{"id":34108,"date":"2021-02-18T12:05:10","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T17:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=34108"},"modified":"2021-02-19T18:10:56","modified_gmt":"2021-02-19T23:10:56","slug":"my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/","title":{"rendered":"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_34028\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-34028\" style=\"width: 194px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-34028 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2021\/01\/eco-outlook-stec-c-194x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"194\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2021\/01\/eco-outlook-stec-c-194x300.jpg 194w, https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2021\/01\/eco-outlook-stec-c.jpg 442w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 194px) 100vw, 194px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-34028\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Dan Stec\u2019s 45th District includes Warren and Washington counties.<br \/>Courtesy Assemblyman Stec<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By State Sen. Dan Stec<br \/>\nThe governor\u2019s promise almost five years ago of high-speed broadband for all remains unfulfilled.<br \/>\nHaving heard frustrated pleas from families, businesses, schools and many others, my colleagues and I proposed legislation last year to drill down into this problem and come up with solutions to end this technological inequality. The governor\u2019s recent veto of our proposal is very disappointing.<br \/>\nIn 2015, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the New NYS Broadband Program, a $500 million investment to reach under and unserved regions. His website assured that as of 2018, \u201c99.9 percent of New Yorkers\u201d would have access to high-speed broadband. The state Broadband office last year claimed 98 percent of New York has that access.<br \/>\nHowever, based on my conversations with town and county supervisors, school superintendents and parents I am sure that is not the case for upstate New York.<br \/>\nDuring the first phase of the coronavirus pandemic last spring, over 700,000 students and 18,000 teachers statewide lacked broadband access as estimated by Common Sense Media. At a time when in-person learning was impossible, 27 percent of students couldn\u2019t access remote learning.<br \/>\nOn top of this, you had hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers working from home and businesses trying to maximize their online presence to offset the loss of in-person service. We saw that our state\u2019s internet infrastructure was incapable of meeting the needs of a substantial portion of our residents.<!--more--><br \/>\nThe Legislature last July passed the Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act (A.6679\/S.8805) with near unanimous consent. The point was to require the Public Service Commission (PSC) to study the availability, affordability, and reliability of high-speed internet and create a detailed access map on its public website.<br \/>\nOur goal was to identify with highly specific detail exactly those who find themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide. Then focus attention and resources on fixing the problem.<br \/>\nInstead of signing this bi-partisan legislation, Gov. Cuomo vetoed it. In rejecting the Comprehensive Broadband Connectivity Act, his spokesman claimed that \u201cwe agree with it in concept and will be including a proposal in the budget.\u201d The governor\u2019s budget was proposed on Jan. 19 and still we wait.<br \/>\nLast year, Gov. Cuomo said, \u201cLook at the data\u2026Listen to the experts.\u201d Let it be known: the data shows that over a quarter of our children are already or at serious risk of falling behind academically due to insufficient internet access. The numbers show a strong online presence is crucial to keeping our economy afloat. The surge of New Yorkers struggling to schedule an appointment for the coronavirus vaccine make reliable, high-speed internet of paramount importance.<br \/>\nThe lack of high-speed broadband has caused continued distress and disadvantages for so many in our communities and addressing this issue just can\u2019t wait until April 1 when a new budget is due. I ask that the governor take action on broadband access immediately.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By State Sen. Dan Stec The governor\u2019s promise almost five years ago of high-speed broadband for all remains unfulfilled. Having heard frustrated pleas from families, businesses, schools and many others, my colleagues and I proposed legislation last year to drill down into this problem and come up with solutions to end this technological inequality. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":34028,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By State Sen. Dan Stec The governor\u2019s promise almost five years ago of high-speed broadband for all remains unfulfilled. Having heard frustrated pleas from families, businesses, schools and many others, my colleagues and I proposed legislation last year to drill down into this problem and come up with solutions to end this technological inequality. The [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-18T17:05:10+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-02-19T23:10:56+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2021\/01\/eco-outlook-stec-c.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"442\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"684\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/\",\"name\":\"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped - Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-18T17:05:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-02-19T23:10:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae\",\"name\":\"jessewinters\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jessewinters\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jessewinters\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped - Glens Falls Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped - Glens Falls Business Journal","og_description":"By State Sen. Dan Stec The governor\u2019s promise almost five years ago of high-speed broadband for all remains unfulfilled. Having heard frustrated pleas from families, businesses, schools and many others, my colleagues and I proposed legislation last year to drill down into this problem and come up with solutions to end this technological inequality. The [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/","og_site_name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","article_published_time":"2021-02-18T17:05:10+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-02-19T23:10:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":442,"height":684,"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2021\/01\/eco-outlook-stec-c.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jessewinters","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jessewinters","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/","name":"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped - Glens Falls Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-02-18T17:05:10+00:00","dateModified":"2021-02-19T23:10:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2021\/02\/my-turn-rural-digital-divide-disparity-must-be-stopped\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"My Turn: Rural Digital Divide Disparity Must Be Stopped"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/","name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/b937a48daf87d7a8bd713a73b5d6a1ae","name":"jessewinters","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b496e0843f9d888b12500994b6a8562b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jessewinters"},"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jessewinters\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34108"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34108"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34109,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34108\/revisions\/34109"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}