I seem to be in a rut of no origional posts--just references to interesting things I've found. Well, here is another one.

Nancy Lubkin has another great column in Fast Company in the July issue: "Why Overhead Isn't Evil in the Non-Profit World."

She takes on all those online "giving guides" nonprofit management "guidelines" and foundation biases that say "Overhead is bad. You need to spend at least 88% of your money on programs." A couple great pieces from her column:

"Let's take an example from the for-profit world, which isn't so squeamish about overhead. According to Apple's Q4 2008 report, 78% of its expenses were sales, general, and administrative -- the corporate equivalent of overhead. Seventy-eight percent! Yet nobody flinches. Keep spending, Steve Jobs! Your products rock!"

and

"Stop obsessing about overhead. You can't assess an organization on one statistic. Instead, focus on effectiveness. That's a harder story to tell and a trickier thing to measure. But that effort is what everyone ultimately wants -- a good investment."

Please read her column!

Very different city website

2009-07-27T16:05:00.003-05:00

The city of Westminster in the UK has unveiled a new website--"Google simple". Just a few tabs, a big search box, a mapping function, a calendar, and a short list of topics. Totally contrary to the Attention Deficit inducing website design that is now typical. Check it out at http://www.westminster.gov.uk/

Deloitte doesn't seem to value collaboration when "helping" nonprofits.

2009-07-26T14:39:00.003-05:00

We've been hearing for years from foundations and corporations that nonprofits need to collaborate. But when Deloitte decided to start offering workshops for nonprofits in the Twin Cities on planning, taxes, finances and fundraising, they seem to have decided not to collaborate. The full article on MinnPost byScott Russell is here.

There are great organizations already providing help in these areas in Minnesota--The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, The Nonprofits Assistance Fund, and MAP for Nonprofits to name three. But Deloitte didn't contact them--didn't consider collaboration--didn't ask for advice.

Also, I'm always a little cautious when for profit consultancies that specilize in for profit businesses offer help to nonprofits. See my post on For-Profit Managers in the Nonprofit World and this column from Fast Company.

10 Disruptive Technologies You Need to Think About

2009-07-01T21:21:00.002-05:00

From Gartner via Holly Ross at NTEN "10 Disruptive Technologies You Need to Think About." No comment is necessary. It says it all.

Proposed High Voltage Transmission Line along a Greenway

2009-06-24T16:32:00.007-05:00

Background
Our local electric utility, Xcel Energy, has proposed two new substations and a double-circuit high- voltage transmission line along the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis. Xcel claims that this is the best/only way to increase the system capacity to meet the power needs of the area. (In recent years there has been significant development in the area with expansion of the Wells Fargo mortgage service center, expansion of two hospitals and a major office/retail/residential mixed-use redevelopment of an old Sears regional distribution center and store.

In Minnesota, this line will need the approval of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. In fact, state law gives the City of Minneapolis no say in this project--only the PUC has any authority. Xcel has filed a request with the PUC and the public process started last week with a public meeting. This week, the first meeting of the Public Advisory Task Force for the project happens (I am the representative from my neighborhood on that task force.)

At last week's public meeting, I provided the following testimony (well, it was close to what is below, I presented from notes, not from a written document--so this is based on those notes:

My Public Comments

Introduction:
My name is Sheldon Mains, I have lived in the Seward Neighborhood for 30 years and am the Seward Neighborhood Group Representative on the Public Advisory Task Force. These comments however are only mine. They have not been approved by the SNG board.

Over twenty years ago, I worked in the transmission line routing program when it was housed in the old Minnesota Environmental Quality Board. However, the staff assigned to this project were not involved with this program when I worked there. I did work with Deborah Pile, the person who is the assigned Public Advisory when I was in a different job in a different agency.

Public Adviser:
I'm going to take this opportunity to introduce Deborah Pile. As Public Advisor, it is her job to help the public be involved in this process. This process involves a lot of rules and procedures so she can be of great help (but can not provide "legal advice.) In short, it is her job to help the public fight (or support) this project. Contact her at Deborah.Pile@state.mn.us or 651-297-2375.

