Quotable
Is what Steve Goldberg called me yesterday on the phone [cellphone, by the way] referring to this Free Times article:
George Nemeth, chief information officer for CoolCleveland.com, and a local evangelist of wi-fi, says it’s all about the free market. Will governments — with tax subsidy artificially lowering the cost of a service — be allowed to compete against businesses that provide the same service? It’s a line that blurs as cities compete against each other for citizens and jobs.“If Cleveland is trying to lure people and businesses downtown, how can they do that? Businesses move if costs are lower. If you want tech businesses, cheap power and cheap Internet access would be a huge draw.”
The battle over where such lines are drawn typically ends up in the legislature, with copious opinions and money supplied by lobbyists. And as Nemeth observes, the telecommunications industry has some of the biggest and best-funded lobbyists trying to keep municipalities out of their business.
I really wish I recorded the conversation with Michael Gill I had that day. Maybe I’ll follow up with him.
This post was written by George, source: Quotable
