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Baltimore restructures Digital Equity Office amid ‘bottlenecks’

28 July 2022

by Sarah Wray

The Baltimore Office of Broadband and Digital Equity’s function is being transferred from the Mayor’s Office to the Office of Information and Technology as the city tries to keep its goal to close the digital divide by 2030 on track.

The city’s first Broadband and Digital Equity Director Jason Hardebeck, who was appointed in March 2021, also departed “effective immediately,” according to a statement from the Mayor’s Office.

Kenya Asli, Director of Strategic Initiatives with the Baltimore City Office of Information and Technology (BCIT), will serve as Interim Director until the position is permanently filled, reporting to Chief Information Officer Todd Carter.

The city said the move to the IT office will improve capacity to leverage federal funding and push through “bottlenecks” such as network equipment supply chain issues.

“Jason stepped in during the pandemic and developed the Broadband and Digital Equity Framework, laying the groundwork for broadband infrastructure investment for the City of Baltimore,” said Mayor Brandon M. Scott.

“He drove our decision to allocate $35 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds towards changing the digital landscape here in Baltimore. We are confident that our significant progress will continue through this transition. Kenya has played a key role in the city’s efforts to close the digital divide that has served as a barrier to economic mobility, wellbeing, and empowerment in our communities for far too long.”

According to the 2018 American Community Survey, 96,000 households in Baltimore – 41 percent – did not have wireline internet service.

Fibre plan

Of the US$35 million, US$6 million has been allocated for phase one to connect more than 20 recreation centres to the city’s fibre optic network, support at least 100 public Wi-Fi hotspots and establish administration and network operations.

Details of future phases have not been released but at the end of last year, Baltimore also outlined a longer-term vision to build municipal-owned open access fibre infrastructure throughout the city, though the idea has received some pushback from the private sector.

“The future is that the city, and more importantly the public, owns that infrastructure in the same way that public roads and other public infrastructure are owned for our public good,” Hardebeck told Cities Today at the time.

He added: “That does not mean that the city intends to be an [internet service provider] on our own network, but I am also not ruling that out.”

He said the goal was to expand choice and create competition among providers while ensuring that there is not “excess profit in the network, as there is with proprietary ISPs.”

On whether the open access fibre infrastructure plan remains the same, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office only said: “Baltimore City is committed to building robust public Wi-Fi hotspots throughout West, East, Central, and South Baltimore. The initial deployment will include 100 Wi-Fi hotspots and will leverage the city’s existing fibre infrastructure to provide connectivity to the internet.”

Bottlenecks

A statement said the decision to restructure the Broadband and Digital Equity Office under the purview of BCIT is “a logical next step as the city continues to place a laser focus on digital equity and will allow us to streamline the city’s efforts around information and technology access into a single agency.”

The move also aims to help break through some of the “bottlenecks impeding our collective progress.”

The spokesperson said: “The most significant bottleneck hindering progress is the supply chain for network equipment. BCIT is actively evaluating all options to overcome the global supply chain challenge and has the capacity and relationships to make progress in this regard.”

They added: “Plans remain in place to leverage the improved capacity for this work – a direct result of moving the city’s broadband and digital equity efforts under BCIT – to apply for IIJA funding for use in broadband infrastructure projects.“

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