First routing project in a dense urban area:
The law and the rules for this state function were written assuming routing mainly over agricultural, forest and undeveloped land. There are rules and parts of the law that specifically deal with agricultural land, mining land and tourism. There is nothing that specifically deals with densely developed urban land.

This is the first VERY urban route the power line routing program has dealt with. You are going to have to be creative in applying the rules.

You have already done so in setting up the advisory task force—the rules call for at least one town board member—no town boards in Mpls but there are City recognized neighborhood groups—which you did include—thank you.

A few other places where creativity will be required:
Under Minnesota Statutes Section 216E.03 DESIGNATING SITES AND ROUTES
(5) analysis of the direct and indirect economic impact of proposed sites and routes including, but not limited to, productive agricultural land lost or impaired;

There is no agricultural land on this route. However, you will need to consider the direct and indirect economic impact on potential development along this route.

Minnesota Rules 7849.5930 PROHIBITED ROUTES Subp. 2. Parks and natural areas.
No high voltage transmission line may be routed through state or national parks or state scientific and natural areas unless the transmission line would not materially damage or impair the purpose for which the area was designated and no feasible and prudent alternative exists. Economic considerations alone do not justify use of these areas for a high voltage transmission line.

There are no state parks in Minneapolis. But the Midtown Greenway is a recreational and open space that serves an area of the state where there is limited recreational and open space. In fact, I would guess that if you added up the public use of ten average state parks in Minnesota, it would not come close to equaling the use of the Midtown Greenway. In fact, with the limited open space in this area of Minneapolis the PUC should require that XCEL pay the full cost for the replacement of any open space it uses.

Consideration of Alternatives:
MN Rules 7849.5920 FACTORS EXCLUDED.
When the Public Utilities Commission has issued a Certificate of Need for a large electric power generating plant or a high voltage transmission line or placed a high voltage transmission line on the certified HVTL list maintained by the commission, questions of need, including size, type, and timing, questions of alternative system configurations, and questions of voltage shall not be factors considered by the commission in deciding whether to issue a permit for a proposed facility.

This rule is clearly to avoid re-hashing need and alternative ways of providing for that need when there has been a Certificate of Need issued since those issues are dealt with in that process. This rule clearly only applies "When the Public Utilities Commission has issued a Certificate of Need..." There has been no Certificate of Need and none is required. Therefore, this rule does not apply and you are allowed to consider alternative ways of providing for the need and to review what the need really is.

Because of the above rule, and since it appears that the alternative routes down residential streets are not real alternatives (Xcel has not been able to provide an example of where they have place high voltage transmission lines down residential streets), you need to consider more alternatives.

A need for transmission capacity or distribution capacity?
It is clear that the power supply system for this area of Minneapolis needs to be improved. One thing that should be considered is whether the need for improved power supply in the project area is due to a need for more transmission or a need for improved distribution and more substation capacity). Back when I was working for the Minnesota Environmental Quality Program, I remember NSP (Xcel's previous name) proposing a transmission line from Minnesota to Eau Claire Wisconsin to improve the power supply in Western Wisconsin. It turned out in that project that much of the problem was caused by inadequate distribution, not inadequate transmission. Xcel never built that line and there doesn't seem to be a power shortage currently in Western Wisconsin.

Besides considering the character of the need, I propose that one alternative that is considered is what I call the One Substation Alternative:

One new substation along the existing HVTL.
Improved distribution from that substation and other substations serving the area. Remember, much of the distribution in this area is over sixty years old
Replace old equipment and add capacity in existing substations that serve this area.

Who pays for undergrounding:
In rural Minnesota, when transmission lines follow survey lines or existing rights of way, it can cost more than going straight across an agricultural area. This specifically benefits only the farmers whose property is crossed but all rate payers for that power company pay for that additional cost. When the Benton County to Milaca line (I think in the early 1980s) was routed around the developed core of Milaca, all rate payers paid for it.

If it is decided that undergroundiing the best option here, all rate payers in the state should pay for it, not just the rate payers in the local area (as Xcel has proposed).

