The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) submitted a response to Google's Request for Information to identify locations for Google to test its ultra-high speed fiber internet network. NYCHA provides housing for over 650,000 New Yorkers across New York City. It has existing fiber optic infrastructure in nearly 20,000 apartments across 334 developments that could support Google's network trial. Partnering with Google would help bridge the digital divide by bringing economical high-speed internet access to NYCHA residents and open new opportunities for education, communication, and jobs.

1. New York City Housing Authority & Google Fast Gigabit Trial
(Request For Information)
Prepared by Keith Piaseczny
NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY - GENERAL SERVICES
NESCO - NYCHA Exploring Social Communications Options

2. • 2/10/2010 - Google Announces Plans to deliver Gigabit Internet in the US.
• 3/15/2010 - FCC announces sweeping National Broadband Plan.
• 3/26/2010 - New York City Housing Authority submits RFI for Google Fast Gigabit.
• 3/27/2010 - Google announces that over 1,100 municipalities and 194,000 individuals responded.
This map displays where the responses were
concentrated. Each small dot represents a
government response, and each large dot
represents locations where more than 1,000
residents submitted a nomination.
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3. Google Fiber for Communities
(Overview)
Google is planning to launch an experiment that will make Internet
access better and faster for everyone. They plan to test ultra-high
speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across
the country. Their networks will deliver Internet speeds more
than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to
today, over 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections.
They’ll offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and
potentially up to 500,000 people. 1,100 Local Governments Contend for
Google Broadband
They have requested interested municipalities and organizations
to provide information about their communities through a Request More than 1,100 cities and towns, and
for information (RFI), to help them determine where to build their 194,000 individuals have responded to
network. Google’s offer to use at least one city to test
a broadband network that’s 100 times faster
Above all, they’re interested in deploying their network efficiently than what’s typically available in America.
and quickly, and are hoping to identify interested communities As the FCC pushes its national broadband
plan to prioritize high-speed Internet as
that will work with them to achieve this goal. They also want to
a “foundation for economic growth, job
work with a community where they can bring significant benefits creation, global competitiveness and a better
to residents and develop useful proofs-of-concept that can have way of life,” Google hopes to serve 50,000
a broader impact. For example, they’re looking for opportunities to 500,000 people through its experimental
to experiment with deployment techniques that can inform and project.
accelerate broadband deployment elsewhere as well. To that
end, they’ll use the RFI to identify interested communities and to Technology
assess local factors that will impact the efficiency and speed of The Nation
their deployment, such as the level of community support, local
resources, weather conditions, approved construction methods
and local regulatory issues. They will also take into account
broadband availability and speeds that are already offered to
users within a community.
As part of NYCHA’s NESCO (NYCHA Exploring Social
Communication Options) initiative, one goal is to enable our
residents to have access to the broad benefits of the internet for a
better life and greater opportunities. This access will support our
social communications and emergency notifications platforms. It
will contribute greater access to job opportunities and the benefits
of broadband distance e-learning and video streaming. It will make
the lives of our seniors and disabled easier by enabling internet
shopping, banking and fulfilling prescriptions online.
What follows are responses to the Google RFI, NYCHA’s bid to get
Google Fast Gigabit for residents of the New York City Housing Authority.
The content and order has been slightly modified to fit the format of this
PDF, with some edits and the addition of relevant graphics and images
that were not part of the actual submission
This RFI was prepared using an online shared document collaboration tool, Google documents, created by: Keith Piaseczny (project lead).
The online document was shared by: Atefeh Riazi NYCHA CIO; Muthu Boopathi; Rudolph Kurkjian; Laurence Wilensky ;Tischelle George; William Blodgett;
Anthony Palermo; Maria Sinopoli; Frank Debartolo; Carl Hafner.
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4. Bridging the Digital Divide
The Get Connected campaign was launched in late 2009 to
develop online applications, technologies, social networking and
emergency notification systems for the benefit of residents of the
New York City Housing Authority. Essential to the success of this
program is to provide opportunities for economical internet access for
NYCHA residents, who enjoy access to the internet well below national average. This
will open many new opportunities and generally enhance the quality of life for our residents. Google
recently announced a trial project to test and deploy a new high bandwidth technology that has a
great potential to address this disparity and may support our efforts in bridging the digital divide.The
New York City Housing Authority presents Google with an historic opportunity to conduct this trial.
