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zero waste zone
Article, ILSR Press Room, Resource filed under Waste to Wealth, Zero Waste & Economic Development | Written by Neil Seldman | No Comments | Updated on Apr 14, 2012

Chattanooga Building a Green Brick Road

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/chattanooga-building-green-brick-road/

Zero Waste Zone, April 14, 2012 In perfect timing with Earth month, The City of Chattanooga is exploring how to bring zero waste practices to the residential and corporate community.  The main ingredients for success are in place: 1) solid local government support, 2) corporate community enthusiasm, and 3) strong local markets for recyclable material. Chattanooga Director of Sustainability… Continue reading

new-funny-lus-fiber-hdtv-commercial
Article filed under Broadband | Written by Christopher | No Comments | Updated on Apr 14, 2012

New Funny LUS Fiber HDTV Commercial

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.muninetworks.org/content/new-funny-lus-fiber-hdtv-commercial

LUS Fiber has released a new ad promoting its HDTV services – probably the best ad I have seen from a community broadband network promoting its services. Video:  Continue reading

Article filed under The Public Good | Written by David Morris | No Comments | Updated on Apr 13, 2012

Book Burning Hoax Results in Huge Support for Michigan Public Library

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/book-burning-hoax-results-huge-support-michigan-public-library/

Sometimes it takes a truly imaginative hoax to jolt us into realizing how much we value the public. That’s what happened in Troy, Michigan last summer. Nationwide, over 90 percent of public library money comes from local property tax dollars.  Thus every time a public library needs money it has to go to the voters. … Continue reading

Article filed under Broadband | Written by Lisa Gonzalez | No Comments | Updated on Apr 13, 2012

Clallam County, Washington, Connects Anchor Institutions

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.muninetworks.org/content/clallam-county-washington-connects-anchor-institutions

Washington’s Olympic Peninsula is one step closer to being laced in a new fiber-optic network. The first link in the new Peninsula-wide broadband project is between Blyn and Sequim and will serve the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe from its new Blyn library to a local medical clinic located in Jamestown. Also benefiting from the new expansion… Continue reading

Article filed under Broadband | Written by Lisa Gonzalez | No Comments | Updated on Apr 12, 2012

Leverett, Massachusetts, Ponders Community-Owned Network

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.muninetworks.org/content/leverett-massachusetts-ponders-community-owned-network

Leverett, Massachusetts, is one step closer to a community owned FTTH network. The town of 2,000 will have weekly public information meetings until the Annual Town Meeting scheduled for April 28, 2012. If the required $3.6 million funding is approved at the meeting, the city will issue a Request For Proposals to build the network…. Continue reading

Article filed under The Public Good | Written by David Morris | No Comments | Updated on Apr 11, 2012

Wisconsin To Stop Doing Cost-Benefit Studies Because They Find Public Is Better

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/wisconsin-stop-cost-benefit-studies-find-public/

Back in 2005,  Wisconsin state agencies were found to be spending more contracting out for services than if they were done by existing public employees.  In response the legislature, with bipartisan support, passed a bill requiring agencies to conduct a cost-benefit analysis before privatizing large public contracts. By far the biggest state government outsourcer was… Continue reading

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Article filed under Energy | Written by John Farrell | 1 Comment | Updated on Apr 11, 2012

Net Metering a Cost to Utilities, or a Benefit?

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/net-metering-cost-utilities-benefit-2/

Utilities often claim that allowing customers to run their meter backward (by generating electricity on-site, e.g. from rooftop solar) can affect their bottom line because these customers don’t pay enough to cover the cost of maintaining the grid.  In at least one case, however, a utility’s cost-benefit analysis of net metering was turned on its… Continue reading

Article filed under Broadband | Written by Lisa Gonzalez | No Comments | Updated on Apr 11, 2012

Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services’ Construction Moves Forward

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.muninetworks.org/content/southwest-minnesota-broadband-services-construction-moves-forward

Good news for folks in Jackson, Wilder, and Bingham Lake in Southwest Minnesota! Your local broadband options are about to get much better. Southwest Minnesota Broadband Services (SMBS) just announced that construction is advancing on the new network. The 125-mile fiber ring is expected to be completed by September, 2012. If you live in their… Continue reading

Article filed under The Public Good | Written by David Morris | 1 Comment | Updated on Apr 10, 2012

The Data Says That Privatization is Worse

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.ilsr.org/evidence-privatization-worse/

The next time a privateer tells you how awful government is and how wonderful private corporations are, send him a copy of In the Public Interest’s one pager, Five Myths About Privatization.  Complete with footnoted sources, it is a refreshing rejoinder to the non-footnoted narrative that has regrettably come to define the American zeitgeist. For… Continue reading

Article filed under Broadband | Written by Christopher | No Comments | Updated on Apr 10, 2012

Digital Divide Event in St Paul on April 18

The content that follows was originally published on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance website at http://www.muninetworks.org/content/digital-divide-event-st-paul-april-18

For people in St Paul and the surrounding communities, I will be presenting at an event about the digital divide sponsored by the Alliance for Metropolitan Stability. The details are below, but the key detail is that you have to RSVP (no fee for admission). As the Internet and other information technologies have transformed our… Continue reading