Transforming Connectivity for Every New Yorker - Episode 610 of the Community Broadband Bits Podcast

Josh Breitbart (00:07):
So that ability to have a state and local partnership with a diversity of models at the local level really gave us the framework for the program.

Christopher Mitchell (00:17):
Welcome to another community Broadband Bits podcast. I'm Christopher Mitchell at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in St. Paul Minnesota. And today I'm speaking, I [00:00:30] believe, again, I think we've had Joshua on a couple of times. Joshua Breitbart, the Senior Vice President of the ConnectALL Office at Empire State Development in New York. Welcome.

Josh Breitbart (00:42):
Thank you, Chris. It's great to be with you.

Christopher Mitchell (00:44):
I am really excited to speak with you. This is something that, as you know, we've been wanting to talk about for a long time, trying to find the right time, and this won't be the last discussion, but we are going to focus on New York's municipal infrastructure program, [00:01:00] which is putting well over $200 million into municipal broadband it looks like in the state of New York. So why don't you, before we get into that though, just tell us a little bit about your position there. I think you're effectively the head of the broadband office, right?

Josh Breitbart (01:18):
I am the head of the New York State Broadband Office. It's an incredible opportunity to lead the Governor's ConnectALL initiative, which is stewarding over a billion dollars of public funding to transform a digital infrastructure. [00:01:30] We are getting service to locations that don't have it, developing a robust broadband marketplace and closing the digital divide.

Christopher Mitchell (01:38):
And I think doing it in a way that is pretty innovative. You're not new to this. You were in the city of New York before where I think you learned a lot and you also showed a lot of what could be done. And so you're bringing that knowledge to it. And so I guess I am curious if you want to dive into, we're going to ignore the lion's share [00:02:00] of where you're working on the digital divide and focus on this particular municipal infrastructure program. Tell us a little bit about that.

Josh Breitbart (02:07):
Yes, and it's a great time because we've just announced our first six awards under this project. But it's key to think about it actually in the context of all the work that we're doing because when the governor originally established ConnectALL, which predates me and the legislature authorized it with the New York State Wired Act, municipal infrastructure was a key component. [00:02:30] But it's one of many tools that the governor established. And I think that's what's so powerful about ConnectALL is that we have an array of tools to address those three goals I talked about and meet the needs of communities across the state. And municipal infrastructure is an incredibly valuable one. And as you said, I've been working on this broad mission for about 20 years and it's clear to me that [00:03:00] it's not always the right solution, but it is an essential tool to ensure digital equity, broadband deployment and meet the needs of local communities in a state as diverse as and vast as New York. Right.

Christopher Mitchell (03:16):
I mean, I remember you and I having a conversation almost 20 years ago about that specifically where we both agreed that this is something that should be on the table, should be considered in many cases, could do wonderful things. But by no means is something [00:03:30] in terms of municipal broadband not something that every community should necessarily do.

Josh Breitbart (03:34):
Right. So we have the ConnectALL deployment program, which is utilizing the broadband equity access and deployment funding from the federal government. It's going to be given grants to ISPs for unserved and underserved locations across the state or unserved locations with no broadband by today's standards. And we have a county partnerships program, which takes a similar approach and supports [00:04:00] where counties have already developed their RFPs and partnerships with insurance service providers to extend to those unserved areas. And we have this municipal infrastructure program where we are looking to communities, municipalities, municipal utilities, and county partners that have developed an approach and a solution that relies on public infrastructure. And what we're seeing with the first six projects is that was an approach that [00:04:30] communities had already identified and we're planning and we were able to really accelerate and grow and identify some new opportunities to invest in public infrastructure.

(04:41):
And it's really a range of approaches. We have municipal Internet service providers like Dryden Fiber that are partnering with their neighboring town to build out a municipal fiber network that then dried and fiber will operate, expanding the Sherburne [00:05:00] model where they're operating an open access network as an electric utility and expanding that to nearby town. And then we also have regional fiber networks that have been in place for about the last 20 years in the case of the development authority of the north country and southern tier networks. And they're building their own public owned infrastructure, Dryden partners with Internet service providers to do the drops and Southern Tier Network operates on a more traditional [00:05:30] fiber to the premise open access network. So it's really a range of models that we're seeing. But the reason, again, it's so key to think about this from the context of other programs is because again, the governor created this set of tools as part of the connected All initiative.

