Councilor starts online petition about the need for municipal broadband

Oct. 11, 2018 | G. Michael Dobbs

news@thereminder.com

CHICOPEE – City Councilor Joel McAuliffe has started an on-line petition to demonstrate the public’s desire for municipal broadband Internet.

So far more than 400 people have signed the petition at https://www.change.org/p/chicopee-broadband.

At its Oct. 2 meeting the City Council voted not to support the following resolution:

“Whereas, for the city economy to grow, we need to incentivize business development and,

Whereas, the city of Chicopee has a strong history at municipal utilities through Chicopee Electric Light, and

Whereas, the municipal; utilities served to position Chicopee for economic growth in the past,

Whereas broadband Internet is vital to the economic culture of the 21st Century, and Whereas, a feasibility study conducted by Magellan Advisors in 2015 outlines the potential benefits to residents directly as well as increasing job opportunities, and

Whereas, the study contains recommendations for next step options for successful implementation, and

Whereas, the Magellan study asserts that adopting municipal broadband has the potential to greatly grow the economic structure in the city.

Now, therefore be it resolved that the Chicopee City Council goes on record as supporting the implementation of municipal broadband.”

Instead the council voted to send the resolution to the Utilities Committee for further review.

McAuliffe had introduced the resolution, which was non-binding.

Signers of the online petition have left many reasons for their support of municipal Internet. Some of the comments made included from

• John Miarecki: “No brainer, internet is a utility just like water and electricity, and is a fundamental necessity in today's world. If we are unwilling to have a capitalistic model where there are no government mandated monopolies (as the current system exists) than the best option for consumers is to make it a utility that is maintained and run by the government.”

• Justin Clark: “There’s no reason for city residents to pay money for poor quality Internet from either Charter Spectrum or Verizon without being able to hold them accountable. None of that money gets returned to the city. Let’s spend on something that will improve our city’s infrastructure and keep money in Chicopee while supporting her residents.”

• Christina Loy: You have allowed a monopoly to exist that should be ended. Spectrum needs competition to keep it honest and the pricing line.

McAuliffe started the petition in reaction to other members of the council who’ve said they have not heard from constituents.

At the council meeting, various councilors reacted critically to the resolution. Councilor Shane Brooks cited a study that indicated municipal broadband is too expensive. He added that because the city’s study is more than two years old it may not “be as accurate as it could be.” He wants to see what would be the break-even point on the city’s investment if it moves forward.

Councilor James Tillotson asked what the resolution really means and whether or not passing the resolution would actually be approving and expenditure of $30 million or more. Citing a plan by Chicopee Electric Light (CEL) to offer broadband first to businesses and then to residents when the demand is sufficient, Tillotson concluded the council doesn’t need to do anything.

Councilor Frank Laflamme suggested he would like to send the resolution to the Utilities Committee and have an update from CEL about the status of the broadband plan.

Council President John Vieau said that no one on the council is “an obstacle” to municipal broadband, “but we also have to do a delicate balance with what we can pay.”

McAuliffe said the plan supported by the 2015 plan is now behind the implementation schedule. While he was campaigning for office, the municipal broadband issue was one he heard from residents as he knocked on doors.

The 2015 report read, “However, the majority of Chicopee’s residents and businesses subscribe to broadband services from providers that use a copper-based infrastructure. There is an inherent bandwidth capacity limitation beset by copper-based infrastructure, and the delivery of Internet content is limited in areas where copper infrastructure exists and is shared by multiple subscribers.”

The report continued, “Elsewhere in the CEL service area, fiber infrastructure is not typically installed by any retail provider in advance of revenue opportunities, and puts the City at risk when executing its economic development efforts, specifically in downtown areas, business centers and industrial parks. Without this necessary infrastructure, Chicopee will continue to experience issues when recruiting and retaining people and bandwidth intensive industries to the area. In many cases, businesses looking to locate in these areas of Chicopee would need to spend significant amounts of money to build out the provider’s network infrastructure to then receive costly service … Placing Chicopee’s economic future in the hands of broadband service providers headquartered far away from Chicopee whose corporate goals are to increase shareholder value by focusing on high margin areas of the country can have a negative effect on local recruiting efforts. However, with corporate service providers focused on larger markets, the scenario presents an opportunity for CEL to be proactive and serve more households and businesses in its service territory, becoming an even more trusted source of critical community infrastructure.”

The report noted detailed surveys of consumers and businesses about the potential demand for high speed, high capacity Internet service. According to the report, “From the sampling of Chicopee households, residents appear to have a strong appetite for broadband-enabled technology and a penchant for the devices that connect to broadband. In fact, comparing Chicopee survey results with national averages we see the average number of connected devices per U.S. household is 5.2, while in Chicopee, survey respondents claim an average of 5.6 Internet-connected devices per household. With numbers topping national averages, demand appears to be strong in Chicopee, with such numbers understandably expected to climb as more devices and services come to market. …During interviews with several Chicopee businesses we understand that bandwidth consumption is outpacing the broadband speeds that businesses are able to purchase. Even then, upgrading to new levels of service is often not an option due to the prices that small businesses are able to afford, when considering other technology cost-related factors. Local business leaders have the view that, ‘Anything that gets us more relevant, faster, that’s really what we care about.’”