PD: Facebook users want their WiFi (in Sebastopol)

[Barry]

Article published - Apr 4, 2008
Facebook users want their WiFi
Grassroots group to attend April 15 Sebastopol City Council meeting


BY Laura Norton ([email protected])
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT


A grassroots internet-based group hopes to resuscitate free WiFi for Sebastopol by collecting members and reaching out to the town’s City Council.

The Facebook group has collected 160 members since its launch last weekend.

Facebook is a popular social networking website that allows users to share information, join groups, send messages to one another and post personal information.

On another site, www.petitionsonline.com (https://www.petitionsonline.com/), 73 people have signed their names to a letter to the Sebastopol City Council.

On a forum site on that web site Megan Fanning wrote “not having free wifi hampers the city’s business, growth and ease of communication.”

Three weeks ago the Sebastopol City Council voted 4-0 to rescind an agreement with Sonic.net that would have allowed the Santa Rosa-based Internet provider to install the network in the city center as it has done in the downtowns of Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

Sebastopol Mayor Craig Litwin thanked Sonic for a “very nice gesture” but said citizens had voiced concerns that “create enough suspicion that there may be a health hazard.”

Facebook users call that claim bogus.

Group member Ken Cady posted “An hour of sun injects a lot more 'electromagnetic radiation' into the skull than any cellphone or wifi!”

Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper was impressed with the Facebook group.

“Wow,” he said. “That’s an interesting grassroots effort!”

According to an online posting, members of the Facebook group plan to attend the Sebastopol City Council meeting on April 15.

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or [email protected].
© www.pressdemo.com (https://www.pressdemo.com)

[PeriodThree]

[link to Facebook petition removed because it was not respectful -Barry]

My daughter, off at College, sent me an invitation to the group. I had not been telling her about it, she learned about it through that emergent property of networks.

I know a lot of the members, most of them represent the seasonal diaspora of kids off to College. They are filled with cynicism about our corporate overlords, but even more cynical about the 'hippie/luddite citizens of my town.'

Frankly the kids make me proud, really really proud.

From one who is still in town:
"I just had a conversation with Dane Jasper (CEO of Sonic) and he said Sonic would still be willing to broadcast for Sebastopol. So I currently have over 500 signatures from ONLY Analy students, to bring WiFi back. We are also planning to set up a petition booth by Whole Foods on Sunday to get more signatures, and hopefully convince more people that WiFi wont give you cancer! Also once again come to the city council meeting on the 15th. We hopefully have a New York Times reported coming so be there!"
Damn I am ecstatic!


Article published - Apr 4, 2008
Facebook users want their WiFi
Grassroots group to attend April 15 Sebastopol City Council meeting


BY Laura Norton ([email protected])
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT


A grassroots internet-based group hopes to resuscitate free WiFi for Sebastopol by collecting members and reaching out to the town’s City Council.

The Facebook group has collected 160 members since its launch last weekend.

Facebook is a popular social networking website that allows users to share information, join groups, send messages to one another and post personal information.

On another site, www.petitionsonline.com (https://www.petitionsonline.com/), 73 people have signed their names to a letter to the Sebastopol City Council.

On a forum site on that web site Megan Fanning wrote “not having free wifi hampers the city’s business, growth and ease of communication.”

Three weeks ago the Sebastopol City Council voted 4-0 to rescind an agreement with Sonic.net that would have allowed the Santa Rosa-based Internet provider to install the network in the city center as it has done in the downtowns of Santa Rosa and Petaluma.

Sebastopol Mayor Craig Litwin thanked Sonic for a “very nice gesture” but said citizens had voiced concerns that “create enough suspicion that there may be a health hazard.”

Facebook users call that claim bogus.

Group member Ken Cady posted “An hour of sun injects a lot more 'electromagnetic radiation' into the skull than any cellphone or wifi!”

Sonic.net CEO Dane Jasper was impressed with the Facebook group.

“Wow,” he said. “That’s an interesting grassroots effort!”

According to an online posting, members of the Facebook group plan to attend the Sebastopol City Council meeting on April 15.

You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 or [email protected].
© www.pressdemo.com (https://www.pressdemo.com)

[Braggi]

[link to Facebook petition removed because it was not respectful -Barry]

Well, I joined the group and signed the petition. I was only #90 on that petition. Come on folks!

https://www.petitiononline.com/freewifi/petition.html

Although you do need to enter your email address, you can keep it "private" if that makes any sense.

-Jeff

[shellebelle]

Yeh I was 88 but 183 in the group I think!


Well, I joined the group and signed the petition. I was only #90 on that petition. Come on folks!

https://www.petitiononline.com/freewifi/petition.html

Although you do need to enter your email address, you can keep it "private" if that makes any sense.

-Jeff

[riverosprey]

Good Job All!!

I am #110 on the petition. As the owner of the first internet cafe in Sonoma County (the Intern@tional Cafe in Forestville 1996...remember this Barry? ;0) I appreciate the need to develop the "green collar" jobs of virtual home-based businesses.

