San Francisco hits brakes on high-speed internet plan

San Francisco’s effort to create a citywide broadband internet service for all residents and businesses has suffered a setback as outgoing Mayor Mark Farrell will not place a tax measure on the November ballot to fund the project before he leaves office in the coming weeks. Mayor Farrell, who is expected to leave office mid-July, has been leading the citywide fiber internet project, which had the support of the late Mayor Ed Lee, for several years. Most recently San Francisco had selected three teams of companies who could potentially build and operate it. San Francisco would be the first large city to create a municipal citywide fiber internet service. but Mayor Farrell has decided not to move forward with a revenue initiative for the November ballot to pay for the project, as was previously contemplated. The deadline to submit a tax proposal is June 18.