Lafayette voters overwhelmingly OK fiber network

Residents of Lafayette, La., turned out Saturday in relatively high numbers to approve building a city-owned fiber-to-the-home network by almost a two-thirds majority.

About 27% of eligible voters turned out on a Saturday in July to vote in a single-issue election and by a margin of 12,290 to 7507, or 62% to 38%, voted to approve issuing $125 million in bonds to enable the Lafayette Utility System to build a fiber optic network to every home and business. A 15% turnout had been expected in Lafayette, which has 116,000 residents.

The election results are being closely watched by those on both sides of the municipal broadband issue, since incumbents BellSouth and Cox Communications fought hard to convince local residents that allowing a city-owned utility to build a broadband network and sell voice, data and video services was a dangerous idea, both financially and politically. It was a lawsuit by the plan’s opponents that led to the referendum.

“When we look back at the important milestones in America's recovery of its global competitiveness, the vote in Lafayette may be remembered as one of them,” said Jim Baller, attorney for LUS and a municipal broadband advocate. “Just think of where community broadband would be today if we had lost.”

City-Parish President Joey Durel, who was a major proponent for the LUS proposal, credited the opposition with helping to educate Lafayette residents by making the issue so prominent.

“But, the people of this town also recognize that we need to do something different in Louisiana if we are going to seriously do something about moving our community forward, keep our young people home,” he said in an e-mail response to a question. “They like the idea that Lafayette could potentially be on the cutting edge, and actually lead the nation in something so positive. Another factor is the fact that we have a municipally owned utility that is very well respected by the citizenry, as well as the Public Service Commission. Our director is well respected as well, and that played another role in getting a positive vote.”

According to that director, Terry Huval, LUS must now work with the Louisiana PSC in a rulemaking to determine how much the utility company can charge for its voice, data and video service and whether it can guarantee the bonds with revenues from its electric, water and sewer services. Huval told the local newspaper, The Daily Advertiser, that he expects LUS to be serving its first customer about two years from now.

Baller, of The Baller Herbst Law Group, believes the Lafayette experience represents a growing concern among U.S. citizens that the world is moving ahead technologically and economically.

“At a time when the United States has dropped to 16th place in broadband deployment worldwide and is falling rapidly behind the leading nations in access to high-bandwidth capacity and cost per unit of bandwidth, Lafayette has won admiration and best wishes from individuals and organizations around the world for its fierce determination to be a winner in the emerging global economy,” he said. “For America to do likewise as a nation, many more municipalities will have to step forward, and Lafayette provides a great role model for them.”