Keene gets $100,000 grant to expand high-speed Internet access
NAJ WIKOFF, News Correspondent
KEENE VALLEY — In these days of terrible economic news, the hamlet of Keene got $100,000 worth of economic great news from Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) in the form of a state Economic Development matching grant to expand high-speed Internet to 90 percent of the houses in the Town of Keene. This will be no small feat as many of the homes are spread far apart up the steep winding slopes of the surrounding hills and between the three small hamlets of Keene, Keene Valley and St. Huberts.
The Town-Wide Broadband Access Projects of the High Peaks Education Foundation began two years ago with the goal of making high-speed Internet access possible for every home and business in the Town of Keene. The initiative came out of a strategic planning process to stop the decline and rebuild enrollment in the Keene Central School through attracting families with Internet-based wage earners to the community.
“The High Peaks Education Foundation has been working on longer-term strategic issues facing the school and the Broadband Project is their most ambitious undertaking. Their plan to ensure that every student at Keene Central School will have high-quality Internet access from home will greatly increase future educational opportunities at the school and will improve enrollment,” said Cynthia Johnston, Superintendent.
Tamsen Serjak, who recently moved to Keene Valley with her husband Chris and their two children said, “We couldn’t have moved here without the high-quality Internet service that is now available here due to the efforts of the Education Foundation and Keene Valley Video Inc. Our children love Keene Central and we are pleased to be able to give this kind of an education in this small town setting.”
News of the grant and the launch of Phase Two of the effort was announced at an information session held at the Nature Conservancy on Saturday where the two lead organizers of the effort, Jim Herman and Dave Mason, gave an update on the progress to date and the work still to be done.
“Getting to 90 percent of the town would be a fantastic achievement,” said Dave Mason. “It would be an unprecedented achievement in the Park. It will position Keene as a unique place and will serve as a model for other communities.”
“Betty Little really came through for our community,” said Jim Herman. “She understood that this could be a replicable model to help stimulate the economy and help check the loss of young families throughout the region. While we have not yet begun to increase enrollment, we have stopped the decline, and that’s significant.”
“As part of phase one, we have opened four Wi-Fi hot spots, built fiber links to St. Huberts and the Ausable Club, to Keene Central School and Upper Jay, replaced almost all of our coax cable, and significantly upgraded and expanded our fiber backbone,” said Mason. “Phase two will take fiber links to 90 percent of the homes, leaving them just a modest $300 hook-up fee and making available up to a 1 meg broadband service capable of supporting voice and video. This is a real public-private cooperative effort that has involved the Ausable Club, Keene Central School, Keene Valley Video Inc, the town government and local individuals and businesses, and, thanks to Betty Little, the involvement of the state.”
“Because of the economic situation, completing the second phase will be more of a challenge,” said Herman, “but the community has a history of pulling together which resulted in the creation of our water system and library. Seasonal and year-round people have been coming together to support this as they have other infrastructure improvements in the past.”
“The residents of Keene are playing a leadership role in the region by taking matters into their own hands and raising the funds and making the business partnerships to ensure that their community will have the communications infrastructure to learn, work and succeed in today’s global economy,” said Howard Lowe, Director of Economic Development and CBN Connect Project Director.
“The years 2007 and before now seem like the dark ages,” said Kathleen Putnam, president of the Ausable Club. “This service has made a huge difference to all of us, both in helping us run our business and in providing vital Internet connectivity to our members while in residence in Keene Valley.”
“On Oct. 8, our life changed dramatically,” said former Supervisor Tom Both.
POSTED: October 16, 2008
KEENE VALLEY — In these days of terrible economic news, the hamlet of Keene got $100,000 worth of economic great news from Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) in the form of a state Economic Development matching grant to expand high-speed Internet to 90 percent of the houses in the Town of Keene. This will be no small feat as many of the homes are spread far apart up the steep winding slopes of the surrounding hills and between the three small hamlets of Keene, Keene Valley and St. Huberts.
The Town-Wide Broadband Access Projects of the High Peaks Education Foundation began two years ago with the goal of making high-speed Internet access possible for every home and business in the Town of Keene. The initiative came out of a strategic planning process to stop the decline and rebuild enrollment in the Keene Central School through attracting families with Internet-based wage earners to the community.
“The High Peaks Education Foundation has been working on longer-term strategic issues facing the school and the Broadband Project is their most ambitious undertaking. Their plan to ensure that every student at Keene Central School will have high-quality Internet access from home will greatly increase future educational opportunities at the school and will improve enrollment,” said Cynthia Johnston, Superintendent.
Tamsen Serjak, who recently moved to Keene Valley with her husband Chris and their two children said, “We couldn’t have moved here without the high-quality Internet service that is now available here due to the efforts of the Education Foundation and Keene Valley Video Inc. Our children love Keene Central and we are pleased to be able to give this kind of an education in this small town setting.”
News of the grant and the launch of Phase Two of the effort was announced at an information session held at the Nature Conservancy on Saturday where the two lead organizers of the effort, Jim Herman and Dave Mason, gave an update on the progress to date and the work still to be done.
“Getting to 90 percent of the town would be a fantastic achievement,” said Dave Mason. “It would be an unprecedented achievement in the Park. It will position Keene as a unique place and will serve as a model for other communities.”
“Betty Little really came through for our community,” said Jim Herman. “She understood that this could be a replicable model to help stimulate the economy and help check the loss of young families throughout the region. While we have not yet begun to increase enrollment, we have stopped the decline, and that’s significant.”
“As part of phase one, we have opened four Wi-Fi hot spots, built fiber links to St. Huberts and the Ausable Club, to Keene Central School and Upper Jay, replaced almost all of our coax cable, and significantly upgraded and expanded our fiber backbone,” said Mason. “Phase two will take fiber links to 90 percent of the homes, leaving them just a modest $300 hook-up fee and making available up to a 1 meg broadband service capable of supporting voice and video. This is a real public-private cooperative effort that has involved the Ausable Club, Keene Central School, Keene Valley Video Inc, the town government and local individuals and businesses, and, thanks to Betty Little, the involvement of the state.”
“Because of the economic situation, completing the second phase will be more of a challenge,” said Herman, “but the community has a history of pulling together which resulted in the creation of our water system and library. Seasonal and year-round people have been coming together to support this as they have other infrastructure improvements in the past.”
“The residents of Keene are playing a leadership role in the region by taking matters into their own hands and raising the funds and making the business partnerships to ensure that their community will have the communications infrastructure to learn, work and succeed in today’s global economy,” said Howard Lowe, Director of Economic Development and CBN Connect Project Director.
“The years 2007 and before now seem like the dark ages,” said Kathleen Putnam, president of the Ausable Club. “This service has made a huge difference to all of us, both in helping us run our business and in providing vital Internet connectivity to our members while in residence in Keene Valley.”
“On Oct. 8, our life changed dramatically,” said former Supervisor Tom Both.
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