Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
washingtonpost.com
Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
1–10 of 45 posts
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#2I just gave a small donation to his campaign fund. You can donate here: http://mcginnformayor.com. Wish there was a place on the donation to tell them why you're donating.
I really hope that more mayors (especially NYC where I live) make this a focus of their campaign. So sick of the cable company monopolies.
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#3I just gave a small donation to his campaign fund. You can donate here: http://mcginnformayor.com . Wish there was a place on the donation to tell them why you're donating. I really hope that more mayors (especially NYC where I live) make this a focus of their campaign. So sick of the cable company monopolies.
Thanks for the link. Yes I really wish that any of the mayoral candidates in Boston (where I live) would make gigabit Internet a priority rather than just being "tough on crime".
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#4I wonder if Google going to contribute to the mayor, since Comcast is funding his opponent.
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#5I'm in support of more fiber, I'm actually considering a move to get it at some of the downtown condos that offer it. However, this feels like the promise of a down in the polls incumbent hoping to turn this into a 1 issue race. Why weren't 4 years enough to get it rolling already? (And don't take this wrong, I likely will vote for McGinn, this just seems opportunistic is all).
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#6I wonder if Google going to contribute to the mayor, since Comcast is funding his opponent.
Google typically funds all major contenders in big races.
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#7You can't intelligently discuss cable monopolies without following the money and reading the franchise agreement. As near as Google and I can figure out, you need to read:
http://www.seattle.gov/cable/comcast_franchise_06.pdf
Is this the most recent revision? Who knows. That would take more effort than I'm willing to expend.
First of all the agreement I linked to at seattle.gov claims to be in effect until 2016. So until 2016 (or so) you can whine all you want but its just posturing until them. I donno enough about Seattle politics to know if the proposed candidate would be in office in 3 years? Also I don't know enough seattle politics to tell if the mayor really has any input. Some localities are more autocratic than other more anarchistic localities. So the mayor may or may not have much impact at all other than pure PR.
Secondly follow the money. Read section 11.1. Basically for CATV in Seattle there is a 5% sales tax on top of any and all other fees gathered by comcast and paid to the city. You can call it a fee or bribe or compensation or whatever but its basically a sales tax. The feds limit this local tax and there's the usual boilerplate about increasing if legally allowed etc.
You can estimate based on subscriber numbers and bills or the other way around as total comcast revenue times percentage of comcast subscribers located in Seattle, well whatever either way its a substantial amount of money. So, follow the money. Where is the candidate proposing to raise rates, implement new taxes, or cut services if they kick out Comcast completely?
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#8McGinn frustrates me. Issues like this are highly popular and resonate with everyone, but I haven't been a fan of several of his policies.
He raised public parking rates to pay for street maintenance upgrades, safety at schools, etc. But, a lot of city streets have yet to be repaired, and safety at our particular local school has slowly been getting worse. He has had to deal with a police force in transition after a DoJ investigation, which he's handled rather gracefully, so he's done some things well. I'd say it's largely been a very mixed bag.
But the biggest frustration for me is that it always seems like he will say whatever is popular based on who is in the room. It's not that he is acting like a politician, but rather someone who doesn't really stand for anything. This issue, while he's raising it now, hasn't been a hallmark of his current tenure, so it seems more opportunistic than anything else.
If it weren't an election cycle, I'm not sure we'd be hearing so much about this right now.
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#9I'm in support of more fiber, I'm actually considering a move to get it at some of the downtown condos that offer it. However, this feels like the promise of a down in the polls incumbent hoping to turn this into a 1 issue race. Why weren't 4 years enough to get it rolling already? (And don't take this wrong, I likely will vote for McGinn, this just seems opportunistic is all).
It sounds like it is rolling along, though the details on the "14 neighborhoods" is a bit vague.
Re: Seattle Mayor: I have Comcast, and I would like better service
#10McGinn frustrates me. Issues like this are highly popular and resonate with everyone, but I haven't been a fan of several of his policies. He raised public parking rates to pay for street maintenance upgrades, safety at schools, etc. But, a lot of city streets have yet to be repaired, and safety at our particular local school has slowly been getting worse. He has had to deal with a police force in transition after a…
McGinn isn't a professional politician, which is good because the professional politicians and the "Seattle process" have fucked this city for decades, but it leads to the occasional misstep. The city gigabit fiber initiative was his, though. That and some controversial transportation reforms are parts of his vision that convinced me to vote for him. Too many Seattle politicians are willing to sell themselves out to build consensus. I like having a mayor who stands for something I can believe in.