The bad guys are flooding the streets as Halloween approaches - their stated ghoul (sorry) is to influence witch way (sorry) you will vote.
Ballot Question 2A is important for Longmont. It is a fight between the citizens of this town and a giant corporate interest that has tried to buy their votes. And it's not just our town that is at stake here - we're being watched by the nation at large, which is grappling with the question of whether local citizens should be allowed to control their own media utility, or whether that control should be ceded to media leviathans such as Comcast.
The latter option is dangerous. It concentrates power in the hands of the few, who then control the access of the many. Think about your experiences with Comcast or another provider - are they unanimously good? No. Unanimously bad? Probably not. They're just a company, another company that is beholden only to their shareholders. They're not truly evil... but nor do they give a damn about Longmont. Making money is all they care about.
In town we have an option - a fiber-optic ring that just needs the right private investment (not concentrated power) to light it up. Comcast could be a part of that, but it will mean slicing into their profits a bit and losing some market share. They would need to unbundle services, offer much faster internet and better choice for consumers.
And the project will bring jobs in the short-term without a doubt - people building the 'last mile' to the door, skilled and semi-skilled labor that the town sorely needs.
It will also attract the attention of magnet employers such as Google, who wanted to build in Longmont but were put off by the fact that we had to vote on whether we could even use the fiber-optic ring that belonged to us.
Please vote between now and Tuesday, because your vote counts. Even if you vote with the opposition, vote - it's your right, your responsibility and your privilege as a citizen of this great country.
Here's hoping.
Jon
Where to drop off your ballot: Boulder County Clerk's office at 529 Coffman Street, which is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Election Day. You can also drop your ballot off curbside on Terry Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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