Let's keep the comments and the vibes cool; let's go light on the personal jabs and try to work together. How about more workshops with pro and con to educate everyone as to how wireless communication works and then we build a wireless network Countywide?

As the next 5th District Supervisor I will work toward making broadband communication as ubiquitous as the phone service throughout all of Western Sonoma County including all County parks and campgrounds.

peace out,
Tom Lynch
www.TomLynch4Supervisor.com (https://www.TomLynch4Supervisor.com)
"Together Toward a Sustainable Future"

[Burrowowl]

You've been getting some good press on this, Barry. Congratulations!

I certainly hope that the Sebastopol city council will continue to consider this matter, as the argument for EMF as a real source of harm is pretty weak on the science.

[nbolmer]

Very glad to see this. Sebastopol has become the laughing stock because of this blunder. Check this out:

https://www.dslreports.com/shownews/WiFi-Killed-My-Baby-92938

DSLreports is one of the largest forums for all things broadband related.

[Barry]

You've been getting some good press on this, Barry. Congratulations!

I certainly hope that the Sebastopol city council will continue to consider this matter, as the argument for EMF as a real source of harm is pretty weak on the science.Where? What??? I did talk with a PD reporter just before our social last night (WOW! More later), but I don't see an article...

Heading into my garden,
Barry

[Burrowowl]

Where? What??? I did talk with a PD reporter just before our social last night (WOW! More later), but I don't see an article...

Heading into my garden,
Barry

It was in today's Sonoma Sunday section. Link and snippet follows:

https://www1.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080406/NEWS/804060387/1033/NEWS&template=kart



On another site, www.petitiononline.com, 73 people have signed their names to a letter to the Sebastopol City Council, urging reconsideration of the issue.

On a forum on that Web site, Megan Fanning wrote that "not having free Wi-Fi hampers the city's business, growth and ease of communication."

Community debate over the issue has played out on yet another local Web site, www.waccobb.net. Founder and moderator Barry Chertov said he will launch a poll this week to gauge public sentiment, which appears to be swinging toward Wi-Fi.

On Saturday, Chertov held a potluck at the Wells Fargo Center, inviting people from both sides of the issue.

In a gesture meant to lighten the sometimes-acrimonious public discourse, the potluck included a tinfoil-hat-making contest. The hats are associated with paranoia and conspiracy theories.

"There's a little tension on both sides," said Chertov, who was sporting a crown of aluminum foil. "I'm just saying, 'Let's lighten up.' "

[PeriodThree]

In an effort to depersonalize things they've created a new group "I support free wifi in Sebastopol."

(groups cannot be renamed in Facebook)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11510495837

[shellebelle]

I think we should note many of the same 500 minority are against the North East Plan.

I hope instead of letting these few talk for the majority the majority will speak before the North East Plan goes down the tubes. We all stepped to the plate late on the WiFi - who thought 500 would be allowed to speak for the multitudes? geeze! But ya know when you need to think with a yapping dog outside you throw it a bone for peace - so come on those pro North East Plan speak up! Be counted write the council, the newspapers etc and support the plan! Be verbal!


In an effort to depersonalize things they've created a new group "I support free wifi in Sebastopol."

(groups cannot be renamed in Facebook)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11510495837

[PeriodThree]

The kids had a table outside of Whole Foods today (nearer to the video store).

I stopped by. They were in conversation with Sasu, it all looked cordial.

Another woman stopped by who told me "they are just high school kids, they don't know anything.' The kids told me she had come by the previous day and made a bit of a scene - not just disagreeing in a cordial way, but sort of ugly. In spite of my rigidity on the issue it was cool to see how Sasu and the kids interacted. There is no better way to say it but that Sasu danced as she talked (not 'danced around the issues,' but literally danced).

It was cool.

They made forays into the farmer's market to collect signatures. One came back at one point saying he'd been kicked out. As a near absolutist on First Amendment issues that raised my hackles. I am fairly sure that the farmer's market would be considered a public forum, etc....

Fortunately it turned out that what he meant was that one particular person had been abusive and told them they were not welcome there. Sadly, I know this person and he is part of the community of my kid's school, and so I need to decide what if anything to say to him. Amusingly, this person was busking, and presumably had no more 'right' to be there than the kids did.

They have a picture of Sasu and the kids on the new facebook group "I support free wifi in Sebastopol." (I am in the background). Sasu looks much happier than me, which perhaps I should take as significant :-)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11510495837
A direct link to the picture is here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=35055616&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=11510495837&aid=-1&id=6420481&oid=11510495837
https://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v189/227/87/6420481/n6420481_35055616_6634.jpg

It was cool.