(05:46):
And then we spent the first period of time as part of the planning process, developing our five-year action plan, our digital equity plan, speaking to stakeholders all across the state and identifying what were the exact [00:06:00] approaches that they were taking, listening to those local communities, understanding the direction they were taking and designing each of these programs and the implementation and the use of federal funding to address those key opportunities. So what we heard was from a number of communities across the state, both urban and rural across the entire state, talking about public infrastructure as a key solution. [00:06:30] Again, a range of models for that. But we knew that there was that opportunity and it's fantastic that the Treasury Department's, Capital Projects Fund has that flexibility of identifying areas that are underserved based on a range of components and really driven by the assessment of those local communities. And that's what we've seen is that we've got projects that are addressing a range of ways [00:07:00] in which these communities have identified their residence as being underserved and designing partnerships and approaches to meet those needs. And we've had the opportunity to greatly expand that, as you said, with over $200 million of funding support. And we've just made the first about $70 million in awards.

Christopher Mitchell (07:23):
And I wanted to clarify and just make sure people appreciated what you're saying because the areas that you were listing, [00:07:30] these are areas in which we're going to see municipal broadband investments using a variety of models and some partnerships. But these are areas that have likely a mix of what everyone would agree are unserved as well as what according to various definitions would be underserved as well as likely some areas that might show up as being served in some ways, but maybe are unreliable and local folks know that, or might be parts of communities where it's unaffordable. [00:08:00] And so the Capital Projects Fund from Treasury, which was part of the Rescue Plan Act that was designed to be flexible, and I just applaud New York for using that flexibility and recognizing that local expertise to determine where to put that money to the greatest use.

Josh Breitbart (08:17):
Well, we've got such a great opportunity, and I have such a privilege in my role in the ConnectALL office of building on local efforts that go back years [00:08:30] identifying the conditions across their entire community, across their county, mapping it in many cases, walking or driving these roads, speaking to the people who live on these roads and understanding exactly the conditions, speaking to all the Internet service providers in those areas and understanding what can be built and what is really challenging for them from a deployment standpoint. Counties like [00:09:00] Livingston County that has their light up Livingston plan, they had a strategy and sequence a number of projects that they could do on their own that they could do with just with the private partners looking at other federal programs. And the municipal infrastructure program was really a key piece of the puzzle for them in ensuring that service is reaching every single location in the county. So it's always a process to [00:09:30] finalize these maps, of course, but we know Ton County's goal and our goal in working in partnership with them under the municipal infrastructure program is to address all of the remaining be eligible locations through this program. But as you said, to do that requires building through other areas. And so it really does require a mix of infrastructure, mix of areas to make a project financially viable and simply [00:10:00] just to connect it because you got to build to a place from a place.

Christopher Mitchell (10:03):
Right. And I want to ask you to expand on that for a second, but I do want to note that it was the Biden Administration was responsible from Congress for writing the rules of the CPF that is funding this, the Capital Projects Fund. And originally they had proposed a very strict definition of unserved and then they came back after hearing from a lot of local leaders and made it more [00:10:30] flexible. And then that we went through this discussion in the state of New York as well, and ultimately the legislature decided it was important to make sure that this wasn't limited only to areas that are officially listed as unserved on what I would call deeply flawed maps. And so if you can just expand for a second about why it is important to allow that flexibility locally.

Josh Breitbart (10:53):
Well, I just want to also say that Treasury has been a fantastic partner in developing this program, [00:11:00] understanding that we have this mandate from the governor and the legislature to implement this program, and they've been a fantastic partner in developing it under the Capital Projects Fund program. So I really commend the whole team at Treasury for being a great partner and how we're getting this done. But yes, I think what the legislature understood in thinking about whether this should be narrowly tailored [00:11:30] only to locations that meet that very strict definition of unserved is that ultimately that narrowing would be self-defeating because many locations can only be served through this mode of public infrastructure that has to have a mix of areas that it's covering. So we see many towns that in some of the town of Caroline that is [00:12:00] going to have an entirely new municipal fiber optic network.

