Advocates for a public, high-speed municipal network for Northampton Massachusetts
(Easy link for sharing this page: https://tinyurl.com/northamptonquestion1) In about five weeks, Northampton voters will have the chance to vote Yes or No on allowing the city of Northampton to create a Municipal Light Plant (MLP). It’s a bit confusing, but the way for a municipality to create a network to provide Internet service is to first create an MLP. To learn more about why we think a municipal …
Northampton voters will weigh in on whether the city should be permitted to create a municipal network in November’s election. This is because a vote to create a municipal light plant (MLP) will be on the ballot. A hundred years ago, municipalities used the law to create power plants. Today, although the term municipal light …
Thursday night, the Northampton City Council approved 9-0 a first reading of a proposed ballot question on municipal broadband. It needs to be approved at one more reading, which is likely to be at their next meeting on September 2. The first reading of the proposed ballot question was an important step forward. The second …
It’s been a couple of months since highlights of residential and business municipal network surveys were announced by Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz. Since then, activities have moved ahead steadily and without fanfare. The city’s contractor, Design Nine, provided the city with a formal report on the residential and business surveys conducted in the spring. It …
The Daily Hampshire Gazette published a somewhat lengthy article on the city’s broadband plans on Thursday, with an emphasis on the general findings from the broadband study and where the city can go from here. It mentioned that the City Council voted for a second time to create a municipal light plant (MLP) at the …
Nearly four hours into a lengthy City Council meeting Thursday night, Mayor David Narkewicz reported a set of preliminary statistics from the broadband survey sent to city residents and voters. 2800 residents returned residential surveys, which is 25% of Northampton households. Design Nine, which conducted the survey for the City, reports typical response rates are …
On tomorrow night’s City Council meeting agenda: a resolution from Mayor Narkewicz for the City to adopt to create a municipal light plant. If created, a municipal light plant would become the vehicle used to create a municipal network for the City. A similar resolution was approved last year. State law requires that the resolution …
Monday a number of local leaders participated in a virtual forum on municipal networks. Two members of the Northampton City Council attended: Bill Dwight (councilor at large) and Gina-Louise Sciarra (councilor at large, council president and mayoral candidate). You can watch the video below: Participants also included representatives from Holyoke, Agawam, West Springfield and Springfield. …
Just in time, one of our coalition founders, Lee Feldscher of Florence, gives a list of reasons why our city needs a municipal network in a Daily Hampshire Gazette OpEd. Read the article here. Today is the deadline for residents and businesses in the city to weigh on the City’s survey. Surveys marked with today’s …
If you missed our interview on WHMP on Saturday it’s available online for streaming. The recording is about 45 minutes long. Many people received their city surveys. Look for it addressed to “resident”. A business reply envelope is included with the survey, as well as a link to the survey. You can take it now …