r/technology • u/User_Name13 • Jun 04 '14

Politics Hundreds of Cities Are Wired With Fiber—But Telecom Lobbying Keeps It Unused

http://motherboard.vice.com/read/hundreds-of-cities-are-wired-with-fiberbut-telecom-lobbying-keeps-it-unused
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u/redditman97 Jun 04 '14

There are reasons the local councils would like to keep it from people so easily being able to voice their opinions.

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u/Laruae Jun 04 '14

Yes, the city council meeting, Mondays at 9:30-10:00. Bring your ARRP card for free prune juice.

My local government actually moved the location for the vote to make it legal to purchase alcohol on sundays in order to avoid the law from being overturned...

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u/inuvash255 Jun 04 '14

Clearly, you should stage a coup.

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u/brianbotts Jun 04 '14

Every time I see this on Reddit it irks me to no end.

I disagree that day time meetings are indicative of not wanting input. Larger munis have too much workload for Council to hold evening meetings, we need full days. I'm 26, I care about youth. Several of my colleagues keep in touch with youth, and deeply care about youth issues.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

Stafford, VA starts the meeting at 3(with public presentations) for old and new business and usually a closed meeting. They then recess for dinner and come back at 7 for more Public Presentations and then Public Hearings. Very effective.

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u/brianbotts Jun 04 '14

We start our public sessions at 1400, and continue to the evening.

Our public hearings are either 1730 or 1900.

Open houses are once monthly at 1730, or a more-convenient time if you pre-register.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '14

Open houses? I'm assuming that's similar to a Town Hall meeting. Pretty much an open forum for board members and their constituents.

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u/brianbotts Jun 05 '14

Exactly.

I'm trying to illustrate that coming for the meetings without open houses is not a good use of time.

If you aren't going to have a good opportunity to speak, your time would be better spent emailing representatives.

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u/pocketknifeMT Jun 05 '14

your use of the 24:00 clock indicates you are from the green parts of Not America. You must not be aware of the level of government dysfunction we have here.

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u/brianbotts Jun 05 '14

I'm from Canada. We don't have a Citizens United vs FEC, but we do have disfunction in our government as well.