Guest Opinion - An IT Strategy for Davis
By Mike Levy
The California Aggie
April 25, 2006

Notwithstanding the rapid pace of technological development, Davis lacks a comprehensive strategy to ensure its infrastructure keeps pace with our citizens' needs. Although a Telecommunications Taskforce was created in 2002, even today, an Information Technology Strategy is often overlooked and glaringly absent in the agenda of virtually all other City Council candidates - past and present. As with many issues, student and city interests here are congruent. Our ITS should contemplate the following:

Citywide Wi-Fi with free access

Davis doesn't have a Wi-Fi strategy and is unprepared for the current and growing demand. Accessible Wi-Fi would make Davis more welcome to students and would open the city to businesses in unimaginable ways. Free wireless is essential to bridging the digital divide with persons of limited economic means.

While parts of downtown and some apartments are developing ad hoc solutions, that's not enough. Ad hoc systems can't ensure consistency and won't allow an adequate response to new technological demands. We don't need a private monopoly, but a comprehensive municipal service that provides a seamless network across town and, hopefully, in partnership with UC Davis into campus as well.

Fiber optics

As part of its new franchise, Comcast Cable is installing six strands of fiber running from city hall to 40 city and Davis Joint Unified School District sites. These create immense opportunities for the city and students.

For example, the lines facilitate live video links between K-12 classrooms and UC Davis lectures and possibly offer live Web and cable broadcasts of Davis High School sports and arts. But little planning's been done to make it a reality. Notably, these high capacity lines cannot be used for competitive purposes. If Davis is to be welcome to high-tech businesses, and others who generate information in addition to receiving it, we must investigate ways to develop a similar infrastructure, available for commercial and general use as well.

Cable franchise fees

Davis' franchise agreement with Comcast Cable generates $390,000 annually. We spend 100 percent of the proceeds on public, education, and government cable channels such as DCTV, the city channel, and DJUSD channel. Though valuable resources, they are only available to about 60 percent of the public. Not everyone subscribes to Comcast Cable, and those with satellite or broadcast TV lack access to these channels. Additionally, mainstream TV is going HD, and our PEG channels need planning and funds to upgrade, or they'll be far less desirable in the future purely because of lower broadcast quality. Finally, we must plan for the possible loss of cable franchise fees. Congress barred local assessments on Internet transmissions. As a result of convergent media, most cable companies are trying to shift their service to Internet protocol. That would eliminate most franchise fees altogether.

While we generally need more efficiency in our city commissions, ITS is one area where a standing commission would serve Davis well.

MIKE LEVY, a UC Davis alumnus, is a Davis City Council candidate and he can be reached at mikelevy@pacbell.net.