We're in the final few days of the Google FCI RFI period and we're very excited about the progress made. Since we started, more than 1,500 people have come to the site, roughly half of that to our guided RFI page. We've worked with organizations like the AUSD, AEF, WABA, GABA, PSBA, Alameda Hospital, and our city government to get their RFIs completed and submitted. Have you submitted your RFI? Can you help spread the word?

R.I.P. Rally: We regret that we won't be having a public rally this Sunday (and thank those like David Doyle, Jennifer Ott and Andrew Thomas at City Hall, and the folks at the Alameda Sun) who stood ready to help us attempt it). When we looked at the work required as well as that remaining, it became clear that dividing our efforts at the end would take our focus off what we considered key: making the best possible case for Alameda. In the end, Google will be looking at each application on its merits; we want to be sure ours stands up well to that scrutiny, so that's where we're focusing our remaining time.

We're down to the wire. If you haven't submitted an individual RFI, please do, and please encourage your friends and neighbors to go to http://wirealameda.org/rfi and do so as well. If you represent a community group, please submit an RFI for your group.

Please spread the word ... and thank you for your support!

I know you've heard us say this repeatedly, but it's phenomenal the support we're getting at all levels. The City has issued a press release in support of the Google RFI, the council will consider a resolution strongly supporting our efforts [pdf] at their next meeting, there's a half-page ad in today's Alameda Journal, and things just keep picking up steam.

You may have noticed that we pushed out some minor changes to the website. We want to be sure we help folks find their way to our Google Group, our Facebook Group and Fan Page, as well as getting folks to fill out the Google RFI for themselves and spread the word any other way they can.

There's only two weeks left! Please help us reach out to the community by spreading the word to your friends and neighbors to fill out the RFI and join in as we work to stand out from the crowd!

For your viewing pleasure: Google Fiber for Communities RFI You can also download the PDF.

I love living in Alameda. It's always been evident that we are a diverse, supportive citizenry, but never more so for me personally than this past week. The level of interest in this from people in our community, both private citizens and our city's leadership, has been overwhelming! Here's a quick summary of what's going on:

Google announced that it wants to pilot a program of ultra-high-speed broadband in one or more communities totalling anywhere from 50,000 to 500,000 homes. They plan to do this by drawing fiber to the premises, much like Verizon's FiOS has been doing for several years. Their stated goal is to enable them to experiment with unique uses of this high bandwidth when supplied direct to consumer; there's a lot of speculation that they'll also be using this to flog the FCC into moving more quickly on its National Broadband Plan.

It's plain from reading the RFI is that Google is very interested in how quickly and easily the fiber installation can be completed; they approach this directly as well as from many angles such as terrain, weather, and information about how challenging it will be to reach the. Alameda may have an advantage here; we have gentle terrain, soil, and weather as well as a wealth of hard-won information about how to lay fiber around our island.

We held our organizational meeting last Monday, where we formed our core working group. We are (alphabetically):

• Howard Ashcraft
• Andy Currid
• John-Michael Kyono
• Jim Meyer
• Parker Thompson

It was clear to us from the start that making a successful application would require a coordinated effort between the community, our city government, city businesses and organizations, our school district, our hospital board, and many others. It quickly became our first priority to find the key people needed to complete Google's RFI as well as the right people who could help us raise any issues early.

I'm very happy to say that, in reaching out to people in those organizations, we've had nothing but a high level of interest and genuine excitement over the possibilities. The City Council, the Mayor's office, and the City Manager's office, EDC, and PUB have been spectacularly helpful with all this, even to the point of helping us find space to meet.

We'll be meeting with many of these people next Monday evening to sort out the details and see if we can quickly come up with the information needed to complete the Google RFI. Once that ball is rolling, we'll start planning how to make our application stand out from the crowd.

36 days and counting ... stay tuned!

Okay, maybe not us specifically, but yesterday Google announced their plans [coverage: LA Times CS Monitor WSJ] to pilot a high-speed internet program in several-to-many communities with an aim "to experiment with new ways to help make broadband Internet access better, faster, and more widely available." More detail is available here.

So why not Alameda?

It's easy to see a future for Alameda that incubates leading edge technology startups while it also cultivates the next generation of technology leaders who will create, innovate, and help shape the future of our community, our country, and our world.

We're an amazing community. In a time where people are more self-involved than active in their communities, we enjoy a level of citizen and community engagement that shows everywhere: from meetups in cafes; to attendance at city council and AUSD board meetings; or just neighbors and friends chatting on our streets and sidewalks. We're a front-porch, know-your-neighbors kind of place and, while we may often disagree, we work together to do the right thing.

We're tech-savvy. Whether you're reading any of the many excellent Alameda blogs and online news sources, sharing with others via mailing lists and meetups, reading the Alameda Public LIbrary staff picks blog, hanging out in any of the many wifi-enabled cafes, or even connected to Alameda's grassroots free wifi network ... you can't doubt that we know technology.

We're tech-friendly. We're the home to major technology businesses like Perforce and Wind River Systems, as well as many startups ranging from defense to biotech, from software to lasers. We've seen more and more technology businesses choose Alameda for their home in the past few years. Better connectivity and innovative uses for it will only accelerate that trend.

We've got our eyes on the future. Whether you're looking at how we've chosen to deck out our public library in technology, the technology in use in our public schools (we're even the home to the Alameda Science and Technology Institute), you can tell we're planning for a future where technology is more ubiquitous and more integrated than ever.

Google is soliciting applications from city representatives as well as from community groups and individuals. If you believe, as I do, that we'd be an excellent pilot community, let's talk. Drop me a line and we'll plan our first get-together to figure out how we can put our best foot forward in this.

--jim, citizen, neighbor, and geek.