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A Fool and His (or Her) Money
January 19, 2006
IT IS NOT UNCOMMON these days to hear about some city (small or large) making plans to own and/or operate a wireless Internet network. “Bringing high-speed access to the masses,” is a common refrain heard from civic leaders. On face value the promise seems appealing, but the more I think about it, the more this idea loses its luster.
If these wireless networks are providing service to areas where high-speed Internet access does not already exist, that’s fine. If these wireless networks are intended for areas of the city where private companies have no immediate plans to provide this service in the future, that too is fine. Even if the city wants to provide high-speed wireless access to parks or recreational areas where visitors can use their laptops and PDAs, I’m okay with that, too. But if tax dollars are being used to compete against private enterprise (intentionally or otherwise), I am opposed to that.
Frankly, the use of public funds in this manner has been a pet peeve of mine for quite some time. I started feeling this way several years ago when my local library began carrying videos in addition to books. This also seemed like a good idea at first. A library is a place where a person should be able to get an educational or instructional film, or maybe even a classic movie not readily available from the neighborhood video store. This is not what happened, though. No, they had another idea in mind.
The first, and by far the most popular videos in the batch included The Blues Brothers, When Harry Met Sally, and A Fish Called Wanda. While these are all exceptional movies, they are not instructional and they can not be considered classics (with the possible exception of Blues Brothers). By lending these movies at no direct cost to local residents, the library (funded by taxpayers) was hurting every business in town that rented videos for a fee.
I do believe government should provide services we the people can not easily or readily provide for ourselves. But for many of us, I’m not sure high-speed Internet access is one of them. Besides, does anyone believe they can do it better or cheaper than the private sector? ■
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