In 2014, a man ran up to the front desk of the Rainier Beach Public Library in a state of panic. He had been using the library's free access to the internet to fill out a job application, but was unable to finish in the 90 minutes the library permits each day. All of his progress was lost, and he would have to try again another day.
“I literally walked out to my car and cried,” Upgrade Seattle board member Karen Toering recounted to the Seattle City Council. “Why do we make our most vulnerable communities work the hardest to get something that we all take for granted?”
Internet Access is a Social Justice Issue
Karen's experience reflects the reality facing too many of our friends and neighbors. In booming, high tech Seattle, 17.2% of households still lack home internet access. Without home internet, our neighbors are unable to apply for jobs, pay their bills, connect with our local public schools, or complete the schoolwork needed to graduate.
And while the cost of owning a computer continues to drop, the high monthly cost of internet access acts as a barrier increasing Seattle's digital divide.
Consider:
1 in 6 Seattle Households Lack Internet Access
Within Seattle's Black and Asian Pacific Islander Communities, it's 1 in 5.
In Seattle's Hispanic Community, the number increases to 1 in 4.
Across households making less than $20,000 a year, it's 1 in 3.
This is a problem we can solve.
Just like Seattle City Light, Seattle's public internet utility will ensure that low-income residents receive discounts on their monthly internet bill. And when Seattle residents become eligible for low-cost electric rates, we don't degrade the quality of electricity provided.
Public internet service will be no different. For low-income Seattle residents, we will provide gigabit speed internet service for $10 a month. Because when people are struggling to get by, it doesn't make sense to throw up additional hurdles to success.
Further reading:
"At 7 p.m. on a recent Wednesday, Isabella and Tony Ruiz were standing in their usual homework spot, on a crumbling sidewalk across the street from the elementary school nearest to their home" (read more).
"This deep into the digital age, it’s worth asking: Who are our city’s disconnected, and what’s keeping them from plugging in?" (read more).