posted 12-10-2001 14:31               

Cities Wire for Revitalization

In the past few years, many downtrodden blue-collar American towns and cities have discovered a new kind of economic viability--high-speed Internet access. No longer willing to wait for big phone and cable companies to install fiber-optic networks in their business districts, many cities have collaborated with publicly and privately owned utilities to connect themselves with the world. As a result, locales such as Tacoma, WA; Worcester, MA; and Louisville, KY, have attracted service providers hankering to sell Internet access through the new infrastructure and start-ups eager for affordable rents and easy commutes.

For decades, as its sexier neighbor Seattle flourished, Tacoma watched suburban malls supplant its downtown retail districts, leaving the city a virtual wasteland. After energy industry deregulation in 1992, Tacoma Power tried fruitlessly to get cable monopoly TCI and phone company US West to wire the city for high-speed Internet access and other applications. Then in 1997, when city officials finally approved Tacoma Power's plan to spend $100 million on a fiber-optic network called "Click," the city's collapsed communications infrastructure was revitalized. Since then, approximately 100 start-up companies have located in Tacoma, buildings have been restored, and hundreds of new jobs have opened up.

As municipalities make inroads in providing telecom services to their communities, many cable and phone giants have scrambled to upgrade their infrastructures. Some have even sued public utilities for conflict of interest. Worcester's approach, where private industry installed the network, might serve as a model for the future. But places such as "America's #1 Wired City," as Tacoma tags itself, are just glad their technological assets are helping to revitalize their hometowns.

Source: Jill Hecht Maxwell, "On the Wired Front," Inc. Tech 2000, No. 3