REMARKS OF BLOSSOM A. PERETZ, ESQ.
DIRECTOR, DIVISION OF THE RATEPAYER ADVOCATE

BEFORE THE LONG BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARY
LONG BRANCH LIBRARIES ON-LINE PROGRAM

328 Broadway, Long Branch
September 20, 2000 10:00 a.m.

Good morning and a special hello to our honored guests here this morning, Senator Joe Palaia (R-11) and Larry Downes, Chairman and CEO of New Jersey Natural Gas Company, our sponsor today. I’d like to thank the library staff for inviting me to share this special occasion for the Long Branch Public Library, all residents of Long Branch, and our corporate benefactor New Jersey Natural Gas Company. Also, I’d especially like to commend Library Director Ingrid Bruck along with Tom Hayes from New Jersey Natural Gas for bringing this project to completion. Libraries On-Line is an innovative program that uses computers and other training methods to teach adults and children how to access library resources.

I commend the ongoing relationship New Jersey Natural Gas Company has had with the Long Branch Library. As the corporate sponsor, New Jersey Natural previously gave Long Branch Library its first Internet access computer along with Windows 2000 licenses. Today we are here to celebrate the new T-1 256 high speed Internet connection, which will more than double the speed of the connection for residents of Long Branch.

As Ratepayer Advocate for the State of New Jersey, I have worked for several years with the New Jersey Library Association. And librarians throughout the State have let me know how valuable their patrons find access to the Internet. Today, as the Long Branch Library joins neighboring libraries in Asbury Park and Red Bank in this exciting program, I believe this library will be able to provide even better service to this community with the resources of the world’s classrooms and libraries -- with all the resources children and adults need to explore, learn and find ways of realizing their individual dreams. School children especially will benefit in researching their homework assignments and their interests beyond the classroom.

I feel very fortunate that I have the privilege of being involved in the process that is assisting this library in providing access for all ages of citizens in the community who depend on libraries for information about jobs and current events.

As we move into the Information Age, you and I know that one of the things that matters most is whether this generation of children will have the tools they need to be productive citizens. As of this year, I am told, more than 60% of all new jobs require employees to work with computers. No CEO in this country would allow his workers to rely on pencil, paper and outdated reference materials to do their job. And yet that is the fate to which children in some communities are consigned if we don’t fund technology for all communities.

But that is not the case here thanks to a partnership between government and the private sector, between Long Branch librarians and New Jersey Natural Gas Co. They have ensured that this public library will continue to be the public information technology center for the entire community.

I have learned that residents line up here at the Long Branch library in order to have access to these computers to learn computer job skills. I have also heard that there is a growing Brazilian population in Long Branch and many adults are using the Internet to stay in contact with friends and relatives across the globe. I think this a wonderful use of technology.

William E. Kennard, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission asked:

"How do we make sure the Information Highway has on-ramps and off-ramps into every neighborhood? How do we avoid creating a country of information haves and have-nots?...This is what I call the digital divide. If we can’t bridge that digital divide, it will separate Americans when they most need to be brought together."

I am so pleased that here at the Long Branch Library, with the help of New Jersey Natural Gas, that there be no digital divide and all members of this community can not only have access to new technologies, but also have access to communicate around the world.

As the Ratepayer Advocate of the State of New Jersey, I congratulate you and look forward to hearing about the creative, wonderful uses to which Long Branch residents will put this new information tool.

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