Among several resolutions adopted by the United States Conference of Mayors at its 87th Annual Meeting in Honolulu, the group of municipal and city leaders took on Smart City Technology and Security head-on.
To see the full list of resolutions, click here.
The following resolutions will directly impact Smart City strategy in communities all over the US.
Preserving Local Public Rights-of-Way and Regulatory Authority to Most Effectively Deploy 5G Broadband Access and Bridge the Digital Divide
The Mayors here requested that the President, the U.S. Congress, the Federal Communications Commission, and state governments protect municipal authority to balance the needs of all parties, including small cell access, to the public rights-of-way while maintaining municipal authority retain control over their local rights-of-way and to receive fair-market compensation for access to all public assets; and that Congress should recognize that universal access to affordable broadband cannot be achieved through deregulation and preemption of local authority, but will require partnerships and robust and dedicated federal funding to accelerate universal broadband deployment; and that it should preserve the respect for municipal authority found in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 such that industry working collaboratively with local governments might achieve our shared goal of ensuring affordable broadband access for every American, facilitating universal service, and closing the digital divide. Finally, the group of municipal leaders called upon Congress to pass legislation such as H.R. 530, the Accelerating Broadband Development by Empowering Local Communities Act of 2019, and S. 2012, the Restoring Local Control Over Public Infrastructure Act of 2019 in order to undo the relvant FCC (News - Alert) actions and that it will oppose any new regulation or legislation that would limit, in any way, local government oversight and authority regarding the deployment of 5G broadband in communities.
Supporting the Development and Adoption of an Open Source (News - Alert), Mobility-Focused Platform for Management of Cities’ Public Right-of-Way
Here the Mayors stated support for the development and broad deployment of common, open-sourced software platforms that allow cities to improve safety, limit congestion, promote commerce and improve quality of life.
Using Smart Cities Technology to Make Traffic Fines Fairer
The group encouraged mayors to review and analyze the deterrent, behavioral, and social impacts of local traffic fines, and continue to test, deploy, and expand traffic violation sensory technologies while incorporating ethical standards, transparent and bias-tested protocols into these systems in order to reduce fine and penalty levels commensurate with more precise enforcement.
In Support of the State Cyber Security Act (H.R. 2130/S.1065)
They urged Congress to pass the State Cyber Resiliency Act; and asked the Administration to support this legislation and provide critical resources necessary to enhance our nation’s critical cybersecurity infrastructure at the local level.
Opposing Payment to Ransomware Attack Perpetrators
The United States Conference of Mayors stands united against paying ransoms in the event of an IT security breach.
Data Protection at the Edge Resolution
The group urged the Administration and the U.S. Congress to encourage fault-tolerant technology solutions critically necessary for resilience, redundancy, and reliability of data systems; protecting public and private data to ensure data centers and edge computing facilities function for continuity of services and network operations; and that federal government contracting of data storage with any private data center should only contract with entities that use fault-tolerant solutions and follow the standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and Federal Acts, FITARA and FDCCI.