Thank you for your time

Minneapolis Public Works Department: Blame the pedestrian and promote cars

2009-06-01T17:59:00.004-05:00

Last week there was a small neighborhood meeting with staff from Minneapolis Public Works about pedestrian safety at one location in Seward Neighborhood in Minneapolis.

It seems that the Public Works department has the same analysis of any pedestrian safety situation:

We can't make cars wait too long at an intersection.
We don't mark crosswalks unless it is at an intersection where the cars are already forced to stop by a traffic light or stop sign because:

Drivers ignore the crosswalks.
Drivers ignore the state law that requires them to stop for pedestrians at marked (or unmarked) crosswalks.
We don't want to give pedestrians a false sense of security.

In short, it seems they are saying that they don't care that the drivers are the ones causing the unsafe conditions and that pedestrians should only cross at traffic lights or stop signs (no matter how far out of the way they are.

Nonprofit Tech Conference Keynotes: Social Media, Failure and Intellectual Property

2009-06-01T16:55:00.006-05:00

[This happened over a month ago but the videos were just put online]

The two keynotes at this year's Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco were great but very different. They were total different styles and tackled totally different topics. (Judge for yourself, the videos are at www.nten.org ( hard to find--here is the direct link: http://nten.org/blog/2009/05/27/theyre-finally-here-video-09ntc-plenaries )

Clay Shirky, the author of Here Comes Everybody, was a typical keynote speaker--well known, the author of a new and popular book, and very energetic. He also was the kind of speaker that works great for an opening keynote--he established some broad themes for the conference.

The first half of his presentation was all about social media. (It was vaguely familiar from various videos of Shirky on the Web.) The basic premise was (paraphrased) "the world of organizing without organizations" and "don't worry about loosing control of your brand--you've already lost control." This overall topic was well covered in the conference.
The second half of his talk was on failing inteligently. This is one of my favorate topics--that you can learn alot from trying something and failing at it if you are honest about the analysis. This wasn't discussed much at the conference. That is a shame since many foundations (the funding source of a lot of nonprofits) don't want to hear about failures--they want the final reports to be glowing--they want to pretend everything that they fund is a success. Very few foundations like receiving final reports that say: "The project didn't work; this is why it didn't work; this is what we learned." (The McKnight Foundation here in Minneapolis is one of the few that are interested in this type of report from grantees).

The Tuesday Keynote was by Eben Moglen. He is a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the founding director of the Software Freedom Law Center. He hasn't written a new and popular book, he isn't well known (even in the nonprofit technology community) and his speaking style was what you'd expect from a boring law professor. But he ended up forcing everyone to ask themselves really hard questions.

When he started talking i felt a general sigh in the room that seemed to say "this is going to put me to sleep." People kept talking, people were checking their email on their laptops, people were thumbing through the conference programs trying to figure out what breakout session to go to. As Moglen droned on, people started picking up on what he was saying:

Proprietary software stifles innovation and the economy,
The whole concept of "intellectual property rights" is wrong,
We need new systems to compensate creativity.

About half way through his talk, the room was silent--everyone was paying attention. He attacked some sacred cows. He came into a conference that was sponsored primarily by large software companies and challenged their right to existence. The response to his ideas was mixed--some conference attendees loved them, some hated them--but everyone seemed to agree that he was forcing people to think about really hard questions.

The Stimulus Package, Nonprofits and Broadband

2009-05-18T11:57:00.002-05:00

The live blog by Jana Byington-Smith from the session I moderated at the Nonprofit Technology Conference on:

"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (The Obama Stimulus Package) and Nonprofits" (Mainly about broadband) [Yes I know it is a ridiculously long title]

is here

More Broadband Stimulus Info

2009-05-05T20:34:00.003-05:00

This is about a month old but still looks useful. Stimulus money for broadband development. From Internetnews.com: How to Get Broadband Stimulus Cash
The government is handing out billions of dollars, but obtaining a piece of it won't be easy.

