Cyber Café Closer

By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado Daily Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 11:10 PM MST

Most people here in Boulder take the Internet and even wireless Web access for granted, but many citizens in Dushanbe, Tajikistan aren't as lucky - and Boulder has a chance to help.

In fact, it's closer to an obligation, since Boulder's then-Mayor Linda Jourgensen and Dushanbe's then-Mayor Maksud Ikramov agreed to exchange a Tajik teahouse for a Boulder-style café in 1987. Dushanbe is one of Boulder's six “sister cities” located in other nations.

The Boulder-Dushanbe Teahouse, one of downtown Boulder's crown jewels located at 1770 13th St., opened in 1998 while Dushanbe should soon receive a planned Cyber Café in exchange. In short, the Café would have roughly 3,000 square feet of main-level floor space, about 20 computer workstations, food and beverages representative of Boulder and the U.S., and exhibits including art, photography and video of Boulder and the U.S.

An all-volunteer Boulder nonprofit organization called Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities (BDSC) said in its most recent newsletter that it had “enough cash in the bank to begin construction,” but said it needed to finalize the building contract and receive pledged funds from the City of Dushanbe before construction would begin.

And City Council member Jack Stoakes, the council's liaison to BDSC, had some good news during Tuesday's council meeting when he said that the government of Dushanbe had released $78,000 to the Cyber Café building account.

“That was the remaining funding necessary for us to let the contract - to go forward and start the construction,” said Stoakes Wednesday.

Former council member Don Mock, currently the BDSC president, said Wednesday that the Boulder Cyber Café team was “pretty much ready to go” with construction in 2004, but said the funding, planning and bureaucratic aspects of the project have been somewhat complex and helped push the start date back.

“The $78,000 was a commitment they made back in 2004, when they changed locations on us from a downtown location to a city park in Dushanbe,” said Mock. “At that time, they promised to compensate us for having to redo the design, and they finally transferred us the money that we've been waiting for.”

Mock said the Dushanbe team didn't want to combine its part of the construction responsibilities with the Boulder construction contract, which held up discussions, and also said there is plenty of competition among worthy local nonprofits for local contributions.

But he also said recent fundraising and receiving the money from Dushanbe means a construction contract might be signed in “the next week or so,” and said the Cyber Café is needed in Dushanbe for a number of reasons.

“It's very important symbolically and as a part of international relationships between our two countries that we make good on our promises,” said Mock. “It's also good in terms of a demonstrative project of American design and construction technologies, especially with ‘green' building and alternative energy modes.”

The Café will use solar panels for hot water and electricity, and Mock said electrical grid failures led to frequent power outages in Dushanbe this winter. He also said Dushanbe is at “almost exactly” the same latitude as Boulder, with roughly the same number of hours of sunshine to boot, making Dushanbe an “appropriate” location for the viable use of solar.

“Also, it will be located near several universities and surrounded by residential neighborhoods that do not have as ready access to the Internet as you might find in the downtown area of Dushanbe,” said Mock.

Dushanbe is a city of about 600,000 people with a handful of institutions of higher education, and Mock said BDSC believes the Café will give citizens and students of the area much greater access to “free or low-cost” service, depending on decisions made in Dushanbe.

But Stoakes said Tuesday that BDSC might still need in the neighborhood of $200,000 to fund the solar panels, appliances, furnishings and artwork to complete the project.

Mock said the BDSC money in hand today would fund the “Phase II” primary building construction, while he expects “final fundraising” over the course of 2007 to pay for the Phase III expenses that Stoakes described. He also said BDSC has already obtained pledges for all of the information technology (IT) equipment necessary.

To help with the rest, BDSC will hold a benefit concert called “Boulder Sings for Dushanbe” on April 1 at Macky Auditorium on the CU-Boulder campus; while a March 18 “Navruz” (Persian New Year) dinner at the Teahouse will also benefit the Café.

Stoakes said the two events would help with “nice chunks” of the needed funding, but said the BDSC and the people of Dushanbe could certainly use a little extra help with private donations, small or large.

“It's going to be really sweet to have that over there for the young people,” said Stoakes.

Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126 or valenty@coloradodaily.com.