From the Seattle Time's Daniel Beekman:
"In January, the president made a speech in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which recently upgraded with new optical-fiber technology to one-gigabit-per-second Internet.
“Folks around the nation want these broadband networks,” he said. “They’re good for business. They’re good for communities. They’re good for schools. And they’re good for the marketplace because they promote efficiency and competition.”
Another way the world has changed is Seattle’s economy is booming.
When McGinn was mayor, he hoped to do more than create a community network like Cedar Falls and, closer to home, like Tacoma, he now says.
McGinn wanted to secure a property-tax levy to pay for universal high-speed access, so that turning on the Internet would be like turning on the water faucet. Building a citywide, city-operated network had been one of his 2009 campaign promises."