Oakland’s burgeoning tech community received official recognition Thursday, as Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski presided over two press conferences. Appearing in a forum entitled “Bridging the Digital Divide” sponsored by the Stride Center, Genachowski was flanked by Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, Rachelle Chong of the California Technology Agency, Jen Pahlka of Code for America, and Damian Thorman of the Knight Foundation.

Genachowski’s appearance marked the announcement of “Apps for Communities,” a new contest launched by the FCC and the Knight Foundation intended to lessen the digital divide by making government data more accessible to mobile phone users.

The contest, which has a prize of $100,000, is an attempt to engage the one-third of Americans without home broadband access, a demographic disproportionately represented by low-income Americans, people for whom English is not their native language, communities of color, older Americans, and people with disabilities.

During the brief discussion, Thorman explained that the “town square of old has moved to the Internet.” Making government data accessible to mobile phone users could result in “more voices” and “better democracy,” he added.

In his remarks, Genachowski said he was concerned that the costs of digital exclusion are rising. There are 100 million Americans without broadband access, he said, while in places like South Korea and Singapore, as much as 90% of the population is online.

“In the 21st century, there are few innovations more relevant to our lives” than broadband, the Chairman said.

However, “government can’t meet these challenges alone,” he added, noting that the Stride Center is an example of how the public and private sectors can work together to address how technology can best serve digitally-excluded communities.The Apps for Communities contest, he said, could stimulate efforts to “engage people who are less likely to be online.”

Following his announcement, Genachowski was quickly hustled out the door and across the street to the Marriott hotel, where he delivered the same remarks at another forum sponsored by ABAG, at which Quan, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed were in attendance. Genachowski was scheduled to wrap up his Bay Area appearances with a Commonwealth Club forum Thursday evening at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Although face time with the nation’s premier communications and technology official was nice, the forum was, in the words of one observer, somewhat “underwhelming.” Due to the program running late, there was no opportunity for media members to ask Genachowski questions (as the agenda had noted there would be), which made the event more of a photo-opp and less an interactive press conference.

In a perfect world, there would have been a chance to question the Chairman about some of the nuts and bolts of the FCC’s proposed broadband plan, as well as some of the issues still swirling around Net Neutrality, such as the exclusion of wireless providers from regulations designed to ensure open Internet protections for consumers.

Similarly, there was no opportunity to gauge the FCC’s stance on upcoming tech issues such as mobile TV and its potential impact on low-power television stations which are threatened by this fast-moving new development. As far as bridging the digital divide goes, it remains uncertain how much of this is rhetoric and what will actually prove possible, without a leveling of the Beltway playing field. Currently, the lobbying efforts of telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers hold an imbalanced amount of influence on FCC practices, to the detriment of media reform advocates and, ultimately, consumers.

Still, Genachowski’s appearance was a good look for Oakland, and bodes well for its future development as an innovative tech center. For more information about the Apps for Communities program, visit here.