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Action United, an activist group of low- and moderate-income residents, says Comcast Corp.'s discounted Internet program for poor children needs to be improved and more heavily advertised.

Comcast launched the $9.95-a-month Internet service this school year to help close the gap in Internet access between low-income and wealthier families, a gap experts refer to as the "digital divide."

The nation's largest provider of residential Internet service agreed to the program during negotiations with the Federal Communications Commission over its purchase of NBC Universal Inc.

Based on an informal survey of 107 families, Action United said 62 percent of respondents had not heard of Comcast's $9.95-a-month service, while almost three-quarters of the respondents said they would have considered applying for it if they had been aware of it.

A top Comcast executive, David Cohen, said Tuesday that the company has partnered with nonprofit groups, distributed literature to the Philadelphia school students, and paid for advertising through African American and Hispanic media outlets to promote Internet Essentials, the name of the discounted Internet service.

"We are willing to partner with any organization with boots on the ground," Cohen said, adding that he would be happy to enlist Action United.

Action United also says that people seem to have a hard time qualifying for the service.

A family can participate if its children are enrolled in the federal school-lunch program.

Action United said that of the 107 families who qualified for the school-lunch program, only eight had applied for Internet Essentials. Two of the families were approved and Comcast was sending them paperwork, said Elly Porter-Webb, Action United parent organizer. The group says it has about 44,000 members in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and Allentown.

Comcast told the other families they were not eligible because of past unpaid cable bills or because they had an existing Internet service, even though the families had children in the federal school-lunch program. "There are too many obstacles," Porter-Webb said.

The group is planning a rally at the Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning.

Cohen declined to disclose participation in Internet Essentials but said the cable company was conducting "real research to figure out the real barriers to adoption" and could alter the program based on the research.

Comcast believed, Cohen said, that it could take time to reach the population that would be most helped by Internet Essentials.

Council advances 2 bills to improve air quality
Thursday, July 07, 2011
By Joe Smydo, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday gave initial approval to two bills that supporters called important additions to the city's post-World War II record of environmental progress.
One bill would require the city to install pollution-control equipment on all of its diesel vehicles within 10 years -- work that the city finance department said is already under way. A second bill would require contractors to install pollution-control devices on construction vehicles used at city-subsidized projects.
A final vote on the bills is scheduled for Tuesday.
Councilman Bill Peduto, the chief sponsor, said the legislation marks Pittsburgh's continued march out of an era when pollution meant jobs, industrial might and a powerful economy.
Today, "pollution is not prosperity," and clean air and clean water are integral to economic growth, he said.
Council members agreed that the legislation had symbolic importance but disagreed on how significant an impact it would have on air quality.
"It is a feel-good bill," Ricky Burgess said of the legislation pertaining to city-subsidized projects. "It does not create substantive change."
Despite his concerns, Mr. Burgess voted for the legislation.
In a statement, Mr. Peduto said the bills would "dramatically reduce harmful diesel emissions to improve air quality throughout the city. ... It is estimated that 25 percent of the city's diesel particulate pollution originates from diesel construction vehicles and the technology exists today to reduce this pollution by more than 85 percent."
Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak said the legislation will have a ripple effect. After retrofitting their vehicles for city-subsidized projects, she said, contractors will use the same vehicles on privately funded developments.
"Here we are, leveraging our public funds to make sure private industry is doing what it should be doing anyway," Ms. Rudiak said.
Under the legislation, contractors would have to use low-pollution vehicles on projects that total $2.5 million or more and that involve at least $250,000 in city subsidies. The requirement would pertain to on-road and off-road vehicles.
Mr. Burgess expressed concern that the requirement would discourage projects in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. The bulk of development in such neighborhoods, he said, is city-subsidized.
However, the bill has the support of unions, community groups and environmentalists. Mr. Peduto said the coalition makes Pittsburgh a national center "where environment and labor meet together for economic growth."
One of the bills would require the city to make sure all diesel vehicles in its fleet have emission-control devices within 10 years. That work is under way, city finance director Scott Kunka said in a memo to council Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11188/1158767-53.stm#ixzz1SeyJ1ZC9