pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| said by ib50MbSoon  :
Leviathan provided an excellent link to a few examples of successful municipal broadband.
In my own state municipal governments continue to raise property taxes to pay for vital services (e.g., schools, police, etc.), and now the governor is proposing a tax hike to bail them out. If my town were to waste its money on a municipal cable network, while continuing to raise taxes (and instigating the need for a general statewide tax hike), I would seriously question my government's priorities.
I suppose I could "vote them out" as is suggested, but when the government robs Peter to pay Paul, they will always have the support of Paul. Hence the government's strategy seems to be to put at least a majority of people into Paul's position. You think anyone who gets taxpayer-subsidized broadband is going to vote it away when things get tight (as they are in many places still)? I doubt it. In these times, governments at various levels must reassess their spending priorities, contrary to what people are saying here, I would say things like the military, counter-terrorism and education funding are a little more important than a toy network.
With this in mind, it still doesn't address the real problem here, the lack of service provided by incumbent cable and telcos. Its very easy for people who are sick of this to start their own privately-run co-op that could provide the service needed. The various governments involved (state and local) could pass laws such as tax breaks and grants of easements, (which is possible given how many have opposed proposals sponsored by the larger companies) that make it easier for such competition to come into the picture. There would be local accountability and the money would remain in the given town, but the government would not be bothered with expense and hassles of running the operation.
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