Local Twitter Day May 1

2009-04-26T15:56:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine (Steve Clift) is promoting an interesting project: Local Day. The basic idea is to use your postal code as a hash tag (e.g. #55406) and find other twiterers near you. More details at http://e-democracy.org/tweetlocal

From E-Democracy:

Take the #LocalDay Pledge Now to Spread the Word, by tweeting:

On May 1 join me on #LocalDay and find your neighbors using your Postal/Zip Codel

Stimulus Package, Broadband and Nonprofits. Some Resources

2009-04-26T00:00:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow morning I'm hosting a session at the Nonprofit Technology Conference on the Stimulus Package, broadband and nonprofits. It is going to be a group sourcing session--I don't know much about it. No one seems to have all the answers--but if we share our knowledge, we may be able to figure it out.

So here are some resources:

American Library Association
Top ten things you can do now…To get broadband stimulus funding for your libray
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/wo/woissues/washfunding/fedfund/Broadband%20Top%20Ten.pdf

7.2 Billion for Broadband
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/wo/woissues/washfunding/fedfund/arra101pgs/broadband.cfm

Baller Herbst Law Group
Basic links
http://baller.com/economic_stimulus.html

Opportunities for Federal Grants, Loans and Other Support for Broadband
http://baller.com/pdfs/Baller_Herbst_Stimulus_2-19-09.pdf

Additional Broadband Funding Opportunities
http://baller.com/pdfs/BHLG_More_ARRA_03-30-09.pdf

Knight Center of Digital Excellence
Center of Digital Excellence Stimulus Center
http://www.knightcenter.org/stimuluscenter.html

US Government Recovery Act Sites (added 4/28 -- suggested at NTC)
Central Recovery.gov site
http://www.recovery.gov/

Agency Recovery Act Sites
http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/agencies

NTIA (National Telecommunications and Informatino Administration--Department of Commerce)
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/recovery/index.html

Department of Agriculture (RUS-Rural Utilities Service)
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?navid=ARRA_PLANS&parentnav=USDA_ARRA&navtype=RT

National Public Lightpath
News on Broadband Stimulus (see right side bar)
http://www.publiclightpath.org/

Minnesota Broadband Coalition
http://www.mnbroadbandcoalition.com

Internet for Everyone
http://www.internetforeveryone.org/

Fieldstone Alliance (General—non broadband—stimulus information)
Want Stimulus Money? Act Fast!
http://www.fieldstonealliance.org/client/tools_you_can_use/04-08-09_access_stimulus_money.cfm?disccode=TOOL040809&repvendid=335

Blandin Foundation, Minnesota
Live at the speed of light: a broadband vision for Minnesota
http://broadband.blandinfoundation.org/_uls/resources/Vision_Statement_FINAL_0228.pdf

Broadband Initiative
http://broadband.blandinfoundation.org/

Blandin on Broadband Blog
http://blandinonbroadband.org/

Blandin calls for stimulus funding partners
http://blandinonbroadband.org/2009/04/22/blandin-calls-for-stimulus-funding-partners/

Minneapolis Wi-Fi Community Benefits Agreement--Quick Summary

2009-04-25T23:18:00.007-05:00

While traditionally Community Benefits Agreements have been used for real estate developments where developers have promised specific benefits to a community in exchange for support of specific zoning changes, Minneapolis used a CBA to specify the specific community benefits a private contractor would provide in exchange for a contract that made the City of Minneapolis the anchor tenant for a privately build, owned and maintained city-wide wi-fi system.

Brief History
The community benefits agreement was first proposed by Minneapolis Digital Inclusion Coalition--a loose group formed by the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability (using funding from the Minneapolis Foundation. In response to this group, the City of Minneapolis formed a Digital Inclusion Task Force that recommended specific items for the Community Benefits Agreements. To many people's surprise, the Mayor and City Council agreed to a Community Beneifts Agreement and made it a part of the contract.

