Part 4
“TPA’s Chip Baltimore offers internet advice for Lucas Texas”
The perils of Municipal Broadband, Prop B and Lucas, Texas, Part 4
In Part 4, Chip gives his experienced advice on what he would do about the internet issues in Lucas if Lucas were his hometown.
See below for a summary of the points raised in the video.
TPA’s Chip Baltimore offers internet advice for Lucas Texas:
- Do a much more extensive research effort to find out what the problems really are. Find out if it’s a lack of access problem? Areas not served at all? Slow speed? Unreliability? What alternatives are there in terms of other providers?
- Investigate alternatives with incumbent providers, including business “what’s it going to take” business discussions about incentives or grants to fix specific problems the city identified. Incentives and grant programs can solve the problem for less money than borrowing $19m.
- Put in place ordinances that require builders to lay conduit in new developments to make it easier for incumbent internet providers to run their wires, cables or fiber to that area.
More about Chip Baltimore and the TPA (https://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/about/):
Chip Baltimore is a Senior Fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a former 4 term state legislator for Iowa. He is also an attorney having spent the 13 years as General Counsel and Trust Officer of Boone Bank & Trust Co., and 10 years in private legal practice in Boone, Iowa.
The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) TPA is a rapid response non-profit, non-partisan taxpayer group dedicated to educating the public through the research, analysis and dissemination of information on the government’s effects on the economy. TPA will hold government officials accountable at all levels of government.
Additional Videos on this series:
- “The perils of Municipal Broadband, Prop B and Lucas, Texas”: Part 1 (Unicorns and Rainbows)
- “You’ve got it backwards.” – The perils of Municipal Broadband, Prop B and Lucas, Texas: Part 2
- “Most internet problems are inside the home.” – The perils of Municipal Broadband, Prop B and Lucas, Texas: Part 3
Additional Resources
For additional information on PROP B and risks Lucas taxpayers need to know, see the article:
“Risks Lucas Taxpayers Need To Know About Prop B: The Vanity Internet Project”
For a 3rd part independent review of the Magellan Feasibility study which is the foundation of PROP B, see the article:
Taxpayers Protection Alliance Weighs in with Negative Review of Magellan’s Study