Neither Comcast (at the time AT&T Broadband) or SBC showed much interest in the Illinois cities of Batavia, St. Charles, and Geneva over the years. That is until the local governments got tired of poor service and began thinking about offering their own broadband services. SBC and Comcast turned on their PR machine, and plastered local papers with advertisements 'informing' local residents that a municipal service could never work, calling such an idea "a longshot". Not surprisingly, the out-gunned local citizen's group faced an uphill battle, culminating in a loss yesterday in a vote to move forward.

The bill ended up with roughly forty percent of the community in favor, and sixty percent against. But according to Ed Hodges, leader of the local community group "Fiber for our Future" (whom we interviewed last week), if that forty percent signed up for service, the project would be fiscally successful.

As we've mentioned in our previous reports, at least two of the communities, which are "home-rule", may move forward with the project regardless of the vote. However that didn't prevent area leaders from being disgusted with what they refer to as SBC and Comcast's "misinformation" campaigns.

Comcast published several ads in local papers in the weeks leading up to the vote (see pdf copies here, here and here). Both SBC and Comcast also funded a "survey", and had their marketing departments call area residents asking them questions such as "Should tax money be allowed to provide pornographic movies for residents?"

"We were out-manned, out-resourced, out-spent and out-maneuvered," says Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns. "Our campaign was rooted in truth, our opponents' in anything but."

Andrea Brands, a spokeswoman for SBC, saw things a different way. "What happened here is that the voters voted what is best for them," she's quoted as saying in this Kane County Chronicle article. "No risk of increase taxes. Sixty-two million dollars is a very expensive network, when there is ample service available."

You can find a breakdown of the voting results by area here, and we've obtained a copy of a letter, reprinted below, sent out to project supporters by Peter Collins, the Information Systems Supervisor for the city of Geneva.

--------------------------------
TO ALL:

We expected this referendum to be tough. See the stories below from the local press. While I can't say I'm surprised at the outcome, it's still an issue that needs to be watched closely. I think the 40% "yes" vote shows that we would make our estimated 36% penetration rate on cable television, and would have no problem meeting the lower penetration rates of telephone and high-speed internet.

Unfortunately, we were out spent on marketing (Fiber For Our Future - $3,000, SBC & Comcast - God only knows) and failed to undo the "strong arming" and lies laid out by our competitors.

Bitter? A little. Convinced we were wrong? Not by a long shot. Would I push the issue again? In a heartbeat.

I would like to thank our Mayors and Aldermen in all three cities that lined up behind this concept. It was a hard sell, technically speaking, from the start. You really have to want to understand this in order to make a clear decision. My thanks for your patience, courage, and ability to take every piece of broadband "spam" I could send your way.

My thanks to the press for spending time to learn about broadband and exposing the type of fight we were up against. Again, it's not always an easy concept to understand if you don't eat, sleep, breathe this stuff the way I do. Thanks for trying to keep up.

But, the real thanks go out to Fiber For Our Future (»www.tricitybroadband.com), the TriCity Citizens group. They pushed this issue, kicked, and fought for every inch they got. Truly a great group of diverse people who took the bull by the horns and ran with it. In less than 2 months, they managed to sway 40% of the people in the TriCities to vote for something truly visionary. Not bad for about 20 dedicated people. Their high spirits and devotion to the concept was a godsend.


Next time around, we'll get them!

Regards,

Peter Collins
Information Systems Supervisor
City of Geneva, Illinois
----------------------------