 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
DC Aims To Be A Leader Among Cyber Cities
When Dave Catania thinks of Washington, DC, as an urban city, he doesn’t see smokestacks or row houses; he thinks of a growing high-tech industry that employs people who want a second chance at a life full of monetary promise.
Attracting high-tech businesses to the area is a key priority for some industry CEOs and lawmakers in the District, and this week marks a halfway point for a city measure that the District hopes could place it at the top of the industry’s list of hot high-tech spots around the country.
The DC City Council will hold a mark-up session of the New Economy Transformation Act 2000 Thursday as bill supporters present the fiscal impact of the measure.
"We have been reliant on government and hospitality (in DC) for so long — neither one of them are great wealth generators," council member Catania said in an interview, stressing the need to diversify the District’s economy. "There’s a notion that the District has to shake off its past reactive strategy."
Catania created the New Economy Advisory Group, comprised of DC-based high-tech CEOs, earlier this year to advise the District council on how to retain and attract high-tech businesses to the area. Co-chairing the group are Shabbir Safdar, co-founder of mindshare Internet Campaigns, and Sandy Saunders of the litigation and technology practice groups of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld.
The bill requires companies to be headquartered in the District to receive many of the measure’s benefits, such as sales tax abatements, which may be as low as 6 percent and even 0 percent in certain areas designated by the mayor and the council. The measure includes job relocation benefits for qualified companies, credits for hiring and training people coming off welfare Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF) rolls and ex-offenders. And credits can even be carried forward in the first few years until the company begins to see a profit.
"It’s very much a new economy mentality," Safdar said in an interview. "This is an effort at trying to make the District an attractive participant" in the new economy "and trying to improve the region’s shot, as a whole, to bring businesses to the area."
Catania said the bill is not a move to compete with high-tech regions such as that of Northern Virginia, but to be a tough competitor for other urban cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.
"My intentions are to make the district the most competitive urban jurisdiction," Catania said.
The next meeting on the bill will be held in December.
Smoking Out Cigs On The Net
The country’s third-largest tobacco manufacturer is suing New York State over a law soon to go into effect that prohibits the sale of cigarettes over the Internet.
British American Tobacco subsidiary Brown and Williamson Tobacco said Monday it filed suit in federal court to overturn an August 1999 law that bans sales of cigarettes via the mail, phone or Internet in the wake of the company’s announcement of its plans to sell the products directly to consumers. Last week, Brown and Williamson said it would use catalogs to sell some of its less popular brands — such as Tareyton and Carlton —that are being shoved off store shelves. The Internet is one way to attract attention to those brands less popular than Kool or Lucky Strikes.
Lawmakers say prohibitions on Internet sales are important because the Web is an easy way for those underage to get cigarettes and for adult smokers to circumvent state tax systems. But American Indian businesses based on selling discounted cigarettes and direct shipping retailers are protesting the law. The Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company of New Mexico filed its own suit on Tuesday. Native American tribes are not required to collect or pay sales taxes.
Fighting For Access To Massachusetts
The increasing demand for high-speed Internet access has some competitive phone providers in a bind.
The Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE) — a board of governor appointed commissioners - unanimously recommended that the Federal Communications Commission approve Verizon’s application to sell long-distance phone service in Massachusetts, saying it proved its state networks are open to competition. But the problem is ousting the incumbent — Bell Atlantic. The offspring of Ma Bell was the first regional Bell company to get regulatory permission to offer long-distance service in its home state of New York in December 1999. But Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly, D, criticized the DTE for its recommendations, saying Verizon failed to comply with all 14 points a checklist phone companies must pass to prove its network in that state is open to competition.
On a similar note, WorldCom wants to offer local phone service and resell DSL service in the state, but says the fees it would have to pay to Verizon are too high. WorldCom told the FCC on Monday that the agency should reject Verizon's petition, in part because of its refusal to split lines for competitors. As DSL becomes more popular, consumers may be told they can't have DSL unless they get a second line or switch their service to the local Bell company. "The problems with line splitting are huge" in Massachusetts, Keith Seat, a senior counsel with WorldCom, told News.com. "That's going to be very important for competition down the road."
The FCC hasn't addressed the issue directly, but it issued a ruling last fall on line sharing that requires Bells to allow competing DSL providers on their lines. By recently granting SBC Communications the right to offer long-distance service in Texas, the FCC mandated line splitting there. Texas and New York regulators since have cited that FCC ruling in requiring line splitting. The Justice Department must make its recommendation on Verizon’s application by Oct. 27, while the FCC has until Dec. 21.
Montana Embraces Broadband
The Montana State Advanced Telecommunications Infrastructure Committee has awarded $204,221 in telecom tax credits for the calendar year 2000 to eight independent Montana telephone companies which will provide broadband services, distance learning and voice communications technologies and cable modem services. The goal of the credits is to accelerate the expansion of Montana’s high-speed telecom structure. The more than $1.7 million project is the result of The Telecommunications Act, introduced by State Sen. Mignon Waterman, which authorizes a 20 percent telephone company license tax credit based on estimated project cost.
From Silicon Valley to Sun Valley
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, R, and Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer, R, Monday joined executives of 13 leading technology companies such as America Online, Compaq and Microsoft, in Sun Valley, ID, to identify ways growing Western states can take advantage of the advances in high technology. Kempthorne, chairman of the Western Governors’ Association, hosted the "High Tech in the West" session to identify potential public-private partnerships. Last year, the association created the Western High Tech Council to make sure Western states maintained leader status in the high-tech fields.
South Carolina Cracks Down On Web Obscenities
South Carolina Gov. Jim Hodges, D, recently signed legislation to reduce access to Web sites displaying obscene material. The bill initiates a pilot program to install Internet filtering software in local libraries and media centers, to be tested by the Budget and Control Board. The board will determine the software’s ability to reduce access to pornographic Web sites, while enabling access to legitimate research sites. At least three filtering programs will be tested in the program, which will run through June 29, 2001. The Board will report its findings to the General Assembly by Dec. 1, 2001.
Fair Use At Fairleigh
Starting next fall, those attending the 9,000-student Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ, will be required to take at least one course per year online. The university’s Academic Senate faculty group approved the requirement last month. Members of the freshman class will choose from 12 to 15 courses in English literature, global issues and some that are Internet-related. The college currently offers 35 courses online with about 160 students participating. The school will spend about $5 million to develop new software and upgrade its network to develop 50 to 60 new courses in the next four years.
- by Liza Porteus
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
