Tampa should be considering building community financed fiber optic networks. Cities that adopt broadband and wifi as public utilities will have an advantage in the 21st century. There is sufficient evidence at this point to show that electronic networks create social networks. The City of Tampa could help bring its citizens together by pursuing community broadband/wifi initiatives.
Monticello, Minnesota wanted to do this and was sued by their local phone company, who argued that only corporations should be allowed to provide these services. A few days ago a judge ruled that the city could pursue construction of its publicly owned network.
“This decision has confirmed what was already obvious from a plain reading of the statutes, that Minnesota cities can use their bonding authority for deploying the essential infrastructure of the next century.”
[...] Publicly Owned Broadband | Re/Creating Tampa "This decision has confirmed what was already obvious from a plain reading of the statutes, that Minnesota cities can use their bonding authority for deploying the essential infrastructure of the next century." (tags: infrastructure public-policy innovation open-access public-good commons government local) [...]