(12:05):
This is going to serve the entire town equitably. And only by having the network for the entire town is it a financially viable approach. But in doing that and make sure that those locations that had no service now will have incredible infrastructure and service that is affordable in comparison to what's available in the area and is Futureproof able [00:12:30] to grow into the future. So we've got a number of locations like that. And in Franklin County, they really tried to figure out, again, they've just been planning for years really because they've been working with the Development Authority of the north country for the past 20 years, building out telecommunications infrastructure in that area. They've had support over the years from the Northern Border Regional Commission. So there's an incredible amount of local planning expertise when it comes to [00:13:00] identifying the opportunities and the best way to address them, and where they have ISPs that are able to build out to those areas, that is the solution that they lean on. But when they determine that their regional public infrastructure has to extend all the way to the pole to reach certain homes, they have that tool and they targeted it through their planning efforts. And that's the plan that they brought to us for the municipal [00:13:30] infrastructure program. And again, because of the governor's vision, the support of the legislature and the support of treasury, we've got this program that allows us to support Franklin County and the development authority of the north country and bringing service to those incredibly challenging rural areas of the north country of New York.

Christopher Mitchell (13:50):
Now you've released some of the funds for the municipal infrastructure program, and I want to say that we're like, is it two months away from when you [00:14:00] had an event that is available online, the recording of it, in which you talked about pilot projects that had already been funded, many of which are expanding. It seems like in this, one of the things that I had noted, there was a discussion about how small ISPs really were able to benefit from these municipal investments in many cases. And so I was curious, you wanted to reflect at all about what you learned from the pilot projects leading into forming this program?

Josh Breitbart (14:28):
We learned a lot from the pilot projects [00:14:30] because they did have a diversity of approaches. And we knew that we couldn't be too uniform in our requirements because that would close off some of the opportunities. And again, we're trying to be responsive to the approaches from those local communities. So even just in our four pilot projects, you had the Southern Turn Network with its regional fiber ownership, which is fantastic because it provides a capacity for construction operations and maintenance that [00:15:00] a particular town might not necessarily have. And in other case, you've got Village of Sherburne, which does have that capability because they've got their own electric utility and they're building on that capability. And then in the north country, they're not building all the way to the premise. They have an existing model that they'd already done that we were expanding, that they'd done in Tupper Lake.

(15:24):
And then we expanded to the towns of Diane and Pitcan where they build to the pole and [00:15:30] they've got an ISP that has the commitment to do that drop. And it's a great partnership because you still have the benefits of public ownership because it wouldn't be that another operator in the future if that particular private partner frankly didn't get the job done, would have to rebuild an entire town. But it also lets the development authority do what it does best and let the ISP do the [00:16:00] jobs, the customer acquisition handle that cost and deliver an excellent service to those homes. So we learned that there's a variety of approaches that we needed to account for in this program. And then we also learned that those projects were some of the best promotions. It was their neighbors, their neighboring towns or other towns in the area that said, we want more of that.

(16:26):
So we also saw that there was great opportunity for [00:16:30] growth of this, and that's why expanded on that 10 million pilot program with the $228 million with the support from Treasury. In that event, we also, in addition to those four pilot projects, we heard from other approaches that existed in the state. So dried and fiber, they had gotten started on their own with not being one of the pilot projects. Syracuse Surge Link was also something that, again, the city of Syracuse [00:17:00] had identified as a need even before the pandemic, the pandemic resources, they used some of the funding that they had to start that as a pilot project, a fixed wireless project to bring service to some of the lowest income areas of the city. And now municipal infrastructure program grant can expand that. We also heard from Erie Net, which is an open access network in Erie County, [00:17:30] which they also use some of their Rescue Plan Act funding to get started.

(17:36):
And so again, I think what we were seeing is there was already really a groundswell of activity, and the pilot project really crystallized the range of ways that that could look and also demonstrated the value of a state component. So one of the key components of the pilot project also was leveraging a new authority [00:18:00] that the legislature had granted to the New York Power Authority to lease access to its excess fiber capacity. And what we saw is that that can be really catalyzing and add a whole resilience component. So that ability to have a state and local partnership with a diversity of models at the local level really gave us the framework for the program. And again, working with Treasury to get that launched. And what we saw in the first round is just these [00:18:30] incredible projects that were, many of them were fairly close to shovel-ready because they'd been thinking about this approach. They'd been already planning in this direction for a long time. And again, I think that's why we had a municipal infrastructure program, and I think we've shown that it's a successful match for these communities.

