We Could Have Had City-Wide High-Speed Internet Instead

You know I’ve been saying that the real cost of all those vanity projects for the leisure class is what we could have spent that money on instead. Things like childcare for working parents. Twenty-first century job skills training for the marginally employed. Early childhood education.

And city-wide high-speed internet.

Here’s an article from NBCConnecticut.com:

The City of Hartford has announced that it plans to build a system that gives every resident access to free, high-speed internet within the next year.

Mayor Luke Bronin said the city will be installing nearly 1,000 wireless access points that will provide very fast internet service to a significant amount of residents and businesses. At minimum, he said there will be LTE speed service everywhere across the city.

. . .

Bronin estimates the project has a capital cost of $3.8 million and said it will be fully covered through donations from the partners and funding through the city. The city is expected to pick up the ongoing cost, which he said is estimated to be $100,000 a year.

Hartford has a about a fifth of El Paso’s population, and it’s only 18 square miles. El Paso is a little more than 250 square miles in area. So sure, high-speed internet for the whole town would cost more.

But the City of El Paso was going to spend $40 million cash to bring in a Great Wolf Lodge. The ballpark cost El Pasoans $64 million to start, with ongoing debt and maintenance costs topping a million bucks a year. Last year City Council approved $86 million in Certificates of Obligation for Quality of Life projects.

Don’t you think that city-wide high-speed internet would benefit El Paso’s citizens more than a Great Wolf Lodge, or the ballpark, or the Quality of Life projects?

Don’t you think that city-wide high-speed internet access would produce more economic development than tax incentives for TopGolf, or the WestStar Tower at Hunt Plaza, or any of the other boondoggles the City has sold the citizens as “economic development”?

Think about that the next time you pay your internet bill. Think about that the this fall, when your sons and daughters try to log into online classes.

Mostly, think about that when you vote in November.

3 comments

  1. Tommy Gonzalez is just a lap dog to the wealthy Anglos who really run El Paso. Although 85% of El Paso are Hispanics, only about 1% of them are allowed at the “Grown Up Table.” Its been like that for over 100 years. Nothings changed, except for the names. Foster replaced R.E. Mckee….etc. and the list goes on. But, its not just the Anglos. This is going to come across at Racist, but it is the Absolute Truth. The Jews of El Paso, as well as the Lebanese/Syrian’s have their own piece of the pie. No “Mexicans” Allowed! It is easy to blame Gonzalez because he came in with a soiled “pedigree.” Squeezing vendors at Irving. I could go on, but he’s the perfect candidate, albeit incredibly overpaid. His #1 job is to do what the “powers that be” want him to do–sad to say. I still remember when his former “best Friend,” Larry Romero was out wining and dining Gonzalez. To the point where Romero’s brother, John, did Gonzalez’ income tax returns. Although Gonzalez had a complicated form. Buyouts, payouts, real estate, etc…..John, a plain old bookkeeper with a degree in accounting….NOT a CPA–charged Tommy Boy $100. That is what H&R Block charges the average Jose at Wal Mart to do their taxes as a landscaper……El Paso used to be 1 step forward and 2 back…now its 1 forward and 3 steps back…..eventually the town will be called “Fosterville,”

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