Seattle Mayor's CenturyLink giveaway sure to create controversy

[Commentary] Seattle likely will get somewhat faster broadband in the coming year from CenturyLink, but some homeowners may not cheer the upgrade.

In one of his first moves on the technology front, the city’s new mayor has pledged to grant a longstanding wish of CenturyLink and make it easier for the company to place refrigerator-like utility cabinets on the parking strips in front of people’s homes. This purportedly will improve broadband speeds, though Mayor Ed Murray doesn’t have any guarantee that will happen.

I hate to question this faint signal of progress coming from City Hall, where a series of mayors have spent more than a decade hemming and hawing about how to improve residential-broadband service. But starting out with a giveaway to CenturyLink may pit the phone company against neighborhoods. Worst of all, it could create a controversy that slows down Mayor Murray’s more ambitious technology vision -- to revive plans for a citywide, city-owned broadband network that would offer an alternative to CenturyLink, Comcast and other entrenched providers.