Dear GKD Members, I started to craft an article that I hoped would be suitable for this discussion. But after a while, I figured I had better things to do -- so I will let this fly from the top of my head.
For what it's worth. 1. Communities should take a page from Microsoft, and days long past (or so it seems) about value of a monopoly. 2. Arguably, the most important monopoly that communities control is the air waves and the communication networks. 3. Who says that a well managed community can't provide affordable broadband to every single home. There are some efforts in Utah to do just that - a "break even" model for universal broadband, at $9.00 per month per home, take it or leave it you still pay the $9.00. The communities are buying into the undertaking on the "residual" basis that comes with a computer and a good connection in every home - some of which includes on-line utility bill paying. 4. Communities were slow for a long time to find revenues from places like signage for stadiums. (In San Diego they stupidly "sold" the rights for the amount of signage necessary to complete the Stadium - funny - city managers couldn't sell a typewriter without a bid process but the "sold" the rights to the ball park without a bid.) The point is that creative recognition of new sources of revenue should not be automatically beaten back because of the "attraction" of free market "competition". 5. Isn't connectivity as important as water delivery? And a lot more promising? Why shouldn't the profits flow entirely to well managed cities who don't need to pay the top guy eight zillion dollars for turning a profit. I mean how hard can it be to run a monopoly at a profit...and do a good job of it as well? John Hibbs http://www.bfranklin.edu/johnhibbs P.S. I'm looking for a few good souls to join a virtual roundtable discussion about this on Sunday, November 21, 2004...during Global Learn Day VIII. All you have to do is talk on the phone (and provide some links that would help tell those listening, over the phone or over the net, something about you...and why they should listen. On 11/10/04, Jeff Cochrane wrote: > Barry Coetzee raises an issue I know is the focus of research, for > example, within Community Economics, and is certainly the object of a > popular debate here in the United States. > > A parallel example: Recently a number of communities in the USA have > passed regulations effectively barring a major company, Walmart, from > locating in their markets, apparently because they recognized the > broader impacts that might have on the mix of employment, economic > growth, etc. ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org provide more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html>
