While the Tennessee Legislature Obstructs, Tennesseans Consider Alternatives

While the Tennessee General Assembly debates whether or not to permit municipal electric utilities to expand to bring fiber optic broadband and high speed internet to their neighbors, some citizens are discovering ways to achieve success without them.

Tennessee citizens know they're victims of a corrupt system, in which legislators from the governor on down are doing the bidding of legacy carriers AT&T, Comcast and others. They know that despite the efforts of a few committed lawmakers, like State Senator Janice Bowling and Representative Kevin Brooks and others, the bills that could open the gates to a new era of much needed prosperity in Tennessee (SB1134 HB1303) are likely to fail. They know now's the time to create their own success, in spite of their legislators' attempts to hold them back, and to the long-term detriment of those legacy carriers whose profit goals constrained their moves.

Tennesseans have learned a lot from this conflict, and they'll be the better for it. Here's just some of what they learned:

• Funding is available.
  • There are over 700 community foundations, some almost 100 years old, with money to help communities develop economic and infrastructure projects
  • Public – Private Partnerships (PPPs) are becoming an option. They're not always marriages made in heaven, however, so be careful. Not properly negotiated, they become PRIVATE-public Partnerships.
  • Funding can come from the communities themselves, repaid through the same monthly payments that consumers pay now
  • Some funding can come from non-profits with roots in the communities, such as hospitals that will benefit from the rapid growth of tele-medicine to serve remote areas
  • Projects don't have to be counties, or even cities. They can be parts of cities, where infratructure changes can literally change the lives and fortunes of those currently underserved.
  • Communities can install their own fiber optic cable and lease the wires to internet service providers to retail to consumers. Imagine the pricing and levels of service then!

Communities don't need to have some pie-in-the-sky plan to morph into an economic powerhouse to justify broadband. They can keep their small town their small town quaintness and still have the connectivity of big cities. Small towns like Dandridge in East Tennessee, can retain its quaintness, yet attract young entrepreneurs and people whose jobs allow them to work from home. There's room here for them to finish their work and sail the lake, walk nature trails or watch their kids play sports at the Field of Dreams Community Center.

Large companies aren't necessary, either. Small businesses of one or two employees are easily assimilated into rural communities. Ten or twenty of them need very small footprints, and positively impact the tax base.

There's plenty of precedent to show the way. Communities throughout the nation have suffered from the same cancerous corruption that oozes like sap from maple trees in winter. The difference is that they acted to fix things, and their actions show the way for Tennesseans.

Since Tennesseans can't rely on their legislators to do the right things for them, it remains for Tennesseans to do the right things for themselves.