June 1, 1995
General Meeting of the Task Force Chairs and Co-Chairs
International Center for Communications
Attendees:
Allen Brooks, John Buettgen, Steve Burke, John Cronican, Jack Donegan, John Eger, Beverly Foster, Susan Fratamico, Clark Fryrear, Jon Fullinwider, Phil Garcia, Joe Giammona, Casey Glennon, Sid Karin, Richard Kremsdorf, Greg Myers, John Pavlik, Ted Purvis, Lee Rizio, Peter Rosen, Jim Skeen, Howard Stapleton, Peter Wagschal
John Eger called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m. He thanked all those who have worked on the project so far, and said that San Diegans could be proud of the way they are "taking ownership of their own future."
Health Care Task Force Report
Peter Rosen presented the recommendations for both the general committee and the Applications and Content subcommittee of the Health Care Task Force. The original recommendation of the City of the Future report was to create a health care utility that would electronically link all the various health care systems in San Diego. The three objectives of this utility would be to standardize patient information, create an informed medical consumer, and to redefine the delivery of primary care services.
So far, the Health Care Task Force has focused on designing the organization of this proposed health care utility. Their first recommendation is to develop a not-for-profit organization to guide the development of telehealth and telemedicine in San Diego, to be called San Diego Telehealth Incorporated. Their second recommendation is that the CEOs of health care organizations that are interested in establishing this health care utility be invited to meet and to approve of the initial development of San Diego Telehealth. The board for this new organization should be composed of representatives from the major health care organizations in San Diego.
San Diego Telehealth should work with appropriate parties to develop and distribute materials to promote the use of telehealth resources in San Diego. They should also develop an outpatient clinical telemedicine work station that would assist the public in obtaining health care.
Rosen then spoke for the Applications and Content subcommittee, which recommended that the organization develop health education information and community-wide health-data repositories. The organization should also identify the existing technologies and systems that have already been deployed in the community and link them into one network. Other recommendations were to work together with the other City of the Future Task Forces, and to insure that there is universal access to this network. Another possible application is to establish a minimum clinical data set for patients, to be shared by health care providers, so that medical information will be readily available during an emergency. This could be done through the use of a smart card, which a patient would carry with him like a credit card, and which would contain his standardized medical history. Sid Karin suggested that creating a smart card would be an enormous task, whereas getting local health care providers to agree on the minimum data set might be more within the scope of the project. Rosen responded that the smart card is only one possible application that might be developed. The major emphasis should be on creating an informed medical consumer, since that would involve providing a link to data systems that are already in place, and would not involve developing entirely new data systems.
Education Task Force Report
Next, Steve Burke spoke for the Education Task Force. This task force focused on developing the resources of one target school, Nye Elementary in Paradise Hills, into a life-site school. Last summer and fall, the task force performed a needs assessment of Nye in order to determine what its capabilities are, and what direction it should move in.
The thrust of the life-site school concept is to make the school a resource for the entire community, rather than just an educational center for the children. The plan for the next 3-5 years is to make Nye a center for delivering social service, health care services, and continuing education for adults, as well as an educational resource for children. The students at Nye would initially be linked to other educational resources, such as universities or Sea World, via the Internet. Later, this link could be made with real-time video conferencing via ISDN lines for an educational display program.
The major problem now facing Nye is how to absorb these new technologies and programs into its curriculum, given the limited resources and staff available at the school. The task force submitted a proposal to the California State Board of Education for a grant called "Building the Future, Connecting the Community," designed to promote the same type of programs being developed at Nye. If accepted, this will make $100,000 available to Nye to continue with these programs, but the decision is still pending.
Burke acknowledged that not much progress was made toward the other two goals of the original report: developing art-infused education and creating a broader community-wide network of interaction between schools. These could be areas for future exploration.
One final concern Burke mentioned was that teachers may be slow to accept these new technologies and life-site programs, given the demands already placed on them by their regular curriculum. Therefore, these new programs should be introduced to only two or three schools each year, rather than broadly, and only at those schools where the staff seems particularly receptive to the program. Beverly Foster added that by August all 160 San Diego City School sites will be connected to the wide-area network.
