[Davisgig] Important -- City Council Meeting Tomorrow!

[Omsoft Systems Administration]

Tomorrow (Tuesday 4/9) the City Council will meet in closed session with 
Astound Wave to negotiate the terms of a city conduit lease.  Those who 
have been following this effort know that the city has not yet done a 
proper analysis of the value of their installed conduit, and is acting 
out of a perceived need to rush a deal to completion in order to limit 
its Internet access costs, which skyrocketed when the Comcast cable 
franchise expired.

They seem to be proceeding with this negotiation in spite of a 
recommendation passed UNANIMOUSLY by the Broadband Advisory Task Force, 
advising they do a fiscal analysis of the value of the conduit they are 
proposing to lease, nor examining the impact this would have to a 
publicly owned fiber network.  We need our community in the driver seat 
when it comes to the future of telecommunications in Davis, with robust 
competition and revenue from fiber lease fees returning into our 
community. We do not accept another monopoly level Private Equity owned 
company taking advantage of our City.

A badly-negotiated lease agreement will permanently foreclose options 
for a public-oriented fiber network, and we need to make sure the 
Council knows that those objecting to the current process aren't just a 
handful of cranky geeks.  Toward that end, we want to muster as many 
people as possible in the Council Chambers lobby (at City Hall, Russell 
Boulevard at A Street) shortly before the meeting so that the Council 
members and the City Manager can appreciate the level of public concern 
as they enter the building.

Please consider making it to the Council Chambers at 5:15 tomorrow. 
Since the item will be in closed session, there's no need to hang around 
for the meeting unless you're motivated to speak during public comment. 
A show of force before the meeting is what's most urgently needed.

If you're able to make it, it would be helpful if you would drop an 
email to help at dcn.org so that we have some idea of expected headcount.

Thanks, and I hope to see you there!