CaliforniaCityNews.org

Wireless Internet Conference Discusses the Future of City WiFi

The MuniWireless07: Silicon Valley conference in Santa Clara concluded yesterday with the release of the Municipal Wireless State-of-the-Market Report.  The survey of U.S. municipal wireless networks states that cities across the nation will spend more than $329 million this year on municipal WiFi.  The report also states the municipal wireless market is growing at least 33% per year, though many major efforts have stalled. 

In California, the most notable example would be San Francisco.  With its tech savvy residents and access to Silicon Valley, one would think this would be the low hanging fruit for such efforts.  Unfortunately, the lead vendor for the project, EarthLink, has suffered a series of setbacks leaving the City by the Bay wanting for free WiFi.

In Sacramento, plans to build a 90-square-mile WiFi network have also stalled due to a lack of funding, word is it would take about $9 million to get that project off the ground. 

Orange County is currently exploring options for a countywide WiFi project, though that’s in the beginning phases.  If folks are working on this in their cities, please let us know.  Specifically, I’m interested in the financing approach to this kind of project.  Google has advanced an ad-based system, though as the SF Chron wrote earlier this week, local governments are the most likely to pay the tab.

Having free and widespread access to Wireless Internet has a bevy of potential benefits -- for educators, economic development and such.  Is it worth the cost to cities?  Let us know what you think.

Energy Commission Helping Cities Cut Energy Tabs

The California Energy Commission is offering low interest loans for projects that cut energy bills.  The Commission has helped many cities finance upgrades for HVAC, lighting, solar installations, cooling tower systems, and the like.  CaliforniaCityNews has a pair of announcements outlining the potential of this program and how it has helped the cities of Perris and Alhambra reduce their energy consumption and modernize city infrastructure. 

For more information on the Energy Commission and what it has to offer cities, contact Karen Perrin. 

Your City: Hot, or Not?

Travel and Leisure magazine has surveyed 60,000 travelers and ranked 25 U.S. cities on a range of attributes –- specifically how smart, friendly and attractive are its residents? 

Three California cities are in contention, the ones you might expect: San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego.  Of these, San Francisco and San Diego rank most consistently near the top, here’s how they finished in a few key categories.

Out of a possible 25:
People (Overall):   San Francisco #1, San Diego #4 and LA #19
Attractiveness of Residents:   San Diego #2, LA #6 and San Fran #7
Intelligence:   SF #5, San Diego #13 and LA (ouch) #25

Catch the whole list here, but let us know if your city deserved to make the top 25... Most fun? Smart? Attractive??

City Tries To Ban Chinese Products

Some weeks ago California City News authored a piece entitled "Red City vs. Blue City" about the growing likelihood that city governments would use their council dais as a platform for national issues. The trend, while correctly predicted, has taken on dimensions that even the editors of California City News couldnt have predicted.

One Florida city has taken it upon themselves to ban the selling of goods made in China as a result of the recent toy recalls, low quality of products, and China's human rights record.

ABC NEWS has the story http://abcnews.go.com/Business/CreativeConsumer/story?id=3765361&page=1

West Hollywood Makes National News as A Leader in Green Cities

NEWSWEEK profiles West Hollywood as perhaps the country's best model for building eco-friendly. The densest city west of the Mississippi river is setting a new standard for the nation in how cities should be building. http://www.newsweek.com/id/56565

Cities Consider Charging Fees For Bottled Water

Not too long ago bottled water was for the chic set, the perfect accessory for the body and health conscious. More and more however, the ubiquitous plastic water bottle is coming to be perceived as a threat to the environment. Read more to see what some cities in California and throughout the country are considering to rid us of the plastic water bottle.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21214017/

Governor Signs AB 1430

The governor signed AB 1430 into law over the weekend, a bill that prohibits local jurisdictions from regulating the source and amount of money that political parties can use to campaign for candidates – even though the state legislature does the exact same thing for state elections. 

According to press release put out by Common Cause, "AB 1430 will prohibit local governments from imposing limits on how much money political parties, labor unions and other membership organizations can spend in communicating with their members about their favored political candidates."

The Long Beach website LBreport.com has been howling over this bill for weeks, as it would invalidate the city's own Campaign Reform Act, Prop M.   The bill was opposed by, among others, The League of Women Voters of California, the California Clean Money Campaign, the California Nurses Association, the California Public Interest Research Group. 

Observers often muse that money in politics is like water, that it flows around whatever dams you erect (Oh that the state's actual water flowed as easily).  That cynical outlook will not be much chagrined by the signing of this legislation, and indeed, the "Governor protects free speech" headlines are easy to see around this story. 

My view is that the larger issue here is that of local control, of cities being able to determine their own standards when it comes to elections.  A dear friend of CaliforniaCityNews' once pondered a run for Long Beach mayor, and so their stringent campaign finance laws are well known as I write this.  That said, its a testament to local government that a city can set strict contribution limits to, in its mind, 'restore public trust in local government.'  Whether we agree with this approach or not is largely unimportant, what is sacred about cities is thier right to self determination and that is undermined with this legislation.  Sorry Guv.   

Guest Column: I didn't mean to do it! It was an accident...Stop me before I blog again!

The following is an interesting perspective on local political blogging by Frank Simpson of Petaluma 360.

There has been a great deal of discussion-online & offline-about the role of bloggers and their impact in the media world.  There are, of course, many types of bloggers covering many topics.  Just look at the variety of bloggers on Petaluma 360 alone.

A few weeks ago, someone forwarded a blog link talking about the role of "political bloggers" in today's society. "Local Political Blogs are Here to Stay"
 
Frankly, it caught me off guard -- Me! A political blogger?

Guest Column: Utility Tax is for Those Who Did Not Flunk Math

The following is a guest column from fellow blogger Wayne Lusvardi, the Pasadena Pundit.  Thanks to Wayne for his permission to reprint this story.

Israel Gallegos is attributed with the quote that "the lottery is a tax on people who flunked math."  Peg Bracken, author of the "I Hate to Cook Book" (1960) once made a similar observation when she wrote: "Why does a tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents?"

Taxpayers who catch on to the implications of recent California appellate court rulings about the unconstitutionality of taxes on your cellular telephone, electricity, and water bills may soon be making the same observations and asking the same type of questions as those above.  And if they probe deeper they may end up having to do the math to figure out the bottom line...

LA Council Unanimously Approves Sales Tax Vote

The LA city council voted 14-0 last night to ask the voters to approve a 9% telephone users tax that would safeguard against the potential judicial invalidation of their current 10% phone tax.  You can read the City Attorney's report on the proposed tax here.

LA clearly feels that the UUT represent so much, that this action is necesary lest this funding source 'disconnected.'  Prop 218 is starting to have a ripple effect across local governments and we'll keep an eye on this story in the coming weeks and look to bring some expert opinions on LA's situation as well how this issue might affect cities across California.

Read more about LA's sales tax in the Daily News.