ALBANY— The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) announced today that it will hold additional public statement hearings in Village of Lake Placid, Essex County; City of Buffalo, Erie County; City of Syracuse, Onondaga County; City of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County; and Town of Bethlehem, Albany County on the recently issued Department of Public Service Assessment Report on the State of Telecommunications in New York.   

As part of the report, Department of Public Service staff filed a fact-based assessment of the current telecommunications landscape in New York, examining trends in voice, video and broadband services and reviewing different technologies such as copper, fiber, cable and wireless networks.

Public Statement Hearings

The public will have an opportunity to present comments at hearings before an Administrative Law Judge assigned by the Department to hear this case.  A verbatim transcript of the hearings will be made for inclusion in the record of the proceeding.

The public statement hearings will be held as follows:

In the hour prior to the public statement hearing, Department Staff will present an information session on the assessment report and be available to answer questions. The information session will be immediately followed by the public statement hearing where all those wishing to comment on the assessment report and the discussion questions will have an opportunity to make a statement on the record.

It is not necessary to be present at the start of the hearing, to make an appointment in advance, or to present written material to speak at the hearing.  Persons will be called to speak after completing a request card.  The public statement hearing will continue until everyone wishing to speak has been heard or other reasonable arrangements have been made.  Disabled persons requiring special accommodations should call the Department of Public Service's Human Resources Management Office at (518) 474-2520 as soon as possible. TDD users may request a sign language interpreter by placing a call through the New York Relay Service at 711. Individuals with difficulty understanding or reading English are encouraged to call the Commission at 1-800-342-3377 for free language assistance services regarding this notice.

Other Ways to Comment

Internet or Mail:  In addition to speaking at the formal hearings, members of the public desiring to comment may submit written comments by sending them electronically to the Commission’s Secretary at secretary@dps.ny.gov or by mail or delivery to Hon. Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, Public Service Commission, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350.  Comments should refer to "Case 14-C-0370.”

Toll-free Opinion Line:  Comments may also be submitted through the Commission’s Opinion Line at 1-800-335-2120.  This number is designed to take comments about pending cases from in-state callers, 24 hours a day.  Callers should press “1” to leave comments for the cases referenced above.  These comments are not transcribed but are summarized, with the summary reported to the Administrative Law Judge and the Commission.

The assessment report may be obtained at http://www.dps.ny.gov/TelStudy/ or by searching Case 14-C-0370 in the Department’s Document and Matter Management System (DMM). Comments are requested to be submitted no later August 24, 2015, but will be accepted throughout the pendency of this proceeding.  Written comments will become part of the record considered by the Commission.  Written comments may be accessed on the Commission’s website by searching Case 14-C-0370 in the input box labeled "Search for Case Number" and clicking on the “Public Comments” tab.  Many libraries offer free Internet access.