Alack and also, alas!
Madison’s low-cost internet pilot program is finito. Done. The great dream of bridging the digital divide, of bringing high-speed internet to the helpless victims of the Trump full-employment economy is, sadly, over. A noble experiment, worthy of FDR’s New Deal, has ended. All 19 low-income folks who signed up have been disconnected. Nineteen customers. 19!
The Emerald City’s good-hearted attempt to provide MORE FREE STUFF to the poor and disadvantaged has run up on the shoals of that liberal bugaboo called REALITY!
After spending $173,00 for a feasibility analysis. After spending another $189,000 on operating costs. Your Progressive Voice cites Barry Orton, chair of the city’s Digital Technology Committee, resigned to yield broadband access in Madison to the hated private sector “due to the high costs.”
Orton said the committee hopes to have recommendations to the City Council by October.
He said he suspects the implementing fiber-based broadband across the city would be too expensive for Madison without federal subsidies, which are unlikely.
“It doesn’t look real likely that we’re going to be able to pursue a city-based solution for whatever digital divide or speed divide there is,” Orton said.
Whatever digital divide there is? Apparently, the digital divide = 19.
11 responses to “The curse of Madison’s ‘digital divide’ remains unbridged for the unlucky 19”
The answer is “47”.
“The answer is ’47’.”
Only if the question is: “what is @richard lesiak’s I.Q.”
And that answer’d be accurate only after rounding up considerably!
The Gotch
I see you woke up with your usual sunny disposition.
@richard lesiak;
“I see you woke up with your usual sunny disposition.”
Livin’ the dream, muh Bouy, livin’ the dream!
The Gotch
Ah, The 77 Square Miles Surrounded By A Sea Of Reality could never, and I mean NEVER resist the Siren Call of endorphin-ramping “Gosh I’m Nice” crappola with hidden, or outright ignored, costs.
$362 large could’ve funded a battery of wind/solar-powered fans along the SW BIKIE Path (between Midvale & the Beltline) to cool off porcine BIKIES.
C’mon, they’re shoehorned into stupid-looking, ill-fitting, garishly festooned Spandex as they struggle mightily to Save Mother Gaia to begin with; we owe it to them to do whatever it takes to grease life’s skids and ease their journey.
LAISSEZ FAIRE LA LYCRA!
The Gotch
Hey crotch….check out the new “Jack Rabbit”. A two wheel wonder. Electric bike. Goes 18 miles/hr and gets 13 hours on a charge. They are all the rage and sales are skyrocketing. They are going to be everywhere. Some cities are even expanding their bike lanes. Progressive Madison will be right up there with these things.
@richard lesiak;
“A two wheel wonder. Electric bike.”
Heh! If I have my way, the fur’ll be flyin’ on this
Powered by a motor, are they? And I’m certain the battery tasked with propelling them is charged with wind/solar derived electricity, just like the “Gosh I’m Nice” charging stations, (funded by all of us [EVIL Conservatives included] by higher grocery prices), right up front at Pick-n-Save.
Anywho, if so, they shouldn’t be allowed on the motorized vehicles prohibited BIKIE Path/Trail/Lane/Box/Boulevard/Bridge System, am I right?
While running, I observe with mixed emotions porky BIKIES zooming around on them like they’re getting in a workout.
Priceless!
The Gotch
Better get on Kickstarter and put some money in . Bigly.
You know it wasn’t invented by a trumpster. It would have to run on coal and you would have to bribe scott pruitt in order to get one.
[…] • “Bridge the digital divide,” spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a boondoggle that attracted a total of 19 subscribers (discussed here). […]
[…] needs? What would those be? The City of Madison recently pulled back from a costly boondoggle to subsidize high-speed internet access. How many more neighborhood centers can the city build? The […]