Privacy and Security Task Force Report
No one was present to present for the Privacy and Security Task force, but Eger had spoken earlier with Beth Givens, who said that the final report should speak for itself. He added that San Diego is one of the few cities in the country to, on its own initiative, adopt a set of privacy and security guidelines to guard against the misuse of its own records. However, the task force decided to postpone any recommendations concerning the private use of records, due to the high level of national attention already focused on that area.
Info San Diego Report
Joe Giammona gave an overview of Info San Diego. This task force contains five subcommittees: Legal/Regulatory, Marketing, Applications, Technology, and Economic. The task force concentrated on developing three major functions for Info San Diego. One is an on-line information service serving the San Diego region. Another is to function as the information portal between San Diego and the rest of the world, providing information about San Diego to local and outside users. Info San Diego would also be a home page on the Internet, promoting San Diego.
Next, John Pavlik spoke about some of the goals of Info San Diego. The major idea behind Info San Diego is to electronically link all the various sources of information already available in San Diego, and make them accessible to the public. Creating such a system should produce the benefits of promoting the region, enhancing government efficiency, attracting and retaining businesses, increasing tourism, and improving the general quality of life. Upcoming events important for Info San Diego will be the December Super Computer Conference, the Republican National Convention, and the Super Bowl. All these events could benefit from Info San Diego, as well as promoting the service to the public.
Giammona then listed the task force's recommendations for creating Info San Diego. One is that Info San Diego be started within the San Diego Data Processing Corporation (SDDPC), but later spun off as a separate corporation. Another task would be to develop a strategic business plan and obtain legal council.
The initial content of Info San Diego should be carefully selected to include visually interesting material. It should use World Wide Web protocols. Private sector membership should be sought as a source of revenue. Info San Diego should commit to comprehensive public participation. Most of the information should be provided via links to other sources, but some innovative original content should be developed as well, to keep the system interesting. Standards for the timeliness and quality of content should be established at the onset, to ensure that all the data is current and useful. The information should also be checked for accuracy, keeping liability issues in mind. Finally, Info San Diego should provide as wide an access as possible, with accessibility for low-end equipment as well for users with the newest technologies. One possibility for ensuring this access is to install information Kiosks in public places, so that citizens could view the more sophisticated materials without having to own their own expensive equipment.
The final report is available via the World Wide Web at
Pavlik added that Info San Diego should cooperate with the other task forces, since they often face similar issues. It should also assist local organizations that have valuable information to provide, but lack the technical wherewithal to put it on an electronic network.
Beverly Foster asked if Info San Diego would still be run by the public libraries, as outlined in the original recommendation. Giammona responded that that plan has changed, and they are now recommending that it be a free-standing company.
Sid Karin asked what the structure of this company would have. Giammona responded that it would be similar to the SDDPC, as a 501c3 non profit corporation, or a 501c4 mutual benefit corporation. It would have an advisory board, including representatives from the investors, as well as universities, libraries, the City government, technical advisors, and public advisors.
Karin asked why the investors might be willing to fund the project. Giammona said that the investors' various corporations will be situated prominently on the system, and that that exposure will make it worthwhile for them the finance it. Karin responded that he would feel uncomfortable about that sort of arrangement, but John Pavlik added that their are other possibilities for the structure, and the issue could still be open for further consideration.
Richard Kremsdorf asked if there was any investigation to see if companies who would be willing to invest. Giammona responded that many of the private companies that participated in the Info San Diego task force indicated that they would be willing to invest. This support is important because the public may not be willing to fund the program alone, since so much of it would directly benefit the private sector through tourism, business development, etc.
Karin and Eger suggested that some experimentation with the private versus public organizational plan, and the viability of seeking private investors for the system, should be done during the incubation period of Info San Diego, while it is still being run out of SDDPC.
RFP Report
Howard Stapleton spoke about the status of the RFP.
The original recommendation of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on the City of the Future was to "build a community-wide communications infrastructure to serve the citizens of San Diego." Communication issues are becoming prominent on the legislative agenda. The recent Senate bill 652 and House bill 1555 indicates that the legislature is moving to open markets and competition, and that it will remove some of the bans on cross ownership between telecommunications, cable, and entertainment.
