Month: July 2005

The subhead of this story is “Supporters ask BellSouth, Cox to accept voters’ choice.” That is putting it weakly. We demand it. Cox and BellSouth’s trash talking obstructionism needs to stop now. Terry is right when he calls it obstructionism. Anyone who still believes that BellSouth is doing any of this because of a pious interest in textbook civics or a desire to educate Acadiana about his version of economics has missed what has been going on here. Not only in the last year but in the last week.

A number of people make the point:

Lafayette Utilities System should be able to connect its first fiber-to-the-home customers in about two years and could be serving everyone in the city in three to four years, unless it faces further hurdles from opponents, Director Terry Huval said Sunday.

Of course what he is talking about is obstructionism at the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the obvious threat of endless lawsuits about nonsense. Even more explicitly:

“Now, we get to start working on the project,” City-Parish President Joey Durel said Sunday. “Instead of spending so much time selling the concept, we can now really do the work. The election, to me, was just a delay tactic. Hopefully, there won’t be any more.”

Terry can hope it; but no one believes it. If BellSouth and Cox decide it is to their financial advantage to delay a project the overwhelming majority of the people want they simply will.

“We would ask our corporate citizens, BellSouth and Cox, to realize the people of Lafayette have spoken and it’s time to get out of the way,” Huval said Saturday night.

We’ve gotten a lot of self-pitying “we’ve been good corporate citizens” talk; talk is cheap, let’s see if they can walk the walk. Let’s demand that they corporations let the compromise legislation they demanded and which will already cost our citizens money stand as it is. Let’s demand that they not attempt to get PSC rules put in place that change the dictionary definition of “resources” in relation the bond issue so that the people of Lafayette cannot get a decent interest rate on a system they have voted overwhelmingly to fund.

From the CNET story:

Voters in Lafayette, La., on Saturday approved a bond offering to fund a citywide fiber-optic project, an issue that was the source of considerable friction during the past year.

Voters approved the measure 12,290 to 7,507, or 62 percent to 38 percent, according to the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.

The city of 116,000 residents known for its vibrant Cajun culture has been planning to build its own fiber-optic network for more than a year. But local phone company BellSouth and cable operator Cox Communications challenged the city-owned utility, which plans to build and operate the network.

This story closes with an emphasis on how this vote was part of the larger debate at the Federal level where bills to both band and guarantee the ability of local municipalities to develop telecom utilities. That part, and the links in those paragraphs are well worth a look-see by those of us interested in preserving and extending Lafayette’s victory.

According to press reports, the Sock Puppets have come up with yet another functional equivalent argument.

Here’s the relevant quote from The Daily Advertiser:

Fiber 411, the citizens group that opposed the LUS plan, took the loss as a victory.

“I think we won,” said Tim Supple of Fiber 411. “We started off wanting to get people the right to vote. We accomplished that. We tried to get people to understand the issue. We accomplished that, I hope. We won.”

The reality of the situation is this: Voting in support of the LUS fiber project: 12,290; voting against, 7,507.

Fiber to the curb is NOT the same as fiber to the home. Winning is NOT the same as losing. Denial is NOT a river in Africa.

Techno type Om Malik sez:

They now need to build the network, and prove the nay-sayers wrong. In many ways, the real work has just begun. I wish them luck…. may they pave the way and become the blueprint for other small communities who want control over their broadband destiny!

He’s right of course.

Slashdot | LA City Votes For Municipal Fiber Network

Slick Sam, recalled for his famous debut appearance and subsequent “Big Sam” training video is now available for download in the closing act of his Lafayette appearance at Lafayette Coming Together.org:

This in from André Comeaux who titled the email “Parting Shot.”

100% of the vote, aprox. 9:30

12, 481
7, 621

Victory in the battle of Lafayette

A profound victory for Lafayette. A profound victory for the people of this country.

There are two pro-fiber parties tonight, one at the Convention center starting as the polls close with a cash bar and TVs to watch the return, and one at 819 West Congress kicking in at 8:30 Barbeque is ‘sposed to be involved at the Congress location. Volunteers and LCT members are particularly invited but all are welcome.

More details as details are available. 🙂

I’ll be a poll runner today, and general point of contact. That involves brief flurries of running around and then sitting on the phone. We’ve got two headquarters and I’ll probably run between the two and various wified coffee houses. When I can I’ll post something here for those both near and far that might be interested in a blow by blow.

My first run of the preceincts was done shortly after 10. At that point turnout appeared strong. One box had already had the 15% percent show up that the registrar had predicted. Since our main concern is turnout, we’re happy. We think that the stronger the turnout the stronger the yes vote.