Major Provisions
From the City of Minneapolis website, the major provision of the CBA are:

USI Wireless will provide $500,000 to create a “digital inclusion fund” that will be used to promote affordable Internet access, low-cost hardware, local content and training. In addition, US Internet will direct a minimum of five percent of the network’s net profits to a digital inclusion fund for ongoing digital inclusion efforts. In total, it is expected that about $11 million will go into the digital inclusion fund over the 10-year term of the contract.
Free limited-time service will be available in some public locations, such as parks and plazas in Minneapolis.
A free “walled garden” level of wireless service – Minneapolis Civic Garden – is now available to people throughout the city for important neighborhood, government, and community services information.
Designated community technology centers will receive free wireless access.

By far the most important benefit is the provisoin of five precent of the network's net profits to a digital inclusion fund. That fund is aministered by the Minneapolis Foundation (an independent community foundation) with the help of a Digitial Inclusion Advisor Board. That board is primarily citizens from the community (one member is a City Council member and one member is a representative of the system owner). This money goes directly from the contractor/owner to the Minneapolis Foundation. It does not go through the city or city council. The almost $400,000 in grants the fund has made are listed here.

The Obama Stimulus Package, Broadband, Minnesota and Leadership

2009-04-21T12:48:00.004-05:00

The Blandin Foundation just hosted a gathering of people interested in making sure Minnesota gets it share of the Obama Stimulus Package money devoted to getting people broadband Internet service.(More detail on the broadband portion of the package here)

Six major take-aways from the meeting:

No one knows the exact process the federal governement will use to distribute the money but much of it (around $4 billion to $5 billion) will be by competitive grants.
These grant applications will be complex and will likely reward collaborations and partnerships.
To write an effective applications, organizations need to get started now--especially get started forming the colaborations and partnerships
Collaborations and partnerships take up-front resources. Because of the economy and state of Minnesota cuts in funding to cities, schools and health care, no one has the up-front money to devote to creating the partnerships.
Ideally, Minnesota state government should step up and be a leader in creating the partnerships.
With the current Minnesota Governor, don't expect any leadership. Minnesota's current governor really believes government can not do anything well and should do nothing. He has been actively making this true for the last six years.

More detail about the meeting on Blandin's Blandin on Broadband blog.

Greenhouse gas reduction grant application causing more greenhouse gasses.

2009-04-20T16:36:00.003-05:00

I just submitted a proposal in response to the Minneapolis Request-for-proposals for ideas to reduce greenhouse gases on the neighborhood level.

The proposal did not allow electronic submission and required:

Six copies of:

A cover Page
A six page application form (the maximum but I challenge anyone to answer all their questions in less than 6 pages)
Attachments (in our case, 4 letters of support from partners)

Plus, one copy each of:

An organization chart (1 page)
List of board members (1 page)
Audit (11 pages)
Annual report (we didn't have one but assume a minimum of 4 pages)

A total of 83 sheets of paper. I had to drive downtown to drop off by 4 PM (I don't know anyone who submits grant applications early-- and saw three other neighborhood groups dropping off grant applications).

Think of all the paper, all the electricity for copiers and all the gas for driving downtown that could have been saved if we all could have submitted the greenhouse gas reduction applications via email.

BTW, this was for a maximum of $10,000 for a six month program. I've submitted shorter applications for multi-year grants of over $100,000. I'm not going to start on how much time the City is forcing it's neighborhood groups to waste on applications like this.

Minneapolis 2nd Ward. Green and DFL

2009-04-18T12:56:00.004-05:00

I just came back from the Minneapolis 2nd Ward DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor; what the Democratic party is called in Minnesota) endorsing convention.

For the first time since the 60's, there was no one running for the DFL endorsement for City Council in the 2nd ward. The only reason I can see for this is a little complex:

The current Council Member for the ward only Green Party member of the city council.
Neither the Minnesota Green Party or the Minnesota DFL party allows for the endorsement of a member of another party or the endorsement of the same candidate by two parties. He fits the ward well.
The 2nd ward is probably the most liberal part of a liberal city.
The current council member does a very good job with everything from consituent services to mirroring the values of the ward.

