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 |  ropeguruPremium
join:2001-01-25
Grafton, WV | Re: Marietta = Mismanagement Doc,
I was thinking the same thing. They never seem to want to take the blame themselves after they use the money unwisely. | |
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| |  Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
kudos:17
2 edits | Re: Marietta = Mismanagement What blows my mind is that it was never available to me and yet the main trunk/cable runs less than 3,500 feet from me.
To have less customers than fiber per mile run is mismanagement in my book. Or head in the sand fever. 
"FiberNet has about 180 customers along 210 miles of fiber-optic cable stretching from Kennesaw to Alpharetta and into Atlanta"
What business plan?
»www.mfn.net/mfNoFlash.html
Just for grins I rechecked their site and they are still not available to Residential customers (big mistake!!) and they claim they have 450 Miles of Fiber in operation!! WTH??
»www.mfn.net/mfoptic.html
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| | | Reviews:
 ·Comcast
| Re: Marietta = Mismanagement That is why it failed. They didn't cut in the home users. This project was a joke. But we all know all the anti-muni people will use this as an excuse. And cite this as the only case of failure. Gross mismanagement by a group of people who had no right to even be heading up even a bathroom planning.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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| | | | | | Re: Marietta = Mismanagement said by BosstonesOwn:
.... This project was a joke. But we all know all the anti-muni people will use this as an excuse. And cite this as the only case of failure....
Wrong, we are going to see more examples over the comming months of these types of systems failing or tottering on the brink of failure! The municipal system in Kutztown, PA is surviving only because of a large subsidy from the town! In 2003 the town reported the operation had an income of about $670,000. This income was about equally divided between subscriber payments and subsidies. Without the subsidies, this operation would have lost about $300,000. The details are in an article published by the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 18, 2004:
»lw.pennnet.com/News/Display_News···D=102774
Now that one local government has admitted its failure with Municipal Fiber Optic, I think the door has been opened to allow others (who did not want to be the first one) to admit their operations have not been sucessful! | |
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| | | | | Doctor OldsI Need A Remedy For What's Ailing Me.Premium,VIP
join:2001-04-19
1970 442 W30
kudos:17 | Re: Marietta = Mismanagement The problem (as I see) is that Marietta did not stay in it's Municipal Area and it was not offered to Residential Customers. That just makes it a failed Business Venture more than a failed Municipal Venture, right?
At least the Kutztown Muni:
"embarked on an ambitious plan to string fiber-optic cable to all of its homes and businesses" | |
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·Comcast
| said by mjcrocket:
said by BosstonesOwn:
.... This project was a joke. But we all know all the anti-muni people will use this as an excuse. And cite this as the only case of failure....
Wrong, we are going to see more examples over the comming months of these types of systems failing or tottering on the brink of failure! The municipal system in Kutztown, PA is surviving only because of a large subsidy from the town! In 2003 the town reported the operation had an income of about $670,000. This income was about equally divided between subscriber payments and subsidies. Without the subsidies, this operation would have lost about $300,000. The details are in an article published by the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 18, 2004:
»lw.pennnet.com/News/Display_News···D=102774
Now that one local government has admitted its failure with Municipal Fiber Optic, I think the door has been opened to allow others (who did not want to be the first one) to admit their operations have not been sucessful!
Sure you will see more reports of failure. People don't seem to realize that these are like business ventures. They slowly pay themselves off until they show profit. It is not a build it now and make a profit yesterday solution.
It takes more then a city of 5,000 people for this to work. The city was way to small to try it unless they linked up with another town near them. Only way it will show profit is in a couple years. Had they went over to other providers and tried to ink a deal by offering their service over their pipe they would be better off.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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| | | JonR800Premium
join:2003-08-06
Farmington, MI | Lets also not forget the employees.. 28?! That's a whole lot of support staff for only 180 customers. They should have been able to support that user base with half the support staff, if that. | |
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| | |  davoice
join:2000-08-12
Saxapahaw, NC
 ·Comporium
| If Marietta had stuck to Marietta instead of trying to compete in Atlanta, they'd have been fabulous. They have one of the most reliable and competitively priced services in the market.
Instead of focusing on their own area like most muni operations they thought they smelt money in Atlanta like all the rest who built operations in Atlanta during the .com boom.
In short, a municipal operation should serve ITS OWN residents and businesses FIRST. Not try to move into all the other territories around it... no matter how lucrative they look.
- Davoice | |
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| | | sounds like the same people running bush's re-election campaign down the toilet, but they'll make money on losses believe me, those damn political people never lose, it's only the people that get screwed... Remember that! | |
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|  Lurch77Nope. But still a damn fine runPremium
join:2001-11-22
Oconto, WI
kudos:4 | said by Doctor Olds:
Marietta = Mismanagement
Agree. I am glad the only place I go around there is the Base. (But even that is all messed up ) | |
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 MikePremium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA
1 edit | cut from the quote "It's negative cash flow once you consider reinvestment of capital with a bunch of moronic asshats in government."