Deployment
NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY, the largest housing
agency in North America, provides homes for 175,475 families,
serving a total of 654,657 low and middle income New Yorkers
Community in public housing and Section 8 programs. Currently, we have
approximately 19,000 units with full fiber optic infrastructure and
unused underground conduit already in place linking campuses of
building complexes just waiting for Google to open the pipeline in
this historic opportunity to provide economical internet to hundreds
of thousands of residents.
NYCHA residents are distributed across 5 Boroughs in New York
City, living in 2,604 residential buildings, 178,556 apartments, 334
developments citywide.
49.5% of NYCHA residents have total household income below
the Poverty Line, 36.8% are minors under 21, 11.9% of NYCHA
families receive public assistance.
Overall Median household income ($ per annum): 15857
Number of housing units: 178490
Number of single family homes: 236
Description of Number of multi-family homes: 2368
Number of apartment complexes: 334
Average number of units per apartment complex: 534.4
Population & Number of gated communities: 0
Approximate percentage of households in entire community that are
currently subscribing to broadband Internet service: 40%*
Terrain
*estimate
NYCHA developments are distributed across 5 Boroughs in New
York City, the most densely populated city in the United States.
We are a temperate climate characterized by a costal position in a
naturally sheltered harbor, mostly flat terrain just above sea level,
with the highest point 409ft above sea level on Staten Island.
Average annual highest temperature: 61.2
Average annual temperature: 54.9
Average annual lowest temperature: 46.9
Average amount of snowfall per year (inches): 26.5
Average amount of rainfall per year (inches): 44.4
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5. NYCHA-GOOGLE Broadband RFI - Bridging the Digital Divide
The New York City Housing Authority falls entirely within the
physical boundaries and legal jurisdiction of the City of New York. Local
Government
Local government is led by elected officials, the NYC City Council
and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
waited as he was introduced
before an audience at
Google’s office in Chelsea.
(Photo: Chip East/Reuters)
New York City Mayor Bloomberg had convened a Broadband Advisory
Committee headed by Council Member Gail Brewer to explore and make
recommendations on BAC findings which included Townhall meetings
in all 5 NYC Boroughs. NYCHA also has a highly developed and
responsive Community Operations providing specialized programming
and e-learning geared specifically to the needs of our residents, with
hundreds of community centers where residents can enjoy internet
access, educational courses, computer training, child care, etc
The NEW YORK CITY HOUSING AUTHORITY presents an ideal opportunity for this trial. We
are local to the Google NYC office, we have extensive pre-existing fiber optic infrastructure
already in place. We own massive complexes of buildings linked by our own underground
conduit. Most importantly, we serve the underserved, over half a million New Yorkers who
would greatly benefit from this trial. With this application we seek to Bridge the Digital Divide.
Local Employment Statistics:
Number of high tech jobs: 316500 Local
Community
Number of manufacturing jobs: 230000
Number of education services jobs: 748200
Number of other service sector jobs: 555000
Facts & Figures*
Colleges and Universities:
New York University 41,783; Columbia University 22,655; St. John’s University
20,096; CUNY Queen’s College 18,728; Touro College 17,129; CUNY Bernard
M. Baruch College 16,097; CUNY Brooklyn College 16,087; CUNY John Jay
College Criminal Justice 14,841; Fordham University 14,448; CUNY City
College 14,392; CUNY New York City College of Technology 13,502; Pace
University-New York 12,912; CUNY College of Staten Island 12,517; CUNY
Lehman College 10,922; Fashion Institute of Technology 9,938; The New
School 9,659; Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus 8,174; CUNY York
College 6,727; Yeshiva University 6,358; CUNY Medgar Evers College 5,550
Major Hospitals and Health Care Facilities:
Bellevue Hospital Center, Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital, Gouverneur
Healthcare Services, Harlem Hospital Center, Metropolitan Hospital Center, Jacobi
Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital, Lincoln Medical and Mental Health
Ctr., New York Presbyterian Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, North General Hospital, Saint Vincent’s
Hospital, Long Island College Hospital of Brooklyn, Maimonides Medical Center,
Calvary Hospital, Bronx Lebanon Hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, etc.
