In addition to a questionnaire being sent to hundreds of businesses and a phone survey of 900 residents, the county has scheduled three meetings, beginning Tuesday at Spring Lake Park High School, to determine how eager residents are for high-speed access.
While $7.2 billion in federal stimulus funding is being made available for broadband initiatives nationwide, Anoka County's competition figures to be steep. The Blandin Foundation reports nearly 80 applications from Minnesota or with Minnesota connections -- from counties, cities, tribes, cooperatives and businesses. Other metro counties that expressed interest are Ramsey and Carver.
Two counties along Lake Superior have also applied for grants. Cook County is seeking nearly $33.7 million and Lake County is requesting an $11 million grant and a $22.4 million loan. Those counties, whose combined population of 16,200 is just a sliver of Anoka County's 327,000, are among the state's largest geographically, far more expansive than Anoka County.
"There's no way to compare our costs to theirs," said Jim Kordiak, the Anoka County commissioner who chairs the board's informational committee. "One estimate has this costing $10,000 per mile. But as far as what Anoka County's needs are, we don't know. And we don't know the cost.
[italics added]. It has the air of a fishing expedition - free money on the table, let's look at getting some. Certainly it is not as far along as the pioneering work of Monticello, this link. Those people are truly progressively entering the twenty-first century, and willing to fight for what they think right; having prevailed in litigation against their town phone service provider.
If this is a shot in the dark level to get free money more than a whole-hearted effort to provide bandwidth county-wide, then that is a situation which will show itself in how things unfold.
Absent from the article, who got the contract for the questionaire and phone survey, and was it awarded by competitive bidding; in effect, is there sweetheart stuff going on between the old boy ruling set, and others?
I look forward to seeing if the Anoka County Watchdog can sniff out any tomfoolery that might be afoot.
If the Watchdog does not sniff it, then it's less likely there to be traced.
Any reader with knowledge (and time to send an email or to add a comment) is urged to help us understand what services we might be attaining for county residents.