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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 21, 2018)
PAGE 2 | September 21, 2018 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS ... Municipal Broadband: Fast, cheap, and union From Page 1 (International Standard Serial Number 0894-444X) Established in 1900 in Portland, Oregon as a voice of the la- bor movement. Published on a semi-monthly basis on the first and third Fridays of each month by the Oregon Labor Press Publishing Co. Inc., a non-profit mutual benefit corpo- ration owned by 20 unions and councils including the Ore- gon AFL-CIO. Serving more than 120 union organizations in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Office location: 4275 NE Halsey St., Portland, Oregon Mailing address: P.O. Box 13150, Portland, OR 97213 Phone: (503) 288-3311 Web address: http://nwlaborpress.org Editor & Manager: Michael Gutwig Associate editor: Don McIntosh Office manager: Cheri Rice Printed on recycled paper, using soy-based inks, by members of Teamsters Local 747-M. 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Known as Municipal Broad- band PDX, the campaign is the brainchild of Multnomah County data engineer Michael Hanna. Hanna is a former president and now chief steward at AFSCME Local 88, which represents em- ployees of Multnomah County. He also serves on the statewide political action committee of Ore- gon AFSCME. Unionism and technology are Hanna’s twin passions, and mu- nicipal broadband would com- bine both. In Hanna’s vision, a new public Internet utility would provide good service, good prices, and good jobs. IBEW members would install the fiber optic cables, and AFSCME members would administer the network, just as they do in the Portland Water Bureau. Internet access, it turns out, is what’s known in economics as a “natural monopoly.” Some prod- ucts and services — think gro- ceries or home repairs — are most efficiently provided by mar- kets with lots of sellers. But oth- ers — think electric utilities or railroad transportation — come with high initial investment costs that it makes no sense to dupli- cate. [Imagine multiple natural gas suppliers digging up the pub- lic right-of-way to install compet- ing pipelines.] Natural monopolies can be publicly owned, like Eugene Wa- ter & Electric Board, or privately owned but publicly regulated, like Portland General Electric. Unfortunately for the American public, Internet access has up to now mostly been provided by pri- vately owned monopolies that are very lightly regulated. Monopoly internet service providers have faced no requirement to upgrade from coaxial cable to fiber optic cable, and as a result, the United States has fallen far behind coun- tries like France, Korea, and even China in access to affordable high-speed Internet connections. At the national level, the Com- munications Workers of America has been trying to raise the alarm about this for over a decade, in a campaign called Speed Matters. Seeing the missed opportunity, Google even briefly dabbled with the idea of rolling out fiber optic networks in cities around the country, but pulled back after launching networks in eight loca- tions. There are reasons the public sector is better suited to roll out fiber networks than the private sector. For one, the cost of capital is lower: By issuing revenue- backed bonds, public bodies can borrow money at much lower rates than private companies can, and pay it back over a longer time frame. Also, public fiber net- works don’t need to earn profits, pay dividends to investors, fill the pockets of high-paid executives, or even pay income taxes. All those savings are passed onto the customers via lower rates. In fact, the idea of municipal broadband is catching on. Na- tionally there are now at least 55 city-wide municipally-owned fiber networks. Sandy, Oregon, is one of them. For $39.95 a month, Sandy residents get a 300 Mbps fiber connection (five times as fast as Comcast’s simi- larly priced “Performance Plus” service) and can add phone service with unlimited nation- wide calling for another $20 a month. Hillsboro, too, now is charging ahead, and expects next spring to begin offering 1,000 Mbps service (16 times as fast as Comcast) for $50 a month, or just $10 a month for low-income residents. Will Portland, Gresham, and other cities in Multnomah County be next? Hanna and the Munici- pal Broadband PDX campaign aren’t proposing that the munici- palities leap before looking. In- stead they’re asking local juris- dictions to pay for a thorough feasibility study that looks at ex- isting infrastructure and what it would cost to install fiber door to door. That proposal has been en- dorsed by the Northwest Oregon Labor Council, IBEW Local 48, Oregon AFSCME and AFSCME locals 88, 189 and 328. Since Municipal Broadband PDX held its public campaign launch Aug. 1, the Multnomah County Commission and the City Councils of Fairview, Gresham, Troutdale and Wood Village have voted to share the costs of the proposed feasibility study. The campaign has saved the biggest for last: Portland City Council is expected to hold a hearing on it Oct. 30 and vote Nov. 7 on whether to join the other jurisdictions in the feasibil- ity study. If they give the go- ahead, Multnomah County will move forward with the study, lay- ing the groundwork for a decision next year. Low Prices! Coats, etc. Mon-Fri 9-6, Sat 9:30-5:30, Sun 12-6 SHOP LOCAL. AND BUY UNION AND AMERICAN- MADE.
