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What a difference two weeks makes.

Jan. 30: City politicians kicked off tense budget debates with a fight over portable wireless internet hotspots that turned nasty, threatening to kick one councillor out of a budget debate.

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Public funding for hotspots on loan at the library –a way for people without home internet to “borrow” some – was denied.

Feb. 13: Closing in on a final 2020-2023 budget, a proposal to spend about the same amount of money putting wireless internet in London’s arenas and community centres passed easily, with more than three-quarters support.

Ward 2 Coun. Shawn Lewis, at the centre of both debates, came armed with a new plan to use a reserve fund for the $155,000 worth of hardware to install internet at rinks and other city-owned recreation facilities, and find private sponsorship to “pay back” those costs.

Putting internet in arenas was his idea.

Did he know he’d get hit in the court of public opinion if public funds were used to bring internet to hockey parents, while leaving the fate of library hotspots – a good option for low-income Londoners – in the hands of the private sector?