The City Council voted to move forward on building a city-owned super-fast Internet service.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
The Lake Oswego City Council voted to move forward on building a city-owned super-fast Internet service.
Some members of the council expressed caution.
Nonetheless, the council voted 5-1 to negotiate a contract with a group led by Sunstone Business Finance that would arrange financing and construction of the network, but instructed the city to conduct additional market research to gauge demand. Jeff Gudman cast the vote against proceeding with the project, telling his colleagues there has been no groundswell of citizen support for the project and the current market appears robust.
Before coming to Lake Oswego, Lazenby was city manager of the small city of Sandy, where he helped lead construction of a city-owned fiber network there. Other Oregon cities, including Gresham and Hillsboro, have also explored the possibility of building their own fiber networks.
A consultant hired by Hillsboro to evaluate the prospect, however, recommended the city not proceed after a study concluded a residential fiber network there would proceed $66 million.
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
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