Hell, the City of Pittsburgh could run a brothel into the ground if they didn't try to show the indications here up north. | |
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| | | Re: cut from the quote said by Mike:
"It's negative cash flow once you consider reinvestment of capital with a bunch of moronic asshats in government."
Hell, the City of Pittsburgh could run a brothel into the ground if they didn't try to show the indications here up north.
Mike, are you saying the 'asshats' portion was yanked from the original quote that AP published?
Marietta selling city-owned Internet company at $24 million loss
Associated Press
MARIETTA, Ga. - The city of Marietta hoped to get in on the Internet boom when it launched its own company eight years ago.
Now, the city is selling its FiberNet at a loss of about $24 million.
The Board of Lights and Water and the City Council were expected to vote Thursday to approve the sale to American Fiber Systems of Rochester, N.Y., for $11.2 million - a figure that's expected to decrease once adjustments are made before closing the deal, which is scheduled for Aug. 31.
FiberNet has about 180 customers along 210 miles of fiber-optic cable stretching from Kennesaw to Alpharetta and into Atlanta, which is just south of the Chattahoochee River from Marietta.
The city has poured about $35 million into building and maintaining the system since 1996.
Mayor Bill Dunaway, who ran for office three years ago on a platform that included selling FiberNet, said Wednesday it was impossible for the city to meet the equipment upgrades to maintain FiberNet.
"That's why we should not be in this business - you have to keep reinvesting," Dunaway said. "It's negative cash flow once you consider reinvestment of capital."
Marietta was not the only city in the country that sought to strengthen financial positions with forays into telecommunications.
Acworth, for example, chose to enter the cable television business. The city's CableNET accumulated $12 million in bond debt, said City Manager Brian Bulthuis. Acworth couldn't afford to grow the network outside the city enough to make it viable, he said, and CableNET was sold in January 2003 to a private operator based in Savannah. But Acworth did not lose money in the deal.
Local officials everywhere are looking for innovative ways to generate revenue without raising taxes, but that sometimes can put taxpayers at risk and skew the role of government, critics of such efforts say. Running outside companies, they say, can divert government workers from their primary function and take business away from the private sector.
American Fiber Systems has more than 76,000 miles of cable in several cities, including Cleveland, Minneapolis, Nashville, Salt Lake City and Kansas City, Mo., according to the company's Web site.
Dunaway said the purchase of FiberNet would mark the company's debut in the Atlanta area.
All 28 FiberNet employees will become American Fiber Systems employees, at pay levels similar to what they're now receiving, according to Kevin Moore, the attorney for the Board of Lights and Water. | |
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| | MikePremium,Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA | Re: cut from the quote someone's comedy meter is broken.  | |
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 MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12
1 edit |  Can you say....
It's easy, just repeat after me...
»Can you say.... | |
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LrdVaderPremium
join:2003-12-18
San Diego, CA | "Could"? Shouldn't the topic read "couldn't afford?"  | |
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|  pcscdmaChocobo Chocobo Random BattlePremium
join:2004-01-14
Winterset, IA | Re: "Could"? Grrr. It was funny the way it was before.  | |
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| pcscdmaChocobo Chocobo Random BattlePremium
join:2004-01-14
Winterset, IA | For those who missed it | |
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| | Well their goes the Municipal fight DSL providers probably made sure this story got out and will use it everywhere they plan municipal isp. Now we're gonna be reading about this in every Municipal story about how the DSL providers used the story to make their fight. | |
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| pcscdmaChocobo Chocobo Random BattlePremium
join:2004-01-14
Winterset, IA | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight They sure don't want to talk about the sucessful Municipalities! | |
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| |  pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight said by pcscdma:
They sure don't want to talk about the sucessful Municipalities!
There's no such thing as a successful municipal broadband venture. Every single municipally-run operation skims money from either taxpayers or from some other municipally run service like power, water, sewer, etc. In any case, its always the case that non-subscribers are paying more than they have to for some other service (or more in taxes) to pay for the subscribers.
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9/11 was the best thing to happen to Michael Moore
Win another one for the Gipper! Bush/Cheney 2004 | |
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| | | pnh do you or have you seen paperwork that proves that? Tacoma or how ever it's spelled is supposibly running in the black and hasn't messed with taxes. Are you trying to say that the municipalities that say they aren't in the red are? If so I would like proof of that. I don't some link to some story verizon or sbc has posted cause that would be a decieptful story. When I see a story that might come someone like telltruth the guy that has been telling the nasty little secrects about the telephone companies then maybe I will buy into it. At this point in time your statement about there being no such thing as a successful Muni is not backed up at all. I am not trying to start a flame war. I have seen a handful of your post and I believe you usually backup your statements with something but I don't see no backup on your statement this time. | |
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| | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight said by XknightHawkX:
Tacoma or how ever it's spelled is supposibly running in the black and hasn't messed with taxes.
You're right. Taxes didn't go up in Tacoma to pay for their broadband service. They just raised the prices of electricity by 50%. You can go find more information about that on the Tri-Cities Broadband page.
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9/11 was the best thing to happen to Michael Moore
Win another one for the Gipper! Bush/Cheney 2004 | |
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| | | | | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight Is there a direct connection with the electricity prices going up and the municipal broadband service? Who supplies the electricity? Is it municipally run or private? If it's private how is there a connection? | |
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| | | | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight said by Octopussy2:
Prices didn't go up because of the broadband utility. Stop spreading misinformation.
The utility can blame other factors all they want, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that had they not spent the money on broadband, the prices would not have gone up as much as they had.
All I know is that if my electric company had to raise prices, that they had better not be wasting the extra money on things unrelated to electrical generation because that will drive up costs even more.
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9/11 was the best thing to happen to Michael Moore
Win another one for the Gipper! Bush/Cheney 2004 | |
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| | | | | | | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight You need to backup what you say with proof and not speculation.
People who don't believe Govt. should run broadband utilities always use this argument of electric prices going up. It is a scare tactic and not based in truth in this example.
Cross subsidization is not allowed (RE: against the law and separate books must be maintained) in many areas with electric utilities for muni broadband ventures...BUT, why shouldn't it be allowed? After all, Comcast is allowed to "subsidize their digital phone service with revenue made from their cable tv service? And SBC makes money from their phone service and applies it towards their DSL service and MISINFORMATION campaigns across the country...and then raises rates to their customers. Hmmmmm? What about that?
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It's muni-licious! »www.tricitybroadband.com | |
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| | | | | | | Let me ask again. Is the power company a municipal company or privately owned? If it's privately owned I would have a very hard time believing there is ANY connection since private companies don't pay operating expenses of government utilities. | |
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| | | | | | | | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight In Tacoma it is a muni utility. Please DO see our web site for the REAL letter and response from Ms. Lachel I mentioned above. We did our homework about Click! Tacoma. Let other "posters" rant and rave here about their beliefs. We provide the facts.
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It's muni-licious! »www.tricitybroadband.com | |
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| | | | | | | | | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight Cool site. | |
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| | | | | | | | | | Re: Well their goes the Municipal fight Thanks. We try to provide facts about muni broadband since our own muni WWIII battle last year with incumbents SBC and Comcast, and our continuing battle this year. We are also a clearing house for misinformation campaigns against munis.
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It's muni-licious! »www.tricitybroadband.com | |
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| | Perish the thought "That's why we should not be in this business - you have to keep reinvesting," says the city's mayor
Telecom companies have known this for ages. | |
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| | | Re: Perish the thought Gee, imagine that. A government botching things best left to the private sector. Will wonders never cease? | |
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| | pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | Re: Perish the thought said by hurleyp:
Gee, imagine that. A government botching things best left to the private sector. Will wonders never cease?
Yea... I am glad that PA banned these silly ventures. Local governments in this state waste enough cash as it is, they don't need additional reasons to waste more of my money.
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9/11 was the best thing to happen to Michael Moore
Win another one for the Gipper! Bush/Cheney 2004 | |
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| Reviews:
·Comcast
| Yeah god forbid they reinvest the money.
This stupid mismanagement of fund should get the whole lot of them thrown out of office.
Of course you have to reinvest money. What do you think. You light the network and people come and buy it but you never upgrade? This is why politicians have a place in this world, sitting behind a desk saying stupid chit so people believe. Let the people with technical knowledge run the business and it would have flourished.
Then again why take residential customers that would have helped make it a success. And we all know with little amount of subscribers we don't have to upgrade anything.
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"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" | |
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hedyd4uPremium
join:2003-12-16
Schenectady, NY Reviews:
·Verizon Online DSL
| The government has no business sense We do not need government trying play businessman. They can't balance a budget. They have no respect for money. And yes stories like this should be rerun to remind us that the government will never succeed in the business world. Deficit spending is for idiots who believe politicians tell the truth. | |
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See 14 replies to this post |
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hrobinsPremium
join:2000-10-15
Regina, SK | Marietta When I lived in Marietta, all I can say is they have bad ways of handing money. Even the new high school they build overcost them. | |
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|  DaMaGeINCThe Lan ManPremium
join:2002-06-08
Greenville, SC
kudos:2 | Re: Marietta I was just in Marietta a month ago visiting family. Dident know they had fiber strung all over the place. | |
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| | Business as usual As a lifelong resident of the county it seems that this is just another example of political contributor getting large sums of money through construction costs and now the debt is shoved off on taxpayers. Not the first time it has happened here. Just enough time goes by so the players stay hidden. But what's new when politics are involved. BTW-Marietta exists on beer taxes and the Board of Lights and Water. Some of the county residents pay them for water & sewer so no big surprise registered with me- BoL&W was responsible for the Fiber Company also...would not surprise me if this wasn't planned all along also, just like the Ga lottery "for education" crap. | |
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