Regulatory trends are also expanding the future of telecommunications. The FCC and Ameritech are conducting trials in Illinois and Grand Rapids, Michigan, to try and help Ameritech unbundle their local exchange service. The FCC just auctioned off 120 MHz of spectrum for a record $7.7 billion. And the California Public Utilities Commission is also opening its local toll service and local exchange service to larger carriers.
Industry feedback to the RFI has varied. Many organizations said to "stay out of the way," since the proposed communications environment is already developing without any outside help. Others said that the City should be focusing on content. Further suggestions for the City's role included lobbying more aggressively to protect San Diego's interests, being a provider of last resort, continuing to operate a private virtual network, being an anchor tenant for an expanded network, or creating a new fiber-based utility.
Stapleton then outlined the RFP objectives. One was to create a regional standards-based network, initially anchored by the City and SDDPC sites. Another is that the network should support a positive image of San Diego for businesses that might locate here. The network would need to address a broad range of needs including local government, schools, and small businesses. It should demonstrate a net economic benefit, for local government, citizens, and the entire San Diego-Baja region. Effective competition should exist in all the telecommunications services offered to San Diego consumers. Lastly, network access must be affordable for all citizens.
There are two broad strategies for accomplishing these objectives. The first is to continue to use the city's private virtual network, SANNET, and lower the existing costs of voice and data services. This could be done by either requesting proposals for SANNET as part of a bundled package, maintaining it at its existing level with minimal upgrades, upgrading the technology employed, or expanding the geographic coverage. The other major strategy is to enter into partnerships to create a new regional telecommunications service, as some other cities are proposing. This plan could produce equity in exchange for use of public assets, and provide plentiful, universally accessible bandwidths, preventing the need for companies to dig up the streets installing their own conduits. However, the City would not want to take any financial risk in this venture, so the viability of this plan would come down to an economic decision by potential providers. The final recommendations are to look for an expanded SANNET that combines the voice and data for local access, and seek partners for a new regional telecommunications utility to incorporate with SANNET.
An RFP should be issued on June 30, allowing three months for proposals to be returned and another three months for the selection to be completed.
Stapleton said he is now looking for feedback from the committees on the RFP objectives and strategy, the recommendation made, and the RFP evaluation process.
John Pavlik asked if the RFP is being written in coordination with the Tijuana/Baja region. Stapleton responded that they will invite participation later in the process, but are not currently in collaboration with Mexican officials since that might slow the development process.
Sid Karen suggested that the plan should ultimately seek competition for both infrastructure and content, and include that as a goal statement in the RFP.
Susan Fratamico questioned whether companies responding to the RFP would really have an economic incentive to participate. Stapleton responded that the companies would have to pay to use the existing infrastructure anyway, so for them it becomes a question of whether having a better system that could provide more services is worth the price of developing that system. A difficult point here, he acknowledged, is that the company might demand to have control over the content and services sent through that infrastructure in order to insure a return on the investment.
Jack Donegan stressed that, while developing this local telecommunications policy, the City must keep an eye on the national trends in this area, and to stay in phase with them. Eger added that a statement to that effect should be included in the RFP.
Next, Lee Rizio spoke briefly about private/public ventures, as they relate to SDDPC and the City of the Future. The general advantages of a public organization lie in policy management, regulation, enforcement of equity, promotion of social issues. The general advantages of private organizations are their ability to respond quickly to market changes, focus on innovation, business orientation, capital availability, and the capability of doing research and development. He supposed that a combination private/public organization would incorporate all these advantages. Private/public partnerships have some specific applications to the City of the Future. One is the role that SDDPC plays as a conduit between government and industry. Such partnerships may also emerge for Info San Diego and the Health Care Cooperative, as the City entices many different companies to use the same infrastructure, rather than spending to create several different infrastructures. The City has also recently partnered with SAIC to sponsor a program called Boarder Net, which would provide communications between Tijuana and San Diego.
The meeting was then adjourned at 10:05 a.m.
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