Latest news with #JimPaine
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Superior mayor eyes pedestrian safety with national cohort
Apr. 15—SUPERIOR — Mayor Jim Paine is joining a cohort of a dozen mayors from across the county to work toward safer streets for all Superior residents. Paine was selected to participate in the 2025 Mayors Institute on Pedestrian Safety, a partnership among the Mayors Innovation Project, AARP Livable Communities and Smart Growth America. Paine said he was selected to join the cohort based on a grant application he wrote that demonstrated the political will to improve pedestrian safety, work done toward that goal and demonstrated willingness to carry forward recommendations of the institute. "That's the case I really made, that pedestrian safety and walkability have been one of my highest infrastructure and community-building priorities since well before I was elected," Paine said. "This was part of my 2015 campaign for mayor." Over the next six months, the mayors will engage in a mix of virtual and in-person sessions with national experts and fellow mayors to address safety challenges. In early May, Paine said there will attend an intensive session in Washington, D.C. Monthly meetings will follow. While the city has an active transportation plan that was adopted by the city council in 2020, Paine said Superior still has some pernicious problems that can't be solved easily, such as large streets and high-traffic corridors where the standard approaches don't work as well as they should. "What I'm looking for are really the small ideas that can be executed in big ways," Paine said. The mayor encouraged residents to reach out to his office to help identify problem areas.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Willmar, Minnesota, among many communities constructing municipally-owned fiber-optic networks
Feb. 28---- Charter Communications, Willmar's largest internet and cable television provider, sent a letter to the city of Willmar and the on Feb. 7 asking it to stop its , which the city has been researching and planning for two years. In exchange, promises to build out fiber-optic service in the and enhance its services throughout the city of Willmar. The Connect Willmar Initiative started two years ago after the city sent out a request for proposals to build out fiber in the industrial park. Charter did not submit a proposal at that time, and the city chose Hometown Fiber's proposal to construct a citywide, open-access fiber-optic network. Along with the letter, Charter has targeted Willmar residents with Facebook ads, and a mailer from the has been sent to Willmar residents stating the city will "burn your tax dollars" if it moves forward with the initiative. The Alliance for Quality Broadband on its website says it is "supporting high-quality internet solutions," and Charter is one of its coalition partners. Charter did the same thing in Maine, successfully defeating at least two municipal broadband projects in Readfield and Southport, according to on opposition to Maine's municipal broadband efforts "funded by the big internet service providers that have long refused to expand their networks." The Connect Superior project in Superior, Wisconsin, is a similar project to the Connect Willmar Initiative. According to an email from Superior Mayor Jim Paine, Charter used the same tactics it is currently using in Willmar to try to put a stop to that project. Other organizations, such as the MacIver Institute and the Wisconsin Cable Communication Association, also conducted targeted campaigns to stop Connect Superior. The MacIver Institute, "a Wisconsin-based think tank that promotes free markets, individual freedoms, personal responsibility and limited government," wrote about the Connect Superior Initiative in calling the Connect Superior Initiative a "boondoggle" and saying the cost of the initiative had "exploded" to $52.6 million from its original estimate of $31 million. "Connect Superior's estimated costs did not rise from $31 million to $52.6 million. Those are different versions of the same story and represent the same number," Paine said, noting the city conducted two studies for its project — a preliminary master plan and a feasibility study. " ... Both presumed an eventual take rate (percentage of households that will subscribe to the network) of about 60% after the entire network was built out." He further explained that the estimated construction costs of the project include connecting to each home and that cost would fluctuate depending on the take rate. "The master plan estimates the construction cost for 60% of the city, while the feasibility study estimated the cost to connect the entire city," he continued. "In other words, it will cost $52 million if every homeowner and business wants to connect, but if only 60% want to connect, the cost is $31 million." He added that it was also worth noting that users pay for the service and a 60% take rate is more than adequate to fund construction and operations of the network. If 100% of residents sign up, it brings in more revenue for the city, which can either reduce the cost of the service or be used toward reduced taxes or other services. The Connect Superior construction is 100% union-based and coming in under budget, according to Paine. The first customers can begin signing up for the network this spring and the city expects to hit a take rate of 40%, but Paine noted it will take several months to accomplish. "Connect Superior is not yet active, so it hasn't succeeded or failed," Paine said. "Charter continues to provide a slow, unreliable service using obsolete technology at steadily increasing costs. Charter is a failed private internet project." During a Feb. 10 Willmar City Council work session regarding the Connect Willmar Initiative, Jason Jenkins, vice president of open access at Silver Star Communications, compared internet service providers who continue to run their services on coaxial cable to Kodak. "You may have heard of a number of companies over time that failed to adapt, and they've been eliminated. Right?" he said. "I was just reminding myself of the story of Kodak." He noted that in 1997 Kodak had 160,000 employees and held 75% to 80% of the market for photographic needs. "In a relatively short period of time, (by) 2012, they filed for bankruptcy because they couldn't adapt to the digital camera environment, the evolution of the cellphone and everything else — it just couldn't change fast enough," Jenkins said.