So, what does a political party do when a member of an oposition party is well liked by its members? In this case, it first passes a motion of no endorsement that prohibits the party central committee from endorsing anyone before the election. This also was done in a way that strictly followed party rules. It then passes a resolution that is a close as possible to an endoresement without being an endorsement:

WHEREAS, Council Member Cam Gordon has done an excellent job serving Minneapolis’s Second Ward, and

WHEREAS, Cam Gordon has represented us in a manner consistent with the progressive values of the Democrats of the Second Ward, and

WHEREAS, the rules of our party do not allow for an endorsement of anyone who is a member of another political party, therefore

BE IT RESOLVED that the Democrats of the Second Ward do not endorse anyone for 2nd Ward Council Member, but do support the re-election of Cam Gordon to the Minneapolis City Council in 2009.

Both the motion and the resolution passed by around 90%.

Trash, Litter

2009-04-16T22:14:00.006-05:00

Last overall comment on Egypt trip (I'm finally done with getting my blog posts done--trip ended over two weeks ago!).

There have been a lot of stories about the problem with the very low cost plastic bags used in markets and small shops around the world. From our experience in Egypt, they really are a problem. Those plastic bags from shops are everywhere. Up against the pyramids, along fences, in parking lots, along the sidewalks in all the towns and cities, along the railroad to Alexandria, along the desert highway back from Alexandria, at Abu Simbel, in the Nile. Everywhere!

JFK's Terminal 4

2009-04-10T15:10:00.005-05:00

What a rotten design for a new airport terminal.

First the good news. The customs and immigration area is very well designed. Lots of capacity. Easy to figure out where to go next. Great signs (but you really don't need the signs--it's obvious where to go).

When you leave customs, you need to find where to check in for your connecting flight. There are no visual clues. When you come out, all you see is the doors to the outside for ground transportation. A sign says "Connecting Flights" and points through a small door to the left. There are a series of airline desks with baggage check-in scales. We get in line for NWA/KLM. When we get to the desk, we're told, "No, this is not the right place. This is only for reporting lost or damaged luggage. You need to go upstairs to level 4."

We finally find the escalators (continuing through the "damaged baggage" room, out a door, we discover the back side of the escalators. We take them up one level (with our baggage in tow). Finally see a sign that says Level 2. Finally find the next flight of escalators (behind us). Repeat on level 3.

We get up to level 4. Rows and rows of airline check-in desks. There are 4 aisles and we are in the middle. No signs for which airline is which directiton. We get lucky and guess the right direction and find a set of NWA/KLM counters. We stand in line for 20 minutes. When we get to the desk we are told, "No, this these are the counters for the flight to Amsterdam. It says so on the electronic sign above me." We point out that there is NOTHING on the electronic sign. Response. "Oh, sorry. You need to go down to those counters."

We go there and, WOW, very short line, we're told we are in the right line and get checked in. Go to another line to turn in our baggage (the TSA baggage scanning machines are out in the middle of the area--they didn't make it so the airline can just put them on the conveyor behind the counter.)

We go downstairs to the central area where all the food places are. Check our flight on the board--it's on time. Check the security line--it's long so we decide to get in it. ten minute line to check your boarding pass--another 10 minute line to go through the scanners. We get to the concorse. Only two food places on the boarding side of security. One a cart with oriental food that looks like it has been in the steam table for hours. One with pre-wrapped sandwiches.

Our flight is listed for departure at 5:30 from the same gate as the Egypt Air flight to Cairo is listed for departure at 6:10. The Egypt Air plane is at the gate. Checking the web with my cell phone, our plane shows a delay--until 7:20. Monitors in terminal still say 5:30.

In short, whoever designed this terminal should be forced to fly through it on every trip he or she takes.

The Pyramides of Giza

2009-04-06T19:01:00.007-05:00

Wow.

Ok, a little more detail.

First some perspective: The pharaohs in the 26th Dynasty (around 600 BC) wanted to recreate the traditions of the early pharaohs so they did some archeology at the Step Pyramid (built a few miles away and before the Giza pyramids. The Step Pyramid was already 2000 years old. The Step Pyramid was built as a series of steps. Smooth sided pyramids came later.

