Mitchell offered examples of other cities who have been successful with the idea of offering Internet as a public utility — namely Chattanooga, Tenn., Bristol, Virginia, and Lafayette, Louisiana.
Should Seattle succeed in getting beyond the limitations of depending on existing broadband providers in their city, it would certainly give a boost to such efforts everywhere in US. OTOH, as we know, the politics of such an effort can be problematic, to say the least. Would local boy Bill Gates put any of his support behind municipal broadband there?
At least the Seattle mayor is fully involved; perhaps he’s even the much needed local “champion” in government we have been hoping to see realized here in SNM. Apparently municipal networks are already present in Tacoma and Mt. Vernon in Washington.
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