More Fallout From NY's Bootgate: Where Did The E911 Money Go?

Politics

Remember all those nice cozy winter boots that NY spent their E911 money on? Well, New York State’s Comptroller is now pointing out that this might just (maybe, possibly) harm the state’s ability to set up E911 in time for the deadline. What a surprise. He warns that the state might also lose out on federal money intended for E911 programs as well. Derek adds: Want some fun, kids? Each quarter the nations wireless carriers are required to report on their progress towards E911 (local governments and 911 call centers are not required to report.) This is just one exapmle, VZW’s report from Nov. 2003, where you can read what the carriers think about the gov’t wastage or to save you the time, let me paraphrase, “We’re ready, essentially on schedule, but the local governments pissed away the fees we collected and gave to them for the past 10 years, so even when we have location information for a distress call in many local areas, these beurocrats in new boots are not equipped to use the data.”