The Great Pyramid at Giza statistics:

over 2 million blocks used to construct it
built around 25ooBC
when built, it was 485 feet high.
tallest building in the world until the 19th century (that make it the tallest building on earth for over 40 centuries.)
it and the second pyramid were faced with polished white limestone (you can still see some of it at the base) that reflected the sun. (The third pyramid at Giza was faced with red [pictures to come this afternoon] Wow. Ok, a little more detail. First some perspective: The pharaohs in the 26th Dynasty (around 600 BC) wanted to recreate the traditions of the early pharaohs so they did some archeology at the Step Pyramid (built a few miles away and before the Giza pyramids. The Step Pyramid was already 2000 years old. The Step Pyramid was built as a series of steps. Smooth sided pyramids came later. The Great Pyramid at Giza statistics: <ul><li>over 2 million blocks used to construct it</li><li>built around 25ooBC </li><li>when built, it was 485 feet high.</li><li>tallest building in the world until the 19th century (that make it the tallest building on earth for over 40 centuries.)</li><li>it and the second pyramid were faced with polished white limestone (you can still see some of it at the base) that reflected the sun. (The third pyramid at Giza was faced with red granite--from Aswan)</li><li>current theory is that it was built in about 20 years without using slaves.</li><li>the Giza plateau is an outcropping of bedrock.</li><li>the bedrock was leveled for construction (to within 1/2 inch over the 13 acre base</li><li>the four sides are 756 feet long, plus or minus 2 inches (note to my friend Dave the Surveyor--how does this compare with current surveying technology?) </li></ul>The Sphinx was carved out of bedrock. Either about 2500BC or earlier than 5000 BC depending on the theory. The typical annual Nile flood came within a few yards of it. s feet. The city of Cairo comes right up to the edge of the Giza plateau. (There is a building for lease about a block from the Sphinx.) We did go to the "Sound and Light Show" at Giza--Coordinated colored lights on the pyramids and sphinx and some "cheese, historically inaccurate" narration. ("Cheese, historically inaccurate" is a quote from a 16 year old who was on our tour with her parents. She was a real ancient Egypt expert and this comment about the Sound and Light Show seems very appropriate.) I think they did update it once a few years ago. It now includes outline images drawn by a green laser. But it was fun to attend. (James Bond fans will remember the opening fight sequence in The Spy Who Loved Me--1977--Roger Moore as 007 appears to take place during the Sound and Light Show. The actually fight was shot in Karnak temple in Luxor.)granite--from Aswan)
current theory is that it was built in about 20 years without using slaves.
the Giza plateau is an outcropping of bedrock.
the bedrock was leveled for construction (to within 1/2 inch over the 13 acre base
the four sides are 756 feet long, plus or minus 2 inches (note to my friend Dave the Surveyor--how does this compare with current surveying technology?)

Random thoughts:
The Sphinx was carved out of bedrock. Either about 2500BC or earlier than 5000 BC depending on the theory. The typical annual Nile flood came within a few yards of it.

The crowds going to the small area next the the sphinx are kind of intense.

The city of Cairo comes right up to the edge of the Giza plateau. (There is a building for lease about a block from the Sphinx.)

There is this odd building next to the Great Pyramid. The surprise is that it houses a "sun boat." The sun boat was for the pharaoh to use on his trip to heaven. It was found disassembled in a pit in the limestone next to the pyramid. They put it back together (it had marks on the boards identifying were they went (the equivalent of "insert tab a into slot b"). The only things new in the reconstruction are one oar and the ropes.

We did go to the "Sound and Light Show" at Giza--Coordinated colored lights on the pyramids and sphinx and some "cheese, historically inaccurate" narration. ("Cheese, historically inaccurate" is a quote from a 16 year old who was on our tour with her parents. She was a real ancient Egypt expert and this comment about the Sound and Light Show seems very appropriate.) I think they did update it once a few years ago. It now includes outline images drawn by a green laser. But it was fun to attend. (James Bond fans will remember the opening fight sequence in The Spy Who Loved Me--1977--Roger Moore as 007 appears to take place during the Sound and Light Show. The actually fight was shot in Karnak temple in Luxor.)