Guest Opinion: City fiber: A 'Palo Alto process' that's really working Guest Opinion: City fiber: A 'Palo Alto process' that's really working (April 14, 2004)

by Rick Ferguson

Here's some breaking news: A Palo Alto process is resolving itself according to plan, and peacefully.

Shall our City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU) bring advanced fiber optic service to our homes and businesses? Our trusted Utilities Department, Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) and many citizens are asking the City Council to let us decide on the Nov. 2 ballot.

The council should approve the staff request, and tee up this matter for a vote. The citywide vote will cap a Palo Alto process that's worked. So far, since adopting a telecommunications policy in 1996, the city has:

1) Operated a successful fiber optic service for larger businesses (since 1997).

2) Run a successful trial for residential fiber customers (since 2001).

3) Learned from telecommunications mistakes and successes in dozens of other cities.

4) Evaluated alternatives to fiber, such as wireless Internet access (WiFi).

5) Sought qualified partners and providers, beginning with the Universal Telecom Service RFP (1999).

6) Compared various wholesale and retail business models.

7) Benefited from the advice of dozens of experts from our own community as well as independent outside advisors.

The November date is a common-sense boundary for this thorough deliberation. We'd meet Mayor Bern Beecham's state-of-the-city challenge to tame our penchant for "process."

We can do it. Many Palo Altans will be pleasantly surprised to see a ballot deadline set -- and met -- within a year. Surveys tell us that Palo Altans are eager to answer the fiber question. By now, every interested player has had ample opportunity to help expand the discussion.

The council on April 19 will have its first discussion of the fiber business. Questions already asked and answered will surely reappear -- but it's important to resist the temptation to replay the process, to send it back for more research. Check the plausibility of the plan, of course, and explore all questions. But let the citizens decide.

Today, all the big facts that are "knowable" have been produced. For more than four years and with many public meetings, work has advanced, phase by phase, with review and approval by the UAC and Council at each phase.

We have city staff reports and analyses, Utilities Advisory Commission minutes, Powerpoint slides, the basic business-case analysis, an illustrative "nominal" business plan, and survey results from both the trial neighborhood and citywide.

While extensive, the staff proposal is quite conservative, technical and, frankly, a little dull. The fiber plan enables -- but does not rely on -- visionary and speculative revenue streams. Exciting "wow" services available only from fiber were intentionally ignored, just to prove that we can pay for the system with revenue only from the three tried-and-true services (TV, Internet and telephone).

Now is the time for public education, council guidance and debate. As the UAC itself recommended, there's no need for more study -- no more process delay. Let's not succumb to the inevitable calls for paralysis-by-analysis. Instead, let's demand value for the time, money and volunteer expertise we've invested in the fiber proposal to date.

And there's nothing like a deadline to force allocation of scarce resources and focus the mind.

Why this year? Voter turnout will be higher in November -- with a Presidential election -- so more Palo Altans will learn about and vote on fiber. That makes for a good, reliable decision. A strong "Yes" vote sets the stage for the successful launch of a solid new utility business, just like the other utilities our city owns and manages so well today.

Next week, and again in June, the City Council can help us move forward -- according to plan, based on conservative facts, and peacefully.

Encourage the council. Insist on your right to vote on our next utility -- while the information is fresh and the opportunity is real. No matter how you choose to vote on fiber, let's all declare victory for a Palo Alto process that's working.

Rick Ferguson is an engineer and lawyer who served two terms on Palo Alto's Utilities Advisory Commission. His email address is rick@skylonda.com.

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