California

LA Councilmember Proposes Municipal Broadband Feasibility Study by Zack Quaintance, GovTech

San Francisco Taps Citywide Internet in Bid to Close the Digital Divide by Mickey McCarter, StateTech Magazine

Only government intervention can truly close the digital divide, San Francisco Mayor Mark Farrell declared in a keynote address at Smart Cities Connect Conference and Expo in Kansas City, Mo., this week.

Over the past four years, San Francisco has been planning a fiber project to do just that, Farrell said.

“We fancy ourselves as the innovation capital of the world, yet we have communities in our city that are getting left further and further behind,” he said.

Roughly 100,000 San Francisco residents have no internet access, and 15 percent of public school students lack internet access. African American and Latino students face even greater disparity as 30 percent of them lack internet access.

Colorado

Improving the next National Broadband Map by Rep. Jared Polis and Jessica Rosenworcel, Sky Hi News

Every map tells a story. In the 1860s, maps were key to establishing Colorado Territory's place in the gold rush. In the 1970s the state's residents decided to map a course from Durango to Denver, which was eventually christened The Colorado Trail. It's justifiably known as mile-for-mile one of the most beautiful pathways in the country.

Today, the most important maps for our Centennial State are different than those that came before. Instead of marking majestic peaks and valleys, they map out the digital future by showing where high-speed internet or broadband is available—and where it is not. Having maps that detail broadband deployment is vital for economic development in Colorado—and beyond. That's because to have a fair shot at 21st century success, every community needs access...

California

Mendocino County Broadband Alliance seeks input on community programs by Ariel Carmona Jr., Willits News

Los Angeles Eyes Greater Role for Community Broadband by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Colorado

Boulder launches new online platform for citizen engagement by Alex Burness, Boulder Daily Camera

Improving rural internet about more than watching Netflix by Andrew Eversden, Durango Herald

Legislature moving at the speed of fiber to get internet service to rural Colorado by Marianne Goodland, Durango Herald

That’s what happened last year in Ridgway, in Ouray County. Elevate, a new telecom provider operated by the local nonprofit Delta-Montrose Electric Association co-op, won a grant to provide high-speed fiber optic service to about 2,000-area residents and businesses. The service would have reached speeds at 1 gigabyte, among the fastest currently available.

But CenturyLink has been operating in the area for years, so the company exercised its right of first refusal and took the broadband grant. And they elected to provide internet service through copper lines. That’s about 10 times slower than fiber optic and can be more expensive to customers.

Missouri

Senate discusses legislation to bring broadband to rural Missouri by Erin Achenbach, St. Louis Public...

California

San Francisco: Building Community Broadband to Protect Net Neutrality and Online Privacy by Katharine Trendacosta, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Mayor Farrell Advances Plan for Municipal Fiber Internet by Ellen McGrody, Bay City Beacon

This week, the San Francisco Municipal Fiber Blue Ribbon Board released a report recommending a set of provisions that ISPs using the city’s infrastructure will have to follow, the latest in a set of recent moves towards to the rollout of municipal fiber in San Francisco. Since taking office last month, Mayor Mark Farrell has overseen significant commitments toward the rollout of the proposed fiber optic network.

San Francisco Internet Challenges Feds, Major ISPs by Garrett Bergthold, San Francisco Weekly

Colorado

Longmont officials, low-income housing residents grappling with property manager to get NextLight by Sam Lounsberry, Longmont Times-Call

Stalled negotiations between the property manager of Longmont affordable housing complexes and officials with the NextLight municipal high-speed internet service have confused residents about their potential access to the broadband network.

Mission Rock Residential manages both Quail Village and Cloverbasin Village low-income apartments, and has left residents to choose between private-sector internet providers such as Comcast — which has an exclusive marketing agreement with Mission Rock — by shunning proposals from the city to install NextLight.

While Mission Rock is far from the only property management company or landlord to stay off the award-winning NextLight fiber-optic network, some Cloverbasin residents say its deal with Comcast and exclusion of NextLight contradicts its...

Alabama

This is how politicians should deal with bad cable companies by Charles Mills, BGR

Mediacom has a franchise agreement to offer cable and Internet service within the city, thanks to its 2016 takeover of the local cable company, Andalusia TV Cable. But Johnson says that since Mediacom took over, service has been tanking.

“For the entire time that I have been mayor, I have not received as many complaints about anything as I have received about the cable and broadband service from Mediacom,” Johnson told the city council last week, according to the local paper. “Whatever it is that they’re doing here, they need to make some changes…they operate here because we let them. As a city government we can’t tell them or make them do anything. But we can locate someone who is an expert on broadband and Internet who can tell us what we can do.”

One small Alabama town is tired of MediaCom's crap by Karl Bode, DSL Reports

Mayor puts Mediacom on notice: Get better, or we'll compete with you by Lacy Stinson, Andalusia Star News

Colorado

Editorial: Broadband study was good decision by Loveland Reporter-Herald Editorial Board

Iowa

Council authorizes $15K in attorney fees for work on possible municipal utilities by Sarah Strandberg, Decorah Newspapers

Kentucky

...