TMCnet News
Longmont fiber optic issue supporters pound at out-of-town opponentsLONGMONT, Sep 24, 2011 (Daily Times-Call - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Friday debate over Longmont's telecommunications ballot issue at times mixed "pro and con" with "us and them." "I don't know you guys," City Council candidate Brian Bagley told the "anti" speakers, Colorado Springs activist Sean Paige of Americans for Prosperity and Denver attorney Ray Gifford. "You've got a huge difficulty to overcome in that. I don't trust you. I don't know you." "Let us vote on this," Mayor Bryan Baum, a "pro" speaker, said as he urged outsiders to "get out of the room, get out of our city" and told residents to resist a second high-dollar opposition campaign if it came to call. "Don't let $250,000 that comes into the city influence you again," Baum said. "Because it did the last time." The debate before the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce's public policy committee focused on ballot issue 2A, which would lift state restrictions on how the city can use a fiber-optic loop it has had since 1997. In 2005, the state barred cities from providing telecommunications services -- either directly or with private partners -- unless local voters grant permission. City officials last tried to get the restrictions lifted in 2009. That failed with 56 percent of the vote against in a campaign where opponents (including the Colorado Cable Telecommunications Association) spent $245,513, a Longmont record. Paige argued that Longmont already had rejected this once and that it remained both risky and inappropriate for a city to provide telecommunications services that already could be provided by private companies. "We're not here to tell you how to run your community, but we do hope to raise some red flags," he said. "The chance of failure in this endeavor is significant." He said that studies in late 2008 showed that 70 percent of municipal telecommunications enterprises failed. That intrigued Councilman Alex Sammoury. "Is this study with cities starting from scratch?" he asked. "Or are there some where their system already existed to some extent?" "Some are," Paige responded. "How many?" Sammoury asked. "I don't know." "Then how can you say they are failures?" Gifford, whose firm's clients include Comcast and CenturyLink, mentioned failures in the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) and in Burlington, Vt., adding that when city-led telecommunications succeeded, it was usually in areas where private service had been substandard or nearly nonexistent. "Right now, there's robust competition in wired and wireless," he said. "I'm concerned that when the government gets in, it'll drive away companies instead of attracting them." About two-thirds of Longmont's fiber loop is unused. The rest serves public entities, including the city and Longmont United Hospital. Baum said the city had no interest in being a telecommunications company itself, but wanted to partner with private businesses -- including those opposed to the measure, such as Comcast -- to help connect Longmont homes and companies to the loop. Comcast already leases fiber all over the country, he said; by doing so here, it could bring down its cost of doing business. "I'm a free-market guy," Baum said. "I'm a capitalist pig. We're trying to create competition here." If the measure passes, any specific projects and uses still would have to be approved by the City Council. Opponents also said they wanted to see a business plan for the use of the system and that fiber might not be so state-of-the-art in an increasingly wireless world. Supporters responded that business plans would be created by the companies using the loop, not the City Council, and that the loop was far from obsolete. "Go to Google and look up fiber-to-tower," said Vince Jordan of RidgeviewTel, another "pro" speaker. "It's fiber that feeds the wireless." One audience member questioned Baum and Jordan about the ballot's guarantee that taxes would not be raised. Both affirmed it, noting that the system already had been paid for, putting the biggest expense behind. Paige and Gifford weren't convinced, saying that costs for ongoing maintenance eventually would be pushed onto the electric bill -- and a fee, Paige said, isn't technically a tax. But most of the questions and challenges from the audience at the chamber were aimed against the "anti" side. "You say you want government not to interfere with business," audience member Bernie Stoecker said to Paige and Gifford. "What we've got right now is a state law that interferes with our business." "How is it a risky bet if the infrastructure's here and we're not using it?" someone else asked. "Think of the city as a landlord and owning a commercial building that has offices for rent, but there's a prohibition that says it can't rent space to businesses," Joel Champion said. "We're wasting an asset." "I would have objections if the city wanted to be in competition with the rental market," Paige responded. Gifford called the issue a tricky one to debate, having to address generalities rather than specific details. The debate might reveal "religious preferences" on community broadband, he said, but not necessarily provide a lot of illumination. Jordan framed it in one question: "Who decides what's appropriate for the city of Longmont besides the citizens of the city of Longmont?" "Who decides what's appropriate?" he repeated, addressing the opponents. "Is it the City Council? Is it the community? It's not the state government. And it's certainly not you guys." Scott Rochat can be reached at 303-684-5220 or [email protected]. ___ (c)2011 the Daily Times-Call (Longmont, Colo.) Visit the Daily Times-Call (Longmont, Colo.) at www.timescall.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |