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Redding, California, Looks to Local Opinions About Publicly Owned Network
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As Redding, California, aims to bring better connectivity to businesses and residents, they're looking to locals for advice on how to move forward.
As we reported in April, community leaders voted to proceed with a pilot project in their downtown area. Economic development in the downtown area drove the plan, but reducing the cost of Internet access through a publicly owned network and the availability of a more reliable, faster service generated force behind the project.
In April, the city council decided to explore possibilities and now they're interested in finding out the public's interest in a citywide network for residents. The Vice Mayor, City Manager, and staff from Redding held a public meeting in late November to share information with locals about possibilities.
"Fiber is an essential element of the future and its economy," Tippin said. "Vice Council Macaulay brought this forward to council and we agreed that we should study this so we've hired consultants and we've been doing a study - looking into cost, what elements should be required and whether it would be beneficial from a community standpoint."
In order to determine the public's feelings on whether they agree Tippin, the city is asking Redding residents to complete a simple online survey. The survey is six questions about perceived value, current options, and respondents' likelihood of supporting a municipal fiber optic network project.
An Existing Advantage
Unlike many other California cities, Redding owns a municipal electric utility, which provides an advantage in both deployment, potential lowered cost, and ease in operations for a municipal utility. According to the city's Master Broadband Plan, the city bought the Redding Electric Utility (REU) from PG&E in 1921 and serves around 44,000 residential and commercial customers.
With existing infrastructure in place, knowledgable staff, and trucks for maintenance and deployment, REU can shave a significant amount off the cost of developing the network.
Living in a region impacted by annual forest fires, the community also considers the infrastructure an investment in public safety. They plan to integrate smart city applications into any investment the community makes in the network and what model they choose. In order to educate the local community of about 91,000 people about potential models, the benefits of fiber, and how Redding might use the network, they're sharing information via the city's website.
Local media covered the open house to talk about the project:
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