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6. NYCHA-GOOGLE Broadband RFI - Bridging the Digital Divide
Why This is an enormous opportunity of historic proportions for Google
and NYCHA. The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA)
provides homes, social services, community services and
NYCHA? numerous amenities to over half a million low and middle income
New Yorkers. New York is the most densely populated city in the
country, with some of the highest concentrations being within
NYCHA developments. NYCHA owns the land and over 3,000
buildings in 334 interconnected developments throughout New
York City. If NYCHA was city, it would be larger than the City of
Boston, rank 20th in the US with NYC ranked first. We currently
have thousands of apartments with fiber optic infrastructure
already in place. We seek to provide our residents with the
greatest quality of life and access to all opportunities that the
internet makes possible. The Google fast gigabit trials will set the
standard for providing high-speed internet to the masses.
Google is interested in While it is amazing to consider what one individual can do
with 100x the conventional internet bandwidth, just think what
working with communities a hundred people can do with online access that they do not
in which it can rapidly otherwise have available. The implications are profound and
install fiber-optic facilities historic. This partnership will go down in history as a moment in
and offer ultra-high speed time when the internet became accessible to the masses, to the
population who will most benefit from this unique opportunity.
Internet access services.
NYCHA is NYCHA currently as 18,927 apartments with fiber optic networks
Broadband
installed: Each apartment has a home run to the rack and patch
panel in the wiring center consisting of a composite bundle of two
4 pair Cat 5e, two Coax RG-6/U, and one dual strand Multimode
Ready Fiber Optic 62.5/125 cable ready to deploy fast gigabit. We fully
own this infrastructure.
18,927
apartments
with full-fiber MANHATTAN
infrastructure! NYCHA has thousands Fulton (11) 945
of broadband ready Jefferson (18) 1487
apartments. Numbers Rangel (8) 984
(right) denote number BRONX
Castle Hill (14) 2025
of buildings, each Marble Hill (11) 1682
development form a St. Mary’s Park (6) 1007
campus of buildings BROOKLYN
which are connected with Brownsville (27) Tompkins (8) 2367
Boulevard (18) 1436
underground conduits, Coney Island (1) Glenwood (20) 1380
either spares or room to co- QUEENS
The NEW YORK CITY HOUSING occupy. Each building has Queensbridge North/South (26) 3149
a stand alone infrastucture Woodside (20) 1358
AUTHORITY has extensive infrastructural
in place. Typical high rise NYCHAMDU is STATEN ISLAND
which can be connected Mariner’s Harbor/ (22) Todt Hill (7) 1107
eleven stories tall with 100+ apartments.
Acceptable conduit path construction is a together which fiber to form
TOTALS
conduit riser in the stairhall branching out a digital campus. 18,927
into the hallway corridors with metal molding
containing fiber drops to the apartment door.
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7. NYCHA-GOOGLE Broadband RFI - Bridging the Digital Divide
Ordinances
NYCHA is within NYC jurisdiction, where specific permits and
franchise agreements are required for a multitude of fiber optic
infrastructure projects currently underway on city property.
However, NYCHA offers a unique scenario in that we can help
Google work around city franchise issues by using our properties Rules
to deliver internet access via our underground conduit or from our
rooftops. Policies
NYCHA developments have extensive building to building conduit
network contain wiring for communicating from apartments,
utility rooms back to boiler plants with a preponderance of
&
spare conduits for future use. Spare conduits are now being
used for FIOS deployment in some properties. The pre-existing Facilities
infrastructure within each building complex offer quick unrestricted
access to thousands of apartments.
Deployment of a community-wide FTTH network will require Google to
work closely with local government entities and other organizations.
Google seeks to identify resources owned by the community that may
assist in the rapid, smooth deployment of a residential fiber optic network.
NYCHA is distributed across 5
Boroughs in New York City with
a high rate of development in all
areas. Several properties - that fall
outside of this initial trial - have
landmark designation.
Historical
We have some developments
with concentrations of Asian and
Hasidic Communities. We represent
Districts
the broad demographic of NYC, the
largest city in the US, characterized & Cultural
by high population density and
cultural diversity. Diversity
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8. NYCHA-GOOGLE Broadband RFI - Bridging the Digital Divide
Expertise Atefeh Riazi, NYCHA Chief Information Officer is fully committed
to using technology to improve the quality of life for our residents.
She brings new strategic direction to NYCHA,
Chief Information Officer is training and recruiting new IT staff to bring
Atefeh Riazi visionary perspectives and high tech talents
to this agency. As founder of CIO’s Without
Borders, she has a deep understanding of
the importance of bridging the digital divide,
in fostering the life enhancements that the
internet can offer where most needed.
NYCHA CIO Atti Riazi joined the New York City Housing
Authority in November of 2009.
Disparities of high bandwidth internet access falls along economic lines
between the haves and have nots. Among low- and middle-income New Yorkers,
it is well below the national average.
Some talking points
• Community-Enabled Education – High bandwidth with real-
time shared content will revolutionize educational platforms,
provide for distance e-learning opportunities and streaming
video programming possible, live streaming collaborations,
classrooms, lectures, access to shared content, etc.
• Bridging the Digital Divide – The democratization of the
internet, so that it is equally available to all, regardless of
socio-economic status. Low and middle income New Yorkers
are far behind the national average in internet usage.
• Economic Growth and Job Opportunities – This will
enhance business functionality, and numerous social media
and professional opportunities for residents and small
business startups.
• Disabled/Elderly Access – NYCHA has a high percentage
of elderly and disabled residents, the internet can offer
new conveniences for an easier life. 35.4% of NYCHA
households are headed by an individual age 62 and over.
• High density population – we probably offer the highest
population density over any other applicant for fast gigabit
tens of thousands of people within a very close proximity.
• Resident Safety and Security – High bandwidth enables
use of inexpensive web based video security systems
in public spaces and elevators and can support our
Emergency Notification Networks.
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9. NYCHA-GOOGLE Broadband RFI - Bridging the Digital Divide
While it is amazing
to consider what one
individual can do
with 100 times the
conventional internet
bandwidth, just think
what 100 people can
do with access to the
internet that they would
not otherwise have.
Get Connected
As part of our Get Connected campaign, we currently
have live email sign-up systems up and running
supported by community outreach and marketing. We
are in the process of collecting thousands of email
addresses of our residents to incorporate in our social
networking and emergency notification networks.
The Get Connected campaign is the first step. This
poster encourages residents to visit the NYCHA website
to provide contact information, an email address that
can be incorporated in our social networking and
emergency notification networks.
Resources
New York City Population as per American Community Survey (ACS) July 2008; The New York City Civil Service Sector Labor Market Profile; www.
nytimes.com/2008/11/30/jobs/30training.html; Manufacturing A Sustainable New York NY; Civil_Service_LMP_July2006.pdf; NYT June 24, 2008 in NYC;
www.marketingcharts.com; http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/750498; www.broadband.gov; NYCHA Internal Data; www.worldclimate.com; MTC www.
nymtc.org; www.labor.state.ny.us; www.nycetc.org; answers.com; www.w3.org
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10. WASHINGTON, DC - March 15, 2010 The Federal Communications Commission made its
National Broadband Plan public outlining specific recommendations for policy makers over
the next decade to ensure all Americans get access to high-speed Internet.
Congress asked the FCC as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in
February 2009 to come up with a comprehensive plan to spread affordable broadband access
throughout the U.S., with the goal of creating more jobs for Americans, improving health
care, and encouraging energy independence. The FCC task force, which has been working
on the report for nearly a year, will present its 360-page report to the FCC commissioners on
Tuesday and it will present the report to Congress on Wednesday. A summary of the report
is posted on the FCC Web site.
Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan
The National Broadband Plan lays out a bold road map to America’s future.
These initiatives will stimulate economic growth, spur job creation, and boost our
capabilities in education, healthcare, homeland security and more.
- National Broadband Goals -
Goal 1: At least 100 million U.S. homes should have affordable access to actual download speeds
of at least 100 megabits per second and actual upload speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
Goal 2: The United States should lead the world in mobile innovation, with the fastest and most
extensive wireless networks of any nation.
Goal 3: Every American should have affordable access to robust broadband service, and the
means and skills to subscribe if they so choose.
Goal 4: Every community should have affordable access to at least 1 Gbps broadband service to
anchor institutions such as schools, hospitals and government buildings.
Goal 5: To ensure the safety of Americans, every first responder should have access to a
nationwide public safety wireless network.
Goal 6: To ensure that America leads in the clean energy economy, every American should be
able to use broadband to track and manage their real-time energy consumption.
(source) www.broadband.gov
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