Maps Show Alarming Pattern of Dollar Stores’ Spread in U.S. Cities

Date: 20 Feb 2019 | posted in: Retail | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Original maps from eight U.S. cities show how numerous dollar stores have become in urban America and reveal a striking pattern between dollar store locations and neighborhood income and race. We discuss each local context, presenting evidence for why these patterns have emerged and how some cities are beginning to check the spread of dollar chains. … Read More

Illinois City to Expand Fiber-to-the-Home Network to Residents in 2019

Date: 28 Dec 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The city of Rock Falls, Illinois, will begin building out their fiber network to residential customers in early 2019. Local businesses are already using the network, which offers gigabit connectivity, a huge upgrade from the 10 – 20 Megabits per second (Mbps) download previously available from Comcast…… Read More

Tennessee City Nearing Completion of Broadband Project

Date: 5 Sep 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

What started as a pilot project back in 2014 has consistently expanded to more addresses. Now the “Little Gig City” has put a date on when they expect to complete the final phase of their community-wide fiber network — early 2020. “Right now we feel like we’re kind of in the home stretch,” says Erwin Utilities fiber optic engineer John Williams.… Read More

Idaho Falls Bringing Residents Up to Speed With Pilot Project

Date: 2 Aug 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Many Idaho Falls city council members feel that the decision to provide fiber to residents and businesses is critical to the economic future of the city. In a conversation with East Idaho News Councilman John Radford noted that fiber connectivity is essential infrastructure – as crucial as gutters, sewers, and roads were in the 1900s. … Read More

Internet Network Stars in Massachusetts Promo Vid

Date: 27 Jul 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

The City of Westfield in western Massachusetts recently launched a new marketing initiative designed to attract business and promote sustainable growth. The GoWestfield campaign features a website and promotional video that focuses on showcasing the many incentives for businesses that the small city of around 41,500 offers, including an environment where businesses can thrive. As the city points out in the video, one of Westfield’s largest selling points is its high-speed fiber optic Internet network.… Read More

City-Owned Internet Reaches 100K Subscribers in Tennessee

Date: 20 Jul 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In May of 2017 we congratulated Chattanooga’s EPB Fiber for exceeding 90,000 subscribers and contributing to lower power rates for all (Electric Power Board) EPB customers. Now less than a year later, there is more to celebrate as EPB expects to reach 100,000 subscribers by Fall 2018 and is still lowering electricity costs for all customers.… Read More

ICYMI: NBC News Ponders Rural Connectivity, Economic Development, and Bad Data

Date: 13 Jul 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

In his recent article written for NBC News, journalist Phil McCausland examines the impacts broadband access can have on rural communities and the challenges that persist in bringing coverage to these isolated areas. Reliable high-speed internet access can spark economic development in some of the United State’s most cash-strapped areas, but a lack of dependable data makes acquiring funding difficult.

McCausland explores how high-speed Internet access is becoming increasingly essential for communities’ economic growth. He spoke with Roberto Gallardo, the assistant director of the Purdue Center for Regional Development, who explained how having broadband access today “is analogous to the installation of a railroad 100 years ago or a highway 50 years ago.”… Read More

Newcomer Cooperative to Bring Broadband to Rural Nevada

Date: 9 Jul 2018 | posted in: MuniNetworks | 0 Facebooktwitterredditmail

Nestled at the base of the Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada, Spring Creek is a small town of about 12,300 people that originally formed in the 1970s as three large housing sections. The municipality mainly serves as a bedroom community for businesses and industries in the nearby City of Elko. The economy is mostly based on gold mining, with limited ranching, tourism, and manufacturing also providing jobs. Former Nevada governor, Jim Gibbons, who now owns a 40-acre ranch in Lamoille and Tariq Ahmad of Satview Broadband Ltd.founded the co-op in order to serve the 57-square-mile-area in Elko County where those services still do not exist.… Read More