Archive for April, 2008
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
BREAKING: Centerville Says Yes by 3-2 Vote
Just moments ago, Centerville's City Council voted 3-2 to approve the new UTOPIA bonds, coming down to a "lesser of two evils" yes vote from Council Member Justin Allen, the swing vote on the council. The vote comes with conditions that Centerville reserves the right to reconsider based on how the remaining three cities vote, [...]
1 Comment » - Posted in Cheers, News, UTOPIA by Jesse
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
This Just In: Centerville Hearing Will Now Accept Further Public Comments
The title pretty much says it all. Instead of a meeting closed to public comment, the Centerville City Council will accept additional public comment during tonight's meeting. If you're able to make it and speak in favor of UTOPIA, please do so!
No Comments » - Posted in Events, UTOPIA by Jesse
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
Updated UTOPIA Meeting Schedule: Orem, Payson, Brigham City, Centerville
I've received updated meeting times for the rescheduled UTOPIA meetings as follows:
Brigham City: Thursday May 1 at 7PM
Centerville: Tuesday April 29 at 7PM
Murray: Monday May 5 at 6:30PM
Orem: Friday May 2 at 9AM
Payson: No re-vote
The addresses should be the same as the prior meetings and can be located on the sidebar. Payson [...]
No Comments » - Posted in Events, UTOPIA by Jesse
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
BREAKING: Murray Tables Vote Until May 5
The Murray Municipal Council voted 5-0 to table the final vote on the UTOPIA bonds until Monday May 5 at 6:30PM. The feeling is that they had a lot of information to process and needed additional time to come to a final decision. The audience was split pretty evenly between supporters and opponents and Mayor [...]
No Comments » - Posted in News, UTOPIA by Jesse
Sunday, April 27th, 2008
The State of iProvo: Network Will Save City and Residents Millions Each Year
I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural meeting of the iProvo Review Committee last Tuesday and walked away with more information than I knew what to do with. The Committee was kind enough to distrubute current figures for iProvo subscribers, information on municipal networks, and, best of all, a copy of the consultant's reports [...]
12 Comments » - Posted in Essays, iProvo by Jesse
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Overpriced and Anti-Competitive: The Dark Side of Qwest’s Fiber
Much has been made of Qwest's announcement that they're rolling out their new FTTN network in Utah, but the media has missed some critical points regarding the dark side of Qwest's plans.
The first jaw-dropper is the sticker shock: $105/mo for 20Mbps/896Kbps DSL or $52/mo for 12Mbps/896Kbps DSL. Interestingly enough, these services are only initially [...]
3 Comments » - Posted in Jeers, News by Jesse
Friday, April 25th, 2008
BREAKING: Layton Approves New Bonds By 3-2 Vote
After almost 4 hours of public comment, the Layton city council approved the resolution authorizing the new UTOPIA bonds by a 1-vote margin. This was a battleground meeting, too: Qwest had the room stuffed with employees and sent Jerry Fenn, President of Qwest for Utah while the UTA sent their point man, Royce Van Tassell, [...]
5 Comments » - Posted in Cheers, News by Jesse
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
UTOPIA in the Bloghive: Report from Orem, Response to Rep. Urquhart
There's some buzz in the Bloghive after yesterday's UTOPIA meetings:
Luke Marrott reports on the meeting in Orem.
Thad Van Ry at Woods Cross Citizen responds to Rep. Urquhart's post on UTOPIA.
I'm expecting to see a lot more posts after the meetings tomorrow evening.
4 Comments » - Posted in News by Jesse
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Where UTOPIA is Today: A Response For Rep. Steve Urquhart
You know what? You're right. Cities shouldn't get the state to bail them out if UTOPIA calls their pledges. The key word here is if. To date, UTOPIA still hasn't used any tax money despite 18 months of construction delays from the Qwest lawsuit, being illegally obstructed from accessing utility poles and having the RUS [...]
21 Comments » - Posted in Essays by Jesse
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
XMission Now Offering VoIP on UTOPIA
Watch your back, Qwest: XMission is getting in on the booming VoIP market. At $35/mo, it's comparable in price to the similar digital phone service from Comcast but without the poor customer service; the service is also a substantial discount compared to a similar offering from Qwest. It will also include a lot of advanced [...]