[nicofrog]

I would like to add a different nibblet to this thread that I think has been glazed right over, although, due to it's complete vastness I might be redundant on someone-else's turf thats ok.
The " cyber dull out" or cellphone borg cyndrome.
If you go to whole foods in Marin...you will notice that of the say
35 people in and around the store 80% of them will be attached to their cellphones, or worse yet babbling aimlessly into bluetooth headsets,a behavior that used to be reserved for morons. You cannot make eye-contact or even say hi,even to a friend sometimes because EVERYONE is GONE while they are here!. Pardon me but , did anyone else notice this is getting weird,thats why I moved north, now I have a cell phone, but I try to leave it in the car when I am in a public marketplace. I am sitting here staring into a cathode ray tube on a gorgeous sunny day, I could be outside working, Instead I am inside dreaming of a better world.
I feel great communicating, but if my girlfriend was here, as she sometimes is , she would see a rather skeletal visage frowning and leaning in toward the screen, occasionally cussing because something is not loading fast enough. We are completely disconnected while in the same room.
Even if I am reading, it is completely different, warm cozy, and I can look up and connect anytime.Computers are a screen we hide behind,fake name and i.d. to be "safe" proving we live in a hostile world.
I agree the farmers mkt. is a "free zone" but the kids should have a booth where people can come to them if they are interested, not be randomly "hit up " while enjoying fruit, flowers , and moms with babies!
How about PAY PHONES, did people protest that invasion?
personally ,I would vote for millions of super cheap and efficient pay-phones
and get rid of the cells. Instead Vorison bought the pay-phones, is removing them one by one due to lack of use, and making them expensive, and dumn to use with a million hooops you have to jump just to get a call through.
when technology deliberately dumns down, I worry that I am being manipulated by industry. Vorizon has made phones that do almost everything, I'm sure soon they will have one that you can shave with, and doubles as a beer cooler. This was SO smart on their part, they undoubtedly heard about the up-coming solar storms that MAY wipe out a lot of satellite communication, they get set up so that even if you CAN'T talk on one, you will still need the silly thing.
There is a great photo series on the faces of kids watching television
across the board they all look near dead. all these technologies we use are great tools and fun entertainment, and are also potentially sopporific drugs that take us away from real life, seperate us from real contact, and allow us to become part of a juggernaught machine that is headed right off Niagra falls,and will happily take us with it as long as the money keeps coming in.
O.K. well this was fun, now REALLY I'm going OUTSIDE where it's a lovely spring day.
Borg on kids,see ya in the foodlines!!!!
Nico
notaluddite

I LOVE my cellphone

[AquaGyrl]

Make that 237 (as of today).

Yeh I was 88 but 183 in the group I think!

[Larry Robinson]

The City Council will reconsider the issue of Sonic's offer of free wi-fi in August. I understand that many people may feel impatient with waiting until then, but this will probably be the soonest that we can schedule it. We are close to completing and adopting the specific plan to guide future development in the northeast area, which is an urgent priority at this time.

When we revisit the wi-fi issue it may be that it will be limited to the downtown and the northeast area. We will also be looking at ways to address the concerns of those who sincerely believe that exposure to wi-fi puts them at risk. I am confident that we can find a way to provide free access while addressing these concerns.

I am also delighted that so many of our younger citizens are becoming engaged in this process. Democracy is not a spectator sport!

Larry Robinson
City Councilmember

[Barry]

Thanks for the citizen reporting, PeriodThree!

I had a nice walk with Sandi yesterday who told me about this meeting, too. In another chance meeting, we came across Dale Dougherty of O'Rielly (https://www.oreilly.com/) and Make Magazine (https://makezine.com/magazine/) on our walk, who is another key player in the wi-fi debate.

What you left out, though, was that the person who took this picture was none other than Dane Jasper, CEO of Sonic.net! What's more Sandi and Dane shared a warm hug just before this photo was taken!


The kids had a table outside of Whole Foods today (nearer to the video store).

I stopped by. They were in conversation with Sasu, it all looked cordial.

Another woman stopped by who told me "they are just high school kids, they don't know anything.' The kids told me she had come by the previous day and made a bit of a scene - not just disagreeing in a cordial way, but sort of ugly. In spite of my rigidity on the issue it was cool to see how Sasu and the kids interacted. There is no better way to say it but that Sasu danced as she talked (not 'danced around the issues,' but literally danced).

It was cool.

They made forays into the farmer's market to collect signatures. One came back at one point saying he'd been kicked out. As a near absolutist on First Amendment issues that raised my hackles. I am fairly sure that the farmer's market would be considered a public forum, etc....

Fortunately it turned out that what he meant was that one particular person had been abusive and told them they were not welcome there. Sadly, I know this person and he is part of the community of my kid's school, and so I need to decide what if anything to say to him. Amusingly, this person was busking, and presumably had no more 'right' to be there than the kids did.

They have a picture of Sasu and the kids on the new facebook group "I support free wifi in Sebastopol." (I am in the background). Sasu looks much happier than me, which perhaps I should take as significant :-)

https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=11510495837
A direct link to the picture is here:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=35055616&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=11510495837&aid=-1&id=6420481&oid=11510495837
https://photos-a.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v189/227/87/6420481/n6420481_35055616_6634.jpg

It was cool.