Christopher Mitchell (18:52):
I can't describe how excited I am just hearing you talk about these things. I remember when [00:19:00] I feel like Scott Rasmussen and I were first talking about some of this, and then we did that interview with him on his last day. All that seems so long ago now, and yet also just yesterday. So I am curious what you're looking forward to right now. Is there other things coming down the line that you're keeping your eyes on?

Josh Breitbart (19:21):
What I'm looking forward to with these projects is just how quickly some of them are going to be able to roll out service. So with Southern Tier [00:19:30] Network, they start their projects over lashing some of their middle mile fiber so they can start delivering service fairly quickly with that deployment method in Syracuse. Also with the fixed wireless approach, we're going to see service fairly quickly, and that's what I'm so excited for. That's really what all of this is about. It's easy in this role to [00:20:00] you have to stay focused on all of the federal requirements and the deadlines and hitting all those marks and moving things at the scale of the entire state of New York, and just the grandeur and wonder that instills. But at the end of the day, it's really about these individual homes that are going to have Internet service today that they couldn't make use of or didn't have access to before.

(20:30):
[00:20:30] And that's what makes me excited. It's driven me to do this for the past 20 years. It's what makes me so thrilled to have this opportunity to serve my state and the governor in this role. And these projects are so close to the local community, these ones that are designed and built on that very local capability, local partnerships very [00:21:00] close to the impacts, and seeing how transformative that has been for the four projects that we've already done just makes me so excited for these six projects that we're getting rolling with. But this is just round one of the municipal infrastructure program. So we have applications that we've received for a second round that we're reviewing, and there's going to be a third round of applications. And [00:21:30] as you said at the beginning, this is just one piece of the broader effort. So we also are working through partnerships with counties that have identified ISP partnerships.

(21:42):
We have opened the prequalification application for our deployment program using the BEAD funding, and we have ongoing applications and reviews for proposals for our affordable housing connectivity program, which is another treasury [00:22:00] funded effort that's bringing new infrastructure and upgraded infrastructure to urban areas and metro areas across the state. And also we are in the process of launching our digital equity program. So this is really just a very exciting time for the ConnectALL Office. I think, again, really at the heart of it is this statewide set of partners that have been working on this for years that are dedicated to this, that bring [00:22:30] their local knowledge, their existing relationships, their dedication and their expertise to this statewide effort. And we at the ConnectALL Office really are able to build on that and bring that together. And again, we have, because of the governor's vision and the support of the legislature and our congressional delegation, the federal funding, we've got the tools to build on that.

(22:56):
And that's really where our success is going to come from. [00:23:00] I should add that we have an amazing team here in the ConnectALL Office and at Empire State Development that is really critical to the success of these projects from putting together the forum that you talked about and the outreach to work with all of these partners across the state, to evaluating all the applications, reviewing the financial components of it and the business plans that they have, and the different technologies and architectures that are going into [00:23:30] it. We've got a really fantastic team that makes this work really excited for all these programs, but these projects we just announced and how we're going to see these local communities just be entirely transformed by these new networks is so exciting. And I look forward to updating you as those roll out.

Christopher Mitchell (23:56):
Yeah, we will be paying attention. And [00:24:00] I was going to note that people should definitely watch what you're doing with apartment buildings and what the other Joshua is doing up in Massachusetts. We got the two Joshuas tackling apartment buildings in ways that will teach, I think the rest of the country how to go about it. I hope, and that will be a future show.

Josh Breitbart (24:18):
Yeah, it's happy to talk more about that program certainly is a lot far beyond the work of any one or two people that's making it happen. [00:24:30] But it is great that we are part that the work we're doing in New York, we are entirely focused on the locally driven efforts. But it is great, and we are very much aware that we're part of a national community and fulfilling a national set of priorities. And yes, I think investments in affordable and public housing investments, in public infrastructure grants, Internet service providers [00:25:00] and investing in the digital equity ecosystem are these critical components of getting that done. And it's fantastic to be a part of a regional community and a national community in addition to the work that we're doing here locally.

Christopher Mitchell (25:17):
Well, we want to thank Governor Hoel for her leadership on this and the way that you are carrying that out. It is terrific. Thank you for your time today.

Josh Breitbart (25:25):
Thank you, Chris. Really appreciate the podcast and look forward to hearing more [00:25:30] of what people are doing across the country on this.

Ry Marcattilio (25:32):
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